The Journey of Goods That Matter | Tippy Tippens | Goods That Matter | Profits on Purpose

Episode Description

In this episode of the Profits on Purpose podcast, host Nate Littlewood speaks with Tippy Tippens, founder of Goods That Matter. Tippy shares her entrepreneurial journey, starting with Bird Project Soap, which was created in response to the BP oil spill. She discusses her commitment to social and environmental impact, the challenges of running a retail business, and her innovative collective shop model. Tippy also reflects on the importance of customer interactions and the resilience required to navigate climate change's impact on her business. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes the joy of making donations and collaborating with like-minded individuals.

Key Takeaways

• Tippy Tippens founded Goods That Matter to create eco-friendly products that support social causes.
• Bird Project Soap was inspired by the BP oil spill and aimed to raise funds for cleanup efforts.
• Tippy initially donated 50% of proceeds from her products to environmental causes.
• The importance of making sustainable products appealing and beautiful to consumers.
• Tippy's collective shop model allows multiple businesses to share overhead costs and collaborate.
• Customer interactions at markets provided valuable feedback and insights for product development.
• Climate change has directly impacted Tippy's business, prompting her to seek a more stable location.
• The joy of making donations to causes is a highlight of Tippy's entrepreneurial journey.
• Building a supportive community with partners and employees is crucial for Tippy's business.
• Despite challenges, Tippy finds that the joys of running her business outweigh the difficulties.

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– Nate and the Profits on Purpose podcast team

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Transcript

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00:00 The Birth of Goods That Matter
03:03 Navigating the Challenges of Social Entrepreneurship
05:53 Balancing Profit and Purpose
08:55 Effective Communication Strategies
12:01 The Journey of Retail and Sales
15:07 Learning from Customer Interactions
29:12 The Collective Shop Model
34:24 B Corp Certification and Its Importance
38:17 Navigating Climate Change Challenges
46:02 Finding Joy in Business
50:12 Closing Thoughts and Resources

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Nate (00:06)
Welcome to the Profits on Purpose podcast where we explore the journeys of purpose led founders and the financial strategies that have helped them survive and thrive. I'm your host, Nate Littlewood, and today's guest is Tippy Tippens, who is the founder and chief eternal optimist of Goods That Matter. Tippy began her entrepreneurial journey in 2010 with Bird Project Soap,

which was a black bird shaped soap that raised funds for the BP oil spill cleanup. A graduate of Pratt's industrial design program, she left New York, moved to New Orleans and built her company around a simple formula. Beautiful eco-friendly products that support social and environmental causes.

Goods That Matter donates a portion of each sale nearly $80,000 to date as far as I understand, and was Louisiana's first benefit corporation. Along the way, she's expanded from a Kickstarter campaign to a mix of e-commerce, wholesale, and brick and mortar shops, collaborating with local makers and using design to spark hope and social change. Tippy, welcome to the show. It is so great to have you here.

Tippy Tippens (01:31)
Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it.

Nate (01:34)
Of course, well, Tippy, a great place for us to start, I guess, is talking a little bit about your origin story. From what I understand, Bird Project Soap began as a response to the BP oil spill. I'm curious to understand, how did you know or get to the point of understanding that there was actually a sustainable business to be built off the back of this?

Tippy Tippens (02:01)
I think it was definitely an intuitive knowledge. I did not have a business plan. I did not have a financial plan. I felt compelled to do it. It was really a throw your hat and catch up to it sort of situation for me. So yeah, I just

I don't know if I've ever felt something so strongly before, but I just really felt compelled to do it. I felt like, you know, what would happen if I put everything that I had behind this idea and just see what happens? Yeah, it was a big risk.

Nate (02:43)
Thanks, absolutely. As a, I gather you're a fairly creative sort of person. Would you say that there was anything different about the way that you went into this decision compared to some of the ways that you've made other big decisions in your life?

