Full Transcript

Sari 0:00
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach. And it's gotta be fun! In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss. Interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in, and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now, let's jump in!

Sari 0:47
Welcome to the 100th episode of the Food Business Success podcast. Wow, I'm just taking a minute recording this thinking about the hundred weeks that I have shown up here with a new podcast every single week about the amazing topics that I've explored, the amazing guests, the clients, the experts.

Sari 1:16
It has been a trip, it's been a journey. I committed almost two years ago that I would show up here every week with new content without fail. And this is episode 100, you guys. When I think about what 100 episodes means, there's a couple things, it's gratitude for you, for the listener. For you showing up here and being committed to yourself to get more information, to learn, and to evolve as you consider or are growing your packaged food business. We are over 30,000 downloads for 100 weeks of episodes. And it just blows my mind. Oh, amazing. It's overwhelming to think about. I am so proud of myself for the commitment. And that I followed through on that, I honored my word. I was discipline. Some weeks it was really easy. Some weeks I was ahead. And then there were some weeks where I was recording a couple days before or even the day before. But I did it and I showed up. And I'm so proud of the topics that I've explored. And the guests, the experts that I've had on as well as amazing clients and their stories, and I just couldn't be happier for them. And like that's why I do the work that I do to help them succeed and be part of their journey. And it's just so much fun for them to be able to have a platform to share their amazing stories. And I hope you've been inspired by that. When you do something that you commit to and you show up and you're going to do it no matter what and then you do it, you are building up evidence for yourself that you can do hard things, that you follow through, that you honor your word. And so by taking on an activity, a commitment for you, it could be something very different. It could be I'm going to show up on social media X number of times a week, or I'm going to show up at the farmers market for all 16 weeks, and then you do it. And it's hard sometimes. But now you have evidence, you have proof for yourself, for future activities, that you can do it, and it builds confidence. We don't always know how we're going to get it done. We don't know, we don't have the confidence ahead of time. But if we can rely on past experiences of where we have shown up and where we have figured it out and done hard things, and been consistent and disciplined and taken action even in the face of fear. That is the coolest thing to be able to have this. That is just the best thing that you can do for yourself as an entrepreneur to do something small but create a body of work and evidence for yourself, for future harder things. I have been planning and thinking about the 100th episode for a long time for months. But I'm honest, I wanted the episodes leading up to this to be really special, to be ones like Sara with Third Bird Collective and her journey. I wanted them to be topics that were really meaningful to me and I felt like would really be helpful for you.

Sari 2:14
I purposely chose the topic of this episode to be called Reinvention. And I wanted to offer three minutes of possibility leading up to this idea of reinvention. So I want to introduce what reinvention means to me and how I think it really applies to you as an entrepreneur or want to be entrepreneur. I also have been going through my own reinvention, you may have noticed the new intro and podcast cover. And I have a big announcement about how things are going to be changing a little bit. And I'm going to do that at the end of this episode and how I'm going to be stepping more into my reinvention. I already have been but now it's becoming very public. So I've been doing it in my world. But now you all are going to know about this. So I hope you will listen to the end and hear how things are changing. I'm really excited to share this with you. All right, let's talk about reinvention.

