But probably averaging about a hundred hours a week, just with that job. It was a very busy job. So when I was starting Murphy’s and creating the idea of it, it was all side hustle, so it was additional time. But I, when I decided to do this, it was about a year before I left and I started working on it, I knew that I had to be, true to my employer. I mean, they were employing me. I was a hundred percent commission which is a unique structure. But nonetheless, you know, they were my employer.

They, you know, was there for 23 years. I was, I was going to do the job. And do it well. so I actually even did better during the time that. I was starting Murphy’s I think, cause I had to manage my time even better than before. So I left, left everything in good hands when I moved on, but I think what it was for me is I was reaching a point in time where I told myself I have got to do one of these things.

I absolutely have to. It’s fine to put away these ideas. some of them. were good. Some of them weren’t good. and time tells that yes. And so, I, I just said I can’t go forward and have regret. So what better time than now? So I ended up leaving and what ultimately happened was, created Murphy’s based off of a need I had at home solving a problem. And that’s what I ended up doing.

Trevor: So now do you feel like the experience that you had kind of with the company that you were working with, would you be as well-suited to be the CEO and founder of Murphy’s today, if you hadn’t had that experience? Do you feel like you could have gained that elsewhere or, talk a little bit about that? 

Philip: It would have been hard to gain that elsewhere. And again, the culture was very, entrepreneurial and they gave us all a lot of room to do things creatively and in our job again, it was a sales job, but we had to be sourcing experts. We had to be creative experts. We had to be salespeople. We had to be consultants. And I learned so much, in the process and, you know, I worked with both industrial manufacturers and I also worked with retailers. And with industrial manufacturers I would go in and we would help them Be more efficient. whether through it was equipment systems, that we would design and sell for them or, if it was through the packaging that they used. and then on the retailer side, we work with them on designing packaging for products they sold at retail.

We did assembly work for them, kidding work, design, graphic design, structural design. So it’s very diverse. So having that diversity of work and having so many different responsibilities, it was really good. And I had managers who they would go over the P and L with us of our division, and They would talk about EBITDA and they would go through all of these sorts of things and, and knows that that was great insight on the business. So that was the long way of saying absolutely, that that experience set me up very nicely for being an entrepreneur. It was crucial. 

Trevor: I was going to say, well, I think it highlights a lot of the important things that you said, you had a broad base of experience that was directly applicable into what you’re doing now. And you had managers who were kind of taking you along. It seems like piece by piece. So how much of that do you try to bring over to what you’re doing now at Murphy’s or are you trying to encourage that entrepreneurial culture with Murphy’s?

Philip: Oh, yeah, sure, absolutely. You know, and we did have a really good culture there for many years where I used to work and cultures important. But really the greatest inspiration came from some of my customers. The customers that I had during those years and the most influential one, and this is a customer I had for two decades was The Body Shop. And the body shop was founded by Anita Roddick. I Actually read Anita Roddick’s book, called body and soul, and I read that before I ever started calling on them. So I had been working for what became xpedx for probably a couple years. And I read this book, by Anita Roddick, because I was fascinated, it’s about entrepreneurial-ism and, how she started her company and her brand.

And it really resonated me with. me how she did it, how she was Very much focused on creating products made from natural ingredients. And she was also focused on products that came from communities, where componentry came from communities, where they had a focus on sustainability and community fair trade.

And then also, the fact that her team was So passionate about what they did. And I worked with their team in the US and I worked with their team in the UK, and I would travel over to England all the time and work with them. And it was amazing, to me how passionate everyone was about the mission and vision of the company. and she was a pioneer, she was doing natural products before many were, she was certainly a pioneer in community fair trade, but she cared about her people. And that all resonated with me, and I knew that if I were ever to Start a company or start a brand, that it would be based on the same principles that Anita Roddick had when she started The Body Shop out of her kitchen at home. 