Tippy Tippens (03:06)
Let me think. I think that in this situation, I suppose since it was such a massive environmental disaster that I was creating this product in response to, it really motivated me. I had worked freelance in the past as a product designer or graphic designer, furniture designer. I had never

owned a business of this kind before, you know, having a business that includes manufacturing and distribution and online sales. And I had never done anything like that before. I had had photography shows where I sold my work or I'd been hired, you know, full-time or part-time or freelance, but this was a whole new ball game. so yeah, I, I just.

I'm not really sure. You know, looking back, just, I just know that I was completely compelled and just felt that I absolutely had to do it. And, I remember being surprised, you know, when I decided to move myself to New Orleans from, New York, my mom actually helped me and was also supportive of this idea, you know, me taking on a lease and not having a job.

I just really did throw my hat to catch up to it. And I think, you know, I had started that Kickstarter campaign and Kickstarter at that time was a new thing. I had gone to, some Kickstarter meetups in New York before I left, that the founders would host with people, you know, that had had, campaigns. It was sort of like a Q and a session.

for people that might be interested. And so I was like, OK, I'm going to use Kickstarter for this idea. So that was an exciting accomplishment, too. I think I raised $6,000 for these first batches of soaps. I had set my goal for half of that, 2,500, and we met that goal in like three days. So it was something that

people really connected with. There's a lot of layers to those bird soaps. You they're symbolic of going oil to clean. They're in that abstract shape of a bird. And so as people use them, they just sort of connect more and more with the concept and with the good that they do. So it was one of these projects that just, it took on its own life and became much larger than me. And I had to keep up with it.

so I, it was a very lucky start. And so we moved from, you know, Kickstarter to online sales very quickly. got a lot of press because of the Kickstarter campaign. and that really drove the online sales, for the first three years.

Nate (06:13)
Yeah, I love it. I love it. So you're a benefit corporation, AKA B Corp. And it's clear to me that you place a very high value on social and environmental impact. And I think one of the things that a lot of consumers often overlook or don't really understand that when a brand or a company does that, makes these sort of commitments, there's often a cost with that. And I suspect a lot of times a very substantial cost of deciding

to run a business that way. was wondering if, and you've also got the philanthropic component here where you're donating a portion of your profits, right? I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the numbers behind this and how you manage to keep pricing and margins viable while also staying true to some of these commitments that you've made.

Tippy Tippens (07:12)
Sure. Yeah. So I think some people advised me in the beginning, like, well, maybe you should just start your business and then add the good stuff on later once you become established. And to me, the whole reason I was starting this business was to do something good, to do something to help this dire situation. So I rejected those ideas. So and when I started to

The Bird Soaps actually donated 50 % of the proceeds. This was such a large disaster that I really, I just wanted to make a big difference. So I think people really connected with that as well. That helped their success actually. I wasn't just donating 5 % or 2 % or 1%. I was donating 50%. So, you know, the money that people were spending, it was

A lot of it was going to the cause. Half of it was going to the cause. So, I mean, that's the reason I'm in business. I don't know if I would have a business if it weren't for this ethos, for this mission. to me, it's part of it. And without it, I'm not interested.

Yeah, so we donate 10 % of the profits from the products that we make. And we are a B Corp. I've been a benefit corporation in legal structure since 2012, I believe, when they first became available in Louisiana and was the first B Corp in Louisiana. And then just two years ago went through the process of

doing the certification process. It's very in-depth and yeah, takes a lot of time and does have cost involved. So to be a B Corp in legal structure doesn't have a cost involved. But in the beginning, you were still included on B Lab's web page. But now you have to be a certified B to be included in any of the marketing or on their website.

So yeah, there is a cost involved to be a certified B. My business in the beginning, before benefit corporations were available in Louisiana was at L3C, which is a sort of mix of a nonprofit and an LLC. Yeah, so that's how I had been following B Corp for a while and so was excited when they became available in Louisiana and so yeah, I was ready to jump on board.

Nate (10:07)
So it sounds like this mission purpose and cause was so important to you that it was an absolute non-negotiable. And you essentially said, this has to be part of the DNA of the company. Otherwise I'm not interested in running the company. And you've basically gotten the rest of the, the finance and the numbers and the business side to work around that core, which is yeah, a commendable approach to doing it. So.

