Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly and Patty Turgeon.
Kelly and Patty, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My sister and I spent the last 2.5 years living on a small island in the gulf of Thailand focused on our own healing journeys. We initially moved to the island to find mental, emotional and physical healing. I was battling emotional burnout after years of working in a high stress corporate job and was feeling depleted with an inner knowing that there had to be something more. My sister had a heart attack (at 28 years old) and was seeking some peace and tranquility so she could focus on healing her heart. As we traveled down our own healing paths, we were simultaneously drawn to find a way to bring healing to our beautiful planet.
While living on this island, the ocean was our backyard. We experienced firsthand the destructive impact single-use plastic is having on our waters and eco-systems. We found ourselves picking up bags of trash, mainly plastic, as it continually washed ashore day after day. With an inspired vision to transform our sadness and anger into creative passion and be part of the solution, we created Bhavana Bottle. Our goal was to create beautifully designed bottles that are multi-purpose and replace single use plastic cups for the island we lived on.
Simultaneously, we were listening to the audiobook, “Hidden Messages in Water” by Dr. Masaru Emoto, the Japanese Scientist and Water Researcher, whose work evidenced that our words, thoughts, and intentions have a direct impact on our physical reality. He did a number of experiments with water and found that the words LOVE and GRATITUDE changed the molecular structure of the water into beautiful symmetrical structures, simply by taping these words to the outside of the glass. We were inspired by the findings and felt we wanted to share this by incorporating the highest vibrational words and symbols into the designs for Bhavana Bottle. Our hope was that our bottles serve as a simple reminder to drink in LOVING and GRATEFUL thoughts with every sip.
Bhavana Bottle was a success in reducing single-use plastic bottles on the island. Now only one year later, we returned to the USA and have worked to scale our business to over 150+ retailers.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting any new business is a challenging and rewarding adventure that will open up to so many golden nuggets of knowledge and rich experiences along the way. Challenges and times of hardship are bound to arise throughout the life of any business, and frequently do in our own, but it is how we choose to approach these situations that make or break us.
Neither of us had previous experience with running a business or creating a product; and on top of that, we never planned for our first company to be started in Thailand. This path has required a lot of learning, dedication, patience and perseverance. We have experienced an array of complications and comical scenarios that have transpired along the way that forced us to grow in new ways each time. We have learned to become very adaptive and know that there is always a solution, it is just a matter of remaining flexible and having a willingness to learn new things. We have learned more in this one year of business than we ever thought possible.
One of our biggest struggles arose after hiring a high price tag marketing company to help us raise awareness of our mission, message and products. We were starstruck by the flashy numbers the company was sending us from previous client successes and the promises of sales that would result in a short time from their efforts. We decided to move forward with what would be the biggest investment we would ever make since starting our business, and quite frankly it was an investment we never should have made without asking more questions.
We were several weeks into the contract and were seeing ZERO results that we were initially promised. We had the decision to take a loss of our initial payment or make one more equally hefty payment in hopes that things would work out differently in the second round and could recoup our costs. We should have stopped right there and taken our initial loss, but instead, we made the mistake of paying them again. We were then two months into the contract and had spent all the money we had with zero return. This almost put us out of business, but it turned out to be a pivotal moment and growth point in our business. From this moment, we chose to divert our efforts from online to retail. When we didn’t know if we would have enough money to place our next order we received the biggest order that we have received to this day that gave us the exact amount we needed to move forward. Since then, we have grown to over 120 retail locations across the United States in three months and have opened the doors to some amazing opportunities that are unfolding as we speak.
Our biggest lesson learned from this experience that we want to share with other entrepreneurs in a similar situation is to not throw money at something from a place of lack in hopes of changing the outcome. Rather, it is important to have a clear goal and expectations from the beginning. If the bar you set is not met – don’t waver. When we felt dis-ease, that was our intuition speaking, but we ignored it. We should have clearly stated our concerns, and not moved forward until we were shown the results we were initially promised or made a pivot. The lesson from this experience really comes down to don’t be wowed by words that aren’t supported or backed by action.
