B (1:53)

Yeah, where there's injury, our bodies are all signaling. All the time they're signaling and there's receptors. So it's just our way, our body communicates to say, hey, we need to heal this area. And I think acupuncture is similar. You're basically putting a needle to trigger reactions. So your body starts signaling, hey, Heal.

A (2:12)

Something's going on. Let's heal.

B (2:13)

Let's do something to help this area.

A (2:15)

And what made you decide to start this company?

B (2:19)

We worked for other people, my husband and I, and between the two of us were kind of like yin and yang.

A (2:24)

Okay.

B (2:24)

So every part of the business that I don't know, my husband knows, and vice versa, we ran different sides of.

A (2:29)

The business, which is what?

B (2:30)

So he's an engineer.

A (2:31)

Okay.

B (2:32)

He would invent the products that my teams would market and sell.

A (2:35)

Okay, got it.

B (2:36)

And I'm like, you know what? We have incredible ideas. Like, we're visionaries, and we knew we could do it better than the companies we worked for. Yep. So we decided to do it on our own.

A (2:45)

And was that scary? Were you worried? Like, how did you leave the companies and start your own thing? Like, were you worried? Was that scary?

B (2:52)

It wasn't scary. It was exciting. But we left on bad terms. We got fired from the company.

A (2:58)

You're starting your own thing on the side?

B (2:59)

No, no, no, no. We were with them, and they wanted to. They didn't put patients first. It was a small company. They answered the board. They were trying to cash out, make big money. And unfortunately, I've worked for companies that the profit is always the bottom line. But when you're dealing in healthcare, it's hard.

A (3:15)

It's hard. I'm a nurse.

B (3:16)

I care so much about people, and I'm like, there's a way to be successful if you have a great product.

A (3:21)

And always put patients first and to care for the.

B (3:24)

Like, this is someone's mom or baby on the table. The product has to be of highest caliber. So we wouldn't sign off or my husband wouldn't sign off on some things. So they let us go. And with the money we made from that lawsuit, we started our company.

A (3:39)

Okay, that's great.

B (3:40)

And I was like, you know what? No one can do it better than us. Let's do it ourselves. And we were really loyal to that company. So I'm grateful it happened, else we wouldn't be here today.

A (3:48)

Sure. Yeah. It's part of the journey.

B (3:50)

It was part of the journey. Now looking back, though, it's so clear. I'm like, wow, how could we not have done this?

A (3:55)

And how long did you work there before? What?

B (3:57)

Worked there for? I don't know.

A (3:59)

A couple years. Okay. And now do you have salespeople that go see doctors and visit them as well? Yeah, we do.

B (4:04)

We have a distribution team of about 100 reps throughout the country. And, yeah, we're Doing great.

A (4:12)

That's awesome.

B (4:12)

It's really exciting.

A (4:13)

And are you on the road all the time?

B (4:15)

No, I'm not. I was on the road a lot working for Corporate America, and I decided that I didn't want to do that. Like, I wanted to be able to do it if I wanted to, but I wanted to be home because I spent so much of my career traveling.

A (4:28)

Time on the road.

B (4:29)

So my husband and I are home quite a bit, and we outsource a lot and have a really good team to help us do the things that we don't want to do. Yep.

A (4:37)

Yep. That makes sense. It's so funny because I always feel like medical device sales is like. It's just such a. It's a funny gig. It really.

B (4:46)

You know what I mean?

A (4:47)

It's. I just imagine, like, people with. In their trunks of their cars. They just have lots of things. Things, and then, like, what is it like selling? Like, I like.

B (4:57)

I hear you.

A (4:58)

What is it like going to sell at a doctor's office? Let me just break that down for me.

B (5:02)

I don't even like the word selling because to me, it was an education role. So just to rewind how I got into this in the first place, I've always had a passion to want to help people here, and I wanted to go into medical school, but I'm dyslexic, so I couldn't get into school.

A (5:17)

Yep.

