Building a Natural Food Brand That Changed Lives

welcome to the know your ship podcast presented by ehub I’m your
host Frank Dolce welcome back to the know your ship podcast Jeff call just
ingredients it’s been a hard I’ve had a hard time tracking you down you are a
busy guy sometimes yes yeah very very busy and I can’t be more excited I
couldn’t be more excited to have you here today I’m glad to be here president
co-founder of just ingredients you know let’s do the 30,000 foot of just
ingredients I want to talk about how you got to this point but just give me
kind of where you are how the company’s doing currently okay yeah so for
those of you who don’t know just ingredients um we are a health and wellness
brand where we focus on the quality of the ingredients that go in the product
so we want to make products that take out all the unnecessary ingredients and
replace them with only those ingredients that are nourishing to the body so
that’s kind of what our focus is and we’re just creating different products
and we can we have our nutritional supplement line we also have our personal
care line um anything that goes in around the body is what we focus on um you
know we’ve been growing pretty rapidly because there’s definitely a need out
there for these kind of products and so we’re we’re just having a great time
creating brand new products that are in my opinion disrupting the marketplace
because they’re Pro we’re coming up with the way anytime we come up with a
new product and we try to make it we’re told you can’t do that MH and that’s
what we focus on is like well no let’s find out how we do that and and we’re
starting to see in the marketplace that it’s becoming uh more and more
popular but we’ve been doing this for a few years now trying to make sure
that we’re we’re just changing the way people view what they put in their
body or on their body yeah I I for one am glad I I’ve heard a lot of your
stuff that you’ve done on podcasts and a lot of research and and and I’m with
you kind of growing up in this late ’70s 80s era where nutrition what we
thought was nutritious or we what we could eat is crazy yeah and I’m and I’m
so I’m I’m really happy that we’re becoming a little more aware or or maybe a
lot more aware of the things that we’re putting in our body but not just in
on our bodies as well in fact I I mentioned that because one of my favorite
just ingredients products now I’m going to forget the name of it is the
nightly uh Cor brought it in the first time she came in the nightly had
couple Squirts and you just rub it on your face and a moisturizer and
everything else the hyaluronic acid that’s the one yep it’s awesome it is
awesome I I even have a little confession to make MH now everyone’s going to
start staring at this part of my face I used to have this dark spot right
under my eye and since I’ve been using that hyaluronic acid it’s faded away
yeah is that supposed to happen you you know it’s supposed to to help with
all kinds of things that are you know wrinkles SP splotches those kind of
things that are on your body yeah it does help with those things yeah so you
must be using it cuz you’re what like 65 years old and you look amazing I’m
not quite 65 I know you you do look amazing though do you look amazing
because you’ve always been a healthy person or do you look amazing because
you’ve really bought into this just ingredients lifestyle I would say that um
first of all thank you I don’t think I look amazing but I appreciate that but
I would say I bought in 10 years ago um my wife adopted much earlier than I
did but for for need um and I just feel better and I think it’s it’s helped
in many ways yeah so well I want to talk about that experience and what led
to the creation of just ingredients and and specifically I want to talk about
your role in that because Carlin was going through this unbelievable episode
in her life and and got to a point where it was very very desperate were
there the whole time I was okay so I want to talk about that at some point
but let’s go back to you yeah as a kid like what where did you grow up what
type of kid were you man I was a I was a quiet kid but I was adventurous
uhhuh uh I grew up I moved a lot I grew up in Huntington Beach California oh
that’s near my homeown I grew up just up the coast Culver City California
okay yeah yeah so Twin Falls Idaho also okay um had a couple year stint in
orm Utah mhm and then um went back to Huntington Beach so I kind of moved
around went to three different high schools um I was very quiet kid M um
determined but um kind of I was kind of left on my own to I was the youngest
and kind of left on my own to just kind of grow up do whatever I wanted to do
and so I just I was just determined to to get the most out of life that I
could yeah and uh sometimes it was hard moving around not having a lot of
friends yeah but uh you know I just wanted to make sure that I was doing the
best thing for me possible yeah what did you learn from that I mean as you
look back on that experience what what were the lessons coming out of that
moving all over the place I’m assuming that you’re your family your parents
were just kind of following different career opportunities and things and as
you look back on that what are the lessons the main lesson I learned out of
that is is life doesn’t come to you you have to you have to attack life the
times in my life where I sat back and I waited for friends to approach me or
