#awinewith Vanessa Murillo
MEET Vanessa
Vanessa is the Co-Founder of I Am Grounded.
Find Vanessa here:
I Am Grounded website and Instagram @iamgroundedco.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:08):
Vanessa, thank you so much for being here today. Let's start things off by talking about how you actually got to starting your business. I am grounded and what it does, what customers you serve. Give us the lowdown.
Vanessa Murillo (00:26):
Okay, yeah, sure. So my business is I am grounded. We're in the food space, so we make natural energy snacks and we're playing with this new term called upcycling, but a lot of people may have already heard this term through repurposing of clothes and recycling of furniture and other things like that. But we are playing in that sidestream valorization and working with farmers around waste in, especially in food and vegetables and fruits. We work namely with the coffee cherry. So I've actually just got a little example.
Danielle Lewis (01:05):
Oh my God, awesome.
Vanessa Murillo (01:07):
A baby coffee tree. So this one doesn't have any fruit just yet, but essentially if you can kind of see there, there's a little seed coming up and that is the coffee bean. So it's a seed and what is encompassed around that is a red or sometimes orange cherry, which we don't utilize in the coffee process. We actually throw that away when we're growing coffee, and it represents about 60 to 80% of the actual fruit. So we're throwing away around 20 million tons of coffee cherry every year in that process, creating a lot of waste, a lot of missed opportunities for farmers as well as not being able to reap the health benefits of the coffee cherry. So coming at it from that perspective, if you didn't already know from the looking at me, I'm from Columbia, so I've got a background in coffee cliche, but my family, I've been in coffee for since I can remember, and in particular working with coffee farmers around byproducts and improving quality of the coffee beans.
(02:19):
And so my family import good quality coffee into Australia, and through those connections I've been able to work with farmers to upcycle and use the coffee cherry into delicious energy snacks because of the amazing health benefits, namely the antioxidants in the cherry. So that's kind of a very quick, also, I hope not confusing explanation of what we do and our products are there really for sustainability and also for that natural energy that consumers nowadays may be wanting busy lives. People want to pick me up a natural pick me up. So we're playing in a space very much lacking in innovation.
Danielle Lewis (03:01):
Amazing. And now you and I met in a past life, so we met through more boring day jobs and which is really interesting. My background as well, I worked in corporate for 10 years and then had this hair brainin scheme to start a business. So what was actually the spark for you? Where did the idea come from to actually, I mean obviously you said the background's in coffee, but when did you guys actually have the brainwave to take that waste and turn it into a bar? And how did you create the first bar in your own kitchen? What did that process look like?
Vanessa Murillo (03:38):
Yeah, definitely there was a spark. It wasn't as obvious, but now looking back at it a hundred percent, there was a spark. And I think it was mainly I was two and a half years into a job that I very much loved, but I was feeling that I wasn't as challenged, I guess, in creating or I'm a creative person, so I love that challenge of making new things. And so I was very open to listening to podcasts. I was really into Guy R is how I built this
Danielle Lewis (04:12):
Nice good
Vanessa Murillo (04:13):
Choice two and a half hour long form podcast for me was just my savior, walking to work and then walking home and I would just feel so inspired by these amazing stories and just want to, I was actually open to it and I really wanted to create new products. And my partner as well, he was also working as an engineer. He was working long hours and he was listening to long form podcasts as well. He was driving back and forth from his job and he was also looking for something new and inspiring. And I guess the answer was literally in our fridge. So we had a sample of coffee fruit extract with us that I had with me for about three years because my dad had developed something with some farmers in Columbia and I'd interviewed him at in one occasion and I'd left this sample in the fridge and we were cleaning out the fridge one day and my partner said, what are you going to do with this extract?
