CV Hustle
A Podcast created to educate, inform & inspire entrepreneurship here in our Coachella Valley.
We will be talking to some of the best & brightest entrepreneurs in the Coachella Valley about how they started their journey in entrepreneurship.
CV Hustle
Ep#17-From Kitchen Experiments to Retail Empire: The Body Deli's Natural Skincare Journey
Margaret Clark and Ashley Skarin share the inspiring journey of building The Body Deli, a locally-made natural skincare brand that has become a Coachella Valley success story. Through determination and innovative thinking, they've grown from kitchen experiments to owning two retail locations while maintaining their commitment to quality and sustainability.
• Margaret's entrepreneurial spirit emerged at age 8, selling grapefruit and rocks from roadside stands
• Chemical allergies from cosmetology work led Margaret to research and create natural healing balms
• The business started after a wealthy client found relief from skin issues and ordered 50 gift baskets
• Business partner David Parker helped transform Blue Lotus into The Body Deli with a "food for your skin" concept
• They operate two distinct stores - a local-friendly shop on Highway 111 and a luxury boutique on El Paseo
• All products are manufactured locally in the Coachella Valley, creating jobs and supporting the local economy
• Free skin consultations and samples ensure customers find products that work before making purchases
• Customer relationships are prioritized with phone support and personalized service
• Their Vital C Repair Serum uses special imported Robosome C to address sun damage and stimulate collagen
• The company maintains long-term employees, with some team members working there for 15-30 years
Visit thebodydeli.com to explore their complete line of fresh, natural skincare products made right in the Coachella Valley.
What is up everyone? I'm Robert Mraz and I'm Fina Mraz, and this is CV Hustle, the podcast dedicated to supporting and promoting entrepreneurship here in our Coachella Valley. And it's our goal on this show, guys, you know, to bring in the top entrepreneurs here in the Valley. And today we've got a real special, two special guests actually, and you know we've talked to doctors, we've talked to lawyers, but we've never really hit the retail side. So today we're going to kind of speak to some entrepreneurs that are at the top of the game on the retail side. Ladies, you guys know who this product is. Today's special guest is the Body Deli, with Ashley Skarin and Margaret Clark. Thanks for coming in, guys.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us, we're excited to be here Awesome awesome.
Speaker 3:So I want to tell everybody how we all met Awesome, awesome. Yeah, he's harmless, he was super nice. But I don't know a lot about your backstory. You and I want to get to you, obviously, but where did you grow up? How did you get to California? Are you a native here? Tell me your story.
Speaker 4:I've been in the Coachella Valley for 65 years. Oh wow, You're a native.
Speaker 1:Oh you're local local.
Speaker 4:I was born and raised here Born and raised, wow. And I lived in Indian Wells before it was called Indian Wells, what it was called something else, it was just like annexed, you know, like county.
Speaker 1:Like Bermuda Dunes, unincorporated, yeah, unincorporated.
Speaker 4:Unincorporated, and then it just slowly turned into Indian Wells and became its own city.
Speaker 1:What high school did you go to? Indio, Ooh.
Speaker 4:Raja. Yeah, at that time it was only. Palm Springs and Indio and CV and CV. Yeah, but we were a little bit too far from them. Yeah, that's true. We were the closest to Indio oh wow, I'm a Raja too, stinky Raja.
Speaker 3:Anyway, let's move on from that.
Speaker 4:I used to ride up and down Fairway and Highway 111, and you wouldn't see a car On our bikes. We'd ride our bikes, yeah, and I used to have a Schwinn bike with a big basket on it and I was always making something. I mean even from a child. And I was always making something. I mean even from a child. I was just naturally an entrepreneur. I set up my first stand and was selling grapefruit. I was a rock hound. I'd find crystals and rocks and selling rocks and this was like at eight years old. They got pictures of me out there, you know, with lemonade, grapefruit, rocks, whatever I could sell. I was already doing it as a child. I just was born and raised to do it.
Speaker 3:I guess Was there anybody like in your family that was an entrepreneur? Did you have some sort of mentor that you modeled, or how did that all work?
Speaker 4:Not really my family's in construction in construction and my dad did a lot of the high end homes here in the valley and so I just grew up in the construction industry, basically.
Speaker 2:But definitely with a lot of people that were doers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, everybody had a very strong work ethic Exactly. Yeah, so then. So then, after high school, then what happens? Did you go to college or did you just immediately went into the workforce?
Speaker 4:How did that all Well, I graduated, or had enough credits, in high school to graduate, a year early, and then they at that time had ROP programs and I got my beauty license in the 12th grade. So instead of going to 12th grade school, I went to the beauty school and you had to do 1600 hours, which just takes a whole year to do, to get your cosmetology license. And I love the cosmetology industry because it was so creative. I'm very creative and love to be making things and I love the. You know, at that time, you know, back in the days when you had a doctor, your family doctor did everything Like if you had an earache, he'd look at your ear, or if you have a toe ache, whatever. Right Now you have to go to a specialist. You have to go to the ear doctor and the toe doctor and all the different things, such a pain in the ass.
Speaker 4:yeah, well that's how it was in cosmetology when we were, you know, back in 1978, you had to do everything. You had to do the facials, the manicures, the—. Oh, you did it all —perms, the colors, eyebrows. You had to do everything. You know you were like the doctor that did everything.
Speaker 3:That's kind of good, though right, Because it probably taught you a lot. You know how to do everything.
Speaker 4:That's why it took a whole year to learn everything, for sure. But what happened is my hands were in all those chemicals with the perm solution and the dyes, that's true. And they'd say, well, why didn't you wear gloves? Well, the problem is, when you try to wash somebody's hair with those latex gloves, they stick in the hair and they pull the hair and the people. They're not happy about it and, plus, you can't really just get in there and do a nice massage and scrub the scalp with the gloves on.
Speaker 4:But I eventually became allergic to the latex and then couldn't wear the gloves and then I had just severe, severe allergies to all the uh Chemicals, yeah, and became I couldn't use my hands actually for about six months. They were just, they were clawed up like claws and they looked like I had dipped them in acid. They were just like the skin was off and I was on cortisone shots and cortisone cream and every time I tried to put the cream on it would literally make me sick because of the pain, like a burn victim. It was so intense and so, um, it was my grandma that said well, you used to make utter balm, you know, for the cows. Maybe you could put some kind of healing balm on your hands. And then I went to the library and, uh, got books and we didn't have the internet back. You had to really go and do your own research at that time.
Speaker 3:Well, encyclopedia, I said encyclobotanical the other day.
Speaker 2:Everybody was like what.
Speaker 4:I have the set. I was so excited to have it. So you had to do real research with real books and I just loved it right away. But I love cooking and I was just like oh, this is like making mayonnaise.
Speaker 3:Do you like mixing stuff? You're like a mix all day. You might be a bartender.
Speaker 2:Right, or making great sauces and dressings. She's great for her sauces, so she knows how to mix things well.
Speaker 3:I love doing that Emulsion specialist. So then you started making the utter butter.
Speaker 4:Well, salves.
Speaker 3:Of course.
Speaker 4:Okay and I put those on my hands and it immediately felt so good and I finally got the use of my hands back and the doctor just said you're just going to have to get out of the industry or lose the use of your hands. It was bad. So I had to get out of that industry, unfortunately, and I went to. At that time I had gotten married to Ashley's father and we had a landscape construction company and we had a sod farm and so I was again just loving landscape design. Again.
Speaker 3:I could design something yeah.
Speaker 4:And so I had a blast and we had some really great clients that had a lot of money every time I'd go to some place. And what's your budget, you know? And I mean we did a lot of things like in Coachella, where you have an $800 budget and you have to only put in three valves for irrigation and five little bushes and two trees, you know, and a little bit of grass seed, and you have a really restricted budget. But when you go into a project that's, you know, like vintage country club or el dorado country club, and they don't have a budget, I'm like what do you mean? There's no budget. There's no budget, do whatever you want. I'm like, yes, it's like disneyland, bring in the semis, the cranes, the big giant trees I don't have a blast.
Speaker 2:these two have great creative minds, so they're like okay. I'll show you the good stuff. I've seen the tile.
Speaker 1:It's like yes, get that top shelf going yeah exactly, so I really love that.
Speaker 4:And then I did that for 20 years and then I just got tired, basically, of being outside with 20 Hispanic men and the heat and the heat. Yeah, oh, I couldn't do it and I was still making my own lotions and soaps and creams and things. Oh, so you were still doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh.
Speaker 3:In the kitchen. In the kitchen, oh, did you say when?
Speaker 2:Okay, she would make her own lotion and fill in bottles, and it started to take over the kitchen In the kitchen. Oh, they say it works. Okay, she would make her own lotion and fill in bottles. And it started to take over the kitchen space.
Speaker 4:Actually, yeah, I was all the way down the hall to the front door and I got a 40-foot hall and a huge kitchen. And one year I made baskets for Christmas and I just used kind of like canning jars, like if you're going to get some homemade jelly. But I'd fancy them up and put ribbons and little stones and make them look really uh, cute yeah yeah, cute christmas.
Speaker 4:And I gave a basket to this lady that lived way out in pj west and uh, she, I didn't let me back this up I gave it to a friend that had a friend that lived in PGA West. I didn't know the lady, but she had super bad skin issues and was very wealthy and had gone to many places to try to fix her her skin, and she wasn't having any luck. And her friend said why don't you try some of this lotion and the salve and just see if it works for you? And so she gave her part of her basket to this lady and the lady says oh my gosh, it's the first thing I've ever used. It's helped, helped. And then she called me up and introduced herself and said that she wanted me to make her 50 baskets for christmas. And I started laughing to go, 50 baskets, I go, I'm not, I'm just, I go. 50 baskets, I go, I'm not, I'm just making this in my blender and putting it in mayonnaise jars.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a step up.
Speaker 4:I'm not making this to move or sell or anything and she goes. Oh, everybody in town has to have it. And so we went to Pier 1, imports and that other place called World Market Yep, and got little jars and little things, fancier things. So you said yes, I said yes.
Speaker 3:I knew it, she's so open-minded. She's always been like yeah, let's do it. Yeah, right.
Speaker 4:And so I made 50 baskets for her. Yeah, right, and so I made 50 baskets for her, and then I just started going to like little places, you know, like the churches would have what they call fall.
Speaker 2:A Christmas show where they had the booths and stuff.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the booths and the fall season and they'd have Easter seasons and the schools would have it. So I just set up little tables and booths there and it just kind of snowballed and snowballed. And then I got this old house in indio that used to be al capone's attorney's house.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, where's that?
Speaker 4:at well, it's torn down draperies, if anyone so do you know where neil's lounge is? Yes, so it. So you'd go down 111 in Indio and you'd make a left at Madison Street.
Speaker 1:And there's Stater Brothers and the Young's Nursery right there. No, it's by Stater.
Speaker 2:Brothers. Yes across from Stater Brothers Now it's a dirt lot, I think.
Speaker 4:In front is Neil's and then there's a gas station, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's a gas station, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:And then Stater Brothers is across the street. That street right there is Madison. So you'd make a left on Madison, coming from Palm Desert going to Indio and then right behind that Circle K you'd turn in right there and that was a huge, huge estate and it had tennis gardens. It had this beautiful, beautiful pool Right. And it had like a pool house and what they had done is all the rooms in the house were really big and they had divided it up and rented areas out.
