Habits and Hustle - Episode 261: Mari Llewellyn: The Guaranteed Way To Lose Out on Millions of Dollars of Sales

Episode Date: July 25, 2023

Are you waiting for the “perfect moment” to launch your business? In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I chat with Mari Llewellyn. Mari’s inspiring story of self-healing takes center stage as she shares how she went from a low point of depression, gaining 60 pounds, and struggling with borderline personality disorder to losing 100 pounds and becoming a successful entrepreneur. She also discusses her journey to mental health recovery, shedding light on the importance of therapy and taking control of one's life. As we continue the conversation, Mari recounts her transformation from being an overweight and insecure individual to a confident, successful entrepreneur in the fitness industry. She emphasizes the significance of hard work, taking small steps, and staying authentic in your journey.  Wrapping up our chat, Mari details her daily routine, her brand’s growth through social media hiring, and her efforts in reaching out to influencers to align with her brand. She also talks about how her product ended up on the shelves of major retailers like Walmart and Target and shares her plans for the future.  Mari Llewellyn is the founder of Bloom Nutrition and creator of the fitness app, Slay. In her weight-loss journey, she lost over 100 lbs. Throughout this weight-loss and self-love process, she fell in love with fitness and nutrition and was inspired to help others do the same. What we discuss: (0:00:01) - From Depression to Fitness Success (0:11:20) - Weight Loss and Fitness Transformation Journey (0:16:31) - Minimum Wage to Fitness App Success (0:28:33) - Building a Brand and Overcoming Challenges (0:32:22) - Building a Successful Specialized Business (0:41:48) - Brand Growth With Social Media Hiring (0:53:42) - Influencer Outreach and Company Growth (1:05:03) - Daily Routine and Work Responsibilities (1:08:15) - Spokesperson Role and Evening Routine (1:11:14) - Where to Find Mari’s Products Key takeaways: Whether it be fitness, health, or business, people are constantly looking for shortcuts or hacks to attain their goals faster. However, there are no such things as hacks and shortcuts when it comes to success. Your only option is to do the hard work and it’s truly the only thing that works. So many people in business wait for the perfect moment or until they have permission from someone. However, if you actually want to succeed, you need to pull the trigger and just launch it. You will learn a lot more from getting started than you ever will from trying to perfect a product or service. When it comes to marketing a brand on social media through influencer marketing, it’s best to give the creatives you hire the opportunity to be creative. The truth is that content creators know their audience better than you ever will and have the secret formula to pushing your product to their audience profile. By restricting their creativity, the content which introduces your products may fall flat and not obtain the results you were hoping for given that it may not resonate with their audience.  To learn more about Mari: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marillewellyn/?hl=en Website: https://bloomnu.com/ and https://slayapp.com/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0xKOhJLfnQTGkWqFSodeCA My links: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I got this Tony Robbins you're listening to Habits in Hustle, Creshian. We have Mari Luellen. This girl is such a badass. She's only 28. She is the CEO and founder of a supplement company called Bloom, which is probably probably probably one of the top trending brands on TikTok, I would say, a long as it been like a major trend on TikTok. I feel like we've been there for over six months now. It's kind of been ramping up over time. I thought it was even longer than that. TikTok has been a relatively new program for us. The brand

initially got huge on Instagram through my own Instagram. We're gonna hear all about this. We're gonna hear all about it. So basically through my own Instagram. Okay, we're gonna hear all about this. We're gonna hear all about it. So basically through your own Instagram. So this girl, she's a major wellness entrepreneur. So she created a fitness app called The Slay app, right? Her whole story is amazing. She lost 100 pounds. She created this number one supplement company

with her husband. She is everywhere. And I just wanna know how somebody who's so young has become so successful where it's such a saturated industry. It is so sad, like the fitness world, and I know this, it's so hard to stand out because there's everybody and their dog is in there pushing something, doing something. I have to understand the origin of like how you started, how you became so successful,

I feel like with everything, the app, with Bloom, so start from the beginning, like, give me your story, go. Okay, so I think everything started with my own personal fitness journey. Like that was really the catalyst for my entire career, which I didn't know at the time, obviously. So in 2017, I was kind of at a rock bottom period of my life.

I had gained 60 pounds. I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which is a mood disorder. I was on antidepressants, antianxiety, mood stabilizers, drinking till I blacked out. My life was kind of a mess. I was in my final semester of college and about to graduate, but also failing every class.

So I had to pull out of school. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was health-wise just a disaster, and I look back and I'm surprised I even made it out of that time, to be honest, because I was so deep in my mental health issues that I was self-harming, I was having suicidal thoughts. At that point, I really didn't have a vision of my future at all. So I ended up moving home with my dad and home being in the

UK, then. Home in New York. You were in New York, okay. Yeah, so I went to school in Philadelphia and my parents divorced, but they lived in New York. Okay. So I moved... so I went to school in Philadelphia and my parents divorced, but they lived in New York. Okay. Okay. So I moved... Where'd you grow up in Philadelphia? In England. So I grew up in England.

Okay. I moved to the US when I was 10 and grew up in New York for the most part and then went to Drexel University in Philly. Got it. Okay. So I moved back to New York and kind of had this like reality check moment where I came clean off the meds

that I was on because first of all, I was put on a lot of medication. And clearly I'm not a doctor, I'm not advising anyone do this, but it was making me have no sense of reality at all. I had no sense of who I was, what was going on, I was like checked out, which a lot of people who take medicine like I could understand, but it was like too much medicine.

So I came off all of it called Turkey, kind of had to detox from that. Right. Because it takes months and months for that to come out of your system. And had this realization that I had gotten myself in this mess. You know, I looked around at my life and I was like, oh my god, I don't have a job, I don't have a degree, I'm living at home, overweight'm overweight all of a sudden.

I had never struggled with weight in my life. I'd never thought about it and all of a sudden I was unhealthy. I couldn't go on a walk without getting out of breath. I was like emotional, my mood swings were insane. And I knew I had to take a step to get control back. And at the time, my boyfriend, Greg, who's my husband now, he's a body builder. Been bodybuilding since middle school, it's his passion.

And I'd watch him go to the gym twice a day sometimes, eating out of top of wear, like his life. And at the time I was like, well, what the hell is he doing? Like I have no interest in it. You know when they say like you can lead a horse to water but you can't make drinks. Yes, I say that all the time actually. That was me.

Like I watched it, it was around me, it was available to me, but I had no interest because I didn't really have that self-love. I didn't care about my own health. Well, it wasn't though, if you don't mind me interrupting. What kind of was the precipice that made you get diagnosed with the borderline personality, what gained all the weight at that stage of life.

Did something happen to you? Did you have some traumatic event? I would say I have trauma from my childhood overall. Like I kind of lived in a tumultuous household, didn't have the best relationship with my parents. So I had a lot of pain that I was dealing with through alcohol, definitely abusing alcohol or through college. And I know we all kind of did in college, but mine was to a different degree and

self-harming regularly. And I was in group therapy. I kind of realized that my mood was different to my friends. Like my ups and downs were so much more dramatic than my friends were. That eventually Greg was like, you know, I think you should go and see a psychiatrist. Like, we need to figure this out. So that's when I was diagnosed with BPD. And ever since then, I've been on a journey of self-healing. I do therapy twice a week.

It's really become my like mission to heal from trauma and also help others heal from trauma. So anyway, that's a whole other thing. No, but that's very interesting. So you're basic, but you're still, because it doesn't go away, right? Are you still struggling with borderline without medication? Are you just figuring out other ways,

like other modalities, like living healthy, exercising, meditation, sauna, on, and whatever it is. That's really where fitness came to me, because I was like, I need a way to monitor my mood, to control my happiness, and fitness was kind of the first thing that made me feel like I had that control, and also taught me everything I know about work ethic and discipline.

So we all know fitness releases in dolphins, and sounds cliche, but it really does. No, 100%. I could not agree with you more. And there's so much research is back in the fact that exercise actually has more of an effect on your mood for depression than actual antidepressants. I would agree. I mean, I'm the perfect case study. What is 100%?

I came off medication and replaced it with clean eating, nutrients, and exercise. And that made, that put me on the path to recovery, I would say. Totally. That was the first thing I did. Now my whole life, I'm obsessed with the sauna and the cold plunging.

