January 29, 2020 • 37:27 minutes
#115 – Battling Lyme disease with Paul and Susan Archer from Supa Naturals
Jonathan Havens counsels clients on regulatory, compliance, enforcement and transactional matters related to products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Companies in the cannabis (both hemp and marijuana), consumer health care products, life sciences, food and beverage, cosmetics and tobacco industries, among others, turn to Jonathan for advice on how to get and keep their products on the market. He advises companies throughout the product life cycle, including product development, formulation, manufacture, distribution and promotion. More specifically, Jonathan handles matters involving labeling, good manufacturing practice (GMP), quality system regulation (QSR), product design, and registration and listing, to name a few. When disputes, including litigation, arise relating to these and other issues, Jonathan helps clients navigate them. This includes preparing for FDA inspections, responding to inspectional observations (FDA Form 483) and warning letters, managing product recalls and resolving import and export issues. He also counsels clients through business transactions that involve oversight by myriad federal and state agencies.
Beyond his FDA, FTC, USDA, and DEA work, Jonathan’s experience extends to matters involving the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a wide array of state and municipal agencies, state attorneys general and district attorneys. His deep understanding of the complex regulatory and statutory requirements that govern a wide range of products and services is enhanced by his experience working in government and on Capitol Hill. Before entering private practice, Jonathan served as regulatory counsel with the FDA, where he focused on compliance and enforcement related to promotion, advertising and labeling. Prior to law school, Jonathan served as a legislative aide in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
Show Notes
In this episode, we speak with Paul and Susan Archer. After Susan was diagnosed with Lyme Disease she decided to treat herself with natural products instead of toxic pharmaceuticals. Her experience was so positive, her and her husband started their own CBD company, Supa Naturals.
Highlights
- Being diagnosed with Lyme Disease
- Building a CBD business based on experience with Lyme
- The Challenge of Starting a New CBD Company
- Supa Naturals CBD Products
Links of Interest
SUPA Naturals website
Susan’s Archer’s personal story battling Lyme Disease and the relief she experience with CBD
CDC Website on Lyme arthritis and Lyme Disease
Inflammation and central nervous system Lyme disease
Got Lyme Disease? Consider CBD for Relief
Summary Keywords
supa, cbd, products, tinctures, symptoms, susan, helped, topical products, supernaturals, paul, company, lyme disease, worked, gummies, neurologist, early, super, journey, topicals, massage oil
Speakers
Vadim Fedorovsky – Host, CBD School Podcast
Paul and Susan Archer – Founders, Supa Naturals
Podcast Transcript
Introduction
Paul 00:01
Well, the past, really, to get into CBD started, I would say back in April 2013. And Susan kind of developed some health issues that were concerning, just started having symptoms: neuropathy, fatigue, dizziness, night sweats, and just a bunch of different things which we really didn’t understand what’s going on and that kind of led us on this journey that took us through a lot of different modes, medicine, looking for answers.
Vadim 00:37
All right. And we are back in class. This is Vadim, the CBD professor from cbdschool.com: Your school to learn all about cannabidiol. I think you are really going to enjoy this episode of the CBD School Podcast. I sat down with the husband-and-wife team, Paul and Susan, of SUPA Naturals who are also the sponsors of this episode. You’re going to love hearing about Susan’s story of Lyme disease and how CBD helped her with her symptoms. And when you’re done listening, make sure to visit supanaturals.com, which is spelled SUPAnaturals.com, where you can get 15% off with coupon code CBDSCHOOL15, which is just for listeners of the CBD School Podcast. So again, that website is supanaturals, spelled SUPANATURALS.com and use the coupon code at the CBDSCHOOL15 for 15% off your order. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show.
On today’s episode of the podcast, I have a husband-and-wife team, I’m pretty sure, and they are Paul and Susan of SUPA Naturals, the co-founders. And the first thing I always ask people is where are you calling in from, California?
Paul 02:09
Actually, we’re in Seattle today.
Vadim 02:12
Okay, okay. Well, welcome to the show. Very nice to have you.
Paul & Susan 02:14
Thank you. Very excited to be here.
Susan 02:15
Oh my gosh.
Vadim 02:19
That happens all the time. No worries. Well, very nice to have you, Paul and Susan. So did I get that right, husband and wife?