Speaker 2:And after it was no longer a home and the pool was empty they kind of divided it up into little retail spots that you could rent.
Speaker 4:Oh, really, yeah, Wow. And there was a lady there like got the first part of it maybe, where the kitchen and dining room and that kind of stuff was she had was selling plants, and then the middle part was gertrude's draperies and he was making a homemade drapery for everybody. And then the last part was blue lotus, which I would use to be Blue Lotus organics, and I had the bedroom in the mat, the master, it was kind of like a garden room where they call it a sunroom.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, and and we also had actually had beautiful lighting, a lot of windows, and so it had beautiful light where she could make all of her products and a huge bathroom, the master bathroom, with this huge tiled tub. Yes, oh my gosh, it was pretty funny, the tub was bigger than this area that we're sitting at. Yes, it was huge, and it was all these little tiles.
Speaker 4:Art deco tiles, art deco tiles, black and burgundy tiles, even in the window seals oh my gosh. The entire ceiling. Everything was done in black and burgundy deco tiles.
Speaker 2:You would have liked it. I would have liked it. Yeah, you would have said I love this. It was in great condition too, the bathroom, so okay.
Speaker 1:What year is this? I'm curious about what year? Is this like what year? What roundabout years are these?
Speaker 4:That's probably in Late 90s, late 90s.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:Wow yeah, 98 maybe I want to go back because I'm nosy.
Speaker 3:I want to know how did you know how to sell those, what to sell those baskets for? I'm assuming right you had to figure out what your costs were and stuff like that. So you sold them right and I hope you made a killing.
Speaker 4:I just looked up Gucci.
Speaker 3:There was no, looking up.
Speaker 2:No, there was no looking up she just added up her receipts, you know, and came up with a fair price probably.
Speaker 4:I just did kind of like fair market what everybody else was selling things for. Basically, you know.
Speaker 2:She's always priced things very fairly. I think, yeah, yeah, oh, and always things very fairly, yeah, always. You know, looking at the facts, like what are the cost of things and things like that, so she's always been very fair priced, I believe. Okay, do you have?
Speaker 3:any questions.
Speaker 1:I'm just, I'm still thinking about that Al Capone lawyer's house. Well, supposedly he would get in that bathtub.
Speaker 4:I bet he did Because it had seating all the way around the edges.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm an Indian native and I didn't even ever heard of that before.
Speaker 4:That's freaking awesome, and you know the other side, where there's that tire, pep boys and tire guys. Have you ever seen that manufacturing? It's old, old, old building that's set behind it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay, they used to make all the fruit cakes. So they dry all the fruit with the dates and they dry all the different kinds of fruits like peaches and apricots and everything that goes into the fruitcakes. And they actually had the contract back in the war times, like I don't know if it was World War I or World War II, I don't have that information, but I know that they were making the rations for the soldiers, oh, wow, and because those fruitcakes would last a long time so they would get like jerky. And these fruitcakes that were dehydrated, oh, okay, it was a cake but it had the dehydrated fruit in it, right, right. And so when they came back from war they didn't want anything to do with those.
Speaker 1:The sales immediately tanked after the war.
Speaker 4:But that's a, really's a but the valley has had a lot of different things going on that people didn't even realize absolutely that was going on back there in that little area wow, I mean, she's history lesson right here.
Speaker 1:Only on cv hustle, you get this instant all right, so let's go from.
Speaker 3:You had the retail store in Indio and you started. It obviously started snowballing right as you said. And then what happened? Did you name it the body now? No, you named it blue.
Speaker 2:Now enter David, david here.
Speaker 3:Yes enter David.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so, david, my business partner now is David Parker, and he came into the shop, so I used to be on the Patty Patane show. I don't know if you've ever heard of that I have, but I can't like place it right now.
Speaker 3:This is old time.
Speaker 4:And kind of like what you're doing right here, yeah local business entrepreneurs, oh really. And she was so funny because I would be making things and I'd say, well, you know it's all edible, and she was so kind of like a force to be reckoned with. You know this energy.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so I'm making this stuff and she goes it's edible, huh. And she takes the spoon and she pushes it down into this big thing of cream I'm making and she goes eat it and I'm like, okay, calm down. So I take a little bite of it and then I made the comment, like when Lucille Ball has taken that Vita Veg of Vegemint and it's delicious too, and she goes stop doing that and she got all mad about it. But it was funny. Anyway, the product's like the, the enzyme peel. It's the honey, manuka honey, enzyme peel. That's a complete food. If you were starving to death and you didn't have any food, you could eat that.
Speaker 3:It's delicious on toast I wouldn't even know where to find that it's the body deli.
Speaker 2:All right, hello basically, she was focusing more on body care at this time she hadn't moved on to facial care and and David saw her on TV and that she was making these products from healthy, using healthy stuff, taking it back to natural, you know, and using things you eat this whole concept. And he drove down to find her because he wanted to make facial care products like that.
Speaker 4:And he had gone to LA and he couldn't find anybody that would do that they all wanted to be chemicals, yes, and he was like I don't want that, I want something natural.
Speaker 2:And so they came together and two total different people, and they just both had this love and this vision for making products food for your skin, basically, and that's one of our taglines.
Speaker 4:That's how the Body Deli kind of came about.
Speaker 2:They came together and said, hey, let's evolve this, you know, to face and body. And that was the birth of the Body Deli food for your skin. Oh my gosh, that's so cool and taking that kind of that basis of using products you normally would cook with or eat, you know, taking that clean concept. So a lot of healthy formulations, the scents, pure essential oils, plant-based things like that.
Speaker 3:So, like what was your when you started this and it was only body at the time. What were some of your staple products?
Speaker 4:We had a really nice salt scrub. That was with the cocoa butter, so it was really creamy. You know I love me some cocoa butter. You have it. And lotion oil Definitely the lotion and bars of soap.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that was pretty limited actually. I mean now we have so many products a lot of products.
Speaker 3:Right Because you just keep adding. Right Because there's always like a new, like scent, or there's a new whatever. I don't know Because you guys were kind of like organic before. Organic was like a thing.
Speaker 4:It's so true because when we went to go try to find somebody to help us make these things, they were all like, well, what you know. We only have to know how to do these, these companies that makes laboratories, the big labs.
Speaker 2:If you want something made manufacturers, you know you go to a formulation that's already been made.
Speaker 4:They're so chemical laden, of course, so they had to just make it themselves we couldn't find anybody that would help us, so we just started making it ourselves. I mean, I was already making it myself, so I didn't care. Right, I just help us. So we just started making it ourselves. I mean, I was already making it myself, so I didn't care.
Speaker 3:Right, so it was no big deal to you. I just had to expand it. Want more blenders?
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically Bring in the Hobart Wow.
Speaker 4:For real and we just set it up a cosmetic kitchen basically, or just like a restaurant where we have big mixers and blenders and all kinds of just looks like a kitchen.
Speaker 3:At the place where we met.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh okay, that little place behind your old office. Wow, that's pretty impressive, Pretty impressive. So David came in and how did that change the business? Did it kind of explode from there like to what we know now, or how long did it kind of take you guys to become the juggernaut that?
Speaker 4:we relocated to palm desert and, uh, you know, david helped. I went to a we. We knew that we wanted to change the name because I was we wanted. At that time we were thinking about franchising and there was a lot of blue lotus chinese restaurants in los angeles and so, although it's a different industry, there was a lot of Blue Lotus Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles and so, although it's a different industry, there was still consumer confusion.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:And so we said we're going to have to think of something else. And I went to one of my girlfriend's house and she lives in San Diego and we hung out and we got a bottle of wine and we ate pizza and we just kept brainstorming and all these different names and the Body Deli. I kind of narrowed it down to three names. It was like the Body Bistro, the Body Deli, all these different, a couple other names.
Speaker 4:And then I came back with the names, with David, and then David's so artistic and he was great with the computer to to make labels and branding. He's a he's like branding genius. He is a branding genius, he is fabulous, and he would take the different names that I was came with, you know, to talk to him about, and he would get on the computer and he was like, well, this one's having trouble with this one, you know, and he would keep messing with it and he'd come in and and I have like a perfectionist eye to I know what you call it to a fault. It's like oh yeah it's.
Speaker 4:It's too.
Speaker 1:I'm like it's a blessing and a curse.
Speaker 4:It is, and so I can see when something's off and I'll say that needs to move over just a hair, okay, no, it's perfect and so. But he never complained about moving anything over in here. He just go and move.
Speaker 3:He wants it to be perfect he wants it to be perfect too, so so how old are you at this time, when this started going down?
Speaker 2:I first met david probably when I was about, I want to say 10 years old or so so he's been in my life since then and he definitely made a big impact because I had never met someone like him before. It was like someone coming from out of town I don't know how to explain it, but an out of towner. Like who's this guy? And they're both my mentors my mom and David and they both have such unique aspects and I get the benefit of seeing how they both work and learning from them and, yeah, just following their lead and picking it up.
Speaker 2:So you basically grew up seeing your mom do this In Blue Lotus. I was there helping her mix those salt scrubs and the lotion in the kitchen before Blue Lotus. I've been her little sidekick and I have have a younger sister, so when she came into the mix she's she was there too and she's well you used to take a salad shooter do you remember the old commercial salad shooter, and they put stuff in there.
Speaker 4:Well, I was putting soap in there and shredding the soap and then soaking it in in water and then making balls with it soap balls.
Speaker 2:The leftover soap when you cut bars, yeah, you have some extra pieces, so we would put that in the salad shooter and then those little shreds make soap balls. Oh, perfect. And so us kids. That was kind of our—.
Speaker 4:I had pictures of them.
Speaker 3:That was their job.
Speaker 4:Anna's only two years old and here she is, a little tiny two-year-old making a soap ball.
Speaker 1:That's awesome and nothing went to waste. Sounds like it was a family affair.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Yeah, we had grown up in the business you grew up in the business?
Speaker 1:Was that always the plan to come in and kind of step in and be the heir apparent? Was that something that you were just born into? It? You're going to continue the legacy, or is that something that kind of?
Speaker 2:I think it just happened naturally and I have a love for it, a passion for it. I don't have any children, so this is kind of like my baby as well. So it's got a couple mothers. It's got a couple mothers. So, yes, I guess because I've just grown up with it, it's just kind of like an energy that's part of my family. Like when I come into the shop I say good morning, I love you, when I leave, you know, yeah, I.
Speaker 2:Um, hey, you're putting it out there. Yeah, I go in when it's like not my day. I. I go in the morning. Sometimes six am like I was there this morning. Um, I love it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's like my baby sometimes, before we leave it at night, we have some sage and I don't necessarily light it, but I take it and I go. Protection, protection.
Speaker 1:What do?
Speaker 2:you two get along. Oh yeah, we do all that weird stuff.
Speaker 3:Sage is everything I'm like. What is that smell in the house? I'm like nothing, okay, so tell me, when did the first? The first body, deli, is the one on 111, correct? And you know what their floor is?
Speaker 1:Yeah, black and white Shameless plug right here At El.
Speaker 3:Paseo, oh, at El Paseo, yeah, okay, okay, you need to change the other one then. Oh for sure.
Speaker 2:No, definitely, fina, for sure. But you know, bringing back to the history aspect, the floor that's at Highway 111 store. It's over 23 years old now, 24 years old that we've been there that floor, David and her hand-painted.
Speaker 4:So it was just like a raw cement floor really rugged.
Speaker 2:They couldn't afford tile flooring at the time so they hand-painted a square pattern on there. It's still there to this day. We polish it and keep it as beautifully as we can. It certainly needs new tiles, but it's also kind of nostalgic, yeah you can't do that I couldn't tell you tile it's part of the history. You know and I remember them like, literally, hands and knees.
Speaker 3:You know, faux painting, this thing We'll go up the walls.
Speaker 4:Back then everything was like real popular to faux paint. I don't know if you remember that sponging colors on everything.
Speaker 2:But el paseo, she definitely had to go for the, the flooring upgrade. Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful, oh, it's so cool yeah, so okay.
Speaker 3:So then you got that space and then like where, where are you finding your clients and how, what are you doing for advertising and marketing and all that I mean?
Speaker 4:you said david did that, so how did you originally, other than being on patty patine didn't really have a lot of and creating an email list, an email sign-up list when people would come in.
Speaker 2:Uh, do you want to sign up to our email list?
Speaker 1:and that early adapters, early adapters to that.
Speaker 2:Email. That's one of our strongest sales channels, I would say.
Speaker 1:And you're doing that early on, then huh yeah you don't do it too often, though, right.
Speaker 2:Well, we do a couple emails a week at least. Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:And it's that whole thing like that drip marketing right.
Speaker 3:It's like just be on top of mind when they need it and they run out or they're thinking about skin care, it's like, oh, it didn't used to be that way, but it's evolved to that, yes, and yeah, it's evolved to that, okay. So I have another question, because I have another location in palm springs, but you have another location on the other, on the next block. So why did you do that? And and was it? I think it's cool because I feel like you're obviously serving two different markets, and I think you're, but I want to hear from you why you did that.
Speaker 2:You want me to go?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, serving two different markets. So our Highway 111 location the original. It's so great for locals, the parking is so convenient, you can just pull right in there, that's true. Get your skin care location the original. It's so great for locals, the parking is so convenient, you can just pull right in there. Get your skincare, get your healthy dog treats at Bones and Scones. It's really accessible. But a lot of times when someone comes on vacation they're not from here. The hotel concierge says go to El Paseo, go to El Paseo. That's true. So we're trying to cover both of our bases here. We've got our local spot. If you can't find parking at El Paseo, you don't want to do the walk, you can just pull right up and come into the local shop 111, and get your stuff easy. Or if you want to have a leisurely day, take your family shopping. Someone's coming into town, you want to give them the El Paseo. You know walking around experience.
Speaker 2:We're there too, oh my gosh, and the spot that we have, which she's had her eye on, wanting a spot there for a long time, and when the opportunity came, she I did.
Speaker 4:I looked at that spot for probably at least 10 years, so it's kind of like you're creating that reality. Oh for sure, I kept seeing myself there and seeing myself there, and the same lady was there, and then they just they stayed there until they retired.
Speaker 3:I was going to say are you?
Speaker 4:going to go in there. Are you leaving anytime soon? And then she contacted me and said that she was leaving and would I be interested in taking over her lease. And I'm like, yes, I would, yeah, yeah, and it's right across from Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton and Gucci, so it's a great location, great location, yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 3:Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton and Gucci, so it's a great location, great location, oh my gosh, that's so cool.
Speaker 4:And that's what we call that, our fancy store, because we have like 111 store. We call that one our hippie store, right next to Lorraine's Like brownhound painted floor and orange walls.
Speaker 2:It's kind of more eclectic. And then you go to El Paseo and it's got the black and white marble tile floor.
Speaker 3:So you've got two different vibes and the deli case is more of a deli vibe white and black, they have an actual deli Deli case.
Speaker 2:Deli case, that's awesome Fresh face masks and skin care.
Speaker 1:I can kind of see the breakup of your clientele base. By just the way you're explaining it, though, right, locals go to your original OG shop. Yeah, your original OG shop. Yeah, then you're, you're trying to lure the tourists through El Paseo, so does that lead to like? So, now that we're in the age of kind of you know online and Amazon, are you guys? You have a presence online as well. Is that like kind of the next step for the?
Speaker 4:We have the most beautiful website on the internet. I would go on anybody's competition and say that Mostly Ashley and David. My business partner, david Parker, built the website and it's absolutely gorgeous and it would compete with anybody out there. If you go on that website, it's fabulous, it's really beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it almost eliminates the need to expand to different stores with the internet right, because you guys can sell all over the country at that point.
Speaker 2:And through COVID. That really impacted retail.
Speaker 4:You know you had to really rely on online.
Speaker 2:So we kind of said, well, online we can reach a lot of people. Oh, yeah, that way.
Speaker 4:And then the people that are down here just like tourism and they come to el paseo and they get their things they have still have a piece of us when they go back home with. They can come in with the internet and order and restock themselves.
Speaker 2:They learn about us, like, let's say, they're walking on el paseo. They learn about us there and then they get to take a few, maybe small things home and then they come, they reorder online and we have really been blessed with customers that have been with us for years.
Speaker 4:We go in the back and you can see how many times they've ordered. And they have ordered, sometimes hundreds of times. The customer loyalty is so great when you think about what kind of product that you personally have ordered.
Speaker 2:We love our customers. We develop relationships, friendships.
