March 25, 2026 • 50 mins
Shannon McLinden was selling crocheted towel holders door to door, trading stickers like a Wall Street broker, and puff painting LL Cool J lyrics onto vases before she ever set foot in a college classroom.
In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with the Founder and CEO of FarmHouse Fresh, the McKinney-based natural skincare company that grows its own micro green ingredients on an organic farm and uses the profits to rescue abused and neglected animals.
Shannon shares how cracked heels from jogging at TCU led her to create a homemade body polish she mailed to Oprah, landing on the O List and launching a career she built from a laptop by the pool. She talks about staying family-owned so no one can tell her she can't rescue three starved draft horses on a Tuesday, pivoting during COVID in three days to keep every employee on payroll while drop shipping for wholesale partners across the country, and why the spreadsheet your team built today just funded a barn for four horses that wouldn't be alive without it.
Shannon also opens up about surviving her darkest chapter as a teen and how it fuels everything she builds, from products that help women feel good when they look in the mirror to a rescue ranch where the whole team comes out to the hill to sing when an animal passes on.
Plus: first concert memories (Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gayle!), which rescue donkey would run the company for a day, and the brand new composting initiative that literally launched the morning of recording.
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with the Founder and CEO of FarmHouse Fresh, the McKinney-based natural skincare company that grows its own micro green ingredients on an organic farm and uses the profits to rescue abused and neglected animals.
Shannon shares how cracked heels from jogging at TCU led her to create a homemade body polish she mailed to Oprah, landing on the O List and launching a career she built from a laptop by the pool. She talks about staying family-owned so no one can tell her she can't rescue three starved draft horses on a Tuesday, pivoting during COVID in three days to keep every employee on payroll while drop shipping for wholesale partners across the country, and why the spreadsheet your team built today just funded a barn for four horses that wouldn't be alive without it.
Shannon also opens up about surviving her darkest chapter as a teen and how it fuels everything she builds, from products that help women feel good when they look in the mirror to a rescue ranch where the whole team comes out to the hill to sing when an animal passes on.
Plus: first concert memories (Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gayle!), which rescue donkey would run the company for a day, and the brand new composting initiative that literally launched the morning of recording.
CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is CEOs you should Know with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So welcome everybody to this edition of CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
My name is Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm Dallas market president for iHeartMedia, and I'm very lucky
to have my friend Shannon mcclindon from Farmhouse Fresh here
with me today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
How you doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Absolutely, I'm really excited about this because some of the
things you're doing are super interesting, different than a lot
of our guests.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So we're going to have some fun.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But before we get to the fun, I do have
to ask you the standard nentry question that we do
with every guest, and since iHeartMedia is the nation's largest
audio provider across multiple platforms, eight hundred and sixty radio stations,
one hundred and sixty markets, podcast streaming, you know the drill.
I have to ask, from an audio perspective, what was
(00:57):
your first concert and what podcast do.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You listening to?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Okay, my first concert was amazing. Okay, I think I was,
oh my gosh, like seven or eight, oh wow, And
I went to Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gale.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You gotta know when to hold them I know, and you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Know her hair was all the way down to the stage,
and that's what you know, kind of began my I
would love to have long hair someday.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
I think you gotta know when to hold them. Knowing
to fold them probably fits with how you grew your business.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, it's good, it's good.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Amanda our producer in here, Amanda, what do we thinking?
Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gale? Does it unseat Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I don't think it unseats Whitney Houston. But that is
a good first concert. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Where'd you see him?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Oh god, I don't know. I was too young. Took
me No, No, I wasn't driving then, perfect.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Okay, So we transitioned to what current podcasts are you
listening to?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So? I don't listen to anything regularly, but I'll tell
you most of my team knows. I like absorb everything
like a sponge, so they're constantly tech me. You need
to listen to this one. You need to listen to
this one, and it's usually Mel Robbins these days.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Good one. All right? Yeah, do you listen to True Crime?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I don't, okay, our sanctuary manager does. She loves it.
And I do love thrillers and true crime on TV.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Okay, yeah, just you know, you never know what that genre.
It certainly has its fans.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you I'm gonna start with your story. So after
you went to Kenny Rogers and Crystal, at some point.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You went to TCU. Correct. I did majored in journalism.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yep, journalism ad PR, and then my master's was in business.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, So talk to me a little bit about that
and what happened after you graduated.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Sure, So, I mean that was a focus for me.
I'm a creative director, copywriter, founder, CEO, all of that,
all of those.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Things, a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, and so that's kind of where my love
of language was born. I mean for me, I always
wanted to with the product line that we have to
create products that spoke to you and moved you. And
so from all of that time that kind of transferred
over to our you know, the naming of the products
(03:10):
and things that I've done all along the way. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So did you set out to be an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Was that I didn't set Yeah? I did. Really, I'll
go all the way back to the Kenny Rogers concert.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So you were scalping tickets.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I probably would have if I was given the opportunity.
I was always very creative and so like as long
as I can remember, my great aunt taught me to crochet,
and so I would crochet these towel holders for homes
in our neighborhood, like one that goes around with a
little button, and and so my mom was like, you know, well,
(03:47):
I'll go out with you. And so she would come
with me door to door and I would sell them
door to door, and I just I loved it. Like
people would come, they would say, oh, do you have
something with a chicken on it? And then we'd go
back out. We'd buy a towel and then I'd crochet
get the sh sh at the tops. And I just
loved making something with my hands. And I'm just I'm
no different today. Like doing that moved into so many things,
(04:11):
Like I did puffy paints on shoes and I started
selling those. It was really early, like in grade school.
Then I did puffy paints on shirts. Then I did
puffy paints like my favorite was Ello Cool Jay. So
I would do you know, when I'm alone in the
room sometimes to stare at the wall in the back
of my mind, I'd write that whole song lyric all
the way up a vase, and I started selling vases
that had Ello cool J songs written on him.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I mean, wait, I got to stop you right there?
Can you do that one more time?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
When I'm alone in the room, sometimes a stare at
the wall, and in the back of my mind, I here.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
My conscience, Ken Rogers. I don't remember any of other
guests rapping.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
How good I am at that because.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Of rappings and you rap and puff painted at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yes, well, And I loved it, I mean honestly. Then
the painting turned into like little I would have girls
from school come to my basement and I would take
toothpicks and I would draw full scenes with toothpicks on
their nails and nail polish. It would look like an
island you could go to. I mean, it just never
stopped for me. It was all over my walls. I
did beating on jackets. So I just loved it. I
(05:22):
loved creating, actually, charger, because I did, I started charging
for it. Oh my god. And if you were to
come and sit and trade stickers with me, I'm like
a mean sticker trader. I had I created a little.
I'm serious. I even have it today. I was going
to bring it. I fished all around to find it
to show you, because I'm really truthfully like. I organized
it by like googly eyes and furry stickers, and you know,
(05:43):
if you wanted one of those, I was going to
get fifteen from you. And I just loved it. I
just loved every aspect of business.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Okay, So course, so question you know clearly entrepreneur was
written all over sure. I mean I was like playing
in a creek behind my house or building a ramp.
I went and selling stuff and getting the neighborhood girls
to be a conveyor, belt line, making puff paint art.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Why did you Why did you do journalism instead of business?
Well you did have business?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Well, yeah, as my master's or degree, TCU offers a
program called the three two, So if you can finish
your undergrad in three years, you go straight into your masters,
and that was what I did. But the creative side
is just so much of me, you know, outside of
studying art history, which I think would kind of bore
me to death. The advertising side, I just I love
(06:39):
to be able to translate concepts and benefits that we
can bring to people. You know, so a lot of
I want to take you somewhere. And so a lot
of the products that we create today have these like
beautiful names like Splendid Dirt, Mighty Tidy, you know, fun
names that evoke curiosity when you walk up, but then
also you know, provide a solution for you.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So previous guests, CEOs or founders, the stories are interesting
of you know, what got each of you to where
you are.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, it's a different fire.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's a different fire. I know that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So let me ask you a question and then I'll
go back to something one of our previous guests said.
So two thousand and five, the story, new chapter begins
right the beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So I was in college and I was a jogger,
and my heels were cracking. I would go jog around
campus a couple hours, come back, and my heel would crack.
So I started tinkering around with sea salt and different
types of oils that I was researching. Chat GPT wasn't
around at the time, but the blend that I made,
I thought, God, you know, I used it every week
(07:51):
on my heels, and my heels wouldn't crack anymore. So
I ended up bottling this up and creating this body polish,
essentially her foot care polish. It was a trio. Now.
I grew up in the eighties, so I just I
watched Oprah like I memorized her episodes. I love everything
about her and her show, and so I thought, she's
(08:13):
gonna love this. She loves feet. I am going to
mail it. Yeah, she has two of them, so I'm
going to mail them to her. So, you know, I
packaged it, bottled it up, sent them to her.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Come on, I did.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, I actually sent it to eight different editors. I
called around, tried to find some people that knew some
of the editors. No, this is right after I graduated TCU.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And and so I just got notified out of the
blue that one of the jars had leaked and could
I send another one because you really liked them? So yeah,
and then I found out that I had made the
O list. And so that was like a very big
monumental event for me.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's the biggest flex so far on this podcast. So
you and Oprah, Oh well.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's I mean, it was really the honor of my life.
People think like, oh my gosh, it's a financial windfall
for me. It was validation that I'm really good at
something that I really love. And not only that, but
it was wild like I would get like the first
phone call that came in was from a resort that
we work with in Texas is still High Hill Country,
which is still one of our accounts today, And you know,
(09:23):
the SPA director was like, I need a gallon. I
was like, God, a gallon. Like I just had these
little jars that I had made for Obrah And so
I really just had to learn the whole process of
how do I serve as a SPA. I came from
a very small town in Minnesota. I had never had
a petticure when I went to TCU. In fact, I
was so out of it that my roommates sat me
(09:44):
down and they're like, honey, this is not gonna work.
We need you to go get your hair done. I
was wearing like pink moon boots. I mean it was
no joke. So, you know, coming from that small town,
never having had a petticure, I really had to learn
what do people go to spas for? And yeah, and
that's where it all started and I just I would
get calls from different aspects. So it might be like
(10:06):
the Harposide or it would be the magazine, and they
would say, we need you to send thirty five of
these body polishes to this address. And I wouldn't know
where they were going, but of course I'm like, you know,
every little detail, making sure they're perfect, and I would
mail it out and then lo and behold, I get
a thank you note from Courtney Cox from friends, Okay,
and I just die. No, I'm serious, I just about die.
