Interview with Tara Lordi, CEO & Co-Founder , WeeDoo Greenboat, United States

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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

• What it takes to start an innovative business.
• How to engage the Federal Government in the development of your product.
• How to lead a team without being the boss.
• Creating a culture where employees are invested in the social initiatives’ success.
• How to empower customers to become your biggest advocates.
• And the 10 in 10 at the end of our conversation is definitely worth a listen! As a small business owner, you’ll appreciate the candid dos and don’ts that will propel your business and impact forward.
• And if you’re a parent, Tara provides thought-provoking advice for empowering your children.

After you listen to this episode, I hope you feel empowered to make your contribution count!

Subscribe above to be invited to the next conversation.

Learn more or buy the book Make Your Contribution Count for you • me • we

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Interview with Tara Lordi, CEO & Co-Founder , WeeDoo Greenboat; United States

An accomplished executive, Tara Lordi's vast experience in operations, technology, development, and business makes her a force of nature to help save our planet. Her company, Weedoo Greenboat, is the leading manufacturer of aquatic weed harvesters and weed cutters. Today, our natural resources are valued, and Weedoo seeks solutions to preserve nature and win the fight to clean aquatic vegetation from the waterways.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#6. Clean Water and Sanitation, #9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, #11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, #13. Climate Action, #14. Life below Water

Social impact:
Various agents are used to treat aquatic weeds, but they all have one thing in common: cellular death. My late husband and I started a company to build lightweight, powerful shoreline aquatic weed harvesters. We have equipment that is fast, efficient, and easy to use to remove invasive aquatic weeds in our waterways without chemicals. Removal of unwanted biomass is paramount to a healthy waterway and ecosystem. Chemical applications only sink the detritus waste to the bottom, creating lower oxygen levels, decreased water depths, and increased temperatures.

Website: http://www.weedooboats.com

Resources: 

Interview Tara Lordi, CEO and Co-Founder of WeeDoo Boats, Florida, United States.

Note: This interview is transcribed using AI software, which means, the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

[00:01:55] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneurs addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These entrepreneurs are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions. In each episode, we give you actionable insights into What Why, Where, and How to make a social impact to empower you, your organization, and of course, the community.

 This is a great opportunity for you to be empowered to make your contribution count. So welcome, and I am Suzanne F. Stevens, an international speaker, author, sheIMPACTpreneur community builder, and a multi- award winning IMPACTpreneur.

And yes, your host for YouMeWe Amplified. Today, we’re having a conversation with Tara Lordi, president and founder of WeeDoo GreenBoats from Florida, United States. Tara has vast experience in operations, technology, development, and business, making her a force of nature to help save our planet, and God knows we need it.

Her company, WeeDoo Greenboat, is the leading manufacturer of Aquatic Weed Harvesters and Weed Cutters. Today, our natural resources are valued, and WeeDoo seeks solutions to preserve nature and win the fight to clean aquatic vegetation from the waterways without, and this is big and a differentiator ,without chemicals.

Let’s welcome Tara. Welcome to the show.

[00:03:40] Tara Lordi: Suzanne, thank you so much. on behalf of WeeDoo and myself, we’re very grateful that you have invited us.

[00:03:45] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I’m quite excited about learning more. As I had said to you, I’ve done some work in the manufacturing industry over the course of my career, and I have never heard of your solution. You started this business, I believe, with your husband, correct?

[00:04:04] Tara Lordi: Yeah, in 2010, started this with my late husband, his father. Started the business initially, as a, our initial goal was to remove weeds out of lakes. And then as we started rolling and realizing the different environmental impacts. For the good this business would do, we started exploring different avenues.

And today WeeDoo is doing phenomenal. We’re in 16 countries. We’re in over 70 percent of the United States. And the company is growing and mission to stop the spray of herbicides,is really starting to happen and it’s exciting and I’m really proud of my team.

[00:04:43] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Are you in Canada?

[00:04:45] Tara Lordi: No, my husband was Canadian, but I grew up in the Hudson Valley, which is at the base of the Catskill Mountains. Canoes strapped to cars is normal for where I grew up, jumping in lakes off of bridges is quite normal.

Until you start seeing signs that say no swimming for 24 hours. And when you start seeing the signs, then you read of the components that they’re spraying. And why did they tell you not to swim for 24 hours? And that was because they were spraying chemicals concoctions. They all have one thing in common, and that’s cellular death.

