Conquer The Noise

In this week's episode of Conquer The Noise, Jonathan speaks with Ryan Lewis, founder and CEO of EarthHero, an online retailer that specializes in selling sustainable brands. They are a member of 1% For The Planet, are certified B Corp and are certified carbon neutral. 

Ryan and Jonathan first met a couple years ago at a 1% For The Planet event. They discuss how they have been working with the organization and how EarthHero currently has around 40 brands who are 1% FTP members. Ryan talks about how they decided to be a for profit business because it allows them to grow quicker and in a more seamless way, but didn’t want to dilute the good behind our efforts so they’ve made efforts to take a holistic approach to sustainability. 

EarthHero takes an approach to giving that mirrors the current needs of the world. Last year they donated to the Australian wildfires as well as the California wildfires. During COVID, they donated to a food recovery network. There's a lot of help that the world needs and they try and align initiatives as closely as possible to the brand as well.

Ryan talks about his early childhood and his early interest in the environment. He had a natural connection to nature even though he grew up in South New Jersey. Flash forward to when he first entered the business world he noticed a lot of ways products were produced are toxic. It  inspired him to create an eco friendly business so he left to start a business that channelled his passion for sustainability. 

Ryan talks about how sustainable consumption is all about what happens when you decide to buy something. That moment when you take out your credit card is an important moment as it relates to reducing waste. He built EarthHero inspired by the five stages of consumption, outlined in the book, The Story Of Stuff.

One of the foundational values of EarthHero was to establish a strong culture. They wanted to set it up so employees have clarity around why they exist and how to make decisions so it wasn’t a top down. He gives everyone the ability to act autonomously at their level. His first step was coming up with the mission statement that articulates why they exist, which is to make sustainable shopping so easy that everyone does it. 

EarthHero not only sells sustainable products, but they also walk the walk, using only sustainably made desks, to having a zero waste office. They collect all plastic film that comes in and take it to center for recycled materials. When picking products for the site, Ryan says there’s a lot of ways to vet products, so they had to first learn the most meaningful things a manufacturer can do to create a sustainable product. The most important thing they start with are materials and ingredients.

When it comes to their customer communication, Ryan talks about how content is focused on inspiring people to take the next step wherever they're at in their journey. They want to catch you in that moment, show up and show the next step. The customer journey is what they focus on. Ryan believes that small day to day actions matter. In their marketing, they try to meet people where they’re hanging out. They work with social influencers with large followings to post on their channels as well as use Google.

As the conversation wraps, they talk about the community of sustainability rockstars and how they latched onto the connection of how environmental problems and social inequity intersect and influence each other. They were getting a lot of requests for minority owned brands after George Floyd was murdered. The show wraps up with Ryan and Jonathan talking about business ownership. “The biggest thing is if you're thinking about starting something, you have to REALLY want to do it,” said Ryan. The energy at that phase is high and productive; but if you chose the wrong company or wrong problem to solve, we're talking years and years of working on the same thing. Ryan believes part of success is lasting and getting through it. Ryan always reminds himself that he’s just a cog in the sustainability wheel. It's not about him, he feels he’s here to serve this opportunity for people and it would be selfish and wrong to make it about him.  

Jonathan has Sarah Paiji Yoo, co-founder and CEO of Blueland on this week's episode of Conquer The Noise. Blueland sells beautiful, refillable bottles along with dissolvable tablets that turn water into cleaning solutions. The eco-friendly brand is reinventing conventional household and personal care products to reduce single-use plastic. Sarah starts with her founding story which started after her first child was born four years ago when researching baby formula and water quality. She learned about the microplastic problem in water supply and oceans which prompted her idea of Blueland.  

Sarah talks about how she has reduced plastic use in her life and suggests asking yourself, “Do I need this product in my life?” If yes, then think about what it  took to produce that product and buy accordingly, as well as what will happen to that product at the end of life. Is it circular? Is there an opportunity to reuse or refill?

As the show continues, Jonathan and Sarah talk about the importance of certifications with expert agencies and how important it is for brands to hold themselves to the highest standards. Blueland worked with Cradle-to-Cradle from the beginning to help them think about sustainability for a holistic perspective. “We didn’t want to be so focused on one area that we were unknowingly having a negative impact on another area,” said Sarah. Cradle-to-Cradle helped them look at ingredients, end to end production and how they manufacture the products.

Blueland is a certified BCorp and the approach is something they respect and agree with philosophically from the beginning. It takes a broader view on societal and environmental impact. Sarah goes on to talk through their EPA safer choice certification as well as the USDA Bio certification.

