Carolyn: Welcome back to Uniquely Small Biz by Selective Insurance, a podcast for small business owners to share stories about the small businesses that they own. I'm Carolyn McArdle. And this week we have a sweet treat for you. I'm joined by Kaylen Wissinger, the owner of Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop. Having started at the Tower Grove farmer's market in St. Louis, Kaylen's been able to turn a farm-fresh dream into reality. She talks with us about how she not only built a sustainable business, but how she keeps it sustainable. And she's always giving advice to other small business owners who are looking to do the same. Alright. It is Kaylen Wissinger. Good morning, Kaylen. Hello.
Kaylen: Good morning! How are you today?
Carolyn: I'm so good. Welcome back to Uniquely Small Biz by Selective Insurance. It's so good to have you on our podcast. I'm really looking forward to talking to you today.
Kaylen: Well, thank you so much for inviting me and I'm thrilled to be here, and I can't wait to chat with you about everything.
Carolyn: This is great. So you are the owner, the operator, the president, probably a baker at Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop.
Kaylen: Yes. I sometimes bake, sometimes, not as much as I would like, but that's okay.
Carolyn: I know. Seriously being a business owner, the baking is the most fun part of it probably. And you probably don't do very much of that. Just being an owner.
Kaylen: Yeah, it’s sad. I mean, I love my job. I am very lucky and privileged that this is what my day-to-day is, but sometimes I just want to make cookies. Like that's all I ever wanted to do. And sometimes that just is what I want, but you know what? I have a great staff, they do that. And then I eat the cookies, so it’s okay.
Carolyn: There's the best part of the job right there. Taste testing. So you are Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop. You easily could have just called yourself Whisk or Whisk Bakeshop. Why did you put ‘Sustainable’ into your title?
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Kaylen: So it's really important for me that our customers and the greater world at large know that sustainability is one of the more important things for us here. We really like working with small vendors, small producers, small farmers, and that sense of community that it brings forth is really important to me. And then also just, it is a great way to reduce our carbon footprint, working with local folks who, you know, grow apples in an orchard 50 miles away, as opposed to in Peru or wherever apples can come from, from the grocery store, something like that. So it's a nice little name tag, and it's a nice reminder for me to think, okay, as I'm making a new decision, as we're creating a new product, as we're opening a new branch, how can I do this in the most sustainable way possible.
Carolyn: Isn't it funny. It seems to me, and I don't know if this is true, but I always feel like when I eat food that is grown locally, it tastes better. When I know that it came from the same city that I'm in, or just the area that you live in, in general, you're doing all those things by supporting local businesses and local farmers and growers. But for some reason, the food always tastes so good.
Kaylen: I think you're right. I mean, I think at least with several of the smaller farms that we work with. I mean, they don't use a bunch of icky chemicals. They don't use pesticides. And my thought process is kind of, if the bugs want to eat it, then I should want to eat it too. And I don't have a problem with that. I'll share, I can share. And I think you're totally right. I mean, it's fresher, it's grown nearby and that just allows it to taste better when we finally get to eat it in whatever form it comes in.
Carolyn: What inspired you to open a bakeshop of all things? You could've done a million things, taken a million paths in your life. What led you to where you are?