Something we chatted briefly about the other day when we caught up, I just wanted to circle back to it. We spoke a little bit about the communication strategy that you use for talking to customers and people who are coming into your ecosystem about your purpose. I'm not sure if you remember, but I shared with you a story about how when I first started my e-commerce business, which was also a B Corp,

We initially thought that the right way to lead was with our impact and purpose and, you know, talking about all these great things that we were doing. But I eventually came to appreciate that a lot of consumers don't really appreciate being guilted into buying products. And the approach that we ended up moving towards is essentially focusing on the consumer and the consumers problems and the consumers needs first. And then having all of that impact piece.

be discoverable for the people who cared, but there was a subset of our population who probably didn't really care. And those people might never have heard the message about, you know, the B Corp and all the other stuff we were doing. I'm curious what your approach is to this and what are some of the different strategies you have, you know, tested with respect to communication and what do you feel is the most effective and impactful strategy today?

Tippy Tippens (12:02)
Yeah, I think it's a combination of we are just very transparent about, you know, where we make things, how we make them, who they donate to. And then like we talked about the other day, a friend of mine said to me a long time ago, you know, when I was first starting down this path of, you know, sustainability and how that relates to product design. And she said, well, you have to make it cool.

You know, so I feel like, you know, we try to make things that people connect with and that are beautiful. And if you have this beautiful object that is eco-friendly and it costs around the same, maybe a little bit more than an object that isn't eco-friendly, then you're, you're probably going to want to buy the more beautiful one anyways, so I feel like, you know, I curate our shop and, our product offering so that everything is really beautiful and functions really well and is made ethically and a source ethically. and you know, when we talk to customers in the shop and then, you know, they sort of have a question about something, they're always like, wow, wow. That's amazing. You know, it does it all.

So I think it's, it's like a benefit. It's like, this object is really beautiful. It works great. And it's made of bamboo or it's made by a women owned company. It's made by a family owned tea farm that is kosher and organic. And, so I think it's, it's like a benefit. It's like, wow, this is actually healthy for me instead of, you know, toxic plastic thing.

Nate (14:05)
Interesting, interesting. So it sounds like you take a design elegance and product functionality perspective comes first. and by the way, it also happens to have this, you know, social or environmental angle, but it doesn't sound like you're relying on the ladder to kind of close the deal. Is that accurate?

Tippy Tippens (14:27)
feel like it's all together. It's all a package deal. there's some products that we make that are for disaster relief. So that is the headline. OK, this is for flood relief in Asheville or Texas or New Mexico. And then it also has all of the recycle glass, eco soy., et cetera, et cetera. But I think generally like on our website, you know, the attributes are, you know, all listed together. So I think it's, it's sort of equal billing.

Nate (15:11)
Okay. Okay. That makes sense.

So you've come at this from a background in industrial and furniture design, from what I understand. imagine that there are parts of that background that have been incredibly helpful to your career and what you're now doing as an entrepreneur. But I'm guessing there might've been other parts of running a business that you perhaps struggled with a little bit. Can you talk me through that? Like which parts of running a business were really, really easy for you and what are some of the stuff that has been a bit less intuitive?

Tippy Tippens (15:47)
I think being a designer, problem solving is part of your toolkit and there are lots of problems to solve in running a business.

Nate (15:57)
Oh yeah.

I'm the statement of the century there.

Tippy Tippens (16:02)
Yeah, so I think that's something like as a designer, I am a problem solver. I'm very resourceful. You know, you tend to turn problems around, look at them, you know, different ways, like, okay, if that's not working this way, then maybe I need to flip this problem around and see if I can solve it from another view. So yeah, I think the problem solving and being resourceful, I often try to figure out way to do something that isn't expensive or that, I don't know, isn't standard, standard operation for doing something. So I think that definitely comes from my design background.

And then the parts that have been harder for me coming from a design background were definitely the financial side. I had never used QuickBooks before. I had never used Excel. And when I first opened those programs, it really just

It hurt my brain, you know, it just very uncomfortable and I hated it.

Nate (17:17)
The same thing happens to me when I play around in design software. That's it. Also, my brain.