Paul 02:26
That’s correct.
Vadim 02:26
Okay, good, good. Glad I didn’t mess that up. So yes, you two are the co-founders of SUPA Naturals, which is an interesting name, and the first thing I want to ask you is where does the name come from?
Paul 02:38
Right. It actually should be relatively obvious, but it’s just a combination of our first two names. So the SU from Susan and the PA from Paul, we pushed it together came up with SUPA. We thought it was kind of a nice play on words.
Vadim 02:52
I like that. I do like that. And when did you start the company? It’s a relatively new endeavor for you?
Paul 02:59
It is relatively new. I guess we started working on it mid-2019. We just launched the website right before Thanksgiving last year, so late November 2019. And so we’ve been up and running since then. And we’re looking to do other things after getting up and running, but that’s where we are right now.
Being Diagnosed with Lyme Disease
Vadim 03:17
Nice. Okay, well, what made you want to start a CBD company?
Paul 03:21
Well, the past, really, to get into CBD started, I would say back in April 2013. And Susan kind of developed some health issues that were concerning, just started having symptoms: neuropathy, fatigue, dizziness, night sweats, and just a bunch of different things which we really didn’t understand what’s going on and that kind of led us on this journey that took us through a lot of different modes, medicine, looking for answers. And I think probably Susan can go into a little bit more detail about where we went to on this journey and what we learned and where we came out of the end.
Susan 03:39
I mean, it was pretty crazy. So we just came back. Actually, we’re on the plane back from San Diego with our kids for spring break. And on the plane, I just started getting these shooting pains only on the left side of my body, like through my arm, through my foot, and then my foot and my arm, from my elbow to my hand just started tingling and it wouldn’t go away. And I was getting muscle twitches — like all kinds of neurological problems. And so when we got home, I developed a fever. I was in bed for probably four or five days. Night sweats like Paul had mentioned. It was kind of scary. I was like, I don’t know what was going on with me. But of course, you know, I didn’t feel well enough to go see our GP at the time.
So you know, after probably a week, after a week or so, after we’ve gotten home, had an appointment with our doctor and with somebody we’ve seen for years, he was great. And you know, I was told, “Susan, you’re so healthy, you know, there’s nothing wrong with you. This must be just a fluke. I’m sure it’ll go away but I’ll check you out anyway.” And of course the little neurological exam he gave me and passed fine and he’s like, “Okay, let’s do some blood work.” That all came back normal. And so he referred me to a neurologist who suggested I get some MRIs because my symptoms were really quite odd. And so I had the MRIs done, which for me was kind of terrifying. I’m not a claustrophobic person, being in that tiny little vessel was not —
Vadim 05:18
I understand that.
Susan 05:21
And it’s funny to this day, I can’t listen to Norah Jones, because that’s what they gave me on the headphones while in that thing. Sorry, Norah, I just can’t anymore. Anyway, so the neurologist, you know, got the reports back. And, you know, everything looked fine. Throughout there, Paul reminded me. I’ve forgotten about this, probably because I blocked it out. But she’s like, “You know, it’s quite possible that you’re developing early symptoms of MS. But there’s nothing in your MRIs yet that’s showing any degenerative signs because it’s too early.” And so yeah, I must have completely blocked this out. Because he’s like, “You are a mess.” Leaving the neurologist, of course, because, you know, who wants to hear that they could have MS, you know, that’s horrible, right?
Vadim 06:03
Yes. I didn’t even know. Can people develop that without it being like a genetic early condition? Can you just get it randomly?
Susan 06:10
I think you can. I don’t think it has to be genetics.
Vadim 06:13
I see. Okay. Okay.
Susan 06:15
Crazy. So, you know, I mean, so the road ended with the neurologists. She’s like, “Well, until you get worse or whatever, if you want to come back in a year, we can check it again for fun.” I’m like, “Okay, no, thanks.” So I went back to my GP and he’s like, “Okay, I’m sorry that you’re having these symptoms, but I really don’t think there’s anything else I can do for you.” And he basically concluded that it was quite possible that I needed more attention from my husband and it was all in my head. So you can just imagine, okay, now I’m crazy. I’m the crazy person, you know.
Anyway, so, sadly, we ended our relationship with our GP who we had loved and it really fired me up to think okay, well, if my answer is not here obviously, so what do I need to find? Or who do I need to find? So it started this journey of looking into alternative medicines, naturopathic doctors, and our children saw a naturopath anyway, so I started going and seeing her. She thought maybe I was low in vitamin B12. So we started these B12 injections, and it turned out she gave me so much B12 that I started developing even worse neuropathy.
Vadim 07:28
Because too much of it can actually have the opposite effect. Yeah.
Susan 07:34
Right.
Vadim 07:34
By the way, did you notice when you would get the injection you’d feel really good?
Susan 07:38
Yes. I went totally like, oh my gosh, I felt like a burst of energy.
Vadim 07:42
Yeah, I’ve had that.
Susan 07:43
I couldn’t sleep at night. It did go, but I got to the point where I was just way too much. It was ridiculous. And so after we tried that, I think Paul had found — I mean, how long do you think the process was? Because I was into aroma therapy, essential oils and shiatsu. Gosh.
Paul 08:03
Probably 18 months in? Two years in?
Susan 08:05
Something like that. Anyway, so I had tried so many different things. And Paul, I think, found a naturopath in Seattle who has got great reviews. So I’m like, “Okay, let’s go give her a shot.” And she discovered with blood testing everything, I had Hashimoto’s disease, which is autoimmune thyroid condition. And I started taking thyroid hormone for that, and which did increase my energy levels a bit, but I still was having all this neurological stuff going on. And she thought, “Okay, well, might be kind of early,” at the time, I was in my early 30s. She’s saying, “Well, maybe you’re going to premenopause.” I’m like, “Oh, great. Maybe it’s a hormone issue,” you know. And so she did hormone replacement therapy, but actually, it did help a little bit, but then I started getting all these other horrible symptoms that were associated with estrogen. Okay, I’m like, well, this isn’t gonna work, either. It’s just a crutch. I don’t want to do that. Like, somebody help me find the root of this problem.
Vadim 09:01
I think this thing that you went through, so many other people are going through. I’ve gone through the same thing where you’re looking, you’re going from doctor to doctor and you’re just not getting answers, or it’s getting even worse because you’re getting too many answers.
Susan 09:14
Yes. And yeah, like, maybe it’s everything. But then you really start doubting yourself, like, gosh, why nobody can figure out what this is. Maybe it is me. You start, like, it’s crazy. So I had been googling a lot, which Paul kept telling me, “Get off Google,” and I would just freak myself out with all the stuff that comes up, you know. But something that was interesting to me was the symptoms that also assumed to be with those who had Lyme disease. And so I went to this naturopath and I said, “Hey, maybe… I never had a tick bite, I never — but early on, I did have the fever and night sweats and all that stuff going on. So I’m like, okay, well, maybe, but I never had the classic tick bite, bull’s eye, you know.
Vadim 09:56
A lot of people don’t even get it. That’s the thing.
Susan 09:58
And wasn’t it crazy? Yeah, it’s the weirdest thing. And so she’s like, “Okay, well, I don’t think you have this. But if it’s just another box to check, then let’s try.” So we had the Lyme panel done. And at first I called him to get my results, which is like, “No, you’re negative. There’s nothing here.” I’m like,”Really?” I’m like, “Okay,” and she’s like, “Wait, wait, wait,” and she looks back again, which made me wonder or question her abilities a little bit. But she’s like, “Wait, no, actually, you are positive for Lyme. There’s actually a couple tiles here that you’re checking positive for.” I’m like, well, eureka, you know. it was scary, but at the same time, okay, somebody found it out. I think it was two and a half years after the first symptom that I finally had some kind of diagnosis, you know. So it was liberating and then scary, because now, what? How do I get rid of this, right?
So from that point, Paul and I started looking into finding more Lyme disease specialist. And we went through gosh, oh, Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, I tried changing my diet, eliminating foods, IV therapies, like lots and lots of IV therapies. I would probably be in the IV room three to four times a week. And, of course, none of this is covered by insurance. So it was so expensive to go through all these different things. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers, a machine called OndaMed, that they hook you up to try and balance out your frequency levels.Oh my gosh, like, I went through so many different things.
