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 are actually in and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now let's jump in! Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I am so happy you're here. I really hope you enjoy last week's part one of our coaching call recording. You heard from two Fuel members and that was part of our bonus mindset call. Because yes, there's strategy and all of the things that you need to be doing. But there's also all of the questioning and confusion and wondering and perfectionism and judgment and everything else that comes in for every entrepreneur. I want you, if you get nothing else out of this, I want you to have a feeling of like, it's not just me, I am not alone. And that's exactly why I created Fuel because I want people to get the information from me and the expertise and the guidance and mentorship. And I want all of you to support each other. We all go faster, we all go farther when we go together. And there is such power in communities. It is just ridiculous. Every time I have joined a community and I really participate, I mean you can join communities and not participate and you're going to get nothing out of it. That's a huge waste of your money. If you commit, I mean I really say like you got to put the calls on your calendar. You got to book them in. You got to make time to come and join us on the community feed and to ask questions and to give answers and cheer each other on, like play full out and I promise you, if you do that, you will start feeling more momentum, you'll start feeling more inspired, more motivation. It's just incredible. And every time I have done that with memberships and communities, it's incredible the results that I get. And so you can join Fuel and you can just join Fuel, you don't have to get the full program. I opened it up through October, we'll see how it goes. But go to foodbizsuccess.com/fuel, and /it's 57 bucks a month. So what do you have to lose? Come join us for a couple months and see, just test it out, right? It's a small investment that could have huge payoff for you. So give us a try, I think you will really love it. And I would love to meet you inside. So today's podcast is two additional recordings calls from that particular call. You're going to hear from Charles, and he has Papa Jack's Marinade. And again, I'll put everybody's links in the show notes that you hear from today. So you can go look them up, go follow them on Instagram, or Tiktok and go check out their websites. But Charles, we're going to talk about approaching, talking with a new account, this will be his very first wholesale account, and kind of how to negotiate that and navigate it, especially it's a little bit of a non traditional store. It's not specifically a food store. So that can be really helpful for you. And then we're also going to hear from Kirate, who is such a wonderful example, I'm so glad she gave me permission to share this with you all because it's such a great example of all the plans that we make when we launch our business. And we're like, I'm going to do this, and it's going to be on this timeframe, here's everything that's going to happen. And then life happens. Life just keeps lifing. And I even had, you'll hear maybe you'll hear it, where I had a piece of paper and I was just like, this is your life, these are the plans that you made right back in May, when we talked and you joined Food Business Success and all of that. And then I just like crumple it up and throw it behind me. I'm like, and now we throw away the plan and we create a new plan, and we're going to smash the clock. And so for any of who are feeling like, oh, my gosh, I got derailed and things happened. And now I feel off track and you're consumed by the worry and the doubt and like, what if I can't get back on track? I think that this coaching call will be of huge benefit for you. Alright, without further ado, let's get to Charles and then Kirate. All right, Charles.

Charles 7:51
Good afternoon. Good morning. So this actually, this topic, kind of brought up something, I guess, for me as well is. So you know, we look forward to getting opportunities, and we get an opportunity. And then we get in, I get we get kind of like, well, I've never done this before. So yeah, so we have an interview with the shop here, not too far in the mall here, but to talk about eating our marinade in their store. Yeah, so it kind of one of those as well, where, you know, from a mindset standpoint, I think, you know, obviously, you know, we'll kind of figure out what to do, but just never having been there. And, yeah, so it's a little bit, I would say you're excited to get the opportunity yet sometimes you get you get the opportunity, and then you get a little bit anxious about it. So that's kind of where we are, but you know.

Sari 9:05
So, you have kids, right? So imagine them back in like high school or middle school or whatever, like, and they're trying something new. They're trying a new sport. They're trying a new class or trying a new hobby. And they're like, I've never done this before. I'm nervous. What would you tell them?

Charles 9:28
That's how you learn. You have to try it. Yeah. And then you may not get it right the first time but just you got to learn from what you did and that's how you get better. You just have to start.

Sari 9:44
Yeah. Because once you get started, that's where you're like and again we could just look at this is like we put so much pressure on these things. Oh my gosh, this one shop and this is it, make or break. All right, this is my moment and if we don't get it then, you know, we all this worst case scenario of like, then that's it, we're a failure. Never going to work. Instead of like, how can we just look at this as like, oh, this is going to be so interesting. I'm so curious, what am I going to learn from this? I'm going to, yeah, they're going to ask me questions. I'm going to know the answer to, and I'm going to figure it out, and I'm going to do my best. And, you know, you can always just as some, you know, interview prep is like, you can only say, I don't know, like, in a way, that's like, you know what, that's a great question. I haven't thought about that and I will get back to you by next week with an answer. And then you're going to come over to Fuel, you're going to be like, siphoned to the Q&A to get an answer, right? Like, we can do the work of trying to prep you ahead of time. But yeah, stores, buyers ask weird things sometimes. So I mean, you do have to do the work. It's not all just like, I'm just going to feel positive about this, I'm going to figure it out, right? It's like do the work and think about if you were in their shoes, what would you maybe asked as a vendor? So tell me what do you think are a couple things that you know they're probably going to ask?

Charles 11:13
Essentially we did a market, they organized it back in June. And they also they have a shop here at the mall. And so we did the market. It was nice but it's interesting. They're actually geared towards more, I would say, apparel, and like, their store is not like, we wouldn't think we would fit in there. So when we you know, so we got an email, and then we sent them some of our marinade, they must have tried it. And so they started talking about moving forward but we don't know is how do we fit in their store? So, you know.

Sari 12:16
So I'm the buyer. All right, Charles, how do you fit in the store?

Charles 12:04
Like, why did you call us like, I mean? Yeah, that's kind of our question too. But. So I suppose that they'll want to understand a little bit more about the, you know, the qualities of the marinade or what have you, because I think it's fairly unique in that standpoint. And so we plan to kind of share a little bit about that, I suppose we'll go through the conversations around, you know, maybe the, you know, we have our manufacturing license now and some other things, so maybe they'll try to get a feel for us from that standpoint. And I think we'll talk through the process of how we started out recently as cottage food. And so now we're transitioning, you know, labels and all this other stuff that we're changing over now and are working on. So we'll kind of go through that. And perhaps kind, let them know that we're kind of new, and that we are kind of still learning, and just be open about that.

Sari 13:18
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think being a little bit vulnerable like, we would love to partner, but kind of going back to where we're talking about Amber. Like, we're so eager to say yes. And you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you. And maybe it isn't a good fit. And that's okay. You learn from it, you take the lessons. But why do you think, I mean, they tried your marinade, like if you had to guess, give me one or two guesses on why the heck they think it's good fit.

Charles 13:47
At risk of kind of sounding, I mean. So, I would just say that people that try it, they have that reaction, because it is different.

Sari 14:11
I just used last night on my veggies, and it was so good.

Charles 14:17
Thank you. Yeah, I don't like to say that because I mean, you know, but that's, I mean, I think that is, I think that when people try it, they're like, wow, you know, because of the, we have some proprietary things that we you know, how we make it but that's what I think that that's probably perhaps they tried it and they were just like wow, you know, until that would be my guess because yeah, we're not a fit, if you will, from kind of how the their stores is formatted, but that's what will be my guess.

Sari 14:53
So they love it. And you got to be more like, I own this. This is the best damn marinade. Your life will be transformed if you only try this. So that's part of your work to do is like, how do you really own that, right? Like, we like to hide behind. Like, that's kind of good. I think you'll like it. No, like, enthused, and this is for everybody enthusiasm is the most effective way to sell. You guys know, like, you all joined my program because I'm enthusiastic. I think this is the best dang program that you could do. And I'm like, why on earth is everybody not in here? Come on. Right? And my enthusiasm gets you guys excited. And the same is true for when you walk in. It literally like they've done studies where enthusiasm is the thing that lights up our brain the most, for other people. Like when we're enthusiastic, it lights up something in our brains that were like, tell me more, I'm excited. You know. So you got to own that piece. You got to walk in and like I'm enthusiastic. This is the best damn sauce, you'd be crazy not to have this on yourself. Now. I don't know why it's a good fit. But you guys seem to love it. And we're going to figure it out. We're going to make it work. This is going to be fun, right? You can go in with that kind of enthusiasm. And they're like, all right, let's try it. I don't know. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? You could sell it on consignment, you could just sell it as like, okay, let's just try. We'll do three of each flavor. We need some signage, right? We're going to tell people what this is and you know why it's so awesome. And why you should pick it up? Pick one up today, but like, give them that and just be like, we're going to try it. It's an experiment. And make it a no brainer for them. Like if it doesn't sell, we'll pick it up. It's no problem, right? We'll just want to make it fun for everybody. Like, what would be the simplest, easiest way to do this. This is your very first shop, right? This is the first one. So every time we're dealing with probably like our first 10 stores, you just want to be like, I'm bending over backwards, right? Not to the point of like, you know, losing money or feeling like you're getting taken advantage of, but just like, I'm showing up for you, and I'm being a great partner. And we're going to have some fun with this.