Now I've added things to it. But back then, when I was so clueless with anything, fitness or health-related, all I needed to do was move my body more, and that put me on the right path. So for anyone listening who wants to take a step in the right direction, even a small baby step, as long as it's the right direction,

I think that's perfect. You don't have to change your life completely on the first day. For me, it was slow and steady and it got me moving the right way. Oh, absolutely. So then when you gained all that weight, because I think you said in the bio, 90 pounds was a total. Was it because you were depressed and unhappy until you were eating a lot, you were moving, you were drinking. So that's where all the weight came from. In the culmination of all of those things

and I was eating like garbage. Like I look back and I cringe at the lack of nutrients I was taking in. I think sometimes those medications can make you crave things that you never have before. Like all of a sudden I was eating food truck food and I just had no sense of what nutrition meant. Like I didn't realize that food had such an impact on the way we feel and I just had no sense of what nutrition meant.

I didn't realize that food had such an impact on the way we feel and the way we act and everything. And now I'm so obsessed with nutrition, it's crazy to look back and think of myself that way, but it was a culmination of all those things. So then, okay, so then what happened? So then you see your boyfriend at the time, constantly go back and forth to the gym.

Like, I didn't realize you were with them. Like, you're like basically your entire adult life. So like eight years. Yeah. Eight years. I know it's a long time. Yeah, it's been insane. So what was the impetus for you to be like, okay, you know what? I'm gonna try going to the gym today. It felt like, so I had nothing else really going on. Like, my life was kind of out of standstill because I had reached this Brock bottom point. And Greg inspired me back then. You know, I was like, well Greg has a shit together.

Like how come I don't, you know what I mean? And I was like, well why don't I just like, take a step and try to get some control back. So I started going on longer walks with my dog Lulu. That was literally how I started. I would just like go on walks more frequently, speed them up a little bit. And then I remember I tried to, so my breakfast

before my fitness journey was a giant muffin, like that big, sometimes too, with an ice coffee, full caffeine, sugar, whole milk, the works. Like can you imagine someone with a mood disorder, just like dumping sugar in their body on caffeine? Like horrendous. And I look back and I'm like, you know, not that a muffin is horrible.

Like, if you want to have a muffin every now and again, go ahead. No, but the nutritional value of those things are the laden, sugar, and fats, and everything else, all the crap that's in there. It's like a mood dump. Like your mood, you maybe, it spikes, it goes down, it's terrible.

100%. And I didn't think about it. Like I had no idea the implications I would have on my mood. So I was like, okay, I need to switch this out for something better. So I just imitated what Greg ate every day, which was like six eggs, because he's a bodybuilder.

Yeah, I know, that's what I eat every morning. A giant bowl of oatmeal. Like I made like a bodybuilder style breakfast, and I facetimeed him and I was like, look babe, like I'm healthy and he was like, oh great, you know, I'm definitely like a massive bodybuilder. Like you don't have to eat the exact same quantity as me. And I was like, oh, got it. Like, I'll turn it back.

So, you know, I was trying. I was moving the right way. I was eating the same amount. It's like a 230 pound bodybuilder. But anyway. So that was my first step. And then eventually I got myself in the gym. And Greg would join me.

So he was still at school at this point. And he would come back on the weekend and go to the gym with me and teach me how to do a squat or a bicep coat. And yeah, I kind of learned to train him at the beginning, like very bodybuilder-esque, compound movements, heavyweight. It works, by the way.

It's the best type of training I still think. All this other nonsense doesn't even work as close as to that. So that's what you do, right? Yeah. Because you look incredible. Oh my gosh. Thank you. You're so nice. I appreciate that. And you have kids too. Okay, so I want to look like you when I have kids. Oh my gosh. I love you. That's my goal. Thank you. So if you look like that from lifting, then I'm going to keep lifting. Lifting changed my life. 100%. First of all, what I had understand is that people are constantly looking for the new fancy thing that's gonna get them the results.

When the reality is, it's the basics that are the most effective and the best. 100%. Like, what Greg, Greg, or Greg. Like, that to me, the foundational movement, the compound movement's lifting weights, that is what you have to do. There's no fancy trick, there's no magic pill. There's no nothing. Like if you do that, you're gonna be just golden. I think people want an easy route out. And it's like, you know, the hard work is what works.

You just said it, the hard work is what works. Yeah, like, I look on Instagram, I swear. I'm like, who buys this nonsense? Like, I see girls, we probably are thinking of the same girl right now, and she lifts her leg and inch off the floor 10 times and the other one. And people are like buying this program, like it's gonna get them these crazy results.

I'm like, that's gonna do nothing for you. I know. Pick up a weight, like even a five pound weight, and just like use that, like 100%. And people always ask me, like, how did you lose weight without doing insane amounts of cardio? Like, it can't just be weightlifting.

But that's really all I did for the first half of the year was just weightlift, because if you can imagine someone who's never lifted a weight before in their life, you see the most progress at the beginning. 100, well, that's of course, right? And the more muscle you have in your body, the more calories you're gonna burn throughout the day, right?

Yeah. People don't make that, like they don't do that. I do cardio, though, because I do a lot of cardio, only because it's for my mental health. I do now. Now I've added it in, but at the beginning, if someone's at the start of the finished show, you just move your body. Just lift some weights, it's hard.

It's hard. You'll be sweating your butt off, we just move your body. Just lift some weights, it's hard. It's hard. You'll be sweating your butt off. I was 100%. So then you started doing, so he came on the weekends to see you and he put together like a program, like do this bicep girl, do this squat and you had no clue what you,

like you just were just completely new at it, completely new and he gave me a split so I was doing my glutes and hamstrings, my shoulders and chest, whatever it was. I love it. And yeah, just getting in there and it didn't always go perfectly. Like, I would have days where I would leave crying because I felt insecure, but I made sure I showed up every day. Yeah. And just like compiling these little promises I was keeping to myself every day. Like, okay, a healthy breakfast check, a walk with Lulu check, gym check, and I started adding to that each day.

You'd be shocked how far, I mean, I can tell you firsthand, I was shocked how far that took me. I mean, I lost 90 pounds in like seven months. In seven months? Yeah. So were you documenting this on Instagram? Like, how did people leave it?

Like, so at this point, you have no following. Are you even honest with people? I'm a no one at this point. Right, but exactly. But like, nope. It was Instagram there eight years ago. It was there. It was just beginning, right?

Like, it wasn't like it is now, right? I was like a fan of other fitness influence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I was following all the fitness girls back then. Yeah. It was like the era of Christian Goosman and Buff Bunny. I don't know if you know who they are. I don't like.

Do you remember Michelle Lewand? Oh yeah, Michelle Lewand. She's doing around. I don't know. I don't see her. But I was following all the muscle girls. All the muscle girls. Yes.

I was a stage hat the way I was. Oh yeah. 100% stage hat. Yeah. I remember these girls. So I was following all the muscle girls. I wanted muscle, but I wasn't posting because I was in just such an insecure point in my life.

I didn't want to take photos. Looking back, I hate myself for it because I would have so much content to work with. Do you still have that content? I only have a few photos of me, a few videos of me working out because I wasn't thinking about it. No, I wasn't thinking.

I didn't expect to have a career that was based on my weight loss. I was just doing it for me. Oh, you know? Well, you know, that's to me why you are successful because it's such an authentic journey. Yeah. It wasn't like, for show.

It wasn't because you were trying to like make money at it. But I will say, I saw a few of the pictures on your stuff. I could not believe it was you. I could not believe it. You look like a different person. I know. I think that's why that transformation blew up because people just genuinely don't believe that I could not believe it. You look like a different person. I know. I think that's why that transformation blew up because people just genuinely don't believe that I ever looked like that.

Well also it's because yeah like the hair was different. Every your face was even different but I gained a lot of weight in my face. I think that's why. Is that just because it's just because of the weight gain. Yeah. But that also just goes to show you how hair makes such a big difference. Right? Because like your hair now is long and long, there it was not. It was like brown and in a ponytail that I saw. But you know, like it's crazy. You look like literally a different person. Yeah, I was 250 pounds.

And now you look like a supermodel. Oh, well, thank you. No, I swear. Okay, so I think go on. This is so interesting. So then you're following all these girls, but you have no following at all. It's just you doing your thing. I literally just dedicated myself to fitness for nine months.

