SPEAKER_00 0:00

I think you I think you are on the right track about bringing somebody to help you with the business. I think I will encourage you to do that. I think like figure out what you really want to do in the business. It sounds that it's a lot of education, customer service thing. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

So we're gonna start with Jet. Jet has some questions.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Yeah, and then we're gonna go into a more business. So I know you want to go national and you have spent a lot of time researching, like working on this product, research in the last three, four years, and you're really passionate about it. Yes. Can you can you tell me a little bit more about what has been the trademark, branding, copyrights? Have you had anybody trying to steal your idea?

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

So tell me more about it.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Yes. And I mean they're not doing it legally, and I don't mean because they sold the idea. Um, they're not doing it legally because a lot of the people that are going to try to do this don't understand the heavy regulations on in the pet space. So I'm not out there going to report or anything like that, especially if they're doing it from online, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Um it's not as a single person doing it from the online.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

I will say that we're differentiated anyway. It cannot be patented. It's not possible to patent our product. Um, and as a pill rap, that is my fault. I when I was testing the market for the pill wrap, I was became public about it. And and when I was testing it, I did not have NDAs. I did not realize that then made it impossible to patent. So from a pill rap perspective, I could have patented if I had looked into that before I told anyone. I uh unfortunately, in order to test to see if it was even viable, I moved forward and then I had it online.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

And I've heard a lot of business owners, like even here and like in the studio we've talked to, have issues like that. So that's why it's important for new entrepreneurs, people with product specifically, right to make sure you consult an attorney and honestly a CPA. But how do you find out?

SPEAKER_03 2:11

And and my my argument a little bit is how do you find out if it's even viable if you don't test the market for it? So what was the issue? I tested it without NDAs and I put it online on our socials.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

What do you mean we put it online?

SPEAKER_03 2:27

You maybe I showed that it can be I showed that it could be used as a pill wrap. Because I showed that it could be used as a pill wrap, now I made it public, now it's an education. Now it's no longer able to be patented. To be fair, and I want to be fair to this, is that if someone's going to do this themselves at home or something like that, I don't care. Like I don't want people to struggle. So from a business perspective, if I wanted to be like no competition ever, then then you know, getting the patent would be good. And we were patent pending for the first year, and I let that run out because we were still in the research and development phase. Because I let it run out and was public at that point, that's why I lost that status. So from a lickable, from the licking standpoint as well. So no one is able to patent it. And I'm and I'm saying it's not just me, no one can patent it.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Um, I'm not too concerned about that, and and I'll I'll I'll tell you why, as long as when we launch, we launch hard and hit the market and for the brand awareness. And so, which really comes down to funding, and which I guess we're gonna get into the funding um aspect and uh uh and talk about those foundational things. That's also one of the reasons why I pulled back visibility, kind of halted a lot of things with TripMods. So I have little things here and there just to keep on the minds of of some people, and also because I love the the network that I've created and the people that I the friendships and relationships.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And the product has been so helpful to so many too. So right.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

So I'm not completely stopped. I still have our website up, I still have some products, you know, if if for for the people that need it that that might freak out if I pull it. However, I'm not doing anything actively to market it or to get exposure or visibility at all right now. That makes sense. Um that I pulled back on that. And just temporarily because we're hoping by the end of the year to actually be able to do a a true launch. Of course, the timelines and some of the other things that have to be set up are are important. So we'll talk about that from a trademark perspective. Um, I did not get a trademark. Some of that is also for for the trip months. It is the word trip months and the brand and the licky tallow are not in use anywhere else on the internet. I did um uh a lot of deep diving on that before we even created it. Um but once you have a trademark, you have to legally, you really have to have the attorneys in place, and then you have to um defend your trademark. If you don't defend your trademark, you lose it. Um we don't have the funding to do that right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Most like in my research, I was really interested in this for like many years ago, and I did a lot of research on that. And most companies don't defend their trademarks actually.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

That's very, very common.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

It was like something like 80 plus percent. So the only people who actually defend trademarks are the only reason the only way that's actually like uh feasible to continue a trademark is if it's one of the big like Walmart, like right. So when you get to those sizes it is, but then again, your competition's so scarce at that point, it's like well I and I mean if someone wanted to create trip months or licky tallow.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

And in the pet space, they wouldn't be able to anyway because when you you know when you register your your name um it it it can't really be within the same space anyway. Yeah so I'm not I'm not too concerned about that. I and uh so as far as the patenting, the formula in the product, I'm not as uh what what gives me a little bit of comfort, so say some of the big pet brands catch wind that there was an a gap here and something they could do. Um there's a lot of things that they would do to cut cost in an industrial type of way. It would not be the same quality, it would not be the same texture, it wouldn't probably be able to probably be I mean they would probably actually undercut us. You think they yes, I I I believe that they would they they would undercut us, but that's because they would probably be using um the kind of machines that can also increase the risk of pathogens. So when we hear about um pet food and pet treat recalls, um, a lot of that is for contamination with things like salmonella, listeria. Um fats can be contaminated, but fats, the way that we do it, that's not really a risk. And um and the way that we render it. But that's also because we're not using the machinery where things can get in there and hide and then go and so like kibble recalls with listeria, some of that is because of the it usually it's chicken fat in that you know, in that, but um there is um they have these like tubes and they spray it onto the kibble and they're very difficult to fully clean, so it can it continues to contaminate until they find the source of contamination. Um everything that we do in small batches, which uh uh actually decreases risk. So it does seem like it's more hands-on, and it is because but I also want that for the people that are gonna be employed, right? Even though it's more hands-on, we actually have more control over the sanitation, um, the preventing any kind of um contamination from things that were that were raw. Um we now like after we render it, there is nothing raw. Those things have only ever touched one protein, beef. Wow. That's it. None of the pro none of the the cookware or anything that we use has ever touched another protein. And I mean, that's also, again, for the animals that have allergies. You don't have to, you won't have to worry with our product. Um, but we do we do render it differently than than the way that um commercial tallows are rendered. Uh we they they will buy in bulk and they will buy all of the fat on the animal. Well, that's not going to give you the same consistency that we have that allows you to actually mold it around. That's a very oily, and I almost brought in three different examples of tallows that I actually love and would either for cooking or for moisturizer, you know, for help for beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

