Brian Mosser: 0:00

You know, there's been some people, it's, you know, like, well, if you have a big day like that one day, you're gonna lose sales the next week. And historically we've not seen that. I mean, maybe you have a slightly lower Monday, but then by Tuesday, you're balancing back out. Um, because you know, there's gonna be some people who couldn't come to your sale day. There's gonna be some people who just don't prioritize a sale because they were gonna be wanting to go to an amusement park or something that on the weekend.

Tina Maddock: 0:24

Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer Podcast. I'm your host, Tina Matdock. On this podcast, you'll hear from manufacturers, retail owners, and operators, and other business experts that will help you grow your business so you can serve more people and change more lives. Brian, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today. And um, you've got so much to share with us. So we're gonna have you on more than once for sure.

Brian Mosser: 0:51

Sounds good to me. It's an honor to be here. I love working with you.

Tina Maddock: 0:55

Great. I want you to take us back to your first days of retail and tell us what moments or lessons shaped the way you run the store now.

Brian Mosser: 1:05

Um, I mean, I honestly have to say, uh I had no intention, I think, of uh it being a 20-year career. Um, I think that's the amazing thing about our industry is kind of once you get bit by that natural bug, uh, you can't leave. And you see so many people in our industry that might leave the position they were in, but they stay in the industry in one way or the other. Um, and that's kind of what happened to me is I started uh for a summer job and very early on, uh Karen and Laura, the previous owners of Get Healthy, uh really saw the potential that I didn't know I had. Um and it's something that they just really put me in um into the deep end, I guess you'd say, into immediately going to trade shows, trainings, seminars. Um, and it really cultivated my passion that exists today. Um, and it's something that I've kind of taken away from how they mentored me and doing that already. You know, I haven't even fully owned Get Healthy for a full year yet. Um, and I'm already seeing some of my younger staff that just graduated high school, and I'm, you know, putting them through that same process of taking them to Soho, getting them to do trainings, because, you know, I don't see as many retailers out there doing that necessarily. And that's not a critique, it's more of an observation of, you know, what I think could maybe help protect the future of our industry is if more retailers kind of, instead of just taking uh their buyers or you know, sales managers, um, really looking at the bottom up at cultivating and kind of growing the knowledge and experience, but also the passion in some of that younger uh demographic in their store.

Tina Maddock: 2:52

Yeah. So when you first tell everyone who you are. I think most people who are listening to this know you because you're off the board. But tell us a little bit, like you own a store now, so you are a retailer.

Brian Mosser: 3:07

Yeah. So um I've been in the industry 19, 20 years. Uh, I started out as a uh bulk boy cleaning bathrooms and running a register at Get Healthy previously. Um, when I first started, it was called Brooksville Natural Foods. Um, and at that time it was owned by Karen Greenway and Laura DeWitt. And uh, you know, I went through the process of becoming a manager and training, a store manager, general manager to um, you know, when they Karen and Laura both retired about seven, eight years ago, um, me and Kelly uh Dairyberry, who runs our office, really kind of took over the full-on um management of the entire company. And it was during that time frame of really having almost all that responsibility on us that I realized, hey, I could own a store, I could do this. And uh, you know, there were some hiccups along the journey of uh purchasing the store, whether it be, you know, starting a loan process and COVID shutting it down to, you know, starting back up the uh the idea of buying it and finding out that I had cancer. You know, there's something to where there were ups and downs along the journey, but you know, ultimately, I have to say 2025 was ultimately a great year. Um I became a Simpa board member uh at last year's uh SOHO trade show. And so this year um at the trade show was my first year as a SOHO uh full year as a SOHO board member. And then, you know, I also was put as chair of the emerging leaders. So I, you know, I think Jeff, the president, and Deborah saw uh my passion for making sure we uh find that younger generation within our industry on both sides of you know retail, manufacturing, brokerage, um, and then you know, owning my own store. So I'm doing a lot, uh, but I love it. And, you know, I feel like if I didn't have such a passion for our industry, I wouldn't be uh so deeply involved in in many aspects of it.

Tina Maddock: 5:05

Brian, I don't think I realized that you had cancer. Wow, that is huge.

Brian Mosser: 5:10

I'm so yeah, I just threw that one in there.

Tina Maddock: 5:12

Totally did. You sneaked it in.

Brian Mosser: 5:14

Uh yeah, no, it was 2023, 2024 was a uh a little bit of a hiccup year. Um, and you know, certainly we have our moments during that time frame of why me. Um, but I was raised to kind of look at the bright side and the silver lining. And, you know, ultimately I might have been very well versed in nutrition, but it made me dive even deeper into that particular subject. And I feel like I can relate a lot more closely to um my customers who come in with similar health issues or someone in their, you know, one of their loved ones dealing with it, and I can authentically, you know, walk them through my own journey with that. Um, so in the moment wasn't uh a fun process and it was very shocking. Um, but you know, we're on the other side of it. And if anything, um I think it's made me a stronger person and uh a more relatable um, I don't want to say salesperson, but a more relatable person uh person to those clients who are dealing with those health issues.

Tina Maddock: 6:15

Yeah, just a human being that can have relationship and be vulnerable with people, probably. Um, well, there is something about you, Brian, that's just a little bit magmatic. And I'm I want to go back to the story of um the previous owners seeing something in you. There are two things that come to mind for me. One is there are a lot of young people looking for jobs right now. The job market doesn't feel accessible to them, but you went into this as a summer job and it ended up something else. And I I always talk about that. Like, I didn't my first job was not where I landed, but it was a door into an opportunity that gave me more opportunity and more opportunity. And so if there are any young people out there who are listening to that, first of all, this retail um business is something to look into, especially if you like people and you like helping people and you have um some ideas around being healthy and you'd like to know a little bit more about natural products as it relates to that. So I think there's a lot of opportunity in this industry for younger people to come in right now.