Like I was all I did. Like I didn't have a job, but I wasn't going to school. It was just this. Just this. So I will say I was very lucky to be in a place where I could do that. And I could focus on myself, because I had support from Greg, from my dad,

they were kind of helping me. Oh, they were. So your dad was kind of, or, and Greg, they were both kind of supporting you. A little bit. And then as I was going, I kind of started to get my confidence back. I started, you know, really gaining this work ethic because I was showing up for myself every day.

Totally. And I wanted to be able to support myself and to be independent. So I went back to school. I was driving back to Philadelphia every week, there and back in the same day with my top aware of chicken, because I was on my top aware of the kind. And then I got a front desk job at Orange Theory Fitness.

I was the person at the front desk having heart monitors thrown at me, cleaning the toilet, making minimum wage. I wasn't selling the program because I sucked. Like I couldn't sell the program. Really? Yeah, I wasn't good at it. So I made no commission. So I was literally making minimum wage. And I was getting there at three in the morning every day. Wow. It turns out it was a first class at the origin. I think it was at like four-thirds of your stuff back then.

So I was opening up and really just getting like my footing back. And at this point, I had some before and after photos that I was just sharing with Greg because I wanted Greg to be proud of me. Like all I really cared about back then was being proud of myself and Greg being proud of me because he really helped me every step of the way. And he was like, oh my god, you have to post this. Like look at all this way you've lost. Like, it really was like a big accomplishment for me. It was my whole life.

Wow. And he sounds like he was really supportive of you back then. Very, very. That's nice. He would, so I wanted to keep track of my weight, so he would weigh me, but I didn't want to see it. I couldn't look at the scale, so I would face backwards and he would tell me how much I'd lost, so I didn't have to know the number. So he'd be like, you lost one pound this week or you lost two this week. And I found out later that he was actually lying sometimes about how much I'd lost because he wanted me to keep going. Yeah, you want to keep, you don't want to lose your motivation.

Yeah, so even if I lost nothing or I gained something, he'd be like, oh, he lost a couple pounds, like he'd like, he'd lie. I love, you, by the way, that works. Because people get very demotivated when the scale plate tells. 100%. When that's so normal and natural. 100%. So I was so smart of him to do that.

Yeah, no, he helped me the whole way. So I posted the photo, the before and after photo, on my Instagram, I had 900 followers, like friends, people from my school, and it blew up. And it was the age of Instagram where you could organically blow up. Now a days it's virtually impossible. So it got reposted by a ton of other big fitness pages

with millions of followers. They were all coming to follow me. It really got a lot of attention. Which picture was it? Was it one that I'm talking about with that? I don't. I think it was was a Jim selfie and a before photo. It wasn't the famous one that blew up. It's a different one.

But it got a lot of attention, I think, for the same reason you were saying, I just looked so different. Did you already dye your hair or color your hair? Was it, was it like distinction between... I guess so. I never even thought about the hair aspect, to be honest. Well, that's what totally, like, to me.

I'm like, I didn't think, I'm like, oh, this must be her sister or like a class in. I guess I hadn't, but also I didn't go outside back then. So that's another change. Oh, yeah. I don't know. But anyway, I posted it and I was just getting all of these messages and follows and keep in mind, I never even,

I wasn't like an avid social media user, I didn't know what was going on. So I had hundreds and hundreds of messages being like, oh my God, what did you do? What did you take? What was your plan, et cetera? And Greg, who's an entrepreneur major slash just the most entrepreneurial person you've ever met.

Like this man is crazy. I know, I saw some videos I've been talking and I liked that he was like on it. Oh, this man is crazy. I know, I saw some videos I've been talking and I liked, he was like on it. Oh, he's like a New York business guy. Like, that's just who he is. Which, he's become back then, we weren't really sure because he, neither of us were great with school.

Right. Like, neither of us had good grades. So, school is one element of a smart kind of, one type of smart. And now, I've watched him become this amazing leader and CEO and it's incredible. But anyway, he was like, oh my god, I think this is a great business opportunity.

We need to make a product. And I was like, well, let's write up my workout plan because they're all asking for it. So we wrote the workout plan. And we went to a Barnes and Noble and made a PDF. It was not the cutest thing you've ever seen. It was pretty ugly. I made it on like a word doc, but I typed up every single workout that I was doing, my

grocery list, my recipes, and I was like, hey guys, it's $5 if you want it. We would... $5. $5. I would manually email it to people from the DMs on Instagram and they would pay palace $5. So it was a manual back and forth and we would be on our phones doing this all day long just going going going.

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So eventually we got a website that automated the whole thing. Okay, that's weird. We sold like a million guides. Like it was a lot. A million... That was how... Mm-hmm. That's how we got any capital to do any of the brands that we have now. Or from those guides. That is incredible.

So then you sell a million of these things for $5 each. You don't raise a price or is it always just $5? I think we may have raised it a little bit. Once we stepped up the quality and everything. That's the thing. And we had guide one, guide two, guide three, home guides, nutrition guides, yeah, that works. That was our business at the beginning.

That's a great business. Yeah, because there's no overhead. And there's no overhead. And by the way, there's a lot of people still to this day who just have that as a business. Yeah. And they're crushing it. Oh yeah.

No PDFs are a great business. Oh, it's a great business. But you were smart or a Greg or someone there was like, okay, now we're gonna step it up a bit, right? And turn it into an app. And yeah, yeah, no PDFs are a great business. Oh, it's a great business, but you were smart or a Greg, or someone there was like, okay, now we're gonna step it up a bit, right? And turn it into an app. And yeah, yeah. I wanted it to be more modern and easy to use. Yeah.

Apps take a long time to make. I know. When I decided I wanted to turn it into an app, it didn't happen until three years later. We started working on it, and then it came out three years later. And yeah, now that business, which was called Mari Fitness at the time, is now the SLE app, which now we have two other trainers, other than me, Pilates and Hit and recipes and it's a gorgeous app, like it's crazy. So it took three years to make that and then you put

all that like not all, but the money that you made from the PDFs, you put into this app. We put into the app exactly, and we also put into sampling for bloom. Oh, and before that, we had our resistance bands. That was our first physical product. Oh, the fitness band. So then how much should it,

I know you bear with numbers, but maybe you'll say, ask Greg, I know you're gonna say that already, but how much should it cost to make the app? Do you remember around, like how much it cost to just develop app? Do you remember around like how much it costs to just develop it? Hundreds and thousands of dollars. Hundreds of dollars.

It was expensive. Is that over time? Probably even more. Oh yeah, because you got to keep on like revamping it, right? And then how did it do? Like out of the gate? Did it do well? It was number one fitness app on New Year's Day when we launched.

So it beat how many years ago was this? That we launched in, I wanna say, 2020? 2020, but it was top app on the fitness app or so. It was insane. So is it still like in the top? It does very well. It does very well. So how many users you have on the app now?

I believe we have over 100,000 users on the app. And so you can buy it monthly, right? You can buy it yearly or buy yearly. Is that the way it's exactly? Yes, exactly. We have different plans. And my whole thing is I've always wanted my products to be affordable.

Even from the guide being $5, I still want the app to be super affordable. Because I think, especially during COVID, I wanted fitness to be available for everyone. And I remember we did a big especially during COVID, I wanted fitness to be available for everyone. And I remember we did a big sale during COVID, because everyone was suddenly at home and needing a home plan. And my goal is just always to have it be accessible, because that's been my whole thing. Like, I was someone at the beginning who I was making minimum wage. I couldn't afford the things that I can now, but I still was so interested in fitness.

I belonged to Planet Fitness. I was shopping at, I don't know, some random store. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think health should be available for everyone. So that's kind of always been my ethos with that. No, and it's worked. So now you have the app, but so Bloom was not done yet, right? No, so we were sampling for Bloom all of 2018 and we launched in January of 2019. So Bloom actually came before Slee. Oh, so Bloom came before Slee, okay. So the PDFs, the Resistant Bands, you're making all this money from that. The app is number one, and the app's still crushing it.

You have to kind of keep up with the workouts too, right? Are you still constantly doing workouts for the app? So we do new workouts every season or so, but we also just added the two new trainers, Tiffany and Paulina. So now we've added Pilates, we've added hit training, we're always doing new recipes. It's kind of evolved with me. So like, it has all the workouts I did on my weight loss journey,

but also the ones I do now. So it's kind of evolved over time. Wow. And so how many workouts are on the app? Oh, hundreds. So many different combinations. But it's all those core movements we were talking about. That are so effective.

