Have a podcast in 30 days

Without headaches or hassles

Sure, making money is great. But what if you could use your business to change the world?

I’m not talking about cheap tricks like “we donate 1% of profits to charity”.

I’m talking about real changes you can see, like saving the rainforests, sheltering the homeless, and feeding the hungry… all while maintaining a healthy profit.

It’s possible. And today’s guest Philip Freeman is here to show you how. He’s the founder of Murphy’s Naturals, an outdoor lifestyle brand and certified B Corp.

In this episode, you’ll discover how to put more money in your pocket, while making a lasting positive impact on the world.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

  • How generating terrible business ideas  sets you up for success (even if you abandon them) (3:09)
  • Why walking down the drinks aisle at the supermarket lets you launch your business without fear of competition (4:21)
  • Why caring husbands create more successful businesses (and how you can get an edge, even if you’re a bachelor) (6:20)
  • How a clear mission statement lets you attract better employees, do more good, and enjoy more time outdoors (14:53)
  • The 3 P’s that let you save the planet while still making a profit (19:19)
  • A little-known way to attract superstar employees (without ever advertising) (27:30)
Read Full Transcript

Matt: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Built on Passion. I'm your host Matthew Dello Buono. And today we have Murphy's Naturals, founder, Philip Freeman. Murphy's Naturals is an outdoor lifestyle brand that started off making insect repellent and has been slowly adding products with unique formulations to their lineup, all designed to help you have the most fun when romping around in nature. Philip has always had a burning entrepreneurial spirit.

He wrote down countless business ideas and plans throughout his career, but ultimately put them aside to pursue other things. Other things that came up in life, fast forward a few years. He was facing an issue that he wanted to find a solution for. He ended up grading that solution and he was left thinking, maybe amout to something. He developed an all natural insect repellent for his wife, so that they can enjoy time outdoors without being eaten alive by mosquitoes all while not having to rub copious amounts of weird chemicals all over yourself.

It wasn't until he was holding a personally proven problem solving product that made him realize that he was seriously on something, that he had something that he could take to market, and he dove headfirst into it to create something real, to create what we now know as Murphy's Naturals, Murphy's Naturals has grown well beyond just an insect repellent brand at this point. [01:13]

They vastly expanded their product offering with the goal of helping people just enjoy the outdoors as safely and comfortably as possible. What's even more impressive and noble, is what Murphy's Naturals is doing behind the scenes. There are certified B Corp, which essentially binds them to adhere to their mission statement, which is to celebrate nature, inspire good and create quality natural products.

The thing is that before they even decided to go for the golden become a B Corp, these were things that they were already doing. They were already going above and beyond. They're actively involved with philanthropic partnerships, they're partners with 1% of the planet, and they do a lot to support their community, right where they're based in the heart of the blue Ridge mountains. We're going to go way deeper on this stuff in the episode regardless, but what Philip and his team have built with Murphy's Naturals, it really goes to show you what a brand that does good really looks like.

In this episode of built on passion, Philip Freeman shares what it means to be a B Corp and what the process of getting there is like, his philosophy behind building Murphy's Naturals, how he built a community that drives the bigger message behind Murphy's Naturals and the how and why behind Murphy's Naturals.

Philip, thanks for joining me today. [02:25]

Philip: It's my pleasure, Matt. Thanks for having me on.

Matt: Absolutely. So to start, who is Philip Freeman?

Philip: I am Philip Freeman and I am the CEO and founder of Murphy's Naturals.

Matt: I'm excited to dig more. I know there's a lot to dig into there. What exactly is Murphy's Naturals?

Philip: Murphy's Naturals is an outdoor lifestyle brand and we focus on natural products for outdoor living. And we have established ourselves with natural mosquito repellent products. So our first products on the market were for mosquito repellency made with natural ingredients.

Matt: What drove you to start this? Did your background kind of led you into wanting to start your own insect repellent brand that really grew from there. What was the initial spark of inspiration?

