220 – Serving It Up Sweet and Spicy with Sonya Paz

Gift biz unwrapped,

episode 220 that is pretty much the choice word that everyone

uses is I'm so addicted to this stuff At Tinton,

gifters, bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

now you are in the right place.

This is give to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there,

You too.

And thank you once again for joining me on the show

and if you're a first time listener,

welcome. I'm thrilled that you're here.

Before we get into the show,

I have a question for you.

How'd your day go yesterday?

Maybe a crazy question.

I know,

and yes,

you heard me right?

If you were to rate yesterday,

how much did you get done?

How far did you advance toward your goal?

Or maybe in your mind you're saying what goal?

Many of you have told me you aren't sure whether what

you're doing is the right thing for your business.

You're confused that you may be focusing on the wrong things

and wasting time and money and you compare yourself to others

and feel like you're just not keeping up.

Sound familiar?

Maybe you find that you're busy all day long,

but when you finish up,

you haven't accomplished much of anything at all.

I've been there too until I started working with what I

now call the power of purpose.

I made a free video for you that explains how to

boost your productivity and get results using the power of your

purpose. Isn't it time to make all the effort that you

put into your business and your life do for you what

you've intended.

Now full disclosure,

this video does lead into showing you my brand new inspired

daily planner.

But listen,

you don't need the inspired planner to get all the advantages

out of the power of purpose that I show you in

this video.

So if you're interested in discovering a new way to work

through your days,

so your time is intentional and your results are real,

I encourage you to go over and watch this video and

you can find it at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash planner that's gift biz unwrapped.com

forward slash.

Planner I am so excited to bring my guests to you

today because she is a perfect model of something that I

think a lot of us struggle with as a maker.

There are so many things that you can make,

but how do you decide then,

which of all of your talents and skills and is that

a thing that you should actually present to the world to

sell? To build a company around?

Now, best practice is not to show every single thing you

have because then you don't really stand for anything.

You're very vanilla,

if you will,

to any audience.

So you pick one product,

you really dive into it,

you get known for it,

and then once you're established and you have a strong company,

then you take your reputation of who you are as an

artist and you can add to your product line or in

this case create an entirely different product line and bring your

existing audience along for the ride because they already know you,

they already love you and they're going to follow you.

You're going to understand this a lot better when I get

into introducing the guest and you hearing her story.

So without any further ado,

let's roll the interview.

So today I have a little bit of an extra surprise.

I have a repeat guest on,

but she's here in a whole new vein.

Those of you who have been listening to the show for

a while are familiar with Sonia.

Pause. She is an artist.

We had back in November episode 188 you can hear all

about her a mazing art business,

but she's merged into a different industry I think I should

say. In addition,

and I wanted to get her on again because I want

you guys to hear all about where the future can go

and the different avenues that can happen with your business.

So Sonia is a fine artist now turned foodie with Sonia's

sweet and spicy.

She's known for her vivid,

popular pop art paintings and retail products.

But in the last couple of years she'd been working on

a flavorful new adventure that has caught everyone,

including herself by surprise after moving out of the hustle and

bustle of the San Jose area,

she now lives in the central Valley of California where agriculture

is abundant and the flavors are wild.

Sonia started canning and preserving foods and is now created a

recipe that transforms a super spicy jalapeno into something calmer,

something sweet and spicy.

She'd taken these candied sweet jalapenos to potlucks and family gatherings

and watched it be devoured within seconds and seeing that response.

She worked with a food scientist and now sells Sonia's sweetened,

spicy direct to individuals,

specialty shops and grocery stores.

And as Sonia now says,

life is always better when you have a little sweet and

spice in your life.

Welcome back to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Sonya. Oh my God,

that's so great.

Thank you so much.

Super having back again.

I am Thrilled to be here.

I am so excited.

And we were talking in the beginning and I said,

well, you know,

we're not going to go through your candle color again and

all that.

And you're like,

well wait,

wait. I already have one.

So then I'm thinking,

all right,

well maybe things have changed.

Maybe your perspective has changed and clearly as we go through

life, our thoughts and what we're doing changes.

So let's do it.

Let's once again here,

how you were described yourself through a motivational candle,

so coloring quote,

what would that look like?