Brian Mosser: 7:28

Oh, 100%. And I think, you know, starting at a store level is a great opportunity to open the door to any position within the industry. You know, I in the career that I've had, I had multiple, multiple job opportunities offered to me from, you know, working for a brokerage to a vitamin company, you know, a territory, like sales manager type aspect, because, you know, people would come in from different sides of the industry into the store that I was managing uh and seeing what I had to offer. Um, so, you know, I stuck it out. You know, I think I saw the bigger picture and maybe there was a sense of comfort knowing that I was good at what I did and uh a slight fear of jumping into something different. But ultimately, whatever journey I did choose worked out to where I wanted to be in life. Um, but you know, I've kind of said that to other younger people and they're like, well, I don't know if I want to work in the store long term. That's okay. You know, it's such a, you know, the great thing about our industry is it is so very close knit. And especially if you go to these trade shows, that, you know, ultimately you'll find that right position. You'll find something that, you know, works for what you're looking for. But, you know, I mean you you may not know where to start. Um, but you know, most towns have a local health food store. Uh, and that kind of can be that first step. Or if you're a young person watching this and, you know, you already work at a health food store, maybe you're feeling like, I don't know if I love the industry, but I don't know if I want to be in a st in a store for the next 10 years. You know, there are growth opportunities within the industry itself and we need it across the industry.

Tina Maddock: 9:00

Yeah, there's so many people, retailers that come to us and and say, Hey, I'm looking for my next um store operator or store manager. Do you know anyone? So I know there are jobs and careers out there that are here and you start somewhere and you show up and you do a great job, and then um you can, there are so many opportunities even outside of it. This is such a relationship business.

Brian Mosser: 9:24

Oh, 100%. And I think it's one of those things too where I'm not taking away from all the experienced talent out there. I mean, there's people who, you know, they're master herbalist, they are, you know, certified, you know, consult, you know, they can do consultations with people. It's something where there's all of that, but don't forget to look at what's within your own store that you might be overlooking in the sense of your potential management. Um, you know, sometimes I have found in my uh experience taking time to cultivate, train, and really develop a talent that you might kind of be like, oh, that's that's Susie. She's just after school on, you know, after high school, she does bulk. Uh, I go back to that because I've worked with personalities that came from other stores. They were managers. And when they come into your store, they have a very set mind frame of how they previously did things. And that can be great. Shaking things up at your store can be amazing because it might shine a light on things that you thought you did well and maybe you do, but maybe could be doing better, or things that you maybe you fail out that that this person could do. But I've also found with that experience, sometimes it can be a little bit of that um difficulty of personalities because you know, I was managing people at when I was 18, 19, 20, and they were in their, you know, 50s or 60s, and I never try to disregard their experience, but ultimately I had a job to do. Um, and sometimes it didn't always work out personality-wise. But when you're a store owner or a store manager, you can sometimes look at that younger talent and kind of cultivating it because each store has their own way of doing things. And if that works for your town, if that works for your um individual store, sometimes you don't necessarily want that outside coming in and trying to make it a big store experience, you know. So I think you have to look at it at both sides is, you know, take a little bit of this outside your store experience and utilize the good things that can help grow your store. But also maybe look at that in your own store, you know, kind of overlooking this younger group of people because you don't know where they're gonna invest. You know, it's just for a school job, they're gonna go to college, they're not gonna stick around. But maybe if you put a little more energy into them and and growing them, that could be your next successor.

Tina Maddock: 11:44

Yeah. So you had a lot of education and opportunities for growth whenever you were in the store. And that kept you there and made you even more passionate about the position. Is that right?

Brian Mosser: 11:56

Oh, for sure. I mean, I think that's the big thing is I I always love going to, you know, trade shows and seeing it's almost like a family reunion every year. Um, the only downside of that is sometimes you only see the exact same people over and over again. So you, and that's wonderful. It's great. You'd love to hear how their stores are doing. But at the end of the day, when you don't see them bringing, and maybe not every store has that younger person that's even interested, but you don't see a lot of the stores bringing in their young talent. And I really feel like that's one thing that's lacking in our industry, kind of on all sides, um, is you know, taking a chance. Invest, it's an investment in my mind. I know it's a cost. You got to look at your bottom line, you got to look at how much it costs to buy an airplane ticket and hotel rooms and all of that. But really, I look at it as an investment. And this particular year at Soho, I brought my two youngest employees, my two newest employees. And I don't know if they're gonna stick with me over a year. I don't know if they're gonna be with me for five years, but for me, it's an investment because I know after I left, even my first Soho, but I feel like every Soho, I leave more passionate and inspired. And, you know, you learn so much that you don't learn in your store necessarily because you're just there for two days, or you know, somedays, sometimes it's a one-day trade show, but you're just immersed in our world that I feel like you just come out stronger and more passionate.

Tina Maddock: 13:12

Yeah, I always say that the retailers learn the most from the other retailers that are there. And if you never take the time to get a minute to have conversation and build relationships with other retailers, it can feel very lonely out there. And you do start to work in a silo where you can run out of ideas that are you can get some fresh ideas and someone who's already experienced the pain that you're experiencing and the ways that they've overcome it just to generate, okay, what's next for us?

Brian Mosser: 13:44

Well, and I'm not just saying this because I'm on your uh podcast, but you know, that's one thing I've always uh enjoyed about when you put on a presentation at some of these workshops and and trade shows is you know, you're you're you like to take a step back and be like, okay, what's something you're dealing with? Let's talk about it in this room, let's have a workshop. Let's how would you, you know, and I love how you kind of engage the crowd. You know, you come with a, hey, this is my experience, but what are you experiencing and how can we solve that? Um, and I think that's a huge thing right now, you know, in all the years I've been doing this, I feel like there was a maybe a little bit of a sense of, oh, that's a that's a competitive health food store. You know, my stores are here in Florida. Um, and I'm fortunate enough not to have a crazy amount of competition. But there was always a sense of, oh, if they're a town away, that's like cost uh competition. As I've kind of flipped the script on that a bit. And, you know, I've said, we are only going to be able to protect our industry and protect the independence if we're in this together. And sure, maybe Mrs. Jones lives between our two stores and she shares a little love between both of us. That's okay. You know what? She comes to me for a reason, she comes to you for a reason. We don't need to look at that as we're the Hatfields and the McCoys, and you know, we've drawn a line in the sand. We're stronger together. If I'm out of something, maybe I should call that other store and say, hey, do you happen to have something? Because they're probably going to do the same thing. Um, you know, and I feel like collectively as independent stores, we should be ready to share some conversations and share things that are working for us or ask about some hiccups and issues that we're dealing with, whether it be ordering, you know, sometimes only by voicing together to a manufacturer of, hey, why does Sprouts have this and we don't have it? Or hey, why does uh, you know, Whole Foods or Amazon have a product, but it says out of stock when I try to order it. Um, you know, when we are a collective unit, we're much stronger.