B (5:18)

I got into college for lacrosse. And then while I was there, I talked my way into a nursing program. So clearly I have a gift for gab, and I'm really good at getting creative.

A (5:26)

Okay.

B (5:27)

I got into the nursing program, and then I'm like, you know what? What am I gonna do with this degree? Because I'm not rigid and attention to detail, everything a nurse needs to be.

A (5:35)

Yeah, you're like, I'm not that.

B (5:36)

I'm not that. And I knew it the second I did my rounds. And then my friend got a job in pharmaceutical sales. Okay.

A (5:42)

And I was like, oh, pharmaceutical sales are different than medical. They're cousins.

B (5:46)

But so pharmaceutical sales was, you know, pharmaceutical medication. And you can either go to doctor's offices or to a hospital to sell. Medical device is more something that they use, like an implantable device or they put into the body.

A (6:01)

Okay.

B (6:02)

And the audience may freak when I say this. In my mind, growing up, medical device was more prestigious. You can make more money. There's more opportunity. Now the people at Pfizer and Merck will tell you I'm crazy, but they are very different worlds. Like People in pharmaceuticals stay in the drug area.

A (6:18)

Okay.

B (6:18)

And then people. Medical device stay in medical. Like, medical device, like heart, like, medical.

A (6:23)

Device sales people are like, we're better than the.

B (6:27)

Like, absolutely.

A (6:28)

Pill shilling.

B (6:29)

Yeah. I mean, that's.

A (6:31)

Well, that's fine.

B (6:32)

And I've done both. But in my point of view, when I started as an educator in pharmaceutical, you're regurgitating a script. And in my mind, that was more sales. Like, you go and look, you, you know, get them to be friendly.

A (6:44)

Pharmaceutical salespeople have to be cute, and they're just like, relationship driven.

B (6:48)

My. I thought I was sitting in a model search. Like, I was so dumb out of college. And I sat there and there was 15 people in the room with all these years experience. And I'm like, so who do you come from and who do you work for? And I'm like, I've never done this, but I'm happy. You know, I ended up getting the job, luckily. But it was a model search. I mean, the nice suits and.

A (7:07)

Okay, wait, wait. So portfolio buffs from like the ad business, which is like, I'll reserve judgment on the ad sales business, but in the ad sales business, the agent, the people you sold to are 22 year olds who work at ad agencies who want to get their nails done or go to a jeans party or go get drunk like that. There is like, no that you're selling to a young partying crowd when you're selling medical devices or even pharma. Like, there's a lot of. I feel like there's far more rigor around that. So how does it work? Like, are you in the operating room being like, no, our thing would do.

B (7:45)

So much better than it depends on what you're selling. So I was really proud. Like, I was selling cutting edge, like pacemakers for the brain that helped with essential tremor and Parkinson's.

A (7:56)

Okay.

B (7:57)

It was one of my first jobs with Medtronic. And so here I am at 24 years old in the OR teaching a neurosurgeon how to do a procedure. Okay, that was really intense. But I had friends that were going to offices saying, use Prozac over Paxil. And to me, that wasn't as intense.

A (8:12)

100%. I totally get that.

B (8:14)

So for me, medical device, being in the hospital, I really hated the word sales. There were lots of sleazy sales people.

A (8:21)

Yeah, I'm sure.

B (8:21)

But for me, with a clinical background and caring about patients, I'm like, if I can really help someone have better.

A (8:27)

Outcomes, I'm trying to generate Advocates and have people give a better solution.

B (8:31)

And I was really good at it because I had this way of them trusting and knowing that I wasn't full of shit. I'm the first one to be like, I know something, and I'm the first one and be like, I have no idea, but I'm gonna call who does, and I will track down whoever at corporate can get the answer for us. So that's how I started. And I don't remember the initial question. No.

A (8:50)

It's super interesting. And now you have your own company, and what's your. Do you want to sell it? Do you want to have it forever?

B (8:57)

Like, what's your. Now you're in the.

