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 farmers 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! Well, hello, and welcome back to the podcast. So happy to have you with me today. I've been wanting to do a podcast called The Nudge for quite a while. And I just didn't quite have enough there. I had some thoughts but they just weren't coming together as a full episode. And so I was thinking about it this weekend. And it really came to me that I want to do the nudge, talking about many of you are having an experience that I call the nudge, where you have in the back of your mind this thought of like maybe I should? What if I did this? What if I started a packaged food business? What I realized is that I wanted to follow this up with some of the traits that I see in helping so many people start a packaged food business. The traits that I see that have led to the most success and with the least amount of headache, and confusion and doubt, and have gotten people there so much faster. So to back up, let's just talk a little bit about the nudge. I hear so many people, people's stories, and we kind of laugh. They're like you probably heard this before. So see if this sounds familiar to you. You make something delicious in your home kitchen. You are either solving a problem like Chanel did with her gluten free biscuits, right? And her and her husband are both celiacs. So with good love foods, she created this amazing biscuits and they love it and they're solving this problem for themselves. And she has this nudge, that's like, maybe I should do this as a business. What if, what if I started this as a business? Now mind you, Chanel, shoutout to Chanel, is also going to school full time, right? So she's got things going on. But that nudge is just becoming louder and stronger. Right? And people are telling her, you really should start this, I would pay money for these. I want your biscuits, right. Or Eric with Tuturo Coffee and he had the nudge to start this amazing, tasty botanical coffee, right? He's making it for friends and family and everybody tells him it's so delicious and he has to put it out there. They would pay money for this. But you know, lots of people make delicious things in their home kitchen. And lots of people do not experience the nudge, right? They're not having that voice inside them. Even if people are telling them from the outside. They're like yeah, no, I don't want to do that. But you, if you're listening to this podcast, it's because you are having that voice that may be getting louder and louder. I have people that come to me and they're like, I have been wanting to do this business for 10 years, even 20 years. It's their like grandmother's secret recipe, or it's just the most amazing coffee cake, or the most amazing salsa. So they want to do both the creation of the food because if you just want to share your food with others, you can do that all day long for free, right? Or April and Earl how they were making their keto granola. And if you listened to last week's episode, she talks about how she just kept making it for other people and

Sari 4:44
Earl was like, how much is this costing? These are expensive ingredients. So there's that idea, but some people just want to keep doing it as a hobby and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you are feeling the call to entrepreneurship, to turn this into a business, I think of it like, if it's really real, you might be saying, well, is this real? Should I listen to this? Is this my truth? Is this my purpose? You know, you might be even like, kind of trying to quiet it down. I know, Sarah, with Sara Bell soup. She was like, for so long, I just kept saying no, no, it's not for me, I'm not special, I shouldn't be doing this. Who am I to start this business? And it just kept getting louder and louder and louder. So that may be you. You may have heard this voice over and over again, and it just won't go away. But I like to describe it as if you are remembering, it's almost like you're remembering something that is really important. I really think if it feels more like, oh, yeah, I remember now that I am supposed to be an entrepreneur, that I'm supposed to do this, that I have a calling, it feels more like remembering rather than discovering an aha, like something completely new.