Well, the color definitely would be,

even though jalapenos are green,

I think the whole variety of my new logo and brand

and everything sort of is an orange,

yellow color and it's just,

it glows from the inside out And it's all colors of,

well green,

yellow and orange,

right. Colors of fresh produce and all that.

Yeah. But I think the candle needs to be very vivid

and yellow with orange just to really give it a nice

sunny pop.

Perfect. There you go.

And do you have a new quote or mantra or something

that you want to share with us on that candle When

things get hot and spicy,

just go with it.

That can be taken in a lot of different contexts,

but this is the good food kind of context.

There you go.

So it seems to me from the story that you were

moving just for a lifestyle change or just to switch things

up. Who knew that this was going to be something that

was going to happen in your life?

Yeah, like we said,

it's certainly was a surprise.

And it's so funny cause I don't know if it really

should be a surprise because when I started painting again after

many, many years in the mid to late nineties I would

paint for myself and I would have people saying,

Oh wow,

I love your art.

Can I buy it?

Do you do custom orders?

Do you do commissions?

And all that.

And at the time I thought,

no, I just kind of doing it for myself and ended

up being turning into a giant art business.

And so here I am back again,

what? 20 years later.

So, and creating something I did for myself that I'd like

to share with friends and family when we would go to

potlucks or dinners or where you bring an appetizer or a

progressive neighborhood gathering or what have you.

And I started bringing those and people were asking me,

Oh my God,

where'd you get these?

And I said,

well, I made them Did,

where'd you learn how to do that?

They didn't expect that out of you for anything,

right? No.

So I thought,

Hmm. I mean the canning process is a very long and

tedious process.

So you've got to prepare the vegetables and you have to

cut them and then you have to cook them and then

you have to put them in the sterilized jars and you

take to put the jars in a water bath and then

you have to take them out.

And everything's a timed process and it's very lengthy.

But I loved it because I thought,

wow, I can take this tomatoes or I can take these

peppers or make these preserves and make something that I can

make now and consume later.

I know we all do that and we buy things at

the grocery store in jars or in cans,

but when you do it yourself,

you're excited when you can eat them or you can share

them with other people.

And I worked on this recipe.

I found just a basic recipe online.

I thought,

well, this is kind of good because my husband likes the

jalapenos that we would get at the taco.

Yeah. But those were usually pickled and vinegar.

They weren't sweet at all.

They were very,

very, very spicy and it almost had a oil consistency to

it as well.

You were just playing around then with different ways of canning,

just for yourself,

just for fun,

just to do so that you'd have the pleasure and the

joy of being able to eat foods that you had canned

yourself with the freshness and the colors and all of that

being the creator that you are.

So were you experimenting with jalapenos,

tomatoes and all different types of vegetables or were you just

focusing on jalapenos because of your husband?

My friend Sue,

she and I went to high school together and she was

telling me one day,

Hey, what are you doing this weekend?

Oh, I'm going to be pickling bread and butter pickles.

I said,

Ooh, I want to learn.

She goes,

come over.

So I brought over 20 pounds of these little,

they're not the kind of cucumbers that you buy in the

grocery store,

the waxy kind for salad.

These are made specifically for cooking and here in the central

Valley you've got people selling these at the farmer's markets and

at the specialty,

little grocer,

some of the small independent markets here,

but there was a lady that sells them every summer.

She sells them only in 20 pound boxes,

so you can't buy three or four pounds.

And for the amount of effort it does take to do

the canning,

that's really nothing.

So I bring over this big box of these cucumbers and

we're washing them and we're cutting them and learning how to

cut them and how thick to cut them and just the

whole list goes on and making the brine and cooking them

and stirring them and waiting for it to reach a certain

temperature. And there's all of these facets and learning how to

do that was the law.

We were there for hours doing this,

but it was interesting and I thought I got home and

I started looking online and thinking,

gosh, what else could I make?

And then joined a couple of these canning and preserving Facebook

pages of people from all over the world,

but mainly in the United States and the in the Midwest

where people do a lot of preserving because we're the winters

and they want to prepare food for the off season.

Right. Like a bear for our hibernation here.

I think two Californians don't really understand that process because of

our climate,

but out in in the areas where the weather can be

a lot colder,

you can't just run out for a quick something in the

middle of the day if you're having a snow day or

whatever. Right.

