35. Navigating Challenges in Women’s Health and Business
EPISODE 35
Engaging women entrepreneurs and health advocates, our latest episode features Aeryon Ashlie, founder of Aeryon Wellness. We delved into the importance of NPN certifications and supporting Canadian products, navigating business challenges, and empowering women through education.
Catch the Conversation
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Aeryon Ashlie is an acclaimed holistic nutritionist, keynote speaker, and #1 Best Selling Author, and is known as the visionary force behind Aeryon Wellness Supplements. As the founder of Aeryon Wellness, she has championed holistic health for women from diverse backgrounds for nearly two decades.
With a mission to "Empower Women with Holistic Health," her company offers 100% all natural, scientifically formulated, 3rd party tested, support supplements designed by women, for women. The innovative use of QR codes on their products, aimed at revolutionizing education and support for women on their wellness journey, garnered three offers on CBC’s Dragons' Den in 2021.
Their trailblazing work was further acknowledged in 2022 when they received the Innovative Product of the Year award from the Canadian Health Food Association for the ground-breaking 100% Boric Acid Kit, "Up and Away." The company's commitment to social causes was recognized with the Agent of Change award for their ongoing support of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Shelter. Then Aeryon's achievements continued in 2023 when she won the Total Mom Pitch competition at the Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur Gala.
Most recently, Aeryon Wellness was honored with the Small Business Trail Blazer Award at CHFA in September 2024, for the ongoing innovation in the women’s health category.
Now residing in Vancouver, BC, Aeryon Ashlie lives with her daughter and their cherished labradoodle, continually inspiring and empowering women on their holistic health journey.
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Julie: 0:04
Welcome to Figure 8, where we feature inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who have grown their businesses to seven and eight figures revenue. If you're in the mix of growing a bigger business, these stories are for you. Join us as we explore where the tough spots are, how to overcome them and how to prepare yourself for the next portion of the climb. I'm your host, Julie Ellis. I'm an author, entrepreneur and a growth and leadership coach who co-founded, grew and exited an eight-figure business. This led me to exploring why some women achieve great things, and that led to my book Big Gorgeous Goals. Let's explore the systems, processes and people that help us grow our businesses to new heights. If you're interested in growing your business, this podcast will help. Now let's get going.
Julie: 1:04
Hello and welcome to this episode of Figure 8. Today I am chatting with Aeryon Ashlie. She's an acclaimed holistic nutritionist, keynote speaker, number one bestselling author and is known as the visionary force behind Aeryon Wellness Supplements. As a founder, she has championed holistic health for women from diverse backgrounds for nearly two decades and I'm so excited to dig into this work of yours, this trailblazer, today. And welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me.
Aeryon: 1:38
Thank you for having me today. This is wonderful. I'm looking forward to the conversation.
Julie: 1:42
Yeah, I am too. I am too. Now I know when we chatted before, we talked about why it's so important for products to have what is commonly called an NPN, which means they are certified by Health Canada, and with the advent of selling on Instagram and all the things that come into our feeds, we're not always buying the best quality products. So tell me about why you're so passionate about that.