Sari 6:20
And so if it feels like that, I really want to give you permission, I am writing you a permission slip, to claim it, to step into it. To write it down. It is something that goes from a thought in your head and you put it on paper, and it becomes real, more real than it has ever been. If you think about anything in this world that we've created as humans; the iPhone, the most delicious souffle. I often think about food and how it was created, I think about back in, you know, the 1600s or the 1500s, when they were like creating things like souffles, and aiolis, and transforming, you know, eggs or transforming ingredients into something new. That was just, that was nothing, it didn't exist in the world until somebody had a thought about it. A computer, all of this amazing technology. The computers in our pockets and our phones, right? I mean cars. Like everything in our world that we enjoy today did not exist at one point until somebody had a thought about it and they put it out on paper. So I want to encourage you to claim it, make it your own, put it on paper, and taking some form of action, even if it's just writing it down to make it a little bit more real. And I also want to encourage you, remind you, that going after a dream like this is not going to be daisies and roses and unicorns but that you are wanting to go through the journey, the experience of creating your package food business, not just for the desired outcome and the happiness that you think success will bring to you. But that you actually want to go through a journey of self discovery and growth because that is going to be required a 100% to actually start a package food business. So if you're feeling the nudge and you're with me, you're like I'm going to take action, at the very least write this down as a way to own it and put it out in the world. I want to share with you the traits that I have seen over the past. I've been doing Food Business Success for over three years, I've been in my business helping people for going on six years now. I have worked with a ton so many hundreds of packaged food business, founders, entrepreneurs, people just starting, people wanting to grow. And I've seen a lot of successes, but I've also seen the things that really trip people up and it perpetuates that stop-start cycle that again, you know people who have had a dream for 10 years, they have stopped and started a lot. They maybe have like made a little progress and then they are faced with fear and doubt and confusion. The frog complex, I'm not good enough, and then they stop, right? And it's uncomfortable. Like I said, starting a business is uncomfortable. So I have nine of these that I really feel like are the most important traits. And I'm going to start with, I think, one of the most important ones. And with like, the one that I think if you do none other, that this be the one. Now, you don't have to have all of these to be successful. I have seen clients be very successful without doing all of these, you know, together as a package, I'm just going to say that you're going to get it done a whole lot faster, with a whole lot less suffering, and have more fun, that's part of my value system. Part of my purpose is to have fun, help you have more fun. And so I think if you can put some of these or most of them together, and you can adopt these traits and try to embody them as much as possible, that you are going to be a lot more successful, a lot faster, have more fun, create a life and a business that you love. And that's what I want for you. Alright, so the first one is a beginner's mindset. I talk about this in yoga a lot that you approach the mat every time with a beginner's mindset, that you're curious and open to whatever that experience of the day brings. So the way I look at this, when starting a packaged food business is that, are you excited? Are you curious about the process as a whole, and that you really are going to enjoy the learning and not just the end of like having a packaged food business? I will tell you that like I said, there are going to be uncomfortable moments, you are going to feel discomfort. There's no question in my mind. But life, you're going to experience discomfort in your life in general. So why not be doing something that you really love might not be experiencing something that pushes you to grow, but approaching it with curiosity, a beginner's mindset and not coming in with, I know how it's supposed to go, I know the way, which actually leads me to the second one is that not being overly attached to the outcome. What I see is when people hold on so tightly to one specific outcome, they really hunker down and they lock themselves in. And they miss so much opportunity for creativity, for evolvement. Sometimes the mistake, the thing that doesn't work out the way you thought it would, is the new thing, it evolves, right? And you're like, oh, like, there are a lot of happy accidents and food, let me tell you, right. I talked with someone who created kind of a bread mix and it was a total happy accident that he just happened. He mistakenly combined a different gluten-free flour than he intended. And it became this amazing happy accident, right? That became the thing. And so along with a beginner's mindset, along with being curious, is that you are also coming in, not like this has to be the way and I know exactly how it's going to go. Because your journey is going to be a meandering, it is not a straight line, it never will be. And people that hold on to that really beat themselves up, their experience is much more suffering. Byron Katie has a great quote that when you argue with reality, you lose but only a hundred percent of the time. And so when things are happening, and there's mistakes, and you know, failures, quote, unquote, or