Felix: Team joined by Daphne Williams, Chief Growth Officer from Sweet Beginnings, which makes the Billow family all natural line of raw honey and honey fused body care products. That was started in 2004 and based out of North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. Welcome, Daphne.
Daphne: Thank you so much for having me.
Felix: So Daphne, I know you joined the company not too long ago, but can you tell us the origin story of the business, how it all began?
Daphne: Yeah, sure. So Sweet Beginnings was started by the CEO of the North Lawndale Employment Network and her name is Brenda Palms Barber. And she is just an amazing visionary. And the story of Sweet Beginnings is really connected to that organization and the sense that North Lawndale Employment Network is a nonprofit and it is anchored in the North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago specifically in Chicago's West side. And it is a nonprofit organization that exists to serve the residents of the community. And when we talk about that we have to kind of keep it in context that the North Lawndale neighborhood is a neighborhood that has had a changing demographic over a period of time.
Daphne: And so its residents are residents that have lived in the neighborhood for a long time, but they really don't have a lot of employment. So the unemployment rate in North Lawndale is about 53%. So the network is a resource for the residents and the community really. And Sweet Beginnings began because a lot of the people that are served in nonprofit are people that have had a history of incarceration. So Sweet Beginnings began really as a social enterprise to help people who were previously incarcerated and were having a difficult time finding a job.
Felix: That makes sense. So this organization, like you mentioned, was created with the goal of employing the residents of their community. What are the business idea? How did the idea of the products you guys sell, where did that come from?
Daphne: Yeah. So as Brenda shares is that there are a lot of ideas that were really floated out there in terms of what are the some really good social business ideas that we can come up with and things that were floated out were like landscaping and delivery services, small motor repair. But when they took a step back, they realized that those businesses were really actually plentiful in the market. So someone had approached her and said, "What about bees?" And this was a friend of hers who had been on the board and there was a lot of apprehension because bees they sting and what do we do with bees? And so when they really sat down and thought about it and took the idea and considered it seriously, they realized that there was such an interesting parallel between bees and people who were turning to society from being incarcerated.
Daphne: And that in general, people have a fear of bees. They're afraid of getting stung. And then people also have this perception about people who have been incarcerated that they're not good people. Have done really, really horrible and bad things. And so having a business that merged kind of married bees be formally incarcerated people was a way to kind of take a sting out of the stigma of both. So they went with bee, beekeeping and we currently manage five apiaries. And so the people that come through our program and come through our social enterprise are involved in understanding bees and how to bee keep.
Daphne: The great thing about beekeeping is that it's really passed along through storytelling. So you don't have to read a lot of manuals really about beekeeping. That was something that was really important around having a business idea they didn't want a business idea that was going to require a large amount of education or that you had to be widely credentialed. They wanted a business idea that kind of had a little bit of an art to it. And so beekeeping is really a storytelling craft or skill. And so it's passed along from one person to another. And that was something that was really, really important business. So they landed on beekeeping and here we are.
Felix: Yes. Do you know what day zero was like? Was there already a workforce from the beginning that was ready to get started right away? Or was there a lot of groundwork that need to be laid first or built up by Brenda and any other founding members from the beginning?
Daphne: So when I spoke about the North Lawndale Employment Network, the one of the key programs that the North Lawndale Employment Network is called U-Turn Permitted. And that program mostly takes end people who have been previously incarcerated. It provides them with anger management and cognitive behavioral therapy, and it also prepares them for the job market. So when you think about getting people prepared for the job market, it's around helping them understand how to dress professionally, helping them understand how to interview, giving them tools so they can understand how to write a resume. And have all those skills so they're ready to go out and actually look for a job and interview when so one. So those are the people that actually come to Sweet Beginnings. At the end of their journey at the North Lawndale Employment Network when they're engaged in a job search Sweet Beginnings is actually one of their options as an employer where they can come and interview. So we are a direct employer to the North Lawndale Employment Network and those particular clients that come out of that program.