And cellular death, their goal so they could remove invasive weeds. But as we all know, what happens… When you use components to create cellular death, exactly target everything you want, right? So it’s very dangerous. Copper sulfate, glyphosate, some very dangerous chemicals are included in these compounds.

And, last time I checked, Suzanne, I don’t think fish can read. we developedanother solution to remove these unsightly, unwanted, invasive weeds without harming the aquatic life.

[00:05:46] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Let’s dive into that,because in my experience, we have talked about the environment for a really long time. Let’s not go to the propaganda, because there’s no room for that in YouMeWe Amplified, but what there is room for is it’s taking us a really long time to do something about it.

And we know we’re moving. We seem to be moving because people realize that there are real implications. But human nature often suggests if we don’t realize how it impacts me. We don’t do anything about it. So how, what you do, how, what’s the implication, only to, to fish, let’s just expand on that.

But to me personally, if we don’t do something about this?

[00:06:37] Tara Lordi: That’s a great question. So let’s use a real live example. So let’s say you have a home and there’s a body of water that surrounds you and potentially some neighbors or a homeowner’s association. Specifically in some areas they’ll use that body of Water to actually irrigate your land. So when you see the sprinklers go on and you’re living in a community, they’re not usually paying for town water for that.

They’re usually using the closest body of water, putting a big pump and using that to spray your lawns, to spray your sidewalks and so forth. But when that happens and you walk outside with bare feet or you walk outside with your dog or your baby, then you’re touching these chemicals that are being sprayed.

And those are being absorbed through your skin. And that is a very dangerous component. And I don’t need to prove that. Obviously, Monsanto lost enough of the cases to prove that this is a very dangerous component. And a lot of these herbicides are the same components that were in Roundup. Monsanto, of.

And what we have found… Is obviously your skin absorbs. So when they use this for irrigation, that’s terrible. But let’s do something even simpler. How about just going fishing with your child or your friend and you reel in a fish and you’re handling that fish with your hand. It’s a you’re maybe you’re going bass fishing.

And maybe you want to eat what you’ve brought in. Maybe you want to just catch and release. Either way, you’re exposing yourself to these harmful chemicals. And they’re spraying, and they’re spraying, and they’re spraying. And guess what’s happening? The weeds are getting stronger and stronger. So they think, oh, we spray more.

No, let’s spray more and kill them more. But let’s make the environment so toxic. That aquatic life are threatened, people are touching these, they’re threatened. Nobody’s going to want to eat, a beautiful fish for their table if they know that that poor fish has been absorbing those chemicals.

 shame that so far the wrong way. the wrong way.

[00:08:35] Suzanne F. Stevens’: And I guess the obvious, too, is if you eat that fish, right?

[00:08:40] Tara Lordi: Going to have a chemical composition. You’re going to have a change in the molecular structure. And there’s no scientist in the world that’ll argue that. In my opinion, and everything I’ve studied and I’ve based my whole company off of, you do not want to have that. They always say if you you wouldn’t want to put it in your baby’s bottle, then don’t ingest it yourself is the old saying.

Would you like to put harmful chemicals like copper sulfate in a baby’s bottle?

But that’s what we’re doing.

[00:09:08] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Prior to you starting the business, with your father- in- law and husband, you were in the environmental area, so you’ve always had a passion for the environment.

[00:09:20] Tara Lordi: That’s correct. My grandfather was a surgeon. My father was in chemistry. He was the first man to bring home glucose testing to the United States. So I’ve been involved to some level with science, since a little girl, for sure.

[00:09:33] Suzanne F. Stevens’: How did you take that passion and translate it into action for the environment?

[00:09:39] Tara Lordi: So that’s actually interesting question because there’s so many times that people, are like ants. They choose the quickest, easiest route, right? So people at some point thought it’s much easier to spray than think of something that is safer, right? And so when you don’t give people an alternative, they’re going to take the quickest route.

And that’s the problem. We developed an idea, and I have entrepreneurial background. Started other businesses, and have an idea, there’s a method, and you do sample testing, you understand, you do a basic SWOT analysis, you understand what you’re building, how is it going to be positioned.

And then you have to give yourself the time to understand the market. Don’t build for yourself, build for your customers. What I always try to tell people. Because no matter what you have to understand, is there a buyer? Are they going to pay for this? Are they going to understand that this is better than the alternative, which is poisoning our environment?