And I have some that I we've talked about. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

I I love these, the I there's nothing against these brands. I love these brands. I love the tallow that that they do. And of course, I do grass-fed, grass-finished, and I do grass-fed, grass-finished because it's balanced in omega-3 and omega-6, which is very important to me. I don't have to think about it. I just know it's non-inflammatory. Um, I also know it has higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid, but I don't want to get into that. And so for me personally, I like it, but I also like that I know that how the animals were treated.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

And I know where the farms and the ranches were. So my thing is if I'm going to consume an animal, I want to use all parts of it, and I want to um make sure that the life of it was sustainable. So they're not gonna do that. They're not gonna they they don't they won't have the ability and the way that they source is very different. They're not going to those small grass-fed, grass-finished ranches to to source directly from them. They're just not, they're not gonna do that because those small ranches don't have uh they're not gonna have the supply that they need anyway that they already use, because they already use beef fat in a lot of their products. So they're gonna just continue doing the beef fat source that they are. That's awesome. So so that's where I'm not as concerned with the big brands. Small brands I get really nervous buying certain things from small businesses unless I really look into them because of the way that um they might they might not actually understand safety, food safety. And there's a lot more there, uh which is the reason why we need health departments, we need FDA, we need USDA. Um, I am not opposed to them and think it I don't think it's over-regulation. I think it actually keeps us safe. Definitely and um, and so understanding food safety and uh is is very important, but I also don't a lot of them there has to be a kill step in a process. So I will never buy and I probably shouldn't say this on here because I might get some flack, but I won't I personally won't buy freeze-dried rye raw um raw meat, freeze-dried treats from a small business because they don't have the ability for a kill step. That makes sense. Um the large brands do.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

So inside the source they're gonna explain to us what a kill step is for the killing all the pathogens.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Freeze-drying does not kill pathogens. Freeze-drying puts them they stay in the state they were in. So they could still be contaminated with parasites, listeria, so you know, um, the the things that can make your pets very sick or possibly kill them if their immune if their immune system is compromised. That makes sense. And it's not things that you will see. So, like sometimes even grass-fed, grass-finished products, it sounds great. Well, they're healthier, right? No, you have things within the soil.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

It's like the raw milk, right? Everyone wants the raw milk, but it's so unregulated when you get it from the code.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Well, your your great-grandparents and stuff that had raw milk would boil at first. That's pasteurization. Right? They're boiling, they're boiling because boil bringing it to a boil point is a is a kill step. So when we're rendering tallow, we're bringing it to the to the kill point, that is, you know, to a temperature that actually is a kill step. When we were dehydrating, when we were doing the the sprinkles and the treats um with beef heart and beef liver, because we did that on the side for for some of our um customers. When we were doing that, I mean same thing. We were dehydrating to the to where the temperature reached 165 degrees as a kill step, um, and then very low moisture um again so that it it would last and and make sure that there's no pathogens.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I know here, and this is off topic, completely off topic. So uh I am from Cuba and I grew up in Cuba. Yes, and always in Cuba everybody drink in the morning hot milk. You know? You take the milk? Yes. You hit it up.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

And they you heat it up because that that's what's that makes it safe.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

But here in the US, we just go to the supermarket and people don't really drink hot milk. They think we are they drink cold milk.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Right, but if you were drinking hot milk, it might be because the milk was not pasteurized.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

That makes sense now. I'm like I I'm always like, yeah, I don't and even now I even go here to the supermarket, I I gotta put my milk in the microwave.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

I'm so used to it. I mean to hot milk.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Hot milk, there's nothing wrong with hot milk.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

I think it's good. That's what I'm doing. It's like yeah, hot chocolate is just nice milk, it seems like now, like somehow my mama, like the the way to my hot milk for the for the morning is that I get a cup, I put it in the macro wife, then I put some salt on it.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Some sugar, some uh some coconut oil.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Some syrup. It's pretty good. Like chocolate, chocolate syrup then? Like those herds.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

You make yourself a little bit of chocolate, like a hot chocolate. Yeah, chocolate salad.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yes, hot chocolate and like I don't know about you guys, but when you were a kid, did you guys get like did your parents or my grandparents would do this? They would make us like chocolate milk but heat it up. So it was hot chocolate, but not it was like actually chocolate milk. Right, right. But they would heat it. My grandma would do on the stove. So what she would actually do like pieces of a chocolate bar. Yes. Oh, cool. And she would do that, and then she would add the milk in. So she would melt the chocolate and then add the milk. It was really good.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

So uh during the winter, if you want to eat milk drink hot chocolate, just add a little thing of Andes into it.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

It's so good. You just throw like one of the best. That's my that's it.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, but now that you mentioned that, oh, that is why in Cuba culturally we just grow blah dad. And that makes sense because there is a lot of country, you know, there is a lot of people in the countryside where they just get the meal straight from the cats. Yeah. And then there is this culture of like you want the meal, you guys you got your butter, all of that.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

And that that's actually more common around the world. So that's more common in our in our western countries like the United States, Canada, Europe, um, that's where the pasteurization comes in with the milk just to be able to put it on the market. And um, you know, just to get it onto the shelves and make sure that everyone's safe. Um, that that's why you if you buy it from the supermarket, you don't have to warm it up. It's safe straight from it.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

I did not realize that, and now that makes so much sense. And I always like culture. I'm like, why like and people make fun of me because I just drink my meal warm and I I I put it on the microwave.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Well, I've been confused at first. I was like, what do you mean warm milk?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

But that makes that well, how many well, you know, like people would give their kids warm milk at night to help them sleep. And if you're at least for me, it was like chocolate warm chocolate milk. Because it's also it's soothing. And and when it's cold, it doesn't like doesn't feel right. I think for me, or it's a I so but then again, I don't really drink a lot of cold things anyway. My stomach doesn't like cold, so I don't usually drink straight out of the fridge. That is so interesting. I like room temperature. I know that makes sense though.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

That makes sense that bust the recession. Now I have everything I can ex I can explain. Okay, this is why culturally, this is why it happens. I just I grew up around.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

And now it's a We're learning so much here. Right, but now it's a comfort thing for you.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