Charles 17:28
Yeah, definitely. And that helps. I mean, I guess being a little bit more, you know, I tend to kind of want to reserve a little bit in terms of how I talk about it. But I guess that's the, you know, when in these kinds of calls, you definitely want to go out and do that.

Sari 17:49
And you're not shoving it down their throat, but you are like behind your product a hundred percent. You think this product is the most amazing thing and you're so excited, they want you to store and I think Amber posted like sometimes local businesses just want to carry local products that they're excited about. Even if it's a weird fit, like get your jeans and your marinade.

Sari 17:49
Who knows, but like, they just want to show like, we're supporting local and they're enthusiastic about it. And so, but again, think about this like a junk interview, like have you ever gone on a like, you know, when you're trying to get a new job that you're like, okay, let me just get some interviews out of the way that I'm not worried about, like maybe this isn't a good fit. Maybe they're going to like, no, no, you're like, okay, but now I got some practice. Now I can go into the next one that is a better fit. And I've done like feeling more confident about it.

Charles 18:56
Yeah. And that's kind of how it helps a little bit for us that it's not the, you know, like our dream store or something like that. Because it does take a little bit of that pressure off.

Sari 19:09
The less pressure you have, less expectations, the more fun you're going to be, the more excited, the more just easy about it. I don't know, we're interviewing you as much as vice versa but like this is pretty low risk. I mean, you got them three of each bottles and they didn't sell like again you know just like what Debbie is like if you weren't afraid of walking in and taking them back, buying them back or taking them back then we'll just get started. I'm excited for you. Now do you know your numbers, right? If you don't like make sure you have a sell sheet understand like what the margins are for them. Know your delivery days and how they order and things like that you know what a case size normally is but you're willing to, you know, the first couple stores you just have to be willing to be like, they don't want six of each, fine, three cases each. Will do two cases, mix and match. You know, got to get them to say yes if it seems like a good partnership.

Charles 20:13
Yes, yes. Yes. And we're I mean, I guess it's kind of a, you know, a learning for us to some degree that, you know. You never know when you'll get a new opportunity. And I think for every new thing, there's going to come a time where you don't really know what you're doing. And so we kind of have to get a little bit comfortable with that. But, so, but yeah, it was kind of unexpected, but yeah.

Sari 20:40
I love it. All right. I'm so excited. Definitely keep us updated on how that goes. All right. I hope this conversation, these are helpful for everybody. It can be really great just hearing other people like you're not alone. Everybody's having these similar conversations in their head and dealing with similar pain points. So Kirate, come on down.

Kirate 21:08
Hello, how are you?

Sari 21:10
Good. How are you?

Kirate 21:12
I'm good. So okay, that I have not been working on my business since the last week. My fiance broke his leg. And he's, you know, on bed rest. Then he got a surgery last week. So yeah, that's like one part of the story. There's so many moving parts. But that's one part. And, you know, so in, in lieu of taking care of him, I'm not doing any of my business stuff. So that's one. Number two is before you know this happen, like abruptly, I was kind of talking to some stores. And you can kind of get in, and I did get a response from one store. I'm also like, that's number two.

Sari 21:59
You didn't get any responses?

Kirate 21:59
No, I mean, I just talked like two stores yet. So I got response from one, which is I think good.

Sari 22:08
Okay. All right.

Kirate 22:11
Yeah, I just started and you know, it's also like, okay, I was going full throttle. And now, I have to stop all the way. Like, it's a stop sign from 60 miles per hour, I still have one more week, but I won't be able to work, although it's just two weeks, which is good for him because I obviously want him to recover because we have to go get married. And that's, so many things are like running in my mind. And I was like, okay, how would I? How should I just say that my business is okay, done. I'll just pick it up next year, or, you know, whatever fight I can in like packaging, and then just put my product in whatever store that's ready to accept me.