Trevor: Well, so one question that comes to my mind there is, is as you talk about that passion and the passion that you saw in The Body Shop, and you know, I looked through kind of the marketing materials associated with Murphy’s, you you’ve got the sense of mission and purpose and giving back to the community, it got me thinking about, you know, how do you instill that kind of passion or that view in your company? Do you hire other people who already likeminded, do you kind of pass it down from the leadership team down? Talk a little bit about how you build that culture and make sure that the team is all kind of pulling in that direction.

Philip: Well, I think one of the first things you have to do is establish a mission in a vision for your company. one that makes sense. One that can be easily digested. So when I was looking at potential mission statements, I was looking at some of the ones that were out there. Some of them were so long and just very difficult. And I knew for me, I needed to be able to recite it. I needed to be able to speak at very easily. And ours is to celebrate nature and inspire good through quality natural products. They’re not a lot of words in that. it’s very concise, but each word has a meaning and it relates to what we do. 

And then our vision is to be the leading natural products company for outdoor living. So that’s our space natural products for outdoor living, and that’s the space where we’re going to live as a company. And I think it’s really important, to have a strong and meaningful mission statement and then to have a clear vision for your brand and your company. And when you have that as a foundation and then you live that mission and you’re true to that mission and everything that you do, then what happens is you attract people who are attracted to that mission and that vision. 

And because we established ourselves on the same principles that Anita Roddick did when she did The Body Shop, because we use the same similar principles, we also attracted people who were passionate about that. and we didn’t start the business in that way because we thought, oh, great this is the right timing this is what people are looking for, these are going to be matching up with the consumer trends, or this is going to attract a bunch of people that are interested. We did it because that’s who we are and what we are. 

So it’s gratifying to see how many people there are that are out there, and we have had many people, many, of our employees who have found us rather than us finding them. And I’m so grateful that we’re the company that we are, because we would have never attracted the type of people that we’ve attracted the talent that we’ve attracted, if we weren’t that. So sometimes doing good and being good, helps out in a lot of ways.

Trevor: It’s always nice when it does pay off, but you know, he’d do it cause that’s who you are. I think the, in the first place. Do you worry about keeping that vision and keeping that passion as the company grows? I mean, is it a concern that at some point you get to be too big that these ideals can’t hold through or, or how do you, how do you manage to that?

Philip: Well, that’s my responsibility and the responsibility of our leadership to make sure we live that mission. And we do that all the time and we have, a culture of respect and appreciation at Murphy’s Naturals. And it doesn’t matter who you are, what you do in that organization, you’re important. You’re to be respected and respect is to be given to everyone throughout the organization, and there also needs to be a level of appreciation that goes along with that. Appreciation for the, fact that people choose to work at Murphy Naturals, that they choose to be passionate about we are what we are and what we do, and they put their all in every day. 

And when you have that, sort of a culture, then that mission and vision continues on and it lives. If you don’t, it will fade and we’re not going to let that happen. 

Trevor: Good. I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves in some respects. So I do want to back up and kind of get to the, you talk about this, you’ve had all these different ideas over the years. You’ve got them filed away, what is it made the idea for Murphy’s Natural standout or, or what was it that you finally selected on that, that this is the business that I’m going to run with?

Philip: Trevor, I mentioned before I had lots of ideas and some of them in hindsight we’re good ideas and some of them were not but the ones that tended to be good ideas were the ones that solved the problem. And that’s what we did. My wife, Pam’s a mosquito magnet. She pretty much can’t go to the mailbox without getting a mosquito bite.

I like to be outdoors. Mosquitoes were keeping her from being outdoors and, I love my wife, I love spending time with her and we really didn’t care for deet products. We grew up using them. They work of course, but we didn’t feel good about them. Plus deet degrades your gear, it’ll degrade plastics even degrade your watch crystal. So, it wasn’t something that we felt good about using and so I started looking for a natural product that worked and I struggled to find anything.

