How to Scale Your Business As a First-Time Entrepreneur with Brooke Graves of Kaleidoscope Juice

I know a lot of people have a huge ego where they hate having to tell other people I failed at something, but that is the whole point of business. Like, you're not everything's going to hit, right? I make a bunch of really nasty recipes. They don't hit and people don't like them. And I have to be okay with that. Just because I like something doesn't mean everybody will. So you kind of have to let go of the idea of every decision you make is going to be great. You try your best, you pray it works, and then if it doesn't, have a swift exit plan and not take it personally.

Brooke, welcome to the earn your happy podcast. Thank you so much for coming.

Thank you for having me.

So you guys, if you are not watching on video, I think the most fun part about this is that we both showed up in the exact same outfit today.

Not planned. Not planned.

We are twinning so hard in the same black bodysuit with like a little, you know, like little heart shaped neckline and blue jeans. We literally look like twins. But that just shows we're on the same exact wavelength. So something else that is just so amazing about you is that you are so thoughtful, you guys. She also brought me a mint chip smoothie from my favorite place, which is why you are here, is you are the owner of Kaleidoscope and it is one of my favorite places on earth. When I moved to Arizona, I was like, what is this incredible place? This is going to become my daily spot for juices and shakes. Can you tell me what Kaleidoscope is? And then let's talk about how you even got into that.

Thank you and thank you for loving it. We are an organic cold pressed juice bar. Initially, that's what we started as. And we have a few brick and mortars around Arizona and we make smoothies, bowls, light bites. And it started as I think six juices, three smoothies, one bowl. And it's really morphed into a pretty massive smoothie bar menu. And we just have fortunately been able to keep growing since I've first started there.

Okay, so first of all, I just want to tell people, they see me posting this mint chip smoothie. Sorry I said shake. It's not a shake, it's a smoothie, guys. But this mint chip smoothie. What is in my mint chip smoothie, first of all, because is there crack in it?

Yes, a little bit. We should add that would make it more addicting. But avocado, almond butter, spirulina. We do peppermint, essential Oil, cacao nibs, cacao powder, vegan, vanilla protein and a little bit of banana. And our house made almond milk.

It is so good, you guys. I have lived all over, literally and all over California. And it's my favorite, favorite smoothie of all time. When I go to California, I try to have them remake it. It's never the same. I'm always disappointed.

Well, thank you. I always, I appreciate it. I'm glad it's so good. But thank you so much.

No offense to anyone else, but if you expand there, I really want to know because I will help you get there.

Thank you. Yes.

Like, what does that look like? Tell me. Okay, so what I want to get into, because you have such an amazing story and I think it's going to show people what the journey really looks like to having what you have now, which when people from the outside looking in, you have kaleidoscopes all over Arizona. Everybody that I know who really is in my circle because it's like entrepreneurship and wellness, they all go there maybe almost daily. So it's kind of like, how do we start something like that, which we'll get into. What does that look like to have something that everybody is talking about? It's a part of everyone's daily life. So tell me what first of all got you into it. I know that this wasn't your background starting, you know, a juicery.

Yes. I actually wanted to be a doctor. So I started, uh, my journey in school was in nutrition and I know. Previously on. I talked on Lindsay's podcast about a kind of a health journey that I had that made me. Wanted to go, made me want to go into medicine. So I'll be very brief with that. But autoimmune condition since I was 3, rheumatoid arthritis. Ended up going through a myriad of testing many drugs. And I was a very, very young case at the University of Minnesota Children's Medical center. And I found out what. Or they figured out what I had had at three years old. You don't really. You cannot articulate where you're experiencing pain, how you're experiencing pain. So it took a while for my diagnosis anyways. My mom, my dad were very progressive in the world of health and wellness. They didn't take any answer as finite. They really looked into alternative healing modalities to make sure that I was given every opportunity, no matter how wacky it sounded. They just really loved their kid. So I'm so grateful.

Thank God.

Yes, thank God. And I was doing gluten free all these Diets. Moving on from that, I started college, and I just thought, I want to be a health advocate for people who don't have that. So I wanted to go into medicine. I graduated with a nutrition dietetics degree. Then I went to scnm, naturopathic med school. I found Kaleidoscope while I was in school, and it had just started. It was 500 square feet, very small building. Alexandra, my former partner and founder, her and I met, and it was like, I still remember my interview to this day. And it really wasn't an interview. It was more like a lighthearted chat. And we hit it off. I started working there, and I just was able to integrate everything I was learning in school. I would tell her, you know, I was seeing this thing on inflammation. Can I add it? She was like, sure, I don't care. You can do whatever you want.

She's like, yes, please. This is the best bonus to my business ever. Yeah.

She was like, I'd love to see it.

Yeah.

So I got a lot of creative control at a very young age, and there were some reins on the business, but it was very kind of like, free for all in a sense, where I had. I could really trial and error, and a lot of people don't get that in their early 20s.

Yeah.

So I realized what a blessing I had in that job and what a blessing I had being so close to Alexander. So we ended up partnering, building the brand. She'd already had a few locations at that point, and then I ended up helping open three more as a partner. And then 2020 Covid hit, and she is a mother and wanted to stay home, and we were able to give her that ability. And I bought out her remaining shares. So I kind. And we also had a discussion on where the business was and what we wanted to do. And she has always been my biggest cheerleader and advocate, and. And she was like, you want to make this a very. I wanted to make it more nutrition science based, very specific to who we were tailoring our products to, but yet so welcoming and opening that anybody could have them where they didn't feel like they needed a nutrition degree in order to buy our product, but they felt better after they had them. So she knew and leaned into that and allowed me to kind of take the company in that direction. So it took me a year to do the whole buyout. I was 28 at the time, and now that I'm under sole ownership, it's been quite a journey to do everything now, and we're gearing up to Open two more stores in the next six months.

