How Natrie is Changing the Way We Clean with Concentrated Eco Products – with Lauren Daly

Welcome to the bring your product idea to life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started.

Hello.

So today on the podcast I'm speaking to Lauren Daly from Nattery. Lauren has created a range of non toxic but powerful cleaning products.

They're multi use, so she has two concentrates that can clean your entire home. Lauren is a professional cleaner so she definitely knows what she's talking about.

She's going to share with us in this episode how she formulated her cleaning products, why she's going to tell us about concentrates are.

And we're also going to talk about Lauren's mission to reduce the amount of water that ships all around the world, which is something I had no idea about, hadn't thought about and now can't stop thinking about. So I would love now to introduce you to Lauren. So hi Lauren, thank you so much for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, you're so welcome. Can we please start by you please give an introduction to yourself, your business and what you sell.

So I'm Lauren, I'm the founder of Nitri or Nature. I'm not sure how everyone says it but. And I have founded a company selling non toxic, eco friendly but powerful cleaning products.

So they're a set of two concentrates and they will clean your entire home.

So yeah, it's just one of the benefits of them is as well as being non toxic and eco friendly that they are like a minimalist product so you don't need hundreds and hundreds of bottles under your sink.

Oh, amazing. So these two products, do they clean like literally could you clean anything in your home with them?

Yes, yeah, pretty much. I mean obviously there are specialist jobs that you'd need to do like really heavy limescale remover. We don't have one of those yet.

We can remove light lime scale, you know, and there might be like you might need a specialist like mold remover or something, but pretty much any other job. Yep, they can do.

Well. That's amazing. And I've got so many questions because I'm right in thinking you formulated these yourself, didn't you?

Yes, I did, yeah. So well I did. When I decided I want, I needed these products because I couldn't find them.

I went on a, I did a lot of research, started making my own products like just to use. Because I'm a cleaner as well. I've got a. I've got a cleaning company.

So I was professional cleaner at the time and started making my own and found out that they were really kind of really good, really effective. But then I realized through a lot of conversations that that wasn't really the way to go. It's not the way that I wanted to go.

I didn't want to just make them myself and kind of sell them from home. I wanted to make sure they were all really above board and had been tested properly. So I found a freelance chemist and we started working together.

And because she was freelance and didn't have her own lab, I had to do a lot of the testing myself. So she'd kind of. We'd talk together and she'd write, write the form formulas and then I'd test them in the kitchen.

So it was a big learning curve for me. I learned a lot about chemistry, but.

Yeah, and then once we've got a working formula, then I took that along to a manufacturer who then obviously took that forward in their labs, did further tests, did all the compliance and things like that.

Oh, that's amazing. And let's go right back to the beginning, if it's okay, Lauren, because before we got to the point of having your products, I'd love to know.

So you mentioned you're a professional cleaner, but what was it that made you think, actually, I want to create my own product products. What was it about the products you were working with maybe that weren't working for you?

I think there's quite a few reasons.

So one is that, I mean, these have taken me a long time to formulate, I would say, and I think the industry has moved on quite a bit and there is quite a few good products out there now. But at that time I was struggling to find anything that was powerful enough. I knew my company was an eco cleaning company. I knew we. That's.

That's kind of a given for me. I didn't want to be using the kind of really harsh chemicals that kind of do damage to the environment.

But I couldn't find anything that was quite strong enough for use. We're in a hard water area. You know, if people are having the house cleaned fortnightly, you know, you need relatively strong products.

So that was one. One of my main aims, just to make it that they really, really worked. The kind of. Really, the big driving force was.

So it's a bit funny, but it was actually in lockdown. We have twins and at the time they were posse training and I couldn't. And my husband was just complaining.

He's like, why can't you buy really perfume products? Why can't you buy these things that just get rid of the smells? And I was like, I just can't because I react to them.

So I've got quite a few allergies and I react to quite a lot of the fragrances and ingredients in the products. And so it, yeah. Just hit me at that moment. Well, actually like, why don't I make my own?