Sari 22:58
So why is it a problem that your business went from 60 to zero?

Kirate 23:01
Because it's only me doing everything. And like, in the sense that I'm the only one who makes the product, sells the product. So I'm not able to do any farmers market or any markets. So that's number one. So yeah, part of me also wants to like get into the packaging, finish it and have the have like the FDA approved packaging so I can start online. But like I said, it's just way too many moving parts. And I'm just thinking about all these things, and not really doing anything I could.

Sari 23:01
I've follow that all the way through to the end, it's probably something like, I went from 60 to zero. And so it's like finish the sentence. And that means it's not going to work, right? There's something wrong with me. There's something wrong with the business. I'm not going to make this happen.

Kirate 24:00
Yeah, I mean, honestly, that, to me, it means that whatever I had planned that I'll do before I leave would be pushed to next year.

Sari 24:12
Okay, so here's the plan that you had?

Kirate 24:16
Yeah, I guess it's the ambiguity.

Sari 24:24
You need to answer the question in your brain. What do you want to do now? Like, we spin out about what the past is, right? And it's like, okay, we thought like, we just keep thinking, well, that's not on track and that wasn't the plan. And I certainly like that I would have to these extra two weeks, now I'm taking care of my fiance, broke his leg and right. We just spin out on the past and what we think it should have been and what was us and all the things and like making it mean all these terrible things about our business and about us. Instead like, okay, what am I going to do, right? And like, actually getting it on paper, like getting out all of the spinning thoughts out of your head and being like, okay, let's look at the dates, let's look at what's possible, right? Here's when I leave, here's when I come back. Like, those aren't moving. So now we got to just create a new plan around that. And there's going to be some letting go of expectations. You thought you would be further along, but this is just life, this is what happens. Like everybody comes to me is like, I'm going to have my business up and running in six weeks, and I'm like, okay, maybe. And then maybe your fiance is going to break his leg, and that's going to slow everything down, or you're going to get sick, or your family members going to need you or something comes up at work or, you know, on and on. The key is like, not beating the shit out of ourselves about it and just accepting that this is life. And now we create a new plan. There's no rush for you Kirate, like, I know, you feel like there's a rush. Like, if I don't get it done by the end of the year, it's not going to happen, but you have plenty of time.

Kirate 26:12
That does makes sense. And yeah, I really liked the plan B. Like, instead of beating my self up, that plan didn't work. I will just like focus my energy on having another plan.

Sari 26:24
Yeah, what can you do? And if you're sitting around taking care of your fiance, like what are the things that you can do that are in your control right now to set you up for 2024 when you get back. Like, what are the things that are in your control right now? And that's what we do is like, bad stuff happens, right? And that's exactly that Thrive Training I did. It's like, a bad stuff happens all the time. Whether it's outside events, or things that are happening closer to us, how do we pick ourselves back up faster, and start shortening the gap? Because you're just lengthening the time, like, now you're just spinning out about it and saying, okay. Not in the plan and now what? And so what do I have control over instead of feeling like I'm the victim to it, and it's all happening to me. How is this happening for you? Maybe you are not meant to go into co packing this year. And that's probably a good thing, because otherwise it would be rushed. And everybody here on this call who's done co packing can tell you this is not a short process. So maybe this is giving you the space to breathe a little, to focus on your wedding to see what you can do with the products right now before you leave. And maybe it's not a good time to even be in stores because you are going to leave for two months, three months. Just think about how do I come out of the gate really strong, ready to go in 2024, that's my year. You've done a lot. And I look back and be really proud of yourself. When we talked last spring, you didn't even have this. There was no physical product, right? Now look at you, all the things you've done.

Kirate 28:10
Yeah. Yes, that's true.

Sari 28:13
Yeah. Compassion for yourself. Like you're right on track. There is no rush. Smash the clock. There is no rush.

Kirate 28:22
Okay. Yes. All right. That makes sense. Thank you.

Sari 28:25
You're welcome. Oh, my gosh, just re listening to these and editing them. These calls were so good. And so many people were helped. I would love for you to be one of those people. I would love for you to come and join me inside Fuel, 57 bucks a month. Commit to one, two, three months and just give it a try for yourself and let's just see. Do it as a grand experiment to see how far you can go in your business. Go to foodbizsuccess.com/fuel. You'll get all the details there. I would love to see you inside. 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.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai