Full Transcript

Sari 0:04
I'm Sari Kimbell and I've done just about everything in the food industry. I have helped hundreds of packaged food business entrepreneurs and now, I want to help you make your delicious dream a reality. Whether you want to be successful at farmer's markets, online, or wholesale on the store shelves, Food Business Success is your secret ingredient. I will show you how to avoid an expensive hobby and instead run a profitable food business. Now let's jump in!

Sari 0:37
Hey there, welcome back to the podcast. So glad to have you here with me today. We're gonna talk about money. I'm terrified. I gotta tell you guys, I am nervous to talk about money with you. We've talked around it with generosity. But I want to talk about our beliefs, and our thoughts, and our relationship with money. Because myself included, many of us have a terrible relationship with money. But as entrepreneurs, it is our responsibility. One, to make money. That's why we are in business. Business is an exchange. Officially, we need to be making money as a business. But so many of us are playing so small. We're just barely getting by, right? And so as an entrepreneur, we have an added responsibility to uncover our beliefs about money, to manage our thoughts and our beliefs about money, so that we can go out and create more. Think about why you started this business. You probably started it because, first of all, you want to share your delicious passion with the world, you want to make it a better place. You want people to be healed by food, or to enjoy the, you know, that delicious moments of eating ice cream that you've never been able to eat because you're dairy-free or vegan. I'm thinking about my client, Brian, of his Amazing Ice Cream. So you got into this business to do that. But anybody can do that. You don't have to have a business to share your product with others, right? So you obviously, if you're thinking about starting a business or you already have one, you have a bigger calling to have a business, to be an entrepreneur. And money is a scorecard, right? It is the way that we measure how our business is performing, right? We can't serve others and deliver this delicious product to them for free. I mean, you can. You can do that, many people do, just out of their homes and give it to friends and family. You could have a business model where you're just paying for it and you're giving it away for free. But that's not really a business. So in order to be successful, we need to create money, and we got to get over all of our money drama. So many of us have a pretty negative, you might even be like cringing a little bit, like she's talking about my money. We've all have these like, you know, religious connotations about money. Money is the root of all evil. Money is, you know, makes you greedy. We have people in our world that are terrible examples of how you behave when you have money. But that's not the only way. And I want to offer some thoughts on money that I have been working on. I've been thinking a lot about money.

Sari 4:18
And so I want to offer you some thoughts because as an entrepreneur, all we're doing is we're speeding up our evolvement. We're speeding up how we grow and contribute as humans in this world. I was on a call with somebody yesterday who's, a consult call to potentially work with me, and he was trying to decide like, am I really in? What's my why? And I said, listen, you can just share this product with the world in other ways. But are you going to choose this vehicle? Entrepreneurship business, starting a business is just a vehicle for you to experience life, and you're gonna speed up, you're gonna magnify all of your baggage, all of your crappy thoughts, all of the worst, and enough issues, and am I deserving. It just, it like heightens it. Because now you're putting yourself in harm's way, right? You're doing something out of the norm. You're putting yourself out there. You're risking your time, your money. You're risking judgment from others. You're risking failure. So that's it, it's just a vehicle, and you can choose or choose not to. But if you choose this, now we're going to deal with our money. Because money equals freedom. It equals the ability to be more generous. It equals an ability to hire others, to create a world around you, and affect others in a positive way. Money is neutral. So I will do a full episode on the model. But I've talked about it a couple times. There's a circumstance, money. And you could throw an amount of money in there- $10,000, $50,000, $250,000, a million, right? Put whatever amount you want in there and then you're going to have a thought about it. So what we want to do is really examine what our money beliefs are. I was listening to something this morning, and she said, our money beliefs get ingrained in us by age seven. So crap. That's like 39 years for me of money believes that I have been living or creating my results. So what are the thoughts when you think about making money? And I will tell you that I work with a lot of women, I probably work with maybe 65-70% women, and then I love working with men too. It's not a, I love it all. But I do work with a lot of women. And I work with a lot of people who have never made a lot of money in their lives. And I work with a lot of people who've never been an entrepreneur. I do find that if you grew up in an entrepreneurial household, if you have been an entrepreneur before, you sort of have maybe some different, maybe I don't know about, better, but like you have maybe some more evolved thoughts on money, beliefs on money. And it's helpful. But I work with people who've never done this before, right? This is a new experience for them. So when I just say money, what are your beliefs around that? It's hard. It's never enough. It's gonna go away. I wish I had more. Money is bad, right? Money corrupts. So what are your money thoughts? Like, I gotta spend it quickly because it might go away. Or I gotta save it because it might go away. So just really kind of think about that, what your money beliefs are.