Tina Maddock: 15:36

So much stronger. And people start to listen. Um, you you have more, and I I hate to call it power, but there's more influence whenever everyone starts to work together towards the same goal. And look, we just saw with Soho, um, sorry, with Sinpa that they were in Washington, DC. These of all the good work that was happening there where everyone was coming together to do something. Yeah.

Brian Mosser: 16:03

Yeah. So that's why that's why, you know, even by no means do I feel like I'm some type of social media guru. You know, there's still so much that we all could be doing. But, you know, it's something where I I feel like at least as a company, as a store, we've we've kind of gotten out of that like mundane. Well, I'll send an e-blast out once a week and I'll, you know, put a sales flyer on our Facebook. Because, you know, some stores just don't know how to use social media, or other stores think that their demographic isn't going to be digitally minded. Um, but you know, you we have to realize that a lot of our shoppers who aren't digitally minded are aging out. And a situation is our stores aren't going to sustain themselves by just repeating what we've done for the last 30 years and thinking it's gonna work in today's society. And so, you know, it's something to where we have to, as stores, actively be trying to reach out to uh maybe people who don't know we're there, a younger demographic, you know, and we've got to kind of shift how we've thought about doing things. Um, there's so many stores that I kind of will talk to um at trade shows, and it blows my mind that maybe they don't even have an online presence, they don't even have a Facebook page. Um and it's something where they just never had to think that way before. Um I was somebody who, for friend reasons, I would had Instagram, but I never even had a TikTok. And then, you know, I had so many people coming in being like, I saw this on TikTok. And I was like, I gotta, I gotta get one of those tickle tackles. So I got I started one for the store. And, you know, I I think you've been a viewer of what I do. And, you know, it's something where I don't do the the funny things and the jump camera. You know, I'm utilizing my company's TikTok page for education. And I jokingly call it the anti-Tik Talker because a lot of the things I kind of discuss and talk about on there is okay, well, you've heard about this trend, but here's the reality. And, you know, it's just having a conversation with that camera as if I was talking to a customer coming in, asking me about it in my store. And, you know, so many people's like, I don't have the time, I don't have a staff member. Hey, I own my store, I manage my one location, I'm the only person that does social media at the store. You can find the time. And there's so many tools at your fingertips that can make it so easy and they're free. And it's something to where um, you know, my one video I do once a week then turns into a um e-blast post. It turns into a Facebook and Instagram post. So, you know, yeah, on a Friday morning I might have to come into work an hour early to film and edit and make sure all the verbiage is great. But that now is, you know, four different uses for me for social media. Um, you know, I know people are afraid of the term AI, but every store should be using a free version of ChatGPT in my head. And you literally can come up with marketing ideas by literally just prompting it with, hey, what's the top five search nutritional questions this week? And all of a sudden it can just spur an idea of, like, oh yeah, I've got, hey, it's magnesium, what magnesium is best for muscle cramps. Okay, I could do a video on magnesium. I have a sale on blue bonnet magnesium glycinate. You know, it can really be a tool that can take your social media and marketing and outreach to a whole nother level. Um, and I think some people get discouraged with things like Facebook and Instagram because they'll say, Well, I did a post like almost every day this week and only like three people liked it. And well, unfortunately, Facebook and Instagram have you over a barrel because they kind of restrict how many people see what you post unless you boost. And a lot of people don't seem to realize that, you know, you might be putting a budget towards print media, you might be advertising in a magazine, you might be, you know, one thing that when I bought the company, I did is I stopped doing sales flyers. You know, customers might seem to like the idea of a sales flyer, but those are customers already in your store. They're already shopping. So if you have your sales posted somewhere that they get trained, because you can train your customers to go and look at, they'll see what your sales are. If you have your store properly merchandised with sales signs, they're going to see the sales. So that $200 a month that was maybe going towards printing up a sales flyer that only the people in my store already shopping would be seeing, that money is now invested into social media boosting. And, you know, I will do a little bit of boosting to my already followers so that they can make sure to see my post. But a lot of my budget is going into non-followers within my community, within a certain age demographic, so that I'm not just getting people to see it. I'm possibly getting new customers who don't follow me to come see it as well. So, you know, these are different areas where I get very passionate about because I don't want to just see my store succeed and go to the next level. I want to see every independent store succeed and go to the next level. And I think we need to maybe shift and change the perception of, well, this is how we've always done it, doesn't mean that it's going to be successful in 2025, 2026.

Tina Maddock: 21:31

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's so much there, Brian, and what you're just talking about. I mean, one thing is that the demographics um are either changing or you might be going backwards. Yes. So if your demographics in your store are not starting to change right now with millennials, Gen Z, and others coming in the door, then you might be going backwards in revenue. Um, I there are boomers, there's Gen X, there's plenty of people that are still coming. And the ones that are loyal will be around for a little bit longer. But one of the trends that I am seeing is we can do a lot of things to increase sales from people who are already buying from you. But if you're not getting new customers in the store, you will probably be going backwards on the revenue needle, or at least you'll be underperforming what the market is performing, the way the market's performing right now. And I'll tell you that these younger generations are interested. They're just not sure that you're there. They're not sure that you're a place they want to hang out. And one of the things that they're looking for is not just product, they are looking for community. Um, we've said this before because I think all of us feel that way. Like after COVID, there was an opportunity for people to get reconnected by coming to your store with events and education and things that were happening there. But um, depending on who you were advertising to or doing outreach to, it's probably people who already knew you. If younger people don't see themselves there in the trends, or if you don't really um talk about things that are important to them at the time and meet them where they are in their life and their health and other activities, then it's really harder for them to come and participate in that community because they're like, oh, I don't see myself here. I see older people here, which is wonderful. Please live on the older demographics, but also getting new people in is really important right now.