And all of these things have to come into factor when you decide to launch an idea or a project. A lot of times I find people are like, I think the idea is great. Therefore, here you go. But I said, hold on a second, look at your audience. What does your audience say about it? And that took some time.

 Lot of interviews. we developed the product, then we got feedback, developed the product even better. Got feedback, listen to your customers because your customers will build your company. They will be the judges of what you’ve built.

[00:11:11] Suzanne F. Stevens’: So let’s talk about that because one of your customers are the government, right? So now the federal government, if I understand correctly?

[00:11:24] Tara Lordi: That’s right.

[00:11:25] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Okay, so what role did they play in your design of your machinery and are they using it enough to mitigate the problem?

[00:11:42] Tara Lordi: The federal government has different subsidiaries. you have Fish and Wildlife, you have, have different types of watershed companies within the federal government. Those folks are the ones that are calling us, and purchasing our product and we are on GSA. So we have a federal contract.

[00:12:00] Suzanne F. Stevens’: GSA, just for people that are not,in the U. S., means…

[00:12:05] Tara Lordi: Is a government, government supplier platform. So as suppliers go, if you have something to sell that the government is interested in and you are on GSA, it allows the federal entities to buy off of GSA through their platform.

Which is a great idea for anybody who is looking for a government contract. In any country is getting on the preferred list.It’s tedious on the paper side, but it’s very rewarding, to your original question is, what does the federal government do for me besides become a that’s a very important customer, is usually the, these folks along with the state and local government levels have a fleet, they have what we call, a whole fleet of mechanics, right?

People that help run their equipment, keep their equipment going. And I’m talking to these people and these are the people that are, Hey, Tar, if we can just give it a little more horsepower, or, Hey, can you do this? And they’re fabulous people to speak with. They know their job. They’re passionate about what we’re doing, and they’re very helpful and that really helped us quite a lot because they’re smart. And they are excited about the product.

They knew what they were doing was horrible, but they didn’t have any other choice. The federal government has helped us shape just by way of me opening up communication. You have to open your heart and your head and your ears and you have to say, I’m Ms. Sponge, I’m here for you to help me make this better. 

We have some really, great testimonials from the federal government about what they experienced and how they’ve reduced spraying herbicides, saved money and now they’re on their third and fourth and fifth boat. And that’s exciting because repeat customers along with customers telling you about their actual P& L has improved from taking bionic or different chemicals that they would spray versus mechanical harvesting.

They said it’s a mathematical certainty.

[00:14:01] Suzanne F. Stevens’: How do you measure the impact? So one way it sounds like you’re measuring it is the fact that people are buying more boats and that’s offsetting their herbicide costs. Because here’s the thing, right? Their motivation may or may not, we say it’s the environment, but is it?

So you have to have that cost benefit as well. Do you think that’s fair?

[00:14:25] Tara Lordi: Oh, it’s very fair. We had to. Really build this vessel to be very powerful and do what it’s going to do. 500 pounds a minute we can pick up, by the way. But we also had to make sure we kept the price at a reasonable dollar so that they don’t turn around and say, forget this. We’re going to stay with spraying because it’s so much cheaper.

We’ve managed to manufacture this vessel so that they receive a return. So not only are they helping the environment, but it’s a financial benefit.

[00:14:53] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Are there people still resistant to using your boats and why?

[00:14:59] Tara Lordi: Field people are resistant, tousing the vessels. feel, what I’ve heard, the state and federal level is, I don’t know if we have somebody that can run it, we don’t know if we want the liability, but we’re on the fence and we think going to eventually figure that out.

And I said, don’t you have bobcats or skid steers of any kind? Sure, we have skid steers. Okay, take skid steer guy and throw him on this because he’s going to do just fine. a boat, but it’s built more like a skid steer. So it’s, that’s what people always say to me, it’s a tractor for the water.

Once we get them over that level, they feel much more comfortable. Same with the private people that purchase the

equipment.

[00:15:38] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Now, what other ways do you measure your impact? 

[00:15:44] Tara Lordi:  So when I hear testimonials from different towns that have purchased the vessels, or when I hear testimonials from the federal government, or I hear people, homeowner association presidents, and their, when I hear them say, Thank you. Thank you so much. We don’t need to spray herbicides anymore.

We have no more plastic in the waters. Our lakes are pristine again, and yet we don’t have this horrible fog on the outside of our windows from overspray. When I hear That’s enough to get me up in the morning. Because we’re not just here to make a living like everybody else, right? We’re actually stopping something that’s really horrible and we’re giving them an alternative and they’re having fun.

