Advice for the Aspiring Herbal Business Owner
The herbal industry is weird, precarious at times. It doesn’t seem like there is much guidance out there at all to tell us how to start and run an FDA cGMP compliant business. While I don’t have all of the answers, these are just some tips and tricks that have helped me along the way. I hope you can learn from them as well and maybe avoid some of my mistakes.
Simplify
I meet a lot of folks out there who want to get 20 products in their shop before launching. I actually made the mistake of offering to design some labels for one such person. After hearing all of her product plans I was hesitant but needed the money since I was just getting started. Needless to say, just when I finished her labels she stopped returning my e-mails and her shop never launched. There could be other reasons for this, but from what I gathered she just got too overwhelmed and I never got paid.
The moral of the story is to focus on a few products first and make them amazing. I launched my shop with only four products and really haven’t expanded much since. You always have time to add more products in the future, but overwhelming yourself before you begin is a surefire way to not begin at all.
Minimize Packaging
This will save you time, money and headaches trust me! Figuring out all of the different label layouts, dimensions, and bottles needed for your products is something that takes a LOT of trial and error. I have just one bottle type and size for all of my products and even that took many iterations to find which caps, labels, etc worked best. Then you have to figure out how to ship them safely without breaking anything. So less is so much more when it comes to packaging.
Consider also perhaps going package-free if possible. This is great for the environment and great for your mental well-being. Some of my favorite beauty care brands sell their shampoo bars in little brown paper bags with a stamp on the front. I appreciate this as a conscious consumer and they benefit from it as well.
Keep a Log
The road to FDA compliance is a precarious one. It is a journey I’m still on as I work on building my own commercial kitchen and so on. The FDA website has all of the requirements to be cGMP compliant, but I understand how overwhelming that can be. At the moment the FDA is not targeting small businesses, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
So the best place to start with this is to keep a log of everything you harvest, all of the batches of blends you formulate, and a master log of all of your recipes. Keeping as much documented as possible from the get-go will help you out tremendously further down the road.
Save Up For the Big Stuff
Starting an herbal products business can actually be rather cheap. If you grow or source your own herbs, most of your costs will be in labor. But, you’ll find sooner rather than later once your business grows that you need more to keep it going.
Some things you’ll need to invest in is insurance, permits and licenses from the USDA, commercial kitchen rental, shipping label printer, tincture press, still, and any other equipment you may need for your specific products. The more you can sock away for these costs, the more sustainable your business will be.
Small Business Development Organization
This has helped me out tremendously! Most states have regional small business development organizations that can help you get going. These organizations are completely free. While they may not be able to help you with herb-specific questions, they can at least point you in the right direction and help you with more business related questions such as legalities, grants, and making relevant connections.
Stay True to Your Purpose
In the beginning, at least for me, I had a million and one ideas for my business. I wanted to grow cut flowers, make tinctures, start a CSA, you name it. The thing is, this is another way to overwhelm yourself very easily. I finally realized that digestive remedies, bitters specifically, was the medicine I wanted to put out in the world more than anything else. And in the words of Ron Swanson “don’t half ass a bunch of things, whole ass one thing”, or something like that. If you do one thing very well, people will recognize you for that and you will save yourself a lot of heartache.
Of course down the road if you want to expand, as mentioned above, go for it! Just starting out though, it is so much more beneficial to follow what you are MOST passionate about and branch out from there. You may even find down the road that those things you wanted to pursue so badly from the beginning don’t interest you anymore, or don’t seem as viable.
Tell Stories
I cannot stress this enough. There are an endless amount of herbal businesses on the internet. What makes you different is the stories and experience you bring to the table. People want to listen to stories, it’s how we were programmed. It was our original form of communication and documentation, and we still crave that. People relate to stories and they will remember you for them.
So while presenting straightforward educational material is wonderful and also useful, be sure to throw in some of your own experiences in your newsletter, social media or however you communicate. They can’t see you and experience your light through the phone, but stories help bring them a little closer to that.
Find Mentors
I don’t necessarily mean finding someone to show you one on one what to do, though if you can that’s amazing! But for me, living in the woods has really limited my access to other herbal folk. The closest I got was to find those herbal businesses that resonated with me on a deeply personal level and scour their websites, social media, anything they put out there really. I did this not so I could copy them (please don’t ever think your light will shine any brighter by imitating someone else!) but to really get in their minds and see how they do business.
Some of my virtual mentors who don’t even know they were my mentors are Anima Mundi Herbals, Avena Botanicals and Plantfolk. They each brought something to the table that spoke to my soul. I looked to them to see how to communicate what was in my heart and even more technical things like how they presented products on their website, how they wrote disclaimers, and how they set up their newsletter. Starting out, most of us can’t afford consultants and what not, so looking to people who already have an established business is a great place to start.
Find Your Niche & Style
You’ve probably heard this from so many business gurus, but it is maybe the most important thing to set your business apart from the crowd. Listen, I totally get it, you just want to make beautiful plant products and help people. You don’t want to buy into all of this fru-fru stuff. Coming from a creative background as a designer, I actually love this stuff and I see it as just an extension of my spirit into the physical world.
Let’s look at some examples to see what I mean:
Here at Woodspell, my style has a woodsy folk vibe. My niche is using plants from the forest to create my products. This style is laced through everything I do; my labels, website, business cards, flyers, you name it.
Looking at some of my virtual mentors now, let’s talk about Anima Mundi. They have a very psychic exotic vibe. They specialize in products to enhance the spirit, brain and psyche. You won’t find any beauty products or salves on their website.
Avena Botanicals is a more down to earth brand that focuses on the rural community in which its located. It has a very clean and simple style and have very clean and simple products. So while they do carry a number of products from glycerites, teas, salves, they are all very straightforward.
Plantfolk has those major dreamy desert vibes. She focuses on this style by incorporating primarily flowers in her products, which are all beauty related.
So after looking at all of these styles and niches, what corner of your soul do you want to extend to your brand? Perhaps it can reflect the place in which you live, your hobbies, your favorite type of art, your ancestry. The possibilities are endless.
Binge Lots of Business Videos
You already know plants. However, you could have the most amazing product on the planet, but if no one buys it then it doesn’t do anyone any good. As plant people we need to find ways to present our products to the world in the most authentic and effective way possible. One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is to binge watch business videos on YouTube and listen to podcasts. When I was still working a 9-5 job, I would listen to all of the business advice I could get while I worked on projects and on my breaks. You don’t need to take an expensive business course to be successful. All you need is a direction.
Some of my favorites are Marie Forleo, Rachel Rogers and Lewis Howes. These folks talk about business, but they also share all sorts of inspiring and motivating tips for living a fulfilling life. As a life-long procrastinator, I need the constant motivation, and listening to their regular content helps get me into that zone.