Kyle LaFond joins The Savvy Entrepreneur radio show to share the story of a Midwestern success, American Provenance. Started on his family’s 4th generation farm in Wisconsin, American Provenance makes all-natural grooming products. Kyle shares how he started and grew the company in detail, offering along the way lots of tips and insights for other startups. Kyle’s enthusiasm and “can do” attitude are positively infectious!
Here’s a transcript of this amazing interview! And if you’d prefer to listen, you can hear the interview on-demand here.
Doris Nagel 0:42
Hello, and welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur show. We’re broadcasting from the greater Chicago- Milwaukee area.
If you are or want to be an entrepreneur or a small businessperson, this show is for you.
I’m Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour. I’m a serial entrepreneur. And I’ve counseled lots of startups and small businesses over the past 30 years. I’ve seen a lot of mistakes. And I’ve made a lot of mistakes myself.
The show has two goals: to share helpful information and resources and to inspire to make your journey as an entrepreneur a little faster and easier, and maybe just a little bit more fun. Now to help with that I have guests on the show every week who are willing to share their stories and advice.
And this week’s guest is Kyle LaFond. He’s the founder and CEO of a company called American Provenance, which is based in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Kyle started his career as a wildlife biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, but then later transitioned to teaching middle school science. During his years as an educator, he became passionate about encouraging his students to use safe natural personal care products, which led to the launch of American Provenance. It’s an interesting story that sure Kyle will expand on a little bit in just a minute. But it started in a renovated machine shed on his family’s fourth generation dairy farm.
Kyle has launched several other business ventures and continues to help startup founders across Wisconsin. In 2019. Report appointed to the board of directors for the Friends of PBS Wisconsin. And in his free time, he likes to work on his family farm in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. He says that on nice weekends, you can find him hiking, and fishing on some of Wisconsin’s wonderful public properties.
Kyle, welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur. Thanks so much for being here!
Kyle LaFond 2:49
Well, thank you, Doris. It’s my pleasure to be here.
Doris Nagel 2:52
I think the natural place to start is to tell us a little bit about what American provenance and its products How did it get started? And why?
Kyle LaFond 3:05
All business stories have kind of fun and interesting beginnings. And that certainly is the case with American Provenance. Probably the most rewarding professional thing I’ve done prior to starting a business was actually teaching middle school. That was just a wonderful opportunity. Kids of that age are just so fun and unique and interesting.
But one of the things that they never taught me during my teacher education program, was the fact that middle school kids stink. I mean, they smell terrible. Between shoes, and backpacks and lunches, and boy, some of those kids are pretty ripe. So, I’ve kind of made a career out of the fact that yeah, middle school kids stink.
So how this whole journey really started, was based upon my concern for my students. I don’t know how often folks make their way into middle school environments, but most days in middle school when you’re walking down a hallway, first thing in the morning, you’re really walking through a chemical fog of body spray and Cologne and deodorants and all kinds of other crazy stuff. When I was teaching, I used to get these have severe headaches towards the end of the day. And for years, I thought it was just due to stress, stress of working with kids and teachers and administrators and parents.
But then one day, I had a light bulb moment. I was walking down my hallway through that “chemical fog,” I could actually feel my throat start to constrict. And I thought, “Wow, there was something really noxious in that canister of this name-brand body spray.”
So, I looked at the canister and the back label. Even with multiple science degrees and my educational background, I could only recognize about a third of the ingredients in that particular canister. And I thought, “Wow, if with my experience education, if that’s all I know, the chances that my kids and their parents know more than me is pretty much slim to none.” And the substances were relatively dangerous.
At that point, what I did was I told my kids the following day, “Hey, bring in an item that you use every single day, a personal care item, I don’t care what it is, it can be hairspray can be bodywash, deodorant, whatever. We’re going to do some research, and we’re going to find out what all these chemicals and additives and preservatives are, and then tell you what I’m going to teach you how to make your own without any of the harsh or toxic ingredients.”
This quickly became the most popular thing that I did throughout my entire teaching career. I had kids that I wouldn’t have in class for a year or two that would find me before school or after school or during lunch, and specifically asked me, “Hey, Mr. LaFond, are we going to do the doing projects?” They liked the idea that it was real world applicable science, things that the kids are interested in and passionate about. So that project became extremely popular.
But then I came up on five years of teaching. At that five-year mark, you need to figure out if you’re going to stick with education, or if you’re going to transition to something else.
And I’d always wanted to have my own business. Based on the popularity of that class project, I thought, wow, maybe I’m on to something. Obviously, there are folks out there that want this type of natural products. And I had actually been looking for products like the ones that we make at American Provenance, and really couldn’t find anything that the met my own needs.