Brian Mosser: 23:40

I think I you hit the nail on the head. I mean, it's especially if we talk about, you know, post-COVID, you know, there were so many stores who were afraid of customers not feeling comfortable with having an event or looking down on the store for being one of the you know first places in the community to kind of allow, you know, social distancing to be reduced. And, you know, as much as I respect whatever people's opinions were, my thought process was get healthy has always been a place of education, a place of community. And if social distancing is at an end, then whoever isn't comfortable isn't gonna come. And that's okay. I respect their decision, but I'm not gonna baste my growth of my store going back to what our standard is around the handful of people who may not be comfortable with that. So I don't know if this is 100% true, but I was told we were like the first health food store post-COVID to actually host like a huge community event because it happened to be right around our 30th anniversary. And so, you know, we ended up having, you know, some people who wanted to sit at the back, and that was perfectly fine. We had a few people who weren't happy we're hosting something like that. But all in all, we had two huge successful days um of education and you know, it was something to where people started saying, I've missed this, this is amazing, you know. And, you know, I will say it's changing now, but I feel like the industry in general took a step back post-COVID to where I'm making assumptions to where maybe big corporate in the sense of uh managers and bosses were like, hey, we can save on, you know, putting people out in the field because we'll just do Zoom trainings and we'll do Zoom meetings. And I'm I know I'm saying that as we're zooming, but it's something to where, you know, I really put my foot down and I said, no, I will not put a screen up and try to invite people to come watch someone across the world educate. I want someone in my store who can answer questions. There's not going to be technical difficulties. People want to feel like they are having an event. And, you know, I feel like we've definitely within the last year seen a huge change in that because that was across the board in the industry of people wouldn't come demo and do samples. You know, some companies stopped doing samples altogether. And I feel like as an industry, enough stores said enough is enough. We need to go back to what our stores were all about, which was in-person education, samples, demos, tastings. And I definitely feel like we've seen a shift in that. Um, but I can't stress enough to stores. These events are needed and wanted. Even if you don't think your customers are looking for it, they are. Um, and no matter where your store is located, the answer is always no if you don't ask. You know, it's something to where I might live in Tampa. My stores are about, I have two stores an hour north. They're not huge towns, but we can always successfully have an event. And brands now know if Get Healthy is hosting an event, it's going to be successful. But it's a two-way street. You know, you've got to get that commitment from the brand, but you as a store have to have follow through. You know, and it's something to where I can't stress enough, you can't just put a signup sheet out and expect people to sign up. You know, it takes educating your staff to talk up the event, you know, having a nice featured, you know, product area of whatever is going to be talked about at your event. So people are like, oh, what's this? Start the conversation.

Speaker 1: 27:18

Yeah.

Brian Mosser: 27:19

Then you get into the social media and the e-blast, and you know, you have to be advertising this at least a month uh in advance. Um, and it's something to where once brands start seeing that you're gonna be successful with this, they're gonna keep supporting it.

Tina Maddock: 27:34

Yeah.

Brian Mosser: 27:35

Um, and once you start getting that same support, people start looking forward to it. I mean, this year, especially being in the south, you know, historically we kind of coast through summer. We don't really do a ton of events. We, you know, we in the past assumed, oh, you know, the snowbirds want the events and we're busier during the winter months. Um, people are on vacation in summer. And I just said, no, like my community, my core demographic who support me year-round still want this. So almost every single month this summer, we had some type of event in store, and people just were stacked as ecstatic about it. You know, and one thing that I didn't realize would be such a hot conversation, but I guess I have a few stores that follow my social media was our Christmas in July event, you know.

Tina Maddock: 28:22

Yeah.

Brian Mosser: 28:22

And, you know, sometimes it's not always maybe you can't secure someone to come do an education, but you can definitely still find ways to, you know, have hype and fun and uh something exciting happening at your store. Um, and with if with July, I was just like, you know what, we're gonna do a 30% off store day. Some retailers said I was crazy because they're like, you're giving away your margin. And I said, no, there's enough times that maybe groceries give you a free fill and you don't fully put it. Obviously, you're not giving it away for free. You know, there's brands that will do a line drive and you pass along some discount, but maybe not all of it. That for one day, if I do a 30% store wide sale, I'm not gonna lose money. And then we had, I think it was 12 secret Santa presents wrapped up and put under a palm tree that was decorated Christmas at the front of our store. And it literally was just products that we had gotten samples of at trade shows or brokers had left, and you know, none of the staff really ended up, you know, grabbing it to use it. So I said, hey, I want the smallest value to be a hundred dollar package, I want the largest one to be a couple hundred dollar package, and I don't even want to know what's in them. You know, I had one staff member just create Secret Santa gifts and we stacked it high in front of the store with a sign that said, Ask how you could get a present this year. And the whole hype was if you made a purchase on our Christmas in July, it was just one day, then you got entered in for that present. And customers were ecstatic. I mean, they were so excited to come in and participate and not just get a savings, but maybe win a Secret Santa gift. Um, you know, so it's something to where, you know, even just getting kind of creative like that, and you're not really losing money, you're kind of getting rid of some of the products that might be just sitting around in your, you know, your storage or your uh office that just hasn't been used. And you know, you're building more of that buzz of customers now anticipating your next event.

Tina Maddock: 30:17

Yeah, and just like creating a reason to come into the store is constantly important. And you should do it in a way that aligns with your values and and what this store is all about. So I can tell just from knowing you for a few years and also um by talking by you talking about the kinds of activities that you're doing, that fun is a huge part of what you bring to your community. There's an element of play and fun and activity. So of course they are gonna be coming to the store whenever you guys have events. Other people, it's something different. It and and I'm not saying other people don't want to have fun, but I'm saying there's a personality that your store has. So be faithful to it. And there's still a way to make things happen. I'm a huge fan of one day sales. It doesn't have to be on the entire store, it can also be on a product line or a product itself. But I do think that that limited time offer brings a lot of foot traffic your way very quickly. And then they come back again. Uh, because these types of things, once they get into your store and experience the environment, as long as there is a personality in the store, they want to come back.