(10:28):
I today have it framed. I started like geeking out.
I would go if I started going to trade shows
for spots, I like, hung it on the wall.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Was the last thing I put in like the fifth
feet or like the seventh friend.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Aha, almost, I mean really, I just it's like pinch yourself, like,
how is this happening? Something I made? I sent it
to somebody I admire so much, actually two people I
admire so much, and they tried it and they loved it,
and it just validated for me this is the path
that I need to take.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So I've failed a few questions around all of this. Yeah, yes,
I'm still taking in that.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Oprah got back to you. Yeah, so you were out
of TCU. Where were you working?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
When I graduated, I started working for myself, so I
would lay by a pool with a laptop and I
was designing websites, one of these. I'm an entrepreneur. My god,
I could just bury you in the weed.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You know, it's funny. I never saw this in the
last ten minutes of what you said. No, I'm kidding, Okay,
making cruiche, do I know?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I yeah, And it's funny because I had an internship
when I was in school and it was at GTE,
and which now I think I bought and as a
Verizon or something. But I just I remember walking in
and no offense to GTE. It was a beautiful campus,
an amazing job. But I as I walked in, I
literally felt like I was going to die. I don't
(11:56):
know if you've ever had this like premonition that this
is just not the place for me to go sit
in a cubicle and like look at net present value
of God knows what, Like, that's not me. I can
I can build you a raft, I could, I can
paint you an entire wall. I can like, like, this
is not me. Never I knew right away.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I was like corporate America.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That was the only job I had. And in the summer,
I think during one of my years at college I
had I had worked at a bank in marketing, and
that was another telltale sign. The funnest part of that
entire job, no, was opening up what was it called paintbrush?
Do you remember the paintbrush program on the old computers
where you had to like you had to do little dots.
(12:43):
And by the end of the summer, I had dotted
out an s like a pillow with butterflies and fairies
and a dreamland and like, I you know it. That
was the best part of my internship at a bank
in marketing. Show you pretty much know your on the
wrong place, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Think, yeah, yeah, so you're working from a pool chair,
pool chair, the laptop, yeah, hanging with Oprah let Yeah.
So so serious question like you would send this stuff off?
Would they send you money in advance?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Like I mean you got to pay bills and stuff
like that, Like how does it work?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well? I met my husband when I was in my
master's program, Okay, and so he was also working and
basically I wrote it. I read a book at that point.
I think it was called moonlighting, and I that's what
I always recommend to people, is like, do something on
the side, save all the money you can, and then
start the business because you need so much to put
(13:40):
into it and if you want it to be your
own and you don't want to take on venture capital funding.
So that's really what I did. I saved every dollar
that I was making. I was doing websites for real
estate companies, you know, all kinds of just marketing things,
and the tenant care was one of one of my
one of my accounts. I'm not even sure if they're
around now, but I saved everything I could, and then
(14:01):
on the side started creating what I created for Farmhouse Fresh,
and then I would just listen like every note I got,
I really took it to heart. One of the comments
in the actual article from Oprah was my scrubs smelled
so good. She wanted to serve them over berries, or
serve them with berries over toast, something like this, and
(14:23):
so I just really leaned into it. One of the
editors was like, you know, you should think about doing
a lotions, so I did. I made sweet Cream body milk,
which today is based off of a scent that oprahly
loved and it has a cute, little handled cruete and
it pours like milk, and I just I just kept listening.
I knew if if I could make something that someone
loves and that they asked for and I can fulfill
(14:45):
that for them, that there would be no end to
the joy of what I'm doing. And it was very hard.
Every step of the way was very hard, going from
a one person to four people, to five to ten
to you know, today, eighty five and two hundred and
twenty products. And it's a while ride, wild long ride.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So you've met Oprah No, No.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You've never met No. And I have this dream. I'm like,
she should pull everyone together from all of her old
lists and have some kind of an event, because everybody
just makes such extraordinary things, you know, beautiful, beautiful, thoughtful things.
I personally would love to meet everybody who makes something.
I'm a huge founder, an entrepreneur, something like a super
(15:25):
fan of everybody who makes something.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So what is interesting is you know you really?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I mean from day one, I mean and and one
of other guests, doctor Harrison from Men Dentistry, talked, Yeah,
he talks about the first time he extracted the tooth
when he was on a mission trip.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And then he knew and it just changes your life.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And what's funny, the interesting, the the emotion that both
of you and not that the others don't, but it's different.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's a different avenue. Right, you had a belief, no.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
One was going to dissuade you from this belief, and
you know this is going to work.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I have that thought every day. My forethought
with my own team is constantly there. I'm always two
years ahead, Like we're already starting some big dream idea
I had. Halfway through it. I'm like, okay, I already
have another one, so hold on a second. And it
can get very exhausting. I think that's kind of the
entrepreneurial curse. There's no end. There's just dreams. It's endless dreams,
thousands of ideas they pour in. I have entire filing cabinets.
(16:23):
I'm like, if I die on this plane trip to
Abu Dhabi, this is where you go, you know, Like,
I honestly think it's the it's the entrepreneurial curse. We
have solutions for everything, but there's not enough time, there's
not enough money, there's not enough support. You're just like
moving as fast as you can to cram it all in.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He talked about agonizing every every word, everything, everything, everything interesting.
So I would imagine that the growth journey, Oh yeah,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, it was like double just compounding compound.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And you think about it from a leadership perspective, you know,
you're pretty pretty young, yeah, you know, you didn't have
the advantage of working in a corporate environment, maybe having
a really good mentor not that mentors, but a mentor
of like this is how you lead a team.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah. No, I was reading like Harvard Business Review articles. Yeah,
and I and I also one of the things I
applied for an award, it was called make Mine a Million.
And I think I was doing like two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars in my pajamas on my couch, and
I was like, this was a to kind of help
(17:33):
female founders to get to that million dollar sure, And
I was like, god, you know, I was still using
my printer that I had from college and it was broken.
You just never feel like you have enough money, Like
when am I going to not be you know, feeling
like I don't have enough money? And anyway, I gave
a pitch about my business and was selected as a winner.
And then I went on to LA and my husband
(17:55):
and my mom flew out with me and I pitched
again and I won that too, and so they put
me with a business coach, and that was really transforming
for me. I didn't I hadn't hired anybody yet, and
so I was like, I literally don't even know what
to ask. And I mean, that process is scary, no,
And I was answering every phone call. You know, I'm
(18:16):
a behind the scenes person, very creative. So if a
buyer calls me and says, I own, you know, sixteen
hundred salons, I'm sweating through my shirt, like I'm like you,
I like, I literally lose all the words.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I have to stop you there though what I've heard though,
I think, from what I've heard though, you're literally either
sweating in your swimsuit by the pool.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Somewhere on the couch. I seem to think I feel
like you have a very comfortable way.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
A comfortable way. Oh my gosh. That's so true because
as the skincare line developed, you know, we built this
ranch in McKinney, and it's so it's such a beautiful,
magical place, and it's like nothing you could ever imagine.
And people are like, I cannot believe you live on
this ranch. I'm like, I love it. I'm surrounded by
my farmer sings to the plants, and I've got rescue
(19:07):
animals surrounding us, and we have a spot stairs and
a retail store. I mean, it's just it's it's a dream.
It feels like I'm living in Disney World.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
But okay, because I can go sometimes, I want to
come back because you talk about the ranch.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And the business.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So for listeners who aren't familiar with Farmhouse Fresh, we've
kind of gone the back door. We want swimsuits and
couches and Oprah.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And Courtney Cox talk about Farmhouse Fresh.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Okay, So Farmhouse Fresh we are a natural skincare company.
But what makes us extraordinary is that very early on,
I decided that I wanted to grow the micro green
herb ingredients so that the most potent part of a
plant is going into our product. Okay, and so we
(19:53):
have an organic farm at our ranch. Our farmer is
out there singing the plants all the time, which she
truly believes helps them grow. But every seven to ten
days we harvest those plants, they become very potent ingredients
in the product. They're called antioxidants. You're pulling the potent
part of the plant, which actually changes the look of
your skin as you sleep at night, as you're wearing
(20:16):
it during the day. So we create these extracts. They
go very quickly from our farm to your bottle, and
then we serve them in these just delicious treatments. We
craft every aspect of a treatment. So for instance, if
you go to a virgin hotel, a high regency we service.
Today we service about four thousand properties around the globe,
(20:39):
which instantly I like to say this because my whole life,
I've or my whole career life, I've felt kind of
like an underdog because we don't sell in Sophora and
we don't sell in Alta. We're not a mass brand.
We truly service hotel, SPA, luxury, small boutiques.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
How did you decide all of this?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
You know, from the first call from Hyatt calling in,
it was so fun. It was like we'll get a
call from a hard rock that'll say we need to
create a treatment and craft it around a song, and
we want to deliver it with drumsticks, and it's like
this culmination of I don't even know how to describe it,
Like I'm starting with the seed and I'm crafting it
(21:21):
all the way through, deciding like am I going to
drizzle you in hot honey and cocoon you in a
whole milk bath soak? And it is such an immersive
farm to table experience. And so that's what we do
all over the world. But my note about mentioning that
we're not sold mass is that typically everyone will ask us,
(21:43):
Like if I meet someone on a plane and maybe
they don't know my line, our line, they'll say, oh,
are you with a grocery store. When we hire people,
I'm like, your family might think you work for a
really unsuccessful company. Well, when in fact, we sell to
more locations than Sephora and all To combined, and we
don't only sell the product, we sell the professional They
call it backbar. So it's it's carried by those companies.
(22:05):
We train thousands of accounts all year. We have people
flying all over the country training on giving these lavish,
beautiful experiences. So it is quintessential creationism, is what I
call it. I almost feel like a chef. We have
you know, half of our company or licensed massage estheticians,
massage therapists and estheticians, and we truly want you to
(22:27):
have an experience of a lifetime and we want the
results on your skin to be so quick and so
dramatic that it changes how you feel about yourself when
you wake up and look in the mirror. And that's
really where it all began. What is more about our
company is that then we take the profits from what
we make and we rescue farm animals. And that is
why today we have this beautiful, you know, ten acre
(22:49):
ranch in McKinney, Texas, and we have an entire staff
or global Federation certified for saving animals. We take the
worst cruelty case and then you can actually track the
batch code on your jar. So I wanted people to
know when you buy a product, when you are washing
your face, you can take the code, type it in
(23:11):
online and you'll see exactly when that bottle came off
the line. All of the rescue initiatives we were doing
on a daily basis, and you know, just last night
we brought in another horse who starved. It's it's palpable.
