Kip&glow

Pick the right red and there might be a little something waiting in your DMs ❤️

The 3am brain deserves its own group chat.

POV: you started a sleep wellness business and accidentally became a full-time content creator.

What if the gut-health conversation starts a little higher up?

Your mouth has its own microbiome. And every day, some of those microbes travel downstream towards your gut.

Now add breathing into the mix.

Mouth breathing at night can make your mouth drier, and saliva plays an important role in maintaining the environment those oral microbes live in.

Early studies have also found differences between the oral microbiomes of mouth breathers and nose breathers.

Does that mean mouth breathing damages your gut health? No - science hasn’t shown that (yet).
But we do know the mouth and gut are more connected than we once thought.

Scientists call this connection the oral–gut axis - the growing area of research looking at how the oral microbiome and gut microbiome interact.

And that leaves us with a very interesting question:
Could the way we breathe matter further downstream than we realised?
We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

Share this with someone who loves a wellness rabbit hole.

What does it actually take to get your brand into retail? 👀

When you’re building a small business, getting stocked by a big retailer can feel like one of those huge “we’ve made it” moments.

And don’t get me wrong - it absolutely can be.

But there’s a whole side to retail that I knew very little about before starting kip&glow.

Retail margins. Listing fees. Paid marketing placements. Payment terms. Stock commitments. Promotions you may be expected to fund…

That shiny purchase order doesn’t necessarily equal shiny profits. 😅

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned while building a brand is that getting into retail isn’t really the goal. Getting into the right retail is.

You need a retail partner whose customer is your customer. Who understands what you’re building. Who can help introduce your brand to the right people. And, importantly, where the numbers make sense for your small business too.

Because the right retail partnership can be an incredible way to grow a brand.

The wrong one can be a very expensive lesson.

So, I’m spilling the beans on a few of the things small brands have to think about when getting stocked by retailers - including some I definitely didn’t know when I started.

Which one surprised you most?
And fellow founders: does getting your brand into retail still feel like the dream? I’d genuinely love to hear your experiences below. 👇