It’s 4 o’clock in the morning – wet, cold and windy. And there’s Isabelle, like a Bedouin, hauling up her Good-Gums tent.

“I’ve found my tribe”

So far we know that Isabelle is a big advocate of self-healing and letting nature’s natural process take charge of our body’s ability to heal itself. But she’s also a passionate ambassador for the product, so much so, that she herself at almost 80 years old, every Saturday, through ‘rain, wind and cold’ stands all day sharing her Good-Gums story at the Farmers Market in Sarasota. It has become what she describes as,

‘The best thing I’ve ever done’

It’s clear that this woman loves to connect to and understand people and her time at the market helps her do just that.

In this interview, we hear how a ‘message from the Universe’ urged her to apply for a stall at the Sarasota Farmers market, how she endured her ‘Shark Tank’ experience to initially get into the market and how this experience has undeniably changed her life.

How did you begin selling at the market?

When I no longer had my school and I was in a transition space in my life, I remember having one of my moments with the Universe and I asked ‘what do you think I should do?’ Again as I said previously, I had a thought that came to me like the eyelash of an angel that said ‘I want you to get a booth at the farmers market’. I was like,

‘excuse me, you want me to do what?!’ 

That was not appealing to me at all! The process for getting a booth at the market was to first download an application and describe why your product would be good for the market. This market is not for resellers, most of the vendors there grow, make or cook their products themselves. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this, it was a case of feeling neutral and seeing what happens.

Then I heard my application got accepted and I was invited to make a presentation at the board. It was kind of like that program Shark Tank. You had 10 minutes on the clock, you had to be in front of the board, do your spiel and then you walk away and wait to hear if you were accepted.

I was thinking ‘well let’s see what happens’, I didn’t mind either way. And then the next thing I know I get a phone call saying I got accepted!

That’s amazing! And have you enjoyed working at the market?

You know,  I’ve done a lot in my life but having a booth at the farmers market with Good-Gums has been the best thing I’ve ever done! I feel like

I’ve found my tribe

and I can talk to people one-on-one at the market. It really has been the best thing I’ve ever done in my whole life. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it!

It’s not always easy, I’m there 4 o’clock in the morning setting up and hauling up the tent through rain, wind and cold. But there’s a part of me that enjoys setting up a tent for a few hours and putting it down. Almost like a Bedouin, doing their thing and then I’m done for the week. Once a week all year, every Saturday, I’m there.

What do you tell people who approach you at the market?

When someone walks up I have to get their attention so I tell them straight away that I invented the product. Then I have 15 seconds to tell them my story. That’s how I’ve learned to get the keywords out.

I really have to streamline how I feel about good gums. I give people at the market my home phone number and say I’m a free coach, you’re welcome to call me anytime with any questions.

I have very few people calling me which is interesting. I am so transparent that people find it hard to believe. People walk up to the booth and say that they have heard about the product and are looking for another way.

More and more people are open to another way.

I just tell people the truth. I just tell them I’m going to tell them a quick story, ‘I had a problem, went to my kitchen came up with these ingredients, tried it out, it healed me, a doctor came from Miami and tested the product etc’ I tell them the whole story in 15 seconds. Then I give them a demo, I put some Good-Gums in my hand and tell them how to use it.

I put a bit in the palm of my hand, wet a toothbrush and show them. I don’t get too over complicated with it as they will lose interest. It’s best to keep it simple. I didn’t realize the number of people who didn’t know how to use it. When I grew up, I didn’t have toothpaste, only tooth powder and that’s how we used it. Toothpaste is a fairly new invention.

So do you feel that because Good-Gums helps so many people this motivates you to keep going?

Yes exactly, and also, when I first started the market I had to start from scratch so to speak, now most of my customers are repeat. If this was not working then I wouldn’t get all these repeat customers.

It’s taken a while to build that momentum so I had to have enough faith and courage to go there, one bottle at a time and then you have to wait for people to use it and then wait for them to come back and tell me how they got on, and then they tell other people and it’s the momentum that’s built this.  

Being at the market for so long, talking to people for years, one of the things it taught me is that most people will get it and buy it and some people will walk away. They are probably thinking,

‘how can this little product do what not only toothpaste does but also what an expensive dentist can do?’

Good-Gums is hope in a bottle. Obviously what they’re doing is not working. I connect to the truth of what they are feeling and thinking. I think that’s my purpose at the market.

“I’m trying to wake them up to the possibility. To their own ability to self-heal.“