We all have dreams of living an adventurous life, taking risks, and being the master of our own destiny. But what does it really take to be successful when you're not following the beaten path? Indie chats with Gregory Macdonald, Founder and CEO of Bathorium, a clean and passionate beauty bathing brand, how he turned an irresistible idea into a successful brand and business. They dig into their entrepreneurial lives, explaining why every investment, sacrifice, or effort they put in has always proved to be a blessing in the end.
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We all have dreams of living an adventurous life, taking risks, and being the master of our own destiny. But what does it really take to be successful when you're not following the beaten path? Indie chats with Gregory Macdonald, Founder and CEO of Bathorium, a clean and passionate beauty bathing brand, how he turned an irresistible idea into a successful brand and business. They dig into their entrepreneurial lives, explaining why every investment, sacrifice, or effort they put in has always proved to be a blessing in the end.
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Welcome back to coming clean with indie lay. I'm your host Andy Lee. Today's guest is Greg McDonald, founder and CEO a bathroom bathroom is a Canadian based brand that I found and fell in love with as they focus on the bathing ritual, creating a moments of pause for consumers so that they can reconnect with themselves. As somebody who loves a good soak. You know, I all love my spa day So I would love for you to share a little bit about how Bethel REM came to be. And really what that purpose and why is. Yeah, of course. So I've been a bath taker my whole life and but I always say like I bathed in ignorance, like as a kid, I would use whatever if at the, at the drugstore, or at other products or homemade stuff. I wasn't picky, I really didn't know anything outside of the ritual Yeah, I don't think yesterday, but coming out now because you can hear it. They can hear that on your plate for a 14 year old boy. But, uh, yeah, so I saw I loved it, but I really wasn't particularly what I put in my bath. And I always assumed that I have very sensitive skin. So I would always assume that like, Oh, yeah, I'm dry or my sheets are dyed blue, or I have a rash. Or, you know, it was just like, I didn't lather up in like, butter afterwards, like I vegetable butter because I was so dehydrated and dry. So that was my Yeah, I was worried at that age. It's a lot more fun. If you weren't on a I was on a $500 MasterCard budget, so I would go now, or it's not hostels, and, you know, and, and the Metro for food, but um, a lot of fun. And I started in Ireland and I worked my way down to Italy. And Italy is my last stop and I checked into this house rental where there was an owner and then she rented out the four bedrooms to travelers. And so I beautiful Italian homes I want like I love architecture. I just wanted to get like you literally went into her bedroom and in her bed was all open. It was like our bathroom. I think it's only two bathrooms of whole place. So I went in there to this beautiful bathtub underneath the window that overlooks the city of Positano. Amalfi Coast. Right next to the bathtub. She had this shelf and it was full of different little vials of essential oils and jars of salts and clays and milks and butters started smelling them. And I was just interested in all that, obviously. And she came in and she was like 94, three foot three, no, no. And she said, Can I draw you a bath? Like, would you like me to draw you a bath, and I was a know you, every time I use your products, that's what I'm thinking is that I'm having a little bit of that experience. Because the products, the ingredients that you're using, are so pure Oh, so clean, and there, it really is nourishing to your skin. It's a whole different level. Frankly, we still lead r&d and formulation of the brand new product lines, and everything has to evoke that yes, we really we really hammer that home. Oh my gosh. So I can only imagine how many baths you take in the r&d cost. A lot. Right That night? Yeah. Yeah, so I know you were not in beauty before this, though. Like, so where was it? Were you always an entrepreneur? Yeah, always an entrepreneur. From the early days, I used to have like craft sales and a monopoly on Kool Aid stands and growing up though, I actually started a catering company in grade six called youthful indulgence. And I was in grade six and I would put fliers up all around Greg, and then they call me in from from my other room. Oh, my gosh, I was like Mom, you're turning down Nortel. She's like you are in math class fourth period like where do you have time to do 500 egg salad sandwiches? Oh my god, what do you do? Oh, my mom and me close it down. She's like focus on focus on school catering companies later. But yeah, I've