The British Blacktrepreneur Podcast

The Organic Growth of Leigh Matheson's Superfood Empire

• Jason Lazarus

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Join host Jason Lazarus as he delves into the captivating journey of Leigh Matheson, who traded his finance career for the realm of wellness with Magic Tree Superfoods. Discover the profound intersection of personal health and entrepreneurial success, as Leigh shares his insights on navigating the startup landscape while nurturing one's own well-being.

Episode Highlights:

  1. From Finance to Wellness: Explore Leigh's transition from a finance career to founding Magic Tree Superfoods, driven by a passion for personal health and wellness.
  2. The Power of Personalized Wellness: Learn about Leigh's emphasis on tailoring health regimes to individual needs, drawing from his experiences in e-commerce and the tangible impact of herbal supplements on the body and mind.
  3. Navigating Entrepreneurial Challenges: Delve into Leigh's candid account of overcoming obstacles, including viral social media moments, and the mental resilience required to sustain a startup amidst the turbulent waters of entrepreneurship.
  4. Support Systems and Strategic Growth: Discover the importance of a supportive network and strategic expansion, as Leigh shares insights into navigating new markets like the US with Magic Tree Superfoods.

Key Takeaways:

  • Entrepreneurial success is intertwined with adaptability, connection, and innovation.
  • Nurturing personal health is essential for navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.
  • Tailoring wellness practices to individual needs is paramount for sustained well-being and success.

How You Can Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode and found it insightful, we'd greatly appreciate your support! Please take a moment to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners. Don't forget to leave a 5-star review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and share your thoughts on how the podcast has inspired you.

Closing Thoughts:

Tune in to uncover the magic of entrepreneurship and wellness with Leigh Matheson, and be inspired to harness your inner potential to turn your dreams into reality. Join us on this journey of growth, resilience, and transformation.

Reach out to us via Instagram DM @britishblacktrepreneur to suggest guests or nominate yourself to be featured on an upcoming episode. Your insights and recommendations are invaluable in shaping the conversations we have on the show. Let's connect and continue to explore the world of entrepreneurshi

Speaker 1:

For me it was like all right, if I've got a check coming in every month, then it means I'm my businesses and I didn't want to bankrupt myself trying to run a business. And in my head it was like 99% of businesses fail or whatever the statistic is. So I was like chances are I'm probably going to fail on any given business. So that was always kind of which kind of goes against all the positive mindset stuff.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the British Black entrepreneur. This podcast exists to promote black businesses in the UK, to educate black entrepreneurs on all things business and to inspire you on your entrepreneurial journey. Here is your host, Jason Lazarus.

Speaker 3:

Okay, folks, you were just listening to the voice of Lee Matheson, who is a founder of the UK's top organic herbal supplement company, magic Tree Superfoods. They've amassed over 600,000 followers on social media and sold over 18,000 products. They explore entrepreneurship, wellbeing and the magic behind organic supplements. Yeah, I really had a great conversation with Lee. We talked about the benefits of natural and herbal supplements, the problem with modern, modern pharmaceuticals, started a business while working at 9-5 and some of the challenges that come with that Scaling in e-commerce. Talked about his successes on TikTok, caillum and Viral. That was so interesting to listen to. And we also talked about the mental health aspect of entrepreneurship and how there are highs and lows. Now the importance of maintaining a sense of mental wellbeing is really crucial. So I had a great conversation with Lee. I hope you enjoyed this one. I really enjoyed recording with him. We had a little bit of a mishap my laptop actually decided to fail me and well, I actually forgot to plug in the laptop, which wasn't great. But there we go. Anyway, here he is. It's Lee Matheson from Magic Tree Superfoods.

Speaker 3:

Lee Matheson of Magic Superfoods, welcome to the British Black Tripple. I know how well you're doing. Okay, glad to be on. Thank you, I really appreciate your time today. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into your business and finding out more about you. So for people like they who don't know you, do you mind just giving maybe like a brief synopsis of your life? You don't have to go into too much detail, but maybe the major steps that led you to start in this business In terms of like upbringing and stuff was brought up in a Caribbean household.

Speaker 1:

Dad worked in the post office, mom was a nurse, so I didn't really have that kind of business background. But Dad had a very entrepreneurial mindset from the get-go. So it was always getting us to save, always getting us to invest and stuff. I always kind of had that in the back of my mind but I didn't really know what that looked like. So studied finance and it was good at numbers, so kind of just went forward with that. I was always pretty studious. And then university it was kind of okay time to start looking for a job. Like I say, just followed that kind of good at numbers, went into finance, started rolling finance and I was working in real estate for four years, four, five years. My plan was always I was always very safe, it was always very structured. So it was kind of get a job and then if I can get something going on the side, then I'll get something going on the side. So I had churned through a few different business. First one was I was trying to sell artistic animal horns or be a broker for artistic animal horns. Turns out that market didn't have much liquidity in it so I pivoted away from that and then started a card game business. That was with my girlfriend and brother. So I did that for a few years and that taught me lessons about how to structure the business, how to invest in the business, making sure the team is sufficiently motivated and stuff, and then kind of as that one was wrapping up and then unsuccessfully, I might add. Then it was my dad actually brought back some Meringues seeds from the Caribbean when he was like you know, try these Meringues seeds. They're good for energy. And at this time I kind of done sport my whole life so I was big on exercise but I wasn't that clued up on nutrition and diet and how that factors into everything. So when he told me to try these Meringues seeds I was like okay, cool, whatever I ate the Meringues seeds. I was doing some morning workouts at the time and then it realized, oh, actually I don't have to eat breakfast when I take these seeds, so I'll keep taking them. So I was eating these seeds for a few months, looking for a new business idea, and I was like maybe put two and two together. So it's just started giving away the seeds for free to people and see if they liked it, see if they'd come back, see if they'd buy, and then that seemed to kind of the estimations I put in place at the forefront seem to come to fruition. So then that was the start really, and then just slowly built from there. Yeah, I'll get to that story maybe later.

Speaker 1:

So I think the interesting thing about natural supplements or herbal supplements is, I suppose, with all supplements but suppose, if you're taking a vitamin C tablet, it would just be take one tablet a day, and the idea is everyone needs the same 500 milligrams or whatever, which isn't true because depending on your diet, your requirements for different minerals, different vitamins, will be different. So I think with herbal supplements you're naturally encouraged to figure out your own, figure out your own dosage, experiment with dosages to see what's right for you as your diet is changing, what do you need more of, what do you need less of? If you stop taking the supplement, how do you feel when you started? What's the difference? And I think it's all about encouraging that mind-body connection which I think is really important and really undervalued when it comes to health and how we're taught health in schools the ability to not self-diagnose to the point where I don't need a doctor because I can self-diagnose. But to understand when there's something wrong with your body, to understand when you're not foreign in all cylinders. I think natural supplements are a great gateway to develop that connection. And then on top of that they also have the minerals, the bioactive ingredients, the bioactive compounds, the flavonoids. That makes a lot of the food that you do eat a lot more bioavailable and also fills in nutritional gaps that a lot of us have, especially in the Western world.

Speaker 1:

I think when it comes to natural supplements, particularly herbal supplements, it's about finding the routine that works for you. Ideally you'd get your blood work done. You'd understand the exact amount of mineral deficiencies you have. That can be quite expensive and that does change over time in your diet changes. So the easiest way that I encourage is to try and develop that mind-body connection, and I think herbal supplements are a better avenue than that, than synthetic supplements, mainly because if you take a synthetic supplement it's kind of take 500 milligrams. This is what an adult should take and the basis of what an adult is, not you, basically. So if you're eating, if you've got an iron-rich diet, you don't need 500 milligrams. If you don't eat any diet, any iron, then you'll need more, for example. So herbal supplements.

Speaker 1:

I think it naturally lends itself to the person having to go on that journey themselves, because the dosage has a range. Usually you feel the benefits quicker, usually. So then if I know I'm struggling with fatigue or low energy and I take sugar jet and I feel better, then it's like okay, cool, maybe I try a bit more. Okay, no, it's too much. Or maybe I try a bit less and I'm not feeling the benefits anymore. But I think having that understanding of what your body needs and building that mind-body connection is kind of the key to, or at the essence of, healing, because you need to be able to not self-diagnose to the point where you don't need to or you don't want to go to the doctor. But if you can have that, oh, something's not right with my body, let me try this and you can rule out certain things. Okay, no, this feels like a bigger deal Right now. Let me go to the doctor and get it checked out, or let me go check my levels for XYZ to understand.