Felix: Makes sense. So you mentioned that the arts of beekeeping is a very story-based where the art is taught from one person to another. Where did the expertise come from? I mean, it seems like if I were to anyone out there is thinking about starting a career in beekeeping, it seems like there is a lot to learn. So where did this knowledge or expertise come from once the organization had decided on a business and a product to create?
Daphne: Yeah. Well, certainly I don't think anyone here at North Lawndale Employment Network had all of the deep understanding of bees and bee behaviors. So we do have a master beekeeper that works with our social enterprise. And we've had master beekeepers prior to the one that we have now. So we have that expertise that we've had to build into our own organization to help us with that.
Felix: Got. Okay. So the beekeeping was something that was started up, it was an employer for a lot of members from the North Lawndale Employment Network. Now when it comes to the e-commerce element, what products were being sold because coming out of the work that was being put into the beekeeping?
Daphne: Yeah, so we are really purveyors of urban honey. We manage five apiaries and out of those apiaries, our team goes, they extract the honey, we jar it, and we distribute it through stores in the Chicago land area. The e-commerce platform for us is relatively new. So we've been on a platform for about a couple of years. And prior to that we were really just engaged and going out into the community and participating in farmers markets, and getting the honey out there. What we realized is that the honey really in itself didn't really generate the profit margins that we would have loved to have had. So even though it's really a key part of our product portfolio, we did have to expand into other products. So we offer six core of honey infused skincare products that are sold on our e-commerce site.
Felix: I like that the team was agile enough and ready to pivot and expand a product line based on the data that was coming in. How did the decision come about to expand into something like skincare or any other product lines that the team has ventured into since the beginning?
Daphne: Yeah, it was really looking at the profit margins of the honey and understanding that we've really needed to have greater profit margins. And so our founders, one that is really enjoys beauty products and appreciates high quality skincare products. And so she saw the opportunity to merge the honey that we were actually harvesting and getting it infused into skincare products. So our products are really naturally made. We source very, very high quality products. We put that together with the honey and now we have our Beelove Honey infused skin care line.
Felix: Got it. Now can you talk a little bit more about the sales channel that you mentioned, which was mostly local or I guess local within Chicago where you were selling in farmers market, what else, how were you able to get the goods essentially out to the community?
Daphne: Yeah, so initially we started had farmers markets so that was kind of the natural place to begin. And community events made sure that we had a presence there. It was all very, people on the street we'd get our transitional team out into those particular markets and it was a great way for them to interact with the public and to develop selling skills. So it was a way, a great way to have this product and connect our clients with the public.
Daphne: And then we actually got into the retail space and that was after hearing from many of our customers saying that we needed to be in grocery stores. And so we were able to go ahead and then move into grocery stores. And so our distribution is primarily today at the one of the largest Chicago chains, grocery store chains. And then we also are in kind of the co-op markets in the Chicagoland area. We also sell our honey and our skincare products online through our e-commerce store. And then we also do a lot of things like pop-up shops. So that's kind of still like man on the street selling. And then we have these really wonderful corporate partners that also allow us to come in during the holiday season and either sell on site to their employees or they'll work with us in terms of employee gifting.
Felix: Got. Okay. I want to talk a bit about the grocery stores. So how was that to, how do you get product from, it seems like a pretty big leap from farmers market into grocery stores. What was it, what was done or what do grocery store especially chains care about when you're looking to sell your product through their stores?
Daphne: Yeah, I have to tell you that we really get a lot of interests from people because of the work that we do. So people are really fascinated around how we'd married bees and beekeeping with people who were previously incarcerated. So we've been really lucky that we've gotten people that have been interested in us. And so I think it's really about the alignment and the recognition of the good work that we're doing in the community that has afforded us the opportunity to be in the retail spaces that we are in. Our co-op markets are of course offering more of the natural color product and so we have a good fit with them. And then our large grocery store chain has just been a very good partner from the beginning. And they're local when they really see the value in the work that we're doing.
