When you are just starting to take the “healthy route,” walking down the grocery aisle can be overwhelming. Protein bars, energy bars, diet bars, meal-replacement bars, gendered bars, bars for your brain, you name it! You may be wondering if there are any potential benefits to eating these health bars, and the good news is, there definitely are.
Laura Harris, founder and CEO of Greens Gone Wild, introduced a new product to the market. An energy bar that incorporates spinach and various greens into one nutritional bite. We invited her on the show today to talk more about the product.
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Greens On The Go: The Right Mix of Protein, Calories and Flavor with Laura Harris
Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. In case it’s not obvious from my other episodes or if this is the first one you’re listening to, I live in Colorado and Colorado is known for being a pretty active and health-conscious state. I think I’ve seen on multiple occasions, maybe not the latest numbers, that we have the lowest obesity rate in the country and that’s something I’m pretty proud of. Now, my guest today, Laura Harris, recently introduced a new product to the market, a product called Greens Gone Wild, which is an energy bar that incorporates spinach as well as other greens for various health outcomes and I will let Laura describe it herself instead of being in the business of trying to translate someone’s business from their conversations and their website.
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Laura, welcome to the program.
Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here. How’s your day been today?
Day has been pretty good. Weirdly enough, yesterday, I went storm chasing, something I haven’t done in a little while.
Very cool. Where was the storm?
Near the town — between the towns of La Junta and Lamar in southeast Colorado, which is a part of the state that a lot of people don’t think about or go to that often.
That’s so cool.
I actually submitted a picture of inch-and-a-half-sized hail to the Twitter account of the National Weather Service so I did my part in weather verification too.
That’s awesome. Have you been able to submit other photos previously?
Yeah, yeah. All you have to do is @ whichever National Weather Service office’s zone you’re in so if you get hail at your house, @NWSBoulder is our local office and you can — usually I like to put like the hailstone next to an object of known size, like a dime, a quarter, something like that.
That makes sense too because then you really get to see, well, just the magnitude of the size of hail.
Yeah. And the bonus, of course, is that if you’re at your home and then eventually need an insurance claim verified for getting a new roof, that’s your proof right there.
That’s a good call. Now, did you have any spinach packed protein bars with you while you were storm chasing?
So, unfortunately, I did not. I made the mistake of relying on gas station snacks, which meant Chex Mix, and, yeah, I could have been quite a bit healthier. But that’s a great segue for us to talk about these spinach packed protein bars that you introduced to the market. Was it last year or earlier this year?
It was actually the summer of 2019, so June 1st was our first sales day and we did the Colorado Fresh Market circuit plus Sloan’s Lake and it was so exciting, so busy, and we had a lot of great people loving what we were doing.
Explain to us a little bit about these spinach packed protein bars that are sweeping across grocery stores in Colorado now.
I love that.
They taste amazing. They’re super chewy. They don’t get stuck in your teeth. The flavor is outstanding. And we don’t use any fillers, preservatives, no junk, and no natural flavors, which is very important to me.
And so you talk about these artificial ingredients in general, and do most protein bars, because I don’t know if people really pay attention, have these artificial ingredients in it? Most of the bars, like I think of the Clif Bars and all the other stuff that people will pick up for their hikes.
A lot of them have fillers, they’ll have refined sugars, and with Greens Gone Wild, we keep it really simple. When you look at the back of our bar, you’re going to have about 10 ingredients or less. It won’t be something that you get ingredient exhaustion because the print is so fine because there’s so many things that they have to talk about. And added sugars are another big addition to a lot of bars. And to the other bars out on the market that have greens, they’ll typically use kale or spirulina or they’ll put wheatgrass in, all of which are wonderful, but once you put them into a bar, you really run the risk of having a super bitter taste and because that’s just not something that our American palate loves, we like a bit of sweet, you’ve got to add so much fake stuff to get it to taste palatable.
So a lot of these bars, in order to introduce the fiber and all these other desired outcomes, to offset the taste, they introduced these added sugars. Now, I’m proud to show you that I’m drinking water right now, I’ve had struggles before drinking soda, which is high-fructose corn syrup, probably one of the worst things for you, and so when people switch to not consuming, and I’m going to use refined sugars as the example because that’s the one that I heard about and studied the most, what is the difference in outcome for someone, say, going on a hike or going on — my thing is bike riding?
