Fuel Your Purpose - Telos Foods

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Penny Sparks, Founder, and CEO of Telos Life, LLC dba Telos Foods, located in Boulder, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is a functional food company. It is not a "better for you food" but "a good for you food" company. I created Telos Foods because I was not happy with the "better for you food" movement in the health food space. Everything in your body should be good for you.

Food and drink should not only be nutritious, but they should also be delicious. We created a delicious collagen booster and collagen coffee latte. We also have the best tasting and best dissolving grass-fed and grass-finished collagen. I am proud of what we have created, and our customers (all ages and genders) love our products. The subscription model's success is proof of the great products we make and sell online.

Tell us about yourself

My quest for optimal nutrition began in my twenties when I got very sick while carrying my first and only child. Those were the good ol' days in the food industry. The "health nuts," as they called us, came together in the aisles of the hippie grocery stores to share our insights on keeping each other healthy in a food industry where conventional was king and bologna was on trend. This was our social media. We didn't have organic, whole foods groceries delivered to our doorsteps from a smartphone. We had rotary phones and memorized our family member's phone numbers.

My healing journey leads me to a world outside of allopathic medicine and into the world of holistic healing and health. I learned how we could defend our bodies with better foods and fewer drugs. I then began my journey as a student of natural healing through whole foods, herbs, and whole food supplements. I learned how amazingly the body could heal itself when fed whole organic foods, and it changed my world. I became a disciple of God's medicine - whole foods and herbs.

I made homemade formula and baby food for my grandchildren because I hated what was being sold in the supermarkets and grocery stores. I care about my beautiful grandchildren so much, and I love being able to use my passion and learnings from the natural foods and healing world to give them a better life. Truly, it is a gift to be able to nourish and serve my family and others through the knowledge I have been thankful to gain from some pretty incredible people throughout my life and, of course, higher education. But, honestly, life is the best educator of all.

What motivates me the most, and sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going, is that I have created a truly great product, and our customers love it. I can't imagine not waking up to my Telos Collagen Latte each morning. I'm a big customer of Telos Foods. I drink it daily.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is saying I had a dream and vision, and I took that dream and vision and made it a reality. Not many people can say they took their dream and made it a reality, but I did, and I take pride in that. I have also stayed in business past the time when many startups quit. My perseverance and love of my product have kept me going during the tough and lonely times of being a solopreneur.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Being a solopreneur is not only lonely a lot of the time, but it's also difficult because you have no one to share the burden and tough times with or anyone to celebrate the successes. It's a lonely and difficult road to travel, but I have not lost the hope of having an investor interested in joining my wonderful company to help me expand and grow into what it deserves to be. Telos' products are truly outstanding, and they need to reach many more people because many people would benefit from the products. I believe in what I have created, and I hope to take Telos to the next level with an interested party to help me do just that.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Be mentally and emotionally prepared for the grind, the difficult days and months, the setbacks, the frustrations, disappointments, and aggravations of starting a new company.
Do not start your company without doing the legal, financial, and business work before taking your first steps into creating your company. Get your business documents in order beforehand. Talk to a lawyer, CPA, financial expert, field expert, advisor/s, etc. Take care of the business of running a business before opening your company for business.
Believe in what you are creating. Love what you create, and don't give up if you have created something special.

There will be times of wishing you never created your company. Times you want to quit, but when you create something special, it has a way of keeping you going during the tough times. Your company has become bigger than you because others want what you created. It's no longer about you but about what you created and the customers who love and buy what you created. It's about them now too. Not just you, so you have to hang in there for them-- your customers. Maybe not forever, but until it goes in a direction that serves you and the customers you love.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.teloslife.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/telosfoods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/telosfoods/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/telosfoods

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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