BRG – JPMC – Daymond John Zack Zoe – Transcript
Daymond John:
Hello everybody, I'm the Shark, Daymond John, and today we're talking business.
[soft music]
Welcome, I'm Daymond John, and today I'm speaking with Summer Johnson of Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm. And many of you know, and if you don't know, I love bees, I love to save the bees, so this is a conversation that I am really excited to have. Welcome Summer, thanks for being here.
Summer Johnson:
Thanks for having me Daymond, it's a pleasure, and I'm just honored, I'm really honored, thank you.
Daymond John:
Well, thank you so much, now I wanna jump right into it. Tell me about your business, tell me about your company, why was it founded? What exactly do you do? And let's just jump right into it.
Summer Johnson:
Well, there's so many facets to why we had to start this company. We were teaching our children about beekeeping, we were teaching our children about entrepreneurialism and we had no idea that this was gonna happen. We were just doing this as a hobby, something to have a good time, build the community, and it just took off. We were trying to get our son, Zachary's, allergies alleviated, so my husband started to keep the bees in hopes that the honey would alleviate his allergies and they actually did, so we were super grateful. And to this day he doesn't really have allergy or asthma symptoms, so we're grateful for that. But as far as the business is concerned, we just ended up with all this honey thing, and we did not know what to do with all this honey that we got (50 pounds the first year). And personally I'm just grateful that Zach's allergies are okay. But to be honest, the business has been a lot of fun. It has been a lot of fun.
Daymond John:
So first of all, thank you for what you're doing, you keep local businesses in, you know... And go in, in business because a lot of people, I'm gonna share with you some information, that if a bee touches a flower or certain kind of fruits, three or four separate times, it has the capacity of growing that fruit, I think 50% larger. So farmers and beekeepers have had a symbiotic relationship from the beginning of time. But why don't you tell me about some of the challenges you're facing now?
Summer Johnson:
I just wanted a small business, and it just blew up and I'm just gonna be honest. And like I said, it's not a problem, but I just wanted it to be our little family business, you know what I mean? And I didn't want it to be hard on the bees. I wanted to be, I wanted it to be helpful for the bees and helpful for the environment. And so making sure that, that happens has been a challenge. I'm a stickler for things staying the same, as far as quality is concerned for the product. And I didn't want the product to get out of my hands to the point that I didn't know how it tasted every day and things like that.
Daymond John:
Well, it's always great to say that, you have what we call caviar problem, but there's still problems, right? You have to run a business, you have to make sure the customer's happy. But more importantly, what you're saying is extremely important, that you don't wanna put too much stress on the bees because the core of the business is you value these beautiful little creatures that work so hard. And if you take too much honey out of the hive or, you know, do various other things, it can cause stress and the hives can collapse, and various other things, so you're balancing doing the right thing for nature and for these amazing creatures, as well as the business. You know, Summer, I gotta tell you, everybody talks about entrepreneurship. I think one of the toughest jobs in the world is being a mother. So how do you do both at the same time, running a family and running a business?
Summer Johnson:
Delegate. I just had a 10 month old. So I have time...
Daymond John:
Congratulations.
Summer Johnson:
Thank you, sir. Yes, so it's on another level. My husband and I have been trying for years and in the middle of all this quarantine and business success, a baby. So it was no-brainer, we have hired about 20 people.
[laughs]
And we are so grateful for our team, they are like a part of the family and it just couldn't have been better timing, everyone gets along great. I have just had to learn how to let go of the business. It wasn't my baby, like, anymore. I had a new baby, and I had to say, "You know what? I trust you guys." And even if I didn't, I just had to let it go. And it's working out fine, it's working out great.
Daymond John:
That's right, learn to not major in minor and delegate. Is there any questions that you have for me that maybe I can hopefully give you some insight on?
Summer Johnson:
Oh my gosh, of course. I wanna just know if you had trouble going through a small business, to blowing up, with flu boom and all the things that you've started And how do you transition?