Because I'm sure like everything I'd learned about cleaning, I'd learned quite a lot about what, what cleans well and what reactions are happening to make things work. Yeah, so that was kind of the main driver really. The allergies. The allergies. But with a busy family, it had to work well. So.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And I definitely know what you mean because I've always tried to use eco friendly cleaning products. But they're definitely. You're right.

There definitely was a time where the friendlier ones weren't quite as effective. Like if you had a sub. I've got like, I've got white wax surfaces. If you had a stubborn stain, for example, wasn't quite there.

So I do understand what you mean. So were you. So first of all, were you making things yourself at home and then taking them to your cleaning jobs to use? Is that how.

Yeah, I've done that. Yeah, I did.

And I started using kind of, you know, the traditional kind of ingredients like bicarbonate soda and sodium carbonate soda crystals, I think they've been be known as, just to make kind of pastes and things like that. And they work really well. And I just did a lot of research about all that kind of thing. So I had a good grounding before I went to find the chemist.

Because I think one thing is if you're trying to formulate say cosmetics or cleaning products or anything that you, you know, you could, you could probably find effective formulas yourself. When you would take them to manufacture, you would find that they're incredibly expensive to make. So you have to kind of balance. Yeah.

So a professional chemist would know where to, where to balance things a bit better than someone who doesn't really know about.

Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah, and that makes sense because I guess something that you were making in your kitchen for personal use, if you were trying to scale that up.

Yeah, that could end up really expensive, really very expensive.

Just on. Just unattainable for anyone.

So, yeah, you Mentioned earlier that your products were concentrates. What exactly does that mean?

So concentrate means that it has less water in it. So we're quite used to it with squash or things like that.

You know, you can buy the little, little bottles of squash that have been super, super concentrated and all that means is that they have more of the ingredients in and less water. So they're really strong in their, in their neat form and then you just add water to them to make them usable.

I think when I was doing my research again, there wasn't actually any concentrated products. There might have been a couple smaller ones. Now, now there's a few more, which is great.

And I hope that this is the way that, you know, most industries will go because a lot of the time we're shipping water around which is, is heavier. It's worth the environment. So to me it was really important that we took that step and made them concentrated.

Amazing. Thank you for sharing. I hadn't even thought about that. So is it.

So people receive a smaller bottle of the product and then do they decant it into something bigger water? Is that how it works?

Yes, so they do. So one thing about my product is it's a small bottle, but it's, it's, it's not just one. I call it a shot.

I don't know if that's the right word, but it's not. It won't just make one bottle.

So if you take your concentrate, pour it into your big spray bottle and add water, a lot of them will just make that one bottle. But when I started working on the packaging side of things, I realized that I just didn't want single use packaging of any sort.

So I had a really, you know, big think and I thought should we do like a massive bottle that you do? You know, that might be like 10 bottles. But then again I looked at the costs of that and I thought this is, this is just too, too, too expensive.

So we kind of compromised and we got three, three or four depending on your, your final usage. So if I explain it a bit better than that, both concentrates 100 ML bottles. The bathroom you use 33.3 mils.

You pour that into your forever bottle and that's all marked on the side. You don't have to measure it out or anything. You literally top up with water, top up with soap, top up with water. So it's really easy.

So your one concentrate for bathroom will make you three bathroom sprays. So you know you're buying one and then that'll probably last you anywhere between two months, three months.

It depends how much you clean your bathroom really. They're all.

The all purpose concentrate is the same as 100 mil bottle but that would make five bottles of multipurpose because it's a smaller concentrate, it's a smaller amount that you need or it would make two bottles of multi purpose and two bottles of kitchen.

So it's a little bit complicated but we're trying to explain it as much as we can kind of on social media and show the videos and trying to get that message across. But essentially, you know, you're spending a little bit more on your concentrate but that's lasting you a lot longer.

And then the cost per bottle is actually quite cheap. It's kind of more economical than some of the pre mixed eco sprays.

That makes sense. And then can people buy those spray bottles from you as well?

