BrightIAM
Hosted by Lucy Black, BrightIAM brings you real conversations with the people doing bold, brilliant things for good causes.
Each episode lifts the lid on what it really takes to build campaigns that make a difference - from comms and creativity to courage and community.
BrightIAM
Maxine Laceby - Co-Founder of Absolute Collagen 'The Champagne Series'
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She started her business at her dining room table at 49. Ten years later, she’s built a £40 million empire. But what inspires me most about Maxine Laceby
isn’t just the extraordinary success of Absolute Collagen - it’s who she is
behind it. Fierce. Honest. Grounded. A woman powerfully advocating for others
to rise too.
Pour a glass, sit back and enjoy a conversation between Lucy Black @lucyblack_official and the wonder of a woman Maxine Laceby – sponsored by Everflyht Vineyard
This is 🎙️BrightIAM - The Champagne Series 🥂
The Champagne Series is a bold, unfiltered podcast where powerful women come to tell the truth and share their stories - not the polished versions, the real ones. Set in a beautiful, high-energy space, each conversation blends honesty, humour, and depth as we uncover the stories behind the success, the struggles no one saw, and the moments that changed everything. It’s a celebration of self-expression, resilience, and women who chose to do life on their own terms - with a glass of champagne (or non-alcoholic alternative) in hand and nothing held back. Filmed at The Podcast Room Brighton @PodcastRoomBrighton
Hello and welcome back to Bright I Am. I'm Lucy. This is the Champagne series, and I am so delighted and thrilled because today on the show we have got the wonderful Maxine Laceby. Yeah, give it up for Maxine. What was the saying you just said as you're saying? Still got it. Still got it, baby. This woman is an icon. And I mean, I've just been saying it all day. You are brilliant. And I'm so pleased to have you here in Brighton in the podcast room with the lovely boys. And you're joining us on the Champagne series because you are a woman of inspiration. And actually, your story, Maxine, started later in life. Yeah. And maybe just for people who perhaps don't know as much about you as I do, just an overview of where you are now in business and what it is you do would be great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So first of all, I did that because I've got a tattoo saying, still got it here. She still got it. Um, so I am the co-founder of Absolute Collagen. We were the one of the very first collagen uh brands, started 10 years ago. Uh well, it'd be 10 years next year. Uh, one of the fastest growing businesses named in the Times, one of the in the top four of the fastest-growing businesses in the UK. Uh yeah, work with my children and have great fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you've done absolutely amazingly. And I've looked you up particularly on paper. Can you confirm your turnover in that period of time?
SPEAKER_01So about 30 million now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_0030 million. And this is from a product that you've created, a business that you made. Can you tell us how it started? Because honestly, Maxine, this is the inspiring story we need as women.
SPEAKER_01Do you know it's really interesting? Before I tell you the story, I took a friend to Bath. Well, she's a somebody I met in business and we become friends. And I took her to Bath recently to stay at my house. And she works in advertising. She's a lovely girl. And she said to me, Right, now we're on our own. What's the real story? And I went, what she went, what is the non-commercial story? I went, of what? She went, absolute college. I went, that's it, it's true. Okay. She went, oh my God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I had been a stay-at-home mum since I was 25. Very fortunate to be a stay-stay-at-home mum, very lucky. I get I was privileged to do all that, and I loved it. My children were still the last to be picked up from school, though, I will say. Um, and I'd split up their dad. I left him quite a while before uh when I was about, I don't know, 48, 47. Okay. And so it was just me and the girls, and I got to this point in life where Darcy was going off to university, Margot just passed a driving test, and I was like, my God, I don't have to do the school run anymore. Wow. Oh my god. I also had step girls who I absolutely adore. They're a lot older. So I've been doing the school run a long time. And I just thought, wow, what shall I do? And I decided to do a fine art degree at 49 in Wolverhampton. So I've always been actually interested at art. I've never had the opportunity to do a degree when I was younger. It was all about, you know, get out and earn money at 15. And so I just thought, okay, this is my time, what am I going to do? So I rocked up for my fine art degree, and within the first year I did this project called Dare to Go Bare. Okay, tell us about that. And it was all about being in a woman of a certain age. If I removed all my external masks, would I disappear in people's vision? So what I mean by that is I used to have long dark curly hair. I mean, it's very dramatic. Maxine is very dramatic. I had it all cut off. I had I used to have it coloured every five, six weeks. I had the colour taken out, it went yellow. Mm-hmm. Okay. Then I started letting it go grey. I wore no makeup and I wore really, really dowdy clothes for a period of four months. And I mean like leggings and t-shirt. I look like a bag.
SPEAKER_00And this is at 49. 49. Wow. And actually at a time when a woman's identity is changing dramatically.
SPEAKER_01And you know, I can honestly say if I could get every woman to do that, and I think I think that project, so it was just an art project, but what it made me realize is I'd always been something else for somebody else. I'd always woken up every morning. And women always question me when I say that, but until I say this, I'd wake up every morning and go, who does everybody need me to be today?
SPEAKER_00Okay, I can relate to that. How many people do you need to help before you can get on with the jobs you need to do to provide for the people that are there? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's beautiful, it's how women are. And it's be it's it's part of us that is just so gorgeous and so humble and so, oh, I love it. But it it comes a point when you just go, okay, enough now. And yeah, so I did this fine art pro I did this project, Dare's Go Bear. I it was probably it was, I'd say leave my husband was the bravest thing I'd done. This was on a par, the scariest thing and the most exciting at the same time.