Kaylen: I have thought about that a lot over the years. So I graduated college in 2010 and realized a little too late that I was not super pumped about the majors that I had chosen, but I did not want to continue going to college school. Really, you know, I appreciate and respect people that are in that industry, it's not for me. I finished college. Didn't really feel the need to go back. So I finished out my dual degree in English and secondary education thinking I was going to be a high school English teacher, decided I can't be a teacher at all, please no. And I got a job at a nonprofit here in St. Louis was miserable. I just sat at a desk all day and did a lot of numbers stuff, and a lot of spreadsheets. And just whenever I went home depressed, I would bake and it brought me a lot of joy and I loved sharing treats with people and getting feedback. And I kind of decided, you know, I'm 22. If I'm ever going to start my own business, it should be now before you know, a car payment or kids or a house payment, you know, like big, expensive adult stuff. So I started out really small, started working out of a community kitchen in downtown St. Louis and it was fine. It was a really great way to get started with very little overhead. But it was only about a year and a half before I signed a lease on my own space and we opened Whisk. So we started making ice pops, popsicles, back in 2012 when, before Whisk was open, but to sell at the farmer's market using local seasonal produce ingredients. It gets so hot here in the summertime, like upwards of a hundred degrees sometimes. And I would be sitting and watching the buttercream melt off of cupcakes in the July heat at the farmer's market and think like, what can we do that isn't ugly like this? What can we do to utilize this produce and work with these people, with these, you know, relationships that we've established and how can we make a product that people want? And so the Popsicle side of Whisk was born and, you know, long story short in 2018, I bought a decommissioned postal truck and turned it into a food truck. And in 2019, I launched Poptimism, which is our ice pop business on the side of that. So now we have a location for Poptimism in this new development here in St. Louis called City Foundry. It's the first food hall that St. Louis has had. We're very behind the times, but it's pretty cool. And so, yeah, we're doing all of the bakery prep work and all of the Popsicle production work in the same 1300 square foot space. So it's yeah, it’s tough.
Carolyn: Did the Popsicle side of it take off like the bakery side? I mean, it sounds like from just what you're saying, everything for you, you kind of dipped your toe in the pool, had one location thought, “we'll see where it goes” and now it's like the bakery took off. Then you opened the popsicles side of it. Then that takes off. You almost can't keep up and that's again, good problem to have, but yeah. It's so neat and so crazy at the same time to me to think about you as a 22 year old saying to yourself, if I'm going to start a business, there's no time like the present. Look at speaking of business, if you want to answer it as you can. We’d love to be a part of this.
Kaylen: No, so Mondays and Tuesdays are main pop prep days because the bakers aren't here. And so I love ignoring the phone on Mondays and Tuesdays and being like “Eh, denied”. I'm sorry about that.
Carolyn: No, it's totally okay. But yeah. So as a 22 year old, you know, I was saying like the fact that you said as a 22 year old, not a lot of 22 year olds are thinking I should start a business and actually go through with it. And then on top of it, you have success.
Kaylen: Yes. You know, obviously I've worked so, so, so, so hard and I don't want to diminish that hard work, but so much of it is just luck too. I think personally, I think that I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right people to kind of make a lot of things, sort of fall into place in a way that I, it has benefited me greatly. And again, I think that does come along with, I mean, I work 17 or 18 hour days, most days, and a lot of the other food entrepreneurs that I know, are in the same boat. And so it's certainly not for the faint of heart. I did not have twenties. I didn't have, you know, people would travel, go see places and go visit friends and do things. And I was here, you know, just chugging away. I wouldn't say I have regrets about that, but it's certainly something that I think about sometimes just like, this is the life I built for myself and I love it. But yeah, I didn't have like those fun twenties go out, tear it up.
Carolyn: Tear it up.
Kaylen: Yeah, exactly. And honestly, that's not really me anyway, so I probably wouldn't have done it if I was doing something else.
Carolyn: Do you think if you would had more of a, for lack of a better term, personal life during your twenties, you'd have the success you have now though?
Kaylen: I don't know. I mean maybe, but I think that the reason that things are going well is because I give it my all. So, you know, and maybe that's not how it is for everyone and Hey, good for you. If you can have a good personal work-life balance as an entrepreneur, that's awesome. I have not figured out how so it is what it is.
Carolyn: I don't think it's random that you've had the success that you've had and you've worked the hours that you've worked. It's sort of like what they say to salespeople, the more hours you put in, the more success you have, right? The more phone calls you make, the more sales you're going to get. And for you. You've put in those 17, 18 hour days throughout your twenties. And now you're reaping the rewards of that. If you build it, they will come. How tough that decision must have been for you to do what you did to eliminate the seating and become takeout only to have your clientele support you. Like that says a lot about what you've done as a business owner and just as a human being, as a person. So kudos to you for that. Yeah.