Sari 8:51
And I said I was gonna be a little vulnerable here. And that's a little bit scary for me. I was at what we call Mastermind for the Life Coach School where I get certified. And it's our first time meeting in person since the pandemic. And I received an award for, they have awards for a 100k plus in your business, and then a million is the next level. So it's a big range. But I received an award for 100k plus in my business. And I wrote something up about what this meant to me and how grateful I am that as a woman, as you know, somebody as single, like living in this world, I can create a business, a big business. And that's amazing. And I want you to think about, even 10 years ago, I was kind of trying to think about tiny. Well first of all actually go back even further. So I was born in 75, that year was the first year that a woman could get a credit card. What? It's not that long ago that women could not open up credit without a husband or a father to sign for them. That they could have their own bank account, right? And now, 46 years later, we are able to create massive businesses. I think that statistic that they put up was 2.4% of the population are women millionaires. Like that's way too small in my estimation. I want to make that number way bigger. But it's at least possible. There was a time when this would not be possible. And there was a time that starting a packaged food business, like what you can do now, was impossible. Only companies with giant production, you know, massive. Think about what a grocery store looked like, even 20 years ago, 15 years ago, even 10 years ago. It was all homogenous, right? It was all the big brands. There was no like, small local niche. You know, all these great products that we have today, it was like, you know, Wheat Thins, and Triscuits, and Saltines crackers. That was it, right? Those are your brands. And now the possibilities are like endless and we have this thing called the internet. And we have the ability to go online and to go on to Amazon, right? And be where people are. We have this amazing ability to reach them. And stores are embracing local, and smaller, and more niche products. So first of all, just taking a minute and be like, whoa, this is kind of amazing. I'm so grateful that I can do this as a man or a woman. And that this is possible. Doesn't mean it's easy but it is possible. Just the fact that alone that we can have people that are like, I can be an entrepreneur, that was not, that was like a really risky, super, super risky thing. Not a normal thing, right? And now, our world is filled with budding entrepreneurs, right? The side hustle or people creating these wonderful, amazing businesses. So in any case, I wrote this post on my personal Instagram and I'm very cautious about who I let in on my personal Instagram. Because I felt a little bit of shame. I was uncomfortable. Even writing it personally in my personal circle. I was uncomfortable talking about the money I have created in my business. I felt kind of, I don't know that they're, I'm opening myself up for judgment, right? Even though it's something I'm so proud of. But I am opening myself, even sharing it here with you guys, that's why it scares me, right? Because our number one things that we think about, when we think about growing our business and making more money, is I don't want people to think dot, dot, dot.

Sari 13:49
I don't want people to think that I am all about the money, that I only care about the money. I don't want people to think that I'm greedy or, you know, that I'm. I don't know, you can go on and on about it, right? You have your own beliefs. But I definitely had a lot of those thoughts about, money isn't for me. I thought that a lot earlier in my life. And so it's, I have to manage my mind and work on my thoughts around money is safe. It is safe for me to make money, to be successful. I am willing. I am worthy. I am enough. I truly, truly believe that money just makes you more of who you are. And there are good people out there making money and there are, you know, there are bad people out there, and unfortunately we see a lot of the bad and we don't see a lot of the good.

Sari 15:02
And this is kind of a hybrid episode where I'm going to share with you, I had a follow up interview with Erika from Southern Girl Granola. And we're going to talk more about the generosity challenge and some of her thoughts on money. One of the things she offered that was so beautiful, was money allows me to create a business where I can hire people. These are her words, money allows me a business where I can support my family, support my daughters. I can show them what it looks like to be an empowered woman in society. I can leave a legacy. And that is the ultimate gift, right, of money is that you can leave a legacy, you can help others. And you can help your family and you can continue to serve the world. So if you have a big goal to create a better world, go make more money. You can do so much more when you make more money. I can be more generous in the world, you guys have heard me talk about the generosity challenge, it's so fun. And I can be more generous in the world the more money I create. And then it just keeps coming back. It just keeps multiplying, my world gets bigger and bigger. I have a goal this year. I have a big money goal. Terrifies me a little bit. That's just my thought. I'm working on different thoughts about; this is exciting, this is fun, this is easy. I don't have to hustle my way there. But I have a big money goal. And part of what is driving me is that I am also creating a fund. I'm creating, I haven't totally decided yet, it's been worked out. But like a micro loan fund or grant fund. Or maybe a combination of both to help entrepreneurs start their businesses. I want to help people with the capital that is required to have everything they need to launch a more successful business and do it faster, right? These businesses take money. I wish that they didn't. But to create a product business, it takes a lot of money upfront to do it right. I know that money can be challenging for some of you. We are not, I don't want to say that we're all coming from a place of privilege where we can go all in financially, right? Many of us, I work with a lot of people who, English is their second language. They're not, you know, they're not from the States originally, and they're working on navigating this. Or single moms, or retirees, right? And so I recognize that it's not easy for everyone to just whip up the money that they need. It's easier for some than others. And so I really want to create more money. I want to help more people in my business so that I can create this fun that will help more people, right? Because I have a mission. I have a mission to create a big business that is helping entrepreneurs start their delicious dream.

Sari 18:33
And the more people I serve, the more money I make, and the more generous I can be. And it also helps me up level. It also helps you see the possibility of like, this is possible for you too. And so I have to remember that when I get nervous about talking about money I have made in my business, and I see it with my clients, I have some clients that are like blowing their own mind with how much money they are creating this year, like setting goals and then blowing those out of the water. It's so fun. It's so fun to watch my clients make money and change their lives. But more money doesn't mean you have less problems. In fact, maybe the opposite. Your problems change, they get a little bigger. But more money allows you to create more freedom and create the business that you imagined when you started this. It allows you to hire people. It allows you to reach more people. And let's just talk about what it means to, what is the definition of creating money specifically in your business? We get money, we receive money when we create value. So how does that apply to a packaged food business? It applies in that, you have a certain group of people, that's why it's really important to know who your customers are and do that work around your avatar and your customer identity, but we have people that we are creating a product for. And we need to sell them on the value of that experience that they are having. I'm thinking of, I'm gonna use that Brian's business again. So cool, right? He's creating a plant-based ice cream that is going to have all of these vegan mixins. And all plant-based, right? And free of the major allergens so that people, young kids, moms, can give their kids the experience that other kids get to have, you know, those birthdays and those special treats out. And those fun nights in. They get to have the same experience that those kids who can eat dairy and all of the other things, right, can have. So that's the value. That's what I mean by value. That is a valuable thing that a customer, the right customer is willing to pay for. So think about your own business, what is your value? What is the value of your product? And who is it for? So important to know who your customers. Stop making it about everyone. You cannot be everything to everyone. Make it about someone. That's how we create value that's help people, that's why people want to pay for your product, right? So you're gonna bring money in and then we got to work on our money thoughts. We got to check those beliefs. What are those beliefs that you believe that you, a belief is just a thought you've thought a lot. Probably since you were seven, right? If those money beliefs, like did you see arguments breakout about money in your house? Did you see conflict, right? Was there negative reactions about money?