(05:14):
Do you want to use it or do you want to throw it away? And I said, well, we've got a bake day at work tomorrow, why don't we add it to some vegan snacks or something? And so he was like, he's really into cooking. So he was like, great, I'll just create a few of these flavors. And then he used his engineering brain and his food brain and put together three amazing flavors. And my mom, who has a store at the markets, she asked if I could take these snacks that were left over from the bake day and take them to the markets to give to customers. And she called me the next day on Saturday morning and she said, people want to know if they can buy these. They want to know, oh
Danielle Lewis (05:58):
My god,
Vanessa Murillo (06:00):
Where we stock these snacks. And we looked at each other and we were like, I guess we have a business,
Danielle Lewis (06:08):
Not a business,
Vanessa Murillo (06:09):
Literally like that. And then within, we bought a food processor, we started tinkering. That was really delicious. We were like, this is unlike anything we've tasted before. I started looking at the research, talking to suppliers. It just kind of happened and then all of a sudden we registered our name and it was a business, and then the rest came kind of after. So yeah, the spark happened, but we didn't realize until very much after that, if you're open to it, the universe, I guess, I don't want to sound like all spiritual,
Danielle Lewis (06:41):
But get woo woo, don't worry. Get total. Woo.
Vanessa Murillo (06:44):
Yeah, exactly. I think if you're open to it, you look for it, you find it.
Danielle Lewis (06:49):
Well, I mean, what interests me about that as well is so many people kind of have the intention to start a business and sometimes they don't. I guess take a step back and listen to customers first. And I kind of love that you did that by accident. You created a product, you didn't try and sell it, but you just gave it to people and gave it out for free and then had the feedback, Hey, this is amazing. You should do something with this. I think sometimes people forget to figure out and understand if people want it first before they dive head into the business. So I love how it actually organically happened for you guys.
Vanessa Murillo (07:24):
Our whole business has been that ethos. We 100% believe, and this is probably my marketing background, that the customer feedback and the drive from customers is so important and it should dictate a lot of how your business is run. So at the start, we were listening to what people were saying around flavors, and we took some advice in and then use obviously our better judgment to kind of make products. But we've always had that mind frame that testing and sampling is really important for food, especially because we were tinkering with an ingredient that not many people have tasted before. So it's really important to gather feedback around the use case, why people are using it, how they're consuming it, and that has a hundred percent dictated how we have gone to market and where we are now and where we're going in the future.
Danielle Lewis (08:17):
And I mean, do you have any thoughts on how important that is? Have you kind of seen that unfold in say, your old marketing experiences or have you ever made a mistake and not listened to customers or seen other people do that
Vanessa Murillo (08:31):
All the time? All the time. It's so hard.
Danielle Lewis (08:34):
Silly question.
Vanessa Murillo (08:35):
It so hard because when you're caught up in a business, it's really hard to pivot. And even I can admit even for us, very hard to pivot when you trial and test, you trial and test and then it succeeds or it goes well and then it doesn't. It's very difficult. So I think from day one, we have always been of the mindset that you have to be nimble enough to change kind of your direction, but also stick to your guts like your gut and your feeling and your instincts. Because at the end of the day, it's your business and you are the only person that can really change it. But having a good mindset around change is important. And I don't have the winning formula at all, but I definitely have a very open mindset when it comes to running my business and listening to feedback and then just being able to take what I want from that and make changes accordingly. Not all the time, but sometimes. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (09:39):
Yeah. Well, it's an interesting thought as well because you guys are so heavily in innovation. So there are going to be some things that your customers just don't know. No customer would've ever said to you, why don't you use the coffee fruit or the fruit extract. So there's going to have to be some leaps of faith, especially in innovation, but there are a lot of things that still need to be tested with the end user.
Vanessa Murillo (10:03):
Yeah, totally agree. And what I found with our business being I guess made in Australia, and then also being small led run by two founders, a lot of customers are willing to go on this journey with us and they actually want to have a bit of a different, almost not a hand, not holding hands, but essentially a different perspective around helping you grow your business. And that's key and testament to having an innovative product, but also being open-minded. I think those two things come in hand, I guess, or come together.
