331 She Turned Celiac Disease & Being Sober-Curious Into A Business (The Story Of JÜJ Digestive Bitters )
Meg Gerber.
Functional Gut Health Dietitian, Breathwork Teacher and Founder of JUJ Bitters
In today's episode, I sit down with Functional Gut Health Dietitian, Breathwork Teacher and Founder of JUJ Bitters Meg Gerber.
JUJ was a product born out of Meg's journey with celiac disease and passion for next-level wellness.
Meg is an absolutle powerhouse as a Dietitian and as an Entrepreneur. Her vision is so strong and she truly practices what she preaches.
Meg is a wealth of knowledge and in this episode she shares the personal and professional milestones that led to the creation of Juj Bitters, a unique product aimed at supporting digestive health and offering a refreshing twist to mocktails.
Meg is also a Cookbook Author, a retreat-facilitator and the founder of The Nourished Membership.
Topics covered in this episode of Visionary Life with Meg Gerber include:
Introduction to Meg Gerber and JUJ Bitters
Her story of being diagnosed with celiac disease and how that led her to the idea of starting a Digestive Health Company
Benefits of using bitters for digestive health and in crafting delicious mocktails
The exploration of holistic practices like breath work and meditation to address health issues
How these bitters can support those with Sober Curiosity and cultivating a Mindful Relationship with Alcohol (Meg shares her personal journey of reducing alcohol consumption and embracing a mindful lifestyle)
The journey of Product Development (along with the challenges!) + How they had to go about doing Extensive testing for gluten safety to meet FDA regulations and celiac accredited programs' standards
Episode Time Stamps:
[00:00] Launching a product-based business - this highs and lows, and true challenges associated with launching a product business!
[04:43] Alcohol's impact on business and life + tips for those who are sober curious
[09:54] Meg's struggles with celiac disease and autoimmune challenges + her journey of healing through gluten-free diet, bitters, holistic medicine, breathwork, and nervous system regulation
[24:47] How they decided on branding + finding a great designer to bring their brand vision to life and ensure the brand aesthetics were A+
[36:00] Launching the business without compromising values and vision - and ensuring the HIGHEST quality standards!
To connect with Juj:
To connect with Kelsey:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You are listening to the Visionary Life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Reidl.
Each week, I'll bring you conversations with the most visionary humans on this earth in hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures, and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship. This season, I'll be chatting with creative thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop owners, brand builders, and people just like you who have a story to share or a vision that inspires. If I can share one quick secret with you before we get into the episode, it's that we all have a little bit of visionary inside of us. You know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime.
But perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up. I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you.It's in you. It's in all of us. Let's dive in. Hey, visionaries. Welcome back to the show. Today I'm sitting down with Meg Gerber, and she is the co founder of Juj Bitters. So Meg is actually a previous client of mine. She's a functional medicine dietitian.
She's a passionate yoga and meditation teacher. She's the founder of Grounded Nourishment, which is a private virtual nutrition practice. But the reason she's on the show today is because she is launching, or just launched, an epic product based business called Zhuzh Bitters. J u j bitters.
So you've probably seen bitters, like, at the bar before, or you've had it in a cocktail or at the grocery store. But Meg's journey into bitters is actually because she was diagnosed with celiac at a young age, and drinking was not really working for her. And she needed digestive help because she felt bloated and there was a lot of symptoms going on in her digestive system. And bitters are actually such an incredible way to support your digestive health.But in addition, a lot of people are using them in mocktails. So I wanted to bring Meg on the show because she's launching this incredible brand. First of all, you just need to go to their website, livewithjuj.com, and check out how cool this product is. Like, it's just incredible. And what I love about it is that there are not only so many health benefits, but there's also culinary applications. So the reason why Meg's on the show is because it has been a journey for her. Like they her and her co founder, Alex, who's her partner, they don't have experience launching a product based business of their own, per se. So the two of them got the idea, but we really walked through what it took to bring this product to life, how the launching is going so far, some of the early successes and some of the early challenges that they've experienced, experienced.
And she really gets real on what this whole process has been like. So if you've ever thought about launching a product based business, if you have a passion for health and you've always wanted to turn that into something more, I know you're going to love this episode. And I think the other thing that I feel so excited about this episode and why I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you is because we actually talk a little bit about sober curiosity, being that these bitters that she's created, they can actually be used in mocktails to flavor sparkling water and to create these beautiful cocktails without alcohol. I thought this would be an important conversation to dive into because there are so many people I've been chatting with recently and myself being pregnant, who are kind of just reassessing their relationship with alcohol. It's not that they're like, I'm going completely sober. I'm never drinking again. But they're starting to notice, hey, this doesn't feel good in my body. This is actually affecting my health, my motivation to exercise my clarity towards my business.
That was one thing for me. And I share that more in the episode. Like, I would show up to Monday morning coaching calls and I would often feel this fog hanging over me. And I knew what it was. It was from drinking. It was inflammation. My face was puffy. But I wasn't willing to really look at alcohol in the face and say, like, why am I drinking? Or have I been drinking intentionally versus just passively? Like, if I want to have a glass of wine, great, but make sure it's like part of a full experience.
So anyways, if you are somebody who has thought those same thoughts, who's been wondering what role does alcohol serve in my life, we do go on a little bit of a tangent there and talk about how drinking less can actually improve your business and ultimately your life. So I would love if you could show Meg some love. We know that starting a business comes with so many challenges, but they're in such an exciting chapter right now. So again, you can head to livewith Juj u J.com. and that's where you'll find recipes and blogs about bitters. And then you can also find them on Instagram. Subscribe to their email list and you can connect with megroundednourish if you want to chat with her. I'll put all of that in the show notes so that you can easily click through.
