0
SPEAKER_01
Hello and welcome to the Tony Robbins podcast.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s Mary B with a 30 second intro to this episode.
0
SPEAKER_01
You re about to hear a one-on-one conversation that was recorded at last year s Business Mastery Conference.
0
SPEAKER_01
I just want to let you know that this year s Business Mastery is coming up.
0
SPEAKER_01
So if you are interested in taking your business to the next level with Tony s help, then please come join us.
0
SPEAKER_01
I d love to see you at Business Mastery 2023.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s August 15th through 20th.
0
SPEAKER_01
You can come get right in on the action in person with us here at the Palm Beach Convention Center, or if you prefer, you can attend right from the comforts of your own home through Zoom.
0
SPEAKER_01
Just go to TonyRobbins.com forward slash business mastery to apply.
0
SPEAKER_01
We can t wait to meet you.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now onto the show.
0
SPEAKER_02
Reinvention is what keeps you hungry.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s what keeps you engaged.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s what keeps you curious.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s where the sparks of innovation live.
0
SPEAKER_00
We re going to begin here initially with a lady who, you know, she s got tremendous background.
0
SPEAKER_00
She d been a vice president of communications at Warner Brothers.
0
SPEAKER_00
She worked with the Clinton administration.
0
SPEAKER_00
She d worked with Edelman, the PR agency.
0
SPEAKER_00
And at 52 years old, she decided to become an entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_00
And she was so successful that literally, she turned things around.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think the first year, she made $5 million in gross revenues.
0
SPEAKER_00
But within three years, she was doing $100 million.
0
SPEAKER_00
And she did it to solve a problem, like most great entrepreneurs, in this case, or two of her family members.
0
SPEAKER_00
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Gail Becker, founder of Common Power, ladies and gentlemen.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we re thrilled to have you.
0
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
0
SPEAKER_02
I m so thrilled to be here.
0
SPEAKER_00
What s your experience of witnessing these crazy people we re all doing together here?
0
SPEAKER_00
I m curious.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s amazing.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s palpable.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s wonderful.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, listen, you have a storied career in corporate America and in politics as well.
0
SPEAKER_00
After 16, 17 years at the age of 52, you just started to start a business.
0
SPEAKER_00
What creates this career change for you on such a massive scale?
0
SPEAKER_00
Will you share with us the story?
0
SPEAKER_02
How did a nice girl like me end up in the pizza business?
0
SPEAKER_02
So it was really three things that happened at the same time.
0
SPEAKER_02
One was the passing of my father, who came to this country with nothing.
0
SPEAKER_02
He was an entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_02
He was an entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_00
He was in Auschwitz, wasn t he?
0
SPEAKER_02
He was a Holocaust survivor.
0
SPEAKER_02
Both my parents were, and I am actually a first-generation American.
0
SPEAKER_02
But he came here with nothing, actually less than nothing.
0
SPEAKER_02
No family, no schooling, no money, no language skills.
0
SPEAKER_02
And he built a small business.
0
SPEAKER_02
And when he died, something inside me really just changed, and I knew I wanted to do something more meaningful, something that was gonna make a difference in people s lives.
0
SPEAKER_02
I didn t know what it was, but I knew I had to do something.
0
SPEAKER_02
You know, I had a successful career in corporate America, but I suppose you could say I worked my way up to the top of the ladder and realized I didn t like the view very much.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then finally, I was the mom of two boys, I am the mom of two boys with celiac disease.
0
SPEAKER_02
And they were diagnosed at such a young age that there was no gluten-free food in the store.
0
SPEAKER_02
So everything they made, everything they wanted, I had to make.
0
SPEAKER_02
And it gave me a good perch from which to watch the industry evolve.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I saw they were putting so much junk in gluten-free food.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I thought, well, someone s gonna do something, but no one ever did.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so I put all of those things in a virtual blender.
0
SPEAKER_02
My disenchantment with corporate life.
0
SPEAKER_02
the passing of my father and the realization that people must want something better.
0
SPEAKER_02
And what I came out with is, I know, I m gonna leave my successful job in corporate America and start a company called Kali Power.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that- And you started that with very little capital.
0
SPEAKER_00
I know you had a little bit of funds that you d had.
0
SPEAKER_00
I heard you used credit cards, you sold some of your clothes.
0
SPEAKER_02
I sold my clothes online.
0
SPEAKER_02
I bought this one back.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s awesome.