Brian Mosser: 31:35

Yeah, for sure. And I think that's the thing too, is you know, there's been some people, it's you know, like, well, if you have a big day like that one day, you're gonna lose sales the next week. And historically, we've not seen that. I mean, maybe you have a slightly lower Monday, but then by Tuesday, you're balancing back out. Um, because you know, there's gonna be some people who couldn't come to your sale day. There's gonna be some people who just don't prioritize a sale because they were gonna be wanting to go to an amusement park or something that on the weekend. But, you know, all in all, you it really has paid off in dividends in the sense of just, you know, customers learning about it because friends were saying, Oh, that health food store is having a big sale. So they came in for the first time. Um, we've had other people that just happened to walk in because they saw a you know group of people walking in and was like, what's that? And you know, they were people who lived in our community for 10, 15 years, and they'll be like, Oh, did you guys just open? And I'm like, No, or you know, 35 years of business basically. Um, so you know, having those types of events can really be open the door to leading you to new customers as well.

Tina Maddock: 32:38

Yeah, and it's always funny, like you said, 30% off. And that is um scary for a lot of people. We hear that a lot, even when you're like doing brand switching and other things. There are brave owners like you who are like, nope, we're all in, we're gonna do something crazy. And they do it, and it turns out to generate a lot of activity and a lot of loyalty. So it's nice to hear sometimes whenever you take a risk. And I'll tell you, running a store, there you have to take risks to figure out what's gonna work for your crowd and what's not. And Brian, it could have been like that was a mistake for you. I'm glad it wasn't, right? But but there is some risk that you have to take and be like, okay, that didn't work, we're gonna do something else. But generating just new activity a lot of times is such a great idea. Again, as long as it aligns with your core values, then it makes sense to try these things out and see what works and see what doesn't work. Um, so it's nice to see people taking some risks to figure that out.

Brian Mosser: 33:46

Well, I appreciate that. I mean, I think my big thing is, you know, there's such a concern in our industry of, well, I've got to be competitive to sprouts and I've got to be competitive in our area in Florida public. And, you know, at this point, I don't even blink an eye at Amazon. You know, for me, it's a situation to where I'm never going to be the cheapest product comparatively to Amazon. You know, if I'm cheaper, the same price than the manufacturer product website, that's what I'm concerned about. If someone, if that customer goes to the manufacturer and I'm $10 more expensive, there's something wrong there. But if I'm the same price or a little bit cheaper than what they could buy it from the manufacturer, that's my concern. And I, you know, I could be wrong on this, but I feel like there's so many people out there that are retailers that get so hyper focused with blinders on of Amazon, Amazon, Amazon. Well, I'm sorry. When a customer comes in, if they're going to be dead set on just Amazon prices and they're not going to support their local store, that's probably not my customer. Yeah. You know, and I am all, you know, I might be wrong in saying this too, but I'm all about telling a customer like, no, you're not right. You know, I feel like that manufacturer, I feel like that retailer motto of customers are always right isn't correct, you know? And it I feel like I've gotten more loyal customers by stopping them from buying something that they came in because it was trendy or TikTokier or Amazon had it for a good price, and actually taking 30 minutes with them and educating them on why that's not what they're looking for. And, you know, I've seen in so even just as a whenever I go to a new town, I love stopping into a health food store. I'm a health food nerd. And it's like they find me. I just turn a corner and they're there. And, you know, I'll stop in and I'll just kind of overhear and somebody be like, hey, I saw this online. Do you have it? And you know, some retailers might just be like, no, we don't carry that. And then the customer walks out. You know, I'm I've tried to train. I would hope that while I'm not at the store right now, my staff are doing what I've trained them to, which is, no, that's not a brand that matched, you know, meets our quality expectations, but do you know what you were trying to use it for? And really kind of engage in a conversation. And I've had countless customers who maybe at first didn't like being told they were not, you know, we didn't carry what they were looking for. But when they stopped and heard the knowledge that our staff have at Get Healthy and our passion behind why we carry the products that we carry, it makes them at least nine times out of 10 give what we are, you know, suggesting a try. And because we do carry such quality products and they get the results they're looking for, they come back. And, you know, I just had a lady this week uh, you know, stop in and she's like, Oh, thank God you're here. I was so glad you're here. I'm like, oh, thank you. And she's like, no, she's like, I now, whatever you tell me to buy, I will buy it. She's just like, you know, the first time I came in, I didn't know if I was gonna come back because, you know, you were very uh opinionated about what I was gonna buy. I'm like, I'm sorry. And she's like, no, now I'm glad you stopped me. She's like, because she's like, I what I got from you worked. What my friend got from uh the article we read didn't. She's like, and I said, you should have gone to the health food store. And I was just like, that's what I do, why I do what I do. You know, I always try to do it with some grace and tact, but you know, it's okay to tell a customer that they're not getting the right product. Um and, you know, because I don't try to necessarily compete with the Amazon pricing and I'm not trying to carry every single TikTok product out there, and I'm willing to stand on the education to our customers. You know, it allows me to price my store strategically with groceries. And maybe I'm not making the margins on groceries that stores 20 years ago did, but that's okay. You know, for me, groceries in my store are kind of an added bonus to customer coming and purchasing. What I'm trying to do is make sure that I have the best quality supplements and lines that are supporting independent stores, who are map pricing, who are giving me the ability to strategically do line drives or brand deals or those 30% off days. And I know I'm not losing my shirt because I've been strategic on how I've priced my store and purchased companies.

Tina Maddock: 37:54

Yeah, we look at grocery a lot of times as a little basket lift. Now, there are people that are mostly groceries, so this does not apply to you, but but for but for the supplement heavy um lines, groceries are a really nice basket lift.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Yeah.

Tina Maddock: 38:09

So um you can get the bigger averages there. But um, you were talking about TikTok a little bit earlier, and this is this whole conversation of people coming into your store. One of the things we talk about regularly is just when someone comes into your store and asks you for a thing that you're like, oh my gosh, no, that's not, it's not efficacious, like it doesn't, it's not a good delivery system, you wouldn't be using it right, like for whatever reason. The conversation is so it we like we love it when people are like, well, okay, instead of this, hey, we don't carry that C bye. Um, it the conversation being around um okay, well, what what were you hoping this would do for you?