And gradually, you know, I mean, gosh, it’s been a few years now. So gradually, of course, all these things, the detoxes, everything started helping, trying to reduce my stress, bring back meditation to my life, you know, just trying to find ways to really center myself and not let life get too crazy. It was hard, though, because we had two young kids, you know, at the time, and it was hard for me because I was trying to heal myself, take care of my family, but I can’t really take care of my family, you know, try to be a great mother and wife to Paul and the kids. And yeah, it was just kind of crazy. But as I improved and found different alternative ways of healing because it really just led me into this natural kind of place.
And with CBD hitting the market early last year, we just started hearing more and more and more about it. And I had never tried marijuana in my life. Like this was super new to me. And I was a little hesitant, but I’m like, okay, well, you know, we see all the articles and people talking about it. Oh my gosh, this stuff’s amazing. I’m like, I can’t not try this, you know. And I found that, you know, we tried a few different brands and some are more effective than others, but it really helped my neurological symptoms. Wait, something’s clicking here. I don’t know what it is about this stuff, but I really started seeing a much better improvement to the point where I feel almost normal most of the time now. So it’s really been almost a miracle plus all the other amazing things it’s done for me and Paul, but really, truly, CBD’s been kind of a home run.
Vadim 13:00
About the Lyme disease, I’ve heard a lot of people saying that it really helps them with Lyme symptoms. So what in particular did it help you with?
Susan 13:11
For me, a lot of it was the neuropathy, and for whatever reason, it was mostly on the left side of my body. And so the numbness, the tingling, numbness, muscle twitches, shooting pains, almost like just a weakness. Like I remember, even trying to pick up a water glass, I would just almost feel like I had to drop it. So it was really helpful. I don’t know what it was about it. But it really helped all my neurological symptoms a lot. And it also helped my sleep, just getting more rest and not being so stressed because gosh, after how many years, this process was to figure out what I had and try and treat it and get better. I mean, it’ll be seven years this April, I think, from the onset of the symptoms. And so it took a huge amount of emotional energy and everything and it was just depleting. And so having the CBD just helped my endocrine system. I think it was a really big deal in helping me get back to health and wellness too.
Vadim 14:09
And have you been able to get rid of the Lyme disease completely?
Susan 14:14
You know, it’s funny, as I never ended up rechecking.
Vadim 14:17
Wow.
Susan 14:18
It’s probably good to hear. But honestly, I feel so good. I really do feel good. I mean, I’ll have days sometimes where I’m more tired and exhausted or whatnot from different circumstances, but on a daily basis, for the majority of it, I feel pretty darn good and I’m so grateful. It’s truly been quite the journey, as you can imagine for both of us, I mean.
Vadim 14:41
And did you do the regular antibiotic that normally is taken for it?
Susan 14:45
I actually did not. I decided not because I didn’t want to wreck my flora. Mine was already messed up anyway, but I don’t want to do that. And from what I’ve read, people would be on this stuff for months and IV antibiotics and you’re there every day or I have to get it administered at home. And I’m like, this is not what I want. I really took a huge step away from Western medicine approach after that bomb my doctor threw at me, saying that it was in my head. And so I was like, no, no, we’re gonna try something else.
Paul 15:21
We learned too that that treatment isn’t generally very effective, but when it is the most effective is when it’s administered very, very early on. And by the time, we would even have been in a position to think about doing that kind of treatment. And I think considering Lyme disease, we were a couple of years into the process. So the chances of it being of any use at that point will pretty much zero. So it was pretty easy for us to say, “That’s not the way we want to go.” Not to mention the way Susan said. It would have been pretty impractical for her to be able to do that treatment just from a time perspective, just with two young kids in the time, it would have been very hard for her to go and be in a hospital for multiple hours every day for potentially a week or two, whatever it would be.
Susan 16:02
I don’t know. So people are on this stuff for months. And then if it didn’t work, oh, we’re gonna switch to this antibiotic instead. And the detriment to their health from this, I’m like, I already feel awful as it is. Let’s not make it worse.
Vadim 16:15
Of course. I had it before. And I caught it very quickly, early.
Susan 16:22
Oh my gosh, wow.
Vadim 16:23
And I quickly just caught it and took the stuff but it was like right away and it caught it. I had a swollen knee. So it wasn’t prolonged, but in your case — and to this day, are you pretty much symptom-free from it? Or does it sometimes flare up?
Susan 16:41
If I do too much or if I push myself too hard, I will definitely have days where some of the neuropathy or something will come back. But it’s so much better. I’d take that over what I had. Because it never went away. I would have it consistently, like I was just half numb almost all the time, which gets the point like, oh my gosh, you get used to it, sad to say. So when the symptoms started subsiding, I was kind of in disbelief for a while, but yes, to answer your question, when I do too much, it definitely will flare up every now and then. I have to be very mindful about checking with myself and taking care to not overdo it at least.
CBD Products Based on Lyme Disease Experience
Vadim 17:20
Did you end up basing the SUPA Naturals products off of some of the ones that helped you as far as a full-spectrum product or a certain amount of CBD?
Susan 17:29
Yeah, that’s exactly what we did.
Vadim 17:32
And all the products are full-spectrum from SUPA?
Paul 17:35
The topical products are from isolate. Because of the way the products are compounded, the isolate works better to produce an even consistency of CBD in the cream and the gel products. But the tinctures are all full-spectrum. We found when we were kind of testing our products initially and trying to see what worked well for us that the full-spectrum seemed to be the most effective for us. That’s what we wanted to see in our products.
Vadim 18:00
Yes, yes. I think most people have found that to be the case as well. And I like how you offer three different topicals. There’s a cooling product and massage and like a moisturizer?
Paul 18:13
It’s body butter, yeah. They’re all really interesting products. The Body Butter, we’ve had a lot of success with ourselves and other people with just supplying great for wound healing. I just recently had a little mole removed from my dermatologist. I used the body butter on there and it just healed up really quickly and really well, looks great. Not much of a scar so very happy with that. It’s worked for some other people who have eczema and acne. They’ve been using it on those type conditions and seem to be having good success there. So it’s been a really interesting product and we’ve seen people use it for a lot of different things.
The cool relief gel is probably the easiest, most approachable product we have because it works almost immediately and helps to kind of calm down any muscle ache or pain that’s going on. But what we’ve been surprised is a lot of people seem to be having relief from more chronic type of pains from using the product, either just from one application or just application over a few days that they say that the pain they’ve been having over a period, maybe sometimes weeks and months, has just gone away, which were pretty extraordinary.
Susan 19:25
Excited. Oh my gosh, so cool.
Paul 18:13
The massage oil, we just love them. So we just wish we could find more people to come and give us massages. You know, we all love it. Everyone loves a great massage. And this massage oil is a really good massage oil in and of itself but then you can have the effect of you have the massage, it feels great for the massage and then maybe 30-40 minutes after the end of the massage, the CBD effect kind of kicks in and it’s all over your body and you just have this great feeling of wellness and just calm and hopefully time to just kind of relax into that after a massage, but just leaves you feeling really, really in a great place. So it’s a fantastic product.
Vadim 20:05
I think it’s a great combination as opposed to just rubbing it on and letting it kind of sit there. With a masseuse, you have someone that’s rubbing it in. Having been working in this space for many years now, I’ve always thought that that application was one of the most intelligent.
Paul 20:21
Yeah, it is for sure.
Susan 20:23
We like it.
Vadim 20:24
And you also have gummies and soft gels and tinctures, correct?
Paul 20:30
We do.
Vadim 20:30
What have you found so far — from customer feedback or just people that are clients, what products do they like the most or find the most useful?
Paul 20:39
I think the cooling gel by far. As I said before, it’s very, very approachable. Its very immediate effect. It’s easy. We have a number of small sized little samples we give out to people, so they can try it out. And it’s easy for them to try it. The next day or so, yeah, that really worked. The tincture is a little bit different. It works different for different people. And of course, it depends what they’re using it for. Someone’s using the tincture for anxiety, for instance, it typically, in our experience, takes a little bit of dedication to using it, getting into a routine. Now maybe a dropper every morning and maybe after the first week or two, really being able to tell the difference. Sleeping with the tinctures seems to be a bit more immediate. Usually people have, you know, the first night they take a dropper before bed, it usually seems to help their sleep, but the effect also does seem to be cumulative. So if you take it every night per week, you’re really gonna see quite a drastic difference in the quality of sleep — at least that’s what we’ve seen. So those are the ones that we get the most feedback on.
Sourcing Hemp in Kentucky
Vadim 21:42
Cool. And I know there’s a lot of hemp growing in Washington State, are you sourcing it from your state or from a different part of the country?