A (8:59)

You know, you're in the seat of the place you came from.

B (9:02)

Well, we don't operate like our goal.

A (9:04)

Is to sell it.

B (9:04)

Because I've worked for, like, Fortune 500 and small startup, and there is a vibe culturally when the company's goal is to be sold. Yeah. And I did not want that at all. Now I'm open because you never know what the universe is gonna throw at you. And so I'm like, I'm not doing this or I'm doing this. I'm open to whatever's gonna help the most amount of patients.

A (9:23)

Yeah.

B (9:24)

Like, our product is really special and really different. It's not a me too product.

A (9:28)

Like, there's a lot of products and you have a patent on it.

B (9:30)

Yeah, we have patents and we're getting new indications. And what's hard for me is I saw when you have layers of corporate red tape how long it would take to get a product to market or to help someone. So it's very. I feel like we have a moral obligation to do it ourselves for as long as possible because we can move so much faster than other companies. So when, you know, like, we could potentially help someone that had spinal cord injury get out of a wheelchair, and you see the preliminary data and you have companies say, hey, we want to collaborate with you. And I have to ask my husband, like, okay, honestly, what is going to get this product to the patients that need them the fastest?

A (10:06)

Yeah.

B (10:06)

And he's like, doing it on our own.

A (10:08)

You have the right North Star on it.

B (10:09)

Yeah. I mean, obviously, selling out would be the easy thing. I mean, who wouldn't want that bucket of cash and be like, let's do real estate or something, 100%. But, you know, I just feel like we have a moral obligation. That's great.

A (10:20)

And then how do you. What's the hardest part of it like, what's the greatest challenge? Like, you're. You're in kind of a unique spot where you're. You have a business with your spouse, which is, like, I'm sure, dynamic and interesting and challenging.

B (10:36)

You have your.

A (10:37)

Your own startup, right. In a space that is highly regulated, very high stakes. Like, what are. What's the greatest. I would imagine the greatest reward of it is the. The help you're creating for people. Like, the impact you have on humans. But what are the hardest pieces of it?

B (10:56)

The hardest thing is not wanting to make a mistake because you know that there's people's lives at risk and one bad decision can set you back. So I've learned to really slow down in my decision making because I don't want to make the wrong one and have to clean up the pieces.

A (11:11)

That's super smart. And what would you tell people? Like, we have a lot of people in sales, or, you know, I don't.

B (11:18)

I agree.

A (11:18)

I think salespeople don't like the word sales, but everybody's in sales. Like, I'm in sales. Everybody's in sales.

B (11:24)

Like, everyday life is sales.

A (11:26)

Everybody's in sales.

B (11:26)

Like, Instagram is sales.

A (11:27)

Everybody's in sales selling their food. Everybody is in sales, but they're wearing a hundred percent. Like, it's communication, it's persuasion. It's all sorts of things. But what's, you know, what's your great. What are your. What made you successful at that? And what would your advice be for people who want to be successful like you?

B (11:44)

In sales? I was really good at building relationships, but I was also really good at identifying who I would click with and how I could help them.

A (11:51)

Okay.

B (11:52)

And I don't waste my time if the relationship's not there. Like, move on.

A (11:55)

Yeah.

B (11:55)

You know, I know everyone's like the 8020 rule, but the truth is, if you're going to one account or trying to do business with one person and you're hitting a wall, like, there's so much opportunity out there. Why would you waste your time? So you have to check your ego and say, like, if this doesn't feel right, energetically, like, let's go to somewhere that does feel right.

A (12:12)

Yep.

B (12:13)

And the doors will open for you.

A (12:14)

Yeah. It's funny. I think that that's such a. I think it's such a great lesson in general, which is people spend so much time. I do, too. Like, banging your head against the wall of, like, I want to make this work. I want to make this work. I want to. And you're like, this can't work. Like, go on to the next thing. And there's something very freeing in that.

B (12:30)

Yeah, it is. And it feels better, too.

A (12:33)

Yeah.