it's not working out exactly along your plan. The failures and making a plan that you think is going to happen exactly the way you think it's going to happen. That's when you are so defeated when there is a failure that you give up very quickly. And it really like wrecks you and it really like, you know, you fall to the depths of the ocean every time something goes wrong. So I just want to really encourage you if you can really kind of hold your dream loosely. And say, I know I'm going to set the GPS, I'm going to put the end destination into the phone and then into the maps, and then I'm going to start driving. And that's going to tell me one way, but then there might be some construction and there might be an obstacle. And then it goes a different way. And then it goes a different way. I'll tell you, like, Ryan with Pup & the Pepper, we just did his production run. And you know, we had to pivot a couple of times. And I really saw that he was like, you know, ultimately, he wanted the sauce produce. But how we got there look different than what we thought it was. We had issues with cups, which we ended up changing cups. And then those became, he like loves these new cups even better, right. But if he had held on so tightly, to that one cup that we started with, he would not be, he wouldn't have product right now. And we had to cancel one time, because of the co packer had some equipment issues, and we almost had to cancel again because of a covid, potential covid scare. But at the end of the day, he held loosely to the outcome like he knew we're going to get there, but how it's going to unfold. We don't know yet. But we got there. And it was so fun. And there were definitely some pivots along the way, even during that two days when he was here, and we were getting products, but he held on to his dream loosely and ultimately he has product. But if that one thing, right, the cups would have been the deal breaker then we wouldn't, we would have quit altogether, right? The next one is do not put undue pressure on yourself. I have seen this a couple of times where people

Sari 17:06
put so much pressure on this to be their income. I worked with a woman who was getting a divorce and needed to move out and have her own place, and needed this to work so badly and so quickly, that it really became so much pressure and so stressful. And when you're in stress, when your emotions are high, your quality of thinking is really low, your problem solving is low. And so it was rough, she did get it up. But putting that much pressure on yourself to get it done because this does not always move very quickly. I have some clients that you know, because of life circumstances and because of product testing issues, and needing to kind of go back to the drawing board on some things. It's been a long time, but we're still going because they didn't put so much pressure on themselves to have this like replace their income on a certain date or to pay their rent or their mortgage. So I do want to caution you to not put that pressure. I was talking with a Food Business Success client the other day, he was like, should I quit my job? Should I just focus on this? And I said, no, do not do that. You can get, you know, we can at least get you to a product and start selling, I want to see you get to a certain level of income like you can do this on the side, this does not need to be a full time thing. Now that said, I have had clients who have saved up ahead of time, I have a client who saved up for a year to basically have a year salary in the bank to be able to do this. So again, not putting undue pressure on yourself. But doing it on purpose so that you have the financial pieces in place so that that doesn't become such a stressor. This is actually a good segue so willingness to invest money and time. Just plan for it. You are starting a business. The definition of a business is that there is going to be an exchange of money. And in order to create a package food, you're going to have to make an investment upfront. This is not a service where you can just put it out in the world and then wait until you get paid to actually deliver. You as a package food maker have to deliver the product ahead of time. So there is going to be a level of investment. The levels of investment are not all the same, it really is going to depend on your goals, where you want to be selling, what your goals are, short term and long term for your business. You can definitely start with a pretty low investment, I purposely made Food Business Success a low monthly cost. But I want you to, like make peace with it, set aside a certain amount of money, and know that that is what this is for, and that you are just planning on it, you know that there's going to be a certain amount of money that gets invested, and a certain amount of time, like your time is valuable. And you're gonna have to say no, sometimes.

Sari 20:48
Actually, it's the next one. People who are willing to say "no" to things are going to be much more successful. So in order to say yes to starting a packaged food business, there are going to be things that you have to say no to. And one of the mistakes I see people making is that they try to have it all, all at the same time. So I'm going to, you know, go over the top with my family and be this most amazing mom, and I'm gonna like go after a big promotion at work, and I'm gonna start this packaged food business. No, there are seasons in our life. And this is going to be a season that you want to enter, kind of putting some boundaries and some constraint on other things. We all have 24 hours in a day. And we all need to rest, right? As part of that. You need to plan in time for fulfillment and connection, family time, if that's where you're at. And then you know, are you working as well? What is kind of the minimum baseline that you need to do there, and then recognize that if you're going to put in a package food business, on top of that, you're going to have to say no to things. There are going to have to be things that you say, nope, I can't do that right now. Or I can't invest, you know, I can't do all of the kids school stuff because I need to spend time over doing this. And so are you willing to do that? Just recognize and make peace that you are entering, you're going to be in a certain season of life here where you're going to be putting some extra time in this business. This doesn't going to happen with a snap of your fingers. I wish that there was like a magic wand but this is going to happen by devoting time and money, and saying no to things that don't serve that. Getting outside of yourself. Get out of your head, get outside of yourself, go find support from experts, find a community. That's why you're listening to this podcast, we have our free private Facebook Group you can go join. And then of course, you can get even more expertise from me, inside Food Business Success, we have an amazing community inside there as well. But in addition to finding experts, to finding community, to being with others that are doing the similar thing, I also see that the most successful people I've worked with, they share their dream ahead of time with their friends, with their colleagues, with their family. And in addition to just sharing it, they prepare people ahead of time. So it just like I said, you're going to have to say no to some things. So if you have a family, if you're married, if you have a partner, you should really, I'm not going to tell you what you should do but I have seen that people who get their family involved and explain that this is going to take some you know, there may be some things that you have to say no to that you're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to maybe you know watch as much TV with them or those kinds of things, you know, you are involving them and letting them know preparing and asking for their support. So I really like getting support. That is one of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is surround yourself with other people doing similar things. They say, you know, the five people that you surround yourself, are what you're going to aspire to be. And so they can either pull you down or pull you up, drag you down or pull you up. So finding experts, finding a community and engaging your friends like getting them excited. Here's somebody I've worked with, he hasn't told any of his colleagues at work. And I just thought, well, that's a missed opportunity in my mind to ask for support. I mean, as long as it doesn't get you fired, right? If there's nothing in your work contract that says you can't start a side business, then why wouldn't you ask for support? Why wouldn't you put yourself out there, and just let people know, let them get excited for you.

Sari 25:23
The next one is don't blame others. I see, when people spend energy and time blaming others, blaming circumstances around them. It doesn't always have to be another person, it could be, you know, the circumstances. A divorce or a loss of a job or, you know, lack of a certain amount of money. You know, I work with a lot of people who English is not their first language, you know, this is a different culture to them. I'm certainly just never having, almost all my people have never been entrepreneurs before. So the more we can get out of blaming outside people, outside circumstances, and take ownership for what we can control, what our part is in it, feel the feelings that come from that, like you can be frustrated, you can be angry, you can be disappointed. But you have a part in all of this. And so recognizing like, how am I responsible for the results that I have. And then taking the next step and not just sitting in that, like, don't turn your blame towards others to yourself, but taking ownership and then taking action. Alright, number eight is doing consistent daily action. So what I have seen, definitely in my own self, and around being surrounded by hundreds of other entrepreneurs, is taking small action more frequently is so much better than taking one large burst of action very infrequently. Right? It's the sort of diet roller coaster, yo-yo, right, it's the, I'm going to go on this crash diet, and I'm going to lose 20 pounds. And so you do it for like five days, and then it's too much, it's too overwhelming. It's too big, it's not sustainable. And then you give up completely until you try to motivate yourself through pain again, like three months later. Instead, what are small, daily consistent actions that you can do that move the needle forward just a little bit, which is why we do Badass 30, go back and listen to Episode 50. Talk about if you want to really implement five rules that you do every single day. And believe me, at the end of 30 days of doing that you are 100% certified as a badass. That's definitely one way to do it. But I want you to really think about what if you honored every decision you made ahead of time. And this could kind of be its own. I'm kind of wrapping it into consistent daily action. But having integrity with yourself is the first thing. So do you honor what you say you were going to do at the time you're going to do it? It's really tough to do in the moment. And I'll just give you an example because I was thinking about this and I've done Badass 30 a number of times, I consider myself to be a person of high integrity with myself. Like I do trust myself that I like, for instance, getting this podcast done this morning, I put it on my calendar. I didn't necessarily feel like it, but in the moment, but I'm like, no, it's getting done, right.

Sari 29:10
So as an example, I was thinking, well, you know, do I honor my word in the smallest ways? So last night, I went to bed and I thought, okay, I'm just going to test myself. I'm just gonna kind of like observe, watch myself, and I would encourage you to do this as takes no extra time in your day. So I set an intention of tomorrow morning, this morning, when the alarm went off, I'm going to hit snooze ones and then I'm going to get out of bed by a certain time and then I'm going to do my morning routine, my journal writing and my meditation, and I'm going to be on my peloton bike by this time, and I'm going to be in the shower by this time so that I can start work by this time, right. And so I just thought, I want to just see what comes up, right. And again, I'm pretty good. But I have noticed a little bit of decline lately where I'll say, like, lay in bed for a little bit longer. I'll like, go and check Instagram or scroll, you know, kind of just get like a little zoned out. or even look at email, which is a terrible thing to do first thing in the morning. So I set that intention last night, this morning, the alarm goes off. And without a doubt, I was like, I could kind of hit snooze one more time. Hmm, that would be really nice. I was like, no, no. And then I did my meditation like I normally do. And then I thought, well, I don't have to get up right away. I could go check this app out. I could go look this up. My mind started. But that would be so much more fun. Like it's cozy, lay here with my cat. And it was like, no, I said, I would be out of bed by a certain time. It is that time. Put your feet on the floor. So I did that. And then same thing, right? Like getting on the bike. Like I found myself wanting to distract myself like, oh, let me go look at that. Let me what about this? Oh, this idea popped in my head. It's like no, and so no, lots of saying no to my primitive brain that just wanted to procrastinate and distract. And it was like, I didn't have to make it a problem. I didn't have to beat myself up about it. Like, oh, there you go again, Sari, you're always procrastinating. You're always doing this like, no, of course, I don't want to get out of bed. Of course not. Of course, I want to like, distract myself and do something different than actually what I need to be doing right now. It's just the way that our brains work. We are wired, to go after pleasure, to seek pleasure, avoid pain and look, you know, be as efficient as possible. So that's all my brain was doing but I want to encourage you to kind of watch yourself. Just observe yourself, like set intention like that, what time you're gonna get out of bed? What time are you gonna be ready?

Sari 32:21
Put something on your calendar, like record this podcast, or do this project, you know, 30 minutes to work on your business to watch a module in Food Business Success, to join that group call. Put it on your calendar and then watch your brain come up with all the reasons in the moment that you don't want to do it. And at first, just watch it right? And then you're gonna start noticing and be like, I'm on you brain. Guess what? I'm going to do it anyway. It's like, if you told somebody you were going to give them a ride to the airport. Ahead of time, you're like, yeah, I could do that. And then of course, in the moment, you're like, oh, I don't want to do. Why did I agree to that? But you've already agreed, right? And you're gonna honor that commitment to that person, most likely. And you're going to actually do it. Do you want to do it? No, of course not. Nobody wants to take anybody to the airport. But are you going to honor your commitment? Yes. You made a commitment to that person. So can you do that for yourself? Do you think of yourself in that way and honor your own commitments? Take consistent small daily action that add up, you know, to compound results. It's when things start compounding, like compound interest, you're getting the flywheel going. Doing something every day for your business even if like set a minimum baseline, ten minutes, twenty minute. Set a timer. It helps your brain to not freak out like you're going to be doing this forever and ever. So that's a big one. A really, really big one. So I'm going to end with the big kahuna. If you do nothing else but this one, this will keep you moving forward. This will create success quickly. So taking action. Now sometimes that action will look like consuming information, right? Going and watching my YouTube channel, going and listening this podcast, right? Doing a lot of Google research. So I get it. Sometimes we need to get information and that is part of taking action. But when you have the nudge, when you have the thought, first of all, the first action you can take is go and write it down and then think what is the next action that I can do? And sometimes it's just a matter of I do need more information but I'm going to decide on a time frame to decide one way or the other. And I will tell you that no matter how much information you consume, I call that sort of passive action, right? You're just passively taking in information. But that's not actually going to create a packaged food business. And I will tell you, there is no perfect time, there is never going to be a magical perfect time where everything aligns. No, no, no.