It changes you. I'm just so so proud of what
we do for people, and I'm also proud for what
we do for pets.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Pets meaning you know, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats. You know,
these are working animals that are discarded and brutalized, and
we're on a mission to change that. So it's dearer
to me on the skincare side. Something I didn't mention
when I got to middle school is that I just
(23:54):
hit a slump. And I think a lot of girls
go through this, but I went through a very very
dark time. I tried to commit suicide four times. I
have poems and my books that talk about like hating myself.
I thought I was so ugly, and so I have
a huge heart for people who wake up and just
don't feel good at all. Yeah, and it's pervasive, and
(24:17):
it's too bad because life is short. Like and if
you can wash your face and throw some you know
acne cerremon in your fix, like get out there, do it,
go do something epic, like, you know, get involved in life,
change the world, move past that that you know, awful feeling.
So I love that women can wake up and look
(24:38):
different the next morning. And I'm one of them. I mean,
everyone in our office is one of them. We're constantly
swapping like, oh my god, what are you wearing today?
What do you you know? You we talked when I
came in today with Amy, she was, you know, talking
about we have a new product called Tensational Out and
it's the best product ever we've ever made. I swear
to you. I've like, I have every person my family
using it and the minute you wear it, you will
(24:59):
get more calm iplments and you have in a year.
It's it's extraordinary. I just I love it. I just
love my job. I love my job. And can't remember
what your question was, but that's Farmhouse Fresh.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I will say this not very often of my speechless.
That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I have a couple of things and then we'll I'll
try and get back on track. Okay, I look at
your tagline. We rescue complexions and we rescue animals. Yes,
And I mean, this is the biggest compliment in the world.
That sounds like what that six year old little girl
would have been thinking about.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And you got to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
I get to do it, and not all of us.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Get to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And kudos for you to giving back the way you
do and the perspective that you have.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Thank you. It's meaningful that you say that, because I
think it's hard for some people to believe. But for
many of our years, like I can think of the
first year that I went to a trade show and
we built we handmade an eight foot cow, like apiary cow,
but we hand and I have photos of us doing it.
We handmade every leave, every flower, We did little jewels
(26:06):
and made i mean just covered to the nines, and
I just remember people walking up and being like what
what is going on? Like what? It was really a
challenge until we found our tribe. Yep, and the tribe
is real. I mean we're millions of people that absolutely
are compassionate and love animals and feel that it's our
(26:29):
responsibility to make sure that just like elderly people have
somewhere to go, they have end of life care, that
we can provide that for animals because right now they're
tossed away, tossed away and brutalized. And yeah, we found
our tribes. So it's very meaningful to have you say
that it resonates with you. It took many years to get.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
There, many many well, I mean, look, not everyone starts
with a call from Oprah.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
But yeah, it was a little head start.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
But I would imagine as cool as that is, and
that was a neat opener, it didn't do the job
for you, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
To do all your work and your tail off.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I know a lot of people ask like, what was
the hardest thing? I'm like, which year?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Actually which hour?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yeah, yeah, there's just no silver bullet. That's kind of
a line that we all say, there's no silver bullet,
only silver bombs, and we all just work our tails
off every day. But we really love it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So you you take us to a place. So typically
I talk about this at the end, but I think
this is a good time. So I talk to our
teams here. And one of my favorite things is like,
when you're building a culture or you're building towards an outcome,
there's not that big seismic always that big seismic event.
It's really you get there by all the work you do.
(27:39):
That are the cracks and the gray spaces as I
call it.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh, I love that, Like what for you? How do
you look at that?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I will say, thinking about how you think about
every ingredient, everything.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
To the detail.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I'm sure there's a lot that I to be curious
your thoughts about the cracks and gray spaces concept belief.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I think everyone in my company, I I really
believe if you ask them, like, what was it like
growing up at Farmhouse Fresh, because that's really what we did.
We you know, people have gone on to have kids.
Some of our team members have lost children. You know,
we lost one of our customer care team members. We
(28:17):
pour our heart into everything we do. And for us,
culture is kindness. And I think you hear that. You
hear it and you just kind of toss it aside.
But for us, we say, don't make it right, make
it awesome. We share I personally share emails constantly. We
have a brand that when you have started using us
(28:41):
twenty one years ago, because we're twenty one through your business,
you've grown up with me. I'm fit twenty one is it?
Did I just say twenty one? You did? Because I
have read my own language, said twenty one year twenty first,
I love it. I love it. I like it twenty
one and yes, And so you know, customers, they'll fly
(29:05):
in from anywhere. It could be Mexico, could be you know, Italy, anywhere,
and they have been with me since we started. And
the first thing they say is some experience they had
with a member of our team that they called in
and didn't think they'd get the help they needed. It
could be something simple, it could be like your you know,
you're pump broke or something like that. But because it
all started out of my home and then we grew
(29:28):
and then we built this beautiful space and we were
all in there together, every phone call that came in,
I would hear. And if our rule is like if
you have three calls on something, it's a mass problem. Sure,
and so we're very quick to help. We're very quick.
You have to be, well, yeah, you have to be.
And it's so full circle because my customer is probably
the wife of our FedEx driver and she may also
(29:51):
come and volunteer and take care of animals at the sanctuary.
And so for us, we're just we just love helping people.
We have a very I guess they call it a
servant culture. If we've had customers call in and say
I'm in a field and my horses down, and my
customer care team will call me and say can anyone help,
and we'll drive out. I'm driving out to field. I
(30:11):
don't even know where I'm going. I could be murdered
in a field. I don't care. Like there's a horse down,
I want to help get that horse up. So everybody
in the company will tell you that that we just
want to do right. We want to help people to
wake up and feel better, and we want to give
back and help change animals, and so all the cracks
along the way, it's just a lot of hard work
(30:33):
and being consistent and living up to what we expect
of one another. We help one another. So many of
my team members are still with me. Even those that
leave often come back. Actually, today two of my team
members came into They were like, oh my god, you're back,
you know, so we'll hire them back. Maybe they might
want to go off and do their own thing in photography.
And they come back again, and I'm just so so proud,
(30:55):
so so proud of what we do.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You should be a Consistency is an important word.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
It is a lot of things in life, in your
products or your service, or maytreat internal external and all
of that. I gotta take a breath for a second.
I mean, I know I keep coming back to it,
but I would imagine, like when you tell your story,
or maybe maybe you know it sounds like you've probably
been on a lot of panels within the industry and
things like that, and then you bring up the Oprah
(31:21):
thing and people like, oh, that must have been easy
from there, and obviously you have to tell the story
as a as a female led company founder. What challenges
do you think you face that maybe I wouldn't have had,
or anything like that that you feel like you've overcome.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
I would say overcome that daily. I think all you know,
our our industry is primarily female. Every time we hire
someone new, I actually think we have seven males in
the company, and like I'll send out an email we
have an AMIL and everyone's like, whoa, because we're very
very you know a lot of women in our industry.
But I face it every day like we are a
(32:02):
working ranch. I'm the grounds keeper. I live on the property.
We today have concrete getting poured in the in our pasture.
Today I had an electrician in who was reworking something
on the building. Everywhere I go every day, I'm approached
by people who will say, like, so, who's the CEO.
You would never imagine it's me, you know, talk about
(32:24):
being in my pajamas or running I'm wearing sneakers. People
expect you to look a certain way, but we're very
successful and very good at what we do. I think
that overcoming that hurdle is is always there. I find
it kind of fun now. I like walking in a
room or having people come through the front door and
they're like, can we talk to your you know, your
(32:46):
your owner, And I'm like, well, you're looking at it
and they're like, I'm looking You're hurt. Yeah, very much,
very much, yeah, very much. So, So that I think
is an overriding theme. But honestly, like if you look
at every year of the existence of the company, there's
always challenge. Of course, you know from the first person
(33:09):
I hired stole from me and I could have that,
you know, I could have I had to let her
go and I was so scared and she didn't want
to leave my house. She was like, what do you
mean a fire? Well, you stole from me. Hi, you know,
you can't be in the house. And then like just
the days that you're like, oh my god, do I
have to hire another person? You know, just overcoming like
how do you hire? Overcoming that? And then you know,
(33:31):
one of the things that we've always done is we've
been self managed. This is a big deal to me, Right,
I have a company that rescues complexions and we rescue animals,
and those two things can seem like such a dichotomy,
they're not. And I don't want to have to explain
myself to somebody who dictates whether or not I have funding.
And so what we've stayed family owned for you. Yeah,
(33:53):
we have a partnership with Chase Bank and so like
we have credit lines that are revolving credit lines that
allows me to make the money I make. And this year,
you know, I decide I want to put twenty percent
toward rescuing animals. Why because there were three draft horses.
One got shot in the face and one had a
whole gaping hole. This was just last week. I don't
want to have to go to somebody and ask for
permission for that. Forget it. And so because we are
(34:15):
self led, we have to make sure every dollar coming
in it goes back into the company. And so that
in itself is a challenge. As you grow, you're always
balancing making sure that you can handle this massive growth
you have, and to do so in a financially responsible
way while launching twenty products a year. It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
The way you flow between the entrepreneur, artists creative into
the business and what standards and how you run the
business is really fascinating to listen.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
To you talk.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Thank you. I love it. I can bore you to tears.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Oh I don't think so. I don't think so. But
let's let me ask this question.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I would have to imagine that Unfortunately, given the industry
you serve primarily on the complexion side and the and
the spas and all of that, COVID probably wasn't a
great time.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
How did what did you do?
Speaker 3 (35:14):
COVID was heartbreaking? Obviously everyone all around the world that
I have to say we pivoted. So it's probably one
of my proudest moments. I think, as somebody who reads
Harvard Business Review articles, it could be a case study,
it could literally be a masterclass and how you organize
around a challenge. And I say that because every person
(35:37):
on our team executed so well. Within three days we
had a business plan. I was hell bent. I was
not letting a single person go. And so I was
on the phone with Christine r private banker at our
commercial banker at Chase Bank. So yes, we got the
PPP loan, but we hired every contract employee that we
(35:58):
had who had been flying around in training hotels and spas,
and we made them forward facing. We created a television station.
We basically had four of our estheticians creating scripts and
copy and content from their homes. We reviewed what their
rooms looked like. We had one group on Facebook, we
had one on Instagram, and they all became so forward
(36:21):
facing that sales skyrocketed and went through the roof. We
sold out of everything we had. Our team knew that
we could not ever shut down. We just couldn't. We
had too many companies relying on us. We were ninety
percent wholesale, ninety percent wholesale. Think about that, and the
(36:41):
whole world shut down. And today we're fifty to fifty
fifty percent wholesale, fifty percent direct to consumer. And during
all of COVID, if you ask our customers what made
us great? We stayed open and we drop shipped for
every customer we had, and they were gracious enough to
give us access to their customers to say we're not
(37:01):
open right now, but Farmhouse Freshes click this link. And
then we mailed them a check for fifty percent, just
like we would do selling wholesale, and so we stayed open.
We became I can't remember what the term was, but
we were making hand sanitizers. So there was no way
we were going to shut down be shut down. And
it was the most busiest year we've ever had. I mean,
(37:21):
it was extraordinary. We were shipping on behalf of hotels.
We got letters from a lot of our spas and
salons that said, I literally kept my lights on because
you guys were open.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I could just cry talking about it, Like, I'm so
proud of our teams, Like the Pivot, it just.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, do you ever sleep?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
It's funny because I do, But like that's it. I
lay down, it's light, it's lights out, and I'm a
strong eight hours. But from the day I get up.
And this is why I'm hunched right now, because like
for thirty years, I literally sat at my you know,
and at my computer. And that's okay. It's a good
trade off because I'm giving back and I just love it. Yeah,
but that was that was a very difficult time for
(38:05):
so many people, and I'm so proud of my team.
I mean, oh my gosh, what they did and what
they pulled off and how we kept people going and
and here we are today, growing strong.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Have you ever written a book?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I wrote a book when I was in college about
high school. Yes, it's called the Me Nobody Knew and
I used to go around and talk in high schools.
It was about overcoming you know, wanting to commit suicide
and yeah, helping girls, yeah, who are challenged.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
So yeah, it's it really is inspiring the way you
are able to merge the care with it's it's still
a business, it is.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
You know, and and you can you're able to do
both with a heart.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Well, I have to say, like kudos to my team
that surrounds me because I'm this tiny little piece of
a huge pod. And and they share in the dream
like you know, they're they're grateful for the opportunity when
you know, when we help a horse pass on, everyone
comes out to the to the hill and we sing
and you know, we're we we care so much about
(39:15):
what we do and they put up with a lot.
I am not easy. Like if you can imagine how
critical I am of all the steps like you talked
about in dentistry, and like every email and reviewing it
I uh, I'm so uh self reflective and quick to
pivot and and make sure that I'm improving processes. And
(39:39):
my team puts up with that on a daily basis.
I apply no less pressure to them that I do
to myself. You know, of course I do it with heart,
but it's still really challenging because it's you know, I
remember like my co founder Delia, who came in like
five years in and took over kind of on the
sales side. She's extraord ordinary. They call her a wooer, right,
(40:02):
you know when you take those personality tests, I'm not
a war you do, oh my gosh, you need to
become woo at our place. So I don't like, I'm
not a wooer. I'm I don't even remember what I am.
I'm in the background, but I don't. I don't have
that that uh that achiever. Yeah yeah yeah, And so
I just I'm getting off track. What was your ques?
(40:25):
This is what I do? I followed. But I'm I'm tough.
I'm really tough to work with because I'm always thinking
of the next thing. I have a book of ideas,
like if anyone needs one, if anyone will take a
company idea I am happy to give it to you.
I want to see it exist like you.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Know, so Amanda, I think Shannon can take some I
thought I was good at going off track.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You go, I will get I'll be the.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And And so I learned early on from mentor of mine,
and he would tell me their bosses and their leaders,
and there's a there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And they're over time.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
People might think, oh, boss, just somebody's mean and blah
blah blah.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Not the case.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
But a boss also, Yeah, but a boss isn't a
leader either, because a leader you scream leader to me.
And I think that what's interesting, though, is.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
A leader holds a standard. It's okay to hold people
to a standard because you do. You clearly do, and
there's a standard for your company.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, it's funny. I don't really feel like a leader,
but I was. I was told that I lead through
my heart and that I can see because I so
want our team to be authentic and compassionate that the
emails I send on a weekly basis are like, oh
my gosh, look at this note we got congratulate you guys.
(41:52):
Do you see this full circle moment? Like if I
search in my emails for full the word full circle.
You'll see this one hundred emails I've sent in a year,
just letting everyone know, like you're awesome. Look what you
do on a daily bait. You think that that putting
the spreadsheet together doesn't matter, it does because we were
(42:12):
able to accurately plan and sell out and that money
just built a barn, a barn. And you know what
we put in that barn, four starved horses that wouldn't
be alive today, Like that spreadsheet mattered, and that link
of knowing and feeling and doing it and getting up
every day, like that's the stuff of life. Like what
are we doing if we're not doing that, I'm not
(42:33):
here just to write a check. You know it's it's
get up and do it and live it and be
in it and own it and feel good about it.
Help people, help your neighbors. Like if every company, oh.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
My god, I'm going with you or on the.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
Phar if every company did this, think of the problems
we'd solve.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Seriously, It's it's funny you say you don't think of
yourself as a leader though, because we can all be
given we an interview for a be given a role
people report to you and all that, and you can
if you want to say I'm a leader, but you know,
you don't become a leader.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
In my view, your your team.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Those people around you lift you up into that. And
it doesn't sound like you ask for it.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
You do. You don't ask them to do anything you
don't do.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
And then some oh, no, for sure.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
And but what's so great about that is you know
you're so passionate about it, but you've ben said I
don't even know if you heard yourself say it. You said,
I don't feel like I am a leader, and but
it's really about my team.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, And that statement, in my view, is why you
are the leader is because.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
You're willing to be the one out in front and
you have the expectations and you lift them up before
you lift yourself up.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Well, they're crazy enough to listen to my ideas, pick
through them, and then which one is good?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So Okay, this has been a lot of fun, and
I have concerns. I keep looking at Amanda because I
feel like I'm gonna look up and we're gonna be
like two and a half hours in, so we're coming
down to the end. Okay, which is fun. I think
that you know you you've built something business and philanthropy
that go together and you take great pride in both.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Where do you see Farmhouse Fresh in the next ten years?
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Well, my gosh, we have so much going on. We've
built a retail store that is set to open this summer.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
We are moving into experiences at our ranch. So we
just completed a dream trip where we had our customer
base around the globe nominate the kindest people they know,
and we flew in five people and someone that they
wanted to bring with them for literally a star studded weekend.
We had celebrity makeup artists there, a band playing, hot air,
(44:48):
balloon rides, spa treatments, I mean the whole nine yards,
and we just celebrated these like incredible people that do
so much for their communities. So that has moved us
into a new era of experience. We have a huge
fundraiser going on right now. If we can continue to
build barns and be fostering, we think we can save
(45:09):
thousands of more animals. So that's happening. And then something
I'm like so excited about, Oh my god, wait, do
you hear my latest idea and I'm so excited, like
just started today. Okay, so this is fresh, Yes, this
is fresh, It really is so Okay. So our our
rescue ranch at our headquarters, we contribute about a half
(45:30):
a million pounds half a million pounds of manure in
a year. That manure is now getting composted and it
is becoming rescue pooh organic compost that we are selling
that can. I mean, what's extraordinary to me is we
start with a seed and we create we create skincare
with extracts that we're growing and it goes into the
(45:52):
products and you wash your face and then you help
us save the animal. And then the animal ends having
manure and creating compost, and that compost becomes plotting soil
that helps grow the plants in your home. So we
are literally it is. It is the most extraordinary. I'm
so excited about it that you get to like literally
bit your sink and experience love from the product and
(46:16):
it's giving back to you through the plant. It's like
I can't even my brain wants to explode when I
think about it. It's the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
I wish we were on video right now and everybody
can see your face because the excitement.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
It's the six year old little girl.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Oh my, oh my gosh, it's just to the nines
and it's you know, there's a company called Living Earth
or here in mckinneay Van plants all over Plano and
Dallas and they're composting for us. It's a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, that's amazing, you know what, So like I'm the.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
First yeah here, the first to no, yeah, they just
picked up today. Today was our first run, our first
dry run, a manure going to become composed.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Amazing. Yes, I'm exhausted.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
This is what I do to people. Sorry, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
No, do not apologize. Its lot. I think that obviously
you've built an amazing company that does amazing things.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
With in product and the rescue, with the philanthropy, and
it's it's a model.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
Not every not every company can can replicate exactly.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
They can and they should well, but even if they
take parts, we're all for it.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
And I think that how you lead is amazing and
what you've done is amazing. This has been a lot
of fun, but we're not done. So we.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Do something at the end that is a little riskier
because you don't know the question question roulette.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And we're saying from the front porch to the question roulette.
And there are four envelopes here in front of us.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
We have a goat, a duckling a donkey.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
So you're gonna pick the doc.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Can pick the donkey.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
So that's your question. You got to open the document
up and read the question.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
And is it It looks like our donkey shadow So cute,
doesn't it? Oh my gosh. Okay, if one of your
rescue animals could run Farmhouse Fresh, oh my god for
a day, this is so cool. Which one would it be?
And why, Oh my gosh, holy Toledo. Okay, it would
be sald We have this cute little mini donkey. She
(48:18):
was five months old, left at a sail barn. My
neighbor actually called and said, Shannon, you have to go
get this donkey. She's starved. You can just see her
bones on our website. She would sit and she would
hang her head over your shoulder and I would just
hug her for hours. Today she's like our resident hugger.
She would she would run her office because it's everything
(48:39):
I'm not. I'm so focused on what I do when cus,
when our employees I'm sorry. I would walk through the
front door. She would be like, oh my gosh, how
was your weekend? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (48:50):
What did you do?
Speaker 3 (48:51):
And let you hug me. You look so cute. It's
all the things I'm not. It's the wooing. It's probably
what you do every day here. But that would be
that we would be sold. I say, yes, oh, this
is so fun. Can we do more? Or is that all?
Speaker 1 (49:05):
You know what? There are no rules, so I said,
let's go with the cow.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
Oh my gosh, let's go with the cow. Okay, let's
go with the cow. Am I reading it? Or are
you reading? Okay, I'm reading it again.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
We don't have any cows, not yet. We've been asked cows.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
If Farmhouse Fresh had a Texas State Fair booth, what
are you giving away to get the longest line wow?
Of our products?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Oh, probably Tintsational. We literally just launched Tinsational. And when
people walk in my building, I'm like, come here, come here,
you know, and I'm putting it on. I'm actually putting
it on their face. I have it on today. But
it's that one thing that when you walk out you
will get so many compliments. Now, if it was a man,
I would say Timescape. I actually put that in your bag.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Oh excellent.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
This is a It looks like a lotion, but it's
millions of tiny plant particles. It feels like a microdermabration
on the face. You will feel so shiny, smooth. Your
wife will tell you, my gosh, look at you. You
will look so much younger. So those are the two
products I would do. Yeah, hands down.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
So this has been amazing for I could tell you
a couple of things. I feel like once this episode
gets out there, there's gonna be traffic jams.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
Heading towards your farm.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Oh, we would love it.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
I think that would be great.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I can only imagine big things for a farmhouse fresh
in the future, and I'd look forward to coming out.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
We would love to have you. Are you kidding me?
Got to come for the grand opening?
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Oh that's done. Yeah, consider it done well. I appreciate
you taking the time with me today. This is a
lot of fun and we'll be talking again soon.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Thank you. Thank you, so nice to talk with you.
I love to get a chance to dive into our world.
Absolutely great to have a nice listening.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Ear thanks for joining us.
This is CEOs you should Know with the Dallas market
president of iHeartMedia, Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So welcome everybody to this edition of CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
My name is Chris Long.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm Dallas market president for iHeartMedia, and I'm very lucky
to have my friend Shannon mcclindon from Farmhouse Fresh here
with me today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
How you doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Absolutely, I'm really excited about this because some of the
things you're doing are super interesting, different than a lot
of our guests.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So we're going to have some fun.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But before we get to the fun, I do have
to ask you the standard nentry question that we do
with every guest, and since iHeartMedia is the nation's largest
audio provider across multiple platforms, eight hundred and sixty radio stations,
one hundred and sixty markets, podcast streaming, you know the drill.
I have to ask, from an audio perspective, what was
(00:57):
your first concert and what podcast do.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You listening to?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Okay, my first concert was amazing. Okay, I think I was,
oh my gosh, like seven or eight, oh wow, And
I went to Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gale.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You gotta know when to hold them I know, and you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Know her hair was all the way down to the stage,
and that's what you know, kind of began my I
would love to have long hair someday.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
I think you gotta know when to hold them. Knowing
to fold them probably fits with how you grew your business.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, it's good, it's good.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Amanda our producer in here, Amanda, what do we thinking?
Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gale? Does it unseat Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I don't think it unseats Whitney Houston. But that is
a good first concert. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Where'd you see him?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Oh god, I don't know. I was too young. Took
me No, No, I wasn't driving then, perfect.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Okay, So we transitioned to what current podcasts are you
listening to?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So? I don't listen to anything regularly, but I'll tell
you most of my team knows. I like absorb everything
like a sponge, so they're constantly tech me. You need
to listen to this one. You need to listen to
this one, and it's usually Mel Robbins these days.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Good one. All right? Yeah, do you listen to True Crime?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I don't, okay, our sanctuary manager does. She loves it.
And I do love thrillers and true crime on TV.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Okay, yeah, just you know, you never know what that genre.
It certainly has its fans.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you I'm gonna start with your story. So after
you went to Kenny Rogers and Crystal, at some point.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You went to TCU. Correct. I did majored in journalism.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yep, journalism ad PR, and then my master's was in business.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, So talk to me a little bit about that
and what happened after you graduated.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Sure, So, I mean that was a focus for me.
I'm a creative director, copywriter, founder, CEO, all of that,
all of those.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Things, a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, and so that's kind of where my love
of language was born. I mean for me, I always
wanted to with the product line that we have to
create products that spoke to you and moved you. And
so from all of that time that kind of transferred
over to our you know, the naming of the products
(03:10):
and things that I've done all along the way. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So did you set out to be an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Was that I didn't set Yeah? I did. Really, I'll
go all the way back to the Kenny Rogers concert.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So you were scalping tickets.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I probably would have if I was given the opportunity.
I was always very creative and so like as long
as I can remember, my great aunt taught me to crochet,
and so I would crochet these towel holders for homes
in our neighborhood, like one that goes around with a
little button, and and so my mom was like, you know, well,
(03:47):
I'll go out with you. And so she would come
with me door to door and I would sell them
door to door, and I just I loved it. Like
people would come, they would say, oh, do you have
something with a chicken on it? And then we'd go
back out. We'd buy a towel and then I'd crochet
get the sh sh at the tops. And I just
loved making something with my hands. And I'm just I'm
no different today. Like doing that moved into so many things,
(04:11):
Like I did puffy paints on shoes and I started
selling those. It was really early, like in grade school.
Then I did puffy paints on shirts. Then I did
puffy paints like my favorite was Ello Cool Jay. So
I would do you know, when I'm alone in the
room sometimes to stare at the wall in the back
of my mind, I'd write that whole song lyric all
the way up a vase, and I started selling vases
that had Ello cool J songs written on him.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I mean, wait, I got to stop you right there?
Can you do that one more time?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
When I'm alone in the room, sometimes a stare at
the wall, and in the back of my mind, I here.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
My conscience, Ken Rogers. I don't remember any of other
guests rapping.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
How good I am at that because.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Of rappings and you rap and puff painted at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yes, well, And I loved it, I mean honestly. Then
the painting turned into like little I would have girls
from school come to my basement and I would take
toothpicks and I would draw full scenes with toothpicks on
their nails and nail polish. It would look like an
island you could go to. I mean, it just never
stopped for me. It was all over my walls. I
did beating on jackets. So I just loved it. I
(05:22):
loved creating, actually, charger, because I did, I started charging
for it. Oh my god. And if you were to
come and sit and trade stickers with me, I'm like
a mean sticker trader. I had I created a little.
I'm serious. I even have it today. I was going
to bring it. I fished all around to find it
to show you, because I'm really truthfully like. I organized
it by like googly eyes and furry stickers, and you know,
(05:43):
if you wanted one of those, I was going to
get fifteen from you. And I just loved it. I
just loved every aspect of business.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Okay, So course, so question you know clearly entrepreneur was
written all over sure. I mean I was like playing
in a creek behind my house or building a ramp.
I went and selling stuff and getting the neighborhood girls
to be a conveyor, belt line, making puff paint art.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Why did you Why did you do journalism instead of business?
Well you did have business?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Well, yeah, as my master's or degree, TCU offers a
program called the three two, So if you can finish
your undergrad in three years, you go straight into your masters,
and that was what I did. But the creative side
is just so much of me, you know, outside of
studying art history, which I think would kind of bore
me to death. The advertising side, I just I love
(06:39):
to be able to translate concepts and benefits that we
can bring to people. You know, so a lot of
I want to take you somewhere. And so a lot
of the products that we create today have these like
beautiful names like Splendid Dirt, Mighty Tidy, you know, fun
names that evoke curiosity when you walk up, but then
also you know, provide a solution for you.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So previous guests, CEOs or founders, the stories are interesting
of you know, what got each of you to where
you are.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, it's a different fire.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's a different fire. I know that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So let me ask you a question and then I'll
go back to something one of our previous guests said.
So two thousand and five, the story, new chapter begins
right the beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So I was in college and I was a jogger,
and my heels were cracking. I would go jog around
campus a couple hours, come back, and my heel would crack.
So I started tinkering around with sea salt and different
types of oils that I was researching. Chat GPT wasn't
around at the time, but the blend that I made,
I thought, God, you know, I used it every week
(07:51):
on my heels, and my heels wouldn't crack anymore. So
I ended up bottling this up and creating this body polish,
essentially her foot care polish. It was a trio. Now.
I grew up in the eighties, so I just I
watched Oprah like I memorized her episodes. I love everything
about her and her show, and so I thought, she's
(08:13):
gonna love this. She loves feet. I am going to
mail it. Yeah, she has two of them, so I'm
going to mail them to her. So, you know, I
packaged it, bottled it up, sent them to her.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Come on, I did.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, I actually sent it to eight different editors. I
called around, tried to find some people that knew some
of the editors. No, this is right after I graduated TCU.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And and so I just got notified out of the
blue that one of the jars had leaked and could
I send another one because you really liked them? So yeah,
and then I found out that I had made the
O list. And so that was like a very big
monumental event for me.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's the biggest flex so far on this podcast. So
you and Oprah, Oh well.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
It's I mean, it was really the honor of my life.
People think like, oh my gosh, it's a financial windfall
for me. It was validation that I'm really good at
something that I really love. And not only that, but
it was wild like I would get like the first
phone call that came in was from a resort that
we work with in Texas is still High Hill Country,
which is still one of our accounts today, And you know,
(09:23):
the SPA director was like, I need a gallon. I
was like, God, a gallon. Like I just had these
little jars that I had made for Obrah And so
I really just had to learn the whole process of
how do I serve as a SPA. I came from
a very small town in Minnesota. I had never had
a petticure when I went to TCU. In fact, I
was so out of it that my roommates sat me
(09:44):
down and they're like, honey, this is not gonna work.
We need you to go get your hair done. I
was wearing like pink moon boots. I mean it was
no joke. So, you know, coming from that small town,
never having had a petticure, I really had to learn
what do people go to spas for? And yeah, and
that's where it all started and I just I would
get calls from different aspects. So it might be like
(10:06):
the Harposide or it would be the magazine, and they
would say, we need you to send thirty five of
these body polishes to this address. And I wouldn't know
where they were going, but of course I'm like, you know,
every little detail, making sure they're perfect, and I would
mail it out and then lo and behold, I get
a thank you note from Courtney Cox from friends, Okay,
and I just die. No, I'm serious, I just about die.
(10:28):
I today have it framed. I started like geeking out.
I would go if I started going to trade shows
for spots, I like, hung it on the wall.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Was the last thing I put in like the fifth
feet or like the seventh friend.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Aha, almost, I mean really, I just it's like pinch yourself, like,
how is this happening? Something I made? I sent it
to somebody I admire so much, actually two people I
admire so much, and they tried it and they loved it,
and it just validated for me this is the path
that I need to take.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So I've failed a few questions around all of this. Yeah, yes,
I'm still taking in that.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Oprah got back to you. Yeah, so you were out
of TCU. Where were you working?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
When I graduated, I started working for myself, so I
would lay by a pool with a laptop and I
was designing websites, one of these. I'm an entrepreneur. My god,
I could just bury you in the weed.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You know, it's funny. I never saw this in the
last ten minutes of what you said. No, I'm kidding, Okay,
making cruiche, do I know?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I yeah, And it's funny because I had an internship
when I was in school and it was at GTE,
and which now I think I bought and as a
Verizon or something. But I just I remember walking in
and no offense to GTE. It was a beautiful campus,
an amazing job. But I as I walked in, I
literally felt like I was going to die. I don't
(11:56):
know if you've ever had this like premonition that this
is just not the place for me to go sit
in a cubicle and like look at net present value
of God knows what, Like, that's not me. I can
I can build you a raft, I could, I can
paint you an entire wall. I can like, like, this
is not me. Never I knew right away.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I was like corporate America.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That was the only job I had. And in the summer,
I think during one of my years at college I
had I had worked at a bank in marketing, and
that was another telltale sign. The funnest part of that
entire job, no, was opening up what was it called paintbrush?
Do you remember the paintbrush program on the old computers
where you had to like you had to do little dots.
(12:43):
And by the end of the summer, I had dotted
out an s like a pillow with butterflies and fairies
and a dreamland and like, I you know it. That
was the best part of my internship at a bank
in marketing. Show you pretty much know your on the
wrong place, yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Think, yeah, yeah, so you're working from a pool chair,
pool chair, the laptop, yeah, hanging with Oprah let Yeah.
So so serious question like you would send this stuff off?
Would they send you money in advance?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Like I mean you got to pay bills and stuff
like that, Like how does it work?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well? I met my husband when I was in my
master's program, Okay, and so he was also working and
basically I wrote it. I read a book at that point.
I think it was called moonlighting, and I that's what
I always recommend to people, is like, do something on
the side, save all the money you can, and then
start the business because you need so much to put
(13:40):
into it and if you want it to be your
own and you don't want to take on venture capital funding.
So that's really what I did. I saved every dollar
that I was making. I was doing websites for real
estate companies, you know, all kinds of just marketing things,
and the tenant care was one of one of my
one of my accounts. I'm not even sure if they're
around now, but I saved everything I could, and then
(14:01):
on the side started creating what I created for Farmhouse Fresh,
and then I would just listen like every note I got,
I really took it to heart. One of the comments
in the actual article from Oprah was my scrubs smelled
so good. She wanted to serve them over berries, or
serve them with berries over toast, something like this, and
(14:23):
so I just really leaned into it. One of the
editors was like, you know, you should think about doing
a lotions, so I did. I made sweet Cream body milk,
which today is based off of a scent that oprahly
loved and it has a cute, little handled cruete and
it pours like milk, and I just I just kept listening.
I knew if if I could make something that someone
loves and that they asked for and I can fulfill
(14:45):
that for them, that there would be no end to
the joy of what I'm doing. And it was very hard.
Every step of the way was very hard, going from
a one person to four people, to five to ten
to you know, today, eighty five and two hundred and
twenty products. And it's a while ride, wild long ride.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So you've met Oprah No, No.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You've never met No. And I have this dream. I'm like,
she should pull everyone together from all of her old
lists and have some kind of an event, because everybody
just makes such extraordinary things, you know, beautiful, beautiful, thoughtful things.
I personally would love to meet everybody who makes something.
I'm a huge founder, an entrepreneur, something like a super
(15:25):
fan of everybody who makes something.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So what is interesting is you know you really?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I mean from day one, I mean and and one
of other guests, doctor Harrison from Men Dentistry, talked, Yeah,
he talks about the first time he extracted the tooth
when he was on a mission trip.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And then he knew and it just changes your life.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And what's funny, the interesting, the the emotion that both
of you and not that the others don't, but it's different.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's a different avenue. Right, you had a belief, no.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
One was going to dissuade you from this belief, and
you know this is going to work.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I have that thought every day. My forethought
with my own team is constantly there. I'm always two
years ahead, Like we're already starting some big dream idea
I had. Halfway through it. I'm like, okay, I already
have another one, so hold on a second. And it
can get very exhausting. I think that's kind of the
entrepreneurial curse. There's no end. There's just dreams. It's endless dreams,
thousands of ideas they pour in. I have entire filing cabinets.
(16:23):
I'm like, if I die on this plane trip to
Abu Dhabi, this is where you go, you know, Like,
I honestly think it's the it's the entrepreneurial curse. We
have solutions for everything, but there's not enough time, there's
not enough money, there's not enough support. You're just like
moving as fast as you can to cram it all in.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He talked about agonizing every every word, everything, everything, everything interesting.
So I would imagine that the growth journey, Oh yeah,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, it was like double just compounding compound.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And you think about it from a leadership perspective, you know,
you're pretty pretty young, yeah, you know, you didn't have
the advantage of working in a corporate environment, maybe having
a really good mentor not that mentors, but a mentor
of like this is how you lead a team.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah. No, I was reading like Harvard Business Review articles. Yeah,
and I and I also one of the things I
applied for an award, it was called make Mine a Million.
And I think I was doing like two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars in my pajamas on my couch, and
I was like, this was a to kind of help
(17:33):
female founders to get to that million dollar sure, And
I was like, god, you know, I was still using
my printer that I had from college and it was broken.
You just never feel like you have enough money, Like
when am I going to not be you know, feeling
like I don't have enough money? And anyway, I gave
a pitch about my business and was selected as a winner.
And then I went on to LA and my husband
(17:55):
and my mom flew out with me and I pitched
again and I won that too, and so they put
me with a business coach, and that was really transforming
for me. I didn't I hadn't hired anybody yet, and
so I was like, I literally don't even know what
to ask. And I mean, that process is scary, no,
And I was answering every phone call. You know, I'm
(18:16):
a behind the scenes person, very creative. So if a
buyer calls me and says, I own, you know, sixteen
hundred salons, I'm sweating through my shirt, like I'm like you,
I like, I literally lose all the words.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I have to stop you there though what I've heard though,
I think, from what I've heard though, you're literally either
sweating in your swimsuit by the pool.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Somewhere on the couch. I seem to think I feel
like you have a very comfortable way.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
A comfortable way. Oh my gosh. That's so true because
as the skincare line developed, you know, we built this
ranch in McKinney, and it's so it's such a beautiful,
magical place, and it's like nothing you could ever imagine.
And people are like, I cannot believe you live on
this ranch. I'm like, I love it. I'm surrounded by
my farmer sings to the plants, and I've got rescue
(19:07):
animals surrounding us, and we have a spot stairs and
a retail store. I mean, it's just it's it's a dream.
It feels like I'm living in Disney World.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
But okay, because I can go sometimes, I want to
come back because you talk about the ranch.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And the business.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So for listeners who aren't familiar with Farmhouse Fresh, we've
kind of gone the back door. We want swimsuits and
couches and Oprah.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And Courtney Cox talk about Farmhouse Fresh.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Okay, So Farmhouse Fresh we are a natural skincare company.
But what makes us extraordinary is that very early on,
I decided that I wanted to grow the micro green
herb ingredients so that the most potent part of a
plant is going into our product. Okay, and so we
(19:53):
have an organic farm at our ranch. Our farmer is
out there singing the plants all the time, which she
truly believes helps them grow. But every seven to ten
days we harvest those plants, they become very potent ingredients
in the product. They're called antioxidants. You're pulling the potent
part of the plant, which actually changes the look of
your skin as you sleep at night, as you're wearing
(20:16):
it during the day. So we create these extracts. They
go very quickly from our farm to your bottle, and
then we serve them in these just delicious treatments. We
craft every aspect of a treatment. So for instance, if
you go to a virgin hotel, a high regency we service.
Today we service about four thousand properties around the globe,
(20:39):
which instantly I like to say this because my whole life,
I've or my whole career life, I've felt kind of
like an underdog because we don't sell in Sophora and
we don't sell in Alta. We're not a mass brand.
We truly service hotel, SPA, luxury, small boutiques.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
How did you decide all of this?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
You know, from the first call from Hyatt calling in,
it was so fun. It was like we'll get a
call from a hard rock that'll say we need to
create a treatment and craft it around a song, and
we want to deliver it with drumsticks, and it's like
this culmination of I don't even know how to describe it,
Like I'm starting with the seed and I'm crafting it
(21:21):
all the way through, deciding like am I going to
drizzle you in hot honey and cocoon you in a
whole milk bath soak? And it is such an immersive
farm to table experience. And so that's what we do
all over the world. But my note about mentioning that
we're not sold mass is that typically everyone will ask us,
(21:43):
Like if I meet someone on a plane and maybe
they don't know my line, our line, they'll say, oh,
are you with a grocery store. When we hire people,
I'm like, your family might think you work for a
really unsuccessful company. Well, when in fact, we sell to
more locations than Sephora and all To combined, and we
don't only sell the product, we sell the professional They
call it backbar. So it's it's carried by those companies.
(22:05):
We train thousands of accounts all year. We have people
flying all over the country training on giving these lavish,
beautiful experiences. So it is quintessential creationism, is what I
call it. I almost feel like a chef. We have
you know, half of our company or licensed massage estheticians,
massage therapists and estheticians, and we truly want you to
(22:27):
have an experience of a lifetime and we want the
results on your skin to be so quick and so
dramatic that it changes how you feel about yourself when
you wake up and look in the mirror. And that's
really where it all began. What is more about our
company is that then we take the profits from what
we make and we rescue farm animals. And that is
why today we have this beautiful, you know, ten acre
(22:49):
ranch in McKinney, Texas, and we have an entire staff
or global Federation certified for saving animals. We take the
worst cruelty case and then you can actually track the
batch code on your jar. So I wanted people to
know when you buy a product, when you are washing
your face, you can take the code, type it in
(23:11):
online and you'll see exactly when that bottle came off
the line. All of the rescue initiatives we were doing
on a daily basis, and you know, just last night
we brought in another horse who starved. It's it's palpable.
It changes you. I'm just so so proud of what
we do for people, and I'm also proud for what
we do for pets.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Pets meaning you know, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats. You know,
these are working animals that are discarded and brutalized, and
we're on a mission to change that. So it's dearer
to me on the skincare side. Something I didn't mention
when I got to middle school is that I just
(23:54):
hit a slump. And I think a lot of girls
go through this, but I went through a very very
dark time. I tried to commit suicide four times. I
have poems and my books that talk about like hating myself.
I thought I was so ugly, and so I have
a huge heart for people who wake up and just
don't feel good at all. Yeah, and it's pervasive, and
(24:17):
it's too bad because life is short. Like and if
you can wash your face and throw some you know
acne cerremon in your fix, like get out there, do it,
go do something epic, like, you know, get involved in life,
change the world, move past that that you know, awful feeling.
So I love that women can wake up and look
(24:38):
different the next morning. And I'm one of them. I mean,
everyone in our office is one of them. We're constantly
swapping like, oh my god, what are you wearing today?
What do you you know? You we talked when I
came in today with Amy, she was, you know, talking
about we have a new product called Tensational Out and
it's the best product ever we've ever made. I swear
to you. I've like, I have every person my family
using it and the minute you wear it, you will
(24:59):
get more calm iplments and you have in a year.
It's it's extraordinary. I just I love it. I just
love my job. I love my job. And can't remember
what your question was, but that's Farmhouse Fresh.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I will say this not very often of my speechless.
That was amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I have a couple of things and then we'll I'll
try and get back on track. Okay, I look at
your tagline. We rescue complexions and we rescue animals. Yes,
And I mean, this is the biggest compliment in the world.
That sounds like what that six year old little girl
would have been thinking about.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And you got to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
I get to do it, and not all of us.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Get to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And kudos for you to giving back the way you
do and the perspective that you have.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Thank you. It's meaningful that you say that, because I
think it's hard for some people to believe. But for
many of our years, like I can think of the
first year that I went to a trade show and
we built we handmade an eight foot cow, like apiary cow,
but we hand and I have photos of us doing it.
We handmade every leave, every flower, We did little jewels
(26:06):
and made i mean just covered to the nines, and
I just remember people walking up and being like what
what is going on? Like what? It was really a
challenge until we found our tribe. Yep, and the tribe
is real. I mean we're millions of people that absolutely
are compassionate and love animals and feel that it's our
(26:29):
responsibility to make sure that just like elderly people have
somewhere to go, they have end of life care, that
we can provide that for animals because right now they're
tossed away, tossed away and brutalized. And yeah, we found
our tribes. So it's very meaningful to have you say
that it resonates with you. It took many years to get.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
There, many many well, I mean, look, not everyone starts
with a call from Oprah.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
But yeah, it was a little head start.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
But I would imagine as cool as that is, and
that was a neat opener, it didn't do the job
for you, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
To do all your work and your tail off.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I know a lot of people ask like, what was
the hardest thing? I'm like, which year?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Actually which hour?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yeah, yeah, there's just no silver bullet. That's kind of
a line that we all say, there's no silver bullet,
only silver bombs, and we all just work our tails
off every day. But we really love it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So you you take us to a place. So typically
I talk about this at the end, but I think
this is a good time. So I talk to our
teams here. And one of my favorite things is like,
when you're building a culture or you're building towards an outcome,
there's not that big seismic always that big seismic event.
It's really you get there by all the work you do.
(27:39):
That are the cracks and the gray spaces as I
call it.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh, I love that, Like what for you? How do
you look at that?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I will say, thinking about how you think about
every ingredient, everything.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
To the detail.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I'm sure there's a lot that I to be curious
your thoughts about the cracks and gray spaces concept belief.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I think everyone in my company, I I really
believe if you ask them, like, what was it like
growing up at Farmhouse Fresh, because that's really what we did.
We you know, people have gone on to have kids.
Some of our team members have lost children. You know,
we lost one of our customer care team members. We
(28:17):
pour our heart into everything we do. And for us,
culture is kindness. And I think you hear that. You
hear it and you just kind of toss it aside.
But for us, we say, don't make it right, make
it awesome. We share I personally share emails constantly. We
have a brand that when you have started using us
(28:41):
twenty one years ago, because we're twenty one through your business,
you've grown up with me. I'm fit twenty one is it?
Did I just say twenty one? You did? Because I
have read my own language, said twenty one year twenty first,
I love it. I love it. I like it twenty
one and yes, And so you know, customers, they'll fly
(29:05):
in from anywhere. It could be Mexico, could be you know, Italy, anywhere,
and they have been with me since we started. And
the first thing they say is some experience they had
with a member of our team that they called in
and didn't think they'd get the help they needed. It
could be something simple, it could be like your you know,
you're pump broke or something like that. But because it
all started out of my home and then we grew
(29:28):
and then we built this beautiful space and we were
all in there together, every phone call that came in,
I would hear. And if our rule is like if
you have three calls on something, it's a mass problem. Sure,
and so we're very quick to help. We're very quick.
You have to be, well, yeah, you have to be.
And it's so full circle because my customer is probably
the wife of our FedEx driver and she may also
(29:51):
come and volunteer and take care of animals at the sanctuary.
And so for us, we're just we just love helping people.
We have a very I guess they call it a
servant culture. If we've had customers call in and say
I'm in a field and my horses down, and my
customer care team will call me and say can anyone help,
and we'll drive out. I'm driving out to field. I
(30:11):
don't even know where I'm going. I could be murdered
in a field. I don't care. Like there's a horse down,
I want to help get that horse up. So everybody
in the company will tell you that that we just
want to do right. We want to help people to
wake up and feel better, and we want to give
back and help change animals, and so all the cracks
along the way, it's just a lot of hard work
(30:33):
and being consistent and living up to what we expect
of one another. We help one another. So many of
my team members are still with me. Even those that
leave often come back. Actually, today two of my team
members came into They were like, oh my god, you're back,
you know, so we'll hire them back. Maybe they might
want to go off and do their own thing in photography.
And they come back again, and I'm just so so proud,
(30:55):
so so proud of what we do.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
You should be a Consistency is an important word.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
It is a lot of things in life, in your
products or your service, or maytreat internal external and all
of that. I gotta take a breath for a second.
I mean, I know I keep coming back to it,
but I would imagine, like when you tell your story,
or maybe maybe you know it sounds like you've probably
been on a lot of panels within the industry and
things like that, and then you bring up the Oprah
(31:21):
thing and people like, oh, that must have been easy
from there, and obviously you have to tell the story
as a as a female led company founder. What challenges
do you think you face that maybe I wouldn't have had,
or anything like that that you feel like you've overcome.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
I would say overcome that daily. I think all you know,
our our industry is primarily female. Every time we hire
someone new, I actually think we have seven males in
the company, and like I'll send out an email we
have an AMIL and everyone's like, whoa, because we're very
very you know a lot of women in our industry.
But I face it every day like we are a
(32:02):
working ranch. I'm the grounds keeper. I live on the property.
We today have concrete getting poured in the in our pasture.
Today I had an electrician in who was reworking something
on the building. Everywhere I go every day, I'm approached
by people who will say, like, so, who's the CEO.
You would never imagine it's me, you know, talk about
(32:24):
being in my pajamas or running I'm wearing sneakers. People
expect you to look a certain way, but we're very
successful and very good at what we do. I think
that overcoming that hurdle is is always there. I find
it kind of fun now. I like walking in a
room or having people come through the front door and
they're like, can we talk to your you know, your
(32:46):
your owner, And I'm like, well, you're looking at it
and they're like, I'm looking You're hurt. Yeah, very much,
very much, yeah, very much. So, So that I think
is an overriding theme. But honestly, like if you look
at every year of the existence of the company, there's
always challenge. Of course, you know from the first person
(33:09):
I hired stole from me and I could have that,
you know, I could have I had to let her
go and I was so scared and she didn't want
to leave my house. She was like, what do you
mean a fire? Well, you stole from me. Hi, you know,
you can't be in the house. And then like just
the days that you're like, oh my god, do I
have to hire another person? You know, just overcoming like
how do you hire? Overcoming that? And then you know,
(33:31):
one of the things that we've always done is we've
been self managed. This is a big deal to me, Right,
I have a company that rescues complexions and we rescue animals,
and those two things can seem like such a dichotomy,
they're not. And I don't want to have to explain
myself to somebody who dictates whether or not I have funding.
And so what we've stayed family owned for you. Yeah,
(33:53):
we have a partnership with Chase Bank and so like
we have credit lines that are revolving credit lines that
allows me to make the money I make. And this year,
you know, I decide I want to put twenty percent
toward rescuing animals. Why because there were three draft horses.
One got shot in the face and one had a
whole gaping hole. This was just last week. I don't
want to have to go to somebody and ask for
permission for that. Forget it. And so because we are
(34:15):
self led, we have to make sure every dollar coming
in it goes back into the company. And so that
in itself is a challenge. As you grow, you're always
balancing making sure that you can handle this massive growth
you have, and to do so in a financially responsible
way while launching twenty products a year. It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
The way you flow between the entrepreneur, artists creative into
the business and what standards and how you run the
business is really fascinating to listen.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
To you talk.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Thank you. I love it. I can bore you to tears.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Oh I don't think so. I don't think so. But
let's let me ask this question.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I would have to imagine that Unfortunately, given the industry
you serve primarily on the complexion side and the and
the spas and all of that, COVID probably wasn't a
great time.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
How did what did you do?
Speaker 3 (35:14):
COVID was heartbreaking? Obviously everyone all around the world that
I have to say we pivoted. So it's probably one
of my proudest moments. I think, as somebody who reads
Harvard Business Review articles, it could be a case study,
it could literally be a masterclass and how you organize
around a challenge. And I say that because every person
(35:37):
on our team executed so well. Within three days we
had a business plan. I was hell bent. I was
not letting a single person go. And so I was
on the phone with Christine r private banker at our
commercial banker at Chase Bank. So yes, we got the
PPP loan, but we hired every contract employee that we
(35:58):
had who had been flying around in training hotels and spas,
and we made them forward facing. We created a television station.
We basically had four of our estheticians creating scripts and
copy and content from their homes. We reviewed what their
rooms looked like. We had one group on Facebook, we
had one on Instagram, and they all became so forward
(36:21):
facing that sales skyrocketed and went through the roof. We
sold out of everything we had. Our team knew that
we could not ever shut down. We just couldn't. We
had too many companies relying on us. We were ninety
percent wholesale, ninety percent wholesale. Think about that, and the
(36:41):
whole world shut down. And today we're fifty to fifty
fifty percent wholesale, fifty percent direct to consumer. And during
all of COVID, if you ask our customers what made
us great? We stayed open and we drop shipped for
every customer we had, and they were gracious enough to
give us access to their customers to say we're not
(37:01):
open right now, but Farmhouse Freshes click this link. And
then we mailed them a check for fifty percent, just
like we would do selling wholesale, and so we stayed open.
We became I can't remember what the term was, but
we were making hand sanitizers. So there was no way
we were going to shut down be shut down. And
it was the most busiest year we've ever had. I mean,
(37:21):
it was extraordinary. We were shipping on behalf of hotels.
We got letters from a lot of our spas and
salons that said, I literally kept my lights on because
you guys were open.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
I could just cry talking about it, Like, I'm so
proud of our teams, Like the Pivot, it just.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, do you ever sleep?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
It's funny because I do, But like that's it. I
lay down, it's light, it's lights out, and I'm a
strong eight hours. But from the day I get up.
And this is why I'm hunched right now, because like
for thirty years, I literally sat at my you know,
and at my computer. And that's okay. It's a good
trade off because I'm giving back and I just love it. Yeah,
but that was that was a very difficult time for
(38:05):
so many people, and I'm so proud of my team.
I mean, oh my gosh, what they did and what
they pulled off and how we kept people going and
and here we are today, growing strong.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Have you ever written a book?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I wrote a book when I was in college about
high school. Yes, it's called the Me Nobody Knew and
I used to go around and talk in high schools.
It was about overcoming you know, wanting to commit suicide
and yeah, helping girls, yeah, who are challenged.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
So yeah, it's it really is inspiring the way you
are able to merge the care with it's it's still
a business, it is.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
You know, and and you can you're able to do
both with a heart.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Well, I have to say, like kudos to my team
that surrounds me because I'm this tiny little piece of
a huge pod. And and they share in the dream
like you know, they're they're grateful for the opportunity when
you know, when we help a horse pass on, everyone
comes out to the to the hill and we sing
and you know, we're we we care so much about
(39:15):
what we do and they put up with a lot.
I am not easy. Like if you can imagine how
critical I am of all the steps like you talked
about in dentistry, and like every email and reviewing it
I uh, I'm so uh self reflective and quick to
pivot and and make sure that I'm improving processes. And
(39:39):
my team puts up with that on a daily basis.
I apply no less pressure to them that I do
to myself. You know, of course I do it with heart,
but it's still really challenging because it's you know, I
remember like my co founder Delia, who came in like
five years in and took over kind of on the
sales side. She's extraord ordinary. They call her a wooer, right,
(40:02):
you know when you take those personality tests, I'm not
a war you do, oh my gosh, you need to
become woo at our place. So I don't like, I'm
not a wooer. I'm I don't even remember what I am.
I'm in the background, but I don't. I don't have
that that uh that achiever. Yeah yeah yeah, And so
I just I'm getting off track. What was your ques?
(40:25):
This is what I do? I followed. But I'm I'm tough.
I'm really tough to work with because I'm always thinking
of the next thing. I have a book of ideas,
like if anyone needs one, if anyone will take a
company idea I am happy to give it to you.
I want to see it exist like you.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Know, so Amanda, I think Shannon can take some I
thought I was good at going off track.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
You go, I will get I'll be the.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
And And so I learned early on from mentor of mine,
and he would tell me their bosses and their leaders,
and there's a there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And they're over time.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
People might think, oh, boss, just somebody's mean and blah
blah blah.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Not the case.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
But a boss also, Yeah, but a boss isn't a
leader either, because a leader you scream leader to me.
And I think that what's interesting, though, is.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
A leader holds a standard. It's okay to hold people
to a standard because you do. You clearly do, and
there's a standard for your company.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, it's funny. I don't really feel like a leader,
but I was. I was told that I lead through
my heart and that I can see because I so
want our team to be authentic and compassionate that the
emails I send on a weekly basis are like, oh
my gosh, look at this note we got congratulate you guys.
(41:52):
Do you see this full circle moment? Like if I
search in my emails for full the word full circle.
You'll see this one hundred emails I've sent in a year,
just letting everyone know, like you're awesome. Look what you
do on a daily bait. You think that that putting
the spreadsheet together doesn't matter, it does because we were
(42:12):
able to accurately plan and sell out and that money
just built a barn, a barn. And you know what
we put in that barn, four starved horses that wouldn't
be alive today, Like that spreadsheet mattered, and that link
of knowing and feeling and doing it and getting up
every day, like that's the stuff of life. Like what
are we doing if we're not doing that, I'm not
(42:33):
here just to write a check. You know it's it's
get up and do it and live it and be
in it and own it and feel good about it.
Help people, help your neighbors. Like if every company, oh.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
My god, I'm going with you or on the.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
Phar if every company did this, think of the problems
we'd solve.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Seriously, It's it's funny you say you don't think of
yourself as a leader though, because we can all be
given we an interview for a be given a role
people report to you and all that, and you can
if you want to say I'm a leader, but you know,
you don't become a leader.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
In my view, your your team.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Those people around you lift you up into that. And
it doesn't sound like you ask for it.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
You do. You don't ask them to do anything you
don't do.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
And then some oh, no, for sure.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
And but what's so great about that is you know
you're so passionate about it, but you've ben said I
don't even know if you heard yourself say it. You said,
I don't feel like I am a leader, and but
it's really about my team.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yeah, And that statement, in my view, is why you
are the leader is because.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
You're willing to be the one out in front and
you have the expectations and you lift them up before
you lift yourself up.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Well, they're crazy enough to listen to my ideas, pick
through them, and then which one is good?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So Okay, this has been a lot of fun, and
I have concerns. I keep looking at Amanda because I
feel like I'm gonna look up and we're gonna be
like two and a half hours in, so we're coming
down to the end. Okay, which is fun. I think
that you know you you've built something business and philanthropy
that go together and you take great pride in both.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Where do you see Farmhouse Fresh in the next ten years?
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Well, my gosh, we have so much going on. We've
built a retail store that is set to open this summer.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
We are moving into experiences at our ranch. So we
just completed a dream trip where we had our customer
base around the globe nominate the kindest people they know,
and we flew in five people and someone that they
wanted to bring with them for literally a star studded weekend.
We had celebrity makeup artists there, a band playing, hot air,
(44:48):
balloon rides, spa treatments, I mean the whole nine yards,
and we just celebrated these like incredible people that do
so much for their communities. So that has moved us
into a new era of experience. We have a huge
fundraiser going on right now. If we can continue to
build barns and be fostering, we think we can save
(45:09):
thousands of more animals. So that's happening. And then something
I'm like so excited about, Oh my god, wait, do
you hear my latest idea and I'm so excited, like
just started today. Okay, so this is fresh, Yes, this
is fresh, It really is so Okay. So our our
rescue ranch at our headquarters, we contribute about a half
(45:30):
a million pounds half a million pounds of manure in
a year. That manure is now getting composted and it
is becoming rescue pooh organic compost that we are selling
that can. I mean, what's extraordinary to me is we
start with a seed and we create we create skincare
with extracts that we're growing and it goes into the
(45:52):
products and you wash your face and then you help
us save the animal. And then the animal ends having
manure and creating compost, and that compost becomes plotting soil
that helps grow the plants in your home. So we
are literally it is. It is the most extraordinary. I'm
so excited about it that you get to like literally
bit your sink and experience love from the product and
(46:16):
it's giving back to you through the plant. It's like
I can't even my brain wants to explode when I
think about it. It's the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
I wish we were on video right now and everybody
can see your face because the excitement.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
It's the six year old little girl.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Oh my, oh my gosh, it's just to the nines
and it's you know, there's a company called Living Earth
or here in mckinneay Van plants all over Plano and
Dallas and they're composting for us. It's a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, that's amazing, you know what, So like I'm the.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
First yeah here, the first to no, yeah, they just
picked up today. Today was our first run, our first
dry run, a manure going to become composed.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
Amazing. Yes, I'm exhausted.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
This is what I do to people. Sorry, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
No, do not apologize. Its lot. I think that obviously
you've built an amazing company that does amazing things.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
With in product and the rescue, with the philanthropy, and
it's it's a model.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
Not every not every company can can replicate exactly.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
They can and they should well, but even if they
take parts, we're all for it.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
And I think that how you lead is amazing and
what you've done is amazing. This has been a lot
of fun, but we're not done. So we.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Do something at the end that is a little riskier
because you don't know the question question roulette.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And we're saying from the front porch to the question roulette.
And there are four envelopes here in front of us.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
We have a goat, a duckling a donkey.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
So you're gonna pick the doc.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Can pick the donkey.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
So that's your question. You got to open the document
up and read the question.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
And is it It looks like our donkey shadow So cute,
doesn't it? Oh my gosh. Okay, if one of your
rescue animals could run Farmhouse Fresh, oh my god for
a day, this is so cool. Which one would it be?
And why, Oh my gosh, holy Toledo. Okay, it would
be sald We have this cute little mini donkey. She
(48:18):
was five months old, left at a sail barn. My
neighbor actually called and said, Shannon, you have to go
get this donkey. She's starved. You can just see her
bones on our website. She would sit and she would
hang her head over your shoulder and I would just
hug her for hours. Today she's like our resident hugger.
She would she would run her office because it's everything
(48:39):
I'm not. I'm so focused on what I do when cus,
when our employees I'm sorry. I would walk through the
front door. She would be like, oh my gosh, how
was your weekend? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (48:50):
What did you do?
Speaker 3 (48:51):
And let you hug me. You look so cute. It's
all the things I'm not. It's the wooing. It's probably
what you do every day here. But that would be
that we would be sold. I say, yes, oh, this
is so fun. Can we do more? Or is that all?
Speaker 1 (49:05):
You know what? There are no rules, so I said,
let's go with the cow.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
Oh my gosh, let's go with the cow. Okay, let's
go with the cow. Am I reading it? Or are
you reading? Okay, I'm reading it again.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
We don't have any cows, not yet. We've been asked cows.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
If Farmhouse Fresh had a Texas State Fair booth, what
are you giving away to get the longest line wow?
Of our products?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Oh, probably Tintsational. We literally just launched Tinsational. And when
people walk in my building, I'm like, come here, come here,
you know, and I'm putting it on. I'm actually putting
it on their face. I have it on today. But
it's that one thing that when you walk out you
will get so many compliments. Now, if it was a man,
I would say Timescape. I actually put that in your bag.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Oh excellent.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
This is a It looks like a lotion, but it's
millions of tiny plant particles. It feels like a microdermabration
on the face. You will feel so shiny, smooth. Your
wife will tell you, my gosh, look at you. You
will look so much younger. So those are the two
products I would do. Yeah, hands down.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
So this has been amazing for I could tell you
a couple of things. I feel like once this episode
gets out there, there's gonna be traffic jams.
Speaker 1 (50:16):
Heading towards your farm.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Oh, we would love it.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
I think that would be great.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I can only imagine big things for a farmhouse fresh
in the future, and I'd look forward to coming out.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
We would love to have you. Are you kidding me?
Got to come for the grand opening?
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Oh that's done. Yeah, consider it done well. I appreciate
you taking the time with me today. This is a
lot of fun and we'll be talking again soon.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Thank you. Thank you, so nice to talk with you.
I love to get a chance to dive into our world.
Absolutely great to have a nice listening.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
Ear thanks for joining us.
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