Management Consultant by Day, Entrepreneur by Night by Anna Olsson Fladby
How to Embrace the Power of Starting Small
How did 2020 change what matters to you? For my now-husband Oskar and I, it was a year of transition. Working as management consultants, long hours in the office, commuting, and a lot of business trips were instantly replaced by long hours at home. Living in a small apartment in the city center of Stockholm, we didn’t usually spend that much time at home so this was completely new to us, as I am sure it was for you.
After a couple of weeks of deep diving into advanced cooking and re-organizing our entire household twice, we decided to strategize. Let me put this into perspective, Oskar and I are both extremely impatient people. If we were going to enjoy this time, we needed to do something with it. So we built habits. We committed to health challenges like “75 hard”, we picked up tennis and played after work, and we decided to test through all the new ‘biohacking’ stuff. Biohacking is the use of scientific and technological methods to improve and optimize the performance of the human body and mind. Some examples are nutritional supplements, exercise, and meditation. It quickly became our biggest passion.
Health has always been important to us. Oskar had played hockey at youth elite level, so for him, prioritizing health for performance has always come naturally. As for myself, I had been very close to burnout, forcing me to learn the importance of prioritizing self-care and physical well-being for performance. Recognizing the impact that stress and exhaustion can have on one's well-being, we have made it our mission to educate and empower others to prioritize their health and make positive, sustainable changes in their daily lives.
Our philosophy for living a healthy and balanced life is simple. We believe that health is energy, and the best way to have more energy is by taking small, consecutive steps to feel better in your body and your mind. For us, supplements are a big part of that.
But buying supplements is not easy. It is time-consuming, confusing, or sometimes even ambiguous, and there is little to no support. So we became obsessed with the idea of helping people navigate the supplement jungle. It should be easy, and you should feel confident, knowing what you are buying.
Starting CeibaTree.com
Inspired by successful DTC (Direct-to-consumer) brands like Away, Glossier, and Warby Parker, which had revolutionized the customer experience in their respective fields, we had a clear vision. We wanted to create the best customer experience in a field that had let down customers for too long - Supplements. We wanted to help people navigate the world of supplements and build healthy habits that are simple to maintain. With Ceiba Tree, we aim to redefine supplements. We aim to help our customers to raise the standards of what they put in their bodies, the quality they will accept, and the results they can expect.
For us, it is important to honor the decision of our customers to work on their health. We don’t take the trust of our customers for granted and would not let them down with the cheap and ugly products that characterize the market. For us, only the best ingredients are good enough to put in the body, so we adopt an even higher standard than conventional brands and applicable regulations. We don’t have any fillers or additives in our products and all our products are designed for maximum absorption for the body.
Since we are starting small, it has been important to us that everything we do creates maximum value for our customers. Having our mission in mind in product development has been key. We are especially proud of our first product, Sleep & Recovery, a blend of five adaptogens, which is almost unheard of in an industry that relies heavily on a few cheap ingredients. Our philosophy is Why skimp on the good stuff?
From backordered ingredients to trade show triumph
But it was not all easy. We moved to Gothenburg to cut down on our living expenses. We got a loan from Almi, a Swedish government-owned company providing business development services and financial support to startups, to buy our first batch of products. Together with a nutraceutical consultant, we landed on a recipe that met our standards. We wrote a contract. Then, a key ingredient was backordered throughout the entire EU. Our manufacturer terminated our contract claiming force majeure. We were back to square one on finding a manufacturer.
The supplements market has grown rapidly, and 2020 was no exception. Manufacturers knew this. We did not get a single response. Eventually, Oskar took the car to Malmö for one of the biggest trade shows on health. We had one specific manufacturer that we wanted to talk to. He came home with a contract.
A couple of months later, we would be launching our website, CeibaTree.com, and our first product. We had spent years researching the best supplements, why you should take them, how to take them, when to take them, and now we were ready to help others.
After a few months, the business began to gain traction. We were making sales, getting positive feedback from customers, and receiving inquiries from potential investors. It felt good to see our hard work paying off.
The reluctant entrepreneur
Oskar had been an entrepreneur his whole adult life, while I had been more cautious. I had completed a couple of internships with startups, but there were aspects of that world that turned me off. I did not like the emphasis on funding and growth at all costs: Many startups are focused on securing funding and achieving rapid growth, often at the expense of other important factors such as customer satisfaction, sustainability, and social responsibility.