I drink it just a it's a habit, it's comfort every morning, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Even on vac on vacations, you can't. Yeah, drink it.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

I mean like on vacation because sometimes you don't have uh minor gas sensible and I just drink yogurt. Yes. Like you're not gonna get a big thing.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

So if you if you travel to other countries and it's not pasteurized milk that you're buying at the store, heat it up. Boil it past the 165. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

So but that's the interesting we're and we're all so young that we sometimes forget why these things were put in place for you know, and uh for the health and safety. And health and safety, of course, is really important to me. And that's and very important from the TripMutz brand because our core customer and our core client are the pets that are struggling with complex medical conditions. Medical conditions, their their body, they're not considered the healthy that can just survive something.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah, like like a leak of listeria or something like that, right? Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Right. And um, and they might have allergies and everything else. So, like if if my if someone gives um one of our dogs a treat that has fish in it, um, well, my daughter has an anaphylactic fish allergy. So several hours later, if Winnie goes up and Winnie licks and she's a licker, yeah, and she licks Delaney, she will get a rash. If it's up on her face, it can be anaphylactic, and we're talking hosp, you know, going to the hospital. Thankfully, we have lots of epi pens. Yes. Uh, but so that's that's really important to us. That's awesome. And so as a brand trip months, um, we we do want to have the trust of our customer base and and of the veterinary veterinary field. So how we do things, I want to be an open book about. So as we are developing and as we launch, um, we want to show what we're doing. I would love to do um, there's some more studies and testing that I would love to do as we go along. I would love to add other types of fat instead of just beef for those who have a beef allergy, um, more novel. But there's only a couple that have the same hardness that would do what we we do. So I still want to test venison and sheep. Now, venison, there's only a couple states that have venison farms, and you have to you have to buy from a deer farm legally for the USDA before you can before you can sell. But sheep and um and deer are the only two that have the same hardness that would work. Um, and those would be considered novel proteins. So, from like a vet allergy and dermatology doctor that has um uh you know, they're doing they're testing different brands and they want a novelty one thrown in there while they're excluding everything else, that could still work from that.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

That's awesome. Yeah. Uh that's so cool. And then like uh I know last episode we were talking a little bit about employees. We said we were going to talk about processes. Uh I would love to hear about I would love to hear more about the CEO you are trying to bring. Like, what is going to make that person like a good uh successful? Do you know, do you have strict goals? What happened if this person style don't perform, are you ready to get ready hard within three months?

SPEAKER_03 18:37

So the the person that I have in mind that I want and I have wanted her to run my company since the very beginning, and she knows this, but she had a very good career and she needs medical benefits and a salary. So that's where funding comes in. She I I worked with her um uh starting, I think we first met. I so I've lived in Nashville for almost 15 years now. Yeah. And I started working at the Dollar General Corporation first, and I think it was within a year that I met her, possibly. And she was working, she has a very strong track record with the companies that she's worked for and um and incredible with bringing things to market and and making the connections with corporations. Um, she loves people, she's uh been a small business owner herself with her husband. Um, she's also involved in politics type stuff, but like is one of the most trusted.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Um, but she's she's just incredible. And so she's who I is I there have been a couple people we were looking for partners over the past couple years, and there have been a couple people that we tested that just didn't work out and for one reason or the other. She's been one that I have have a have always had a vision of, and she has a lot of dogs, a lot of pugs too. Uh Lily is actually her sorry, I should I gotta stop dropping names because someone might know who I'm talking about. They might be like, I know that dog. Hey, we only have like 11 listeners here, so and they're all like family has Lily the pug is hers and who loves this stuff anyway. Um, but they had a catering uh uh a catering and restaurant food business because her husband's a chef. And he would also do tallow, and when he was in school, you know, um with uh I can't remember where he went to culinary school. Right, yeah. Um, but they would actually work with with tallow and stuff with in culinary school too. So uh, but there's they have the understanding of even the the safety, the food safety portion of it, which is not something that's easy to find, that also understands the sales and the contracts and the trade shows and exhibits and how the whole process works. That I think is is a really key area, and loves and loves people and doesn't get drained the way that's and I mean I I absolutely love people. I love people. I also have major social anxiety, and my battery can get drained. Um, and that's without medical stuff making things more difficult. Uh and so I always knew that I needed I needed the right people, the right team to move it forward. And I knew that when we grow, we can grow way too fast. So we have um uh it there's Redstone Media and Animal Wellness Magazine, Innovative Veterinary Care Journal. Um, we've have a relationship with them who are ready to spread the word when when we're ready. But we need to be able to know that we have the right team in place to scale because if we start getting too many orders and we're not able to meet that volume, we're not able, we don't even have, you know, the people necessary to, you know, or the processes in place. We don't have the processes in place. We're we're going to drown.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

And that's important. We've we've experienced it too, but like the other way, I mean, we we grew too quickly, which was good because we got to see a lot of issues that we were able to do.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Did I tell too many people about you?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

You said you sent everyone to us. No, um, no, we we really appreciate it. But it was good for from our business because we don't have an actual physical product, it was good and we were able to. hire and fill in those gaps because we wouldn't have recognized it would have taken us years to recognize it if we would have grown slowly. Right. But I can see how you building a foundation around the product of being able to pet space employees.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

The pet space is heavily regulated. Yeah. There's also a lot that we have to show. So like um there's in the veterinary space alone because we're really talking about hitting the veterinary space first. Well while obviously doing online too direct to consumer. So you're going to have wholesale veterinary space, chewy Amazon before ever getting in store. We don't want to be in your retail locations until we have brand awareness and a good customer base that that actually go in the product because you need the product correct we do not want the product sitting on the shelf. So we will have a sell by date on the product that's for retailers only, right? And then we'll have a sticker in there that can go when you actually open your container we'll have the production date but when you open your container you'll put that date and then within two months we we say you probably discard it. If you know enough about tallow that you know how to smell it, test it, make sure that it's still safe, go ahead and keep using it with it anything.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Like right if you don't with milk, you know, if the milk used by data is right this day but you smell it you're like okay it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

If you if you're not familiar with tallow and how to check to make sure that it's good, we want people to just be like you know within two months now two months is on the low end, but I don't want any animal to be dealing with a rancid product because it was left open because moisture got into it. They're in a high humid area. They left it out in the light or the heat.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I d I don't want that to occur so like some more conservative you know being safe yes sorry.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