people to approach me to become friends or anything I wanted to accomplish in
life no one’s going to hand it to you no one’s going to say hey let me help
you get there it it became a well if I want to let’s say be on the wrestling
team because we we talked about that earlier that meant I got myself up at
5:00 a.m. I walked myself to school School in Twin Falls Idaho in the winter
time and I sacrificed the Comforts of sleeping in or getting a ride later on
with the bus because I wanted to be on the wrestling team like if I wanted to
do something I had to accomplish it and I had to pay the price for whatever
that was and if it was worth it for me then I did it ah it’s such a it’s a
great life lesson so you didn’t necessarily have parents who were saying Jeff
get up you have to go to wrestling practice or it was you just figured out
that you had to have this self I wanted something I had to do it yeah oh and
has that carried through I mean if you look back across your life has that is
that a trait that’s carried through the rest of your life yeah I mean it
absolutely is if I want something I have to do it no no one’s really going to
just provide you with the things that you want yeah you have to do it I would
you know here’s a question that I ask but I typically ask much later in the
podcast is what is the best advice youve ever been given or the best advice
you’ve ever given I that might be one of those things do you utilize that I
know you have what six six kids yeah six kids is that something one you
utilize with your kids and two is that something you utilize with the people
you work with at just ingredients yeah I I preach that a lot unfortunately
for my kids I if you have kids you all know where this is going unfortunately
for my kids so you know you look at your own childhood you’re like gosh I
wish I had these things in my life yes so to make up for that I probably
don’t make my kids do what they should do I’m too easy to say I’ll do that
for you right and and I’m trying to be better at that yeah but um ultimately
I do try to instill that that instinct in them to say look like and we have
these conversations all the time it’s like you want something no one’s going
to give it to you I’ll help you but ultimately it’s going to come down to you
your decisions your drive your motivation and your desire to accomplish what
you want to accomplish yeah it’s the hardest thing to do it is as a parent is
to not in fact we just had a guy on the podcast uh who’s a inspirational
speaker named Todd Sylvester he’s fantastic he showed us a video of a
butterfly coming out of the Cocoon and and it’s a struggle like it’s 40
seconds of this struggle and you’re watching and you’re like come on get out
of there and and so the butterfly makes its way out of the Cancun and then es
like the The Story Goes if you help the butterfly out then there’s a higher
likelyhood that the butterfly does not survive because it has to go through
that struggle to clear all of the fluids and everything out push them out to
Wings and it’s a lot like life I mean and and that’s the the lesson for
parents I guess is I mean I always am feeling like I want to jump in and help
and but you kind of have to let your kids come out of their own cocon and not
just your kids but people that you have the opportunity to work with and be
around on a daily basis yeah it’s kind of funny we we make our kids mow the
lawn right and um sometimes when they’re younger they don’t do a great job
and I used to be like I used to say to Carl I’m like I’m just going to do it
I it looks so much better when I do it and she looks at me and she says we’re
not raising a lawn we’re raising kids you make them do it and they’ll figure
it out I’m like yeah so true so true oh man that’s great okay so we’re we’re
heading back to your childhood I I love this you’re a you’re a self starter
what did your what did your what did your parents do what kind of what kind
of work did they do yeah so my dad was he was a police officering in Long
Beach California really in the in the 70s 80s mhm 70s and 80s well okay so
60s and 70s uh then we we he retired and we moved away uhhuh and um he missed
it so much we moved back and he joined joined up again again as a rookie at
the age of 45 wow yeah in Long Beach again that was kind of a crazy time in
Long Beach there were a lot of things he was there during um during a lot a
lot of the early things in the 60s and 70s that was going on and then when he
went back it was during the the Rodney King time period you know gangs were
very prevalent in Long Beach during that time period um so I mean that was
kind of an epicenter of of gangs uh was Long Beach so yeah and and I mean I’m
not trying to associate anything with anything else but the rap industry was
significant in Long Beach at that time as well I I only mentioned that
because that was the area I grew up in and so yep I still it’s my still my
favorite workout playlist it’s all it’s all rap and hip-hop from that that’s
all right from from that from that era okay so uh were you you mentioned you
were wrestler were you were you an athlete growing up as well want to be
athlete no things where going to three different high schools made it a little
bit challenging um no connections no real training um those kind of things
but I was always a good athlete not enough confidence and not enough skill to
actually play on the high school level so all of my kids I’ve always made