 You can see all the fish spawning, you can see all the aquatic life basically, clapping, if you were to think of a cartoon. It’s, a good thing. So we measure our success based on the testimonials.

[00:16:42] Tara Lordi: We also measure our success based on returns. are we doing better? We’ve climbed 18 to 22 percent every year for the last five years. So I have to use those, that empirical data because I can’t just say, yay, we’re doing great. No, I have to use empirical data to say, am I doing better? Am I, did I improve?

And unfortunately it is, sometimes it’s a number game, but we have to use that kind of data to determine if we’ve done our job.

[00:17:09] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Thank you for sharing that. That’s, very exciting. Good on you. That’s fabulous. What can citizens do to be more mindful of the waterways?

[00:17:19] Tara Lordi: They can start by reporting. 

Assess… Report are two very important factors. You’re going to assess what’s happening with your local body of water, lake, streams, anything that you see you want to assess and report. You can always report to us or you can report to your local watershed utility companies and say, Hey, there’s an alternative out there.

What are you doing to maintain the aquatic weeds, plastics and so forth in our waterways? Ask. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. And I assure you, they’re not going to publicly talk about it. They’re going to put it in a really small little sign on the back of some little post on the ground somewhere. So you want to ask, and you want to keep asking, and get to the right people, and say, what are we doing?

Where’s my water source coming from for my town water? And they’ll say, oh, city water’s coming from this lake. And then it goes through the water,factory and we process the water, but where’s the lake? Where is that? Go to it. Go see. Test the water. It’s your body. It’s your body.

Or your children’s body or your family. Go see and ask. It’s the most important. We have to have clean water. And you, as any person out there, wherever you’re consuming your water, you need to ask. And if you have well water, great! Make sure you don’t have lakes that are higher than you, and a nearby area that are spraying.

Because you’re going to have runoff. And it’s going to go into your soil. Find out. Just look around, ask. And educate yourself.

[00:18:58] Suzanne F. Stevens’: That’s great advice because I would suspect most of us don’t do that. I live beside the person that knows our water is our water engineer for our community. So I’ll be knocking on her door after this conversation.

[00:19:14] Tara Lordi: Yeah, and I’m sure she’d be. Yeah, that’s great.

[00:19:17] Suzanne F. Stevens’: She goes, No! She’ll say, No!

[00:19:21] Tara Lordi: I’m not home!

[00:19:23] Suzanne F. Stevens’: That’s right. Now, how can small businesses help elevate your mission of achieving clean, aquatic vegetation from the waterways without chemicals? Can they do anything?

[00:19:34] Tara Lordi: They sure can. So a lot of businesses that we target that are non government tend to be heavy equipment companies.

Maybe they already have a fleet of equipment and they’re adding us to their arsenal. Landscape companies that are already doing lake banks and they’re already doing lawns. other companies such as environmental cleanup companies. we have some attachments that help with oil and gas spills. And again, some of the attachments we have will keep your plastics and anything that shouldn’t be in the water out.

if you have a fish kill that sometimes is nature, where there’s less oxygen in the water and you have a fish kill, you want to get those fish out of there. So these companies, the remediation companies, or heavy equipment companies do tend to add us to their arsenal. We also have customers that are the retired doctor who says I’m not ready to quit yet.

And this is a great idea. I can pull up on my trailer and my vessel and I can keep my neighbor’s lakes clean and it’s great. , My customers are charging around 2, 000 a day for an eight hour workday. That’s about the average of what they’re charging. So they add it up and they say, wow, I can buy two or three vessels.

After 50 days of work, I paid off my first boat. So that’s exciting to them. And they see the economics. So everybody from the, the single, member LLC to the larger equipment, industrial companies. Yep.

[00:20:57] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I, you know what, I love what you’ve just said. I was just thinking, unfortunately my father’s passed.

I’m sorry. Thanks, many years ago now, but he used to drive cars and actually my father in law does that now. When you know when you retire they drive cars down and a lot of times being I’m from Toronto and you’re in Florida often people will make that drive, right? What a cool thing to do in your retirement. I know my husband gets so excited about these big machines, right?

I can just see him now. Gene’s telling me, on the water. I can see that’s being a good little business for sure. I love it. I love it.

[00:21:39] Tara Lordi: Yeah, they have fun.

[00:21:42] Suzanne F. Stevens’: What has been the highlight of your impact to date? 

[00:21:47] Tara Lordi: So a few things.We started doing these videos at my company where we’ll do like humor day, and I’ll walk in the back and the guys are taking the air hoses and spraying each other.

The team that I have grown with and that has helped with our goal is one of the most rewarding things that I’ve experienced. And all the businesses that I’ve run. This team is, let’s face it. We spend anywhere from eight to 10 hours a day at our offices when we’re running these companies.

So I cherish them and they’re what they do for the company, but moreover, they become a family. I have in the employee lounge, we have. We stock up on groceries every Monday. We, we really treat, this team is just a gigantic family and we have humor videos and they, their, contributions are so valuable, and our morning meetings.

so I would say that’s a huge part of what makes me feel really good. And the other obviously is the testimonials. Knowing that we, and let me tell you, it was like turning the Titanic, knowing that we have, we’ve done it. We’ve turned and we’ve made a product that under no circumstances, this is absolutely fantastic.

[00:23:02] Tara Lordi: It’s really fun to work with, a very solid group of people, not only because, they’re fantastic human beings, but they are equally as excited about what we’re building. This isn’t so much a punch in, punch out type of job. They’re really actually excited. We do things together.

We, we go fishing together. Yeah. I take them fishing or I have a center console. We go out there into the ocean. We saltwater fish, we go and we go to,the shooting range. I don’t kill animals, but we just go to shoot the clay pigeons. Again, it’s things that we do together. We, I took them croquet, playing croquet, and they came out there with their jeans out of their work boots.

It was so much fun. they’re just constantly involved in, in, in fun things. And, after work, they always come into my office, Hey Tar, what’s going on? How’s your day? Who does that? My team does that and I love that. So I feel like something we’re doing is right because usually, you hear people running out, punching out, they’re coming into my office to sit down and talk about their day.

I love that. I don’t have children. So this is fun for me. I love that they want to come and talk and share their woes or problems with a girlfriend or whatever. I don’t care. Just talk to me. And I love it. I think it’s fantastic. That’s a big one.

[00:24:22] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I agree with you that somebody wants to talk to you at the end of the day, rather than get the heck out of there.

 Do you have three leadership practices that you use that create a culture of collaboration and connection?

[00:24:36] Tara Lordi: I do. so on the leadership, I take a different route than maybe most people you might listen to. I always say to them, don’t look at me as the boss. I’m a navigator. I navigate to ensure you get paid.

I navigate to make sure you have the tools that you need to do your job. And I navigate to ensure your happiness. Do you want to get up in the morning and come here? Do you feel that you’re being rewarded? Is, so I really don’t call myself a boss. I just say I’m your navigator to what you need to get to.

And I think that in itself takes the whole level into more of a team atmosphere. And again, it’s not for everybody, but for me, that’s the way I run it. I feel that’s very functional and it’s worked for me quite well. A second point of view on leadership is conflict resolution. You will be presented, especially in manufacturing, we’re presented with conflicts.

Maybe a part you can’t find or source anymore, certainly during the COVID times. We would find that we couldn’t buy certain parts and we’d have to on the fly, figure out how to keep the integrity of everything and make that. So those are conflict resolutions. Don’t panic, chill out, work with your team, work with your vendors, figure it out, and in the most calm approach that you can.

And thirdly, I think, I would say is extremely important is a high level of understanding of what your team’s task is. So that you can actually, am I back there turning wrenches with them every day? No, but I am having the morning meetings with them. I am listening to whatever problems that they’re going to face and I have an empathetic side.

I  have an understanding because I know what their job is. And I know what they have to do to get it done. And I find that’s, back in my banking days when I lived on Wall Street, I find that sometimes when people are in a powerful position or they’re in a position they have power over you, that if they’re not conscious of what you’re having to go through to get your job done, that could be a problem.

And that is not something I tolerate here. Here, whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together. And I think those are the three. That I try to live by.

[00:26:53] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I love, you’re the Navigator. I talk a lot about conscious leadership and I work, grow conscious leaders, and it’s very much about that, but I love the term, navigator.

It is so powerful. And I do find a lot of female leaders. Women led businesses have that tendency to lead towards that consciousness, that navigator side of things when they’re leading the team. Particularly when they’re authentically being themselves and not trying to condition themselves in this patriarchy that we still find ourselves in.

So thank you. I love that. Now, are you conscious or do you do anything consciously to create a culture that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging?