Felix: Now, can you talk to us about how the food co-ops work? How does supplement that work for anyone out there that has lucky to get into one?
Daphne: I think honestly Felix, it's about just having a relationship and just making sure that the store managers or the owners of those co-ops know who you are and boards of those co-ops, know who you are and brokering that particular relationship.
Felix: And you mentioned one side effect from the online store. It's helping to drive more demand in the stores, in the retail stores, in the actual brick and mortar places. Can you talk to us about how that happens?
Daphne: Yeah, I would say that our online sales actually serve in a very different capacities. So let me clarify that a little bit. So our online stores really allow us to reach people who have heard our story. Sweet Beginnings has been really the beneficiary of a lot of media attention. So not only do we get local media attention, we also get a lot of national media attention. And it's been wonderful because again, that interest and the work that we're doing with bees and beekeeping and pre-formerly incarcerated people has really just caught on. When we started Sweet Beginnings, we thought it was just going to be a very local social enterprise and that the recognition would only be really here in the Chicagoland area or throughout the state. And what we found is that as we started getting more and more media attention, there actually became a demand for our products. And the e-commerce platform has actually worked to fulfill that.
Daphne: And so our e-commerce platform has been absolutely instrumental in us being able to reach our customers across the country. So when we look some of our data, we see that we have a really, really good following of people in Los Angeles and in the Bay area, in New York and in DC. So those people do go to our e-commerce platform and buy. So it's been instrumental for us to reach people with our message and our work and continue to communicate with them around the impact of the work that we're doing here in this particular community.
Felix: Well, you do see that there is a following concentrated in the city like LA. Does that mean that you would want to have a physical footprint there and open up or get your product into the grocery stores out there? Or what's like the kind of next step once you realize that there's a concentration of fans and customers in one city?
Daphne: Yeah, that's a great question. So our work is really, really local community work. And when we think about our goals and our key performance indicators, our KPIs are, yeah we have like some of the traditional KPIs which are like looking at sales and did we grow year over year? So we do have some traditional KPIs in that sense, but we really have KPIs that are around the impact of the people that we serve.
Daphne: So at Sweet Beginnings, we want our transitional team to come. We want them to learn the end to end production of our honey and our honey infused skincare products. So they participate in everything from extracting the honey to going out into the apiaries and actually being here on site and creating that skincare product. So they're really engaged in the work of Beelove. They also go out and they do the distribution and then we get them out into community events and sales. So we really want to keep our work local because it's about looking at how much can we grow so we can hire more people here to do this work. And so at this point in time, we don't have any plans to expand into any brick and mortar spaces outside of the Chicago area.
Felix: Now I think one of the unique I guess areas expertise that your business has is that it has a lot of experience scaling up employment or getting new people onboard, onboarding new members of the team. Can you talk to us about that? What is the process to facilitate onboarding new employees so that they're ready to hit the ground running as soon as they can?
Daphne: Yeah, so here at Sweet Beginnings we work closely with our nonprofit North Lawndale Employment Network. And we work with the team there to actually let them know that we have positions that are available at Sweet Beginnings. That they're already working with the clients that actually go through the programs at North Lawndale Employment Network to help them with job leads and job placement. And so we become just another option in that pipeline. And so they will send clients over to us that they feel are really good clients for us to interview when we have openings. Once they start at Sweet Beginnings, we actually give them an orientation about what the organization does that we were created for people like them. We give them opportunity every day to be able to meet, so we do sort of a reflective practice every morning, that anchors people.
Daphne: Certainly people come to work sometimes with things that are on their mind that might be happening in their personal lives. And so we feel the really strong need to acknowledge that. So every morning we have a meeting that kind of anchors people around reflective practice, and then we go into the business items of the day. And that's covering what sales we have gotten in either from our online store or from a corporate partner. We talk about where we need to distribute, where there any particular stores and our major grocery store partner that needed to have shelves restocked. We talk about inventory and actually looking at what needs to be made in terms of production for the day. So after we do kind of our reflective practice we really dig into sort of those business aspects of what needs to happen from an operations and production standpoint.
