When life gave the Jimenez Family a surplus of goat milk, they didn't just make cheese—they crafted an ingenious business model that's as nourishing for the skin as it is for the soul. Tune in to hear CEO Michelle Jimenez and her daughters, Maddie and Abby, recount the transformation of their family ranch into a beacon of entrepreneurial spirit. Their journey is peppered with insights on innovation, the crafting of a goat milk-based skincare line that's capturing hearts (and complexions) across the nation, and the importance of staying true to natural, transparent values. Join us to learn how these enterprising women educate consumers on the benefits of their wholesome products while navigating the world of business with grace and determination.
Prepare to be inspired by the strategies and personal growth of young entrepreneurs Maddie and Abby, as they share the role of customer feedback in fine-tuning their product range and the impact of a well-timed branding refresh. With over 70 retail outlets singing the praises of their goat milk magic, the Jimenez sisters reveal the operational shifts that have made their business not just profitable but also eco-conscious. From the art of social media influence to mastering the financial tightrope of expansion, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge for anyone keen on turning passion into a flourishing enterprise. Embrace the empowerment that comes with learning the ropes of entrepreneurship alongside the Jimenez family, and maybe even discover your own path to business success.
contact:
michele@jimenezsistersranch.com
1951-429-4522
www.jimenezsistersranch.com
Ceo2rainmkr.com
When life gave the Jimenez Family a surplus of goat milk, they didn't just make cheese—they crafted an ingenious business model that's as nourishing for the skin as it is for the soul. Tune in to hear CEO Michelle Jimenez and her daughters, Maddie and Abby, recount the transformation of their family ranch into a beacon of entrepreneurial spirit. Their journey is peppered with insights on innovation, the crafting of a goat milk-based skincare line that's capturing hearts (and complexions) across the nation, and the importance of staying true to natural, transparent values. Join us to learn how these enterprising women educate consumers on the benefits of their wholesome products while navigating the world of business with grace and determination.
Prepare to be inspired by the strategies and personal growth of young entrepreneurs Maddie and Abby, as they share the role of customer feedback in fine-tuning their product range and the impact of a well-timed branding refresh. With over 70 retail outlets singing the praises of their goat milk magic, the Jimenez sisters reveal the operational shifts that have made their business not just profitable but also eco-conscious. From the art of social media influence to mastering the financial tightrope of expansion, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge for anyone keen on turning passion into a flourishing enterprise. Embrace the empowerment that comes with learning the ropes of entrepreneurship alongside the Jimenez family, and maybe even discover your own path to business success.
contact:
michele@jimenezsistersranch.com
1951-429-4522
www.jimenezsistersranch.com
Ceo2rainmkr.com
Good morning Rainmakers in Training. The central theme of today's show is the art of the pivot. It's also an inspirational, educational, motivational and heartwarming story of a family-owned business. In a business context, pivot refers to a decision to change direction in response to changing market conditions, customer preferences or some external factor. The Jimenez family is from Riverside, california, is large and it consists of one the dad, michelle, the mom daughters, maddie, abby, olivia, lily and their young brother, son Hank, who really calls the shots. He's the chairman of the board, even though he's only three years old. Nothing happens unless Hank approves it. So Maddie and Abby and Olivia love to raise and breed and show dairy goats and they would raise them on their ranch in Riverside California. They love to show their goats.
Speaker 1:As the girls became more competitive in the show arena, their herd grew as well as guess what the amount of goat's milk. However, when the external factor of COVID-19 hit, they had to do a pivot because COVID impacted the whole show business. So the family got together to ask themselves and Hank was the chairman of the meeting what do we do with all this goat's milk? After must research, the family decided to pivot there's that word and get into goat milk products, such as soaps and body products, where goat's milk would be the primary ingredient. Since they had a lot of goat's milk on their hands For a while, they just gave the products to their family and friends, and then the reorder started coming in and then something clicked. Hey, we can make a business out of this. Yeah, but what are we going to call it? Let's call it the Jimenez Family Ranch Cool. So that's what they did. Michelle is the CEO and mom and wife, superwoman, and her daughters, maddie and Abby, are essentially co-founders and they run the company with Michelle.
Speaker 1:Now let me tell you a little unknown fact that I haven't told you at this point. Maddie is only 16 years old, abby is only 14, and they are already entrepreneurs, business owners. That's kind of young to get started, but you know what's wrong with that. So I wouldn't want to ask Michelle her age, because she probably wouldn't tell me, but as you see the screen, because she uses the products herself, she has a very youthful look, and I have been told that Cleopatra used to bathe in goat's milk. So if it's good enough for Cleopatra, it should be good for every other woman, right? So let's fast forward to 2024.