Brian Mosser: 38:54

What would it, what do you think it was going to achieve?

Tina Maddock: 38:56

Yeah. And then there's you guys have so many products and we tell people that are looking to achieve a specific goal, why not try to help them solve their problem in a different way and then educate them around why this versus that?

Brian Mosser: 39:13

Yeah, no, a hundred percent. And I think it's one of those things where, you know, if if for some reason it's a product like when chlorophyll got super trendy, okay, as a retailer, yes, you need to get on the ball, order several cases to have on your shelf. Because after one person's asked about it and mentioned TikTok, there's gonna be, you know, multiple people coming in. But, you know, when it's more of these niche items that you're like, you know what, I'll use methylene blue, for example. You know, wasn't really something we actively carried before TikTok. So, you know, I waited till one of the brands that I knew I could trust, I could trust their sourcing, trust their quality, and I got it from them. So I was behind the ball maybe a week, but I did not want to just order in a product because two people mentioned TikTok having, you know, talking about that. Okay, well, maybe. Maybe I lost those two people, but I'm getting in the brand I trust. Um, so I think those are some standards I would hope that most you know stores would have because eventually you're gonna be stuck with some of these products on your shelf because the trend is gonna end. Um, and then, you know, on top of that, yes, 100% having these conversations. And I think that's why I do the videos that I do on TikTok is because I want to be able to maybe even give people a chance to educate themselves before they go and buy something. You know, maybe they've been searching this trendy term, you know, I think one of the ones obviously that was super hot for a minute was parasite cleansing. Well, you know, there was somebody that came in, actually had several people come in that was saying, oh, all you need to do is uh charcoal and um, I think it was uh distilled water. It was distilled water and charcoal, and you were gonna cleanse. I'm sorry, no, like one, charcoal should not be taken every day long term. And two, distilled water eventually can demineralize you. So it was something where I'm like, I've got to talk about this. Um, you know, and it really started people to have, you know, at least the conversation of maybe there's a different answer out there. Um, you know, I've now started getting, I guess, enough use that people are kind of maybe not leaving comments in the video, but they're DMing me. And, you know, I had someone ask specifically about the Sleepy Girl cocktail, uh, you know, and the whole concept is, you know, cherry juice and uh magnesium powder mixed with like a prebiotic soda. Okay, the concept isn't bad, you know, up your melaton with the cherry juice, melatonin, you know, to help with melatonin production. But who wants to be getting their glycosemic index spiked up with a soda and cherry juice before bed? Could there be a better method to this? So I feel like, you know, a lot of retailers and I've encouraged retailers, it I am nothing special whatsoever. But if you want to use my videos and rebrand them or however you want, have at it. I mean, again, it goes back to that supporting the community. It's just, I feel like that method could work for a lot of stores because a lot of stores or store owners aren't goofy and wanting to jump around and have these like TikTok trendy videos. They don't have to be. You know, if you're providing good education, people are gonna come back. So, you know, if you have somebody who can at least just stand in front of a camera and, you know, talk as if they're talking to a customer, you could really gain some traction with your uh viewership. And you also also have to think, hey, you know, maybe people who are viewing my videos are across the United States, they're not in my community. That's okay. They will be, you know, and also where we get to see supporting other stores. You know, one of my videos about Prop 65 ended up making sales for a store in North Carolina. Um, so it's something to where your videos might help my store, my videos might help your store. You know, it goes back to that community aspect.

Tina Maddock: 43:01

Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things where when people see the education level that you guys are able to give, then I think they start to trust natural product stores in general. And again, rising tide lifts off ships, right? But also to your point about just getting started, it's um interesting because it's very scary. Like getting on camera for the first time, it's not natural, it doesn't come natural to all of us. Some of us it does, but but most of us it doesn't. It doesn't come natural for us to be and you can feel wooden and feel like Ricky Bobby, like what do I do with my hands, you know? But truly, um, I had a friend tell me the other day, I wrote a book and it was 50,000 words. And she goes, I know it was bad, but I feel like I need to write the first bad book before I can write a good one.

Brian Mosser: 43:50

Yeah, you have to start somewhere.

Tina Maddock: 43:51

Sometimes you just need to start producing. And when you look at it, if you think it's not great, it's just because you have good taste.

Speaker 1: 43:58

Yeah.

Tina Maddock: 43:59

So then you get to develop a different aesthetic, a different way that you're talking, and and you keep going. And then you can erase those old ones one day, whenever you've got plenty of content out there that looks a lot better, or leave them out there because they're fun to watch later and be like, Can you believe this is where we started? Here's where we are.

Brian Mosser: 44:16

And I think that's the thing is, you know, I I kind of have two comments to that. And and one of them is they say, you know, if you stand there and talk to customers every single day, those customers judge you way more than a piece of a piece of plastic and glass.

Speaker 1: 44:29

Yeah.

Brian Mosser: 44:30

You know, and I get it, people, some people aren't as comfortable. But, you know, when you're in the store alone, like I am an hour before work, that camera is the least judgy thing in that store. Um, you know, I judge myself more than that camera does. So it's something to where I feel like sometimes shifting your mindset a little bit can make you a little more comfortable. And then two, just because you're the stone store owner doesn't mean you have to be the one doing the video. You know, if there's someone in your store who's just naturally charismatic and, you know, has an ease about them, you can feed them lines. Yeah. You can give them, you know, maybe they're not the most educated person in the room, but if they're willing to, you know, kind of become a little bit of the face, you know, and the personality, that's okay. You know, I'm in a situation where that kind of was thrown on my lap before I was the owner because no one in the store likes their picture even taken. Yeah. And no one in the store wants to be on video. And so it's a situation where I was like, okay, well, I'm not trying to make this the Brian hour, even though that's probably what it feels like. I know what I'm good at, I know what I do. So let's utilize that talent. And it's something to where I encourage store owners to do the same thing. You know, you might like for people to know that when they come in, they should talk to you because you're the most educated. But if you're trying to venture into this new world, maybe it's okay to open the door to someone on your staff who just has that, you know, je ne sais quoi uh quality about them to, you know, kind of engage that next demographic and kind of be that outreach person.