Tippy Tippens (17:20)
Really?

And it's just like junk, junk, junk, junk. It's not functioning. So yeah, I definitely had a lot of learning around Excel and I use spreadsheets a lot. Now they're actually a favorite tool for me. I'm a little bit dyslexic when it comes to numbers. So I rely on Excel a lot for just like, okay, I plunk them all in there. It does the math for me. Awesome. But yeah.

And I think, you know, like forecasting and also just sort of learning like retail calendars. was something that took some adjustment for me. You know, I think as a designer, tend to be, or I tend to be inspired by like what's happening at the moment. So, you know, it's summer. Let me design something now, but for a retail, need to design that summer product, you know, three or four months ahead of time.

So yeah, definitely some learning around retail and financials.

Nate (18:29)
Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So on the topic of retail, one of the things that really intrigues me about your background and, you know, 15 years running this company is that you have dabbled in so many different channels. So you started off on Kickstarter, which is a product crowdfunding platform. You've had a couple of brick and mortar stores, which have operated both on a consignment basis and a wholesale basis.

you're selling online and obviously, you know, physical retail stores as well. Given all this experience that you've had in retailing and the different selling and retail models, I'd love to unpack and learn a little bit about some of the challenges and lessons learned along the way. And perhaps are there any parts of that retailing journey that have been particularly challenging for you?

Tippy Tippens (19:24)
Yeah, I feel like my business journey has been an organic one. So, you know, I started on Kickstarter as a way to raise funds for this idea that I had to help. And then that led to online sales. You know, I started a very clunky website that I did myself, but we were just selling the bird soaps and maybe like some surrounding merch, you know, like a tote bag or washcloth.

And we did that for two to three years, just the bird soaps online. And then shops started asking me like, can I buy them for my store? So then we started wholesaling them. So then I had to adjust my pricing for wholesaling. So I had never done that before. And

From there, then I started designing and creating other products with the same formula, made in the US, gifts to a partner cause, and is correlated to that partner cause, like the use of the product to the donation partner. And so from there, then I sold them online, but then I started doing the markets. And I did those for, could, I guess,

three-ish years and three years of doing markets. I did them mostly in New Orleans, but I also traveled for them. I went to Austin and Colorado and California to reach people that were in my sort of target market that are already attracted to eco-friendly goods. And then the market schlep,

It's not like my products were small. So it was a schlep to do those markets on the regular. And yeah, in New Orleans, it's hot. It's a real schlep. So I got real tired of doing those. So was like, OK, I need to get a storefront. And so I think.

The storefront is probably the most difficult. You know, it's hard to find a commercial space. It's very competitive, very expensive. And when I first started doing that in New Orleans, it was at the height of, it was so hard to find a retail space and so, so expensive. So I started by subletting a space from a coffee shop.

I noticed in going to meetings and that coffee shop, there was the second floor space and it wasn't being used. And so I asked, I was like, you know, are you, is that your space? If you're not using it, can I sublet it from you? And so she said, yes. so a friend of mine and I had our studio there and then we started a store there. It's a very low overhead, low energy way to have a storefront. I'm in the midst of writing a book and including all of the details on how to do that. So hopefully I'll finish that this year. But anyhow, so having that low overhead way of having a brick and mortar is what made it possible for me.

Nate (22:59)
Yeah, I totally, totally hear you on schlepping stuff in and out of markets, by the way. I spent a summer or so doing that with my own brand early. And it was, it was just soul destroying. Like, yeah, at the end of the day, having sold, don't know, maybe three or $400 worth of product was a good day. And you're thinking to yourself, why am I doing this? These giant tote box, all this equipment, tables, writing, so much stuff to move around. But,

Tippy Tippens (23:09)
Okay.

Nate (23:27)
I'd love to get your perspective on this. One thing I didn't appreciate about selling, selling face to face and going into markets and talking to customers every day is how much I learned from that experience. know, we went into it thinking, okay, we've designed and created this product and sure we did some, you know, research. mean, having connected with so many consumers in different retail environments.

Tippy Tippens (23:42)
Mm.