0
SPEAKER_00
So tell me about those early days.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, as I understand it, you looked for answers for your kids.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it took you like 90 minutes, if I understood correctly, to make one of these.
0
SPEAKER_00
And you re like, this is ridiculous.
0
SPEAKER_00
So give us the evolution of how you came to the product itself, at least your initial product.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
So I think like so many parents, we re always looking for ways to make our meals more nutritious for our kids.
0
SPEAKER_02
I stumbled across cauliflower crust pizza one night.
0
SPEAKER_02
There were 569,000 recipes on the internet.
0
SPEAKER_02
I picked one.
0
SPEAKER_02
It was okay, nothing great.
0
SPEAKER_02
About two weeks later, my eldest son said, hey mom, are you ever gonna make that thing again?
0
SPEAKER_02
And I said, there s no way I m making that again.
0
SPEAKER_02
It took 90 minutes after I got home from a full day of work.
0
SPEAKER_02
But I ll tell you what I ll do.
0
SPEAKER_02
I ll find it for you.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I looked everywhere.
0
SPEAKER_02
I looked online, I looked in stores, and I couldn t find it.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so that s when I thought, I can t be alone.
0
SPEAKER_02
And nobody has that kind of time.
0
SPEAKER_02
And why isn t Big Food recognizing that?
0
SPEAKER_02
And that s when I decided to do it myself.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I m curious.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m always curious in the moment.
0
SPEAKER_00
Can you remember the moment you decided to do this?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because you had all these factors you re describing.
0
SPEAKER_00
All this happening.
0
SPEAKER_00
But all those things are happening.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there s the moment that people make the decision.
0
SPEAKER_00
What was the moment?
0
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_02
I remember the moment so well.
0
SPEAKER_02
And one of the reasons I remember it, Tony, is because I came so close to not doing it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
0
SPEAKER_02
And that s the scary thing.
0
SPEAKER_02
When I m here and I get to talk to you and I get to meet all these incredible entrepreneurs and founders, that s what scares me, is how close I came to not doing it.
0
SPEAKER_02
I remember I sat my kids down at the kitchen table and I remember I was either gonna tell them or I was gonna make up another reason for sitting them down.
0
SPEAKER_02
And something inside me said, I wanna show them
0
SPEAKER_02
I want to show them that it s never too late to bet on yourself.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so I just did it.
0
SPEAKER_02
I said, I m going to start a company and you two are going to help me.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I made them sit there while I called my lawyer to draw up the paperwork because we were going to start a company together.
0
SPEAKER_00
So they really are connected.
0
SPEAKER_02
Oh, from the beginning, yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
Give her a hand.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s gorgeous.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s really gorgeous.
0
SPEAKER_00
So tell us, when did you know you had something?
0
SPEAKER_00
When did you know that this thing had really started to click?
0
SPEAKER_00
I know in the first year, was it that you got yourself into Whole Foods for like 30 locations?
0
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_02
So our very first order came from Whole Foods.
0
SPEAKER_02
Boy, don t you remember the day you were, you know, where you were when you got that order.
0
SPEAKER_02
I was in a Starbucks.
0
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to buy everyone in the place a latte.
0
SPEAKER_02
But I got that order and we were in one region.
0
SPEAKER_00
How did you get them in the first place?
0
SPEAKER_00
Just for people thinking.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
You went to maybe the Anaheim Food Fair?
0
SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Well, actually, so for those out there who are thinking about starting a food company, Whole Foods has this wonderful program where if you live in that region, you can pitch your product to that region.
0
SPEAKER_02
So I brought my pizzas in a styrofoam container.
0
SPEAKER_02
It was like bringing my kids to daycare and leaving them with a stranger.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I put them on the front desk and I said, here.
0
SPEAKER_02
And two weeks later, I got an email from a buyer at Whole Foods that we love them and we re bringing them in.
0
SPEAKER_02
When did I know I had something?
0
SPEAKER_02
Well, I can tell you they sold out like that and the distributors sold out like that.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I guess, I think I really started to know, Tony, honestly, is when I started to hear from people.
0
SPEAKER_02
When people were sharing with me how they were eating our products, how they were enjoying it, the difference it was making in their lives, the time it gave them to spend doing something else that they loved.
0
SPEAKER_02
And that s when I thought, wow, this could be something.
0
SPEAKER_00
What was the breakthrough in the recipe?