So when you were young, this started as just going to work somewhere. And that's what I want people to hear first, is that if they have a passion or if they're interested in something going and finding somewhere and learning kind of on some, for lack of a better term, like learning on someone else's dime or being able to go and experience all that. What made you first be able to speak up is that. Is that something that you've just always known?

Meaning.

Meaning you were able to kind of tell her, hey, have you ever thought of this or started integrating what you're learning? Was that something you've always done or was that kind of a bold move for you?

I talked a lot in school. I was always thinking of the report card where it just talks too much. So I've always been very comfortable speaking my mind, for better or for worse. But it was such a great environment that she had cultivated where it wasn't fear based when you made a suggestion. And I really hope, and we've really tried to maintain that as a company, because I'm not the be all end all of decision making, nor am I the be all end all of nutrition science. I am just a cog in this wheel. So I love when people in our team can find a better way to help make solutions, because that's how I was. That's the whole career I've ever had was just trial and error and letting other people kind of contribute. So for my job, it never felt like a job. It was really hard work, but I just got used to it and I loved it. And I realized right away that a lot of people hate where they work. They hate the idea of getting up in the morning. Their job does not excite them. And I thought, what a blessing. At 22 years old, I'm excited to go to work. And I did. I will be honest, at 22, I dropped out of med school to do this, to work with her. And I got a lot of shit for it. I had people make comments to me, public to my face, that it was such a, you know, so sad to see me kind of, you know, veer off like I'd become a drug addict, you know, like I'm veering off my life because I dropped out of med school to do this. And it was a choice that I had made, and I don't regret it, but it was the best decision I'd ever made. However, it wasn't without people telling me basically how dumb of a decision I had made to my face.

Oh, God, there's so much good stuff here. So, number one, love the cultivating an environment of being open. That's something that, looking back, I don't think Chris and I did super well in the beginning. And now that we've done it, I just notice employee retention. We're all happier and some of our best ideas come from our people. And so anybody listening, learning how to keep that conversation open and knowing, like, little did she know an employee she hired is going to gift her this other lifestyle that she wants while carrying on the dream. Like, sometimes the dream we start with is not the dream we end with. Sometimes we share it, sometimes we give it away, and then a new dream comes. I love that. Um, and then also really focusing on the fact that your path is always gonna look different. Like, so many people saying, oh, my God, are you an idiot? Like, why are you dropping out of this? But knowing that this was your path and now look what you have. Have you done like a look at me now post?

No, I haven't.

You're like, hey, haters.

I. It's very interesting because I think the fact that I love what I do and there's so many people who love it is enough satisfaction every night that I go to.

She doesn't need her post.

Okay. Yeah. I just feel very. I mean, it's. It's very true. There's so many people who have reached out that really love the brand and love the product with like the mint chip that you are so crazy about. I love that. No, I. And it's just. That's why I did it. And I don't really need a ton of accolade on it just because I think the product speaks for itself. And I always write down, I have a prayer journal that I try to do every morning and it prompts you how you feel. God basically working through you. And I always say when people tell me they feel better or I have a positive impact in their health and well being, or that to me is how I feel. God is working through me for this job.

That gave me chills. You guys take that journal, prompt and run with it. Okay? So you had to become a different person in this process. You guys heard that she was not a business owner, did not know how to run a business, really came in as an employee. So tell me what that first steps of the journey, what were the first things that you realized that you had to start learning and who did you have to start becoming in the beginning when you were going to take this Over. Like when you first started to learn you're going to take the business over.

So I, it was a pretty abrupt decision. I'm not going to lie to you. I was shocked. I asked her 8,000 times, Are you sure? Are you sure about this? Do you actually think I'm the person? Yeah. Are we like, positive, this is a good idea. But.

And she felt sure?

Oh, she was sure. She literally came in, sat me down. I was already the active CEO at the time.

Okay.

And so she was. Had kind of exited a little bit in that sense, where I was still, I was running the company as the CEO. But we, you know, she was obviously involved. I'll never forget it. She asked me, she's like, I, you know, I just, I feel like you're just doing a lot and you're doing so well, and I just, I think that you should own all of it. And I was just kind of like not expecting that conversation. But when we had, after she had said that, I sat there for a second. I go, well, wait, how, how do I do that? How do I just own it? Like, you're not going to just sign it over to me? You know, we went through, you know, the process of figuring that out, and I had never in my life had a real job. I am very blessed and fortunate that the first one worked out pretty good.

Yeah, exactly.

I've had internships, but. And I worked, you know, in college, but I had to basically find a lawyer. I had to pitch myself to a few banks. I got turned down a few times by people. And that's where I said the whole year process came into me buying it out. Just because not many banks were too keen on giving a 28 year old with zero working history over a million dollars for an SBA loan. I was like, you don't trust me? I don't seem like a very viable option. But it ended up working out. And my husband and I basically put in like, our, you know, the money we had at the time and leveraged our home and all of these things to close the deal. So we, it, it worked out.

So is that what that looked like to get that loan? So you did an SBA loan?

Yes.

And you had to leverage your home and what else did that look like in order to make that happen?

The biggest and hardest part, I would say, was my interview process for banks because I had to come up with again, like you had asked about becoming more of a business person. Almost overnight. I had to create a three to five year business plan for the company.

Okay. And you didn't even know what that was or how to do it.

I googled it. I was like, what does a business plan look like?

Totally.