Danielle Lewis (10:40):
And there's a lot of, I guess talk around community right now and how building communities around your business is kind of the thing that makes or break. And I think for an innovative product that's so important as well, because people want to feel part of the journey and they had something to do with this amazing thing.
Vanessa Murillo (11:00):
Yes. Okay. You've literally read my mind.
Danielle Lewis (11:04):
Excellent. That
Vanessa Murillo (11:04):
Is just a hundred percent correct. We actually just launched our ambassadorship program. Oh, cool. Literally, we sent out our first round of sample products literally this morning. So it's very timely. But essentially what we are doing is we are creating a community of taste testers, ambassadors, people that want to champion us in any form and capacity to come together. And we were sharing with them the ins and outs of our business and being open with them about how we're creating new products, we're sending them samples of our new products. There's a collaboration process happening where essentially they're kind of like when you go in and get a room full of people to blind test your products and they give you feedback. So we've done it where our ambassadors don't know anything about us. So some of our ambassadors have never tried our products, but are receptive to being part of this community.
(12:02):
And then some of them are very active and they all have different diets and different lifestyles. So we are going to be receiving a lot of feedback from people around our products. And also that will help us to grow a community of different, like-minded people to see where our cult is, I guess, or where we can find that stick and grow from there. Because community is everything, and it's very important for brands these days to have some sense of community around their content creation, around their strategy, how they sell. And so we're doing it this way to see if it will create little mini ambassadors here and there everywhere.
Danielle Lewis (12:44):
That's so awesome. So how many people are in your ambassador program? How big is this thing that you're talking about?
Vanessa Murillo (12:50):
So at the moment, we have, I think it's 25 ambassadors. They all range from different lifestyles, different ages, different identities. And some of them are very involved. So some of them are key investors coming onto our business. Some of them have never tried our product somehow are on our mailing list and really want to be involved and have gone through this rigorous process to get signed up to be an ambassador. So it's great. It's a testament to how we communicate already. It just means that people are interested to give us feedback. People are interested to be involved in something different and crazy.
Danielle Lewis (13:32):
Yeah. Well, I mean I think it's super exciting too because not everyone can start a business. So you're kind of giving people the opportunity to be involved in creation, which is so exciting.
Vanessa Murillo (13:45):
That is so true. So when I was working at my old job and we were making the first samples of our snack bars, they were our first taste testers. And so I would bring in
(13:56):
Literally containers of these bars. Some of them were not very good and some of them were iterations of the recipes and they would give feedback and taste tests. And to this day, I still am in touch with a few of these work colleagues and they say they love that. They'd say, wow, I can't believe I was part of the first I'm grounded bars. The first flavors essentially they feel like they were part of building this business with me. And it's great. I feel really warm and fuzzy, like, that's awesome. People support my brand and still think about that. And when they go to the supermarket or to a grocery store, they see my product and they go, I helped to get this brand to the stage, which is awesome.
Danielle Lewis (14:44):
And everyone always talks about how word of mouth advertising is one of these strongest channels. And what you've essentially done is helped people get from or get to the point where they would be in a retail store and they go, oh, hey, this is, and tell the story about how they were involved in the first creation. That's amazing.
Vanessa Murillo (15:04):
Yeah, that's definitely what we've experienced. And I have friends, family or ex-colleagues, even people that we've just had meetings with randomly and then never seen again, but we've provided samples and they've fed back tell us months later or years later, Hey, we tell people about your product all the time. And so it's really good that we've created that sense of community, I guess.
Danielle Lewis (15:30):
Yeah. So what I'm hearing too, so because you have that marketing background, one of the most interesting things I see in business is people who have these great ideas, don't talk to people, put it out there, and then crickets, nothing happens. And I feel like you really shortcutted that because of your marketing background because you've got people involved in that initial process. How important do you think sales and marketing really is to a business?
