These Throat Lozenges Are On Fire!

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

What's up my friends? Hello and welcome. I am, let's see, where am I today? Sometimes I wake up and I'm like, "Wait, what city am I in?" Oh, I'm in Toronto, Canada. And it's been a wonderful few days here in Canada.

I'll be heading back to the States shortly. But let's talk about today's story. Today we're gonna look at an all-natural throat lozenge. The first one to ever contain cayenne pepper. That word lozenge is kind of funny.

I don't think I've ever said it as much as I've said it in practice for recording this episode. But did you know that cold lozenges typically have a lot of additives? And that fact bothers this New England native. So together with his brother, he goes on to find another way. Another approach, another lozenge.

The story reminds me of the mouthwash mavens we featured way back in episode 572. Those guys are also featured in the new 100 Side Hustles book, the one that I've been on tour talking about. And in that story, they go on a quest to reinvent mouthwash. I guess if you could combine their product with the lozenges you'll hear about today, and you've got an all-natural healthy mouth. And looking back through the archives, I saw that we also had chewable energy gum, which was episode 772.

But that might not count. So anyway, today's story, these throat lozenges are on fire. Stay tuned, I'll tell you all about it. [Music]

- Massachusetts native, Brett Johnson, is a fan of natural remedies. During the winter months, he would find himself consuming endless amounts of cough drops that were packed with medicine and various additives, all of which he thought was not the healthiest to consume.

Unfortunately, there were few alternatives out there, and throat lozenges were simply a necessity when the New England cold arrived. One day at his day job, working at a design studio, Brett expected just another normal morning when a woman entered the studio with a request for help with packaging a natural throat lozenge. It was an interesting idea, and Brett enjoyed working on the project. But as the work continued, she decided it was too time-consuming and chose to focus on other opportunities. She was moving on, but Brett still thought the idea had vast potential.

He was able to convince her to sell the product and the nascent business to him. This marked the beginning of fire drops. The original inventor had devised a formula and even prepared an initial batch, but there was still a lot to be desired with that recipe. So Brett enlisted the help of his brother, Scott, and the two of them immediately began experimenting with flavors. Their first step was to look up every other lozenge on the market to see the ingredients that were being used.

This gave them a sense of what options were out there as well as a direction in which they could take in order to differentiate their product. The next step was time-consuming. Brett spent months in the kitchen trying different combinations and taking detailed notes on every aspect of the process. Factors such as ingredient proportions and cooking temperature to account for, it took several iterations for a viable product to emerge from the kitchen. The first 10 batches tasted like popcorn.

It would take countless more attempts before it started tasting like candy. The secret ingredient was cayenne pepper, and after sufficient tinkering, the brothers managed to come up with a product that not only was effective against cold and flu symptoms, but also tasted great. Taking the recipe to a manufacturer with extensive experience in organic confections, Brett learned that he now had to master another language. Instead of talking about measurements in terms of tablespoons or cups, he needed to speak in terms of pounds or ounces. He needed to start weighing his ingredients instead of just measuring them.

Now, besides producing fire drops, Brett and Scott also knew from the beginning that it would be important to market the product well. They had to figure out ways of introducing it to new people and educating potential customers on what they were offering, because this was, after all, something that was different from everything else out there. After designing the packaging and setting up a website, the two brothers sought out free press wherever they could find it. They contacted their local newspaper, thinking they might be interested in featuring a story about local residents, especially one with two brothers, and their hunch proved to be correct. As they continued their publicity efforts, they were approached by NBC Boston for an interview, and then landed a spot on the podcast "How I Built This" by NPR.

These touch points of publicity generated significant attention, which Brett and Scott had prepared for on their website, setting up systems to capture leads. The data was then used to run digital advertising email campaigns, leading to a few months of growth and an initial customer base. They knew that if you build it, they will come. It just doesn't work with online sales and e-commerce. You've got to get out there and get attention.

With everything said and done, Brett and Scott have invested around $15,000 in startup capital. The money mostly went toward packaging and building up inventory. Firedrops is still new, but it's netting around $20,000 in income each year, with sales being much higher in the winter than the summer. For them, the best part of the experience has been the chance to work together and earn a real-world MBA. All the marketing, product development, manufacturing, and e-commerce skills they had to learn on the go will be helpful in whatever project they take on next.

And they're also not resting on their throat lozenge laurels. The two brothers have approached independently-owned organic stores and are now stocked in over 100 of them. They also realize that even though they've done well bootstrapping the business, they're open to investment to help get to the next level. But for now, Brett and Scott are willing to do the things that don't scale, an attitude that makes any bumps in the business easier to swallow. [Music]

So one of the things that I have noticed on this book tour, telling some stories from the book, some stories from the podcast, and continuing to work on stories just as I'm going along, like the one I'm telling you today, is I'm reminded that most people who do these kinds of projects, they don't go back to school to learn the skills that it takes to produce throat lozenges or whatever it is.

I've been telling this story on the road about the guy who makes teddy bears dressed up in a military uniform. It's a sleeping aid for kids, especially with parents who are in the military and deployed. Really a great, fun, meaningful story. And he's also making money. And that guy didn't have a master's degree in making teddy bears, right?

He just kind of figured it out. So it reminds me of something that my friend Marie Forleo says, which is everything is figure-out-able, right? Everything is figure-out-able. With all these kinds of projects, there is a path to understanding, okay, what are the tasks? How does one learn to manufacture?

How does one learn to distribute? What is this new language that I have to learn? Instead of measuring in terms of tablespoons or cups or whatever, now I have to think about making a bulk recipe in terms of pounds and ounces or whatever it is. So it's not to say there isn't anything to learn, it's just that most of what you need to learn, you kind of learn while you're doing it, okay? So if you've got an idea, the best thing you can do for your idea is to start making progress on it.

I mean, doing a little research is good, some analysis is good, but you're really gonna make the most progress when you start taking action. That's also something that's been coming up night after night on the book tour. And so I wanted to share that with you and encourage you with that. Just to remind you, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action, that's so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/901.

I'm gonna go and get on an airplane, but I'm gonna keep working forward 'cause I got tomorrow's episode and many more to come. Lots of good stuff coming up, and I hope you'll continue to join me. Thanks so much. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sawdustleschool." [Music]

- From the Onward Project.