Philip: It definitely wasn't to start an insect repellent brand by any means. I was always curious about business, going back into college and then my time in the military and beyond when I was in my professional career. I would always come up with business concepts and ideas, and some of them were decent. Some of them not so good, but I never really acted on any of them. [03:45]

And I just had file after file of business ideas that I would collect. And some of them, I would write full business plans, but never executed on them. But I always wanted to, I was fortunate enough during my professional career to get inspiration from some really great brands and they helped me to decide the type of company I wanted to start. If I ever did start one, then ultimately I was trying to solve a problem at home. Solving that problem at home led to a product which led to a company in a brand.

Matt: It's funny how it always seems to start with filling your specific need. And you're like, there's going to be a million people who have this problem too.

Philip: Absolutely, some of my earlier ideas. I ended up abandoning them. I remember I was going to do an artesian bottled water, and where I grew up, there's all sorts of streams that run under the mountains and the blue Ridge mountains, artesian streams. And I thought, wow!! if I could tap into that water. And I remember this was when I was still in the military. And then I went into a grocery store and I saw a bottled water.

Now, keep in mind, this is back in the late eighties. I saw a bottled water brand on the shelf. And I was like, oh man, the market's saturated. There's no room for more bottled water brands. I won't do that. You know, that would've been a good one, because there was plenty of room as we know, it's inspiration comes and whether you act on it or not where the courage and the gumption comes in and sometimes it has to be timing as well. So those were ideas. They weren't really solving a problem. It's a lot easier to create something when there's a very defined problem that you might be experiencing yourself at home. [05:33]

Matt: That's wild. I feel like you may have not started a water bottle company, but you basically predicted the future.

Philip: I had a vision, but I jumped out didn't I? As soon as I saw some others doing it, I thought, oh man, it's done. But so you know, sometimes there were some good ideas along the way and some of them thank goodness I never did them. But the fact of the matter is doing something is important time, I wouldn't want to live a life of regret. I never have. And I would've hated to have never started something when I'm so passionate about starting something. I wouldn't want to look back in later years and say, gosh, if I had only

Matt: Exactly. You stumble, you trip some over, some you do like back flips over it. It's a process. It's all part of the dance of life. So you developed your first product fulfilling a personal need, which is fantastic. You kind of get the proof of concept there, but how did you develop that? What was the process like? What came next from there? [06:29]

Philip: Well first is the challenge and problem. So at home, my wife, she's a mosquito magnet. There's certain people that just attract mosquitoes like crazy. They get bites like crazy and for every bite I might get, she would get 10. I'm a person who just enjoys living life outdoors. I grew up on a farm in the blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. I was a Naval officer. Most of my time was spent outside.

I was a deep sea diver, I love life outdoors. And if continued to and Murphy our dog, we would hit the trails, constantly up around Falls Lake here in Raleigh, North Carolina, but just hanging out sometimes in the backyard on the deck. While I would enjoy it, Pam just, she would get eaten a lot. So she would go indoors and I love my wife and I love spending time with her. [07:18]

So the problem was she didn't want to come outside and that's where I wanted to be. But I also wanted to be with her, but you know, the challenge was she did not love deep chemical based products. She didn't like the way they felt on her skin, you know? And then there's also the fact that, you know, for me it degrades gear like camping gear, fishing gear, fishing line, things like that. It's all degraded by that by the ingredients deeped .So you're camping gear as well.

So, that's a challenge even to the extent that it'll degrade your watch crystals. I too was like, I use that growing up. I really want to find something else. So I started looking for a natural product that Pam could use, that would encourage her to come outdoors, that wasn't deep based.

And I started looking for products and, and there were some natural products on the market. There are some candle products on the market, some topicals on the market, but the majority of them weren't true naturals. They may have some natural ingredients and the ones that were natural, they were just okay, they weren't great. They weren't really effective. And so I was curious about it and I started looking into what is the reason why these aren't effective. [08:31]

I figured that out pretty quickly and then started working with formulations, using natural ingredients that are EPA recognized as repellents and started doing some blends and so forth and ultimately ended up with a product that worked great for us at home. But I realized we're not the only ones looking for natural effective products for outdoor living. I know other people have mosquito problems.

Everybody does. I started thinking, maybe this is that business opportunity that I've always been seeking. And the fact that it was a solution with natural products, essential oil based, that really gave me some motivation. And so that solution we came up with at home ultimately led to a product and led to a brand that we started in our garage in Raleigh, North Carolina, and named after our dog Murphy. [09:25]

Matt: It's also the perfect thing, because I mean, you're holding solid. I'm sure a couple tweaks came after that, but you had like a finished prototype right there that was like working, pretty much ready to go. So it's like, all right, I guess we just need a name and a logo and where, you know right.

Philip: There are a few steps in between, but you got it. You had to have a solution for a problem. Right? And when we have a solution for a problem, it's just figuring out where can you go from here? And what we realized is it was a huge amount of white space, a huge amount of opportunity started pursuing it. And this was all side hustle.

I was working a hundred hour a week job, easily. And that was before I was doing any side hustle work. So all I had were nights and weekends to play with this and eventually, got it going. But then I decided to make the big leap and jump all in. But fortunately I'd had a 23 year career and I'd saved a little bit of money. I was comfortable taking that risk at that time.

Matt: What was it like, was it kind of like a weird transition? Was it something you were just all in? Let's go, it's going to be some ways kind of a little nerve-wracking to make that leap. [10:33]

Philip: You know what I feel, think I had waited so many years without doing it. I was just absolutely ready. I'd wanted to do it for so long. Yes. There's absolute risk and there's a little trepidation, but really the enthusiasm and the motivation to try something just was so powerful that none of those really were a factor. So it was really jumping in with both feet and getting going. Now I would say for people who hadn't had some level of savings and that sort of thing, if you can create that side hustle, while you have that full-time job, support yourself, your family, everything else, work into it more on a gradual basis and get a little proof of concept. But for me, I was a little bit more mature at the time.

So I was okay with it. Plus the 23 year career I had, it was an incredible 23 years that I spent at the company I worked for and they allowed me to be very entrepreneurial and creative there. But that started to change the last few years. And I think that was probably the best thing for me because it motivated me to move along, had they not allowed so much entrepreneurialism there? I'm sure I wouldn't have stayed as long and I would've started something sooner, but it was the right time jumped in with both feet.

Matt: It kind of seem like everything really did line up. You created the brand, you have the initial product. I know that you're now starting to really develop beyond it, and you have plenty of other products beyond that initial insect repellent. How did you go from single developed product, substantialized brand to building out a lot of your different product offerings? [12:15]

Philip: So this is where my background helped a lot. It helps to be curious. That's always good. So you figure things out. But you know, all the years that I worked with brands, I worked with retailers. I worked with manufacturers. So I was able to see the inside of these organizations and how they operated. And I was fortunate enough that I would work with all the different departments. I was like a consultant and I would work with the different departments of some really big organizations and brands.

So I had the opportunity to work with engineering, senior management, operations, manufacturing, marketing, branding, all of those different things. Different areas I was able to work with and being able to see the inside of businesses like that was a great education, a lot better education than I ever realized it was. So when I decided to go do my own thing I had a sense of the things I needed to do, plus I also had seen along the way, the things not to do, but some great examples of what to do, but I did have the fortune having one customer for almost 20 years and was a great customer. [13:28]

And that was the body shop.. If you're not familiar with them, it's a UK based company. It was founded by Anita Roddick in the UK. She started it in her kitchen. Anita was creating really great body products and she was using a lot of natural ingredients and she was using ingredients that would come from different parts of the world and supported communities that really didn't have a means of income.

So she was a pioneer in community fair trade and finding a sustainable ingredient from let's just say the Brazilian Amazon, she would work directly with these communities, pay them a fair price for their products. So it helped them with legal aid, with healthcare, education, all of those things. I was really inspired by that. I was also really inspired about the culture that there was at the body shop.

All these people I worked with were so passionate about the mission and the vision of the brand and the company that led to great inspiration to me. And I also read Anita's book before ever called “the body shop”. I wanted to make them my customer. It took me about a year to get that accomplished. But then yeah, for almost two decades, I worked with them. Anita and the body shop were great inspiration for what would become Murphy's Naturals. [14:52]

Matt: So interesting that you said there because I did want to talk about Murphy's Naturals beyond the products. I know you guys are a B Corp. You do a lot of philanthropic things. You're involved in a lot of different philanthropic programs. How did you develop the mission beyond the actual product? Was that partnership the first seed to plant and help shift yourself in that direction.

Philip: It had a great influence. I've read other books as well that had been inspirational like John Mackey's book “conscious capitalism”, and all of these show how business can be a force for good, but they also show that you can do good and do well. You can build these businesses. You can build sustainable profitable businesses, but you can do well in the process. And it all depends on how you structure your business and what your vision is for the business and what your mission is for the business.

And what we did very early on is define our mission, our vision for the company. You know, our mission is to celebrate “nature and inspire good through quality natural products”. It's a very simple and short mission statement. You can talk to any of our employees and most of them can rattle it off, but the words were very carefully chosen. [16:10]

We wanted it to be short and simple, but we wanted the words to be impactful. And so when you think about celebrating nature, part of celebrating nature, especially as an outdoor lifestyle brand is getting out in nature and enjoying nature, taking advantage in the most positive ways of everything that nature has to offer us. And that can be hiking the local trails, going to the lakes, going to national parks, any number of things.

But another way that you celebrate nature, is to be a good steward of nature and to take care of nature and to be environmentally conscious with your business and with your practices. So that was something that was important for us and certainly an inspiration that came from Anita in the body shop as well. And then the next part. So it's to celebrate nature and inspire good, inspiring good was something that was very important, because we know that when you do good and others see that good, it inspires them just like the body shop was an inspiration to me. [17:15]

We can be an inspiration to individuals and companies to do good as well. So very important that we have this culture of doing good within our organization and it's throughout our organization. Everybody understands this doesn't matter what you do there. Even if you're coming on as a temporary part-time person, you're going to understand what we're about in very short order. So we attract the best employees because we're attracting people who care and are passionate about what we are as a company and our mission.

By doing good, we inspire good. And then it's through quality natural products. The last part of our mission statement. So we're always going to produce natural products that are high quality, and our products are specifically for outdoor living. That's our little niche. So that kind of wraps up what our mission statement is about. And I think it's really important when you establish a company and a brand to have a clear mission statement that isn't just a bunch of words put together, but all of those words have real meaning. And it's what you live by day to day as a company. [18:23]

Matt: I think it helps people understand what you're about, obviously your values, but also you, what you're saying, it helps you locate your north star if you're ever constantly building out, you're trying to think of new things, but being able to come back to that, okay, are we hitting this, these are the things that mean something to us make Murphy's Naturals who we are. That's super important. Otherwise, you know, it's easy to kind of stray off that path.

You want to have that north star that you're guiding towards, but you know, anytime that you're heading towards a goal or a target, it can be a meandering course to get there. But that's why we also set up guardrails. Don't allow us to meander too far so that we can stay within our mission values. So when we're developing a product, we have new product development or MPD guardrail in place to make sure that this is consistent, what we're doing with what we are as a company. And it matches with our mission and vision. [19:17]

Matt: What is Murphy's Natural's commitment to sustainability like?

Philip: It's significant. This is a very important part. As you said earlier, we're a certified B corporation. And when you're a certified B corporation, you really go through it. It's a difficult qualification certification to achieve, but it's based off of the three Ps or three pillars which are people, planet and profit. It's something for a profit organization. And as we know, there are lots of organizations that will claim to do well, but how well do they actually do?

So this is a certification that demonstrates and validates that a company really is all that they're saying, they are the profit side, the last P you know, we are a for profit company and it's very important to generate profits so that we can last and we can grow and we can continue to do the good things we do. But when you look at the people on the planet, the people are obviously our employees and we wanna have a great, healthy work environment for our employees. [20:17]

We want to always show them respect and appreciation. And that's what our culture is based on here at Murphy's Naturals, respect and appreciation. So we have great benefits that we put in place. Our employees are a part of what we do, everyone from top to bottom understands what we're, what we're working towards. We do things like volunteering together every quarter as an entire team, we go out and we'll spend a day volunteering and that's a great bonding opportunity.

It also inspires good at the same time, but people also include people within our community. Our greater community and we give 2% of our revenues to doing others good. And it's really important to speak clearly on this part, this is 2% of our revenues and not 2% of our profit, because there's a lot of companies that don't have a profit or a very small amount of profit, especially when they're scaling like us. [21:12]

So if you're going to give 2% of zero, well, that's zero. But if it's based off of the revenues, it's the dollars that you bring in as a company, from what you sell. That's very defined. It's a strong commitment to give 2% of our revenues to doing others good. That's a commitment that we made from day one. So it was from the very beginning of this company that we did that. And then, the planet is another one of those key pillars that I mentioned. So people profit from the planet.

That's our environment. I mentioned earlier, we want to celebrate nature and get out in it, but we also want to be good custodians. We have a lot of measures in place at our company to make sure that we are good custodians and we're doing things in a responsible way. I can share some of those and some of the certifications that we have and some of the objectives we're working towards, but we are a member of 1% for the planet. And that's an organization where we give 1% of our revenues. So that's part of that 2% total.

And it goes to organizations that fall under the 1% for the planet umbrella. Many of them in our backyard, like Raleigh city farm, triangle land Conservancy, activate good and others. So I gave you a lot of words. There are a lot more I could give you when it relates to that. We can dive into any one of those you want. [22:36]

Matt: I mean, that's what I want. Give me all the words. That's what I'm here for. That's incredible. How did you manage? What's the best way to ask this? It seems like there's a lot of moving parts to that giving back piece. I mean, even just within the three pillars, the people, planet, profit, how do you manage all of that? Did you know you wanted to start off as a B Corp from the beginning? Was it kind of like slowly adding to the existing pillars? How do you build and manage it? It seems crazy, because there's so much there.

Philip: There is a lot and today it's much more involved than it was in the beginning, but we have an incredible passionate team. It's definitely not me. That's managing it, It's our team. You know, we are managing it all together. And we have employees that are very specifically focused towards our towards our goals and objectives.

And one of those is a director of sustainability and social mission. So we have a director level person that is focused in this particular area. And that's an investment we make as a company. It's our dedication to these goals and objectives, but yes, about B Corp. I was starting on principles that were ones that made sense to me in the very beginning when we began. And again, many of these came from working with the body shop and some of the principles that they worked upon. [23:59]

So I had that inspiration going into it. And we were probably about a year into the company. Gentleman, who's a former CEO of Burt's Bees, John Replogle. I had met him. He was advising me, which was great for someone to have that sort of experience. He asked me, if you thought about becoming a B Corp and I said, well, what is a B Corp? I had no clue what a B Corp was, but we were living the B Corp life as a company.

It's just how we were established. And he explained to me what a B Corp was and how it is a certification, which validates what you're doing as a company. So again, it's showing that you really are doing all the things you're saying you're doing. Because again, there are lots of people who will say they're doing things, but they may or may not really do them as well as they indicate. [24:50]

So I love the idea of a certification and you had to be in business for at least a year before you could apply. And we were right at that year point, we did the original screening and it looked pretty solid. We have a good chance of becoming one. And then we went full in and went through the B Corp process and became one rather quickly, which is unusual.

But it's because we had already established ourselves from the very beginning on the principles that B Corps are essentially based on. But the great part about it is it identified so many opportunities for improvements as our company, things that we could do as we grew to be better for our employees, to be better for our communities, for the planet and better for the bottom line.

Matt: It seems like timing is on your side with all of this. I think one of the greatest things about being a B Corp is that real, tangible accountability that as you said, I think a lot of people know that there is some smoke and mirrors in green washing that goes into some sustainable products or products that are doing good. People just don't know how and who to trust, but that B Corp certification, that label you're putting it on yourself. You're getting that third party testing to say, okay, we're doing this. [26:06]

Philip: You're right about that Matt. And it's not something that you get and you have for forever, every two years you have to be recertified, you can't be a B corp today and living by those values and not tomorrow. So that's the great thing about it. And those re-certifications when we do those and you know, we're just finalizing one right now, they continue to show you those opportunities for improvement. And we constantly improve.

And I always tell my team, don't worry about being perfect. That's really not attainable, but let's just always work towards incrementally getting better. And that's something I like about B Corp is it shows you those opportunities, whether it's through governance, through giving, through sustainability practices within your organization or supply chain, and is your supply chain part of a B Corp or your supply chain has sustainability initiatives in place?

And, those are great things. And some of them are big objectives. And some of them, they're not a big reach, they're ones that just apply a little bit of time and effort to, and you can achieve it. So it's great going through that process. Because again, we're not trying to be perfect. We just always want to try and get better. Gives us a nice roadmap and opportunity for that. [27:20]

Matt: Lines up perfectly with your mission statement as it is. So it couldn't be a better roadmap.

Philip: Yeah, it's a good one. And our team is so in, they really are. And quite frankly, many of the team members that we have today, they found us because they were looking for B corps, McKenzie being one of them. I remember when I first heard about McKenzie, she was moving to North Carolina from Alabama and she was searching for B Corp in the area. And we ended up chatting and she's turned into being a real superstar for us here. She wouldn't have found us if she wasn't searching for B corps and we weren't one, there really is benefit. And that respect because you bring on people who care and are passionate. So when they're already coming in with that level of passion, you can build a heck of a team that way. And then a heck of a company.

Matt: I think people want to do and help support good. You create the vehicle. People are going to help push it up the hill. [28:19]

Philip: Yes, that's right. And I think the general nature of people is that people are generally good. I think there are influences in life that can impact them in different ways, but I think people are generally good and that's always important to know.

Matt: Murphy's Naturals started as you're not an insect repellent company, you're a lifestyle company. How did you develop into that? What does the future look like for you guys? What are you looking to become? What, where do you want to take Murphy's Naturals?

Philip: I've shared our mission, but our vision is to be the “leading natural products company for outdoor living”. So to be the leading natural products company, leading natural products brand for outdoor living, that is an incredible opportunity, I don't see anyone really filling that space. There are some great brands out there that are for outdoor living, but they're not necessarily natural products brands.

And for us, we're looking to solve problems, overcome some of the obstacles that there are for people enjoying life outdoors and living life outdoors. And certainly, as I mentioned before at home, mosquitoes were a problem that were keeping my wife from coming outside. We solved the problem there. And that's a great thing. And if you can do that naturally and be a highly effective mosquito repellent product and be natural plant based, that's a big deal. [29:43]

We look at outdoor living and we think what is there beyond repellency? What are the opportunities? And there are tons of opportunities when you look there. One of the other big challenges and big threats that there are to us as people with outdoor living beyond mosquitoes that can carry diseases is the sun, sun's incredibly important for our lives. But we also know that exposure to it is damaging to our skin and can lead to great health issues.

So we're in the process now of developing an SPF line of product that is mineral based, reef safe and natural. So those products that we're developing now that we'll launch in the spring of next year of 23, we just about have the formulations locked down for those. And they're excellent, they are fantastic. And the product's going to be exceptional because we don't want to put a product out unless it's better. [30:41]

But it also has to be responsible. It needs to be a natural product and it needs to be for outdoor living. So that is an appropriate channel. So while we've built ourselves within the repellency channel, now what we're going to do is we're going to build in the sun protection channel, of course, with some protection, there's all sorts of things that can come from that. There's after sun products, there's skincare products. When you're living outdoors and spending time outdoors, you have to take care of yourself before the exposure, but you also have to take care of yourself after it opens up a huge area of opportunity for us. We're looking forward to launching our first three items next year in the spring. And you look okay, here's two families.

One is fairly mature and is expanding, which is our repellency side. Then you have our sunscreen SPF side, which we have a long way to go, but it's going to be a great product. And over time we are going to gain our reputation and we'll be known for having an exceptional sunscreen product. Then we'll bring those families together and we'll create that combination product, which we're already in the works on, which is a sunscreen with repellent properties. So that way you have one product you can use, it's going to protect you from the sun and the mosquito. [32:02]

Matt: And you don't need to worry about just piling on chemicals too.

Philip: Exactly, you're not going to have chemicals with our products, but you don't have to worry about layering on, that's right. You know, someone who might use sunscreen and then they might use a repellent product. Now certainly you can combine those two and there's ways to do that the right way. But having a combined product, there's different brands who have played at it.

Some of them have abandoned it. Some of them are still doing it and trying, we're going to come out with a superior product. It's going to be exceptional and it's going to be as exceptional as those two families of repellants and sunscreens. But then there's so many other channels that we can go into that are natural products for outdoor living. And you think about hiking and camping. You think about sports. There's so many different areas that we can go into where there are problems that need to be solved and we can create the solutions naturally,

Matt: Literally too, you're creating solutions. The first thing I think of outdoor living is toothpaste. And so I mean it's endless. It really is kind of endless. [33:07]

Philip: Yeah. And we can take inspiration from the brands out there who have done a great job of it. Tom's have made, with toothpaste and then there's soap. There's Castile soap. You have Brauns, you have different brands like that who have done a good job, but we don't want to be copycats. We want to create unique formulations, tip of the hat to those great brands, but we want to be able to create our own unique products and using ingredients that are sustainably sourced and wherever possible, if we can have the community fair trade aspect to it, we definitely want to do that.

And it's oftentimes when you search into these remote areas of the world where you find these little secrets, you find these unique products that are known to the natives or known to the indigenous people of a certain region that may not be as widely known to the rest of the world. Being able to sustainably find those opportunities can help us differentiate our products very much like Anita Roddick did at the body shop.[34:10]

Matt: I think it is incredibly notable. And I don't want to pass this up, but the fact that you are really all in, on taking something, making it better, not just replicating and slapping some marketing at it. There's a lot that goes on. People repurposing things and just like throwing like a label at something. I just want to be clear that what you're doing, I feel like that is the most truest, honorable way you can possibly run a business.

Philip: We don't want to be copycats. We can take inspiration for sure, from other products that are out there, but let's do it better.

Matt: I think that level of transparency and altruism, I think that's something that people realize too. I mean, you are guaranteeing that you're going to be adding something and not just causing more confusion, like people will be looking for exactly what you're making.

Philip: One thing too. I think is really important. You just touched a on something, which I didn't realize was a trend in the marketplace for the consumer, but it absolutely is. The consumer, they're looking for products where they can trust the products where they feel good about the ingredients. You know, natural products obviously are incredibly important and there are a lot of products that are out there that will say inspired by nature. [35:33]

They'll say botanical, things like that, but they may not necessarily contain a high percentage of natural products. We're extremely focused on having high percentages, if not a hundred percent natural ingredients in our products. And that's a differentiator. So when you look at some of the brands out there that are posing in certain ways, they could do better too. And so, we take that very seriously because we know mother nature is powerful. And so we go find some of the resources that mother nature has produced.

We can produce some powerful and effective products, but again, always understanding they need to be sustainable and ones that nature is willing to share with us versus what nature isn't willing to share with us. And that sustainability side. So I appreciate what you said about that. And there's no reason why, you can't do well and do good at the same time. [36:33]

Matt: Philip, it looks like our time is just about up, but I want to thank you for sharing what you're doing and thank you for doing it. I mean, you're bringing something new, bringing something that people are looking for, for anyone listening, who wants to learn more about what you're doing, how you're doing it and pick up some Murphy's Naturals products of their own. Where's the best place for them to head?.

Philip: Go to our website and that's Murphysnaturals.com, just on a parting word Matt, just to say that, sometimes the focus is on me for interviews like this and it's always important that I'm a piece and a part of the team here at Murphy's Naturals. And that's all I am because we're inspired by one another here.

We're inspired by what we're doing as a company and we're accomplishing so much, but it's not because of me. It's because of the team that we have. That's so passionate about our mission and vision at Murphy's Natural. So it's always important for me to make that really clear is a lot's being accomplished, but it's not Philip Freeman. That's making everything happen. It's our team. That's making it happen. [37:34]

Matt: Absolutely. I mean, it takes a village.

Philip: Yeah. And we have an incredible team here at Murphy's for sure. It's all of us in it together.

Matt: Well, you to Philip and the Murphy's Naturals team. Thank you.

Philip: Thank you, Matt.

Matt: We made it. Thank you again for tuning in to this week's episode of Built on Passion. Hope you learned something, hope you maybe grew as a person. Maybe you have a new entrepreneurial idea, maybe all of the above. Maybe you got a new perspective on your favorite hobby or favorite piece of gear and you just fell in love all over again. I'm hoping for the last one.

That last one actually sounds pretty good. I'm going to ask one last time for the people in the back. Please leave a review. It is super helpful and a great way to show your support of the show. And if you know someone who might be interested in this episode specifically, share it to them and all joking aside. Thank you for everything for supporting what we're doing in any event. That's it for now. I will see you next week. On another episode of Built on Passion. [38:34]

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