The conversation covers investor relationships and how there’s a lot of responsibility for both parties. You can divorce a partner but not an investor. If you have an investor that requires high return very quickly, might not be a good fit based on your goals. Planet-forward requires more money, slower approach so they had to find an investor you understand that.

Everything Blueland sells is a new behavior for customers. It’s not how people were using cleaning products in the past so it’s been helpful to be a DTC brand. Sarah says it’s important to have a direct line of communication with customers so we can quickly get feedback on products. They prioritize all the feedback that comes in through customer service. They regularly meet with the head of their customer service team to directly hear feedback. They realized pretty early on how powerful Instagram would be for real time feedback. Sarah feels that Instagram is powerful because people are exploring, learning and allows them to facilitate being able to speak to the community. 

The conversation ends with the two talking about the dangers of taking on investors because when businesses raise a lot of money & at a high valuation, it results on needing to focus on the growth, distracting  from the fundamentals of the business. “Effectively, you’re on a leaky boat where you can't get water out fast enough,” says Sarah.

Jonathan sits down with serial entrepreneur, Coulter Lewis, founder of Sunday, a DTC non toxic lawn care brand. Sunday uses data, soil, and local climate to provide customers with what they need for their yard care without harmful pesticides. 

Coulter starts off talking about the opportunity he saw in lawncare and how grass is one of the largest crops in the country and gets 5x more pesticides than any other crop. Early on, they started working with Frank Rossie, a professor at Cornell, and leader in turf science who has been pushing for environmental change in the space. Lewis found him through Rossi’s podcast and has been a big part of the business. 

As Coulter began digging into the business idea for Sunday, he realized through his research and surveys that most people don’t know anything about lawn care. He learned from people that they were feeling incompetent, alone and unable which helped him realize that if  he’s going to deliver value to customers, this is the area he needs to help. So he changed the business approach from product forward to service and experience forward. 

When you think about your little lawn as a subset of the bigger picture of land, it feels inconsequential. So Coulter has focused on talking about the importance of how the product helps customer lawns, family and the big picture that it can still drive change by reducing toxic chemicals on the planet. If you think about the impact on better environmental practices on a backyard, as a whole, that has an enormous impact across the world

Because of the heavy science and service aspect of the business, such as translating all the data they collect into real time trend learnings for customers, their customer service team does a lot of training so they can be experts. They think through everything they can do to make this person confident and empowered to fix their lawns. Coulter talks about what they're selling isn’t products, but an experiential solution.

The two talk about their recent Series B round of funding and how they have a lot to build. They need to build out technology and the creative side; expanding the offering of what Sunday can do outside of the home. 

 Home and farm pesticides are regulated in exactly the same way. Fertilizers are regulated at state level, which means every product needs to be approved in every state so there’s been a lot of regulatory learning.  Anything in the pesticide category, even organic, is managed by the EPA. It’s expensive and slow. 

As members of 1% For The Planet, they allocate most donations toward preservation of tall grass prairie in the US which only has about  4% remaining. As the episode closes, Coulter and Jonathan talk about the emotional toil of being an entrepreneur. It's challenging and so exciting to start. “You ride every high and low all the way to top and bottom,” said Coulter.

In our latest episode of Conquer The Noise, Jonathan sits down with Steven Dyme, founder of Flowers For Dreams. Steven found himself in the flower business by accident. During his teen years, just after graduating high school, he started selling flowers at graduations and other school events to help pay for college while donating a portion of the profits to help outfit Chicago area students in need with school supplies. 

Jonathan and Steven talk through how this evolved into Flower For Dreams after he and a few friends from college joined him in selling flowers on the street, eventually taking over the whole Chicago area, while also selling at high schools during graduations and big events. He eventually became the schools florist of record. The first summer they did this, they gave 500 backpacks to 3 different schools in Chicago. 

Steven talks about how they give away 25% of profits to nonprofits in each community they serve, totaling $750K to date. As Steven dug into his founding story, they talked about the power in not knowing and how naïveté actually helped him early on. 

When Flowers For Dreams was founded, social enterprise/entrepreneurship wasn’t popularized the way that it is now. The program allowed them to tell a well integrated and authentic giving story with a clear mission. 

As the conversation continued, they talked about ethical consumerism, corporatism and capitalism. Steven points out that change starts with everyone - humans, regulators, companies and asks, “How do you figure out what you can give, but also maintain the business/staff and growth as well?” At the end of the day, they do need to make money and that’s what’s unique about their story. Performance matters; sales don’t measure the holistic performance of a company. 