had like numerous like I love to create. To beauty, and yeah, it does mean you are an alchemist and artists and alchemists is the way I see it a bath allergist, if you will. A bath ologists Yes, I hope you trademark that. I mean, that's brilliant. Yeah, we have a sub brand called the biologist. That's amazing. We created a company within our company. I love it. Oh my gosh, that's so true. I mean, just the I mean, I'll never forget, I was reading like this bourbon and this bourbon. I was like, oh, okay, I'll take a bath with that. I mean, but seriously, products at least prior to me being getting invested but bootstrapped? Right. So, for me bootstrapping means that every yes means that notice something else? Right? It's that that that constant push and pull that you need to have with the team and with yourself? And I mean, let's be honest, that's all there's a thrilling part of that, but it's also a lot of reprioritizing you know, really weighing options the bullet. So we did New York now, in 2018. We were next to CEO, Bigelow value, spot, and sugarfina. So multi billion dollar brands and the most beautiful installations you've ever seen. And then it was our little 10 by 10, where we had poured all of my money into it. And I had asked, I think we had borrowed a little bit of money from a couple other people to make this work. So we also weren't, make those decisions. And very thankfully, it worked out New York now 2019, we ended up closing some phenomenal accounts, some of our best accounts today were brought in from that single show. So we really paved the right call, but it's hard as much printer like to make those calls. Like if we hadn't gone to New York now, but we got the bay, we might not need the bay, but one of the buyers. So opportunities. And yeah, I think it's part of our DNA. And I think it's a blessing because I think if you get if you get complacent you plateau. And then we know in this business, that there's a lot less barriers to entry for entrepreneurs. So a lot the book can start these brands with, you know, the powers of Shopify and Alibaba, like people can really recreate what we've done or you know, do forgotten about where our own competition, we're always going to find ways to be better with ourselves. Because I find if I start looking and I listen, I'm human, too. I look and go, Oh, how come this brand has that? And how come that brand has that? And I've been doing this since then. That's I often lose sight of the why. Right, which for me was to create change, always. But it's so hard not to didn't celebrate every one of those as much as I probably should have. And so one of the things that I'm tasking myself with is to recreate or not recreate, but to actually take time and create another vision board for what the next indie Li 3.4 point oh, whatever that is, you know, post pandemic and beyond? Yeah, because I do think there's so much power for putting things out to the Why am I doing this? Right? This is the people. You know, I think we all talked to us on the live as my cup gets runneth over when I read our reviews. So I go into our reviews, at least once a week, and I read them on our radar info at people who are writing into us, and they say, like, just thank you, like, thank you, thank you, thank you. I've taken a bath again, or my kids can use products and I mean, I am very honest about not taking any money out of the company. My other business partner, Rebecca, both of us we didn't take money, how the company, really until 2007 teen ish, and then we were invested in but you know, it was hard. 100% and like, I mean, I didn't have a relationship from 24 until 30. Like I dated bath auria my dated my work I you know, holidays. That's cute. We got sales to do. Really weekend's what's the weekend retails going. Hello, that's trade shows. And like we used to make, like I used to make the product by hand for the first three years is mean like to staff but I was fully clocked in making those bath bombs. And, and yeah, we didn't didn't take a salary either for years, and yeah, you give up relationships. And it's like, as a 20 year old in my 20s as a gay You're too picky. But it's true. It's you know, but that's what you do. And yet, I wouldn't want to do anything else. Despite the things that I gave up. And listen, my my family gave up a lot to my kids gave up time with me. And yet, when I have the conversations with them, they said we would never change a thing. Watching you build this company, is what continues to inspire us is what they the team, who I truly consider an extension of my family. The one I got to choose. I missed that. And I look forward to what the potential is for the week ahead coming up. So it's so funny that you said that because that's that's exactly how I feel. Yeah, I don't know if my team feels that way sometimes, but I'm sure they hoping they do, I hope. So I really believe one of our greatest