Introduction to Kombucha

Speaker 1 0:12

danielle , yes , have you ever had kombucha before ? I've not . I find that crazy because I , I guess I tried kombucha like a long time ago . My boss was like kind of a I don't know . She was an organic girly , she was into all that kind of natural stuff , whole foods , and she sent me out one day to go get one for her . And she's like go pick one up for you , and it was the first time I'd ever had it and I had no idea actually what it was really , I didn't even know what to expect honestly , I feel really dumb saying this , but I don't actually know what it is .

Speaker 2 0:43

I've always associated it with tea , and I'm not a huge tea person , so that's probably why . That's probably why I haven't tried it . So I just assumed it's like tea .

Speaker 1 0:54

So I think there's a lot of people like you , I bet , that don't actually know Like they've heard of it , but they don't know what it is . But our guest Krista Cloud . Good morning , yes , good morning , yes , good morning . She's with the Natural State Beverage Company and she can tell you what it is because she makes it .

Speaker 2 1:09

I would love to hear what it is yeah . Tell me why I should try it .

Speaker 4 1:16

Okay , well , you should try our kombucha , because it's like the gateway kombucha . But no really , kombucha is great . It's a fermented tea . It has naturally occurring probiotics , b vitamins , acetic acids . It's typically a low sugar carbonated drink , so all right , yeah yeah , uh-huh , uh-huh , she did bring some kombucha and well , danielle and brock , you know what they say cans of it the early bird .

Speaker 2 1:38

But you know what I'm trying to get the worm . That's true , the early bird .

Speaker 1 1:42

Hey , I was almost on you were only one minute late , which , I have to say , is actually progress . This is huge progress .

Speaker 4 1:47

This is big progress for you . But not on time enough to get a kombucha . Yeah .

Speaker 2 1:51

Sorry To get a kombucha , maybe next time . Next time , or I'll have to just go pick some up myself .

Speaker 1 1:56

Yes .

Speaker 2 1:57

But I am trying the Dark Cherry Premium craft soda and it's delicious , so all right . So today our guest is krista cloud , and she is one of the owners founders of natural state beverage company here , in arkansas , northwest arkansas , specifically yeah , yeah , okay , so our production facility is out of rogers , arkansas , right ?

Speaker 4 2:19

so our first year we did start in bentonville , but okay , backpedal and get back to that in just a second .

Speaker 1 2:25

Yeah , we'll backpedal , because that's Daniel's favorite thing . Let's take it back .

Speaker 2 2:29

Yeah . So let's start with our first and favorite question that we ask all of our guests is what brought you to Northwest Arkansas ?

Speaker 4 2:35

Oh my gosh . Okay , so I'm a military brat so I've kind of grown up all over the place . I spent half my childhood in upstate New York , half my child in central Missouri . I met my husband at a summer camp in Southwest Missouri and we got married . We lived in Southwest Missouri and he's like hey , I want to take you to Arkansas to go rock climbing . I said what ?

Speaker 1 2:59

I was like I heard banjos in my head .

Speaker 4 3:01

I'm like what is rock climbing .

Speaker 1 3:04

Were you thinking of a certain movie when you said that I was ? I was , but that was my only idea of Arkansas .

Speaker 4 3:09

I was like I don't know what this man's taking me to , but I went with it . That's like the story of our life is I'm always following this man on every adventure . So I came to Arkansas . We went to Horseshoe Canyon , which is a climbing area .

Speaker 1 3:25

I climbing area . I fell in love with it . They hiked on the buffalo . It was gorgeous . I was like I love buffalo is enough to make you fall in love with arkansas .

Speaker 4 3:29

Yeah , yeah , the natural beauty here is amazing . So fell in love with arkansas . Fell in love with the movement that you know arkansas has , with mountain biking , rock climbing , hiking , all of it , and we became what you'd call like weekend warriors . So we were spending every weekend traveling from missouri to come do whatever hobby was on our tick list for the weekend . Yeah , so we lived in southwest missouri . We decided that we were like gonna dabble in hosting events on the weekend , and at that time we had already been like making kombucha in our house . I'm a little more crunchy than he is , so I was like making the kombucha you had a scoby .

Speaker 1 4:02

Yes , I know whatoby . You don't know what a scoby is . Okay . Well , you said it because I never went that far , but I thought about it .

Speaker 2 4:08

We should tell our listeners take a break and define scoby Scoby .

Speaker 1 4:15

Not scoby like scooby doo . No , scoby A scoby .

Speaker 4 4:29

You need a scoby to make kombucha at home . Is it a pot , uh so scoby stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria in yeast . Okay , is it like a disc ? Okay so that is not so the scoby refers to . People think it's the little jelly-like creature , yeah , um , the pellicile , but it's the starter tea . That is the scoby .

Speaker 1 4:44

Oh , I didn't know that . I thought it was a dish . I mean it is .

Speaker 4 4:48

So that grows due to the starter tea . So you have the starter tea that's already got all the probiotics and everything that makes up kombucha . And just for the listeners , kombucha is very closely related to vinegar . It's like a sister to vinegar . So when you try kombucha it's going to have more of a vinegary taste , but they're not the same thing , it's not apple cider vinegar .

Speaker 4 5:11

It's not white vinegar , but it is within the vinegar family . So , yeah , I had several jars of kombucha in my closet , um , and it looks like . So this pellicile grows on top of the kombucha right Cause it's protecting it . So it grows this little like , like a jellyfish . All right because it's protecting it , so it grows this little like like a jellyfish .

Speaker 1 5:26

All right , that's the only way I can like I know what you're talking about . Sometimes in a like a jar you can kind of see remnants got like the strings hanging down . Don't google it , guys just just drink it and I promise you , I like you better than I can .

Speaker 2 5:38

Yeah don't think about it , close your eyes and just swallow it down .

Speaker 4 5:43

Yeah , danielle , I'm like okay , so I'm actually having backflashes

Moving to Arkansas and Starting a Business

Speaker 4 5:52

. The first time somebody introduced me to kombucha my friend Candice , years ago we were at this health food store and she's like you should try this . This is so good for you , gts , right .

Speaker 1 6:00

It was a GTs .

Speaker 4 6:01

It was the green GTs .

Speaker 1 6:04

And I was like okay green .

Speaker 4 6:05

And of course she says don't shake it . And what did I do ? I 100 shook it before I opened it . So I then was covered in this nasty smelling vinegar thing and then I drank it and I was like this is absolutely disgusting that was my first experience because the gts a long time ago it did taste just like vinegar .

Speaker 1 6:26

Yours actually is a good gateway because it's it doesn't have that vinegar like taste . To me it just tastes really like light and refreshing , like yeah it'll .

Speaker 4 6:34

It hits you a little bit later , but yeah , yeah , yeah , so we ease you in gateway kombucha ease you in I like the gateway term .

Speaker 1 6:43

So you're making your closet , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 4 6:45

So I was making it in my closet . My husband was making his own soda . My husband , he goes all in on any hobby he does . So we had , like our own homemade kegerator . He had stopped drinking , so he was playing around with different options . So we decided I'm going to go off here a little bit we decided to start hosting events . We were really into bikepacking at the time , are you familiar ?

Speaker 1 7:05

with bikepacking yes , bikepacking , yes , okay .

Speaker 4 7:08

Okay , so listeners . So bikepacking , essentially , in a very simple terms , is when you pack or load your bike down with camping gear and everything you would need . You go out to a destination point , you ride there , you're self-sufficient , you come back . We wanted to create a semi-supported experience , so we actually took the kombucha and soda into the woods , and food and everything else and had this event . And people were like , oh my gosh , this is really good , you should make this . And I was like , maybe , and so we loved hosting , but that's a lot of work and this area is super saturated with the biking . So we did , we pivoted and we're like okay , how do you start a beverage company ? Youtube , like figuring it out . In all honesty , it's been amazing .

Speaker 4 7:49

I knew some of the local business owners here in the area . Mark Bray met with him first was like hey , I want to do this thing . And he's like well , I don't have the space , but let me hook you up with somebody else . Bike rack was phenomenal . They subleased to us for the first year . We bought all old brew equipment from them . Um , they even asked us . They're like well , do you want us to sell your product ? And we're like we didn't want to ask , but please , yes , yes and so , um , yeah , we sold our 60 acre farm in southwest Missouri and put it all into the business and moved here to Arkansas .

Speaker 1 8:24

Wow , yeah , yeah , so you went all in .

Speaker 4 8:27

Yeah , we went all in and that's kind of how my husband and I are with everything . We're like , okay , 200% or nothing .

Speaker 2 8:35

Right .

Speaker 4 8:35

Like what do you got to lose ? You got one life , that's true .

Speaker 2 8:38

Yeah , it's true .

Speaker 4 8:39

Yeah , so we started making kombucha craft sodas . We started with three flavors and we expanded from there . Of course , we've made some changes along the way , and so that started in 2021 . We sold at the farmer's markets is where we first started and , yeah , we've just grown from there . We quickly realized that the 800 square feet at Bike Rack was not enough space . Bought our own property in downtown rogers . It's production only . Please don't come knock on our door .

Speaker 4 9:08

tap service uh , we , I don't serve there , but you can , you know , find a whole list of wholesalers online yeah so , yeah , we realized that there was you know the a need for non-alcoholic drinks that were good , um , and not just a sparkling water . I'm not a sparkling water fan , so we wanted something else . We were showing up to the climbing and cycling events non-alcoholic drinks that were good , um , and not just a sparkling water . I'm not a sparkling water fan , so we wanted something else . We were showing up to the climbing and cycling events , any outdoor events , and we're like okay , we still want to socialize and like , hold something in our hand like you were talking earlier .

Speaker 4 9:33

I want to sit by the pool , but I don't always want to drink an alcoholic beverage and so that's . That's where this was born . It's just like that need for something else , something like authentic ingredients , and I love cooking , I love hosting , so all of this like came into play , where I was like okay , let's make really good drinks .

Speaker 3 9:52

Yeah , it's awesome , yeah , it's really good so far , what I'm drinking is really good the dark cherry .

Speaker 2 9:57

Yes , I know that looks really good , it's really good over ice cream too it's like a cherry pie . Put it over some vanilla ice cream my kids will like I'm drinking the mojito I'm like really jealous that you're drinking the mojito , but if you haven't , had kombucha before , I'd probably go with like a fruity a fruity one first okay , good mango pineapple broccolato yeah , broccolato

Speaker 1 10:18

is that it's my kombucha you guys launched at a really good time though , because I feel like during COVID , you know , everyone was at home and then kind of after they were like okay , maybe I should be a little sober . Curious Cause I think a lot of people were drinking heavily during COVID Everybody was trying to survive , survive .

Speaker 1 10:38

Yeah , I get it . And then I think people were like okay , it seemed like the whole mocktail and sober curious movement like kind of became really I don't want to say trendy , but like a lot of people are just really like curious about being healthier with their choices or not drinking as much , or being more like mindful about when they're enjoying an alcoholic beverage , and so it seems like it's really popular now the mocktail .

Speaker 1 11:05

everywhere I go , there's always something on the menu a lot of them are kombucha based , and then , just you know , people that are pregnant or maybe in recovery would like different options or feel like they belong there too , or they can have something cool yeah to drink , yeah , just something in their hands so they can feel connected to the experience around them yes yeah , yeah , there's actually .

Speaker 4 11:26

There's actually the Sober Curious Movement , like all things start has started on the East and West coast . They have like sober bars right , which I think is a really cool idea . We don't have that quite yet here , but I will say that our products do really well in some of the local breweries . Yeah , so that's nice .

Speaker 1 11:42

Yeah , I like to see those options

Building a Beverage Company with Kids

Speaker 1 11:44

there , because sometimes we'll get invited to like oddly enough , like adult birthday parties there where people bring their kids or whatever . And maybe I'm just not like a day drinker . I don't like to drink during the day , I don't know , it makes me really tired . I have kids , we all have kids , so I don't know . And then if I'm out in the sun it just totally like fries me if I have like one drink .

Speaker 1 12:13

So I was telling her that when I'm by the pool I get sick of sparkling water too . I don't want you know .

Speaker 4 12:15

I want something that has some like flavor , yeah , or something that's good for me , that like elevates my mood , the flavor and like the expectation people have now for just like their drinks , to have some sort of function . Right and that was what we were seeing is people don't want to . Just like you know , when you drink a beer , you have this expectation of feeling a buzz . Um , when you drink , for us drinking like a sparkling water , we're like , okay , we're just drinking this to drink something , but there's no like added function to it right so , yeah , we're dabbling a little bit in that I didn't bring one today , but we do have a new product line , that's a mushroom tonic um which sounds weird .

Speaker 1 12:47

It's really good no , is it like ? Is it ashwagandha , or is it like right , reishi , reishi uh reishi is one of the mushrooms , uh , but that's not in this line .

Speaker 4 12:56

This one , specifically , is lion's mane , okay yeah yeah , so this one is proven to increase your focus and energy and so yeah , we lower the sugar down , we use the lion's mane . It's definitely like a functional beverage yeah , wow , what does it like ?

Speaker 2 13:12

a dentogenic ? Do you just add different flavors , or does it have its own flavor ?

Speaker 4 13:16

yeah , so this one's cherry you don't want to just no , I wouldn't think so .

Speaker 2 13:20

I've only had it like in coffee , I've only had it in other things oh , yeah , yeah , there's a lot of coffees with the nootropics now , yes , yeah .

Speaker 1 13:28

I once bought Lion's Mane mushroom at the farmer's market and I brewed it and made it and then I froze it and I would add it to stuff . But I don't think I was very good at it because nothing I made tasted that great Look at you being all crunchy .

Speaker 1 13:41

Oh , my husband and kids looked at me when I was in there , like brewing mushrooms . They were like they thought I was . They already call me the organic mom and sometimes they're all just like you're on your own with this one . They'll drink kombucha and like do different things , but they were like no , we're hard pass .

Speaker 4 13:59

I love that my husband calls it my woo-woo stuff . Anytime somebody gets sick , my husband's like , okay , you've got 24 hours with your woo-woo stuff and then we're going to the doctor .

Speaker 1 14:10

The modern day medicine . I'm like , you know , putting onion and honey . I'm like , just give it a day . My grandma's texting me about how much raw garlic you have to eat .

Speaker 2 14:21

And Elliot's , my husband's , like I am not eating raw garlic . I'm like , okay , give me some Tylenol please .

Speaker 1 14:28

Antibiotics Antibiotics I came from a grandma that's not crunchy , but she was a farm girl and so she has . She's never like had vaccines or like takes medicine , like she won't take anything . I don't know . She's almost 90 .

Speaker 2 14:43

I'm not saying that works for everyone , but she's got some sort of farm girl remedy for pretty much everything I mean they talk about being like even just people who have allergies and other kind of conditions when you grow up in a place like a farm or somewhere that is going to expose you more to allergens to different types of bacteria .

Speaker 1 15:05

That's why I am terrible .

Speaker 2 15:07

It builds your immune system .

Speaker 1 15:08

I was in the city . I had smog .

Speaker 2 15:10

Man we missed out .

Speaker 4 15:12

I grew up in .

Speaker 2 15:13

California . Lots of smog , although allergies here are awful . Sorry I've been dying lately .

Speaker 1 15:19

We are off topic . Last .

Speaker 4 15:21

Friday the allergies , with the wind and everything it was so bad , I was on a field trip with my kids and we went to the tiger sanctuary and , like the , even the person leading our group had to like bow out . She's like I can't do it anymore and so I had to come replace it . It was rough .

Speaker 2 15:36

It's rough . It is rough . There's a lot going on .

Speaker 1 15:39

Okay , so you have kids , so we'll back up to your story . You started , you launched it . Um , you make it in downtown Rogers . Meanwhile , talk to us about starting a business with kids . What was that like ?

Speaker 4 15:51

So I had a romantic expectation of what it would look like . So when we lived in Missouri , my idea was we were going to live off the grid .

Speaker 4 15:59

I had my like quarter acre of garden , like it was going to be very . I had this romantic vision of what it was like , but it was very lonely , right . I had two kids . It was going to be very . I had this romantic vision of what it was like , but it was very lonely , right . I had two kids . It was very remote . I came to Arkansas to play . It was very different . So when I moved here I was really excited about the community we were building for our kids . Currently my kids are .

Speaker 4 16:17

My daughter just turned nine last week and my son is seven , so they were really young when we started back in 2021 . I thought I was going to continue homeschooling them while also running a business .

Speaker 2 16:29

Girl , you had some lofty goals .

Speaker 4 16:32

There was a lot of tears , and I started getting my gray hairs that year too .

Speaker 1 16:37

Yeah , I commend you for trying . Yes , for sure .

Speaker 2 16:41

Try , as you should try , and see if you can do it . You don't know , unless you can't , it's okay too . You should try and see if you can do it . You don't know unless you try .

Speaker 4 16:47

If you can't , it's okay too . You know , like it's okay . It was an insane romantic idea . I look at my husband , I'm like how did we survive that year ? Anyways , you're

Functional Benefits of Kombucha

Speaker 4 16:55

just in it , yeah . Yeah , my children now are in a school that they love and it's great . They get dropped off at eight o'clock , I pick them up at three o'clock and I have time to work .

Speaker 4 17:04

You have space to work , yeah , yeah yeah , but they've been a part of the journey because , like , every time we make a flavor , we make it in our kitchen , right like we start , and we just like start working with ingredients that we're familiar with and then creating something that tastes good . So it has to have , has to go through us , our children , our friends , our family , like everybody , has to approve it before it even makes it into production , and so the kids have been a big part of like with the kombucha , especially like people are like this is really good kombucha .

Speaker 1 17:31

I'm like , yeah , my kids have to approve it before it comes out Like you need to put that on here . Kid approved .

Speaker 4 17:37

Kid approved .

Speaker 2 17:38

Like me , for adults , but like kid approved . Yeah , sounds like something we could put in peekaboo magazine . Oh yeah , boo magazine , oh yeah , I think . So we'll talk about that later . But what do they think of the ?

Speaker 4 17:51

mushroom tonic . I love it . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , and so I I feel like I should call it something different , because people get weird when I call it a mushroom they like envision , like going to the market and then like having to cook up these mushrooms to taste good . So the mushroom um . So we actually collaborated with a business out of Conway and they use sound to extract the mushroom properties .

Speaker 1 18:12

Wait , sound , yeah , yeah , yeah , no , I've heard of people putting like these little rods and mushrooms and it makes music . Oh , I've not heard of what . Okay , I blew your mind . You just blew my mind . Okay , first , you're both blew my mind . Okay , first , you're both blowing my mind she's got singing mushrooms I have .

Speaker 4 18:32

I want to hear what you have to say first no , I just apparently they have , I'm thinking of a whole other kind of mushroom .

Speaker 1 18:39

No , apparently mushrooms . No , this is not psilocybin . Um , it can be like in the forest . They're all like interconnected in a network and they have these electric I guess , and I'm not like I don't know the exact science behind this , but they have these little like . They communicate through these like pulses and if you put like these metal rods in it , you can actually like and hook it up to a musical device you can actually make music with . That is so cool , that's really so like . It's actually the forest floor is really more connected and communicates more than you think .

Speaker 4 19:10

Yeah , how trees can tell each other there's disease coming , and I only know this because of TikTok so .

Speaker 2 19:17

We should fact check that we should . Yeah , I was about to say that Maybe we should fact check this .

Speaker 1 19:21

You should absolutely fact check that ,

Mushroom Tonics and Sound Extraction

Speaker 1 19:27

but anything with sound so they use this .

Speaker 4 19:32

They actually came to our facility a couple weeks ago and brought their machine and it just releases and it hurts my ears when they were doing it , but it releases such a high frequency that it starts to break down the mushroom into teeny , tiny particles . Whoa , the science beyond that ? I have no idea but , but they are able to put it in like an aqueous solution and then we're able to put that into our drinks .

Speaker 1 19:55

That is incredible . I don't even know what to say . I'm just trying to think about what , like I was trying to visualize how that whole scene of like playing that like it makes me think of a pitch that would make a dog like only a dog could hear . Is that , like what you mean ?

Speaker 4 20:09

Yeah , but this one you could definitely hear and it hurt my ears , but I don't understand what it is . It was a high technology contraption . They say that sound extracted like food items , like that , it becomes more bioavailable for your body to absorb . Whoa .

Speaker 1 20:25

I got to try this .

Speaker 2 20:26

I want to try this .

Speaker 1 20:28

I can't wait to try this .

Speaker 2 20:28

I'm really fascinated by nootropics , nootropics , nootropics by nootropics . What is it ?

Speaker 1 20:32

Nootropics , nootropics , okay , and explain what that is , because I know the products . But what does that mean exactly ?

Speaker 4 20:41

It kind of encompasses like adaptogens and mushrooms and we're not talking about just to clarify , this is medicinal mushrooms , not psychedelics , so I am not putting psychedelics in our beverages .

Speaker 1 20:54

That's not what we're here to talk about today .

Speaker 2 20:55

I'm really glad that we yes , we will keep confirming that Keep confirming what this is , yeah , so like medicinal mushrooms , can range from lion's mane .

Speaker 4 21:05

You mentioned reishi earlier . I love that one .

Speaker 1 21:07

I'm glad you clarified how to say it , because I was like reishi reishi .

Speaker 4 21:10

Yes , I'm reishi . I could also be saying it wrong , but for today we'll just say that Okay .

Speaker 2 21:14

It's .

Speaker 4 21:15

Reishi , turkey , tail , cordyceps mataki . Those are some of your more medicinal mushrooms .

Speaker 1 21:23

Yeah , I like is ashwagandha one .

Speaker 4 21:26

Ashwagandha is an adaptogen . I don't believe it's a mushroom , but you'll find it in a lot of like the nootropic blends .

Speaker 2 21:33

Yeah , it's mushroom okay , but you'll find it in a lot of like the nootropic blends . Yeah , yeah , um supposed to relax , for mental health too , yeah a lot of good stuff a lot of good stuff , yeah , okay so , and then kombucha , because it's fermented .

Speaker 1 21:45

Is that what makes it good for your gut , the bacteria ?

Speaker 4 21:48

yeah , so it has and and the the benefits is it's naturally occurring probiotic , so it's not a man-made probiotic . It's natural , so it's going to be better for your gut in that it's helping balance everything in there and it's alive , right . So , like our kombucha , you have to keep refrigerated . It's not a pasteurized product , it's a living product . So if you were to take it out , I mean you could restart your own kombucha with our kombucha , like if you're really you know , cover it and put it in room temperature .

Speaker 4 22:18

It is flavored , so it's going to be weaker , but the idea behind it , it's still a living product . So when you consume products that are still alive , obviously it's going to be better for you .

Speaker 1 22:28

Yeah , yeah . How much are you supposed to drink ? Because I used to just like drink a ton I love this question . Well , I only ask because I used to drink like a lot and then someone was like you're only supposed to drink like half , Like for the benefit . But I mean , I've been told that you can drink what you want , but like for the benefit you don't need as much as like you think .

Speaker 4 22:49

Yeah , I'm not a medical professional , but for new let's say you wanted to try some I would recommend starting with eight ounces first . Okay , just to see how your gut handles it , because everybody's different , right ? I don't know what your diet's going to be . Start with eight ounces and see how you handle it . I think with anything too much of a good thing is not a good thing . Yeah , my husband likes to overdo things , so he'll have like four cans a day but it feels good , his gut is cleared out .

Speaker 4 23:16

Yeah , he is healthy yeah , sometimes he'll drink the kombucha he is alive that goes past the expiration date and I can tell I'm like you've had the kombucha that's really fermented oh , I know exactly what you're saying I usually have about 12 um if I get the jar .

Speaker 2 23:34

Ounces , not cans . No , yeah , 12 ounces . Yeah , we'll clarify .

Speaker 1 23:38

If I get the bigger ones , I will just drink half .

Speaker 4 23:41

Those are like the 16 ounce bottles , yeah .

Speaker 1 23:43

I will just drink half a one , just because save it for later Save it for later . No , I just was curious because it blew my mind , because , like , for so long I just drank , I just would literally after yoga I'd chug one down because that was just like hot yoga , it was so refreshing . And then someone was like you're drinking way too much kombucha .

Speaker 2 24:02

I was like I am . Did it make you sick ?

Speaker 4 24:03

no , I think if you feel good , then you can continue . If you don't have any bad side effects , headaches or anything , no , you , just you do you yeah you do .

Speaker 2 24:12

All right , krista , tell us about how has this transformed your life , like personally , from a business side of things , starting your own beverage company . How has this transformed your life ?

Speaker 4 24:25

I think I mentioned earlier that my romantic idea of what I wanted my life to look like was living on a 60-acre farm raising my children . But I think with all things , as we just look at things , we're like this sounds great , this is what I want to do . And then you realize that your priorities and your values shift . And so when we had this idea to create the beverage company , I still was under this illusion that I was going to be mainly a stay-at-home mom . Right , but my husband looked at me . He's like okay , to do this , I need a little bit of help . Like I need you to help with the paperwork on the legality side . I'm like cool , got it , but when it came to the first sales meeting , he still has a full-time job outside of natural state . When it came to the first sales meeting , he's like hey , any chance you can do this one . I'm like sure .

Speaker 4 25:11

And it transformed my opinion of myself and what I was able to do . I wasn't just like taking care of the kids or you know , my background was remodeling homes and I did accounting and different things . Now I'm actually leading a company , which wasn't something

Business Growth and Personal Transformation

Speaker 4 25:25

that I thought I was capable of or that I really wanted to do . I am normally a pretty shy person , but this business has like pushed me way out of my comfort zone to where I'm like seeking out being , you know , on a podcast and talking to people , or being at events and being the face , or like , oh my gosh , putting myself on Instagram and social media because apparently people love that .

Speaker 4 25:45

And I start putting my face and people love it and I'm like yeah it's not my favorite thing .

Speaker 4 25:50

I don't . I don't enjoy it , but I realize the necessity of consumers being able to relate to the people behind the product . So , yeah , I think that my opinion of myself , the reality of what it takes to run a business and the connections along the way you know I saw you had Amber on the other day with Coffee you know , making those relationships with amazing people like her and it's like , well , how did you start ? And most of us are like , well , we didn't really plan on doing this .

Speaker 4 26:16

Like right , we didn't dream as a kid . Most of us didn't dream of owning a business . It just somehow we've leapfrogged and one thing has led to another to where we are now , you know yeah um , yeah , I think that's it . I think it's allowed me to also , like , shrink my inner circle of people to who I can rely on and support me .

Speaker 1 26:36

Um , that's been really cool the energy fillers in your life yeah , yeah , and then just our family .

Speaker 4 26:42

We spend a lot of quality time together , which I really enjoy , like anytime we have the opportunity to go for a family bike ride or , you know , a vacation or something like it is just we feel like a unit yeah , we get things done together so yeah , I love that yeah

Speaker 1 26:57

I love that you talked about how it changed your opinion of yourself , because I do feel like a lot of the limitations we put just come from ourselves . You know , like I don't know , or like in that imposter syndrome , and then you're just like , I guess , every day I just have to keep doing it until I believe that , like , this is who I am , like , yeah , that I can do these things , and then , yeah , shifting those expectations , you're like I thought I'd be here , but this is happening and I , I'm gonna go with this .

Speaker 4 27:24

Yeah , no I mean every day feels hard . Some days I wake up and I'm like what am I doing ?

Speaker 1 27:33

you're like , oh my gosh , I'm doing this .

Speaker 4 27:37

People are relying on me to get this done . Wait , I don't feel like I'm 37 . I still feel like .

Speaker 1 27:43

I'm same girl . I'm about to turn 40 and I'm freaking out . How am I this old now you ?

Speaker 4 27:48

look amazing the kombucha .

Speaker 2 27:52

It is the kombucha Botox and kombucha gonna talk about .

Speaker 1 28:00

I know , look , think you're poison , all right yeah , absolutely absolutely . I know I should not do that anymore , but it's okay .

Speaker 2 28:09

Um , I know I should be all natural it's okay to be a little not natural , yeah wait , there's balance balance you have a bottle full of iced coffee and then a kombucha .

Speaker 4 28:22

Next to you , there is balance and there is balance in all of this I have a glass of water or not glass ?

Speaker 2 28:27

I have a my water bottle my jug of water and some dark cherry soda , although it is , I like how it says crisp , clean , classic caffeine free , although I do love caffeine . Just kidding , we are getting off topic again . How are we doing this ?

Speaker 1 28:44

So you sell in Northwest Arkansas ?

Speaker 4 28:47

Well , we also sell in Central Arkansas too .

Speaker 1 28:49

Oh , you do Okay .

Speaker 4 28:50

Just a couple of accounts , but we do have some accounts there .

Speaker 2 28:54

Awesome . Where do you sell in central Arkansas ?

Speaker 4 28:56

I've got a list .

Speaker 2 28:58

Oh , a long list .

Speaker 4 29:00

Well , yeah , so our thing is we've tried to grow our company organically and to grow as we can . So currently I handle distribution . So once a month I drive to Little Rock and make all of my deliveries . So I'd say some of my bigger accounts would be like Bell Urban Farms , which is in Conway . They have our kombucha on tap . The cutest little shop all locally made and locally sourced items and then Lost 40 is another huge account . The Rube .

Speaker 4 29:27

Cafe , the Green Corner Store , Flora Jeans . I'm sure there's some I'm not thinking of right now , but yeah .

Speaker 1 29:35

And locally store floor jeans .

Speaker 4 29:36

Um , I'm sure there's some , I'm not thinking of right now , but yeah , and locally allen's , because I was just there allen's and aiken's and the co-op in fayetteville will be the grocery stores that you're looking for . And then I have smaller accounts . So , like confident coffee um , we have bike rack brewing twostore , 211 Coffee Shop , sunny's on Second , yeah , we just have a . That's awesome . We have probably 40 to 45 active accounts in Arkansas .

Speaker 1 30:04

I'm glad you settled that it's Aikens , because I really don't know . I didn't know , we're learning a lot of pronunciation today . Not like the Diet Aikens . Uh-huh , there's no t yeah , akins , akins and reishi reishi yeah , and nobody's mispronounced kombucha today .

Speaker 4 30:24

That's like one of my favorite what do they ?

Speaker 1 30:25

say um kombucha oh , I have heard that um kombuchi kombucha .

Speaker 4 30:33

There's been so many , I need to make like a blooper reel this summer when I go to the farmer's market .

Speaker 1 30:37

I kind of like kombucha , though . Kombucha because it's like kombucha tea and just kombucha tea , just kombucha , you know uh , I know that has to drive you crazy .

Speaker 4 30:47

It's , it's not , it used to , but now I think it's . I think it's kind of cute I .

Speaker 1 30:51

I have heard kombucha , a lot Kombucha . Maybe that's a southern thing .

Speaker 4 30:55

Yeah , my father-in-law called it kombucha forever , and I'm like we own a kombucha company .

Speaker 1 31:01

You have to say it right . The kombucha is very good and they just don't even it doesn't register . It's kind of cute , though , I know .

Speaker 4 31:07

And then we made t-shirts . This weekend we were at Rula 3 . I'm not sure if you're familiar with it the biking event . We've been sponsors for the past four years . We made t-shirts and they said Booch Babe . A lot of people like to just refer to it as Booch .

Speaker 2 31:21

The Booch .

Where to Find Natural State Beverages

Speaker 1 31:23

That's cute , we like to end our show with what your favorite thing about Northwest Arkansas is .

Speaker 4 31:31

I really want to say it's the outdoor world , because that's what drew me here , created the business and everything , but honestly I think it's the community . Yeah , the local businesses and then the people that live here are the heart and soul of what northwest arkansas is yeah , yeah , I agree .

Speaker 1 31:48

I agree too . Tell our listeners where they can follow you I know like your handles your if you have a website where they can find you online . I know we already went over where they can buy , so that's yeah , so we're most active on instagram , natural state beverage company same .

Speaker 4 32:02

With the web page natural state beverage companycom , you can find all of our vendor listings about us , our story yeah , follow us . If you enjoy the product , let us know , because that really fuels us . It means a lot . We read every message and sometimes I'll even print it and put it on our doors just as a reminder on the hard days . Hey , we'll like this , keep going .

Speaker 2 32:23

Yeah , yeah , I'm going to take a picture of you now .

Speaker 1 32:25

Well , thanks for coming on , Krista , and thanks for the beverages .

Speaker 3 32:47

They're so good . You're welcome . Thank you for having me platform where you listen . For more information about today's guests and the show , please check the show notes . Thanks for listening .