Yeah. So when you have a refined sugar, your body processes it so quickly and, again, I will also say I don’t have a nutrition background, there’s no science right behind this, but it is a lot of the basic stuff that you can find on the web and then also too just when you consume it yourself, a majority of people who eat a refined sugar are going to get a spike in energy but it does not last. You’re going to crash shortly thereafter. Whereas if you eat something like a bowl of blueberries, for instance, you’re going to get energy, it won’t spike, but it processes as it’s supposed to because it’s just the natural sugar from the blueberry itself. With our bars, that’s also what we wanted to make sure we did was one simple sugar that’s going to come from the ingredient, which would be dates or blueberries, depending on if it’s the date — sorry, the blueberry coconut bar or if it’s dates and bananas in our peanut butter banana bar, and because my business partner, who was so fantastic with recipes, he is the chef and the creator, we knew that adding fiber, fats, and protein also adds to that natural sugar and really allows you to just have a 10-mile bike ride that you’re energized for the entire way, not just your on mile 2 or 3 and you’re like, “Man, oh, I’m crashing right now,” or if you were hiking, you get to hike a lot longer without having to take a break, unless it’s just for water or to use the restroom.
I’ve actually seen people put together this profile of energy intake where a simple processed sugar, whatever, is going to have a quick spike and then quick crash, whereas a natural sugar, say, I was talking about eating oranges or apples or something like that, especially if you mix it with some other more complex carbohydrates, is more likely to have a longer, slower burn, it doesn’t spike you quite as high but it lasts a lot longer.
Absolutely, and that’s what we want. If we were to segue quick into why I started this business, it’s I’ve worked in the service industry for such a long time, we don’t get breaks. I relied heavily on bars and you could tell the difference in certain bars where it was closer to natural ingredients, I could have a few bites and I’m sustained for a while, or if it’s one that’s packed with more sugar and I have a few bites and then, all of a sudden, it’s bing and I’m ready to go but then within 30 minutes to an hour, I’m crashed again and then then hanger sets in because I potentially haven’t had a break yet for the shift. And that’s important for us. So, I decided that I wanted to make a bar that also contained a lot of greens, because I love spinach, it’s super healthy for you. It might not be the only green that we use, we’ve got some fun flavors that we are considering making in a couple of years, putting those together, spinach, bars, we rely heavily on bars, so many Americans do, just people around the world, and then natural sugars, gosh, what a great product that the industry is lacking and that I know others like me would be so happy to have for their bike rides, for hiking, when serving, the busy mom, running around with her kids.
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Yeah, that makes sense. And so another key aspect of the idea behind the bar is it’s something you can take on the go because I think a lot of people, like when I make kale, for example, I mean, I cut it up, I cut up garlic, I bring the oil, everything like that, it’s very much an at-home cooking for a while, by a while, I mean 10, 15 minutes, but you know what I mean, it’s not a portable thing, you’re on a backpacking trip or something, you’re not going to bring out the skillet and chop up ingredients and stuff like that. And so this portability was just another key component to why you designed the product the way you did?
It was, yes. And it’s funny that you mentioned pulling the skillet out of the backpack. So, we recently applied for a certain show where you can win — not win but have someone invest a lot of money in you and we had to do a little video and we did like an infomercial-style video so we did three short commercials and the first one starts out of me hiking and then pulling a salad bowl out of my backpack and then struggling to open it and then I open it and the spinach flies everywhere. Another scene, I’m driving in a car and I go to pull the salad out and it’s just the whole fiasco in the car. So, it is. We love greens, we should all eat more greens, I know not everyone loves greens so I have — I shouldn’t say I, Zack, my business partner, has so eloquently hidden them in, but it is, it’s a great way to get your greens on the go. And it’s a full serving too, which is awesome. American Heart Association, half cup is a full serving, and air dried, grind it into a powder, you can easily fit in a half cup or more. If it was my way, we would have put probably two cups of spinach in there because that is how deep of a love I have for spinach but, again, it’s being mindful of everyone’s palate.
And I think of the health benefits of eating, whether it be spinach or kale or any of these other deeper, darker greens, and I know I’m using the wrong terminology, but we’re talking about the difference between a more nutrition-dense green than, say, something like iceberg lettuce, that’s just —
It’s a waste.
Yeah, just almost like eating water, and so the benefit that you get, say, from eating a salad that has spinach in it, so you have spinach, tomatoes, and croutons and whatever you like, is going to be the same as the benefit you get from one of your bars that has the same exact serving of spinach in it.
Yes. The great thing about air drying is that it’s going to hold, and really any type of dehydration, it’s going to hold the nutritional value of that ingredient so once it is absorbed into your body, it will rehydrate and it does what it’s supposed to do for your body.
And for people who don’t eat greens, what is the missing health benefit?
