Full Transcript

Sari
For many of us, spring means farmers market season. Now I know some of you live in places that have farmers markets year round, I'm jealous. But I do find that this time of year is when people who have been thinking about starting at a farmers market, bringing their handmade product that they make in their kitchen, could be a food, a beverage, pet treats, body care, anything you're making in your kitchen. You get that idea and you're like, maybe I could, maybe this is for me. What if? Or if you're already at a farmers market but you're really wanting to make the most of it this season. I got you. I am putting on my Farmers Market Masterclass. I'm doing another live version. The last time I did this was two years ago, which is wild. And I would love to invite you to join me, it's totally free. You go to foodbizsuccess.com/masterclass. And I'm going to talk with you about what it takes to get started, what you need to know, what the investment is like. And then things that will help you be more successful at the market when you finally get there. Listen, farmers markets are a lot of work and so I want to be sure that every minute you spend there is maximized. I want you to get full bang for your buck, for your time being there, and for you to bring in as many sales as possible. And maybe even have some fun, right? If we're going to do it, let's have fun doing it. So a lot of that comes down to knowing what to expect and giving you strategies that set you up for success. I would love for you to join me live. That way you can ask me questions at the end and we can make sure you are ready to go and you get all of your questions answered. It's live on April 25th. Register at foodbizsuccess.com/masterclass. I'll put the links in the show notes below as well so make sure you get registered and I will see you there.

Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journeys so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now let's jump in!

Welcome to the podcast this week! We are talking about who not how to grow your business, to launch your business, and to solve problems faster. Because in your business, I like to say you always have problems, you always have at least 10 problems that you're solving. The problems just change. They have different flavors to them. And the bigger you get, the bigger the problems. Now, I don't always mean problems in the negative way. But you're going to have challenges, you're going to have obstacles, you're going to have things that you need to figure out that are going to require effort, that are going to be out of your areas of expertise. You have never started a package business before. And so there's a lot you don't know. Now, can you go figure a lot of that out? Sure. The internet is an amazing tool. Is it correct? Is it really the thing that's going to help you? We can spend a lot of time spinning our wheels trying to research and figure it out. But we can also go find the who to help us and get us there so much faster, and do it the right way correctly the first time. So I love this strategy, who, not how. I use it all the time in my own life but it's something I talk to my clients a lot about. It's always on the tip of my tongue. And it is based where I got a lot of these concepts and strategies is from a book called Who Not How by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan. And you've probably heard me talk about Hardy's books. I love them. They also wrote The Gap and the Gain. And then a new book that's coming out called 10x is Easier Than 2x. But the idea is that let's just say, for the sake of argument, you are starting a food business, right? Because that's probably why most of you are here. So you have an idea to bring a product to market, you make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies, and you want to go to a farmers market, you want to get on store shelves, you want to go online, whatever that is, right? Now you got to go put some effort, there's a long to do list of things, to do it well, to do it successfully, to do it correctly and safely and legally. So you have problems to go solve, right? And the bigger our goals, the bigger they are, right? So what's the model that we all use? And believe me, this has been my model forever is, well, how do I do that? I don't know how to do that. How do I go do that? And we spin our wheels in how. How, how, how. How do I get the licensing? How do I get the packaging right? How do I get into a farmers market? How do I go talk to buyers? How, how, how. And yes, you can go and do a lot of internet research and try to figure it out. Or you can say, who do I know who can help me? Or who has done this before? Who can I go talk to? And so we want to start switching. Every time we think how, we need to start thinking who. Who could do this faster than me? Who could do this easier? Who could do this better? And the way I look at the who not how strategy is they kind of fall into two buckets, there's either the time bucket where we're going to get back our time. And we're going to use who's strategically to give us back time. And then we also have the money like to go create more money. And I look at that as like going after bigger goals in your business, we're going to need partner who's and we often need both. But there really are kind of two ways that you could look at this. So when you start this business, you're going to most likely be wearing all the hats, right? Or maybe you have a partner, which is a who, which is awesome, those can be really helpful. But in any case, even if there's two of you, you're still going to have a long list of all the things that need to get done. And you're going to be running around, trying to be the maker, trying to be the ingredient sourcer, the marketer, right? Doing all your social media posts, doing your books, understanding your finances, and there's nothing wrong with that. At the beginning, I actually kind of want you to be in it, and learn it. But pretty quickly, you're going to max out on time, right? You're not going to be able to do everything in your business and do it well. And other areas of your life may suffer or the business may suffer, right? When things start really slowing down. It's because you're running out of bandwidth. You can't possibly do all the things. And so we need to find more time in our lives overall. To actually work on the business or to do anything that you want in your life. And in Food Business Success, the first thing I want you to watch is actually the Create More Time Bootcamp. Because it's great, you have this amazing idea that you want to bring to life or you want to grow this business. But if we can't find more time in your schedule, then the point is moot, right? You're going to have all the desire in the world but you have zero time to do it. And so what I love about the who, not how strategy is you start thinking about all the ways like what are the lowest leverage, the lowest tier things that you do in your life for your life and your business? And we're going to start figuring out who's to give that work to. One thing is very important before you do this work is that you have to be very clear on the vision and the goal. The why, like, why are we doing this? Why do we need to outsource this? So the first thing is, let's actually decide, does it even need to be done? And if it does, then what is the result that we actually want to create? Because a lot of times we just assume that everything has to be done a certain way, to a certain standard. And that takes up a lot of time, and so do we even need to do it? And then if we're like, yes, it absolutely has to be done. We just want to often abdicate it and throw it at somebody be like, the books have to be done and I just don't want to do them. So I just need somebody to pick that up. Or that could be your emails or social media, or it could be, you're cleaning your house, or running errands for you, right? There are other places that you can go get time back. So knowing ahead of time the goal, the vision of what you're actually trying to create because we want to make sure that we're aligning the right who, with the result that we actually want. And so if it does need to be done, I want you to think about who can help me with this, who can do this better, easier, faster? And a lot of people want to jump right to a person. But I want to suggest that you actually look and say, where can I actually automate this and use technology to not even have to hire or, you know, pay somebody to do it? And I had to do that with my VA, there was something I was having her do that required, you know her to check her email and then do this process. And it took me a little bit of time to figure it out and I was like, I think I can automate this on the backend of my software. And sure enough, I was able to automate it. And now that freed up, you know, 20-30 minutes of her day, every day. And now she can be more effective going and doing something else for me. So what can you automate first? Think about your personal life, think about your business as well. And see where you can use technology. I just got off my Fuel VIP call for this month. And I was showing them Chat GPT and how to use it to write emails and Instagram posts and personas. And all of these amazing things, right? That is an incredible tool or maybe, now I don't need to go hire somebody to do this, can I or hire a lower paid less skilled person and then use technology to get the things done? Remember it's about the results, not the person themselves. Like we want to hire for certain skill sets but it's not about Sally or Derek, right? We're not just relying on people. First we're trying to automate, then we can go to the person. And just as I just said, we don't want it to be about the actual person. I think that's what happens. That's where a lot of people go wrong when they start to bring in help, is they have something that they just got to get off their plate. They're like, I can't do this anymore and so out of desperation, they find somebody and it's a person that they feel like can save them. Instead of creating clear expectations and results and standards. They just dump it on that person. They're like, oh, you said you can help me. Here you go. Good luck, right? And that is not the way to set yourself up for success when you're starting to bring on who's. And so we can bring on who's beyond automation. We can also outsource like contract labor. So working with somebody like myself, right? People will outsource certain things to me or to services, right? Somebody who's going to write the copy for your website, or somebody who's going to do your brand and do all of your logo and packaging work, right? That is outsourcing. It could be a VA like I have, where it's a virtual VA, something like that. You could outsource to a bookkeeper. You can outsource, have somebody come and clean your house twice a month. And now you've freed up that time to go do something either that you love or go work on your business, right? Maybe you hire somebody to come and take care of the yard, mow the yard and clean up all the dog poop, right? Those are great things to outsource. We want to start freeing up your time that's like low level tasks so that you can have more time to really go after the bigger things. And then of course, the next layer is hiring, actually bringing on employees which is a whole other layer of that who not how strategy. And I do recommend generally starting with automation and technology then going to some outsourcing so that you can start to learn how do I set up goals and expectations and standards to get the results that I want? And then bringing on employees. And when I look at people's businesses, when we look at their financials in the forecast, we can see what are those trigger points where they actually need to actually hire people, because it's expensive to hire. And we want to do it intentionally, we want to do it carefully, we want to go slower because a lot of times, we just want to bring in somebody to fix the problem. But we end up creating bigger problems for our business. And now we have people problems. So there really is a right way to do this. And in Master Your Business, which is opening up in just a couple of days when this podcast goes live. So get on the waitlist, go to masteryourbiz.co, get on the waitlist. If you are thinking about outsourcing or hiring, we do a couple of calls on this. And I really help you understand how you're going to be successful, how to set this up for success because I have worked with people who have horror stories and I certainly have made a lot of mistakes. And I want to help you with strategies and tools and systems and processes to really set this up well, so that when you start outsourcing, because what happens sometimes is people start giving stuff away, and they're abdicating responsibility. And then it all falls apart and it gets really messy. And then they're like, ah, I can't trust anybody, I guess I'll just have to do it all myself. And then they take everything back. And now you have to wear all the hats again, and you can't go big in your business, it's going to really stop you from the growth and from the next levels that you need to become as a leader, and as a CEO. So that is the wrong way to do it. That was the wrong way to bring on a who. And we go really deep into this in Master Your Business. I kept saying to the group who just finished like, I know some of you are chomping at the bit to hire but just hang tight, give me a couple of weeks, so that we can go through this, so we can set you up for success. So that is the first thing around the who not how strategy, right? And that gets you back your time. Because you're not going to be able to go to new levels in your business, you're not going to be able to do the things, live that life that you're really wanting to live. The whole reason why you're even wanting to do this business is probably freedom and flexibility, and you know, financial, and there's a lot of great reasons. But if you don't have any time, none of that's happening. So we got to free up your time. And I encourage you to just start with one thing. When you start doing this, it like will change everything. When I hired somebody to clean my house, my condo, I was like, oh my gosh, this is worth every penny. I don't have to spend two hours on my Saturday cleaning, I can just pay somebody some money and it's done. It is incredible. I am so grateful for it. And whether I use that time personally for fun, or I use that time for my business, it doesn't matter. I never want to clean my house again. So as soon as you can, and maybe before even a little bit before, where you're like this is uncomfortable. But it's going to help you transform and get to the next level. So the first thing is we got to free up our time. And then we can use the who not how strategy to create more money. It is those partnerships, it's the collaborations. It's the things that you're like, oh, let's try this, this, and this, right? But now you have time to even think about those things, and to connect with people and then to execute them. And then you go hire who's to help you execute them as well. When we look at amazing big entrepreneurs, people that you really look up to. And if you don't know or follow other entrepreneurs, go find some people that will help inspire you and help you realize that this is how people get to those next big levels in their business is they free up time and then they go find cool partners to do fun things with and to really open up their business.

I actually asked you to really go big on the goal. In Master Your Business, a lot of people brought goals that I was like, no, too small. We're going to think bigger because when we go bigger on our goals then it really helps us clarify what kind of partners and what kind of who's do we need. So for instance, this is for my business, but I started with a goal this year of 200 new Fuel members. And recently I was challenged to 10x that and just play with that. So if I were going to say, bring on 2000 members, that really helps me go, whoa, I need really better bigger partners who I can leverage, right? And then how do I go meet those people? Who else do I need to know? Maybe I need to go talk to Small Business Development Centers or the Small Business Administration, Economic Development Partners, right? I don't necessarily do these one off little things, I got to think bigger. And I need to increase the capacities of my who's, and it needs to be a collaborative process, right? It can't just be all about me. But how can I create win-win situations for everybody involved? So when you think about for you, who can help you get into 100 stores? Who has done it before? Who can help you grow your email list, right? We go on and on, every time we think, how do I do this, we're going to ask who instead. Because how, you can just feel it in your body. It's like effort and force. And it requires a lot of resources on your part. And ultimately, a lot of times we give up before we ever get there because these things are hard. I would love to be a who for you. I want you to think bigger. I want you to know that you have to invest in who's and sometimes it doesn't matter what it costs, like if it gets you to the next level, that is worth an investment. Every time I have made investments in who's, I would say 95% of the time, I have gotten to a whole new level personally, I have evolved mentally, emotionally, and I grow in my business. So I am a big believer in investing in who's and as I said, Master Your Business is opening up in just a couple of days. We are going to start, May 9th is our first call. And this is a cohort program for people who already have a business. And I want to help you to stop wondering how your business is going to finally make money, how you're going to actually make a profit, how do I hire a team, how do I not be in the middle of my business all the time? And how do I actually step up and be the leader and the CEO that my business needs? So if you're asking yourself any of those questions then I am your who. I want to help you get to that next level in Master Your Business. And this first cohort group was awesome. And we learned so much from each other and I was able to present some whole new concepts that I've never taught before. And really help people get the knowledge and skip the line to get to the next place in their business and create a really solid business foundation. Next week, you're going to hear from Stephanie of Fat Kid Cookie Company sharing her story and how she's really growing her business and we're celebrating that, but how Master Your Business and Coaching really helped laid the foundations where she's going to be able to go 10x, really go to the next level in her business. And so all those hows, we can just replace with a who. And that who is me in Master Your Business. So I hope you consider joining me, go to masteryourbiz.co and get on the waitlist. There's going to be some special offers that are only for people on the waitlist. And then I hope that you will join us in May, it'd be so fun to run this group again and put into practice all of the things that I learned from it. It's going to be that much better. So where do you need to go find who's? Where do you need to free up time so that you can go bigger? And who do you need to collaborate with? Who can you partner with to really grow your business, grow your life in a brand new ways that feel amazing? It is so cool to do cool stuff with people, to collaborate, to be a part of community. It really makes this so much more fun and come alive for you. So I want that for you. Go pick up that book. I highly recommend it and then go start replacing something small in your life to free up time with a who and then go find cool people to go do some cool stuff with. Until next time, have an amazing week!

The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done, you can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own Food Business Success.