Sari 22:11
That money is bad, is evil. Money corrupts, right? Go check your beliefs because we got to get over that. That cannot drive. Like if you're gonna be mismatched, right? I want to start a business. I want to do all these great things in the world with my business. But if you're carrying those negative crappy money beliefs with you, you're always going to be at odds with yourself. And what you're gonna end up doing is sabotaging. And you know if you are sabotaging because if you're over or under anything. So if you're overspending, right, there's like that poverty mindset that as soon as money comes in, I must spend it because otherwise, it's going to go away. So let's spend it quickly. There's been studies that lottery winners always, almost always go back to wherever they started. Because when you're coming from a poverty mindset, when you finally get that big payout, you kind of piss it away. You buy a bunch of crazy stuff. And you don't know how to invest it. And you're just like, I gotta spend it as quickly as possible because it's gonna go away. And then guess what? It goes away because you create it. So most lottery winners, whatever their income, and if they were even at poverty, they go back to poverty, so wild. And then there's the over savers, right? Where they get some money, and then they just hold on so tightly. And that's Erika will talk. She's gonna share her story about that coming up. But we've really had to work on. It comes from the same place, right? It's all scarcity. That money is hard, that money comes and goes, that money is like outside of me. Think about like, what if you believe that you can always make money and you have the power to create it, right? That's safe. There's always money coming in and I create it. It's not outside of me. But when you think that it's outside of you, and it's just a fluke. And this is just a one time thing. And you don't know where it all came from. And then you overspend or you over save, you're just locking it up, you're keeping that scarcity belief, and when you over save, you're not able to make the investments that you need to get to the next level in your business. What got you to wherever you're at now in your business won't get you to the next level. You have to be willing to kind of keep burning it down and taking like rebuilding yourself as an entrepreneur. And that can be really, really scary. And I will tell you from experience that again, money is neutral. So any amount like as I have grown my personal income, I'm making more money than I ever believed that I could. Six years ago, I was making $50,000 at Whole Foods Market, and I thought that was so much money. And now I am making way more than that. I remember when I made that in like, you know, a certain part of the year and I was like, holy crap. I just made that amount of, same that salary, right, that I made at Whole Foods. And I'm just doing the first part of the year. So what else am I going to do, right? But I can tell you from experience that it doesn't matter the amount of money that is in your bank account. Safety, feeling safe with money comes from your thoughts. Because there was a time, when I share with you guys, before that, I had $1,000 in my savings account, and I thought I am safe. I have money in the bank, I can cover my, you know, my checks, I can cover my bills.

Sari 26:22
I had a thought of that I was safe. And I can tell you I have way more in the bank now. And sometimes my thoughts are, I am not safe, it's all going to go away. So I can tell you, it's not about the amount of money. There are millionaires, I promise you, who have a thought that this is not enough, that I am not safe, I am not cared for, and it could all go away. And we can decide, we can just decide this amount of money, I am safe, that I have enough. And I always have enough and I can create more, more is available to me. And I promise you, focusing on a generosity mindset is the key to changing everything. But pick a number you already have. You might as well instead of like trying to be safe way out there, but you're unsafe now, pick whatever money you have now in the bank and say I am safe. I am figuring it out. I always figure it out. More money is always coming. You guys are getting kind of a smorgasbord of money thoughts. But I mentioned to Erika about Suze Orman and I remember she was like the 90s guru around women and money. And she talked about like respecting your money, treating your money with reverence, with gratitude. Every dollar that comes in, you celebrate. Every time you hear a ding on your phone or from Shopify that you're going to notice that there's a new order in, celebrate it! I ask Erika to describe if she was going to describe money as a relationship, as a person or relationship with a person, how would she describe it? And think about that for you. And I kind of put her on the spot. And she did a great job. But most of us are like, if money was a person, we would be like, I want you, I want you, I want you. And then it would show up. And we would say oh, you're not enough. Why did you show up like that? That's not how I want you to show up. Can you just like, lose some weight? And maybe like, do a little something with your clothes? Like we're really critical of money, we often push it away. Because it's not enough. Or it didn't come the way you thought it would or when you thought it would.

Sari 28:48
How are you treating money? What is your relationship with money? I celebrate every dollar. I do like give myself a high five. I will seriously like kiss checks. Give it a little kiss. And I'll say thank you. I am so grateful. Because I get to do amazing work out in the world. I also get to have amazing experiences. There's sort of a baseline now I've just decided like I am safe. And so I want to encourage you to like choose that baseline for yourself and then go get to work. To create a successful business we have to take a ton of action, a massive amount of action to create the business we want. And if we're doing it from a place of unsafe, right, that it's not safe to make money, that money is going to create judgment and rejection and what will people think and money will take away time from my family. I won't be able to care for people. I won't be able to be there for them like all of your money baggage. We're going to be taking action. And it's, we're going to wonder why it's taking so long, we're gonna wonder why we're not there now. That it's, it's so hard. It does not have to be that way. And every time you go to a new level, you're going to have to check your money beliefs, right? I'm at a certain level now in my business, and I see my clients doing this for them, they're at a certain level, and they've grown, right, they push past what they ever thought possible. I have some clients that are like, oh, my gosh, this is like, you know, 4x, 10x, 20x what we made our first year. And it's so exciting. But every time you go to a new level, you have to recheck your money beliefs. You have to be willing to like push the thermometer up. So how do we overcome that to go to the next level? To create the next big, the bigness in our business, whatever that is for you. I'm not saying it needs to be one thing. We all have our why's for starting our business. So using your goal, we're still going to have to push past wherever you're at now, because it's hopefully the goal is bigger than what you're doing now, right? That's the whole point of a goal. And the way we do that is by practicing new thoughts. We can't get rid of the old ones. Like we can't just be like stop thinking that, stop thinking that, stop thinking that.

