Today on the podcast we’re talking all about protein: how much do we need, what kind do we need, and how can know our kids are getting enough! I’m here with my friend Billy Bosch, the founder of ICONIC Protein, who knows this area inside and out.
We’ll explain exactly how protein works as a building block of healthy body as well as tips for optimizing your protein consumption depending on your athletic goals, your health goals, and just your overall dietary needs.
Episode Highlights With Iconic Protein
- What protein does for the body, and why most of us aren’t getting enough
- The reason more protein is great for weight loss
- The personalized factors we need to consider to determine how much protein is ideal
- Myths about protein and women
- Why your source of protein matters just as much as how much you eat
- How to load protein when intermittent fasting
- Time and resource management tips for entrepreneurs trying to juggle it all
- And more!
Resources We Mention
- Iconic Protein (get 15% off with code wellnessmama15)
- 23 & Me
- My Book of First Facts by Weekly Reader Books
More From Wellness Mama
- 351: A Parent’s Guide to Precocious Puberty & How to Slow It Down With Dr. Anne Marie Fine
- 294: Using Targeted Nutrition to Alleviate Hormone Related Issues With Dr. Chris Masterjohn
- 255: Dr. Valter Longo on a Fasting Mimicking Diet and Increasing Healthspan
- 227: Using the Metabolism Reset Diet to Support Liver Health
- Guide to Healthy Protein Sources
- How to Choose a Clean Plant Based Protein Powder
- Is Protein Powder Healthy?
- Cricket Flour: A Healthier High Protein Flour
Did you enjoy this episode? Please drop a comment below or leave a review on iTunes to let us know. We value knowing what you think and this helps other moms find the podcast as well.
[toggle title=”Read Transcript”]
Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
This episode is brought to you by Wellnesse. That’s Wellnesse with an E on the end, which is my new personal care company that is dedicated to making safe and effective products from my family to your family. We started with toothpaste and hair care because these are the biggest offenders in most bathrooms, and we’re coming after the other personal care products as well. Did you know for instance that most shampoo contains harsh detergents that strip out the natural oils from the hair and leave it harder to manage over time and more dependent on extra products? We took a different approach, creating a nourishing hair food that gives your hair what it actually needs and doesn’t take away from its natural strength and beauty. In fact, it’s specifically designed to support your hair’s natural texture, natural color, and is safe for color-treated hair as well. Our shampoos contain herbs like nettle, which helps strengthen hair and reduce hair fall, leaving your hair and scalp healthier over time, and scented only with natural essential oils in a very delicate scent so that you don’t have to worry about the fragrance as well. Over time, your hair gets back to its stronger, healthier, shinier state without the need for parabens or silicone or SLS. You can check it out along with our whitening toothpaste and our full hair care bundles at wellnesse.com, that’s wellnesse.com. An insider tip, grab an essentials bundle or try auto-ship and you will lock in a discount.
This podcast is sponsored by Four Sigmatic, my source for superfood mushroom products that are a big part of my daily routine. In fact, about 80% of the dirt under your feet is actually mycelium or mushrooms. And mushrooms have a wide variety of health benefits, everything from immune support, and improved sleep, and they’re also a great source of B vitamins, and vitamin D. Mushrooms are considered anti-inflammatory due to a compound called ergothioneine and are considered safe and beneficial to consume regularly. In my house, we often start the day with Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee with Lion’s Mane and Chaga. It tastes just like regular coffee without as much caffeine and no jitters. The Lion’s Mane and Chaga help with energy and focus, like I said, without the jitters, or the acidity of a lot of coffee. I sip other products of theirs throughout the day, like their Chaga or Cordyceps or Lion’s Mane Elixirs, and I often wind down at night with their Reishi Elixir or Reishi Cacao, and I notice a measurable difference in my sleep when I do that. As a listener of this podcast, you can save on all Four Sigmatic products by going to foursigmatic.com/wellnessmama and using the code “wellnessmama” to save 15%.
Katie: Hello and welcome to “The Wellness Mama Podcast.” I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com and wellnesse.com. That’s Wellnesse with an “E” on the end. It’s our new line of personal care products including hair care, toothpaste, and now, hand sanitizer. You can check it out at wellnesse.com.