Gosh, there’s quite a few but there’s K and D and E. I’m sure I’m missing a few others. Zack actually just went over this with someone yesterday. There’s just so much good stuff that it does for your body. And I know, I had a gentleman yesterday who dropped off groceries from a grocer that we just got into which I’m super excited and he had mentioned I gave him a bar as an added thank you and he goes, “Oh my gosh, there’s spinach. This is so fantastic. I’m supposed to have more magnesium in my diet because I’m getting heart palpitations.” I didn’t know that and that was a really cool thing for me to learn yesterday. It’s the roughage too that our body needs to be able to go number two better, have a more balanced digestive system and tract. There are of course those few that have to be careful of their K. If you’re on a blood thinner medication, our bars probably won’t be for you, which is unfortunate, but you’ve got to be mindful of that. We don’t want any extra strokes happening due to…yeah.
And so is health something that’s also always been a passion of yours? Have you always been thinking about health and how — I mean, in some ways, our health has been getting worse for a few decades.
For me, my health has fluctuated. I’ve gone, I think, through a roller coaster of really caring a lot about what I put in my body, what I eat, making the space, making the time for it, and so, in my early 30s, I had gained a bunch of weight. I was working at an Irish pub managing and Jäger, beer, cheese steaks, soda on the gun, I mean, you name it, I had it. And I just got to a certain point that felt really uncomfortable for me. I know anybody at any weight, do what you want to do, be how you want to be, just for me personally, it didn’t work well. So I took all the sugars out, I started eating a lot of spinach, and I really began to just love the difference of how I felt from eating healthy. That continued for, gosh, I’d say almost 10 years and I will say I’m on a bit of a downslope right now with my health just due to timing, bad habits, and really not making the space for that work-life balance, but we’re on track again. I meal prepped yesterday. And I made salads with spinach just because I do like to eat other things than my bars.
Well, yeah, of course, obviously, there’s going to be other things. I think no one can eat the same exact thing every single day. That would be a little bit tough. But that’s another good topic to cover for our audience out here, which is when someone is starting up a business and, as you are in this case of wearing many hats, as people say, where it’s like you haven’t passed off things like, say, marketing, accounting, the things people tend to eventually pass off when they start earning a little bit more money, I know it can get a little bit tough to maintain your physical and mental health. It slipped but now you’re back into meal planning. What do you think is the key to someone maintaining their physical health during some of these periods when they’re really having to go hard and push?
Absolutely. So, meal prepping is number one. I think that no matter what health coach I’ve worked with over the years, there’s been quite a few, it’s always nutrition is the first thing you should care about and then exercising is second. It’s 80 percent nutrition, 20 percent working out is about the number you’ll always hear. And so, for me, and I think others, do whatever it takes to make some space, if it’s a few hours on Sunday or Monday or a few hours on Wednesday, Thursday and just do a bit of meal prepping. Figure out what are your favorite things to eat. What is going to make you the happiest to sit down and have a few bites in the few moments of time that you’ll get. Make small snack boxes that have a good amount of protein in it and then also make some fun salads and some creative bowls and whatever might feel best for you. And then, again, for me, I’ve got to add in my walking, just small steps of getting some movement back into my body when I’m able to then prioritizing a nice fuller chunk of my mornings to working out, maybe some yoga, taking the dogs for a longer walk, but it’s fitting it in where you can and that’s something that’s also been mentioned to me too over the years of having this business and knowing different health coaches and saying, “We get it, you’re busy.”
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A lot of what goes wrong with, say, New Year’s resolutions is that people try to make a really big jump where they try to make 17 different changes at once as opposed to saying, “Okay, for the next couple of weeks, I’m just gonna focus on this aspect of my life and gain a little better here. The next couple of weeks, I’ll focus on that aspect,” and to try to make it into manageable portions.
Yes, Atomic Habits, if no one has read that, it’s from James Clear and it is amazing. I listened to it on Audible last year and it took a while to get things going and started but I’ve gotten a lot better on a few of the small habits that I’ve started back then that I still do now and it’s just building on top of little bit by little bit and it’s a much more manageable way and sustainable and lasting way to create a healthier life.
That’s amazing. And one of the questions I wanted to ask you about some of these nutrition things that you’ve looked into is are there common misconceptions about nutrition that are around that people could need to get rid of when they’re doing their meal planning or looking at that and saying, “Okay, what do I wanna make for myself for the next three or four days?” and they can put it on the fridge?