So I started doing some preserves as well because I live

in the apricot Capitol of the world,

which is Patterson,

California. If you drive around,

you see nothing but apricot and almond trees all over the

place. Well that amazing.

Oh it is amazing.

I never thought I would being a true San Jose in

that I would adopt and really embrace the flavors and the

use of the Valley.

But I started with the jalapenos.

I thought,

Hmm, sweet jalapenos.

Cause I don't like jalapenos.

I mean not raw ones.

If they're in a salsa or something,

I'm the one that's picking them all out.

I don't fancy the raw jalapeno and I don't like the

ones that they have restaurants or the toxicity is.

So when I found this sweeter jalapeno recipe,

I altered it and I added my own spices and added

a lot more sugar than the vinegar.

And there was just this whole balance of the way that

I created this process.

And it has to do with the cooking times as well.

And it has to do with the amount of sugar along

with the vinegars and my little special spice mix that really

gives it this,

I don't want to say addicting flavor,

but that is pretty much the choice where that everyone uses

is I'm so addicted to this stuff.

Oh, music to your ears,

I'm sure.

Yeah. So with that said,

I just started making and selling little eight ounce jars,

but supply and demand did come along.

So you saw that family and friends,

we know when you go to potlucks,

they were just gravitating to it.

They were eating,

it was gone so quickly.

They were saying wonderful things about it.

At that point already.

Were you thinking,

Whoa, maybe I could take this to a bigger level?

Oh yeah.

My husband starts getting all calculating with me.

So how many jars do you think it would take to

make this many and blah,

blah, blah.

I said,

okay, well it takes roughly four and a half hours to

make 48 eight ounce jars and it would take four and

a half hours to make 24 16 ounce jar.

So doing all the math.

And I thought,

well let me give this a try.

So I rented a commercial kitchen nearby and I just didn't

like going there.

It was super hot and muggy in there and there was

other people around and you had to share resources.

There's not a lot of commercial kitchens in the Patterson area.

So I just decided that for the effort of the supply

and the demand,

maybe I'll partner with somebody.

So I ended up finding someone who is a co-packer that

was able to work with me and I worked with them

and we signed agreements and NDAs and I sent money and

everything was great.

Going along,

got sample number one and it was almost there.

It wasn't quite got sample number two and it was perfect.

So we placed a purchase order to order 50 or 60

cases and we're supposed to have received that by mid November

Went on and on,

didn't hear anything,

didn't hear anything.

Reached out to the guy,

said, Oh,

having a bit of an issue with the manufacturing equipment.

I'll keep you posted.

I said,

do you think I can get these by Thanksgiving because people

are asking and I don't have anything.

Well, you probably started Creating some type of a promotional plan

and all of that.

Right? Absolutely,

and got the label designed and per specifications with the nutritional

panel and all the necessary things that have to go on.

You're making me nervous.

I'm getting a stomach ache.

Just thinking about this all again happened,

so I ended up reaching out to the guy.

Here it is,

November 1st second,

third, fourth,

second week in November.

I don't hear anything and I reach out and he says,

Oh, I'm having issues after 30 something years,

I'm having issues with my landlord.

I'm so sorry.

I'm going to have to keep you posted,

and then I heard nothing.

Just did a little research,

found out the guy had closed his doors.

I don't know why.

He basically took my 50% deposit my recipe and closed his

doors and haven't heard since.

Oh my gosh,

did have my attorney send him a note.

He never replied.

I think a lot of people would think this is it.

Okay, I learned a horrible lesson.

Boohoo let me go and wallow in my sorrow.

But for those who know me know that I'm pretty tenacious

and I'm not going to let this thing get me down.

So you basically got to dust your knees off and take

a deep breath and start researching again.

So I started back at square one and found another co-packer

who has been amazing.

They pick up the phone when I call and they've been

in business for decades and they've taught me a lot.

Had to alter a little tiny things of my recipe just

for scientific food purposes.

So I'm thinking that you altered the recipe also because now

this other person who you can't find had your recipe.

I mean,

that's like the gold of your product.

Yeah. And so I look at this as a silver lining

is that he didn't tell me certain things about some of

the scientific things.