This episode is all about protein, how much do we need, what kind do we need, and how do we make sure our kids are getting enough? I’m here with my friend Billy Bosch, who is the founder of ICONIC Protein, and who has done a lot of research in this area. You’ll hear a little bit about his story in this episode as well as tips for how to optimize your protein consumption depending on your athletic goals, your health goals, and just your overall dietary needs.
So I know you’re gonna enjoy this episode. Without further ado, let’s go join Billy. Billy, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Billy: Hey, thank you for having me, Katie.
Katie: I am excited to chat because I think we have a lot in common, both in the health research side and learning about our own health, and also in running now health-related businesses. I always love to hear a little bit about someone’s story. I, of course, know yours because we’re friends, but for anybody who’s not familiar with you yet, can you kind of explain how you got into the world of healthy protein?
Billy: Certainly. For me I’ve always had an interest in, we’ll call it, health and wellness to varying degrees, starting out early on in life. I don’t know that it was there. Had a lot of arguments with mom and dad about not eating vegetables. And I was a really picky eater when I was younger. And then when I got into my 20s, I got more into working out and taking care of my body, but I really still just kind of ate whatever I wanted to. I figured, “Hey, look, if I work out, then I have a pass to eat whatever I want.” And, of course, our metabolisms are a lot higher in our 20s. And I found myself in a bit of a quarter-life health crisis. And I’m sure some of your listeners can empathize with some type of health crisis in their life and you have a bit of an “aha” moment and say, “Wait a minute, what’s going on here?” And for me that was going to a doctor for an annual physical and realizing that I have high cholesterol and chronic acid reflux and other health issues related to that. And the doctor says, “Hey, here’s a couple of prescriptions. Take these pills everyday and you should start feeling a lot better.” “Okay, how long should I take this? Why do I need this?” “Oh, just kind of indefinitely.” And I just thought that sounded crazy.
Katie: Yeah.
Billy: Yeah. And from there I went to a dietician because I thought, “If food seems to be my problem, perhaps that could be the solution as well.” And I went to a dietician and she said, “Yeah, this is something that can be resolved with food. You don’t have to take pills. And it starts with more protein and more fiber because those are things that fill you up in a healthy way and curb your appetite, provide nourishment for your body, and help you make better decisions when you do get hungry and are tempted to make the easy choice, which may not always be the healthiest choice.”
Katie: Yeah, exactly. I think for anybody who knows my story, there’s similarities there as well. When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, it was kind of like, “Oh, you’re going to have this the rest of your life. And you’re just going to need to mitigate these symptoms for the rest of your life.” And I wasn’t okay with that. And it led to this whole research path of wondering, “Well, how did I get here in the first place? And whatever caused it, can I undo that by handling those types of things?” And in the last couple of years for me, actually, the protein thing has become a bigger and bigger key because, especially for women, I think like guys tend to have a better understanding of the importance of protein because of the muscle connection, or at least it seems like guys who have ever lifted or been in sports at various times. But I think women can shy away from protein, or at least we’re just not as naturally inclined to consume enough protein as a lot of guys are. And so this is something I learned and have kind of been researching in the last few years, especially, is the importance of protein and all of the ways that supports the body. And, obviously, this is something you researched as well. So, talk about what you discovered of why we need protein and how much do we need.
Billy: Yeah, great question. And I know your story and I know that a lot of the listeners can empathize with, trying to figure out, okay, what’s right for their body and what do I need to put in my body to provide the nourishment it needs? And when it comes to protein, one of the common questions is always, “Okay, is it just for working out? Am I going to start growing muscles everywhere?” There’s this correlation that it’s for the gym. And as someone that has been in this nutrition world for the last 10 or so years I’ve done a lot of events in the public, and that’s one of the common questions I get when we do a sampling or something like that, is people say, “Hey, like, what is this for again? Like protein, is it just for going to the gym?”
And for me, it’s a lot more than that. You know that. And when it comes to whether it’s like curbing your appetite or just like filling you up and providing that nourishment in general, it’s something that people always ask, like, “Hey, what’s the right amount of protein? How much does my body need?” And there’s a lot of kind of false information out there. And it’s hard to say there’s a true rule of thumb per se. A lot of “experts” I’ve talked to, and some of them I buy into more than others, will kind of suggest a certain amount of protein by body weight. And I think that makes sense. But it also doesn’t take into account metabolisms, and everyone’s metabolism is a little bit different and how you process protein and the type of protein that’s right for you varies. So I encourage people to take a step back and understand how much protein is related to a certain food that you process that you know.