It's not because I want you to continue buying and get all your money of of course do that. But it's not that it's it's really um I to get rid of the risk. Uh so that no one's um negatively impacted just because of lack of knowledge. So I think that's definitely so right but for a retail these if if you don't know what this is, you don't know what it is. And and we were trying to figure out well how can we package something that's that's novel that's so different from what else is out there that you're gonna look at it and you'll know what it is. Well we can't do that right now. We can't do that until you know you see it some other way. And most people if they're if their pet's on medication and they're they're taking medication they're going to a vet. So if their vet knows about the product and they know the animal and you tell your vet that your pet is having trouble taking medication you're very upset you are both in distress because this is a hard thing and I'm I'm I'm telling you it is a hard thing. I the tears are real. Then if they know about it and they can say well how did you try this? Right? Maybe they can try it inside their clinic because we do have eight ounce um jars that are a professional uh one and maybe they can just give one there and see whether or not the animal will take it right and so if they do that then that's gonna be your first time trying us. And then say in an educational environment so you learn how to properly from a veterinary perspective um usually like their prescription diets there it's very low margin for them right they're not making the them selling you a prescription diet is not making them a lot of money. It's like an average of three dollars for the bag that that they get that's like it's nothing. They're doing it because they care about you. We want it priced effectively that this is actually helping them because veterinary staff the the veterinarians and vet techs are severely underpaid. That's why this I mean that along with the emotional stress um they have one of the highest suicide rates out of all careers. And they they deal and they and they go to school the same amount of time as your doctor as your human doctor and they know a whole bunch of things like that are more complex than your doctor who specializes in one thing. And and so we want to be able to hopefully help them. So say you run out of this and you forgot to order online right we we want you to just go in and get it again from your vet because that also helps support them too. Definitely and um and your vet is going to be the one that we want to teach them in the vet techs which are probably the ones that are going to have the most um uh direct client and we want them to understand how to use it so really educating them will help to educate the consumer so we don't necessarily need to be in retail just yet one of the things from a process perspective would be instead of going to our website and ordering our website is more for information purposes and we send you to chewy or Amazon if you're gonna order online. And then their distribution centers, you know, they have their warehouses and everything we can have things there that they will then ship to you in the packages with all of your other purchases. And I say that because us individually packaging each individual one if we're talking nationally with how many toxin cats are in the country and it's a lot. And like 80% have been on one medication this past year. We never want to get to the point where oh my goodness five of us are sick and now we're we're working you know 20 hours this day just to get packages out like one by one. So so sometimes Amazon chewy distributors even for the vet space um having those minimums in multiple order quantities from a wholesale thing helped us to keep costs lower so we can keep the price of the product lower um while still benefiting what our core mission is as a company and what um and the veterinary and in the veterinary offices and the companies that um that also carry our product. So it it's the entire it's the entire supply chain and reaching the people that need it the most. Now if they want to make this themselves at home go for it. If they're not gonna like if you're not gonna cook with tallow or use it for other purposes. Right. But if you're gonna try to well it's and it's a lot it's it's a it's a very long process. Yeah. Um and and you have to source the fat too which means you need to have direct access to a farm or you could be spending thirty dollars a pound on tallow it's probably going to cost them way more than their time that you spend moving in it versus so unless you're actually cooking with it it's gonna go bad before your pet actually uses it. And and that's kind of where we fit in um some people are going to do that because like me they might cook with it. That's great. And it and they might make it the same a similar way of course I have not found any on the market that make it um that to feel the same way. There's a bunch of different of differences. And we also go through we hand cut and hand pull apart and we pull out so like within a chunk of kidney fat there are some um pieces of fat that are a little that are a little different. They're like stringy whatever it's a different fat type and we actually put those off to the side they would be great for cooking fat. They're not great for our lucky tallow. We do it by hand.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

I feel like you're giving me all the trade secrets right now.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Right but the 95% 99% are not going to go out and do that themselves but if you want to and you I think it's great if you want to go for it. There's there are a lot of videos out there showing you how to render tallow. We do not do a saltwater render method we do a dry render um and we do that on purpose. And we also don't again a lot of the videos that are out there are showing you how to do it for cooking and baking because you don't want the flavor in the baking. I mean I do because I love the beef but you know personal preference personal preference right uh but as far as like a team goes um there are a lot of there are several different skills we can work with a with a small core team at first foundationally because other things and then as long as we get all of our processes and SOPs um combined and make sure that we know how to educate the new people that are coming in and I think that's that's the biggest thing. We can't just let people run wild. We actually have to have policies in place. Probably the best one for them right to educate yes yes and and I have no and I have no problem doing that for the things for the things that I know I be but but why you guys are here because there's a lot that I don't know and I was almost in tears and looking for someone that could help me with um Department of Revenue is not any fun.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

I I it's not fun no it's not fun it's so confusing and I feel dumb when I'm like straightforward right no it's not but it's interesting that you say that because you know so many there's so many areas of business I guess and like every every business is like a specialty right that's their own like I feel like we are very dumb.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

We're very ignorant right to beef tallow into the pet space quite frankly like I've done research but still very ignorant but we are decently knowledgeable about business decent right we'll be humble but that and that's why you need different people to round out you have to have the different I don't know anything about branding I'm not visual I also would have no idea what um what websites or colors or anything are ADA accessible to meet those kind of regulations. And if I was just going to hire any graphic designer or whatever off the market well they might not actually know that stuff they might not know what is um high resolution enough for for printing for um for trade shows and exhibits um they might not know uh with a website what's actually meets the the regulations for ADA accessibility um they might not know it's and so these are the things where the you know the person that I love for that role um kind of checks a lot understands all of that because that's that's the knowledge base that's the skill set that's the career that they're in so they have that knowledge. I don't have that knowledge I don't have those programs that are used. So so me trying to do that like I created our first label in Canva and I created our first logo. Well the first logo that I had could not be scaled that was because I created it and because I did it in Canva and unfortunately while Canva is an incredible tool for especially for small businesses a lot of that stuff number one I think they they get copyright on that it's like it's a weird thing with Canva. But they also it's not a resolution that can be scaled in onto banners um or to to large signs um it is hard to print with so it's not that's where like the Adobe type products um that that some of your professionals use um because if I'm going to do a huge logo on on a backdrop and in in in like a 10 by 10 exhibit I need to know that when it blows up it's not going to be pixelated.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