But without further ado, why don't we dive into this conversation with Meg Gerber, the co founder of Juj Bitters. Hey, visionary. I have a really exciting announcement. If you live in southwestern Ontario on Friday, June 14, we are bringing together a group of 14 women and we are gonna have the most magical day long retreat. Ten to four, so 6 hours if you have kids or if you have a lot of other things on the go. This isn't going to eat up your entire weekend. You don't have to drive too far. And it is in Puss Lynch Lake, Ontario.
We're hosting it for female entrepreneurs. Now this is your chance to connect with other ambitious women in real life. This is the most important. The secret sauce to business is making connections, having support and accountability, and a group of women who you can count on in the high times and the low times and to really support you and be referring your business. So we will be gathering, coming together for a day filled with connection and conversation and business growth and nourishing meals and snacks. It's all included. We also have a epic breath work session. You guys are going to love, love, love the facilitator that we've hired.
And again, this is going to be a six hour day together, ten to four in puss Lynch Lake. So fully catered. Lunch, drink, snacks, breath work marketing session led by me. A mindset session. So if you are an online entrepreneur looking to grow, you have big goals for 2024. And you know, you could use a CEO day that's filled with soul filling conversation, but also business strategy. Do not miss this. Send me a DM on Instagram right away at Kelsey Rydell is my Instagram handle.
Just send me the word retreat and I will get you details if there are any tickets left. This is super small, so we're curating a really cozy room and we can can't wait to see you there again June 14. So if you have the day free, DM me on Instagram. The word retreat. Meg, welcome to the Visionary Life podcast. I'm so excited to sit down with you today. I know you have so many facets to your life and your career. You're a functional medicine dietitian.
You are a yoga and meditation teacher, the founder of the business grounded nourishment which you've also written a cookbook, and there are so many things we could dive into. But you also have a really new, exciting project on the go, and that is that you are launching juj digestive bitters. So to queue things up, I'd love to know if you could give us a brief background on what bitters are and how they came into your life. So wherever you need to start the story to give us some context on what bitters are and how they eventually made their way into your diet.
Yay. Thanks, Kels. I'm so happy to be here. Digestive bitters at their baseline are basically an herbal tincture made from an infusion of bitter herbs and plants. Okay, so simplest terms, but I think most people identify with them as bitters that have been sitting on a bar back, like angostera bitters, for example, that have been around for ages. So maybe in the cocktail industry, people are like, oh, yeah, I think I've had those before, or I've heard of them. Journey to bitters. And an obsession with bitters is actually a lot different than, like, the cocktail industry.
Specifically, when I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2013, the years, and I'll kind of shorten the story. The years thereafter, I actually struggled to feel well and had more ups and downs than I would have expected than maybe the narrative that was fed to me when I was first diagnosed. When I was diagnosed, it was essentially like, you need to be gluten free, and if you eat gluten free, you're magically going to feel well. And I just didn't. And looking back, I think that a big piece of that was the mental narrative I was writing around the disease and the stress that ensued from that narrative and the energy I was kind of carrying around it, because I was telling myself the story of, like, no one's going to want to date a person like me. I'm going to be alone forever. No one understands. No one can help me with this.
I've got figure this out myself. I've got to be fiercely defensive and independent. And so that really created, actually, a lot of tension and stress in my body. And in addition, I really learned that I wasn't properly breathing. I had a lot of pelvic floor dysfunction that led me down the journey of breath work and meditation and deepening that practice. But one thing that actually still stands really true, and why I love bitters, is that those with autoimmune, because celiac is an autoimmune, deal with potentially some level of damage to the body where you may feel just, like, a little behind the eight ball of the typical person digestively. So what I mean by that is celiac, you actually have damage to the little finger, like, projections of the villi so that, like, outer lining of the intestines become flattened like a mowed lawn. And so because the body attacks itself when it has gluten, if you've had celiac for years because it's genetic and something turns that gene on, you could be getting your diagnostic biopsy with evidence that, like, this has been going on for a long time.
Like, you're pretty damaged. And by the way, though, there is healing in sight. Like, you, if you go gluten free, and if you work on healing, you can regrow those beautiful little villi. But what's interesting there is that I always felt that even with a lot of healing remedies and being strictly gluten free, I still tended towards a little more bloating or a little bit more digestive irregularity. And what I mean by that is just, like, feeling like food was sitting in my stomach a little bit long, and, like, especially if I would eat more fat, even healthy fats, it felt like, oh, I just, like, can't digest this as well. And this isn't even a huge quantity of food. So I found bitters pretty early in pursuing holistic medicine, which was kind of around the same time of diagnosis, because I was in a very clinical nutrition program at UConn at University of Connecticut in the States. And I found that I felt like sort of the black sheep in the program, because pretty quickly into my journey, I was like, okay, just eating gluten free isn't enough.
And I'm finding that things like breath work and acupuncture and energy medicine and things like that are actually helping to really soothe my symptoms, and I feel a big shift. So I also found in working with different doctors and studying and kind of going deeper into functional medicine, which is very root cause analysis medicine that bitters. As far as digestive bitters and bitter foods like radicchio, endive, cacao, cranberry, all actually have this beautiful digestive remedy component where they improve digestion by essentially triggering on your natural digestive secretion output and saying, hey, guys, like knocking on the door, like, let's output more robustly. So I love it because bitters isn't replacing anything, and it's not causing dependency. It's just naturally enhancing digestive enzyme flow, digestive stomach acid flow, even salivary enzymes in the mouth, you start breaking down your food, your carbs in the mouth the second you start chewing. Um, bile flow as well. So. And bile is just huge.