So, I decided to act on this crazy idea. I approached my mom and asked her if I could renovate one of my grandfather’s old machine sheds on our family farm to use as a manufacturing and warehouse space. Being the wonderful mother that she was me, she didn’t laugh at me or question me. She just said, “Yeah, sure, go for it!”
I then spent about six months, renovating this old machine shed to a point where it was usable. And then, we launched American Provenance right here from my family farm, back in May of 2015. Since that time, we’ve grown quite a bit.
The first three years, we really focused on brick-and-mortar distribution. You can now find our products and over 4000 shelves nationwide. And the past couple years, we’ve been building out our e commerce platform. We’ve put together a nice website, and now have some other channels to sell our products online. And so, we continue to grow. I think that the sky’s the limit with this business.
Doris Nagel 7:06
That is a great story. And a feel-good story. I think a lot of us have this feeling that there are way too many chemicals and additives in our lives, and we really don’t know much about a lot of them. How did you find or develop your products, Kyle?
Kyle LaFond 7:32
I went about it a couple different ways I went about it. First, before I even started the class project I mentioned, I had been tinkering around in my own kitchen, in my own bathroom, making things for myself.
Because again, I hadn’t found anything that I was happy with for my own use. In terms of natural products for men, there wasn’t really a lot out there at that point. And the stuff that was out there really didn’t work. And I think that’s what we’ve seen with a lot of natural products.
When natural products first hit the mainstream about 15-20 years ago, a lot of manufacturers came out with “natural” products that weren’t very effective at all. Some of those products got a really bad rap at that point.
Over the course of the past five to 10 years, a lot of companies have really upped their game. They’re making much better, much higher quality products than ever before.
But for us, it started off in my own kitchen, with the opportunity to bring what I was doing at home into the classroom, and have my kids work with me. So, you’re not only teaching kids about the importance of safe, effective, and natural products, but you’re instilling somewhat of a lifestyle.
Students in my class really liked the project. I can’t tell you how many of my former students I’ve run across over the course the past few years that have told me that that was kind of a launching pad for their own life decisions and how they live, and the products that they use. And it’s always kind of funny. One of the things that I always did while teaching was telling my kids if they accomplished something, “Hey, I’m really proud of you. Great job.” And now I have all these former students coming back to me saying, “Hey, Mr. LaFond, we’re really proud of you. Great job!” It’s a really kind of a nice turn of events.
Doris Nagel 9:15
It is! I’m still curious, though, how you developed those products. I mean, did you find people who helped develop them, or literally just through trial and error in your kitchen?
Kyle LaFond 9:28
There was a lot of research, and just a lot of trial and error.
For me, it really comes down to ingredients. If you want a truly natural product that is safe and effective, it has to come down to what that product is made of. A lot of my initial development work was researching different ingredients, what needs to be in a product for it to be successful and for it to work, and for people to basically be comfortable with it.
I’ve been a label reader my entire life. Even back in high school in college, I was always concerned with the stuff that I was either eating or putting in my body. And one of the things that really bothers me is the fact that so many labels don’t use scientific nomenclature, so you have no idea what a lot of the substances are. I wanted to use ingredients that were recognizable by the everyday consumer. Once I decided on that path, it was just a matter of sourcing the best of those ingredients and using those to formulate different products. And then, it came down to picking out different products that I wanted to make.
I did a ton of research, both online, and actually buying a lot of our competitors’ products and figuring out what they were using. And then basically experimenting with formulations and ratios.
A lot of folks don’t know it, but the labels of any personal care products list the ingredients by volume. The first second, and third ingredients on any product are going to be the ones that comprise the majority of that product. There’s going to be very little of the stuff towards the end of the label.
That really fueled my passion for better natural products. There’s a concept out there called “Green Washing,” where some companies unfortunately claim to have a particular ingredient in a product, and they promote that ingredient. But when it’s the last one listed on the label there’s very little of that ingredient in the product.
Doris Nagel 11:19
That’s bait and switch! Some might call that even false advertising. But I’m sure one of your pieces of research was all about how the labeling has to be done.
Kyle LaFond 11:32
Yes, we took a lot of time to develop our labels. Truth in advertising is important for us. Unfortunately, there are some companies that have found themselves in binds because what they advertise or promote is not what’s contained within the product that they’re selling. We never want to be that way. Again, that’s greenwashing and that’s very deceptive. In terms of natural products, I’ll put our quality and our consistency up against anyone else out there in the market.
Doris Nagel 11:58
How did you come up with the name for your company?
Kyle LaFond 12:01
Wisconsin has always been a top five manufacturing state. It’s part of our heritage, it’s part of our DNA. I wanted to be a part of this lineage of great Wisconsin- based American small businesses that have grown to be these regional, national, or even global phenomenons. I always think about Harley Davidson. Many years ago, those guys started off in a garage. And here with American Provenance, since we started off on machine shed, for me, I was able to draw some parallels. I wanted to encapsulate that that that feeling of being a great American business, because when I think about Harley Davidson, I think about what it means to be an American.