Sari 31:32
If I tell you to don't think about a purple elephant. All you're doing is thinking about a purple elephant now, right? So instead of beating ourselves up about the thoughts that we're having that aren't serving us, we have to start practicing new thoughts. And we don't just try those on for a day and then we're like, well, it hasn't changed. It's an every day, multiple times a day practice because you've been thinking those thoughts for a long time, probably since you were seven. I got a lot of years to untangle, right? And reprogram my thoughts. So I put sticky notes everywhere. I even am writing on my window in like, you know, that marker that comes off. It is safe to make money. That's my thought that I am trying on. That it is safe for me to be successful. The more money I make, the more people I am serving, and the more I can give back. And the more I can help this community. I can help people like you start your delicious dream. So think about your money thoughts. What new thoughts do you need to try on? And don't go to rainbows and daisies, this is my caution, you guys. Don't try to think a thought like, I'm rich and it's so easy and I love money. If that does not feel true to you, that thought will not help you in any way. So we call them ladder thoughts in my school, but you need to like where you're at now if you believe money's really hard and it's not for you. Like identify your beliefs and then just choose the next thought that makes it feel 1% better. And feel it in your body. You got to check in with your body. We feel things in our body and so much of us are just all in our heads. But we are, Brene Brown says we are feeling beings who occasionally think and most of us think we're thinking beings who occasionally feel but that's not the case. So check in with your body. How does that thought feel? Does it feel a little bit better than what you were thinking? Now go practice that over, and over, and over again. And then see what shifts and then go to the next run, right? Money is fun. I can make money. I am the person. This is possible for me. So just try some of those thoughts on. I think I covered all the thoughts that I wanted to talk about before I jump into this kind of follow up with Erika. So I want to thank Erika for being vulnerable and sharing her story. And I'm so excited for her journey and her changing relationship with money. Because it means she can go and do more work, better work in the world that is aligned with her passion. And I want the same for you.

Sari 34:41
All right, you guys. I am so excited to bring Erika back on. She knows she's on the podcast this time.

Erika 34:50
Hey! Glad to be back.

Sari 34:52
Yeah. So, Erika, I am so excited to talk to you about this. But why don't you just tell everyone, kind of a little bit about you. What's your business? Where you're at? Those kinds of good things.

Erika 35:03
All right. So again, I'm Erika, I am the CEO and head chef of Southern Girl Granola. I make, I like to call it gourmet granola. But I started my company about four or five years ago. And I just started making it is a snack for myself. And as I was trying to lose weight. I'm very into flavorful foods and I like to snack a lot. So I lost about 90 pounds on my journey. And I shared this snack with a few of the ladies in my, I was teaching Zumba back then, shared it with them, they loved it, I had one flavor. Now I have four and I have varieties of nut-free, CBD, all kinds of stuff. And yeah, I've been doing it full time, I guess for about a year now. I got laid off two times during the pandemic and I just decided that I was going to do this full time. And yeah, I've just been doing my absolute best to make sure that this is my sole source of income. And, yeah, it's been an interesting journey. But I'm very grateful for every step of the way.

Sari 36:09
Yeah, we started working together one on one couple of months ago. And I say this about all my clients, but you are one of my favorite clients.

Erika 36:24
Of course, you say that about all of us.

Sari 36:22
And I do really enjoy our calls and your learning, you know, just helping you get to the next level in your business. So I know you say this is your full time thing. But you do have another job right now, contract jobs. So one of the things we've been working on together is how you're going to make that transition of like, this is it I'm doing my full time job as the granola. We have a plan to scale up and go to the next level, wholesale, and things like that. So you and I have been talking a lot about money. And we're getting, like getting our heads around that piece. And so I challenged you for the generosity challenge. And you shared your story on two weeks ago podcast. But I'd love to hear follow up from that because if you listen to podcast, I did a little giveaway, I wanted to give something back to you. And I just would love to hear like how that affected you? And like how you're going to use generosity going forward, is really the main question.

Erika 37:36
Absolutely, thank you so much for that. I didn't know you were going to do that. And I wasn't expecting that. So thank you so much. And it's really been so interesting. People have been placing orders, I've had about at least 20 orders with an average order value of about $54 on that. So I'm really grateful for that. And there's people even place orders, they're like, hey, I am giving this as part of the generosity challenge. You just give this to somebody else. I'm not gonna order it for myself, just give it away. And they are being generous as well. So thank you for that. And I've just been just sitting back reflecting and saying, okay, so this is a valuable lesson that I've learned just across the board. And I've shared it with my friends. My friend just had a birthday party over the weekend. And I shared it. And everybody that I tell about this generosity challenge is just so inspired. It's just so, they're just so moved. And it's really starting a trend that honestly I had never even considered. I will say, I consider myself to be a pretty generous person but this is the next level of generosity to me just to be more intentional about it. I'm kind of haphazardly generous like, oh, you have enough money for your groceries or you don't have enough to make a difference and I'll pay the difference. I've never really paid for somebody's whole grocery order. And I did that Sunday. Now I'm just, I know, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like a whole family of six people. But I'm just looking for ways to be generous because, not just because I want it to come back to me but just because it is just such a great feeling to just help somebody out. Not even knowing that they really need help, but it just turned out, it touches him so deeply because a lot of times they really do just need help. So it's been really good. And I don't remember if I mentioned this on the last call that we recorded but I ended up getting a free trip to Costa Rica. I can't go but I did get a free trip to Costa Rica! I even got invited to go on a free trip to Belize! This has all happened in the last week or two since I did this generosity challenge, and I'm being completely 100% just blown away. And I don't learn until I lay down and I'm getting ready to write out my gratitude because I've also started a gratitude journal, I wake up and write 10 things, I wake up and write 10 things that I'm grateful for. And I do it again before I go to bed. And I'm like, I believe that these things are starting to come to me because I'm starting to be more intentional about being generous. I'm starting to look for ways to be generous to perfect strangers, not just people that I love and care about, because that's the easy thing to do, you know, to be generous to people that we love and care about, but to do it to perfect strangers, and not get some type of immediate return or some immediate benefit from it. It's just been so gratifying. And it's just benefited me in ways that I didn't think it would.