The foundation of stuff. And so what's the app? The app is workouts. It's nutrition, recipes. It's recipes. You can keep track of progress. So that's great. Before and afters.

And also the weights you're using, the reps you're doing. We have a community page. So it's kind of like everything you need in one app. So that's great. So then, Bloom. And then so, who had these ideas? Was it Greg? Who was like, we're going to do this?

We're going to do this. So it was kind of like a joint moment because I was still on my fitness journey. As you know, like fitness doesn't just stop off. Do you lose weight? Like you keep, you know, keep evolving. And I really wanted supplements to complement my journey. And I was coming home from G&C and G&C back in the day

was all yellow, red, black, muscle, this, destroy X, whatever. I was like, what is all this stuff? It was all for men, it felt like. And it was all super intimidating and full of caffeine and fillers and all this crap. Totally. So I'd come home with it and Greg would be like, oh, you're returning that, you're not

taking that. What was he taking at the time? Greg always took like a protein powder and a creatine, pretty simple, but we both wanted to create an awesome pre-workout that didn't have all of that crap in it. We wanted a pre-workout that I could take with my anxiety and it wasn't triggering me and it tasted good but was a bit more natural than what was on the market. By the way, is this considered a pre-workout? No, I would have told you. You'd be buzzing. Okay, yeah, because this is very, I'm telling you, this is the... This is our green. This is our greens. This is by far our best selling product now, but it was not the first product we launched with.

This is our hero skew. This is our baby. Yeah, our greens. It's very, by the way, I'm drinking the greens and super food. It is. I'm not just saying this because she's beside me. I'm actually being honest. I really do. I'm drinking it on the podcast. She tasted it before we got on and I was terrified. She wouldn't like it, but no. Good thing she does. I was terrified too, but it's actually very delicious. That's like our biggest feedback is that we taste better

than anything else on the market. By far, that was my goal too, because I wanted something that was easy to incorporate in my lifestyle. I didn't want to have to pinch my nose and chug it down. 100%. I wanted something with all the fruits and veggies, all the nutrients, all the bloating hacks, but didn't taste like gross.

Yeah, well, that's the problem with those of it, most of it does, and that's why I will actually drink this even when you leave. So that's a big, that's good to hear. That's really good. I mean, the reality is I also think that if something does not taste good, nobody will drink it. No one will eat it or drink it.

Exactly. That's the reality. Exactly. It can be so good for you, but no. And also that's a very niche type of person. If you create a product that tastes like dirt, like I will occasionally drink things that taste like dirt if they're good for my health,

but most people will not. Well, you just said the key word occasionally. You won't do it regularly. Exactly. We wanted something that was in every day, all in one supplement. Totally. So yeah, we launched the pre-workouts in January of 2019. Where did you

launch it just on your Instagram? Yeah. So we were living in Colorado at the time. We lived in Colorado for a year. Why? I don't know. I couldn't tell you. Because basically we were at the point where we were building my brand, we were building bloom. And we were like, we need to focus, we need to move out. I was silly out of my dad's house at the time. Out of his attic, like selling resistance bands packing them myself. I was basically running a business out of my dad's attic, okay? Oh wow, I love this. We were like, we need to get out of it because we needed to grow our business.

So we were like, Colorado seems great. You know, we thought we were outdoorsy. We loved fitness and we're like, it seems perfect. Turns out we're not outdoorsy at all. Like we're LA outdoors. I chose to say there's a big distinction. Oh, it's not the same. No, they're like kayaking and sleeping in trees. Like we're LA outdoors. I chose to say there's a very dist- there's a big distinction. Oh, it's not the same. No, they're like kayaking and sleeping in trees.

Like I can't. I'm- No. Exactly. You like the walks and the hikes like me, okay? Yeah. You're not into the kayaking and there's a rock climbing like them. No.

No, we couldn't keep up. We were like, oh, this isn't for us. So basically for a full year, we didn't leave the house. We were in the house just working on Bloom, because it was just us too at the beginning. So we were doing all of the label creation, all of the customer service, all of the social media, all of the inventory ordering.

So wait, but by this point, it's 2019, 18. How many people do you have following you now? Ooh, I think I was a 600,000. OK, so, and it's not just the number. What's amazing is the engagement, right? You can have a huge number and have nobody give a shit, right? So those are your customers. Like those people were actually like avid customers.

It was insane. Yeah, that's what made it so successful. Yes, I would agree. And I think I always treated my social media as a diary. Like every day I was updating them on the back end. I was showing them, hey, I'm shooting, like I had a light box that I was shooting the products in. It was like a fake mini photo studio when I was shooting the products myself. And I was showing them. And showing them and I asked them to help us come up with our flavors.

I was like, what flavors do you guys want to see? So they were involved from start to finish. So good. And the followers in I was so connected because I was talking to them every day, I felt like we were talking in the DMs and the comments, they were hearing like my mess ups, my mistakes, my wins, every single thing.

So I think that really was a huge part of our success from the beginning and the pre-workouts we launched. Looking back, of course, I would have done it so differently. Like, the labels, yeah. I always say if you wait for something to be perfect, you're never gonna launch it. And I think so many people in business like wait for the perfect time and the perfect moment

and they wait to have like permission from someone, just do it, you know, like I think back then we had no idea what we were doing, but we knew it was a good product, we knew we liked it, and we knew the audience would like it, so we launched it, and the label wasn't the cutest thing I've ever seen, it didn't taste great at the beginning, and we learned from that launch, hey, we need to make things taste better. And that's where we started.

I think that's a really, really good point. And I talk about this a lot on this podcast and in my book, wherever, people wait for the perfect time and there's never gonna be a perfect time, ever, ever, ever. So if you're gonna wait, you're gonna wait, and then nothing will ever happen in your life. And so you have to just move and momentum and figure it out as you go.

That's what you do. I get a lot of questions in my DMs. It's like, well, where do you get a business certification? Or did someone tell you you could launch a business? Like, what, when did that happen? Really? And I'm like, well, you don't need permission. You don't need a certification, as long as you are passionate

and invested, and you believe in the brand that's all you need. You need to have desire to get it done and work ethic, right? And not give up when you have something that happens that knocks you down. You have to get right back up. But you are lucky in the sense that you both were. You had each other. And in that way, we are a great team because Greg was an entrepreneurship major at school.

He's always been super business focused. I love making content. I love talking to people. I love connecting on an emotional level. So, and I also love branding. I was a design-emergentizing major. So I took everything I learned and put it into our branding and Greg focused on the numbers and the back end.

And together, we just kind kinda like, it just worked. That's amazing though and that's another good point because you don't have to be graded everything. You gotta know what you're good at and lean into that and then find other people who could help balance it out to be successful. Because nobody can do everything on their own, it's impossible.

Right and as we've now hired a lot, when we started hiring, we realized, okay, we need someone who's gonna kill it at customer service. That was our first hire, actually, because customer service was probably the hardest thing for us to do. Because it's like such a, people are only emailing you when they have a problem, right?

And when you own the brand, you take it so personally. So all day, we were just like, God, this is so like demoralizing, like we hate this. So we hired Dom who is like an angel. She's such a sweetheart. And now she leads a customer service team of like six or seven people.

She's head of HR. She's still with us today. Wow. Yeah. How many people do you have at the company now? I'd say like 40, 45. And they, and when you say company, is it, because Bloom's one of them.

Yeah, they're separate LLCs. They're all separate. So you have Bloom LLC, the Slay apps, another LLC, what's the other LLC? Your personal LLC? Technically it was Marry Fitness, but now Slay is, would they Marry Fitness? So you have two separate.

Wow, and so how many people do you have working on the Slay out? So that team is out of London actually and there's about 10 of them. We have one or two here in L.A. with us, but Bloom is definitely like our biggest company. Yeah. And this, that has the potential, like not even potential. I mean, this is going to be, I mean, it's already massive. I know, I can't ask you numbers. You don't know any, but do you know how much you've sold in terms of what your revenue was last year, even for bloom or you have no idea? Yeah, we've like 10 acts every year. Every year. When currently the number one selling supplement, I'll target.