I was looking at candle products. I was looking at all sorts of things, and most of those were petroleum-based. many of them were synthetic based. And the naturals that I found out there usually weren’t a hundred percent natural. They were just partially natural, and the EPA I found out because they, regulate repellents or what you would call a pesticide. They, regulate very closely what you put in a product in terms of the active and inert ingredients, you have to go by their lists. But what they don’t do, is they don’t regulate the percentages you have to put in. 

And so those natural, essential oils, like rosemary, citronella, lemon grass, they actually work very well, but they’re very expensive. So you have to put enough of a concentration of them in your product for them to work well, and because that’s not regulated, a lot of the big brands put trace amounts in. They comply with the ingredient listing, but they put trace amounts, which keeps their costs very low, but at the same time, it makes the product less effective. 

So when I realized what the challenge was, I went the opposite of that. So our product is a more expensive. product, so it costs more, but it works. It works a whole lot better. That was the secret. It was saying, okay, we’re going to be a brand that puts out quality natural products. And that’s, that’s how we did it, by putting a high percentage of those active ingredients. And then not just using one like citronella, it was putting a combination of ingredients together. So you had a broader spectrum of coverage against all the mosquito species that are out there, and there are A lot. 

But to go back to your question, it was, it was really solving a problem that we had right at home. And I always encourage people just in your daily life look for challenges, and if you can find a solution to those challenges, you might have a product. 

Trevor: Well, the story really resonates with me because my wife, I think, is very similar to your wife, Pam, because she’ll go outside and have six mosquito bites and I’m like, I’ve been out here four hours, I haven’t had a single one. So the story definitely resonates, but you know, I’m, I’m intrigued by this idea. So you’ve, you’ve identified this problem, but then how do you go about creating a, I mean, where you literally like at your kitchen stove, mixing ingredients together until you found the one that worked the best or, talk about that process.

Philip: It was a combination of things. So I also had a friend who worked with natural products. So he did a little bit of work for me. I also did some work myself, had them put together different combinations of ingredients and those formulations ultimately led to Murphy’s. 

Trevor: That’s great. And, and how did you, were you convinced that you’ve gone far enough or that this was the right product and you didn’t need to keep iterating.

Philip: Well, what I realized is that, this was an incredible opportunity. It was very difficult to find a natural, mosquito repellent product on the market that worked well or it was genuinely natural. So I saw incredible white space with that and opportunity. And I thought, well, if this is a problem for us, it has to be a problem for many.

And that’s why I decided this is going to be the one. This is going to be the product. And so it was born out of our garage in north Raleigh, where Pam, Murphy and I, you know, would be out there. and then it graduated from there, but I saw the opportunity for the product. and I knew there was a need. So that’s why I decided to pursue that. 

Trevor: So then once you have the product, you know, talk a little bit about how you get eyes on the product, or how do you, you know, in this, this crowded field, how do you get people to try your product, to convince them that this is, you know, really you are a natural product and you’re not like these other competitors who are kind of messing with the recipes.

Philip: That’s, that’s a really good point. And fortunately, some of the experience I had working with retailers, I had a decent understanding of visual merchandising and packaging. So I knew that I needed to create a product that looked different from what was on the market, because it was different from what was on the market. And so I created a very bright, vibrant packaging that would stand out because one of the first things you want to do is you want to attract the eye of the consumer and you can get them there so that they’ll pick up your product. And once you’ve done that, you’re Well on your way to a purchase. so it created vibrant packaging.

And the thing is when I first went to a trade show and introduced it for the first time, and that’s how people learned about it, the first time was by going to a trade show in Atlanta. And I remember the first couple buyers that came up and showed an interest and then one placed an order and I was like, oh, this is fantastic. People are interested in, you know, I had bought 20, some thousand dollars’ worth of product just thinking, okay, if this doesn’t work, I’ll, there’ll be great gifts to give to people and use them myself. Well, people started buying it and I quickly realized oh, this, is, this is an opportunity people at retail, like. it, they liked the packaging. And so that was great encouragement.