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t know if you can reveal that or not, that allowed you to make something so tasty when some of the others weren t, something like cardboard, and also to be able to deliver it rapidly?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because your mindset really, as I understand it, is you don t want people to have to choose between good food, delicious, and I think you say the speed of life.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yes, exactly.
0
SPEAKER_02
Well, good.
0
SPEAKER_02
I might just put you on the box because that was said very nicely.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that s exactly true.
1
SPEAKER_01
What happened was, first of all, and again for your viewers out there, it was really hard to find a manufacturer who would even make it for me.
1
SPEAKER_01
When you re a young entrepreneur and you have no real volume, you have nothing, they re taking a chance on you.
1
SPEAKER_01
I must have had seven different manufacturers turn me down.
1
SPEAKER_01
It was the very last one that I had.
1
SPEAKER_01
I remember just begging, literally begging them to just give it one more try, because they were ready to give up.
1
SPEAKER_01
And they did, and we got it, and that was a fair amount of work.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then we did launch it in Whole Foods, but...
1
SPEAKER_01
we went to the Natural Expo West, which is what you had talked about, that was in March, and that s when all of these other retailers had come by and tried it and really wanted it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And just to answer your question on the cardboard reference for the competitors, that s where my kids came in.
1
SPEAKER_01
They were my taste testers, because I knew if they weren t going to eat it, no one was.
1
SPEAKER_02
So they tried a lot of beta versions of that crust, but we all agreed on the one we picked.
1
SPEAKER_00
It sounds like we have a lot to thank your voice.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yes, we do.
1
SPEAKER_00
How did you capitalize?
1
SPEAKER_00
I understand you funded this initial work, but then when you all of a sudden have these mass retailers, how many distributors do you have now?
1
SPEAKER_00
You have retail distributors and tell us how many restaurants.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so we are in 30,000 retail locations, so we re not hard to find, which is nice.
1
SPEAKER_01
Thank you, thank you.
1
SPEAKER_00
How many restaurants also?
1
SPEAKER_01
And we re in 5,000 restaurants, which is great.
1
SPEAKER_01
Obviously, it took a lot of time to build those.
1
SPEAKER_01
And sure, we got those no s early on, but I knew how important it was
1
SPEAKER_01
Particularly if you re first to market, if you re creating a category, it s incredibly important to build that distribution.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because I knew competitors were going to be coming down the line a year and a half later or what have you.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I worked really hard to expand that distribution as quickly as we could so that we could have that foothold.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that ended up working out very well for us.
1
SPEAKER_00
And did you get the distribution because the product was so darn good?
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you think really helped it to take off?
1
SPEAKER_01
I would say yes, yes and yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
I think the three things that we had going for us, one was the marketing of it, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
The marketing of it, the brand, the voice that we spoke to consumers in.
1
SPEAKER_01
They weren t used to hearing a food company speak to them like that.
1
SPEAKER_01
How fun.
1
SPEAKER_01
We were very self-deprecating.
1
SPEAKER_01
My goodness, we put big black letters of a meme on the front of our box.
1
SPEAKER_01
We made them laugh.
1
SPEAKER_01
We made them smile.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I think that is a brand s reputation.
1
SPEAKER_01
I think that s part of our job to do in today s world.
1
SPEAKER_01
So we did that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Our timing was really good, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
People were looking for ways to eat better without sacrificing taste.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so our timing, I think, was pretty spot on.
1
SPEAKER_01
But most importantly, and I would say this to anyone out there who has any product, but I ll speak for someone in the food industry,
1
SPEAKER_01
Just like in real estate, what s the number one rule?
1
SPEAKER_01
Location, location, location.
1
SPEAKER_01
In food, it s taste, taste, taste.
1
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, for whatever product you re creating, you gotta have that quality.
1
SPEAKER_01
In today s world, consumers will call you out on it if you don t.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so that was always really important to us, and we had all three.
1
SPEAKER_00
How did you fund, though, that massive growth in such a short period of time?
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, I would say two ways.
1
SPEAKER_01
So one, I told you about my dad.
1
SPEAKER_01
He really lived the American dream.
1
SPEAKER_01
He bought a house in San Francisco in the early 1970s.
1
SPEAKER_01
He paid $62,000 for it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And when he passed away,
1
SPEAKER_01
I sold that house.
1
SPEAKER_01
San Francisco fortunately became a very expensive place to live for this reason.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I sold that house and I put every last dime into the company.