Of course, there’s all types of diet. I’ve tried keto, I’ve tried low carb, fasting, varied amounts of hours, one meal a day. There’s so many things. But what I know is the most important and I think what it really dials down to is stop eating when you’re full. I struggle with that, like the moment you’re like, “Oh, I think I’m okay,” put the food away, you can always go back to it in an hour or two. Eat the things that you love and just eat them in moderation. Also, portion control is huge. And I think those are just a couple of the littlest things that you can do when you think about meal prepping. Have a variety of good things but make sure it’s what you love to eat so you enjoy it as you’re eating it. And take time. Don’t scroll while eating, don’t check your email while eating. Go outside if you’re able to, go to a different room from your office and just get away.
I like to sometimes try to think things through like organically in my head, aside from anything I’m hearing around me and I keep thinking to myself about these fad diets and a lot of them will demonize one type of food or one type of thing. And the first thing I thought to myself was, “Well, if red meats or encased meats were the problem, then Germany would be worse off than us. And if carbs were the problem, well, Italy would be worse off than us because that diet is one big carbo load,” and then I recall the last time I went to the Olive Garden, looking at my plate and just thinking to myself, “Who finishes a meal at Olive Garden?” Like wondering like, okay, maybe it is the fact that we have ridiculous portion sizes and some places in the US tend to be a lot more sedentary than we are in Colorado.
Absolutely, and I know for me getting out of the service industry and being able to start the business full time this year, I saw a major downtick in my walking and exercise habits and a major uptick in my weight and that’s been a big adjustment. There is a lot of bashing, you’re right, about what’s good, what’s not good, but I think, at the end of the day, mindful eating, intuitive eating are really two things that are so key. I also think that every single person’s body is different and what they need to eat is going to be different from hundreds of other people. It’s not fair for people to shove their beliefs down your throat.
Yeah, yeah, there’s plenty of nutritionists out there and there are actually nutritionists out there who will look at you individually as opposed to just trying to heap on a one-size-fits-all type of solution that may or may not work. I went to a nutritionist three or four years ago-ish now and one of the things I was actually told was to eat more greens at that point in time. That’s where my frequent making of kale and I’ll just chop a bunch up with garlic oil, salt and pepper and have it as the vegetable on the side. So if I’m having pasta, I’ll have kale with it and that kind of produces that mix, I guess similar to the mix that someone will get in your bars, even though in a much less portable type of way.
Very much so, yeah. Do you ever put kale in your smoothies? Or do you make smoothies?
So, I haven’t made smoothies because more dishes to wash, maybe. I can’t think of a better reason for it.
That’s funny. I drink or I make a lot of smoothies, I make them in my Ninja, and I just drink from the Ninja. I screw off the top that’s got the blades on and I just drink from it and it keeps it super easy. So if you ever need smoothie recipes, I’m your gal. I’ve been doing smoothies for a very long time, like 10 years.
That is awesome. I know there’s like places like Jamba Juice that make those types of smoothies as well.
Yeah. And so the thing too with them is it’s just the fruit. And also I found out recently that blending fruit is different than eating a whole piece of fruit because it breaks it down quicker so your body is going to absorb the sugar faster from a smoothie, which is super good to know, so I’m trying to make my smoothies a bit more greener and if I do use fruit, it’s a very minimal amount. Eat what makes you happy. Find someone that aligns with you. Get your greens in. Those are just so important for our bodies. Eat the rainbow. Eat the rainbow is key.
To broaden things up, I think one of the other keys is that anytime you make a shift in your life, whether it be going to a new job, moving to a new city, starting a new relationship, or something like that, there’s a potential for your health outcomes to shift, could be for the better, could be for the worse, but there’s a potential for a shift in those health outcomes and that’s something to be considered, something to monitor or maybe at least a week or two in, start thinking, “Okay, what am I observing?” and one of the things that I was looking at and I don’t know if you have any comments on this as well is I’m always thinking about my energy level. My primary motivation for wanting to eat well and wanting to stay in good shape is that I hate crashing, I hate feeling like I’m tired and needing to fall asleep when I’ve gotten plenty of sleep the night before.
I went to see a new PCP and I’m getting some blood work done, got it done on Monday, actually, so waiting for the results but it’s because I’m suffering from chronic fatigue.
And PCP, can you tell us what PCP stands for?
Primary care physician.
Okay, so it’s not the drug that makes you jump out the window. Thank you.
Oh, no, no, no. Not that. The primary care physician who focuses gut health and I’ll be 40 in September. I also know that every 10 years, our bodies can do a massive hormonal shift and I am coming up on the age for females where like things have changed. So, I am doing a very good deep dive into my internal health. Okay, is it truly just lack of exercise and poor eating habits that is causing the chronic fatigue and the tired all the time and the low energy and the brain fog? And the bloating and other things that aren’t moving and grooving like they should. Or do I have some things in my blood that are going to tell them, “Okay, you’ve got some stuff going on. Here’s how we’re gonna combat it best.” I also know I would like to take an LCAT test soon, which is a very thorough food sensitivity test, which is also something people can consider taking too because that’s just going to aid in figuring out what’s best for you to eat.