I could do, we could do like a whole podcast on just bile. But I'll just say that I work with a lot of women, and women go through a lot of hormonal cycles through their lifetime, including things like pregnancy, where shifts and estrogen can actually cause bile, which is harbored in your gallbladder. Think of it like a little wallet that stores bile and it gets output like a big flood at a meal to break down fat and help with detoxification of, you know, byproducts that your body is ready to, like, waste products to leave the body. Okay. The thing about bile is a lot of women struggle with sludgy or sluggish bile. Maybe they don't have gallstones, but sludgy, because changes in estrogen can cause us to have more concentrated bile. So specifically heightened loads of estrogen can cause more concentration in the bile of cholesterol. So being that I kind of had this journey of ongoingly feeling like, ugh, I just like, don't digest my food as well.
Even with remedies like breathing at meals, which I'm a huge fan clubber of, and getting your body into rest and digest mode, bitters were always like my little secret, like my little dirty secret, though. It's not a dirty secret that I was like, oh, this is just so helpful, and I would spritz them in my mouth before meals. So I have friends growing up in my twenties who I'm sure remember me, like, just spritzing digestive bitters often, because it was just my little remedy that I always knew was going to help me, especially when I was eating out and traveling.
So, okay, I love that we've cued this up and you were using a product and obviously it was working for you, it was improving your health. Being someone who was diagnosed with celiac, you're obviously looking for tools that can support you in managing that. Some of the messages that I've got from my private clients in the past two to three weeks are I just booked three discovery calls for tomorrow. Or another client said she earned 20,000 in revenue from one email sent using a template that I gave her, or that their website is now SEO optimized, so it's ranking in search engines, finally. And one of my clients just saw a traffic jump. So number of people coming to her site from 4000 last month already at 19,000 impressions for this month. Another client just signed a new client of theirs using direct response marketing strategies that I teach. And this is the power of hiring a one to one marketing consultant.
And that's me. I will take the time to review your business. I'll check on the foundation. So have you selected the right niche? Is your offer irresistible? How is the pricing strategy? Are you clear on your value proposition and ultimately what's going on with your marketing funnel? How are you attracting clients? How are you nurturing them and bringing them closer? And then are you inviting them or able to convert them into a paid client? So if you're struggling to grow your business, if you can't find consistent clients and you really want to become fully booked, then you may want to invest in marketing support. Marketing is the start of your sales funnel and without an effective strategy, you're likely missing out on hundreds and thousands of dollars. That stops here. Working with me as your business and marketing coach will help you identify new income opportunities right away and to optimize your lead generation strategy. We will also cover your social media marketing strategy, how to rank on Google, how to activate strategic partnerships that get you in front of hundreds of new people, all so that you can two x or five x or ten x your business.
This year, head to kelseyridel.com privatecoaching for details. Again, that's Kelsey Rydell.com privatecoaching for details. You can also see some past success stories from the hundreds and hundreds of clients that I've worked with. We've had Christina land a $100,000 consulting gig. Emily signed six new clients in a day. Again, if you want these kind of results. Kelsey Rydell.com privatecoaching I love chatting with you guys. I love being in the DM's with you guys.
So let's chat and see if this is a good fit for you. Kelseyreidl.com privatecoaching I'm so curious, when did the light bulb moment go off for you that you didn't just want to be a consumer of this product, but instead you had this ping? And I believe it was maybe in partnership with Alex, but maybe not.
So you'll have to queue up the story. But when did you get this ping that, like, wait a second. There's no product that meets my need or is exactly formulated the way I want it. And I think I'm going to start a product based business around this. Like, do you remember when that initial thought dropped in your head that you needed to be the creator of Zhuzh?Yeah, I mean, what sounds probably kind of strange is I, for many years, using different digestive bitters brands never found one brand that I was, like, ultimately obsessed with the taste. And bitters do taste bitter. So, you know, there is a component of, like, oh, they're not the most favorite thing of everyone, but there were a couple of brands that I was like, eh, I kind of like the taste, but they're actually. And I still don't know of one. There isn't a brand that is actually testing for celiac safety. And so my struggle was always in knowing, like, that I could have the safety of this is a celiac safe tested for gluten at a certain parts per million brand. What I did was, like, I would communicate to brands and reach out, and that was helpful. But the problem being people are always changing their production, their sourcing.
You just never really know. And so I felt like to give me more safety, I was like, I really want to have my own, where anyone who deals with something like celiac or autoimmune knows how much safety comes from just being like, I know I can eat this and this is nourishing for me and it's not going to hurt me.
Yeah.
So, um, I kind of had that initial ping in the back of my brain for a while where I just was like, I want this to be created for me selfishly. And then I know that there's other people who are going to care because, yes, innately, most herbs on their own are gluten free, but if they're not being tested, there can be a lot of cross contamination. So somebody who's celiac could react, for example, if they're growing oat straw right next to, say, gentian root or what have you. The herb, um, because something like oats, for example, are highly cross contaminated. I never tell a celiac to eat oats unless they're certified gluten free.
Yep.