Speaker 1:

But having that foundation and curiosity to learn about health as well, I think when you for general consensus speaking to people, is, you do your couple years in biology You're from year 70 to year nine and then never see it again, and then you're just marketed to load up unhealthy foods for the rest of your life. So, yeah, developing that curiosity to learn and actually, oh, this thing is bad for me. Why is it bad for me? Oh, this system is neglected. Oh, we don't learn about this system? Why not? So all of that kind of stuff?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's really insightful and really beneficial to know, because I suffered Well I still kind of am with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus and I had that for start of my crown of 2022, february, april around that time and I went through a whole journey of taking medication and seeing, doing some fasting and all this kinds of things. So Is it a case of trial and error? Is there something wrong with me? Do I go to the doctor first or do I go to a herbalist? What would you say one should do if their body's not feeling right or there? In my case, it was my arthritis and my joints were really bad and I went through a whole journey with that and I'm kind of coming, thankfully, on the back end of that in a much better way. So how would someone go about, like you said, self-diagnosing? What would they really need to do? What were their first initial steps, in your opinion, be?

Speaker 1:

Well, firstly, it's good to hear that you're kind of coming to the back end of that journey and on the road to recovery. So good to hear that. I think, in terms of self-diagnosing, it's for me understanding your systems. So everyone's learning yours on a journey and I think the more you learn, the more you realize that these systems are interconnected in a way where you never truly understand exactly what's going on in the inner workings, because you're a quantum being and you're a spiritual being, you're an electrical being, it's all. It's very, very complex stuff. So you don't want to simplify it. I think a little bit of knowledge can be a little bit dangerous, to the point where you want to know what you don't know ultimately. So, yeah, I think, understanding the systems. So if you're sick, you need to understand your lymphatic system is backed up. What is your lymphatic system? It's just sewerage system of your body. If you've got breathing issues, it's a circulatory system. If it's a respiratory system, if it's a arthritis issue, if you're looking at your skeletal system, what's wrong? Then it's how do these systems intertwine? Just understanding the role of different things in the body, like what does cholesterol do in different systems? How are acids good for the body. How are they bad for the body?

Speaker 1:

So, depending on what the specific thing is, if it's arthritis, it could be there's too much cholesterol which is getting caught inside your joints. Then it's making there's basically more friction when your joints are trying to move. So that could be a thing. But if you say, okay, now I've got a low cholesterol diet, I'm in shape, I'm not overweight, maybe it's something else, maybe you're overworking the joint.

Speaker 1:

If it's a repetitive sport injury or something like that, if it's the whole body and it's something more chronic, then it's like okay, baby, I'm unable to self-diagnose this thing, let me go to a natural path, let me go to a herbalist, let me go to a doctor, let me get my blood work checked and things like that. So I think, depending on the severity of the illness or the condition, you can rule certain things out of various things with your diet. If it's something that's more of a nuisance as opposed to a real chronic issue, then you might be. Hmm, my face is getting a bit spotier. What do I need to cut out? So that kind of thing, or a lot of stuff just dehydrated as well if it's more of some of the minor things as well. So, having an understanding of how the systems are impacted and what needs to be done to free up the systems, you can then start to rule things out and, over time, get a better understanding of what works for your body.

Speaker 3:

Okay now great, thank you for that. You're really good. What are some of the common issues or drawbacks, in your opinion, associated with modern pharmaceuticals?

Speaker 1:

I think modern pharmaceuticals is good for very good at surgery. So if you're past the point where diet can fix it or immediately fix it and you need immediate intervention, I think surgery is very good at that and been holding their skills at that for a very long time. I think if you need blood work checked, it's good for that. I think if you need an X-ray or something like that because maybe you've got a fractured bone or a minor fracture or something like that, very good. If you think maybe it's cancer and you want to get an X-ray or a CT scan to look at that, very good for that. But when it comes to prevention of disease or detoxing the body, it's not built for that and that's not what it was set up to do. It's an overwork system and unfortunately, by the time most people get to the doctor, it's to treat the symptoms as opposed to heal the cause.