Yeah, that makes sense. And one of the complicated things about that whole process is whenever you’re observing any lack of optimal in your body, I will say, usually results in some kind of energy level which is one of the primary considerations for anyone that wants the energy to fulfill their life’s passions, for sure. Is that — there’s so many things that could be going on, so it could be something diet, it could be exercise, it could be hormonal, it could be social situation, the type of people you’re around, the type of people you’re not around, and also sometimes, for some listeners out there, I know it’s not the case for you because you got your business, you got your passion going, is not getting the stuff that really lights you up in life, going through what I call a living by the script, which is where you’re just going through the motions, you go to work, your job is not really fulfilling but it’s good enough to get your bills paid and then you come home and you maintain a house, maybe binge watch a couple TV series and not really get the thing that really excites you, whether it be going to a concert, whether it be pedaling your bike up a big mountain, or even walking with your dog.
Absolutely. So it’s good to figure out. And I think too it’s nice to be able to look at those things in pieces because it can feel very overwhelming at first. If you’ve had a life change, if you’ve moved, whatever that might be, and then if you’ve also done some personal things that you’ve stopped working out, you’re not eating as well, take it bit by bit and really try to break down where the energy level seems to be lacking.
Yeah, there’s so many reasons. So the other thing I wanted to talk to you about is this idea of bringing a whole new product into a market where there already is products, because I feel like there’s a couple different types of startups, one is something that like really kind of comes out of nowhere, like the iPhone, like there was no such thing as the iPhone before or anything like that, I guess there was a Blackberry, but like, obviously, the grocery stores, they already have those energy bars. What feeling went through your head when you thought about that and how you’re bringing a whole new bar here and that you’re going to have to compete with all these established bars, I guess?
Yeah, it’s a little nerve-racking, of course, but I knew that I was bringing something to the table that a lot of people would love. There is a massive void and so I’m going to fill it. I don’t want to stop it just bars, I have other products in mind that I’d like for us to create at some point, but I know that there’s room for all of us and I am just going to make sure that we are passionate about our goal, our mission, quality of product that we sell, and just being able to share that is so powerful to me. And I know they say it takes three to five years for a business to really catch on and I know this is our year. Year three, this is our year. We took a pause because of COVID, we came back, we’re stronger than ever. The competition, it’s fine, not even worried about it.
Well, one thing that helps out, and I don’t know if this will help inform anyone out there listening your decisions on to what business you want to start, what product you want to bring in, or even what endeavor you want to take on is that your product is significantly different than what’s already out there. It’s not like Coke and Pepsi and now there’s Shasta Cola, which I do enjoy, I don’t know which one came first, but you don’t I mean, it’s like pretty much the same thing. There is this like significant departure from what you’ve already seen out there.
Absolutely. So vegan, shelf stable, spinach-packed bars, there isn’t a single one out there that’s that. Vegan bars are not very plentiful. If they are, it’s going to be more of an energy bar than it will be protein. That nine grams and up is really where you want to see the protein. Impactful, that actually does make an impact and it’s not just an energy bar. And then in regards to greens, yes, there are bars that have greens out there but it’s a mixture and it’s not just one single source of greens. So we’re trying to simplify it. Keep it hearty, keep it tasty, and we’ve got some other fun flavors in the mix coming out this year, nut free, which will be great, it’s going to be made with pumpkin seed butter, and then our second — sorry, our fourth flavor, peanut butter but it’s going to be a PB&J bar so we’re excited.
Wow, that sounds interesting because one of the things that people bring on bike trips is PB&J sandwiches, packed in little bags. I know that that tends to be a popular flavor combination. So time from launch to getting traction, what kept you going? And some of it was during global pandemic, which made it a little bit even extra challenging for you, probably. Yeah, what would you say was the number one thing that kept you going at it, plugging away, knowing that someday this is going to happen, I guess?
Yeah, absolutely. Well, little less than a year of sales right before the pandemic hit and everybody got shut down. It was pure excitement, getting to share something that no one else is doing. Then COVID hit and we wanted to take a pause just due to safety concerns where we were making our bars. We ran out of stock, ran out of money, so for about six months, it was a lot of sitting around but still knowing that I’ve got something that people want and I have got to get this out to people and share. And then, now, it’s basically that same thing and I think underlying too, I don’t want to work for somebody else for the rest of my life. Not my thing.