SPEAKER_00So, how did you feel then? So you've gone, you've completely transformed, and you are, I suppose they call it a grey rock, don't they, in psychology? There's just you're playing. Yep. How were you perceived or received by the world? What I got from it is how I perceived myself. It wasn't how other people perceived me. Oh, so it stopped being about the other people. Yeah. And you started that journey of working out who you are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so I'd look in the mirror and go, oh, look at you, look shit. And you can't go out. You can't. This is before lockdown, by the way. So I feel we've all relaxed a bit since lockdown, but oh, you can't go out looking like that. And I remember the university had a trip to London, and I thought, oh my god, I'm gonna have to go to London looking like a bag of shit. Like, oh my god. But I went, I was really did it. I'd I'd just do it. And what I did is every single morning I would wake up and I'd sit on the edge of my bed and I put this make-believe onesie on. That onesie was Maxine. Oh, that's sweet, that's really sweet. And I think there's quite a bit that goes on there. So I'm adopted, I'm ADHD, so there's lots of masking in my life. So I'm not saying we're all the same because my friend said, I've never, I'm always me, you know, and I'm like, brilliant, but I know I haven't been me. So, you know, being adopted, I was in a family where it wasn't me, but I had to become them. And then I think anybody that's got ADHD, you know you have to mask a lot because your behaviour can be too much or whatever. And so, but actually, when I talk to a lot of women, a lot of women feel the same. So they haven't got ADHD, they haven't adopted. It's just about every morning waking up and going, who does everybody need to be? What hat do I need to wear today? Am I a psychologist? Am I cleaner? Uh who am I today?
SPEAKER_00And I took all that away and I thought, no, this is now my time. How interesting. Because actually, those generations, almost looking at the decades reflecting on my own life, I am certainly not the same person or acting the same way as I do all those times. But I wonder if I've ever given myself that time or had the opportunity to have that time. And it is when your kids are older, I suppose.
SPEAKER_01Go, who am I? It do you know? I just it was the most beautiful thing I've ever done for myself.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and now from our talks earlier before this podcast, you like to holiday alone, you can live alone, you're obviously a very successful businesswoman alone, but you have this air of peace and fulfillment, contentment about you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I yeah, and I feel that, I really do. And I do know what part of that project, and it's interesting looking back, how the psychology of that project. So all my life, whenever it went right, I wanted to go left. Okay. And I always went right, I followed.
SPEAKER_00Right. So it took you until you'd done this degree and really taken off all those layers and masks to actually believe enough in the turn that you wanted to take.
SPEAKER_01In Maxine. I stood firmly in Maxine. And if I wanted to go left, I started going left.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01And the minute I did that, the world opened up to me.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So this kind of accepting yourself and actually trusting and believing in the power of yourself, stripped away of all the masks and the roles that everyone else puts on, that's opened the doors that have enabled you to be a successful woman in business and life.
SPEAKER_01And it literally is just by accepting, I won't even say accepting, just by becoming Maxine, the person I was always anyway, but I was covering up so much. Yeah. Because when you're 13, 14, 7, 25, and all your friends say, Oh, it's right, and you go, mmm, I feel I want to go left. You go, okay, right's easier. And it's having the confidence to go, no, actually, this this is where I'm at. And I remember, and do you know it's it's it's absolutely the weirdest thing. When you start doing it, everyone else follows.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so you've inspired people by doing it to in their vision of me.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So I remember getting out of the car one day, and as every bloody mother, we might as well lay petals for our kids when they're walking down the road. And I got out of the car, I went to open the front door, and Marg went to walk through. She was 16 at the time. Um, and I said to her, I was about 17 actually, she's just whatever. And I said to her, actually, Margo, I think it's time I went through the door first. Okay, interesting. And she looked at me and she smiled, and she still remembers that conversation. She went, Yeah. And it was just a tiny little act that said to her, I'm actually important in this too, you know. Yeah. And actually, you're becoming an adult now, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you're actually showing her because you've looked after these children, and we I know what it's like with the the kids. You give them all the love and the care than everything they need. But what you're showing her there is actually respecting yourself as a woman, and she's becoming a woman. Well, she's a woman now, she'd get married, I think, next year. Yeah, how interesting and how lovely that your relationship with Margot, she could stop and see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_01She did, and she smiled, and we have that conversation. We she remembers the day, and she just remembers, she says it's kind of changed, something changed in me. I saw you differently. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think that when we do feel something in ourselves and integrate that into ourselves, become ourselves, then there those energies and those signals come out, don't they?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think also once you for me, once I found the courage, because it took a lot of courage to be Maxine, because I am different, I know I am, and that takes a lot of courage because you're always told you're not right, you're you're different, you're this, you're that. And so there's always a negativity to that. And I'm just I was just so exhausted by it. I just thought I just want to be me, you know, and it's just so it's so liberating. And then you find out you really do find your tribe because you're being so authentically you.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I love that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you really do find what floats your boat and what doesn't, and actually, the stuff I don't tolerate, I just don't tolerate, I don't like it. But I'm not rude, I don't say to people all that I don't do that, you know. It's just I don't choose to do it. I'm never rude ever, you know. Everyone's different, and everybody should be allowed to be different. Um, but yeah, it's been it's been a wild journey actually. I was 2. That was uh what my name? It was 11 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Okay. How beautiful. I know. And I remember when we first met through Andrew Barton, very great friend of ours. We love him. I talk about him all the time when my face goes all funny. Um, and you actually came, gave up your time and came to Holborn at um Andrew's Salon and did a wonderful talk for one of the um events I was hosting, the Ambassador's Stand United. And you were talking there about your experience on Kilimanjaro.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um but you are somebody who, and even the tailor we were just at, Gresham and Blake down the road, you have a presence, you have a voice of authority, and it's really hard for me who hasn't known you too long and has only known you as the real Maxine to even consider you as somebody who wasn't like this before.
SPEAKER_01Well, maybe I it's a difficult thing, isn't it? Maybe I've always been me but didn't accept me, now I've accepted me, but I don't know, I just kind of followed the crowd, whereas now I don't. And don't get me wrong, I think there's always things in life you have to follow the crowd, and I'm okay with that. It's just that by totally accepting Maxine and falling in love with Maxine, only when you truly love yourself can other people love you, and actually other people get you, other people. I mean, yeah, they just get it, they get the essence of you, and you attract the same kind of person.
SPEAKER_00It's so important. And do you think it's more of a within age? I mean, I I know just from my my life experience, we've discussed some of it recently, who I am today is not who I was at 25. And I feel so blessed to be in my 40s and have this head of wisdom and knowledge, but I would say I'm not quite there of truly knowing and accepting and becoming who I really am. I'm very close, and I'm a little bit like you, the black sheep, a bit outspoken, do things differently. But I am still being nudged along into the sensible paths, and I'm about to do something quite extraordinary. Um, I know we were discussing it just a minute ago, and I the advice from the outside world don't do it. Don't do it. Everyone's telling me not to do it. And they're saying it, and it comes from, and I know we spoke about this in Cardiff when we saw each other as well, and the wonderful entrepreneur women there, don't do it, but it comes from their fears and their anxieties and their love for you and trying to keep you safe. But I don't think we can always play safe.
SPEAKER_01I think for me, what I do is I tend to discuss things with friends and family, and they know I will discuss it. I tend to, I think you get to know yourself, and if I've got a decision to make, I tend to withdraw a little bit. I do housework.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01What that's about, I don't know, or I run or whatever. And then I don't think I'm thinking, but I am, and I'm processing, and I'll meet someone for lunch or do, and then I'm talking, but and I always make my own decision, but I'm just sometimes by and my friends will go, Well, that's not I said, you've done the opposite to what I said, and I've gone, yeah, but sometimes just by speaking it out loud, you're chewing the fat over in your head. Yes. Um, and it always has to be your decision, doesn't it? And it doesn't mean somebody else is wrong, it's what's right for you at that time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And only you really know your life and what it is you want to get and how you feel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So tell us, Maxine, because people listening to the show are going to be desperate to hear your story of how you started this absolutely successful business. Collagen. Yeah. I mean, you were basically the first person. Crazy. So all of this collagen talk, and everybody now knows about collagen. I've got friends who do that, different banks. I don't take it yet myself, I should. Um, but how did it start? Let's hear it from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man, it's a crazy, crazy story. So, so I did the fine art degree, I stripped myself bad makeup, I looked at myself as a whole, felt pretty crap because I was looking in the mirror going, and I saw a yellow post note on my mirror saying, You are enough, you are enough. That was it.
SPEAKER_00Reminders, good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And um I just started looking at myself as a whole. So I looked at myself physically and mostly and spiritually. I thought I don't want to go back to that person, I just want to become Maxine. I don't quite know what that is. And you know, we've all got that inner monkey that sits there telling you you can't do it, telling you your shit, telling you this, that, and the other, you look crap and all the rest of it. And I learned I now laugh at that monkey because I still get it. I just I smile, I go, yeah, here you go. I laugh at her now, um, which is interesting. And then I looked at myself physically and I thought, I thought I don't want to go back to that person. I want to, I want to be the best version of myself, and that also means feeling and and fueling my body with the best. So I started making and drinking my own bone broth. Okay. So this is actually 12 years ago, and 12 years ago I was at university, so I started making bone broth, and I was literally cooking up big vats in my kitchen, you know, and drinking it. My friends started saying to me, Yeah, well, you started off looking a bit rough, but actually something about you, and I saw this amazing glow. Okay. And I said, You know what? I reckon it's bone broth stuff. I'm drinking so much of it. And they started asking for it. So I was making it for them. Darcy, who is my eldest daughter and co-founder, she I'm the uh risk taker. She's definitely crosses the T's, dots the I's. She's coming up with dust brown brush, going, shit, what's she doing now? My God. And she said she was actually, it's so weird, she was gonna go to university to do psychology because that's what the school wanted her to do. And she went to a grammar school and they pushed for that. And then she decided at the last minute to do food science because that's her thing. Oh, supplementing food. Oh, how brilliant is that! So she said, I'm gonna take it to the lab, one to make sure you don't kill your friends, and two, find out what that jelly stuff is. Because I kept saying to her, What's that jelly on top? When it went cold, a jelly would form, and I knew the jelly wasn't fat because it didn't look like fat, it didn't solidify.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And then we found out the jelly was collagen.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. So this is incredible. So Darcy, how old was Darcy then at the time? Oh, I wish she was 19. Wow. And so you really did co-find this. This is co-founders of this. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So what were the next steps? What did you have to do to make that jelly stuff?
SPEAKER_01I mean, so first of all, it was like we did a spoke to scientists, I was always on the phone. And I think I don't know. I mean, I just used to phone people up and say, uh, you're a scientist in food, can I talk about this? Or you know, uh, I used to just phone people up and ask. And I remember talking to one guy, and I'd create so we looked by talking to people, we'd worked out the marine collagen was far superior. And that's the fishy one. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and the sustainability of it, the traceability of it was really good. So I was like, okay, and and it was better for hair skin now, it's got to be let's do the the marine collagen. And so we started buying it in then, because I couldn't make, you know, white powder from my from fish skins or whatever. I mean, that was never going to happen in my kitchen. Well, I don't know. Um, and the amount, so we looked at how much collagen we needed, and so the bone broth just definitely wasn't giving us the amount of collagen that to make a massive difference. So we looked at what's the collagen amount we needed, what's the best collagen? Hydrolyse means if it's been broken down to your body, because collagen's a protein, so your body shouldn't go into your bloodstream. When it's been broken down, it does, and that's when it gets the fibre blasts to to support and and make your skin better. And um, so we were looking at okay, I want it, I didn't want a powder because I didn't want it to be, I want it to be for me and my friends, so really, really easy. So I wanted in a sachet. Yes, I wanted it ready mixed, I wanted it the maximum of the collagen I need. I didn't want any BS ingredients in there. No, collar. Collagen's a hero. Uh vitamin C, we found out we needed because that supports the collagen, uh, the make of collagen. So there was lots of kind of things like that happening. And then Yeah, and then we well, funny enough, we spoke to a blender who'd been blending for Holland and Barrett and boots 25 years, and he said, This is a stupid formula, it will not blend. I went, you're right. Because if you imagine you've got eight grams of powder and collagen's glue, okay. It's the glue that holds us together. So you've got eight grams of powdered glue and you put drops of water in, it gloops. Okay. All right, but I knew I didn't want this to be a massive amount to drink, I didn't have to mix it. And so I'd gone through loads of blenders in my kitchen. I mean, it was like collagen everywhere, and I'd worked out a couple of steps to take. And I do think that's where women are brilliant. Anyway, he phoned me back two weeks later and he went, I've worked in this industry for 25 years, I've never been able to work that out. So you'd worked it out. But he has too much information because he had a degree, he had this, that and the other. So he's looking at it too intently, and I think this is where women are great because we're solution focused, we're problem solvers.
SPEAKER_00And we can go a few steps forward, meet a brick wall, and then do it, couple back, and then okay, we're either gonna try to go through it, round it, or over it.
SPEAKER_01How interesting. And I think it was because I was on my own, and then I was I was, you know, just me and Darcy. There was nobody, no naysayers, there was no anybody going, oh, we can't do that, you shouldn't do that, I wouldn't do it like that.
SPEAKER_00And I suppose Darcy being her age and working and and at university in that space, and you were full of self-belief and love and opportunity, and she believes in you and you believe in her, yeah, that's the recipe there for success.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I we've had this conversation a lot actually, because um Darcy was at 19, 20, she was paying PO's for 200 grand.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01But I trusted her, I empowered her, and like she says, that's not normal. No, it's not, but I've always empowered my children to believe and they can with a can-do attitude. And again, Darcy and I were being interviewed on this recently, and she said, But it's how you were brought up. And I was like, Oh my god, I so was. Like it was just me and my mum. There was no one to do stuff, so some of the stuff I'm doing, I had to do it. My mum wasn't pretty incapable, an alcoholic blessed little lot. But so for stuff to do, I had to do it. Yeah, and my mum empowered me to do it, and so I've passed that on to my children, and they we have um a wonderful, wonderful relationship. I mean, they'll put me in my place if I need it. Yeah, perfect. Okay, I think the multi-generational business works because you've got so many different points of view coming in, and they teach me so much. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00The different generations. I see what you mean with the different what's gonna work for that target audience, that market. But how is it when you're all sat around having dinner? Or you're all a holiday social gathering. Is there a rule that you can't talk about business? Okay, so that used to be.
SPEAKER_01So I think before Marg joined the business, she used to just get so fed up. Right.
SPEAKER_00And so Margo, your youngest daughter, has now joined the business as well.
SPEAKER_01So she joined the business in lockdown because she got so fed up of hearing about the business. Yeah. I'm just gonna join the business. And it was lockdown. We were working from home, we were packing from like three, five thousand orders a week from home, if not more. Wow. And she was she would go out in the morning, go out to the garage, and she would pack them. We would all do a bit of everything. Okay. Um, yeah. So she I think I don't think it's we never sort of sat down and had a discussion like Darcy and I will be business partners and or Margot, it just happened organically, and that's what I absolutely love about it.
SPEAKER_00It's actually beautiful. So it sounds to me, just um obviously I've got a history in psychology, there's no power play going on here.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00Now that's very rare. It is, we have been told. Yeah, and actually being in a household perhaps before when you did have your husband in the house and things were different and the narrative was different, it's almost like there's this beautiful peace there with you and your girls.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, when I left their dad, don't get me wrong, it was a hard thing to do. I just knew we weren't right for each other. And we bought a rat-infested house. Okay. And we got builders in, it took a year to do it. And everybody said to me, My God, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? Because everybody assumed that my husband did everything and I did nothing. They they assumed I didn't make any any contribution to anything. I'm like, well, we've just done a house in France, I know what I'm doing, you know. Okay, I didn't physically do it, but I'm not, you know. And it was really weird. Anyway, so they'd come home from school, they were 11 and 13, 11 and 12, and they've put their hard hats on, we'd make decisions together. I needed them as well. Wow. So there's certain walls that had to stay, it'd be like, okay, that wall's gotta stay, and da da da. And we'd make decisions together.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And we've always been like that. That's beautiful. Do you know what? I think it is. I think it's very rare, actually.
SPEAKER_00It is, and I think that also women all in a group in a house. I mean, my mum and my nan lived together growing up, and I obviously lived with them for a time going away, and there was a little bit of rubbing alongside with them too. But my mum was an interesting character. My nan was absolutely potty and brilliant, loved her to pieces. Um, but if you've got yourself and your two daughters, but you've always had that let's do this together approach and let's learn from each other, not pretend, listen, hear, and learn. And very interesting what you've just said there, Maxine, actually, that everybody on the outside assumed that your husband was making decisions and doing things. I'm very much the same. My project managed a massive um house construction to subdivision and everything. You learn on the go and you grow. Yeah. So tell me, in your business path, um, and again, reflecting on my own experience so far, just 12 months into my small business. Were there times, Maxine, when you thought, oh shit, what on earth am I gonna do now? Because I'll be completely open with you, I've missed a period this week with stress, but it's stress, but I'm like this because of this big decision. Is there a time in your early stage where you thought this is all gonna go wrong?
SPEAKER_01I've been asked this a lot actually, and yes, there was times. I cope with stress very, very well. Okay, I am really weird in the sense that I I don't feel fear. Or I've felt fear for so long, it's normal to me. I don't know which one it is.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I actually love that. I actually love that. So that feeling, that like low-level anxiety, that kind of panicked, I don't know what to do, that isn't something that's in you now.