And not many people have hits on juice bars. So there wasn't a ton of business projection plans for juice bars. And we were fortunate where our revenue is doing well in specific locations, but in other locations it really wasn't. So I was having to figure out. Okay. And we had closed out me saying that we'd closed down two locations in Covid. We used to have full service made to order food at a downtown Phenix location and a location in Arcadia that was inside a gym. I was the CEO at the time. And I remember we were sitting there and we went through our numbers after we had closed them. And I was it worth us bringing food back? This is a big, pivotal moment in our business. Bring it up. And we used to make all of the grab and go for all of our stores out of that.

Oh, okay.

Business as well. So I had to figure out financially, is this worth us supporting that portion of the company? So we are. I went in, went through our financials of basically our numbers on Grab and Go, our payroll on Grab and go, what we were producing, and had to make the difficult decision to cut a massive part of our business overnight. And we are no longer doing this. We're going to outsource it. We now have an amazing catering company, Eat by Stacy Weber, who's a local chef, and she does all the. She's like the head caterer for the Cardinals, a bunch of people in the Valley. But it was a moment where I realized we need to survive. And just because somebody is messaging me that they love our salad. And I still get messages like, bring back your spring rolls. I know there. I know I would love to, but it just didn't pencil out for us to survive.

Yeah, totally.

And I take my job as I need to make sure there's enough money in the account to make sure everybody who works for me gets a paycheck and that all of our bills are paid and that we are a business in order to be in business and that we can give everyone who signed up to be on this journey with me livelihood and a roof over their head and food on the table. So it was within that shift right before I bought or, yeah, bought fully where I had made, start making more financial decisions for surviving and then also moving on to buy the business to learn how to do SBAs, how to have a projection model and how to conservatively figure out what amount of money we could be making. Realistically, everybody wants to have a million dollar store. Realistically, is that gonna happen? Probably not for a few years. And if you are making a million dollars, how much of that are you actually profiting? And. And are you able to sustain this model with enough square footage around you from people? Because our stores are quite close to one another. If you really think about it. We're within driving distance of all of them. So how many truly can survive in one area? That was another big question we had. And demographic of an area that can support us.

How did you figure that part out.

For surviving with people around? We. Again, trial and error. So we closed our two downtown Phoenix and one in the gym. And we saw how our customer moved to meet us and if they would. So that was a good moment for me to. And I'm still.

It's also scary.

Yeah. And then we also went to East Valley, which is new for us. A totally different demographic, different market. Nobody really knew who we were. It was almost like starting over. So having to watch the company learn how to start over in a totally different part of town. They're in downtown Chandler, downtown Gilbert. You are relearning how to pitch your business to people. And what is known maybe in our Scottsdale locations where we have this really beautiful, like you going around and telling your friends, which we're so grateful, how great it is. We're having to recreate that in different cities, which is really good practice for me if we hopefully go out of state. And so it's not everything we've done has worked. We've had to change up hours. We've had to cut product from certain stores because it just doesn't do well. It's too expensive for the area or it doesn't make sense. And yeah, you basically have to be okay with telling your customer and your people around you. Like, I was wrong. I made a bad decision.

Yeah.

And I'm sorry. And we're going to have to figure this out and you know, make certain things profitable or shift. Because if you have to be honest, I know a lot of people have a huge ego where they hate having to tell other people I failed at something. But that is the whole point of business. Like, you're not. Everything is going to hit.

Right.

I make a bunch of really nasty recipes. They don't hit and people don't like them. And I have to be okay with that. Just because I like something doesn't mean everybody will. So you. You kind of have to let go of the idea of Every decision you make is going to be great. You try your best, pray it works, and then if it doesn't, have a swift exit plan and not take it personally.

I love hearing about all of the trial and error that has been my entire life. And I think that that trait is like being able to handle a lot of risk and uncertainty. How do you know what risks you can take? Like is there. Do you plan it out beforehand? Like hey, this is the amount of money that we can afford to lose? Or what does that look like?

So that's funny because this year was the first year we've ever done marketing in our lives. So we never really marketed as a company and you're supposed to allocate a certain amount of your business percentage wise to marketing.

Right.

Ours was $0. So we were like, okay, did you.

Know that before this or had you not?

I knew we didn't market. I was, you're just like, we can.

We can't do it right now.

So yeah, we never could really. We're such a small business and we're so bootstrap and we, we run so lean and I'm sure there's a lot of problems with us, I know that. But we just never really had the budget for it nor did we think our customer was. Our customer, we like to think really cares about their health and they care about taking care of themselves. Until social media really popped off, which cause we've been around for almost 10 over 10 years until social media, which is what it is now. This, you can really meet your customer on it and try to find and cultivate that through your social media and stuff. It was hard to do with, you know, commercial or print ad or being on TV running like the local news because we were extremely niche. It Spirulina is not this like super common. It is a little bit more so now, but six years ago it was not this common household item and we to eventually get to market and decide marketing. This year I went through our budget of how much? Always how much, how much money do we have in the bank? We're very cash flow sensitive because every single day we have to wake up praying people come into our stores because we've already bought the product, we've already staffed the store, so we have everything there and the hopes that people will come. Now that's scary because something like Covid could happen and completely shut you down overnight and make people afraid to come in and physically close your locations without your ability to do or say anything. And that's what hurt restaurant People have no idea how hard. I mean they do. A lot of restaurants didn't survive it. There's a lot of really great restaurants that unfortunately didn't make it through Covid especially depending on what part of the country you lived in. So we were fortunate that we could stay open. But we had very dialed back operations and I mean you can tell in our numbers it's just not that many people were leaving their house. So I'm sorry, I'm getting off topic. But great, keep going with marketing. Finally we decided to do it this year. I looked at how much cash we had in the bank and I decided who is our customer. Which I know everybody likes. Say everybody's your customer, everybody's not your customer. And that's okay. That is totally fine. They might be at one point in their life or you might bring them to be your customer. You need to be open to everybody being your customer. But you need to accept that not everybody's going to love you and. And so don't try to cater to everybody.

