Full Transcript

 

Sari 0:00
Maybe you like sitting around in confusion and overwhelm and doubt, but I sure don't. I want to skip the line experience. I want to get inside a community with an expert who knows how to help me and understands my problems, and gets me answers fast so that I can make decisions and keep moving forward. I also want someone to hold me accountable, and keep me focused on my business and moving it forward and limit the life distractions that happen for all of us. And I want to be surrounded by a community of other entrepreneurs, who understand what it's like. It helps me to not feel so alone and so overwhelmed in what I need to do to put myself out there and possibly be judged or rejected or laughed at, and all the crazy stories that our brain makes up when we start to do something uncomfortable when we get out of our comfort zone. That is why I am for a limited time opening up the Fuel membership as a standalone product. So you can go and just get the Fuel membership. I have people ask me all the time, I've already have a business, I'm already launched. How can I work with you? How can I get information and feedback and community? Well, now is your chance. It starts at $57 a month and you can cancel at any time. So come and take a small risk that has potential for huge payouts to skip the line and get yourself into action and get yourself results so much faster than just spinning out on your own. I see the difference that it makes in entrepreneurs who come to the calls, who get coaching, who connect with community. We have members in there that are constantly reporting I tried this, I did this, I got this advice, and I am increasing my sales. It is working. I'm going faster than I ever thought possible. And studies show that you are 95% more likely to actually achieve your goals when you get accountability and support. Don't put this off, go to foodbizsuccess.com/fuel and get inside. I look forward to meeting you in Fuel and we are going to add some rocket fuel to your business. 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're 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 back to the podcast. I am so excited today to be interviewing two amazing brand founders who I've had the honor to work with, and the privilege to work with inside Fuel and most recently with Master Your Business. So today I am welcoming on Jan Czar of Oma & Popie's and Susie Veech of Well Rounded Meals. And we are going to be talking about all things mastering your business, how they have stepped up as the CEO of their business, and they are setting up their businesses to be even more successful finishing up this year and heading into 2024 So welcome to the podcast, Jan and Susie!

Jan 4:03
I'm excited to be here, absolutely!

Susie 4:05
A hundred percent

Sari 4:09
Amazing. All right, we're in it. Here we go! All right, so I'm going to let you guys introduce yourselves. And just tell us a little bit about who you are and your businesses. So Jan, why don't you get started? You are a co founder for Oma and Popie's. So tell us a little bit about that.

Jan 4:31
So Oma and Popie's is a sauce and spice company. And we're a little bit, and I would say of a lot different. We're really more of a seasoning sauce. So that is very, very versatile. How did we come up with this? You know, we were basically founded out of our love for wings and dive bars. So traveling around the country, seeking out these favorite wing places, dive bars etc, etc. One of my first dates with my wife, Oma, I said, hey, I'm really a big fan of wings and she took me to this dive bar in Twin Falls. And the rest has really been history. From that moment on, we started traveling the country with my former job, searched out the best wing places, suppose we weigh in. And really what we found a lot of the sauces were Frank's hot sauce dressed up and can make it into something else. And we knew that we could do something better. I ran performing arts for 25 years. That's what allowed me to travel as much as we did. And in June of 2016, I had an opportunity to either renew my contract or do something else. And we decided to come back to Idaho and start this company. So we're excited about it. We've been doing now for, it's our seventh full season.

Sari 5:58
That's incredible. I don't think I realized that you'd been in business that long. So congrats on that. Yes. And your sizes are amazing. I love them, they are some of my favorite. Some of those seasoning blends are the staples now in my cupboards. Glad you guys are around. Absolutely. And you do a little bit of farmers market and you do wholesale as well in your kind of local regional area.

Jan 6:25
That is correct. Yeah. And special events. We like to do larger events just to get our name and brand out there. Keep on going with that and literally try to do more of a regional where people where were not in retail. So where our retail business really is contained. If anybody knows Boise, Idaho, we're in what we call the Treasure Valley. So from like mountain home to Caldwell, that's where we're located in our retail shop.

Sari 6:52
And Susie, you have a little bit different model than a lot of people may be listening. But I love for people to know that. I mean, I work with food businesses of all kinds. And I'm so excited for you to share, introduce yourself and share a little bit about what you do

