Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica & Joshua Kerlin.
Hi Jessica & Joshua, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Our business was started through the desire to bring more plant-based options to people with pure and simple ingredients Jess had finished her masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture shortly before Covid hit in 2020 and with it, disrupted testing for her boards and Josh’s work as a manager for Michael Kors.
With our free time at home, Jess developed some plant-based rollers to help with common everyday stressors like headaches and migraines, stress and anxiety, falling and staying asleep immune support, and tummy issues. When Josh began going back to work, Jess started doing market pop-ups introducing her new products, that utilized not only her schooling in herbology and acupressure but the 5 years she had spent working at Wholefoods in their whole body department.
This allowed her to get a good understanding of the existing plant-based body care and herbal remedies that were widely available, and where there were holes in the market that they could fill. With Jess’ design, these herbal rollers combined eastern medicine and a beautiful esthetic that highlighted the plants used. After a lot of success with markets and our plant-based rollers, we started to venture out into body oils, hair and lash oils, lip oils, face masks, gua sha stones, and natural perfumes.
All the products we make are 100% plant-based with no chemicals or preservatives and utilize both organic and wildcrafted herbs & essential oils, and organic carrier oils. Around March of 2021 between market pop-ups, online sales, and a few consignment shops we made more in sales in the first three months than Josh would have made all year. So we took a leap of faith and agreed to spend all our work time devoted to Jess Wandering Goods. As word has spread and customers have received great results, we have been able to expand our operations.
We now have an employee who helps us make products, attend markets, and help with day-to-day activities. We are now starting to travel outside the Orlando area and venturing into Jacksonville, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. Besides reaching further outside Orlando to spread the word we have been wholesaling products to other small businesses throughout the United States and even a store in France.
We have shops in California, Texas, Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, New Jersey, and more.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a pretty smooth road but there was a learning curve to us setting our own schedule and balancing time for markets while also making products, since everything we sell is handmade by us.
Our biggest struggle has been a combination of dealing with the high demand of product and supply chain issues due to covid, which has made it more difficult to find the glass bottles we use for our products. Luckily, we have a great group of other business owners and mentors who help share ideas and sources for good importers.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I (Jess) started as a nursing student in Wisconsin, worked as a CNA while attending, and after three years decided to move to Florida with my fiancé and finish my bachelor’s while attaining a master’s in Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine at the Florida College of Integrative Medicine (FCIM).
During my three years in the master’s program, I worked for Whole Foods in their whole body department. While working I was able to try lots of expensive holistic and plant-based remedies, supplements & body care products. I retained a good foundation of what was out there and what worked well, but also what was lacking, what was overpriced, and what products were lacking quality ingredients. I was able to blend the fundamentals of eastern medicine through what’s called the five elemental theory, incorporate acupressure in an easy & usable way, and utilized organic and wildcrafted ingredients to give my products a leg up on the competition.
What sets us apart is the knowledge that comes with that master’s degree, and the attention to detail that puts out a beautiful product with great results. People have been blown away by how effective our products are due to the quality of ingredients and the research that’s being each of these products and the benefit they have to the body.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Never go into business with your significant other haha… JUST KIDDING! But seriously communication is key. Both Josh and I have had to work hard at this and continue to every day. Having a business is hard enough but making sure you’re on the same page and understand what needs to be done each day without arguing is a huge lesson we have learned.
Pricing:
- Herbal roller (Sleep, Stress, Head) $12
- Bath and body oil starts at $18
- Plant-based Perfume $20
- Lash Oil $10
- Botanical Mask $18
Contact Info:
- Email: Jesswanderinggoods@gmail.com
- Website: https://jesswanderinggoods.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/Jess.Wandering.Goods
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jesswanderinggoodss/
