Self-reflection and Personal Growth are Essential for Overcoming Challenges | Kayla Childress | Field Sales Unscripted | E164

Speaker A: Moving from entrepreneurship into a corporate space is oftentimes challenging for people because that entrepreneurial spirit that you have isn't easily recognizable by your new organization. In this episode with Kayla Childress, we chat about how she went from being a 10 year entrepreneur to stepping into the director of sales at Nature Ridge. In this episode, we chat about believing in yourself and understanding the reason why you were put on this earth, the things that you were created to do. So get out your notepad and be ready to take lots of notes. So, Kayla, tell us, uh, how did you start your career and how did you get to where you are today?

Speaker B: Goodness, such a great question. I have been in the beauty industry since I could tie my shoes, so nearly 40 years. So I always say the industry picked me to be in it. I feel like beauty is in my DNA. You know, I started my career on the operations side managing salons and spas, um, and fell in love with it from there. But I really kind of transitioned out of that to the brand side in the late 90s, um, and really just kind of climbed the ranks from the late 90s with different brands working in, you know, multiple roles, from regional positions to vp, et cetera. And then from, you know, there. I think the natural progression for anybody that's been in a career for a really long time is to go out on their own. So I decided to do that and created my company, Mindful Luxury. Had that company for about nine, nine, ten years. And, you know, Covid hit. And for like most of us with, you know, Covid, a lot of us small business owners just really struggled. And, um, you know, I got to this place of, um, do I want to continue struggling or do I want to venture, you know, into looking for another opportunity? And, you know, I, I pulled my big girl panties up and I said, it's time. So I started looking for an opportun late 2023 into 2024, and nature rich Labs was, uh, looking for a director of sales and they're in contract manufacturing and it was just kind of a match made in beauty heaven. And I've been here ever since, a little, little over a year now.

Speaker A: So you did something that a lot of people think, um, is taboo or may not do by. You took a step, you went out on your own, and then you said, okay, now I'm gonna step back into the corporate realm.

Speaker B: Step.

Speaker A: So for all of the people who have that inkling of I want to step out, but I'm not sure if I want to, what are some of the lessons that you feel like you learned going out on your own and then stepping back into corporate.

Speaker B: Absolutely. For those 10 years, you know, I can say you wear so many hats. You're everything. You are the face of the brand. You are accounting, you're the president, you are invoice chasing. You are a lawyer. You're everything. And, you know, I learned quickly. Although I, I loved the time I had, I did learn early on that, you know, there were certain things that I just did not want to do. Um, and I think the advice I would give anyone is, you know, farm out the things that you don't like or you're not good at, but also give yourself grace. And if you find year one or nine into owning your business and it just feels like it's a struggle every day and you're not passionate about doing it, it's time to look for something else. And I think what I manifested during that time was, okay, the perfect fit has to be there. Someone, someone has to take, take a chance on, on me being, you know, out of the corporate world for 10 years, but respecting the fact that I was an entrepreneur. M. So, you know, I was like, this is going to be great or it's not going to be great. And thankfully I found the right fit for me, um, and work for really kind people that respect my entrepreneurship and aren't micromanagers and just a wonderful group of people to work with. So it's been good for me.

Speaker A: That's awesome. So you said you've been in the beauty industry since you could tie your shoes. What changes have you seen over the past decade?

Speaker B: You know, it has changed at, uh, lightning speed in the last decade. You know, you could go to Sephora 10 years ago and probably see a handful, maybe a couple of dozen of standout brands. And 10 years, you know, uh, you know, fast forward 10 years and you can barely keep up. There's about 12,000 new brands launching every year. And so, you know, I go into Ulta and Sephora just about weekly because there's something new. So I feel like it has just grown exponentially. Um, you know, and I love seeing it. Indie brands starting, you know, with a dream. And you're now, now seeing them at Sephora or Ulta. So I also think that the consumer has become highly intelligent. You know, we've got so many things at our fingertips, not only Google now, but we have AI. And I think consumers have really become hyper, um, focused and intelligent on what they're buying.