Sari 6:14
So first, let's start with a definition to ground us. So a reinvention is not just improvement, incremental, getting slightly better. Reinvention is the action or process through which something is changed so much that it appears to be entirely new. It is to remake or redo completely. So I'm curious, by that definition, when have you had to go through a reinvention? I'm guessing you have gone through a several reinventions in your life but typically reinventions come out of necessity. They come from either transitions in our life, like kind of natural transitions, puberty to young adulthood, empty nester, having kids, right? There's kind of these natural life transitions that happen that create opportunities for reinvention. And then there's often reinvention out of pain, right? Someone dies in your life that really changes your whole life, or you lose a job, or there's a health crisis, or divorce, right? Those are times when we are forced to reinvent ourselves. And it makes sense that we wouldn't want to reinvent ourselves too much. But I'm curious if you have ever, with intention set out to have a reinvention. And like I said, it does make sense because there is this motivational triad that we seek pleasure, we avoid pain, and we want to exert the least amount of energy that is what our brain is doing to keep us safe. And then there's something called homeostasis that is kind of the things around us that want to keep us the same. Because again, if we stay the same then we are avoiding exerting energy and we're avoiding pain that our brain tells us, right? And today's podcast, I am going to make the case that reinvention, if you want to start or grow your packaged food business, that reinvention is required. And to do it on purpose takes a lot of courage. And I think that there's a fear that if we examine our lives that everything has to change. And I don't think that's the case, we can take a section of our lives and say, I'm going to reinvent myself as an entrepreneur. So for today, let's just talk about that piece. You may want to decide to reinvent your life in other ways. And I will tell you, I was just talking about this yesterday with somebody and they were like, oh did your business suffer with the pandemic? And I was like, no, it actually grew because times when we have these kind of shake ups, right, that, you know, totally shocks us in our system. And it forces us to think about bigger life, right? I mean, it forces us to think about our mortality and what's important to us, and it shakes us out of comfort. And I can tell you that more and more people were like, I think I want to start this business. I've always had this idea. I've had this dream for 10 years, what am I waiting for? Or I've been in my kitchen, and I've been playing around and doing a lot of cooking or baking and I have discovered, you know, created the most amazing gluten free cookie or whatever it is, right? Sara playing around with kombucha. And we know that this was true across the board because Small Business Administration reported 110,000 applications for new businesses a week in 2020, which was almost double what it was in 2019. So that's very significant.

Sari 10:47
And I will tell you, I made a decision in 2015 to reinvent myself. I didn't know what the end goal was. So it maybe wasn't as intentional as what I'm talking about now, I knew that the risk of staying the same, that the discomfort of that was worth to change it. Like my desire to want to change it outweighed the discomfort. And so in 2015, I decided to get divorced. And I call that the year I blew up my life somewhat purposefully and somewhat not. But I just knew that my life could not stay the same. I knew that there were bigger things for me, and that I was meant to do more. And I was willing to take that leap and build the airplane in the air. But I had to do something. And a lot of it was very painful. But ultimately, I did create this business, I've helped hundreds of people start their journey, get to the next level to become a successful entrepreneur in this food space. And ultimately, I have created a life that I do love. And it's not like my life was terrible back then. It just wasn't me living up to my fullest potential. So have you been there? Are you there now? And I would hate for us to have this wasted opportunity from the pandemic, right? We have this moment in time that forced us to stop and reevaluate. And we've kind of gone back into comfort a lot more. It's not perfect but we're sort of getting into the rhythm and routine of things. And now we have some additional things around inflation and prices and things like that, that are maybe shaking us up a little bit. But I just want you to think about like, have you always wanted to do this? Are you ready to take your business to the next level? And you're wondering, like what is it I have to do to become that, to reinvent myself as this person? And I'm, I will tell you in my own experience that it was hard and it has been hard. It still is hard sometimes. And what I learned and what I have been learning recently is that we all have a winning strategy. We have a playbook of how we get the life that we have now. And for better, for worse, sometimes you might be looking around saying I don't really want this life but I created a pretty good life. I was working at Whole Foods Market. I was having a lot of success there. You know, I was married, I had the house, and the dog, and all of those things, right? But I wanted, I wanted to create this business and as I transformed my life then this business came up, right? And I decided to go in on entrepreneurship. But a winning strategy, given that it is the thing that has gotten us where we are, oftentimes looks like perfectionism, right? That everything has to be right. And we're gonna kind of muscle it in and control it and grit our teeth and really make sure it's a 100% right, like it's over achieving. It's proving our worth through our work. It's hyper control. It can be people pleasing to try to manipulate everybody and everything around us. And sometimes it can be helplessness, right? That we allow everybody else to make decisions and we don't want to be the one responsible. And sometimes, oftentimes, it is that lone wolf mentality, like no one else does it the way I do it so I'm just gonna do it all myself. And I layered in my winning strategy with entrepreneurship, right? With my business. And so, guess what?

Sari 15:36
I have been successful. You know, by all standards, I have created a really successful business, I have a successful life. But it's been kind of tough. It's been layering my achievement, and my perfectionism, and proving my worth, and I'm just going to go it alone, I'm going to grit my teeth and force it, and make it work, right? And that's what I've been doing. And so now, I realized this year that it is time for an intentional reinvention. And I signed up for a course with my coach Brooke Castillo called the Reinvention Experience. And then also read a book by Tracy Goss called the Last Word on Power. So a lot of this is informed by that. And this was, I was like, I am willing to look at it all, I'm willing to throw it all out on the lawn, my entire life and say, what do I want to keep? What is working? What is not working, right? We have limited time on this planet. And do I like my life? Do I like the business I've created? Because what got me here, my winning strategy, is not what's going to get me to the next level. And I'm going to tell you that for you, whatever got you here, is not going to get you the business, the success, what you really truly want. The freedom, right? The I make the decisions, and the fun that you imagine your business would be. The expression your passion. And so I purposely what said, I am open and I am ready, I'm making a decision to reinvent myself. And ultimately, I've chosen to reinvent my business. Because I do want to get to a new level, I do want to serve more people, help more people, have a bigger impact. But here's the thing, I am willing to let go my winning strategy because I want to have fun doing it. No more gritting my teeth, no more muscling through it, no more trying to control everything, and everyone around me no more lone wolf, I'll just do it all myself. I decided that my reinvention and what I was willing to consider doing a different way is to have a big business, have big impact, and love it, and have so much fun doing it. So that is the big reinvention for me. And it's been so good. It's been amazing to step into that and own it and say yes, this is what I'm doing. Because like last week, we talked about possibility. I mean, I could go do anything, I don't have to do any of this, I could shut it all down, I could go get a new job, I could start a business in a completely different area. I'm willing to consider all the options. And ultimately, I came back to no, I want to keep this and I want to do it in a way that feels more light, more fun, more ease, more freedom, more expression of my passions.

Sari 19:20
And I want that for you. So are you open and willing to consider reinventing yourself into the highest version of what an entrepreneur really is? The one who actually gets the passion expression, they get to do the thing they love, they get to have the freedom, they get to have fun. That's probably why you're thinking either to start a business or why you got into this in the first place. But I will tell you with 100% certainty that if you continue or you start from a place of just layering on entrepreneurship on the way you've always been doing things, your winning strategy, you won't make it, you will not be one of the ones that survives, that continues, that builds a big business that you love. That is the business of your dreams. And we know that this is true because 20% of businesses closed in the first year and 50% closed within five years. And my hypothesis is because we just tried to grind it and grit it and muscle it through and we put our winning strategy on top of entrepreneurship. And we don't allow ourselves this reinvention to do things, to see things differently. If you want to be this kind of entrepreneur that I'm talking about, this highest version of an entrepreneur, what I think is possible, and why I want you to do this to go on this journey, is you have to be willing to do what 95% of people won't do for you to be in the top 5%. And this is to reinvent yourself, as a completely new version of you and a new version of you as the entrepreneur and go all in. I really believe that entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful, impactful vehicles, to help us evolve to become the next version of ourselves. It's not to make money. It's not to replace your full time job, those are all benefits of it. But it is for you to get to the next level of you. To experience the full richness of life, the full human experience, it's wonderful and it's terrible. And it's hard. But the hard is what creates change. And it's like building a muscle, right? And again, most people are going to stay in homeostasis, they're going to check the boxes of the multiple choice life that they were given. They're going to stay in the safe circles of friends and family and those societal expectations. So that's 95% of the people, right? And so we have to do what 5% of people do in order to get the life that we want, that we know is possible for us. And I only know that you want to be in the 5% because you're here, you're listening to this podcast. It's total transformation, it's you willing to go through the messiness. My mom would get these, you know, those caterpillar kits for my nephews, and I would watch them, right? It was so fascinating because there would be like three to five caterpillars. And then they would, you know, do their thing for a while and then they would create the chrysalis and they would hang out there for a while. And then one day, you know, there would be a butterfly in this little netting cage thing. And it was amazing, right, like that is reinvention. It's something completely new. The caterpillar becomes, you know, caterpillar crawls on the ground with all these legs becomes a butterfly, what? That's insane, that is complete until the reinvention. But here's the really interesting part.

Sari 24:01
When you looked at the netting, it was like white netting. It was a total mess. It was gross, and liquids and bloody like, not pretty, right? Like there was stuff happening in there that that butterfly had to work through and then popped open. But it was not pretty all the time. And I found that so fascinating. And so when we talk about this entrepreneur that I'm envisioning, again some people just layer on entrepreneurship, they grit it out, they grind it out, they really hustle. And then they're the ones that are going to quit within the five years because they haven't discovered the tools and the secrets of how to do it that gives you the fullest life possible.

Sari 25:02
And so let's talk about what the definition of entrepreneurship is. An entrepreneur is creating value and taking risks. They are the ones in charge. And so I believe what it looks like to be the highest version of an entrepreneur is discipline. It's honoring your word. It's saying no to people pleasing. It's saying yes when it's a yes. And it's saying no when it's a no. And it's willing to make, you know, to have people have a negative reaction. Its breaking habits that limit us, that sabotage you, right? That could be drinking, that could be over Netflixing, and over social media. It could be a lot of indulging in just buffering activities, things that don't allow us to feel. It is feeling all the feelings, it's processing those. And it is ultimately a vehicle. And what I see the most successful entrepreneurs do is that they use it as an opportunity to bring up all their stuff, all their BS, and they work through it. It's letting go of doubt, insecurity, fear, fear of rejection, right? It's all the stuff, the worry, the negative habits. And we're willing to become a new version of ourself. So are you in with me? Do you want? Do you want to intentionally choose reinvention? If you're going on this journey, if you haven't started yet, but you're thinking maybe I want to do this, or you have started. Are you ready to go full on and play full out, to become the version of you that has that business, that full dream that you are thinking of what entrepreneurship is. And so first, we want to just kind of sit in possibility, use our imagination, and that's what last week's episode was all about, right? What else is possible for you? And if you're thinking about that food business, then that is your possibility. And I want you to sit with that, imagine it, play it out. And then we decide. Yes, I am willing to go through that caterpillar to butterfly experience and all the messiness knowing all the risks that you are all in. And next I want you to define, really know your solid why. Have something that is big, that is empowering, that you are like, I'm willing to do all this hard stuff because my why is so solid. And I like to use what Tracy Goss called Your Future Statement. So we're gonna declare I am the future of dot, dot, dot.

Sari 25:53
And you may be like, I don't know. But you tell me, what are you the future of? Why are you even wanting to do this business? Are you the future of changing the way people snack and having a better salsa? Are you changing? Are you the future of how work looks? Are you the future of people being able to enjoy the delicious foods that their peers do without worry because of allergies? I don't, I don't care what it is just create something that gets you excited, that you have a motion around, that gets you out of bed and you want to throw your hands up in the air and say yes, I'm willing to go to work today to create this! This gets me excited. So know what your future statement is. That is your why. Because this is hard. This is your fuel. We got to put clean fuel, we got to put energizing fuel in the car, in the vehicle of entrepreneurship. And that starts with your why. And then with that why in mind, we're going to declare a bold possibility that is measurable. So I am the future of dot, dot, dot. And then we're going to say, I create a $200,000 business selling granola by 2025. So, I know some people are gonna push back and say, I don't want to make it measurable. Why do I have to put a date or a number on it? Because we need to be able to keep score. We need to know, are we winning or are we losing? And there's no shame in, in not achieving your goal, like we want it to be something big, we want it to feel impossible. But then we're gonna get to work anyway. But we do need something measurable. Otherwise, you don't know. Are you winning? Who knows. So be willing to put something measurable. And because it's a business, and because we create value in exchange for money, I recommend having a money goal and having a date. And then you're going to take massive action, you commit to taking the action that is required to start that journey of creating that possibility. So you've committed to the possibility but more importantly, you are committed to taking action. And this is not action in your thoughts. It's not thinking about it. This is not just consuming information, or let me go read about it. This is actually taking real action that has a result that has a win or a loss. And so we have to be willing to say yes, I'm willing to do the action because my why is so big, I'm willing to risk rejection, I'm willing to risk people judging me, I'm willing to step out of the homeostasis. You are going to separate yourself from the group a little bit. And that's okay. That's part of the process. But you have to have that big why.