1
SPEAKER_01
I did that for two reasons.
1
SPEAKER_01
One...
1
SPEAKER_01
I know I needed to honor him.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I felt like, he always used to say to me, and I don t know, maybe some of the people here today feel the same, but he always used to say to me, why would you want to work for anyone else?
1
SPEAKER_01
And as I was growing up, I didn t understand that.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t know what that meant.
1
SPEAKER_01
But boy, almost to the minute when he passed, I got it.
1
SPEAKER_01
I got it and I thought, yeah, dad, I m going to do this and you re going to allow me to do it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So this is really only, Kali Power exists because of him.
1
SPEAKER_01
I also did it because I felt like the money was blessed, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
I know how hard he worked for it.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I felt like it was blessed.
1
SPEAKER_01
As I said, I sold a lot of personal belongings.
1
SPEAKER_01
I maxed out all my credit cards.
1
SPEAKER_01
I gave up every, you know, tiny luxury I had, just like we all do.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I bet it all on a vegetable, which sounded good at the time, but I don t know.
1
SPEAKER_01
Not a popular vegetable, is it?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
I read that you used to go with your father on calls when he was marketing and so forth, and you d have dinner afterwards.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tell me a little bit about how that may have shaped your view of getting in the food business.
1
SPEAKER_01
Isn t it so funny how you can tell a story backwards?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s like all of these signs when I was growing up that I didn t know.
1
SPEAKER_01
So my dad, he started a sort of a salvage business where he would, you know, take food, canned food, maybe the cans were damaged, slightly damaged, the labels were off or what have you, and he d sell it to hotels and restaurants around San Francisco.
1
SPEAKER_01
So unbeknownst to me, I didn t know we were going on sales calls.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t know he was... How old were you at the time?
1
SPEAKER_01
It probably started when I was seven.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I used to do all of that and we used to go and he d sell.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, the thing I learned about business from my dad, he would talk to the people who actually use the product.
1
SPEAKER_01
He didn t talk to the guy out in front.
1
SPEAKER_01
He went in the back and he would talk to the guys who were, you know, cooking the food or busing or hearing from people and it was such a good reminder, like, always connect with the people who use your product.
1
SPEAKER_01
That is the most important thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I also, he had a small store in San Francisco and I started ringing the cash register at age five.
1
SPEAKER_01
I would ring the cash register.
1
SPEAKER_01
For $20 a day plus lunch, yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s beautiful to see, you know, whenever a person starts a business, in my experience, if they re just doing it for money, it rarely works.
1
SPEAKER_00
And because you don t get rewarded in the very beginning by anything, but it s like having a child, you re rewarded that they re your child.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_00
But the experience of both your father and your children and your own experience of wanting to honor and create those things, it s just beautiful that that was your drives and that was rewarded.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tell me something.
1
SPEAKER_00
I read somewhere you said that entrepreneurs have to understand their rules and their rules to be broken.
1
SPEAKER_00
What rules did you break to be successful in what you re doing?
1
SPEAKER_00
I m curious.
1
SPEAKER_01
So how long do I have here today?
1
SPEAKER_01
Because I broke a lot.
1
SPEAKER_01
Okay, I ll just name two.
1
SPEAKER_01
The first rule I broke really is, so I talked about launching in those 30 whole food stores.
1
SPEAKER_01
We were in, so that was in February 2017.
1
SPEAKER_01
We were in Walmart by September of that year.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s pretty amazing, give it up, that s incredible.
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, you could say, it s nice, thank you for saying it s amazing, because a lot of people told me I was stupid back then.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because it just wasn t done.
1
SPEAKER_01
But I thought about my mission.
1
SPEAKER_01
I thought about my personal mission.
1
SPEAKER_01
Why did I leave the pretty good gig in corporate America
1
SPEAKER_01
And the answer was, I wanted to make healthier food more accessible to all.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I know I needed Walmart to do that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And there was an opening in the pitch meetings.
2
SPEAKER_02
I took it and I went and I said yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
And a lot of people advised against it for a whole number of reasons.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I said yes, and today we re in 4,000 Walmart stores.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it ended up being a good bet for both of us, which is nice.
2
SPEAKER_02
I guess another way that, another rule I broke, people usually don t put big black letters on the front of their box, like saying things, saying funny sayings and memes and so forth, but I really felt like...