So, we decided that American would be part of the name. It’s kind of self-serving as well. Price books are mostly still alphabetical. So, whenever you’re buying products for a retail center or shop, if your company name starts with the letter A, it’s often one of the first companies that people see when they’re selecting products. It was a happy coincidence when I opened up one of our first distributor booklets and I saw our products right there on the front page. I thought wow, what a fortunate, fortunate piece of luck!
And then Provenance part — well , I’m a little bit of a nerd. I watch a ton of public television, listen to a ton of public radio. And one night, I was sitting in my living room watching Antiques Roadshow, and they were talking about the provenance of a particular piece of art. And that word for some reason really stood out to me. Provenance means history, origin, story.
And so, the name really came together. What we’re doing here with American Provenance is really the story of a small business, trying to grow and scale and become something really special. American Provenance, I felt, was a name that really embodied everything we were about.
Doris Nagel 14:06
The name does have a nice ring to it!
So, you had a name and ideas for products, and a strategy for developing those products. But it takes resources to get a company like that off the ground. Did you seek outside funding, or go to friends and family? How did you find funding to get started?
Kyle LaFond 14:32
Funding is something as a small business owner that you’re always going to have to work on — that you’re always going to have to deal with day in and day out. When I first launched the business, I was saving money for a house. I had about $75,000 set aside for that. But instead of buying the new house, I took that $75,000 and I put it towards the company. That enabled us to bootstrap for the first couple years as we grew the business.
Then in late 2017, early 2018, things were getting pretty tight. At that point, I realized that if we were going to make it, we needed to seek some outside investment, or find some partners to help us out.
I had heard about a program in Madison called Gener8tor. They were running these studio or G beta programs that helped small businesses with how to put together a pitch deck and how to seek funding. I reached out and applied the program, and was extremely fortunate to get in.
We were part of the G beta Spring 2018 program. There were some wonderful businesses that were part of that cohort, and I really learned about how to put together a deck how to approach investors — what investors are looking for, and how to frame those conversations.
And we got very fortunate again. I started pitching and going out meet with folks, including Winnebago Seed Fund, headed by David Trotter. I visited with him a couple times and presented to his group, and we were funded shortly thereafter. So, the Winnebago Seed Fund provided our initial funding. They were joined by a group in Chicago called True Fragrance and Beauty, which is an industry group interested in natural products who wanted to explore a potential partnership. So, they joined the Winnebago Seed Fund for our seed round. And that gave us funding for the next couple of years.
Right now, I’m engaged in another round to raise more funds as we continue to grow and scale. A lot of folks may not know, but scaling businesses really burns cash. There’s a cost for growth. And a lot of times that’s far more than an entrepreneur can put on their own shoulders.
Doris Nagel 16:50
First, I just want to do a plug for Troy Vosseller, who is one of the cofounders of Gener8tor that you mentioned. He was also a recent guest on this show, so people interested in learning more about accelerators, or some of the great programs Gener8tor has, should find the archived on demand recording on my website and take a listen. It’s full or great information.
Second, I’m smiling as you’re talking about funding, because one of the truisms I’ve found is that everything seems to take longer and cost more than you initially think, no matter how good your business plan is. Would you agree with that?
Kyle LaFond 17:35
That’s exactly it. And there’s actually the rule of threes, which I think really explains our situation to a tee.
Based on our initial projections and what I thought everything was going to cost, multiply that by three, and that’s going to be your real number. Then in terms of gaining the market, acquiring sales traction, think about that timeframe. And again, multiply that times three. This whole idea of the rule of three — the more I think about it and look back on our journey, that was pretty much right on in terms of how we started and how we grew. You’re exactly right. It always takes about three times as much cash as you think it’s going to take, and about three times as long as you may have anticipated.
Doris Nagel 18:21
In terms of how the company has grown, talk about your product launch and introduction strategy.
Kyle LaFond 18:30
I think our introduction strategy was unique. One of the things that I wanted to do was to make sure that we had brick and mortar distribution right away. In the cosmetics and personal care world, there are a lot of companies that are essentially marketing firms, They run a whole bunch of online ads and just sell through ecommerce channels, their own website, or Amazon and the like. And that’s about it — they tend to ignore brick and mortar distribution.
I was just the opposite. I thought to have a legitimate brand, we needed to have a bunch of retailers on board. So, the first three years — 2015 through 2018 — almost every week, I would jump in my truck with a whole bunch of samples. And I would go out to pretty much every grocery store, every supermarket, every pharmacy, every specialty shop, every chiropractic office I could find, and drop off samples and pricing sheets. I would tell folks, “Hey, I want you to try these out for a week or two. And then I’ll either step on back or call on you. And we’ll see if you want to carry these.”