Susie 7:06
Great. Well, I run Well Rounded Meals. We make family style freezer meals that are designed to go right from the freezer into an instapot. Ready for dinner and about 45 minutes. You can also make them in a crock pot for people who are scared of instapot. They're also free from I know it's top nine now, but from the top eight allergens. There's like sesame and a handful of our meals, but they're too good for me to get rid of. So that's where we're at. We had our third birthday this year. Our business kind of started, as this is always fun story, miscommunication between my wife and myself. I was making these meals for years ahead of us having each of our kids when we got into busy seasons, and we told our friends about it. And over a couple of years, they were like, hey, if you want to make them again, let me know, I'll toss you like 20 bucks and you can make some for me. And I was like okay, cool. So 2020 was crazy for everyone. We put on a little more COVID weight than we wanted to. So we were like we need to make a batch of meals. And Caitlin asked me, hey, do you want me to put out there that we're making them? And I was like, sure. Thought she met her mom's Book Club, which has about 10 families in it. When she posted it to a mom's Facebook group here in Baltimore that had 6000 members. She's like, we've got a lot of interest. And I was like, what do you mean, we have a lot of interest? And she said, we've got about 200 comments on the post I made. So I was like, okay, so we drew up a Google form, put the form out there for people to order seven different kinds of meals, said we'd leave it open for a week. But within 36 hours, we had sold about 175 meals and I screamed for her to turn it off. Like where am I going to buy the meat? Where am I going to find a freezer because it's COVID 2020. And there are no deep freezers available. But we made it through, they were all on gallon size bags written with Sharpies, how to make them and what they were. The last meal couldn't even be frozen because we ran out of freezer room. But it was so fun.

Sari 9:14
And it was all very legal, right?

Susie 9:17
So legal. I should start also, I'm a classically trained chef and I'm ServSafe certified, if that counts for anything, but since then it's just kind of been slow progress. Started with an accident and now three years later, we have a subscription based business. We do pop ups, we are mostly direct to consumer online to our local area. We've got deliveries and it's just kind of one step forward as we go. Didn't start fancy. Still not fancy. Not as far. B minus work.

Jan 9:56
I'm not sure anything really starts off very fancy in this business. Yeah, exactly.

Sari 10:06
I mean, you got to go test it. And we talk a lot about, you know, perfection being the enemy of just getting it out there, right? If we sit in perfectionism, we're never going to do it because there is no perfect and we got to go test it.

We start on accident.

Jan 10:26
You know, part of our test market was when we were in Kentucky, and we came up with this kind of these recipes. We actually took it to this wing slash dive bar and that's how we tested everything. We actually asked the owners because they had some really good dry wings, right? We said, hey, can your customers be our test market? And we would bring in our wings sauce, and we would toss wings and that's how we got our feedback.

Sari 10:54
I love that. Yeah, you got to get, just get the MVP out there. And I think it's interesting that both of you kind of started in that fit of entrepreneurship. Like, you know, it wasn't really part of the plan. I mean, Jan, you had a full time very successful career doing what you did. And Susie, you had a full time job for a long time. And I didn't know you were a classically trained chef, but you were working with designing kitchens and things like that. So you had a full time job. And I think both of you guys just kind of fell into it. Will that describe it?

Susie 11:34
Yeah, it wasn't the first business I started though, I started going back in college. My dad has been a lifelong entrepreneur. It's kind of like in my blood. If you see my resume, I moved like every two to three years because I just get a little bored, and with this I get to do all the jobs so I don't get bored.

Jan 11:54
That's very true. All the job.

Sari 11:55
And Jan, how about you, had you been an entrepreneur ever before that?

Jan 11:59
You know, as a kid, I guess I had been but you know, I fell into the performing arts and just went from there. So I've always really thought about it. But when I tell people that I was leaving the performing arts, at least as a full time job and starting this business, they all thought I was going to like go into consulting and I said no, I'm going to be making sauces. They were that awful, I guess to say at least. They kind of knew I did it on the side but you know to do it full time. You're turning us away. So it's been in a very exciting trip journey, I should say. Right? Especially these last three years and we can talk about that later. But yeah, absolutely.

Sari 12:48
Both of you are fairly established businesses at least couple years under your belt and things have been going, right? They've been progressing but ultimately Jan, you and I work together one on one for a little while. Susie, you joined Food Business Success and Fuel a while ago and then I offered Master Your Business, put that program together so I'm curious what was it about that program that you were like, I think I'm ready for that, this will be good for my business.

Susie 13:20
I've been looking for the right opportunity to work with you more than outside of the Fuel things anyways, and I found what you were trying to teach in there and go through was like super applicable to me now. Because yeah, I've been doing this for three years. But I've always felt like seven steps behind or didn't feel confident in the fact that I've kept a business alive for three years, which I guess I should feel pretty good. And it was just really attractive to feel like I was going to get some of the building blocks that I didn't get a chance to build in the beginning for myself since we just kind of started and I love groups. I love group coaching and having like the same audience for a few months I just felt like I could really learn and grow from that experience.

Sari 14:07
And you were on the fence for a little bit but I think at the end you're really happy you did the program.

Susie 14:12
Yeah, thank you for continuing to foster that relationship, Sari. It doesn't go unnoticed.

Sari 14:19
And Jan, you and I talked early on. When we very first talked you were definitely at a big crossroads kind of a place in your business where you're like, some changes have to happen. And so we started coaching one on one but then ultimately you decided to join Master Your Business. So what was it about that program that you felt like would be helpful for you?