Aeryon: 2:09
Well, I mean for one, because I'm very passionate about supporting Canada and buying Canadian, now more than ever, you know, and I've always been touting this for quite some time now. But one of the big things with Canada, we have regulation, which I want regulation in our natural health industry. For us to bring a product to market, we have to have, as you mentioned, an NPN, which is a natural product number. So what this basically means is we submit all the certificate of analysis of every single product, every single ingredient in that product, and the claims we want to make. We have to show that the dosages we are using are the clinical doses used in studies to get that claim. So we can't just put a sprinkle and say, oh, it's going to help with estrogen metabolism or weight loss. We actually have the clinical dose in order to validate that. And so then you send that off to Health Canada and they look into it and there's different classes. There's a class one, class two, class three, and they tend to. You know class three would be more difficult and in that then they would provide you with a license and that usually takes up to a year to get, sometimes even longer. So you're waiting for this to happen. You hire somebody who's an NPN expert. So there's a lot of work that goes into play to bringing a product to market, and so, in that, the frustration I have is every product in Canada on the shelves that you see in your natural health store will have an NPN right on the front. But when we have companies from the US that are selling on Meta or advertising on Instagram and Facebook, they don't have to have this NPN so they're able to make really outlandish claims. One of the companies I see on a regular basis you know claims you lose 14 pounds in a week, which we know is ridiculous, and so, in that, we can't make those claims in Canada, Canada, because that is not scientifically proven, right. So they're allowed to do this and sell into Canada and people can buy personal supply across the border, but it's a real disservice not only to the vendors like myself who are doing the work that is required from Health Canada, but also to our natural health retailer, because they can't carry these products that don't have an NPN. They're claiming these claims, so then it takes away from supporting the people who work in our country, right, and so that really riles me, and I, you know, I've talked to CHFA, which is our governing body, about having a conversation with Health Canada. Hopefully eventually we can have this where with meta, the same way that they. You know we can't watch our watch the news it should be.
Aeryon: 4:22
If you want to advertise into Canada you have to provide an NPN. So we have amazon. ca. Everything on amazon. ca for the most part should have an NPN and they're pretty label compliant on amazon. ca. Amazon. com is the States right, so that's why it's harder for us to order through the States. You have to use the PO box somewhere down south. But that's really where my passion lies in that, because it's about supporting the economy and supporting our economy and also supporting the people who are doing the work properly and following the regulation that we need to do.
Aeryon: 4:53
And then also the consumer on their end knows that what they're buying is not just smoke and mirrors, it's not just fluff. There's no proprietary blends. If you see that on one of your product, it's not a Canadian product because you cannot have that on there. So for example, I'm going to call them out. A1 greens, for example, is a proprietary blend, so you don't know the dosages that you're getting of every single ingredient. So they can have spirulina and chlorella and all these wonderful ingredients and call it a superfood, but they could just do a little sprinkle of it here in Canada. You're going to have the actual dosages going down that label, which is what you want to do is looking for a product that's not proprietary blend, has an NPN and has that those dosages that are in there.
Julie: 5:32
Yeah, that's interesting, because the other thing that struck me as you were speaking there is that process of obtaining that NPN and the cost associated with it in that kind of a timeline also makes it a very uneven playing field.
Aeryon: 5:50
Very uneven, I mean, and also, too, now we're in cost recovery. So health Canada is going to be putting right now we can file for free and get an NPN. That's not going to happen after April. This is what's kind of coming down the pipeline where we will have to pay for a class one. Which class one would be like a vitamin D right? There's one ingredient. That's a monograph. So we all kind of know we all have the same claims we're allowed to make about vitamin D. If you look at any vitamin D across Canada, it's kind of the same. But we get our own specialized number, class two. I think it's like two or three ingredients. And then there's class three. That's more comprehensive.
Aeryon: 6:19
But the fees for each of these to file are now going to start in play as well.
Aeryon: 6:23
So not only will we have to hire an NPN specialist who knows how to file the paperwork properly to Health Canada and submit in a way that we need to get our NPN, but then on top of that we're going to be paying as well to get that NPN license. So all of a sudden these costs are stacked on top of us. And then that's not even to mention the incurring costs and the increasing costs that are happening right now with ingredients. I mean, I just one of my products had a 50 cent increase overnight on each bottle, and that's due to tariffs and that's due to all the other and the dollar right, our US dollar is, you know, the Canadian dollar is down. So this all is going to contribute to make it challenging in our industry, and so we have to be very diligent diligent, sorry in making sure that at least that we're on a fair playing field and that people are really aware of NPNs and why it is so important to support Canadian companies.
Julie: 7:12
Yeah, yep, and then yeah, you trying to figure out on that model piece of yeah. With increasing costs that are coming, how do you still play in the marketplace and be competitive in terms of price?