Sari 35:37
You are going to do all these things, right? Say no to things, say no to people, you're going to, you know, have to make some hard choices about things you will and won't do in order to make this a reality. So there will be no perfect time. My coach, Dave calls it the five second rule. So it's the action, right? It's, I have a thought, oh, what if I started packaged food business? You have five seconds to take action before your brain starts offering you all the reasons why this won't work, why you're not good enough, why you shouldn't do it. Your brain, again, it's trying to avoid pain, and seek pleasure. And this is not going to be pleasure. It can be fun. But starting a business is not necessarily a pleasurable activity. It's hard work. It's daily consistent work. But taking action from a thought to an action, thought to an action, instead of letting your brain spin out in doubt, confusion, convince you to not do it, get you back in the cycle of like, every three months, you kind of have this idea or every year. Whenever you make that dish you're like, huh, what if, right? Take action, you have five seconds, that goes, you're gonna feel it, you're gonna thought like I should start a packaged food business, it's going to go in your hearts and you're going to think, yeah, I really want to do that. That sounds amazing, right? And then you're going to want to if you don't do anything, in five seconds, your brain is going to want to give you all the reasons, all the noise, why you should not do it. So the most successful people have a thought, take action, have a thought, take action, just keep moving forward. Action taking. Even in small forms, maybe it's just, I'm going to decide to do this or not on this date. I'm going to write it down. I'm going to apply for Food Business Success, I am going to write I have this question in my mind about my product, I'm actually going to in five seconds, I'm going to take action by going to the private Facebook Group and post my question, right. It's taking action, not getting caught up in the doubt and confusion that just slow you down. Alright, so to review, a beginner's mindset, you're not overly attached to the outcome, you're not putting undue pressure on yourself to have this be you know, your sole income. You understand that you will need to invest a certain amount of time and money and you are willing to do so you're planning ahead for it. You are willing to say no to people into things, understanding that this is temporary. This part of your business is going to be temporary but it is going to require you to say no to some things.

Sari 39:00
And honestly saying no might just be like, I'm not going to scroll on social media ever. Or I'm not going to get sucked into TikTok or YouTube videos that aren't, you know, constructive. So saying no can look like a lot of different things. You're going to get out of your head. Get out of yourself and go get support. Get support from me, get support from our community. You're going to tell your friends, your colleagues, your family and prepare them ahead of time. So don't try to create this business in a bubble. It is the surest way to fail, to quit, and prolong this journey of getting your package food business started. You don't blame others, you take ownership for your contribution to whatever the circumstances you learn from it and you move on. You do consistent daily small actions that move you closer to your goal. And you take action, big action, small action, you don't just keep consuming and consuming and consuming. You make decisions, you take action that will allow you to get more information. And then you can always redecide, you can always make a new decision. But you keep taking action, you give yourself the five second rule: thought, action, thought, action. Just keep taking action, even if it's imperfect. And there is no perfect time. I swear, I promise you. Just like think about with your kids, if you have kids, like there is no perfect time to have kids, right? There just isn't, but you do it anyway. This is like a business baby, right? That's what this is. And it's just never going to be a perfect time. All right, my friends, those are the 9 traits that I see all of the most successful people I work with have some combination of these. If you could put them all together, you would be like a certifiable superhero. And you would be well on your way to having a successful packaged food business. So that is the goal. We're not going to be perfect. We're not going to have these things all the time. But if you can put this formula together, I know you will be so successful. I would love to help you inside Food Business Success. If you are feeling the nudge, you can go and apply online. Get inside, we're also going to be doing a really cool workshop in January. So you definitely want to get on the waitlist for that to be the first to be notified. This is going to be the perfect thing. If you're not quite sure what that investment going to be like? What does that time going to be like? What does this really look like? This is going to be that kind of a workshop or you're going to come away with like, I have so many answers and now I just need to make a decision. Am I all in? Or am I not? And that's okay if you're not, just go in with all of the facts, get out of your head, where you've made up all of these crazy stories about the worst that can happen. So head over to foodbizsuccess.com. All the information is there. We'll also put things in the show note links. And that's what I got for you today. If you are feeling the nudge, let it be there. Take action, you got five seconds. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I hope that you took some action, even if it was just going over to the website and signing up to be on the waitlist for that workshop. Alright my friends until next time, have an amazing week!

Sari 43:09
Are you ready to start that delicious idea that you make in your home kitchen, or grow your existing packaged 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.