Okay, so I want to remember I said the beginning. So this product now is in Walmart. It's at target number one. It's an Amazon deseller. I saw like crazy amounts of reviews like 25,000 or something crazy Yeah, I've reviews yeah on Amazon So yeah, so then I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was just like so Excited so then you come up with this pre-workout, you know You wasn't great and then what happens then? So we you know kind of Colorado There got the customer service person. Yeah, we kind of re- Colorado, they're about the customer service person. Yeah, we kind of re-did the pre-workouts, made them better. They kept selling out.

I have to shout out our community. They have been so loyal to us from the beginning and they were just there to support and give feedback and tell us what they liked and what they didn't like. So we listened to that feedback and made edits and the products just kept getting better. And then I was like, you know, I really want something and I would say my journey was evolving at this point. Like, I was such a fitness focused person, but as I was learning more about trauma and inner healing

and wellness, I wanted something that wasn't just for the gym. I wanted something that was like an all in one, all my nutrients, all my fruits and veggies, all my probiotics in one supplement. So it's like, I want to create a greens. Like, I want to have a greens powder, but I don't want it to taste like dirt because all of the ones on the market taste like dirt

and there weren't that many. And also they were all very male branded. Yeah, they are. Which is fine, totally fine, but I was, you know, my community were women who were new to fitness and I wanted to speak to them specifically and they wanted these products too. There wasn't that much out there at the time.

So, we started sampling for the greens and trying to nail getting all these amazing ingredients in here and getting the flavor perfect. So, if you can imagine things like wheat grass, alfalfa leaf, clorella, like those don't taste good, right? So getting that to taste good while keeping an all natural formula was hard. So it is very hard. Like, what's the shelf life of that? I don't know that.

I don't know. Maybe a year? Yeah, probably a year. But when we first started sampling for it, we went on a trip to Puerto Rico. So I didn't know this obviously, but this was the trip that Greg proposed to me. So I had my greens and I was like trying them out

at the time and making sure it was a great product. And he proposed to me like the first night. And we were drinking and eating and celebrating so much. And I was taking my greens twice a day. And it was the first time that I really noticed, okay, I'm not bloated, I'm not having horrible hangovers. I'm feeling like lean and good, this whole trip. These greens are like making it possible for me

to enjoy myself and feel good at the same time. I was like, I think this product might be the one. Like I think we nailed it. And it tasted amazing, too. My first one was like our original one, which kind of had this like much flavor to it. Also, Mingles a new one. Yeah, and Angles a new one.

So from there I was sharing my feedback on the product on Instagram and everyone was freaking out over it and we sold out of the greens right away. So we kept having to restock greens over and over again and keep in mind Greg and I never took alone out, never took investors. So we were self-funding this entire business and we couldn't really afford to keep enough greens in stock because they're very expensive. I was going to say, so like when you were making your orders, how many did you have to order

at once? So back then, it's crazy how much the numbers have changed, but back then a restock probably would have been like 5,000 units, and now it's like 100,000 or something. What? 100,000 units, especially with retail, that is just changing everything. So hold on a minute, you have to buy 100,000 units at a time, generally.

And again, I'm not a good person to talk to about this. But you're run used to be 5,000, now has to be 100,000. Yeah, holy. And what's the price point on that? This one is $2,999? We'll look it up. Yeah, you really are bad with numbers. I know, I'm really bad with numbers.

She's the bad guy, yeah. This one, I think, is $2,999, but this is our bigger size. So this is a 60-so business. But by the way, that's actually a very reasonable compared to the other stuff out there. Yeah, that's not bad at all. Pretty good price. So yeah, people were getting mad at us

because we couldn't keep it in stock. So we had to, and also we couldn't afford to get it back in stock until the original one had sold. Because you know what I mean? So we had to actually mean? So we had to keep selling it and selling out. And then we kept adding more and more units as we kept ordering. And then that was the year I do know this number because I watched it on the Shopify screen. Okay.

We had our first million dollar day on a green's restock. It was insane. So I was literally training one of our first big employees, our creative director, and out of the corner of my eye I'm watching the Shopify screen because we had a big restock that day for greens, and I'm watching us have our first million dollar day. And at that point it's still pretty much just me, Greg, Dom, and this girl we just hired. So I'm like, oh shit, you know, like this business was growing more than we could. A million dollars in one day. Yeah.

Yeah. Me and Greg really couldn't believe our eyes. It was insane. It was insane. This product really like, it took over. That is insane. Yeah. And that wasn't even with retail.

No. That was literally just from Instagram and I'll Shopify. That is insane. Okay, so then what happens? Then we're like, okay, I think this is our hero scheme. Then I'm like, okay, we're changing our whole business. No, but like the greens really like, just made sense for everything.

Like it made sense for me, the customers, the whole brand. So that became our new focus. And from there, everything just kind of snowboard. We got on Amazon, we launched our TikTok program, and we moved to LA. So this was, we've moved a lot but yeah also okay that makes okay go on that makes sense. We had moved from Colorado back to Brooklyn at this point. We were running our business out of our apartment in Brooklyn during this million dollar day time which was difficult like wow. Running a business out of New York is kind of challenging

especially when it's a fitness business because you have to deal with the snow. Totally. I'm surprised it took you this long to get to LA. Like, me too. What was the, what, you never thought about it or what was the, I think, so we had come out to LA a few times to shoot and do projects with Bloom and like, you know, everyone in the fitness industry was out here basically.

A lot of people for sure. And I loved it every time, but I just for some reason couldn't picture it. Like I didn't think it was for us. And then eventually I was like, I think that's what I want to do. And I kind of had to convince Greg to come out here. And this was two years ago. So mid pandemic, we left Brooklyn, came to LA.

And this is really the place where we put our flag in the ground. And we've been growing the team and we have an office now We're building an HQ on our bikini currently. That's great. You're amazing though. You came here when everyone was leaving L.A. Like everyone was like I'm like the last one here basically Everyone's leaving for Austin for anywhere except L.A. you move here. Yeah, and like plant your flag here It was the best thing we could have done because it allowed us to, first of all, have, I mean, it sounds silly,

but having good weather year round makes a big difference when you're making content constantly. Oh my God, number one for your, this is something, well, if you have any kind of like seasonal depression, or, I mean, although right now the weather repair has been, this is not a good example. This is a bad example.

For the last, it's been terrible. But in general, just to be it placed where it's warmer, sunny, like if you have any kind of mental health issue, this is the place to be, I think. 100%. 100%. So, and content. And content.

It really changed the game. And I was able to really tap into my wellness journey. We were finding like minded people, you know, wellness entrepreneurs and people with healthy food brands or whatever. The networking has been so much better out here for us because a lot of people in New York are in more traditional jobs, I would say. That's exactly true. Yeah, everyone's in finance, right?

They're a lawyer and everyone's unemployed And they're like basically walking around their phones and like doing content. And you don't know what they're doing or how they're doing. Well, even me, like, I treat my job as a nine to five, basically, I'm at my desk all day doing bloom podcast content, whatever it may be. And then I'll go out and see people at a restaurant at 2 p.m. And I'm like, well, how is this possible?

Oh, I know. The gyms are packed here at 2 p.m. and I'm like, well, how is this possible? Oh, I know, the gyms are packed here at 2 p.m. You'd think that it was like Christmas day or something. It's crazy. I know. And it's confusing, but everyone has these interesting jars. Or exactly, or like, yeah, exactly. Only here, it's like another reality in L.A.

It's completely not like anywhere else in the world. Exactly. And everyone's super focused on building their brand and their own portfolio. So it's a very meat-oriented place for sure. Exactly. So it really was, it helped us grow bloom to what it is now. One thing I love doing is taking ideas

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So go to cozyearth.com and use the code hustle and you will save 35% off sight-wide. Check it out. Amazing. So then you kept on growing the brand and then fee is the name of I call it the fee right Fiona is it? Yeah, okay is your right hand and We were talking before we started this podcast because of you met fee just because she was a follower of yours And like a big believer in what you were doing and now she works with you Can you explain this whole thing like how you were finding and now everyone's gonna DM you right for a job already do But yeah, okay, do, but yeah. Okay, but exactly.

But explain how would you hiring people just through your followers? Is she the first one or how was it working? Yeah, so I'll use Fee as an example because I think she was one of the first, but I would be, as I said, using social media as a diary. So I would share when my life was a mess. And I was like, oh my God, I need help.

I don't have time for this. This is falling apart, whatever. And for some reason, I had resistance to hiring an assistant because I felt like, oh my gosh, I don't want to ask this person to help me with my groceries. Or I had this resistance to telling people what to do. But fee reached out, and I had happened to have moved

into the same building, our office was in, that her office was in, because she used to work in a finance like as an admin role. Oh wow. She sent me a selfie of her. We used to sell blue masks during COVID and she had a blue mask on and she was like,

oh my God, I can't believe you're in the same building. She was like, when I saw you moving here, I knew I had to meet you and I feel like you need help. Like I have so much assistance experience. Let me send you my resume. And I was like, oh, I don't know. Like I'm not really sure. I'm ready for an assistant right now.

But thank you so much. Sure, send it over. And she sent her resume over and she was very convincing. She was like, I know I can help you. Like let me just have a conversation with you. And her resume was super impressive. She'd worked with like a big celebrity before and had like a lot of organizational skills

and things that I don't have. Right. So I was like, okay, like let's get on the phone. And we got on the phone. She told me her whole life story, which is a very fee thing to do, if you know fee. And then we were like, okay, she seems great, let's hire her. So she worked with me for the first six months on a personal level.

And then over time, she came on full time, which I think she was a bit like at the beginning nervous about because she left a very stable corporate job to work for an entrepreneur who's kind of just, you know, putting everything on the line. Right, right. But it's worked out very well because now she's my executive assistant. So she helps me with all things with my podcast, business, scheduling,

and then we also have a personal assistant who kind of is now fees assistant. Wow. So then how do you spend your day? Like give me a day in the life of what you do because you have so many different things. Yeah. By the way, is your relationship still intact because you work together so much?

Because I mean, that's a lot of, like, togetherness. You know, like, I don't know if intact's the right word. It's like strengthened. It's, oh, it is. Like, we've been through it. You know, like, I'm not going to sit here and say, it's been easy because I hate when people do that. It's bullshit.

I mean, how can it be easy? It's not. It's a person constantly. It's not. Like, we've definitely had ups and downs and sometimes we'll go weeks where we literally don't see each other for more than five minutes because we're so busy or we don't even go on our dates.

We don't connect on a personal level. But we always find that time. And at the end of the day, he's my best friend and I really respect the shit out of him. I don't know if I can curse on him, but he has become such an incredible leader and CEO and I he's doing what he's supposed to be doing and I think it's incredible that we've been able to find like align our passions and I'm doing exactly what I want to do and he's doing exactly what he wants to do. So we really support each other in that way and I think every hardship we've been through has made us better because we've proved to ourselves that we can make it through

anything. So yeah, it's intact. For now, I forgot. So how old is he? He is 27. Oh my gosh, so you guys are both really young. I appreciate you saying that because I feel old. Okay, you know what, but you've accomplished so much, like that we were saying before also, like you just made last, it was last year this year, 30 under 30 for Forbes. I mean, most, a lot of people would look at you and be like,

this is incredible, like how you've been able to like, you've really monetized your social media, which is I think a problem that 99% of people have. Like they don't know how to do it. Yeah, I know. Like I think we were saying because of the authenticity of your story that people are super engaged. But your also, the problem is it can't grow organically

anymore, right? But you came, now you're what, you're what, two million followers on Instagram or 1.6, 1.6. Okay. How did you go from the 600 that you said earlier at 2019? How did you grow to another million? When do you think it stopped becoming organic? Did you put advertising into your stuff to get your numbers up? How did you do it? Yeah. So you got to have Greg on, because he's so obsessed with marketing, and he really, I like Greg on. He did an amazing job with this,

but he kind of put together that my transformation and my story was what was fueling our brand's success. And as you just said, the organic reach was going down over time. So yes, while I was still making content that was getting people to click follow and wanna keep along the journey, Greg was also doing Facebook ads, Instagram marketing,

to get my story out there. He was basically like my PR agent. Yeah, I was pretty boosting the post. Boosting the post. And now he has like a full marketing team under him. It's a pretty big operation, but he was getting my story out there and fueling the fire. And I was just continuing to put out content that made people want to follow.

So even to this day, because I was still looking, you do a lot of, it's like a combination. You do the fitness stuff. Yeah. Because now you already are transformed, so to speak, right? Like your transformation is done. Yeah. So what kind of content is really catching people? Because it's hard to... Yeah.

Because it also... Once you do it for so long, I would imagine, it's like, how do you keep it fresh? I mean, people have seen you transform. You've transformed already. Like, okay, now you're doing a squat in a red outfit. Now you're doing a lunge and a pink outfit. Like, how creative could you be that makes people, oh, this is the better content than Joe Blow over there. I agree with you. And I feel like I actually moved away

from even posting workouts. Yeah. Because it's interesting, because I think a lot of people know me for that before and after. But now in my life, I'm co-founder of Bloom Nutrition for us and foremost.

And president of Bloom Nutrition, I'm in there every day. I don't have as much time for content anymore. Unfortunately, the main thing that I have, first of all, I think you need to pivot all the time. Like you literally need to be down to switch platforms to change your format. Like you can't get stuck in your ways.

And the podcast movement was super interesting to me, because I feel like I have a lot more to say that Instagram was allowing me to do. So I was trying to create these 30 second reels that explained how I felt about wellness and mental health. And I was like, this isn't giving my story room to breathe. And I don't think people are getting to know me

and I'm not connecting with them the same way. Especially with this new short form like for you page style content. So that's why I pursued creating a podcast and I now have one called the pursuit of wellness and it really allowed me to have room, to have a long, hour long conversation like the one we're having right now and really dive deep into topics that I actually care about, talk about business, talk about wellness, talk about mental health, talk about trauma. It allows for new ones to do that you don't get on social media.

Absolutely. So that has been my main focus for content, I would say. And then so what happens then on TikTok or on Instagram? Is it kind of flatlined? Everyone falls, which was really interesting, because when I first met you, I'm like, oh, she seems like a nice girl, I didn't know. You know?

And then when I was like looking into your side, I'm like, everyone follow. Like, a lot of my friends and a lot of people that, you know, mutually follow follow you. I'm like, how am I so late to the party, first of all? You know? But like, our Facebook ads didn't hit you at this. Yeah, they didn't hit me.

Which is weird, because that's my, like the crux of my business is like health and fitness. And so I don't know how I never even... I think sometimes, because I'm the same way as you, obviously my whole life is health and fitness. I never get served ads about it. Never. Maybe because we're so in it.

We don't want it. Maybe. I don't get served ads for even my own brand. So that's what's very interesting. I've never, maybe. I don't get served ads for even my own brand. So that's what's very interesting. I've never seen Bloom, I've never seen you. And then when I went and checked out like all the people that are mutually following, I'm like,

how is it that like this has never even crossed my algorithm? Ever. Yeah, I know. It's weird, right? Yeah, a lot of people have seen us. Who knows? I don't know, while we missed you on that. I mean, It's weird, right? Yeah, a lot of people have seen us. Who knows? I don't know why we missed you on that. I mean, it's crazy.

But then when do you think it started to become such a game of ads and spending and digital marketing and not organic? Because I think that's like a huge point. But people now, if they're entering or they're trying to build a business like you are, it's very difficult. Yeah, so I think we realized that there was a ceiling for how much I could do as a human, because back then, everyone considered Bloom's, Bloom, Mari supplement company.

People only knew about Bloom through me, and I felt like we realized, okay, that's kind of a problem, because that has a limit to it, right? So we switched our mindset to, hey, how can we get this in the hands of other influences, right? So, yes, while Greg was also doing paid advertising, we were just sending out a shit ton of free product. Yeah. We were like, let's just send greens to everyone who wants it, and we still do that. And a lot of the posts you see on TikTok are not paid.

Right. You just send up stuff. We just send free product, and if they, we don't even ask them to post, if they enjoy it, they do. And a lot of them end up, you don't even ask them to post. Not always. No. Do have somebody who's just focused on outreach, like on social media, like to all the different fitness, health and wellness influencers. Yes. You have one part who just constantly DMs and hate you want bloom, hate you want bloom. We have a whole team. How does that process work? So we have a head of influencers named Jillian, she's amazing, and she has a team under

her of like 10 girls who are like our interns who usually come from USC, their younger, super social media native, and they find girls who are lined with the brand who we think would enjoy the product and we reach out and we send them product and we say, hey, if you enjoy it, like, you know, do you? Yeah. Do whatever you want. We like to leave the creativity in the hands of the influence. Because if you try to tell them what to make and what to film, it doesn't feel

organic and it isn't true to them. So we always just say do you, for example, we work with Alexell. She loves going out, she's a college girl, she's drinking, she's hung over, she takes her greens to get herself back going. You know, that's her vibe of content while she's getting ready for the day or whatever it may be. We also have like a famous grandmother on TikTok who takes our greens. Like it really ranges.