So, for me, if I look at like a piece of fish or a breast of chicken or something like that, and I say, “Okay, let me look at what’s equivalent to about 20 grams of protein.” And I look at a portion size of that in a clean animal protein and then I look at a serving of powdered protein. That’s the correlation that makes sense in my mind because I say, “Okay, I need about that much to fill me up, and I’m looking for that nourishment angle versus the muscle recovery.” And so for me, I’m looking to get, I would say, 70 to 80 grams a day, and that’s if I’m not doing some kind of serious training or something along those lines. But it really depends on your body rate. And again, it depends on your metabolism. I encourage people to do some research and do some homework to understand what’s right for them, in particular, because I don’t think there’s like a blanket piece of advice that makes sense for everyone.
Katie: Yeah, I agree. If anything, the last few years have taught me just how personalized health is and how, at the end of the day, we can learn from a lot of different sources, but we really all have the responsibility to test and to experiment and figure out what actually does work best for us. But I think protein is unique in and of itself because people have probably heard the idea, which is actually incorrect, that celery takes more calories to chew than you actually get from consuming it. So it’s like a “negative calorie food.” And that’s kind of been somewhat debunked. But the interesting thing about protein is it does take more energy than the other macronutrients for our body to break it down. And it also supports the body in much different ways because of the amino acids. And you could probably explain this better than I can, but if I’m remembering, there’s something called the thermic effect of food, or they call it TEF, and protein has a higher thermic effect than fat or carbs.
So, if I’m remembering the numbers, I think most protein is somewhere in the 20% to 30% range compared to carbs and fat being more like the 5% to 15% range. And so for this reason, that’s why you hear things like getting adequate protein can support your metabolism or increase the number of calories you burn at rest, especially over time, because, like you mentioned, proteins are important to build muscle and the more muscle we have, the more calories we burn at rest and the more energy we have. And so that’s one change that I would encourage women, especially, to make, is just to up protein intake, even if you don’t change anything else. Like I personally noticed a big difference in that from my energy levels.
And I think beyond there, it’s experimenting with the timing and the type of protein, like you said. Like I’m a big fan of intermittent fasting and circadian fasting, so I don’t eat like all day long. I’ll try to eat in a shorter window, but I found I need to get protein in with whatever food I eat first and then I also need to make sure I get enough protein at night. And I personally seem to do the best eating breakfast and lunch with lots of protein and then actually not eating later in the day. So, the more time I give myself before bed the better I tend to do. But I noticed a drastic change just from increasing my protein intake. And as a woman, especially, I think I overestimated how much protein I was getting before I really paid attention to it and thought I was getting plenty. And then when I actually started tracking, I realized I wasn’t getting nearly as much protein as I thought I was and to actually get close to the amount of protein I needed, I actually had to make a conscious effort to get more protein. I would guess you hear that probably relatively often, that it’s sometimes hard to get enough protein, especially if you’re busy and on the go.
Billy: Oh, yeah. Certainly. It really can be, to try and make sure you’re getting enough protein during the day. It’s really interesting once you actually dig in, like you did. And from time to time, I won’t do it every day, but I’ll add up my calories and track everything, get really specific and understand like what macros are going into my body and how much protein I’m consuming. And it’s a challenge, especially for those of us, and I think a lot of people can empathize with this, is everyone’s busy. There’s a lot going on. Even in these crazy days, it’s like there’s, when you’re stuck at home, there’s just a lot to do. There’s things happening. And it’s easy to kind of bounce around and grab whatever’s convenient in the pantry or the fridge. And it may not always be protein-dense food or other item that you’re consuming. So, that’s one of the things that I found beneficial in going to find products out there that can provide additional nutrients like protein in a compact or convenient format. Because, look, I mean, it’s just a benefit to go out there and have something that can make your life easier. We’re all looking for that easy button.