Speaker 1:

So I think a lot of things, like even antibiotics, they're non-discriminatory when they kill bacteria. They kill good bacteria, they kill bad bacteria. So that's the reason they say don't take too many antibiotics over a short space of time. But ideally you don't need any antibiotics because there's ways to improve your gut microbiome through foods, through fermented foods like seaweeds that you can use to heal things. So I think when it comes to preventative measures, a lot of it is just in diet and because it's not profitable. But now it's profitable to sell healthy foods.

Speaker 1:

But how healthy are those foods? It's a different question. I don't think it's particularly sexy to learn about. If something's plant-based, that doesn't make it healthy, something's gluten-free doesn't make it healthy. I think because we're bombarded with so much information don't eat this, don't eat that, don't eat this. It's kind of people just give up and it's like well, I'll eat what I want. Yeah, there's a lot of confusing information. I think it's not easy either. Like actually being on a healing diet is mainly just fruits and vegetables, which not even when I say fruits and vegetables, mostly fruits. So it's hard to do that and a lot of people won't do that and it's understandable. But it's about meeting in the middle, having a balance and, when you are sick, knowing what you can do to heal yourself. So it's not like you need to eat 80% fruits all the time, but if you are sick, 80% fruits is probably a good diet to be on Brilliant.

Speaker 3:

Now that's really good. I think it's informative because you are right, you are bombarded with so many messages and even earlier on, I think in previous answer you gave me talking about bombarded with so many messages around unhealthy foods and now the new marketing is promoting the kind of healthy foods, quote unquote. And so when one is shopping or going around, even for yourself, when you go to I don't know if you go to a Tesco or a Sain be aware you go to shop how do you shop and ensure that your body is right, and what kind of foods if you don't mind sharing do you eat to ensure your body is working at an optimum level?

Speaker 1:

So yeah, I mean full disclaimer. I am in no way like a model model citizen when it comes to diet. I'm still learning, I'm still improving. Like I say, my background was I didn't care about diet. I was like, well, as long as I'm exercising, that's all good. Like my dad, I've watched him eat very what the books would say, what my all my knowledge says, is a very, very poor diet, and he seems to be in good health. Well, may continue. So that's kind of like my background. So I'm going from that to trying to get better.

Speaker 1:

So, like one thing I implemented last year was I'm going to try and spend like 20 pounds of a week on fruit because I like fruit. It's enjoyable. I know it's expensive, but it's an investment into my future and it's it's something I try and do now. So always have a punnit of grapes in the fridge, red berries, watermelon, try and eat that as much as I can. Eating fruit for breakfast instead of a fry up or something like that, and then just trying to add more for me and dinner trying to add more colors to my plate. So I still eat meat, I don't eat pork. I try and limit red meat to infrequent and avoid fried foods where I can. But when I say avoid, I don't punish myself if I do, I don't condemn myself if I do, but the awareness of all right, I've had a fried meal today, I've enjoyed a Caribbean today, all right.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to lay off for a week or two so that conscious balance of conscious decision making. If I've, if I've been out of French drinking or something, all right, cool, that's my toxins for the week. Me and my girlfriend have actually started saying, oh, do you want a glass of poison? Because consciously it's like it's being conscious that I know this isn't good for me, but yeah, okay, we're celebrating or whatever. I mean I'm indulging. We've been like Eddie Abou videos, or is what do you say? It looks like type two diabetes. Now we say, if it's a cookie, do you want some type two diabetes? And it's like yeah, sometimes, but it's making the conscious One of my hurting myself.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, that's really good. I really I like that because you're relating it to real life as well. So it isn't easy and it's difficult, especially with what's out there in terms of adverts and temptation and what we've grown up eating as well. So, no, really good. No, thanks for being open about that. In terms of what kind of switch to talking about starting your business while working at 9-5,? What are some practical tips for aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to start a business whilst maintaining a full-time job?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but just that last question to add to that as well, your body has an ability to heal. So that's why I don't like punishing or don't tell people to punish themselves too much. If you do eat something, that's not great for you, because your body is the best healer there is. It's designed to heal itself and the system to heal itself is so intricate. You can recover from a lot. You'll see people that look in pretty bad shape get back to make a full recovery because your body is amazing. So understanding the healing, I'd say, is more important than having a perfect balance, perfect diet 100% of the time, because you can heal if you make mistakes. But yeah, 9-5 was the question. What's some advice to transition from 9-5 to entrepreneurship? So first thing to say it was hard. I said I'm quite a risk averse person, so for me it was like all right, if I've got a check coming in every month, then it means I'm my businesses and I didn't want to bankrupt myself trying to run a business. In my head it was like 99% of businesses fail or whatever the statistic is. So I was like chances are I'm probably going to fail on any given business. So that was always kind of which kind of goes against all the positive mindset stuff. But I guess I'm a pessimistic realist. I say, yeah, failure is always very much an option, and a realistic option, and there's something that I'm always working to avoid but cognizant of. So I was working for four years and my role was like a 9-7, I would say quite mentally taxing, involved a bit of travel as well, so a lot of extra time in airports and stuff like that, and yeah, it was two years of kind of it going to work. Luckily I could start like half nine-ish. So go to work at half nine with COVID, a bit of work from home as well, finish work half six, seven, try and get home, try and get to the gym seven, eight, try and make some food eight, nine, and then that's when, like entrepreneur, work starts. So start that shift at like nine, 10, and then do that till like two-ish and then rinse and repeat and then weekends was just an opportunity to get more work done, so kind of abandoned the social life.