Sari 41:00
Yeah. How do you think because the purpose of that podcast and fit so nicely with it was, in the year generosity challenge was generosity as a strategy. And actually somebody emailed me when I sent out the podcast email and said, well, that's all nice and good. But you still need to have, like a good business model. And you still, and I was like, yes, of course, like we don't want to go, we don't want to mean, you and I have also worked on your pricing and making sure that you're profitable, right? Like, and that we're not giving away our product, right? That's not what we're talking about here. But how do you think that energy of gratitude and just being like, oh, my gosh, like, there's all these random people I've never met on the internet find my granola or trips coming, you know, or whatever, like things are happening. How do you think that is changing how you're showing up in your business?

Erika 42:02
So, you know, you had another podcast about inspiration. And I had a conversation with you about just, I was like, I'm not inspired anymore. Like I'm kind of thing I'm getting burnout from having done this for so long. And the results are kind of stagnant. And I'm just, I think I'm burnout on the same level of success over the last several years. So I am now inspired. And it's not just because I'm benefiting from generosity, it's just that I'm like, you know what, this has lit a new fire in my excitement about my business. Because the more that I have to be generous with, the more I can be generous, and it's just giving me more energy, it's giving me more creativity, it's giving me more discipline, it's given me more focus, to just make sure that because I believe that this is part of my purpose in life. I have a business where I'm able to employ people that are able to leave a legacy for my children, and my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren. It's not just about serving people yummy granola and giving them a good, clean, healthy snack. It's just, it's about being the first person in my family to be an entrepreneur that's really going to do something big and impactful for my family, for my community. And just for, you know, years and years to come. And that's what I am starting to keep at the forefront of my mind. I'm like, you know, this can go on to be scholarships for, you know, people who I'll never meet, people who my children will impact positively like, it's just, it's never ending. And that's now what I'm thinking about. Like, it's just so much bigger than just give people a $25 gift card and pay for somebody's a fanny pack and a pop up market or at a farmers market. It just sparked so many different exciting ways to give and so many possibilities when I'm not even here anymore.

Sari 44:13
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah, legacy is really the ultimate step in generosity, right? When you're long gone and it continues to give.

Erika 44:25
Yeah, exactly. And I mentor a young lady in, who's in Johannesburg, Africa, and I contribute to her education. And so now what I've done is I've, because I can only do so much, but now I'm like, okay, she needs more than I can provide her. You know. And so I'm going to my friends and I'm like, hey, I want you to consider being generous on behalf of my, I call them my African daughter, because she's going to need help with our tuition and I want you to consider, you know, donating whatever you can on her behalf, because she is in school, she's got needs and you know, I want you to be able to do it. And I'm going to people that I know, can and will. And, you know, I tell them about the generosity challenge, and I tell them how it can open doors for them. And I challenge them on her behalf. So it's not even just about me giving what I have. I am encouraging other people to give so that she can benefit from their generosity, and they can benefit from their generosity, and it's just hopefully going to snowball. And they will just, again, inspire other people to be generous as well. And I think, call me a dreamer, but really just potentially make the world a better place. But it can.

Sari 45:51
Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. I mean, we have to start with our small world first, right? Like it's the only thing we really have impact on anyway. So we can want it to be better out there. But we have to start with our smallest, the people right around us that we can touch and we can.

Erika 46:09
That's right and if we don't have an impact on or we may have some influence over them. And even if they say, oh, I don't want to be part of that or not in a position to be part of that. They'll at least think about it. And then maybe when they can or when they feel compelled to, they will. I don't even ever have to know about it. They may not even have to come and tell me. But if I've sparked inspiration, the way you sparked inspiration in me, and that's all that really matters.

Sari 46:35
So cool. It was so fun to like, I was listening to your story and I'm like, I want to do something for you and see what happened. And there might even be another some gift codes on that post if people want to go check it out.

Erika 46:50
Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. When you posted it, I was like, wait, what's happening?

Sari 46:54
I know. But I wanted it to be a surprise then it was. And you know something? Well, I think two things, I think it also helps get you, yeah your energy goes up. I mean, I've never felt so much more fun than when I'm being generous, right? Like, that's just your whole energy. You're like giddy and you know, even thinking about me thinking about what I'm doing for you. And I was like, oh my God, I'm so excited! I was like telling everybody around me. It's like anticipating Christmas or anticipating something, right? You get really excited. And it's giddy, right? So fun. Like your energy goes up, your inspiration. And I think it just gets you out of your own little all about me, right? And like my business and what's going wrong, and why aren't people buying and what's like, gets you out of yourself.

Erika 47:55
I get really excited when I get orders. Like every time my phone dings and its order. I'm like, look an order. But during, you know, that challenge, I was like, it's for the giveaway. It's really giveaway. There was new customers, you know, because, you know, most of my orders are repeat business. And it was exciting to see new customers coming in. And they would email me and say, hey, I heard about you from the generosity giveaway. And you know, a couple of them emailed me and they were like, Sari so great and isn't she awesome and she's so amazing. And I was like, I agree. She's awesome. She's so inspirational and I'm so grateful for her. And you know, it was just really nice to just interact with people and they were excited about it, I can tell that they were excited about it. And they wanted to let me know, you know, how excited they were about being generous. And I'm telling you it just lit a fire under everybody involved. So it was, it was amazing. And it's so simple.