So, for the first three years, I was on the road. I was doing the traditional hand selling, face to face. And the response was fantastic. Most of the buyers or owner that I talked to at the store level had never met anyone that was actually the founder of a company. It was new for them to have me walk in and say, “Hey, I’m not a sales rep, I’m not a broker. This is actually the company that I started, and we make everything on my family farm. I want our products on your shelf, how can I make that happen?”
And that approach was extremely effective. Looking back, I got into nine of every 10 stores that we would approach. So that’s phenomenal.
Doris Nagel 20:12
Kyle, I think you missed you missed your calling as a salesperson, because obviously that takes some rather good sales skills. I’m not sure if being a schoolteacher would prepare you for dealing with big corporate bureaucracies. How did you deal with that?
Kyle LaFond 20:33
I think being a teacher really did help me to be able to relate and talk to folks. But, yes, dealing with bigger accounts was kind of unique. I like to stress is there’s always an element of luck involved in anything. And what I find is that the harder we work, the luckier we get.
An example of this was Whole Foods. When we first approached Whole Foods, we basically went to their three Wisconsin locations. And when we walked into the doors the store in Wauwatosa, we made a connection with a gal there that was applying for a job at the corporate office in Chicago. Coincidentally, she told us that, as part of her interview process, she had to present a new brand to be carried at Whole Foods. And I saw a golden opportunity. I gave her as much product as she wanted.
When she went down to her interview in Chicago with the folks at the corporate office, she had all our products and presented American Provenance products to the hiring committee there.
Then, just a few weeks later, we were contacted by the regional office saying, “Hey, we just found out about your products and your brand. We’d like to have a discussion and see about bringing your products into our stores.”
Doris Nagel 21:47
Amazing!
Kyle LaFond 21:49
Yeah. I mean, that was just sheer luck and timing. But I can’t stress that enough. For all the planning that that folks do, it sometimes does come down to just getting a lucky break. I’ve talked to man entrepreneurs that have had the same kind of thing happen — you’re plugging away, day in and day out, and then suddenly something wonderful, unexpected happens. So just sheer luck may push you over the top.
Doris Nagel 22:14
Maybe sheer luck, but you did a lot of pounding the pavement. And although you had a high success rate, a lot of people may get a lot of nos. And to get that one lucky break guy, you have to keep shouldering through all those no’s, I think.
Kyle LaFond 22:33
That’s just it. I think one of the things that my team will tell you that I’ve got a pretty thick skull and a pretty short memory. So, I quickly forget about the days where I was told no and move on to the next.
But going back to our discussion about some of these larger accounts, they have corporate review periods — every year, every season, they go through submissions for new brands. Pre-covid, it got to the point where sales reps and brokers would facilitate and manage those meetings.
Now , a lot of that has moved online. So now there’s a group out there called RangeMe that serves as a portal for manufacturers and retailers. Retailers like us set up a profile on RangeMe and submit our products, and then buyers from all these larger corporations then go on and decide whether to take on any of these new products. So now it’s really a mix of doing that traditional face to face selling , with a lot more transitioning online.
Doris Nagel 23:33
Did you start with the same product line you have today? How has your product portfolio changed?
Kyle LaFond 23:39
We actually started out with quite a bit more than we currently have.
Again, that was part of the strategy. I wanted to do some beta testing and put a whole bunch of products out there, see which ones were most popular, and then scale down the line over time.
And that’s exactly what we’ve done. A great example of that would be our first brick and mortar accounts. So, there were three Hi-V stores here in the Madison area. I went to each one of those in the first week of June 2015. I had heard through the grapevine that Hi-V is unique in that they empower their former managers to buy local products. So, if someone comes in with a little local product that they like, they can decide on the spot to bring it in. Luckily for me, I knew that walking into it when I met with the buyers at all three locations. They really liked what we were doing, they liked the products and liked the design. And all three of them gave us endcaps right away, which is totally unheard of!
Doris Nagel 24:42
What’s an endcap?
Kyle LaFond 24:44
An end cap is the end of a grocery aisle. You have aisles you walk down, but on the very end, oftentimes you have really nice displays, you have larger shelves, you have more space, you can really showcase items.
So, to get three endcaps our first week out in business that was totally unheard of, and awesome. I loaded these three in caps with all kinds of products — aftershave, beard balm, hair, palm, a deodorant, soap, you name it, I put everything out. That was on a Friday afternoon.