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Am I great at holding myself accountable every single day? No, because that’s really hard but —
It can be hard, yes.
It can be really hard. But, overall, I’m just so happy with what we’ve created and where we want to go and we want to make protein powders, I’d love to make refrigerated shakes, we’d like to do protein bites or balls, something a little bit more smaller and compact. Everything packed with spinach. We did granola, actually our first summer, which was really fun, spinach-packed granola, and I know that there are a plethora of people that want what I have and I’m so happy to give it to them in the best and cleanest and funnest way that I can. And I also want people to feel confident too when they pick up our bars, they can look at the back, pop it in their grocery cart, and they’re so happy, “Oh, finally a bar, I know what’s in there, I know it’s clean, I know what I’m eating. There’s nothing hidden.”
So it’s this like belief in the mission and belief that there are people out there. I know it takes time gaining traction because a big thing about our modern culture right now is just getting noticed, in general. The internet connected everyone to everyone and now there’s like so much noise. Everyone has so many things on their mind. Just to get someone’s attention, just to get someone to actually think about anything new is a huge challenge that’s going to take some time. But kind of the certainty of knowing, intersection of knowing, I guess, that this is something that people need, that people are wanting, and knowing that this is also the thing that you want to be doing and once you’ve figured the intersection of those two things out, it sounds like it’s a lot — I wouldn’t say easier but more straightforward to get through this whole three-to-five-years-on-average to get traction on anything.
Absolutely. And you spoke very eloquent for me so thank you. Yes.
And then one of the other challenges that a lot of people face, not just in business but anywhere in our society, especially where I’m originally from, which is New York, is the challenge in being okay with spending time just resting, as you were talking about, the time you were just sitting around and waiting. Did this intersection of certainty, knowing, “I’m building something that people want and I know I wanna be building it,” to put it in broader sense for anyone out there listening, whatever your endeavor is, is that something that helped you also be better at just taking this time, this rest time and just saying, “Okay, this was meant to be a time for me to recharge myself a little bit, this was meant to be a time to just sit and observe this tree swaying back and forth in my neighbor’s yard,” or whatever you’re doing?
It was some good time for reflection and it really made me value how much I loved being at a farmer’s market, at a demo, at events, getting to talk to people. I love connections. I like making friends and helping people when I can. And I’m helping by providing this really tasty bar that is so convenient for every aspect of your life, provided you don’t have any allergies to tree nuts or peanuts at the moment or any of the other ingredients, but it truly was, and so now I find that when my workday is done, I like to just sit and chill and not do much. My mornings are a tad bit slow to start but then, once I’m going, I’m able to grind which is good and I know this will be my summer of I keep joking eight days a week because we’re selling on seven markets each week, and so this is going to be a hearty summer with probably not as many breaks as I should be taking, but winter will come around and we can have some breathing room then that we’ll thoroughly get to cherish while we’re doing a different set of crazy busy, but not as insane as seven markets a week.
That’s another good question to ask about these periods of time where people will sometimes overextend themselves, because I know we’re all aiming for this balance where you get the right amount of work, you get the right amount of play, you get the right amount of rest, and the right amount of all the other things you need, whether it be sunlight, social, blah, blah, blah, but it sounds like, in a lot of endeavors, including where you are this summer, oftentimes, you’re going to be a little bit out of balance for a certain amount of time. Do you think that’s a natural part of starting a business? Do you think that this needs to change? Or do you think that an out-of-balance period can then be counteracted by, okay, maybe in the winter, you’re resting more?
I would love to have balance every day, 365 days a year, would be so fantastic work-life balance. However, with startup businesses, and you do so many things, you wear so many hats, it’s just not feasible and I think having the periods at least of rest are so, so good. If you just go, go, go all day every day for a full year, it’s too much. You will get burnout. No one wants to experience burnout. And, yes, find your seasons where you know work is going to consume you and you’ll need more of it and then embrace and cherish the times that you know you’ll still be busy but it won’t be working eight days a week and you won’t be working 10-hour days five days a week.
And I guess that there’s a point of inflection for everyone and I think that point of inflection varies depending on how energizing what you’re doing every day is, but, some people, it could be as low as 20 hours a week, some people as high as 70 hours a week, but anywhere in between, there’s a point of inflection where you reach where you’re extending yourself, you’re overextending yourself, you’re extending yourself beyond where your body, your mind, your spirit want to go. I guess it’s just a matter of how long you can keep that up for and then how you rejuvenate yourself when that’s done based on the necessities of the business, I feel like are always going to at some point bring you to that overextended spot.