It does range. Like even your audience, so like I was gonna say to you, what is your demo? But the truth is, it is a wide range. Yeah, my demo is probably like 20 to 30, like 25, 30 kind of evolves with my age, I find. As you evolve, they are evolving too. Our bloom age is really across the board because it's a product that's for any one.

Like, you know, men, women, whatever, usually it's a product that's for any, anyone, like, you know, men, women, whatever, usually it's female, but it really ranges in and kind of skews younger nowadays because TikTok has such a young audience. Yeah. So, so you're basically, so that's what you're, it's a lot of strategic partnership right now to grow it and build it. Because now with Walmart and Target, and it's, but it it's forgettable even getting that deal, it's moving off of the shelves, which is the hardest part. Forget about just like getting the, okay, we're going to buy it from you, but then you have to get it off from the shelf of Walmart to the person buying it, right?

Yeah, that is the hardest part. You know, we didn't know what to expect because we'd never been in retail, we'd always been D to C. C. And Target was insane. Because the craziest part about Target was when I made this product, I was like, I could see this at Target. Like I know my girl is a target girl. Clearly she is. I mean, it's been selling.

Every time I go to see my product on the shelf, it's sold out. I was gonna say it, because I don't think I've seen it there either. It's always sold out. But as of April, we will be full chain in targets everywhere and you'll definitely see us then.

That's insane. So, what is your goal? Like two year, three year plan. Do you want to sell this to a major, another company? Do you want to keep on building new skews? What is the plan for you guys? Bloom wise. And then I'm going to ask you about you personally. Right now, we're just focused on the retail side of it

and blowing that up and just trying to make this product as accessible as possible. And also keep growing the team. We have an incredible team. They're all under the age of 30. And they're all crushing it. And they all have really come into their own. One of them, Lindsay, was a copywriter at the beginning,

and now she's head of partnerships. It's incredible to watch their careers blow up, and who knows what will happen with Bloom and where it will go, but we just want to focus on making it better and better. So new products coming. New flavors. New flavors. Coming. Collaborations.

So, yeah, so how about you as an individual now? Like, what do you, okay? So besides basically running bloom with Greg and the app, I mean, a lot of these things, I know a lot of these things are already like emotion, so it's not, you know, but I'd still like to know, like, what else are you doing? And how do you spend your day?

Like, give me a day in the life of you, everything. Okay. The day in a life is tough, because my every everyday is so different, but I'll give an example. You don't have certain rituals or a way. I do. I do. So I wake up usually at like 5.45.6 am. Okay.

And I'm in the gym by 6.30 or 7. So you've got a goal. I do, how do you know? Because I can tell by the background of what pictures, because I used to go there again. I could see you there. Well, when I was your age, I'm Canadian, I moved to close to where you are. I went to goal.

I was like the same thing, you know what I mean? So I saw, of course, you go to goal. Oh, yeah, we're goals, people. Yeah, it's still so dirty and gross in there. No, it's nice now, I would say. I don't think it definitely has a rough around the edges. That's OK. But love it.

I love it too. It's like massive men who hype you up when you hit a PR. It's awesome. I love it. So generally, I'm at gold. And then I head home. My how long? I want to know details.

OK, so I work out. I think you can get a good workout in 45 minutes. I really do. If you're focused, for sure. If you're focused, then move quick, which I do. So, and I like to get my heart rate up. Like, I'm definitely still lifting heavy, but I like to do a lot of supersets and keep moving.

OK. Then I head home. Do you eat or anything before you set? No, I go fast. You go fast. So, not even, would you even have this green, so no? I would have the greens once I get home before breakfast. Oh, first thing in the morning, if you want to know the full routine.

Yes, I want the full routine. Oh, I don't want you to kind of like, dilly dally to the big stuff. I want the detail. Waker. Okay. First thing I do is have kenton minerals. Do you know what that is?

No, it is. It's like seaw water that you put into water and it has all of the essential minerals in it. So I drink that. Where did you get that from? It's called kenton, Q-U-I-N-T-O-N. The guy that I heard about it from is 75 years old and he has the blood work of a 30-year-old.

The bone density of a 30-year-old. Quenton minerals. Mineral. And where do you buy it? Water and wellness.com. This is not sponsored. And it's not, it's not even, this is, this is the kind of stuff I like to know. Okay, go on, Quintan, and every day you put a scoop

of that in water. Yeah, it's like a, it's a vial of sea water essentially that you just pour in. You know what I did hear about this? Yeah, you definitely have. I have for sure. And I never, a few times. Because the theory is the sea is made of the whole periodic table.

Yeah. And it's all the essential minerals we need. So I take that every day. Who knows if it's bullshit, but I'm taking it. And how much is it for people to win? Oh, I think it's expensive. It is. That's why I remember hearing that.

But you can get other versions as well that's just like a big squirt bottle. I think companies are coming out with cheaper versions now, so I would look into options for sure. No, but that one, so some old man told you about this. I listened to him on a podcast. I am awful with, I just buy anything from a podcast. Me too.

I do the same thing. My pantry is full of crap. You should see my pantry. I can give you a run for your money. Do you have a supplement addiction as well? I give no, you should go, I tell you. My garage, there's telling you, my garage, there's no cars in my garage.

Just so that it's full of crap that I get. Like it's crazy. It's crazy. I have like a hole, if you could see me at night time of my red glasses and my whole, you know, you have to walk around this house. You would think you're in a wellness resort. I'm already seeing, like all this,

the full lunging, the sauna, the sauna blankets, the red lights, I love it. The whole lime jing, the sannas, the sannablanquids, the red lights, I have red light panels upstairs, I have every, it's insane. I love it. It's crazy. I'm into it. Even if it does nothing, it makes me, it's like I think it's psychosomatic.

I think it's doing something. It makes me feel better. Me too. Me too. So that's the minerals in the water. Yep. Feed my dog. And then head to the gym.

Okay. At the gym, I'm doing weight generally. Okay. Lower body, one day, upper, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Glutes hamstrings, shoulders chest, back, thighs. Okay.

Switch off between that, and I try to walk. So if I can squeeze in a morning walk as well, I'll do that usually like a 20 minute one, because I think steps are really important. Can you walk to the gym? I could, but it would take a long time. So I generally drive home, go on a walk, come back. Decaf coffee, I'm a decaf gal. Why?

I run just a very anxious in general. So I don't really need more anxiety. That's true, actually, it's a good point. Yeah, I've recently done a bunch of hormone tests and things of that nature and realized that my testosterone is pretty high. So I'm just like a very driven person naturally. So if I add any caffeine to that, I just become a maniac. Yeah, interesting. Yeah.

So then you come home, you have your D-Calf coffee. Yes. And then I have breakfast, which generally used to be eggs, turkey bacon berries. But now I found out I'm highly sensitive to eggs due to my tests. That's what I found out too. I think I ate too many in my life. That's what I did. Yeah. And this is allergic to it.

Same. It's a bodybuilding issue, I think. Yeah, because remember you said about your Greg was eating six eggs. I was eating five eggs every morning for like so many, like 18 years. Well, because they are the healthiest food you can eat. They have all the nutrients, all the fat and protein. Yes. So it sucks that we overdose on eggs.

So what do we do now? What are you gonna do? Smoothie. That's what I've been doing. It's not the same. It's not the same. It doesn't fill me up. It doesn't fill me.

I'm starving. Same. Same. So what are you doing? I'm just hating my life. I'm hating my life. I'm hating my life. What are you gonna do?

Like I'm thinking like, do I have to do like Greek yogurt? Not the same. Dairy as well. I'm hating my life. I'm hating my life. What are you gonna do? Like I'm thinking, like, do I have to do like Greek yogurt, not the same, dairy as well. I try and avoid dairy. Me too, so I like. Me too, so what are you gonna do, but that protein thing? I know, I just dump a whole bunch of protein in the smoothie. That's what I've been doing.