Yes.

So we've. I was very fortunate to get linked up with a few very bizarrely fashion esque type things that loved our brand and they were expensive things for me to go do because I was flying to New York to go do these marketing events. But I knew our customer here is very involved in that niche of like wellness and you know, kind of honestly a little bit more higher end. So it aligned with this demographic. The company was called who, what where and they so generous, so nice to let us come to their events. They had one in the Hamptons where we did juice for a cocktail bar and then we also did the juice for a Marie Claire editors new editor.

Launched like a terrible time.

It was. I had to take one from the team and go no, but those didn't I. There's a funny story with the New York Fashion Week 1. It was very cool, but I. We lost the juice in transit. No. And I. I was sitting on the sidewalk in New York kind of just like crying being like I have a contract with Marie Claire and I have to deliver juice. And it. We had the team here. Phenomenal. Yeah. Remade it. I'm on the phone. I'm deciding like do I fly somebody out physically holding this juice and make sure it makes it here?

Yeah.

Do I. Do I spend even more money doing that because of this contract? I'm not going to break a contract with Mar Claire. I don't even think I can afford to break a contract. So it luckily worked out. But I was sitting Waiting for the UPS man on the side of the street in New York with like tears in my eyes. And I saw him coming and I just kind of went up and like held him and I was like, you have no idea how much this means to me.

You angel.

I know, but we almost a didn't get the product there. We lost hundreds of dollars. Nobody knows where it is still. It's somewhere in the world.

It's juice.

Yeah.

I need to know.

Yes. But we luckily made it. But we did. So, yeah. Our big marketing year, it didn't come without stress, but we were very fortunate to be in it. We had another event with them in LA and it was basically back to the question was cash flow, deciding how I wanted to reach the customer. Is my budget going to allow this to be a long term thing? Because I don't like committing to stuff and then having to pull out, not being able to fully promise. So I had to be prepared if they wanted more. So cash flow sensitive, making sure it was, you know, targeted to the person and the individual that we wanted to, you know, hit. And also does it align with our core values of our business and who, what we're started by, you know, female founder. It's a very female driven business. They do everything from, you know, fashion, health, wellness. They have all these little sub divisions in their group and the girls that work there, I'm very fortunate. I've got to hang out with them many times. Could not be the nice, like more nice. They're the nicest team. They're lovely. And so when I meet people like that, you want to work with them. Yeah, I really don't like taking jobs with people who I can't stand and you get that kind of ick, dirty using factor. And in business it's hard because everything has a price tag on it, which I understand and respect. But I don't go into a meeting ever being like, what can you give me? It's more so how can I serve you? And hopefully this is mutually beneficial because it's bringing us joy.

I love that. So tell me when you were thinking about the marketing piece because sitting listening to you. Yes, it's a great opportunity. Marie Claire, going to New York, going to la, but your locations are only Arizona. So tell everyone how you decided, how that was a good decision and you know, you may not have seen like a return on it necessarily. Tell me about how you decided what the return was for you guys and did it give you a return?

Yes. So we did these events with the idea of inflation is happening nationally, and inflation is going to hit everybody in every way. No matter who you are, what you're buying is going to go up.

Yeah.

And I wanted us to present and tell, you know, our customer, we are always trying to make better product. We are always trying to take that extra step to make product better for you, to have it basically be the best for you that you can possibly consume. So we wanted to invest. We did stuff locally as well. We do our summit that you so kindly spoke at. And we. We basically wanted to show that we're always trying to move the needle for our brand so that when you're buying with us, we're not just resting on. It's. It's good enough. I wanted to really push us in a direction where people who didn't necessarily know us from Arizona would come and seek us out while they were traveling. And we're such a destination state, and we get so much travel in the spring and that there was nothing I could really do locally to reach the consumer, to have us become one of those destination spots. So since we are so sensitive to travel and it was going to be an inflationary year, I knew that if we were going to make money, it was really going to be during our season, which is right now until end of May. And if we really wanted to have the boom that we're hoping to have and also be able to continue growing, I needed everybody out of state who was in that health and wellness circle to want to come visit us and tell their friends about us, or else our season is. Was going to be the same, which is good. But we wanted to take that extra step of having that outside influence of people making us a destination spot.

We truly, whenever we host events here, people always, like, will message us and they'll see us going, and they're like, we're gonna stop there. Oh, we can't wait to stop there. We have a girl who comes to Girlfriends in Business and she hosts a walk the next day, and she ends at Kaleidoscope with everyone.

I love that.

Yeah, it's so fun. So you truly have, like, I. I didn't necessarily even start that in that group. Yes, they see it, but they see it from a ton of people in Arizona. And when people visit, it's like the spot that everybody is going to stop at. It's. It's so fun. Except one time, you guys were out of bananas after one of my events, and I was like, I should have never sent people here because now you just wrecked my shake. I'm Just kidding. You were back in with bananas. Literally, I think later that afternoon. But I was like, I, we sent too many people from the event here. This is not okay.

Thank you. I always tell people like, we run out of stuff. Which it happens, you know, our freezers are usually so big.

Exactly.

I'm sorry that happened. But we tried, try to be as stocked as possible. But we do run out of stuff. And we get that from people here and there. And I remind them, I'm like, I'm ordering. I got, I probably order, I order from across the country.

Yeah.