Daymond John:
I was over-providing for my customer locally, in New York and I was managing my business. I was trying to be the best I could be to the 8 or 10 or 20 stores in New York that I took care of. And I had the ability to scale, but if I was now, instead of being in 20 stores, I was in 40 or 60 or 100, then I would have obviously had to hire more staff, I would have had to put more money at risk. But, you know, I realized that I needed to maximize the stores I was in. I needed to not have one rack, but have three racks, not, you know, not sell just t-shirts, but sell screen-printed and embroidery, and sweatshirts and hoodies and hats, and create more of a section instead of trying to brag, that, "Oh, by the way, I'm in 4 states, or I'm in 10 states or I'm in X amount of places." And that symbiotic relationship that I had, just like you have with the bees, is that those stores started to value me and those stores got behind my back. And those stores started to give me all the insight that I needed, what worked for them, what didn't work for them, because they felt like they were in a partnership with me. And it's great to feel, it's good to have your customers feel like they're a part of your progression, and part of how you're growing, 'cause they will root for you. And what happened then was, when I finally had the opportunity to wanna grow the business, I went out to raise capital, I went out to get strategic partners and those partners were able to call those stores and say, "How's he really doing? What's up with this guy or these guys?" my partners and I. And those stores would be my biggest advocates, they would tell them why the brand works, why kids resonate with it, why this has potential to go global, why we're outselling other people, why we care, why the messaging is right. And then, as we say on Shark Tank, we had proof of concept, and we were able to take that same proof of concept and replicate that in every state, in every country around the world. And that was how I slowly grew, so it was a journey, but just like you didn't want to, or you don't want to, you know, stress the bees, and spread yourself too thin where people start to lose the understanding of what you are, and it seems like you're just trying to grow, just for the purpose of growing, which is great. You have to sometimes have this discipline so that when you are ready to grow, if you want to grow, you may want to keep it a business at this size, I'm not sure, you're the only one who's gonna want, have that answer.
Summer Johnson:
It's amazing, but because my husband's a businessman, he's able to do those things and take it to the next level when I might not even want to, you know, it's just, it's taken off, and so, yeah.
Daymond John:
You know, I just think there's so much, not that I need to tell you already what you're doing in an amazing way. But I think there's so many examples here of a family working together, I think it is people of color showing, you know, how they can do it and they can inspire and change the world as well as take nature into, you know, into consideration and educate people, I think is showing the youth what entrepreneurship is. I would love to hear on because, you know, I love the fact that Chase put us together, to hopefully inspire each other, I know I'm being inspired off of you. What relationship do you have with Chase and what products do you use?
Summer Johnson:
Oh, my gosh. Chase has been like a dream come true, as far as these accounts are concerned. We didn't know a bank really made a difference. I mean, we just thought you just, you have a bank, you put your money in there, and it's this or... you know. And since we've been at Chase...the attention to relationship has been the biggest thing for us. We just wanted something where we were able to keep track of everything. Our banker, Michael Gordan, and he is amazing because he'll call us before we have issues of any type with anything going on with the accounts. He opens up more accounts because we decided to put our personal accounts with the business account, to investments and you know, our financial planner’s with Chase now. And everything's so clear and concise, we have a mapped out plan for our financial future. They really have our back, I just feel like they have our back, yeah.
Daymond John:
Thank you so much Summer. I think that we've all learned so much everything from the health aspects of raw honey, running a small business, a family-owned business, the value that bees have to this world, and also of course, how, you know, every business is a team sport. And whether it's working with your local vendors or your local bees or your banker, all these things are important for success. So thank you so much for everything you're doing, and I'm really grateful that Chase brought us together and Chase is highlighting the amazing work that you and your family are doing at Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm.
Summer Johnson:
Oh, thank you so much. Listen, you're a legend in this household and we, you know, look up to you and this has been an honor and a pleasure. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
END