Kaylen: Thank you. That's so sweet. Thank you. I appreciate that. Such an incredibly supportive community of people here. I mean, St. Louis is, it's a weird city. I've lived here my whole life. I've never not lived here, but there's a reason I'm still here. I love it. It's a wonderful city full of wonderful people. And it's small enough that you can make your mark here. You don't get lost in the crowd. And, I think that we, you know, everyone that has walked through the doors here, I think has felt welcomed and appreciated. And, you know, I see them and I want them to feel good and happy and find something that they can eat. You know, that's why we have different, all kinds of different things for people that have allergies or intolerances. And so I feel, again, luck. I feel very lucky that we have had such a supportive group of people that were like cheerleading from the side. I mean, even, you know, so we started our remodel in February of 2020, and I did not have a crystal ball to take away our seating, but it worked out really well in terms of the worldwide pandemic that we all know about that has happened. And, I mean, I was busting down dry wall and plaster and like removing just like layers and layers of paint. And there were N95s nowhere to be found. And I, you know, posted about it on Instagram and neighbors who I had, not even - the people who live down the block from Whisk came and dropped off a box of N95s, during the beginning of COVID, which was such a scarcity. And it was just so scary and it was just, it was so nice. People are just really nice.
Carolyn: That says so much about you, that they respect you and they want you to be okay and your business to be okay. That's amazing. Good for you. Let's talk about profit margin really quickly.
Kaylen: Absolutely.
Carolyn: Have you seen any business impact from your sustainability efforts? Does it impact profit margin?
Kaylen: Yes, I would say it definitely does and honestly it is something that I knew getting into the sustainability side of things that our profit margins would be slimmer. Food profit margins are already kind of razor thin in a lot of ways. And because it is important to me that we utilize as much local stuff as we can, that comes with a cost. So we sometimes pass that onto our customers by raising prices. And sometimes we don't and we just eat it. And it really just kind of comes down to what feels most important to me. It's hard, it's hard, it's hard to like set a price on something that you've created, on something that you've made, and something you're proud of. And then when people come in and scoff at having to spend $4 on a homemade pop tart, it's like, I understand. I get it. It's not for everyone. It's not accessible to everybody, but it costs that way because the peaches were handpicked by an Amish farmer twenty-five miles away from here. And you know, the dairy that's in it, the eggs and the milk, that's also local. And that adds to our costs and we hand roll everything and labor is expensive. I make sure that every, like our minimum wage here is $15 an hour in my shop. Like I, everyone needs to be paid a living wage. And so all of that stuff is really important to me. And so yeah, sometimes that gets passed onto the customer and sometimes we just find ways to make money in other ways, it's tricky. It's a very delicate balance.
Carolyn: I think if you're a customer though, and you know that that's why let's say a pop- or did you call it a Pop Tart?
Kaylen: Technically we call them Pop Tartlets, because Pop Tart is trademarked. Kellogg’s. Big Kellogg’s are gonna come get me.
Carolyn: I have a feeling that Kellogg's has nothing on your pop tartlets, by the way.
Kaylen: I mean, you’re correct. Thank you for saying that.
Carolyn: No, but if I'm a customer and I come in and I see that a Pop Tartlet is $4 or whatever it is. And I know that that's why, because you're paying your employees $15 an hour because you bought the fruit that goes into that Pop Tartlet from a local farmer, a local grower. I'm happy to help support that effort. And I would hope that most people, if they know that kind of behind the scenes story on it, they would be as well. You hope!
Kaylen: Yes. I think you're correct. The average person who is a good kind well-intentioned person is happy to do that.
Carolyn: Yeah. Yeah. So then that being said, what advice would you give to a business owner or a business that's trying to become more sustainable that maybe doesn't know where to start or maybe feels overwhelmed by the idea? Like what would you say to them?
Kaylen: Yes. There are so many ways to be more sustainable in our everyday lives. And I think. America. And I can't really speak to the whole world, but I think here at least we are definitely in a throwaway culture and it drives me crazy. So, I mean, one of the most important things for us that I've mentioned is just sourcing ingredients and I, because I got my start at farmer's markets all over St. Louis, I know so many of the farmers and producers, you know, people that, you know, roast coffee or make their own granola, stuff like that, it's just so wonderful to have that built-in community already. And it's fun. It's fun. I'm an extrovert. Can you tell? So I really liked talking to people and meeting people and hearing their stories and learning about their passions and why they got started doing what they're doing. And so I just, I fall in love with people and you know, their passions. And so that would be my top tip would be to go to your farmer's market, go to a, if you have a co-op, if you're lucky enough to have a co-op in your town or, you know, just a place where local products are present and talk to people, learn their stories, you know, that obviously that doesn't work for everybody, but that that's the first big step for me that I would say. Beyond that, establishing composting programs, recycling programs, if you live in bigger municipalities, it's likely that those already exist and you just kind of have to tack on. If not, I mean, I don't know. My dad was one of the first people to start the recycling program in St. Louis in the nineties. And it's, well, there's some issues here still, but again, we're in St. Louis, we’re trying.
Carolyn: If somebody had told you when you were younger and you were thinking about opening a business. If someone had said, oh yeah, you can own a bakery, but here's what comes with it. You're gonna need to know accounting. You're going to need to know balancing time sheets for employees. You're going to need to know the laws about unions or whatever. Like you, you know, a lot of people, I think we grow up and we think, oh, it’d be fun to own a bakery someday. Yeah. And then you get into it and now you're talking composting and you're talking like there were so many factors.
Kaylen: Yes. There are so many factors. And I was not, I mean, for the first two and a half years, I didn't even have any employees. It was just myself and my husband is a teacher. So he helped me a lot on weekends and during the summer when he was off. But I feel like we've had a very slow build. And in that regard, I've been really lucky because it wasn't 85,000 things at once that come with owning. It was like, okay, um, I have this thing called gross receipts taxes. What is that? How do I do that? How do I take care of that? And then I learned how to do that. And it's like, oh, I have to pay manufacturing fees, all of it. But yeah, I mean, I was lucky in that it was kind of a slow build and that it wasn’t completely overwhelming at the very beginning, like here is a laundry list. I mean, that did happen, but it wasn't as long as it could have been, because I didn't have a staff and I wasn't super well-established and you know, for the first like year and a half, I mean, anytime someone would come in that wasn't like a friend or family, I'd be like, how did you hear about us? Who are you? Why are you here? No one told you to come here. Why? And it would be really surprising. I remember the first day that I looked around. And everyone that was sitting, it was a full house in Whisk. I didn't know a single person. And I was like, oh, am I doing okay? Is this okay? Are they happy? Do they feel good? What do I do? And it's weird. It's very strange. I will never forget that feeling.
Carolyn: I want to talk to you about your social media. Okay. First of all, general question, how important do you think social media is when it comes to a business like Whisk?
Kaylen: The most important. I have only spent a very small amount of money on advertising. We don't advertise, I don't have like ads in any of the food magazines here, nothing like that. You know, social media is kind of the future and the now. That's stupid, but you know what I mean. It's so true. And so, I mean, that's where we get, I mean, the amount of customers that come in and say, oh, I saw this on your stories. I'm here because I saw this on your stories. And it's like, oh, it's working great. I really enjoy taking pictures and I am a very, I don't know, some people might say that I'm an over-sharer, which is not an inaccurate statement. I like to be very frank with the people that follow us and just be really real and open and honest about like, Hey, this is what's happening and this is what we have, but it's just support, you know, people, I think that people genuinely, I think customers want to know who they are supporting and who they're working with. And they want to know the stories. They want to know who the people are behind the product. So, yeah, I like to be very open and honest, maybe more than I should be, but that's not going to make me stop.
Carolyn: No I think you're a hundred percent right. Speaking of your social media, I want to give you kudos because I was looking through your Facebook page specifically. I don't know if you're the one shooting the videos and the photos or staging them or who is doing it. But the ideas that you come up with, the way that you shoot your food, the slow coffee pouring over the ice with a creamer mixed in. Every single item I saw. The Duffin, the Poplin, everything. This food looks so good. You do such a good job. And here's the other thing about your social media that I want to commend you on? I believe in my own world and what I do for a living that when somebody takes the time to comment on a photo or a post or a video, it is our job as the business owner or the page owner to respond back. It's polite. It's the right thing to do. It's you saying, I hear you. Thank you. Here's my response. And I noticed that you do that on your page. You do an excellent, excellent job on your social media, and I'm glad it's working for you.