Speaker 1:The Amanda Sisters Ranch products can be found in 70 independent retail locations in 21 states. All this because the family decided to pivot from showing goats to using goat's milk. Pretty simple, right. Why didn't I think of that? I think pivoting is something every business owner should do to adapt to changing market conditions and changing customer needs, because we're in a state of flux all the time. So enough about me rambling. The stars of the show are here today Michelle, maddie and Abby. So Michelle, maddie, Abby, welcome.
Speaker 2:Hi, thank you. Thank you for having us here.
Speaker 1:So, michelle, could you do the introductions of your daughters?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'm Michelle, this is Abigail and this is Madeline.
Speaker 1:And do they do this different things at the company?
Speaker 2:They do they do have different responsibilities, that kind of point in on their likes and their special skills. Girls, did you kind of want to share what you focus on? I focus on our social media and I also ship out a lot of our orders and I also go to trade shows and markets.
Speaker 1:Wow. What about you, Abby? What do you do?
Speaker 2:I take all of the product photos for our business and I go to events and trade shows and what does Hank do? Hank comes along for the ride, okay.
Speaker 1:Well, it is an honor to have you. I am truly inspired. So let's get a little business here. So let me talk a little business, because, after all, you guys have a business now and you're going to learn all this as you get older. So, michelle, what's the purpose of the company? What's your mission statement? What do you want to give back to the community?
Speaker 2:So really, as we sit down at the family and we talk about, we asked when we started this company, that's exactly what we asked. We sat around and said what do we want to do? Where do we want to go? What's our purpose? And really the girls wanted to share their knowledge on the benefits of goat milk and, being that goat milk is our primary number one ingredient in all of our products, they wanted to share the benefits of goat milk and they want to have and create an honest, transparent company.
Speaker 2:They want to be honest. They want to be able to create something where people know that they can trust it. They want to create products that are used, ingredients that are natural, naturally derived, that are good for your skin, and that was something that they felt was missing on the market that they really wanted to focus on.
Speaker 1:Okay, is there any other benefits of goat milk that you haven't already just mentioned?
Speaker 2:Yes, Madeleine or Abigail, whichever one they could share. There are a lot of benefits to using goat milk. Like, goat milk has a very similar pH balance as your skin, which ranges from 5.5 to 5.9.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know that I know that Just kidding, I'm sorry, go ahead. It also has a lot of vitamins and nutrients.
Speaker 2:That really helps hydrate and it's really great for your skin.
Speaker 1:Really. Yeah, I think that's a good one. Cleopatra bathed in goat milk Okay, so she was a wise lady. So how do you, how do people buy your stuff? I mean, how do you get it, get it in their hands? I'm sure there's number of ways. What are they?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we, the way we get our way around is we go to different craft shows and vendor fairs. We go to those spreading our name. We get a lot of feedback from different people and we ask them what they like about our product and what we can improve, and with that, that's how we Like kind of expand. So once we get their feedback, we take it into account. And, yeah, and we also saw social media, which she runs, so it's also media and Okay, and they carry them in their stores, which is how we are in 21 different states as of right now.
Speaker 2:They can also find us online through social media through our website.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay now Do you have any competitors? What's unique about him and his sister's ranch? Hey?
Speaker 2:so it's. What sets us apart from other goat milk companies on the market is that we don't put water in any of our products, and Water can actually dehydrate your skin and it's also deludes the product. Goat milk is also our number one ingredient, meaning it has the larger percentage in our product overall, and if you look on other goat milk Products you'll notice it's either the third or fourth ingredient, while ours is the first, so it has the larger percentage in the product.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, and so the way that you get your name out is word of mouth. You go to trade shows, you are on social media. Do you have your own website? So how do you think you're increasing your exposure, or more and more people talking about you, or you're Getting more phone calls? Let me rephrase the question Do you think you're gonna do more sales in 2024 than you did in 2023?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:And is it because of the more, of the more marketing?
Speaker 2:yet you're doing, I Think that, and we're going, we're looking to open a retail space, so we're going to be having a storefront very soon.
Speaker 1:Really, we're at what city.
Speaker 2:Here in Riverside. We're not sure where. We're still looking at a few different locations, but it's going to be here in Riverside.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's interesting, all right. So If your sales are increasing, you're selling more products. You're using more goats milk. What happens when you run out of goats milk? Or has that ever occurred, or be ever even thought about that? Yeah what do you do? Hire some goats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it has happened before. We ran low on supply for goat milk when we in the springtime it's when they have babies and For that they we have to like keep it in account that they have to feed their babies. So with that we go to Local dairy farms and we do purchase some goat milk and they are good friends of ours from the showmanship.