There has to be certain pH levels,

there has to be a lot of specifics with the product

when it's being preserved,

when it's being canned in a jar.

And I'm not saying that he was doing anything wrong,

he just didn't,

I don't know if it was his own secret to keep

as far as my scientific processes and how we do large

scale co-packing,

but the new person,

the new company that I have partnered with has educated me

a lot in regards to all of the FDA and safety

standards and what has to really be on the label and

what has to be listed as this,

that and the other.

So it was good In the end.

It sounds like even though this was a major road bump

in the end,

it sounds like you're in a better position than had you

stayed with that initial person.

I'm wondering if there are any warning signs that you might've

seen as you were going through there that you now realize

now, but you didn't know then.

Is there anything that you can think of that you could

share with listeners in terms of if they're getting into a

situation like this,

something that you should have heated and been cautionary of but

you realize it at the time.

Oh, in regards to my recipe in the packaging and all

that. The whole coordination with the Packard in the beginning,

the co-packer and you thought everything was fine and it sounds

like from your description you did everything you should,

you had an agreement,

you had the recipe covered,

all of that and still things went wrong.

Is there anything you would have done differently?

I guess I'd say what that first round,

Well, anytime that you work with any type of vendor who

is helping you with producing any type of thing,

whether it's your label or if it's an actual product or

if you have lotions or anything like that where you're relying

on, you always should have a nondisclosure agreement and that just

keeps supposed to keep everyone honest.

Now it's kind of insulting to ask somebody,

Hey, do you plan on going out of business in the

next six months?

You didn't expect that.

Yeah, so we did all the right things,

but the long of the short of it is that stuff

does happen and I've looked at the glass half full,

I've looked at it half empty and I'm thinking he probably

feels worse about this.

That means if what he said was true as having,

renting a building for 30 something years and then his landlord

wanting to sell the building or whatever the case was,

any type of food packaging has large equipment and to move

that I can imagine is a ginormous headache because I've moved

my businesses several times and it's not a fun thing to

do. So I don't know if he felt if he retired,

he just cut his losses and just move on.

Who knows?

He never responded.

Well that's the part that's not an excuse.

I mean you're very gracious for giving him an out here,

but I don't know him,

so I'm not,

yeah, we're not communicating to you the problem and working it

out and figuring something out with you and just being silent,

I don't think is that great.

But I would probably say something different if it wasn't on

the podcast and it's been said,

trust me.

Yeah, I'm sure.

I'm sure.

But look,

but here is a great example though where it didn't then

stop you.

Cause you could have said at this point,

I'm done.

Forget it.

It's too much.

Now I have money that I've invested for nothing unfortunately.

But you didn't take that route.

Right. And now you're better off for it as we were

just talking about before.

So how do you find a co-packer?

A lot of research.

I mean it wasn't just Googling things,

it was finding the right terms to use on Google.

What type of people?

I mean you find lots of people who do co-packing but

they won't touch anything less than 800 cases.

There's co-packers all over the country and you have to interview

people. You have to ask a lot of questions.

There's a lot of working with people and letting know this

is my first product,

can you work with me?

A lot of people are very cut.

No, we don't work with anyone other than someone who wants

to bulk for Costco or they have specific co-packers that do

just that.

Or for large scale grocery stores.

So finding an independent company that will work with you and

help you grow is huge.

That was a big one cause I probably talked to,

I'm going to say between 15 and 20 before I found

the new outfit that I'm working with and I started getting

a little discouraged.

I thought,

Oh for Pete's sake there's gotta be somebody out there.

When you do work with them,

you sign NDAs and you send them,

there's an R and D fee and that can vary.

So it depends on what kind of company is and how

what your product is.

And then you send them a sample of the product and

once they receive the product,

one of the scientists call me back and she said,

Oh my God,

this stuff is amazing.

Oh wow.

So excited that we're going to be able to work with

you on this because she goes,

I'm practically flicking the jar clean.

And I thought,

wow, really?

And I took that as wow.

I mean I don't think it was a lion to impress

me or anything.

No. Cause she didn't have to say anything.

You were already going to do business with her?

Yeah. When you send that jar to them,

what are they doing?

They're analyzing the ingredients and yeah,

I had to send them to jars.

So one for them to try.

They do pH levels on them.