Yes. So yeah, we sell the, the labeled forever bottles. Again they, they have the markings on the bottle so you wouldn't have to buy them.

But it definitely makes your life easier because one, they look really nice and two, they've got the markings on the side. And we do have an option there of a glass bottle for people who want that kind of different feel. Not every. If the glass isn't for everybody.

As a professional cleaner I couldn't have carried around glass bottles because they're just so heavy. But they do look really, really nice on the side, you know, on your windowsill. So the both options are there.

Oh, that's amazing. And I never thought until you said it about.

And I think it's actually something I saw in your social media, Lauren, about the fact that so much water is being shipped around and I guess it really got me thinking that a lot of this probably is unnecessary.

Yeah, it's. Yeah.

I mean there's so majority, if you look at the majority of products it will be water first and even on ours it does say water because there is still a little, you still need a little bit.

Yeah, but you know, it's so, it's so different and water's heavy and then you've got to think about the kind of CO2 from, you know, transportation as well as everything else. And it's just there is no need. I mean we could concentrate so many products.

I think that's so clever because I hadn't actually thought about the fact that of course we can all turn on the tap or most of us can turn on the tap and add water at home.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's just there.

So yeah, it's and also you've got to think that every time you concentrate something you, I've got less packaging because you're getting a smaller bottle as well.

So instead of kind of your 500 mil spray bottle being something you have to recycle every time, if you've got a concentrate where you're refilling, you can just use that infinite times. I mean especially the, the plastic we use is ocean safe. Ocean safe, what's the word? Prevented ocean plastic.

So it's kind of second or you know, third generation even. It's, it's, it's been, it's, it's plastic that's been stopped going in the ocean and then reused, repurposed and then that is infinitely reusable.

So you know, it's just the whole purpose behind these products is, is that they're multi use, they're multipurpose, you don't need to buy them all the time. They're, you know, you'll buy them once and then that will last you for X amount of months and then the bottle will last you for, hopefully for life.

That's such a great idea.

And I think it's also like nice to have the convenience of doing it at home as well because I, I don't know if you've got one of these near you, but where I live in Kent there are a couple of these refill shops. So you could take your spray bottle and go and fill up with a cleaning product.

I couldn't tell you what it is from the refill shop as you can your pasta and you know, dried things. But then that means saving your containers going somewhere.

I know it's not a big inconvenience, it really shouldn't be, but it can sometimes feel like it. So I think it's really good that this is something that people can do at home as well because I think convenience is just key for lots of us.

Yeah, that was something again. I, I, I've just been, the amount of thought that I've got into these products is quite staggering.

The amount of years I've been like going back and round in circles and just, and that was one of the big questions. But I have five kids, you know, some of them are quite young as I said, we have, I mean they're now six, but we've got twins at the bottom.

I, I can't even make it to those shops.

I can't, I haven't got the head space to go and refill and I felt terrible all the time for not doing it and yeah, to me, if this pops through your letter box and you can then refill, it's. It's really easy. It doesn't take up much space in your cupboard to say, you know, you don't have to like, say it save.

You don't have to store like a massive 5 liter somewhere. It's literally 100 mil bottle, which is like the size of a small cosmetics bottle. Yeah, it's.

It's easy because it is so unique. So you've put a lot of force into all of this and I think what you're offering is different to anything else that I've seen.

If you combine all of the elements of what you're offering, how easy or hard has that been to communicate to customers? Because it is different.

Yeah, I think it's quite hard. I think.

I think we're still going through the process of trying to refine, get all the messages across because actually, I didn't really realize, you know, there's quite a lot of messages there and that is quite tricky, I must admit. Yes. And I, yeah, definitely haven't got it perfect yet, but we just continually trying to work on the copy for the website.

I'm just trying to get that message across. But yeah, you're right, it's a challenge when you've got kind of multiple USPs, as it were. Yeah.

And I mean, it's great, isn't it? Because obviously it gives you a lot to talk about, but it must be hard to get all of the messages across.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. And so where, how and where are you selling your products at the moment?