Sari 49:00
Right! It wasn't much. So if you don't mind sharing because, you know, people might be like, well, okay, clearly you have money to give. And we talked about that a little bit, right? Like it's not like you're, you know, wealthy running around. I mean, whatever wealthy to find out. But you and I have talked about, you know, I mean, neither one of us came from wealth and, you know, that feeling of safety. And I've been thinking a lot about safety and money. And I think especially as women and women entrepreneurs, right? It's very scary when you go to be like, this is my job, like this is how I'm paying my bills, and that's how I'm supporting my family. And so what has been your journey or how do you think that's changed from where you were before where there was a lot of scarcity, a lot of like, I kind of hold this really tight.

Erika 50:06
Yeah, that's exactly what it was, it was scarcity. So, you know, I shared with you, because so I did when I got laid off, I was only supporting my family with Southern Girl Granola for about eight months, right? And then I said, you know what, I can at least take a contract job, like I'm not gonna go back to work full time, I'm gonna take this contract job just to make sure, you know, that I've got everything covered, and I don't have to worry as much. And I'm gonna be honest, I didn't have to do it, honestly, because I had a little bit of money in savings. But I got scared. And I said, I just can't imagine what's gonna happen if I can't pay this mortgage, or if I can't pay this electric bill. So I took the contract job. I will say, once I did that, I took my focus off my business one hundred percent. And it did impact my sales and impact my focus and impact everything that I was doing for my business, and I kind of, as you say, I was being an asshole to myself for doing that. Because you shouldn't have done that, you were going, everything was going great. It was going good. You should just stay focused. But, you know, I don't regret it because it has helped. But I also had a place where I have more money in the bank than I ever have in my life and it's not a lie. Don't misunderstand.

Sari 51:39
I get it. I shared, like when I had $1,000 in my savings account, I was like, I've never had this much money.

Erika 51:48
Exactly. And you said, you know, so what's a comfortable amount for you to make you say I'm comfortable. And I was like, I don't even know if I can think of an amount that's gonna make me say I'm comfortable. But you know, you specifically made me focus on the money that I earn for my business that I will. So like, I don't want to spend anything from that. I don't want to, I don't want that to decrease because I have great pride in that amount of money because I've never had that amount of money in a bank or in an account before. And I don't want to start spending it and I don't want it to start decreasing. So I'm just gonna leave it there and not touch it. And that's when you were like, yes, I want you to do the generosity challenge. And I want you to take the money from that account.

Sari 52:31
Where it come from the business.

Erika 52:33
Like no, I'm gonna just take it from my personal account. You're like, no, take it from that account. And I was really glad you said that because, yeah, to be honest with you, I'm not, I don't worry as much anymore about any of it. And it's not like, again, it is, trust me. Some of you, you heard this amount of money, you'd be like, girl, you need to worry. I don't worry and I was even able to, my daughter's going on a trip to Florida with the band. I paid for that trip. Just cash without even having to worry like, normally, I'm gonna be honest. Normally, I would call her dad and be like, hey, you need to contribute some money to this trip. Like, you need this much money. I didn't even ask. I didn't even care whether he did or not. So I just worry less because I know, there's a universal law of sowing and reaping. You're going to reap what you sow. And I'm, I've sown even prior to the generosity challenge, right? I realized I'm sown it to people, whether it be time, whether it be attention, whether it be, I sown them things and now I'm being more intentional about sowing money, and planting seeds from my business account. So I know that I'm going to reap. And so I don't have to worry about it. Because if you think about it, that's really what faith is, right? And I have just started to tell myself, I've never really had to, I've struggled like, right. I've never really had to hit rock bottom. I've never been evicted. I had my electricity cut off before, right? But not for weeks, like a couple of days, right? But I can just eliminate the worry part. Like I can say, okay, here's the issue, I know is going to get resolved. I'm going to eliminate the worry part. Because that's the unnecessary part because you and I talked about really well, right. So I eliminate the worry. And I'll just look for the solution. And I just trust that the solution is going to come because it always does. Like if the solution has never not shown up on the scene like hey, here I am. You know.

Sari 54:59
Like why do we think that one time it's not gonna happen when every time, we have our own backs. Go in say, I'm going to figure it out. We can go into any business and be worry, worry, worry, but the results that you're going to produce are very different and a lot harder results than just like, you want to figure it out.

Erika 55:22
Yeah. And is that like kickback, saying, you know, I'm just gonna wait for it to happen. No, I'm doing the work.

Sari 55:29
No, yeah, you are definitely taking action. You guys should definitely check out her social medias. She's doing a lot of fun stuff.

Erika 55:36
That's how I know it's going to happen. Because, yeah, that's again, it's a universal principle. So, again, I'm eliminating the worry. And I'm just waiting for the solution to show up on the scene because that's just how it's gonna happen. And that's how it's always happened.

Sari 55:54
Yeah. I think one thing we did, and I just, you know, we've talked, I mean, it's one thing to be like, I'm gonna, it's all gonna be great. Like, it's a thought you're, you have a belief of faith. I think that's part of it. And that's a great, like our safety is only created in our thoughts, right? Which is kind of maybe mind blowing. But like, we decide, right? No amount of money, you can have a million dollars in the bank, and there are people with millions of dollars in the bank who still feel unsafe, who still worry about money, right? It's going to be taken away at any minute, or what if I can't make any more? It doesn't matter the amount of money, it's our thoughts about it, right? So practically, what we did is, okay, the contract job is coming up. And I'm all for like, doing work like that to kind of create a padding and some runway, because we need our basic living necessities. And you've done that. But we said, let's just take this amount of money. And this just goes into savings. And this is our, our safety net. Really, it's a safety net, right? And so now we can drop the worry about spending our business money because we have to spend some amount of money in our business.

Erika 57:21
Yeah, yeah, I got you.

Sari 57:24
So I think it's a really big step for you. And I thought I've been working on and I don't know how it lands with you, but I am safe in my success.