Aeryon: 7:26
Yeah, exactly, and I've had more. I've been in this industry for over 20 years and I've been in a variety capacity, from account manager and now I'm owner myself, and I had more in this. Last year I had more natural health food stores closed down than ever before. So there is these smaller stores, the mom and pop. They can't compete against the giants you know of amazon. ca and some of these big giants that are out there, but even against, you know, there's the mass, the grocery stores that are really beginning to get into the supplementation market as well.
Aeryon: 7:56
Right, so it's even more important that we're able to support Canadian retailer, canadian retailers, canadian vendors and our economy. And there's a you know and I've actually admired that about the US that they have a very pro America buy America mentality. I think that's fantastic. We've never had that before. We're kind of like they're so cool. We want to be like them and I think we. Now. The one thing I think it's coming out of all of the stuff that's going on is that now we're like wait a second, we need to be supporting our own here in Canada. We need to actually really start looking at where our dollar is going and what we're doing to support our own economy instead of just buying stuff without paying attention to it.
Julie: 8:38
Yeah, and I think it's also. I mean the advantages to having a system like we do, where there is a higher level of scrutiny and expectation. I mean from a you know, safety, food safety, system stability perspective. That's actually a real pro for us as consumers. 100%.
Aeryon: 8:59
You know there is. I think I mean I would never buy an American supplement, that's just. I just wouldn't. I would only buy Canadian, that's all there is to it. And I, you know, I go the extra mile. And even now, especially now in the grocery store the other day, I put back so many products because I realized they were, you know, product of the US, made in the US, shipped up to Canada. And I'm like, okay, nope, nope. And I really I was literally sitting and it was funny because there's another person in the aisle and I think they were doing the same thing. We both had our phones out and I'm like I want this to happen. I want us to be, you know, paying just a little bit more attention to where our dollar is going to be going.
Aeryon: 9:34
But especially, my industry is supplementation, so I definitely want people to pay attention there too.
Julie: 9:40
And so now take me way back and tell me how you got into the holistic health industry 20 years ago.
Aeryon: 9:46
Yeah, um, so I my, you know, growing up my dad was an amateur bodybuilder, my mom was a figure skating coach, so athletics and aesthetics were really important in our household.
Aeryon: 9:55
So I've always worked out and had a passion for the gym and taking care of my body and training and, um, I started doing fitness competitions in my 20s and I became a sponsored athlete for one of the big companies and in that I begged them for a sales job. I moved from Toronto to Calgary to take that job, tripled sales in six months and then another company kind of stole me and took me back to Toronto. I worked there for a year and then they transferred me to Vancouver. So I worked for them for over 13 years as an account manager for the interior of BC and the coast of BC and they were a fantastic company, amazing boss. And then about five years ago my boss decided to sell to Jameson Wellness and it wasn't. Shortly after that I was packaged out and I got a good chunk of money and I knew I always wanted to do my own brand and at the time the only female brand in Canada also sold to Jameson. So I knew there was going to be an opportunity there to speak to women, but I wanted to do it a little differently.
Aeryon: 10:54
One of the things I don't like is this whole magic pill approach Take this and everything's better Because, based on my own health issues, I knew that wasn't the case. So one of the things we did was we used QR codes on the front of every label and that comes with a complete wellness program. So there's a video explaining the product, two meal plans, workouts, affirmations, tons of education, and that stems from our mission, which are we have five pillars, and they are the thoughts you make, the friends you keep daily movement, nutrition and, lastly, supplementation, because supplements are there to supplement you and you really have to put everything into a whole. There's nothing. I mean, I do have a magic pill in the sense of boric acid, which is yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis as a vaginal suppository.
Aeryon: 11:36
That would be my magic pill, but the rest of them you have to, and even that you want to make sure you're taking care of your gut health. But in that it really is looking at everything as a whole and educating women in order to find sustainable health and wellness and understand that it's not just a quick fix. It takes work on all aspects, so that's kind of where I started. It's been five years now. We're in about 600 stores across Canada, online and on Amazon as well amazon. ca and it's been an incredible journey. I travel and speak and educate women and hopefully inspire them to live a healthier and better life.