I came back to all three stores on Monday, and a lot of our products have been purchased. But deodorants –I think I put six cases of 36 different deodorants out at each one of those locations. And over the weekend, all the deodorants were gone! So that Monday, I came back to the shop and I told my two employees, “Hey, I think we’re going to be a direct company. Our customers have spoken. And this is what they want!”
Doris Nagel 25:50
I’m amazed that you started with more products than you have today. In some ways, it’s a little counterintuitive. I think most companies have a core and then they kind of do product innovations that branch out from the core. Talk a little bit more about your strategy and, and how you decided to, you know, to winnow down some of the products that you that you started out with.
Kyle LaFond 26:44
That’s a good question. And for me, if you’re following these MBA programs, or reading stuff that’s out there online as resources for entrepreneurs, you’ll see a lot of says the same thing.
And I did not want to have the same approach as everyone else. I think for me, not having an MBA, not having a business background before launching a business actually helped me. Because a lot of things that I learned, I had to learn the tough way. I had to learn by doing them. I had to learn them through experience. I had to learn by making mistakes. So, not going back and relying on everything that you read in books, or may hear in a class, but charting your own path, I think really helped out.
As for our product portfolio, I just thought it was better start off with more, and then figure out what our core products are going to be. I was of the mindset that I never want to dictate to our customers what they should be using. I wanted our customers to tell us what they want. And then once they tell us what they want, we’ll make those products, and we’ll focus on those products. So, yes, it was backwards according to traditional marketing advice.
Doris Nagel 27:56
You essentially were doing market research at the same time you were launching the products. Everybody says you should do all this market research and see if there’s market. But you just went into sales, while doing market research at the same time.
Kyle LaFond 28:12
There’s no better way to learn than just by doing it. And I’ve heard from a lot of entrepreneurs over the past several years that basically, if you wait for the right time, or the perfect time to launch a product, it’s going to be too late.
The other thing is that, you know, if you’re not embarrassed by the first and second generations of products you make, you’re not doing it right. Because you should constantly be innovating and evolving and improving. And for us, I just thought there was no reason to wait. Let’s get the stuff out there. Let’s let the dust settle. And let our customers tell us what they want.
Doris Nagel 28:45
How have your products evolved?
Kyle LaFond 28:48
Basically, we’ve taken kind of two unique paths as we move forward. One, we’re essentially a deodorant company — about 80% of our sales are natural deodorants, and we make 12 different varieties. And then alongside that, we’re looked at as a men’s grooming company. There are all kinds of companies out there that focus on female beauty, female health and wellness, female grooming. But there’s not a lot of focus on men’s grooming.
So, pairing our deodorant concept with products for men is a good way for us to set ourselves apart and grow. We didn’t want to be pigeonholed as just being one thing, a deodorant company, or men’s company. I want to have products and services that appeal to all kinds of folks. So even though we do have more men’s grooming products than anything else, we’ve got all kinds of women that buy our deodorants as well. We figured that it was a good way for us to expand our customer base and basically serve people of any sex, age, preference, etc., to give us a much bigger field to play in.
Doris Nagel 29:53
I noticed that your website does have a robust ecommerce platform. Talk about the transition to e commerce because I’m sure that whole approach to selling is somewhat different than getting in your truck and going to Hi-V and talking to the store managers or product managers.
Kyle LaFond 30:20
Oh, it is. When we did our seed round back in 2018, the whole purpose of that raise was to build out our ecommerce platform and to be aggressive in growing ecommerce sales. Utilizing the funding provided by the Winnebago Seed Fund and True Fragrance and Beauty, we began to transition. Prior to that, we had a nice website, but it was built on a platform that wasn’t really suited for ecommerce. With that investment, we transitioned everything over to our Shopify store.
I preach this all the time to other entrepreneurs. If you’re looking to do business online, to create an e commerce platform, your website must be on the Shopify platform. Shopify provides much more information and analytics than any other vendor out there – realistically, there is no competition. I tell folks all the time, if you’re going to have an online business, you need to build it on a Shopify platform.
So, in 2018, we transitioned and really built that out. For us, one of the things really sped up our ecommerce business was being able to list all those brick-and-mortar accounts that we had already secured. So, when people looked at our website and wanted to find out more about the company, they could read about our story and our products, but also where they could find our products.
That really made the brand legitimate – we weren’t just having an online only brand. We really started building an omni channel approach in 2018 and has really served us well as we continue to grow.
This year, we take a look at kind of the way things have gone on with the onset of COVID-19. Prior to COVID, our sales were split about 60/40, with 60% online and 40% brick and mortar partners of which we now have more than 4000 nationwide. Over the course of the spring, summer, and early fall, when we were at kind of at peak quarantine, our online business transition to upwards of 85%. People were choosing to buy price online like never before. So, we’ve seen a dramatic shift.