Daphne: So the team in the first month are really, they're really learning the ropes of how we function here at Sweet Beginnings. And then as we move into the second month, we start to lay out more expectations around being a contributor. Looking to see where there are opportunities for someone to lead on the production line, looking for opportunities to someone to take the lead and sales. So that second month we're really focused in on even getting people our team out there into the community and selling and building up their comfort level for that.
Daphne: The third month that they're here is all about like really giving them that confidence that they can actually go out and start looking for a job on their own. So in the last month, the very, very last two weeks, we actually continued to engage with North Lawndale Employment Network and send our clients back there to participate in something called Job Club. And Job Club is where they are working on their resume. They're working on their interviewing skills. So they're continuing all throughout the time they're here at Sweet Beginnings, but they're really ramping it up that last two weeks here at Sweet Beginnings, because they're going to have to move on and find work on their own.
Felix: Got it. Okay. So for someone out there that is looking to hire from maybe not just Chicago area but from other cities, but from something similar to the North Lawndale Employment Network, is there a presence in every city for these kinds of networks? And how does one begin to, if they wanted to scale up or build out a team of members from a similar program, how does that work?
Daphne: I mean, certainly we get inquiries all the time around like, how did you start your social enterprise? And we have an interest in doing this for a similar population of people. So that's something that we've been able to provide some advice and counsel to other people in other parts of the country around that. We encourage people to find ways that they can engage any population, whether it be youth or formerly incarcerated to have a social enterprise around that and give them the opportunity to work and establish a work history.
Felix: Someone out there asked this question. I'm sure you get it. Like why should someone's look to hire from these kinds of resources? What's your favorite kind of selling point about doing it this way?
Daphne: I would say that it's a confidence builder for our team. So many of our men and women that come into Sweet Beginnings, they've really lost a sense of their self worth. And we're giving them opportunity to start over. If you can think about it, we're helping them course correct their lives and getting them prepared for the next chapter in their journey. And the people that we encounter, they have just a wealth of knowledge. They're absolutely competent and capable and individuals that are driven and we can see when we work with them that they will be tremendous assets to an organization one day. And so we really focus in on helping people bring their sense of self back and their self worth and their spirit and their dignity that they may not have had before they came to Sweet Beginnings. And so to me, that's all the more reason why people should have a model like this. And on the end hire people that may have really struggled in life, but they have a lot to give and they have really, really unique and rich perspectives on life.
Felix: So once the business was decided on, you guys knew what products you were to sell, where did the customers come? What were the very first customers that you able to get for the business?
Daphne: Yeah. So the very first customers were those customers that were going out to farmers markets. So as you can imagine, probably just a lot of people when they're communities enjoying their farmers markets on a Saturday or a Sunday morning. So those were our very, very first customers. Since my time here at Sweet Beginnings, it's been really important for me to understand that this organization, this social enterprise has been around for approximately 15 years now. And it's been really important for me to help the organization understand who their customers are today. And so one of the things that we did is we prepared a customer survey. So we actually deployed our very first customer survey back in the fall just to get some understanding around like, who buys Beelove and how did they find out about Beelove. What's their social media usage? Where do they shop?
Daphne: And try to understand a little bit more about their shopping behaviors. And just general interests. Like what causes do they support, what missions do they support? And then what are their favorite pastimes? What do they like to do when they're not really busy but their families or work? And we got a really, really good snapshot of who our customer is today. And I think it was pretty revealing that our customer tends to be slightly older female really, really focused in on supporting products that have that support missions or have some sort of social impact.
Daphne: And that gave us some insight as to like, wow were these the customers that have been with us the entire time? The one thing that we actually did learn from that customer survey was, is that we saw a void that we really didn't get a lot of responses from people in the age range between 35 and 44. And so we're thinking now about, we should probably need to look at that and understand kind of the shopping behavior and the buying behavior and what they believe in terms of like missions and causes and talk to them a little bit more about our product.
Felix: So you mentioned that you collected this information through surveys. How were they distributed? How did you get them out to your customers?
Daphne: Yeah, so we actually used an online survey tool.
Felix: And you just like sent them emails to your customers or?
Daphne: Yes.
Felix: Okay. What were some of the most impactful questions in terms of answers that you got back to as you changed the direction that you took the business, whether it means the products that you won't offer in the future or the marketing or messaging. Like what were some of the most impactful questions that led or will lead to actions being taken?
Daphne: Well, one of the things that was really, that struck us, and it really wasn't that much of a surprise, but 72% of those customers that responded said that they bought Beelove because of the mission. And so that just really spoke to the power of the work that we do here at Sweet Beginnings. Another thing that stood out to us was really the difference in like kind of the social media usage. So people in the older end that responded really were great Facebook users while people in the younger and were more Instagram users. So that was something that was really important to us. We really have not developed a level of sophistication here in the digital marketing or social media landscape. And that's something that we want to put a lot more energy into. We realized that digital marketing and having a well developed eco system is really going to help us grow in the future. So that customer survey also helped to inform us of that.
Daphne: Another really great thing that we learned from the survey that will definitely drive some of the things that we're going to consider moving forward is understanding causes that our customers are passionate about. And environment was the number one. And that's really kind of no surprise because we work with bees and bees are such are creatures to our echo system. So but it got us thinking about like how do we pack our products and how do we ship our products and are there things that we can do in the future that are more environmentally friendly? So there were things from that survey that were absolutely some things that we already knew and some things that absolutely are informing the work that we're going to do moving forward.
Felix: So the decisions that sometimes get hidden like the source of the packaging not so much your mission. Because that seems like something that's obviously very key aspect of your business. How do you make sure that these things that your customers are telling you they care about, how do you make it, how you take advantage of that? How do you make sure that it's something that you lead with or that it is clear for any new customers or new prospective customers to see?
Daphne: Yeah, so I think that we're still mapping that out. I mean, I would say when you think about our mission here at Sweet Beginnings, we have a triple bottom line mission statement and that's around social economic and product. And so our social mission is really about giving people an opportunity to work, particularly those people who have, have barriers, who have barriers to employment. We're an economic engine here in our community because it's about revitalizing this particular community in which our organization sits. And then it's about our product and selling a really high quality product. So when we think about the people peace, we think about people in a sustainability aspect too is that they're really trying, we're really trying to get people to go out on their own and secure jobs and have a sustainable life for themselves to be able to earn for themselves and provide for their families.
Daphne: And we really know that that is what our customers want to hear. They want to hear about the impact of the work that we're doing. So on one hand it's really great that we have this high quality product in Beelove and it's absolutely wonderful. The other hand, we know that our customers absolutely want to hear about our outcomes and our impact. So did that person actually get a job and how are they doing? So we hope to share more stories about our clients and their life journeys post Sweet Beginnings.
Felix: Got. You mentioned the triple bottom line approach to running the business. And I think a lot of businesses out there already have a hard enough time just focusing on one of the bottom lines, like a product for example. Do you ever run into situations where you were to make a decision that conflicts between I guess the three bottom lines where it might be more impactful for the social side, but hurt economic or hurt the product or vice versa? Has that ever come up? And what did you do in a situation like that?
Daphne: Yeah. I mean, I would say that we get a lot of questions around like would you ever scale up to be and a large discount national retailer in the country? So we do get questions like that. Oh, perfect. Your product is so wonderful and will you ever scale to be in every single XYZ store in the country? And there's a part of you, it's like yeah, that'd be exciting. But then there's a part of you that's like, well, we're really just trying to help as many people as we can in our community and really stay focused on giving them the experience of creating this handcrafting, this wonderful artisanal product that people love. And that is really the priority is being able to have a social enterprise that is business focused, yet really focused and on the human spirit.
Daphne: And what that means is that sometimes you have to make trade offs around that. Our environment here is one that is really caring and nurturing. And we want it to be a safe environment because we're getting people at a really vulnerable time of their lives. And we also want to teach them business skills. And so, yeah the trade off is as such you don't no we're not scaling up right now into being this kind of mass manufacturer that we are focused in on helping people and their journey, giving them the opportunity to kind of dig in deep and learn a little bit more about business to help them find self-worth, help them find the leadership skills within them, give them the opportunity to contribute and to be a really, really strong team player in this particular business.
Daphne: So that's where our focus is. I would also say that we are a team of three full time people and so we wear a lot of different hats and we are very cross functional, meaning that we have to do a lot of different functionals. So not cross-functional in the sense that we have all these different departments and we come together and we work, we are all the different departments. And so that on a day to day basis is like trying to always prioritize like what do we juggle today? And sometimes I go home and people say, "Oh, what you do today?" And it's like, well, I handled everything from payroll to parole. That I helped with timesheets and I talked to someone's parole officer and I also had to spend time in developing the marketing strategy or I needed to do a customer interview or I needed to order a round of a product. So every day is very, very different here at Sweet Beginnings that really calls for us to reprioritize a lot on a daily basis.
Felix: So for someone out there that is focused on growth and let's say you could choose how to spend your time, where would you like to focus more of your time if I guess the goal is growth?
Daphne: Yeah, that's a great question because I think while we have like this day to day re-prioritization because we're a small team and we juggle a lot the emphasis that I have is like what are the three big things that we can tackle? So in some organizations it might be tackling six to 10 things. But in this organization it's like, what are the three things that we can do to really drive business? And I think for me it's like in order to do that we need to understand who our customer is today, what Beelove means to them as a brand? Why they support us?
Daphne: So that was really kind of understanding our current customer profile and then identifying who can we go after. And then from that thinking about how do we market strategically to that particular audience. And then the other thing is really how can we get to be more sophisticated in terms of our digital marketing and social media. That's really, really important. So it's not like we can tackle like 10 things we're going to accomplish this year in terms of a growth strategy. It's about what are the reasonable things that we can accomplish this year and that can make the difference for our next fiscal year.
Felix: You mentioned that a big part of your focus and your job is to understand more about the customer. I think there might be others out there that are in this planning phase where they are trying to understand more about their customer. When do you think that you understand your customer enough to, as you start moving and start investing in a certain direction?
Daphne: Yeah, I think for us it was like getting a survey out and just getting a read and then also doing some customer interviews, connecting with people who have purchased Beelove in the past. Understanding what they liked about the product, why did they purchase? How did they hear about us? And a big part of our work is really understanding shopping behavior particularly since people are engaged a lot more with online shopping and subscription boxes. And trying to understand kind of what the trends were in the market in terms of how much time? Who are people shopping online? And what kinds of things did they buy online? And what subscription boxes were they getting? So we did some of that work and obviously we are now getting close to all right, we now need to take all of our findings and develop a strategy that's going to impact the next year.
Daphne: So I would say that, that's probably a difference in that large matrixed organizations to have dedicated research teams that can go out and do these things for them. Brand teams that know how to go out and spend time or that they can hire someone to exclusively do this sort of work for them. We don't have time on our side like that, we needed to kind of find out some things relatively quickly to put a strategy in order to develop a strategy and get it in place.
Felix: What do you find has been more valuable if you had to choose, is it these kinds of mass surveys or these individual customer interviews that you mentioned?
Daphne: I think both. I think the surveys give you just kind of a general read of what's happening. I think the one-to-one interviews can be particularly insightful. One interview I did, a customer brought our product and look like I get products from here, and it comes in this box and let me show you what's in my cabinet. So I think if you're a curious person like me, you like to see what people have going on in their cupboards. And so that provides a certain level of insight as to what they actually purchase. It's a good read to see what people say they do and what they really do.