Julie: 12:13
That's so exciting. Yeah, it's so interesting. I mean, obviously you were in the industry and you knew a lot about it, but still, the difference of starting up your own company, getting your own formulations made, going down, you know deciding even what products you felt the world needed, and you know formulating those and actually getting them to market, like it's a big project.
Aeryon: 12:36
It is a big project. I mean, I I do have a fantastic formulator, so I don't formulate everything. Um, I do have ideas a lot of the time and I'll come like, hey, I love this product, I want to change this, I want to add this, let's use this new ingredient. So we'll do those kind of things, kind of reinvent the wheel. But I do love. I love what I do. I know I wake up every morning and I'm so excited to take on another day and tackle my list. Sometimes my list is, you know, two, three pages long, but I'm still really excited to get to do what I do, because I know, when I get these emails from women who are experiencing hormonal balance be it in perimenopause or water retention relief or sleep from snooze or, of course, you know, up and away with our yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis being like, oh my gosh, it's amazing, it fixed it right away. That is reassurance that I'm definitely on the right path.
Julie: 13:24
Yeah, and what was it that made you sort of focus in on women and perimenopause in particular?
Aeryon: 13:31
I'm in perimenopause, so it's an easy one.
Julie: 13:35
Personal experience.
Aeryon: 13:36
Yeah, and what I you know, I started talking about perimenopause about a year and a half ago, and that was kind of before people really talked about perimenopause, and even when I used to do my lecture I had a peri-menopause. And so then now it's, of course, one word, and what I knew is I had kind of gone through my own health crisis at 35. I was overtired, overworked, overstressed. I was in this industry, but I had grown up in a household where athletics and aesthetics are important, and so I was quite an overweight child. So I was always continuously trying to lose weight. If I could just lose weight, I'd be, If I was just smaller, I'd be, I'd be more worth it.
Aeryon: 14:12
And that led to an eating disorder, 25 year battle with bulimia, and in that at 35, my adrenals were shot. My relationship with food was horrible. My relationship with movement I'd over-exercise all the time. So I really took a step back and re-evaluated what my relationship was with holistic health, and that's really what I got the five pillars from as well. I really worked on cognitive behavioral therapy. First, what am I thinking? Because that's going to control if I'm training, if I'm eating nutritious food, if I'm having boundaries with certain individuals, right, and I worked on all those five pillars and that's why they became the foundation of my company and in that from that, you know, I had started early perimenopause and my mom had a horrible menopause and so looking at that I was like, wow, if I'm 35 and I'm going through this, what is menopause going to be like for me?
Aeryon: 14:59
So that's another reason why I really started digging in and taking a look at habits and lifestyle and then from that, everything kind of it's interesting, how timelines, all you know, and then from that, then I got packaged out after and so it all just kind of and I was like, okay, there's, I want to create products on the market that not only give a message of education but that also have clinical doses. So you're not taking four to six a day, you can take one to two, right? So it's higher extracts, really great formulas and products that women can trust and get behind, and it's a woman who has designed them and I take them all myself.
Julie: 15:34
Yeah, yeah, and I think that is a foundational piece. Like you're very committed to the product that you put out into the world, doing what you claim it does.
Aeryon: 15:45
Yeah, exactly, and um, and I and I think, as I use them all right, I mean, I'm I think that you know something you want to really look at too is a person using the products they're selling, um, but I use them all and I use other supplements too, and I use all dualities right. So I think that's important is, I'm a big believer in using hormone therapy. I use hormone therapy and I use my supplements. It's using whatever makes you feel better, and that's a big part of my messaging when I talk about perimenopause and menopause is that women need to advocate for themselves.
Aeryon: 16:17
We would not walk into a doctor nine months pregnant and say, what am I going to do with this? You have a birth plan. The second I found out I was pregnant, I was like, oh my gosh. I had a birthing CD and I had my ball and I had pictures and I had my whole suitcase ready to go. I was so excited to join mom's groups and the whole thing.
Aeryon: 16:35
But when it comes to this important transitional time in our life, not only that, we have so many other things going on too. Usually, our kids are kind of getting ready to go to university. Maybe we're looking at our careers are high, like the highest they're at. We're looking at that partner, going like who are you? So all these things are happening and then we hit perimenopause right and all of a sudden we're really thrown for a loop. And so it's so important that in our forties, if early forties, if we can go in and have a conversation with our doctor and say tell me what you know about menopause, what are some of the options I have? And if that doctor gaslights you or tells you you're just getting older and it's just part of life, go find another doctor and find somebody that's going to talk to you about all of the avenues that you can pursue and that you can make an educated choice for yourself. What you want to do and that's a big passion of mine is to hopefully provide women with the tools that they can do that.
Julie: 17:25
Yeah, well, I think one of the things that has been I've seen lots of dialogue about over the last few years is just the fact that the medical system hasn't historically been that good at helping women through perimenopause and into menopause.
Aeryon: 17:40
Yeah, I mean I think it's getting a little, maybe a little better now and then because you know Generation X, we're like, we're not. I'm not taking this, I'm not just going to feel like crap, there's no way, right. So I think there's a little bit of that in the fact that we're like no, we need to find a solution and we're going to speak up and we're going to say this is not okay and the advantage is for our own self but also for our daughters. I have a 16 year old. I mean I knew my mom went through a tough menopause, but we didn't have lots of conversations about it.
Aeryon: 18:07
Michaela has sat through the M factor when I hosted it here and listened to all the doctors speak, and she has attended my navigating perimenopause seminar. She understands that we both right now her being 16 and me being 50 are both in like I'm in second puberty and she's in first puberty. Our hormones are both doing this right. So there's a lot of tension in our household, sometimes lots of tears, but I'm like it's hormones, babe, it's just hormones, we're fine.
Julie: 18:34
So you've actually hosted events. I mean, you talked about the seminar, and then is the M Factor, a conference.
Aeryon: 18:40
No, the M Factor was through PBS. We're actually hosting a new one in Calgary, so it's the movie from the States and so in it's really discussing menopause. So we hosted one out here and we had a panel of incredible doctors, and now we're just hosting one in Calgary on March 4th and I just literally posted it two days ago and we've sold out, so we're going to. 200 women are coming to it, so, and it's just providing context to what's going on, what's going on in your body, and afterwards, having doctors in which they can answer to that. Because, I mean, this film talks a lot more about HRT and a lot of women don't want to go down that route or MRT, and so it having me there too and talk about natural supplementation because there are options if that's something people want to pursue. But, as I said, my whole agenda is to provide women with the education they need to really understand that this time in life, your 40s and 50s it is game time, right.
Aeryon: 19:34
If you are not taking care of yourself with nutrition and having your fiber, making sure you're having that 30 protein, 30 grams of protein per meal, eating it like it's your job, right, lifting weights is the most best thing you can do for yourself. When I do my seminars I did one two days ago I was in Victoria speaking at worthy this event and, um, you know I'm very open. I'm like I sell supplements. I'm here, I have my brand, I'm selling supplements. But today, if my conversation, if you can join the gym after this and start lifting weights that is why I'm here speaking to you that is the best thing I can do for you because that will change your life If you start dedicating time every day and lifting weights right. So that's, um, yeah, that's a big part of my passion is to educate women, inspire them to start making those habit changes now. So, when they're 70, 80, they are thriving and aging with purpose and kicking ass.
Julie: 20:23
So yeah, I remember someone saying to me you know, oh, I wish I was 50 again and I could, you know, and I was starting another business. And then you know, when you're sitting there at 50 and you're like, oh, I wish I was 35 again starting another business, like like, we tend to not plant ourselves in bloom in the era that we're in, we wish for a bygone time. And it is just so interesting about you know the actions that you're taking today. It's so true, right. If you want to move into your you know elderly years, you have to start moving now and it's going to come.
Aeryon: 21:04
I mean, 20 years goes by pretty fast.
Aeryon: 21:07
And I had a lot of women can resonate with this.
Aeryon: 21:11
But I had my daughter at 35. My mom had me at 20. I had my mom for an extra 15 years of my life, right. And so I had this kind of realization. Last year I was looking at booking a trip to Italy for Michaela and I was like, oh, I don't know if I should do it, and it's expensive and I should save money this year. And I was driving back from the gym and all of a sudden I had this realization that when, when Michaela's 55, so I'm 50 right now and Michaela's 55, I'll be 90. My mom's 70, right, 70. So I get her for an extra like till I'm seven.
Aeryon: 21:45
I'm going to get my mom to like my mom's going to live a long life. She's taking really good care of herself. Mckaylee gets me to 55. Like she's shorted 15 years of life with me and in that I have to be responsible because I want to be around for her, you know. And then I started crying. I went home and booked our trip to Italy. I'm like, we're going to Italy, we need to go. And she's like okay, I'm like, cause I'm going to die when you're 55. She's like what she's like, stop talking about that I'm like, but I'm going to be here less than grandma, you know. So it's this like holy crap, this is it is. You know it is time, cause I want to be here for her as long as possible.
Julie: 22:19
Yeah, no, I think that's a really great point and obviously that is what ties together, that sort of underlying theme of tying together, you know, the wellness brand and everything that you've been building.
Aeryon: 22:32
Yeah, exactly it really is. It's what I think about a lot. It's all I think about air and wellness and care of health and if I can impart that to some women and you know I've had I had a woman messaged me a while ago. I did a seminar and she said I just want to tell you that I've been, I've been saying to myself I need to join the gym, I need to get back to the gym, and I just haven't been doing it and she goes. Tonight I came and listened to you and I've joined the gym and I just want you to know that and she goes. You made a difference. So don't just join the gym, but but in that, knowing that that's going to change her trajectory and how she's, how she's operating in the world, that is, that is, to me, what it's all about.
Julie: 23:26
Yeah, and this idea I think too, of like fitness is, yes, the lifting weights and cardiovascular health and those things, but it's also about like can you pick something up off the floor? Can you get up off the floor if you fall down? Like all the functional pieces about having fitness and health in your life that make a big difference as you age.
Aeryon: 23:43
After the age of 65, accidental falls are the number one death. If you are in your 70s and up, and if you fall and break a hip, 25% do not live past a year. Taking care of your bone density is incredibly important, especially for women, because as estrogen drops, that affects our bone density levels. So in that, vitamin D is a big one. We want to make sure we're taking and having protein, having to make sure I have a nice muscle skeletal frame. But jump training is a big one you can do as well.
Aeryon: 24:10
I do plyos once a week where I'm jump training and research has now shown that doing was it 10 to 20 jumps twice a day increased bone density in the hips. Now I only do once a week. So I'm jumping once a week and I do my walking on the treadmill. Then I go to the aerobics room and I'll do jump squats, pop squats. I'll just do a bunch of them. So you're constantly jumping right. You're giving your bone density some impact and in that the research has shown that that actually helps with bone density as well. And the big thing with that too is when we think about falling and that jerk, let's say, you fall off a curb If you've done jump training for 20 years. When you do this, you're going to be able to catch yourself faster because your instincts are better. You're used to doing that kind of immediate catching, and so that is another fundamental reason why we want to make sure that we're jump training and then also lifting, because that's going to help too.
Julie: 25:01
Interesting, interesting. And so now, where, where do you go from here with, with Aeryon Wellness? What's the, what's your path?
Aeryon: 25:12
Everybody's going to buy Arianne Wellness. Well, right now I mean growing the brand definitely. You know that's, as I mentioned, 600 stores across Canada. We always said being a global brand is one of the intentions behind this product line. We are in the States. We've had to rethink what we're doing in the States right now, so we're kind of taking a pause on that. I'm just waiting to see kind of what ends up rolling down the pipeline eventually. But UK and I guess the big thing is just growing the brand and becoming the number one female supplement brand in Canada is a big goal of mine. That everybody understands the brand, knows what it is, knows it's trusted and reliable. It's third-party tested that they can scan that QR code and learn about the product. We were featured on Dragon's Den in 2022, and I walked away with three offers and that's how we walked away with three offers and so in that we become the trusted brand known for the average day consumer that Aeryon Wellness definitely has your needs covered.