Doris Nagel 32:22
That was extremely lucky or extremely prescient to mobilize your business online before this whole pandemic hit. You were already geared up and ready to rock and roll.
Kyle LaFond 32:40
Yes. I feel badly for businesses out there that only had a brick-and-mortar footprint, or businesses that had not yet built other channels. That became especially important in 2020, and I think it’s going to continue to be important in 2021, and beyond.
Doris Nagel 32:57
How has the sales approach been different for e commerce firms versus selling through brick-and-mortar channels? With ecommerce, you’re selling directly to the consumer, whereas when you sell to H-V or Whole Foods, you’re really selling through a channel, who then sells to the consumer. How has that changed how you marketed your products, or the products you’ve decided to market?
Kyle LaFond 33:27
There’s been a lot of education. There are some things that I’ve learned over the course of the past five years that I had not expected. We’ve done all kinds of surveys and studies. and talk to buyers and all kinds of stuff. We have different customers, different buyers and users depending on the platform.
This is going to sound kind of crazy, but it also sounds very stereotypical and kind of antiquated, so get ready for it. When I ask guys what kind of deodorant you wear, they say, “Oh, whatever my wife buys at the store.” Wait a minute, you don’t buy your own deodorant? Your wife buys your deodorant? Okay, interesting.
Then we asked other gentlemen, hey, where do you buy your deodorant? And they say, “Oh, you know, I just order a bunch online and have it shipped my house, maybe like once a year.”
So, what we found out was that, for brick-and-mortar purchases, about 80% of our customers are women who are not only buying for themselves, but they’re buying for their husbands, partners, boyfriends, kids, and sometimes their relatives or parents. Whereas online, it’s just the opposite. It’s about 80/20. It’s about 80% men who are buying products, usually in bulk for quite a long time for themselves.
It was fascinating for us to realize that our purchaser is different, based on whether they acquire our products in a store or online. As a result, you’ll now see a lot of our products for brick-and-mortar distribution are more unisex. Whereas if you’re looking online, our products tend to be more masculine to appeal to that 80 percent of our purchasers online that are men.
Doris Nagel 35:09
Absolutely fascinating – it sounds like a B school marketing case study!
Your company has grown quite rapidly. Talk a little bit about some of the ways it’s grown, and some of the challenges you’ve experienced along the way as you’ve grown.
Kyle LaFond 35:31
2020 of course is an anomaly with COVID-19. But prior to 2020, we had grown at least 20%, quarter over quarter, ever since we launched. So that’s pretty phenomenal growth. And we’ve able to use that as a springboard to measure and project our growth moving forward. In terms of the challenges, there’s been a whole bunch, going back to the very inception of the company. We launched here on my family farm and operated here for about the first three years. But it got to a point where the demand for our products was increasing so much that we had to move off the farm. A funny story: when I first launched the business here on my family farm, the first thing I did was to contact my local town board and sought permission to start and operate this business. At that point, they gave me a conditional use permit for a large-scale family business, which allowed us to run out here. But they were granted at an annual visit to come and see the facility and check on whether things still made sense for us to operate here. And I remember that year when they came out for their annual visit. It was probably the worst timing ever. We had four or five semis coming in, we had a bunch of people coming and going. And I knew right away when they came to visit that that was going to be the last year of the farm because we had just gotten to a point where we’re too big to continue here.
They told me after the annual visit that we had until the end of the year to find a new place to operate, which at that point was about six months. But fortunately, the very next day, the chairman of our town board called me and said, “Kyle, I think I have your problem sorted out.” He connected me to another businessman here in Blue Mound township that was in the process of building out commercial or industrial park. We got along right away, and he agreed to build for us a space that we now rent. So, we’ve moved out of the machine shed into an 8500 square foot building just down the road. And it was all facilitated by our town board, which is the way that local government supposed to work.
Doris Nagel 37:44
You have been a lucky man, or you made your own luck. I’m not sure which, maybe both!
Let’s talk about your personal journey. What’s the best part about having your own business?
Kyle LaFond 38:01
The best and the worst parts are kind of all wrapped into one. For me, providing jobs and opportunities for folks is absolutely the best part of owning my own business. I’ve always wanted to hire people who are more talented and intelligent than I am. It’s my job to bring them in, and then to get out of the way and let them grow.
As a business owner, my number one task is to find people that are going to be able to carry the ship forward and really do far more than I can. I don’t have the expertise or skills to do everything related to the business. Of course, I need help. So, bringing those folks on has been awesome.
It’s also been probably the most stressful part of the job. As a small business, you’re fighting for every dollar that you make. But you realize that the people you hired rely on you. The rely on you for their income, for their hopes and dreams to raise families, to put their kids through school. That creates a lot of pressure!