I send them the entire ingredient list,

the entire processing cooking process.

I mean everything is calculated.

So every single thing,

like there can't be any holes in the direction,

right. Everything.

And a large of the processing was dependent on how thick

the slices are.

They can't be too thick,

they can't be too thin,

they have to be just right.

And that is because I've tried it.

I used a mandolin slicer for one batch and they came

out this sloppy Beaky,

wilted kind of jalapeno slices.

They didn't turn out good.

And then I thought,

well, I'm going to try one batch where they're super thick

or I even tried them.

So I sliced them whole but vertical.

So there was a lot of different ways that I tried

them. And the one that worked the best was the one

where I had them sliced to a specific width and that

was the key functioning product.

So there was a lot of R and D on my

side, but I wanted to see,

well what if I did it this way or what if

I changed it that way and we're talking hundreds of hours

over the stove trying different things,

smaller batches,

maybe not 20 pounds at a time,

but five pounds here just to kind of work out to

see how those different types of preparation methods work.

So then you finally get the product that you love.

It's the perfect way in terms of the slicing and the

different ingredients that are in there and all of that.

Then you find a co-packer,

you send it to them,

they do all of their analysis and that analysis also then

goes for what's going to be on the label.

Yes, in their cooking processes.

They have to basically adopt,

from what I have done on a very small scale to

a larger scale.

So they multiply the recipe and they have special ways of

cooking, so it's pretty impressive.

It's really impressive on what they do and how they do

it. And then there's the fun stuff,

The fun Stuff which we'll get into right after a word

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Then there's the fun stuff.

Let's pick the jar out and you know it's all the

fluff. Well that's the thing you love.

I'm sure that part probably came so easy to you.

I can only imagine.

Yeah, And what kind of jar do I want to spend

the money on a fancy jar?

Do we just go basic and I decided just to kind

of go basic.

It's in a Mason style jar.

I decided to go with a lug lid versus a two

piece for a few different reasons.

One, the two piece lid when you're taking out and serving

and putting the lid back on,

it's in two pieces and it gets to be a bit

of a pain.

That was great when I was doing it on the small

scale, but for the big scale,

I think it also gives the impression that,

Oh, this is a real product,

and I went around and around about it thinking,

well, I want people to know it's homemade or it now

made with love and all that,

but it's just an easier thing when you have one piece

lid than a two piece.

Sure. Just a side question really quick.

Did the one or the two piece lid affect the shelf

life? No.

It has about an 18 to 24 months shelf life.

The process is pretty much the same.

I think that a lot of people look at the one-piece

lid as being more of a finished product And it's something

that you anticipate that you would get from a grocery store

too or a nice gourmet shop.

Right. There's all those subtle little impressions that are left.

People don't even realize as you go along.

Yeah. And if I ever wanted to glam it up a

bit, either way with either lid,

if I wanted to glam it up and put a little

fabric swatch on there and put a bow around or whatever,

it would still look the same.

And then it came down to costs.

Well, how much is the two piece lid and how much

is the one piece led?

And it was going to probably save me,

I don't know,

50 or $60 over the whole entire,

we're talking a few cents per lead,

but when you're starting to get into manufacturing costs,

60 70 8,200

300 whatever is a lot.

You want to save as much as you can so you

can keep the price more affordable to the buyers.

Okay. And so talk a little bit about how you decided

on the name and then the branding and logo creation.

Oh, well how many logos did I come up?

Because as you know,

I create brands for other people as well.

So I thought,

okay, I have the world here by the throat,

but now it's yours.

It's probably very easy to do it for everybody else,

but all of a sudden into yours,

It's mine.

And I thought,

well I can do,

I mean I researched labels and there was funky ones out

there with really funky type face.

There were really more sophisticated type ones with very European sort

of look to it and I thought a lot of sleepless

nights, believe it or not.

So I just started drafting things up and I probably came

up with 20 or 30 about 25 or 30 different sketches,

designs and then I thought,

well it has to have color in it cause that's who

I am.

I wanted something that was going to just almost like a

wagon wheel that was going to rotate,

but I didn't want to use something that looked like it

was from Texas or have something that looked so ordinary or

so typical.

I decided to give it a more of a sophisticated look,

but it's fun as well.

The duration of the process it took.