B (12:33)

Like, life gets easier and it gets more fun, and that's what it's about. Like.

A (12:36)

Yes.

B (12:37)

Look, I deal with tragedy every day. I mean, I get calls like, my son just got shot with a motor from a boat and lost their legs. You're my only hope kind of thing. And you really learn that life is short. And I just posted something on Instagram like, my. Like, enjoy the ride. Yeah, you have to enjoy the ride. Where we talked about. We played lacrosse growing up. I'm really competitive with myself. Not against other people, with myself. I want to be the best. I want to get to the finish line. But I've learned it's not about where you want to be, it's how you get there.

A (13:06)

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Somebody who was the athlete that just talked about this. A golfer. The golfer talked about. There was some golfer that did an interview this summer who had this post that was basically like, he won, I don't know, some tournament. And he was like, it's fleeting. Like, the end. The win is kind of fleeting. It's like. It's the journey. It's like all the laughs on the way and all the mountains you climbed on the way, or all the losses and all the scrapes and all the fights and all the. Like, that's the everything. And the winning of it all is this, like, great, happy thing. But it goes. And then you want the next. You know, you want the next thing to conquer. And I think that's such a great way to look at, well, the company's.

B (13:48)

Successful or what we think is successful. They're miserable. I know so many, like, very wealthy, on paper, successful people that are just really miserable in life. And I never want to be one of them.

A (13:59)

No, for sure. Totally. And I would imagine your industry gives you such perspective in that, like, your business.

B (14:05)

It does, but it's. I mean, we're human, so it's very easy for that to go out the wayside and to stress about little things. But. Yeah, you know, and then you get reminded again.

A (14:13)

Yep. What other advice would you give to people who are miserable in their jobs or they do want to change, or they hate the values of the company they work for? Like, what's your advice in getting out of that?

B (14:28)

That you have to have the courage to believe that something else is better out there for you. But I think it starts with self reflection. So instead of blaming everyone else like the victim mentality. You have to say, what do I want to do, what can I offer and how do I do what makes me feel good and make the move? There's so many people and this. I dropped hop quite a bit in my career. One, because you can make more money. But also two, I was searching for me like I was searching for a place that I felt like I was adding value and was using my creative juices and all these things. But the one consistent thing was Groundhog's Day. Whether it's a huge company, small company, it's like people would yes each other in the boardroom and then they would go out for happy hour and bitch about what they were just talking about. But no one spoke up when we were sitting there. So this is insanity. Nothing's gonna get done if we're just yesing people for ego to get ahead and move up the ran. So I think it's really important to self reflect. And what can you do differently to make a change within you before you.

A (15:27)

Even make the corporate change?

B (15:28)

Yeah.

A (15:29)

Yep. I think that's great. I love how you break that down, which is I talk about this a lot where it's like be self critical. Like you have to have an intellectually honest conversation with yourself. And then the second piece that I really liked is that you need to do. You need to figure out what's going to make you happy or what's going to make you fulfilled and. And then what do you need to do to get there. And I think sometimes people get stuck in the. It's everybody else's fault or. And then there's kind of that cancer at work of like the say yes in one room and complain about the yes in the next. Like, I hate that. I have no time for that. But I also think people would be so much happier if they just followed that, regardless of what you do, you.

B (16:11)

Know, and there are different vibes at each company. I mean, for sure, management, if you really don't click with management, like you probably should find another position. But I do think that there's opportunity for growth for every position. Whether you bang heads or you don't. There's a way to get a lot out of that experience, for sure.

A (16:30)

Have you. What's, what's a way? Like, have you ever had a terrible boss?

B (16:34)

Oh, so many. I mean, I'd like to think I'm a better boss now because I've had so many crappy ones. I mean the ones that don't make you feel valued or heard or dispensable that's like, the absolute worst feeling, is just feeling like a number, like, they don't care about you. But the ones that have hurt me the most were ones I thought I was close to. And, like, we'll do whatever it takes to climb up the ladder. That's hurtful because I'm a really loyal, trusting person, and I never wanted to get hardened people. Be like, you have to get harder. And, no, you don't have to get harder to be successful. And you need to have better boundaries, but you don't need to get harder or clear. You know, I didn't ever wanted to be like, Debbie Downer about things.