Erika 57:38
Oh, wow. I like, I like that. I am safe in my success. You know, what's interesting? I don't know. Okay, so this kind of goes back to the same theory of the millionaire, right? I don't know if I would say I call myself successful just yet. But you're right. You're right. I am at a level of success. There are levels to it, right?

Sari 58:08
Oh, yeah, of course.

Erika 58:10
Yeah. But I have achieved a certain level of success. You're right. So I'm safe in my success.

Sari 58:16
And that it is safe to be there every time. And this is, I mean, it makes sense, right? Like, in Gay Hendricks book, The Big Leap, he talks about that we hit an upper limit. And so there's a third, we kind of have this natural thermostat. So wherever you've been raised, like there was a limit to your lifestyle, there was a limit to how much money you could make, right? And so every time you go beyond, you push beyond that, it's really scary. It's uncomfortable for us as human beings. And so creating safety to push beyond. I mean, like you said, I've never had this much money in my bank account. And I can say that for myself too, like I don't have that much money in my bank account. And then sometimes we can get really scared and like, we just gotta hold on really, really tight. Because we don't want it to go away but in order for us to keep growing and go to the next level, and take your business even bigger, right? Like, I am safe in success, like I am safe in creating more money. More money is always coming.

Erika 59:28
Always coming. That's right. I was just looking at this journal that is a Law of Attraction journal. And every day you write these different affirmations and what you want to attract, and I ordered it. So I'm going to start operating in more of the things that I want to attract, and more success is one of those things. So just what more success would look like to me is one of the things that I'm trying to consider and develop a thought process around like, exactly what would the next level of success look like. And then once I get there, it would be the next level of success. And, you know, that's how Nabisco was, you know.

Sari 1:00:15
Any of them were built, like they're all built. You look at any of these small brands that are now big brands, they all start from somewhere, and it's just a little bit little step at a time and just keep, but you got to be willing to take the next step and to make the investment and go all in, right? Because again, it's very uncomfortable, like your brain is telling you like, no, no, we're good. Just hanging out here.

Erika 1:00:39
Yeah, my brain saying, do you know how much work is involved in that? And you're 50 like, you're on the other side, you're coming down the hill. So are you really willing to do all that work? And you know, it's a valid question. And I'm like, I'm willing, but you know, you got to also have a team, you got to start working on your team and getting it all in line. So yeah, it's just about wrapping your mind around what it's going to take, getting the people in place that are going to help you get there, and just doing the work to get there. So it's exciting.

Sari 1:01:13
I'm so excited for your next level growth. And I see amazing things in your future. So.

Erika 1:01:21
I have no doubt. Maybe worry, moments of worry, but I'm still telling myself, don't worry about that. Success is gonna show up on the scene. So just look for success to show up on the scene, do what you're supposed to do, and yeah.

Sari 1:01:39
Yeah, we've talked about worry being like, okay, well, what can I control? Is there anything that I'm worried about that I can control? Take action on that. And the rest of it is out of my control, so I can either have some fun along the way or I can spend it in a,

Erika 1:01:57
Have a nervous breakdown before success even gets here. You want that? I don't.

Sari 1:02:01
Right. I love it. What would you say your relation, if you were to describe, I didn't prompt you for this. So I'm curious. We can edit this out if it's terrible. But if you were to describe your relationship with money as if it were a person, how would you describe your like, your relationship?

Erika 1:02:28
That's a good one. So I would probably describe my relationship with money. So maybe as, so say it's a guy, right, then maybe from my past that I always thought was really attractive.

Sari 1:02:48
Right, like I want you!

Erika 1:02:50
I like him but I don't know, he hasn't really shown interest in me. He hasn't been around me a lot, right? I haven't been exposed him a lot. And then maybe we met up again later in life. And he was like, hey, girl, I remember you. You know, you looking good, girl. Are you still married? No. Okay, let's get to know each other. And then we get to know each other and we develop a nice, healthy relationship that is starting to flourish into something hot and beautiful.

Sari 1:03:24
I love it. So good. Because I think a lot of times we treat money. If it was a person, we'd be like, come on, come here, come here. I want you, I want you. And then we'd be like, but it's not enough. And you're not good enough. And could you just like lose 50 pounds and can you also?

Erika 1:03:46
Yeah, no, I'm embracing. I'm embracing my, oh, crushed. Like, yeah, you want me, I want you, let's get together. Let's make things happy.

Sari 1:04:00
That's right. That's right. I love it.

Erika 1:04:02
This ugly duckling has turn into a beautiful swan. And let's make some things happen.

Sari 1:04:06
I love it. Every time that thing happens, celebrate, right? Yeah, I remember Suze Orman was like the queen, you remember Suze Orman, did you ever rehearse? She was like the queen of money coaching back in the 90s like she was way before all these current people but I remember the one thing she told me that I remember is like treat your money with respect and care. And like always face your bills and have a nice wallet and like really care for your money and show it respect because, kind of with the Law of Attraction right? If we're always saying like, I just want more money, I want more money, I want more money. All we're doing is saying we want more want, like we're creating more wants in our life. Instead of saying like, I honor money, you know, I love money. I love money for what it can do in my life and how I can be more generous and just really being grateful and treating it with care and respect. So much of the time we are like, I get over here, I need more money, and then we're like, it's not enough. Physically treated badly and emotionally treated badly.

Erika 1:04:13
Yeah, that's interesting. I wonder if she had an idea that it would just be a bunch of numbers.

Sari 1:04:58
I know, we hardly ever.

Erika 1:05:18
But yeah, I like that. Because it does, you know, it is to be respected because it can do good things for you. But it can also destroy you if you let it rule you and dictate every aspect of your life. And if you start to do questionable things, and it just starts to distort your morals and your values, and if you start to do things to get it that don't feel good, you know, because a lot of people do even in business. It's interesting is I bake my granola, like everything that I do with my business, I imagined that my customers see me. It's just me in my kitchen but I'm like, my customers see me baking it, my customers see me bagging it like, and I only do things that I would want them to see me do. And that would honor my product, my brand. And I wouldn't want them to say oh my God, I can't believe she's doing that. Like I'm not buying that. I mean, it's just an all of that positive honor and energy and integrity goes into everything that I do. And I think that that's where businesses go wrong when they lose the morality and the value of what they do for customers, and they just start to do stuff for money.