Starting any new business is a challenging and rewarding adventure that will open up to so much growth and rich experiences along the way. Challenges and times of hardship are bound to arise throughout the life of any business, and frequently do in our own, but it is how we choose to approach these situations that make or break us.
To help you navigate through the hard times, we came up with three key insights that we feel would be helpful to women starting on their entrepreneurial journey.
1. We found that coming back to the “WHY” you are doing something on a daily basis helps to never lose touch with the bigger vision when problems arise. When we consciously connect back with the inspired vision behind why we do what you do every day, this driving force becomes bigger than any problem that stands in our way. Growing pains and opportunities will always arise along our path as entrepreneurs and we have fully accepted that. At this point we have formed a “nothing is going to stop us” state of mind which continually helps to shift our perspective from problem to solution.
2. When a perceived “problem” presents itself it is usually an invitation to take a deeper look at something. Instead of getting mad and frustrated when roadblocks present themselves, we can choose to be creative and curious instead. Being a business owner automatically puts you in the role of being a creative problem solver as well as many other hats. This may at times require us to surrender attachment to a specific outcome, make a pivot or take a look at something from a different perspective. These are the moments and opportunities that offer us the most room for growth if we can learn to approach them openly and never be afraid to ask for help.
3. Step into discomfort with courage. It is easy to talk yourself out of doing something because you assume the answer will be NO. But when we do this, we are projecting into a false future and blocking ourselves from a potential growth opportunity. Instead, we try to continually ask the hard questions, even if they are uncomfortable. On the other side of our own doubt, discomfort and fear lies the door to our greatness and radical transformation if we are brave enough to face it and take the leap. Next time you are faced with a moment or experience that gives you the choice to remain in your comfort zone or step out and shine your light even if it is uncomfortable or even terrifying – DO IT!!! Each day brings new opportunities to grow, and choose courage over comfort and you will never know the result unless you try.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
We create beautiful and unique water bottles that radiate high vibrational words and symbols that resemble a piece of art and make you feel good when you look upon them. The unique geometric engraving on each of the bottles serves as an elegant reminder to stay hydrated and be conscious of the thoughts and words you send to yourself and those around you throughout the day.
We pair sacred geometry and high vibrational words on each of our bottles because we believe that GRATITUDE and LOVE have the power to transform our lives in so many ways. As we mentioned earlier, our bottles were inspired after we read the book Hidden Messages in Water that awakened us to the truth that our thoughts have a profound impact on water. Just think, over half of our body is comprised of water and we have over 60,000 thoughts in a single day!! If positive words have the power to change water into beautiful geometric shapes, then think about the profound impact of sharing positive thoughts to our bodies, each other and the planet can have on the water we are all made of.
We hope we can be recognized as a company that is dedicated to creating waves of change in the world one sip at a time. We have only been in business for less than a year and have already successfully scaled our business to over 120 retail stores across the U.S because we believe people really resonate with the positive message we are trying to share. We are just getting started on our journey as a company and plan to bring to life some really amazing products that will enhance and deliver vibrant water to everyone on the planet.
Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
We have found great success in creating new relationships with business owners, mentors, customers and other like-minded entrepreneurs by doing organic outreach on various social channels. If you are looking to find a mentor, I would recommend looking in the groups where relevant and engaging conversations are taking place and then start a conversation by commenting on a thread or creating a post that clearly expresses what you have to contribute and what you are seeking. When we aren’t afraid to put ourselves out there a little bit, it is always surprising how many people show up that want to help.
When we were looking for an advisor, I joined a couple of relevant Facebook Groups (San Diego Conscious Community) and made a post that shared our story followed by what I needed help with. Within a couple of hours, we had received 50+ responses from an array of couches, advisors, consultants and businesses that loved our story and wanted to be of service and support.
I would also highly recommend making a list of the top mentors you would like to connect with and sending them a personalized email. You could even create a custom video that expresses who you are, what you love about them and why you are seeking to connect. This is taking the extra step that will make you stand out from the rest. Other than that, it is up to you to be persistent and keep pursuing what you are looking for. Don’t take a no answer as a no.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bhavanabottle.com
- Email: info@bhavanabottle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhavanabottle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhavanabottle/
Image Credit:
Jim Kellett
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