Paul 21:51
That’s a great question. We have some friends who are involved in that and the business and the Washington State is running a pilot program for hemp growing. This was the first season so the crops were just harvested. I think here most of the crops were taken late May, early June. But it’s relatively small right now. And it’s kind of hard to get the product consistently because a lot of the farmers that were producing hemp this year, that was the first time they’d ever done it. So the quality was a bit of an unknown and how much our product was going to be on the market was unclear. So as much as we would love to have a full Washington State stock of the company, it wasn’t practical to do it this year. So the product we’re using right now is grown in Kentucky. It’s long established farms with a good track record of consistency and quality.
Vadim 22:52
Nice, okay. I mean, Kentucky has some very high-quality stuff. And I think it’s a good choice you made there, that they’ve been doing this probably one of the longest states in the country.
Paul 23:03
Long track record for sure, you know.
Vadim 23:05
Then in Colorado and a couple others. So are you manufacturing there as well? Or how do you handle that part of your company?
Paul 23:14
The manufacturing is actually handled in Connecticut. So the hemp is grown in Kentucky, manufacturing is done in Connecticut.
Vadim 23:20
Okay, cool. Interesting. So they manufacture it there and then ship it to you?
Paul 23:25
That’s correct.
Vadim 23:26
Okay. Hey, everyone, I hope you are enjoying this episode of the CBD School Podcast. I want to remind you that our sponsor is SUPA Naturals and you can visit them at supanaturals.com. It’s spelled SUPANATURALS.com, and use the coupon code CBDSCHOOL15 to grab 15% off your order of any of their fine full-spectrum tinctures, capsules are gummies. They also have three different kinds of topicals. They have a cooling gel, a massage oil and a body butter. So pretty much anything your heart could desire from the CBD world. Make sure you visit supanaturals.com and use the coupon code CBDSCHOOL15 for 15% off.
The Challenge of Starting a New CBD Company
What kinds of challenges have you found with — I mean, starting a new company is always a lot, you know, a major thing? So what kinds of challenges have you found with starting SUPA Naturals?
Paul 24:28
I think they’re probably similar challenges that anyone would go through starting any type of company, and certainly anyone who’s starting a CBD company. But I mean, the initial challenges for us were coming up with a good name for the company, coming up with a brand identity and a logo and color schemes and designing the labels, designing the boxes. It was all an interesting discovery. And we found along the way that it’s a pretty interesting time to be an entrepreneur and to build your own company because resources exist literally all over the world and are accessible to help you put companies together like this.
For instance, we were doing to develop our logo, we worked with a company that we found online that basically allowed us to run a competition to have created around the world, and helped design a logo for us. So we ran this competition, I think it was over a five day period. And so people would come, they’d submit a logo design, and we’d say yes or no, what we liked about it didn’t like about it. And iteratively over a five-day process, we and the logo kind of evolved to a point where we said, yeah, that’s what we really want. And it’s just a really fun creative process to be involved in. We got a much wider depth of input than we would have had if we went and just hired a graphic artist and said, “Hey, build us a logo.” This was a lot of different people literally all over the world coming in with your ideas of what this type of company could and should use as a logo and then we injected our ideas on top of that. So it was fun.
And we did that similar type of process with other parts of the company as we were putting it together. Rather than, hey, let’s go hire a bunch of people and start a company, we just kind of leveraged what was available on the internet. And I remember sitting in the same place we’re sitting now just designing our business cards, for instance, with a great guy in Holland and he just shared the screen with us. And we just interactively over a 20-30-minute period designed our business cards. It’s like, wow, that was really great.
Susan 26:32
It’s pretty awesome.
Paul 26:32
Very efficient, and just really kind of cool to reach out literally around the world and leverage the creative talent that’s out there. That was really fun. I mean, it’s challenging, of course, to put all this together. But I do think it’s a pretty cool time to be building your own company. So for us, putting together the website, launching that is definitely a lot of work and challenge, and to kind of how do we want it to look, what ideas we want to sell, what are we identifying our brand as? Why are we out here? What’s our story? Trying to incorporate Susan’s journey into that and to weave that into the website of why are we here and what are we trying to do? And, you know, the bottom line for us is we’re trying to share our positive experiences from CBD and how it’s benefited our lives and how do we share that with other people and bring good quality products so that everyone else can have similar experiences?