Speaker A: So, yeah, and so as a contract manufacturer has this growth is this growth a, uh, uh, positive for you or is it a drawback? What side of the growth do you guys sit on?

Speaker B: You know, I think it's both, really. You know, you can't keep up in contract manufacturing. You know that there's this. Everything is at lightning speed, so we're in hypergrowth mode right now. And so it's great because you're getting the business, but then, uh, internally you're trying to figure it out. And so I think it's really both good and bad. But I love that I'm working for a company that everything is figureoutable too.

Speaker A: Yeah, life's an agile. It definitely helps when, uh, your company is agile enough to shift and pivot on a dime. But you still know that you have the strong manufacturing and expertise behind you to execute in excellence.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A: So when you think about your career journey through entrepreneurship, being in corporate and coming back, what, uh, are. What is the hardest challenge that you feel like you've ever had to overcome?

Speaker B: Oh, goodness. I think it's really very personal for me. I think it was the ego. So there is this perception of being an entrepreneur and owning your own business, of rainbows and sprinkles, and you've made it. You are something that a lot of people want to be out there. M. And so it was letting go of the ego. The only person that cared about the transition that I made was me. Ah. Uh, nobody else cared. Yeah, no. You know, when I would tell friends or colleagues, you know, I'm hanging up my entrepreneurial hat and I'm gonna go, you know, get a job, they were like, good for you. Whatever makes you happy. So glad to hear it. Yeah. So it was the ego letting go.

Speaker A: So what are some things that you did to work through that? I feel that. So I have a client, and one of the things that, um, she told me was that her, um, sales leader has a really big ego. And that ego is preventing the sales leader from executing because they're not open to listening to other ideas or other things. So what are some of the things that you did to overcome that ego?

Speaker B: I marinated a, uh, lot in myself, and it was a lot of internal chatter, you know, uh, of what, what does this really mean and what is keeping you from moving on and becoming a better version of you? So I think a lot of it was just having conversations with myself, you know, talking to industry friends and kind of getting their, um, opinions and really them being cheerleaders for me, um, and just, you know, having lots of conversations with God in The universe. Yeah, it was. It was really, you know, yes. My friends, my family, all the external parts of that were great. But at the end of the day, it was me having to really talk myself into it.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So I think self work is something that a lot of people minimize. Right. Like, we strive for success, we do more, we learn more, we'll even go to therapy or lean on whatever, you know, God or whoever the power within our life is. But it's. What are you telling yourself? How are you getting out of this place that you feel stuck in? And I often tell myself, I'm not stuck unless I stop. Right? The only way that I get stuck, the only way I'm not continuing to move, to grow, to do, is if I stop. So just the one step, the small step ahead, helps me move forward.

Speaker B: You know, I feel like sometimes in those. In. In the times of difficulty, we cannot see past it. So I also kept telling myself, letting go of my business may surprise me. M. There might be something so much better on the other side. And I'm continuing to water the grass, so to speak, and grow and learn. And here I sit. I've never worked in contract manufacturing, although I've been in the beauty industry for 40 years. I've never done this. And I feel like I've had this aha. Moment of see. See what you did? You let go of something that was really causing you a lot of pain to gain something that now brings you passion and joy. Uh, so, you know, I'm always telling people, look, I know it feels hard, whatever you're going through, or I'm telling my daughter, I know this breakup feels bad, but, uh, God in the universe are putting you here to learn a lesson. One, two. There's probably something better on the other side. You just can't see it.

Speaker A: Yes, there's always something better on the other side. And I think that, um, another. I'm full of people, call them wesleyan wisdoms, but these little antidotes. And another one that I say often is, um, a valley is in between two mountains. So you were on a mountaintop before and you'll be on one again, right? Like. And so our job is to work through our valley seasons, to go through the hard, do the work. Because if you don't do the work in the valley, that mountain gets further and further and further away. But, like, stay rooted in that place. And then when you get to the mountaintop, you will appreciate it more. So you talked about your daughter. Bad relationship. The next one is going to be better if you do the work and learn and step into it. A bad position that you're in, a hard customer that you have. Whatever the thing is, if you just stay there, do the work, you will come out better on the other side.

Speaker B: Agree 1000%. Love the Wesley wisdom.

Speaker A: So now tell us a little bit about how your team is structured.

Speaker B: So I'm the director of sales. I have an onboarding manager that supports me with all new clients. She's absolutely amazing. Her name is Darzee. She's most days my right and left hand. So we work together on the onboarding phase of a client. In contract manufacturing, especially in our world, it's very unique. There are so many steps that we go through to get to the PO M And so once we get to a certain place with a client, that's where we bring in a project manager. So we have about 5, 6 project managers m that handle all of the technical minutiae, um, of the project. And so it takes quite a bit to get, ah, a bottle of goop on the shelf. It would amaze you. So a lot of steps that we go through to get there.

Speaker A: And so a lot of times what I see in, uh, the field sales world and manufacturing is you have to be, I like to call that a full cycle sale, full cycle sales. In terms of your hunting, you have to bring that technical expertise. You have to make sure that the client gets whatever promised they would deliver. Um, and so in your role, it seems like that is kind of what you are. You're like the glue, the nucleus that pulls all the pieces together.

Speaker B: Absolutely. You know, even though our client goes to a project manager, you know, I still stay involved. You know, that relationship for me is of, uh, utmost importance. My project managers are rock stars. However, you know, having a sales mindset and being on a call, even if it's an ops call, you're still pulling out these little nuggets of sales, you know, like, oh, you know, did you, did you notice that po? They said that it was for Amazon and Target, but we got it and there's no Amazon. We need to go and relook at that PO So I love to stay involved, um, really to make sure that the sales aspect of the client is happening.

Speaker A: M. That's good. That's good. I like to say, you know, when somebody signs a contract or when you get the first po, that's really when the relationship begins. Right. And oftentimes in sales, it's like, oh, I'm done. I'm handing it off to the internal team. I'm handling it off to whoever, and I'm gonna go find the next thing. But really staying involved and holding that custom hand, especially when you have a. You're in a business where the. The lifetime customer value is more than just the first order. Right. It's what they get throughout the life cycle of this, uh, relationship with you.

Speaker B: Yep. I feel like partnership and relationship go hand in hand. And being in the industry for as long as I've been in it, uh, you know, a lot of these relationships that I've brought to the table for Nature Rich Labs have been relationships I've had for 20 and 30. So. And there's a reason, you know, that we have, you know, in sales. Well, some. Some salespeople aren't great, but there's those of us that have maintained those relationships, and those are really, you know, it's why I'm here today. It's. It's everything for me. It's. It's hard to even put words on it because it means so much to me, you know, and there's not this one size fits all. I get asked quite often, like, what does it take to be a great salesperson? How do you. How do you manage your relationships? I'm like, goodness, I could write a book.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, it's. There's many different ways of staying connected with people and making sure you're building those relationships.

Speaker A: So I know it's hard to put it in a nice little bow, in a little packet, but give us some, uh, of your cheat codes. What are some of the things that you've done to maintain relationships through the decades?

Speaker B: So I think there's, you know, 10 years ago versus now. I think now it has become really an exciting part of, you know, my journey. All the ways that you can stay connected. You know, before it was a telephone call, maybe an email, and that always felt a little robotic. Um, nowadays we have text, you know, we have LinkedIn, we have trade shows. We have all of these things that are just our disposal. And it's really maintaining, you know, that list of relationships. Maybe it's an Excel spreadsheet or whatever you want to, you know, wherever you want to put it, and that you're doing the work, you know, every single day, I make time for reaching out and continuing to build that relationship. Right now we have the largest trade show of the year coming up in a week and a half, and I'm reaching out to people that I probably haven't seen in a couple of years to see if they're going to be There. And so, you know, again, it's not a one size fits all, it's whatever works for you. Um, but making, carving out time every single day.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: I think is probably the biggest piece of advice. M I can give someone.

Speaker A: Time? Yes. Time is a time time. Yes. And it's like you have to make time to build relationships. Right. Like if you want to have a good marriage, you need to invest time. If you want your kids to be emotionally healthy and secure, you got to make time to hang out with them. And I think it's the same thing in sales. There is the. Especially in a very technical sale. A lot of times people lean on the technical aspect of what we do, the how we do it, and they don't think about that human element. And the human element is so important because as I like to say, I'm a human and you're a human. And so I want to buy from another human. I don't want to buy from a robot, I don't want to buy from a screen. So I need to see you. I need to understand what values you have, what things are important to you.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think putting. I always like to say I want to um, be interested versus interesting. M so I try to start every. Whether it's a zoom call or a phone call. Tell me about you, what's going on in your world. Tell me about your vision for this project. Like really just getting them talking and not, it's not about like all about me and my journey and all about the company. Like I don't want to barf on someone, I want them to barf on me. So really get them talking and, and be interested instead of interesting.

Speaker A: M that's so good. It's the um, listen more than you speak. Two ears, one mouth. Right. And um, when you allow somebody to talk, it builds that level connection because they feel like they can flow with you and they feel like they can flow with you and they can meet you where you are. Like, it just really helps to build that connection.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A: So this year that we're currently sitting in has been an up and down year for a lot of people in manufacturing. For some it's been great, for some it's been not so great. I haven't seen too many people that are right in the middle for you guys within your organization. Has it been a year of tremendous growth? Has it been a down year? How are things sitting for you guys?

Speaker B: So we're in a really interesting position. So our company has been in business almost 25 years and I am their first salesperson.

Speaker A: Whoa. Wow. Wow.

Speaker B: Speaks volumes to them. They have built their business through referral and word of mouth. Incredible. So I don't think either of us had any idea of what we could do together in this year. So we are in absolutely explosive growth.

Speaker A: That's awesome. That's awesome to know that for, I guess, what, almost 23 years there was not a person devoted to sales and, um, then bringing you in. And it now makes a lot more sense as to why you are a good fit for this position. Because I'm assuming a lot of times in organizations like that there's founder led growth. So the founders, the CEOs were the ones selling. So they know you can do this. They've been doing it themselves.

Speaker B: Yeah. I don't even think I knew what I was capable of, to be honest. There's, there's a very big difference in contract manufacturing. Selling a service versus I was selling a brand before. So selling a brand, you know, there's thousands of them and you are this buyer that you're pitching to sees dozens of brands every day coming at them. So it was difficult. I think that was the other reason that I lost my passion too. It was really tough trying to sell a brand to a buyer. Now I'm selling a service. So everyone's, you know, dealing with tariffs. Everyone is wanting to, um, you know, cut costs, you know, look at different contract manufacturers for different, you know, specialties or categories that they're good at. So I just found, I, I find it's a lot easier.

Speaker A: That's awesome. Easier? Working for a company is easier than working on your own? Yes, absolutely.

Speaker B: Like, I remember my first month here and I'm like, I'm asking for a meeting and I'm getting it. What? This is insane. Yeah.

Speaker A: I'm not running around and chasing. So as you continue to grow the, the organization, you guys are an exciting, explosive growth. What are the. What, where do you see the company in the, the next five years?

Speaker B: Yeah. So I, you know, have so many dreams for us. You know, contract manufacturing is, you know, it's always like the, the little ugly duckling. You know, it's the thing in the background. You know, nobody talks about where they're getting their products made. And so I have dreams, you know, for us to really open up the space of podcasting and blogging and really helping the beauty world understand contract manufacturing even more, you know, elevating the world that we're in, um, you know, to a point where we're really well known within the Space. You know, if I were to put, if I were to look in the crystal ball, I would say in five years we may have another manufacturing facility, um, whether it's in Dallas or it's on the west coast or the east coast. But that's usually what I see for contract manufacturers that are growing is they're adding more manufacturing facilities, whether it's in the country or outside of the country. I'd m love to see that for us too.

Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome.

Speaker B: Growing our sales team. Obviously I'd love to see, you know, more sales, um, um, assistance. You know, maybe having an east coast or west coast or having, you know, sales team that speaks to each category. So I see that for us as well.

Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. Um, expansion and footprint, expansion and uh, headcount. Those are all amazing things when you're in explosive growth mode. Um, and so with growth, there also tends to be some things that may not be working so well. So what are some of the things that you found in the past few years that are, that you're still struggling with as you're in this growth mode?

Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I think, um, you know, if I'm speaking specifically to nature Rich and where we're at as a business, you know, probably our biggest challenge is just the technical part of it. Making sure that we have all the right tools in place to be able to support the business. So as you know, when you're in hyper growth mode, you're not always prepared for it. And so we're figuring that out as we speak. And what tools can we introduce, um, to help support the team and growth, um, where do we have voids within staffing? So, um, I think that we're doing all the right things to really improve.

Speaker A: Yeah. So what we're doing, and I say it's the first step is realization. Right. Identifying where the gaps are and then leaning in and really tapping into like this is what uh, we need to do.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A: So since you're very new, um, in this role, I know this look back is. And you know, when I ask this question, I want you to take whatever spin on it that you would like to.

Speaker B: Um.

Speaker A: If you were going to do this all over again from scratch, what advice would you give yourself?

Speaker B: You know, I have thoroughly enjoyed contract manufacturing and I have said more than a dozen times, I wish I would have gotten into contract manufacturing a long time ago. Um, however, can't change the past. So, you know, I am a big believer that you go through everything in life the way you're supposed to.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Maybe I would have done that differently.

Speaker A: Started a little bit earlier. Started a little bit earlier. Started maybe a little earlier.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. Um, and I want to kind of wrap up on. On this last bit. We've had a great conversation and we tapp into a lot of, um, different areas. And so as a woman that's in manufacturing and in sales, is there any advice that you would specifically give to a young woman that may be struggling, that may, um, be having a tough time right now?

Speaker B: Oh, gosh. You know, don't give up. Just persevere. Try to try as best as you can to stay positive. I have mentored people, women in my past, and trying to help them in their career. Career. And I think that that's the biggest thing that I see is just getting, um, frustrated. Instead of taking, you know, the frustration energy and put it into something positive, um, really trying to stay in that space as much as you can. I know that things get frustrating as a young person, someone starting out in the beauty space, wherever they're at. Just really try your best to take that energy and do something positive. Whether it is, you know, connecting with people within the industry that you want, whether it's okay. Today I'm going to focus on building out my LinkedIn better. Um, it is, ah, LinkedIn learning, or you're doing a masterclass, or, you know, you're going to lunch with a girlfriend. Just something that can, you know, not have. You live in that energy.

Speaker A: M. That's so good. Don't give up. Refocus your energy. Uh, I think those are two really good things because oftentimes I tend to see when things get hard, we, as humans, we just want to give up. And that giving up means that we typically will say, this position isn't right for me. And you hop companies and what happens is you keep making a bunch of lateral moves, and then you look back 15 years into your career and you're still at the same level because you never push through. You never allowed yourself to get through the hard to get through the pain, the difficulties, to get on the other side.

Speaker B: Agree?

Speaker A: Yes. Awesome.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: Ella, this has been a fantastic conversation. M. If people want to get in contact with you, learn more about what you're doing, what is the one best way?

Speaker B: I would say contact me through email, phone. I mean, I'm so accessible. I always say I am just a phone, text, email, LinkedIn connection away. So. Kayla Childress. Um, you know, I'm on LinkedIn. K. Childress@nature rich.com. you know, happy to give out my phone number if you would like me to, but those are. But those are the two probably easiest.

Speaker A: Two easiest. Well, thank you so much, Kayla, for your time, your talent and your expertise.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Thank you.