Vanessa Murillo (15:59):
I mean, it's everything. I do feel like it's everything and it's tough keeping up with all the changes in technology and in ways to reach out to customers and generate new leads. But at the end of the day, I think transparency and being true to yourself as a communicator is really important. So I've just used what works for me. I don't generally sell well in other ways or market well in other ways, but I've just used the strengths that I know as a person and as a founder to my advantage. Some people may be better off going in person and selling in store and making relationships with buyers and managers in a retail presence or in actual physical presence. I myself am better in different ways and I've just used my strengths in those ways and then ask for help in other ways. So I think sales and marketing is, I mean, I'm biased. I think it's very important to your business and everything you do, but I don't think it's too hard basket. I think it's just doing what works for you and using your strengths as a founder in the way you are as a person, using your personality to find the best crevices to work in marketing. So many ways you can market your product these days. So just using what works best for you.
Danielle Lewis (17:28):
Yeah, I love that too because a lot of people freak out when they hear the word sales or marketing and they kind go, I don't know, do I have to dance on a reel to make money? And I'm like, I refuse to talk. Exactly. Exactly. But that's why I love the way you just said, figure out what works for you. Yes, you absolutely have to put your brand out there for people to know about it, but you don't have to follow a formula. There are so many different channels. There are so many different people that will be out there to support you, but you do actually kind of have to get it out and spread the word
Vanessa Murillo (18:04):
Because at the end of the day, if you're starting a business, it's going to be you working on growing that business. So you might as well be doing what you like or something that is more intuitive than forcing yourself to learn something you won't ever like to do or you won't ever learn. So I've definitely of that mindset, do what you love and the rest should come easy.
Danielle Lewis (18:27):
Yeah, a little bit of flow. Yeah,
Vanessa Murillo (18:30):
Flow in some way.
Danielle Lewis (18:31):
Yeah, definitely. So thinking about from when you first started to now, what do you do as a founder in the business? What's your role? I know you've got your partner who's the co-founder, is that right?
Vanessa Murillo (18:44):
Yeah, correct. So we have very different contrasting skill sets, and if there's a team, a small team that is founding, I definitely recommend having two or three co-founders to split the roles. We don't step on each other's feet, which is great. So I work in all of the marketing side of the business. I do a lot of the customer service part as well. I do all the digital marketing and development stuff. I love that stuff. That's what I'm interested in. And then my partner does all of the project management, he does the finance, the legals, all of that stuff. And then we come together to work as a team when we build projects and build campaigns or build tasks. And we use the skills that we both have to come together, but we don't step on each other's feet. And that's worked really well for product launches for us and kind of scheduling new product releases because we respect each other's kind of roles, but also work collaboratively to get things to where they need to be.
Danielle Lewis (19:52):
And did that happen from the start, or did you have to kind sit down and go, okay, let's talk about what we're both good at and assign roles?
Vanessa Murillo (20:01):
Yeah, that did not happen from the start. I'm not going to lie. It was very tough at the start. I guess when you start a business, you both have ideas around how it's going to grow and there was a lot of butting of heads and a lot of arguments around responsibilities. But what really helped was actually when covid happened, we actually had the time to sit down and write our business plan for the first time. And that was amazing. We took those first two, three months of isolation that we had to be at home to basically write all this paperwork, which was really, it seems boring, but it was actually amazing. It came out of us. We were like, this is our business, this is how we're going to grow, this is our strategy, marketing, finances, this, our operations. We actually got all of our paperwork in organized essentially, and that helped us to define our roles. And since then we haven't looked back. So definitely would recommend to do something like that.
Danielle Lewis (21:02):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It's like the thing is the reason why you have more co-founders and people around you is to divide and conquer a little bit and really utilize each other's strengths. But if everyone's trying to have their say in the same thing, then it often you just spin your wheels and kind of get nowhere. So going through that exercise is so important.
