May 27, 2025 • 34 mins
Episode Summary
In Episode 36 of Think Like a Pancreas-The Podcast host Gary Scheiner and his guests Naomi Garlick and Justin Eastzer discuss the intersection of entrepreneurism and diabetes management.
They all share how personal experiences with diabetes have driven them to create innovative products and content aimed at improving the quality of life for those living with the condition.
Learn about the challenges of product development, the importance of community support, and the resilience required to balance personal and professional lives in the diabetes space!
Key Takeaways- Entrepreneurism often stems from personal experiences with diabetes.
- Creating products that address real-world usability is crucial.
- Building a community around shared experiences enhances support.
- Quality of life should be a primary focus in diabetes management.
- Balancing personal and professional life is essential for mental health.
- Resilience developed from managing diabetes translates to business success.
- Mistakes should be viewed as learning opportunities.
- Utilizing available resources can aid in business development.
- Community support is vital in the diabetes space.
- Starting a business as a side project can reduce pressure.
00:18 -- Introduction and welcome.
01:33 -- Naomi Garlick, Founder of Glow Gummies
04:58 -- Jason Eastzer, Founder of DiabeTech
07:42 -- Why did you create a business in the diabetes space?
11:28 -- How do you avoid getting overwhelmed by diabetes?
17:44 -- How has having type 1 diabetes helped your business?
20:30 -- What flavours you won't see in Glow Gummies
22:34 -- What have been the biggest challenges for you in developing your business?
26:13 -- What advice do you have for new entrepreneurs who also have diabetes?
30:43 -- Final Thoughts
LinksIntegrated Diabetes Services or email info@integrateddiabetes.com
Disclaimer
The information contained in this program is based on the experience and opinions of the Integrated Diabetes Services clinical team. Please discuss any changes to your treatment plan with your personal healthcare provider before implementing.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to like, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
If you would like to book a consultation with an Integrated Diabetes Services Team member go to:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gary (00:18):
Welcome to Think Like a Pancreas, the podcast where our goal is to keep
you informed, inspired, and a littleentertained on all things diabetes.
The information contained in thisprogram is based on the experience
and opinions of the IntegratedDiabetes Services clinical team.
Please discuss any changes to yourtreatment plan with your personal
(00:38):
healthcare provider before implementing.
Welcome to Think Like aPancreas, the podcast.
I'm Gary Scheer, your host.
Today we're gonna be discussingentrepreneurism in the diabetes space.
I've always been amazed how manypeople who have a direct connection
to diabetes end up developing itinto a business for themselves.
They've seen everythingfrom adhesive patches to
(01:01):
hypoglycemia treatments to accessoriesand cases, and even media that have
have grown out of, uh, having diabetes.
Heck, I even developed my ownpractice out of having diabetes.
I don't think it would'vehappened otherwise.
I'm, I'm thrilled to be joined bytwo such entrepreneurs in this space,
Justin Eastzer and Naomi Garlick.
(01:23):
So welcome both of you.
I wanna give you each a chance tointroduce yourselves and tell us a
little about your background and yourconnection to diabetes and also about
the business that you've developed.
Naomi, why don't you go first?
Natalie (01:34):
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for having me.
And I'm Naomi.
Uh, a little bit about myself.
I currently live in, uh, New YorkCity, but I grew up outside of Boston
and I was actually born in England,which is where my whole family's from.
But unfortunately, I couldn't hang onto myaccent and otherwise I sound much smarter
right now, but I was diagnosed with, uh,type one diabetes at 12 years old, so I
(01:58):
just had my 20th anniversary in December.
And I guess to celebrate, I, Irecently launched my company, which
is called Glow, uh, and my ultimategoal for Glow is to become kind of
like a consumer brand dedicated to.
Improving daily management of typeone diabetes, so anything you can't
get like behind the pharmacy counter,I'd like glow to become sort of like
(02:20):
a one stop shop for those needs.
And our first product are glowgummies, which are glucose
gummies for low blood sugar.
There are four grams of dextrose basedcarbs per gummy, which helps treat a
low in a quick and controllable way.
They're fast acting and they'rehealthier, tastier, more convenient
alternative to the sort of traditionalhypo treatments like candy juice
(02:41):
and the infamous glucose tablets.
So yeah, they taste delicious.
I promise.
I'm not just biased.
And the goal is to make treating lows.
No matter who you are or whereyou are or what you're doing,
Gary (02:53):
you were kind enough to send us some samples.
You know what these reminded me of?
There's a candy I used to get atthe movies as a kid called Chuckles.
Natalie (03:02):
Oh my God.
Gary (03:02):
They got these jelly candies with sugar on 'em.
Natalie (03:05):
Yeah,
Gary (03:06):
they taste just like that.
Natalie (03:08):
Perfect.
Gary (03:08):
But these are smaller, uh, and you sell them in in bottles.
But I really like these 12 packs.
Of the gummies and the fact that you canzip 'em closed after you've taken a few
Natalie (03:21):
Yeah.
Gary (03:22):
Is really nice.
Natalie (03:23):
Yeah.
Gary (03:23):
And you know, they're flat, they're easy to carry.
I can tell from the look onJustin's face, he's like, yeah
where have you been all my life.
Natalie (03:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wanted to have like a few differentpackaging options and definitely
one that's perfect for on the go.
Like you can throw it in a smallpurse if that's helpful or your
pants pocket or whatever it is.
And they're resealable so youcan, you know, you don't have to
use 'em all at once or whatever.
But yeah, we're, we tried to hit all thepain points and, and get everyone what
(03:54):
they were looking for in a solution.
So I tried to be really thoughtful aboutlike everything that I put into it.
And they're also HSA and FSAeligible as well, which is a nice
perk if you have that, um, inyour insurance benefits as well.
Gary (04:07):
That is neat.
And the flavor, what are the flavors?
Natalie (04:10):
We have strawberry mixed berry, which is my personal
favorite and orange, uh, right now.
And you can buy 'emonline@atglowgummies.com.
And yeah, they come in two packagingand three flavors, and you can get
like a. We'll do like a subscribeand save model and things like that
similar to like how you see on Amazonand you can get like a variety pack.
(04:31):
So two of each of the bags of eachflavor and you know, test out which one
you like the best and go from there.
Gary (04:37):
Yeah, we'll make sure the link is on our show notes so people can go to
your website and uh, give them a try.
Thank you.
So they're not chuckles,they are glow gummies.
They really, they're made ofdextrous, they really do the job well.
So shifting from a, a productbased business to more of a
service media type business.
Uh, Justin, tell us aboutyourself and about tech..
Justin (05:00):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, thank you for having me on the show.
You've come on my show a few times andit's cool to be on the, the other end.
So what, I think it was fouryears ago that I was diagnosed
with Type one diabetes.
At the time I was a tech YouTuber, soI was reviewing products for smart home
vr, ar, wearables, health trackers.
And so that was on YouTube.
(05:21):
And at that time I was feeling prettyill and I, I got diagnosed by a doctor.
He was like, you have diabetes.
I was like, okay, what does that mean?
And he didn't really tell me much, justsent me on my way and I felt really lost.
And so eventually he had mestart like, testing my blood
sugar or I got a new doctor.
He had me testing my blood sugar.
I was, um, given long acting insulin,I was making these videos on TikTok.
(05:44):
I was like, this is, I was, I thoughtit was cool that my blood glucose
monitor sent readings to my phone.
I was like, I wannamake a video about that.
So I put that up on TikTok.
I was like, I'm 350 right now.
Is that high?
And I started, you know, makingvideos about taking long acting
insulin for the first time.
And the community on TikTokfound my videos that the diabetes
community and they were like, youdo not like have type two diabetes.
(06:07):
'cause that's what he was treating me for.
He was giving me metformin andall that and so they were like,
you need to go get tested.
You need the auto antibody test,you need to get a CGM and a pump
and an endo, all this stuff.
Um, after a few of my videos likereally blew up from all these
comments, I was like, okay, I needto do what these people are saying.
So I went and got testedand they were right.
I had type 1.5 or LADA, whichis treated just like type one.