sure that we’ve given them the the training and the support to become um a
high school you know athlete if that’s what they wanted yeah so growing up in
in that circumstance uh dad’s a uh police officer did that lead you one way
or another like did you determine early on what you wanted to do with your
what was it I was going to be a policeman oh I was going to graduate high
school oh so you that was something that you really looked up to oh I was
yeah for sure I I’d gone on ride alongs with them um it’s absolutely what I wanted
to do I wanted to be a public servant I wanted to go and and do good yeah in
my mind yeah and uh so that was the plan and and ultimately I ended up
serving an LDS mission and where’ you go I went to Germany nice and actually
I remember this distinctly we had this American he was the uncle of of my
current companion at the time and he took us to dinner he came to Germany and
we ended up going to dinner with him and and we just had a conversation we
talked about he was there for International Business we just talked about
international business and I was like man that’s fascinating I want to be
part of that and so I determined well I’m going to go home I will get my
education I said even if I become a pleas officer you can’t Advance without
education right so I’m going to go get my education and then I can decide at
that point but I’m going to look at this international business thing and see
if I want to do that yeah yeah and so is that what you did well I ended up
you ended up coming back going going to be to be okay and uh and what was
your what was your course of study where you what did you major in um so
international business yep so that’s what I was wanting to focus on and uh
and then I met Carlin um while she was also at BYU BYU yep we graduated the
same time we walked and then got married a week after that holy cow yeah
waste any time well we we had waited we just wanted to graduate first so we
waited okay but no she she said early on in our dating um if you want to be a
policeman I might not be the right person for you I can’t imagine going to
bed at night not knowing if you’re going to come home or not yeah so I was
like H okay maybe I should reconsider that yeah so did that alter the course
yep I I mean I I never went back I changed my plans and decided to go the
business route instead gotcha okay so so now you and Carin are together
married and you’re going to you’re going to start a family where where did
you end up career-wise at that point so after graduation I worked for a company
called Franklin Leadership Center or not Frank uh cvy Leadership Center it
later merged with Frankin and became Franklin Cy yeah okay perfect yes all
right how long were you there I was there about 7 years okay in and and what
was your experience there what what were the things that you liked disliked
what were the lessons you learned at Franklin cvy so I learned that um you
know obviously you have to pay your dues I was my first job there was it was
pretty sad I was making copies and sending I was working the in the PR
department making copies and sending of Articles of um anything that was in
the in the Press we get them to the individuals that they that are related to
so that that was really fun yeah that sounds like a lot of fun you got to start
somewhere you got to start somewhere though with that degree from college you
landed that you know but I I had the opportunity to work myself up and and it
was it was an awesome experience okay so let’s talk about the timeline a
little bit to the creation of just ingredients so you’re Franklin cvy
sevenish years you’re are you starting to have kids at this point because I
know there’s this inflection point after child number three is that correct
yeah yeah so I I went back to school while I was working at Franklin cuy and
uh got my MBA excellent and after graduating with my MBA we moved back to
California Carlin is also from California so we wanted to go back to where
our families were and we loved California so we wanted to go back there and
uh and that’s the time period where we had our third child and that’s where
she started struggling with her with her health issues okay do you want to
talk about that yeah I’m sure we can go into that yeah well I think it’s I I
think a lot of people know the story they do she’s very very open about it
she is and she’s great at telling the story we you know she was on this
podcast she was fantastic it’s still one of our most viewed podcasts she’s
fantastic okay so but I thought it would be really interesting to understand
from your perspective the struggle she endured and how that led to the
creation of the of the company yeah yeah so I if we want to look at this it’s
it’s interesting because you know you can go back in hindsight say oh yeah I
could see what was going on but in the in the time and you have to remember
this is early 2000s right so people did not talk about depression they didn’t
talk about mental health it was if you’re not feeling good if you feel
depressed go see your doctor take a pill and and you know and and there’s
nothing wrong with that that’s life saving for some people but um in Carlin
situation she wasn’t feeling well she was feeling um at this point not
suicidal depressed but um depressed so she went to a doctor and they gave her
medication right mhm it helped with the depression but what it didn’t help