And that and like you said you said it perfect like bringing in the right partners right which like we've done an episode about that I believe about how important it is to have the right partners. Because like there's a ton of CPA friends, a ton of different graphic designers but choosing and finding someone who understands the industry and like kind of what your goal and vision is is well that's even from like a photo standpoint.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

So I have someone that's uh that's waiting until we're ready to be able to do my my my product stock photos which we're gonna need for some of the other stuff we have to update um and our use case photos with how to use it um and then also does videography and so um I I have you know the quotes for her I want to use her I love her. She works in the dog like she is dog industry. And I looked at her website it looks great and and I love right and so um and so I'm excited about that but it's very difficult to I don't want someone who does not work in the dog space. Because working with animals is very very different than working with humans in a studio. And uh and so and I also want the videography type of stuff because I want to be able to show all of you like you know how we use it what the what the conversations are like out in the wild.

unknown 33:39

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Which will be really impactful though too for the people who are going to use it for their pets right then they can understand okay this is how proper way to give it a treat proper storage etc so the videos will be real a really big deal once you right do kind of push to market.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

And there's a lot of like a lot of our future customers who are never going to look at our socials or never look at our videos or even go to our website. They're just not going to do it they're only gonna deal with what's inside the package and what's told to them if it works that's okay. And then there's the nerds like me who deep dive into everything and are like oh my goodness and you know and anxious and like well how did they create this and then what protections are they putting in place and am I doing this right and oh oh this didn't work so are there tips and tricks? You know and I mean we do give a couple tips and tricks but are you gonna just throw that away without reading it first the average consumer very likely because everyone's so busy at such a fast pace I do. Yeah exactly I I know I do with some products and then I have to go and find them again online.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Like even with like when I first got my tallow skincare the the chapstick I love the chapstick but I didn't read anything about it right through it out.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Yeah it's I'm gonna give myself it's like the best chapstick but I threw it out didn't really think about it but I get it very frequently now even so much that I see I follow them on social media so I see so I'm like wow there's interesting stuff about their chapstick that they post on there that I'm like I otherwise wouldn't have known so like the chapstick obviously it's clearly a chapstick however people use it for their hands as well because it's extra moisturizing for your hands and actually preventative of wrinkles right or can be it's uh well and it's it's a skin protectant too yeah so it'll protect your skin from drying out so like I I would in the winter when it's like bitter cold and windy you know wind chill like dries your hands out on crack put it on first yeah yeah uh to protect because it is protectant. Yeah preventative yeah yep yeah and I mean and then if you don't have any skincare stuff but your dog has some of this you can use our licky tallow on your skin you're just gonna smell like beef and your dog might try to lick it off later. But I will tell you all dogs out in the wild will love you. Dogs love me. Well why does my dog love you so much? I smell like treats.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

I took my uh dog out on a walk this was like months ago but and I had the this tin in my like fan like we went on a bike thing and I had it in my fanny bag I was making friends with everyone everyone's dogs were like around but like I I was actively giving it to her throughout like we were look we're doing little things. But um and I guess they could just smell it through the tin I'm assuming in my fanny like in my little fanny bag. The dogs were coming over and like they were sitting in front of me. The owners were like and I was like I actually know what it is and I did I ended up using my stick and sharing it with some of the other dogs.

SPEAKER_03 36:24

And I was explaining to them what it was and they were just in awe and I mean we do get the dogs that are they're cautious and they're like wait what is this and they have to think and it's like it's okay you can look it and they're like a little lick and then they go back and and it they wait and the owners a lot of owners think immediately oh they don't like it right but dogs actually take a little bit of time to process and so they're thinking about it. It's hitting their brain and then you'll see the eyes we call it like the um in finding Nemo uh the shark eyes when they taste the drop of blood you see that happen yeah when it hits them and those are going to be your cautious more cautious dogs. We get that a lot because they haven't had it like this before dogs can also be cautious.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Not all of them some of them will eat your hand I was like the first one who I did that to on that trail I remember I gave them a little scoop like the tiniest little bit they licked it and sat there and then they were like trying to bite it out of my hand right. But they just licked it and sat there for the trying to bite like I had it in my hand just talking to the owner becoming friends with them and they were trying to grab and bite the stick. Yes we do that um the ones that try to pull the stick we we you can do the other well that the flat ends how I typically do it so that that's how I get gave it and they were trying to like bite that yeah cool yeah yes we uh we we do have that issue I guess it is it's really it is also human proof which is also yeah yeah so definitely yeah so I'm like hey if I ever want to make some friends I'll just go to the I I would be careful depending on what kind of dog it is that might try to take your hand off at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

So just yeah or get or get really mad if they show like they're research learning and they want it. Thankfully everyone was pretty good moving their dogs maybe know the dog.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yes no yeah well I mean I like to make friends don't I so but and the way thankfully they all had leashes on and all all of their owners were kind of like why are you doing this? Why are you going over there?

SPEAKER_03 38:15

Well and I've had so when we've done when we first started doing events and you know no one knows what this stuff is they think it's a pall balm or something when they see the tin on the table whatever and I would I would ask people you know can your dog t try a treat? And now we don't let them use the same tin. We we would do um uh at that point it was um uh well I've done a couple different things for samples but single use type stuff sure yes you've seen that one right or like the um uh wood tongue depressors um so they can just like taste off of that yeah and uh or like on on the palm of your hand and so they'd say no you know my dog's really picky no my dog is really picky I'm like so are ours my dogs are divas they you you're trying for you you try to give them a milk bone they're gonna spit it on the floor and they're gonna stare at you like something's wrong like this you need to go straight to jail. What are you thinking? Right and so um and so it would have them come over have them try it and there are so many times that people are like they've never accepted a treat before they've never this is this is the first what they actually really like this this is this is weird they don't like any they don't like any treats they don't take treats yeah um and but we have had some dogs and um because again all of them are different we have had some that show that are like indifferent and um but they're not they're not treat motivated anyway and one of those dogs is my friend Brooke um we we co-host the Adventure canine challenge and her dog Logan never but he's not I mean he's not fully treat motivated anyway. Yeah he's sometimes indifferent sometimes we'll come and do a lick or two um while the other ones are trying to take it from my hand uh and then other times he's gone crazy for it it's just I don't know he moods yeah yeah for sure he's also a dog celebrity by the way I'm just gonna throw that out there Logan is famous that's why he's moody he's a diva he is being on production sets and commercials and music videos and things like that he's and being up on stage with Dolly Parr and yeah he's diva wow he got to his head hilarious I love that well then you would think he would love some talent but I guess he has he's always he's always working he's got to put on the mood he's got it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