Julie: 26:09
Yeah, and what was that experience like going through the pitching experience and have you pitched for investors outside of Dragon's Den as well?
Aeryon: 26:19
So I own 100% of the company and I don't know if I'll probably wait on that one. I've had some really incredible mentors over the years, and one of them was my old boss who sold to Jameson, and one of the things they've always told me is hold on as much as you possibly can. So I want to wait until we get to a much higher level before I start looking at bringing somebody in. And if I was able to bring somebody in who came in as a partner where I could still work in the brand, that would be what I would really like to do.
Aeryon: 26:47
But Dragon's Den was an incredible, intense experience and I public speak quite a bit, but the thing is is with that pitch, you know you have two minutes and you have to have it memorized. I'm usually using PowerPoint and I speak off the cuff, so I wanted to make sure I had everything nailed that I was able to say it was Arlene Dickinson that agreed to my offer and so she said yes. And then, after the show, I went through the due diligence, which was interesting, because I don't check out your numbers before the show, right? So they don't really know.
Julie: 27:14
Right.
Aeryon: 27:15
Um, and so I wanted them to come back to me and offer me exactly what and say you're all your numbers checked up here, so you know, would you like to come in? So it was going to be a hundred thousand dollars I believe it was for 15%, if I'm correct, back in 2022. But what I did do was take the show's episode and I went to TD Bank, which is my bank, showed them the episode and then I got the a hundred thousand dollar line of credit instead. So I didn't have to give up anything.
Aeryon: 27:42
But it was interesting meeting Arlene. I mean, from what I've heard and new people have gone on the show, they haven't had a chance to sit down and have conversations with her. So her and I have I think I had two, three zoom calls so I had an opportunity to get to talk with her. She's an impressive woman in business. You know I have that much respect for her and looking at for myself when I eventually walk away from Aeryon wellness, my goal is to mentor young women in business and also do investment as well. So I was really curious about how this all kind of went through, how the process was working with that, and so that's one of the things I know, eventually, I'd like to be doing. I already mentor women in business through the forum, but that's something I want to continue doing and working with young women.
Julie: 28:19
Yeah, well, I think it's important and I mean it's one of the reasons for this podcast is to tell the stories of people who are doing it, so the people who want to get there can understand that it's possible. Yeah.
Aeryon: 28:34
And that it's. I mean it's it's a lot of work. I mean there are definitely, I think, on a daily basis. I'm like I should have gone into real estate. Why did I not just buy property with my money? Why did I do this? It was one thing you know, but I think that's when you have to. You have to listen to that whisper. And when I knew, when I got my money, when I got my package from Jameson, I was like do I know? If I don't do this, I'm always going to wonder what, if I will always wonder that you know, and no matter what, this is going to teach me so much and I've had so many expensive lessons, so many expensive lessons. But in that, doing this has been probably one of the greatest adventures Besides my daughter's, my first greatest adventure in my life. It's definitely been one of the greatest adventures in my life.
Julie: 29:20
Yeah, I think it's an interesting thing, the learning curve that you feel like you know. There are the days where you're like you know, have I learned everything yet? And the answer is always no. There's always more to learn, and and sometimes it's steep and bumpy.
Aeryon: 29:37
Oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean we've had some pretty December was a pretty big learning curve with me. We had I've talked to a lot of other entrepreneurs who've had bookkeepers that weren't doing the best job and we experienced that Things were kind of messy and it's taken us a long time to get through it, but in that I came out with a very different perspective and an amazing bookkeeper now who has had to be really and now I'm more diligent and more weekly meetings and really looking at the numbers and dialing things down, Because where I thrive and where I shine is sales and I love being in my stores and talking to my retailers. I don't want to sit and do Excel spreadsheets Right and so I trust somebody to do that and they're not doing it. So it's, I've learned a lot over the years, so it's just getting better and smarter and wiser.