So I would say, like, I have that looming in the back of my brain. Kind of had an obsession with bitters for a long time. And then when I met my partner, Alex, now over almost two years ago, I think he's just like a curious person and a tinkerer on his own. I mean, he's an incredibly intelligent, like, went to Harvard, has sort of like a science background and athletics background, but is just like a very, almost has that, like, childish brain of curiosity, which I actually love because I don't always have that where I'm just like, yeah, I want to do it. So he actually was involved in, like, the tinkering process of just like, I think we can make this. He's very that type where it's like, actually, let's see if we can make that instead of just buying it, which I love about him. So we started sort of just casually playing around with different herbs. And so he really dove into the research behind the process of, like, what does this look like to infuse herbs into a bitters tincture.
And I was pretty, um, involved in just saying, like, I want these herbs, and I really want to come out with a cranberry flavor because I love how bitter and polyphenol rich that is. Aka, it's a really nutrient dense antioxidant for the gut, specifically gut repair. So I've always just, like, loved cranberry, and, um, I wanted to find, you know, I never found a bitters that had that in it specifically. And so we, on our own, were just kind of experimenting. And I think, you know, when I started dating him, I was at this precipice of my journey with alcohol, where I had really come to an intentional place of, like, I want to show up fully as me, and we can talk about this more around. Just, like, my journey with alcohol was kind of a long one. And when we started dating, I was like, I'm going to just own that. This is something that I don't really like to do.
I don't really drink a lot. I'm very much, like the intentional drinker who is, like, when we go to Italy and we're having, like, fabulous wine, I want to enjoy it because I like that. And it's part of the, like, foodie experience. And him and I are such foodies. Um, but I am just not someone who is served by alcohol. And I found that after many years of being a heavy drinker and how that affected me as someone with autoimmune, how that affected me as an entrepreneur, and how that ultimately just affected me. And someone trying to connect with themselves and connect with others authentically, it really didn't serve my journey in so many ways. So when we started dating, I was like, you know, these are fun and mocktails, and I want to judge my mocktail up.
I don't want to just have a boring, like, drink of water. I want it to feel special and, like, it's a moment in time. Even if it's, like, just, you know, it's as simple as we're having drinks after work together. It's. It feels like you're creating a beverage experience while also choosing something that just, like, aligns with my health goals and, you know, my goals as an entrepreneur.
Mm hmm. Amazing. Yeah. And we definitely will circle back to the whole conversation of lessening our alcohol intake, especially a lot of entrepreneurs listening to this podcast. I know they're in that stage where they know it's not serving their next level of growth. So we will come back to that. I am curious. So once you started those conversations and Alex is tinkering and, you know, you're kind of getting the ball in motion to launch this business, what were some of those other early steps that you took to really bring this business to life? Like, what were some of those things that really started to make it real? What did you do? Did you build a website? Did you come up with the brand name? Take us through some of those key milestones of starting the business?
Okay. So I feel like the name came pretty naturally. I was pretty clear, like, I wanted to call it Juj. At first, I was being a little kitschy about it, and I was like, is that weird? And then we just started playing with it, and we loved the way it looked from a branding standpoint, so good. Yeah. I think an early, one of the early stage steps that we spend a lot of time in is working on branding. So we worked with someone named Megan Kemp, who I adore. She is just a lovely, very intuitive designer.
So she really connected with the brand on many levels in terms of, like, the brand story, the brand essence, the brand feel. And she helped us do the logo, the boxes, and then kind of helped work with me on, like, what did we want the photography to look like? Because for us, it was really important that the brand felt since it's co founded by Alex and I, intentionally not masculine or feminine, just had sort of a neutral feel. And then we wanted to bring a lot of bright color some more, I guess, neutral for the boxes, the branding, and then a lot of bright color on the website to bring that element of fun and community that we are putting as sort of, that's a pillar of the brand, for sure, for the person who enjoys drinking socially and wants to choose something that serves their body. I feel like both Alex and I are definitely people people, and we're like, we like to connect, we like to socialize, and just to sort of have something in that experience that, again, isn't, like, misaligned with your health values was really special. So we spent a lot of time with Megan that was a lot of honestly, back and forth. She's an incredible designer in the sense that she brings a lot of her own intentional focus of kind of what does she feel excited about? What is she seeing your brand as and then is really open to some feedback and tweaking. But that was kind of a lengthy process in the best way, though. We really wanted this and I think people are seeing it, people who have received the product so far, as far as some affiliates are, I've had a lot of people mention like, this branding looks really intentional.
I can tell you guys put a lot of time, and that is very true. And it feels good to be seen in that way. And then we did some photography with someone locally in Austin, and then working with you was also a big part of it, too, to just kind of lay the framework of, you know, I think I'm someone who I do when I'm in the creative state can be like, you know, focusing on where am I going? What's this goal? What, how do, how do I want to feel when I get there? But I'm also the person whom, if your audience is familiar with, I don't know if you and I have talked about enneagram, I'm an Enneagram six, and I get overwhelmed easily and I can worst case scenario things. So what was helpful in working with you is just like, okay, there's so much that we can do from a marketing standpoint. What are the, like, main places to hang out where we can get some easy wins. And for me, I kind of had an existing, not huge, but warm audience because of my existing functional medicine practice. A lot of health practitioners that I am connected to who care about bidders, who, like, that's just an easy win. Like, any of us in the digestive health space are like, yep, of course, digestive bidders.
