We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Faith Freeman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Faith , appreciate you joining us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

Family business is a wonderful thing! Both my husband and I grew up in family businesses so we were not strangers to the dynamic. Nothing brings us greater joy than to have a second generation involved in the business with us. In fact, the second generation has really embraced the idea and takes a strong leadership role in the business. Family business should not be something forced on family members; especially if they do not share the same excitement and enthusiasm as the founders. Everyone is entitled to follow their dream and trying to shove them into something that just doesn’t fit or is not their passion is not a good way to keep a family healthy. It is important that all the family members involved understand their specific duties and responsibilities in order to avoid the pitfalls and challenges that could occur. For example we were originally and husband/wife team, then our son joined the company making us a trio. Each one of us has very clear aspects of the business that we focus on. I drive all the creative segments of the business. My husband Scott focuses on the nuts and bolts of operations the business and future planning. Mitchell, our son is the sales guru. He has the responsibility of driving, growing and maintaining sales and works with a strong team of sales oriented team members. For my husband and myself it is important not to rely on what was, or what we used to do. Our son often times sees things with a new perspective and fresh eyes; so being able to listen and appreciate that is sometimes difficult but often is the right path to take. After all, family business is about protecting and preserving generational wealth so having a second generation in the business that truly has a passion and commitment to the business is truly a blessing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We started Primal Elements out of a need. We opened a small bath and body boutique in 1993; at that time we could not find high quality, affordable bath and body products that we felt we would be willing to sell. At the time we were living at my moms house. Scott was a general contractor and I was an interior designer. The construction industry in California had come to a screeching halt at that time so we both were in a tough spot; especially with two small children. So, we move into my mother’s home and brainstormed about what we really wanted to do with our lives. Drawing on our retail experience we decided that this would be as good a time as any to open up a store. So we did. My mother took out a mortgage on her paid for home and gave us the seed money to start this venture. With my interior design background I felt I was creative enough to come up with product ideas. Soap, was the first thing we tackled. Scott started purchasing some soaps from manufacturers in our area. He asked if we could buy in bulk instead of precut wrapped, finished product. It worked for a while but then they decided they no longer would offer us this bulk product. This was devastating to us as this was the driver in our store. We were drawing people from all around to buy our soap. So what else could we do? We had to jump in and make our own soap. We commandeered my moms kitchen and began making soap. We had not experience or knowledge about how to make soap but we jumped in head first and did it! Not only did we keep our customer base in our store; we also began drawing attention from other retailers that found our products. This lead us to become a manufacturer of our soap to ship all around the United States. We are fortunate that we have a unique product. We took something as mundane as soap and elevated it to an art form. This is one of the things we are most proud of. Also, we are able to provide a product to our retail customers that keeps the customers coming back for more. This is a challenge all retailers face; how to keep customers and keep them coming back. We feel we solved that problem and brough high quality product to our retail partners. Additionally, today we are so proud that we are able to provide jobs to hard working folks. Many of our employees have been with us for ten -twenty years and more; and we also have some second generation family members working here as well. We feel that with the success of a family business there is also an duty and obligation to be charitable; that is why we work very closely with Children’s Hunger Fund; a local faith based organization that provides necessities to those less fortunate. Basic needs are provided locally and also when disaster strikes, Children’s Hunger Fund is there to help. It is our belief that nobody should be in the position where they can’t afford simple necessities such as a bar of soap for proper hygiene.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We manufacture our own Bath, body and home fragrance products. Soap making taught us how to create other personal care products and then candles followed. We are proud that those products are all still handmade in our facility in Huntington Beach California. We also create private label products for other companies and brands. Having said that; the interesting thing about family business is that the second generation looks beyond the what is currently happening. Mitchell has had the foresight to enter new avenues of trade for Primal Elements. Not only are we an innovator in the bath and body space we also have a strong foothold in the home cleaning products sector. We did not have any experience in that area at all; but our strong relationships opened these new doors for us. Mitchell did amazing work finding contract filler both here and abroad to make these products for us. There are particular standards that need to be followed in creating these products so we learned a lot about national brand equivalents and rigorous testing that has to take place to build these products. Now we have multiple vendors that supply these products for us to our specifications.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my confounder/business partner/ husband when we were teenagers in college. We were in the same political science class! This year will be forty-four years that we are partners in life and in business. We’ve been through thick and thin, with two amazing children and two fabulous grandchildren that bring us nothing but joy!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.primalelements.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primalelements/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Primalelements/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrPrimalElements/videos

Image Credits
images courtesy Primal Elements