Katie: Yeah, absolutely. And I know that was part of the impetus for you of creating Iconic, right, is that people would have access to easier, cleaner forms of protein. And I know that through all of this, like not all protein is created equal, especially when you’re talking about protein powders. So, can you talk through some of what you found and what, as consumers, we should be looking for in any kind of protein?
Billy: Yeah. And again, I really encourage people, and I’ve heard you say this over and over again, it’s like, people really need to understand what’s right for them. I’m never one to say like, “Hey, everyone should consume this type of protein because it’s the best and this is why.” Like, come on. In the days of people doing their genetic testing and doing their 23andMe, I think the future of nutrition in general is really like nutrigenomics, which has come come up on your podcast a few times. And I think people understanding how nutrition plays into their genetics is going to be really key in understanding how your body processes different types of proteins. And when I look at it, I look at amino acid profiles, I look at bioavailability. These are things that you can Wikipedia for those of you that are scratching your head and thinking like, “Okay…” I feel like that. I don’t have a PhD. I don’t always feel like I’m a subject matter expert. I know a lot about a number of different things in the protein field. But a lot of it’s just self-taught and a lot of it’s kind of like learning on my own.
But understanding bioavailability, in particular, is just understanding how your body’s going to process a protein. And even as something as simple as a Wikipedia search will show that things like animal protein, specifically whey protein, is going to be synthesized in your body a lot more efficiently than some of the other protein sources out there. And that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. But it means that typically it is synthesized in a more efficient fashion than something like, I don’t know, like a hemp protein or something like that. And again, like, no knock on hemp. But it’s good to understand, “Okay, if I’m going to do this, I need to take a little bit more because it’s not going to be apples to apples on 20 grams of protein to one. I need to take a little bit more because my body potentially won’t synthesize it as efficiently. So I need to kind of make sure I offset that versus going off of the standard nutrition pack funnel recommended daily value.”
Katie: Gotcha. And I think there’s also this myth, especially with women, that consuming too much protein is going to make you bulk up or get too muscular. And I know you mentioned a little bit about, that was one conception is people need to eat more protein if they’re trying to gain muscle. But is that actually the case, especially as women, is that something we need to worry about, is getting too bulky from protein consumption?
Billy: Great question. And again, that comes up all the time. That’s probably the number one thing that comes up in general just with being in the nutrition space and especially with our product line being more focused on protein in general. Look, there’s some truth to, if you’re looking for muscle recovery, then protein will help you build muscle. But if you’re not consuming it in that fashion, then it’s not really something you have to worry about per se. For most people it’s going to provide nourishment and it actually has been proven. There’s a Harvard study out there that we’ve referenced in a few blog posts that shows that protein actually increases your metabolism. So, you can lose… This is like kind of a fun ratio to throw out. Essentially, they took people and they said, “Okay, if you don’t increase your activity level and you keep your calories the same, but you increase the protein level and those calories as opposed to increasing carbohydrates or something like that,” the people that increased the protein in their diet but kept their activity level and their caloric intake exactly the same versus the control group actually lost 5 to 10 pounds a year because their metabolism sped up. And that’s what protein can do for your body. So, it kind of have the opposite effect.
Katie: Yeah, that’s so fascinating. And I think when you actually look at the data, I don’t know where some of these misconceptions came from, but I’ve heard some of these similar ones, and when you actually look at the data, it’s really fascinating that often it’s a completely different story. Like certainly I think sourcing makes a huge difference. And I think, if you’re eating factory farmed meat as your source of protein, like there certainly can be problems there. But when you look at any kind of study, when they’ve actually controlled for those variables and compared higher to lower protein intake, you’re right, we see trials that show that adequate protein intake can help lower blood pressure, especially in at-risk populations. I’ve also seen some of those same studies about protein and weight loss. And that was my experience as well. It wasn’t the only factor I changed, but over the last couple of years I’ve lost a substantial amount of weight. And one of those things was making sure I got enough protein because I actually wasn’t eating enough food for a long time because I was trying to lose weight. And so I had basically sort of downshifted my metabolism and I wasn’t getting enough calories and certainly not enough protein. And so, for me, actually having a target number to hit of protein consumption was one of the keys of not just losing weight but like kind of rebuilding my metabolism after all of those years of kind of dieting.
There’s also this idea, this myth that too much protein can harm your kidneys. And I don’t know if that’s something that you’ve looked into much, but I looked at that because there’s a little bit of a history of kidney issues in my family. And from what I’ve read, it’s kind of actually the opposite. Unless there’s a true preexisting kidney issue and very specific ones like those can be very serious. But other than that, there’s not any evidence that I found that just consuming protein in a vacuum is harmful to the kidneys. Have you found that as well?
Billy: Yeah. To be honest, I haven’t done a ton of research into that. It’s something that has come up here and there. We don’t get a ton of questions on that, but it sounds like you’ve done your homework on that.
Katie: Yeah. I think that’s an important one to address, too. If that’s a reason someone would be not consuming enough protein, that is something to reconsider there as well. So, I’m also curious, I know Tim Ferriss kind of popularized the study about protein consumption in the morning. And if I remember that study, it was, if you consumed at least 30 grams within 30 minutes of waking up, there were certain like metabolic factors that seemed to optimize. Have you done any experimentation or have any data on what time of day for optimal protein consumption and how do you navigate that personally?
Billy: Yeah, great question. One of the things that I’ve looked into personally is, I’ve tested just about everything imaginable on myself in terms of protein consumption at different times. And, specifically, like I’m with you on intermittent fasting. I feel a lot better when I do an intermittent fast. And this morning it went out the window because I did a workout at 7:00 a.m. and was just famished when I got home. I just needed something before we spoke. But generally, I’m a fan of having a longer window without food and having that calorie restriction during the day. And then I’m kind of eating constantly in my feeding window. And I do find that breaking fast with protein for me really kind of like calms my body. It fills me up. When I do something that’s not rich in protein, I find that like I just can’t stop eating. Like, I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry. Or it’ll fill me up momentary and then I’ll get hungry again. So, for me it’s important to have more protein. And I feel it’s really impactful on my body when I break that daily fast and start with protein, or from not fasting, making sure that one of the first things in my body is rich in protein because it means I can eat a little bit less or drink a little bit less. And it’s kind of that lighter feeling but still feeling full that makes me feel really my best.
Katie: Gotcha. And this is something else, especially as my kids are getting older and I now have teenagers, which is crazy to say, something I’m paying attention to with them as well, because I know, obviously, the teenage years are a time of rapid growth for kids, both skeletal, muscular. They have hormones which are supported by protein and enough healthy fats. So, I’m trying to be very cognizant of this with my kids and also supporting them with just certain key supplements and then as much as possible nutrients from food. And I know this is important for you as well. I believe I remember you telling me because of your niece and nephew, you also really care about having good options available for kids. And I think kids can be an even tougher market to crack, but you have just released protein for kids. So, talk about that and how you guys innovated it in this.
Billy: Yeah. One of the things that…I’ll be clear, I’m not a parent, I don’t give parenting advice. I have a lot of kids in my family. I’ve got a five-year-old niece and plenty of other nieces and nephews that range from toddlers all the way up to early teens. And so, I’ve got a lot of experience with them. And my brother’s 10 years younger, so growing up I had some responsibility just helping to get dinner together and do all of that. But I know that as a kid sometimes you’re just picky. And like, for me, I was so picky. I would literally take the green things and like take them off my plate. I didn’t want to eat anything green. There’s something about it, right? So, I’m picking all this stuff out of my food. And I organized my siblings when I was younger and kind of wrote this like, dinner manual to my mom. And I said, “Mom, here are the things we’d like to eat,” because it was a battle every night at dinner. And she was always trying to make things healthy and kind of do secret healthy where it was like, okay, as a normal dish she would prepare but make it healthier. Doing like a ground turkey instead of ground beef or subbing in some plant-based ingredients, whatever it may be. And we would just sniff it out and say, “Oh, this tastes healthy. We don’t like it.” So, it’s kind of ironic that I then started a health company.