SPEAKER_01It's either in me and I've just learned to deal with it, because I think it was always I it should if I look at my childhood, it should definitely be there. Yes. So is it because it's a behaviour that I know so well that I don't feel it? I don't know is the answer. Okay. It's interesting. How interesting. And I've questioned this about myself actually, because I don't feel fear, I'm like, yeah, just do it. Like, what's what's the worst gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00No one's died, right? And this is actually a really powerful thing. This is so powerful. Like a word, uh a sentence I say a lot is well, no one's coming to chop off my head. Yeah. My head's still here. Yeah. And actually, I've been talking to a few different people, charity-based projects all around the country, and there's a lady who very, very sadly had lost her daughter in her teen years, somebody I'm speaking to more next year. It's um in support of Amy. Um, very emotive. It really affected me. And then I'm going back to thinking about my problems, my financial decisions, my choice. And I literally hit myself in the face.
SPEAKER_01But they're still real to you.
SPEAKER_00They're real and they're personal to me. But I've my only problems are my business and my choices, my finances. They're not my health. And I think we're so blessed if we're healthy and our people around us are. Yeah. So going forward, then, you're 10 years into Absolute Collagen. And actually, we'll go backwards a little bit. You understand your strengths and what you bring to the table. I can see that, and that's so smart because we can't do everything. You brought in a CEO to run Absolute Collagen. Talk us through that. So, right on day one, I knew the product worked. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I could see the product worked, and I was like, this product works, like I believe in it absolutely. And so that was that was always there. It was never about starting a business. It was about, I need to bring this to as many women as possible to empower them because I was sick to death of looking at fight the signs of aging. No one looks good after a fight, right? It was all about women having to change, women have to, and I was just like, Do you know what? No. Women, as my children, need to be seen and most definitely heard exactly where they are. And that was how what it was all about. And I remember about a year or so before I started my business. I remember going online and I think I bought a product or something, and I tried to get into contact with the company through social media, and they didn't answer me back. And I was like, that's never ever gonna happen. And so on day one, I employed somebody to do social media because I could do everything. Smart. And I'm I don't know how to build a website. I mean, it was 10 years ago, 12, probably 11 years ago, because there's some work officially it'll be 10 years next year, but there was some work going on behind the scenes. Um so I brought somebody in. Uh what I'm really, really, really good at is intuition.
SPEAKER_00So feeling what's the right move next. And reading people. I'm really good. So play to your strengths, understand the room. Yeah, understand who you're working with.
SPEAKER_01And when you've got that capability, you're c you're able to bring the right people in. Okay.
SPEAKER_00And did you need to get investors, Maxine, in those early days?
SPEAKER_01So in the early days, no. So the business started growing. Um it was like quarter of a million, half a million, a million, two and no, it's quarter of a million first year, second year was half a million, third year was two and a half million, then four million, then eight million. It was mad. Absolutely. So we'd never run a business before. So we were just putting our heads down and getting on with it from working from my house. And I've always said to my children, and this is my philosophy in life, all you ever have to do is the next right thing.
SPEAKER_00It's really, really simple. Okay, so just breaking that down a little bit, all you have to do is the next right thing. And is that talking about looking at the bigger picture or just literally what's in front of you? So I guess that's twofold.
SPEAKER_01For me, so when people think business is really difficult, business is hard. Business is very hard work, but it shouldn't be difficult because everything is signposted. And if you do things correctly and you don't cut corners, then it should be okay. And I think people fall down. I work with a lot of investors, young investors, uh, people young companies, I should say, and they try and cut corners. And that's where I come in and say all you have to do is the next right thing. That's it. Okay. But on the other side of that, in the business, it's about getting the right people. So my intuition and my ability to r put the right people around me is phenomenal. I I will give myself that credit. I am absolutely brilliant. And so everybody we brought, I brought in was a brilliant person. And so you interviewed people? No. There was one guy I uh knew he was doing websites. I'd this the person he who'd employ him, he was just leaving, and I heard him say to this guy, Brad, who's our tech guy, never give anybody a pay rice, they're just about to walk out the door. And I thought, you're too good for you should not be working there. And he was leaving, so I he came to build my website. Um then it was uh even like the operations. I know I am not good at loads of stuff, and I think anybody looking to start something, never look at the big picture, right? Because if I looked at a 30 million pound business, I'd be like, I'm out of here. I wouldn't know how to do it. Yeah, yeah. You grow with the business, and so we start with one cell, one product, one cell. That's what absolute colleges, and that's what we all start with, and that's whenever I go anywhere, people say, Oh my god, you're really humble. And you know, I'm like, we're all equal. Yes. I we started with one cell, no, there's no celebrity status, we're just who we are, right? And so bringing the right people in, knowing my strengths, knowing my weaknesses, and actually having the confidence to really start listening to myself because that whole project when I was like, right, I'm I'm just gonna be Maxine, also there was this mental stuff going on that you know, if I wanted to go left when I'd be going right, I'd go left. So when they came to the business, there's a couple of decisions that maybe Brad or Darcy wouldn't have agreed with. And I was like, no, I feel really strongly about this.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so because you had become and accepted Maxine, you enabled yourself to make the decisions and they worked out. Yeah. Go on, Maxine.
SPEAKER_01What I will say is I think we can get so overwhelmed by decision making, especially in business. You can come up to a crossroads and you can get paralysed. I remember doing this myself. Which decision, which, which way, which which way? Both ways could be right. Either decision could be the right decision. And sometimes I think we can get so bogged down with like, oh, should we use this manufacturer, shap manufacturer, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You know, actually, either could be right, but you just have to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so decision beats perfection.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. We still work with all the same people we worked with on day one within the manufacturer.
SPEAKER_00Okay, now that says actually a lot about you and them. Yeah, it does. Um, that's beautiful. So you've built these really authentic working relationships.
SPEAKER_01Because I was able to figure them out really at on. I met a lot of people, kissed a lot of frogs. Did you?
SPEAKER_00Well, I've been kissing frogs for a while. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, no, you know, uh and the people we chose to work with, we work with today. And that's that's beautiful. I love that.