So, on the one side, of course, it’s great to be providing these jobs to folks and letting them do things that they may not have had a chance to do in leadership roles beforehand. But also, it’s very stressful knowing that, hey, they’ve shown a lot of faith in you. And now you have to return that favor by doing the best you can every single day to make sure you stay in business and allow them to reach their dreams.
Doris Nagel 39:27
Yeah, it’s one of those things that sounds great. My daughter is graduating college, and when I asked her what she wants to do, she said, “I want to be a boss, I want to have a bunch of people report to me.” I just laughed and thought, oh, that sounds so familiar. People who haven’t been a boss think it sounds great.
But I know when I supervised people, it was a lot of work. There are a lot of a lot of hard things that go along with that. Sometimes you have to tell people their performance isn’t up to snuff, and their personal challenges are things you also need to deal with. And it’s one thing if you’re a boss in a big company like I was – I didn’t feel quite the same pressure. Maybe I should have, but it’s harder to connect the dots in a very large organization. When you’re a small businessperson, you connect those dots pretty quickly.
Kyle LaFond 40:29
Oh, yeah. For me, I had a light bulb moment one day when my employee brought her daughter out to the shop. Her daughter came up and gave me a big hug and said, “I love you.” And I thought, “Oh, that’s so sweet.” But as they were walking away, my employee said, “She loves you because you’re putting her through college.” Talk about like raising my stress level through the roof, realizing, my gosh, it’s not only my employer that’s relying on me — it’s her children, too. It’s their future. That is a pretty heavy responsibility!
Doris Nagel 41:02
What are some of the roadblocks that you encountered along the way? And how have you dealt with those?
Kyle LaFond 41:11
Roadblocks is kind of a funny word. Whenever I think about our entrepreneurial journey, I describe it as a roller coaster. There are these super high highs and these super low lows, and oftentimes, they happen on the same day.
Being a business owner means there’s more volatility than in any other job I’ve ever had. You have to be really prepared to roll with the punches and go with the flow.
As far as challenges that we face, number one is identifying key people to be on your team and to join you. It’s a great thing when you get to the point where you’re ready to add folks and build your team. But you have to realize that making the wrong decision or bringing in someone that doesn’t fit can be really detrimental and have a bunch of consequences. So, one of the challenges that I face pretty often is making decisions on who’s on the team, who is a valuable contributor, who we feel can help us get to our next level. And if we have to make some difficult decisions and part ways with someone, that weighs on me a lot as well. So, the whole human resources aspect has been a challenge for us.
And then just scaling the business. A lot of folks don’t understand that. It’s great to start off as a small business, but you have to keep growing, you have to keep chasing. Scaling a business presents many challenges, whether it be facilities, products, ingredients, packaging, labeling, human resources. As you get bigger, it gets more complicated.
The people that have been with me since day one often reflect on our time here at my farm. Those were the good old days, although we didn’t even know they were the good old days. But things seemed to be a lot easier when we were first starting off.
As you get bigger, things get more complicated. And it’s just kind of the nature of the beast. People often ask me, “Hey, does it ever get to a point where things are easy?” All the entrepreneurs I know tell me the same thing — it’s never going to be easy, there’s always going to be challenges. You just have to find effective ways to manage those challenges, and to view them more as opportunities for growth. There’s always going to be something, so keep your chin up and look on the bright side of things.
Doris Nagel 43:34
Share a story or two of how you dealt with scaling challenges, or maybe just share a little bit about a day in the life of Kyle LaFond and how you deal with some of those issues.
Kyle LaFond 43:49
Ingredients present scaling challenges that are both a blessing and a curse. When we first started off, we were just shopping, trying to find vendors that would work with us that have the highest quality ingredients at affordable prices. When you’re a small, new company, of course, a lot of folks aren’t sure you’re going to be around so you’re paying cash up front.
Whereas when you grow and you scale, you get these volume discounts. Packaging is another great example. For our shipping boxes, or any of the packaging for our products, the more we buy, the cheaper these products become per unit. In a lot of cases, if we’re buying, say, 5000 boxes, it will actually cost us more than it would cost us to buy 25,000 or 30,000 of those just because economies of scale. But you can’t do that until you get to a point where you’re comfortable.
We realized early on that a lot of economies of scale are skewed towards much larger businesses. The whole race is to get to a point where you’re selling enough where you can take advantage of these economies of scale. You’re really purchasing ingredients, packaging, labels, materials, even equipment at deeper discounts when you’re buying higher volumes. But you also then tie up cash to get the discounts. Although, as we’ve grown, we’ve also been able to negotiate net 30 or 45 or 60 for things we’re purchasing now that we used to have to pay cash for.
So, we’re always trying to figure out the best way possible to gain the most reasonable pricing. And a lot of that is projecting where we’re going to be in terms of sales.