Jan 14:39
More in depth, right? I need it. Even though we had the one on one, those were nice to have. But I'm going to say like Susie, really what attracted me the most was the team feedback. So being in a group, being able to bounce ideas or knowing that we all have the same issues and everybody is in, you know that at a different part of their journey, me thinking, you know, seven years I should be further along in what I was doing and really running Performing Arts Center and being I literally was the CEO of that organization, but at the same time, it's totally different as being your own boss and being an entrepreneur and trying to figure out. Well as we said earlier, being all the things, right? When you're starting out and delegating, trying to focus. So really, it was more for me was looking at where I had been, how far we have come especially through the pandemic, we picked up two huge accounts during that time, I couldn't believe that still still needing to have more focus. And that's what Master Your Business's has really done for myself and for the business is being able to kind of drill down more. I'm going to say I love your style of coaching. So I really do, you're very personable. You kind of get to the point, you cut through the BS, you know, which is good, because we need that, because some people seem to candy coated a lot, you know, and you're like, no, this is what you need to do, you know, if you really going to want this to happen, you have to do A, B and C.

Sari 16:41
We get stuck in our backstory a lot, right? Well but this happened and that. It's like, okay, that's past, but now what are we going to do?

Jan 16:49
Yeah, so and we have to pivot. There's a lot of times we have to pivot in this business, especially these days. For us, we're in a tough category. You know, especially in retail.

Sari 17:06
Lots of sauces, lots of seasonings.

Jan 17:09
Yeah. And that's the one thing that I've been doing both myself and my wife now looking at how do we make ourselves stand out from the other product that's on the shelf?

Sari 17:23
And there's no question that I think it is a tough time right now for brands and entrepreneurs. You know, we're going through some stuff as a country and as a whole, right? And just financially and attitudes and changes in the industry. And so I think I love that you guys both talked about the group piece of it. Because I have to admit, years ago, I probably would have been like, no, I don't like group stuff. I want one on one, right? I want the person and I have a totally different attitude now about it. I think groups are an incredible place to foster community and get more ideas in there and learn from each other and have more impact. And so I love that you both mentioned the group aspect of it.

Jan 18:09
You know, I think also the transparency too that we have, we have at least within this group. Because there's so many people that they think they don't want to be transparent, that we're going to steal something from them. We're just trying to learn from each other, right? You know, or they tell tale stories, you know, that that's like, no, dude, you know, especially when I've been at a market or something. And you know, they say, well, yeah, we're just talking to the ballpark. And I'm like, I don't think so.

Sari 18:41
Yeah, it's a place to be honest. I mean, we celebrate our wins in there. And you guys had some amazing wins financially and new accounts and things happening. But let's get real, right? It needs to be a place where we tell the truth, because I think one thing entrepreneurs really underestimate is how lonely this is. And when you're at the top, there's no one else to talk to. And so creating this container where everyone can learn from each other, and not feel so alone. What do you think about? Do you think you were being the CEO in your business or tell me a little bit about what that means to you to be the CEO of your business?

Susie 19:23
I think I was trying to teeter between the two worlds. Over a year ago, I had some staff and that didn't work out so well. But you know, I ended up kind of pulling back and going back to doing everything myself and I've been in this mindset that like I can handle all of this up until a certain number of meals but the more that I especially through that program and then really through the Holiday planning one, which I know we're not talking about here, but also a little plug for that one, too. I started getting more excited about the planning for one what's next and figuring out where I want Well Rounded to go and how I help more people with that rather than you know, and I got back in the kitchen like two weeks ago, and trying to slog through all these meals. And I was like, man, I really wish I had these two hours to like plan the next big thing. So I think over the last like four months with Master Your Business and the Holiday planning, I've been making this mind shift into more of the CEO role rather than like the chef producer role, which is always within my role. But I learned through this program and that, that like, actually, I'm pretty good at this other stuff, too. Maybe even better, and am I using my skills the right way? So I really think that I'm becoming the CEO of my business. Now, I obviously always was, because I was just doing everything. But I think that I'm learning more to edge towards that role, rather than, I just want to get back in the kitchen where it's like, safe. And I know I'm making these recipes and this is what I'm doing every single day.

Sari 21:05
And every day, every week is kind of a I don't know, let's see what I can put together on marketing, because I just got to focus on getting these meals out instead of getting ahead of it.

Susie 21:14
Yeah, everything's been last minute for forever. But for the first time and since I can remember, I have the next four months of menus planned, and I don't have to think about that. I just tested November recipe last week at my house, and took all the pictures and everything for it. So definitely a huge shift for me, between these last two coaching programs with you.

Sari 21:40
I feel so amazing. It reinforces your confidence, and it gets you excited and creates momentum. And you're like, yeah, let's keep doing that. Stay ahead of things, that feels good. What about you, Jan? Do you think you are being the CEO in your business over the last few years?