[00:27:38] Tara Lordi: I actually had the opportunity of hiring some women welders, which was great.

And they were working with the company did. Did fine. there’s not as many women applying for jobs as in the manufacturing, and I wish they there would be. But when they do,for me, I don’t have, if somebody applies for a job, I don’t see, I don’t see, religion, skin color, nationalities, is if they can communicate properly, and they possess the background that we need, that’s all I look for.

And, in South Florida,the human resource pool is actually not that big. You really have to have a level of understanding. I think if people, and understand people, and are they clock watchers, calendar crossers, or they really want to come? Do they really understand what we’re about?

Do they believe in our philosophy? If I can have that, I don’t look at any of that other stuff. and, filling quotas, it’s just, unfortunately, in manufacturing, it’s a little different. It’s not so easy. you have to, they have to be able to have a trade, right? Either diesel mechanics or they’re welders.

The salespeople, they have to have a trade, and in that trade, I look, for anybody that that comes equipped with the right tools.

[00:28:52] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Yeah, and you’re absolutely right with the manufacturing. It is pretty difficult to find. Yeah. And, I had the honor of interviewing a woman that created a network of women in manufacturing for that very reason, right?

Getting their skill set up and encouraging that. I know in Canada right now they’re really fostering that education for women to get in that field because we really need it. That’s wonderful. Tell us why you think now the environment is probably more important than any other time in history.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

[00:29:30] Tara Lordi: You have hotter waters, the temperatures are rising, and that’s a fact. As the temperature rises and the water temperature rises, you’re going to have bigger cases of cyanobacteria, you’re going to have, more algae, harmful blue green algae, you’re going to have more blossoms.

Toxic blooms. When you have, anytime you have the introduction of fertilizers, any type of, land spraying, what we call, herbicides is really technically water, and then they have different chemical compounds that they spray on land, but any of that runoff that hits the water is an absolute disaster as the waters get hotter.

We’ve experienced the hottest temperatures in some time now, and that’s only going to get worse. That’s why I feel that, we really need to spread the word and get this out there that they’ve got to stop putting these chemicals, because as it gets hotter and hotter, it’s going to create a disaster.

And so we need to keep our water as clean as we can.

[00:30:28] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Let’s hit the pause button for these messages. 

And we are back. Let’s delve in.

Is there any other area that beyond your company that you’re involved in the environment or providing environmental solutions?

[00:30:44] Tara Lordi: No,I do focus the environmental impacts that I do, with the vessel or how the vessel can help. Having said that, the other half of me that I would say is not necessarily environmental, but it’s actually animal rescue. We constantly use the vessels for right after the storms. When you have hurricanes or you have these disastrous situations, usually they’ll have, the National Guard come in to get people out of danger, and then right after the National Guard, they allow people like us.

I work with the Cajun Navy, and we get in there and we do hurricane rescue, and we use the boats to assist us. And that’s a big part of my philanthropic side. and unfortunately, the environmental impact of black water after a storm is so horrific. And we only have a certain amount of time to, to bring the, these little souls into safety, because they may have survived and not drowned, die from that.

So I do quite a bit of that.

[00:31:44] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Oh, I’m so glad I asked because I had no idea that,you do that, which is an incredible initiative . Especially with so many, like you said, with the warming and the hurricanes and the this, that, and the other that are coming in so many places. So thanks for that.

Yeah. What do you see as the most important sustainability strategy for your business?

[00:32:05] Tara Lordi: So you have to educate, as we’re doing today, you have to explain what’s going on, and the faster I can get out there to explain, the better, but one thing that is really a pleasure to see, for example, I just sold a vessel to, a federal entity in Oklahoma, and that federal entity did a beautiful spread on what they had purchased. And there was another company that got wind of it. And so over the last couple of weeks, we’ve gone more viral than we ever have. And what I have found is obviously as the more viral we go as a company, the more people are going, Oh, it’s the aha, right? I didn’t know.

I didn’t know that they were spraying. I didn’t know this was happening. So education. is huge. And for me to get out there, it’s difficult and on a worldwide level, but my customers are really assisting us to do that. and it’s exciting. So every time they’re purchasing a boat and they’re bragging online and so using social media to say, hey, look what we’ve done. 

They’ve just educated more people. So that’s primarily our goal is to keep the education forthright so that they understand what is my choices? Do I spray or do I mechanically remove? And I wish I could, I wish I could tell you there were more people, but there’s only a handful of us out there that even know how to build this.