But when we look at kids, we have a lot of moms that are consumers of our products and we hear a lot of the same things. And some kids are great eaters. Some kids just crush vegetables and love eating healthy. But not all of them. And so, whether the kid’s a “healthy eater” or not, we find is that one of the pain points parents have that they’ve reached out to us about is the kids get a lot of sugar. Kids love sugar. There’s a lot of money spent in food marketing for high sugar kids’ products that target kids. If you look at kids’ products in general, whether it’s, juice or fruit in a pouch, whatever it may be, a lot of them are high sugar. A lot of the products have sugar as one of the first three ingredients. And our crazy idea was, “Okay, well, why don’t we create a kid’s line that has zero sugar, has a full serving of organic green vegetables, and has some protein in it? And let’s start with, those kind of core pillars of this product and see if we can make something that tastes really yummy.”
And one of the things that I remember from childhood is loving cereal. We each had a few boxes of our favorite cereal, and this was not mom approved. It was like the cereal that we just kind of like pleaded and pleaded and pleaded for and finally got our way on, but it tastes really yummy, right? So I thought, “Okay, we’ll do our standard kind of chocolate, really rich chocolate flavor and a vanilla flavor, and then we’ll do one that tastes like Froot Loops.” So we took Froot Loops and Fruity Pebbles and those kind of fruity cereals and we put them in a bowl, put the milk in and tried the milk after. And we made a drink that I’m telling you, Katie, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the fruity cereal, cereal milk and its fruity flavor. It’s like Willy Wonka stuff. It’s crazy. So, we have a fruity fiesta flavor, we call it, and that’s the third one. But yeah, that’s the premise. It was like, “Well, let’s make something that is a pain point for people and really can provide like a shelf stable, clean label, zero sugar snack for kids during the day.”
Katie: Yeah. I love it. I know we have some on the way. My kids are excited to try them and it’s great because they’re also something easy kids can take on the go when school gets back in session, which will hopefully be next year. Or even like kids’ sports. My kids are doing pole vaulting and they definitely come home hungry and wanting protein. So, that’s an easy thing that they can take with them.
This episode is brought to you by Wellnesse. That’s Wellnesse with an E on the end, which is my new personal care company that is dedicated to making safe and effective products from my family to your family. We started with toothpaste and hair care because these are the biggest offenders in most bathrooms, and we’re coming after the other personal care products as well. Did you know for instance that most shampoo contains harsh detergents that strip out the natural oils from the hair and leave it harder to manage over time and more dependent on extra products? We took a different approach, creating a nourishing hair food that gives your hair what it actually needs and doesn’t take away from its natural strength and beauty. In fact, it’s specifically designed to support your hair’s natural texture, natural color, and is safe for color-treated hair as well. Our shampoos contain herbs like nettle, which helps strengthen hair and reduce hair fall, leaving your hair and scalp healthier over time, and scented only with natural essential oils in a very delicate scent so that you don’t have to worry about the fragrance as well. Over time, your hair gets back to its stronger, healthier, shinier state without the need for parabens or silicone or SLS. You can check it out along with our whitening toothpaste and our full hair care bundles at wellnesse.com, that’s wellnesse.com. An insider tip, grab an essentials bundle or try auto-ship and you will lock in a discount.
This podcast is sponsored by Four Sigmatic, my source for superfood mushroom products that are a big part of my daily routine. In fact, about 80% of the dirt under your feet is actually mycelium or mushrooms. And mushrooms have a wide variety of health benefits, everything from immune support, and improved sleep, and they’re also a great source of B vitamins, and vitamin D. Mushrooms are considered anti-inflammatory due to a compound called ergothioneine and are considered safe and beneficial to consume regularly. In my house, we often start the day with Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee with Lion’s Mane and Chaga. It tastes just like regular coffee without as much caffeine and no jitters. The Lion’s Mane and Chaga help with energy and focus, like I said, without the jitters, or the acidity of a lot of coffee. I sip other products of theirs throughout the day, like their Chaga or Cordyceps or Lion’s Mane Elixirs, and I often wind down at night with their Reishi Elixir or Reishi Cacao, and I notice a measurable difference in my sleep when I do that. As a listener of this podcast, you can save on all Four Sigmatic products by going to foursigmatic.com/wellnessmama and using the code “wellnessmama” to save 15%.
