93: Tim O'Brien

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another sly cast free inthe iHeartRadio app and at WIBAFM dot com.
Joining us now the owner of TheHealthy Place, Tim O'Brien. Thirteen
years ago he started this business onfish in fish Well, I shouldn't say
all fish hatchery off PDU called AppleWellness. And boy, some things have

(00:23):
changed, some things have stayed thesame, but you've made it thirteen years.
Can you believe that? Teen yearsin shock? Thank you sir for
having me on the show, helpingme get the word out talking about my
story. Thank you. Yeah,tell all right? So for people that
don't know the story, how didyou start your own business? Which is

(00:44):
a huge task. And you knowmost new businesses what they last a year
or two, maybe six months sometimes? What inspired you to open a small
business that's that sell products that area little bit of an alternative to the
pharmaceuticals that so many doctors prescribed.Yeah, you know, my mom actually

(01:07):
fought through thyroid cancer when I wasjust a little guy, five or six
years old, and I remember hergoing through chemotherapy radiation and someone recommended her
go to a health food store ina little town called Mosquigo, Wisconsin.
Sets towards Walkershaw. I grew upin a town called mcquanago, and she
went to this health food store,talked to this elder gentleman, gentleman named

(01:30):
John, and he took her bythe hand and educated her a natural alternatives
that are helping in this country andhelping around the world battle some of the
symptoms of chemotherapy, radiation, someof the brain fog, fatigue struggles that
can arise. In addition, recommendingthat which would help come alongside what the

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medical route was doing to distinguish themor extinguish the cancer, and worked alongside
of my mom's medical profession and reallyhelped her to the point that she would
say it was life changing experience andit inspired her to ask for a job
at that health food store in Mosqgo. So she got a job, and
us five kids were homeschooled, andthis little health food store she became the

(02:15):
manager of, so she was ableto bring her kids to work do home
school in the back room in betweencustomers. And I just remember watching these
these testimonies unfold, watching her takeother folks by the hand in a crisis
health situations and make recommendations that helpedbecause we got to see these customers come

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back, you know, two monthslater, three months later, and you
start to journey with people. Andthat was I didn't realize that at the
time or even growing up, butthat was deeply inspiring. And then a
second thing happened in my teen years. You know, parents were divorced and
I couldn't fix it, and Iremember turning towards towards anger and drugs and

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school. You know. I wasn'treal good in school, wasn't good in
sports, you know, and Icouldn't and I didn't know how to fix
those things. You know, itwasn't really good at music, drama,
and I didn't know how to fixit. So I turned to anger in
my teen years, didn't really knowwhat to do. And then I was
maybe eighteen years old, two thousand, two thousand one ish, and I

(03:19):
had one of those moments in lifewhere you you run into a wall and
you say, my goodness, there'stwo paths in front of me, yet
a very angry path, dark one, or one that's uh filled with light,
and uh, you know, Iread one of those books you know
that I was called Purpose Driven Lifeand back in early two thousands, and

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it really impacted me, like mygoodness, I was made for a purpose,
And all of a sudden, thatidea started expanding in my mind,
Like if I was made for apurpose, maybe I have value. Maybe
my health has value. Maybe thosearound me life have value and theirs their
health has values. So I startedthinking about that and so then man,

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I'm like, well, I wantto kind of make a difference before I
die. When I'm on the earth. You know, eighty years, ninety
years of Becky nied goals one hundredand twenty years now. But hey,
you know life is really fast,and what do I want to do?
And so that's that's where the ideawas born. And met Becky in in
two thousand and seven. Her momhad a health crisis that led her towards

(04:27):
natural alternatives. So two thousand andeight we started dating. Two thousand and
nine we got married. Two thousandand ten we opened the Healthy Place in
Fitchburg. Well, you came tothe Madison area. You know it's a
very health conscious area. People thata lot of people take care of themselves
in the Madison area. Were youwelcomed with open arms as soon as you

(04:51):
open the business? You know,that's a funny question because because the first
year was really tough, really tough, and uh, I don't know if
you remember group On. I wasjust coming back back then, and we
our first year was was pretty slow, pretty sleepy, people checking us out
slow. But sure. We didn'treally know how to advertise or market back

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then, and we used group Onand that was we sold like four hundred
and fifty group Ons, and Ijust remember feeling like I won the lottery
and all those nice folks came overthe coming weeks and that was the first
real win we had as a companyback in two thousand and ten, and
started to get on our feet intwenty eleven. So it was hard in

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the beginning. And you know what, it wasn't until year five that I
rightly communicated what using our putting ourhouse on the loan as collateral meant.
I didn't know that. Becky didn'tknow what that meant. So five years
into it, she's like, wecould have lost our house. I was
like, yeah, yeah, that'suh, that's what a Testaments year termination.