SPEAKER_00And your brand is wonderful. I was seeing to um another guest Claire who was on here the other day that you were coming down. And she said, Oh, absolute collagen. That's that yellow one. Yes. Yeah, baby, it's the yellow one.
SPEAKER_01It's all about yellow. And even that in itself. So I remember, I remember going to a branding agency, and I for some reason I've never done anything before, right? And I just remember thinking, this has got to stand up and be counted. So I need a branding agency. Who the hell do you think I am? Went to a branding agency. Um, again, we still work with today. Okay, source in Shrewsbury and, or Shrewsbury, whatever you say it, and told them my story, and they got me.
SPEAKER_00Ah, and you felt that they had got you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because you and your product and your service will become so aligned, it's unbelievable. So it I can't really explain it very well. Like absolute collagen is all about empowerment, it's all about I see you, I get you, I hear you, I'm I'm champion you. I wear a yellow cape, right? Every day. And that yellow cape is I am the chief absoluter officer, and I'm all about her, and I has no way I'm letting her down.
SPEAKER_02I love it.
SPEAKER_01Um and that's always been my role, really. So, yeah, so then the team grew. We so I so going back to did I take investment? So I remortgaged my house. So whilst I'm a risk taker, I'm also I calculate the risks. Yes. So I don't just do them. So I sat the children down. I said, right, this business the product works. I this could explode, this will explode. We need to move fast, which means we need to put a lot of money into marketing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so the branding was like a lot of money for me at the time, it was eight grand. Well, I mean, I wish it was that now, but that you know, but that I had no money. So I remortgaged my house, I borrowed money, I sold my motorbike, I sold jewelry, um, and I bought one of the pieces of jewellery back actually, which was really a few years later, which was yeah, yeah. Wish I bought the motor. I tried to buy the motorbike back as well. Yeah, I was gonna say motorbike, maxine on a motorbike. I sold my engagement ring and bought a red, bright red Ducati. Did you good? Thousand CC. Yumma. Um and so, so yeah, so I needed money. So I borrowed money from a friend uh and I remortgaged my house. I sat the girls down, I said, right, uh, I need to remortgage a house. How are you feeling about this? And they said, What does that mean? I said, We go from a four-bedroom to a two-bedroom. Yep. You know, we've got to put it into perspective, right? Yeah, yes. Well, three bedrooms to two bedroom. It you have to put it into perspective. They were like, okay, and actually you can sell anything if you wrap it up right. Um, not I wasn't saying I'm gonna pull the rug from under you're gonna be homeless. We had a solution. Um and a joint project.
SPEAKER_00And a joint project, yeah. It wasn't just something Mum was doing that she was going on.
SPEAKER_01Because as I said, like I'd I needed them, I still need them today. We need each other, and I think that's quite nice. I'm not superior to them. We're we're very equal. Um, we always have been actually. Um, and so we put the money, so I knew that because we were Facebook first, it was Facebook then. Was it okay? It was about Facebook advertising, and I think the CPA was like four quid. Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00Well, that it's expensive that Facebook advertising now, innit?
SPEAKER_01I know. Oh my God. Um, and so you were spending every month, so we were spending probably about eight to ten grand a month on marketing and some other stuff, and nothing was coming in for a while because you we would need to we were we were the the first player in a market that didn't exist. So we had to educate the market, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And actually, it takes a while for people to trust you and your brand. They need to see it a few times on the tell, on their phone, in a magazine, and then having, I suppose, um, ambassadors that people they look up to and respect and they want to be like. And when did you bring ambassadors into absolute collagen? Uh, four years ago. Oh, so this is actually only relatively new.
SPEAKER_01And we'd never worked with anyone before because I just didn't like the disingenuity. What's the words? Just disingenuous. I just thought, I mean, hey, collagen, especially now. Oh my god, there's it's the wild west. I feel sorry for anybody trying to choose one, uh, even the supplements industry. I was at Parliament the day before yesterday talking to them about the supplement industry. It's shocking. Anyway, um, yeah, so there was I was the face of. So we were so 10 10 years ago, we were told we need to be in shop, we needed the backing of big brand. And I was like, no, I want to be the one that educates the consumer because I found this myself and I want to uh them to understand it and take them on the journey. And so we went direct to consumer, which back then no one was direct to consumer.
SPEAKER_00It's a really risky path, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01But now we are so we were direct consumer for eight years, and we've literally only just last year gone into boots.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I've seen that. That's wonderful. So we're only just doing it now, and actually, I was talking to a gentleman, lovely man, yesterday in Brighton again, and um mentioned you were coming onto the show, and he said, Oh, yeah, I take collagen, but I just pick it up, you know, a Holland Barret or whatever. And I think that there is this thing that all collagen is the same, but it's really not. Do you know?
SPEAKER_01This is one of the reasons we're at Parliament yesterday because it oh, it terrifies me. So I introduce you to collagen, you're like, yeah, knock yourself out, you start taking absolute collagen. Six months later, you want to go somewhere else. I'm all for competition. Competition, you need it, it's healthy, it's great. It keeps everybody present and and you know on their game. However, I can't guarantee the quality or the uh traceability of that collagen, and that terrifies me. Okay. So if you take you know, whether it's a fish, whether it's bovine, they want to grow the animal fast, they they fit it with hormones and antibiotics. Right. And so, yeah, it's shocking. And then the traceability. So we buy uh from one supplier 27 uh farms all within one area, and it's the same supplier, they do so much wonder for that area as well, because the the fish for marine collagen tends to be a low-grazing fish, so they feed on the bottom of the rivers and it's absolutely polluted, heavy metals, rubbish. Um, and so you don't want any of that, so which is why ours is slightly more expensive because it's pure, it's proven, and it's powerful. And there is something to that. It's equally so with um any supplement. So I was taking about 17 supplements at one time because I was telling you earlier, I've been on my own GLP1 journey, my weight loss injections. And I've done it very slowly, I've done it over two and a half years, been on the minimum dose the whole time. But I was taking 17 supplements to uh navigate the side effects, and then I know as a supplement person that this supplement on its own could be fab. This supplement on its own is fab. But when you put them together as a chemistry, okay.