(06:30):
And so, it kind of inspired me to continuecreating content as I was learning
about the disease and going to an endoor a diabetes educator appointment,
and taking those lessons learned andjust kind of giving them away for free
every time I had a new experience,which there are many of those, right?
Like your first low during a workout.
You're stubborn high, all this stuff.
(06:52):
I started making videos aboutall of these experiences.
Gary (06:56):
First time you binge after you've had a low and
eaten like the whole kitchen.
Justin (07:00):
Oh my goodness.
Those were scary moments.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
So I would, I was talkingabout that was video.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I kept putting that, thatstuff out and it resonated with people.
And it was a side projectat first, and then after.
Maybe a couple years of doing it for fun,it just kind of became my, my nine to
five or, well, I don't work nine to five.
(07:20):
I work whenever, but now I have apodcast, YouTube channel, social
pages, and a blog and newsletter.
Gary (07:27):
And you, with DiabeTech, you have, uh I mean, you've built a business
out of this and you could have gone alot of different routes in the media
space and the social media space.
What made you decide specificallyto develop a business
around type one diabetes?
Justin (07:43):
Well, I think what I realized during this was
how strong the community was.
And before that, when I was doingall these tech videos, I never
really built that foundation.
I think community really is what powersmost things, especially social media
content is the community behind it.
And everyone is just like talkingwith each other in the comments.
(08:04):
Like, I don't even have to say anything
'cause they're, they'rekeeping each other busy.
And I also just like was getting all ofthese messages and I continued to get
messages of helping people get diagnosed.
People who thought they had typetwo and went and got type one 'cause
they saw a video I was talking about.
Or people who feel empowered to talk totheir doctor about the pumps they know
are available to them rather than just thepump that their doctor tells them to get.
(08:28):
Parents who feel like their childrenwill never live a fulfilling life.
Seeing my videos in a speedo at the beachrunning around, playing volleyball, right?
Like something so little, this smallfragment of my life that I can just
put down, you know, on social orwherever and, and have people see
it and, and help them like it, it'sbeen so meaningful and continues to
(08:49):
be, which is why I continue to do it.
Gary (08:52):
And no, Naomi, and you, you could have gone into the breakneck world of food
additives or who knows what else, what.
Kind of impelled you into abusiness in the type one space?
Natalie (09:03):
Yeah, I mean, a lot of what Justin said also
definitely resonates with me.
But I mean, having type one for20 years, I've really gone through
a lot of ups and downs with it.
And I was diagnosed at 12 years old, whichwas a horrible age to be different in any
way, let alone with something like this.
And so I was, initially, I waspretty ashamed of having a disease
(09:25):
and that I had never heard of beforeand I knew no one else with it.
And it took me a long time to comeout the other side of that and
be confident and open about it.
Managing diabetes is a 24/7 responsibilitythat affects every aspect of life.
And I felt like despite how big of aburden it can be, a lot of our kind
of day-to-day needs are overlookedand underserved because of our size is
(09:49):
relatively small, uh, for some of thesebig companies to really care about.
So I felt like a lot of the time,the solutions that are made for
us more so focus on like the basicfunctionality and overlook some of the
real world usability and comfort andaesthetics and that dynamic can lead
to stigma and reduce confidence and
(10:10):
that causes people like difficultiesin just maintaining consistent
self-care that we really do need.
So I just wanted to build somethingthat creates products for like the
daily management in a way that feels.
More like real solutions than justlike additional chores to our already
really long list of stuff we have to do.
And by doing that, I think it canempower people with type one to feel
(10:32):
more confident in their daily routines toimprove the quality of life while we kinda
wait for a cure that I feel like we'realways promised is, is five years away.
But in the meantime, I'd like to do whatI can to help people, especially those
younger people who are just diagnosedand feeling really overwhelmed, just
feel more comfortable in their own skin.
Gary (10:53):
Daily quality of life matters.
Mm-hmm.
It's something I have to remindmy patients all the time.
We manage diabetes to improveour quality of life Now.
And down the road.
And if, uh, your quality of lifeis suffering because of what you
have to do to manage your diabetes,you know, you're missing the point.
So yeah, we do need betterproducts, better services, better
(11:14):
support, more information to livea quality life day in and day out.
And since I started my practice, I,I spend, you know, most of my day
helping my patients with their diabetes.
And then I gotta gohome and tend to my own.
So I'll just lay it out there.
Naomi, how do you keep going fromgoing batshit crazy over diabetes, just
dealing with it all the time, both froma business and a personal standpoint?
Natalie (11:36):
Yeah, it is.
It's a really good question, andit's something I wish I had thought
of at the beginning of all of this,honestly 'cause I feel like it kind
of just hit me one day and I waslike, wow, I am just T 1D all day.
And it's, it's a lot.
I mean, there's definitelypositives to that.
I, I've met a lot of really great peopleand as someone who grew up without
knowing anyone with type one, it'sbeen really nice to like continue to
(11:59):
expand that community and hear aboutother people's journeys and you can
just always relate on a level thatyou'll never relate to anyone else on.
Like they'll just never fully understand.
So I do really love that piece of it.
But you know, I think one big thingfor me has been, like as I try to
grow Glow's social media presence,the algorithm is now shoving anything
(12:21):
T 1D related back in my face.
And it, it can be a lot.
And there's a lot of people out there whoare posting, you know, 98% time in range
while eating bagels and pizza all day.
And everything's, everything's perfect.
And it's hard not to always wanna compareyourself and wonder what am I doing wrong?
And I think for me it's been helpfulto find and follow people on social
(12:43):
media who normalize a bad day and sharemore of like the realities of type one.
And I also think humor is, is alot of time the best medicine.
And there's some type one comediansout there that I follow now that I just
find so relieving to go and see theirstandup routine about type one diabetes.
So that's been like a reallynice new, uh, introduction into
(13:07):
my life through all of this and
Gary (13:09):
love the humor aspect.
Yeah, I think that it makes everythingmore bearable and easier to deal with.
You know, as a clinical team, we, wedo these food challenges, you know,
we'll pick some weird, exotic foodand everyone on our team consumes
it and sees, you know, how we canmanage our blood sugar with it.
We get a good laugh.
Some of us, our glucosespikes, the kingdom come.
(13:32):
Other times it.
Plummets to the depths of the earthand yeah, we, we just, we just have,
try to have fun with that kind of stuffand not, not take it so seriously.
Natalie (13:40):
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, that's definitely what helps.
Gary (13:43):
Justin, you, you've, you've been, you lost your marbles a long time ago,
but from a diabetes work and diabetes lifestandpoint, how do you strike the balance?
Justin (13:52):
I have a lot of boundaries when it comes to like my media
consumption, because I spend all daycreating a media for people to consume.
I spend, you know, I spend myentire day creating content about
diabetes, editing stories aboutdiabetes or related to diabetes,
writing articles about diabetes tech.
Right.
(14:13):
The last thing I wanna do after like myworkday is anything diabetes related.
So I don't go on social media, I don'tgo on my diabetes account at least,
like I have a personal one, but I don't.
Like that algorithm doesn'thave diabetes content.
I'm gonna keep it that way.
I only use like social media for diabetes,social media, for work to upload, and
(14:34):
then sometimes go through it and justkind of like see what people are doing.
'cause I think it's importantto see what's trending and, and
what people are talking about.
But I limit my use a lot becauseI just, I, I do enough of it.
And then podcast wise, no offense toyou, the last thing I want to do after my
workday is listen to a diabetes podcast.
So, um, I listen to other podcastsabout video games and the news and,
(14:58):
and anything that's not diabetes.
Even when I see my podcast come upon my stream, I'm like, no, I cannot
listen because I've already listenedto it probably twice at that point
in reviews, so I'm like, no, I'mnot listening to this right now.
Sometimes I'll just play itand then be like, okay, cool.
I got the download.
Gary (15:13):
All the device companies out there, you know, I'm on a lot of
advisory boards and they always say,you know, nobody's using our software.
No one's doing their data analysis, and I,
I have to sit and explain to them,listen, we are people who are living
with this insidious disease 24/7.