[00:33:23] Suzanne F. Stevens’: So with that being said, you should send me one of the great videos I’ve seen online so that I can bake it perhaps into this, podcast. Absolutely. Of course I will. On the visual side of things. Sure. Now, what’s next for you and your business? How’s it, how do you see it moving forward?

[00:33:43] Tara Lordi: Yeah, that’s a great question.

I’ve been,we’re launching our turbo, this week, actually. basically, we’re making the engine that we currently use a little more powerful by introducing the D902 turbo. That’s a big launch. We’ve been preparing for that. Kubota’s been here helping us get this launch ready.

and it’s happening,we did all the testing, finished, this week, the testing. next week is a big… The big launch for that, just gives, people that are using the vessels a little bit more power to pick up what they need to. Over the next, next two years, my goal would be to branch out further, Southeast Asia.

We do have two boats we just shipped to Vietnam that are very successful. That’s the second two boats they just bought. so I’d like to get over to Indonesia. Jakarta, I know they have a really big plastic problem. And so I’m going to start really branching out into some of these third world countries, India, Indonesia, some of the smallerareas in Africa, and see what we can do about giving them a hand.

And selling vessels, obviously, too.

[00:34:43] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Not only have I… I’ve been somebody who has trained salespeople in, several countries. I love to travel, so I’m happy to go along with you. Absolutely.

[00:34:55] Tara Lordi: Suzanne, you’re going to be sitting right next to me.

[00:34:57] Suzanne F. Stevens’: That’s great. Be careful what you ask for. I put things out there in the universe and it always comes back.

People who know me know if I say it. I do it. That’s

[00:35:07] Tara Lordi: right. Absolutely

[00:35:10] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Fabulous. congratulations on launching the more powerful machine. And I think that’s a, as I spent a couple of years in Africa, I can definitely say,if you can get there in these communities, because the plastic is outrageous. It’s extremely sad. guess where we are, Tara? We’re in our ten and ten! We’re at our wrap up, and this is our lightning round where I ask you ten questions, and you only have ten seconds, even though you

[00:35:42] Tara Lordi: will… Crave to give me more,

[00:35:45] Suzanne F. Stevens’: 10 seconds to answer each question.

I am not going to ding or bong, but I will cut you off. Okay, I will try not to cut you off, but are you ready?

[00:35:58] Tara Lordi: Yes, I’m ready,

[00:35:59] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Loosen up. Awesome. We’ll start with what is the one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path? So starting your business?

[00:36:12] Tara Lordi: I wish I actually knew how toxic from the beginning the chemicals were.

I would have been a little bit more forceful. But as I learned as the years went past, it was pretty scary.

[00:36:24] Suzanne F. Stevens’: What is the worst piece of advice you ever received?

[00:36:28] Tara Lordi: The worst piece of advice I had ever received is try to hit a certain dollar figure in the first year. And I found that’s a horrible thing to tell an entrepreneur.

I think you need to take your time. And you need to allow the sales and marketing to grow naturally and organically.

[00:36:45] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Love that. What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

[00:36:49] Tara Lordi: They quoted the, article, that Forbes had, wrote that said, the leading, quality in a CEO or navigator would be the ability to get along with others.

And I think that’s very true.

[00:37:01] Suzanne F. Stevens’:  What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[00:37:07] Tara Lordi: Plan. Educate yourself. Make sure you understand everything. Make sure you understand the obstacles. and make sure you do, I know it sounds basic, a SWOT analysis, but ensure that you understand the barriers to entry.

[00:37:19] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Excellent. What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of contribution?

[00:37:26] Tara Lordi: I think you have to give an easy path. You don’t have to go build boats to contribute. I think you simply, Suzanne asking me a beautiful question with how can anybody out there help? What can they do?

I think you have to provide a path for people and one that’s achievable so that everybody has the ability to put one foot in front of the other and explain that path.

[00:37:49] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Now I understand you mentioned earlier in the conversation that you don’t have any children and nor do I. Thank you. Thank you. But if you did have a daughter who was 10 years old today, what advice would you give her?

[00:38:03] Tara Lordi: Don’t work so hard. No, I’m like kidding. I would actually, I would advise her to understand her surroundings. And understand how to live, off the grid, because I think if you can live off the grid. It’ll make you more holistic and organic as a human.

[00:38:20] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Love that. What advice do you wish you received at 10 years old?