Of, you know, I told you different farms that I work with and people that I like to source from. So we, we try our best to stay stock. But our menu is so expansive. That's a big thing. I get back feedback on people when I talk about growth. They say I need to tone down the menu. Like this is something that's gonna be really difficult for you to expand on because I have so many ingredients. But then the, you're like, I don't want to. I know. Like the, the me that started out that wanted to make this really expansive, creative menu is just like, no, I think we can do it. And then, you know, meanwhile we ran out of stuff. So it's like, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Let's talk about that because it's really important for people to hear because growth always comes at a cost. And so you're always weighing, do I grow and get more healthy food to people? Like, you're still doing something a bazillion times better than most people have in their market or area. Because as long as this has been around, I still, it's not everywhere at all like, and it is still hard to find good spots even when I travel to bigger cities. And so with growth and thinking of expansion, there's going to be things that you don't get to do that you want to do. So let's talk about that just for a second because I think there's a lot of people who are like, you can't be stubborn and so hell bent on certain things and you can't listen to that. Those few customers who are giving you the loudest feedback tell me about what growth looks like and how you've been able to kind of like let those fires burn and let that be okay and make those decisions.

I get feedback every day from questions. So fun. But it's front facing customer service, you know. And I, I've also realized I'm very easy to find because I Go to the locations every day. So if you want to find me, I'm there.

Wait, do people, like, come come up.

To you when you're in the store and give feedback? Yes.

Yeah.

Which is fun. You know, I. I appreciate a backbone, like, a really good backbone, my dad says. And I used to. I would sob afterwards, and my husband, too. I. I feel like somebody held at me today. They were mad about our cacao nibs. They didn't like them, and I was, you know, and I. I would take. I would sit there and, like, listen to the person talk, scream at me about it, and then I'd go home and sob.

Would you be like, this isn't about the cacao nibs. This is about what's going on at work for you?

I know I had a guy asked to take me outside, like, basically to take the conversation outside over a smoothie. And I was like, you do something like how. But, you know, it is.

It happens in business and you're accessible. Yeah.

Yeah. So I have learned to get thicker skin. I still, you know, take things personally. It's my baby. I love these items that I've created, and I love the girls. So I get really protective over the girls, especially, you know, working behind the bar. But I. Thicker skin thing was the first and foremost, and I really prey on that. I'm like, not everybody who's giving you feedback hates you. They aren't trying to be mean. They're trying. They love the product so much that they want it to be successful. So in their eyes, they're giving feedback to help you move the needle, which is an amazing thing, really, that people care enough to take time out of their day to want to increase something that's not theirs. Like, how nice.

That's a good perspective shift.

So I've had to really take that. However, I need to have it in the back of my mind of, again, is this something that's viable for the business or is it going to increase the health of the company? A lot of it, too. I have to sit and go, is this good for my mental health? Am I going to take on this idea and am I going to run myself and in doing so, my incredible management team into the ground? Because I'm listening to somebody else tell me the direction of the company? Because if I'm not passionate about it, how am I going to get these. This team of people to be passionate about it?

That probably happens all of the time too, right? Something comes up and you're like, should we do this? Should we completely switch gears and go over here. So you have to be so clear.

Yes. And we get that a lot, especially with the cafe portion where I said we had closed, we get a lot of people who want us to reopen and bring back the cafes. And I just. In point blank, it lost us money. Yeah, it lost us money in a time where the economy was doing really well. So it's something that we right now cannot financially take on the risk because I already know we didn't make money on it. And it really taxed our team because we were trying to do too many moving parts of being a juicery, because we have a juice plant, a bakery, because we have our own bakery, and then the smoothie shops, and we have six of those. So it's just a lot of it too, is really realizing how heavy you want the world to be. And if it's exciting and it's doable and it makes you happy and you're. You can articulate it to people to train, it's usually a good idea. But if it's not and all you hear is, oh, I'm going to be up at 2am working on this by myself, then it's going to be a no. So I. I go through that as I listen to people's advice and suggestions. And if I see myself in that dark place or even pawning it off on somebody, I hate that. I do not believe that as a business owner, as a leader, that you should push jobs off on people. Yes, there's things that I'm not good at. I shouldn't be doing payroll, I know that. But I should respect it enough to know that I can do it because I. Every single position in the company, I should be willing to do, which is a level of respect I think business owners need to have for all the people that work for them. And I don't want to take on a project or an idea and just push it off. And just because somebody else told me it was something they wanted to do, but I know I don't really like it. That's like a disingenuous movement by the company because I'm giving it away and I don't care about it. So I'm going to give it to somebody. Hopefully they'll care about it. And it's like kind of. It takes away the heart of the business.

So what is the funnel that you put everything through when you're making decisions? Because you do. I mean, I can only imagine the level of feedback and different direction that you could go. So as you expand and You're. You're thinking of different directions. Is there kind of. Is there a statement that you have that if it doesn't do this, we're not doing it?

Like, if it. If. If we're not going to make money, we're not doing it.

Yeah. Because you.

We physically can't.

Business can't survive.

Yes. However, with that being said, we do have items and projects that we've done that I do specifically not to make money to help specific individuals. We have a juice that we developed for one of our employees, mothers who was undergoing chemotherapy that I did not charge. We, you know, have developed the product more. So long as more people, you know, have gotten diagnosed. And anybody who approaches me with cancer, I have gifted the product. That to me is big picture. Serving the company and I think the world on a grander scale. That spoke to me in a spiritual. This is my purpose. We are here to help people heal and be well. But when it comes to really big business financial decisions, it's, you know, it does come down to, can we afford this and can my team take this on? I may be super excited about something, but if I speak it out to the team and they don't have that, you know, excitement as well, it's not going to work. And usually that's a sign that I'm overworking people and I'm not giving good enough boundaries and restrictions and guidelines. So I like to try to check in and say, are we doing this well? Are you okay? Do you need help with this? Who can we help kind of assist you in order to get certain things done. So a lot of it, a gauge is, can my team take it on not because they can't handle it, but more so because are they supported enough to do it and see it all the way through?

Mm. Is there. So whenever I go into your location, the people working are always so amazing, truly so amazing. Is there something that you do to make that happen? Like, and they also ask typically a specific question. I'm so curious if they all ask this question.

I don't know. Cause I don't know the question.

I don't know if you know this question, but I love it. They're like, do you have any fun plans today? Oh, they ask this all the time. And I'm literally like, well, I don't today, but I do this weekend. And it. It puts you in a really great place. But on first half, the girls typically always ask that or what. What are you up to today? But it's usually. Have any fun plans today? And I'm like, do I have fun? Should I? I really should. Like, I should create. Is there something that you have them that you talk about to either ask questions or what is the way that you tell them to approach customers?

That is so funny because I went today to get your mentioned and they asked me that. I was like, I'm going to an interview. I didn't know that they did, which is great. I'm glad because I was all excited to tell them about it. Yeah, really good. I love that. They're great. I will say for hiring, our biggest hiring rule is you have to be nice. And people have no idea how hard it is to just like, have that be the tier. And when I say nice, like, we ask questions kind of to gauge their mood on things. Because being in customer service, it can be kind of reactive because somebody might have a problem and they might be angry. And how do you defuse. Yeah, how do you diffuse a situation? And, you know, and a lot of these girls, it's their first job because it's a. It's a coffee shop, it's a juice bar. So we usually start there with like, checking in that the person's attitude is looking at the cup half full. We really try to hire with the cup half full attitude because you can really train to do anything if you're interested in it. We also look at if they're interested in nutrition because our training manual, it's crazy. Yeah.

The menu's intense in the best way.

Yes. It's. It's.

I learn from it. I'm like, what is this?

I know. If you want to look. Our training manual, we. We describe every single ingredient, what it's used for, why we use it, and how it changes the smoothie.

What a great first job.

Oh, yeah.

Wish I could go, but I just worked at a coffee shop. I could have done Kaleidoscope.

We would have loved to have you education too, if you want to come in and try it and learn how to make them in chip. And I always tell the girls this job will be something where you hopefully can take these skills for the rest of your life. Because taking care of yourself will always be important and taking care of the people you love. So if you can understand basic nutrition, which is, you know, whole foods and how to add them into your food to make it, you know, taste better. And understanding, you know, a little bit of like, basic, I call it, it's very basic cooking. Not really even, but smoothie making, toast usables. These girls feel inspired. And I. I have had girls reach out to me later in life that they learn more at Kaleidoscope than anywhere else and they still use it in their everyday life.

That's so cool.

Love. I love that people have left the company having a really great value center of their self worth when it comes to taking care of their body. So the hiring process for that really is looking at glass half full type attitude. Also caring about nutrition and just or even having the inquisitive mindset of what does this do? Or oh, I'm interested, how does this help? You know, with fatigue or bloating. And from there we can really run with it. But the girls at each store, there's a different vibe at each store which I love. Like you go to Gainey, they're always playing country music. You go to First Ave. It's like house music at 7am but we created the stores and I really like to keep the environment that any Kaleidoscope you go to, it's still a kaleidoscope but it feels like your local juice bar. So no matter which one you go to, it feels like your specific local one to that area. So it still feels like it's that singular one off mom and pop.

Can you think of a question that you ask during the interview process to figure out the glass half full thing? Is there anything you kind of are like oh yep, that's a red flag or you know, a question that you kind of run through.

So I do more of just like manager interviewing now or an upper level management. So I usually try to give scenarios and ask people, you know, if you are planning a trip and you have the whole trip planned and you're going wine tasting and it's going to be like the most amazing day and everything's booked and there's a. You wake up and you've spent all the money on it, it's non refundable. And the weather, you have horrible torrential downpours, super dangerous to go outside. How do you react to that? And you're in a group trip, like what do you do? And I kind of look at people because it's an odd thing. And usually if somebody starts with trying to get a refund or like calling whatever, like all of these things where yes, of course you want to try and get a refund but the point of it is to see how do you make the best out of a crack situation.

Where's their first.

Yeah. And can you creatively alter the trajectory of the day in order to go in direction where it's positive or does you. Or do you kind of stall and you just accept that something is bad and that it stinks and the trip's ruined?

Yeah.

Because that's customer service. It's never going to go according to plan. It's human beings making stuff. You're dealing with other human beings who you have no idea if they're going to come in for one occasion or 40. So how are you going to handle when you get thrown that? Are you going to lock up and be, this is the worst day ever? Or how do we navigate this and make it the best day ever?

Assume no one does personal development and no one's had therapy.

Yeah, well, yeah, a lot of people.

Have it, like, in it and it shows. And if their smoothie order is wrong or right, that would be the most fun, like, social, like, experiment we could ever do. Like, okay, just make the smoothie wrong on purpose and let's see how they react.

I. Oh, gosh. There's. There's some people I'd be really afraid to have that happen to.

So don't get this smooth. I. I worked in a coffee shop for years, and I just remember, like, I'll make their coffee. I don't feel like dealing with this today. Don't touch it.

Literally. Yeah. You just are like, I'll handle it. It's fine.

Because that's there. You work in the thing, which is, this is why this is so next level. What you're even talking about with customer service and relationships and what you have to deal with in your specific world of business is because this is a moment that people look forward to all day and to be able, like, it's their coffee moment, and it's their, like, smoothie moment or their lunch break or whatever that looks like. And they have high expectations around this moment of it's got to be right. This is my only, like, joy for the day for a lot of people. So knowing that too, it kind of makes you relax and go, okay, yes, we could have some very spazzy people, but this is the highlight of their day. So it's that perspective shift. But I love that question so much because immediately I'm kind of known for almost being over positive. Like, I can go to the positive too fast. So right when you said, if it's raining, if it's all that, I was like, oh, well, right away I would just figure out what to do or what could be fun in the rain. But that's a great thing because a lot of people don't. It's such a good Question. Because I'm sure a lot of people do do the refund thing.

Yeah. Or just really focus on what was missed and not what would be gained.

Yeah.

My husband is a very glass half full, very positive person. And so he has taught me how to really act that way. And it's been such a blessing in my life. And I used to be, you know, kind of like, oh my. The opposite. Yeah. And I needed to have that mindset shift in order for me to do my job and to even help other people do this job. You really can't be in leadership and be negative.

Wait, so you're telling me it can be learned? Everyone, it can be learned.

You can change?

Yes. Well, what's so cool about that is you've shared a couple things that you're like. I've learned to not be so outwardly passionate about how I feel about things in health because you are such a passionate person. And I do think there are people out in the world. Like my brother in law works with us and he is very. His brain immediately goes to what could go wrong and how could this be a bad thing? And so me being overly positive in the beginning, it was hard for me to work with him. But he's a Virgo and he's supposed to be that way. And we need somebody to be able to know what could go wrong and you know, how things could be bad or what could show up. And it's like for us now it's been learning of how can we both have these very important personality traits in the business, but how can they coexist? So for you, what's been something that you had to kind of like know that that side of you was important, that you're very passionate. But how have you learned to integrate it into the world where people don't take that passion? Well, sometimes, like it can be a lot.

Yeah. My husband always says, just because you know that something is good for people and does something, doesn't mean when we're sitting down to dinner, they really want to hear it. And I'm like, noted so. But I've really worked on and I. And you and I have talked about this. You know, I think privately before that nutrition, especially what I'm passionate about is a really sensitive topic and nobody knows everything and you have no idea what somebody else is going through, whether it comes to their health physically or their mental health. Supplements are on medications. I've gotten really a lot better, especially if people ask me off the cuff questions and what supplement should I take or should I be using this dialing back what I'm saying because I don't know if I'm talking to an individual who's teetering on anorexia, teetering on bulimia, or has just recovered and is trying to find different avenues to be healthy. And you kind of don't want to be that stalling point because you think you know everything and you think, oh, I just love nutrition. It's coming from a good place. Yes, that's great. But kind of beware of how much you preach nutrition when it comes to, you know, demonizing certain foods or demonizing certain items and then to that individual who you don't know if that's the only item they're eating at the time. So I have learned to dial it back more so a know who I'm talking to, not just give generic recommendations because not everybody's the same. And also being more mindful of if people are actually open and wanting to talk about it because sometimes people just like to vent and they just want to talk and myself included, and they aren't really looking for that feedback for somebody to pick apart especially their diet, which I would try to never do. And nutrition is just so personal. So I think being in school for as long as I have, it was really eye opening. There's a girl in my program right now who is high up for, at an eating disorder clinic and her insight for her job and what she's dealt with. And I, it's been really kind of shocking to me because I would never. I don't see patients every day. I just see, you know, the customers, which is only 10, 15 minutes at a time. That's not enough time to really get to know somebody's personal history. And I've watched her stories and how these patients have developed their eating disorders and developed their kind of horrible teetering relationship with food. And it was, you know, a lot of times because somebody else infiltrated their ears and told them, this is bad, you shouldn't do this. And yes, we all kind of need to have that self worth and, you know, ability to say no and yes to things. But if you're getting bombarded and everyone you know by it, which I, it's tough social media, it's this bombardment of you eat this, don't eat this, take this supplement, don't take this supplement. You just have to be really mindful that you're not spreading a message that's going to hit somebody's ears and it's going to be that tipping point for them. So for my passion. I love to talk about it. I'm happy to talk about it, but I try to be aware of who I'm talking to and if people are open to that idea. And there's. Sometimes there's individuals that I genuinely can tell are really struggling with an eating disorder. And I lock in my opinion, now that I've done this in my career, a little bit more academically, I've really learned to, you know, kind of just go, I see, you know, what's happening here. And I try to be open to listening. But I. I lock in my opinion on X, Y and Z. Because this is an individual that doesn't really need to hear that.

I mean, this is the same exact thing that's. In business. People throw around opinions of how you should be doing it, what you should be doing in. It's just like food and nutrition. I feel like business and the way that people operate, it's trendy. Like, there's the. The latest thing people are talking about. And I know that. I just feel like if we can kind of. Chris and I have always had the policy of, of we're not gonna make other people wrong. Like, let's just. They can come in our rooms and we can share what has worked for us, but just because it's worked for us is not gonna work for someone else. And being really open to all of the ideas because you don't know how someone else works. Someone else has a completely opposite personality. And like you said in nutrition, it's just what could be working for one person and is like, actually changing the trajectory of getting them on a good path. And you tell them that the modality that they're using to get on a good path is not right, then it can totally throw you off. I remember even in business, there was this whole conversation about, like, the 5:00am Club, like, you won't be successful if you don't wake up at 5am and then it turned to 4am and I was like, I'm such a loser because I need my sleep. And I'm like, but I'm up at 7:30 or 7. I'm so lazy. And it really got in my head. So I tried the 5am thing and I was a wreck for like six months. So it's all of these things that you just can't take for gospel. It was probably a great book that was a bestseller because it was a new concept to people. But it failed people, you know?