That was another reason why I glad I found the other

co-packer because I don't think I would have really liked,

I wouldn't have felt just as good with the label had

created months ahead of time.

Then to really put the pedal to the metal and to

find what I really felt inside that I wanted to do.

So that was good.

And so once you actually created it and you saw it

after all of the other versions,

you knew that was the one I knew that was the

one. And I'll tell you,

as a designer,

I'm not the type of person I never ever,

I've always trusted my instinct,

the designs that I've created for my own companies.

I never asked people,

what do you think?

This one,

this one,

that one or that one.

I just do it because if I like it and I

know what caliber of look I'm going for,

I am not one of the kinds of people who go

and start asking family and friends.

Yeah, I'll ask Mark,

okay, here's the design I came up with.

He goes,

I love it.

It's so you.

Yeah. Well,

I have to say now maybe,

I don't think so,

but maybe it's because I knew it was yours already and

I love your design and what you already stand for in

terms of your pop art.

But I could totally relate.

Like I almost feel like if I walked through a gourmet

shop and I saw it on the shelf,

I would take a second glance at it and say,

Sonia, pause.

Like not even knowing if you had even done it.

Did you do that intentionally or is that just because that's

your style?

Oh, just my style.

I wanted something simple,

but something that packed a punch and the name.

It was a little risky cause I mean I'd come up

with a lot of different names and I needed to get

moving on that cause in order to get the label created,

I needed to have that trademark.

I just thought,

okay, it's going to be called Sonia sweet and spicy.

I'm working at other products too,

and those are going to have the same sort of fusion

flavor of the sweet and the spice.

But I thought that sounds kind of a little risque and

I thought it's going to work.

And once the name and the logo and the brand all

were tied together,

it worked.

Love it.

It's fun.

Sounds a little out there,

but I don't think so.

I think it's perfect.

And you gave us a little peek behind the curtain.

I think if you remember on the last show you teased

about this,

what you were doing and now I think you've given us

another little glimmer into the future and I could totally see

you just continuing to extend this brand.

And I think that's an important thing for our listeners to

think about too when they're thinking about a name is if

you think there's a possibility of adding to whether it's any

kind of align,

you want to make sure that whatever you name the overall

product or business,

I'll even say needs to be able to encompass whatever you're

thinking for the future too.

Yes, absolutely.

So will you then,

this is just a sideline comment,

I don't even know,

but would you then change and have a different logo for

different products?

Or you keep that logo,

you think I'm going to keep the look and feel and

just change the name up on the different products.

The label shape will change because some of the other jars

that I will select will be smaller.

Some of the preserves won't be a 16 ounce,

they'll probably be eight ounce or even 10 or maybe nine.

Who knows?

So there's going to be some feature sets with that.

And then of course you have the look of the produce

or you have the contents of the jar that you can

see at the top and the bottom and around the back.

So that'll help in adding a little bit more color to

the look and feel of the product.

If I have preserves that are made with Apricot's,

then that will be an orange.

So it'll sort of take on its own look.

And those are a lot of things that people don't even

think about,

but I do because that's my job.

Well, that's what you've been doing since forever,

which leads me into another question.

How does this then being so different in terms of a

consumable product,

integrate with all of your art and everything else and you

were already had a million things going on.

I know.

How does life look with both of those things happen in

or did you put the brakes on something?

I put the brakes on a couple little things but I

think this has become more exciting and the thing with this

was I got a I only for my design clients,

I'm keeping what I have,

I'm working on right now.

I haven't really taken on anyone new because I want to

be able to focus the very few hours I have left

in the day on Sonia sweet and spicy and that enabled

me to get creative with the whole thing of the new

looking for the new co-packer.

Got me thinking about getting more excited about it cause I

was a little beat up from the experience and I decided,

okay, I'm going to create a YouTube channel,

I'm going to create a YouTube channel and really have a

super nice eCommerce website that I do myself and I'm going

to work on doing weekly recipes using the product.

And so far so good.

I mean,

so if anyone's interested in adding to your repertoire of subscribe

videos on YouTube,

check me out.

I bet it's called Sonia.

Sweet and spicy.

Yes, it's called sweet and spicy kitchen kitchen.

Okay. And just because I wanted to,

it's done in my kitchen.

I wanted it to be super organic,

not anything over the top fancy.

It's all done by me.

My husband helps me a little bit.

I mean to very little cause he's not a techno nerd

like I am.

So he'll help with just getting the light or he'll give

a kind of a quick look.

You'll have a look,

see and make sure.

And then he's told to,

because I can't have him in the other room.

I'm doing the videos.

It's all good.

So this is perfect that you're talking about YouTube right now

because one of my questions was going to be how are

you marketing this?

And I'm going to ask this double cause I think the

answer could potentially be the same.

Are you taking some of the people who are already part

of your audience and follow you with all of the art

and are they coming over now to the sweeten spicy side,

The sweet and spicy side?

Yes. So I do have a email newsletter that I sent

out to my art clients.

And so there was an announcement two weeks ago that said,

Hey, not only am I still doing art and I'm doing

art for you,

but I've taken on since I've done the visual of the

art and I've done the audio of the podcast.

I'm doing the other senses of taste and the love for

food into my repertoire of creative things that I've done.

I am pleased to announce that I have this product out.

So that was really amazing because I invited people to like

the Facebook page and then find the people to get on

the list for upcoming notifications and events and things like that.

I'm not doing a lot of events but just to keep

the interest going.

Well you never know where it's going to happen in the

future either in terms of events and I think that's really

smart and this is something that I didn't do and I'm

glad to hear that you did.

When I started gift biz on wrapped this whole helping makers,

I really felt like I should keep the ribbon print company

separate because they never asked to learn more about the whole

maker thing.

Although they do enjoy business tips,

how other people have been successful and they're making lots of

things with the ribbon printer.

So it would have made sense for me to merge them

together. But I kept them separate and I think that that

was a mistake now.

So because then it does cross populate it.

I mean,

it doesn't mean that you just start mailing them something that

they didn't want,

but offering it up and sharing the additional things that you're

doing is smart.

So I think you did it the right way.

And I just bring that up for our listeners because I

would have done it differently if I were to go back

and do it all over again.

I would have done it the way you did.

Yeah. Cause it's all still part of you.

And if they love you for their art,

for all of the art,

they also love you as the person.

So what else are you getting into?

It just naturally gravitates over to another venture that you have.

Right. And it keeps you current.

Yeah, I mean I've had multiple galleries.

Oh my goodness.

And I'm thinking about the moving part of it all.

But I've had multiple galleries from my very first one and

we expanded it from that location,

ended up at Santana row,

which is a fancier outdoor mall here out in San Jose.

And then I went to a small shop in Campbell,

went to a huge place in Campbell.

And just always kept it interesting.

Started creating products from matted prints cards to magnets to wearable

art, to the watches,

large scale paintings.

It's always been home furnishings and the whole thing.

So I like to keep surprising people,

the true collectors and the people who love my artwork.

They're your best advertising and they're your best evangelists.

Yeah. But this was a big surprise.

Like who would expect,

yeah, right.

Yeah. Cause then I started,

we moved and then I started doing the podcast and people

said, where do you get the time to do that?

And then I said,

because it's my way of helping other people in business to

know that they're not alone.

And here's a resource that you can have that will help

you with your small business or your creative business to get

questions answered and solutions that can assist with making your business

easier. Don't feel discouraged cause we've all been there.

But here's a voice to show you that you can and

just keep going forward and to think outside the box a

little bit.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So then this thing here,

truly again,

just thought I'm just doing this for myself and uh,

no, there you go.

There you go.

Absolutely. Even people who don't like jalapenos like these,

nothing goes to waste in this because the way I was

presenting this out to taking it for dishes to share was

I just get a little brick of cream cheese,

chop the peppers up,

drizzle the juice over it,

rake the cream cheese a little bit so the juice gets,

gets right in there.

Chop the jalapeno sweet and spicy on top of the cream

cheese. Have a side bowl of crackers and that's it.

Oh my gosh.

I want some right now.

It's in transit to you right now.

And I'm so sorry I didn't get it to you earlier.

Darn. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh my gosh.

I'm so excited.

Okay, so give us a little insight into how the business

is developed and where it is right now.

The latest update today,

the latest update is we were able to order a very

small run with our manufacturer and that was 60 cases.

