The agony and the ecstasy

“If someone had told me in medical school that one day I would start a food company I would have laughed in their face and told them they were crazy.”

If you’ve ever heard me speak, you’ve probably heard me say something like this.  Because it’s true.  But now that I’ve started a food company, some days I feel like I’m the one who’s crazy!

In the past couple of years especially, our growth has been tremendous.  And I’m so grateful for the faith and support shown by our customers who have made our success a reality.  I’m also grateful for the amazing people who work at Step One and make it all happen each and every day.  We are clearly meeting a need – and I have to tell you it feels SO GOOD to know we are making a difference - while proving that you CAN make high quality, health promoting foods that people enjoy eating.

But that growth comes with some serious agony.  Keeping up with demand, balancing ordering ingredients in the right amounts and on the right schedule (no small feat given that nearly every ingredient comes from a different supplier), maintaining and purchasing ever more complex equipment, teaching people to make the products correctly.  Adjusting packaging, getting everything printed on time, refreshing websites, learning a whole new vocabulary (did you know that the box your Sprinkle or Apple Bar comes in is actually called a “caddie”?).  Regulations, food safety, best hiring practices, inspections (we’ve passed with flying colors by the way 😊).  The constant worry about everything I just listed and then some, running out of products, the occasional person who just doesn’t like any of the foods (like a dagger through my heart each and every time). 

So, in truth, if someone had also told me in medical school how hard it is to actually run a food company, I’m not sure I would have ever embarked upon this path!   

And yet, I can’t imagine doing it any differently.  Because nearly every single day I am reminded about WHY I did this in the first place.  People reporting eye-popping drops in their LDL cholesterol after just a few weeks of using our products.  Individuals being able to avoid additional medications or reducing/eliminating the drugs needed to control their cholesterol or blood pressure or blood sugar.  Ecstasy?  You bet.

But please know that the reason I started Step One was never about just selling you food.  My goal has always been and always will be to empower you to be better stewards of your own health. To let you know what YOU can do to help yourself heal and how to live in a way that helps any medications you need work better.  Irrespective of whether or not that has anything to do with our products.

So, this week, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for reading our blogs, which are my platform for sharing what I’ve learned with you.  And if you find the information useful, I’d ask that you share my blogs with others.  As a medical community we don’t do a very good job of letting our patients know what they can do for themselves to affect their outcomes and how much power they actually have over their own health. 

And nothing would make me happier than to know that I’m helping change that.