Today we’d like to introduce you to Gail Chester & Micheal McNeeley.
Hi Gail & Micheal, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our pleasure, thank you for having us! We have a company which makes healthy breath fresheners. We started our Company 12 years ago when an iconic product called, “One Drop” was discontinued. We couldn’t find another breath freshener that we wanted to use which was clean, not full of sugar, and had a menthol kick. So, we started experimenting with different essential oils and came up with Lively Up Your Breath!
The staff at our local Whole Foods Markets would act as our taste testers and we found their enthusiasm encouraging. We submitted our prototype with a paper label printed on our ink-jet printer to Whole Foods Market Southern Pacific Region via their “Local” program. To our great pleasure it was APPROVED! At Expo West in 2010 one of our favorite memories is the buyer for this Region of Whole Foods Market coming by our booth and pulling the prototype bottle out of her purse!
We debuted our products at Expo West 2010 with 3 stores, 2 of our local Whole Foods Markets, and Full O’Life. We had received approval as a “Local” item in the Southern Pacific Region of Whole Foods Market. So, we personally visited every store (except, unfortunately, for Hawaii) to ask them to bring our products in and they did!
Fast forward to today, we are still a small bootstrapped company but are very proud that our Capsule Bursts are a Global item in Whole Foods Markets and our breath fresheners can be found on the registers at Raley’s Markets, Natural Grocers, and Harmon’s Grocery and in oral care at Sprouts Farmer’s Market as well as over 900 stores across the US and beyond.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges is and has been cash flow. We have bootstrapped our Company which means we have to be extremely careful and thoughtful about what we spend our money on and when. We must weigh attending trade shows with other types of marketing spend, carrying out research and development, and new product development. Having a restricted marketing budget makes it very difficult for us to gain exposure so people know about us. But that does mean we have to come up with creative ways to stand out!
Secondly, until the last couple of years, we have operated on the power of TWO! Gail acts as COO responsible for most of the day-to-day running of the company and Micheal is Sales Director mainly responsible for sales, marketing, and product development. Because there is basically only the two of us, it is always difficult to make sure nothing falls through the cracks and to get things done in a timely manner. Neither of us have a degree in marketing or business, nor did we have a retail background prior to starting our Company. By sheer will and determination fueled by our genuine enthusiasm to follow our hearts and a belief in our products we keep moving forward and learning on the go!
Looking back, it is always Yin & Yang, a combination of highs and lows and definitely never always smooth (LOL!). What helps to keep us going is the support of our customers (thank you!) and everyone we have met along our journey that has provided support, friendship and encouragement. All of which we are very grateful for.
As you know, we’re big fans of Lively Up Your Breath. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I don’t know if most people realize that most gums and mints they use to freshen your breath are usually chemicals and sugar?
Lively Up Your Breath makes a range of Great Tasting, Highly Effective, Healthy & Premium breath freshener products which are made with organic essential oils. Our products are Non-GMO Project Verified, Certified Gluten-Free, and Cruelty-Free and they are made in the USA in Southern California.
We both eat healthy so we wanted to create a breath freshener that:
– Tasted great
– Did NOT contain refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors or preservatives
– Used functional ingredients that actually worked
– Had a menthol kick
– Was convenient and easy to use
– Used packaging that was as eco-friendly as possible
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for us is twofold. First, that we are still here! Secondly, is that people really like our products and continue to use them. When we are demoing our breath fresheners and we see the look on someone’s face when they try our products for the first time and then we hear their comments it always give us great pleasure and pride in having created something unique.
Thank you for your time today and for your interest in us and our products. We hope all of your readers, Stay Happy, Stay Healthy & Keep it “Lively”
Pricing:
- $5.79 for our Liquid Breath Drops
- $2.99 for our Mint Capsule Bursts
Contact Info:
- Email: admin@livelyupyourbreath.com
- Website: www.Livelyupyourbreath.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livelyupyourbreath
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivelyUpYourBreath
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/livelyupbreath
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DQxYuhvdCtlQKZ440d9Gw