with is her overall well-being and she felt numb um she didn’t like the way
it made her feel she it dampened her emotions it dampened all just she just
didn’t care about anything there was no fire there was no motivation it was
just life was just blah right and and are you recognizing this she’s for sure
from from your side your you’re 100% okay yep so she’s like I don’t I don’t
want to be on medication this isn’t what I want to do because I don’t feel
like I’m I’m who I am so she got off the medication and uh at that point she
is trying to deal with depression on her own and this is when it started
getting worse and worse right this is where you know getting off the medic a
actually made it made it worse and then um so it became instead of a severe
depression became a suicidal depression but I didn’t know that right like I
it’s one of those things where I knew she was depressed and I I’d wake up in
the morning and and there would be some days where she’s like I’m not feeling
I’m I feel depressed and I’d be like Oh I’m I’m sorry I gotta go to work
right yes I yeah do you need my help okay well if not I’m going to go go to
work and that Contin oh sorry go ahead well well just to follow up on that so
was she would you say that she was trying to to to mask it or okay okay so so
it wasn’t like you NE there was necessarily this like Jeff I am depressed I
am feeling she was like I’m not feeling so great and so the yeah the severity
of it I had no idea the sity right um and that time it’s like oh I’m feeling
depressed oh you’re sad oh okay I know I’m sorry it’s so true that’s that
sucks but um what what can I do about it yeah that was kind of is like I want
to help but how do I help and not understanding the severity of it I’m like
well okay if you need me just let me know but I got go to work and I’ll see
you later yeah and it wasn’t until um until she reached the bottom her low
right and where she actually did attempt suicide and thankfully that um if
the one thing she failed up in life is that and that’s a good thing but um
but ultimately what I want to say is um at that point I understood the
severity and it became a different conversation unfortunately I wish we’d had
the that conversation before right I wish I had been more aware uhhuh because
it was really hard it was hard on the marriage it was hard on our
relationship I can’t imagine it yeah every aspect of of Life at that time was
really really hard yeah but the conversation changed from if I’d wake up and
I’d hear I’m not feeling good today I’m feeling depressed instead of oh I’m
sorry that sucks it became a okay what number are you today are you a three
are you a seven are you a nine anything above a seven I stayed home yeah so
it so it triggered yeah a much more engaged conversation about much more
engaged was happening we tried I tried to understand okay what level because
every day is different yeah and um you know some days if it’s above a seven
that’s where that’s a that’s a real problem yeah right wow you know so so we
started addressing that we also started setting you know we we still had cell
phones but they weren’t like what we have today right we don’t have watches
where we could go look at you know the message yeah so if I’m in a meeting I
have a flip phone that I’d have to pull out and open up to see my text and so
often times I couldn’t pull my phone out in a meeting so we had a system
setup where if she was really struggling she’d call me three times in a row
oh and no matter what was going on I would excuse myself and and I would
either make a phone call or just go home so we kind of had to create a system
of how can I help in a situation where I’m not sure when I’m needed yeah okay
I have two follow-up questions on that one is I don’t want to get into the
any morbid okay conversation so if if you’re uncomfortable but uh she has
talked about you have talked about she got to the point where there was an
attempted suicide MH can you tell me about that day and and how you were
involved in it like how did that unfold and your emotions and feelings and
how you managed that whole situation this is the sad part I didn’t know oh my
gosh I didn’t know I didn’t know for weeks maybe months what you’re kidding
me oh my gosh so that’s unbelievable and again Carlin’s a strong woman yeah
back then admitting to depression and and something like that is admitting we
taboo right and so you wouldn’t talk about it shouldn’t talk about it to
anybody the fact that she’s so open about it now is part of her mission of
just trying to tell people it’s okay more people than you know struggle with
this yeah and it’s harder than you think and you every everybody needs to
understand that when somebody is depressed it’s not just well I’m sad today
it’s more than that and it takes people who would rationally never do
something make R irrational decisions yeah so when how did it come out when
did you find out one day we were talking about it it was one of those things
why I’ve got to go to work and she’s like if you go to work I may not be here
when you come back and I’m like what do you mean and that’s how we had that
conversation oh my gosh okay my second follow-up question is looking back on
that experience and for people who who find themselves in a sit situation
where they’re a support to someone who is struggling how would you would you
have man managed it differently what are some of the things you would have
done differently I would have taken things less personally because often
times that source of frustration that came with being depressed would be
taken out on those around her including myself and so instead of saying oh
she’s depressed and this is not really an attack on me I would be like I’m a
failure yeah I’m I’m the reason she’s struggling and I would just take it
personally like I’m failing her and I I look at that now and say instead of I
would get defensive yeah so as opposed to getting defensive and saying well
you know you’re not treating me well you’re you’re expressing your
frustrations on me I would look at this she’s hurting how can I help that
yeah would it be fair to say that you would be more I’m going to use the word
aggressive but maybe it is would you be more aggressive about understanding
her mental state at the time and asking tough questions and I think part of
it is that you know if you’re in a support role or if you see someone
struggling part of the issue is that you’re just like I don’t feel
comfortable asking those questions but maybe you should just disregard that
and ask the tough question I think you just need to get to a point where
you’re comfortable enough with the relationship you have in dealing with that
yeah and sometimes it is asking the hard questions yeah and it’s looking at
how can we what do we have to do as a team how can we help each other because
it’s hard I’ve I’ve talked to many people have come to me like people love to
come to Carla and tell their stories to her I’ve had a number of people pull
me aside and say my husband my wife or whoever they’re depressed how did you
get through it yeah like I think it’s they say to the fact that you stayed
married is huge because it’s a it’s a big um it’s a big rift in a marriage it
creates a lot of contention and and again hurt feelings and all those things
that create that separation in a relationship and and to be in all honesty it
was hard and there were times I thought are we going to make it yeah yeah
that’s that’s crazy what an what an amazing storye I appreciate you sharing
that I think a lot of people are going to appreciate understanding that that
side of it yeah there there are two sides to the story doubt for sure yeah no
doubt okay so you’re you’re starting to go through this experience and at
this point is Carolin now starting to dive into there’s there’s got to be a
reason why I’m feeling this way or and it’s not through the traditional
medical channels of take these three pills and you know call me in the
morning yeah so interestingly enough so during that time I worked for fizer I
was a I was a pharmace you a rep huh yeah so I I had all the connections with
the doctors and so yeah she spent two years in Southern California going from
Doctor to doctor TR to find somebody saying hey two years yeah look I I
understand that you guys can give me you anti-depressants and I get that said
but there’s something causing me to be depressed like I wasn’t depressed
Growing Up So something changed in my body yeah I need help finding that and
and none of them were willing to do that and so ultimately I wanted to leave
the uh uh pharmaceutical industry it it was going through a lot of changes I
I wasn’t thrilled with with my role um there so we ended up moving to Arizona
and uh I worked for a startup over there and Carin um found a doctor in
Arizona right yeah who um said yeah I I actually can help you but it’s going
to take we need to identify what what’s changed in your body what’s causing
the problem so we’re going to run a lot of blood work we’re going to run a
lot of tests and once we identify what the problem is then I can say okay now
we know how to fix it and most likely it’s going to take time and it’s going
to take a lot of effort on your part carine’s like I don’t care let’s go just
let’s just do it yeah so they identified you know X Y and Z is to what was
going on with her personally and it took 3 years before she was um kind of
back to where she was previous to um feeling depressed and in this journey is
she still taking medication so it was a let’s let’s fix what’s going on in
the body first so she stayed on medication uhhuh while she started repairing
her body okay you know um replenishing those things that are just missing in
her body so um at at some point though she was able to get off her medication
yeah it’s an amazing story yeah and if you’re interested in that story we’re
not going to talk about all of that here’s and and there’s plenty of
resources available in fact at the just ingredients uh site yeah uh and it’s
and it’s just ingredients. us correct yeah yes okay so at the site there’s
she actually has a podcast where she tells her tells her story so if you’re
more interested in finding out about that you can you can go there she’s much
better at telling it than I am so well she she is really she is really
compelling telling that it’s it is it is a fascinating story okay so and when
she’s going through this journey are you are you aligned like are you kind of
right there going along with her or are you are you like just an interested
Observer and I’m like you know what this is your journey um I’ll let you go
down that journey I will support you 100% I will help you with anything you
need yeah if you want to start cooking healthier in the for the home I’m All
Aboard on that but I’m I’m not interested in doing all the things that you’re
doing yet yeah it’s a commitment it it did it did and I wasn’t ready for that
commitment yet I was still pretty young and I still I still felt really
healthy and I didn’t think I needed to make any changes in my lifestyle yeah
so and do you feel differently now oh yeah oh yeah yeah so as we started
getting older and I started experiencing all these you know these things like
inflammation and just yes Jo uh joint pain and all this stuff she’s over
there just feeling great I’m like yeah wait a second what’s going on I’m
aging you’re like I’m aging at a different rate than you are yes and so then
at that point I started realizing H there’s something to this I’ve been
fighting it for a long time but I think that’s where I am now it’s like okay
especially when you talk about things like inflammation and joint pain at
some point I feel like well no I’m I’m pretty old now maybe I should just be
experiencing those things but maybe I don’t have to be experiencing those
things now you don’t have to be okay we’ve made it normal it it shouldn’t be
normal okay well and and by the way in terms of if if you’re like me and and
I was doing this just kind of doing some research on this podcast I was like
well I don’t really know where to start like okay inflammation joint pain but
what do I do am I supposed to cut something out am I supposed to add
something are there supplements that’s the other thing is is you think well
I’m just going to supplement everything and then I’ll be and I’ll be fine and
that’s not necessarily the answer no either but if you want an unbelievable
resource you go find carin’s Instagram and it’s ridiculous one of the things
I found when I was like I don’t know how to get started there’s like a
12-step program like here’s how you get started Y and and so it’s an
unbelievable resource it is people think that we’re a product company and and
I always tell people we’re an education company it’s it’s where we started
was with education it’s where our mission is is education the reason we make
products a it helps us get the mission accomplished we reach more people by
having products out there yeah um but two the other companies are not doing
it so we wanted to go out there and create products that other companies
weren’t willing to do yeah because it’s hard and it’s less profitable yeah so
I and this is a story that is is has been retold and and people should
understand but it’s it’s all in the name it’s just ingredients it’s all natural
products sourcing the right products it can be a little bit more expensive it
can be more timec consuming but you’re creating products that that everybody
should be ingesting like these are the things that you should be putting in
your body again if you want more information on that let’s you you can go to
the website and there’s there’s plenty of stuff but I want to ask you about
uh at this point so so as Carolin is starting to develop this understanding
of health and wellness and how important the things that you’re putting on
your body and the things you’re putting in your body can can alter the way
that you’re you’re living or alter your life experience as you’re seeing this
occur when do you start thinking well I want to be involved with that I want
to be part of that mission as well yeah that’s an interesting um thing
because if we go back just a little bit to that why she created the Instagram
account right because of people like me where she has are you now are you
saying people like you like you’re The Reluctant yes yes people like me yeah
so the situation was like this um she has this wealth of information right M
and she wanted to share it with everybody around her but myself included I
didn’t want to listen right and other people didn’t want to listen they they
they kind of nod their head and they’re like oh okay yeah cool right and
she’s like okay people obviously don’t want to listen to me so what I’m going
to do is I’m going to take my information I’m just going to put it on on a
social media site yeah Instagram and I’m just going to provide that
information for those who actually do want to go see it this way they can go
research it they could go look at the information she’s providing and if they
want to do it in un invasive way where she’s not like lecturing to somebody
but they can just go and look yeah and ultimately it wasn’t really her
friends and family that started grabbing on to this it was other people right
and that’s kind of how the Instagram started is um she just wanted to make it
available to people around her without being like this annoying sister just
two in your face it’s like here it is yes and uh her goal was well I’m just
going to educate everybody who wants to who wants to hear and at that time
there weren’t that many voices out there talking about this and so she kind
of one of the one of the uh if you want to call the OG absolutely people in
this in this space yeah well I think it’s really interesting that friends and
family who watched her go through this some of the stuff the this extreme
depression and anxiety and everything else she was facing and how she
recovered herself through that like it wouldn’t doesn’t it make sense that
the friends and family the people closest to her would be like oh yeah I’m
going to do that too I’ve seen how this yeah affected her life but used a key
word in there used the word extreme what her experience was was extreme what
most of us are experiencing yeah that’s true are not things that are extreme
they’re joint p