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Tigger Montague from BioStar US took sometime to sit down and talk us about the companies fine horse and dog supplements, what brought her into the industry from her time in dressage and some of the companies challenges and mindset during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to handle adverse situations.
Be sure to check her BioStar as well as her Healthy Critters Podcast linked below.
BioStar US➡️biostarus.com
Healthy Critters Podcast ➡️healthycrittersradio.com
Full Transcript
Brian: Tigger Montague is the owner of BioStar, a provider of nutritional supplements for dogs and horses.
Tigger has been in the supplement industry, both human and animal for 38 years. She competed in dressage as a professional, but had to give that up when she started BioStar.
She’s written two books, has a fine monthly podcast called Healthy Critters and lives on an organic farm in Virginia.
Tigger Montague, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcasts.
Tigger: Thank you, Brian.
Brian: Why don’t you let everyone know a little bit about how you ended up here, what’s your life’s story up to this point?
Tigger: How much time do you have?
(laughs)
Actually, my competition horse it was diagnosed with inflammation of the bursa. The bursa is in the foot and my vet is one of the United States Equestrian Team veterinarians. We tried every drug every modality known to man to get this horse sound, nothing worked.
He finally said to me, I think we’re going to have to nerve him. And that means cutting the nerves in his foot so that he wouldn’t feel it.
The problem with nerves and horses is that the nerve regenerates. So in a year or two, we’d have to go back and nerving him again. So my vet was away at a big show in Calgary, Canada. And I thought, well, you know, this horse is going to have surgery, maybe I should start thinking about preparing his body and I was working at the time as a consultant for a human health food company called Mega Foods, doing a lot of research on raw food, spending a lot of time in California.
I thought, well, you know, maybe I should just start sprouting some seeds and I had a little dehydrator and I just literally took sprouted seeds, added some papaya, made it into little cookies to hydrated them and start feeding them my horse. To make a long story short, in about three weeks I saw an improvement.
And then my vet came and he couldn’t believe it.
He said, wow, if you can do something with nitric oxide, you might be onto something. I didn’t really know what nitric oxide was, but it turns out it’s the master circulatory molecule of the body.
There are certain foods that are very high and an amino acid called arginine.
Arginine is a precursor or a substrate for nitric oxide production.
So I started looking at foods that were high in arginine, and they always contain lysine.
I realized that in nature, those two amino acids are always together. Now some foods are high in lysine, low in arginine and others are high and arginine low in lysine. But when I sorted out the high arginine foods and made them into a cookie if you will, just to dehydrated them. And feed them to my horse, he came sound.
I went, whoa. okay, okay, there’s really something to this food. And that start that started the journey.
Brian: Wow, that’s incredible. So how did that know into a business for you?
Tigger: Well, my vet was so blown away by the result that he was on his way to Florida. This is I think, in November, and he was on his way to Florida for the winter to the big winter circuit in Wellington. I was making these bars and dehydrating them all winter and sending the next day air to him. And he was trying them on all sorts of different horses. I think I had made somewhere like three to 4,000 bars that winter. He came back and he said you’ve got to make this into a company.
Brian: Wow. So how did you find your first customers?
Tigger: As the rider, competitor, I was really familiar with the dressage world. So that’s kind of where I started. I had a lot of contacts. I knew a lot of people. I competed all up and down the East Coast.
I trained in Europe.
So I had a lot of connections and that’s sort of how I started, but it really it was like guerilla selling. Because what I was when I was talking about food, people looked at me like I had three eyes.
This was back in 2007. And horses were getting highly processed feed.
All the supplements were, you know, basically just byproducts of petrochemicals and the normal supplement industry. When I started talking about bulk foods, they thought I was off my rocker.
But here we are in 2020, and many more people are hip to the importance of feeding real food.
Brian: Absolutely.
So just kind of worked word of mouth and within the communities that you already had.
Tigger: I went to shows. I’d have my booth, there was a definite ground game.
Brian: Fabulous. So did a lot of shows.
Did you do any other form of advertising or not early on?
Tigger: None.
Brian: Wow.
Tigger: No all word of mouth.
Brian: Fabulous. If you brought that forward to today, what’s the most usual way for new people to find BioStar?
Tigger: We have a pretty good web presence. We’ve put fairly consistent money into SEO. We do do advertising.
Healthy Critters Podcasts, that’s been a very beneficial way to get the word out without being an infomercial. You know, we don’t make it about BioStar. It’s about the animals.
We did do some print advertising, we’ve kind of cut down on that. I don’t think it’s as effective.
We actually hired a marketing company, just for PR and that’s been a huge boost. Because they have a mailing list of like 40,000 people, so we can get email blasts out to a really, really big audience.
And then, you know, people hearing about it from a friend or somebody in the barn, which is the best way.
Brian: Yeah, absolutely.
We’re recording this in July of 2020. How is this last year hoba crises and everything else that’s going on with COVID-19 how’s that affecting your business?
Tigger: I was initially like, a lot of small business owners, very concerned. But it’s actually been a really interesting time because now that the whole shows have opened up they start opening up for us in June and the shows are oversubscribed.
At least in, I’ll say in hundred jumper and dressage not as much maybe but in hundred jumper is there just packed. People can’t wait to get back into the show rings. So our business has been fine.
And I took the leap introduced two new products that have been in beta test for over a year. First, I thought, it might not be a very good time to do this. But then I thought, you know, the health of the horse is something whether there’s COVID or not, we have horse owners are still concerned and have to take care of our horses.
So we just launched these two new formulas, it’s going great.
Brian: Oh, that’s fabulous. That’s a great thing to hear.
What do you think you’re doing differently that other people could learn from?
Tigger: I’m not very high on my horse.
I do so much by intuition. I really try to get out of my head because I spend so much time there as a formulator you know, doing research and if I get out of my head and really get quiet and meditate and connect, then I find that that guidance is really the best. And so I although I initially stressed out, I think if small business owners can just take a deep breath and look for the silver linings. Because they’re always there, sometimes takes a while for them to show up. But they always eventually present themselves.
And I think it’s important to trust that it looks for the opportunities even when things get rotten.
Brian: That’s brilliant advice. That’s great.
Had you up until this point done a lot of offline marketing continue to go to the shows and so forth?
Tigger: No, I stopped that. Totally stopped that.
Brian: Yeah. Why is that?
Tigger: Because the people that I really need to talk to, which are the writers and the trainers, they’re too busy. They’ve got all their clients and so many horses ride and go this class, that class may just don’t have time to sit and talk about their horses diet.
Especially in the early days when you’re really talking about changing people’s headspace about what a supplement is and what it can do and what it’s made out of. That takes time and you just can’t do it in a one minute sales pitch.
Brian: Absolutely, Got it.
Who would you say is your ideal customer? Who is the person that is most likely to get the most out of what BioStar brings?
Tigger: On the dog side of things, I think it fits anybody with a dog.
Brian: Yeah.
Tigger: Horses, I would say about 60% of our business is with the performance horses. So that’s the horses that compete whether they be trainers or barrel racers, to massage horses or event horses. It’s the competition horses.
And then, the other 40% are people who have retired horses, senior horses.
Generally people come to us when they have a problem that hasn’t maybe initially been solved by traditional veterinary medicine or traditional supplements. So they wind up coming to us looking for a solution in a different way and more complimentary medicine.
Brian: Makes sense.
What’s your most popular product?
Tigger: For canines it’s our Colostrum-38 which is Bovine Colostrum.
For horses, we have a whole line of whole food multivitamin minerals called Optimum.
We have one for seniors and one for the metabolic or easy keeper and one for horses with ulcers.
So we have a whole line in this Optimum line, those are our bestsellers in Equine, because every horse can benefit from a whole food multivitamin mineral.
Brian: Excellent.
As a whole, what do you like best about your business and the industry?
Tigger: Well, I love horses, and I love dogs, I have a lot of shepherds.
They’re like Lays potato chips. (laughs)
For me, it’s the animals. I love the industry because of the animals. Definitely the animals. The animals come first.
And they come first even when we are helping customers. It’s all about their animal.
There are many times when I will tell a customer, we just don’t have what you need. But I recommend this XYZ company because they have something that will probably work. So it’s all about putting the animal first.
Brian: Yeah. So on the other end of the coin, if there’s one thing you can change about your business and the industry, what would it be?
Tigger: That seems like a Part A and Part B.
What I would change about my business?
A larger production facility.
And what I would change about the industry, see evolve in the industry, is the recognition that we are all connected to the animals, plants to other people.
I really see such a disconnection. I think that’s a real problem.
Brian: Yeah, that makes sense.
You mentioned your podcast, tell us a little bit about how you fell into the podcasting arena and what you think about it.
Tigger: I think podcasting is awesome.
I was actually asked to be a contributor to an existing podcast. And so once a month, they would call me and we would record it, then that the person who was doing the podcast decided not to podcast anymore.
And, thought wow, this is an opportunity to grab her time slot. (laughs)
I went through the podcast company that she was working with, we developed Healthy Critters, and that is going to be three years and November. I keep saying I’m going to do this. But we, of course, have the recordings of our earliest podcasts, which were a disaster, because me and my co-host, we didn’t know what we were doing.
We were just laughing and giggling and having fun and making all these mistakes. And our producer was losing his hair, getting gray and he was luckily laughing too.