Instead, my dream had been to be on the partner track at a renowned management consultancy firm. But the idea of Ceiba Tree got me more excited than I had been in years. I could not shake the thought that this could be big.
I was making a living helping some of the leading global companies transform from B2B to DTC, and Oskar had successfully launched several new services in Pharma as a consultant. We knew we had the skills to create something special.
I don’t believe that you have to know for certain that you want to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship does not have to be an all-in-or-nothing type of deal. But if you are disciplined, patient, and willing to work hard, I encourage you to find moments to let your inner entrepreneur shine. It might be as an entrepreneur, or even at your current job: To find new solutions or to challenge the status quo in processes or ways of working. But it may also be to set up a business on the side. You don’t have to quit your day job. Oskar and I are still working as management consultants, albeit freelance so that we can have a conversation with our clients on expectations on hours etc. We work with Ceiba Tree on evenings and weekends. We still pack all orders from home. We give up date nights, nights out, hobbies, you name it, to build this. But one positive customer feedback makes it all worth it.
How to practically balance a full-time job and entrepreneurship
So, how do we balance this with a full-time job? Both Oskar and I still work full-time as consultants. Outside office hours, we work with Ceiba Tree. Is private life affected? Yes. As a small business owner, there's always something that needs our attention so there is little time to switch off. Private life often needs to be put aside if it does not benefit our business.
Entrepreneurship offers many hats, so I am the CEO, CFO, marketing manager and much more. A typical evening for me means packing orders, updating social media, doing the accounting, following up with key stakeholders and suppliers, answering customer questions, scheduling product shoots, proofing new designs, discussing ingredients with our formulation specialists, reading up on trends etc. It's a lot, but it's also incredibly rewarding.
If you have a dream of starting your own business or pursuing a passion project, I find that people often struggle to figure out where to start. I’m no expert, but I have a few tips that are working for me.
Make it a habit to take immediate and consistent action. Rather than waiting for perfect conditions or overanalyzing, take action and keep the momentum going by consistently working towards your goal. Remember that your business will sometimes require you to take uncomfortable actions.
Create a ‘drop list’ of things you need to stop doing to make time for the business. For me, I don’t drink alcohol and I don’t watch Netflix, to give some examples. This is my way of creating space for a productive weekend where I work on my goals. On the drop list, there can also be tasks for the business that are no longer providing the results that you want. I revise my list on a quarterly basis as priorities change in the business.
Focus on the ‘needle moving’ actions. Start with the one thing that will make you have the most progress. Prioritize high-value activities. Identify the tasks that have the greatest impact on your business's growth and success. Focus your time and energy on these. For me, this means, for instance, prioritizing an opportunity like this and writing this article to raise awareness about our brand, instead of getting caught up in minor design tweaks on our website or insignificant administrative tasks.
Cultivate discipline and consistency: Consistently follow through on your commitments and goals. Develop discipline in your work habits to ensure consistent progress. For example, I have made it a personal commitment to wake up early every morning and dedicate the first few hours to tackling high-priority tasks for my business.
Set aside time each day to work on your goal. Even if you only have 30 minutes to spare, dedicating that time to your project can lead to significant progress over time. I have dedicated time slots every day, and I block this time off for specific deliverables.
My challenge for you to stay accountable is to set aside 30 minutes per day for the next three months. At the end of this period, evaluate your progress. Be ruthless in your priorities and focus on what truly matters to you.
Remember that starting a company takes time and effort, but consistent action and dedication can make all the difference in achieving your dreams.
Looking to the future
Today, Ceiba Tree is growing, and I continue to learn and grow as an entrepreneur. We are launching new products soon, we are looking to expand our team, and we have established partnerships with other businesses. It has been a journey of ups and downs so far, but I am excited to see where it takes me in the future.
For me, Ceiba Tree is more than just a business. It is a passion project that has grown from a side hustle to a company that is dedicated to helping people build healthy habits that are easy to maintain and to set a new standard for the products they consume. We are excited about what the future holds for our company, and we look forward to continuing to provide exceptional service and products to our customers.
My final advice for any aspiring entrepreneur is to start small. Don't let the myth of having to go all in hold you back from pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams. Remember that success takes time, and starting small can actually be a smart strategy in the long run. Embrace patience and let your big ambitions guide you.
As for Ceiba Tree: We've got massive goals, but we're not in a hurry. Patience is the name of the game, and we're all in.
Thank you for reading my article! I would love to connect with you if you want to discuss entrepreneurship or any other topics!
