How do you turn a simple healthy snack idea into a new category on the shelves of Walmart and Sam’s Club?

In this episode of Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled, A.D. Edwards talks with Llance Kezner, co-founder of Millie’s Sipping Broth, about how he and his wife, Lori, transformed a homemade wellness idea into an award-winning, nationally distributed food brand. What started as a healthier alternative to bouillon cubes for Lori’s school-day snack became a plant-based sipping broth in a tea bag, built for people who want a savory, satisfying, low-calorie option between meals. Llance shares lessons on product testing, customer feedback, retail growth, food innovation, and what it really takes to create a new category in the health-conscious food and beverage market.

01:36 – Llance shares his background growing up in Bellevue, Washington

02:22 – How growing up in a family of entrepreneurs shaped his early view of business

03:06 – Selling Christmas trees as a six-year-old and learning how to sell through conversation

04:38 – How creativity showed up early for both Llance and his wife, Lori

06:02 – Why health and wellness became part of the product story through Lori’s everyday needs

07:05 – How Lori’s teacher schedule and desire for a healthy snack led to the first broth idea

08:08 – Why Llance created a healthier alternative to bouillon cubes

09:11 – The first kitchen experiment using Lipton tea bags and a tomato basil broth blend

10:24 – The problem Millie’s was designed to solve: a savory, satisfying snack without sugar, caffeine, or junk food

12:15 – Moving from homemade samples to a co-packer and professional production

13:40 – Why they needed both manufacturing support and proof that customers would pay for the product

14:52 – Testing the minimum viable product at Pike Place Market in Seattle

15:35 – How selling hot broth in summer helped them perfect a five-to-ten-second pitch

16:48 – Why creating a new category brought both opportunity and ongoing challenges

18:10 – How weight-conscious consumers helped Millie’s find its first strong market fit

20:22 – How Weight Watchers discovered Millie’s during COVID and introduced the product to millions of subscribers

22:18 – How Millie’s expanded into Walmart, Sam’s Club, Amazon, and thousands of retail locations

24:11 – Winning the Specialty Food Association’s Sofi Gold Award for Outstanding Hot Beverage

26:02 – Why awards build credibility, but the product still has to win on taste and usefulness

27:14 – How Walmart’s Open Call led to a golden ticket and a major retail opportunity

29:18 – Scaling from small production runs to making more product in a week than they previously made in a year

31:02 – Why customer feedback led them to change the name from Millie’s Savory Teas to Millie’s Sipping Broth

33:05 – Why innovation means solving real problems instead of reinventing products that already exist

35:14 – How plant-based ingredients became a natural part of the brand because Lori is vegetarian

37:08 – Why Millie’s focuses on flavor first, with health as a strong added benefit

39:12 – How dry broth reduces the need to ship water and supports a more sustainable format

40:48 – The most rewarding customer feedback, including people using Millie’s during chemotherapy or in hospitals

42:22 – Lessons from early manufacturing challenges and why mistakes help entrepreneurs learn where the trap doors are

43:48 – How Llance and Lori balance working together, family life, and entrepreneurship from home

45:10 – New international-inspired flavors and potential food service opportunities

46:21 – Llance’s vision for broth as an airline beverage option alongside coffee and tea

47:33 – Why health-conscious food and beverage products will keep growing with younger consumers

49:38 – The legacy Llance hopes to build through Millie’s and the entrepreneurial lessons he wants to pass to his children

Llance Kezner is the co-founder of Millie’s Sipping Broth, a plant-based savory broth in a tea bag created with his wife, Lori. The brand has won a Sofi Gold Award, reached national retailers including Walmart and Sam’s Club, and created a new way for consumers to enjoy healthy, satisfying broth as a snack, beverage, or wellness ritual.

Llance’s story shows that innovation often starts with a small, personal problem. Millie’s Sipping Broth began as a better snack for one busy teacher, then grew because other people recognized the same need in their own lives. The lesson for entrepreneurs is clear: get the idea in front of real customers, listen closely, stay flexible, and build for the people who truly need what you offer.

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook
Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube
Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

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✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you.

How do resilient entrepreneurs turn rejection, uncertainty, and hard lessons into lasting business differentiation?

In this episode of Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled, A.D. Edwards talks with Barry LaBov, founder and CEO of LaBov Marketing Communications and Training, about entrepreneurship, creativity, branding, differentiation, and the power of relationships. Barry shares how his early life in music unexpectedly prepared him for business, why trust and word of mouth still matter in a digital marketing world, and how entrepreneurs can identify what makes them truly different before trying to scale.