2
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to make our consumers smile.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that s not something people usually do when they re walking through the grocery store or walking through the frozen aisle.
2
SPEAKER_02
We broke a lot of sort of traditional packaging rules to do that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I m really glad that we did, and now that s kind of what we re known for.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you entered an industry, you didn t know anything about the industry.
2
SPEAKER_00
And nothing, correct?
2
SPEAKER_02
Nothing.
2
SPEAKER_02
I cooked it, bought it, and ate it.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s all I did.
2
SPEAKER_00
Tell people how you navigated that.
2
SPEAKER_00
I understand you hired a series of consultants and just immersed yourself in the industry so you d know really the ins and outs.
2
SPEAKER_00
Is that right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I was like a sponge, to be honest with you.
2
SPEAKER_02
And in fact, I still am.
2
SPEAKER_02
I ve been here for several hours now and I ve been listening to everybody speak and I ve been taking notes and I still am a sponge.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I hired consultants to teach me about the business and I listened really closely.
2
SPEAKER_02
You know, I think one thing, one mistake that founders or entrepreneurs sometimes make is that because it s their company, they feel like they have to have all the answers.
2
SPEAKER_02
And the great thing is you don t.
2
SPEAKER_02
you just have to hire people who do.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so, I m really comfortable in knowing what I don t know.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I m really good at hiring smart people who do.
2
SPEAKER_02
And you should see my team.
2
SPEAKER_02
And this is the reason why Kali Power is successful.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I think it s really, so that s a really safe place for entrepreneurs to feel comfortable.
2
SPEAKER_02
Go in, go in, you know, lead with what you excel at.
2
SPEAKER_02
But then hire around to fill in some of the gaps.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s wonderful.
2
SPEAKER_00
You talk about reinvention and what an important part of that is not only business but in your life.
2
SPEAKER_00
Tell us what that means to you.
2
SPEAKER_02
There s this wonderful quote I love.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it says, drowning is not what happens when you fall in the water.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s what happens when you stay there.
2
SPEAKER_02
Think about that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I really feel like when we are doing the same thing that we decided at the ripe old age of 18 or 22, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
How could we know back then?
2
SPEAKER_02
And what a shame it would be if we all go out into the world, and we all learn all of these things, and we meet all of these people, and we see all of these places, and we don t want to change.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I like to think that every time I meet someone new or experience something I haven t experienced before, that has to have an impact on me.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that is the core of reinvention.
2
SPEAKER_02
Reinvention is what keeps you hungry.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s what keeps you engaged.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s what keeps you curious.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s where the sparks of innovation live.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I hope everyone has the courage to reinvent themselves many times over.
2
SPEAKER_02
I still have a couple left in me, I hope.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s good.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think the key word you said is courage.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because I think that s the challenge.
2
SPEAKER_00
Everyone wants life to be better.
2
SPEAKER_00
No one wants to change.
2
SPEAKER_01
Hey listeners, you are about to hear Toni ask Gail to explain what she had to do to adjust her business strategy overnight right in the middle of the pandemic.
2
SPEAKER_01
Two years ago, COVID was the challenge throwing businesses for a loop.
2
SPEAKER_01
Now it s a looming recession.
2
SPEAKER_01
One thing s for sure, business as usual just won t cut it anymore.
2
SPEAKER_01
The businesses that will survive the coming economic crises will be those that know how to step up and serve their clients in a new way.
2
SPEAKER_01
When you attend Business Mastery, Tony and our team of niche business experts will train you in the seven critical forces of business that you need to master if you want to thrive, no matter what happens out there.
2
SPEAKER_01
So come learn the tools and strategies with us with 30 to 130% growth guaranteed.
2
SPEAKER_01
Go see if Business Mastery is right for you at TonyRobbins.com forward slash business podcast.
2
SPEAKER_01
Now back to Tony and Gail.
2
SPEAKER_00
Tell me, when COVID hit, well, I don t know if COVID was the reason for this, but I understand you did a survey with 4,000 customers, and you discovered that people were sick and tired of making their own food, eating their own food.
2
SPEAKER_00
Tell us what you learned from that study, and then how did you adapt during COVID?
2
SPEAKER_00
I know frozen sales overall improved, but yours improved geometrically.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, so I would say a couple things.
2
SPEAKER_02
So yes, we are not a DTC company because we re frozen and frozen shipping is very expensive, but we obviously had to shift during the pandemic.
