Sweat Equity Podcast® Law Smith + Eric Readinger

Jodi Scott is the CEO and co‑founder of Green Goo by Spry Life, a plant‑based first aid company that started the way a lot of real businesses do: out of necessity, frustration, and a kitchen that slowly turned into a production facility. What began with homemade remedies and mason jars eventually grew into a nationally distributed brand, but not without detours, hard lessons, and a few moments where the easy path would have cost the company its soul. Jodi's story is not a clean, linear founder arc. She built Green Goo from the ground up, sold the company, and then made the rare and uncomfortable decision to buy it back. That experience reshaped how she thinks about success, control, and what it actually means to build something that lasts. She's lived both sides of the exit fantasy and is candid about what people don't talk about once the deal closes: identity loss, cultural drift, and the realization that money doesn't automatically equal alignment. At her core, Jodi is deeply skeptical of performative purpose. She believes mission‑driven branding only works when the mission shows up in operations, hiring decisions, ingredient sourcing, and the way leadership behaves when no one's watching. Her opinions about marketing are sharp, practical, and often uncomfortable for founders who want growth without accountability. In her view, attention is easy to buy; trust is not. Green Goo reflects that philosophy. The brand is farm‑based, plant‑forward, and built around first aid products that do what they claim without relying on synthetic shortcuts. But Jodi is quick to point out that values alone don't move product. Execution does. Systems do. Saying no does. She's spent years learning how to scale a values‑led business without turning it into a hollow lifestyle brand or a corporate costume. Family plays a real role in the story, not as a sanitized origin myth, but as a source of both tension and strength. Jodi credits a "functional dysfunction" for sharpening her instincts, forcing hard conversations, and teaching her how to lead without pretending conflict doesn't exist. Those lessons show up in how she builds culture and how she handles growth moments that pressure companies to compromise. Today, Jodi spends her time running Green Goo, advising other founders, and pushing back on the idea that bigger is always better. She's an advocate for intentional growth, honest leadership, and businesses that can look themselves in the mirror after scaling. Fueled by kombucha, pure cocoa, and a stubborn commitment to doing things the hard but right way, Jodi Scott represents a version of entrepreneurship that's less about hype and more about durability. On the ROI Podcast episode 502 How To Build A Green Business 👉 Sell Out 👉 Buy It Back And How To Avoid Skincare Chemicals with Jodi Scott, CEO of Green Goo | Law Smith ‪@LawSmithWorks‬ and Eric Readinger, she brings firsthand experience from the messy middle of building, selling, losing, reclaiming, and rebuilding a brand, with insights that resonate far beyond the natural products aisle, ROI Podcast, Jodi Scott, Green Goo, plant-based first aid, natural first aid, clean skincare, clean beauty, CPG entrepreneurship, consumer packaged goods, founder interview, business podcast, brand building, product development, retail distribution, ecommerce strategy, sustainable business growth, buy back a company, selling a company, portfolio company, acquisition story, leadership lessons, customer proof points, differentiation strategy, marketing strategy, deodorant ingredients, adaptogens in skincare, sexual wellness products, Southern Butter, and direct to consumer brand. Episode sponsored... 💦 by ZUPYAK - The first search optimized AI writer. https://www.Zupyak.com → promo code → SWEAT 💦 Flodesk email marketing - you get 50% off by hitting this link https://flodesk.com/c/AL83FF 💦 Incogni remove you personal data from public websites 50% off https://get.incogni.io/SH3ve 💦 by SQUARESPACE website builder → https://squarespacecircleus.pxf.io/sw... 💦 by CALL RAIL call tracking → https://bit.ly/sweatequitycallrail 💦 by LINKEDIN PREMIUM - 2 months free! → https://bit.ly/sweatequity-linkedin-p... 💦 by OTTER.ai → https://otter.ai/referrals/AVPIT85N Hosts' Eric Readinger & Law Smith 🔗s https://www.LawSmithWorks.com https://www.Tocoba.ga 06:20 — How does a pre-med and health psychology background translate into product development decisions? 09:40 — How do you start a CPG product company without massive infrastructure or funding? 21:30 — How can a product be "anti-capitalistic" in usage (the more you use it, the less you need it) while still building a strong business? 24:10 — How do you justify buying back a company? 25:10 — How do you shift from high-velocity distribution growth to a long-game, sustainable P&L strategy? 26:40 — How do you expand into adjacent categories (sexual wellness) without losing the core brand?