Kaylen: Thank you. That means so much. Yeah, I mean, there have been days where it's like, okay, maybe if I don't post something, people won't come in and then it'll be a less busy day. Like selfishly it's like, I'm tired, we're tired. It's yeah, it doesn't work. But I mean, I would much rather have it go that route then the opposite route, you know, I would much rather be crazy busy and overwhelmed, than just be sitting around, staring at each other, like twiddling our thumbs. Like what do we do now? Why is no one here? So thank you. Yeah. It's mostly me that does social media, less so these days, just because I'm not here as much, I'm at the other location a lot more, but luckily the folks here at Whisk are really good at when I say send me a picture of something, they can stage it and text it to me and I can get it up online and, you know, hit those algorithms appropriately.
Carolyn: So you’re doing your social then too?
Kaylen: Yes. Yeah.
Carolyn: Wow. That’s a lot.
Kaylen: It's a lot of - I feel like sometimes, it just feels like I'm constantly, a pack mule, just like driving stuff around, trudging, schlepping. And then other times it's just, you know, putting out fires constantly, you know, just one problem to the next, problem solving on the fly. I mean, it's, again, I kind of mentioned this earlier. I'm really glad that we kind of grew at a glacial pace initially, because I think the person that I was when I opened Whisk would not have been able to handle the day-to-day stressors and comings and goings and activities of what these businesses have become. I just, I don't think that I would have been able to handle it.
Carolyn: It happened how it was supposed to.
Kaylen: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I truly think that.
Carolyn: That being said, then what's next for you guys? So you said that you're already, you've expanded, but you kind of need to expand again. So, you know, for the people that live in the St. Louis area that come to Whisk, do you ever think about becoming a chain?
Kaylen: Probably not on the bakery end of things. But we are in discussions with a couple of places not in St. Louis that are interested in opening Poptimism locations. So that's, yeah, it's weird that people care, you know, like that's kind of, I feel like that might be one of my like business owner mantra is, it's weird that people care. It's weird that people care enough that they want - because I, and I think that that's imposter syndrome to a degree where it's like, why, why, why do people care about me? They care about this stuff I make, I don't get it. Why?
Carolyn: They care because you've done a, for real, you've done a really good job and because you're a nice person, that's why they care and they want to work with you. I mean, it's that simple.
Kaylen: That’s very nice. It's very nice. Thank you.
Carolyn: Kaylen, it was so nice talking to you.
Kaylen: It was wonderful to talk to you too.
Carolyn: I'm so proud of you and so happy for you for your success. I feel like this is just the beginning for you. You have a great product. You're a nice person. You're a smart, you missed your 20s.
Kaylen: It has to be okay because it was worth it. Right. It was worth it to lose that decade of my life.
Carolyn: No, but I'm so happy for your success. I appreciate you being on with us today. Thank you. Thank you.
Kaylen: Yeah. Thank you so much for the time. And for asking thoughtful questions and hearing what I have to say. I appreciate it.
Carolyn: You are so welcome. And now we're going to speak with Tracy Morato, the Environmental, Social and Governance Manager at Selective to talk about how Selective works with clients and what steps businesses can take to cultivate sustainability. So joining us now is Tracy Morato with Selective Insurance and Tracy, I know you are the Environmental, Social and Governance manager, by the way, that is a huge title. I can already tell, you do a lot. They refer to you as the ESG. Tell us a little bit about your unique role at Selective.
Tracy: Oh, thank you, Carolyn. I'm so excited to be here today to talk about ESG and Selective and, after listening to Kaylen, I'm even more excited to be here. So thank you for having me. So look, ESG is really about who we are as a company and as a socially responsible corporation. And a couple of years ago, we actually saw this kind of interest in the investor community. So that's where it started. We knew we wanted to tell the story to those who are interested, but how do we do that? And it fell into those three categories. So environmental, social, and governance. And we really wanted to just package up who we are and tell that story to those that are interested. But really no longer was it just that the investor or the shareholder, it was really redefined as to, as a company, what are you doing to support your customers and what do you do for your employees? And what about those communities that you live, work and serve in? How are you giving back, and just being a good socially responsible company? So our ESG reports really highlight all the commitments that we have in those areas.