So we had so many bloopers, it would take us like an hour to record, maybe 15 minutes because of all the mistakes and bloopers and, and I keep saying you know what we’re gonna take, we’re gonna get the best of our bloopers one day and put it out as a show.
I think podcasting is so important because I think people really like to listen. We know that people listen to Healthy Critters while they’re mucking stalls. It’s a great way to get education forward and good feelings, you know, good energy, and the world needs good energy.
I think a podcast is a great way to do that.
Brian: You mentioned before that it’s not necessarily a direct business tie in.
Tigger: Not not at all.
Brian: Yeah.
Do you see more of it being a part of the community that you’ve already developed with BioStar that’s listening to the podcast, or the outside of that?
Tigger: It’s outside of the BioStar it’s whole group of horse people that are connected to the podcast company that we do our podcasts through, which is just for horses, the Horse Radio Network.
And that’s all they do is horse programming, that’s it.
So we got an audience that we had never had before at BioStar, a whole different group of horse people that didn’t know who we were.
We have like between 6,000 and 7,000 regular listeners, Which is pretty good.
Brian: Yeah, that’s great.
Tigger: And we make it fun. Yes, we have some serious topics, especially on the nutritional side, but we always try to make really light hearted to so what you learn something and then you get to laugh.
Because there’s so much oppression. When I mean oppression, I mean, there’s so much hard, difficult news to take in or ignore that, you know, to be able to laugh is to reduce stress.
It increases serotonin in the brain. It helps gut microbes.
There’s a lot of good reasons to laugh and we kind of make lightheartedness a part of the podcast.
Brian: That’s really great, and that’s Healthy Citters.
And they find that wherever they find podcasts?
Tigger: Yes, Apple, Google Play, wherever you get a podcast, you can find Healthy Critters.
Brian: Fabulous, fabulous, perfect.
If you and I were to talk again, let’s say in a year, and we were to look at what had happened over the last 12 months, what would have had to have happen for you to feel happy about your progress concerning both your personal life and your business?
Tigger: I am happy with my business when all my employees are happy and our customer satisfied. If we don’t grow by, you know, double digits. Okay, I’m a little disappointed, but that’s really not the point.
You know what I mean?
So my satisfaction comes from a really great team that I work with, and taking care of the animals. So this year, next year, as long as we’re maintaining that I’m really good.
Of course, I am competitive and I want to beat the previous year and that’s just my nature, but I don’t make that the, make or break point of happiness.
Brian: Sure.
Tigger: I would say in my personal life, it’s just to stay healthy and interested and excited about every day.
Brian: Awesome.
Are there any obstacles that are in your way from achieving that?
Tigger: I would say in my personal life, because I’m in my late 60s, you know, you never know when something’s coming. Something unexpected.
In my business life, I have had to endure some really tough times with my business. As difficult as those times were, they really gave me a lot in the long run. They really gave me strength and they really gave me resilience and belief in myself.
So now I sort of adopted in the traditional Chinese medicine approach, There is no mistake, there’s just a lesson learned. I’m not saying that I’m welcoming adversity, but I understand where adversity takes me.
And that helps, because then I’m not afraid of it.
Brian: That’s a great perspective. Fabulous.
So if you have any blanket advice for other business owners out there?
Tigger: My blanket advice would be, do what you love. And if your business is what you love, then no matter what pitfalls or logs in the past, or floods or pestilence come your way, take your truth and stay to what makes your heart sing.
If you’re in a business that really doesn’t make you feel that way. Maybe it’s time to do something different.
Brian: Absolutely, Tigger, thanks so much for being with us.
Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you’d like to answer?
Tigger: You know, think so. I would love to know about your audience.
Brian: That’s a great question. Our audience comes from a really wide gamut of people looking to be more independent in some way. And within that group, the reason why we reached out to you is because a lot of them have animals that they either take care of, or that are a partner in crime wherever they’re at.
And so, you know, they’re looking for ways to be able to keep them healthy without being dependent on all the typical sources, having somebody that knows about the natural way, like you said, just feeding them good quality food, and letting the body do what it’s supposed to do, having that as a big deal.
And I know that your customers play into that as well. So it seemed like a good fit for our audience.
Tigger: Gotcha. Many people in your audience are already small business owners?
Brian: Some of them are small business owners, some of them are looking into it. Some are just interested in the topics of self reliance that we cover here, we have a wide range.
Tigger: That’s cool.
Brian: Yeah.
Tigger: You know, the one thing about being a small business owner is it is really one of self reliance.
Yet you really do need to have a team as you grow. And whether that’s your partner or your children or your best friend, having a team together is really, really important. It’s not a solitary journey.
Brian: Yeah, I’ve mentioned it in previous episodes, and in videos I’ve posted online, self reliance is a bit of a misnomer because it makes you think that you’re on your own. But it’s really impossible.
It’s impossible. We’re all dependent in some way. It’s important to understand where that is while at the same time, being as independent as you can be in the areas that you want to be.
Tigger: Yeah, I call it sovereignty.
Brian: There you go, that’s great! It’s a great way to talk about it. That’s great.
Tigger: Don’t piss off your suppliers. (laughs)
That’s a good one and in COVID become a real challenge. Just shipping, just getting things, just getting raw material.
You have no idea, the nightmare.
And it’s so important not to blow your gasket and go, where the heck are my whatever, because they’re under as much stress as you are.
Brian: Absolutely. So you’re saying that the demand has remained or increase on your end, but on the supply and the logistics, on the supply and you’ve been having issues?
Tigger: Oh, it’s the Big Kahuna.
Brian: Absolutely. That’s common.
Tigger: When you don’t have a raw material. You’re out of stock, you’re done, and they’re going to move on to somebody else. The supplement industry is really competitive.
Brian: Hmm. Very good. Well, thank you so much for the time you spent with us, Tigger.
Tigger: It was fun!
Brian: Yes. Thank you, I enjoyed it too.
What can listeners who want to find out more about you and BioStar, what would you recommend they do?
Tigger: Our website is BioStarUS.com. My books are also on there I have a book about how to feed whole food to horses. One for dogs called, The World According to Kemosabe. Who is my oldest Australian shepherd and a frequent blogger himself.
And that includes How to Feed a raw diet to dogs or home cook, how you use different foods for different imbalances and dogs. Can be problems with liver problems, etc, etc.
So, you know, really using food as medicine.
And I have to…I want to make sure I said this. Many years ago, I spent time with a medicine man named Michael Ravenhorse, and I was making dinner for him one night. And I’m chattering away, right. Cooking and all this stuff cooking, chattering like a little magpie. And he said, stop, I looked at him like, Oh my god, just pissed off the medicine man.
He said you’re making medicine.
So you need to put all your love and all your good feelings into the meal. That had such an impact on me that when my production area at BioStar, we have rules, like if you’ve had a fight with your wife and you come in the morning to work, you have to go home.
You can’t bring that stuff to the food. Yeah, the food will pick it up.
I mean, even when you make your own home meals, it’s really important to be you know, in the moment and putting love and good feelings into the food and not chattering away like a magpie.
Brian: That’s great. Thank you so much Tigger for joining us, Tigger Montague, owner of BioStar, thanks so much for being on the Off the Grid Biz Podcast.
Tigger: It was such an honor. Thank you.
Brian: Thank you.
Brian’s Closing Thoughts: Wow, what a lot of fun with Tigger there.
She’s a very interesting person. And she has such an amazing background, lots of good stories.
I think the first thing that popped out to me about her is her origin story.
If you own a business, what’s your story about?
Do you have that gut wrenching story about how you got into your industry?
How she got into the nutritional supplement industry for animals. I mean, that’s pretty incredible.
It kind of came out of nowhere.
But it’s something that will endear her to her client base for sure. And it’s something that’s memorable.
But it’s actually very useful to be able to humanize you and to give a perspective of where you’re coming from and what your thoughts are when it comes to your customer base.
So your story ought to be not only put out there once it ought to be tied in to the fabric of your business to the point that everyone knows that especially your diehard customers, they really ought to know your story.
The second thing I thought was interesting was her comments about why she no longer does the horror shows and doing any of the offline activities.
She needs a longer conversation with that audience that they just do not have the time to discuss it the way they need to discuss it so that they understand the importance of nutritional supplementation for their animals.
That’s important to understand, because not all products are the same. You may have a product line that can be described very quickly. We’ve had people on in the past that do live shows that can do a demonstration very quickly to show the effectiveness of their products.
And that’s how they’re able to sell so many when they go to trade shows and things of that sort. So know what marketing works and doesn’t work for the products and services that you’re trying to sell. That’s a very important thing.
Don’t waste your money in an area that is not producing. The last thing was the importance of being able to get out of her head and just trust her intuition.
It’s so easy when you are the one running the company to feel like you have to be on it all the time and watching all the numbers and getting into all the details. But you have to set time aside, even if you have to schedule it, you have to schedule time aside to just unwind and meditate, pray whatever it is that you do to get yourself out of your head, so that you can just let whatever that is that comes in.
That gives you the real gut feeling of which way to go.
Because when you trust your gut, it usually works to your benefit.
Tigger is one of those people I’d love to have back on the show again sometime because she has such an interesting perspective. And I think it’s useful to everybody to be able to go back and really listen to this episode.
Very good conversation.