SPEAKER_00Now that is interesting. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And so I went to my team and I was like, I'm taking these 17 supplements, it's doing my head in. They went, right, we'll create a product for you. So they created sculpt for me, which is our GRP1 support. Okay. So it's got eight grams of collagen in each sachet. You are it's a it's a and then it's got 30 clinically aligned ingredients all to support your weight loss journey. But we're getting so many people take it that are just at a certain point in their life that they things are changing and they want a bit more support. Most people take about seven, eight supplements a day anyway. Yeah. So we've put them all together, it's timed. So there's a morning dose and an evening dose. I mean, you've got your B vitamins, your vitamin D, your vitamin C, you've got your collagen, um, and then in the evening you've got your creatine, your BCAAs, everything.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's really interesting. Very interesting. So you're fixing the problem of making sure a woman in her most powerful era, which is what this is, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Has got everything she needs. And lose weight well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And age powerfully is your campaign name, isn't it? So lovely. And you're simplifying it actually. Yeah. But that's very interesting, I think, for anybody listening to be aware that different supplements and different things are going to mix. There's going to be a chemical reaction, and it might not be the best.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it's a mind filled, and so yeah, we just want it to be a little bit more regulated. And also, so if you take ours, we did the biggest uh clinical trial ever done on collagen ever. Okay. It's not the manufacturer's clinical trial because some people say, Oh, we've got our own clinical trial. No, it actually belongs to your manufacturer, but the manufacturers are skewed. So they pay for the trial, and then the trial house, clinical house will say, What results do you want? What do you tell me the sentence you want to be able to say? Yes, BS.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01So we did it completely blind, cost us a fortune. Double blind placebo, meaning even the people that were operating and doing the clinicals did not know which one was real and which which one wasn't. That's brilliant. Gold standard. And we did it on, so we didn't do it. So also what happens with any supplement is most will do their clinical trials on day one. They put it into a sachet. Okay. So this has got 18-month shelf life. So you want to know at the 18 months. So we sped up the shelf life and did it on the final product. That's very, very true. Very interesting, rather, because I think there is a magnesium one that's just been outed. Um and because I don't know if it's do a shelf life or ever, but they they tested it and it had like 3% of what it said. Oh, wow. Yes, you have to be really, really careful. There's also uh one of our competitors, they've got our own their own clinical trial. Ours is deaf, ours has also been uh peer-reviewed and published. That means that even our competitors can look at it and say, Yeah, that's true, because they're looking at the data. And what were the results then from this trial? Oh, we've got 33,000 points of information. Uh it's all the clinicals are on our website. Go and have a look. It shows you how the skin elasticity betters. It's all there. It's got and it's really simplified because it can be quite confusing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay. Well, it's nice to be able to get that and then to actually share it in layman's terms that this and all this information, all this money that's been spent, all that we've gathered means this. Yeah. But it really does.
SPEAKER_01And you do need it. So as one of our main competitors, they've done a cleaner call, hasn't been peer-reviewed or published, and it probably never will, because they've done it on the double the dose that's in there uh that they recommend a day.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that's BS. Well, you so there's in other words, you would have to take two. Well, there's no point doing a trial.
SPEAKER_01Honestly, that really winds me up. It makes me quite angry because false advertising magazine, though. And do you know why it makes me angry? Everyone says to me, why have you not done a menopause supplement, right? The reason we were primed, we were the perfect person to a menopause supplement, because I'm peed off with everybody jumping on the menopause bandwagon, scaremongering women. I will never, I'm about empowering, right? And you've got all these brands like just calling it, you know, calling it a turkey neck, calling it then I'm like, no. Oh, why are you doing that to women? You know, a lot of them men that run it from a spreadsheet, shit ingredients. They don't care. You know, and of course the power of the ingredients, the purity rather. So the only way I can describe it, this has got eight grams in. And somebody might say, Oh, but this one's got 13 grams in. And I say, Yeah, okay, take fairy liquid. Two drops of fairy liquid, seven drops for another. I rest my case. That's all I need to tell you. And that, you know, people just don't understand. And I just think what's happening in the supplement market at the moment is people are becoming quite confused. And there's a lot of scaremongering, there's a lot of BS out there. There's a lot of people making a lot of money from products that are quite crap.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, crap products that are being marketed well with very hard marketing angles.
SPEAKER_01Well, they also, so we play by the rules. All we ever have to do is the next right thing, right? So we never break the rules. So, you know, if if we're not allowed to say, okay, so you could go on to our website and you could take the collagen, right? And say, oh my god, my knee stopped hurting, right? Yes. And that's true, that will happen. So you put it on our website. We're not a medicine, so we take it down because we play by the rules. Whereas the other companies, well, market, this will fix your bad knee. Well, it won't. You can't you're not allowed to say that, right? But they've already said it. So by the time the uh the food standards or the HMRA come in, it's already been said and it's out there.
SPEAKER_00And people have heard it, they believe and they believe listen. Yeah, it honestly is. Right. I've just got my clock ticking. Yeah, I think it's absolutely fascinating, absolutely collagen. And I'm going to be looking at the website and actually reading this myself because studying psychology, the peer reviews and the way it's been done properly, it means a lot to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But it is a little bit of a concern. It is. That people who haven't had that type of education and don't understand the standards are being said that there's a bit of advice or there's a little bit of research, but not all research is equal. No.
SPEAKER_01And I I'm not, you know, I'm not educated in a way that I can do that. I haven't got a degree in science, but we have the people that do. I mean, Darcy does. She knows she's got a food science degree. We've got doctors, we've got well, two doctors actually.
SPEAKER_00So we have the we employ the people to do the work for us. Yeah. And that's again going back to what you said right at the beginning. Play to your strengths and bring in the ones that you need.