01:15 – Barry’s background as founder and CEO of LaBov Marketing Communications and Training

03:30 – Why entrepreneurship often means working whichever 12 hours of the day are required

05:02 – How Barry’s early rock band experience taught him about products, performance, and customer experience

07:05 – The death of Barry’s father and how it pushed him to focus his creative energy into business

08:42 – Why Barry discovered that creativity, not music alone, was his true passion

10:15 – How marketing has changed through digital tools, but still depends on doing great work for one client at a time

12:04 – Why Barry bootstrapped his business and did not take a salary for seven years

14:18 – The painful rejection from a New York music publisher who told Barry he had no talent

16:02 – How the very next meeting with Billy Joel’s publishing company led to a song being accepted

18:10 – Why entrepreneurs cannot let one bad meeting define the future of their dream

19:28 – How a trusted client convinced Barry to move from jingle writing into full-service marketing and advertising

21:06 – Why Barry chose entrepreneurship over becoming someone else’s employee

22:45 – What differentiation really means for a brand, product, or service

24:12 – Why Barry starts by discovering what already makes a client unique instead of inventing something artificial

25:20 – The customer question that can reveal your strongest differentiator: “What are we doing that you do not want us to stop?”

27:02 – Why employees must understand and celebrate differentiation before the market does

29:08 – The kind of clients Barry works with and why mindset matters more than company size

31:35 – Barry’s advice for entrepreneurs trying to build identity with limited resources

33:02 – Why small business owners should avoid compromising the quality of what they create

34:15 – Why serving one or two clients exceptionally well can be more powerful than chasing mass marketing too early

35:48 – How customer referrals and word of mouth become the strongest early growth engine

Barry LaBov is the founder and CEO of LaBov Marketing Communications and Training, a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year recipient, BBB Torch Award for Ethics recipient, author, speaker, and branding strategist. His work focuses on helping companies discover, name, celebrate, and communicate what makes them uniquely valuable.

Barry’s story shows that entrepreneurship is built through persistence, trust, creativity, and the courage to keep going after rejection. The strongest brands do not always win because they are louder or larger. They win because they understand what makes them different, deliver it consistently, and turn customers and employees into believers.

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook
Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube
Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you.

What does entrepreneurship really require after the excitement of the idea fades and the hard work begins?

In this inaugural episode of Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled, A.D. Edwards talks with Arius Websterberry, entrepreneur, marketing strategist, author, and creator of Launch Ignition, about the real mindset, structure, and discipline required to build a business. Arius shares how his entrepreneurial instincts began with a childhood dog-walking hustle, grew through event promotion and digital marketing, and eventually turned into a system for helping other entrepreneurs move from idea to execution.

01:35 – Arius shares how his first business started at age 10 when he noticed neighborhood dogs were not being walked

03:20 – Why his first dog-walking business was profitable but quickly shut down by his mother

05:02 – How watching major entrepreneur-brands shaped his early view of business and possibility

06:54 – Why many people mistake hobbies for businesses

08:10 – The two mindset shifts entrepreneurs need: market validation and structured work habits

10:45 – Why entrepreneurship is not an escape from discipline, schedules, or accountability

12:18 – How throwing parties in high school and college introduced Arius to promotion and event marketing

14:02 – Moving from parties to concert promotion, street teams, billboards, radio spots, and large-scale event marketing

16:30 – How the 2009 and 2010 economic crash forced Arius to rebuild in Texas

18:14 – Why doing what you have to do can create the foundation for doing what you want to do

20:32 – How a regular job at a major digital marketing company gave Arius formal training and structure

22:41 – Why taking a step back sometimes prepares entrepreneurs to move forward stronger

24:15 – How turning away unprepared agency clients revealed the need for entrepreneur coaching

26:48 – Why ads exposed weak systems, poor organization, and cracks in early-stage businesses

28:42 – How Arius created the first version of Launch Ignition to help entrepreneurs build stronger foundations

31:06 – How ChatGPT and AI became central to the Launch Ignition system

33:20 – The three-part Launch Ignition model: software, one-on-one coaching, and group accountability

35:04 – Why mindset coaching became an important addition to the program

35:55 – Arius introduces Content Cannon, his book on creating a month of business content in one day

36:25 – Why “done is better than perfect” matters for entrepreneurs starting from garages, closets, or wherever they can begin

Arius Websterberry is an entrepreneur, digital marketing strategist, business coach, author, and creator of Launch Ignition, a program designed to help entrepreneurs move from business idea to profitability. He is also the author of Content Cannon, a practical guide for creating a month of business content in one day.

Arius’ story shows that entrepreneurship is not only about having a dream. It is about testing the market, building structure, accepting accountability, learning from setbacks, and doing the work even when the path is uncomfortable. The real truth about entrepreneurship is that freedom comes after discipline, not before it.

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook
Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube
Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you.