The last thing we wanna do inour free time is like, Hey, let's
go look at our glucose data.
(15:33):
You know, that that's notthe kind of thing we're into.
Uh, we, when we're not, dealingwith our diabetes, we need to get
away from it a little bit and not,not, uh, spend even more time on it.
Justin (15:43):
Yeah.
Another big thing that I changedin my lifestyle, and this is
unrelated to my work, is, um, Istopped wearing my Apple Watch.
'cause I found that having theconstant connection to my CGM
levels and not just the number orthe, the, the alerts are great.
Like I, I need the alerts, but being ableto open up the CGM app on my watch and see
like where my levels are trending, like.
(16:05):
It's TMI for me, like I don'tneed to worry about something
until there's an alert.
So that's been one way I've removeddiabetes from my mental capacity
is like, only tackle it when I havean actual alert, not, you know.
Gary (16:21):
Yeah.
Naomi, do you, do you use an Apple watch?
Do you have the data goingconstantly in your face?
Natalie (16:25):
I do.
Honestly, I kind of, I, I totally hearyou, but I kind of like having the
watch, just so I can look at it quickly.
I see the number and move on versus theopening of the app and then, I don't
know, it helps me a little bit, butI, it, it probably would feel like a
release to remove it and see the impact
it's really having, you know,
Justin (16:46):
It started of as an experiment for me.
Natalie (16:48):
Yeah.
Gary (16:49):
Some people can't relax unless they have that information.
Other people can't relax unlessthey get away from the information.
So it's all types.
Natalie (16:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, it kind of, it feelslike checking the time.
I'm just like, oh yeah, two 30and my blood sugar's also 230.
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And now back to our program.
Justin has, has having type one, uh,that personal connection, has that proved
(17:48):
beneficial in developing your business?
Justin (17:51):
Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't think I ever would've done this
without having type one diabetes.
I'd still be creatingvideos about tech devices.
Being able to not only talk about I, Italk a lot about the tech, but I also
talk about that personal experienceusing the technology and the emotions
that come from a low or a high, orthe stress of different situations.
(18:14):
So it's something that people are ableto connect to, and I don't think that
I would have the success that I have
without being someone, someonecan, you know, feel connected to,
feel less alone, less isolated.
Gary (18:26):
Naomi, I imagine that developing your product line was
not just you wake up, you call amanufacturer and you're out the door.
Yeah.
There had to be a thousand steps and alot of steps backwards along the way too.
Do you find that havingtype one in some way proved
beneficial in that whole process?
Natalie (18:45):
Yeah, totally.
I mean, I feel like type one diabeteshas given me the ability to be extremely
resilient and you know, you constantlyhave to roll with the punches.
There'll be days you have a greatblood sugar day, and then days where
it totally goes sideways, even thoughyou do the exact same thing both
days, and it can be unexplainableand just like come out of nowhere.
So it's directly relatableto so many parts of life, but
(19:09):
especially in starting a business.
I feel like I'm really good attaking setbacks and turning 'em
into lessons or just not letting itget me down or hold me back at all.
And just kind of rolling withthe punches in that way I think
is just straight, comes straightfrom my type one diabetes life.
And I also think it's made me anincredible multitasker, which has proved
(19:30):
to be extremely helpful with managing anever-growing to-do list with the business.
Really get overwhelmed very easily and I'mable to kinda stay organized and you know.
I constantly have to wear allthese different types of hats
and jump in different rolesand keep on top of everything.
And I feel like it's really equipped me tobe good at doing that because I've already
(19:52):
been doing, you know, the full-timejob of an organ for the past 20 years.
So it's helpful to just kind ofstay on top of everything and
be just an all time multitasker.
Gary (20:02):
That really resonates with me.
The, the, the multitasking aspect of it.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's, it's one thing to workwith patients, but I also have a business
to manage and run and personnel tosupervise and hire and fire and develop
and all this other stuff, and budgetsto, yeah, it's a lot of multitasking.
That goes into this.
When you talk about taking, sometimesthat taking steps backwards, I'm
(20:24):
curious, were there flavors of yourgummies that you tried and just
found Uhuh, we are not doing this?
Natalie (20:32):
I kind of, I dabbled with a lot of different flavors.
At first, like I thought I was havingthese incredible ideas of like...
Well, maybe people wanna flavorless gummy because you don't always
wanna feel like you're eating candyall the time when you, when you're
low, like at work or something.
I tried to flavorless gummy and Iwas like, this is a little weird.
So maybe we'll go back tothe, to the fruit flavor.
(20:52):
It was hard to pick which ones Iwanted to launch with and I did
like a, a couple studies to seewhat were supposedly most popular.
But I wanna continue to like come upwith fun flavors, hear what people want.
I would say like another big, bigchallenge, which I wasn't totally
prepared for, was just getting dextrose
into a gummy format, which maybe is whythey don't really exist outside of this.
(21:16):
But it's hard for like the ingredients youneed in a gummy to mix with the dextrose.
And that proved to be kind of likeone of the biggest challenges for me
earlier on and took months and monthsof formulation to get it figured out.
But we, luckily figured it outand, and hopefully got some flavors
people like along the way as well.
Gary (21:35):
Did you have to warp the laws of chemistry and physics
to get these gummies created?
Natalie (21:39):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, something like that.
Gary (21:42):
So Justin, are, is there a flavor that you'd like to see?
Justin (21:45):
Guava?
Natalie (21:46):
Ooh,
Justin (21:46):
when I was in Mexico City, there were guava,
these guava rolls werejust freaking amazing.
So,
Natalie (21:51):
Okay.
I'll write that down.
Gary (21:53):
I had some ideas for you.
One is peppermint.
I've never seen mint flavored tablets.
Maybe it's 'cause dextrose iskind of sour to begin with, but
Natalie (22:02):
yeah.
Yeah.
I wanna try like some more outthere flavors and also just not
super traditional candy flavors incase that's not what people want.
Maybe like a, a greentea, something like that.
Gary (22:15):
Movie theater popcorn flavor.
Yeah, I would like that barbecue.
Natalie (22:21):
Yeah, we're getting into
Gary (22:22):
Cherry cola.
Natalie (22:23):
Like the Harry Potter.
Do you remember those HarryPotter candies Where... ear waxed?
Yeah.
Anything?
Gary (22:29):
Well, not the ear wax.
Naomi, what are some of thebiggest challenges you faced in
bringing your product to market?
Natalie (22:38):
I would say besides just like the actual formulation, a big piece of it
was specifically, I think, helping peoplealong the lines of like the education
piece where there are different types ofsugars and different types of sugars have
different impacts on your blood sugarand it can sometimes be hard to like
perfectly toe the line between comingacross as like a preachy, know-it-all
(23:00):
while also giving them enough informationso that the message does kind of sink in.
And I'm kind of realizing more and morethat everyone's experience and foundation
of knowledge with type one is different.
You have to be able to speak to apretty niche market where, where
also each person in that market hasa completely different experience.
(23:21):
And that can be challenging at times.
And just the education piece in all of,at least for what I'm doing in in terms of
why this is a good solution for low bloodsugar and why it's different than a candy
option, which is a different type of sugarand how that will rise your blood sugar in
different speeds anddifferent peaks and all that.
So it, it, I found, I'll have to tailorit to the audience I'm speaking to.
(23:45):
Obviously, like more newly diagnosedpeople are looking for more information,
whereas people who have had it fora long time, you don't wanna like
jam all this down their throatsand then be like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Like.
I've had this for longer than you, like,I, I know what you're talking about.
So I think it's just being able tobe flexible with who you're talking
to, while also still getting...
Gary (24:05):
there's so much misinformation out there about
how to deal with low blood sugars.
People are choosing the wrong kindof foods, the wrong quantities.
They're just waiting for theirCGM to get to normal and they keep
eating until that happens, right?
Yeah.
It does take a lot of, ittakes a lot of reeducation.
To get people to do things right.
(24:26):
Justin, are there any spec particularchallenges you faced in developing.
DiabeTech.
Justin (24:31):
Yeah.
I think that in many ways it's a, I mean,I have some people editing for me, but
I'm very, it's kind of like a one manband in the sense that I'm the one that's
growing the business and putting out allthis content, and I think it's so easy
for me to get wrapped up in that and justpush, push, push out content, but then not
like take a minute to just look at like,everything and look at the data and, and
(24:55):
figure out what's working and what's not.
I think I could be doing that moreoften and just see if areas that I'm
spending my time are, are necessary.
Or can I kill two birds with one stone?
Oh, I don't wanna kill a birds.
That's so sad.
Is that what it is?
I don't wanna kill a bird.
The hardest thing is me gettingso wrapped up in what I'm doing
and not taking the time to, toreflect on how areas are performing.
(25:19):
Its one thing that I constantlystruggle with, but, but it's
so important to do that.
Gary (25:24):
Well, as someone who I don't, I don't pretend to know squat when
it comes to the business side ofpodcasting, how does a podcast make money?
How do you make ends meet?
Justin (25:33):
Advertising is, or, or sponsored episodes, I guess you can have in
ingrained ads that are your, you thatplay well, that you know, you get like
a sponsor of, of the show directly.
And then the other way isthrough just like ads that are
played through the platformer.
So like YouTube ads, YouTube will insertads as well through their partner program.
Gary (25:58):
So you just can't, can't survive on, you can't survive purely on gummy samples
and infusion sets and call it a day.
Product samples.
Justin (26:06):
No, no, no.
Ad money.
Gary (26:09):
Ad money.
I hear you.
So Justin, is there any advice that youwould give to anyone in the diabetes world
who's looking to start their own business?
Justin (26:18):
I think what I like about the way I went was that
it was more of a side project.
It never felt like this huge to do.
It was never like, oh my goodness, Ihave like these long list of things.
It was kind of just like, oh, letme just and, and it, and it works
differently with every business, right?
But I think in many ways you can continueto do what you're doing, have your
full-time job or whatever that is, andbrainstorm, put one thing out, ask for
(26:42):
feedback and, and grow in that way.
That's kind of how I started.
I had a TikTok at first where I put onevideo up and it never felt like this
overwhelming thing where in the pastprojects I had done, I would give myself
10 videos to make and then I'd freak out.
Now it was like, lemme just.
Let me put up a video.
Oh, next week one, another video,like one video a week, and then, oh,
(27:02):
let me have an, an Instagram, right?
Let me get a YouTube channel.
It, it was a slow build and I guessI, I was able to reflect more,
you know, when I was doing less.
I think it's about just doing it, butdoing it slowly and in a way that's
not overwhelming you because it's,you're not gonna get something done
if you have, if you give yourselfan entire plate of things to do.
(27:24):
It's just kind of doing littlethings at a time, seeing what works,
what doesn't work, and growingat a pace that works for you.
And then maybe it can take over whatyou're doing at that at that time.
Gary (27:35):
Great advice.
Naomi, what would your advice beto anyone thinking of starting
a business in in this space.
Natalie (27:41):
I have a few things.
I actually recently was doing thiskind of exercise for something else,
so I, I had a little bit of a list,but I would say... Do a market study
early to kind of prove out your thesis.
Like I felt pretty confident that therewere pain points with low blood sugar
and I, I didn't know if I necessarilyneeded to run that to the ground, but
(28:03):
I did a market study just of like 80people in my network that had type
one, and it was incredibly helpful.
And you'll always learnsomething from asking
open ended questions and, and whoknows what you could get back from it.
I found that really helpful.
I would say also lean into free resources.
I did a lot of, Hey, you know,I'm gonna email these lawyers.
(28:25):
Can I get on a quick 30 minuteconsultation call and ask my key
questions and try and get some stuffout of them before going and spending
like a massive amount on legal bills?
Because all of those types of calls canobviously add up really quickly, and
there are ways to get free resourcesearly on to give you just enough
to make bigger decisions that willhave a pretty big economic impact.
(28:48):
Chat GPT relatively free and has been amassive help to me and from, you know,
things that I never, always would'veguessed it would be helpful with, but
definitely a good resource and just
something to easily bounceideas off of, honestly
Gary (29:04):
and always available.
I went to the small businessadministration early on in mm-hmm
developing my practice and theysent me some experienced business
people to give me some advice.
Most of them were about 30or 40 years older than me.
Yeah.
And they were laughing at howI was doing my bookkeeping.
It was all on paper.
And when some guy twice your age tellsyou you're not tech savvy enough.
(29:28):
Yeah.
You take that to heart.
You know, the Wharton School ofBusiness, uh, I was able to go to,
they do small business consultingand now I've got an intern.
She has us doing a, it'scalled a SWOT analysis.
Mm-hmm.
And we're using that to try to, youknow, figure out how to position
our practice in the marketplace.
Yeah.
So I hear you loud and clear.
Yeah.
A lot of good resources out there.
Natalie (29:49):
Yeah, totally.
And, um.
And you can get a lot out of them.
And even in like interns as you say, likeyou know, you have free intern or a unpaid
internship or just like having peoplehelp out for the summer or whatever.
I think goes a long way, especiallywhen you're just starting out early.
And then the last one I was gonna say,which I, someone else told me, is that
(30:11):
take like mistakes as a blessing andor like a gift and learn from them and
know that you'll never make them again.
There will be setbacks.
So just take them as they come.
Learn from 'em and, and keep going.
Gary (30:22):
Yeah.
I always thought thatwas such a pile of crap.
You know, your mistakesare your greatest asset.
And then one of my heroes from movie fame,Yoda, he has this great quote that the
quote is The greatest teacher failure is.
Natalie (30:34):
Yeah, exactly.
Gary (30:35):
That's a lot to learn from that.
If Yoda buys in, Hey,maybe I'll buy into, right?
Yeah.
So, we, we are part of a community,and I think we can also draw
on each other's expertise.
You can speak with other peoplewho have small businesses already,
whether they've succeeded or not,you can learn a lot from them.
Uh, I, I do that now with, uh, nursesand dieticians and physicians that are
(30:58):
trying to start up their own practicesand talking to them about what's
worked and what hasn't worked for me.
Again, you learn a lot more from thefailures than you do from the successes.
It keeps them from investing theirresources in all the wrong places.
Natalie (31:12):
Mm-hmm.
Gary (31:12):
But yeah, we are a community.
I think that's one of the specialthings about this Type one space is
people are always willing to helpeach other and support each other.
I even find direct competitors in thisspace are willing to do that because
it's for the good of, of people withdiabetes and it's good for all of
the quality of life of all of us.
And like you both said, it's, you know,it's quality of life that really matters.
(31:34):
That's why we're doing what we do.
You made good,
both of you been mentioned about theimportance of balance in life and
trying not to become too diabetescentric and setting boundaries so
that that's less likely to happen.
I think that's, that'sa brilliant suggestion.
Having diabetes in and of itself givesus some very unique skills and abilities.
It's not just the connections we makeand the networking we do, but the
(31:57):
resilience that we develop, the abilityto, to multitask and, and the passion.
I, I think that we have for the, youknow, treating this, this condition
and, and for the people that wecare about who also suffer from it.
Uh, and as far as the challengesgo, small businesses, it's
difficult to be successful.
You know, consider starting it out as aside hustle, a side business, not your
(32:21):
main thing, where you're dependent on it.
You know, take your time with it.
Utilize the, the resourcesthat are out there.
As a way to, to ultimately succeed.
You know, whether you're making, you know,barbecue glucose tabs or creating a whole
new social media outlet or, you know,creating the next great adhesive remover,
you know, there's always,there's always opportunities.
(32:42):
So I wanna thank both of you very muchfor taking your valuable time and taking
your time to talk more about diabetesrelated stuff, which I know is not the
thing you wanna be doing at this verymoment, but it's gonna be helpful I think
to a lot of, uh, a lot of our podcastlisteners and our friends out there.
Naomi and Justin, thank you so much.
(33:04):
And the information about, uh, glowGlucose gummies, as well as DiabeTech
will be up in our show notes.
So I wanna remind everybody tokeep thinking like a pancreas.
I'm Gary Scheiner.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don'tforget to like, follow or subscribe
on your favorite podcast app.
Think Like a Pancreas the podcast isbrought to you by Integrated Diabetes
(33:27):
Services where experience meets expertise,passion meets compassion, and diabetes
care is personal because we live it too.
Our team of clinicians all livingwith type one diabetes understands
the challenges firsthand.
We're here to help no matterwhere you are in the world.
From glucose management to self-carestrategies, the latest tech
(33:49):
sports and exercise, weight loss,type one pregnancy and emotional
wellbeing, we've got you covered.
We offer consultations inEnglish and Spanish via phone,
video, chat, email and text.
Wanna learn more?
Visit integrated diabetes.com oremail info@integrateddiabetes.com
(34:10):
to schedule a consultation.
On behalf of Think Likea Pancreas, the podcast.
I'm Gary Scheiner.
Wishing you a fantastic week ahead,and don't forget to think like a
pancreas.
Welcome to Think Like a Pancreas, the podcast where our goal is to keep
you informed, inspired, and a littleentertained on all things diabetes.
The information contained in thisprogram is based on the experience
and opinions of the IntegratedDiabetes Services clinical team.
Please discuss any changes to yourtreatment plan with your personal
(00:38):
healthcare provider before implementing.
Welcome to Think Like aPancreas, the podcast.
I'm Gary Scheer, your host.
Today we're gonna be discussingentrepreneurism in the diabetes space.
I've always been amazed how manypeople who have a direct connection
to diabetes end up developing itinto a business for themselves.
They've seen everythingfrom adhesive patches to
(01:01):
hypoglycemia treatments to accessoriesand cases, and even media that have
have grown out of, uh, having diabetes.
Heck, I even developed my ownpractice out of having diabetes.
I don't think it would'vehappened otherwise.
I'm, I'm thrilled to be joined bytwo such entrepreneurs in this space,
Justin Eastzer and Naomi Garlick.
(01:23):
So welcome both of you.
I wanna give you each a chance tointroduce yourselves and tell us a
little about your background and yourconnection to diabetes and also about
the business that you've developed.
Naomi, why don't you go first?
Natalie (01:34):
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for having me.
And I'm Naomi.
Uh, a little bit about myself.
I currently live in, uh, New YorkCity, but I grew up outside of Boston
and I was actually born in England,which is where my whole family's from.
But unfortunately, I couldn't hang onto myaccent and otherwise I sound much smarter
right now, but I was diagnosed with, uh,type one diabetes at 12 years old, so I
(01:58):
just had my 20th anniversary in December.
And I guess to celebrate, I, Irecently launched my company, which
is called Glow, uh, and my ultimategoal for Glow is to become kind of
like a consumer brand dedicated to.
Improving daily management of typeone diabetes, so anything you can't
get like behind the pharmacy counter,I'd like glow to become sort of like
(02:20):
a one stop shop for those needs.
And our first product are glowgummies, which are glucose
gummies for low blood sugar.
There are four grams of dextrose basedcarbs per gummy, which helps treat a
low in a quick and controllable way.
They're fast acting and they'rehealthier, tastier, more convenient
alternative to the sort of traditionalhypo treatments like candy juice
(02:41):
and the infamous glucose tablets.
So yeah, they taste delicious.
I promise.
I'm not just biased.
And the goal is to make treating lows.
No matter who you are or whereyou are or what you're doing,
Gary (02:53):
you were kind enough to send us some samples.
You know what these reminded me of?
There's a candy I used to get atthe movies as a kid called Chuckles.
Natalie (03:02):
Oh my God.
Gary (03:02):
They got these jelly candies with sugar on 'em.
Natalie (03:05):
Yeah,
Gary (03:06):
they taste just like that.
Natalie (03:08):
Perfect.
Gary (03:08):
But these are smaller, uh, and you sell them in in bottles.
But I really like these 12 packs.
Of the gummies and the fact that you canzip 'em closed after you've taken a few
Natalie (03:21):
Yeah.
Gary (03:22):
Is really nice.
Natalie (03:23):
Yeah.
Gary (03:23):
And you know, they're flat, they're easy to carry.
I can tell from the look onJustin's face, he's like, yeah
where have you been all my life.
Natalie (03:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wanted to have like a few differentpackaging options and definitely
one that's perfect for on the go.
Like you can throw it in a smallpurse if that's helpful or your
pants pocket or whatever it is.
And they're resealable so youcan, you know, you don't have to
use 'em all at once or whatever.
But yeah, we're, we tried to hit all thepain points and, and get everyone what
(03:54):
they were looking for in a solution.
So I tried to be really thoughtful aboutlike everything that I put into it.
And they're also HSA and FSAeligible as well, which is a nice
perk if you have that, um, inyour insurance benefits as well.
Gary (04:07):
That is neat.
And the flavor, what are the flavors?
Natalie (04:10):
We have strawberry mixed berry, which is my personal
favorite and orange, uh, right now.
And you can buy 'emonline@atglowgummies.com.
And yeah, they come in two packagingand three flavors, and you can get
like a. We'll do like a subscribeand save model and things like that
similar to like how you see on Amazonand you can get like a variety pack.
(04:31):
So two of each of the bags of eachflavor and you know, test out which one
you like the best and go from there.
Gary (04:37):
Yeah, we'll make sure the link is on our show notes so people can go to
your website and uh, give them a try.
Thank you.
So they're not chuckles,they are glow gummies.
They really, they're made ofdextrous, they really do the job well.
So shifting from a, a productbased business to more of a
service media type business.
Uh, Justin, tell us aboutyourself and about tech..
Justin (05:00):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, thank you for having me on the show.
You've come on my show a few times andit's cool to be on the, the other end.
So what, I think it was fouryears ago that I was diagnosed
with Type one diabetes.
At the time I was a tech YouTuber, soI was reviewing products for smart home
vr, ar, wearables, health trackers.
And so that was on YouTube.
(05:21):
And at that time I was feeling prettyill and I, I got diagnosed by a doctor.
He was like, you have diabetes.
I was like, okay, what does that mean?
And he didn't really tell me much, justsent me on my way and I felt really lost.
And so eventually he had mestart like, testing my blood
sugar or I got a new doctor.
He had me testing my blood sugar.
I was, um, given long acting insulin,I was making these videos on TikTok.
(05:44):
I was like, this is, I was, I thoughtit was cool that my blood glucose
monitor sent readings to my phone.
I was like, I wannamake a video about that.
So I put that up on TikTok.
I was like, I'm 350 right now.
Is that high?
And I started, you know, makingvideos about taking long acting
insulin for the first time.
And the community on TikTokfound my videos that the diabetes
community and they were like, youdo not like have type two diabetes.
(06:07):
'cause that's what he was treating me for.
He was giving me metformin andall that and so they were like,
you need to go get tested.
You need the auto antibody test,you need to get a CGM and a pump
and an endo, all this stuff.
Um, after a few of my videos likereally blew up from all these
comments, I was like, okay, I needto do what these people are saying.
So I went and got testedand they were right.
I had type 1.5 or LADA, whichis treated just like type one.
(06:30):
And so, it kind of inspired me to continuecreating content as I was learning
about the disease and going to an endoor a diabetes educator appointment,
and taking those lessons learned andjust kind of giving them away for free
every time I had a new experience,which there are many of those, right?
Like your first low during a workout.
You're stubborn high, all this stuff.
(06:52):
I started making videos aboutall of these experiences.
Gary (06:56):
First time you binge after you've had a low and
eaten like the whole kitchen.
Justin (07:00):
Oh my goodness.
Those were scary moments.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
So I would, I was talkingabout that was video.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I kept putting that, thatstuff out and it resonated with people.
And it was a side projectat first, and then after.
Maybe a couple years of doing it for fun,it just kind of became my, my nine to
five or, well, I don't work nine to five.
(07:20):
I work whenever, but now I have apodcast, YouTube channel, social
pages, and a blog and newsletter.
Gary (07:27):
And you, with DiabeTech, you have, uh I mean, you've built a business
out of this and you could have gone alot of different routes in the media
space and the social media space.
What made you decide specificallyto develop a business
around type one diabetes?
Justin (07:43):
Well, I think what I realized during this was
how strong the community was.
And before that, when I was doingall these tech videos, I never
really built that foundation.
I think community really is what powersmost things, especially social media
content is the community behind it.
And everyone is just like talkingwith each other in the comments.
(08:04):
Like, I don't even have to say anything
'cause they're, they'rekeeping each other busy.
And I also just like was getting all ofthese messages and I continued to get
messages of helping people get diagnosed.
People who thought they had typetwo and went and got type one 'cause
they saw a video I was talking about.
Or people who feel empowered to talk totheir doctor about the pumps they know
are available to them rather than just thepump that their doctor tells them to get.
(08:28):
Parents who feel like their childrenwill never live a fulfilling life.
Seeing my videos in a speedo at the beachrunning around, playing volleyball, right?
Like something so little, this smallfragment of my life that I can just
put down, you know, on social orwherever and, and have people see
it and, and help them like it, it'sbeen so meaningful and continues to
(08:49):
be, which is why I continue to do it.
Gary (08:52):
And no, Naomi, and you, you could have gone into the breakneck world of food
additives or who knows what else, what.
Kind of impelled you into abusiness in the type one space?
Natalie (09:03):
Yeah, I mean, a lot of what Justin said also
definitely resonates with me.
But I mean, having type one for20 years, I've really gone through
a lot of ups and downs with it.
And I was diagnosed at 12 years old, whichwas a horrible age to be different in any
way, let alone with something like this.
And so I was, initially, I waspretty ashamed of having a disease
(09:25):
and that I had never heard of beforeand I knew no one else with it.
And it took me a long time to comeout the other side of that and
be confident and open about it.
Managing diabetes is a 24/7 responsibilitythat affects every aspect of life.
And I felt like despite how big of aburden it can be, a lot of our kind
of day-to-day needs are overlookedand underserved because of our size is
(09:49):
relatively small, uh, for some of thesebig companies to really care about.
So I felt like a lot of the time,the solutions that are made for
us more so focus on like the basicfunctionality and overlook some of the
real world usability and comfort andaesthetics and that dynamic can lead
to stigma and reduce confidence and
(10:10):
that causes people like difficultiesin just maintaining consistent
self-care that we really do need.
So I just wanted to build somethingthat creates products for like the
daily management in a way that feels.
More like real solutions than justlike additional chores to our already
really long list of stuff we have to do.
And by doing that, I think it canempower people with type one to feel
(10:32):
more confident in their daily routines toimprove the quality of life while we kinda
wait for a cure that I feel like we'realways promised is, is five years away.
But in the meantime, I'd like to do whatI can to help people, especially those
younger people who are just diagnosedand feeling really overwhelmed, just
feel more comfortable in their own skin.
Gary (10:53):
Daily quality of life matters.
Mm-hmm.
It's something I have to remindmy patients all the time.
We manage diabetes to improveour quality of life Now.
And down the road.
And if, uh, your quality of lifeis suffering because of what you
have to do to manage your diabetes,you know, you're missing the point.
So yeah, we do need betterproducts, better services, better
(11:14):
support, more information to livea quality life day in and day out.
And since I started my practice, I,I spend, you know, most of my day
helping my patients with their diabetes.
And then I gotta gohome and tend to my own.
So I'll just lay it out there.
Naomi, how do you keep going fromgoing batshit crazy over diabetes, just
dealing with it all the time, both froma business and a personal standpoint?
Natalie (11:36):
Yeah, it is.
It's a really good question, andit's something I wish I had thought
of at the beginning of all of this,honestly 'cause I feel like it kind
of just hit me one day and I waslike, wow, I am just T 1D all day.
And it's, it's a lot.
I mean, there's definitelypositives to that.
I, I've met a lot of really great peopleand as someone who grew up without
knowing anyone with type one, it'sbeen really nice to like continue to
(11:59):
expand that community and hear aboutother people's journeys and you can
just always relate on a level thatyou'll never relate to anyone else on.
Like they'll just never fully understand.
So I do really love that piece of it.
But you know, I think one big thingfor me has been, like as I try to
grow Glow's social media presence,the algorithm is now shoving anything
(12:21):
T 1D related back in my face.
And it, it can be a lot.
And there's a lot of people out there whoare posting, you know, 98% time in range
while eating bagels and pizza all day.
And everything's, everything's perfect.
And it's hard not to always wanna compareyourself and wonder what am I doing wrong?
And I think for me it's been helpfulto find and follow people on social
(12:43):
media who normalize a bad day and sharemore of like the realities of type one.
And I also think humor is, is alot of time the best medicine.
And there's some type one comediansout there that I follow now that I just
find so relieving to go and see theirstandup routine about type one diabetes.
So that's been like a reallynice new, uh, introduction into
(13:07):
my life through all of this and
Gary (13:09):
love the humor aspect.
Yeah, I think that it makes everythingmore bearable and easier to deal with.
You know, as a clinical team, we, wedo these food challenges, you know,
we'll pick some weird, exotic foodand everyone on our team consumes
it and sees, you know, how we canmanage our blood sugar with it.
We get a good laugh.
Some of us, our glucosespikes, the kingdom come.
(13:32):
Other times it.
Plummets to the depths of the earthand yeah, we, we just, we just have,
try to have fun with that kind of stuffand not, not take it so seriously.
Natalie (13:40):
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, that's definitely what helps.
Gary (13:43):
Justin, you, you've, you've been, you lost your marbles a long time ago,
but from a diabetes work and diabetes lifestandpoint, how do you strike the balance?
Justin (13:52):
I have a lot of boundaries when it comes to like my media
consumption, because I spend all daycreating a media for people to consume.
I spend, you know, I spend myentire day creating content about
diabetes, editing stories aboutdiabetes or related to diabetes,
writing articles about diabetes tech.
Right.
(14:13):
The last thing I wanna do after like myworkday is anything diabetes related.
So I don't go on social media, I don'tgo on my diabetes account at least,
like I have a personal one, but I don't.
Like that algorithm doesn'thave diabetes content.
I'm gonna keep it that way.
I only use like social media for diabetes,social media, for work to upload, and
(14:34):
then sometimes go through it and justkind of like see what people are doing.
'cause I think it's importantto see what's trending and, and
what people are talking about.
But I limit my use a lot becauseI just, I, I do enough of it.
And then podcast wise, no offense toyou, the last thing I want to do after my
workday is listen to a diabetes podcast.
So, um, I listen to other podcastsabout video games and the news and,
(14:58):
and anything that's not diabetes.
Even when I see my podcast come upon my stream, I'm like, no, I cannot
listen because I've already listenedto it probably twice at that point
in reviews, so I'm like, no, I'mnot listening to this right now.
Sometimes I'll just play itand then be like, okay, cool.
I got the download.
Gary (15:13):
All the device companies out there, you know, I'm on a lot of
advisory boards and they always say,you know, nobody's using our software.
No one's doing their data analysis, and I,
I have to sit and explain to them,listen, we are people who are living
with this insidious disease 24/7.
The last thing we wanna do inour free time is like, Hey, let's
go look at our glucose data.
(15:33):
You know, that that's notthe kind of thing we're into.
Uh, we, when we're not, dealingwith our diabetes, we need to get
away from it a little bit and not,not, uh, spend even more time on it.
Justin (15:43):
Yeah.
Another big thing that I changedin my lifestyle, and this is
unrelated to my work, is, um, Istopped wearing my Apple Watch.
'cause I found that having theconstant connection to my CGM
levels and not just the number orthe, the, the alerts are great.
Like I, I need the alerts, but being ableto open up the CGM app on my watch and see
like where my levels are trending, like.
(16:05):
It's TMI for me, like I don'tneed to worry about something
until there's an alert.
So that's been one way I've removeddiabetes from my mental capacity
is like, only tackle it when I havean actual alert, not, you know.
Gary (16:21):
Yeah.
Naomi, do you, do you use an Apple watch?
Do you have the data goingconstantly in your face?
Natalie (16:25):
I do.
Honestly, I kind of, I, I totally hearyou, but I kind of like having the
watch, just so I can look at it quickly.
I see the number and move on versus theopening of the app and then, I don't
know, it helps me a little bit, butI, it, it probably would feel like a
release to remove it and see the impact
it's really having, you know,
Justin (16:46):
It started of as an experiment for me.
Natalie (16:48):
Yeah.
Gary (16:49):
Some people can't relax unless they have that information.
Other people can't relax unlessthey get away from the information.
So it's all types.
Natalie (16:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, it kind of, it feelslike checking the time.
I'm just like, oh yeah, two 30and my blood sugar's also 230.
Gary (17:03):
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Justin has, has having type one, uh,that personal connection, has that proved
(17:48):
beneficial in developing your business?
Justin (17:51):
Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't think I ever would've done this
without having type one diabetes.
I'd still be creatingvideos about tech devices.
Being able to not only talk about I, Italk a lot about the tech, but I also
talk about that personal experienceusing the technology and the emotions
that come from a low or a high, orthe stress of different situations.
(18:14):
So it's something that people are ableto connect to, and I don't think that
I would have the success that I have
without being someone, someonecan, you know, feel connected to,
feel less alone, less isolated.
Gary (18:26):
Naomi, I imagine that developing your product line was
not just you wake up, you call amanufacturer and you're out the door.
Yeah.
There had to be a thousand steps and alot of steps backwards along the way too.
Do you find that havingtype one in some way proved
beneficial in that whole process?
Natalie (18:45):
Yeah, totally.
I mean, I feel like type one diabeteshas given me the ability to be extremely
resilient and you know, you constantlyhave to roll with the punches.
There'll be days you have a greatblood sugar day, and then days where
it totally goes sideways, even thoughyou do the exact same thing both
days, and it can be unexplainableand just like come out of nowhere.
So it's directly relatableto so many parts of life, but
(19:09):
especially in starting a business.
I feel like I'm really good attaking setbacks and turning 'em
into lessons or just not letting itget me down or hold me back at all.
And just kind of rolling withthe punches in that way I think
is just straight, comes straightfrom my type one diabetes life.
And I also think it's made me anincredible multitasker, which has proved
(19:30):
to be extremely helpful with managing anever-growing to-do list with the business.
Really get overwhelmed very easily and I'mable to kinda stay organized and you know.
I constantly have to wear allthese different types of hats
and jump in different rolesand keep on top of everything.
And I feel like it's really equipped me tobe good at doing that because I've already
(19:52):
been doing, you know, the full-timejob of an organ for the past 20 years.
So it's helpful to just kind ofstay on top of everything and
be just an all time multitasker.
Gary (20:02):
That really resonates with me.
The, the, the multitasking aspect of it.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's, it's one thing to workwith patients, but I also have a business
to manage and run and personnel tosupervise and hire and fire and develop
and all this other stuff, and budgetsto, yeah, it's a lot of multitasking.
That goes into this.
When you talk about taking, sometimesthat taking steps backwards, I'm
(20:24):
curious, were there flavors of yourgummies that you tried and just
found Uhuh, we are not doing this?
Natalie (20:32):
I kind of, I dabbled with a lot of different flavors.
At first, like I thought I was havingthese incredible ideas of like...
Well, maybe people wanna flavorless gummy because you don't always
wanna feel like you're eating candyall the time when you, when you're
low, like at work or something.
I tried to flavorless gummy and Iwas like, this is a little weird.
So maybe we'll go back tothe, to the fruit flavor.
(20:52):
It was hard to pick which ones Iwanted to launch with and I did
like a, a couple studies to seewhat were supposedly most popular.
But I wanna continue to like come upwith fun flavors, hear what people want.
I would say like another big, bigchallenge, which I wasn't totally
prepared for, was just getting dextrose
into a gummy format, which maybe is whythey don't really exist outside of this.
(21:16):
But it's hard for like the ingredients youneed in a gummy to mix with the dextrose.
And that proved to be kind of likeone of the biggest challenges for me
earlier on and took months and monthsof formulation to get it figured out.
But we, luckily figured it outand, and hopefully got some flavors
people like along the way as well.
Gary (21:35):
Did you have to warp the laws of chemistry and physics
to get these gummies created?
Natalie (21:39):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, something like that.
Gary (21:42):
So Justin, are, is there a flavor that you'd like to see?
Justin (21:45):
Guava?
Natalie (21:46):
Ooh,
Justin (21:46):
when I was in Mexico City, there were guava,
these guava rolls werejust freaking amazing.
So,
Natalie (21:51):
Okay.
I'll write that down.
Gary (21:53):
I had some ideas for you.
One is peppermint.
I've never seen mint flavored tablets.
Maybe it's 'cause dextrose iskind of sour to begin with, but
Natalie (22:02):
yeah.
Yeah.
I wanna try like some more outthere flavors and also just not
super traditional candy flavors incase that's not what people want.
Maybe like a, a greentea, something like that.
Gary (22:15):
Movie theater popcorn flavor.
Yeah, I would like that barbecue.
Natalie (22:21):
Yeah, we're getting into
Gary (22:22):
Cherry cola.
Natalie (22:23):
Like the Harry Potter.
Do you remember those HarryPotter candies Where... ear waxed?
Yeah.
Anything?
Gary (22:29):
Well, not the ear wax.
Naomi, what are some of thebiggest challenges you faced in
bringing your product to market?
Natalie (22:38):
I would say besides just like the actual formulation, a big piece of it
was specifically, I think, helping peoplealong the lines of like the education
piece where there are different types ofsugars and different types of sugars have
different impacts on your blood sugarand it can sometimes be hard to like
perfectly toe the line between comingacross as like a preachy, know-it-all
(23:00):
while also giving them enough informationso that the message does kind of sink in.
And I'm kind of realizing more and morethat everyone's experience and foundation
of knowledge with type one is different.
You have to be able to speak to apretty niche market where, where
also each person in that market hasa completely different experience.
(23:21):
And that can be challenging at times.
And just the education piece in all of,at least for what I'm doing in in terms of
why this is a good solution for low bloodsugar and why it's different than a candy
option, which is a different type of sugarand how that will rise your blood sugar in
different speeds anddifferent peaks and all that.
So it, it, I found, I'll have to tailorit to the audience I'm speaking to.
(23:45):
Obviously, like more newly diagnosedpeople are looking for more information,
whereas people who have had it fora long time, you don't wanna like
jam all this down their throatsand then be like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Like.
I've had this for longer than you, like,I, I know what you're talking about.
So I think it's just being able tobe flexible with who you're talking
to, while also still getting...
Gary (24:05):
there's so much misinformation out there about
how to deal with low blood sugars.
People are choosing the wrong kindof foods, the wrong quantities.
They're just waiting for theirCGM to get to normal and they keep
eating until that happens, right?
Yeah.
It does take a lot of, ittakes a lot of reeducation.
To get people to do things right.
(24:26):
Justin, are there any spec particularchallenges you faced in developing.
DiabeTech.
Justin (24:31):
Yeah.
I think that in many ways it's a, I mean,I have some people editing for me, but
I'm very, it's kind of like a one manband in the sense that I'm the one that's
growing the business and putting out allthis content, and I think it's so easy
for me to get wrapped up in that and justpush, push, push out content, but then not
like take a minute to just look at like,everything and look at the data and, and
(24:55):
figure out what's working and what's not.
I think I could be doing that moreoften and just see if areas that I'm
spending my time are, are necessary.
Or can I kill two birds with one stone?
Oh, I don't wanna kill a birds.
That's so sad.
Is that what it is?
I don't wanna kill a bird.
The hardest thing is me gettingso wrapped up in what I'm doing
and not taking the time to, toreflect on how areas are performing.
(25:19):
Its one thing that I constantlystruggle with, but, but it's
so important to do that.
Gary (25:24):
Well, as someone who I don't, I don't pretend to know squat when
it comes to the business side ofpodcasting, how does a podcast make money?
How do you make ends meet?