SPEAKER_01And you know, anybody that feels right now they're still on the edge of something. So I I remember standing on the edge of a cliff, I call it, looking down, thinking, if I don't take this chance, this risk, if I take that step, am I going to free fall or am I going to fly?
SPEAKER_00Okay, how interesting. I did a bit of both. And I think that is actually true in most areas of life. Everything.
SPEAKER_01It's fine. Some of that have the ups or the downs, it happens.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good. Oh, I'm glad you jumped. Me too. Fly and free fall, I don't care. You look fabulous, doing it, darling. So on the champagne series, I always ask the same three questions towards the end, and we've got about 10 minutes left here. I could talk to you all day, you know that. Um, what is a truth, Maxine, about your life that most people would never actually guess?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, I say this, I'm actually a really simple person. Okay. And people are like, really? I'm at my happiest when I'm outdoors. I've got running shorts, a cap, no makeup, and I'm lost. Okay. I'm running somewhere on a cliff and I'm lost, and it's peeling down with rain, and I'm having to think on my feet, and I just I'm a nomad. That I think would shock a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because you're this powerful front-running corporate co-founder, you know, but that's where you're you're most at peace.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I'm I'm actually quite a simple person. I remember growing up on my life thinking, oh, I'm really complex. Now I actually think you're very, very simple, and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's really lovely, actually. And when you've not got other people um in your life complicated, you really find out who you are. Love that one. And where in your life, Maxine, did you abandon yourself? Ooh. And how did you come back?
SPEAKER_01I think I'd abandoned myself my whole life until I did that project, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_00Okay, and that's the project where you actually became a few.
SPEAKER_01So 49. Yeah. So I think I've always abandoned myself until then.
SPEAKER_00And interestingly enough, at 49 is when you built this beautiful empire or started to with a root of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. So I'd I think I'd abandon myself the whole of my life. Okay. That's quite sad.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I think that there are probably, and I know for a fact, there are probably people who abandon themselves right through to the end of their lives. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it takes it takes something to, you know, I don't want to say it'll take a lot of guts because you've got it's circumstantial as well. You know, some people are in circumstance, they can't change, and that breaks my heart. Um but yeah, I've done abandoning myself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good. Absolutely. Exhausting. Do you know what? Not abandoning yourself looks good on you, mate. I love it. And then finally, if there is a woman watching this, and obviously we've got the YouTube here, it's not just on audio, feeling stuck, perhaps where you once were. What does she need to hear, but not what is nice to hear?
SPEAKER_01What she needs to do, she needs to stand in front of the mirror, she needs to look into her eyes and hold it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And say, She is enough, and realize that everything she needs is inside of her. Okay, so I just love that. Like that is so powerful. Everything you need, and it's not the same as everyone else because you look at somebody else and like, oh, do I need to be like that? No, no, no, no. Whatever you're if you're stuck in life in any way, or you're starting a business, or whatever you're doing, everything comes from you. So you have to find it within you, and it's there. Everything you need is inside you. I promise. You just have to have the courage to to really dig into it to find it and allow it, and the courage to allow it to come out because if it doesn't fit the bot, people are going to question it, right? Yeah. But allow it to be because it's it's so exhausting not doing it.
SPEAKER_00So exhausting and so draining, and also so distracting looking to too many others, or they've got that. I couldn't do that, I can do that. That action beat in perfection, that self-belief and the acceptance of self.
SPEAKER_01Acceptance of self, but you can only accept yourself once you've got to know yourself. And I think a lot of people run away from their true selves, like I did. I won't say I'm run away, I just didn't get it, and then suddenly it's like, yeah, I'm Maxine. Stand up and be counted.
SPEAKER_00We're all supposed to be different in life. And that kind of shadow self. I did some work with a psychotherapist some years ago, and um, she spoke about Carl Jean and how through life we've got this backpack of elements of ourselves. Some we really like, some we don't. Okay. Most people go along life and they do not unpack this backpack. But if you are at a point in your life where you're starting to and you're doing on this journey, you're taking things out of that backpack, you're looking at it, and sometimes it's a bit uncomfortable. What do you do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I'm doing that at the moment, actually. I'm having coaching at the moment, and it's the first time I've ever had coaching, and it's about looking at what doesn't work for me. And the reason I'm having this coaching is because I meet a lot of people forward-facing. And if somebody's energy doesn't feel pure, I withdraw. That's great though. No, it doesn't do me any favours. How's that?
SPEAKER_00It's business, it is great and personal, but in business sometimes you've got to play the game. Okay, so sometimes you've got to work with the assholes in business.
SPEAKER_01Well, not necessarily assholes, you know, you've got I gotta look beyond. So, you know, I I used to used to well done, Maxine. Not but I couldn't bear it when somebody brought out a product and they suddenly become a celebrity. Okay, interesting. Ah, that and I would recoil, but it doesn't do me any favours in a business or social setting.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Because I need to see their why.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We've all got a different why, and I need to be a bit more accepting. So I'm having I'm having coaching now on understanding my energy, where it's best spent, but also sometimes I need to put that yellow cape on for my absoluters.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I need to absorb that energy because it's the right thing for the business.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's so good. So that's actually a step beyond. This is the next level. Because you're safeguarding and protecting that brand and that business. Yeah, that is so interesting. Love that. Well, listen, Maxine, you I just think we need to live together, actually. Honestly, I really do. You are, yeah, come down here. It's great down here. Um, thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sharing your story and also your messages and your ideas, and and they are inspiration. You're an inspiration, Maxine. And I am so, so honoured and so pleased that I know you. I really am.
SPEAKER_01And I'm so honoured to be here and to be invited.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me. Bless you, bless you. So, you have been listening to the champagne series with the wonderful Maxine Laceby, Absolute Collagen. And we've spoken about all sorts of wonderful things, um, business journeys, and becoming who you are. So, try some of these techniques out because let me tell you, they look great on Maxine. Thanks so much. Take care, see you soon.
