Member Spotlight | Lori Skitt, Founder at LivX
Please provide a summary of your business, who you serve and how you serve them
My new business, LivX, is a nutritional functional food and lifestyle brand that focuses on providing outdoor enthusiasts and endurance athletes with quality and innovative products. Products focus on providing functional, sustainable nutrition that aligns with individuals goals and values, ensuring that everyone can thrive in their pursuit of a healthier, more vibrant life. I am currently testing formulations and ingredients and partnering with Canadian food companies and producers that focus on sustainability (circular economy and upcycled foods) and food innovation for added ingredient benefits. Products are being developed and tested with experts to ensure they meet the highest performance standards, while ensuring innovation and food sustainability remains at the forefront of development. My hope is that moving forward, LivX is the trusted brand for those who seek to set goals, push their limits, and explore the world's wildest places.
What were key elements of your personal and professional journey that lead you to where you are today?
I really have always been interested in entrepreneurship and I remember growing up and being drawn to and fascinated with the parents of my friends that owned and operated several businesses - but it was never in my immediate circle of influence and instead I followed my passion for the environment and fish and wildlife biology. I have always loved outdoor adventure and backcountry challenges - following a career path that allowed me to work in remote locations and have offered the opportunity for unique and challenging experiences. I am 44 now and over the last 5 years I have begun to really question what I wanted in life, what is important, and I have started to listen to my body’s inner guidance and wisdom - something that I am just now realising I have never really done. I began to take health, food and fitness more seriously and began saying yes to the invites, the trips and the races that I used to love doing - pushing through some of the resistance and fear. I needed to create and started a jewellery business, WildlyOne, which has allowed me to explore and learn some aspects of marketing, selling and operating a website. I read or heard somewhere that in order to find your true calling or purpose (the thing you were put here to do), you just have to look at 3-5 things that you love to do, can’t stop doing, would do even if no one was watching, and would do even if you never received credit for it. Put these things together, and you have an idea, a business, a product, a company, motivation, a lifestyle. For me these things were 1. Discovery and creation 2. Feeding people amazing and unique food 3. Growing food and environmental sustainability 4. Health and Fitness 5. Connection - in particularly supporting and connecting with women (a new must for me). I honestly sat on these ideas for a while - unsure how I could connect them all into one idea. “I can’t provide a health and fitness service, I don't have the schooling or qualifications, I don’t have a farm, I can’t grow enough food to support people, I don’t know anything about bringing a product to market or running a business”. Ha. It was through my recent experience with training for longer endurance races, trips and hikes that I started to notice a gap and disconnect with some of the nutritional energy products available for fuelling pre, during and post activity - and in particular within Northwestern Ontario and Canada. This is where all the dots started to connect - I would build a brand that focused on functional products that incorporate innovative ingredients, environmental sustainability.
What motivates you the most to keep going?
Honestly, I can't seem to stop. This business is in complete alignment with the person I am and want to become - and so far it has provided the opportunities for growth, discovery, creation and connection that I have been looking for. The connections, the pursuit, the people i am meeting, the fears i am pushing through and the ideas that come forward and the confidence to pursue them are the things that keep me going. I really LOVE seeing ideas come through to fruition - it never seems to happen the way I expect it to. It’s usually better. Ultimately being able to model to my kids that it's amazing to be able to dream something big, but also that in order to see results and actually achieve your goals, there is a ton of work, commitment and action required. The world truly is full of opportunity and abundance - and they get to pick what to focus on.
What is one important lesson that entrepreneurship has taught you that has impacted you the most?
One small action step after the other can create significant momentum. So be prepared!! 🙂
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What do you still have left to accomplish?
Oh gosh, I am a dreamer - and I recognize that I am still very much in the honeymoon phase of my business. In 10 years, I see myself as a full time entrepreneur. I hope to have built the LivX brand to a place where it is functioning as its own entity, authentic connection with partners and customers and provides customers with a trusted, go-to location to support all of their health/fitness, endurance and outdoor adventure pursuits. A business that brings abundance far beyond my family and supports other businesses in the health/fitness space within Canada. A brand that supports girls and woman in achieving their goals by breaking down walls/barriers and helping them to do the things they love.
Why did you join The Elleiance Network, why do you think it is important to have a support network and what do you love most about being a part of Elleiance?
I joined Elleiance because I was in the market for entrepreneurial expanders; in particular women. - woman who could help me to learn and see what is possible in the entrepreneurial space. A place where I could connect with other women who were also interested and invested in all things business. As building a brand and a business is a relatively new experience for me, I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn from and share with other business owners - the topics covered and resulting conversation really is an invaluable resource.