gifts is their ability to ask for help. Right. And I talked about this, I was just talking about this before in a previous podcast, because we can't be all knowing and good at everything. Like that's just not possible. I think it's a strength to be able to say, I know this, and I don't know that. And that the don't know is to ask for help. I also believe We started our companies the same day, she was my manager at the Shangri La. So when I went back after Italy to the bar, she was my manager on the floor. And we were close. But we were she's obviously a manager and employee relationship. And she she's like, hey, great to talk to you. I started this company a teak because she's our tea Smalley. She created the whole tea program for these this five you don't know how big that is. I feel depleted. So I totally understand. You're like, I thought this was I've been working on this forever. Like when we got we have certain certifications, or we went a couple like beauty awards and like, guess what they're like, Oh, that's cute. That's cool. That's awesome. And it's like Sheena Nye though we get to celebrate or write you know, like cash flow issues. I'm like, Sheena, what do I for a minute and diving right back into a different industry and back to those granular problems starting out and its gut feeling. I love it. I feel I've definitely had those meetings. I feel so good. I do get it. I do. Because that's part of why I do the podcast is to have dialogues with other founders and share their stories which fills my cup because again, it's that absolute drive and passion You have such great energy, I feel like people love to talk with you because you give off that energy. Like, you're right now filling my cup, like having this conversation is his cup feeling like I believe heavily in energy and people carry, you know, good energy negative energy batteries, good auras. And I think, you know, people really gravitate to you, if you have a pole, like with your it a little earlier, but it is the comparing yourself to brands the beginning, I was such a victim of that where I would see other brands, and I would just feel so discouraged, but I would see them succeed until the early stages of like, well, how come I didn't get in there, or they would win an award or influencer would pick their bath product over hours, or we weren't even in the running. And It's amazing, the whole car should in turn my internal ethos and mantra of entrepreneurship and being a leader changed. And so I really see a lot of entrepreneurs who say no to focusing on the competition, or they're saying, you know, this is the global industry vailable as the full market share, and I'm going to capture this much of it. And you know, they keep driving to squash or to be to and learn from one another? Yes, there's so many things we can learn. I agree and that's why it that's part of why I love interviewing other skincare founders and why aren't even like love household you founded a founder and people are always shocked at that. And I've always looked at it like goes back to and I'm sure you probably saw this although I'm dating myself. The the movie Miracle on 34th So important. If you help people get what they need, if you're not the right brand, or you don't have it, why not offer other someone else who's in your space? It's not one versus the other. It's all of us together. And I always looked at my business that way. Always. I've never looked at it any other way that why not share? Why not shine a light on someone else? Totally. That was so beautiful. part of our body that does kind of snake dervishes our foot like that is what's in what's on the ground every day. And stuff like me, my partner do the lock toes, and you almost get like silly like it really ties down any tension. And it's a great way we get it's way more productive. It's way more positive. So yeah, I recommend just taking this one. Yeah. We if you go for reflexology, together we that is a bit Yes. Like, but I think we can take this up a notch. I love it. Okay, so any Well, first of all, how do people find you? And we will be putting this in the show notes. But how do people find you and bet dorium Yeah, so you can visit Bethel room on Instagram at live authorea or me personally is at Greg MACD. And then also bathroom comm you'll You never know i think that's phenomenal idea. When we shoot back in Italy you have to come join Netflix I will absolutely yeah, absolutely in Positano I will be there with you, I assure you like passport will travel. Great. Greg, thank you so much for joining us today. truly appreciate it. And I love being able to share space with you. Thank you so much for having me again. truly an honor. Well, that concludes another episode of coming clean with indie Lee, thanks so much for listening. If Feel free to email me at coming clean at indie lead calm that's coming clean at indie. We'll see you next episode.