Julie: 30:22
Yeah, and figuring out what are the. You know what are the like six important things that you have to do at the end of every month to check for the integrity of the data, and you know those kinds of things Because financial is a huge risk for every entrepreneur.
Aeryon: 30:38
It's a huge risk. You know, and I think you know, there's a lot of conversation about, you know, supporting women in business and how we don't get money, we don't get the funds, and it's still really challenging to get money, especially right now, you know. I mean, I've it's. It's very challenging to get money from the bank and have them give you extra, you know. So you have to get really scrappy at times and my word for 2025 is no, no, no, no, no, no. Have our marketing place. No, you know, and I have a great fractional operations and marketing person who's a very dear friend of mine, and so she's like no, and I'm like no, no, and I'll go to her. I'm like I have an idea. She's like mm-hmm and she's like no. So that's been something I've had to land in, because I think, as an entrepreneur, when you have people come to you with ideas, you want to say yes to everything, right. So it's about really saying okay, this is not, this is not going to move the needle in the right way.
Julie: 31:35
Yeah, and in a way it's a luxury to have many, many more things you could do than like. That number of options is a blessing, but it's really hard to be to let go of some of them or put them in the parking lot or say not right now.
Aeryon: 31:52
I know, and there's so many things you know when you look at, oh, but this could grow the brand, it can make it work, and it can make it. But then I think my big thing is what I know is sticking with what I know and just doing, repeating, rinse and repeat exactly what has worked for me up to now, and that's what I need to focus on. Just because we've had such tremendous growth this past year that that's been challenging when you're trying to not only launch new products in our industry is we don't just have one product we like live on forever. We, you know, two a year. So, in that, looking at when you have growth, having to buy inventory and then create a new product makes it almost impossible, right. So really really having to be crappy so it's um, that's something else and I love, I love launching new products. Like nothing makes me happier than launching something new, right. And then I'm onto the next one. But I've had to be like, okay, we can focus on what we have.
Julie: 32:44
We can love all of our children, not just the new one.
Aeryon: 32:50
I know but the new ones are always like look so shiny and new and look at all the things it does. I'm so proud of it, you know. So, yeah, I definitely. Um, I'm learning to land a little bit more in that too.
Julie: 33:01
So yeah, well, I think that's one of the big shifts as the company grows out of startup and into scale up, is that like you have to find a landing spot where you get the traction that you need. You can't just keep switching and switching and following all the ideas.
Aeryon: 33:18
Looking at filling the gaps, looking at what products aren't moving. How do we support retailers when those aren't moving? Because it's not just listing a product, it's making sure that product is turning and that they're selling it. And if they're not selling it, it's like okay, what do I need to talk to the retailer about? Does your staff need to be educated? Do we need to do a contest in store? Do we need to put it on flyer? What you know? What are the flyer prices? Are they way too much for me to contribute to?
Julie: 33:53
And if thinking cap on and being like, how can we support a store level so we can get this product moving and make sure that it gets in the hand as many of consumers as possible. Yeah Well, and back to world domination. I can't wait to see where you take it so thank you.
Aeryon: 34:02
Thank you, yeah, I'm excited it's going to be a good year. I'm manifesting it. Now it's the Leo moon and I'm a Leo, today's the Leo moon, so the big moon for me. So this is I'm putting it all out there what I want, good.
Julie: 34:15
Well, we will put all the details about the brand and where people can find you in the show notes for today, and I hope that your growth path is as big and explosive as you are planning for this year.
Aeryon: 34:29
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Julie: 34:32
Thanks for chatting with me today. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please remember to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you won't miss any episodes. Figure 8 isn't just a podcast. It's a way of seeing the big, gorgeous goals of women entrepreneurs coming to life. If you're interested in learning more, you can find my book Big Gorgeous Goals on Amazon. Anywhere you might live. For more about my growth and leadership training programs visit www. julieellis. ca. To see how we might work together. Read my blog or sign up to get your free diagnostic. Are you ready for growth? Once again, that's www. julieellis.ca . When we work together, we all win. See you again soon for another episode of Figure 8.