Nate (23:53)
Could you talk a little bit about some of those intangible benefits that you might get from that face-to-face customer contact?

Tippy Tippens (24:01)
Absolutely, I agree. That was one of my favorite things of doing markets is just talking to so many people and getting their feedback. I think that's something that I definitely appreciate about having this business in general is in some of my other, you know, corporate design positions, you create this product and it goes out to market and

You know, some of them are still made today, but I have never talked to an actual customer about that product. so, you know, you create it, you make it, it's made and it just has its own separate life. So it is, that is something that I really enjoy about having this business is, you know, getting that direct feedback from customers.

Nate (24:52)
So, Tippy, you just mentioned something really interesting about a collective shop where you're essentially sharing the cost of the rent and the overheads, as well as the cost of staffing that shop with other brands, from what I understand. You know, the cost of getting into retail is often a big hurdle for a lot of states brands who, you know, would typically go about thinking to do this all by themselves, but...

I'd love to hear a little bit more about this collective model that you described and how that works and how you came up with it and any tips for people who might be interested in testing something similar out.

Tippy Tippens (25:32)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So I came up with this model out of necessity. Let me start over with since I started. Let's see. Sure. Yeah. I came up with this model out of necessity. So when I first, you know, wanted to start a retail space, I think rents were around, you know, $6,000 a month. And that's just not something that I could afford on my own.

So yeah, my concept was to have a shared space, a collective shop space where everybody in the shop has some sort of social environmental aspect to their business. And then we would all share in the cost of the rent and then contribute one shop day per week per business. So, and then everybody that is a shop partner,

keeps 100 % of their sales. We use Square, so minus the Square fees. And then we also carry some products in the shop that are on consignment. And yeah, so when we first started this, I think there were three shop partners. And so we each did two days a week. It makes me uncomfortable to have a lot of overhead.

So I think that's part of why it came up with this model instead of coming up with getting a loan and paying employees to run the store. We each contribute a shop day. And this is our model both in New Orleans and in Richmond, Virginia. And then I also work to make sure everybody's products look good together.

so that it's not disjointed and, we don't do it booth style. We mix everything together throughout the shop. So it looks like a normal boutique shop instead of, you know, one business has this one business has that. and I think another benefit of this model is I think customers really enjoy talking to the business owners. so, you know, there's different business owners each day.

And so I think that customers really enjoy like, I mean, we know more about our products than, of course you can train someone, but we're still gonna know more than, you know, whatever we can train somebody. But we do train each other on each other's products so that we can all speak to each, you know, about each other's brands. And yeah, it just definitely, I think it's beneficial in a lot of ways. It's like, you know, we can share marketing costs.

when we're doing an event, you know, it's, all participate. so that work has divided up amongst six people instead of falling on, you know, the responsibility all on one, problem solving, you know, when issues come up and, know, if there's an issue with the building or you need to discuss something with a landlord, then. You know, you can.

Nate (28:41)
Yeah.

Tippy Tippens (28:52)
talk about these things with your shop partners. It's not just all on you. I also think it's more fun. It's just more fun to collaborate.

Nate (29:06)
a really interesting approach and I think it's a smart way to make the retail presence more accessible, more affordable. So well done on pioneering that and figuring it out. Thank you. Tippy, I wanted to go back to this impacts piece and also just offer a clarification for the folks listening. We were talking about B Corp and B certification earlier and you mentioned a couple of years ago

you got your certification, which is basically a questionnaire that one has to complete with B-Lab and you have to get above a certain score. And as long as you get above a certain score and you can provide the documentation, then they kind of give you the rubber stamp. But there is also a legal requirement to being a certified corporation in that you legally have to change your entity structure to a B corporation. you...

from what I understand had actually done this many, many years earlier. And so you already had that legal structure in place. I'm curious, what was it that triggered you to actually want to go through the certification process in, I guess, 2023? Is that right?

Tippy Tippens (30:21)
Yeah, think since there were changes in B Lab that as a B Corp in business structure, I just wasn't included in it. I wasn't listed on the website. I wasn't eligible to go to the conference. So it's like, but I'm still a B Corp.

But yeah, so I think it was a curiosity to see, you know, if being certified would make a difference and to be part of that B Corp community. so once you are certified, then you, gosh, I can't remember what the website is that we're all on B something hub or, and I was curious to see if it would help our business. and the nice surprise was to see how high our score was.

I think our score was 140 something. so we really do a lot. my business is very petite, but we do a lot. You know, we donate to causes, we use eco-friendly materials, we manufacture locally our shop, through a solar system service, like through the electricity bill, I pay to do solar for our shop. So, it's green energy for our shop. use, you know, recycled paper boxes and tape and soy ink for our paper tape. And, um, I don't know, we do a whole laundry list. so part of that certification process was really interesting to see like, Oh, wow. Yeah. I think the max is like 180 and the lowest is 80.

So we were at 140, which was pretty high, especially for being such a small business.

Nate (32:21)
Totally, totally. And as someone who's been through the process, I know how much hard work it is to pull together all the information and documents and proof and everything that you need to do that. It's certainly a big accomplishment. So well done. done. On the topic of, I guess, environmental thoughtfulness, something else.

Tippy Tippens (32:36)
Thank you. Likewise.

Nate (32:45)
What you mentioned to me the other day is that a few years back, I understand one of your retail stores was actually damaged by a hurricane, which forced you to relocate. It's 2025. Like everyone is aware of the concept of climate change now. But what intrigued me about this example is that this is a real life, you know, small business operating in the U.S. and you are taking some very, very tangible steps or actions here to mitigate against climate change in your own business. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Tippy Tippens (33:21)
Yeah, absolutely. So I started my business in New Orleans, which Louisiana is at the forefront of climate change. think Louisiana, if it's still the same number, it might even be more, but it loses a football field of earth. Like I can't if it's every day or every hour. It's a lot. So the coastline is disappearing because of being pillaged by oil and gas industry,

and it has gotten hotter. You know, I lived there for 14 years and the last few years, June has become part of the depths of summer. So, and retail is very affected by weather. So when it's crazy hot outside, people aren't out walking around. You know, you have to, you have to save for the summer.

That's the slow season there. So it went from being July through September. Now it's June through September. So that's a fourth of the year that you're know your business is incredibly slow. yeah, New Orleans is experiencing climate change already. And I felt like, well, I don't feel comfortable

just having all of my eggs in this one basket, you I need to start a second location in a place that is more climate stable. So anywhere along the Gulf Coast, you know, it's like, well, still in a hurricane zone, still have, you know, the incredible heat. I wanted somewhere that would balance out the seasons. So I settled on Asheville because they're busy in the summer. People go there, you know, to beat the heat.

thought it was more climate stable as far as climate change goes. and so yeah, decided upon Asheville after a few years of research. so opened the location in June, had our grand opening in August and, hurricane Helene happened in September.

Our shop was in the River Arts District, so that was devastated. were one of 10 businesses that didn't flood, but there were hundreds of businesses that did. So, you know, that neighborhood was just devastated. Down to the floorboards gone, like two-story buildings. So...

So, you know, it was a very difficult thing to come to. you know, I had just spent so much time and come upon this decision and, you know, I had moved my apartment there. My car was totaled in the storm. I was there for it. You know, I was there for the whole thing. so anyhow, yeah. And I, I had just.

came to the realization, you know, we're just, too new. I know from COVID that that's what you need to get through something like that. So yeah, we made the very difficult decision to close that location. So we had to, you know, terminate our lease with the landlord. And that was a difficult process.

And thanks to some dear friends of mine, they have a restaurant here in Richmond called Proper Pie, which has been around for about 10 years and has become a huge favorite for the area. And people travel to it. They have New Zealand savory pies and also sweet pies. So they own the building and they had a storefront that was open due to some work being done on it downstairs.

And so they threw me a lifeline and said, you we don't know if you want to come to Richmond. I went to college here and I lived here for 10 years. But if you do, the space is open. So while I was displaced, I came here to stay with friends and family and, you know, checked out the space and so decided to move the shop to Richmond from Asheville.