Justin (25:33):
Advertising is, or, or sponsored episodes, I guess you can have in
ingrained ads that are your, you thatplay well, that you know, you get like
a sponsor of, of the show directly.
And then the other way isthrough just like ads that are
played through the platformer.
So like YouTube ads, YouTube will insertads as well through their partner program.
Gary (25:58):
So you just can't, can't survive on, you can't survive purely on gummy samples
and infusion sets and call it a day.
Product samples.
Justin (26:06):
No, no, no.
Ad money.
Gary (26:09):
Ad money.
I hear you.
So Justin, is there any advice that youwould give to anyone in the diabetes world
who's looking to start their own business?
Justin (26:18):
I think what I like about the way I went was that
it was more of a side project.
It never felt like this huge to do.
It was never like, oh my goodness, Ihave like these long list of things.
It was kind of just like, oh, letme just and, and it, and it works
differently with every business, right?
But I think in many ways you can continueto do what you're doing, have your
full-time job or whatever that is, andbrainstorm, put one thing out, ask for
(26:42):
feedback and, and grow in that way.
That's kind of how I started.
I had a TikTok at first where I put onevideo up and it never felt like this
overwhelming thing where in the pastprojects I had done, I would give myself
10 videos to make and then I'd freak out.
Now it was like, lemme just.
Let me put up a video.
Oh, next week one, another video,like one video a week, and then, oh,
(27:02):
let me have an, an Instagram, right?
Let me get a YouTube channel.
It, it was a slow build and I guessI, I was able to reflect more,
you know, when I was doing less.
I think it's about just doing it, butdoing it slowly and in a way that's
not overwhelming you because it's,you're not gonna get something done
if you have, if you give yourselfan entire plate of things to do.
(27:24):
It's just kind of doing littlethings at a time, seeing what works,
what doesn't work, and growingat a pace that works for you.
And then maybe it can take over whatyou're doing at that at that time.
Gary (27:35):
Great advice.
Naomi, what would your advice beto anyone thinking of starting
a business in in this space.
Natalie (27:41):
I have a few things.
I actually recently was doing thiskind of exercise for something else,
so I, I had a little bit of a list,but I would say... Do a market study
early to kind of prove out your thesis.
Like I felt pretty confident that therewere pain points with low blood sugar
and I, I didn't know if I necessarilyneeded to run that to the ground, but
(28:03):
I did a market study just of like 80people in my network that had type
one, and it was incredibly helpful.
And you'll always learnsomething from asking
open ended questions and, and whoknows what you could get back from it.
I found that really helpful.
I would say also lean into free resources.
I did a lot of, Hey, you know,I'm gonna email these lawyers.
(28:25):
Can I get on a quick 30 minuteconsultation call and ask my key
questions and try and get some stuffout of them before going and spending
like a massive amount on legal bills?
Because all of those types of calls canobviously add up really quickly, and
there are ways to get free resourcesearly on to give you just enough
to make bigger decisions that willhave a pretty big economic impact.
(28:48):
Chat GPT relatively free and has been amassive help to me and from, you know,
things that I never, always would'veguessed it would be helpful with, but
definitely a good resource and just
something to easily bounceideas off of, honestly
Gary (29:04):
and always available.
I went to the small businessadministration early on in mm-hmm
developing my practice and theysent me some experienced business
people to give me some advice.
Most of them were about 30or 40 years older than me.
Yeah.
And they were laughing at howI was doing my bookkeeping.
It was all on paper.
And when some guy twice your age tellsyou you're not tech savvy enough.
(29:28):
Yeah.
You take that to heart.
You know, the Wharton School ofBusiness, uh, I was able to go to,
they do small business consultingand now I've got an intern.
She has us doing a, it'scalled a SWOT analysis.
Mm-hmm.
And we're using that to try to, youknow, figure out how to position
our practice in the marketplace.
Yeah.
So I hear you loud and clear.
Yeah.
A lot of good resources out there.
Natalie (29:49):
Yeah, totally.
And, um.
And you can get a lot out of them.
And even in like interns as you say, likeyou know, you have free intern or a unpaid
internship or just like having peoplehelp out for the summer or whatever.
I think goes a long way, especiallywhen you're just starting out early.
And then the last one I was gonna say,which I, someone else told me, is that
(30:11):
take like mistakes as a blessing andor like a gift and learn from them and
know that you'll never make them again.
There will be setbacks.
So just take them as they come.
Learn from 'em and, and keep going.
Gary (30:22):
Yeah.
I always thought thatwas such a pile of crap.
You know, your mistakesare your greatest asset.
And then one of my heroes from movie fame,Yoda, he has this great quote that the
quote is The greatest teacher failure is.
Natalie (30:34):
Yeah, exactly.
Gary (30:35):
That's a lot to learn from that.
If Yoda buys in, Hey,maybe I'll buy into, right?
Yeah.
So, we, we are part of a community,and I think we can also draw
on each other's expertise.
You can speak with other peoplewho have small businesses already,
whether they've succeeded or not,you can learn a lot from them.
Uh, I, I do that now with, uh, nursesand dieticians and physicians that are
(30:58):
trying to start up their own practicesand talking to them about what's
worked and what hasn't worked for me.
Again, you learn a lot more from thefailures than you do from the successes.
It keeps them from investing theirresources in all the wrong places.
Natalie (31:12):
Mm-hmm.
Gary (31:12):
But yeah, we are a community.
I think that's one of the specialthings about this Type one space is
people are always willing to helpeach other and support each other.
I even find direct competitors in thisspace are willing to do that because
it's for the good of, of people withdiabetes and it's good for all of
the quality of life of all of us.
And like you both said, it's, you know,it's quality of life that really matters.
(31:34):
That's why we're doing what we do.
You made good,
both of you been mentioned about theimportance of balance in life and
trying not to become too diabetescentric and setting boundaries so
that that's less likely to happen.
I think that's, that'sa brilliant suggestion.
Having diabetes in and of itself givesus some very unique skills and abilities.
It's not just the connections we makeand the networking we do, but the
(31:57):
resilience that we develop, the abilityto, to multitask and, and the passion.
I, I think that we have for the, youknow, treating this, this condition
and, and for the people that wecare about who also suffer from it.
Uh, and as far as the challengesgo, small businesses, it's
difficult to be successful.
You know, consider starting it out as aside hustle, a side business, not your
(32:21):
main thing, where you're dependent on it.
You know, take your time with it.
Utilize the, the resourcesthat are out there.
As a way to, to ultimately succeed.
You know, whether you're making, you know,barbecue glucose tabs or creating a whole
new social media outlet or, you know,creating the next great adhesive remover,
you know, there's always,there's always opportunities.
(32:42):
So I wanna thank both of you very muchfor taking your valuable time and taking
your time to talk more about diabetesrelated stuff, which I know is not the
thing you wanna be doing at this verymoment, but it's gonna be helpful I think
to a lot of, uh, a lot of our podcastlisteners and our friends out there.
Naomi and Justin, thank you so much.
(33:04):
And the information about, uh, glowGlucose gummies, as well as DiabeTech
will be up in our show notes.
So I wanna remind everybody tokeep thinking like a pancreas.
I'm Gary Scheiner.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don'tforget to like, follow or subscribe
on your favorite podcast app.
Think Like a Pancreas the podcast isbrought to you by Integrated Diabetes
(33:27):
Services where experience meets expertise,passion meets compassion, and diabetes
care is personal because we live it too.
Our team of clinicians all livingwith type one diabetes understands
the challenges firsthand.
We're here to help no matterwhere you are in the world.
From glucose management to self-carestrategies, the latest tech
(33:49):
sports and exercise, weight loss,type one pregnancy and emotional
wellbeing, we've got you covered.
We offer consultations inEnglish and Spanish via phone,
video, chat, email and text.
Wanna learn more?
Visit integrated diabetes.com oremail info@integrateddiabetes.com
(34:10):
to schedule a consultation.
On behalf of Think Likea Pancreas, the podcast.
I'm Gary Scheiner.
Wishing you a fantastic week ahead,and don't forget to think like a
pancreas.
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