Sari 32:08
So I will talk more about the taking action part because I do have more to fill in there on a future episode. But I want to share how I am reinventing myself. So my future statement. I am the future of coaching in the food industry. And that feels like, I get a little butterflies in my chest and it feels inspiring and emotional. And sometimes I'm like, can that be possible? But why the heck not? Why not me? I am the future of coaching in the food industry. It's big, it's powerful. I am committed to it. And then my declaration of my bold, impossible possibility that I create a $4 million business by 2025. And I have fun doing it. So with that in mind, I just want to share with you quickly how things are changing in my business. Because my future statement is I am the future of coaching. I want to spend more of my time coaching.

Sari 33:31
I have realized since I launched my coaching business back in September, I am a phenomenal coach. My clients get big results, I help them transform themselves and their business. And I've done it over and over and over again. And I love it. I am an amazing coach. So I want to do more of that. That is where I want to spend the majority of my time. I do not want to spend my time trying to convince you that you have a problem and that you need my help. It's not fun. I don't want to sell you on something you don't even realize that you need yet. And so I'm really going to get away from that and just say here's Food Business Success. It's open when you are ready. I have reinvented it to be a one time purchase for the lifetime program, all the module, all the amazing videos and tools from how to set up your business legally, and how to look at are you profitable, your cost of goods sold. Look at your branding and marketing and identify your customer. Food Safety, working in a kitchen, how to commercialize and scale up your recipe, and then having a go to market strategy so you can get those sale, right? We are in Business that means an exchange of monetary value. And so Food Business Success is there for you as just a one time, low investment cost. And then I am relaunching the membership. And it is now called Fuel. And I love that name, because this is the fuel, the clean fuel that is going to help you with your action. It includes Group Coaching Calls with me twice a month, it includes our Power Hour. And it includes when you reach VIP status, Meet the Expert Call where we're going to have these in, we have these intimate conversations with experts that I bring in. And when you buy into that one time purchase of Food Business Success, you get three months inside Fuel. And then after that, it's $57. Fifty seven dollars a month gets you access to me. And more importantly, or as importantly, it gets you access to the community inside. And this community is my favorite place to be. It is amazing. It's amazing the way people support each other and lift each other up. This is the way to speed your business up. And then I have dropped consulting all together. So no more me building your business and handing it to you in a box. I only do one on one coaching. And I work with clients who have a package food business, who are all in on "yes, I want to do a reinvention and get to the next level". I help you skip the line with coaching because you get accountability. You get a roadmap, you know exactly what you need to be doing. You know what your priorities are, you have weekly assignments and somebody who is counting on you to come back and do that work. So it keeps you moving ahead quickly. I help you make decisions, I offer support, and you get access to everything in my brain, right? All of my connections, all of my experience of doing this for the last seven years.

Sari 37:32
And so I'm opening up more spaces on my calendar as I have worked through some of my consulting projects that are wrapping up. I'm really excited to open up more spaces and to work with you one on one. There are really two things that are the key to success. And I speak from experience because my life and my business exploded when I got a coach. And I hired my one on one coach, and I became members of community. I decided I belonged and that my voice was important. And I asked for support. And I give support. And I am part of several coaching communities that are everything. I no longer am the lone wolf gritting through my business. And so this is part of the two things that support my reinvention. And I want to offer that's exactly what I offer to you with Food Business Success. If you're just starting out, you have a delicious idea, you want to get it going, you want support, at whatever level you're at. Or if you want that extra support. And that one on one accountability. Either one, you'll see everything is about keeping it simple. You literally have two choices on my website. That's it. Simple, simple, simple. And so I want to encourage you, I just want to invite you to skip the line to speed things up, to feel better and enjoy the process doing it. I have learned those I've figured out how to do it for me and I'm just a little further along than you. Nothing special. I'm not a unicorn. I'm doing the hard work. But I do have the keys to having these tools, having the strategies and I know how to get you to the next level. All right, you guys, this has been so fun. Thank you for the, you know, 100 weeks of allowing me to be here and listening and downloading and rating and reviewing. I appreciate it so much. And I don't know exactly what this podcast will look like going forward. It's all part of the reinvention. But until next time, have an amazing week!

Sari 40:06
The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how, to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done, you can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own Food Business Success.