Liz Kirby
@goodjane.co
Good Jane was born out of utter exhaustion with grown-up life. In short, we are all burning the candle at both ends. Our bodies are strained and overworked and suddenly we're hobbling around after a casual 5k with debilitating knee pain. We're up half the night worrying about work, kids or both and wake up exhausted and stressed on a daily basis. Some of us (80% of women according to studies!) still experience period cramps that cause us to call out sick from work every month to cuddle a heating pad. Good Jane's products were engineered to make all of these aspects of grown-up life easier. With discreet capsules for stress and sleep issues, and hands-free topicals to address all kinds of pain, we have designed a solution for our customers to make the most out of this one and only life we've been given.
We'd love to know your story! How did you get started,? How did you get to where you are today? What are you most proud of?
Funny enough, I started my career in 2010 when I graduated from law school. Soon after graduation I got a job working as a family law and criminal defense attorney. After I started practicing, I very quickly found myself being drawn to more creative pursuits. As a side hustle I started a fashion blog with a girlfriend, started making jewelry to sell on Etsy and started a party planning business with another friend.
Eventually the creative pull took over and I retired early from the practice of law to being a career in marketing for a start-up in the wedding industry. In 2014 I got married, and in 2015 my daughter was born. I was lucky enough to be able to stay home with her, but decided to take on freelance marketing clients on the side. I did this for about 4 years. My son was born in 2017, and by 2019 I was ready to go back to work more full-time.
As a working mother with two young kids, I was obviously super stressed, not getting a lot of sleep, etc, etc. I discovered CBD through a friend who was living in California where it was more mainstream than other parts of the country. I found it helpful for my stress, but also saw a lot of holes in the current offerings. For example, there was no product marketed towards someone like me (a reasonably fashionable, young, female professional and mother of 2). At that time most of the products still had marijuana leaves on the packaging. I also noticed that CBD was being toted as a "cure all" but that most of the products were exactly the same as each other. I wondered how something that could help you focus could also help you sleep. I had been freelancing for an acupuncturist and so had been learning a lot about alternative medicine, specifically herbal medicine.
I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to start my own CBD company, and sought out the help of an herbalist to develop recipes that included medicinal herbs used for centuries to treat all of the issues that myself and my peers were facing: stress, sleep and pain (grown-up problems). I have found having my own business in an emerging market to be the perfect combination of all of my random education, skills and abilities and I love it!
What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?
Do your research, take your time and be prepared for a ton of roadblocks along the way! As an emerging market there is a ton that is still being figured out. New regulations will come into play and you need to be able to pivot quickly and anticipate change. It's a roller coaster, but it is really fun if you can get on.
What are the best resources that have helped you along the way?
The packaging company that we hired to design our logo and packaging have been amazing (Pulp + Wire here in Maine). They had worked with other cannabis and CBD brands, and so are familiar with regulations surrounding packaging requirements and have been very helpful in helping to get our products made right.
I have also discovered a group of other female-owned CBD companies from across the country who I rely on HEAVILY every single day to navigate this industry. There have been a lot of ups and downs and we help each other out as much as we possibly can. Often sharing names, contact info, supply chain info, etc. We are all about collaboration over competition.
How we are dealing with the current global crisis?
Right off the bat we lost close to 50% of our business with the closing of most retail stores. We have had to regroup and refocus our efforts. We are focusing a lot more on direct-to-consumer now.
We also really wanted to find a way to help those on the front lines. We have been making headbands with buttons behind the ears for healthcare workers to wear during their shifts. This helps their comfort level at work because the elastic band from their masks causes a lot of irritation when worn behind the ears. Now they can hook the elastic around the button on their headband and be a lot more comfortable. We will donate a headband to a healthcare worker in need for every purchase on our website.
The demand we have received for the headbands has been A LOT! We have nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, radiation techs, etc emailing us daily asking for these headbands. It is clearly something they really want, and we are so happy to be able to help.
What are the Good Jane products?
We make 4 products. We make 2 types of capsules, one for stress (Hello Mellow) and one for sleep (Nighty Night). We also make 2 topical pain sticks. One for general muscle/joint/body aches (Pain, Pain, Go Away) and one for PMS (Not This Month). We make capsules because they ensure precise dosage (as opposed to tinctures, for example) and are very discreet. You can take them with the rest of your daily supplements. Our pain sticks are designed to be a hands-free application, so that you can apply without needing to get it off your hands to get back to work or feed your kid.
We also are very conscious of sustainability which is why our products are all packaged in recyclable packaging, we use almost no plastic, and work to minimize waste at all levels.
Good Jane is offering 20% off on most products during the global pandemic. Use code STAYSANE at checkout.
It's important for consumers to know what they are buying when they are buying CBD. Since there are not many regulations currently on the industry, there is not a lot preventing people from making false claims. Any reliable company will provide test results right on their website, and if not they will happily send them to you. Always verify that the CBD content matches what they say, and that there are no heavy metals, pesticides or other contaminants in the product. If you're confused by the test results, ask. If they are worth buying from, they will be happy to provide answers. Good Jane tests our products three times from harvest to production. We test raw materials, we test in house once the product is made, and we have a third party lab test to verify our results and ensure accuracy. We pride ourselves on being extremely transparent. We want our consumers to feel comfortable using our products at every level. From being comfortable carrying the packaging around to how it is consumed to what you are consuming.