Absolutely. And I found too a lot of last year when I was working the business almost full time and then serving and bartending as well three shifts a week, if there was a morning that I didn’t want to do anything, before going into my, let’s say, Saturday night bartending shift, I did nothing. Sat on the couch, hung with my dogs, and I chilled. And I think it’s also about finding, in these seasons of insanity with work, when you have a moment or a few hours, take it, if you’re able to. And it circles back to when you’re eating your food, yesterday is full and there’s lots to be done. There’s always a post that could be done or an email to check but get away, eat your food in silence so it’s just a tiny, tiny bit of rejuvenation for yourself and a little bit of breathing room and mental clarity.
Yeah, and so I see a lot of people also try to get that through some sort of 10-minute meditation-type exercise that’s different times of day, I know some people swear by in the morning. I feel like I actually tend to need it more in the afternoon after I’ve had some clutter in the day but I have other things I want to do afterward, but whichever way you can find these shorter amounts of time, since not everyone has an hour to do something really crazy like a longer walk, hike, or something like that, to just reset your mind a little bit and then when you’re having your less busy periods of time, just being okay with saying, “Today, Sunday, June 12th,” or whatever day coming up, “I’m not gonna get anything done. I’m not gonna check anything off my list. Just gonna let myself rejuvenate.”
Absolutely. It’s good. It’s good to do that. Plan it out in advance and just know, like, “Hey, it’s my day to not be available for anyone, shutting down. See you the next day.”
Exactly. And I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the seven types of rest.
No.
And I don’t really remember what they all are but there’s like social rest, physical rest, stimulation rest, came about first when I went on a really long bike ride and I do these multi-day bike rides where, okay, at the end of this bike ride, I need physical rest because I’ve been pushing my bike, I’ve been pedaling up and down mountains for days and that can get exhausting for anyone, no matter how good a shape you’re in, but then realizing, oh my gosh, but spiritually and sensory wise, I’m actually pretty rested because I haven’t had all the normal daily input, I haven’t had the person freaking out over whatever the latest news story is or the ups and downs of day to day life that we all have based on whatever’s going on with our world.
That’s true. I’m going to look into that. That’s a really cool call-out, for sure.
For everyone out there listening, where can someone find Greens Gone Wild? Where can someone find your protein bars? And I’m being careful not to call them energy bars now that you’ve —
No, no, it’s fine.
— established the distinction with that nine grams of protein threshold. I know that there’s a market by my house that has them, but probably a lot of other places too.
Yeah. So, locally, we’re at all three Choice Markets, Leevers Locavore up in the Highlands, Sun Market in the Whittier neighborhood, Aviano Coffee in Cherry Creek —
Oh, I love that place.
It’s so awesome. I’m really, really pumped, starting on Monday, our bars will be available at Pinemelon and it’s Denver’s new e-grocer and it’s convenient, easy, I’ve used it twice, such a big fan. On our website, there is a Where to Buy tab that you can click on with a store locator map and so pop in your zip code, I know I’m missing a few places, I always am, but we are in Virginia, Idaho, Southern California, and here. And then we’re of course at a lot of markets. So I mentioned it earlier but if you’ve got pen and paper, just kidding. Evergreen on Tuesdays, Green Valley Ranch Wednesday evenings, Friday evenings, Stanley Market, Saturday City Park and University Hills, Sunday Arvada, and then there’s a great little pop-up market outside of Sun Market, like I had mentioned, and that’s been really fun too.
The City Park, is that that farmer’s market that’s there in front of the high school?
Yes.
Yeah, that’s a pretty cool place. A lot of dogs there, which is cool if you love dogs, and then so this e-grocer, can you tell us a little bit more about how that works?
Absolutely. So, with Pinemelon, you’ll go to their website, I think they might even have like a little first-time coupon of some sort with like free delivery, not sure, but you can search for a variety of groceries, fruits, veggies, meats, berries, they have a cool little local section as well, which I’m guessing we might get popped into that section, and you just click and add things to your cart. Just yesterday, I had rainbow chard, had a cauliflower, zucchini, keto granola in there, and then just a variety of stuff. They do groceries within two hours for delivery, which is awesome.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it’s really convenient. Now, granted, both times I’ve ordered have been in the evening so my groceries came the next morning but I had a really great delivery person each time and the price has been reasonable. And, for me, I think it’s just so convenient to get your groceries delivered, maybe not weekly, but just every so often. If you’ve got a lot going on, it’s such a convenient way, and I was able to meal prep yesterday with ease because I took the stuff that I already had at home plus the things from Pinemelon and I have got a nice complete set of meals for the week.
Nice, and so that’s a great thing for everyone listening out there that suddenly — well, not suddenly, based on this episode, wants to start doing some more meal planning and how would someone find that? So your website is greensgonewild.com?
Yes.
And then Pinemelon, what’s the web address for that?
Pinemelon.com.
Okay, very, very complicated, very hard websites to remember right here so, hopefully, you all have pen and paper out or maybe we’ll have to put up a QR code, you can scan them in.
Totally, totally. And I’ll say too, Sun Market is a really awesome little bodega and market with such great items so love that I get to support another woman on business and then for those of you that haven’t been to Leevers Locavore, it’s up in the Highlands, and they have a really cool beer and wine there and you can sip while you’re grocery shopping and they have a huge focus on local as well and they’ve been big supporters of us since, honestly, I think August of last year. So, a couple of really fun — I know. And then for anyone that has ever heard of Nooch Vegan Market, they just closed their doors in Denver after 10 years and they were one of our big supporters too so much love to them and wishing them all the best. But, yeah, we ship our bars as well. So we got a lot of options for however you need to get our products into your hands and then into your mouth.
Well, it’s always sad to see businesses that you love close their doors, especially when they’re big supporters. Also, I’m surprised that more grocery stores haven’t done that sip and shop because I know they give you free drinks at the casinos knowing that you’re going to be a little bit looser with your money there. I’m surprised it doesn’t work that way with the grocery stores too.
Same, same, absolutely. You give kids cookies, why don’t you give the adults alcohol?
Yeah. So, finally, any last messages you have for my audience, anyone out there that may be looking to bring a product or service to the market themselves or just generally starting any endeavor?
Yeah, my biggest thing, and I learned this from a wonderful woman named Holly Whitaker, but start before you’re ready. Now, financially, that is not something you should do, probably try to get most of your financial ducks in a row, have the investment in place or your capital and all the things but just start before you’re ready.
By the way, here’s a plug for some of the other episodes of my podcast. We do have episodes with people who talk about things such as business planning, business development, even marketing, determining a target market, so you can go back or eventually go forward to other episodes and get some ideas around all those other aspects of the business. But, yeah, you’re right, because I think you’re talking about that state where people are waiting for the exact right moment where their emotional state, the market, the competition, some sort of external event all align in this like one in 275-year alignment that makes it the exact right day for you to start and then you realize Mercury’s in retrograde, so you can’t, and…
It’s never not.
There’s always going to be something, so once you have that idea and if you feel like that intersection we talked about between this is something we know people want and need and I know I want to do it, like you said, there’s all these things you could be looking into. How am I going to build a product? What’s the best way to market it? Who do I want to market it to? All those things.
Yeah, don’t wait for the right moment.
Don’t ever wait for the right moment. Share on X
You’re going to constantly be learning, there’s going to constantly be things thrown at you that are going to allow for a lot of tears and frustrations because it didn’t get done right or there’s just things that are out of your control. So learn from your mistakes is also a really big thing. Put in place checklists if you need to, because we never do that when big mistakes happen that are also big financial mistakes, but just try to have fun and know that the end goal is providing a lot of people something that they’re likely missing that you found that niche for, whatever that might be.
Oh, that is fantastic. That’s fantastic knowing. And so, Laura, thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes telling us all about Greens Gone Wild, our need for greens in our diet, as well as the way we can align our interests with market needs and the way we can power through some of these three-year delay between when you launch everything, all the excitement, and when you finally start to gain some traction. And I’d like to also thank everyone out there for listening and encourage you to stay tuned or tune back into Action’s Antidotes for some more episodes with some more lessons to take along the way as you continue upon your journey toward the place where you really want to be in life.
Thank you so much. Today was awesome. This was really fun to get to chat with you and I love being able to share my passion and it was great to have you chime in and have such great advice too and thank you for doing what you do and helping others on their journey to whatever that may be.
I can’t wait to see everyone’s ideas, this renaissance of ideas, just come into the market and all the creativity, everything. It’s going to be so much more beautiful when every one of you out there listening builds the thing that you really want to build.
Absolutely, and reach out to us. We have so many connections of great people that can help you start your business and do all the things you need so thank you guys so much.
Thank you. Have a good day.
You too.
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About Laura Harris
Laura Harris, a Virginia native now residing in Denver, Colorado is the founder and CEO of Greens Gone Wild. She founded the company with her business partner and Chief Culinary Officer in 2019 with the vision of creating a spinach packed protein bar that was healthy, clean and delicious. Over a short period of time the brand she has built can be found in retail stores across the country and numerous local farmers markets. Outside of being a full-time small business owner Laura loves cooking, hiking and playing with her dogs Abby and Betty.