Bees, Business, and Well-Being with Entrepreneur Carly Stein

Episode Summary

Like bees turning pollen into honey, Carly Stein turned tonsillitis in Tuscany into Beekeepers Naturals, a company with the mission to bring a worldwide natural remedy to the medicine cabinets of North America and save the bees in the process.  Overcoming negativity and pushing past anxiety, Carly is an inspiration to find happiness by following your heart and your dreams, in this episode of The Sydcast.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.”  He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus.  Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Carly Stein

As founder and CEO of the wellness brand Beekeeper’s Naturals, Carly’s mission is to improve the health of humans and bees alike, which is why she left her job on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs to launch Beekeeper’s Naturals full-time in 2016. 

Beekeeper’s Naturals is an innovative wellness company developing nutraceutical products from healing plant-based ingredients and the powerful hive superfoods—like royal jelly, propolis, and bee pollen. Carly and her team use scientific rigor to craft all-natural products that deliver powerful and effective solutions to everyday health issues—like brain fog, stress support, and immunity.  

As a beekeeper and a tireless advocate for the preservation of the waning global bee population, Carly is dedicated to using her company as a platform to make a difference and raise awareness for the bee cause. Carly was recently recognized as a game-changing entrepreneur on the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on why Carly founded Beekeepers Naturals, her approach to creating a unique company, and future prospects for innovation and growth. 
• Benefits of bee propolis, what it is, and how it is used worldwide. 
• How to create a happiness spreadsheet to help determine what career path will fulfill you.
• Strategies for raising initial capital for smaller companies through online platforms and angel investor groups.
• Details on the testing and protocols Beekeepers Naturals has in place to ensure the highest quality products.
• How to determine product development based on market trends and consumer demand.
• Secret of finding talented people and the number one trait quality employees possess.

Quotes from the show:

• “Before I verbalized that I wanted to start a company, I was just building a product line for myself to help me feel better.”  – Carly Stein
• “In the natural category … you can’t patent an all-natural formula.  You cannot patent nature.” – Carly Stein
• “The organic certification doesn’t exactly hold up because unlike cattle where you can fence them in or blueberries which stay in one spot, the bees fly and you can’t put a leash on the bees.” – Carly Stein
• “Even in other cultures where [bee products] are well known there is not one unifying brand so there is an opportunity to become the category king.” – Carly Stein
• “We have an edge when it comes to creating products.  We have a really innovative team and we create great products that work and I think our brand is one that has a lot to say.” – Carly Stein
• On small companies getting national contracts: “You have to gear up your production, that’s the biggest challenge for small companies when they get these giant contracts.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “We have a lot of consumer education we have to do.  Most people don’t know what propolis or royal jelly are and we have to really work hard at creating educational campaigns to teach people how these products work, how they can incorporate them into their life.” – Carly Stein
• “We are aiming to reinvent the medicine cabinet and hopefully over the next few years we’ll launch some more great products to help people feel good.” – Carly Stein
• “I am a big believer in finding talent under your nose, everywhere you go, you just have to open your eyes to see it.  One of the places that many people have found talent are servers in restaurants.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “When it comes to team-building, it’s about the attitude towards learning and growth and it’s not about experience and it’s not about academic accolades.” – Carly Stein
• “Negligence is different than failure.  Negligence can be frustrating, failure is a great opportunity to learn, always.” – Carly Stein
• “If you’re going to make a mistake, make the mistake by going a little bit farther rather than being afraid to get out of your chair.” – Syd Finkelstein

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Carly Stein

Website: www.beekeepersnaturals.com

LinkedIn: Carly Stein

Instagram: @stein.carly

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)