As the episode closes, they dig in to brand and how that has given them a leg up. Brand is everything - not just about how beautiful products are, but about how they tell the story. Early on they understood the power of brand. One tangible way they grew was by being an early adopter of Instagram. They are now trying out Tiktok and the best type of content for them to create. Steven’s parting message is don’t be too patient and wait to launch your business or idea. You need to be clear with your vision and take the first step forward.

Jonathan talks with Tim Murphy, the CEO of Branch Basics, in our latest episode of Conquer The Noise. The conversation covers Tim’s early career in the beginning of the show and then focuses on how he and the team at Branch Basics handled supply chain and customer demand during COVID, as well as the importance of educational content.  

Tim grew up in Minneapolis and worked in marketing at General Mills before eventually starting and then selling a startup that made frozen food. Shortly after he sold it, he met the founders of Branch Basics, soon after becoming CEO. 

At the onset of COVID, they had a huge surge in subscriptions so they stayed in close communication with their manufacturers and suppliers. After being classified as an essential business, the next challenge was making sure they had enough stock. They were dangerously close to running out and had to make a hard decision. Tim says they have a “razor/razor blade” model with their kits. Customers buy a kit once with all of the bottles and a concentrate and then get the refills as needed or on subscription. They decided to pull the kits so there was enough product for their current subscribers/refill customers and did not accept new subscriptions.

They did not scale back marketing during this time and increased their efforts to capture emails so that they can continue to communicate with interested people and let them know once items were back in stock. Educational content continued to roll out and is a big part of their brand. Their social media channels are where they engage with their community and as a result, get incredible engagement. They get so many questions about non-toxic living that they structured marketing and customer service departments in a unique way. Content includes posts that go beyond cleaning to talk about how toxic environments impact sleep and other parts of their life. 

As the episode closes Tim talks about how it’s important that you start with yourself in your entrepreneurial journey. Ask yourself why you are starting the company, and in there you can find something you’re passionate about. Give back efforts shouldn’t be siloed and need to be baked into the business for real impact.

Nancy Taylor and Hannah Franco founded the sustainable fashion brand, époque évolution. They joined Jonathan in this week's episode of Conquer The Noise. The three talked through how there’s not one clear cut answer to the perfect sustainable solution so they describe their business as responsible instead of sustainable. When forming the company they made it a priority to take all steps of the process into consideration. This includes materials, manufacturing, people working within manufacturing, as well as the care (no dry cleaning) and how long it can be worn. 

The origin of the brand name came from conversations around sustainability and the brands values. The word epoque means a moment in time, and in this moment in time, they believe there needs to be an evolution in the world and fashion. 

They talk through some of the challenges they experience because making a sustainable brand is not black and white. For example, when considering materials, recycled fibers may not be the best option because of other environmental considerations. For example, one of their mills that’s making fabric with non-recycled materials has a lower carbon footprint than other mills using recycled materials and then shipping it from Asia. 

The pair embrace full transparency on all communication channels so that customers understand the long term impact. Fast fashion and $8 shirts have a big cost on the environment and it's hard for people to see since it's easy on their pocket. They have found that Instagram is the most effective communication piece because it’s a 2 way conversation and provides an opportunity to answer questions and engage more deeply. When asked about content, they talk through how videos that show people how to continually style/restyle old clothes are very powerful.

As the episode winds down, they talk about how to lead from love and let go of the fear. They share how you can’t let the fear of failing drive you and that you have to love your mission, brand and business partner.

Jonathan speaks with Stephen Lease and Ben Abell, who have known each other since high school. The conversation opens around partnerships. Both goodr and Unconquered were founded by co-founders and they talk about strategies to keep the relationships strong, how to work through hardship and the importance of complementary skill sets.

As the conversation progresses, a big theme emerges for this episode, centered around culture. They talked about creating a strong company culture, hiring and keeping employees engaged. As an organization, goodr does not use email and prefers to use Slack to keep communication open. "It’s about transparency. It hinges around stopping 1/1 conversations that don’t need to happen," said Lease. 

Early on, they started a monthly book club (Read Goodr) and one of the first things read was, Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia. They talk about how it was very inspirational to see a billion dollar company bucking the trend of sacrificing values in order to grow bigger. They learned it’s not a zero sum game and it proved you can maintain who you are and make a lot of money.

Ben and Stephen talk about the importance of quarterly reviews over yearly reviews. They reveal they are really big on feedback and deprogramming the corporate mindset people have developed from previous jobs. People aren’t used to giving or receiving feedback and the need to learn how to do that. They believe people who end up at goodr want to do good work.

Stephen recommended reading Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, to learn about the 3 things that motivate people - autonomy, mastery and purpose (doing something bigger than yourself). Leaving people better than they arrived is the dream behind AMP and something the goodr team works for. "There are a ton of jobs you’re meant to tread water at. I can’t imagine the upward mobility of a worker at amazon is great at all. No matter what your job is, we want there to be a chance to get better at something," said, Stephen. A good outcome is if someone leaves goodr for a better job.

The company culture extends to making sure the team is happy and healthy through a color coded system that allows employees to display how they are feeling each week through a red, yellow or green notification. If it is strictly related to goodr team, a team leader connects with you and if it's connected to life in general, they have a person on staff (Chief Relationship officer).

You can listen to goodr's podcast, Culture Goodr, via their website as well as Spotify and iTunes.

Jennifer Hoyer is the Global Director of Cause Marketing at The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. The Nature Conservancy has grown to become one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world thanks to more than a million members and more than 400 scientists. During this week’s episode, Jen and Jonathan talk about the positive shifts she has seen during her 10+ years of working at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). They discuss how companies are making true investments and commitments. She has found that companies that understand how environmental issues impact their dependencies on nature jump in whole heartedly. “It’s cool to see a full sweep of engagement around social impact beyond just marketing,” said Jen. 

Jen discusses her role to help those companies that are really committed and invested in nature to tell their story to not only influence industry, but take what could be a complicated thing and make those issues relevant in a way consumers can attach too. 

The Nature Conservancy uses social listening tools and Jen talks about how this helps gather data and the importance of their partners bringing data about their business to them. It helps them understand issues they are testing in their marketing and make decisions off of that. They collect whatever metrics they can through digital social traffic, tags and more. 

Jen talks about her personal passion around the intersection of people and nature. She likes looking at how nature can provide so many solutions to some of the biggest challenges we’re facing. As a director, she speaks to her management style. “I’m more of a player coach type of manager; don’t mind licking envelopes if they need to be licked. Don’t mind tough conversations to make my team successful,” said Jen. The two wrap the conversation discussing how listeners can participate in a tree giving program now they can get involved in The Nature Conservancy. 

This week's episode with Rita Katona, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of So Good So You, is full of insights any business leader can learn from. The conversation kicks off talking about their recent capital investment of $14.5 million from Prelude Growth Capital and how they’ve grown 380% in the past 3 months. Rita speaks to how their growth trajectory has not been straight up, but one that zigzags, making their recent success even sweeter. 
Jonathan and Rita open up about how everything from her early upbringing helped her shape what she is doing now. Her early childhood was full of eating fresh food, mostly plants, that they grew themselves, paving the way for a healthy lifestyle and starting a business focused on a  healthy lifestyle. They talked about how her values have always been there, but have crystallized over time as she has grown older and gained more confidence. Prior to So Good So You, she worked at Target on the merchandising side and  was a health and nutrition buyer at HSN.
The conversation weaves in and out of business strategy and best practices as they talk to the role of social media, community and knowing their customers. 

They discuss how thousands and millions of people are making small decisions, they add up and make a difference. The conversation wraps up with Rita offering her advice on how to handle mid career challenges for corporate employees and how business owners can create environmental initiatives.

Final was founded in 2017 by Emma Rose Cohen after a successful Kickstarter campaign for their first product, Final Straw. Cohen wanted to make sustainability sexy and convenient through a design forward approach while bucking the stigma that environmentalism has to be a “hippie thing”.  Jonathan and Emma talk about what inspired her to start the company, where her plastic pollution obsession started, and how she is navigating marketing and social media. 

In the conversation they discussed ideas like object permanence in relation to trash, where objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen and how this affects our conservation efforts. Cohen is involved in the marketing of the businesses as well as leading it as the CEO. She talks about how she tries to align with messaging that uses humor and telling their story. Her advice is to find something unique to you and tell not market to everyone. 

In the closing portion of the podcast the two navigate the conversation too empathy and how it unites us as humans and the environment. It doesn’t matter what your political, social or spiritual beliefs are, we are all united under the belief that this is our one planet and we should treat it with the love and care it deserves. "There is nothing political about saving the environment." said Cohen.