Sari 1:06:53
That's beautiful. I love that. Well, I think it's a good way to wrap it up. But I think money just makes you more of who you are. So when you tap into your generosity, as I've done over the last year as well, it's like, I think so much of the time we're pushing money away, because we think it's going to corrupt us or you know, I mean, there's a lot of religious pieces, money is the root of all evil, things like that. But it's also like, you can do so much more, think about your African daughter, right? Like you can do so much more when you have more money, you get to just be more generous.

Erika 1:07:34
Yeah, the first time she, because I told her I said, if you need something, I want you to tell me because often she wouldn't ask for anything. I would say if you need something, I want you to tell me. The first time she asked me for something, it was her rent. And I said, well, how much is, I don't know about that. Now, how much is that? And then she said some 2000 Rand, and I'm like Googling, like what does that mean in American dollars? And I looked it up, I was like, oh, girl, I got that. I got that every month if you need me to. Yeah, no problem. You know and it's just the value of American dollars in Africa. I can do much more for her than I ever thought I would be. And now that I'm able to just kind of bring in my network of people and say, I want you guys to help me help her. Because our dollars just go so much further. I really hope we're able to do some really awesome things for her because she's such a wise young woman and she's so modest and humble. She's just so grateful for every little thing that she gets. And it's just yeah, like you said, it's a beautiful thing. I look forward to the day that I'll actually be able to go there and see her or bring her here to see us and it's just, I can't do that without money.

Sari 1:08:56
Yeah. Money makes you more of who you are and allows you to be more generous and do more in the world. So my personal philosophy and you're all here because you're trying to start a food business is that let's not push money away. Let's figure out how to make more of it. Do it with values and with integrity and create more so that we can give more, so we can give to those causes and make the world better. Let's get money into the good guys' hands, right?

Erika 1:09:26
Yeah, absolutely get money into the good guys' hands. I love that. That's what we need to do.

Sari 1:09:33
Do you have like a link you could share? We could put in the show notes if people wanted to donate to her to contribute.

Erika 1:09:40
Oh wow, yeah, I can do that. That's amazing.

Sari 1:09:46
All right. We're gonna put the link to go and if you want to contribute in the show notes. Thank you, Erika for just being open and transparent. I think it'll really be helpful for people listening and, you know, we talked before we start recording that I think is your more vulnerable, and you are very gracious and generous with who you are. But everyone listening, like stepping into being a little more vulnerable in your business will, it will benefit you.

Erika 1:10:16
Absolutely

Sari 1:10:17
Yeah. So I really appreciate you sharing.

Erika 1:10:19
You won't even recognize and it'll give you so much peace again, because it's not even a religious thing or a spiritual thing. It's a universal law, you reap what you sow. So make sure you're sowing beautiful thing so that you can reap beautiful thing.

Sari 1:10:39
That's the beauty. Like when things are down below the surface, like little seeds, we don't know what's happening. And we don't know the timing and things can come up at all different times. And just keep at it. Keep doing it.

Erika 1:10:50
That's right. Sari, I appreciate you so much for sparking this inspiration and challenging us all to be more generous, and you are the catalyst to making the world a better place. Thank you so much.

Sari 1:11:03
Thank you. It's been so fun. Thanks, Erika!

Erika 1:11:07
My pleasure.

Sari 1:11:09
I would love to continue this conversation. You may have some thoughts and judgments about me, about my business. That's okay. You may have thoughts about Erika, you may have thoughts about any, you know, any business out there. And that's okay. I picked up. I didn't buy it. But I take a photo of it. I'll post it on social media. But I was in Austin, it said, your opinion of me is none of my business. Sounds like yep, that's true! So we all have opinions and that's none of my business. But if you would like to share some thoughts, some of your money thoughts, and how this episode hopefully helped you. But you may have some different thoughts, that's fine. But you can share those over on our private Facebook Group. I'd love to see you inside there. I want to continue this conversation on money because we need to get more money in the hands of the good guys. You. We need to get your product out there and we need you running a sustainable, thriving, profitable food business. We're not running a charity, we're not running an expensive hobby, we are running a business. And I want to help you do that. And generosity is one strategy. But we also need a foundation of a, you know, the right price product and the right pricing and the right marketing strategy. There is a foundation there and generosity is one piece of it that I think will help you grow your business so much faster. Someone asked me they said, well, generosity is great and all but first we need to, you know, have a good business strategy and a good business foundation. A hundred percent. If we're losing money every time we make the product, that is not a good strategy to go out into the world with our business, right? So we need to have a good foundation and I do help you with all of that inside Food Business Success, or if you work with me one on one. But then let's clean up our money thoughts and let's use the generosity challenge to help us kind of break free of that. Until next time, have an amazing week and go make a lot of money!

Sari 1:13:24
Are you ready to start that delicious idea that you make in your home kitchen, or grow your existing package food business, and take it to the next level? The most successful food business entrepreneurs have support, guidance, focus, and accountability to help them make it happen quickly without wasting time or money. Plus, I think starting your packaged food business should actually be fun. Food Business Success is your secret ingredient to creating your food business dream. Please don't go this alone. Check out the private free Food Business Success Facebook group to connect with other foodpreneurs. Get your questions answered quickly. Share your wins and receive special training and tools I only share inside the private community. Just search for Food Business Success on Facebook, or get the link in the show notes. Curious about how Food Business Success can help you? Head over to foodbizsuccess.com and fill out the application to see if you're a great fit for the program. Together let's make your food business dream a reality.