Vadim 27:28
Yes. And I think you really do have something of a unique story, Susan, and I’m going to share that in the show notes with people who want to reach into that more. Because I think a lot of people aren’t going to be able to relate to it, you know. They’ve been on their own path to trying to figure out their own issue that they’re not getting answers to.
Susan 27:46
Exactly. And I have so much empathy for that especially going through that, and Paul also as my spouse, I mean, he was along the journey with me and I don’t know how I would have done it without him. So I mean, gosh, to bring high-quality products to other people that will hopefully help them on their own specific health journeys towards wellness, I mean, honestly, it just makes our hearts happy.
Vadim 28:08
Have both of you done work in different fields similar to CBD or supplements or anything before this?
Susan 28:15
No.
Susan 28:16
No, nothing similar. My background is in computer programming. So I have some experience with websites and things like that but nothing in health and supplement business. No.
Vadim 28:25
Oh, okay. Okay. And you were talking about your logo. By chance, did you use 99designs?
Paul 28:30
No, it was very similar. It’s a company called Squadhelp.
Vadim 28:25
Oh, okay, I remember them. Okay. What’s it called?
Paul 28:37
Squadhelp.
Vadim 28:38
Squadhelp. That’s cool. So it sounds like a very similar platform to it.
Paul & Susan 28:41
I think it is super similar. You run a contest and the creatives all kind of sign up for it and iterate through. It’s a lot of fun.
Supa Naturals CBD Products
Vadim 28:48
And Paul, we haven’t heard as much from you as far as where are you finding the benefit of CBD and anything particularly you use it for?
Paul 28:56
My two things that I use the most are the things that seem to be most popular for everybody. Gone into the routine of taking the tincture at night time right before bed. I feel like it really gives me a deeper quality sleep wake up feeling more rested. I really love the effect. And the muscle relief cream. It seemed like I’ve always been banging myself up. So that stuff, I use on a routine basis to try and keep myself moving. So those are my two favorites.
Vadim 29:27
Yeah, that’s great. And for someone totally new to the brand that will be visiting your shop for the first time after hearing the podcast, where would you recommend the start as a first product?
Paul 29:38
Well, I’d say if they have a specific ailment, then of course they should use that as direction. So if someone was looking for some help with anxiety or sleep, certainly the tincture is a good choice. The tincture is good. If you’re wanting to incorporate CBD in your daily life and you’re willing to have a routine with it, I think a tincture is a great idea. A dropper in the evening for sleep, maybe another one in the morning for just general anxiety is a really good way to start off with a product. Gummies are very approachable. People seem to really gravitate towards those.
Susan 30:13
Yummy!
Paul 30:13
They’re really easy, taste good. For me, I like them and have an early afternoon kind of a ‘let’s get through the rest of the day’ type of effect. And so those are pretty easy and they’re relatively affordable. I’d say, get one of those. The cooling relief gel is a must just because we’re all out there giving ourselves a little minor injuries every day. So it’s a must to keep going.
Susan 30:37
Speak for yourself.
Paul 30:37
Yeah. And I definitely recommend the tincture and cooling gel for most people starter and you can throw the gummies in there.
Susan 30:47
Especially for people who are kind of timid about taking something internally, one of the topicals would be a great place to start.
Vadim 30:52
I think a lot of people are either all in and they wanted to try the capsules or tinctures. But other people are kind of more hesitant, so the topicals are a good solution to that.
Paul 31:05
For sure.
Future CBD Product Development at Supa
Vadim 31:06
Any future plans to do other products or like a pet product, something like that?
Paul 31:10
Good question. We’re just kind of getting our head above water in terms of, you know, getting the initial product release done. We are thinking about pet products. We have a 105-pound Bernese Mountain Dog called Bailey.
Vadim 31:06
Oh, nice.
Susan 31:26
He’s awesome.
Paul 31:27
And so we’re gonna do a little co-branding kind of thing and do a label called Bailey’s Best, that will be pet strength tinctures with yummy bacon flavor and pet treats. And so we’re hoping to launch that sometime in the first quarter here. We’re also looking to maybe expand on our offerings in the spa space. When we talked about massage oil we really love and the body butter, we’d like to do maybe some different formulations for the massage oil, just have a wider variety of them. And we’re also looking at maybe some skincare treatments, some moisturizing creams and that type of thing.
Susan 32:08
Some girly stuff.
Paul 31:08
Yeah.
Vadim 32:10
That’s nice.
Paul 32:11
Full well rounded spa products. We’re definitely interested in trying to get the local retailing and talking to some of the spas here. It seems like already –I don’t know how it is nationally, but we see locally in the market, probably half of the spas already offering CBD enhanced massages and even some facials and things like that. So the CBD is definitely penetrating into these outlets quite quickly. It’s interesting.
Vadim 32:38
Hasn’t it been interesting to watch just how much it is gone from pretty much tinctures and capsules to everything?
Paul 32:47
It has.
Susan 32:47
Everywhere.
Paul 32:48
Very quickly. And it does seem like — especially the topical products, they’re much easier to sell because people are much more approachable. So the spa outlet is definitely one that I think it’s pretty easy for people to say, “Yes, we’ll take CBD products. And yes, our customers will want them and ask for them.” So that’s pretty exciting.
Vadim 33:11
I think the topical products too are a bit easier with future regulation since no one knows what’s going to happen. You know, ingestibles are definitely always more scrutinized than topical products. I mean, even Amazon, although there’s kind of a gray area as far as what they allow, they definitely seem to allow more topical products on their marketplace.
Paul 33:33
Right. Agreed.
Future FDA CBD Regulations
Vadim 33:34
And I don’t think that’s going to change. I don’t see the FDA doing anything about that. What are your thoughts on future regulation? Do you think it’s a good thing?
Paul 33:43
I think a few different things there. I mean, one is, I think that statutes on the books right now for the FDA do make it illegal for CBD to be used in food related products although you do see it out there all the time. I suspect the FDA this year will probably crack down more on that side of things. And hopefully that leaves them a little bit more lenient on the non-food related side. I think we would both welcome some more FDA regulation to the CBD marketplace, just to kind of level the playing field a little bit. We feel like if we and a number of other companies out there do a good job of bringing high-quality products to the marketplace, we’re independently lab tested, we don’t have any heavy metals or solvents in the products, these are all good things for the consumer. I think if the FDA can come in and level the playing field to make sure that all companies are supplying this level of quality, it would be good for the marketplace. But it would also be good for us because now we’re not competing against companies who are putting low priced, inferior products onto the marketplace and having to justify why is our price point here when these other companies, you know, $10 or $20 less. Well, you get what you pay for. And so if the FDA could kind of level that out, I think that would be a win-win for ourselves and for the customer.
Vadim 35:06
I noticed you use ProVerde. It’s a very good laboratory and a high reputation in the space. I think the brands like yourself that are taking the right steps are going to benefit from the regulation.
Paul 35:19
Agreed.
Vadim 35:20
And other players who are not, you know, that’s the choice that they’re making in the time being. But I think that regulation is only going to help people that are doing the right thing.
Paul 35:30
Agreed. And we just welcome that.
Wrap-up and Contact Information
Vadim 35:32
That’s great. Well, it was a pleasure to have you on. How can people find us after the show if they want to connect, whether they’re clients or entrepreneurs that want to possibly do business with you? What’s the best way to get in touch?
Paul 35:46
Sure. We’re very available across the website out there. It’s https://supanaturals.com/. It’s SUPAnaturals.com. There’s a form to reach us on the website that goes to the email address: support@supanaturals.com. Either Susan or I or some other members of the team are available to answer that anytime. So we welcome anyone who wants to reach out and be happy to talk to you.
Paul 36:15
Yes.
Vadim 36:16
Excellent.
All right, everybody, that concludes our episode for today. I hope you enjoyed hearing from Paul and Susan as much as I did. That was quite a story she had to share about her Lyme disease and how CBD helped her with that. So make sure to visit supanaturals.com and use that coupon code at the CBDSCHOOL15 to grab 15% off any of their tinctures, topicals or CBD capsules and gummies. Again, that coupon code is CBDSCHOOL15 and that website is supanaturals.com, spelled SUPANATURALS.com. That’s it for today. And until next time, this is Vadim, the CBD professor from cbdschool.com, signing out. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.