So what do you need to I guess now like we haven't grown like we haven't gone national yet because of funding.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

Well so funding is a is a big step it we also so we had a commercial um a commercial space like an office that we built a commercial kitchen in uh if for for three years we had that we didn't know what we didn't know when we leased the property and we were in a three year lease. Um when we built it we didn't know that the electrical capacity was limited in the back which actually limited our availability limited how much we would have been able to produce and I mean so limited that my kitchen at home or my living room has like three times electrical capacity as this space that has 20 that's why yeah like outlets. And so we had that space and we realized in that space we would not have been able to actually nationally expand because we couldn't have much actually happening. You couldn't even have an oven running in that space. We didn't know what we didn't know we didn't know to test. We thought 20 outlets meant it probably had electrical capacity no so we didn't know to test so we now we know what we didn't um it we also when we were building out the commercial kitchen Tennessee changed their laws where they would no longer send the health department in to inspect um a commercial kitchen for anything pet related USCA is still involved but the health department doesn't not a problem for 49 states one state requires the health department certificate. So the only way that we could have the health department come in is if we say it's human this is human food. That's the only way that we could do it I think there's only like two health um uh department inspectors for all the middle Tennessee something like I don't remember it's it was like that a couple a couple years ago I don't know what it is now so we knew we needed to move out of that space in order to before we could actually expand which I'm thankful for that delay because of all the things that we've learned in the process and how we're pivoting before we actually hit the market. So I'm thankful for that delay. So we vacated that lease last June and now the next step is we actually have to find a commercial kitchen space that with a health department certificate that actually allows us to to expand. We have to have the production address um like where we produce the product the address has to be on the the product or easily like able to be Googled um each state is very different and unfortunately some some states actually require that so uh so that with the health department and just to get that one's in California. If we're not in all 50 states it like and I mean if we don't have licenses for all 50 states we cannot be on Amazon we cannot be on Chewy we cannot um uh create a contract with um some of the corporate owned vet well some of the vet a lot of vet um practices are now corporate owned and private equity owned and you have to have licenses in all 50 states in order for them to even talk to you um and work with a distributors regulatory and compliance process how much time well that but they they don't if they're gonna order they're gonna order for all of their practices they're not gonna order just for two states that makes sense absolutely how much time is there to manage all of those licenses how long how long is the application process for each license uh so each process is very different. So like in Alabama I can do it online. I have to submit all of the labels and information that goes into each one I have to give um each of them has a different kind of information that has to be provided as well about the company about you know addresses production um all of that and then um and then it's once once we get the approval we'll get we'll get the license the fund how much it costs in each state varies significantly so when we were when we had different sizes um some states each Individual size of the same exact product is a different amount, is a different fee. So it kind of could be a thousand dollars for one state for our products if we had multiple products, even if we're not shipping to that state. And it's r it's annual. So you pay every year. So if we aren't going to scale tall 50 states right now, we shouldn't have any of the licenses right now, or we're actually sinking money again, which is all coming out of my personal pocket because just floating things.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Because you have that right by state, but then you also have Nexus for sales tax, right? Correct. And every state, as we know, are different. So we and we have to track. Right. Some have, you know, some it's zero dollars. First sale is next, you have to be our million.

SPEAKER_03 44:43

That's gonna be our direct to consumer, which is another reason why doing wholesale is a lot easier for a business like us, um, is because our online sales, while we can track, we can track that, right? It's only in online sales, um, it's us direct to consumer based on the volume.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Um the only thing that comes with that is for whole wholesaling, you have to make sure that you have their like the four, right? To make sure that they are um they have the sales tax uh exemption.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

Right. They're they're usually the ones though that are then they have to do the nexus because they're the ones that are actually selling it to consumer. Absolutely. So um but then you have to manage though that the sales tax exemption and make sure that they're compliant instead of but at the same time I have to give them my certificate of insurance and my W9s and all the other information too.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

So we're still if you do Amazon, you know, we also do the shipping stuff. Yes. Amazon and do all of them take care of the sales tax. They'll take it off the top. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

So that's also I guess when we uh and this is like long term, so from a financial perspective, right now our retail is $20, right? Um, if we were going to be on um Amazon and Chewy, we might have to increase that to $22 because there are a lot more costs involved requirements. They do they take they take a percentage, but we also need them to um have the products stored within their warehouses, and ours can't be in a lot of heat, so we have to have temperature controlled space.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Well, and they they make you keep a there's a minimum requirement. Yes, and then also the the issue that um I find with a lot of clients that use Amazon and they store their products, right? Is the returns. Yes. So we get hit with all returns. They will return except change anything, right? Right. So then you're taking a hit from that and the product does not ever come back to you, it's immediately damaged and tossed.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

Right. And and of of course with with Amazon, the only the only reason that we would be on Amazon is really because that's where a lot of people shop. So we still want to be on there. But if you're gonna shop on that way, because we obviously we want you to go to your vet or a local source if you can um to support them, but if you're if you're gonna shop on Amazon, uh I mean we still have to be able to break even.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Yes, and then there's a convenience level of two of yes being in there.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

And we don't want them sitting inside of the of the warehouse either. We don't want you to get a product that is already rancid because they just had it sitting there. So of course there is and I mean there are shelf life um things involved, and so we have to tell them how long it's good for and then and then what is are they gonna return it? Are we gonna pay the shipping for them to return the product once it reaches reaches a specific specific date? Well they do. Or um usually there's the end of life. So what happens at end of life? Does it get destroyed? Does it need to be returned back to us? Because when we're talking about our the life cycle of our product, when from the date that we produce it in the commercial kitchen that we render it, I want it out of our hands within three months from the date of production to from a wholesale perspective. Um 12 months if it could be up to a year if I'm doing direct to the customer.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Um but I need them time the whole time for all the shipping getting into into the stores and then or the veterinary practices and then turning over and selling it to them. Correct. And so, but at the 12 month mark, that's the sell by date. So if they haven't sold it by then, then it needs to come back to us. That doesn't mean the product is bad. But it but I don't want it going into a consumer's hand after that, where they might then wait to open it and we might get to a two or three year mark, and they won't have as much time with it before it could potentially turn. And so so if we have it where they send it back to us, of course we have to pay the shipping and everything else, right? And we pay the storage fees for them to have it within their warehouse for the sh for them to handle the shipping, which to be fair, does also save us um money on employees you know having to do that process anyway.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

And this is also a small package, so it's shipping costs should be.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

I mean, even right now, this is this is the new one.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

I mean, like if you compare it to the average package being shipped.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

That has been one of my packaging has been one of my biggest challenges. And one of the reasons why we're not in you know, in retailers and everything right now is for packaging, not like from shipping to being on the thing because I want you to have this the swizzle stick. I want you to have the swizzle stick, and I want you to have these two tools, because these two tools are gonna make or break how easy the product is to use with your pet.

SPEAKER_02 49:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

And um, and it's whether it's to scrape it out, like because if you're gonna just take chunks out of this to mold around a pill, which you know some people were doing, it can be a pain in the butt and not really wrap as easily. When you're scraping it out with a tongue depressor, it's a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

When you're using the ball for using your fingers, it's not efficient, and then contamination, right?

SPEAKER_03 49:59

Do you if you could guess, why would I use these and not something smaller?

SPEAKER_00 50:07

To put it on the to put it on the dog's mouth?

SPEAKER_03 50:09

Yeah, why would why these? Why wouldn't I use something that's like half this size or smaller?

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Because of the dog mouth is big on the dark you have to put in there?

SPEAKER_03 50:18

They can choke on it. I don't want this, I don't want I don't want them ingesting any of this to where then they're in the vet with an obstruction because they swallow the whole thing. So and I and so I had um you know? I've had I've had feedback on that before about well, what if you know what if we can make this smaller? And but honestly, it's risk. I want this to be safe. And so even though the use, like a customer, the way they use it when it's in their hand is not on me. I'm not liable for it. So if your dog eats the thing, I'm still not liable. There's no lawsuit on me. There's no um the the certificate of insurance that I have an insurance liability won't cover that because it's not a problem with me. If they eat the container and the contents in the container, again, I'm not liable for that. Yeah, that doesn't matter. I still do not want animals harmed because of that.

SPEAKER_01 51:14

So these are larger care about their owners. You you don't want their owners to experience the pain from your product. You want to do the opposite, you want to add value, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03 51:22

I want I want to be a help and a support. Um I want our product to help. Like it's serving the acts of service, serving and helping to ease burdens is the core of who I who I am and who I have always been. Um and I can't in I can't sleep at night if something goes wrong because of my negligence and thinking through all of it. So are there are there always gonna be risks? There's always gonna be risks. But we want to minimize those, mitigate those as as much as possible. These can also be, these can also be um uh washed and sanitized and thrown into your dishwasher and and last.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Um we have had out of thousands of these, we've had two balls that have come off, and I and I do this with all of them when they come because it was a defect from the manufacturer immediately. So it was it was already you could you could feel it. But um, how often does your dog eat something and it goes right out there? But this is round and unlikely to catch or get if if something now I don't I don't ever want that to happen. Um but it's it's it's unlikely, and from a safety perspective, it's most likely gonna pass.

SPEAKER_02 52:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

Um packaging has been very difficult. I was working with a packaging um person at one point. We were looking at boxes we were developing. I do have prototypes, I wasn't sold on them, but I also wasn't um sold, I wasn't the containers that we were using I knew wasn't finalized. So I didn't want to finalize boxes knowing that everything else wasn't finalized. I didn't feel like we were there yet. And I'm glad we didn't get to that point because so much has changed since. Um, but I also didn't want huge boxes that take up a lot of space and have empty space in them, even though that is with the the bags. We want sustainability, we can only get to that so much. So will I work with a packaging expert at some point in the future? Yes, when we have the funding again, when we have the funding. If we're in a vet office, these could actually, these could work for now and they meet the purpose now. Um, but before we go into retail, that will probably change. The packaging is probably gonna change. But you have to do volume, like yeah. If I'm gonna order 10 to 30,000 of something, first I need to have the money to order 10 to 30,000 of something. But um, if I'm gonna order that many, I have to have the money to be able to do that. And then I have to know that it's actually gonna move.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Um, because I don't have I I don't know, I'm not rich. Yeah, we live month to month. I do so um, and we, you know, we've cash flowed everything from this point.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Uh and so um yeah, packaging is when you're in that initial building stage, it can be really tough financially until or unless you have a partner who is helping fund or until you really are able to go to full launch to market and have revenue coming in. And even then full launches are very expensive because then you have right your overhead is much larger.

SPEAKER_03 54:18

Right. I mean, from it from for trade shows alone, they can be fifteen to twenty thousand dollars each.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

And um, and I mean we're not just talking about the trade show cost itself because that's that's just no, but you have employees who are just to have a booth fee. Right, right. You have that, and then the exhibits, the exhibits themselves, thousands of dollars to ship if you're gonna ship it, or you have to find a way to bring your exhibit itself.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

And the cost of your product and samples, right?

SPEAKER_03 54:45

Right. So all of it is um is incredibly expensive, but it's what gets you in front of the people that make the decisions. Absolutely. Um, and so as a customer, as a dog owner, you're only seeing products that are in front of you because of all of that happening behind the scenes. And is I mean, is it is it always fair? No, but we have so much thrown into our face, you're not gonna know everything that's out there in every small business or anything. It's it's impossible for us to get in front of the people that need to see us unless we have that stuff. And also, we can't meet the need from a shipping every single individual order. By the way, when I ship individual orders, I want to put like something special on every single one. I like I have this emotional attachment to every single one.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

And um, which is when you're a creator, like you create a product and you've seen it come out of people where it's helped people though. Right.

