Show Notes:

The importance of opposition. “When you’ve got somebody who’s a competitor, then the world starts to pay attention to what you’re doing and the importance of it.”

Silence has so much to say. “When you hit a situation where there’s adversity or there’s some sort of challenge in front of you, maybe it’s time to be silent for a minute. Listen to what somebody is saying.”

The best way out is always through. “I walked into developing this product thinking that if somebody has more money, if somebody has been in it longer, if somebody is an expert, then I should fear them. But instead, what I realized is that the underdog — the person with the new ideas, the person who is focusing on the customer — is really the one that can outshine them all, as long as they have perseverance and just keep going.”

When there’s a will, there’s a way. “So often, we just don’t even try. We allow this wall to be built up in front of us because we think that there’s somebody with more experience, a better education, or more money — whatever it is to get in the way. I think the person who actually takes it to market and tries to figure out how to grow that circle of consumers is the one that ultimately wins.”

A catalyst for innovation. “One day I looked down at my Diet Coke that I was so fond of and thought, ‘Gosh, it’s got so much junk in there that I’d never give it to my kids. Why am I okay with it in my own life?’”

Setting your brand apart from the big guys. “It’s so much tougher to actually be able to grow [your business] from nothing to something. Even when it gets to be a little bigger, you’ve got more competition coming at you because you’re potentially taking away shares from them at the supermarket. When your sales per square foot is higher than big brands, you’re in trouble. You’ve got to figure out how to differentiate.”

What could I have done? “The answer: you’ve got options. When you don’t have lots of clients or competitors, or you’re putting all your eggs in one basket, then those surprises end up being detrimental to your company. That’s the key thing that I’ve learned along the way. When you don’t have options, that’s when you feel like they’ve got you by the throat, which causes you to make bad decisions in order to stay alive.”

Light at the end of the tunnel. “The key thing is to know that dark days don’t last forever. You have to be open to what’s coming next. In so many situations you can say you didn’t see it coming, where you feel blindsided — but often, we don’t see the light coming. I know that the light is even brighter because I had a dark moment.”

Working closely with your significant other. “What [my husband] realized was this mission and this passion to help people and change society for the better was something that he really believed. He’s the son of a doctor who really believed that health was something that, if you didn’t have it, no matter how much money you had, what your gender was, where you lived, the world was hard…We both really appreciate each other’s skill sets.”

Be willing to take risks. “You have to figure out that it’s okay to try and see what happens. That’s true with every successful person out there who’s doing something a little bit different.”

The little things matter, too. “I think smell is such a key thing. If you’ve got a stinky product, maybe you’ll try it once in any category. But think about it: your brain is so powerful, and it thinks about not buying a product anymore because it smells.”

A daily mantra. “[It’s important to look] back at how far we’ve come — every day. Remembering the days of getting that first bottle on the shelf, remembering letters and phone conversations with consumers, and remembering employees who have supported me for all these years to build on this dream. To see it be the level that it is today is just awesome. I never even imagined getting to a million dollars in sales, much less a quarter of a billion. You can’t achieve anything unless you start.”

EPISODE RESOURCES AND REFERENCES
Steve Jobs
Apple
Ted Turner
CNN
Hint Water
Hint Personal Care Products
Silicon Valley
Diet Coke
Pepsi
Gary Vaynerchuk