Tina Maddock: 46:00

Yeah, which kind of leads us into emerging leaders, right? Emerging, look at that. That was such a good segue. So good. You tell us more about what emerging leaders is. You mentioned it earlier in the podcast that you started working with emerging leaders, but tell us tell us more from SinP's perspective what is emerging leaders and what are you guys doing?

Brian Mosser: 46:21

Sure, wonderful. Um, so before I was on the board, um, I was actually myself, Emily from um, you know, Gastonia, the health history in Gastonia, and then Ryan um over at Peggy's. And uh we were like the first three emerging leaders. And and part of that came from the fact that, you know, we were always at the trade shows. We kind of had opinions that we would like to voice, but none of the three of us could actually sit on the board because of just, you know, Karen Greenway, the previous owner, she was still on the board at that time before her passing, Renee was on the board, you know, as a president. So it kind of kept some of us from actually being able to participate actively with the Simpa board. So Ryan Sensenbrenner from Enzomedica originally kind of came up with the idea of, hey, we need to kind of find a way of having this younger talent who wants to have an opinion and has things to say, but can't really have an outlet for that. So, you know, a few years ago, we the three of us kind of started out there. And then um just how life happens, you know, people go back to their normal jobs and people go back to, you know, their retail stores. And, you know, it was a great idea, but not a lot of follow-through. Um, but hey, successfully now Ryan is on the board and I'm on the board. So something came from that original group of uh emerging leaders, you know, at least we still stuck through and became active board members for Simpa. So then um, you know, your counterpart, Amanda, uh, was on the board at that time before she stepped off uh temporarily and she was doing things with the emerging leaders and we grew. You know, we we did grow, we had more than three, but there still was a little bit of a what do we do with this group? Um and when I got on the board, um I don't know, I I have a hard time not doing nothing. Um and I had no intention of, you know, becoming chair of the emerging leaders, but I think I do have such a passion about protecting our industry, and the only way we can do that is to make sure that we have an a younger generation coming in. And, you know, for my for me, we wouldn't have an industry without the forefathers and mothers who built it. You know, this has nothing to do with, you know, out with the old, in with the new. It has everything to do with if we don't find this younger generation to step into the shoes of the me so that I can be the Karen Greenway of the future, you know, it's something to where at some point the industry is gonna end on all sides. You know, stores are gonna get bought up, uh, manufacturers are gonna sell out to Coca-Cola, you know, and we're not gonna have the industry that was built by, you know, the previous people who ran it, the legends. And, you know, I just spoke at the uh first Northeast show that Simpa put on in Jersey. And, you know, for me, I was, you know, very passionate about the fact that, you know, it's about preserving what the industry has done so well while protecting our industry by adapting and growing with changes of our industry across the board. And the best generation to do that is the younger generation. And I also said, you know, I've been doing this for 19, 20 years. And it wasn't until probably the last handful of years, so within my, you know, mid-30s, that I actually felt I finally had a voice in the industry. You know, here's somebody who grew up in the industry, and throughout my 20s, I'd have something to say, but there was no place to say it. Um, and part of it was because at these trade shows it was always the same old, same old. And if it's not broke, that's, you know, there's no need to fix it. And, you know, the board was always kind of ran by older people, and that's all fine. They protected our industry, but we didn't give that younger generation an outlet to have a voice and help grow and adapt. And, you know, maybe if we would have, we would have been a little bit um on the ball with how this, you know, I feel like maybe more stores would have adapted to social media and trends and all of that. If there had to been that younger voice of being like, hey guys, I see this happening. People are on the TikTok, you know. So now that I'm uh chair, you know, I'm I'm gonna be obviously listening to the whole board, but my passion is really to keep growing the emerging leaders. I want them to be able to have a voice. I want to utilize them. I don't want it to just be a social circle that we see each other at trade shows. Um, and I want us, you know, right now the running joke is the average age of our emerging leaders is about 43 to 45. I think our youngest uh emerging leader is around 33. So I want the average age to be much younger. I would love for that average age to be late 20s. Um, because I feel like a lot of the people in the emerging leaders are already leading. You know, they're already store owners. And that's fine. That's great. Anybody can be an emerging leader. But my passion project is to really make this even younger to cultivate and grow and develop so that they want to sustain staying in our industry. You know, I'm hearing from across the board, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, there's just not that younger generation that's showing that same interest. Maybe we need to show them the interest back to receive that interest. So uh my concept and idea is to start utilizing the emerging leaders as a counsel for the Simpa board to have even more of a resource tool. You know, when we're putting when we're putting together trade shows, I would love to have every single emerging leader submit to people that they think should be at the trade show, uh subjects or topics that need to be discussed. You know, and that just g makes us a stronger board because, you know, otherwise we we definitely listen to comments, but not everybody's good about re you know, filling out the questionnaire after a show. You know, so sometimes you you've got the board sitting around being like, well, this is a good idea, I think. And, you know, for me, I'm like, let's put these emerging leaders to work. You know, it's not something to where it's not like working another job, it's not any, you know, extra commitment really, other than the fact that when I email you, you would hopefully answer them back. Um, you know, and we can utilize that talent for hopefully, you know, podcasts and webinars. You know, I I always ask when someone who is interested in filling out um, you know, the application, and it sounds like we're like exclusive, but we want to make sure that we don't have one store having five emerging leaders when we really want to make sure that across the board everyone gets a chance to submit someone to be an emerging leader. We don't want one company dominating the emerging leaders when you know we want multiple companies from all sides to have an emerging leader. So we do have an application process. And I always ask, we don't need to have your full, you know, medical history and all of that. What we're looking for is what are your interests? You know, obviously an emerging leader who's super uh passionate about advocacy and protecting our you know rights to sell vitamins isn't probably gonna want to be doing a social media podcast versus someone who might be really amazing at education and sales might not want to do one on, you know, again, social media. It's about putting the right people in the right place to utilize those talents. Um and I'm sure there's gonna be some cross, you know, uh expertise across the board. But you know, we have jokes. You know, Ryan, he always said Brian's the mouthpiece and mouthpiece, and he's the numbers guy. We work really well together because I'm like, Ryan, is this the good margin? And then he'll be like, Brian, what's the TikTok trend right now? So, you know, it's something to where it's about utilizing those talents as emerging leaders, even as stores. You know, we've gotten stronger just from the small group of emerging leaders because it's we've had more communication, more uh, you know, I'm dealing with this in my store. You know, I had a situation where I had somebody not in our actual industry, but one of those like fly by the night companies um basically saying I'm the most horrible retailer in the world, blah, blah, blah, because I wouldn't bring the product in. And so I shared with the emerging leaders, hey, this is nothing personal, but here this person is like trying to trash talk to me to my companies. If you carry them, just be aware. You know, and again, it's something to wear stronger together. Um, and I feel like the emerging leaders has kind of accomplished some of those things that I feel like the industry needs to be going towards.

Tina Maddock: 54:57

Yeah. And, you know, if I'm thinking about emerging leaders and your goal of getting much younger demographic in there. Um, so that it's a great mentor program because there are leaders that have been established in this and have done a lot for the industry, these emerging leaders have the opportunity to mix and mingle with them, learn things, and also teach. And so um, they're probably not listening to this podcast yet. Uh, hopefully we'll have them start listening to this podcast. So I guess the call to action here, from my perspective, would be if you are a leader in this, if you own a store, if you operate a store, if you manage a department and you know of someone who might be a good fit as an emerging leader, please contact Brian and the Cinema team and find out how you can get them plugged in. Because the more that you get them plugged in, the more sticky they are, either to your store or this industry, and we can all benefit from younger thoughts and people coming into the group and just making us a little bit more rich from um a knowledge and skills perspective.

Brian Mosser: 56:07

Oh, 100%. I mean, and I think that's my big thing is, you know, I'm working towards, you know, there's nothing concrete, so I can't say anything specific, but I'm working towards some ideas of, you know, maybe some specific training at Simpa that's just for that, you know, the concept of the emerging leaders that would help with giving them more leadership skills and sales skills and management skills that is gonna benefit a retailer store or even a sales team if it's on the other side, but also empowers them as a person. You know, like you said, mentorship. This isn't just a, oh, bring them to a Soho and they're gonna be able, yeah, that's great. But we are also gonna be backing that up with make giving you a stronger team member. And for them, you know, again, you might be like, well, Susie's not gonna want to do it. Well, maybe if she knows that there's gonna be skill sets that she learns that she can utilize in any job that she does, and our hope is she sticks with us, but regardless, maybe she'll want to dive deeper in if she sees that it's giving her stronger skill sets. Um, so I think right now the preliminary is, like you said, whoever's watching this, you know there's someone on your team probably who could be a part of this. And it's about not looking at as an expense as much as an investment. You know, look at can we, you know, I hear all the time retail, you know, staffing, we couldn't have an extra person go. Actually, you probably could. You probably could if you convince that one person who doesn't like to work weekends that the weekend of Soho, they really need to work. We'll make it up to them. They're doing the team a big favor. That way, your younger weekend person who normally works because they're in school or whatever, might get a chance to go. You know, I think we need to take a step back sometimes as retailers and say, okay, or even manufacturers, is this a cost or is it an investment?

Tina Maddock: 57:56

Yeah, and I think people appreciate that. What's that old saying? Um, like it's gonna, what if I train someone and they leave me? And yes, the answer is what if you don't and they stay? Yes, yes, a hundred percent.

Brian Mosser: 58:11

And I think that's the big thing. I I go back to with, you know, Karen and Laura, I have nothing but, you know, appreciation because again, they saw this 17-year-old that, you know, wanted to just work to pay off, you know, oral health bills that I already occurred from wisdom tea surgery. And here we are, you know, owning their business. And had I worked from it for a different owner, I think it would have been a different story, you know. And that's not a criticism to other people as much as, you know, I can honestly say that had I not had them encouraging me, pushing me, sending me to not just, you know, nutrition training, but, you know, management courses and communication courses and how to run Excel, like anything that was kind of in our area that just made sense for our store, I was being paid to go to these trainings that was benefiting me as a person, but was them saying, hey, let's just invest, let's double down, let's do this. And, you know, had I worked for someone else, I probably would have felt discouraged or I wouldn't have had that my, you know, the stoke the coals of the fire type of situation to light that passion in me. So, you know, it's something where because of how they just jumped right in and said, let's invest into him, we can now look and say, hey, they're happily retired. Um, and they know their business is in good hands.

Tina Maddock: 59:36

Yeah. And by the way, we interviewed Karen and Lauren. I think it was in the Karen and Laura, sorry, in um the first season. So if anyone wants to go back and listen to that, they talk a lot about education. Employee handbooks even came up and and they gave us an example of that that are in the show note link. So please, by all means, go back and listen. It's a very um educational. Uh podcast with the two of them, and they're just lovely human beings. So we're grateful to them for spending their time with us, but also for investing in the future. I think they did us all a good favor. So thank you. Well, Brian, this has been so fun. Obviously, our time's at an end. You and I could keep talking for a long time. Um, so we'll have you back for sure. But this has just been such a treat. And um, I love the optimism and also just the call to keep investing in the future, both in our customers and in our employees, and be able to attract the right people to the stores so that this industry continues to thrive. So I appreciate all your insight on that.

Brian Mosser: 1:00:43

Well, thank you so much, and uh, look forward to the next time.

Tina Maddock: 1:00:46

Thank you so much for joining us for the latest episode of the Natural Products Marketer podcast, where we're here to help you grow your business so you can serve more people and change more lives. If you have any questions that have come up during this episode or others, or there's just a retail challenge that you're facing today, I would love for you to reach out to us at info at naturalproductsmarketer.com. We're here to answer questions. But most of all, if you have a question, then another retailer probably also has that question, so we can bring experts onto the podcast to give you the information that you really need. And if you liked what you heard, give us a thumbs up or give us a review on uh YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening today. All right, it was great to see you.