Carolyn: I feel like the ESG role and just that as what you, what you are at Selective, it humanizes you. Yes. Because it brings you down from being we’re this insurance company, to we’re your neighbors, we’re your friends we’re you. We’re all the same.
Tracy: That’s exactly it. So no longer are people just interested in how a company is doing financially. So that’s obviously so important and I'm really proud of who we are financially as an organization. We've done really well over the last couple years, but now it's about, well, “What else are you? Who are you and what are you doing to preserve the environment for our future generations?” And “Hey, I'm your employee. What do you do to support me? What kind of programs do you offer? And what about those prospective employees who we want to come work for us?” We want to make sure that story is solid and really telling what a great place we are. So I'm excited. I get to do that.
Carolyn: I know. I was just going to say, so is that what your role entails is bringing those people in and having those conversations?
Tracy: It's really a cross-functional opportunity. Honestly, it's so funny because as I listened to Kaylen explain her story, her and I are so similar. I was a teacher in my former life as well. So to find myself in a role where I literally feel like I get to work with everyone in our company, including our DE&I, our diversity equity and inclusion officer, our HR professionals, our legal department, our facilities department is just so exciting. And I basically just get to tell all the great initiatives and work that they're already doing.
Carolyn: Isn't that cool.
Tracy: But a lot of my role too, really includes watching what's going on in the marketplace and saying, “Hey, look, that investor community that's really interested in us, they really want to see more about us.”
Carolyn: That's fantastic. And as you know, obviously you heard for yourself, we talked to Kaylen a few minutes ago and as a sustainable bakeshop, her focus for her business includes shopping small, shopping, local composting, avoiding the sort of throw away culture that is so prominent in our country. All these steps that she recommends that any small business can do to become more environmentally friendly. So what additional steps do you think businesses of any size could take that would help drive sustainability efforts?
Tracy: Yeah I think Kaylen did a phenomenal job of describing those efforts. And I think for small businesses, it could be really challenging, especially because, you know, for someone who's been in business so long, right, they've established who they are. And making a change could be rather difficult, but I mean Kaylen was automatically advertising that she's a sustainable bakeshop and it's so cool, but I definitely think you need to look at what makes sense for your business. So looking at your materials, is there anything that you're using day to day that you throw away at the end of the day? Are you a coffee shop that's still using plastic straws? Can you move to a cardboard base and really look at your recycling within and your programs that you have or what type of products you're offering your customers. So not only shopping local, shopping small and doing those things that she describes so well, but just really starting somewhere, starting anywhere, I think would be a great suggestion.
Carolyn: It all adds up. Doesn't it, it all makes a difference. Like every little thing that you take and every little change that you make, it adds up and it makes a difference and it could affect your bottom line in a positive way.
Tracy: Absolutely. You're hitting it right on the head. And I always say, not only do you want to do it within, but it's kind of like spreading the green, right? So if you're giving back to your customers then, and they're not throwing away your cup at the end of the day, or it's kind of, it's a good recycling, it's good advertising for you. It's good social media presence. So there's so much that you could do with just little baby steps and really understanding this is a journey you may not happen overnight, but it starts somewhere.
Carolyn: So that being said, what are some of the steps that Selective Insurance has specifically taken for you guys to reduce your carbon footprint?
Tracy: Yeah. So I will tell you, as an insurance company, we are not known to be huge emitters of greenhouse gas emissions. So that's great, but over the last couple of years, we've really taken a smart approach to reducing our carbon footprint. So let's say we, across both our corporate offices, as well as our regional offices, we've taken the steps to install all LED lighting. So that's great. We repurposed co-mingled recyclables. We eliminated the use of styrofoam. We use energy star equipment, automated plumbing features. So just really ways to reduce our water and energy use altogether. And again, talking about spreading that green. I think we do have a lot of employees that are on the road and use vehicles. And so I'm really excited. And it was in our second ESG report, but by 2025, we are looking to replace all of our vehicles on the road with hybrid vehicles. So we're really excited just to see, again, kind of spreading it out. It happens within the buildings, but then also on our footprint as well and where we’re serving our customers.
Carolyn: And I think also if you take the next step and using local suppliers, right. Products don't need to travel as far, which could of course result in less emissions. So that's a factor too. There are all sorts of, we just said, little things that you can do.
Tracy: Absolutely using local, I think. And I think you described it well, right? When you know where your ingredients are coming from and when you know, it just tastes better, it feels better. You want to do it just because it feels like the right thing to do.
Carolyn: Yeah. We talked a little bit with Kaylen and about how her sustainability efforts sometimes impact her profit margins. Right? So knowing that some sustainability efforts may impact the bottom line may be off-putting for some business owners, but when it comes to advice or the approach that you might want to use. What would you share with those who are hesitant to get started or how could they offset some of those profit margin impacts?
Tracy: I think it's, you know, it's really challenging. So one suggestion in addition to everything that Kaylen talked about would be maybe to just evaluate your own building space. So some of the biggest energy consumption that we have, or the costs is really all about your lighting, your heating and your cooling. So take a look at your bills, where can you look at your own space and say, “Where am I paying too much? What can be reduced here?” And understanding that even just the building or space that you're operating in, because if you do have to increase those other products or you're seeing an increase to your customers, you may be able to take your own pricing down by this way. So what I mean? So for instance, if you replace your light bulbs with energy efficient lightbulbs, they're said to save you up to 75% - they use 75% less energy, which is awesome. So that's one small step that you can make. Another step would be install sensor lighting. So when you're leaving the room or your employees are leaving, you're making sure that there's no lights on in that building. I know solar panels are a bit pricey to begin with, but overall that's basically free energy once it's up and running. So it could hit you initially. But over time you can really start to see those costs come down. So as you're trying to build that more sustainable approach, if you could lower some of your building costs and your waste management costs, it could offset.
Carolyn: It is funny when you compare your, you know, your home versus the office. So you think about LED lighting at home or solar panels at home, and it does have an effect. You do notice a difference on your bill, but when you take it to the level of an office building, like you said, 75% on those LED lights, that's when you really see the impact. And that's why it's so important for you to remind people that it could really make a difference.
Tracy: Absolutely. And if you're doing it at home, why wouldn't you take it to your business? And even if you're in a leased space, you can certainly do things like we did at our corporate office, which is, you know, put on those fixed plumbing fixtures, and reduce your water usage. Make sure that the lights turn off. What if you only have a couple of employees going in and out of the restroom, then make sure the light goes off after they've done it. It's an easy fix that really could hit your line. So you're reducing your costs before having a drive up some of those other costs, maybe by investing in sustainable products.
Carolyn: I understand that Selective avoids customers within hazardous business classes. So how can small businesses follow this example, kind of putting their money where their mouth is.
Tracy: Yeah, I think this is kind of a loaded question, right? Because if you're a small business owner and you have customers coming in, you can't be like, grilling them up and down, you know, “Oh, what do you do?” And trying to understand everything that they are, who they are. But I think when it comes to your vendors, that's where you can really try and make sure that the people that you're doing business with are also following the same kind of core business model and sustainability that you are. So when we talk about vendors, making sure you're doing your research on them. Is this a good company? Is this someone who I want to be associated with? Is this someone I want my business associated with? Because if you're sitting there and ordering these products from them, are they using plastic to package up their goods or are they being sustainable themselves? So I think just really in terms of those vendor relationships, do your research. Make sure you're working with good people because it is your business. You want them to be a good representation of you as well.
Carolyn: I think that is so well said. It's Tracy Morato at Selective Insurance, the Environmental, Social and Governance Manager. We now know you as the ESG. Thank you for being on with us today. It was great talking to you.
Tracy: Thank you so much, Carolyn. This was so fun. I appreciate you having me.
Carolyn: That's going to do it for this week's episode. I want to thank Kaylen Wissinger for joining me and sharing her unique perspective on sustainability in business. I also want to say thank you so much to Tracy for taking the time to be a guest on the show and giving us some insight into her job as Environmental, Social and Governance Manager at Selective. I also want to thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. I'm Carolyn McArdle. And this has been Uniquely Small Biz from Selective.