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So as you celebrate this week atthe Healthy Place, yesterday we're recording.
As we record this, it's Tuesdaymorning yesterday. You celebrated the opening
of the Fitchburg store today. IsSun Prairie Is that right? Yeah?
All right, yeah, Son Prairie. And then and then you will follow

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with the the West Side store aswell. And of course the website finds
your Healthy Place dot com. Howmuch is your business comes off the website?
About thirty five to forty percent ofour total revenue comes from the website.
Yeah, Covid really impacted. Wehad about thirty percent of our in

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store traffic shift over to our websitethroughout Covid and that kind of stuck there.
So we're now we're we're It's interestingbecause e commerce used to mean that
we were serving people around the country, which we're excited about, but now
a significant maybe half of our commercesales comes from local you know, somebody

(07:03):
right down the street. It's justa little easier to have it delivered.
So it's an interesting melt because ourpassion is people. You know, we
want to impact, in power andeducate people, and it's a little more
difficult to do that through the commercesite. So one of our missions is
to bring that experience into closer acloser view to what the in person looks

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like. So whether that's videos ortelephone or zoom calls. You know,
we're working hard on bringing that together. It's kind of fun to figure out
because life really is a gift,and if you can inspire somebody towards making
better decisions, whether it's something smallor large in their health, it's impactful
and it's rewarding. So this week, twenty three percent off, it's your

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thirteenth You easily could have done thirteenpercent off, but you decided to do
twenty three percent off the code lucky. Why did you decide to go that
high? You know, it's it'sreally kind of cool. I'm a little
bit competitive personally and sort of makesure that we're beating everybody on e commerce

(08:09):
on the supplementary style is kind ofexciting. So we just in general do
deeper discounts. Our margin is tighter, and we figured out how to um
run the ship off of that.So it's it's exciting for our community.
They love the discount and if wecan make reaching health and UH lower costs

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and more attainable for people, it'sit coincides with our vision and our mission.
So that's that's why there's there's allsorts of things you're uh, you're
giving away. You've got treats thisweek, a little chance for people to
indulge in nice food. You've gotall sorts of things going on. Tell
us bro, Yeah, I can'tforget the e bike. Yes, sign

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up, share online, Facebook,Instagram, it's fun. Yeah, We're
doing a ton of giveaway this week, some real cool prizes and I'm waiting
to see who wins that ebike.So that should be fun. All right.
You have you've survived a pandemic,you survived starting a business that's,
you know, not a cookie cutterbusiness by any way, shape or form.

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One of the lessons you've learned asfar as deally, you've got a
wonderful staff that really is customer focused. What have you learned over these thirteen
years. I think the customer experienceis everything and to build the business around
I didn't have this clarity in thebeginning. Just to build the business around

(09:37):
the customer's experience. Every aspect,each little detail matters. And you know,
you have a real, real lifeand it's easy to forget that.
And over the years there's in timesI've been more clearheaded and less clearheaded,
and it's it's really it takes youback to realize that each customer coming in
is a real story, there's realsuff offering, a real health concerns,

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and if you can impact that person'slife for the better, that's what everything
we do should be built around.And when you accomplish that and you gain
that testimony, it's miraculous, it'sit's very cool. So that's a big
lesson I learned is hey, everythingwe do have to circle around customer experience.
And then number two, just asimportant is the team. The actual

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The first maybe five years, Ididn't have employees or not that many,
so it didn't I didn't see thepower of building my team's life, my
employees life, like their future,their career path, their benefits. So
shifting the focus a bit to man, how can we build a company that
strengthens and supports and educates and inspiresour team, Because the more inspired and

(10:56):
taking care of they are, themore gas they'll having the tank, so
to speak, to give out tothe community. And if we can figure
out this beautiful sort of like circleand we continue to grow, then we
can just impact and help more peopleand provide more jobs and impact these career
paths. And so I got realexcited about my team. Maybe back and

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always been excited, but two sixteenish, starting to see like, wow,
I'm a boss, I'm a businessowner, you know, I just
didn't accept that identity for a longtime for whatever reason. Like I'm a
CEO, I can like impact theselives, and so I kind of got
extra excited around two thousand. Sothat'd be the two things, hey,
customer experience and your team's career pathsand lives. Working really hard every day

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for those two things. That's reallythe top two, I'd say. So
in some ways, this is kindof going against the tide of all the
things that are going on right now, places installing kiosks to pay r less,
customer service less, customer service,less personal connection. You're doing something