To switch gears a little bit too, I know firsthand now just how much goes into running a physical products company. We’re navigating that as well with Wellnesse, and we’re in the first few months of that. And it’s a lot to juggle. And there’s actually quite a few listeners who run or manage businesses in some way. And I think there’s overlap here as well because as an entrepreneur you really do have to have your health kind of dialed in to be able to operate at the highest level. And I always love to hear from other entrepreneurs kind of what your daily routine is like and how, if you have any tips for navigating that, that also can just kind of transfer to moms who…a lot of moms are juggling a lot more than they normally would right now with kids home and the world being so different. So, I’d love to hear any routine tips you have.
Billy: Yeah. It’s funny. I do a lot of experimenting with my routine and trying different things. And a lot of my close friends and family kind of roll their eyes whenever I’ve got a new addition to my routine or subtraction. But it’s one of those things that no matter the routine, for me, the theme of, whether it’s seeking knowledge on nutrition or seeking knowledge on how to start a business, because how would I ever know how to start a drink and powder company, which turns out it’s a lot harder than it sounds. In my eight years tenure, I thought this would be like year two. I would have achieved the level we’re at now. Turns out it takes a little bit longer, but the theme has really been, if you don’t know something, figure it out. And it gets down to resourcefulness. And that’s a big part of what goes into figuring things out with the business as a whole.
And even for parents, I think the theme of resourcefulness, what I hear from people, is really key. Again, I don’t give advice on parenting, by no means any type of experts in that realm, of course. But my friends that are parents tell me it’s all about constantly figuring things out, whether they have their business or just working on being better parents or dealing with issues with the kids. A lot of it comes down to the resourcefulness. And one of the other things that helps in just managing stress of a business and life in general is really kind of like… For me it’s come down to a daily routine. Right now I’m trying bucketing my days. So, Monday it’ll be marketing, Tuesday it’ll be sales, and then we’ll do supply chain or kind of set things out. And it doesn’t mean that other things can’t come about, but it means that generally I try to stack meetings for those things on those days, and it helps me start to kind of organize and focus.
I think a lot of people, maybe, you’d be able to empathize with a challenge in focusing because there’s still stress these days, whether it be with news or family issues that come up, or things going on with your friends or whatever it may be. There’s just a lot going on in life. And it’s really easy to get in contact with people, whether it’s social media, or just phone and text, whatever. So I think like having focus in your life is beneficial. And for me, that comes down to bucketing my days. It comes down to a 10, 10, 10 in the morning, which doesn’t happen every day, but I try to do it, which is, 10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of planning for the day, and then 10 minutes of some type of education. So, I’m working on learning some Spanish right now, so I’m doing a little bit of Duolingo, but it may be reading a few pages in a book. And that really helps me start the day in a fresh way with a calm mindset.
Katie: Yeah, I love that. I’m a big fan of batching as well, especially right now with there not really being…like with all my kids home and there not really being any normal routine and kind of everything running together, we’re having to create that routine and batching has been really helpful. For me, it’s also things like, I’ll cook in batches and work in batches, and then have more and more time outside with the kids right now, which I think is really important as we navigate all of this. But yeah, I love those tips. I think that’s super helpful. Another question I love to ask somewhat selfishly toward the end of the podcast is if there’s a book or a number of books that have really impacted your life, and if so, what they are and why.
Billy: I’m an avid reader and I always take notes. Whether I’m listening to your podcast or other podcasts, I love writing down someone’s book because if you’ve got to pick one book you know it’s going to be a good one. And no matter if I really got into what the person said or not, I’m like, “Look, man, if this person has one book, then I got to write this down.” So I’ve got this massive book list for Audible and Paperback that I’m burning through on my phone. So, I do really enjoy reading and consumption of knowledge. And so, I’ll do something a little bit different. My book is not one that adults would maybe put on their reading list. For me, the book I would recommend is actually one I had when I was a kid, and it’s the first book I remember getting. And it’s called my first book…or, sorry, “My Book of First Facts.” I’m not even sure if they still make it. I checked on Amazon last week because I started thinking about this and I saw somebody listing one.
But there’s a couple of books along this theme now. There’s one called like “My First Book of Why” and some other things like that. But I asked a lot of questions when I was a kid and I still do, but my parents, I think, got a little bit tired of the constant questions, which maybe some parents can empathize with. And finally they got me this book. And this book is essentially like every fact that a kid could want. How do volcanoes work? And how does this work? How does that work? And, why is a dog a dog? Where did canines come from? And I found that just like really engaging as a kid. And that started stimulating my brain to continue to think about why. And it really, I guess, encouraged the discovery of knowledge and finding something out if I didn’t know early on. And that was kind of a fun way to do it because there’s a lot of pictures in the book and things like that. So that would be my one book recommendation.