Yep, yep, yep. So I've worked a lot on kind of cultivating that relationship, sending free product to them. We're working on starting an affiliate program that launches in January with those people. So for me, it's been about that. And then utilizing some of my local connections in Austin, we've done some live events, even pre launch already, and we have something set up for after. It's really a fun place to launch a product because people are so like, Austin is just really big on, like, CPG brands and small business and local business.
That's so true. And I do think there's something to being in the right geographic location, having the right network around you. Like I always say, you cannot build a business just in a bubble, in a box, like sitting in your home office, just like pounding your computer day after day. I really think it is important, like you said, to, like, get out, connect with your community, you said you have a great circle of health professionals and people that you see at your Pilates studio and the Austin community. And that is invaluable because you could just meet one person or two people who unlock a brand new, you know, level of the business, or they get you into a major grocery store chain, or they put the product in a bigger influencer's hand. And I think so often we're resistant to, like, go out and do the work, to, like, shake hands with a bunch of people, knowing that a lot of them do have connections, and instead we're like, I'll just, like, post on Instagram. But I love that that's such a key part of your guys strategy. And I am curious, like, in this, you said it's almost been two years since the idea dropped into your head, and you've been doing things slowly to get this product out into the world.
Has there been anything either good or bad that surprised you about building a product based business? Because you came from, you know, doing a lot of one on one coaching, running group programs, doing a lot in the digital realm. So this is a bit of a different channel for you. What has surprised you, again, either positive or negative, and feel free to be as real as you want.
I'll be really real because I think I was a little naive looking back, just because I still stand by this narrative that I have, especially when I'm in a calm state of just, I want to shoot my shot. If I have an idea that I believe in about, like, why not shoot your shot? We are only on this planet for so long. Like, it's just fun to see what can, you know, come to fruition, especially if you look at it as, like, there's no quote unquote, success versus failure. It's just like, it's all a learning experience. It all leads you somewhere. Maybe it led you to one of your best friends. Like, there's. There's a purpose to all of it and a learning to all of it, in my opinion.
But I think when we first decided, like, over the summer is when we really started, like, hunkering down on, you know, getting things in place. And Alex has done so much with, like, the supply chain and the operation side of things that he has actually, he has past experience launching product for other companies. So his experience is invaluable to me. I'm bringing a lot of the education and the brand story and, like, connecting with people. He kind of wants to take that backseat role, but it's not a backseat role because I can't I would not be able to do any of this without him. So I think what I feel naive about is thinking in the past when I was like, oh, I could do this on my own, I'm just like, what? No way. There's so much that I needed his support on. And I think having my own other business that was by myself, there's a lot of safety and almost, like, nourishment that comes from co founding something with the right person.
Obviously, we're romantic partners, and so that can come with a level of complexity, but I think we are very. We work hard at communication, and that really benefits us in all facets, including business. And I think we both really honor each other in, like, what he is good at and what I'm good at and respect each other in that way. So I think I just look at it as, like, I wouldn't change it, I wouldn't not launch it. But I think originally my thought process was like, oh, I'll make this product. It will be, you know, kind of an easy, breezy success compared to, like, the harder work of working with clients clinically. And it's like, that's not the case. Like, getting into this CPG world is a lot, and it is a.
I mean, it's a totally different part of my brain. I have no business background. All of my background is in science. Like, I am totally the science nerd. So there's a lot of opportunity for me to learn.
And what an exciting new chapter, or not even a new chapter. It's like a whole new book that you're opening at this point, which is cool because it's going to stretch you, but also, you're able to draw on so much from your other career paths and from what, you know, you also have going on in the background outside of Zhuzh. So it's really neat to see kind of bringing it all together. Has there been any early win or success that's kept you motivated? Because I know as business owners, especially when we're launching something new, there can be so many just, like, hits that come at us. It's like the labels are wrong. The package didn't show up, this person didn't respond. And sometimes we need to stop and just, like, take a breath and reflect on some of the good things that have happened. So has there been anything that's kind of warmed your heart or an early milestone that you and Alex have celebrated that has kept you motivated along this two year journey?
Yeah, I think a little. A tiny road bump was actually working on the stricter gluten testing, because very transparently, many companies are just labeling their products as gluten free. There's not actually a lot of regulation around just saying, like, the words gluten free doing the testing. So for, again, someone with celiac, it gets a little dicey. So originally we were going to work with, like, an at home testing company, and I was doing more rigorous research and I was like, heck no, this is not going to be sufficient enough. Like, and this was only about maybe like, two and a half months ago when we were like, oh, God, like, we want to launch by this date. Like, what is this going to look like? That was definitely probably one of the most climactic points. And I will say, knock on wood, we have been lucky, and I'm sure we're not going to continue to be this lucky.
A lot of things have gone very well in terms of meeting certain deadlines, but that was a freak out point. A little bit of just like, oh, shit, like, what are we going to do if we don't have this? Because I am standing by this needing to be a celiac safe brand. That's the whole point. So in doing deeper research, we actually found this incredible lab that is recommended by, actually this woman. Her name is Tricia Thompson. She's a dietitian who's been in the celiac testing, like, vetting for gluten free space for a very, very long time. She's like the Og of basically taking products like Quaker oats and sending them in for testing and calling them on their, like, lack of actually being truly gluten free. So I went deeper into her archive than I.
We actually work with the lab she works with because I was like, we need to be like creme de la creme here. And they're in Vermont, they're called biodiagnostics. And we essentially send our samples to them and they use this fancy testing called five Eliza and then Gliadin competitive testing to verify the samples for actually. So the FDA regulation for safe for celiac is less than 20 parts per million. I wanted it to be even safer than that because the, like, celiac accredited programs are, like, less than ten. And so a big win for us was when we got our lab samples back a couple of weeks ago and they were less than five.
And I'll.
Yes, because, I mean, I was even a little nervous when we were waiting for the results because, you know, we supply, we talk to our suppliers, we get from organic people in terms of the herbs, but you just never know in terms of like, you know, there's multiple herbs in one product and sometimes there can just be something off. So I was so, so, so pleased and that just gave a lot of safety because, you know, it's not even under 20 parts, it's under five. So that was a huge win for us.
It's so cool to hear that you didn't have to compromise your values or your vision in launching this brand because I think it would be easy for anyone. Launching a business is to just cut corners and be like, it's going to save us time, it's going to save us money. We can do it quicker if we just cut this little corner here. But I think that the most successful businesses, they have that strong vision and they're unwavering to achieve that. It's like, we will do whatever it takes. I will dig into the list, what is that testing lab and figure it out because that's what's going to set judge apart from every other bitters brand. Right. And the right people will start to gravitate towards the story and the fact that you guys go the extra mile.
And sometimes it feels like, why are we doing all this work? But it really shines through. Right? And I'm sure as you've started to share the story, more people are like, wow, like, this is incredible. Especially the people who get it, like, the target audience for this product, they're willing to spend the extra money or to search for that gluten free, certified bitter. So how does that feel like? Does it just feel, like, so good to have stayed in line with your values?
It feels so good. I think we both were just like, we're going to figure this out. And I'm so thankful that I'm partnered with someone like that who is a very much, like, we're just going to figure this out kind of person.
Okay. So before we get into a little bit more about the journey of juju, I want to double tap on this movement. I'll call it of sober curiosity. And I know that this is something that you were probably more of an early adopter on because of being diagnosed with celiac and needing to manage your stress and intake of food and beverage. So first off, for somebody who doesn't really know what the term sober curiosity means, or maybe they're just kind of on this end of the spectrum where they're like, I think alcohol is like, destroying my life. Can you just explain a little bit about what the sober curiosity movement is and how it's impacted your life and maybe what you're seeing as a trend out there in terms of growth of this movement.
Yeah. In my mind, sober curiosity is living in the and space, meaning living in the space of saying, you know, maybe it doesn't feel good to say alcohol is out of my life forever, but I'm kind of curious to see how I feel, how it shifts my life, to reduce it, have less of it, take a full break on it. So I'm by no means, like, a sober curiosity expert, but for me, that was my journey with it, of just, like, really having a deep level of curiosity around, like, what would it look like to actually, for me, initially, it was taking, like, full breaks from it, but I just want to normalize that. This, for some of us, may feel like a really difficult journey. I think as we get older and as we, like, get married, start having kids, I think maybe it becomes a little bit easier for people. But for me, this started for me in, like, my mid twenties, and I was single, dating, living in Boston. I really felt like my life revolved around alcohol socially. And it was actually a really frustrating journey and a very lonely journey to feel like I can't keep up with the Joneses per se over here.
And I want to be that fun party girl person, and I also want to be this person who pulls away from that, who does things that align with my health values, who takes care of their body, who stops suffering behind closed doors. Because it just was hitting me so much harder than I felt like it was hitting my friends, and it was hitting not only me physically, which it would surge me into things like autoimmune flares and having episodes with my gut, but it also was hitting me really deeply, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. So especially in the aftermath of drinking, I felt like it would just drop me so low. And at the time, I was living in Boston, where seasonal affective disorder is ever common. So I feel like that was just another icing layer on the cake where I was so sensitive to the lack of sun. And then I also was really sensitive to how much that would cause more depression and anxiety, like ping ponging. But it's also difficult when you are a single woman or a single person trying to navigate, like, dating and meeting someone and really wanting that and wanting to fit in with their friends and their, you know, their group and their community, but then being like, am I the only person who feels like this? And, like, I feel like I can't talk about it and it feels wrong because society tells us it's right. That, like, society makes you feel crazy and like a loser and lame if you don't want to trash your body with alcohol, which is just so pervasive to me.
So this was actually a very long journey for me, and I will fully own that. I feel like I had a lot of ups and downs with really owning this part of me. It was honestly coming, and it was coming for me internally. It actually, yes, I felt like people in my environment maybe didn't fully accept it, et cetera. But ultimately, looking back, it was the energy I was leading, and so I can take responsibility for that of, like, I am not blaming anyone for this. This was because I was not able to fully own it and feel okay about it. I was not like, oh, who is Meg without alcohol? Oh, she's lame. Like, I was telling myself that story.
So there was a lot of work there with my therapist and my meditation practice. And so fast forward. When I moved to Austin, one thing that I did feel really intentional about incoming here was just like, like, oh, I'm going to be meeting a whole new group of people. There's a lot of alignment in health in Austin, and I'm just going to try on what it feels like to own that. To own that. Like, I don't really drink. And for me, I think what's different is some people, and I think actually, many people are really served by having hard lines in the sand. Like, either they're drinking or not drinking.
For me, I never had, like, one overt episode where I was, like, you know, derailed by alcohol. Yes. It had a lot of impact on me physically, on relationships and things like that. Have, like, this episode where it was like, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Yeah.
And I think because gluten free strictly was, like, such a sharp thing that I had to follow. I've always felt, like thereafter, putting hard lines in the sand for myself just hasn't felt as good. And that's just for me. Like, not everyone feels that way. And I recognize that alcohol is a slippery slope for a lot of people, where it actually is a little more unique to be the person who can, like, live in the and space and be like, like, I can just one drink a couple times a year and I'm cool. And it just, like, doesn't super faze me either way, that's a little more unique. And I recognize that for me, living in the and space gives a lot of peace because I find that, you know, the hard line in the sand in many ways. Like, oh, I'm launching this new business that means only this business and not that business.
It's okay. You can be in the. And, um, so, for me, that narrative is important on how I just give myself a little bit more peace and a little bit more grace and, you know, changes and shifts I'm making, because you also get to decide if you're forever off of alcohol or you're allowed to have an intentional, mindful relationship with it. And for me, it feels good to have a mindful, conscious relationship with it where it's once in a blue moon that I'm, you know, enjoying it on a holiday, or I'm enjoying it cooking in the kitchen with my partner. And it's part of that, like, food wine experience. Um, and that's really it. It's not like I was in my twenties, which was drinking to get drunk and drinking to kind of trash my body. Um, but I just want to, you know, I share that because I think that this is a tricky journey for many.
I want to remind people that they're not alone, and I want to remind people that you are so much more than who you are when you're drinking and people who see you for that and when you see yourself for that, that is the most powerful experience that you can have to just recognize, like, drinking or not drinking, I am this person. I am this soul, and none of that other shit matters. And I think I healed a lot of that in being in this relationship, because, I mean, I think we dated for even many months before I even drank anything. And that was really different for me because all of my dating experiences revolved around alcohol.
Mm hmm. It's so great that you shared that so vulnerably and just what your journey has been like and that it's not been an overnight thing, and it's actually still a space that you're trying to kind of figure out. And, like, how does alcohol play a role in my life? But how can I not be so strict of, like, I never drink again, but also respect that, you know, I don't want to be that person out partying every Friday, Saturday. That's not who I am. And I think this becomes especially pertinent when people are running their own business, when they're an entrepreneur, because, naturally, the journey of launching a business and growing it, it kind of requires a lot of inner work as well. To grow professionally, you have to do the personal development thing. That means your health. That means your mindset.
That means management of money. That means, how's your home life and your relationship? And I know for me, that initially, I didn't really see that connection, and I was like, I'll just keep living the way I've always lived in the corporate world. Go out, party all the time, blah, blah, blah. When I started a business, I was like, if I am not good, my business is not good, and I don't show up effectively. And so really starting to reassess my relationship with alcohol and food and so many other things, it actually started to impact my business in a positive way, which is so crazy. And maybe for someone listening, this is kind of the first time you're really thinking about it. But I do feel so passionate about talking about the topics of health and reducing things that don't serve you so that you can show up, work 20 hours a week, 40 hours a week on your business. But it's like deep work, it's clear work.
And I think that's where Zhuzh comes into play, because it's a solution to what otherwise could be a Friday night that completely derails you. But instead, I can make myself a mocktail. I feel whole. I'm drinking it. I'm still enjoying the social element of it. I don't feel like I'm missing out. But then I can come into my Monday coaching calls and I feel clear, which five years ago, I would show up on Monday calls and I'd be like, like, I can't talk to this client as well as I should be able to because there was so much inflammation and, yep, actually so funny, because being pregnant for the last nine months, obviously I haven't been drinking. And I told you before recording, like, I've been feeling so good.
And last night I had a dream, and the dream I was drinking, and I woke up the next morning like I had already had the baby. I decided it was my first day back of having alcohol. I woke up and I was mad at myself, and I thought, do you really want to bring this back into your life? So I feel like this conversation, maybe I was thinking about this conversation today, but I was kind of reflecting on, like, how important products like yours are, because maybe I will never bring it back. Maybe, I don't know. But having an alternative is key. So for somebody who's listening and they're like, okay, well, what's the alternative? How do they usage to replace the drinking that's happening three to four times a week? Like, how are you actually using this product in practice?
Yeah, yeah. And I'll just say to add to what you're saying, because I think it resonates so much that even in more recent years, the biggest thing that I noticed from drinking that feels misaligned is what it does to drop my vibration low, to not sound super woo woo. But for those of us who are used to so being, you know, when you're in tune with your body and you're in tune with your mindset, and you can tell when you're in that creative flow state, you're just absolutely not in that creative flow state. When you're hungover, it just, it drops your vibration low. You are not in manifesting mode, creatorship mode, connecting to your higher self mode. So I just, I say that for the entrepreneur because I think so many of us are like, I want to create and I want to call in and I want to have clarity, and it's like, you just don't get that when you're hungover. And for me, that was like a plain and simple, like, like, oh, that is not serving me. That doesn't work anymore.
But so if you're like us and you're, you know, again, you're wanting a replacement where you're like, I'm either drinking or I'm having water, it's like, no, you're either drinking or you're going to have this experience with zhuzh. So I use it because I'm using it for digestive reasons, to help with bloat, for that digestive secretion, help to help with constipation, like it does so many good things. For blood sugar, liver support, I use a couple of drops on the tongue with a meal, often as a little digestive. You can't mess this up. So it's like three to five drops. Have it with a meal, during a meal, after a meal, you can't screw it up. Yeah, if you want to do it as a little mocktail, which I often do that as well. In addition, Alex and I love to do like a little mock tail hour.
I call it mock o'clock. We typically do anywhere from one to three droppers folds. So you're doing more of the herbal, so you can really taste that tincture and it brings this bitter essence as well as just this, like, herbal non sugary taste. So if you're adding it just to sparkling water, you're just going to get that like little something extra, a little juj to your drink. Yeah, I love to have the cran biscuits flavor just with fresh lime and sparkling water. Simple. But we also have a bunch of recipes on the website for people who are like, I want a little touch of sweet to balance the bitter that also tastes delicious, I love, like, a little cranberry juice, for example, with the orange bitters. Like, that combo is really yummy.
And my big thing is with mocktails oftentimes, and I don't know if you felt this way with being pregnant and going out to eat. Mocktails right now are on the rise, but a lot of them are sugar bombs. Like, they're just loaded with sugar. So again, you're left with this journey of, like, alcohol or water or sugar bomb, and I'm like, I don't want any of it. I want something that feels good in my body, that helps me digestively, that tastes good, but it's like, you know, complimenting my meal. I want to eat sugar. If I'm going to have sugar, I don't want to drink it.
Yeah.
So I love our recipes specifically, I've designed all of them in the sense that, like, I love something that's just lower sugar, maybe a little touch of sweet, but has this balance of the herbal aspect, so similar to someone who likes it doesn't taste like gin, but for example, if someone likes gin and they like that, like, kind of herbal essence bringing that it has, you will get that in a beverage like this. Like, it just gives you something, a little something extra. So if you're a bitters connoisseur like us, I say try to do two to three dropper falls. See how that tastes in like, an eight to twelve ounce beverage. If you're a little newer, start with maybe just one dropperful.
So good. And I love that this product is so giftable, too. Like, I was just thinking, for the person who maybe doesn't drink a lot, they're a bit of a health nut. Like, they appreciate things that have wellness benefits. Right. Because this isn't just a product that can be used in a mocktail, like you said. Like, there's actually a lot of health benefits to it. So I feel like it's like, you know, killing two birds with 1 st.
Like, it's actually helping me to get healthier while I'm drinking a mocktail that, that's tasty and delicious.
Totally. And I'll just say for someone who maybe is a drinker, but they're like, I don't drink a lot, and I drink consciously. You can gift it to them, too. This actually works, in fact. So cocktails or mocktails, I will say for the holidays, a spritzer of the Cran viscous and a glass of champagne is beautiful and tasty. Cool. So, like, that's great for New Year's Eve if someone is a drinker or mindful drinker. So, yeah, there's, there's so many little bennies that come with it.
We're not truly, I am not marketing this as, like, a dietary supplement. It is a food product. But we had a number of people just even pre launch, like Alex's aunt, a couple of my aunts are like, I have never had an improvement in my bloating. And I can't tell you that, like, it was really cool to hear from them that, like, it made a huge difference when we were not out to, you know, necessarily look for that. I know that happens in my body, but I don't want to assume that that does that for everybody. So it's really cool to hear.
So cool. So I'm sure people listening are inspired. They want to get their hands on some. They want to gift it. They want to, you know, make some cocktails, mocktails this holiday season. So where are the best places for them to follow you and to shop? Juj bitters.
Yes. So they can shop on livewithjuge.com. so it's just juju. It is spelled Juj with an oomlot, but you do not have to put that in when you're searching it online. And then we're betters on Instagram so you can follow us there. I'm roundednourish on Instagram. I'm always plugging gut health tips as well as how I use often. And we do ship to Canada, too.
So any of your listeners, if they're any people in the states and in Canada, we ship out there as well.
So perfect. Thank God you shipped to Canada. We are so excited to hear that and just wishing you all the success on this journey. What a ride. But I just have a gut feeling that Juj is going to change so many lives. So congrats on all the success so far and we can't wait to follow along the journey.
Thanks, Kel.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of visionary life. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis, so it would mean so much to me if you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show on either itunes or Spotify. It just takes a second and if you don't want to rate the show, you could also just take a screenshot of the episode and share it on your social media platform of choice tagging. Kelsey Reidl. I'll catch you in the next episode. Quick break because I want to share a super exciting opportunity for all of the local entrepreneurial women in southwestern Ontario. If you are free on July 19, I would love to invite you to a super special event, the wave meetup that we're hosting in Puss Lynch Lake. There's no cost to attend, so there really is just no reason to say no to this.
If you are a female entrepreneur who is looking to grow your network, if you head to my instagram, you're probably gonna see a video where in the most picturesque lakeside market, in one of the cutest towns in Ontario, we gathered 13 amazing entrepreneurial women. We had hairstylists, we had real estate agents, we had lawyers, we had naturopathic doctors, we had beekeepers, we had photographers, we had Google Ad specialists. And we hung out for 2 hours. And we had really amazing snacks and drinks, coffees, and we had these amazing twix bars that are 100% clean. And we just chatted about the highs and lows of business. Emily and I facilitated a two hour discussion about everyone's business, what they're working on, what their challenges are. And then we walked out of there 2 hours later with new connections and a deepened sense of joy and fulfillment and knowing that we're not alone in our business. So I would love to invite you to our next meetup.
There was such high demand that we're hosting a second one Friday, July 19. And if you can come, dm me the word market on Instagram. Dm me the word market on Instagram. Kelsey Reidl if you can make it to puss Lynch Lake on Friday morning, June, or, sorry, July 19. I wish it was June. I wish it could come sooner. We cannot wait to see you there. If you're a local entrepreneur and you want to come, or maybe, you know, a female entrepreneur that is ambitious but seeking new connections, invite her to this event.
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