[Greatest Hits] Episode #281: Your Gift to the World Is Doing What Only You Can Do with CEO of Ou...

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. I am talking this afternoon with John David, CEO and founder of Outer Isle Gourmet. They are the. Well, I'll let her tell you about them. But it's a big, fast growing company. In fact, in 2020, they were fifth fastest growing company in California. They are on track for $50 million in revenue this year. And so welcome, John.

Thank you, Larry. It's a pleasure to be here.

How's the year going?

It's going very well. It's very interesting. I think none of us knew what Covid would do. I think we're all still kind of surprised. The way Covid impacted businesses. It was nothing anyone could have foreseen for us. What it did is last year we were in such a growth phase of opening new doors that what happened is we saw our pipeline. While grocery store buyers kind of shut down and focused on keeping toilet paper on the shelf, they were not focused on new items that stymied our growth in the new doors that are pipelined. So for us, what happened in 2021 very quickly and the end of 2020 is it seemed to be that grocers kind of shuffled to say, wait, we need new products. We realize it's the end of the year and we don't have anything coming in for next year. So we began seeing a ramp up in December, which is normally our very dormant time in the grocery industry. So January, February, March, our first quarter, we grew 379% year over last time, Q1. So that was quite an experience. We're a manufacturer, so for us, we're not a co packer that can just make a phone call. We really have to shift and move quickly in our operations. So, yeah, it was Quite a crazy Q1. And then things then what happened is we went through all of our backstock and inventory and then we started having the same issues. I'm watching all my favorite brands have out of stocks. We go to order our favorite food and it's out of stock. So we had to kind of regulate our sales in order to build some backstock and get back to where we needed to be. And so it's been a very interesting year where we're putting in all the things we need to put in in to keep up with demand. And it's been. Yeah, exciting.

John, tell people what your product is. It's one that I use and I'm a big fan of as we were talking about earlier.

Yeah. So we produce cauliflower sandwich thins and cauliflower pizza crust. And what we do is really, we use 63% fresh vegetables in our products. So if you're eating our sandwich thins, you're actually eating a serving of vegetables. And our Pizza Crust has 2 servings of vegetables. So if you're eating a sandwich on our sandwich thins, a turkey sandwich, let's say you're actually eating turkey and 2 servings of vegetables, no bread at all. Unlike our competitors that are basically a gluten free product which has some gluten free filler flours in there to take the wheat out, which is great. They're better for you than the wheat. But what I like to say is our product is actually good for you. It's nutrient dense and has the fresh vegetables in it. And Larry and I were talking pre recording just to say the difference I noticed and felt immediately is when you eat our product, you feel satiated because you're getting real food you don't have because you're getting some protein, you're getting some vegetables in it as well. Your body is nourished and you're satiated for four hours as opposed to the empty carbs that come in and cause your blood sugar to spike and you're hungry again in two hours. So that's what we're here to really address, those big shifts in health out there and yeah. Revolutionize the bread industry.

Well, you know, it's great when you can find a business to throw your energy behind where you know for a fact you are helping people. And it gives you a mission for doing good. And you know, we want you to expand the outlets you're in and stores you're in so it can be easier for people to get this stuff because, you know, health, health is a crisis in our country and a lot of it comes from food.

Yes, Especially after Covid. We're finding our customers, everybody. I mean, our sales are through the roof. We really can't keep up with demand. And we do feel that it is post Covid people gain that extra £20 or whatever it was during that time. And everybody is focused on health. And for us, when we launched the company, the diabetes epidemic was something we had learned about. And that when we started the company, it was projected that in 10 years 50% of our country would be pre diabetic or diabetic. And in fact we got to five years, which was last year, and they changed it to 75% of our country because we had already hit the 50 back then of pre diabetic or diabetic. And so really that comes from. We were the generation that brought in the low fat, high carb foods, right? We were that low fat. You know, we brought in all the, you know, you could eat all the bread you wanted as, as long as it didn't have carbs in it. I mean, as long as it didn't have the fat in it. So. So it's that shift that has people in their 50s and 60s really filled with diabetes and other inflammation based diseases. So that's for us, the big win is really transforming health by if all you do is take sugar and bread out of your diet, it will drastically transform your health.

You have been motivated. I think you identified early on that you wanted to be in the business of helping people. I showed out here you were executive director of the Arthritis foundation for from 2006 to 2012, and then you spent a year as executive director of Hands for Others, which dealt with the world's water crisis. And then you went, how did you make that jump now to founding this business?

So I've always been kind of a health and fitness buff. Just, I was a personal trainer early on. I actually brought a product to market when my sons were young. And that was a healthy version of cookie dough because it was something moms always did with their small children. And yet when I picked up a roll of Pillsbury cookie dough, it was just filled with so many chemicals. And I was like, wow, this is what moms think homemade cookie dough is. And so I came out with truly homemade cookie dough. That was kind of the movement was all natural and so it was all natural, just, you know, all real ingredients again and resealable tubs, everything that Pillsbury wasn't doing. So I've kind of always had that interest. And so When I hit 50, I decided to really look at my life and say, what do I want to do? I really wanted to make an impact with the last 15 years of my career. And that's kind of the space I was in. My sons were out of college. We didn't necessarily depend upon my salary like we had while they were in college. And so we just decided take the year, you know, find what best suits your gifts and talents and, you know, take the time to do that. So it was that year and we had made a big health shift in our own lives, and we're totally committed to this lifestyle, but yet we were bored with not having bread in our diet because it was that vehicle that we could do so much with. You know, it made it made eating healthy very easy and not so cumbersome. So, yeah, the products were born while we were in that space. And.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business as accrued over 5 billion in assets under management and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up, talk about that taking a year, that decision to take a year.

Yeah, it was an uncomfortable year. I decided that my time at the Arthritis foundation had gone. They were making some critical changes as far as mission and what they were doing. And it was just a little bit of a conflict for my values and what I wanted to do because they were moving away from programs in the community. And I was really. I really was committed to that, knew that our people wanted that. So it was. There was a shift. And so I felt like it was what I was brought in to do there, I had achieved and that it was time to move on. And so I didn't have anything in mind. And I met with a guy who kind of a coach, and he knows a lot of people in our town. So I was meeting with him to say what's out there? And in the past, I had always looked for jobs, right? You look for what's open and you apply to them. And I'd never had the luxury of saying, well, what do I want to do? And what is that? If I could do anything, what would it be? And that's the question he asked me. And I couldn't believe how paralyzing that was. To me, he's like, if you could do anything, what would it be? And I was like, oh, I don't know. And he's like, well, we're not going to continue on this conversation until you decide that. And I was so paralyzed by that conversation. I spent the time really thinking about what are my true gifts and talents. I love to put into work and to use so that I can feel that I'm bringing the best of who I am to this world as my gift to the world, as we all are created with unique gifts and talents and how we bring them to the world is our gift to the world. But I believe that we are all so uniquely created and there's certain things that only we can do. And to be really using your gifts and talents to bring that. And people would call it passion or whatever, for me, it's really about where I excel and how kind of my brain and my ethos works.

So, yeah, and talk about that, going through that process. So you get asked that question, you're kind of stunned because, you know, it's basically a wake up question for you, John. And yeah, you know, it's funny how we go through our lives and we don't ask ourselves these questions. You know, we especially, especially when you're in survival mode and when you've got kids and you've got, you know, the, it's the tyranny of the urgent related to finance, related to personal finances. You know, it's like, yeah, I do a lot of things if I didn't have bills to pay and people to be responsible for. And there. But the deal is these obligations usually are not lifetime, you know that usually you'll get a chance to catch your breath and to reevaluate. And just because you've been on a track forever doesn't mean you have to stay on it. And this is a great, this is a great question. When you're shifting from working just to survive to working to fulfill what you feel is your destiny or where you can take maximum advantage of your gifts, which is usually related to things you are interested in. You know, it comes from inside you, things you're curious about, you're interested in now. And so as you left that or as your mind started to move forward to deal with that question, talk about that.

Well, what's interesting is I've always been very entrepreneurial. I mean, you know, I'm a very early on early age I had my. So that has always been something I'm, I'm. I absolutely like kind of automatically my brain goes there. But what I had done for about 15 years is turned off, that I disciplined myself, said, you can no longer afford to be an entrepreneur. You know, you've got to get a job and just, you know, bring in. I went through a divorce and I was a single mom for five years. So that's kind of when that switch got turned off and I made the mental ascent to say, no, you've got to do what it takes to provide for yourself and your kids. And so I did that, and I did some, had some great jobs again. I looked and I found a job. And so I was still. I was moving out of that mode. And not super consciously, but it ended up happening because my husband gave me a great gift and said, look, just take your time. We're good. You know, you just take the year. And I was very squirmy in that year because I'm very much of a pioneer, I'm very much of a doer, very much of an achiever. So being out there thinking and trying to figure it out was uncomfortable. But I also knew that I wanted the last 15 years of my career and to make a difference instead of taking a job, just to take a job and fill a slot, you know, and not that that didn't have its purpose, because it absolutely had its purpose, but I was shifting into what really. I want to leave a legacy. I want my last 15 years to really matter in the career. What am I uniquely gifted and talented with that I can bring and put into something? And I actually, when I came up with this idea, my son's like. He was in personal training at the time, and he's like, let's do it. Let's bring it to market. And I was like, no, no, no, no. You know, I was doing the thing with my ears and going, la, la, la, la, la. No. And for a week, I said that within a day, I had the whole product line in my mind. And that's the way my mind worked. But I had turned that off intentionally because I needed to turn that off because of the discipline I needed to have to be practical and provide. And so he would keep coming back every day, go, no, let's bring this to market. Come on. And so after about a week, I was like, okay, I'll think about it. And so that's kind of how it was over the next year. It was like, okay, I have one toe in the water. Will this even work? I mean, you have cogs, you have your cost of goods that, you know this was going to be fresh cauliflower. It's something that had never been done before. We couldn't even call it cauliflower Sandwich thins or cauliflower pizza crust, because cauliflower wasn't even a thing. It was an offensive thought. So we called it Veggie Sandwich Thins and Veggie Pizza Crust until the cauliflower caught on and we could switch over to that name. So it was very much a whole different concept. And would it work? Would it pencil out? We really spent the next year diving into that. The nutrition panel, the product qualities, the R and D, and would it work? And I had the year to kind of figure out would it work. So at the end of that year, we decided that it was worth it to take it to the next level. And so we proceeded into another year.

That is exciting to hear the natural progression, because this has got to be encouraging for people out there that are going through these bouncing. You know, life is not straight lines, bunch of bounces. A lot of times you're bouncing because you get hit, but, you know, you don't have to stay down. Sometimes it can be the opportunity to switch gears. And a lot of times that resistance in your mind is simply because you have turned off the excitement switches in your brain because of obligations and just told yourself, you know, compartmentalize, no, I've got to work. And the fact it can't always be interpreted as great freedom and excitement. Now I can do what I want to do. A lot of times you got to go through that resistance, and it's like. It's almost like carrying a pace to get out of that. That mode. And it's. It's interesting to hear you walk through those steps. And I can't wait to get into finding how you turn that entrepreneurial switch back on and turned it into reality. If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works, you in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.