Vanessa Murillo (21:23):
Yeah, definitely. So important. And then having conversations around mutual respect, things that that you don't want to talk about are so important because then once the boundaries are set, when you're going to cross the boundaries that if you don't have them, you never know. So yeah,
Danielle Lewis (21:44):
I love that. I love that. So thinking back along the journey, what's been your biggest challenge to date?
Vanessa Murillo (21:52):
Oh, so many challenges. All
Danielle Lewis (21:55):
Everything's a challenge. Yeah,
Vanessa Murillo (21:57):
A rollercoaster. Having a business, I mean, it's so exciting. One moment and then really scary the next. And so it's managing I guess situations where you might really have to just put your thinking cap on, strategy cap on and just breathe a bit is important. So I don't know. For me, I think the biggest challenge is really my mental state. Keeping yourself on a clear path and then staying on that path. It's possible, but having a steady head is important. And it's cliche that our name is, I'm grounded and
Danielle Lewis (22:37):
Your top tip,
Vanessa Murillo (22:38):
Top tip. But also it's the hardest thing to be as a founder, to be grounded, to be present and focused is so hard. I don't think anything else has ever tested me as much as starting a business. And so I'm really grateful for the opportunity to experience these amazing things and really meet amazing people and have a product in market that people can physically touch and eat. But at the same time, it scares me. It scares me that I have all this responsibility. So keeping a clear head is so important and it's not always the top priority when you're running a business. So that's a hundred percent. My thing this year is to challenge my mindset to go back to a clearer mind and to rest and to just be okay with things. Not have so much emotion around winning and losing and just being a bit more steady minded when it comes to every day.
Danielle Lewis (23:36):
So how do you do that then? I guess it's going to be different for everyone, but if someone was kind of going, oh God, that is me right now. I'm just going from ecstatic to depressed and get so swing so hard. Depending on the next email that comes in your inbox, how do you actually stay clear, stay grounded, stay focused?
Vanessa Murillo (24:01):
For me a hundred percent it's exercising. So exercising in any form, going for a walk, doing yoga, doing a class or going to the gym or climbing or doing a social exercise activity. I feel like that is my reset. It always resets me. So I have, and I also got an Apple watch recently, so that's also helps. It
Danielle Lewis (24:27):
Reminds me. It reminds you. Yeah,
Vanessa Murillo (24:29):
It's actually good because it's keeping me accountable to go and stand up, to go and exercise and to go and do something else. So I've actually super competitive in that way. So for me, that's helped. So exercising in any form and I listen to my body, so if I'm wanting a rigorous exercise, I'll definitely do that. But then I love yoga and I love to meditate. So for me, if I want to do that, I'll do that a hundred percent and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. So taking that moment in my day is so important. And then another thing we've done is because both in a relationship and then also founders, we've now created this whole kind of time to work, time to play or relationship, and those boundaries are super strong. So we don't talk about work after 6:00 PM and then we don't touch that. And that's actually really helped with mindset because sometimes if you are not talking about work and it's nighttime, you're actually more present with your partner and you're doing relationship stuff. Let's be honest, when you have a business, it's hard to have a relationship as well. Yes,
Danielle Lewis (25:42):
Definitely.
Vanessa Murillo (25:44):
And I've found it very difficult, especially founders and in a relationship. So for us, having those boundaries and then exercising has been for me, a huge difference in my mental state. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (25:56):
That's amazing. So someone once said to me, I know a few people who are founders and partners as well, and someone once said to me, if you're going to, so the rule is generally, yeah, don't talk about work after a certain time, but if you're going to make sure it's strategy, so you're not allowed to talk about the annoying thing one of your employees did or this problem or the nitty gritty, it's like big picture vision, like blue sky stuff, usually what energizes founders. So I found that a really good tip as well.
Vanessa Murillo (26:30):
Yeah, that's 100% right? Yeah. He always goes or I always go, oh, can I just, if I have to mention something, can I just mention it? And it's like, is it going to be how often? Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (26:40):
Where does this sit on the important scale? Yeah.