Speaker 1:Okay, so some of the milk you produce yourself with your own Herd, and then others when the demand is exceeding, you go buy the goats milk. Okay, so you don't really have to work. You'll never gonna run out of goats milk, because then that would be a disaster, disaster, right how you think. Okay, got it, got it. So, maddie and Abby, do you go to school?
Speaker 2:We're homeschooled this year, so we made a big decision to homeschool this year for the business to grow it more and help with that.
Speaker 1:Do you ever tell your teachers, like I don't need no stinking hoeskill, I'm gonna be a multi-millionaire with my own company? You never said that would be kind of rude, wouldn't it? So you're homeschooling and you're a business owner. That's a. That's a lot of stuff going on, so do you have time to do teenage stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do. We're also competitive athletes, so we do all-star cheer and we play stunts, so we're also competitive at that.
Speaker 1:Oh, you got a full plate, then Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:All right does is the business creating some money for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So do you have your own checking account or does mom control it? Okay, I understand, you guys have won some awards. What are they? What did you win?
Speaker 2:Like you've done different, like you've completed your classes through the Caregrams to Art project. Right, oh, that's right. Okay, you guys did your the grant.
Speaker 1:Yes, the small business majority.
Speaker 2:So they participated, through the small business majority, in a visual marketing for displays for products for retail, and they took a six-week course and then after the course there was like a competition where they each business would set up and then it was just the display of the display of your product, and they actually won a $1,500 grant from Chase Bank with that which was presented to them by assembly member Ray, as I believe.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. So I mean, I can't believe I'm asking you this question, Maddie and Abby, because you're only 16 and 14 years old. But what have you learned so far about business? Why do you think? What is it? What do you think? Is it a fair question to ask you? I know what it is to be successful in business, or my business. What are you guys doing that are making you successful?
Speaker 2:We are doing, I think, a lot of different things like marketing. We are really also doing, like a is it called boarded oil? A lot of marketing. We're also really pushing our businesses forward, and I think it's because we're so passionate about what we do that we're willing to really work twice as hard to like push our business and to really escalate its growth.
Speaker 1:Okay. Do you ever change any product slightly based on what the customers are telling you?
Speaker 2:Yes, so during the beginning we had like a whole line of bar soap, say, and people, we would see that people wouldn't buy that product. So what we would do, we'd either adjust the sense or a little bit or change the packaging or change the name to it and at the beginning our number one seller it wasn't selling at all. And then we changed the name, which was to Truck and Sailor, the sweet tobacco by Strom, and it started selling like a lot more once we changed that packaging into that name.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there's probably a billion business coaches in the world, and what you just described to be a successful business owner is you just find out what the customer wants and you give it to them. End of story. Doesn't have to be complicated, right?
Speaker 2:So go ahead.
Speaker 1:It's not a lot of pivoting. Okay, that's your dog, that's not a goat, is it?
Speaker 2:Oh no, this is a dog.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay, so do you have, if you don't mind. I'm Michelle, I'm asking these a couple of geniuses here. I know you're the CEO, but I'm just legal enough to manage that. Okay. So, Maddie and Abby, what are you thinking other than opening up a new retail store in Riverside? What other expansion plans do you want to be someplace other than the Inland Empire? Do you want to add new products? What are you thinking about doing to grow the company?
Speaker 2:I think that's a really good question.
Speaker 1:That's why I asked it.
Speaker 2:So I really want to grow on social media, really grow like a good social media following, and I also want to. We also want to open more retail spaces as well. So we're looking to open multiple throughout California. So eventually that's our goal to have multiple throughout, I want to say, the United States as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I was getting. I looked at the information that your mom gave me and the two of you were on. Tiktok, doing some kind of dance. Is that part of the business, or that which is fun?
Speaker 2:I think it was both.
Speaker 1:Okay, so do you know I mean? The fancy word is demographics. Do you know what the profile is of people that are buying your stuff? Are the male, female, young, old, rich, poor, college educated, catholic Protestant? Do you know who that is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we did a persona. We did a persona on our business and what our main, our main customer is. It is women, mostly women around their 30s to 40s who have, who are employed, have a well, a paint job, and also who buy for themselves, who like focus on themselves in like the most best way they can, and also who buy for others as gifts.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, that's. That's amazing that you know the answer to that question in 14 years old. I have clients that are 35 years old that are a little fuzzy on the answer to that question. It's like who is your customer? Oh, I don't know. Whoever buys it, no, but describe me your customer, you know. All right, awesome. So you got new expansion plans. You're not going to run out of goat's milk. What are some things that you guys worry about, though, about the business? Is there any challenges, and how have you sort of fixed them or address them?