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that's kind of the opposite. Thankyou, thank you. We're working hard
for that man, because it peepthat human touch, that human experience.
As much as we all love zippingthrough a kiosk, you know, we
need those services at times. It'salso we're hungry for human connection, you
know, people. Each human isinfinitely valuable, and and it's all the

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diamonds in the world wouldn't wouldn't beequivalent to the value of one human and
so that value is is outstanding andit uh, it kind of calls for
us to work hard. You know. I think of Becky Nized Journey.
Becky is my wife and co owner, and you know, couldn't have done
any of this without her. Andwe just think about the impact of each

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human and I think we just hitour one hundred thousand unique customer in the
thirteen years, which is remarkable.I never thought I'd impact that many people.
And it just it inspires you tokeep growing and to keep pressing harder
for results. Because people's life ora gift and you remind them that the
light goes on that you instill hopein their eyes again when they've when they're

(13:13):
stuck in a corner and in pain, they think there's no options, and
you start talking about some natural turnersthat are working, you see the hope
instilled in their eyes. I mean, it's super cool. So I encourage
anyone listening find somebody you know tobe on your team that can guide you
in the supplement space, because there'sbrands that are good, better, best,

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there's forms of ingredients that are good, better, best, and we
don't pretend to be doctors or pharmacists. In Madison. Here we have some
of the best in the world.We don't need to compete with that.
We provide natural alternatives and education aroundwhat's working on the planet. And you
get somebody on your team that canguide you in that space. It's a

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life changing teammate. And so Iencourage people get somebody on your team.
Obviously I get excited about the healthyplace, but anyone that you trust,
get somebody on your team. Yourhealths the gift and it's worth fighting for.
We see lots of ads and youand I have talked about this a
couple of weeks ago, these adsthat are running for these supplements that are

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basically replacement for fruits and vegetables.You told me those those capsules, it's
it's not enough nutritionally to replace adiet of fruits and vegetables. So you
have alternatives to that, right,Yeah, we sure do. You know,
people know diet and exercises are thereal important and in the diet it's

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tough to get fruits and veggies.You nailed kind of a common question we
get when folks come in the storesand there's those fruits and veggie, whether
gummies or capsules, and you'll haveone or two, and you know,
it's such a small amount of content, so it's better than nothing. So
I don't want to ever make someonefeel guilty for taking those items. It's
more that the marketing over cells andunder delivers. You know, you have

(15:01):
this idea that all your fruits andveggies intake is like suddenly fine because you're
taking a gummy, and it's justnot. It's not the case, and
so I encourage customers to get apowdered It's just little examples like this.
Yeah, I appreciate this example slidebecause this is exactly it in a hundred
different areas, and one example isfruits and veggies. Somebody will come in,

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hey, am I taking this gummy? Am I being taken care of?
Like, well, hold on,let me show you this this other
option over here that's going to beequivalent to about twenty five of those little
gummies, and then you'll feel theenergy surge from it. There's no caffeine
in it, it's just nutritions.You'll feel it, you'll feel the content
and you're you can take a pHstrip right after taking a product like maximum

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vibrance, the one that you have. You can take a pH strip one
hour after drinking that slide and seeyour pH scale move from acidity to alkalinity.
And you know, in general youwant to be more alkaline versus a
fidic. So it's these little educationpoints that can be transforming. After taking
it for five or ten years,you know, that amount of nutrition going

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into your body daily, it's prettyprofound the impacts that it can have.
Tell me, how was it thatyou were reading the twenty eighteen federal Farm
Bill and you cracked the code tosell real Delta nine th edibles in Wisconsin
or anywhere for that matter. Yeah, you know, I don't want to

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sound too too smart. In general, you know the twenty eighteen Farm Bill,
I says, hey, you canhave Delta nine THC provided it under
point three percent by dried weight.And I just never noticed those words dried
weight. So I called up mylegal help. I called up my manufacturers,

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a couple different ones to gain someperspective and legalities and social impact.
You know, can I talk throughlike, hey, we have a voice
in Madison. How are we gonnagonna craft for this? So to speak?
With the angle you know, andwe got the green light across the
board. It's like, my goodness, you can do this. So we
have gummies now as you are alludingto, that have two point five percent

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or two point five milligrams delta nineTHHC, and then Cosmos has five milligrams
and outer Limits has ten milligrams,and all of them are within the legal
limits. And you know, yougotta be aware that enough delta NINTHC does
get you high, so it hasthat psychoactive component. So we're chatting through
the community with their chronic pain,for example, trying to figure out what

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their CBD THHC sweet spot is becauseeverybody's a little difference whether they have a
tolerance of sorts of hear, orwhether their chronic pain is higher or lower,
if they experience it worse in theevening versus the morning. These are
all questions that we ask people.So if you're battling depressed, m,
chronic pain, anxiety, h tleetproblems, ask about our THHC gummies.

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There's there's low, medium, high, so you can take it and not
get high if you don't like that, or if you're at a certain time
of the day you need a littlemore focus. But that's the whole beauty
size is. Folks come in withtheir chronic conditions and this, this whole
THHC conversation between Strata and Cosmos OuterLimits has been a game changer. We

(18:32):
have sold thout tens of thousands ofbottles since last March, and it's really
neat side because you come out witha product you think, you're, hey,
I think this is going to helpthe community. I think this is
going to be good for X yZ, and you know, you think
it through, you pray it through, and you just you wait for the
community to respond and tell you whatthey think. And the community has been

(18:55):
just ecstatic about the results. Thetestimonies and reviews we from these edibles with
PHC has been very surprising. Iknew it would be good, but I
did not know it would be thisgood and this helpful to people really suffering.
I second that obviously I love them, but I also want to mention
that I am a very very lightsleeper. Have been my whole life.

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I've got to have it completely dark. I got to have my white noise
a fan or an air conditioner.I mean, I'm one of those sleepers.
Plus I have sleep happening, sothat makes it even worse. So
these strata pms that are in thisfamily of edibles that you sell have really
done the trick for me. There'sjust nothing better than nice sleeping through the

(19:42):
night. If being sixty two,obviously you have to get up in the
middle of the night and go tothe bathroom. But beyond that, but
beyond my bladder. You know,that's just reality. But beyond that,
I am sleeping through the night andI'm not groggy the next day. Tell
us about strato PM. That isgreat, dude, and Strato PM.

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So let's just zero in on Flyhere. I mean, dude, you're
a cool guy. I've known youfor years. Your impacts and influence has
helped tens of hundreds of thousands ofpeople over the decades. I mean,
you're a legend. You know.You don't have to accept all my praise,
Fly, but you know this isyou know, so think about that.

(20:26):
So you're not sleeping well or yousleep lightly for years, like,
think about the health impact there,you thought profits, Yeah, you have
a ship to run. You havemore podcasts that are running and shows than
than grains of sand on the seashore. I'm like, how do you keep
it all together? And with sleep? I mean, it's just that one
thing. You know, people haveso many health issues that are connected back

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to their sleep issues. So whenwe created strata PM, it was designed
for people in your situation that areeither not falling asleep, not staying as
sleep, not getting deeper sleep they'regetting, you know, they wake up
and they can't fall asleep, avariety of sleep connected issues, and the
health impact of getting somebody good restdeep rest is pretty profound. So I

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was very and still i'm very excitedabout the stratopm's. It is thirty milligrams
of CBD, fifteen milligrams of acannabinoid called CBN, which is a very
highly studied cannabinoid for sleep specifically infifteen milligrams, is more therapeutic than actually

(21:37):
any other brand that I have seen. Those real proud of that point.
And then two point five milligrams deltanine THHC. Those three together, like
you said, you will fall asleep, you will stay asleep, You'll get
deeper sleep. Folks take between oneto three gummies, so everyone's a little
different with their CBDTHC sweet spot.I like what you said, they'll sly
that you wake up you don't groggy. That the top report from folks that

(22:03):
are nervous going in. No,am I gonna sleep well but then feel
groggy. Nope, you wake upfeeling refreshed. And we have been selling
those puppies like hotcakes. And Ijust I love it when we come out
with something that the community loves becauseit's it's just you know, you're helping
people, and you know you're workingwithin your mission, and we're expanding our
vision to help more people, andit's just this fun circle. Well,

(22:27):
I have fun talking about them.I enjoyed. I enjoyed talking about them.
A great deal on my show.Appreciate that. Congratulations on everything.
Let's just do a little recap here. Birthday celebration this week thirteen years,
twenty three percent off is that throughSaturday through Sunday. That is through actually

(22:48):
through Saturday through the stores and thewebsite will be open on Sunday. It'll
be also on Sunday, all right. The code is Lucky. Whether you're
coming to the store or shop online. To find you Healthy Place dot com,
you can sign up to win thee bike. You have to come
into the store to sign up towin the e bike er. Can you
do that a lot? You cango on Facebook, Instagram online, it's
totally okay. That is great.And you've got other things to give away

(23:12):
as well, and some nice treatstoo, and you're skinny, so you
can eat all those treats. Ican't. Tim O'Brien, congratulations and thank
you so much for all your supportover the years. Thank you, Sli,
thanks for helping me get the wordout on natural alternatives at work.

(23:33):
Another podcasts, we call them slidecastshere free on the iHeartRadio app or at
wibafm dot com. Tim O'Brien Ahealthy place