Katie: That’s a new one. I love it. I’ll see if I can find it on Amazon to link in the show notes. And that brings up another great point that I always love to ask other entrepreneurs, which is, can you pinpoint any things that your parents did that led to your mindset of being entrepreneurial or that were supportive of you in becoming an entrepreneur? Because that’s a big core value in our family, is to at least give our kids the foundation to be entrepreneurs if they want to be and something we think really consciously about. And I’m curious if looking back there were any things that your parents did that you can now look back and say that were helpful to you in your entrepreneurial journey?
Billy: I would say, there definitely were a number of things now that I look back on it that really, I guess, exposed me. The exposure to different things early on led me to start a few different businesses. And my dad is actually a CPA and has a number of small business clients. And so when I realized at an early age that maybe professional sports, which was my dream, was not going to be in my future. And look, I love playing sports. I just wasn’t like, we’ll call it, a gifted athlete. I could hang in with people but it wasn’t going to work out for me. And so I thought, “Okay, it could be cool to try something else.” And my dad said, “Well, look, one of my clients is about to do inventory at a store. Why don’t you go help him for a few weeks?” And I was maybe in sixth grade and it was…you’re in the summer, and the summer when you’re a kid, like you start to get in these like tens and teens and in that age where it’s not cool to go to some like summer day camp thing anymore and you don’t want to just sit around the house.
So I went in and counted inventory at this Christmas store. And this place had sold Christmas ornaments year round. And so I just went and actually really enjoyed it. As monotonous as it was, I thought it was cool to go learn a bit about how a business worked and it really kind of started this early fascination with businesses. And the trend continued. Every summer I would go work for a different business. One was an Italian restaurant, one was a furniture store. And that early exposure, I think, was probably the most beneficial part of my education. And with what’s going on in the current school environment and everything, school’s closed down and things like that, I think it’s a real opportunity to expand the traditional parameters of education for parents. I know that that really lends itself well to me, not just like understanding how to start a business, but knowing that that was possible. I’ve got a lot of friends that never worked for a small business growing up, and so that was never in their realm of possibility. And for me, having that window of my brain open and learning functionalities of a small business and the ups and downs just like lent itself well to me starting a few different businesses.
Katie: That’s awesome and really helpful for parents listening. I mean I’m a little bit biased being one myself, but I think entrepreneurs have a unique power to solve problems and to change the world. And so it’s a big priority for me that my kids get exposed to that mindset and to all that comes with it, including like learning a high tolerance for risk and for failure, and having to work through challenges. And yeah, and all the things you mentioned, I think that’s awesome. I will make sure that links are in the show notes to everything that we’ve talked about, including some of the protein studies we brought up, and also of course to Iconic Protein. And there’s a discount code you guys have given for the listeners, which is WellnessMama15. And the link to check out all the protein and including the kids’ drinks will be in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. Anywhere else people can find you, Billy, and stay in touch?
Billy: Yeah, certainly. We are in Whole Foods nationwide, so you can find us in Whole Foods. And we’re in a few other stores like Sprouts and a number of other chains. There’s a store locator on the website for anybody that’s interested. And then you can, of course, find us on the social media pages of Instagram and Facebook at Drink Iconic. And look, we welcome any questions people have on protein, any suggestions for products. We do a lot of crowdsourcing for our innovation, so we always love to hear about product ideas. So, I’d encourage people to reach out to us there or even shoot me a personal message on my Instagram, Iconic Life. We welcome any suggestions for products or ideas people have. I’d love to hear customer feedback.
Katie: Awesome. Billy, it’s always so great to hear your voice. I appreciate you being here today and I’m excited for these kids’ products. My kids are, too. Thanks for the time today.
Billy: Hey, thank you, Katie.
Katie: And thanks as always to all of you for listening and sharing one of your most valuable resources, your time, with both of us today. We’re so grateful that you did. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the “Wellness Mama” podcast.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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