Mett Naturals with Scott Schwab, Co-Founder feature 87 of Together Talks

KLS
Dec 19, 2023
6 min read

Updated: Apr 14

"Together Talks" feature 87: Mett Naturals presented by KLS, freight company

Some Background on Mett Naturals

For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the chance to speak with Scott Schwab, Co-Founder, of Mett Naturals. Mett provides a platform that promotes economic stability for farmers and communities in the industrial hemp space. They are dedicated to a true "seed to shelf" methodology which starts with organic growing practices, intentional harvest, and C-GMPdeveloped products. Their platform includes agri-tech solutions for plant genetic tracking, established practices and processes for farmers, and developed a high quality approach to hemp products. Mett is obsessed with quality and that leads them to do things differently. That includes but is not limited to walking the fields to inspect quality daily, storing products in cooled facilities, and creating a product line free of harmful residue left from insecticides, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides.

Sustainability

Mett Naturals jumped into this space because they sought out to help with the sustainability of farming. They want to focus on what is put into the soil so humans can utilize the nutrients from the soil. They saw the opportunity to bring trust and transparency to the industry while also helping the farmers, Scott shared, "Our farmers are our family." Utilizing family farming allows them to integrate organic best practices.

Scott shared that around 90% of companies in the space resort to buying oil on the open market or buy an isolate derivative. Understanding that the plant itself has 113 different compounds means there are so many opportunities that can be cultivated. The fact that Mett farms the product themselves is a huge differentiator in the industry. This allows them to cut out the middlemen and customers can know exactly what is being put into products as it is straight from the farm.

Their tried and true approach is educating the consumer that CBD is great for the entire body. Mett Naturals seeks to find the correct dose, product type for each consumer. Not every company in the industry sees it that way. The challenge for Mett Naturals remains advertising restrictions. Not being able to advertise CBD on Meta, Amazon, or Google is a challenge to penetrate a new market. But with that, they have still found success. Scott took us through a goal they reached their initial year, "We made our projections for the first year. I built initial projections that we would do $250,000 in revenue. Everyone said we are crazy, especially being a brand new product to the market. We ended up doing $500,000 that year. We overachieved our goal so we took our entire staff to Mexico to celebrate. We felt like we accomplished the world. But even more impressive, the next year we doubled again, and the year after that. Now we are in a position of sustainability, but we really built our culture early and continue to nourish it."

Previous Experience

Scott shared that Mett Naturals wasn't his first start up. Going through the Start-up process already gave him an understanding of how processes work and everything is always moving. He also had the benefit of enduring triumphs and hardships and the importance of celebrating wins. But stay in the moment and not get stagnant. Scott elaborated, "With our first year we reached tremendous success in a volatile new market, but we didn't just ride that wave. We put the work in and doubled up the next two years."

The company is available in all 50 states plus Canada, Mexico, UK and is working on Australia. Scott said the goal is expansion, but not out of greed. Instead he explained their mission, "We feel like everybody should have a life where they don't have to deal with stress, anxiety, pain, inflammation, and a world where people get sleep." Scott explained how his first go-around with a startup he was surrounded by similar people. He learned from that situation and made sure that this time there was a better balance. Understand each other's strengths and weaknesses allows for a better flow of company operations and ultimately growth.

With a better balance it doesn't mean that a company still can't be privy to mistakes. Scott shared a story of a difficult situation they encountered. In 2019, the price of hemp oil in the market specifically for CBD was $10,000 a liter. Mett decided to go heavy and try to gain marketshare. They grew 500 acres and went all in. By the end of that year the per liter price dropped to $500 a liter. Currently it sits at $150 per liter. This proved a valuable experience for them of having a strategy and sticking to it.

Trust

Although he had previous experience starting a business, that doesn't erase the fear or anxiety associated with it. Scott credits his two other co-founders for easing those concerns as the three of them believe in each other and the company so deeply. "My first attempt at this I surrounded myself with people who thought like I thought or were a cheerleader like myself. We were all excited we were starting a business. I learned from that time and understand the grind that is starting a business.", Scott told us.

He explained how critical it is to not only love the company, but the process when starting a business, but the investment of time and energy will make you make sacrifices. Scott also shared how critical it is to understand your capabilities and be able to delegate what doesn't fall into your strengths. Bringing on additional partners and people to help them grow past their initial thought process has allowed the company to continue to build and grow. "I truly believe either you outgrow your startup or your startup outgrows you.", Scott described.

Being able to now focus on the aspects of running a business he enjoys most, Scott mentioned his ability to do sales and business development. The thrill of being in the trenches and close to something he is helping build is what he admitted he gravitates towards. Being able to help people find relief is important for the company and one way to get in front of more eyes is partnership opportunities which Scott loves selling.

3 Vitals

Scott shared that he believes all humans need 3 core pillars:

Nutrition, Sleep, Sunlight

The company is putting a focus on a product line of non-CBD products as well. Part of that basis is their DNA collection kit. They want to look at what areas a body is lacking and how they can provide solutions for that specific individual. They are working on a Magnesium and Turmeric product hoping to fight chronic stress and pain. Understanding what is shorted in their body will then provide the platform courtesy of Mett Naturals to find the solutions to help their health.

Adding this product line will also allow Mett Naturals to begin advertising everywhere they cannot with their CBD products. The goal is to become the go-to for health and wellness products. Scott mentioned that many consumers don't know where their products come from, they buy from ads or a google search. Mett Naturals is seeking to educate consumers and to be a reliable, transparent, and trustworthy platform of solutions for the human body.

Curious to find out more about Mett Naturals and what they can provide to you educationally about your health, click here.

Piece of Advice

The conversation with Scott ended with him sharing his two pieces of advice.

1 - Be the CEO of your Health

"I do not feel like there's enough balance in our personal lives and what we do at home, whether that be that we have a role of a father, husband, partner.

whatever it is, I feel like so much of our time is over utilized in our work life that we're not taking care of our personal lives. No one else is going to take care of you. And quite frankly, nobody cares. So you have to care and you have to find time to prioritize that.

So that would be the number one recommendation is prioritize your health, become the CEO of your health."

2 - Work-Life Balance

"I do not feel like there's enough balance in our personal lives and what we do at home. I feel like so much of our time is over utilized in our work life that we're not taking care of our personal lives. Make sure that you have healthy relationships because if you're not communicating because you're holding it all inside your brain you're going to have an explosion at some point, somewhere, somehow, and it's not going to be good.

And so you have to find a way to communicate. But you've got to have somebody in your life that you nurture these relationships and that you're able to differentiate yourself from work life, which is great. And if you don't have that person, find that person, call them a guide. One of my favorite books of all time is Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller.

He really talks about how all of us need a guide. It's in every story that's ever been told. Every movie is you've got a hero and you've got a guide. And in entrepreneur life, we are not the heroes. We're not. We are the guides. And so if we understand that, we're guiding our customers to a solution. But in our own lives, we need to find a guide to be the hero of our own story. And being that means that you've got good communication."

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Mett Naturals and Scott Schwab, Co-Founder, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for the Mett Naturals journey with their social handles below!