Yes. And business, there's always. Yeah, stuff gets trendy and gets huge traction. Behind it. But I, I do believe that help implementing, you know, healthy little tools. So maybe, you know, some people at that 5am helped them, you know, work.

Out, change lives, right?

Yeah, exactly. But for you it's not going to work. And sometimes people are like to work out in the afternoon and that's where it works out best for them, not 5am in the morning. I don't think there's a perfect way to run a business, nor do I think there's a perfect way to be in order to run a business. Every business is so different and so unique. What I do and the times I have to be up, it's because I have to prep food and it's, you know, it's not going to be the same for a computer programmer. So it's just, it's bizarre to me that we've had this cult like mindset where every business needs to follow a certain, you know, rule of thought and every person, you know, needs to follow a certain diet in order to be the healthiest person. There's a reason for randomized control trials because I mean like fasting, which we had talked about at the summit, a lot of fasting studies are for men, they're not for women. And we were trying to push the idea of fasting on everybody following a certain way where it's, we're just not all built the same and we're not all going to perform the same on the same diet with the same regimen. We can all do things that help us, which is, you know, exercising, eating whole fruits and vegetables, you know, having quality protein in your diet, drinking enough water. But there, if you even take those simple things which should seem like black and white, there will be somebody who will pick apart each part of it because they have the right way. That's going to be trendy for a few years and then it'll get picked apart again and it'll be another way. And so I try really hard not to listen to the noise of trends and just do what works for me. And then if other, like you said, try not to prove other people wrong, you know, just do what works for you. But with Kaleidoscope, like I make products that some I don't even like, but other people do. It's not always about me, it's about the collective. You need to have enough. Where I said in the beginning, it's you, you make product you're proud of and you like and you enjoy. But it has to be welcoming for everybody and you have to give everybody kind of that foot into the door that, you know, this is an accessible item.

Yeah. The product that people start with, it's a great. It's just that it's a great start, and then putting it out in the world, getting the feedback, not taking it personal, really learning from the majority of the feedback. And that's what's so cool about your journey, is I had no idea Kaleidoscope had started that way or what it looked like. And I'm so excited to see what ends up happening. So tell me, what is the vision for the future?

We are going to try to open two locations in the next six months, which is crazy.

That's a big undertaking.

Yeah. We're a little nervous, but very excited. There are two markets, one we used to be in and that we're excited to go back to, and another one a little bit north of north Scottsdale area. And then I'm hoping by the end of this year, I have done enough internally with the business. We're getting really sound on our operations this year. It's the year of, like, getting our shit together and growing.

And people listening to this would probably be like, wait, they're getting their shit together? That's how you always feel.

You guys.

Okay, Keep going.

Yeah, we really need to get our shit together. We're gonna do it. This is the year, but we're gonna hopefully take on investors in the next year or so. So I really want to have a sound business model and show what our company can do and where we can go. But I just. We get offered, you know, investors all the time, which is so kind that I. Having somebody wanted to want to invest in your business, as, you know, with your business, is a huge compliment. It is the biggest compliment. You're not only saying, I believe in your product, but I believe in you as a leader, which could not be nicer. I want to make sure that the people who invest have a return and then also can be really proud long term that we have a. We have a goal together. So I'm really working on that for us internally. And so we can eventually go out of state, which we're hoping to do in the next few years. And we also want to grow the company more. So from the wellness standpoint, we're doing the summits, but we'll add in more wellness components for the company. For people who don't live in Arizona.

All I'm thinking is Newport Beach. Newport Beach. I have so many friends. We'll make it so popular.

Okay, thank you.

That's the goal that's the goal.

My husband will hear this and be like, yes. He's from Southern California. So he asks me every day. He's like, how about we go there?

I'm like, I'm like, I will be on the marketing team. What does this look like? This is going to be amazing.

Okay.

Mentioned every day of my life. And upload. Okay, let's do it. I'm so grateful for you. This has been so much fun. I could literally sit for four more hours and get a business education. And something that has made me feel so empowered talking to you is I know that this was not your normal conversation and this was not something that you. That you knew. And you were able to sit so eloquently and answer and be so clear on your mission and your vision and how to do all of the things. And so for anybody listening, you know, you had the same experience I did of hearing, hearing Brooke. But to know that this is something that can all be learned and it's learned over time. And thank you so much for sharing just all of the trial and error that happens on a weekly basis because that is business. And I don't think people share just how much it's always questioning and always trying new things. So I'm so grateful for you. All right, so if you guys live in the Arizona area or if you're visiting, tell us where some of your locations are.

We would love to have you. We're in old town Scottsdale. We're inside the Optima apartment complex off Camelback. We're in Gainey Village, which is a little bit north Scottsdale. We're in downtown Gilbert, downtown Chandler. And we are also in off 16th and the 51. So about Phoenix area. And we would love to have you if you are in town or visiting.

Yes, I'm forcing you guys to go. The mint chip is my absolute favorite. Chris loves the scooter monkey and the mint chip. But I. I'll eat the same thing for five years in a row. So I will be there. You'll probably see me there. It's truly like my hangout. Also, we withheld something, guys. She did not give some of her favorite tips away. One of her favorite recipes for inflammation that is so simple. She just told it to me and I'm going to start doing it. It's so easy. Brooke, I'm so grateful. All we have to do is go down to the comment section where it says bonus and you can opt in to go and get the bonus content sent to you right now. Thank you so much. For coming on, and we will see you in the bonus round.

Thank you. Bye, everyone.