At the moment, on the website. So that's kind of launched now and. Yeah, kind of exploring other avenues, just setting up Amazon at the moment. So. Yeah.

And then we will be launching into smaller shops as soon as we're able to. Yeah.

Oh, amazing. So is that something that you. That you've got lined up or is that on the plans for next year? I should say we're recording this in December.

Yes. Yeah, I would say early next year. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I will let you know once they're available other places.

It's really exciting because you mentioned this has taken a long time to develop. So how long was the development process and how long have the products been available to say, just to give people an idea?

Because I think we're all under the misconception that things happen quickly. So I think it's really good to share that.

Okay, so I think development in total took about three years. It could have been quicker, possibly. I don't know.

I don't know if it could have been quicker, but I obviously have young kids, I'm running another business, like the cleaning business.

I possibly took me a bit longer, but having spoken to quite a few manufacturers, they seem to say like, yeah, this, this kind of product takes years to develop because you'll think you've got somewhere with it and then suddenly something will react to something else and then you have to start again and start reformulating and then you've got to do your compatibility test and then you've got to do your stability tests and yeah, it's a long process. Plus manufacturers are busy, very busy.

Especially when you're, you know, a startup company, you're not ordering, you know, the huge, huge amounts that some of the big brands are. So, you know, you won't be priority either. So, yeah, it takes ages, honestly. And then obviously just trying to spread the word is slow as well.

Yeah, I'm always kind of listening out for other product businesses, how they've done it. But yeah, they launched for sale. I can't think where we are now. I think it was August. They launched for sale on the website.

We were causing early to very early December. So that really isn't a long time at all.

It's not at all, no. Right in the beginning.

And thank you for sharing as well about the timelines because as I said, I think it's easy to assume that things happen quickly and easily. So what's. Is there a lot of. Imagine there is. How do you cope with. Because you seem very relaxed about.

I think something like panic me is all of the compliance and making sure the products are safe and can be used on people. How did you find that process? Because I think I would have. That would have really failed me. I think.

It'S been fine. I mean, yeah, I just took advice from. I think the thing is that once I got. From using my freelance chemist and then I took lots of advice from them.

They know what they're talking about, they do it all the time. So I didn't have to become an expert in that, but I did a lot of research, I mean, I must say.

And then we had the whole thing of like the rules all changing because, you know, after, you know, leaving Europe and then there was a certain thing where one regulation stopped and another regulation came in. So then things changed.

So, yeah, we've had to change the label a few times, but again, the manufacturers and the chemists and if that's their job, that's their bread and butter. So they do Know what they're talking about. I would also say that in this industry, there's not enough regulation.

I think there's a lot more in cosmetics, and that really worries me. So it's something that I. I could have. I could have launched them from my house with no. No testing, no regulations, that. That would still be okay.

And that. That was something I was not going to do.

Wow. So you. So you could be selling them on your website and you could be making them in your kitchen. Wow.

I assume that you would need further testing if you were going to, you know, try and sell them in stores and. Yeah, and different things, but, yes. Yeah. That is scary, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that was a kind of key decision of mine, that everything had to be manufactured safe because one of my, you know, major drivers of doing this is that. So people don't really think about the link between cleaning products and health.

And there is a statistic that I heard a while back that a professional cleaner is 25% more likely to get lung cancer, which is really scary. And you can only really relate that to the cleaning products.

People that walk, you know, they used to work historically in kind of like traditional laundries as well. And if you then start to think about it, you think you're breathing this, you're spraying something and you. It's. You're literally breathing it in.

So it starts to make a lot of sense. So I knew that I wanted to try and make things safer, healthier for people who clean some, you know, some.

You don't have to be a professional cleaner to clean a lot. Some people really enjoy cleaning, but I don't want to put. I don't want people to be at risk from their cleaning products.

So for me, that's a natural step to making sure that they're highly compliant and highly regulated.

Thank you. And how easy or difficult was it to find a manufacturer that could do what you wanted?

Because as you mentioned, you're like a startup brand, small production runs. Was that an easy thing to find?