What kind of protein powder are you thinking? I have blue and protein powder. You do? I didn't know that. No protein or essential stuff. Yes, it's good. Which one, vanilla or chocolate are you? I have a lemon bar one that I like.

What kind of protein is it like a 20 grams of protein per serving? I believe it's 20 grams. It has a lot of protein in it. It's pretty good. I was pretty picky about that. But if I'm out and about like an ear one or something, I'll do a hemp protein.

You do hemp? Why hemp? Because it's better for you. Yeah. I mean, they say pea protein isn't ideal. I know, I don't like pea protein. Yeah. and I like doing seeds some kind of seed in there like a hemp seed Yeah, a flax seed a flax seed is really good for you and then I'll do banana and berries and coconut milk It's not the same though as eating eggs. It's not the same and it's not a warm. It's not exactly so when it's cold

It's not this like do you think that you can go back to eggs if you take a break? Yes I'm doing four weeks no eggs and I'm going right back So when it's cold, it's not this, like do you think that you can go back to eggs if you take a break? Yes. I'm doing four weeks no eggs, and I'm going right back. I can't live this way. That's exactly what I did. And then I've been trying to do like alternative days, like I'll have eggs one day.

Yeah. And then the other, I'm telling you, the shake thing is not working though. It's not a vibe. It's not a vibe, especially if you're active and a fitness person. I agree, it's not enough. It's brutal.

Okay, so then sorry. So then the shake, I know, or the eggs. Okay, and then what do you do? Okay, I've had my smoothie. I take like 20 different supplement pills. Like my regime is ridiculous. What do you take? Fish oil, vitamin D, zinc, trace minerals,

trace minerals, B complex. These are all things you should have in bloom. Yeah, I know. What we do have official is very good. That's the one I use. You have a official that's really good. I use Nordic naturals, you know what that one is. That's good too.

Yeah. I take a number of things. And I take my greens obviously before I have my breakfast. So I've always already had this, which has a bunch of things in it. So then after that, I head upstairs, wash my face, ice roll. Oh, ice roll.

Yeah, ice roll. And then depends on what type of day I'm having makeup or not makeup. Right. If it's just a work behind the computer, I'm not wearing makeup. If I'm on screen, I wear makeup. Would you wear?

Coses. I love coses. That natural makeup, K-O-S-A-S. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And say blush. I use a number of different things. But I do very light okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, say blush. I use a number of different things, but I do very light make, I'm not a big makeup guy.

Oh, yeah. And then after that, I head down so I have an at-home office. So I'm either in there or like yesterday, I was at the Bloom office. So right now we're out of a WeWork, which sucks because we're exploding out of this WeWork. Like we take up a whole section of the we work.

Really? So that's why we're building our own HQ which we move into in a week. So exciting. And that's way bigger. So I'll go to the Bloom office and have some meetings there, try and get all my meetings done in kind of like a batch period of time. Because you know a lot of my day will be revolving around the podcast. So I'll have to go to the studio to record.

I batch those as well. So I'll do two, three episodes at a time. I think I'm coming on your podcast soon. Oh, I can't wait. Yeah, I just can't wait to go on your podcast. I know. It's gonna be exciting. Okay, go on.

We might be in the new HQ by then. Oh, really? Maybe. So we'll see. That's right, because you're gonna be there next week. I think I go on in a couple months or a month. A few will tell us. Be will tell us, because you're going to be there next week. I think I go on in a couple months or a month. Few will tell us. Few will tell us, but I'm really excited.

Yeah. So maybe I'm recording for a bit. I'm getting content and then I'll head back home in my home office and take some meetings regarding branding, collaboration, upcoming events for Bloom, sometimes for Slay. So my brain splits in like five different ways all day. like I go from bloom to podcast, to sleigh, to content, and as I said before, I really haven't had a ton of time to make content lately.

So that's kind of been my last priority, unfortunately. But I'm surprised that you don't have someone following you around with, like, I have, listen, I've tried that. I've had two different people following me around. And the thing with that is you need to really like someone. I was gonna trust me, I've, listen, I've tried that. I've had two different people following me around. And the thing with that is you need to really like someone. I was gonna trust me, I know. And the whole thing.

There's not, you know, I'm a bit picky. No kidding, now that I know you, I understand. Like you're like, you know what it's interesting? I see you more as a real, like a business entrepreneur than I do a fitness person. I don't really consider myself a fitness influencer. I never did, even when I met you before. That's why hearing your journey is so interesting to me, right?

I know what you're saying, because having someone around, you fill me, it's kind of like, what's the word? It's invasive. Invasive, yeah. And I've had it twice to where they were great girls, but like, for example, I'm with fee all day. And I somehow, me and fee just click. Like she keeps me going, she keeps me positive.

Yeah. I've had people who don't have like the best energy. Or maybe they're a bit down in the, and it just like drains me. So I've kind of decided that I'm better just doing it solo. But I am in the position where I do think I need help because I'm either recording the podcast for three hours and then I head home and edit the podcast for two days

and then I'm doing... I have more! Yeah, hiring is tough for me. I have a hard time letting go control of certain things. For Bloom, that's another story because we needed to hire and now we have this big team, but my job, I view my job as being the spokesperson for Bloom. Yeah. Because I'm the one that had the story,

I came up with the products, I feel like I can speak to the emotional connection of the brand and the messaging the best. And it's what I enjoy the most. I think my biggest asset to the company is doing things like this. Yeah, I agree with you by the way. I also think your audience is legitimately your audience,

so they want you to be the spokesperson. Yes. You have to be, that's your role I suppose, because it's by, you have to do that for your... Yeah, so me sitting in an office all day, like what Greg does from meeting to meeting to meeting doesn't, first of all, doesn't make me feel happy. I can do it every now and again,

but it also isn't serving the company well. It's not at all. Okay, so basically, that's your routine. And so I get nighttime, what time do you go to bed at night? Do you have any nighttime rituals? Or, yeah, so I eat dinner around 6.30. Okay, I'm seven. Preferably 6.30.

And then I take all my nighttime supplements. I love taking a nose at all and out the inine. I think together they're a great duo. Put my red light glasses on. Because I don't want any of that blue light. So I wear these really cool red glasses. I put my head in like that headband that gets it out of my face, I do my skincare. I have this blue red light for skin. It's like an arch that you lay underneath for 10 minutes. So I'll lay underneath the arch for 10 minutes in meditate. Really? And listen to Jojo Spenser. Where do you get this arch from? From my dermatologist? It's ridiculous. I don't know why I have it. It was the

biggest and weirdest purchase I've ever met. Okay, so I don't need it. No, you don't need it. Okay, let me let's go. Don't get it, okay. And then I watch Yellowstone with my husband in my red light glasses and go to bed. Usually I'm asleep by 9.30. Do you have a social life because of the fact that I was gonna say to you, because you're so young, you don't go out at night at all.

No, and the weekend, what do you do on the weekends? So I've really been focused on trying to have a better social life. There's a lot of wellness girls in Venice who I think are great and I've been hanging out with them. But I like to go on a walk or get coffee or go to ear one, do something healthy. I don't have time to go out because I'm going out, I'm losing the whole next day. Preaching to the choir.

Yeah, so I don't have like the most exciting social life. But I have one. You have a social, but to you, what's fun is these walks and socializing, doing things that are more on the healthy side. Me too, and people always think I'm so boring, and I don't care. It's like what I like to do.

I don't care. I don't want to go out to a club. Then for what? Roots your whole day the next day. I agree. Then drinking and the calories and then bloating, and then I take more greens the next day. You know, it's a whole thing.

So whole thing. It's a whole thing. Okay, so I'm gonna get yelled at because I know you have another thing to go do. So for people who don't know if you're living under a rock, right? Where can they find you? Yeah.

And your amazing products, except, well now they know where to find the products literally everywhere. So you can follow me at Mariela Wellen, M-A-R-I-L-L-L-E-W-E-L-L-Y-N. You can listen to my podcast at the pursuit of wellness on Spotify or Apple and the products are on BloomNew, B-L-O-O-M-N-U dot com or on Amazon or on Target or at Walmart. I love it. Thank you for coming on. You've been amazing. This was, I love this podcast and you're such a cutie. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to have, I'm so glad that you came on and I love that you've been so successful. You deserve it. I love your energy and you're great. Thank you. Seriously. So I'm here to tell you about a show I recently listened to and loved.

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