A (17:14)

That's great. And then what would you. What's your advice for people who want to. Who have a bad boss and don't know what to do with it with them?

B (17:24)

Instead of being like, I don't like, listen to your thoughts. Like, I don't like them. I don't agree with them either. Fine. Like, you have to be honest with yourself. What specifically don't I like about this person? Why is it triggering me? I think the key is finding out why it's triggering you, and what can you do differently about that? So maybe you don't like what they're proposing. Maybe you could have an honest conversation with them. Like, I hear you're proposing this. I'm not really sure. If you don't know why, maybe you can ask questions like, I don't know if I'm stepping out of line, but find out the why behind things. A lot of times people don't see eye to eye in the corporate world because you're responsible for different things and you're not privy to certain conversations. Like, my husband and I, we came from different walks of the business. And I would know, like, in a hospital, if I could have packaging like this or a brochure like this, it could really help my team in the country. And he would. And people in corporate would say no. And I'm like, okay, we're butting heads here. I don't want to hear no, but explain the why. And I met my husband, and I would understand. Well, quality insurance, like, it takes, like, so much effort, so much time, so much money to make this one change. Is it worth it? Like, do you think that the ROI would be worth it? If someone said that to me, I would not ask for a packaging change.

A (18:32)

Yeah, yeah. Because you're like, oh, now I understand, or the goal I'm trying to achieve is this.

B (18:36)

So a lot of it's just the Way you approach the conversation and just having a direct conversation, but not an ego asshole way.

A (18:42)

Yep, yep. Yeah. The triggering thing, I think, is super interesting because I think. I actually think people are spending so much time at work being triggered. It's so time consuming. I'm just like.

B (18:53)

I should be.

A (18:54)

You know, it's.

B (18:55)

It's exhausting.

A (18:56)

How do people find you?

B (18:57)

I'm on Instagram. Danielle Fetty.

A (19:00)

Are you public or private?

B (19:01)

Private. Okay. No, no, no. My company or either one. Oh. Our company is a privately held company.

A (19:07)

Is your company on Instagram, too? No, Rayagel is.

B (19:11)

Yeah, Rayagel is on Instagram. I thought you meant is my company a private or publicly held company? We're private. We're definitely staying private.

A (19:19)

Yeah.

B (19:19)

And I'm on LinkedIn also.

A (19:21)

And Rayagel is the product. Is the du jour product.

B (19:25)

Yeah. Well, we. Our company, our main company is FET Tech. And then we have. That's like the parent company, and then we have companies underneath it. So Rayagel is the liquid version of our regenerative medicine product. Stemces is the wound. And if you go to fetech, you'll see. You'll see all the different. And then we have an antiviral company as well.

A (19:43)

And what does an antiviral do?

B (19:45)

Sorry, an antiviral.

A (19:47)

I take that if I have Covid.

B (19:50)

I was like, ridiculously no knowledge when it came to viral anything.

A (19:54)

Okay.

B (19:55)

When we did our safety studies for our products, we found out. We, like, stepped in shit. Honestly. We found out our product and deactivated envelope viruses. So some of the world's most deadliest viruses, like this was a month before COVID broke out.

A (20:10)

Okay.

B (20:10)

Covid, hiv, hepatitis, influenza, A, B. Like, all the viruses that we have problems with in the world are enveloped. So they basically have a hard shell over the virus that you can't crack it. Okay. Our product helps with cracking that shell.

A (20:25)

And then once you crack it, you can zap it.

B (20:27)

Yeah, I mean, I don't really know, like, how it works yet. We're trying to work. We know it works, and now we're trying to figure out how it works.

A (20:33)

Okay, that's cool.

B (20:34)

It's really cool. So we have a viral company, and then we're working with the government and doing some really fun research.

A (20:39)

This sounds very exciting.

B (20:40)

Yeah.

A (20:40)

I didn't know that viruses had a shell called a envelope. Me neither. That's cool.

B (20:44)

Well, I get fever blisters, so right before COVID broke out, my husband's like, gosh, we. We didn't pass this safety test. Like, what do you mean we didn't pass? He's like, we couldn't complete it. It's not that we didn't pass it. Yeah. Like, what do you mean we couldn't complete it? He's like, because we had to prove, if there was virus around our product, would that transmit to humans?

A (21:02)

Okay.

B (21:02)

And we couldn't complete the test because we kept killing the virus.

A (21:07)

Oh, so maybe it's that good.

B (21:08)

It's really that good.

A (21:10)

That's pretty cool. It is really cool.

B (21:13)

Hence the pressure to do more. All the pressure.

A (21:16)

But that's all right. That's good pressure.

B (21:17)

And then Covid broke out, and I was like, oh, wow. What do you know? It's an envelope virus.

A (21:23)

It's an envelope. It's like a type of virus. It's called an envelope virus.

B (21:26)

Yeah. So viruses are either enveloped or non enveloped.

A (21:30)

Okay.

B (21:30)

And I did not. You don't learn this in cold. The cult. Like, what do you mean, like the flu?

A (21:34)

Isn't the flu a virus? Is that an envelope or not?

B (21:37)

I'm pretty sure envelopes influenza. Well, no.

A (21:38)

Isn't it influenza?

B (21:39)

Wouldn't that be. Influenza's enveloped.

A (21:41)

So FET tech, we will check it out. If we. If we go to the hospital because we have a burn or a cut, we're gonna ask about the product.

B (21:48)

Yeah. Or. Or in surgery, if you're worried about it healing well, or if you have, like, comorbidities, like, if you're.

A (21:53)

What's that mean?

B (21:54)

If you have other things going on, like, say you have diabetes or you have an autoimmune and you're worried about healing or scarring, you know, like, you tend to scar more and you want to make sure that incision is cleaner and heals faster. You can ask for the test.

A (22:06)

Why wouldn't you sell this over the counter?

B (22:08)

We can't, because we went through the FDA and it's classified as a medical device, so it has to be. You have to have a script through the provider, and if it wasn't over the counter, they wouldn't use it in the hospital.

A (22:20)

But what if I got, like, a dog bite and I need. I have a scar in my arm.

B (22:25)

That's funny you say that. The first patient I helped, and I. I hate using this example because I love animals, but it was a dog bite. We helped reconstruct the ear. Some plastic surgeons will use. Depends on geographically, your area, because you'd have to pay out of pocket for it. Insurance won't cover it.

A (22:41)

Okay.

B (22:42)

So it depends. But I would highly recommend recommending, like, telling the provider about it. A lot of doctors think if it's not covered by insurance, the patients won't want it. But if it's going to say, like, I had a friend that had a Mohs procedure on their head, and so a chunk of their skull, they had, like, a one like this, a Mohs procedure, like skin cancer.

A (23:01)

Okay.

B (23:01)

So they go in and you have skin cancer, and they basically have to keep making it bigger and bigger until.

A (23:05)

They make sure that they're cut off, the whole area.

B (23:07)

Yeah, it's terrible cancer.

A (23:08)

And it leaves, like, a divot, right?

B (23:10)

Exactly. So if you use our product, it would fill it in. You wouldn't form that scar tissue, and it would look like you had nothing done. But you have to be your own advocate as a patient, because a doctor's not gonna be like, I have only 10 minutes with you. So let's talk about this new product. You have to do your own research and have a confidence to say, hey, I heard about this product. What do you think about it? Could we try it?

A (23:32)

That should be your pitch.

B (23:33)

There you go.

A (23:34)

All right. Thank you so much.

B (23:39)

Down first.