Speaker 1:

I think I was quite lucky in that I had a mental transition where it was like in the nine to five it was the money's nice and I can effectively go on holiday as much as my holiday my 25 days allows me and I can buy what I want for the most part and I can live in comfortable accommodation. But it just felt like in terms of getting a promotion or getting a pay rise, what's that paying for? Like just a nicer dinner or a nicer birthday present or stuff I didn't really care about. So then I was like, no, what I really want is my time. But I guess that's why I was willing to do the extra out, because a lot of that and for those two years I wasn't making any money in terms of the business. So it's like you're spending the money you're earning at work to do more work, to lose money. Like mentally, that's quite a difficult thing to get over for the first two years. You have to have conviction in the idea.

Speaker 1:

And another thing for me was kind of taking baby steps. So, like I said before, it was giving away the merengue seeds at the start for free. Then it's like, okay, I'm expecting one in five people to come back and subscribe. If they do that, I'll invest a bit of money, maybe on ads. Okay, the acquisition rate's working All right, maybe I'll invest a bit more, get some new products, so that it was iterative. If any of those first few steps failed, then the magic tree probably wouldn't be a thing today, but fortunately it did, wow.

Speaker 3:

Wow, brilliant. Brilliant In terms of inspiration behind starting your company. I know you briefly mentioned a little bit about it. Looking about there, about wanting your time back and having your own business, was it key for you and really important that you made that transition? Do you think you could still be doing the nine to five job now, and if you were, would you be suffering in that? Or do you think you had to do this? Were you really like? I know I need to make this happen soon.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it's interesting, my original plan I made this a millionaire by 50 plan when I was maybe, I think, 20. I finally have uni and it was a work corpora. Then I'll leave, then I'll do an MBA, then I'll come back and be a consultant to get some ideas of what to start a business in, and then they probably take me 10 years or maybe I'll fail a business and then I'll probably do a business and then I'll probably have to do a third business before that one makes any money. And that was like all right by 50. And then I was going to build my property portfolio on the side as well. So that's why I actually got into real estate to feed into that millionaire by 50 plan. So then, like that, done the first business that didn't really work. So wrap that up probably 23 at that time. So in my head I've still got 27 years to make it. So I'm like, yeah, cool, I can work for nine to five and other 27 years, no pressure.

Speaker 1:

And then when I started this business again, it was a very slow start. Then I only made like three, four grand profit in the first year and then in December of that first year I had a viral video on TikTok and then the whole year revenue was like 34K in that December alone was 20K, that's final month. So then I was like, oh, actually, maybe there is, there is something here in terms of a business. So then, but then it was just based on a viral video and I was like I'm not sure I could do that again. So then it was good, I do it again in January. There's another viral video. Okay, that's only two months to get. In February, okay, did it again. So after about five months that managed to get a viral video for five months and I was like, okay, maybe this is a real thing.

Speaker 1:

And then that's when the nine to five became very difficult, because I was making more money from the business than the nine to five, and then it just felt like a distinct poor use of time, whereas before it was paying for the business. I was like, right, it makes sense to be here, but it didn't make sense to be there. It was a challenge. And then now someone said you have to go back into the nine to five world. It's taken adjustment. It's taken adjustment because it's entrepreneurship. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. It's sometimes terrible and it can be a real pain on your mental health as well, but I wouldn't trade it for a second, so it's like an abusive partner.

Speaker 3:

No, that's incredible. No, that's really good. I mean it's good because I've had that mindset myself in terms of not mindset, but you're trying to turn something that you love or you're trying to shift your mind into doing something for yourself or for your family, and so it's making those decisions, whether that means getting less money and to then put it into the business. So I do resonate with a lot of what you were saying. I want to switch and talk a little bit about scaling and e-commerce, and so what are, in your opinion, some of the key strategies for scaling an e-commerce business from start and to a larger operation, or as large as you can get it?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I'm by no means an expert, just learning along the way. I think the main thing I've learned over the last two or three years is doing the last business for four or five years I guess. But you have to be nimble because the platforms that work change every six-ish months. But it's kind of a platform will come and it will be okay, okay, okay. Then it will spike and then it will just return to its medium for probably another two or three years. So with TikTok I was probably quite lucky to catch it. I'd seen if my cousin went viral on it, my brother went viral on it, so I was probably about here just as it was about to take off. As it was taking off, I was able to catch it there, which was good. But Facebook party, facebook party, facebook ads, for example, I completely missed the party on that one and I was late to the game. And then it's hard when you're late to the game. So if you're starting on TikTok, this is TikTok organic, because if you're trying to do TikTok organic now, it's flat, it's flat lined like that. The boom times are gone, so you have to be flexible. And then affiliate marketing that was huge side and side, but it still is huge. But, as in that part of it was huge kind of 12 months, six to 12 months ago, when the organic was quite easy for everyone. And Instagram and TikTok what Instagram we're trying to compete with TikToks and giving out loads of views. Tiktok was still giving out loads of views, facebook as well. The ads were still. Ads will kind of move on TikToks. That was a manageable TikTok shop, another one that was really new. So it's just catching these things when they're new. So, yeah, waiting for the next one now. But I think, just being nimble, and I think when something's working, it's easy to say no, no, I'm just going to do this and I'm good with this. And you've kind of got a bias a mental bias to thinking that if something's being good, it's going to continue being good, and a growth bias to say whether something was that last month it's going to grow at the same rate as it did last month and learn some hard lessons.

Speaker 1:

I'll tell the story, but it was on TikTok shop. It was kind of a new thing they were doing. So I was like, okay, cool, yeah, a guy reached out to me, got some good organic views and he was like oh yeah, join TikTok shop. It's going to be the next big thing, it's going to be the next Amazon. And I was like, oh, okay, whatever it's free. So I'll do it. But revolutionize the affiliate game where you didn't have to pay influencers or micro influencers up front, because you could just pay them a commission on if they make any sales, so you might give them some free products half the time you don't even have to do that, but it's like zero risk for the merchant. So then we're doing it for a few months and it was steady. I was like, okay, cool, a few thousand here. I was like, yeah, nice, better than what I was doing before, add into what I was already doing.

Speaker 1:

And then it started to really take off when AI was kind of new as well. So then my top affiliate was making like 25,000 himself, and then I had some I think it was a guy based out in China, but he basically just had a load of accounts reposting content and then so they would just repost in the content that my affiliates are doing, and they were making another about 15k themselves. So TikTok shop itself was doing 50k a month or something and I was like, so this is the growth bias I'm talking about, and I was like, oh, that's only going to grow, he's going to get more people in. This is going to work. And, yeah, my top affiliate is going to continue and get more people in.

Speaker 1:

I was planning my retirement on some beach and then the next month, tiktok just decided to do a complete crackdown on the health sector and then my top affiliate went on strike as well. He was like no, I don't like these other accounts ripping off my content. And I was like, yeah, so then he went on strike. The accounts that were ripping off his content had no content to post, so they stopped posting. And then all the other affiliates were hit by the general crackdown on the health sector.