2
SPEAKER_02
You know, the pandemic was very hard for us.
2
SPEAKER_02
People weren t, so first of all, we had to take the business virtual overnight while it was the busiest and most complicated time.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it was a busy and complicated time to make food and then to get it from point A to point B.
2
SPEAKER_02
It had never been done before, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Under those circumstances.
2
SPEAKER_02
So it was very challenging.
2
SPEAKER_02
Also, people weren t reaching for better-for-you food.
2
SPEAKER_02
They wanted the $3.99, all-you-can-eat pepperoni belly fillers.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s what people wanted during the pandemic.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so it was hard.
2
SPEAKER_02
But, you know, a couple things happened.
2
SPEAKER_02
So in terms of the survey, yeah, we found people were sick of their own cooking.
2
SPEAKER_02
By the way, who wouldn t be, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
We all were, everyone here was.
2
SPEAKER_02
So we decided to make light of that.
2
SPEAKER_02
We decided to talk to them in a language and in a way that people really understood.
2
SPEAKER_02
Because calling power really is not
2
SPEAKER_02
just about making healthier products taste great.
2
SPEAKER_02
We are very much about that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that is what we do.
2
SPEAKER_02
But we re also about convenience.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so we put together a little box, a stick of my own cooking cookbook.
2
SPEAKER_02
We
2
SPEAKER_02
sent out a bunch of products, and we sold D to C for the first time.
2
SPEAKER_02
Did we sell lots?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, of course we didn t.
2
SPEAKER_02
But did we make our consumers laugh?
2
SPEAKER_02
Did we bring them joy at a time when they needed it most?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes, we did.
2
SPEAKER_02
And we had this whole program called Netflix and Chill, where we got celebrities to make pizzas on Zoom.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, think about the ridiculousness of that.
2
SPEAKER_02
But the day Dan Levy from Schitt s Creek made a pizza, made a cauliflower pizza during the pandemic, I thought the internet was going to break.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wonderful.
2
SPEAKER_00
Give her a hand.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s beautiful.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s fantastic.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s been one of the most challenging times that you ve faced and how did you turn it around?
2
SPEAKER_00
I ask all entrepreneurs that.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m sure there have been several, but if you look back,
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Um, you know, I, I would say the pandemic for, for sure.
2
SPEAKER_02
Um, it was, um, how did you solve some of these issues?
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, companies today are having such a challenge, even three years later, because people don t want to come back to work or want to come back two days, three days a week.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, some companies have gone completely virtual.
2
SPEAKER_00
Some companies obviously can t, how did you handle that?
2
SPEAKER_00
And how do you handle it today?
2
SPEAKER_00
I m curious.
2
SPEAKER_00
Has there been any carry over from that time?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Change things permanently or did they go back?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
You know what s interesting about the pandemic from a food company s perspective?
2
SPEAKER_02
In some ways, it was a great equalizer.
2
SPEAKER_02
Nestle didn t have any more experience of operating during a pandemic than Collipower did, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Nobody did.
2
SPEAKER_02
So that was kind of a nice playing field.
2
SPEAKER_02
And what I would say is...
3
SPEAKER_01
how we struggled through it is I have the best team in the business.
3
SPEAKER_01
And we were really lucky because innovation is something that we talk about every day at Calling Power.
3
SPEAKER_01
It is who we are.
3
SPEAKER_01
It is why the company was born.
3
SPEAKER_01
But it s not just innovation in our products, in our food.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s innovation in everything we do.
3
SPEAKER_01
in operations, in supply chain.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I challenged our team, let s get creative.
3
SPEAKER_01
Let us figure out how to get that food onto store shelves.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I have to say, and I m incredibly proud of them,
3
SPEAKER_01
we had a 98% fulfillment rate to our customers.
3
SPEAKER_01
Now, sometimes our distributors couldn t get it on shelf, so there was that.
3
SPEAKER_01
But on our pizza, we had a 98% fulfillment rate.
3
SPEAKER_01
That was extraordinary, and I was incredibly proud.
3
SPEAKER_01
But we also, so it was hard, we made it through, and we made it through together.
3
SPEAKER_01
Every night I would send a little note to the team for 365 days.
3
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes it was something great that happened to the company, sometimes it was just something to make them laugh, but just to remind people that...
3
SPEAKER_01
Even though we re virtual, we re all working toward a common goal.
3
SPEAKER_01
We all, and remember the mission.
