Katie: This is Katie Laird with the BusinessMakers Overtime Show, talking to tone great entrepreneur who took a Himalayan berry and turned into a brand new business. That's right. Today we're speaking with the head nut, Lisa Albrecht, of Laundry Tree, a company that is taking the laundry and soap world to an entirely new fruity and organic level. Lisa, welcome to the Overtime Show.

Lisa: Hi, Kay. It's nice to be here tonight.

Katie: Yes, and I'm so happy to have you. So I have to say that I am a long-time user, long time being almost one year, of your Soap Nut products. Whenever I tell people how it is that I do my laundry, they have a hard time believing me. So I can I hear in your own words, what the heck are you Soap Nuts doing? (Laugh)

Lisa: (Laugh)

Katie: What is Laundry Tree?

Lisa: Well, first I have to say that you are not alone in people not believing you, and having a hard time thinking it's absolutely crazy, 'cause we run into that every day. And I'll have to admit that it does sound pretty fantastic, and fantastic, by that I mean out there. Soap Nuts are a berry that grows on a tree in the Himalayan Mountains. And they're dried. They have a chemical in them. It's a natural chemical called saponin which you can use to clean, and you can use them for anything, but most commonly we use them to clean laundry. And it looks just like you would think a dried berry would look, and it's kinda dark and brown and about the size of a quarter. And you put 'em in a little bag and you throw 'em in your washing machine, wash like your normally do, and it cleans, like whatever it is that you normally use.

Katie: Were you just hiking in Indonesia and you came across this berry? Like how does a Texan gal (Laugh) come into the soap nut business?

Lisa: Well, I wish that I could say that I was 'cause that woulda been a really neat story. But – (Laugh)

Katie: Adventuring the world.

Lisa: But I'll tell you the truth instead. My little boy has terrific allergies. And by terrific, I don't mean they're good. I mean they're like beyond what most people deal with. And his allergies cause skin reactions, eczema, sensitive skin, things like that.

Katie: Oh, dear.

Lisa: And so just that situation caused our family to look for solutions outside what most people think is reasonable. When you take a child like my child to like a dermatologist, what they normally tell you is get rid of any detergent with scent or dyes or color. Go for very mild, very natural whatever you can find. And so we did that with no success. And so we started looking in the realm of, "Okay, there's gotta be something for us." And I found soap nuts. And when I did, I noticed that they were really different than most people would try. But because of my little boy, because I was looking for something to make his life better, I was willing to go there. What I wasn't willing to do is admit it to my husband because – (Laugh)

Katie: Uh-oh. (Laugh)

Lisa: Who wants to own up to this, right? Throw in some weird dried fruit in your washing machine.

Katie: (Laugh) It looks like something you're trying to wash out of your clothes, not something you put into wash. Like they're interesting.

Lisa: Exactly. Like I had people look at it and say, "Really, this isn't gonna make my laundry any dirtier?"

Katie: (Laugh)

Lisa: Because we had looked at so many different alternative solutions and all kinds of ways for my son, I just thought, "Well, I'm just gonna fly this one under the radar and I'm gonna do my laundry. And my husband's never gonna notice," And he actually did notice, but it wasn't 'cause he was helping me laundry. It was because he came in and said, "What are you doing different?" And I said, "What are you talking about?" (Laugh)

Katie: Yeah, "Huh?" (Laugh)

Lisa: And he said, "You're doing something different with the laundry. What is it?" And in 15 years, he'd never noticed what I did laundry with, so I said, "Why do you ask?" And he said, "My jeans are really soft. Whatever you're putting on 'em, I like it." And so that told me it wasn't just in my mind that they were getting things clean and they were making a difference. And so I kind of cagily pulled them out of the cabinet and showed him what we were doing and said, "Not only is this what I'm washing your laundry with, I really think that we should start a company that shares these with other people. And so –

Katie: 'Cause it was just that good.

Lisa: And so – (Laugh) he agreed. And that was the beginning of Laundry Tree.

Katie: That's fantastic. So now let's talk about the health benefits and actually some of the environmental benefits of this soap nuts as well.

Lisa: Soap nuts are grown organically. They're not processed in any way other than that when they fall from the tree, they're collected. They're dried in the sun, and then they're de-seeded. And that's all that happens to them. They're not soaked in anything. Nothing fantastic happens to them except for the sunshine. We have them shipped to the United States in bulk, and then we package them here just to make sure that they look like they're supposed to look, that there's no weird stuff in there. And not only that, we like to make sure that the people packaging the soap nuts are treated ethically. And since the Himalayan Mountains are so far away, I don't know that for sure unless I can kinda oversee that here in Houston. So – and that's why we made that choice. They don't have any added chemicals. One of the benefits of them are that they're really good for septic systems because they're very gentle. They're antimicrobial. They're antibacterial. So lots and lots of people find them useful for different reasons.

Katie: As far as health benefits go, you talked about your son having I mean, really, really severe eczema and other skin conditions. Do you think that 's why the majority of your customers come to you? They're looking for some sort of relief in their laundry? Or what does it do?

Lisa: Honestly, I think lots of people are just like us, maybe more willing to try something that they wouldn't normally have tried for, for the benefit of someone else. We have lots of people come and say, "My son or daughter has a diaper rash and we're using cloth diapers. And what can we do?" Or wanting to help a child or someone with an allergy. We like to be really clear when we tell people the story of how soap nuts started. My son still has eczema. He still has allergies. But what we know for sure is that it's not caused by a detergent. And so people that are trying to live very naturally, remove chemicals from their lives, remove that as a complication really like soap nuts because it's just – I mean, it's as natural as you can get for a cleaner.

Katie: It's just it's one less thing to be putting in your household. That's wonderful. And it seems like the chemical-free kind of green organic way – I mean it's such a booming industry right now. Is that really how you're marketing your business, or what has been the most successful as far as reaching out with such a niche product?

Lisa: Well, honestly, that's an experiment every single day. The reason I started Laundry Tree – well, the reason we used soap nuts in the first place was to help my son. But the reason I started it is to share with people that wouldn't normally run across a product like that. I think people have known about soap nuts for I'd say maybe the last ten years or so. But it's been a very small segment of the market. Maybe people that only shop at a Whole Foods Grocery Store or maybe a co-op or a very niche market there. Our intention is to share it with people that wouldn't normally run across it. Our challenge is that those people think it's really strange and bizarre. Maybe they're not open trying something as new as people that live that way on a daily basis. So what we try to do is mostly have people try it. Because once – it does sound very bizarre, and once you try it, it obviously works. And then a lot of times we find that once you try it, you want to share it someone else 'cause it's very interesting and different.

Katie: Exactly. You call your girlfriends and you're relatives. And, actually, I think – I don't know if you still do this, but I noticed the first time that I bought soap nuts from you, you actually put a little sample bag – and I think it even had a note or something that said to share with friends and family. So not only were you counting on me on to love your product and tell everyone I knew, but actually gave me a little extra to give to people that I everywhere, which was so cool.

Lisa: Exactly, exactly.

Katie: What a great marketing tactic. And you know what? I totally did. And they also buy from you now. So it works. I can tell you this story. It works.

Lisa: Well, one of the things I noticed long before I started Laundry Tree, when I was looking for products to help my son was that there are so many wild claims out there. There's so many messages in the marketplace about, "This works," "This is amazing," "This is green." And as a consumer we get really bombarded by that, and I think maybe deaf to hearing fantastic stories. And I know that the product that I'm telling people about is a pretty fantastic story. So what we like to do is actually give people the opportunity to try it for themselves because then it'll work and then you know for sure that it's not just a wild claim.

Katie: Absolutely.

Lisa: That's why we offer the 100-percent money-back guarantee that we do is because we just believe that if you're gonna be willing to try our product – first of all, we believe it's gonna work. And then second of all, if it's not, we don't want to be purporting to be something that it's not.

Katie: Okay, okay. And I mean, what a great way to build kind of trust with your customers. You really stand behind your product that much. That's impressive.

Lisa: Well, I love it that you get that, 'cause that's really the point. That's what we wanna do. We don't want to sell you something. We want to offer you a solution that's gonna make your life better in whatever way, for whatever solution you're looking for.

Katie: Absolutely. So – and I know that you talked earlier about trying to get Laundry Tree products into places where people that normally wouldn't be searching out these alternatives would find. What are some ways that you are connecting with the customers? I know that you definitely are able to purchase your products online. But are you using a lot of social media techniques, or what's going on there?

Lisa: We do use social media. We're on Twitter. And we – not 24 hours a day like we would like to be, or like some people are. But we –

Katie: You got laundry to do.

Lisa: (Laugh)

Katie: Just kidding.

Lisa: We use it to interact with people, to answer questions. We like to see what people are obviously saying about our company, to make sure that we're answering questions and meeting needs wherever they are. Just kind of on a grass roots level, we've started going out into the community more, meeting people more, doing expos. We've gotten our product. We have a little corner booth at the Dallas Market now, and so we're starting to get in – especially Texan small companies, but just little gift shops. And I think part of the reason that's working is our packaging is – we've really tried to make it conducive to gift-giving and sharing because even if maybe you wouldn't be willing to try soap nuts yourself because it sounds so absolutely crazy, it might be something you would give to your mother-in-law 'cause you don't know what else she might like.

Katie: Exactly, or to hippy Aunt Mary that would totally dig it. And I mean –

Lisa: Exactly.

Katie: And I mean, this is fascinating to me that you would even think of that gift-giving aspect because I mean, at the end of the day, this is a cleaning product. And I don't exactly give boxes of Tide to my family. But I do soap nuts. Like it's so cool.

Lisa: Well, exactly. And you know what? One of the ways that we've really found best is to listen to what our customers say, and feedback, whether it's on Twitter or on people's blogs, really pay attention to that. And the reason the whole gift-giving thing came about was because a lady told me at a show one time, "My sister got some of those for her wedding and I was so jealous. I wanted some so bad." And my initial reaction was, "Somebody gave those as a wedding present? How bizarre. [Laughter]

Katie: Hopefully, you didn't verbalize that thought. (Laugh)

Lisa: Oh, no, no, no, no. but I mean, it just – a light bulb went on and I thought, "Wow." If people like these and they wanna share 'em, then I oughta be able to give them the opportunity to do that, and easily, so we packaged it beautifully, and nicely, so really all you have to do is pick it up and pass it along as a gift to a co-worker, a gift to a friend, a gift to – just whoever. But we're trying to make it easy and simple and beautiful so that you can incorporate and integrate into your life.

Katie: That's wonderful. So now if you were back where you were in the very, very beginning of Laundry Tree, what are a couple of tips that you would like to share with kind of budding entrepreneurs to be?

Lisa: Something I wish I had done in the very, very beginning is gotten out the mindset not to ask questions. Like I said, earlier, some of our most amazing feedback, some of our best ideas have come from things that our customers have told us or even other entrepreneurs. So now I'm in the habit of anybody I meet saying, "What do you think about this?" or, "What do you know about this?" or, "Can you help me with this?" Because people – that whole sharing idea really makes I think a business richer. It gives it a different dimension than it would have had otherwise. So I would definitely have started the business asking a lot more questions than I did.

Katie: That's wonderful advice.

Lisa: I would also say I love what I do. I love Laundry Tree. I feel like I waited my whole life to find this vocation. Laundry Tree has taught me to enjoy every single step of the way, the days that are fun, the days that are not fun. It's an amazing journey, and I'm – I've learned just by having this company to enjoy it, everything from making decisions on building the Web site or meeting people. I guess maybe someday everybody will be using soap nuts. It'll be something that lots of people have heard of and it won't be such an usual thing. And I think I'd waited till that day to enjoy Laundry Tree, I would have missed out a whole lot.

Katie: Absolutely.

Lisa: So –

Katie: Powerful. So loving what you do goes a long way. (Laugh)

Lisa: Exactly, exactly.

Katie: It does. (Laugh) Well, wonderful. Now, Lisa, can you tell our listeners if they'd like to hook their laundry lives up with some Laundry Tree soap nuts, where can they find you online?

Lisa: www.laundrytree.com.

Katie: Excellent. And also on Twitter at twitter.com/laundrytree.

Lisa: /laundrytree.

Katie: That's you. (Laugh)

Lisa: Yeah, that's me.

Katie: Aw, Lisa, thank you so much for sharing your story and really some inspirational business tips as well for those business owners to be.

Lisa: Well, thank you so much for talking to me tonight. It was absolutely a joy, Katie.

Katie: Aw, thanks. And now it's time for another business survival tip with Carl Kleimann of Odyssey One Source.

Carl: Hello business owners this is Carl Kleimann with another Business Survival Tip from Odyssey One Source. If your firm offers employee benefits, then you likely conduct Open Enrollment sometime during the fourth quarter. This is the one time each year when employees determine which benefits they will select for themselves and their families during the year ahead. In most cases, this is the only time that employees are allowed to make changes to their benefit elections. So poor decisions at enrollment time are likely to have lasting consequences.

Typically, Open Enrollment consists of four stages: notification, information, the decision process, and enrollment. While many employers handle all four stages internally, your benefits broker may be able to assist you if necessary.

Let's discuss each of these four stages:

1. The Notification stage consists of sending an email, flyer, or voicemail alerting employees that Open Enrollment is approaching.
2. The Information stage is when you provide employees with a packet containing printed Open Enrollment materials, usually by mail, at the start of the Open Enrollment period.
3. During the Decision Process, employees typically rely on three sources of information. Those include their own research, company hosted events, and informal discussions within their personal networks. Good decisions are based on good information so consider hosting meetings where employees can ask questions and get advice about their benefit elections.
4. And finally, Enrollment, which is the final step in the process. This is where employees actually document their benefit elections on official enrollment forms. Remember, these forms are then forwarded to the benefit providers in time for a January 1 effective date.

In most cases, employees will be forced to live with their benefit elections for an entire year so make every effort to help them make wise choices.

I am Carl Kleimann and this has been another Business Survival Tip by Odyssey One Source, ranked as the number one Professional Employer Organization three years running by the Black Book of Outsourcing. For more information on this and other issues affecting employers, please visit www.odysseyonesource.com.

Katie: And that wraps up another segment of the BusinessMakers Overtime Show, be sure to stick around for segment three where Esther and I will talk about some great email newsletter tips. See you there.