Jan 21:57
No, probably about 40% of the time, once I've been the CEO of my business really captured, the same thing was, it was all about, you know, okay, what I need to get the you know, that the next big sale, and then when I got the sale, then I got to produce it and then manage, you know, all of these things, and it's kind of that was one of my role was. Not really thinking past the next week, which was crazy, you know, resting on my laurels of where we had been and what we had coming in. And, you know, being able now to kind of really look, like I said earlier, do a deep dive into where the business needs to go. And the shifts that we need to make depending on between it as a hobby or business, right? You got to make that shift. So and by checking Master Your Business class has really opened my eyes to being a CEO again, you know, I have all that back training. I did it like the back of my hand. But for some reason, I'd let that go. I got more focused on the production end. And honestly, it's something we still have to do. But I'd rather not have to do that at all. It is safer. Now we're looking at, you know, trying to instead of production, is being creative. So okay, what's the next product that we can put out? We've had lots of people asked us for things and so we're going back into the test kit. I'm going to go test new products next week that we've been debating about doing for a very long time. So at least for direct to consumer, not necessarily retail out first but direct to consumer.

Sari 23:58
Yeah, I love that. I think, you know, it's all about getting more ahead of the game a little bit more, right? A CEO to me is like they're the visionary. They're the one that's putting together the plan that is leading the charge. And at the beginning of your business, you know, all of you are wearing all the hats. I know Jan your wife does help in the business a little bit and Susie yours as well. But for the most part, it's you two running your businesses. We're constantly I think in that role of just employee and maybe sometimes the manager but that CEO is that visionary. They're the ones that putting together the plan that we know our numbers. We're making decisions based on facts. And not just like whoa, I don't know everybody tells me I should do this.

Jan 24:54
Exactly, or the next best thing. You know, oh my god. This is look at this shiny coin over here. And that's probably what has been my biggest downfall, I would say at times, it's just like, oh my gosh, or I get dragged into these deep dives into what's the next best thing about marketing or how to run your numbers, and yada, yada, yada is just like, just quit. I just need something simple that's going to work, show me what we need to do to move on.

Sari 25:26
Our brains love to make things complicated, it feels like it's a better plan, the more complex it is. And one of my skills is really cutting through that and simplifying everything, breaking it down into manageable bite size actions that you can do next.

Jan 25:43
And I'll go back to your classes and being able to be very simplistic but to the point of getting the results that we need to get to.

Sari 25:53
It does, it's easy to go down rabbit holes and you know, Susie's mentioned, be feel safe, right? Like, it's easy to research. Let me go research this and get more information. And so we need the right information but a CEO is also taking action and constraining, right? They're making a decision, and they're saying everything else, we're going to put that on the parking lot list. And we're going to take action, and here's the plan. And we're going to use information that's necessary, like our correct cogs and the expenses and the current accounts that we have and what we think we want to do, right? But that's it, we're going to, you know, put the blinders on, and go take action with the plan. Because that's, I think, sometimes we get really in the weeds with the research and the data. And let me ask another person and one other person.

Jan 26:47
And that's what happens is we do that in the back of our minds to hear what we want to hear not what we should be hearing. Oh here's two people that really like this logo versus one person that doesn't, so I'm going to start changing all my stuff, because, you know, oh, wait a minute, let's think about that first.

Sari 27:09
But it also keeps us very safe, right? Like, if we just stay in research, then we don't have to put ourselves out there, we don't have to possibly fail and then beat the crap out of ourselves because we made the wrong decision, right? Being that you know, that is the entrepreneur, that is the risk taker, and there is a certain amount of risk. And in, you know, having your own business, of course.

Susie 27:31
I almost sometimes get caught up in the very opposite of that, where I would make a decision and move forward with a decision without really thinking and researching because I'm like, I don't really have time to do that. And I'm just going to do this because this feels right. And while that has served me pretty well in my life in general, that is not always serving you super well, in business in general. Taking this time to like try and plan ahead and like do that kind of stuff is like outside of my norm and like doing the research ahead of time rather than just like, this feels good, let's do it. So it's almost kind of raining me back a little bit. But again, my business started out of clean air. So if I'm just getting everything else out of clean air, then that's probably not the phrase, I can't remember the real phrase. I'm just making stuff up and moving forward with it.

Sari 28:22
Sounds great. Sounds good to me. Thank you for sharing that other perspective. Because I do see that's the case alot of times, either people get too caught up in the analysis paralysis, and are scared to take the risks, or they just jump before they even look at what's coming up. And we need to be more in balance as a CEO. There needs to be both. We need to do the work, do the research, look at the data to make good decisions. And we need to act. We need to get into motion so that we can learn from it and make new decisions and pivot and try new things. So we need both. And oftentimes, it's either one or the other. Would you say that's what happened when you hired the first time?

Susie 29:11
Absolutely. I was like I'm panicked. I was hitting a very busy space at my nine to five that I had at the time. And I was like, I just need somebody that I know to come in here and help me. And somebody was interested and we went with it without too much of a plan. And you really should have a plan when you're going to hire somebody or a clear process. I was used to working in the chaos of my brain, which everyone can work in the chaos of their brain because it's their chaos. But trying to bring some other people into your chaos without trying to translate that.

Sari 29:48
They can't read your mind. It's so weird.

Susie 29:50
Oh, it is weird. My wife still can't read my mind after 11 years.

Sari 29:54
Unless you write it down.

Susie 29:58
Write it down or explicitly tell her.

 

Sari
That's very common, the hiring piece. And we talk a lot about hiring, that's a big section of Master Your Business. Because there is a time like, right now many of you are wearing all the hats, but we talked about like, you got to get some things off of your plate and start with the lowest hanging fruit. But a lot of times what happens with entrepreneurs and for full transparency, I built the program after I read E Myth. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is what everybody is doing. I see it now. And I know how to help people with the programs, with the knowledge in my head. And so you know, hiring is one of those things where a lot of times entrepreneurs get panic, they get overwhelmed, they're drowning, and they're like, let me just grab the first person, the first body, or let me go hire somebody that says that they can fix all my problems. They're like, the savior of this, right? And I completely did this myself. So I am speaking from experience, and having gone ahead of you out of most people to figure out how to hire well, because when we hire by abdication, when we're just like, get this out of my life, somebody needs to help me, we're really setting them up for failure. And then ultimately, we just take everything back because we're so frustrated. And then we're way more overwhelmed. And it's just a mess, the much of the work we do in Master Your Business is about creating all the foundations, building on the values and the purpose of the business, really understanding the financials, and what you're good at, what are the things that we can get off of your plate sooner than later to free up your time to be in your zone of genius, but do it with processes and systems. So you get the results you want when you work with others, rather than just holding everything too tightly, because you're worried that people are going to screw up. And ultimately you can't grow your business to be profitable. And you're chaining yourself to the business, you're never going to achieve any kind of time freedom that you probably imagined when you started the business.

Jan
Yeah, absolutely to build on that. So instead of, as you said, you're putting those things in the parking lot that don't need to be dealt with right now. And moving the things up that need to be, you know, those priorities. And I know, I've gotten lost in the weeds too many times, and I need to quit, you know, focus in that's what this course is done along with our one on ones.

Sari
And most of us don't have the skills or the understanding, especially in our own businesses, we may be able to do it in other areas of our lives. But somehow it gets very confusing and vague in our own businesses to force ourselves to do that planning. It's just so much easier to do all the other things in our business. And so I like to say Master Your Business forces you to look at this stuff. So if you need that kind of accountability to do this work, that is exactly what it's built for. Are you going to hire again, Susie, that's in your future?

Susie
Well, I'm going to if I'm going to achieve this 10x goal that you've coached me into.

Sari
Yes, I forced you into it. Well, actually, it's a great segue, I'd love to talk about the 10x piece of it. So this this cohort that we started in the spring, I sent everybody a copy of the book 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan. And I really wanted that to be a framework of the program because you know, you've been doing the business and you've had a relative amount of success but the idea behind it is like you got to really make your dream bigger, make the end result bigger to have it be compelling enough. And so I'm curious how what did you think about that 10x model and some of those pieces that we incorporated?

Jan
I'm still working on it, that's how it is for me.

Sari
Of course, it's always a work in progress.

Jan
Always a work in progress, but I would agree there that you know we we tend to get into if we just do this one thing then we can get to this goal. We have to look at the bigger picture. So to hit our marks because we're not always going to hit that mark the first time, so you have to think bigger than the 2x. If you want to make 100,000 this year, you need to look at making it a million dollars, right? And then hopefully, you fall somewhere in between there. But the whole thing about that is what I got from that really is to work smarter, not harder. You have to look at everything. And as we said, to really reach those 10x goals because again, if we continue to work harder and doing all the things as you say, we're not going to ever reach that 10x. And we hire the right people when we starting to hire, you know, who the who is are, that can really help you. Like Susie, you know, and she was saying, you know, we just grabbed and I've done that too. I've just grabbed okay, this person again, and not doing well, the research kind of going out there and going, can I just grab this person because this person knows how to do Instagram or this person looks so oh my god, look, their website is really good. So I'm going to go grab this person, because you get into that you go. Yeah, why did I just do? So by finding the right who's to help you and listen to those whose is very, very important, because I think in our business, like any business, you can't see you can't see the tree because of the forest, right? Because we're standing there. And it's just we need to back out and get a whole picture and not a whole picture. But from other who's. It needs to be for the experience those people that know what they have been doing, instead of you thinking, no, this is the right thing. And this is i It looks beautiful, whatever it might be, you know.

Sari
I'm staring at this one tree. It's beautiful.

Susie
All the other trees are on fire. But this one is great.

Sari
What about you, Susie? What is that 10x kind of concept mean to you? Jan talked about kind of working smarter, not harder, which was definitely a piece of that.

Susie
I think that the biggest thing that I've gained from it is it is sparking my creative brain a lot more. So we've been in business for three years, and I've fortunately been able to 2x each year by not doing much different. And so I was just kind of like, well, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. And it'll keep 2x-ing and everything will be fine. But then I think about like, a 10x goal and I get super inspired by that. I start to think about well, what other things can I do to get this out there faster? You know, this past week, I started doing distributing like fundraising flyers to schools, because I'm like, oh, great. Like these would be a great captive audience. And I know a number of PTA members are my customers already. So it's just like kind of inspiring me to think outside of the box. Because I'm like, there's no way I'm going to make 100k in four months, if I don't have some new fresh ideas. So let's do it brain, what do we got in there, let's write these down and figure out the best ones, instead of just flying off and like a bunch of different directions, all panicked, because you're not making the goal. I also think that it's like, humbling a little bit, because I've been an extremely competitive person for my entire life. And if I am setting a goal, by God, I'm making it and having a goal that, you know, this might actually be unattainable. So if I don't meet this goal, I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but I'm going to do everything I possibly can to try to get it. And that's been a huge kind of paradigm shift in my brain because goals were always for making for me. Having a goal serve like an inspirational purpose is, is almost just a very different for me, I guess.

Sari
It is. Yeah, it's a different mindset. It's, we never use a goal to beat ourselves up. I use it against us, which is hard because I work with a lot of high achievers, right? And they're like, no, wait, this means something about me personally, as a human. It's like, it doesn't it. It's goals are meant to be there to inspire us, to help us to tap into our potential and see what's possible. And the reality of being an entrepreneur is it is going to be a lot of failures on your way to success. And we got to make that yeah, it's relatively I'm not going to say it's easy, but it's possible when you're small to go from, let's say $5,000 to $10,000 and then 10,000 to 20,000. You're like yeah, I'm just doubling this is incredible, but I will say it generally happens that right around somewhere in that like, 100k-200k mark where you're like, like everything comes to a screeching halt, and you're like, I can't keep doing it this way, right? It becomes impossible to just keep 2x-ing.

Susie
Exactly where I am right now. Yeah. Like exactly where I am.

Sari
I totally pulled those numbers randomly. But it is that like, What Got You Here, Won't Get You There, right? We need some new tricks, some new tools in our tool belt. And I love it that we can start businesses. I mean, we're so fortunate that the time, the era we live in that it is relatively easy to start these businesses and we have, you know, internet and ways to reach people. And it's pretty incredible, right? Like 20 years ago, this, this wouldn't have been nearly as possible without a lot more capital. But there's also a lot of people out there doing it. And we have to start actually running it like a business, not just because we just are so passionate about our product.

Jan
Yeah, no, absolutely. If you want to as a business, I would say there are people that I think we talked about this in another group or within the group where, you know, that might just be what your goal is, right? I mean, you want to do farmers markets and you want to, it's more of a vacation money in a sense, right? So that's what I was trying to say, as a side hustle. You know, and at one point, it was a side hustle for us. I think both of us, were both Susie and I and you know, definitely for us. I mean, we started making this stuff, a little mason jars and selling with friends and family. And that's kind of where you have helped personally me of setting those goals or where I want to be and don't worry if you, let's set that goal. And if you don't hit it right away, don't beat yourself up. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are a type personalities.

Sari
I need the gold stars.

Jan
I need the gold star, I need to make sure that. As Susie said, you know, I'm going to set this goal and damn it, I'm going to have to hit that goal. If I don't, I'm going to fail. And we have to look at as that what did we learn from that? More so as being a failure. And I think that has been my challenge in this journey. Probably the most, you know, because there, as you said, you know, there's going to be lots of failures, and you just kind of move on, you got okay, what the hell did I do there? What can I learn from that, and let's make it better the next time.

Sari
That's where the lessons are, where we make the changes that we need to that ultimately will look back, you know, at the "end", wherever that is, right? And say, oh, wow, it was because of that failure that I learned this and I made this adjustment and then I tried this and then I tried that. And those are the things that get you here, right? The obstacle is the way but when we're in it, it's really easy to make that mean something terrible about ourselves. Yes, having support to make those goals bigger and try things knowing that many of them will fail. And that's the way it's supposed to be so as we wrap up here Susie, you're heading into your Holidays and some big things so you know, one of the things with Master Your Business is it's not like in 12 weeks, you're going to be totally fixed. My business is perfect now and set up but what are you most looking forward to as you kind of go through the rest of this year and look ahead into 2024 taking in those skills and the some of the things that we learned through that program,

Susie
I mean, I'm pretty excited to have just a plan last year and I get excited for the fall in general because it's my busy season. Everybody gets their crock pots and Insta pots and soups and pumpkin and all that shit out and they're very excited about it. So it's easy to get excited about my meals so I'm usually like anticipating the fall but this year like I feel like I'm so much more excited about it because I have a plan for like every single order and like I'm building out the marketing and stuff like that ahead of time so I'm not bogged down by that and can just more enjoy the getting the word more out there rather than being bogged down with like the actual to do of it. So I'm I'm just genuinely excited about a busy season rather than being like how the hell am I going to pull this off? Like what if I do 2x this year? I don't think I can do that is what I would have been thinking before I made the plan. And just as another like little note about Sari coaching that I want to make sure I get in here. I've been in some other group coaching, I've had some other group coaching. Sari, you have like the perfect balance of having us try to answer our own questions in our mind and bringing in that good mindset piece and having some actual practical advice for us within our business. It's not all just like, have your mind, right? Like if you have a label that sucks, Sari's going to be like, label sucks and this is how you should fix it. And it's great to have both sides of that coin because I feel like that's a little bit rare and coaches to be able to have both of those pieces together. And I think that that's helped me get a lot to this point, because I had my mind pretty right. But having like the practical portion along with it has just given me a lot of growth in the last quarter.

Sari
Yeah, I appreciate you said that. Because you know, I love life coaching, but sometimes I get very frustrated when I'm like, I know, I know the answer, dammit. But I don't.

Susie
Can you help me, please?

Sari
Give me a little bit of action and some strategy and some ideas here. So yeah, I want it to be both and we all have amazing. We do have the answers inside of us. But sometimes we need a little help, right?

Susie
And that's where you get a coach. Get some help.

Jan
It's like extracting that tooth, right? No, it's going to hurt coming out. But whoa, when it's gone. oh, my gosh, thank you, now I can move on, I can do what I need to do. You know, it's not this pain. It's kind of subliminally or even real pain, right? To make this happen. Because sometimes I do, I think we, at least for me, you know, I'm still looking at. You said something about, you know, what am I looking forward in 2024? Well, that's, of course, connecting my business from something that happened to me in April, where we had a major retailer pull out from us, and I'm like, holy crap, what am I going to do now? Soaking in it for a while, you helping me pass that. Go, okay, here's what we need to do. How can we get that plan and just building on that, right? So and knowing that it's going to take some time, it's not going to be an overnight thing. So working all of those things out. 2024, there's still a lot of surprises, I think in 2024. I think for small businesses, the big thing is that I will never be and I think what Susie, we're never going to be the $2.99 sauce or Sara Lee's prefrozen junk, right? We need to make sure that people understand the product that we're putting out and getting that across to them. So because they're being very selective, people are very being very, very selective as they move forward, not who they're purchasing from and what they're getting. Are they getting the value out of that? I mean, that's my main thing right now is saying, okay, or showing people that yeah, here's the value of what I'm bringing to the table and the versatility of what you can do with our product versus you know, ketchup ketchup or a barbecue sauce is just barbecue sauce. Wow, there's so many other things that you can do with our one single product.

Sari
Yeah, and so now you both have more of a plan than you ever have which helps you to make decisions, helps you decide when is the right time maybe Jan for you to bring on some marketing help, or is it time to redevelop your website , right? Like you can make decisions about are we going to go more direct to consumer, are we going to go after some different wholesale accounts, like now you have the forecast, you have the right information and it's leading you to make good decisions. We don't know the right decisions, they're learning, right, but the best decisions we can.

Jan
Yeah solid decisions based on what we know from from data, right?

Sari
Yeah, Susie I know you're going to have a, we talked about you having those, that dollar amount or those those markers that say now it's time for me to go bring in help, right? Like, yeah, if I want to 10x my business then at some point that there are going to be triggers where I need to go get support, literally you could not do make that many meals.

Susie
Yeah, I got to come up with that number. I'm scared of that number that can be talked about another day.

Sari
But that's the work that we do, right? It's like pointing out those little things instead of just like, either self sabotaging to keep it small. That never happened. No one ever does that. No one ever does that. Or you just totally burn out. And then you're like, F it. I'm out.

Jan
No, seriously.

Susie
Definitely a thought just come across my mind.

Sari
A 9-5 job with benefits would be so nice about right now.

Susie
There's so much better inside a business though. Because it's not like, oh, I got a raise. Great. Cool. When you like double or triple or 10x. You're like, that is you. You did that. Your company didn't do that. You did that inside of this. And it's like, just so much more rewarding when you have like, a big win last year when I did. I think it was eight grand more than I had ever done in a month in one month. I was going nuts celebrating more than I've celebrated anything I think. And I always like, when I'm having a low day, I just think back to November 2022. And I'm like, you remember that? That was great. Let's do it again.

Sari
Right. It's possible. Yeah. And the wins are so sweet, for sure. But we have to be so careful that we don't make the losses.

Susie
Those aren't my fault, only the wins. There's a certain amount of delusuins you have to keep going.

Jan
That's definitely true, right?

Susie
Coming out in 2025, Delusions of Entrepreneur.

Sari
Well, I would say you know, I am so excited. It has been such a pleasure to work with both of you in this capacity. And I know we're not done working together by any means. But I've just bought seen both of you guys, there has been like an attitude shift, right? Like just a kind of more optimism and more rooted, like grounded of like, this business can work and I'm choosing to be here and I'm going to use all of my talents and you know, put put my brain to work. And so I really appreciate both of you showing up so much in Master Your Business and Fuel and getting support. And it's just been so fun to see your growth over the last year and to continue to be part of your journey. So I'm honored to be your coach for sure.

Jan
Well, I'm honored to be your student. Really, I've gone through as I said, I think when we first started this out on a one to one, you know that I had tried a couple other things. And I was very I'll be very honest with you. I was very leery.

Sari
I know. I was like I don't know if he's coming back. I gave you some info on our call. I was like, yeah, you gotta go think about some things.

Jan
Yeah, I mean, I really did. I thought, oh, man, I just don't want to go through something and not make anything out of this. Because I'd been there, you can not kind of reeled me in and you made personally, me think about a lot of things that I really needed to seriously think about and also giving me the opportunity to say hey, it's okay. It's okay, this is not the journey when it continue on. But you had that, you know, I had to make that up. Even though I was hearing that from my better part for a long time. Decided that, you know, this is something that we really want to do. Just just need to make sure we have this plan instead of trying to go leap frogging across and not just going okay, wherever we land, we land. Hopefully it's a good one.

Sari
And I love that you said that, you you decided to get back into your business and give it your all like you might. I mean, the worst place to be in is in that like middle ground where you're like, I don't know, my end or my out. Let me go do some more research, right?Like making a decision. I'm all in anything else, Susie? Any parting words for us as we sign off here?

Susie
Sign up for the class. No, I've been lurking in the podcasts for a long time even at the beginning of my business. I knew that I wanted to coach and we had a one on one and ended up going somewhere else but I always continued listening to your podcast and joining a couple of the call and I think that being able over time, to not only hear the things that you had to say to us, but like you could almost hear your own growth in there. And I find that to be one of the most inspiring things about you in this group. And finally, like, biting the bullet and getting in one of these programs was so good for me. I wish I had done it a little bit sooner. And just thank you for continuing to work with me to be here. Because it was a little bit, I needed some pushing along. And you saw that and you came through with it. So thank you.

Sari
You are so welcome. All right, cheers. I know. All right, we'll go check out Susie. Jan, where can people find you if they want to go check Oma and Poppies?

Jan
So omandpopies.com. That's O M A and poppies P O P I E S. There's no two P in there. So also on Instagram, Facebook, that's where you can check us out. And we'd love to have you look at what we have to offer and order some stuff. We ship all over the 50 states.

Sari
Good and Susie, I know you're more concentrated in one area. But if people are in the Baltimore area, tell us where they can find you.

Susie
Yeah, Baltimore, DC, PA area. We're wellroundedmeals.net. Definitely get in there and subscribe. Even if we can't get meals to you. I do some fun weekly things, or I do like a Chef Tip Tuesday, that comes to your inbox every week. And we post some other fun stuff about local businesses. And I think our handles are wellroundedmealsBmore, just be the letter B and then more.

Sari
Okay, you're talking about doing a product, a packaged product at some point too.

Susie
I am that's, that's on the books for closer to Christmas, to be shippable. Got to make that plan this week.

Sari
Now we want both of you in the Fuel boxes. So yeah, that turns out but well, it has been such a pleasure to have you on today. And I really appreciate you sharing your journey in the program and just in your businesses and being really open and and transparent. I think everybody really appreciates that. And that's something I value is sharing my journey and letting you guys all share yours. So appreciate it.

Jan
Thank you very, very much for having us on.

Sari
All right, have an amazing rest of your day. I know it can be so scary when you're considering putting down money to work with a coach, you may be saying, I don't think I'm worth it. Or I may not get what I want out of it. And I'm not for everyone, but you're still listening. So there must be a piece of you that saying maybe Sari, maybe this program is for me. And I like to ask my clients if I weren't afraid. And I knew that the outcome would be the best possible, what would I do?If I was not making decisions out of fear. And so many of us were saying no to things because we're afraid, and I get it. But as an entrepreneur, we need to be able to push past our fear and really look at things more objectively, just like we were talking about earlier with getting all the information to make sound decisions. And if you are at a point in your business where you are feeling stuck, or you're wondering how you're going to get to the next level, you're realizing this might be an expensive hobby, or you're at the point where you're like, F it, I just cannot keep going on this way. Or if you are a brand new business, you are welcome to join us. Although I will say that Master Your Business, I think is more effective when you've been in business a little bit. Even though I would love for you to set up the foundations correctly with your business from the beginning. There's just so much that you don't know yet. Now of course you have lifetime access and so you can always go and revisit as you grow. But really, it is designed for people who have been in business for six months, a couple of years. And you're just like what is going on? I should be further along. Why is this business not working? And why do I not have the time and the freedom and the passion anymore for this business. So if you're feeling the nudge to see if this program is for you, I want to encourage you to get on the waitlist. I am going to open the program for enrollment in early September. I give you a special offer if you are on the waitlist. And this probably will be the last time where I teach it live like this in a 12 week cohort. Next year, it will go to a little bit different container. And this is such a beautiful time of year to maybe do the 2023 planning that you did not do ahead of time, and to start working on your 2024 and really get ahead of things. So now's the time to go deep and muster up that courage because courage never feels good. And we have to build courage in the face of things that scare us. And the best thing you can do is take one next action, you don't have to make the whole leap. You don't have to eat the whole elephant at one time. Just go get on the waitlist at masteryourbiz.co. 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. Hey there, you're still here. How fun is that? If you want more, go and grab the book off of Amazon Key Ingredients: How To Turn Your Passion Product Into A Profitable Business. This is an actionable guide with step by step instruction on how to start or scale your product business. I also give you a special link so that you can access some book only resources. So what are you waiting for? Head over to Amazon or go to keyingredientsbook.com for more information