3
SPEAKER_01
We are helping people eat better.
3
SPEAKER_01
We are helping people lead healthier lives.
3
SPEAKER_01
And that was really good.
3
SPEAKER_01
But I would say we also use the opportunity because we knew that big food stopped innovating during the pandemic, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
They couldn t, they had to just worry about production.
3
SPEAKER_01
So we said, we re going to double down on innovation.
3
SPEAKER_01
And as a result, the result of really doubling down on innovation during the pandemic, we were able to launch a series of new products in 2021.
3
SPEAKER_01
Some of those we have our chicken nuggets, our pasta, our frozen meals, and we were only able to launch those products because we innovated during the pandemic when no one else was.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wow, that s beautiful.
3
SPEAKER_02
Tell me, like, why did you not take the company?
3
SPEAKER_02
Why did you not sell the company?
3
SPEAKER_02
Why did you not take them public?
3
SPEAKER_02
And or what s your view of the future for the company?
3
SPEAKER_01
You know what?
3
SPEAKER_01
We want to continue to grow.
3
SPEAKER_01
We have built a great company.
3
SPEAKER_01
We continue to grow.
3
SPEAKER_01
Our innovation is a huge source of that growth.
3
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, even though we are successful by a number of metrics, there s still a lot of people out there who haven t tried Kali Power yet.
3
SPEAKER_01
So we want to introduce Kali Power to them.
3
SPEAKER_01
And we really
3
SPEAKER_01
You know, we re sort of known as the cauliflower crust pizza company, that s what made us famous.
3
SPEAKER_01
We re gonna be the number one Better For You frozen food company.
3
SPEAKER_01
Better For You frozen food company, I like that.
3
SPEAKER_01
That is our goal and we will do it.
3
SPEAKER_02
That s wonderful.
3
SPEAKER_02
You know, one of the things that we ve been talking about here is knowing what business you re in, but what business you re really in, or what business you need to be in.
3
SPEAKER_02
Apple s such a perfect example.
3
SPEAKER_02
In 97, when Steve Jobs came back, and they were in big trouble.
3
SPEAKER_01
And he said, what business?
3
SPEAKER_02
Everybody said computers.
3
SPEAKER_02
And he said, then we re in deep trouble.
3
SPEAKER_02
Microsoft controls 97% of the market.
3
SPEAKER_02
And they all said, what are we really?
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, we re connecting people to their passions.
3
SPEAKER_02
What are their passions?
3
SPEAKER_02
And it started with music.
3
SPEAKER_02
And that s how the whole game changed to the most successful company in history.
3
SPEAKER_02
I m going to finish with this question, and we re going to bring out each person.
3
SPEAKER_02
I d love to have the group ask some questions.
3
SPEAKER_02
And maybe even you guys ask each other a few questions.
3
SPEAKER_02
But what is the lesson that you want your, because it was what you started with, you want your boys to have from this journey?
3
SPEAKER_01
It s such a good question.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I often wonder, what has having a front row seat to seeing their mom build Kali Power, what has that done to them?
3
SPEAKER_01
Does it make them want to be an entrepreneur more?
3
SPEAKER_01
Or does it make them want to run the other way?
3
SPEAKER_01
How old are they now?
3
SPEAKER_01
So now they re 24 and 19.
3
SPEAKER_02
Okay, and they ve been on a seven-year journey.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yes, so I would say it s definitely geared more toward, I think they have the entrepreneurial itch, which is great, but I hope it shows them, I guess, three things.
3
SPEAKER_01
One, always bet on yourself, because if you don t, no one else is going to.
3
SPEAKER_01
Always bet on each other.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know, when you are an entrepreneur, you rely very, very, so much on your village, on your team.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you can t do it without them.
3
SPEAKER_01
So we always cheer each other on.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then three,
3
SPEAKER_01
I hope it shows them, reminds them that their job is to leave the world a little bit better than they found it.
3
SPEAKER_01
That s what I have always tried to instill in them, and I think they will.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, you re doing it.
3
SPEAKER_02
Thank you very, very much.
3
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
3
SPEAKER_02
Give it up for Gail, everybody.
3
SPEAKER_02
Gail Becker.
3
SPEAKER_00
The Tony Robbins Podcast is inspired and directed by Tony Robbins and his teachings.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s produced by us, Team Tony.
3
SPEAKER_00
Copyright Robbins Research International.