When Michelle Retik was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease a few years ago, she completely changed the way she ate and, in the process, created a grain-free baking company that operated out of her house in New Jersey. Last year, she moved Goodness Grainless into a brick-and-mortar paleo-friendly bakery called Squirrel & The Bee in New Jersey, and then began selling her products online.

Consumers ate them up. Earlier this year she made her first shipments to stores, but says she's holding off on using a distributor.  "I'd like to learn how the process works before I hand it over to somebody else," she says in this interview from Natural Products Expo East.

Watch the video to hear her insights on learning while growing, and the big lesson she learned at her first trade show.