Doris Nagel 45:32
The company has grown tremendously since 2000. Where do you see the company in three years or maybe even five years? If you’re successful, what will the company look like?
Kyle LaFond 45:48
Hopefully, it’ll be a household name. I think we’ve done a really nice job of creating brand awareness here in the Midwest. But we need to be recognized on the coasts. So, we’ll continue to grow with our existing partners, like Wholefoods. Hy-Vee, Giant Eagle, and also picking up more regional and national grocers and key accounts, increasing our distribution.
And then we’re looking at exporting. The state of Wisconsin has some wonderful programs through WEDC and others. We participated in one of those back in 2019 called Export Tech. Basically, that’s a state program that teaches you the nuances of selling your products in foreign countries. We’re looking to do a lot more exporting in 2021 and 2022 to grow the brand beyond the United States.
Doris Nagel 46:33
I see a lot of markets like Europe and Canada, that would be interested in all-natural products. It’s not just here in the United States that I think people are increasingly focused on that.
Do you think you’ll ever get tired of working in and on the business of American provenance?
Kyle LaFond 46:53
I don’t think so. I really like what I’m doing right now. I still get up with the same energy and passion every day that I did when I was first thinking about this years ago. The fact that my passion hasn’t waned I think is a really good signal.
I want to keep doing this for as long as I can keep growing this business. Of course, like most other folks, I’m passionate about not only national products, but other things as well. And having this entrepreneurial thing in my blood, I probably will have some opportunities here in the future to launch some other companies and explore some other avenues.
I don’t ever even think about retirement, I just think about the next project. And hopefully that keeps me young.
Doris Nagel 47:33
You seem very adept at pivoting. And what you’re describing is probably just another pivot. And the great part about hiring great people is that will free you up to be able to pursue some of these other ventures without actually leaving American Provenance, and do multiple things, right?
Kyle LaFond 47:58
I hope so. I don’t like to sleep. I like to stay busy.
Doris Nagel 48:04
Looking back on your journey, I’m curious about the advice you would give your younger self or maybe put a different way, advice that you would give to other entrepreneurs who are starting out.
Kyle LaFond 48:25
The biggest thing that I tell folks all the time, and I hate to steal from Nike, but “Just do it.” If you’re thinking about it, and if it’s been something that’s been on your mind for a while, you’re never going to know unless you try.
A lot of folks have great ideas, but for one reason or another — maybe they’re comfortable or satisfied in the position that they’re in — they just don’t ever make the effort to make it happen. So, if this is something that you’re really passionate about, that you’ve got a vision, just do it. There is never going to be a good time. People can create excuses from now until the cows come home. But none of those excuses are really valid. If it’s something you want to do, do it, period.
Doris Nagel 49:06
Kyle, if people are interested in chatting with you about your products, or maybe your story, or maybe just want to brainstorm with you as a fellow entrepreneur, what’s the best way for them to reach you?
Kyle LaFond 49:27
I’m wide open and very transparent. The best way to reach me is via email: kyle@americanprovenance.com. Otherwise, I’m happy to do phone calls as well. My number is 608-338-5953, or you can always track me down at the shop. We’ve got another email: hello@americanprovenance.com or you can schedule shop visits and meet me one on one.
I push everybody out on Friday at noon. So usually, it’s a four-and-a-half-day workweek, and often, actually, it’s a four-day work week. I don’t like folks in the office on Friday. On Friday afternoons, I do tours and entertain folks, and basically talk about anything that they’re working on that I can help them with. So, I’m always available. And I’m happy to be resource for anyone that’s thinking about starting a business.
Doris Nagel 50:16
Wow, generous offer. Also, why don’t you share your company website, just so people can check out your products and your story.
Kyle LaFond 50:29
It’s just americanprovenance.com. And I would love for folks to follow us on social media. We’ve got a nice Instagram account, which is just American Provenance. And same thing on Facebook, American Provenance as well. And we do sometimes post on Twitter. We’d love to hear from folks and have them follow us for this journey.
Doris Nagel 50:50
Kyle, thank you so much for being on the show this week. It was great having you.
Kyle LaFond 50:55
You bet, Doris. Thank you!
Doris Nagel 50:57
Folks, thanks so much for listening. And thank you especially again to our guest this week, Kyle LaFond founder of a Wisconsin-based company called American Provenance.
You can find more helpful information and resources on my website, globalocityservices.com. There’s a library there of tools, blogs, podcasts and other resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
My doors always open for comments. You can send me suggestions, comments, or just reach out to shoot the breeze at dnagel@lakesradio.org. I’d love to hear from you.
Be sure to join me again next Saturday at 11am Central, noon Eastern. But until then, I’m Doris Nagel, wishing you happy entrepreneuring.
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