Conversations with Michelle Mills

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Mills.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thanks for having me, I’m excited to be featured in NashvilleVoyager because I was born and raised in Nashville, and still live here today. My accidental entrepreneurial story started 15 years ago in Antioch, TN. In 2009, in my mother’s kitchen, I started experimenting with creating a pain relieving cream that would work for my mom Shirley’s fibromyalgia and arthritis pain. She had fallen into bad health and retired early from her lifelong career as a hairstylist due to widespread pain and a damaged immune system.

Apparently, the chemicals used in cosmetology at that time weren’t particularly safe, but little attention was given to them. Mom ended up in the hospital as a result of a prescription arthritis medication that was pulled from the market, then turned to topical OTC creams to help ease her pain. She quickly learned that she was allergic to the blue dye contained in many popular creams and needed to cut back on the oral analgesics she was taking daily as well.

She had so many allergies and sensitivities I decided to try and create a topical cream that was dye-free, fragrance-free and didn’t contain an actual drug. After over a year of experimenting and with the help of a doctor at the first Nashville-based holistic clinic, I hit on a winner. I started with white willow bark, which was where aspirin came from.

I needed carrier oil to help it absorb, and it landed on helichrysum. Finally, I added other essential oil analgesics, such as lavender and geranium, plus a bit of menthol. Keep in mind that this was purely a hobby! I was working as the HR Director for the Hilton Suites Hotel in Brentwood, TN, as a single mom. So, I never dreamed of all that would unfold over the next several years. Anyway, the formulation worked for mom and her friends in the fibromyalgia support groups.

I nicknamed the cream Willow Balm due to the white willow bark, which had never been used in a pain relieving cream. My goal was to eventually patent the formulation! Fast forward a year, I had so many people asking me for the cream because it helped them like nothing else had. I decided I’d try selling it in various local businesses, so I hit the pavement when I wasn’t working at the Hilton.

My first customer was a chiropractor in Franklin, Michelle Benoit. The first massage therapist I gave a sample to is still a customer today, Rachel, at Relax and Repair in Smyrna, TN. Next was Fleet Feet in Brentwood, TN.

It was starting to catch on locally, and the Tennessee Farmer’s Co-Op stores, based in Lavergne, TN, were my first breakthrough in multi-unit retail. I had grown up shopping in these co-ops out in Robertson County, TN, where my uncle lived and farmed, and I knew that folks who lived in the country often used horse liniment on their own bodies. I wanted to make my plant-based product affordable and available to rural shoppers and not focus on high-end day spas, which were becoming very popular at that time.

I started researching Tractor Supply Company, which was based in Brentwood, TN. I mean, if the cream sold well in the small rural co-ops, it would work for the largest rural retailer, right? I was so naive. I applied to be a TSC vendor in December 2010, and it took until 2013 to get the Willow Balm onto their shelves.

The buyer at TSC was so helpful in passing along resources for designing our display, such as where to buy tubes for the cream, how to set up our own small manufacturing business, etc. It’s crazy looking back on all of that now. Needless to say, 80-hour work weeks became the norm, and my family and friends all helped. In 2014, I received the news that our unique formulation had been approved for a US Patent.

Fast forward again to 2018, I applied for and won a grant from Burt’s Bees to develop my next product. In 2018, the company was focused on only female entrepreneurs who had created natural personal care products. I was able to go to the Burt’s Bees campus in Durham, NC, and work with the marketing and R&D people from Clorox, which was ultimately a game changer. We ended up being the last class in the cohort, called the Natural Launchpad. https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/blog/burts-bees-natural-launchpad-supports-women-entrepreneurs/.

That grant money was used to develop our first itch-relieving product, Bug Bite Balm, and after that, I began to get calls from larger companies interested in investing in and growing the brand. Now, we have offices based in Cincinnati, OH, and I still have my office just outside of Nashville. We’ve created many other items that are helping hard-working people in pain, all using the original patented formulation. My daughter grew up working in the business, and my mom, Shirley, is still our toughest critic when we work on creating a new item.

We’re still a small, family run business at heart, but growing every day. My goal is to continue becoming more widely available to people all over the USA and beyond. Our company is now called “Nature’s Willow,” which is a name that encompasses all of our products containing white willow bark.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with any entrepreneurial venture, the road is never smooth. Originally, I packaged the cream in small tins, which rusted on the inside from the essential oils. Then, it was packaged in glass jars, which broke easily in transit. There came a time when we could no longer self-manufacture, so we switched to a personal care manufacturer in Memphis, TN.

That company experienced labor shortages during the pandemic, so we had to move our manufacturing quickly to Canada. Now, we’re working on bringing the manufacturing back into the USA. Financing the company has always been a struggle, and I’ve made so many mistakes. There wouldn’t be enough room in this magazine to discuss all of the challenges involved in making this work for over a decade, but I’m just crazy enough to keep trying!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m known for creating Willow Balm and opening a new channel for plant-based personal care products within the rural retail space. When Willow Balm entered the broader market in 2010/2011, hand cream was the only self-care product in stores like Tractor Supply Co, TN Farmer’s Co-Ops, etc.

Now many other personal care companies have been able to reach the rural audience. What sets our products apart from the rest of the market is our patented, plant-based formulation using white willow bark for pain relief, our flexibility to listen to our customers when they have ideas (we’ve been working on a roll-on formulation for our pain relieving cream for a couple of years) and our authenticity with still talking to each of our customers that call our phone number!

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I’ve learned so many lessons that I wouldn’t know how to answer what the most valuable one has been. I learn every day from our customers and from my team. If I had to choose one to share with other people thinking of starting their own brand, it would be this: don’t try to be all things to all people. We’ve stayed true to our rural roots and have learned that there’s a core, hard-working rural customer who loves us.

We don’t have Shaq as a spokesperson, but our loyal customers are the heroes in our brand story. I’d say not to be scared to try to share your product or idea with the world, just know that it won’t be easy, and many times won’t be fun. But it will be worth it, no matter how it turns out. Lots of people talk about starting their own company, but most don’t take the leap. Why not give it a try?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://natureswillow.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natureswillow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natureswillow/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-mills-7183819a/