Speaker 2:So just recently our supplier ran out of the tubes that we were using for lotion or hand and body creams. So our supplier they didn't continue anymore of the tubes that we used, so we had to pivot and get new packaging. So, but with that moving it else, it also has helped us because we moved over to more eco-friendly packaging. Okay, we want to focus on also. It's like yeah, it opens up to a new market as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, whose decision was it to change the supplier?
Speaker 2:It was like all of us, like it was a problem.
Speaker 1:It was like oh no.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I got it. I got it. So you're learning about customer profile demographics, you're learning about pivoting, you're learning about how you're positioning yourself versus your competition, you're learning about vendor relationships, and you're not even 21 yet. So how do people pay you? Is it all? Cash upfront, paypal, zell, credit card, check.
Speaker 2:Do you take checks? No, we don't take checks, but you do take a card paypal Zell Venmo cash.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then was it a nice feeling when you go to your bank account and some of that money is yours for all your hard work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how do you just look at that? You'll get that in cash. Yeah, in cash.
Speaker 1:They like the cash. You want the cash, and so do. You gotta have mom's approval to take money out of the account that you work for.
Speaker 2:So the most part they get is they started, you know, paying their way for certain things, so they make a when you go out and do sales with it.
Speaker 1:They get a commission so they log into our point of sale system and they use to have a code so they track their sales and at the end of that day they get a commission for all of their sales Got it Okay, so there's just so much to learn, but you're still young and you're learning new every day, so is there any questions that you'd like to ask me why I look so young or what?
Speaker 2:How did you guys start it with your podcast?
Speaker 1:Good question. I did the same thing that you did. I pivoted, I figured out that there was a need for my services that I wasn't presently doing through the other strategy I was using. So I think that's the biggest challenge for the three of you and for everybody in a small business is the world is always changing, and just when you think I got it, I got the secret formula to be successful, the next day everything blows up. It's like what the heck? And then you got to be really fast on your feet so that you can survive, and sometimes you literally have to reinvent yourself, and sometimes you just need to make little tweaks.
Speaker 1:But that is the key to sustaining a business. It's the ability to do that, and a lot of business owners cannot do that, and which is why the mortality rate of small businesses fail is extremely high. And so the new title wave now is artificial intelligence, and I don't know if you've been reading about that, but how's that gonna affect your business? How do you use it to make your business better? Have you already been researching that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have. We've been researching it. And you already utilize it for automations for their emails. So they have AI kind of help that we use AI and Canva for creating pictures and generating photos. Logo yep so they.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, so you're right on track. You have won the award for the youngest entrepreneurs on the CDOTO Rainmiker podcast with Jean.
Speaker 2:Valdez yes, he has Hands down.
Speaker 1:You are the youngest and your business IQ is rising every day, so you can thank your mom and dad for that. And it's just mind boggling to me. I mean, when I asked the two of you, maddie and Abby, a question, you don't even blink or stutter. You go oh, we're doing all this. It's like you're right on top of this. This is exceptional, so Thank you. What do you tell your friends Like, hey, you want to come to this party. Oh, I got to work on the business today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's happened just a few times.
Speaker 1:And what do they say? Can they say, Matty, come on, you got to smell the roses, you got to have fun.
Speaker 2:Not really. They're just like oh okay, that's cool, we see what you're doing, that's cool, and I think we'll schedule it another time.
Speaker 1:Some day some day when you're old like maybe when you're 35 years old which is not old by most and people are going to come to you and say, matty and Abby, can you tell me how do you become a successful business owner? And all the stuff that you're going through now, from now when you're 12 and 16 to your 21, 22, you were going to learn so much. Every single day something's going to come up. So, in any event, I think we've run out of time. I thank you, ladies, so much. Your absolute success. I'm going to tell my wife to check you guys out. Can you do man use goat's milk products? Yeah, yeah, will it make me younger? Will it help my wife?
Speaker 1:Okay, they give me no promises, no, You've got to have something to work with, right, all right, but anyway. So thank you so much, and I will. Your show will be aired in mid-March. I have to have it edited and add some sound, so tell all your friends, hey, check us out on the Rainmaker show. So thank you so much. Thank you, we are done. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. All right, my pleasure. Okay, that's a wrap audience. If you, I'll leave the girls contact and Michelle's contact in case you want to get a hold of them for any products. You can check out the video on my YouTube and you can check out the audio on podcast, on whatever podcast you use, and so I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you so much. Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye.