183 – How a Single Moment Turns into a Business with Kristy Mangia of Giddy Up Nuts

You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 183 Never stop

pushing yourself and never stop exploring and never put yourself in

a box.

Attention gifters,

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Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there,

it's Sue And thank you so much for spending a little

bit of your time with me today.

Before we get into the show,

I want to make sure you know about my newly released

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It's called how to turn your hobby into a business.

How do you know if this is for you?

Well, if you're starting a business right now,

you've gotten that dream,

but you're just not sure what steps you should be taking.

This masterclass is for you if you're already in business,

but something just isn't clicking,

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the way you think it should.

This masterclass is also for you to check it out.

Just go over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash masterclass I look forward to seeing you over

there and for now.

Let's get into the show Today.

I am so excited to introduce you to Christie Mangia.

Even as a child,

Christie loved being in the kitchen.

She originally started giddy up nuts as a way to escape

the crazy of everyday life.

Today she feels lucky because it has become her everyday life

up. Nuts was born about five years ago in her dad's

kitchen. They started selling at the local farmer's market and then

took on distributing to gourmet and specialty food stores from there.

Christy says that now more than ever,

it is important to know where your food is coming from

and to have a connection to what you're eating.

Giddy up nuts is all natural.

Uses local ingredients whenever possible and tastes delicious too,

and I can attest to that.

Christie's mission is to create something unique and delicious that people

can always feel good about eating.

Christie, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

I am really excited to get into your story.

I love when I meet people love their product and then

I say,

wait, don't tell me anything more.

Will you be on my past?

That's kind of what we did here.

Yeah, we met at the national gift basket convention and it's

kind of funny and I was driving to Arizona from California

for the convention and I listened to a lot of business

related podcasts and one of my favorite kind of profiles businesses

who have really made it and I was thinking on the

way to Arizona,

you know,

it'd be so cool to be able to do something like

this, and then you asked me,

so it was very serendipitous.

That's so crazy and I believe putting things out into the

environment. Absolutely.

I see those things happening all the time,

so that's really cool.

I love that story.

Yeah. I like to start this off by having you describe

yourself in a little bit of a different way,

and that is through a motivational candle.

So if you were able to create a candle that totally

resonates with you,

what color would it be and what would be a quote

or a mantra on your candle?

So I guess my first sort of clarifying question is,

are we talking about the actual vessel of the candle or

the flame?

We can talk about whatever you want.

This is your candle,

right? I would say Mike handle the vessel would be like

a deep green and my flame would be a bright orange

and not orange because that's typically what candles are,

but sort of I believe in a lot of visualization and

putting things out there.

And whenever I think of light and staying in the light,

for some reason,

orange is just what in my head.

So it would be a dark green vessel with a bright

orange light.

And I think my candle would say never stop exploring,

Never stop exploring.

Talk about that a little more.

So I think it's one of the little taglines that I've

also incorporated into giddy up.

But I think it's so important physically and mentally to kind

of never stop pushing yourself and never stop exploring and never

put yourself in a box.

And one of giddy up sort of a little stub theme

running through it,

food for your everyday wanderings and to challenge the consumers to

never stop exploring it,

to take your food on that adventure.

And I always ask whenever I get to meet customers,

Hey, send me pictures of you out in the world with

giddy. So you don't always have to be climbing a mountain

or backpacking.

I mean you could be exploring in a very urban capacity,

but I'm someone who is a planner and I love to

eat so I always have snacks with me.

So I think just having that mindset of exploring yourself personally,

professionally, physically exploring your surroundings,

no matter where you are is just a really important theme

in my life.

Wonderfully said.

And we are going to get back to the whole giddy

up social media opportunities that you just laid the groundwork for.

And a little bit.

I'm going to start in the beginning.

I know that you loved cooking,

I guess with your dad,

right in the very beginning.

Well, I say cooking's kind of an air quote.

So I have always been drawn to the kitchen and when

I was younger it was an event.

I don't think I was ever a troublemaker child,

but if I ever got in trouble,

it was around these events where I would go into my

kitchen and I was young.

I mean I was like four or five years old,

so too young to kind of put it all together,

but we'll just start grabbing random things out of the fridge

that did not go together.

It was predominantly condiments.

So relish ketchup,

Mustard. Oh dear.

It sounds like a mess.

It was a mess.

That is completely what it was.

Nothing edible ever turned out of this.

So my parents thought as you just made a mess and

you're being incredibly wasteful,

but I started at a very young age of like,

let's just mix a bunch of stuff together and see what

happens. So that's really kind of my earliest memories in the

kitchen. But then yes,

growing up I did a lot of cooking with my dad.

Is it a lot of cooking with other family members?

And it really is just a place where I feel calm

and it's a place where you focus as an entrepreneur and

as my personality type,

I think you're drawn to have your brain in a thousand

different directions at any one time.

And when I'm in the kitchen,

it's just this like focus moment and you're creating something that

nourishes people and I really think it's one of the most

profound acts of love for someone to is to create this

meal for them that you thought of and you put time

into. So I have always felt most comfortable and most relaxed

in the kitchen.

And yes,

it started at a very young age with these recipes I

called them.

That really got me in a lot of trouble.

But that's really where it kind of started.

I just have had this love of cooking and creating ever

since then.

Well, lucky for us that you identified that that's where you

love to be because this would have never come about it.

Lots of people have certain areas that they enjoy and they

never think about how that could relate over to a business.

So that's a good tip.

Just for anybody who's thinking,

well man,

I'd love to be in business for myself,

but what?

Where do you feel good?

Where in your life?

What place,

what environment?

What are you doing that makes you feel good?

It could hold a clue like it did for you.

Yeah. So Christie,

where did this idea of giddy up nuts come from?

Can you identify the specific moment where you're like,

wow, this could possibly be a business?

Well, I can tell you the specific moment where the idea

was born,

I still kind of struggle.

I think everyone deals with their own self doubt.

I still have to convince myself and remind myself every day

that you're doing it.

But I can tell you the exact moment where it was

this like,

aha. So I'm from California.

I don't know how many people listening are familiar with California,

but there is a very popular ski resort called mammoth.

It's nationally known but every Southern California knows about it and

I was driving home from mammoth and I was is Sunday

and I remember being really bummed out that I had to

drive back home to LA because I had to be at

work on Monday and there was,

mammoth is such a beautiful place both winter and summer and

I was so upset to be leaving up there to go

back down South to a job that I wasn't particularly fulfilled

in. Boy,

I bet you everybody can relate to that.

Yeah, yeah.

Having to leave vacation early to go back to something you're

not excited to go back to and there was just a

lot of circumstantial things going on.

I had,

it was somewhat new in my tenure at this job.

I had just finished working at Disney.

I worked at Disney for five years.

It was very high stress environment,

moved in a completely different direction and was now working in

more of a health care related company and was just still

not feeling incredibly fulfilled and was like,

why am I doing this?

I'm not happy here and I don't want to get caught

in this rat race him,

but you know,

I need to pay my bills so I can't leave.

I've got things going on,

I've got a life to live.

But I said,

you know what,

if I can create something where I'll still have this job

that I'm not incredibly fulfilled by but that pays my bills,

but I will have an outlet where I can kind of

seek refuge in this space and feel good about it.

And it was on that drive home and kind of everything

coming together where I had stopped at a store to pick

up some snacks and couldn't find anything that I felt good

about eating.

Of course there's stuff that tastes good,

but when you're sedentary for five hours in the car,

you also kind of feel a little bit guilty about eating

a bunch of potato chips and candy.

But the alternative was very,

very, very unapproachable at the time.

I think certain things have gone more mainstream,

but very unapproachable,

like different jerkies and dried fruits and health,

food, snacks that still weren't exciting to eat.

Like you felt like you were still making some kind of

a concession.

And I'm like,

why can't there be something that I'm excited to buy an

EA and I'm excited about the flavor,

but I don't feel totally awful about eating.

So that was the issue that I had identified.

And then again,

turning it into a job or a company was I'm going

to take all the aspects of my life that I love

and make me feel calm and happy and I'm going to

make that into something that I can at least come home

and spend my time and,

and feel fulfilled.

So I have always loved country music.

I always loved then the stall GIA and sort of the

small town,

you know,

living in Los Angeles,

you get really caught up in a bunch of just crazy

things. Loves just how rooted it felt.

And so I'm like,

if I'm going to create something,

it's going to be something that I feel good about all

the time.

So giddy up nuts.

I wanted to play off that country cowboy,

wild West.

When you're driving down three 95 in California,

it looks like the wild West.

So that's where the giddy up and that Western and pioneering

sentiment came from.

And then again,

just it being focused on food because I had identified a

need and I've always loved being in the kitchen.

So this was really just a culmination of everything that I

love and makes me feel good as an outlet to the

corporate world.

Did this all happen in the car on your drive home?

Yeah, like the whole thing,

the name,

the image,

the whole thing,

everything. So literally I was with someone who was actually a

boyfriend at the time I was with him and we were

kind of just going back and forth,

lamenting about why do we have to go back to work?

What if we could create this thing?

And I was like,

I'm going to do it,

I'm going to try it.

And it was just kind of joking around and spit balling

back and forth.

And I think as a joke said,

giddy up nuts and it just stuck.

And then jokingly with Yar slogan could be put a little

kick in your nuts.

It all was very tongue in cheek and then it was,

well, why not?

So yeah,

I got home and started with some recipe development and it

was right around the holidays and I had made the original

spice flavor.

We always host my entire family for Christmas.

And so I had made the original spice recipe and use

my family as my first Guinea pigs.

And he wrote like,

this is great,

you should sell this.

And then took it into the office and shopped it around

and did little mini focus groups and said,

Hey, would you guys buy this?

Does it taste good?

What's your feedback?

And they all said yes.

And so I signed up for a cottage food permit,

which I'm very thankful that California has this program because it

meant that I could start this thing with pretty low overhead.

I didn't have to go and find a manufacturing facility.

I could do it out of my kitchen.

The health inspector came,

gave me a path,

went and started selling it at the local Calabasas farmer's market

and it was successful.

I think it's one of those things that the first day

of any business you're like,

Oh my God,

what if I don't have any customers?

What am I doing?

Like you just have all of these things running through your

head and it was great.

I mean it was very well received.

We had market goers buying from us.

We had a couple of people that owned retail stores.

We actually,

our first account was with the national parks.

We had a woman who runs the Santa Monica mountains conservatory

and a couple other places which is under the national parks

approach us and say we want to carry them.

It was a great validation of okay,

this works and so I developed some additional flavors from there.

Rosemary garlic,

coffee, chocolate and original spice were the first three flavors and

just sold them at locals farmer's markets.

But all the while still maintained my full time job and

so I realized I liked my weekends.

I was getting really burnt out and so decided to move

away from the farmer's markets and just distribute directly to specialty

food stores.

So that's where we evolve from the markets.

We don't have a distributor,

everything's still direct today,

but selling directly to the stores because it allows us to

get our product out there and not have to physically be

at a market every weekend.

Sure. Let me stop you here for just a second because

I want to just point out to listeners some of the

things that you did so well early on.

First off you got going right on that.

I love from that car ride you pretty much made the

commitment that you were going to do it and I can

just imagine the emotion running through you.

You had to change in that ride from dread of going

home and going to a job to excitement of,

okay, yeah I have to do this,

but now I'm going to go do some research and this

and that.

Like just it changes you so fast when you finally claim

your dream and start to take action.

So that is so cool.

I can just like,

I can feel it.

I'm getting shivers over here and then I really liked that

you did some testing to start out.

You tested with your family,

so that also probably raised your confidence that,

okay, so I've got a solid base.

And then you've also got people who love you.

They're not going to tell you it's great necessarily.

If it's not,

they might tell you that in the room with everybody else,

but someone would have come on the side to you and

said, no.

Well, the second you say,

I'm considering making a business out of this,

come from a family that would be very honest and say

like, this is the worst idea.

And to be totally honest,

I mean it took a while to win over my family

to convince them that this was not just a hobby,

that this was a real thing.

Then we can get into this down the road,

but I always say if I ever write a book,

I'm going to open it with a line of I love

my dad.

He is my partner in crime.

He is my biggest cheerleader.

He came to every market,

every event,

but he was the most vocal in this as a hobby.

Like you can't do this for real.

He's a dentist.

He has full expectations of me becoming a doctor.

You enter a profession,

you don't do this.

And so he famously said,

I was out with one of my friends at a farmer's

market. We both went to USC and he sat there and

it looked a little dismayed and said it half joking,

but half seriously and goes,

there's $500,000

worth of education standing on a corner selling nuts right now.

He's incredibly supportive.

He said it really jokingly,

but you have to convince yourself and you actually do have

to convince some folks around you that know this is a

thing and I think that's where a lot of people might

get stuck in business is you have to have such a

fierce tenacity to just turn down that noise and follow whatever

is pulling you.

And I think that's something that I still work on today

is don't ever think you have to start off super big.

Don't ever discount the closest people around you as your first

test group and start small and start humbly,

but always listen to whatever is driving you because even the

closest people around you might think you're crazy,

but you just have to stay at it.

Let's stay there for a second.

How were you able to turn down the volume of people

who were starting to question you or saying,

you know,

no, this is really more of a hobby business or some

of the things your dad was saying.

How would you advise someone to get through that based on

what you did?

Well, for me personally,

it was a little bit easier because pretty far into having

the company,

I maintained another source of revenue.

It was never as scary as do or die.

It was always this grand experiment and I think on the

one hand I was smart to do that.

I think a lot of people will dive headfirst,

bet the farm on something without truly giving it enough time

to vet itself.

I mean,

it's one thing to do these small focus groups,

but it does take time to identify who your real market

is and get some traction at stores and streamline your processes.

So I think it gave me the confidence to fall back

on, okay,

you all think I'm crazy,

but yes,

I am still maintaining a quote unquote real job.

I think it gets much harder when you do dive in

head first,

but I think it's so important and that point really isn't

tangible. I mean everyone kind of has to identify that for

themselves, but there does come a point when you identify,

okay, this is more than a hobby.

It does have potential.

I do believe in it.

I am going to go all in and it's harder.

I mean,

every day I have to deal with turning off that noise.

It never goes away,

so to speak,

but I think I started off in a position where it

was much easier to trust the idea because I had a

fallback. I'm not saying that's the right approach for everyone.

Some people do have to go all in.

I give props to the people who have the courage to

go all in.

Yeah. Well,

yeah. I'm not an advocate of that at all.

I'm way more an advocate of the way you're doing it.

And I've never thought of it this way,

but one of the words you said popped out to me,

and that was your attitude because if someone who's going all

out because they have to prove cause they quit their job,

right? It's like do or die time.

Now you've got to make it work.

And you could do a lot of stupid things in that

time too.

I mean there's a lot of things where maybe you take

on things that you shouldn't be taking on.

And I think the approach that I had really has allowed

it to be slow and organic growth.

And you get offers from a lot of people who marketing

companies and distribution companies and events and over going to put

your product in front of a bunch of celebrities.

I mean it's so easy to get seduced by this.

Like, Oh my brand's going to blow up overnight.

But if you listen to a lot of the established food

brands, it takes a while to get going,

especially in the marketplace today.

The way things are,

it's so important to have that slow organic growth because it's

really easy to overextend yourself very quickly,

and that's where I think these startup businesses can get in

trouble. Yeah,

I agree.

Getting back to the whole attitude concept,

the attitude of testing,

experimenting, all of that in the beginning in a less stressful

environment when you're doing something else.

Also I think is absolutely the best way to go.

Plus, you're never,

I don't know,

one person that I've ever talked to who has landed it

right out of the gate,

they're thinking they're making a product,

they present it,

and that is the winning product that is now the one

that everybody knows about.

There's always changes,

whether it's the flavors or the sizing or the packaging.

There's so many different things or adding different elements to it,

you know,

whatever it is.

So I think that's an important point for everyone to understand

too, is that these first stages that you had where you're

introducing it to your family gave you some confidence,

made you feel a little better to move forward.

Then you started going to the farmer's market and you saw

that you were getting reception there.

The other great thing about farmer's markets is you can see

how customers are interacting,

so there's so much you get there.

One of the things that I remember with you,

Christie, is your flavors are so unique.

Yeah. The flavors of all the nuts and the combinations and

all that are really different.

Is that one of the reasons you think that the specialty

stores were attracted to you so quickly?

I do so I think kind of going back even before

the flavors,

I think it's important to have that really solid product and

to have a value proposition for people.

Honestly, my advice for anyone starting off is your packaging is

so important and just talking about evolution.

I mean,

when I first started this,

I worked with a designer who I used to work with

at Disney.

We made a logo,

it was literally these craft coffee bags and we slapped a

sticker. The front,

I was printing stickers at Kinko's and putting them on the

back and I thought this is so professional.

Look at me,

I have it.

And then like you said,

you start and you think you've got it all figured out

and then you slowly evolve to,

okay well the next iteration was still that coffee bag,

but now we had a sticker that was unique to each

flavor and wrapped all the way around.

So the product was now tamper resistant.

You could tell if someone had been in there and I

thought great,

we've got it.

And then you kind of do some more research and you

have to get really good at rejection in this field too.

Cause not everyone will say yes to you and you have

to take that feedback very gracefully,

but then realize we needed to go through a full packaging

and branding overhaul.

This was about three years into the business and completely redid

our packaging,

offered two different sizes because that was something else that we

could likely realized as to what the market will pay for.

For what and being a new product,

you have to give them an offering that is less prohibitive.

People aren't going to spend $10 on something they don't know

about for a pound of almond,

but maybe they'll spend $4 on a smaller amount and kind

of get introduced to the brand.

So we played around with different sizes.

We now have two sizes,

but I think the packaging and the branding is so key.

I love our branding and our packaging.

That's really what catches the gourmet specialty food.

The buyers eye first is that packaging,

it has to fit aesthetically on that shelf or it has

to fit aesthetically in that gift basket.

It doesn't matter how good it tastes.

If it looks janky,

it's not going to sell.

But then obviously when you're getting distribution and you're working with

stores, they'll look at their packaging,

they buy in,

but then they have to taste good too.

So doing the quick and dirty market research and again everyone

I think thinks it's much more of a a glamorous and

involved process.

I literally just went to a bunch of different stores and

was like,

okay, what's on their shelves,

what flavors are there?

There was a lot of,

with Sabi,

a lot of barbecue,

a lot of salt,

lot of ingredients.

I couldn't pronounce a lot of almonds that originated in a

different country.

And so having that appreciation for food,

I really wanted to have some different and unique flavors and

I still feel like I have so many ideas that I

want to introduce and we're trying to figure out how to

have a seasonal flavor that's an ever evolving skew.

But I didn't want to get trapped in the wasabi barbecue,

smoked almonds.

I really wanted to do something different.

And so that's where our flavors came up from.

We have six now.

I think all of them are unique in their own right

and kind of catch people's eye.

But the packaging is so important.

But then once you open the bag,

you have to have a product that stands up on its

own that people will ribeye or that you're convincing buyers to

bring into their store.

Well said.

You have to be strong on both sides for sure.

Yes. Yeah.

All right.

You are talking such a great story.

Everything is beautiful.

Life is wonderful.

We both know that that can't be the whole story.

There has to be something in there that was challenging or

a struggle or something that you will get really anxious about

as you were building your business.

Can you bring us to that point So often it sounds

like business owners who listen to and are successful have just

had an easy road the whole time.

Well that's never ever the case and Christie's going to share

with us some of her struggles.

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Yeah, so you know it's interesting.

I think it's all perspective and I definitely can point to

a couple of tangible times that it was challenging either we

had a massive order come in,

so I remember a couple of years ago when I was

still producing everything under the cottage food act in my dad's

kitchen. We had a massive order come through and it was

like, how the heck am I going to do this?

And it was just really long hours and really challenging.

Your mindset is really the biggest challenge.

I try to look at everything as a learning experience and

a lesson,

so I was actually just telling one of my mentors the

other day.

I said,

you know,

I finally have gotten to the place where I feel like

there is not a single challenge that you could physically put

in front of me that I couldn't give it my honest

try and try and work my way around and figure out

some sort of solution.

The biggest struggle in all of this is again,

keeping that chatter down and staying true to yourself and trusting

what you're doing and not getting sidetracked by any one thing,

whether it be the person wanting to give you marketing advice

or someone wanting to give you money for equity,

or there's a myriad of things that business owners will become

tasked with.

If you have your mindset right in,

I trust what I'm doing and I trust myself and I

can turn off all those negative little voices,

there's really nothing that can get in your way and stop

you. I agree with you and your point about mindset,

when you got that big order,

you could say,

Oh my gosh,

yes, it's going to be a ton of work,

but look,

we got this huge opportunity.

Or you could be sitting twiddling your thumbs and doing nothing.

Right? I mean,

that would have been the other side of it.

Yeah, so I think everything has its specific challenge.

When it came time to move out of my dad's kitchen

and find a co-packer.

Yeah. We could talk for hours about the hysterical stories of

just the hilarity that ensues and being a business owner,

for instance,

I used to buy my almonds retail and the step that

I had to take to go and find an official supplier.

I didn't have any experience in the food industry.

It was all just getting your hands dirty and I remember

pulling up the California almond board's website and going down the

list of 200 different people that were on the almond board

and calling them.

First of all,

when I started this,

I had no idea there were different types of almonds.

I thought an almonds and almond.

I had no idea that there were different types.

So I would call and people would say,

well, what type and what size?

And I'm like,

I don't know.

I just need almonds.

And so their reaction was funny.

I had certain people that were like,

okay, well what's your first order going to look like?

Well, about a hundred pounds.

And they had 40,000

pound minimums.

They were used to doing these massive export deals or selling

to the major players in the nut industry.

There is always to be hurdles and challenges,

so finding a good supplier and one that we could have

a relationship was definitely something that took some time.

And then when it took time to move out of the

home kitchen and into a production facility and making that decision

of do I want to be in her producing or do

I want to have it be more of a co-packer capacity?

And again,

finding a partner that I still consider myself at a nano

business. We're almost a small business status,

but finding partners that would say,

Oh well you have to guarantee at least eight hours on

a production line.

Okay, well how many bags is that?

That's like 50,000

bags. I mean,

trying to find the right partners and finally landed on someone

who is great.

They're an amazing partner.

I feel like they're my guardian angels and just everything that

they've helped us do so far.

But even that,

I mean then you talk about recipes scaling,

I mean that you would think,

Oh, okay,

well I used to make 10 pounds in the home kitchen

and now I need to make a 50 pound batch,

so I'll just multiply my recipe times five that doesn't work.

So it's all these challenges that are,

I think every person in food manufacturing faces.

Then I feel like I still have so many ahead of

me, but really there haven't been any that are crippling.

And I really think you can avoid those crippling experiences as

long as your mindset is right and you trust everything that's

going on and look at it all as one big learning

opportunity. I agree.

I also think when you come to those forks in the

road, that's where a lot of people fall off.

So for example,

when you were changing from your commercial into a production facility,

you could have said,

Oh my gosh,

this is too much.

I can't figure it out.

They want more than I could possibly need and fall off

and be done.

And so the more of these hurdles you're able to overcome,

the less competition you have because so many other people start

falling to the wayside.

Yeah. And just in terms of advice,

I mean each one of these sources came from a place

where I would least expect it.

So don't always go through traditional avenues.

And again,

like we kind of touched on when we were first starting,

I truly believe in setting an intention and putting it out

there and,

and part of it is the mysterious powers of the universe

and part of it is you yourself just subconsciously always working

towards that.

But yeah,

I had two very serendipitous things happen that led me to

get these contacts.

And I think something that people will always ask successful entrepreneurs

is how much do you attribute to luck and how much

do you attribute to hard work?

And I don't think anything is really locked so to speak,

but I think your ability to set your intention and then

connect the dots is so important.

And a lot of people identify that as luck.

But at no point was I sitting in a restaurant and

had someone walk up to me and say,

Hey, do you need almonds?

It's not luck like that.

It's things turning up when you least expect it.

And in places where you least expect it,

which you could call luck,

but I call setting your intention and just kind of being

open to everything.

I kind of liken it to being on the right path

because if you're not up walking,

that opportunity is not going to be there for you cause

you're not going out to get it.

So you have to be out there for it even to

connect to you at all.

Yeah. Are you just going to leave us in about the

serendipitous events?

Like you're just going to let us guess or will you

share that?

So in terms of my co-packer,

so I had thought I was going to partner with,

I think by industry standards,

a mid range facility down in Torrance and things were kind

of slow to move and then yes you have those monkey

wrench. Like what the heck am I going to do?

I mean,

they were traditionally a bakery and so they had a real

issue with producing our savory flavors because the brazen Buffalo wing

and the Rosemary garlic flavor,

both have very intense flavors and aromas of garlic and chili

powder. So they had some real concerns.

And so it was like here,

you know,

we'd spent all this time and we thought we figured it

all out and it was going to cost a fortune,

but it was what needed to be done.

And then they come back and say,

well, we can't produce two of your most popular flavors.

And so it was like,

well shoot,

now we're back to square one.

And so the serendipity came in where I was approached by

a very prestigious retailer,

actually in France,

Labon Marshay.

They had sent me an email that said,

Hey, we're doing a casting call in downtown LA and will

you come and pitch your product to the buyers?

And if it's accepted,

you'll be sold in the bond.

Marshay which,

I mean,

it was a total pinch me moment right there.

I mean,

it is the Holy grail of specialty food stores in Paris.

When we got into Labon Marsha,

I think that was when my dad finally kind of switched

to like,

Oh my gosh,

this is a real thing.

Like you are exporting or almost to a foreign country to

a very prestigious store.

You're doing it.

Yeah. So I went to this open casting call and the

people that I shared the table with,

we kind of got to chatting and we exchanged information and

they produce a product that required some roasted almonds.

And so they called me a couple of weeks after we

had met.

We were just bouncing ideas off of each other,

roasting techniques and certain flavor profiles and again,

connecting those dots.

And they were not a co-packer.

I mean they were manufacturing their own product.

But I just said,

well Hey,

do you guys ever have spare time in your kitchen?

Would you be interested in taking on giddy-up cause I need

a space,

I need a partner.

I think it's a good size fit.

Let's try this.

And that's where that partnership came into play.

And it really was because we had serendipitously shared a table

at this event and we're just kind of talking shop about

roasting things.

They became a co-packer and I found my solution in these

people, so I think I had called at least a hundred

different places who offered production services and again was either laughed

at where they said,

well we spill 40,000

pounds of almonds and production stories like that too.

No, we really can't handle your product to now finding someone

who really fit my needs on a size scale,

but also who could be a true partner and they've just

been great.

That's a wonderful story.

And you know,

you can't really explain why these things happen,

but you can't stop trying.

That's the thing.

You can't stop trying and somehow it just comes to be,

it's crazy.

As our last big topic before we start to wind down,

I want to go to how you were talking and defining

giddy up nuts.

What food that you enjoy eating,

the add on of country music,

the small town pioneer field,

and then how that extends into what you're asking people to

do in social media.

Let's talk about that.

Yeah. So I think again that connection with our brand and

I even look at how I have changed my shopping habits

and I think I always will go and look up a

brand on social media before I go and purchase from them.

Most of the time it is an online brand so I'm

trying to get some perspective.

But I think social media is so important nowadays and it's

important to not just have a presence but have a really

strong and curated presence.

It's interesting cause your Instagram is like this timeline of your

brand. So I'll scroll back to like giddy up in the

early days.

Yeah, you're not using the same aesthetic and you're kind of

mixing in personal stuff,

which I think is important.

People want to know the person behind the brand.

So I think it's important to confuse some personal things when

appropriate. But it was very distracted.

So I think it's one thing to have pretty images,

but you need to make sure that your images really fit

your brand.

And so I really try to be more conscious.

And by no means am I an expert,

but it really lately tried to be very specific in the

type of content that I want to put on social media.

And I think it's so cool.

I'm lucky to be in touch with a community of athletes

and adventurers and hikers and over the summer we hosted five

PCT hikers,

the Pacific crest trail,

which is what Reese Witherspoon did and wild.

We hosted them.

We actually my soon to be husband and I have a

place in mammoth now and so we hosted them at the

house and said,

Hey, you can stay here for free and we'll cook you

dinner and we'll exchange stories but take the nuts out on

the trail and literally trail test them.

Tell me how does it work for someone who's backpacking 30

miles a day?

Is it something that you want to grab out of your

packet, eat cause they give you energy,

does it keep you going?

But also send me pictures of you and really cool places

with the almonds because I think that's so part of the

story of never stop exploring and fuel for your everyday wanderings

and these people everyday wanderings just happened to be the crazy

trucks through the Sierra Nevada,

but love to see people interacting with the product and I

think that's important.

So you're encouraging people to send you pictures directly of lifestyle

shots of them with the nuts,

right? Yes.

Okay. And then you select from there what goes on.

In other words,

you don't have people posting directly to your wall or anything.

You don't do challenges like that?

No, no.

I kind of manage what goes through because again,

I want to make sure it's one thing to have pretty

pictures, but you really want to make sure that the look

and the feel fit into the overall mood because I think

it's so important.

Instagram really is just a mood board and you really get

acquainted with what a brand is through that mood board at

this point.

I really want to curate that.

So, yeah,

but I mean it doesn't have to be some Epic adventure.

I mean,

I encourage people to,

Hey, if you're sitting at your desk and you have your

almonds, like that's your every day thing.

Send me that.

If you're on the train.

Yeah, wherever you are.

You don't have to be in some crazy,

beautiful place.

I want the aesthetics of the image to be good,

but really it's to give them that look and that feel

of having something that ties into a more romantic idea of

exploration. But you literally can eat when you're walking from subway

station to subway station.

Got it.

And I totally agree with you on the Instagram side,

you do the same approach for Facebook.

Yeah. Okay.

Gotcha. Okay.

So moving on really quickly.

You are a girl going in a million directions clearly.

Always have those condiments in the kitchen,

right? Specifically?

Well, I guess let's just say now because that's going to

be the easiest.

Are there any apps that you're using that you really count

on day to day to keep yourself organized and to run

the business?

QuickBooks. I use QuickBooks a lot or invoices,

so I use them.

I am old school in that I love lists,

I think to do lists.

I have,

unfortunately, like you said,

I'm going in a million different directions,

so I used to be really good about keeping one list

and keeping it updated.

I now find to do lists everywhere,

but I really rely on QuickBooks to keep the accounting side

managed at any one point.

I can log in and be like,

okay, this is,

we're doing good right now.

And also just for the invoices from a technology standpoint,

again, Instagram is so,

so, so critical in the business and then yeah,

just old fashioned to do lists.

Got it.

So for somebody who's just starting out,

who's taking that car ride like you did,

you know,

and comes across an idea and just isn't sure if they

should jump in or not.

What would you say to that person?

I would say try it,

but try it responsibly.

I mean,

don't go out and quit your job and embark on this

new version of you without any research.

There is no shame in that slow growth.

And I think it's really hard to stay true to that,

especially in today's world where we live in the world of

overnight successes and hundreds of thousands or millions of followers.

And I even get caught up in just,

Oh my gosh,

this person's in this store now and this person's doing this

and you have to stay true to your story and your

path. And there is no shame in slow and steady growth

and, and doing it systematically.

I am a big,

big fan of self-funding,

which of course when you still have a full time job,

you're able to do because then it's,

you're allowed to be playful in those first creative years.

There's not this crazy amount of stress and you're really allowing

the brand and the product to take on what it's meant

to be as opposed to maybe saying yes to things because

you needed the money for it.

So I think you really allow the brand to find its

truest identity when you don't have that financial pressure hanging over

your head.

That being said,

there is going to be a moment where you have to

take that jump because you are going to need people to

start taking you more seriously.

Whether that in needing to raise capital or getting into a

big store,

whatever it is,

where you are going to have to take that jump and

that jump is really,

really scary.

But it's also so gratifying and I think it's so important

to do so.

I would say definitely road test your concept,

research, all the different ways that you can do it on

the cheap.

There's also no shame and sort of Jimmy rigging it and

figuring it out and having your product evolve.

But yeah,

slow and steady and just do it.

Try it.

I mean sell it amongst your friends.

We live in a day and age now where it's so

easy to start up business,

which is good and bad because I mean that makes the

competition. No,

I listened to these podcasts and hear about how like Larabar

started and she literally brought her part into whole foods in

a Ziploc bag or like honest tea who brought his samples

in and a Snapple bottle.

Unfortunately, we don't live in that world anymore.

You to get into a whole foods or somewhere like that,

you have to have a fully fleshed concept with UPC and

a sales record.

So on the one hand it's great because we have tools

like Instagram and cottage food permits and different avenues that make

it so easy to get into the business.

But the business is also very flushed with competition.

So figure out how you're going to differentiate yourself.

It always gets kind of scary because very few ideas are

truly new ideas and they don't have to be,

you just have to come up with a better or more

compelling way than is already being done right now.

So I mean,

spice almonds are not a new concept.

I'm not breaking any barriers there.

It gets the way that it's positioned and that you can

pronounce all of the ingredients.

It's unique flavors,

it tastes good.

But you don't have to feel guilty about eating it and

it's a brand and a story that you connect with that

is so important.

And that,

again, I know I'm going in a million different directions again,

but I think it's also super important to have that story.

There's reasons why companies like Disney are so successful and it's

because they have really solid storytelling and they communicate it all

throughout the brand.

And I think that's so important to have that story and

make sure it manifests everywhere that you can in your business.

Christie, that is spectacular.

I am not even going to comment on any of it

because it was perfectly said,

it was a model of just best practice after best practice

after best practice.

I am leaving it just the way it is,

but I'm not leaving you yet because I'd like to offer

you a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your magical box?

Okay, so I'm going to cheat here a little bit.

If I had to pick the,

Oh my gosh,

no, you have to pick something.

Answer I would say a little black book of contacts of

people who I can truly get a hold of and get

in front of because that is so much part of the

battle relationships in those contexts.

So I would want a little black book where I could

sign that grocery manager or retail buyer for whoever I was

trying to go after and get in front of them.

So if I had to pick that physical gift,

that would be it.

If I had to pick it in more of a spiritual

setting, I would just say a magical power that allows you

to always have that confidence and stay true to your voice

and turn down that background noise and just be courageous and

go for it.

Beautiful. What are you thinking is next?

I really,

really am hoping,

I'm working right now with a chain of stores,

but I really hope what's next is our regional distribution deal

with like a big store.

I would love to be able to finally,

when someone asks,

you know,

where can I get your products and not have to ask,

well where do you live?

I would love to be able to say you can go

to whole foods.

We're just starting off with Bristol farms,

which I know is pretty regional to California,

but my next one year plan is to find a retailer

and get a regional deal with them,

at least on the West coast.

So I can say you can go to whole foods or

you can go to natural grocers or whatever and not have

to say where do you live?

Perfect. I love it and I know it's going to happen

and it's all steps along the way,

right? It is Regional leads to divisional leads to national leads

to whatever.

Yup. World domination.

There you go.

So give biz listeners.

Remember there's going to be a show notes page,

so you're going to be able to go back.

I know everyone after our conversation is going to want to

see the Instagram site,

right? For giddy up nuts.

Christie, where would be the single best place you would direct

people? If they want to see what the nuts look like,

all the different flavors,

et cetera.

Instagram is the best sort of up to date.

There's also the website,

so www.giddyupnuts.com

I try and keep a blog up to date on there

too. I haven't been so good about it lately,

but just different recipes,

ideas. I actually,

my soon to be husband is on a pretty restrictive diet

right now,

so I've been playing around with some of the almonds and

they're not just good for snacking on.

I actually made a quiche crust out of our Rosemary garlic

almonds. I turned it into an almond flour.

Yeah, so you can play around with them.

Do you have that recipe up there?

I will post it.

Okay. Not only can you munch on these,

but you can stick them on your ice cream sundaes or

your yogurt or you can turn it into a quiche crust.

Made my own almond flour out of it,

so I try and post that kind of stuff on the

blog. But you can buy the nuts directly online.

Hint, hint.

Our online store is a great place to try them.

But yeah,

I'd say Instagram and our website are probably the best places

to visit.

Thank you so much.

That's so great.

I was not expecting all of this value.

I mean we had a lot to talk about but this

was just an absolute perfect example of the way to find

an idea.

Take action right away,

test the market,

go step by step and grow in a safer environment.

You know,

where you had your full time and then how eventually that

went away and then you build and you're still growing.

We caught you at such a great point because you're already

so successful and there's so much more to come.

So I know on behalf myself and My listeners,

we're going to be very excited to watch your progress.

Thanks for giving me this platform too cause they think it's

so much fun to talk about this kind of stuff and

reflect on where you've been and where you can still go.

And like I said at serendipity cause I was literally driving

where I was going to end up meeting you and was

like, man,

it'd be so cool to do something like this and here

I am doing it.

That's how these things happen.

That's why we have so much confidence in what's going to

happen for you in the future.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

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