Vanessa Murillo (26:44):
Oh, and one more thing, I also changed my notification settings on my phone. So now I don't get notifications on certain apps after certain time. And then also I've just turned off, I've turned Instagram and LinkedIn and Shopify and I've just turned it off. It was too disrupting to my day. Now I just go through it if I'm bored or when I look through it, I'll look through it. But that way I'm not being constantly reminded of notifications that I don't need to look at at that time.
Danielle Lewis (27:16):
Yeah, no, that is amazing advice. I have just decided that my phone's permanently on do not disturb mine. Even my partner's like, why didn't you answer my call? I'm like, oh, sorry, I don't listen to my phone anymore. My phone's off limits
Vanessa Murillo (27:30):
Anymore.
Danielle Lewis (27:30):
Yeah, that that's right. I'm the master of my own destiny, not my iPhone. So good. Okay, so let's wrap on one more question and that is, so a lot of people in the Spark Founders community are either, they're either just wanting to start something so they've got an idea and they're feeling a little bit hesitant about taking the leap, or they're just getting started and they're probably a little bit, what the hell did I get myself into? Do you have any advice for either camp on how to either make peace with making the leap or that if they're feeling like they're stuck, how they kind keep going?
Vanessa Murillo (28:13):
I have any advice? Oh. Oh, that's a tricky one. I dunno if I have any advice. I mean, I don't know. I feel like just taking one step at a time, I know that sounds like everyone always says one step at a time, but really you're going to, if you think about the big picture too early on, you're just going to freak yourself out and you're never going to start anything. So just do one thing at a time. Set up your email one thing at a time by your domain, one thing at a time. Just do one thing at a time as intuitively as you can. And those things will start to, I guess get easier and then you can start to pile on the list of things you don't want to do. And that's how I look at it. I just do what I want to do and what I feel like I want to do. And then I'll work on my bigger picture stuff when I'm more clearheaded. But if I'm stressed, I definitely just have to do what I can and what I feel like doing.
Danielle Lewis (29:13):
And I think that that is literally great advice for both sides. So it's like, okay, people who are kind of hesitating, it's like, yes, just do one thing, see how it feels. Then the next and the next. But even people who are kind of a little bit more established or in the business, they're feeling like, holy crap, it is just do the next thing. And it's almost sometimes just doing the thing that kind of gives you the momentum to keep going and doing the next thing.
Vanessa Murillo (29:37):
Definitely. And I can't find inspiration through, so I love seeing how other brands grow. I am super into that. So I'll go and look at my favorite brands and then go get inspired through them and then I'll be like, oh, that's re-energizing me to find my why again. So sometimes doing that, or even if you have a team of people around you, like mentors or people you look up to, definitely reaching out to them and be like, Hey, can I have a coffee with you? Can I catch up? I'm stuck. People are so willing to help in that way. So I've definitely used those two tactics when I'm feeling I just need a reset or I dunno where I'm going. I look to why, what inspired me initially, and then I usually find my answer pretty quickly.
Danielle Lewis (30:26):
Yeah, I love that. Oh my God, you have been amazing. Thank you so much for joining us on Spark TV and sharing your story too. Appreciate you being honest. I know there's a lot of people that would've gotten value out of hearing how you got started and are growing, so thank you so much.
Vanessa Murillo (30:47):
Hopefully, and if anyone wants to reach out, definitely email me. You can provide my email or if you want, yeah,
Danielle Lewis (30:54):
We'll pop it all in the show notes.
Vanessa Murillo (30:56):
Yeah. Awesome. I love to, one thing that I've noticed is I've helped a lot of people in advice, and that's always come back to me. So I'm off the mindset that if people want help and I'm able to help them, that will come back and it has for me. So I'm definitely open to having anyone reach out to me after this if they want to.
Danielle Lewis (31:22):
Awesome. You are the best. Thank you.
Vanessa Murillo (31:24):
No worries. Thanks Danny.