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure they just keep ordering and ordering. We're very blessed. We're very grateful for that. Yeah, that they just keep ordering and ordering, we're very blessed, we're very grateful for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty rare in retail these days. You guys know when your customers the way you do. You know because a lot of times retail is just a click on the phone.
Speaker 2:We still do phone help too, so we have a lot of customers that like to place their order on the phone.
Speaker 4:That's one thing is, I get frustrated when I want to buy something and I can't talk to customer service. You have to email them, yeah, and then there's still nobody to talk to. It's just back and forth and it's some kind of generic response. I'm like what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a stall tactic kind of thing. Well, that's why his business has thrived, because you call like Paychex or one of the other big box stores and you just get like.
Speaker 1:Get a call center in India.
Speaker 4:You know, there's outsourcing everything, so our strength is just you get somebody on the phone and you'll get your account rip on the phone, the person actually doing your payroll.
Speaker 1:Actually somebody that knows something about your account. So that's where we win, that's where we beat the big guys. I mean, we're not going to beat them all the time. Yeah but we can beat them there. So if that's something that's important to the clients, then that's where we win.
Speaker 4:And I think that's true with us too Because they can't get that from the big brands.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:We like to build relationships. They come in and a lot of times we know about their family and what's going on in their lives and we love building that relationship with them.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, Well it seems like you guys, I mean, I think the story here, though, too, is the product right. I mean, the product stands alone. I think that's like the core of the business, right Is that you have an excellent product, you know, and you guys have figured out how to kind of build an empire on that product, because a lot of times, there'll be people we hear stories all the time of people that are good at things, like maybe like good at doing, you know, making cookies or something like that but how do you turn that into a business? And I think you guys kind of mastered that and turning it into a, you know, a great product, but it's also a thriving business. You know that's not the easiest thing to do well.
Speaker 4:I think it's really taken a huge amount of effort on on everybody's part. I mean everybody that works at the body daily. I I call it our Body Daily family, and they don't work for us, they work with us. We all work together, everybody. We're so blessed because everybody's such hard workers and, you know, very professional and stay focused on their job and taking care of things. And I think that's not going through the employees. We have an employee that's worked for us for 30 years, another one for 18, another one for 15, another one for 12. So we don't really go through the employees. We take care of them. They're part of our family.
Speaker 3:Oh, it speaks to you as a business and a business owner, and how well you treat them. And yeah that's awesome because, man, you know, building a business like you have, just like consistency is key, I think, you know, and reputation and all of that goes into it.
Speaker 2:And making products that feel it feels good to be a part of.
Speaker 3:Sure, I have a question so like do you have a bestseller? Because you know I'm in, you know I just always won't think about stuff like that. Do you have, like, or a couple best sellers? We brought you a couple, okay. Well, I have that, let's get into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so those of you on youtube you can see um the products on the on the table here, um, for those of you listening on the podcast, need to watch it on youtube. So, but we'll try and be as descriptive as possible our vital c serum, the products on the table here. For those of you listening on the podcast, you need to watch it on YouTube.
Speaker 2:But we'll try and be as descriptive as possible. Our Vital C Serum Can you reach a Vital C Serum?
Speaker 1:in front of the magazine. It's in front of the book. No, it's a small little one, this good.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, so this is a superstar product. It's our Vital C Repair Serum. It has a special form of vitamin C called Robosome C. It's an encapsulated form of vitamin C. It's an expensive form of vitamin C so there's hardly any formulations that use it. There's only two people in the United States and it's specially imported from Germany. Anyway, this type of vitamin C, it's encapsulated, so that means it stays stable in the formula and it opens up once it hits your skin barrier and it helps with helping repair for radical damage like sunspots and things of… Large pores, yeah, things like that. And it also helps stimulate collagen. So smoothing the skin, giving that bounce and elasticity to it, and sunspot control is really the big winner. Down here in the desert, I know just being out and active we get a lot of sun damage, so that, I would say, is a really.
Speaker 2:I love that one. What's your, that's my.
Speaker 4:I would say I would say Cremdell.
Speaker 2:Rose is probably her or maybe something else.
Speaker 4:I like Cremdell Rose and I also like mixing that with a light facial emulsion.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, Her facial cocktail.
Speaker 4:That's what she calls it. It's made with all the ionic minerals, so when you put these vitamins mixed with the minerals, your skin just sucks it up and it gets everything it needs.
Speaker 3:I love that Do you guys sell to people that do facials? Oh yeah, definitely, Because we have a whole cell division that services, spas and medical centers, estheticians, massage therapists. Because? So tell them about your sister, Because that would be, I think that would be kind of.
Speaker 1:Oh, the sister's a what's it.
Speaker 3:Naturopathic, oh, of course, in Arizona though.
Speaker 1:Organic, organic organic. So that's her main thing, yeah we'll have to definitely touch base and show you guys some of your products. I mean, these products have been tried and true, right, yes, and they're all made here in the.
Speaker 3:Valley. I love that.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:They're all made here in the Valley.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, I know, I know it's made here he's like literally Literally all of this has been made here. So it's pretty cool to actually, you know, buy stuff.
Speaker 4:Wow, Donald Trump's going to love that you know USA all the way man.
Speaker 2:Just local, anybody, just anybody who wants to support their local community.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I did not know that that's something that see more valuable information here. These are tried and true. So people are manufacturing these in the valley and then you're selling them in the valley. Yeah, so you're creating jobs on both ends. That's great.
Speaker 3:Okay, I have another funny question. So if I walked into your place like do you guys go? Oh, your face is jacked up, you need this. You know what I?
Speaker 1:mean Can you diagnose somebody's?
Speaker 4:ugly face. We don't say it to your face, but we turn like this, we turn like this and it's like she needs.
Speaker 3:She needs some vitamin c serum bad we analyze you.
Speaker 4:Okay, you know, without letting you know that we're analyzing you, we, but we study your skin if you ask for a consult, first of all, let's free, that's right.
Speaker 2:We offer free samples. So with a consultation, so we like to say if you're looking for skin care before just like selling you some expensive lineup that you don't know what's going to work, we like to first say what do you need, what are your concerns?
Speaker 3:see, I'd say, I don't know what I need okay, well, we, well, we can talk about it.
Speaker 2:And we can send you with some samples that you would test out and see. Like we have five different facial cleansers. Let's make sure we get the right one for you. Are you feeling dry? Are you feeling sensitive? Do you have redness and rosacea? Do you need some exfoliation?
Speaker 4:So we need to you know, when you're oily and acne, we need to talk before we just like, just shove some products to you.
Speaker 2:We want to talk about it. And that's also, I think, why we have a lot of longtime customers, because the first time they come in we're not trying to sell them. Sometimes I'm giving them free samples. They're like do I need to pay you for these? I'm like no, just test them out first.
Speaker 4:And then what you resonate with, what your skin loves. You know you're going to come back to us and absolutely yeah. And the other thing is is that I would rather them test things out than or even buy a smaller one, because we hand make this. So it's kind of like me hand making apple pie and then because you have a 30-day return policy at the Body Deli, so if I made you a handmade apple pie and then you took one bite of it and then you came back and said I don't like it, well, I have to throw that apple pie in the trash because you've taken a bite out of it. Right, and that's what happens with the products. So I'm more. It's, it's all business, it's upsets me because I handmade that and now you want me to throw it in the trash. So to me it's like personal so then?
Speaker 3:so I would rather well, well, no I want.
Speaker 4:I want them to be happy and to zero it in, but that's just why we do the sampling of We'd rather also for the environment.
Speaker 2:Like, for example, instead of if you don't know about the smell of this lotion, I'd rather let you smell it first, make you a small amount or try it out. Smell it first, right, then try to force you to buy this and then you pump one out. You don't like it, I hate it. All this has to go in the trash can and it's so bad for the environment. And unfortunately we're kind of used to the Amazon stuff which is like order and if I don't like it I don't even think about where it goes. Well, all of that stuff is going somewhere and we're getting a little bit too comfortable as a society just like throwing things away and ordering things, ordering things, ordering things. So one way we're trying to help our business but also be environmentally conscious is let's let you test something out small. Make sure you really like it before you invest in a big bottle like this, so that we don't have to be throwing something away unnecessarily.
Speaker 3:Right, oh wow, I didn't know you had to throw things away. Give them to me.
Speaker 2:Or you know skin care. Why don't you guys just do?
Speaker 3:50%.
Speaker 2:Like okay, if you get 50% back%. No, you don't want a skincare product that somebody returned yeah, because we don't know what they did to it why?
Speaker 1:not, no, no no, I'll test it out first. You can't vouch that it's organic anymore.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we can't do that we can't do that. Touched by a human Not pure.
Speaker 1:It's not pure.
Speaker 1:Well, this is all really good information. It seems like you guys also have kind of an ethos about the environment which kind of goes hand in hand with your product, so that's really cool. We always like to ask our entrepreneurs you know what advice they would give to somebody. Like maybe they have a good product you know, but don't really know how to start a business. But don't really know how to start a business. If they wanted to kind of maybe get into the retail business, what advice would you kind of give somebody?
Speaker 4:I have run across people who have made business names for themselves and they have made cards up and signs and everything and they never did the research to see if somebody else owned the trademark. If somebody else owned a corporation, owned something or already has a website, because now you're in violation of that and you have to take all that down because you can get in a lawsuit. Oh yeah, and you can't also add your name to somebody else's name, like Robert's McDonald's or Robert's Big Boys or whatever it is. You just can't put your name in front of somebody else's name. So you really need to do, first of all, find out is it trademarked? Is there a corporation? Is there somebody else already using that name on the internet? Is there a website available? These are all things that you need to make sure, because how are you going to move forward if you can't even move forward with your own name? Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:That's the first step.
Speaker 4:That's the first step, that's the first step and people don't realize that they really don't.
Speaker 3:They're completely missing that piece of pie, that wedge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had that happen with one of our guests who was going after a restaurant and the restaurant was like all the way in florida or something atlanta and he was gonna get sued and so he ended up having to change the name.
Speaker 3:But it's like, oh my gosh, and it was copyrighted. So I think you know that's a big issue, was it was a big, yeah, big learning curve.
Speaker 4:So you have to copyright yourself, which you write it down or print it out and send it to yourself through the mail, and then you go to the trademark office and you trademark. And if you do it yourself, you know it's a little bit complicated, but you can do it for $350. If you have somebody else do it for you it's going to be a little bit more, maybe double that. And then try to get the website going and then also try to get your business license for wherever you're going to be doing business in at the city you're doing. So you want to get all those legality things.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure, and you also want to see if somebody else is already doing what you're doing, who's succeeding and what can you learn from them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Do your research, people Do your research, like when I was doing landscape construction.
Speaker 4:When I first started out, I did, uh like a interview of three other top landscape uh construction people to my house and asked them what they would do to see how they handled me, to see how they interacted with me. Oh my gosh, you sneaky little devils. And I was picking their brains, but they didn't know. They just thought they were bidding on a project, right, and so I took all the information from all three of them and I put it together and made one solid one that covered all the bases.
Speaker 3:You know what? That's kind of what I did with my showroom. We went and looked at a couple of different showrooms and I was like I don't like the way that looks, or I really love the way that looks, and, of course, did my own thing with that right Because. I'm not going to try to copy anybody, but that's that was. That's great, because it does give you a lot of insight as to what what's out there and what people are seeing.
Speaker 4:So and what's working, what's working already and what's working, what's working already and what's missing.
Speaker 1:Yeah and what's missing. Yeah, definitely do your research. It's amazing to me what's online now. You can find business plans online.
Speaker 4:You know anything online.
Speaker 1:So do your research people. Ashley, any advice for somebody that's maybe thinking about getting into the retail game manufacturing game. Anything stand out to you that you would give? A younger, maybe somebody coming up thinking I have a good question too, though. Well, go ahead. Okay.
Speaker 2:Just, I guess just consistency and believing in yourself. I guess just consistency and believing in yourself. I do think you have to be your own biggest cheerleader and you can't be scared to put your idea out there for lack of validation or celebration from other people Sometimes. Yeah, you have to be your own cheerleader, you can't be scared to go out there and sometimes people that don't know you will be your biggest supporters.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know, sometimes your family members and friends are the last ones to support you.
Speaker 2:Sometimes because they know, you know like, oh, you're just so-and-so, You're just like you know in your family, and so you can't let that limit your vision of yourself. You know, however you see yourself, put it out there to the world, because there might be a lot of people that resonate with your message that you don't even know about, Like what you guys are doing here.
Speaker 3:CB Hustle. Okay, so I do have a question, because Bobby's always talking about how, because he does payroll right, so he works with over 350 small local businesses here in our valley and so he sees a lot of family members taking over the business.
Speaker 1:The kids taking over and or working together.
Speaker 3:So how does that work with you guys? Is it just always a seamless flow, or do you guys like ar.
Speaker 2:Aromatherapy. Is that the sage? Get me two, get me two. No really we're lucky, we all get along pretty well. But, like she said, she is a perfectionist and she has very high standards, and she always has, and so I Now she's not really bothered by it because she just grew up in it.
Speaker 4:I grew up with that and she's never been. I would say Doesn't deter me. Instead of the mother telling the kids that they're not doing something right, it's the kids telling the mother. Like Mom, you can't do that. Mom, don't say that to that woman.
Speaker 3:I know, but that's what I love about you.
Speaker 4:So sometimes I'm too truthful and I have to hold my tongue back or I have to go behind the. We have a curtain from the front and the back, and I don't. As I get older, I have less patience for ridiculousness, and there's a lot of ridiculousness out there, and I just had to take a deep breath and think, hmm, this could be on YouTube right now. Here's a woman that went nuts at body telling.
Speaker 3:She's strangling the customer. Well, you know what Sales? It is hard it is hard.
Speaker 4:It's hard. Sometimes the people are rude and disrespectful and I don't like it when they're disrespectful to the employees or to my kids, my daughters and you know you might have issues. Sometimes they have issues.
Speaker 2:She's very protective, I am very protective. So I tell her don't worry about it, mom, I just go in the back.
Speaker 4:I'll go. Ash, you're gonna have to go up front because I'm like this with that woman and I I don't want to do that to her. So please, ashley will go up there. She's really. She is the nicest person. And there was a lady just like maybe two weeks ago that was a horrible thing to our one of our other sales people and then she was calling up and she was just having a terrible time, but she was taking it. She was having a terrible time in her life and she was taking it out on us and ashley talked to her and told her to come in and when she came in, ashley gave her a hug nice, she did, well she was.
Speaker 2:it turned out just Well, she was it turned out that and she just melted, she cried, she was going through a lot, aw, and one little incident happened and she just kind of festered on it, yeah, and she had a hard holiday and it just you never know what people are going through, it's true, you never know, you don't. So I said let's not let this small item, you know, be such a big issue. Let's come on in, we'll figure it out. Yeah, come on in, let's not worry about it.
Speaker 4:She's so great with that she's. She's awesome with the customers. The aromatherapy helps yeah.
Speaker 1:That's some customer service right there, yeah, absolutely Free hugs as well Somebody listening to this maybe once that hasn't heard or seen your product. Where can, where can they kind of check you guys out and kind of get more information about some of the goodies you sell here?
Speaker 4:We'll definitely go to thebodydelicom and you're going to see an amazing website.
Speaker 3:Fresh food for your skin. That's right. Yeah, I love that. Such a great tagline.
Speaker 4:I love it, and everything's just made in small batches, so it really is fresh.
Speaker 1:It doesn't need to be. That is remarkable that that's all made here in the coachella valley. So anybody buying skin products, you better support your local, your local company and look at that beautiful label it is it's gorgeous. No, it's beautiful, like I don't. I don't know what it is, but it looks. It looks beautiful, that's an organic hand and body lotion, that's lotion Absolutely.
Speaker 3:But seriously, thank you for coming on. I really appreciate your time. I've always loved you and we've always gotten along really well and I love your store and I love that you guys used to or still make this stuff behind where I started my tile business, and so it's really great that you're here and I appreciate your time so much.
Speaker 4:Thank you both, and you're going to have to come and see your tile. I sent you some videos, a little bit of video at the house. Sometime I'd love to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, bruce, and hey, look at this, he's awesome.
Speaker 4:I love it. Your home is beautiful. Well, thank you Absolutely. It's full of Venus tile.
Speaker 1:My, they're super loyal see, I love them. Thank you for your business too well. Thank you guys for coming in. You're truly a legend here in the Coachella Valley.
Speaker 2:Ashley, you're on your way to becoming one as well. Thank you learning from the best over here.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming in, guys if you found some value today in this discussion. You know the routine subscribe, like and follow, and we'll see you guys next time.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you.