I didn't find it too difficult, actually.

I think that's really positive.

No, I think it's this testament to a couple of smaller brands in the cleaning product sector that have done really well. And I think they probably would have found it from kind of reading their websites and just hearing things from manufacturers.

I think they would have found it a lot harder. I think they did the hard work, and then it wasn't.

I'm not saying it was easy, but there are websites out there that where you can put a pitch on, you know, say, this is my product, this is what I want, and then manufacturers will contact you. I think it's. It's a particular website that can cosmetics companies use quite a lot. So I used that.

But again, I had to do quite a lot of research to get to that point and I think if I hadn't found that website, then I wouldn't have kind of managed to contact the manufacturers. But, yeah, they were all quite open to the idea. Negotiating smaller product runs, that was. That was harder.

Yeah, I can imagine. And also, I guess, negotiating. Did you have to do any negotiation around where you came in the queue, as it were?

Ah, yeah. I mean, I think you just are at the bottom. I think there's no negotiation there. You just have to accept it.

Yeah, I mean, some of them, if they're dealing with large, large companies, they're. They're producing, you know, a lot for them. So, yeah, it's just. It's just the pecking order of things, I think. Yeah.

But then, you know, this is a problem for now, but, you know, in time it will become less of an issue.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm hopeful of that, definitely.

I have heard, one manufacturer told me that they've heard of people basically bringing all the manufacturing in house, so getting a warehouse, getting all the equipment and getting their own team. So, yeah, who knows? I don't know where we'll go, but I'd rather not.

Yeah, that's a big responsibility, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely.

Oh, that's exciting. So, yeah, so I'm so excited to speak to you and right at the beginning of your journey as well.

So we might have to have you back on in another year and see. See where things are. So thank you for. You've shared, Lauren.

And before I leave you today, can you let me know what your number one piece of advice would be for other product creators? Oh.

I think. And everyone says it, don't they? But just know who your market is, what, what you're here for. Like, just know it and then possibly make choices.

Let your choices be kind of governed by that as well. Because, you know, once you're marketing, once you're selling, that's all you have to think about, isn't it? It's getting it to the right people.

So perhaps you might have, if you knew that right at the beginning, with a really clear head, perhaps you might make different choices to what you would assume that you would make. So, yeah, I think that's the major thing.

I think that's Great advice. Thank you. And it's really clear that you're so clear on what your USPs are and what your messages are.

And yeah, that must make it so much easier to talk about your products and to get the message out there.

I hope so. I mean, they're great and I should have probably said earlier. So with, with my allergies, the. I was, I was just going to have an unfragranced option.

But then thinking back to like, the reason why I started all this about something smelling nice and making the house smell good is because it actually makes us feel really good when things smell really good.

So a lot of my work was around working out how to have a low allergen fragrance because I knew we couldn't use essential oils because they're quite highly allergenic. And I spoke to a kind of aromatherapist right at the beginning and she just said in her, in her opinion they're being massively overused.

So she highly recommended. We didn't go down that road.

And then I looked at, you know, most of them have lemonool and lemon limonene and things like that, which is quite highly common allergens. So they were out anyway. So, yeah, I had a low allergen fragrance created. So whilst they're all non toxic, low allergen, there is a.

The option of having a fragrance. So. And it smells really nice. I think a lot of people just assume that if it's, you know, lower allergen and non toxic, it just won't have a smell.

But we have that option. But yeah, it's really nice to have a nice smelling home. I think it is.

And I had made the same assumption, I'll be honest, I'd made the assumption that it wouldn't because often those eco friendly, gentle cleaners like you say they don't smell of anything.

Yeah, yeah.

Which is a bit of a shame because if you spend the time cleaning your house, you want to want it to smell like you've just cleaned it.

Yes, it's good to have the option, I think. Definitely. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for everything you shared, Lauren. So we're going to link through to your website, your social media and everything else in the show notes and thank you.

Brilliant. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for listening. Right to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources on my website, vickyweinberg.com Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.