Felix: How different is that between what they say they do versus what they actually do?
Daphne: Sometimes in surveys if there's sometimes people, if they're rushing to get through that they may not be as revealing. And also you don't want to keep people in a survey environment they are too long because that can be laborious for them to complete. So the one-to-one interviews are actually quite nice and it just gives a better read on kind of the behavior and how people in this case like to shop or how they like to use products.
Felix: Is it safe to say that when you do these surveys you're mostly looking for trends or maybe common answers but not giving too much weight to any individual response? Which is the almost the opposite with these customer interviews where you are looking to go super, super deep with each individual?
Daphne: Yeah, that's true. The survey was just kind of like really curious about how people heard about Beelove. And really curious about why they purchased us. And when we got 72% missions like, oh, okay, well we know why people buy us now. And so yeah, so the one-on-one interviews definitely just to go a bit deeper.
Felix: Got. And how are these said about like if someone out there wants to start conducting these customer interviews, how would you go about getting interviewees and setting it all up?
Daphne: Yeah, honestly, I just kind of asked around to find people who had purchased Beelove before and was just turning up people I'm like, "Oh yeah, I actually bought it and you can come and talk to me." So and it was good because people were a lot more open. Like, yeah I bought it like a year ago or I bought it six months ago and then you can start to ask questions as to why they didn't purchase it with more frequency. So it didn't take like, we weren't looking to do one-on-one interviews with 20 people or 30 people. We just didn't have that much time. And we just wanted to get a little bit more of an understanding as to how people were shopping. If they purchased Beelove in the past and they hadn't purchased in a while. What was that? Was it just inaccessibility or were their shopping behaviors a bit different or did they find another product to use? Or maybe we weren't in the place where they normally shop. So it was just kind of getting an understanding about overall behavior.
Felix: And these are usually like done in person or over the phone or what have you found to work?
Daphne: So we have used kind of conferencing for one, so over the phone. And then the other one was we've done two in person once.
Felix: So it sounds like in a lot of these surveys there's emphasis on or focus on the frequency of purchases or when or why they purchase. Was there a reason why you're looking for this information?
Daphne: Yeah, because one of the things that we know about Beelove is people love to give Beelove as a gift. So we see our peak sales season as the holiday time period starting around the end of October and then November and December and a little bit of early January where there's just a flurry of activity around giving the gift of Beelove which is wonderful and exciting. But the reason why we're trying to understand our customers a bit more and interviewing customers because we're hoping to kind of break that seasonality. We know that the holiday season is always going to be a big time just is in general in retail. But we have these wonderful skincare products that people can use on a daily basis. And so we want to be able to start marketing ourselves as that. Is that when you need that lotion, that daily body lotion to use you should think about Beelove then as well.
Felix: And is that going to be, how do you begin to break that? And I guess sort of convince them or at least present them that this product can be used yourself. Maybe that's a gift, but use yourself for your own purposes throughout the year.
Daphne: Yeah, I think it's all going to be in the messaging and how we talk to our customers. And then even the messaging around like that mission that you don't have to just wait until the holiday time, time frame to be mission-focused that you can certainly support our mission every day through the use of our products on a regular basis.
Felix: Awesome. So Sweet Beginnings can be found at beelovebuzz.com. B-E-E-L-O-V-E-B-U-Z-Z.com. And I'll leave you this last question. What do you think needs to happen this year for you to consider this year a success?
Daphne: I would say for this year it is elevating our marketing, expanding our social media presence, connecting with partners, our corporate partners, and so looking to kind of expand our corporate network to organizations that find the value in the work that we do. So that would be big for us in terms of having a successful year.
Felix: Awesome. Thank you so much Daphne, for coming on and sharing your business's mission and your experience.
Daphne: Thank you so much.