So yeah, I mean, ironically, I started the second location to have a more climate, climate stable location, which was destroyed by climate change. But, you know, was a very, it was a very difficult year. but, I think, you know, this is just, it's normal. This is normal.

Now there is no, you know, climate safe area. People are going to be moving because of climate change. I mean, New York, I've seen all of the flooding on the subways. mean, it's, it's very scary. It's something that, you know, we should be working more actively as far, you know, for many different, for infrastructure, for protecting the climate, for, and I do believe that there needs to be business assistance. The only assistance I got was a little bit of FEMA money, but it wasn't enough to move my business. So I did a crowdfunding campaign to cover those moving costs.

Nate (39:24)
My goodness, Tippy, you certainly have seen a lot in your years of running the business. And I am so impressed that you're still showing up and chipping away at this after all of these setbacks and hurdles that have gotten in your way. So kudos to you for having the will and the drive to keep going with all that. Thank you. Changing tone a little bit.

What would you say is some of the highlights and happiest periods of running the business? What are some of the parts of this that you've actually enjoyed most over the years?

Tippy Tippens (40:01)
Let's see. Yes, certainly making our donations. So that's always a highlight. It always brings me so much joy to make those donations. We do that two times a year. We do it in May. There's GiveNOLA Day. That's a local foundation runs Good GiveNOLA Day where they match donations to local nonprofits. So we do it then so that most of our donations are matched and then we do it again after the holidays, know, at the end of the year. So, yeah, donating is a huge joy.

Interacting with customers like we've talked about a little bit, that's a huge joy. Just seeing people so happy in the store, know, like, it feels so good in here. It's so beautiful. Everything is so beautiful in here. I want everything. You know, people just can pick up on the mission and the, you know, what we're trying to accomplish. And that always feels really good. It's really gratifying.

And also the partners in the shops, you know, like in both stores, I just love the businesses that I'm collaborating with and they're all really wonderful people and really enjoy working with them. think that's something that's really important to me in all of this is liking who I'm working with. You know, like the woman who's my studio manager, Mary Ann, she's wonderful. And I just love working with her and,

and the people that are shop helpers that aren't shops, the businesses, but people that are hired to help us run the shop, they're just wonderful. Everyone's just a delight to spend time with. So that's really important to me. And the people that make our products, that's important to me to have the interactions.

Okay, we need to make, you know, 500 notebooks or the letterpress person I work with, the candle maker. They're all just really wonderful people and I enjoy working with them. It's, the collaboration is really important to me. It's something that I enjoy and, you know, brings value to my life.

Yeah, so I think it's all just, I've tried to create this thing that, that is a happy, you know, of course there's stress and it's, there are annoyances and sometimes you're just like, I just want to shut this thing down. you know, overall the, the joys outweigh the difficulties.

Nate (43:01)
I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad that you are finding joyful moments and, you know, there's parts of this that are driving you to keep going because you're doing incredibly important work here. And I love the way that you have interwoven impact and thoughtful choices into so many different aspects of the way you do business.

I am so incredibly grateful that you've taken your time today to share with us the highs and lows and all you've learned through your 15 year entrepreneurial journey in running this company. So thank you for sharing all those thoughts. Before we wrap up here, Tippy. Of course, of course, it's been great having you.

Before we wrap up here, where should people go if they would like to learn more about you, the business, the products, anything like that? I am going to include some show notes below for the folks that are listening. Any specific links that you would like people to check out?

Tippy Tippens (44:00)
Sure. Yeah, the Goods That Matter website is goodsthatmatter.com. We have two separate websites for our collective shops. It's kindheartedgoods.com and then the goodshopnola.com.

Nate (44:17)
Okay, perfect. I'll include both of them below. But thank you again, Tippy. I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you and thanks for sharing your journey with us. Been a pleasure having you on profits and perp on- Let me say that again. Been a pleasure having you on profits on purpose and we look forward to seeing you folks again next time. Take care, bye.

Tippy Tippens (44:20)
Yeah. Okay.

Tippy Tippens (44:42)
Thanks so much. Likewise, thanks so much again for having me.