So those were some of the things. That I did. And I made sure that we did is that we, we created a package that would stand out at retail and I didn’t know if it was going to sell or not. I really, I really, didn’t. Fortunately, I still had a full-time job when I first introduced it. So I had a backup, plan. But yeah, it caught on.

Trevor: So at what point where you’re comfortable enough to say like, yeah, this is, this has got legs and it’s going to continue on and you know, was there a moment where that was there, was that, that just grow over time? 

Philip: Both I’m trying to think if there was a single moment. I think just seeing that interest in our product initially was a lot of, encouragement. And again, I was in sales for a long time and, and I was really fascinated by the idea of selling something to a retailer that they could make money on versus selling something that was a cost basis because when I would sell them packaging and things like that, that was a cost. But this was actually something they could sell at retail. So that was fascinating to me as well, it’s a different type of sell. But just to see, see the acceptance, and then we launched it on the Amazon one summer. And it, did so well, and that was a lot of encouragement and the reviews started coming in and we were getting tons of five-star reviews and I thought, okay, this is a really good sign. So all of those were encouragement. 

Trevor: Can you talk to me a little bit about that? So, you know, you mentioned selling through retailers, you mentioned selling through Amazon, you know, you have your sales through your direct website. What are the pros and cons of kind of each of those channels? And is it really just an effort of trying to get as many channels out there as possible for your sales or, or what are some of the benefits or drawbacks of each of those?

Philip: I think there’s challenges with each one and I think it depends on your product type and your category. We didn’t even sell on our website in the beginning and part of the reason was I didn’t have the ability to do but so much. So it was launched on Amazon, doing a fulfillment by Amazon. So basically we would send inventory to the Amazon warehouses. We would sell on their platform We would pay the fees associated with that. 

But we’re able to get a lot of visibility early on, especially when the reviews started to add up in a positive way, but I didn’t have to do the packing of those orders and the fulfillment of those orders. I just didn’t have the bandwidth to do all of that. So that was a great way for proof of concept, and because we weren’t selling it on our website at the time that came quite a bit later and only just a few years ago actually. But selling it at retail was important too, but where we sold that, retail was incredibly important and I received some good advice early on.

And that advice was when you’re selling your product, and you’re putting it on the shelves at retailers, make sure that that retailer is helping to build your brand equity. So if you go and you sell your product at a discount store from the very beginning, you’re always, going to be identified. With that retailer. but if you go in and you sell it at higher branded retailers, ones that where you’re on their shelves, it brings that brand equity and where people will speak to it, that makes a big difference. 

So we started in garden centers and small hardware stores that sort of place and grew into places like Wegmans all high-quality retailers, where if you’ve gone through that vetting process, then you must be a good. because if you’re on the shelves of Wegmans, Mom’s Organic Market, other ones like that, people know. You know, you’ve been tested. They’ve gone through the process to make sure that you’re a legit and good natural product, which gives people the confidence in buying it. 

And so building our reputation on those shelves was incredibly important. So we’ve had a slower grow at retail for that reason. We didn’t want to go too fast, but now it’s accelerating it quite a bit, but we’re still not going to go just anywhere. It still needs to work for our brand. 

Trevor: And so if I’m understanding you correctly, so some of these retailers then serve as almost a vetting function that you can advertise out to other people or say, well, you know, we’re here. 

Philip: Exactly. 

Trevor: Our product must be high quality. 

Philip: Exactly. So when we go to speak to other retailers and they say, well, where are you sold? Well, if You say we sell at XYZ discount retailer kind of like, okay, I’m fine. But if we’re able to say we’re on the shelves of Wegman’s where on the shelves at Mom Organic Market, we’re on the shelves of Whole Food, that’s going to make a big difference. and that’s going to lower that hurdle, for them making that purchasing decision. 

Trevor: Interesting. So if you could take back one decision from these early days of starting the company or, or getting rolling, what would that be? 

Philip: Probably building the team a little bit more aggressively early on would have been one of the things we, I really tested my team. We, we had a few people wearing a lot of hats, and that was challenging. So I think to be fair to the staff of would have brought more people on sooner, but that’s hard too, because that’s a cost and, and you want to scale. But we’ve done that, and a couple years ago, we had about eight employees and now we have about 35. So it’s a lot of growth and we brought in talent people with experience, people that know a lot of those things that I might not, know, I might know a little love, but I don’t. know enough about. 

And also we have some really smart people who may not have had experience who have gained so much experience and they’re just bright. They’re motivated, they’re passionate and they learn the business. So having that combination of both has been really rewarding and it’s, it’s helped us build a great team, But I would say maybe starting that that build a little bit sooner. 

Trevor: Okay. And did you have any early production challenges? I mean, as you start to grow your sales and you have a smaller team trying to, you know, build the, build out this product, was that a challenge at all? Or how did you meet that? 

Philip: Yeah. So when we first started, we weren’t making the product. We had someone else make our incense and candle products. And we still have someone else make our incense products, but we brought the candle manufacturing in-house and now we manufacture 15 of our 20 skews in house here in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I like being a manufacturer. I like having the ability to control the quality, have eyes on it. I also like employing from the local community as well, but there’s a certain satisfaction out of making. 

Now there’s going to be times where it doesn’t make sense for us to make, where the equipment required or the regulatory required is better suited for a third party to do it, but we’re absolutely going to be a hundred percent involved in that formulary and go through all the processes we need to, to make sure it’s a high-quality natural product. But for certain, we had challenges trying to get product out. And I’ve hired college students that help kind of doing a second shift or we called it a tiger team. And so I would help during the day and I would help during the night it was just doing everything we could to produce product.

Then we bought equipment. so we could start doing higher volume manufacturing and there were challenges with some of the equipment early on. So we did a better job of finding the right equipment after that. so there were definitely things along the way we could have done better. I don’t know that I would’ve changed it, because not doing it perfectly meant that there were a lot of lessons learned, which are valuable now. 

Trevor: For sure. Now I understand that your experience with Murphy’s led you to another startup that you’re involved with. Can you tell us a little bit about Loading Dock?

Philip: Sure. So the Loading Dock is a coworking and co warehousing space, and the interesting thing about the Loading Dock is with Murphy’s, we started in the garage, and then I went to a little 2000 square foot space. And what I really needed is I needed a loading dock, meaning I needed a place where trucks could back up to deliver pallets and take pallets. We actually had a tractor trailer come onto our col-de-sac by accident one time, instead of going to another location, they went to the billing address instead of the, and you can imagine a tractor trailer on a small col-de-sac and 

Trevor: get a letter from your HOA.

Philip: well, no We have great neighbors actually. We’ve been in the same, on the same cul-de-sac for 25 years is our first home and we’re still there, so wonderful neighbors. A lot of them had been there that entire time we’ve been there which is unusual. But no, we just, we just knew, okay. We, we can’t let that happen anymore. So I went and I found a place that had a loading dock is 2000 square feet.

I had to sign a lease for it I had to personally guarantee it. which is a challenge you don’t want to have to personally guarantee a lease because what if your business doesn’t thrive, you’re still obligated for that lease, and so there’s that. And then we outgrew it in six months. but I had a multi-year lease. So I was using storage units or friend warehouse to cobble it all together, very challenging. Plus I had to buy all the things. I had to buy pallet jacks. I had to buy hand trucks, all of that. and I was very much isolated. I was on my own. 

So when we were moving to our current location, over at Dock 1053, I was looking at the space and it was this huge warehouse that was mostly abandoned that they were going to upfit and I thought this’ll be a great place, but I thought I need more space. I want to secure more space than we actually need. And I thought, well, how do I do that? Because I can’t pay for space now that I need later. So I was familiar with the co-working concept. 

So I decided to, why don’t I launch a coworking space and share it. And then I thought well, what I really needed was warehouse space, so why don’t I do a co warehouse space along with it, where people could come and they could have month to month obligations and they could do the front of office with the co warehousing, excuse me, with the coworking and office suites. But they could also do the operational side with the co warehouse, but They wouldn’t have the obligation of a lease that they personally guaranteed. So I decided I’m going to do that, because that’s exactly what I needed. And so because the need was of a loading dock, that was that pivotal asset that I needed with that first space. We decided to call it the Loading Dock. 

Trevor: I think that’s great. I mean, again, it’s, you’ve found a problem that you had, you solve that problem and it’s serving so many others. 

Philip: And it does. And, I’m passionate about entrepreneurial-ism and I waited till late in my career before I became, an entrepreneur. and I thought about the fact, of what if what if I hadn’t? What if I, I never did anything and I kept filing the ideas away. There would have been regret in later years that I never did anything. And I think a lot of people don’t venture off and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams because I think those hurdles to entrepreneurial-ism are too high.

Right? so for me with the loading dock and us being able to lower those hurdles to entrepreneurial-ism, to me, that’s exciting because this is perhaps going to get some people who otherwise might’ve been too risk averse to give it a try, because their downside is protected in this instance. So we’re facilitating that, we’re giving them the space and, the tools and a community. 

Trevor: Well, I’m glad you ended up with community because as I was thinking, in addition to lowering that cost, you’re surrounding them with other companies that may be experiencing similar, you know, similar challenges that they are and have the opportunity to kind of build that community and help each other to grow. So have you seen that kind of develop around a Loading Dock? 

Philip: That’s, that’s the most valuable part. of the Loading Dock. It’s not, it’s not the assets, it’s the community that we have. So we have a fantastic team at the Loading Dock. They’re unbelievable. So I’m really fortunate. person to have two incredible teams, and many of our members have worked for both companies, but yeah, the community that’s developed amongst our membership. at the loading dock is really the most valuable thing. 

And it’s great. to see how people come together and help each other because everyone has a different level of experience and different challenges and for people, and this includes Murphy’s, for us to help each other out and to solve problems and to just commiserate it makes all the difference in the world. And when I was on my own starting, I would have loved to have had a community of people. I could have run ideas past or where do you get this? How do you do this? 

Whether it be things you need from a legal perspective and accounting perspective, a supply perspective, creative, graphic design, structural design perspective, all of those things, people have different levels of experience. And when everyone can share in that it makes all the difference in the world. 

Trevor: Well, he may have just covered it, but I was wondering if there was a specific incident that stood out for, for Murphy’s where kind of being in that coworking space has benefited your company?

Philip: Oh, absolutely. the synergies that we get from it. So not only have we benefited companies that have grown up in the Loading Dock, they’ve benefited us as well. So for instance, we have two brands that are in Target now that started out of the loading dock where we’ve made the introductions and they’ve been able in they’re on the shelves there. And so that’s, that’s gratifying, but also we’ve had some of them introduce us to buyers to help us so that We could get on the shelves of other retailers.

So that’s that was a real added benefit, but the greatest benefit that we have beyond that collaborative community is many people who are members at the loading dock have come to work for us. So you think about businesses that are there and you know, this has never poaching anyone’s employees. But we have employees now that were members and for instance, one company sold, right. and, so they were relocating everybody to Ohio. We have four employees that came from that company that now work or it’s actually five, five employees and a variety of disciplines and, how fortunate was that.

So we knew most of these people had gotten to know them and then we have other employees too, who are making transitions, learned about us and wanted to join our team either the Loading Dock team or the Murphy’s team. So we’ve been fortunate in that respect, but the energy that you have in a space like that, when there’s so much creativity, that’s good for us, it keeps everything fresh and that energy is just something, that builds upon itself. 

Trevor: Yeah. I mean, it’s just a great to have that opportunity to be around other companies that are kind of doing the same type of thing and being able to help each other. So talk to me a little bit. How about how the pandemics impacted both Murphy’s and the Loading Dock, if you will. 

Philip: Well, sure. well, as you can imagine, a pandemic is not good for coworking, but we actually, because of the co warehousing aspect, we stayed very busy throughout the pandemic. Many of the businesses were classified as essential, so they were able, to continue to work and the Loading Dock classified as essential as well. So while we didn’t have many people, in the co working space, we did have plenty of people in the co warehouse space. But the fascinating thing about that is many of the coworking spaces around the country were down 50 to 80% in terms of their revenue. this is a tribute to our membership and our members, even though they weren’t coming, continued to pay their monthly dues.

And some came in and they because there weren’t many people there, they were certainly able to social distance, but that was so gratifying to have people continue to pay. They could have easily said we’re not paying; we’re not going to be coming in, stop, and that would have stopped the flow of cash coming into us. We were actually revenue flat during 2020. So when you think about other spaces down 80%, many of them closing their doors. I know other ones here locally did better than that, but to be revenue flat in 2020 for our type of business was incredible. So very gratifying to have a community like that that would have supported us like we support them. 

On the Murphy side, it was a real transitional year. That’s where we started the year with eight people and we actually added tons of employees during that year. People were discovering the outdoors for the first time You couldn’t go to the movie theater. You couldn’t do so many things. So people who weren’t camping, weren’t hiking, weren’t hanging out in their backyard grilling, before, that’s what they started doing a lot. And of course the mosquitoes found them and fortunately they found Murphy’s. So we really had a tremendous growth year in 2020, and continued that into 21 and 22’s looking like a banner year for us as well.

So the pandemic was actually good for us. But we were also able to make a pivot during the pandemic, hand sanitizer was almost impossible to get and we made a pivot and we realized that we had all the ingredients you needed for hand sanitizer. We had bottles and caps that we use for our lemon eucalyptus soil, mosquito repellent spray. And we thought, okay, all we really need to do is create new labels. So we started by just making, making it and handing it out to people in the coworking community. And we even went door to door and started delivering it, to different parts of the city. Cause we just knew people couldn’t get it. We donated it to you know, fire departments, police departments, different things. 

And then we got a, a call from the US Navy one weekend. It was on a Saturday and they said, we hear you’re making hand sanitizer. And I was like, well, yes sort of a little bit. And they said, we need it. We need this amount, can you do it? And I was like, well, we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out. So over the course of that weekend I reached out to our graphic designer, we, we would have to make FDA compliant labels to go on these bottles. It has to be done. and We’re already looking into it. So I said, we need to get this done, can you Work on it over the weekend? They said, absolutely. We’ll Have it ready for you Monday morning. I called the label manufacturer. I said, this is why we need it, this is what it’s for. They pivoted, they said, you get us the artwork Monday morning, we’ll get it into manufacture by Tuesday. They got it into manufacture by Tuesday, they overnighted the labels to us. We were making the hand sanitizer, filling the bottles labeling them, and we shipped on that Wednesday afternoon.

And I think that first order was about 7,000 bottles that they needed to go to the Navy. So that was gratifying. When, when there’s things are tough, you want to help, and sometimes it’s hard to find something that makes a difference, although I’ll say the littlest things make a difference, but it was really gratifying, to be able to pivot that quickly, have everyone in our supply chain pivot that quickly and come together, to be able to do that. Now sanitizer made up maybe 3% of our revenues that year. but that 3%, was really valuable and really meaningful. 

Trevor: Well, I want to kind of go back to that idea of again, helping the community out. And we’ve talked about this a little bit, but I wonder if you could speak to, because there’s this concept on your, on your website about the dog concept, right? So it’s doing others good? Talk to me a little bit about that.

Philip: Well, that’s, a, that’s one of our phrases doing others good and it’s no coincidence that those letters are dog. Murphy was a dog and so, that’s part of what we are, is doing others good. we are a certified B corporation. Some know what that is…

Trevor: For the listeners who don’t know what that is, what does that mean? 

Philip: so, there’s a certification that B labs has for a certified B corporation and it’s basically they go through a process when you choose to apply for it, it’s very difficult to become a B Corp. There are thousands of them around the world, but it’s very challenging to become one. We were already based on the principles that B Corp’s are about, so we’re able to qualify relatively quickly, but it’s based on a triple bottom line and its people, planet, profit. 

So it’s, it’s a certification for for-profit companies. So it’s mindful of the bottom-line profits but it’s also mindful of people. And planet, and it has to do with how you treat, your employees, the pay, the benefits, all the things that are associated and also the people in your community, what do you do Outreach. And we do volunteerism every quarter as a company. We do that together, and we also give 2% of our revenues every year. And That’s a big commitment. We’ve done it from first day. And That’s not of our profits 2% of our revenue.

So it’s a real commitment and that commitment in terms of dollars, just grows and grows as the company grows. And then planet. So it’s people, planet profit and planet is another one of the bottom lines and That’s about being good environmental stewards. We make natural products, but you can make a natural product. and it can have a negative side effect if Ingredient or some of those ingredients aren’t sustainably harvest. So we pay attention, to our supply chain, we only use products that can be sustainably harvest. Some of our products support community fair trade. 

So we hit on all of, those on all of those P’s, people, planet, profit, that triple bottom line, and B corps that’s, that’s the basis for what they’re about and They, they have the philosophy that businesses can be, a force for good. We want our business to be a force for good. 

Trevor: well, I love that and I love what you’re doing. What are some of the ways that you’ve served the community? You talk about these quarterly investments, but what are you doing on a quarterly basis? 

Philip: So when we initially started out we were doing donations to some global organizations, but We decided to make it more local in terms of contribution. we do have some national ones as Well, but we’re focused on many things. Like the, our biggest partner that we have is triangle. land Conservancy. That’s a nonprofit here in the triangle area, and we support them and we volunteer with them oftentimes. There’s also Earth Share North Carolina There’s also Activate Good which is actually a member, of the Loading Dock. And we work with all of them. 

Another thing too is of that 2% we commit to 1% for the planet, which we’re members of, and 1% for the planet is where you agree to give 1% of your revenues. So that’s half of our giving to organizations that fall under the 1% for the planet umbrella. And some of those organizations that I just mentioned are under that umbrella, Triangle Land Conservancy, Earth Share North Carolina, activate Good. So the nice thing is we can be participating in a national program but We can impact locally.

Trevor: I just, I love what all you’re doing with the company and the fact that you’re giving back and it’s not just money in the door. So I appreciate all you’re doing as a company. So we are the Founder Shares podcast. And so I always like to ask our guests, what’s one piece of advice that you would want to share with someone who’s thinking about starting a company?

Philip: Start it. that would be my, my advice. Start it, give it a go. 

Trevor: So if, if they say guy w how do they overcome their excuses? 

Philip: Well, I think the first thing they need to decide is what they want it to be. frame that with a mission statement and a vision. So you really need, to have that. There’s the principles of beginning with the end in mind. And I think it’s, it’s, it’s a good value. I believe Mr. Covey gave us that but that’s something that is important. So establishing once, you know, generally what it is you want to do establish that mission and vision, that will guide you and serve as guardrails for, for your venture. But the biggest thing is there’s so many obstacles to entrepreneurial-ism. I would just say, take that. step, 

Trevor: Well, Philip, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate that advice. I appreciate what you’re doing. how can our listeners get in touch with you, either for the Loading Dock or for Murphy’s? 

Philip: Sure. Thanks Trevor. Appreciate you having me on today. they can go to murphysnaturals.com for Murphy’s and for the loading dock, they can go to theloadingdock.com. 

Trevor: I appreciate it.

Philip: Thank you, Trevor. 

Trevor: That was Philip Freeman, CEO of Murphy’s Naturals and Founder of The Loading Dock, which you can find at MurphysNaturals.com and TheLoadingDock.com.  

By the way, Philip mentioned so many ways that he and his companies are giving back – Earth Share North Carolina, Activate Good, Triangle Land Conservency, and 1% for the Planet. If you’re interested in checking those out, we’ll put all of those links in the show notes.