[00:38:25] Tara Lordi: I wish at 10 years old I had I was, I wish I had received similar advice, in the sense that,take your sugars away. Take all that stuff out of there. get it gone. Just learn how to grow, learn how to grow your own plant life, learn how to grow and nurture. I grew up with animals.

It worked out great. I love it. I nurture animals. That’s fine. But as a 10 year old, you have to grow your own garden. You have to make your own trees. You have to nurture yourself and with nutrients that you make. I think that would be great for every 10 year old.

[00:38:58] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I haven’t heard that advice before, but I love, I can see it.

I love where you’re going with that. What is the one thing you had to do that makes you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have the desired impact on your social initiative and environmental initiative?

[00:39:14] Tara Lordi: I’m not somebody who likes negative campaigning. I hate it. I think that everybody who’s out there running a business deserves to be,patted on the back. And I really don’t, I’m not interested in negative campaigning at all. However, I find myself unfortunately in some level of negative campaigning because it’s the only way to explain what they’re doing when they’re spraying. So I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all, but unfortunately I have to educate.

And to educate means I have to talk badly about somebody else’s ideas.

[00:39:44] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Got it. Great. Who’s the greatest female influence in your life and why?

[00:39:51] Tara Lordi: Oh, the greatest female influence in my life. I’m going to go with, oh, that’s a toughie. That’s a really tough one. I’m going to go with My great grandmother. She was a tough one.

She, lived through a lot of harsh times. When she became a widow, she was extremely strong and passionate. She also worked on the railroad. She was, she was a tough bird and it, back in those days it was much harder to be in a more male dominated industry as it is today. So I’m pretty, I’m very proud of her, not to mention I, maybe I got some of her molecules.

I’m not sure.

[00:40:27] Suzanne F. Stevens’: I think you may have. That’s awesome. What three values do you live by?

[00:40:33] Tara Lordi: Morals, values, and ethics.

[00:40:35] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Besides yours, so besides the environment, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

[00:40:46] Tara Lordi: Besides what I’m doing? I think any type of water cleanup initiative, because water is the, it’s our soul.

It’s the soul of the planet. Any water initiative doesn’t just have to be waterway cleanup and any water initiative. Like the plastics in the ocean. Anything to do with water, and soil contamination. Because that is, we have to have that. Sun, soil, and water is the three basic elements to survive.

[00:41:13] Suzanne F. Stevens’: Okay, Tara. You did a great job. Nice and succinct. Thanks for that. Where can people reach you or follow you?

[00:41:19] Tara Lordi: Absolutely. So our website is www.

W EE D OO B O A T S dot com. That’s WeeDoo Boats dot com. we can also, you can see me on Facebook. We also have a Facebook at WeeDoo Boats. As well as LinkedIn. And, we have a Twitter page. And… We have, and I have Tara Lordi, also Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and Instagram.

[00:41:46] Suzanne F. Stevens’: And we’ll also have all those, contacts on your personal page on the podcast. youmewe. ca. So you have your own guest page where we transcribe this. It’s where you can get the podcast and of course you can watch the video. So you get all three mediums to enjoy, sit back, have a drink, have coffee, whatever works for you. Tara, do you have any words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

[00:42:18] Tara Lordi: Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean that it’s not happening. Water is an interesting solution because You, once it goes underneath the water, you don’t see it and you think it’s not harming. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean that it’s not causing harm. So you want to always look at things on what it’s going to look like today, after 10 years and 10 years, 10 years.

So make sure you look at our environment, not just for your today, but for your, for the generations that come behind us. Be a visionary and an entrepreneur for the earth that you live on. Give back.

[00:42:54] Suzanne F. Stevens’: It’s interesting, we’re talking about water, but I think that, those words of wisdom can apply to any social initiative.

because if you look underneath, there’s things going on that we just don’t understand. You don’t need to see it. To necessarily believe it. So thank you for that.

And thank you, Tara, for sharing your insight, inspiration, and social impact with us today. That was fabulous. To discover more podcasts with sheIMPACTpreneurs, transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, as I mentioned, visit podcast.

youmewe. ca. And that is Y O U. not the letter U. YouMeWe. Each guest has a page, as I mentioned, so check it out. But you also can listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast or check us out on Spreaker. Please share, review, and subscribe so you do not miss an episode. And we invite you to always join us live.

But until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I hope we inspired you today to make your contribution count for YouMeWe.​