SPEAKER_03 55:40

I get overwhelmed though. I want a relationship with every single person, and um that's that's a both a strength and a weakness because it's impossible and there have to be boundaries, and I have to be able to maintain my health.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

And you recognizing that is a big deal, though. And I think that that has helped you get to where you are, like the business where it is, but then now you have to shift which you are doing by hiring someone.

unknown 56:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Essentially you're replacing the bigger, I have to see I have to see the weakness. Well, I also yeah, and I I wanted to make sure that this continues. This is this is not me. This happened, but it's not me. Yeah, and um, and the purpose should be beyond me. Yeah, so it should be able to exist even if I were to step back or die or whatever the ha whatever happens, it should be able to continue, and that's where a team actually uh the way that we structure the business is is so important. Um if we're gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

That's awesome. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

What a story. Yeah, this is makes it cool.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

Do you have any other questions? No, I think uh Okay, so the last thing that we're going to do, this is how we end all of the episode when we bring a guest song. We give our advice, um, and sometimes it's you know wrong or right, I don't know. We give our advice on what we would do if we were the CEO or took over a CEO today. So you want to start us off?

SPEAKER_00 56:54

I I think you I think you are on the right track about bringing somebody to help you with the business. I think I will encourage you to do that. I think like figure out what you really want to do in the business. It sounds that it's a lot of education, customer service thing. Keep yourself in those areas of the business and then all the areas that you really want to do but are necessary, like you know, sales, money, marketing, right? Getting getting in front of the people, they lay delegate that, but I feel you have the right knowledge. You you know what needs to happen to grow the business. So you have to make that decision and then get the funding, and hopefully the right person that comes in is able to sell fund. Like you know, the more you grow, you're going to pay for yourself for that, and then all of that happening. But this all it sounds like you really have huge opportunity in front of you. Just have to go for it.

unknown 57:48

I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 57:49

I would agree. Thank you. So my little tidbit, if I were a CEO or in your position, I would find a business partner, which I did actually do as well.

SPEAKER_03 57:59

I remember because I knew you before that.

SPEAKER_01 58:01

Yes, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I would find a business partner with skill the skill set needed. So I know you have someone in mind for CEO. So I don't necessarily think I would use that person as the other owner. I think the potential for this brand would be really good to have owners and then see the C-suite, right? Just like any enterprise will eventually have.

SPEAKER_02 58:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

But I would find someone with the complimentary area as in like the money, right? Funding. So that would be one thing that I would be looking for. Obviously, we've talked about this before, and like there's a lot of different options for funding, but I do think that it would be a more rapid growth and set a really good foundation to have someone who's able to not only start the business off with a pile of cash, right? Right, to be able to start funding these, but also to be able to continue. So that would be in my agreement of ownership.

SPEAKER_03 58:52

I think right, and I think uh looking for that person, because I agree with you. I think looking for that person, I want them to be in mind. The values have to be in right passion for animals, so that that's right, not going to stop us from hiring people that you know it might need a little bit more work. But um uh but but not push it. But then I also want someone who's who's actually has started a business before. I I need that experience. Um, especially from I I mean, I would prefer someone with national n understanding national brands because it is very very at a product level versus right. And if you and I mean if they don't like animals, I it's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

Yeah, but then they haven't met the right ones. I'm just gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 59:38

So you need uh if you're interested, you must own at least three dogs and uh maybe twelve.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Um just kidding. I tell you.

SPEAKER_01 59:45

Foster some dogs, you know. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 59:47

I think something else we haven't I guess we didn't really get much into it, but it's just the mission about it. I know you know you really want to help. You you're really passionate about helping get this product in the people that need it but cannot afford it, and then also and then also about you know, like uh getting people in that that would not get the job anywhere else. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

People who can still do the job, right? But people who are oftentimes picked over because they may have a different like you know, like the scoliosis, or maybe they may have different and maybe some trauma, etc.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

About that, you I think you can do something like hey, for every can of stuff you buy, we're going to we're donating this or we're going to donate.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

And I think she you have mentioned that before. Like it's for having a nonprofit that runs with this, so that way you can donate.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Well, and that's another thing. If we if we did have an overabundance of product that reaches that 12 months, or like, or retailers or distributors send us some of the product back that may have reached that date, those are our ones that we want to be able to donate.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

We want to be able to give to the and they're still good, so it's not like you're donating bad product, but then you at least have so you know at some point you're gonna have things to do. Right. Like, I mean currently you're not losing out. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

And currently we donate to there's um there's a local um woman who has a a a nonprofit that sends care packages to um to people with dogs with cancer. Uh so uh dogs with cancer specifically is her is her nonprofit. And so we already donate product or whatever to go into those care packages and they go across the country because donating is not violating me not having a license in the state because I'm not selling it. And so I'm okay um, you know, gifting and donating that. Um but yes, we do uh we want to be able to give to um uh rescues and um shelters who have a hard time medicating pets that might show some aggression or reactivity because of the stress of the situation that they're in. Um we've found um some success in being able to provide medication when to animals that might be euthanized if they don't get their medication and they're not taking it within a pill pocket. Um and obviously at a better price point too. And so um we do want to be able to help provide that or even provide them like our larger jars at lower cost to um to those nonprofits. Um like at cost. Yeah. If we could do it at cost, it's win-win, you're helping to pay, you know, you're just covering what it costs to make the product.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:14

Absolutely. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

It was a fun one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

Yeah, it was. It was very informative. I hopefully like we were able to help in some way too. But yeah, yeah, thank you so much for coming on and letting us take your brain and share about the business. And yeah, appreciate it. I feel like we learned a lot, I mean, a lot about tallow, but then also even more so about some milk.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

The industry that wasn't that was interesting. Food safety is um is a lot more complex than what I think most of us realize because we live in such a shelter safe world that was created through I mean over hundreds of years, thousands of years, depending. Created by the experience. Things that are passed down, like like warming it up, passed down. You don't always know why you're doing what you're doing. Right. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

Perfect. I see you all next time.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Well, yeah, we'll see you all next time. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:03

Thank you.