Speaker 1:

So like when, basically, you just lost 50k well, a recurring 50k a month in one month. So then it was like wow, and as that's growing, you kind of lose focus on the things that you were doing before that were working, because you know this thing's much bigger now. There was almost like a that was like two months of like entrepreneurship 101. Like, but don't get too comfortable, don't rest on your laurels, and when you're growing, that's when you really need to have your eyes eyes on the ball and make sure that. Yeah, so an expensive lesson, but I think a good lesson, no good.

Speaker 3:

Good. I like this what you're sharing, because it does give insight into what the entrepreneurial journey can be like and the pitfalls that you can potentially fall into if you're not careful, so like staying away and staying focused. So now, really good, lee, thank you for that. And it kind of leads on to my next question, really talking about mental health of entrepreneurship, because obviously, when people think not, people think that in entrepreneurship there are highs and there are obviously lows, or there can also just be always lows if you're really struggling to get started. So what are some of the common mental health challenges that entrepreneurs face, or that you face, and how do you think they may impact your business in terms of its success?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it kind of ties back to that growth by yourself talking about where you, no matter how much I tell myself, don't get comfortable. You do, it's natural. And when something's working you don't, you just believe it's going to continue working. So I think a lot of like the mental health side of things is when it's a roller coaster, it's peaks, it's troughs, it's riding cycles, and I think it comes down to accepting having to having, because when things are going well, you have a perception of what your reality will be, or you have a perceived vision of what your future will be. You picture the beach, you picture the, the private jet that you might be able to buy one day. That's where your mind tends to go. And then when, so like in that TikTok case that just falls apart overnight, beyond your control, it's like, oh, you have to let that vision, let that dream die, and the mind will even be like, I say, a jet, that's like, that's like monetary, it's not that important. But my real, my real reason for wanting to be an entrepreneur was like when I have kids, one day I want to be at home, to be able to raise them and ask, pick them up from school, and all this kind of thing. So when that becomes a threat, when things aren't working or because you've had a slow day in sales, then that's like, oh, like, everything I've worked so hard to build for the last four or five years is at risk and that that thing that you the reason why you go into it first place is at risk, and one accepting that it's at risk and vulnerable and it's not guaranteed especially when you've actually it's when you feel like you've attained it that's that's really difficult to deal with. And then having to reshape what your new future might look like. So it's like, okay, I might not be able to have the beach, but I can still have my house here and be there for the kids, and it's like going back down to what your original. So separating like needs and wants, I think definitely helps.

Speaker 1:

And, like me personally, if I get down yeah, I don't know what to call it. You hear a lot of it I think there's a high correlation between depression or cases of depression and people that are entrepreneurs. Whether you call it depression, I don't know, sad for a few days or whatever. I think there's varying degrees, but if I'm down, bad for a few days, luckily I've always been able to just kind of pick myself up. I've got a good support around me and then you kind of just have a new idea. And it tends to happen once I've accepted what the new reality might look like and then it's just going for that 100%.

Speaker 1:

I think it's also difficult, especially if you're from a well, I'm not saying all black people, but me as a black person. I'm not like black people that are in a similar situation. You don't have those people that you can ask oh, like my business, I lost 50K in a month. What should I do? Like my parents don't know what that's like. So it's a lonely journey. And then you feel a bit silly if you're complaining about losing money, but you're still making more money than the person you're complaining to, for example. So it can be a bit of a lonely journey there as well. And then you feel you have to bottle your emotions up, or yeah. So I think you need people that you haven't outlet, that you can talk to. The man doesn't necessarily understand, but just being able to talk and be feel hard definitely helps in allowing yourself that time and space to be down in the dumps for a little bit, knowing that you're going to get yourself back up.

Speaker 3:

That's good. No, thank you for that. Thank you for sharing that and being open about mental health, because I like to make a challenge for a lot of people. So, no, really good. Yes, in terms of kind of, before we wrap up, really just want to ask you about kind of the future of your business and where you want it to go and you think you'll take on investment if possible, and kind of what are your future plans for your company going forward now, in 2024?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, interesting question. Just have like a strategy session on Sunday actually, and I think if anything the last two years has taught me is I don't really like to plan too far ahead in the future because you just never know what's going to happen. Last year's growth was better than I thought it would be, so for me it's kind of consolidating what is working number one so protecting what I have number one and then there's a few different growth avenues. We want to launch some new products. We want to start doing ads, because we hadn't done any ads before. This will be kind of organic. We want to start working more with health coaches and clinics and things like that to get the products out there and kind of have a more direct link to the end consumer and the people that really need the help. Because the challenging or the difficult thing or the frustrating thing is the testimonies. Like there's nothing more rewarding than when a customer messages or emails on the phone and says my life's changed because of the herbs or because of your advice, or because of your Instagram videos or anything like that. So it's how do we get closer to the end customer? I really want to try and focus on pushing working with health coaches directly, pts, that kind of thing. That's probably a big push for the first half of the year.

Speaker 1:

In terms of revenue goals or profit goals, I don't really like to set those because then you just obviously I'm trying my hardest. So I set myself up with disappointment In terms of investment, something like I said everything was funded by the nine to five and then it became profitable, so it's just reinvesting profits. So I quite like not having someone breathing down my neck and telling me, asking me what the performance is, or telling me what to do. So but not to rule it out, if it was the right investor that was adding value in some area, because we want to move to America as well this year. That would be a huge market there and that a lack of information in America is a lot worse. A quality of food in America is a lot worse as well. So I think front-of-market fit is really good there, open to a lot of things. There's a lot of things on the roadmap.

Speaker 1:

Try to take it kind of three months at a time and then reevaluate. So this three months the focus is consolidating what we have and then just kind of building organically and trying to get those ads in as well, because, yeah, it's hard. One thing I'd say to people in E-POM entrepreneurs, sparring entrepreneurs you watch the YouTube videos saying become a 10K in 20 days, or I made my thoughts 50 days, 24 hours. Yeah, it's easy if you know how, but if you don't know how, every even if you do know how every sale is hard to get because there's so many people competing for that customer's custom at any given time and at any point in the market.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, like now, I definitely appreciate every sale more and I'm like I'm grateful for every sale, as opposed to just oh, we need to make a million this year, all we need to make two million, all we need to, because they're just vanity numbers at the end of the day, and I don't care too much about whether I was making a million, two million or 10 million. Maybe a 10 million makes a difference, but from one to ten, it's the same house you're living in. It's pretty much the same lifestyle. Yeah, I don't need to be buying bottles in Novokov, so that's all good.

Speaker 3:

No, that's really good. I like that because I'm going to be releasing some content actually at some point, trying to go onto YouTube just to talk about this whole thing. Around the whole, you can make £10,000 in dollars usually it's Americans in a set amount of time and just like this is crazy. What's going on here, not just like you said, though yes, it might be possible if you know it, but most of the master of people, that's just not going to happen because it's so unrealistic and unattainable and so it drives me nuts really. But I digress In terms of just before we kind of the question I thought of, really just in terms of like the size of your business you don't have to share like your turnover or what it is. But in terms of like, do you have like a team now and would you say that you're healthy, profitably and are you happy with where the business is at the moment? Wow, that's so good. Oh, fantastic, wow, well done, brilliant. If you don't mind, you'll need to share in briefly and explain to my audience product market fit. If you don't mind, just expand in on that briefly. Please Note that that's greatly, really good rundown. Obviously, you know you're packaging your business experience into a podcast. It's phenomenal because we're really learning a lot, even from myself. I'm backing some of those things because I think it will help new entrepreneurs as well and people that are maybe starting or in business.

Speaker 3:

So fantastic, I've kept you for long enough, lee. I want to thank you for your time today Before I let you go. If you don't mind sharing where people can find you, maybe a website or your social handles, that would be terrific and I'll make sure my audience's benefit there in all these show notes Brilliant. Thank you, lee. Matheson of Magic Superfoods, thank you for being on the show. All right, hope you enjoyed the episode with Lee Matheson. Hope you enjoyed all the episodes of the British Black Trip and Our Podcast. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe and I'll see you next week on the British Black Trip and Our. Thank you for listening, guys.