I had pre-sold 20 before they even arrived.

A lot of those cases went to people who have shops

that know me.

So Tony and Alba's,

I'm going to give Al and Deanna a shout out there

with Tony and elbows.

They were big fans cause I had gifted them some for

Christmas and they own a pizza and pasta and Al said

when you get those in,

I want some to sell here.

So I took some over.

He also,

he already made a pizza out of them.

He's posted it on Instagram,

the airport,

the San Jose Moneta international airport.

I have been selling my products there,

my art products for going on 12 years.

They're in the discover San Jose store.

I gave them a jar.

They said this is amazing.

They ordered five cases and they're reordering already.

There's some specialty gift stores and gift basket people who've already

purchased some.

Sean who's also been on your show with all the buzz

gifts, she's going to start carrying them in her line of

gift baskets.

So we're working on higher end retailers right now,

which I can't tell the names,

but I will definitely hopefully have more information on that soon.

And the online orders have been just going out the door.

You are well on your way.

That is awesome.

So the product from the co-packer comes to you and you're

still handling the fulfillment of the orders.

Is that how it works right now?

Yeah. Right now.

Not for long.

I can hear that in your voice already.

There's something to be said about packing your own orders and

shipping them out with a handwritten little,

Hey, thanks a lot,

yada yada.

But that can only work for so long.

Yeah, definitely.

But yeah,

really excited.

So exciting.

Yeah. Well the future is definitely bright for you.

It's amazing.

Like I'm afraid of what's going to happen in the next

10 years with you cause you're always creating.

Except I do know there's going to be more in the

line of sweet and spicy,

that's for sure.

Oh, definitely.

And other fusion flavors.

Wonderful. That's so exciting.

I know.

It is exciting.

Yeah, it is.

I bet you you just have so many ideas.

It's like which one do you do first?

Yeah, and I have to get mine cause I'm so excited

that I just have to keep grounded.

But right now I'm going to let this product percolate a

little bit.

I want to definitely get some more traction on the YouTube

channel. I already had one utuber a foodie YouTuber reach out

and say,

Hey, I'd love to do a recipe with your peppers.

Can you send me a jar?

And I said,

heck yeah,

I'd say so that went out yesterday and yeah.

Awesome. Well we are only beginning to hear about the sweet

and spicy with you for sure that I know.

Anyway, I thank you so much.

I heard you sharing the story about how this all started.

I think you did a solo episode on your podcast about

it and it was that morning when I went,

came in and I'm like,

she needs to come back on the show.

And that's when I sent you the email and said,

Sonya, let's do this again.

Are you up for it?

Yeah. I was so thrilled that you heard that episode.

It was how to spice up your small business.

That was the,

I think that was the title of it or something.

And I obviously listened to your show,

right? I know,

I love it.

I listened to your stew.

So there you go.

There's that.

But I'm so excited and I think this is just a

great example of how as an artist,

one product can lead to another and it you can cross

populate what you do because in the end you're a maker,

right? You take something that's out there,

you adjusted and you change it and then you see if

people like it.

And if it does,

maybe it's something that you can monetize.

And because this is so different from art,

I thought it was a great,

great example and I can hear the excitement in your voice

about it too.

Just the possibilities and the future and the things you're thinking

about and the fact that you had so recently what we're

talking like six months ago,

a pretty big obstacle to overcome but didn't stop you.

And for the,

your amazing listeners is that,

and I'm gonna share this on my podcast too,

that it was on your show,

is that when the going get tough,

people tend to just hold it in and just think,

well that's just the way it is.

No, absolutely not.

If first of all,

if things come too easy,

good friends,

that's a good thing Doing it right.

If things come too easy then why are other people not

doing it?

They probably are,

but it's when those challenges come up,

it kind of clears out the field is the way I

look at it.

Cause a lot of people will fold up,

pack up and go home and say the false thing,

I'm not cut out for this.

Right, right.

They think that.

Yeah. Well I'm glad you mentioned that too because I did

a women's conference two weeks ago,

my first vendor show with the peppers and there were a

lot of first time vendors there a lot.

And by the end of the day,

and it was a long day,

they had a lot of speakers.

It was really great.

It was their first time doing this and it was in

Modesto, California and I sold a lot of product.

I was happy.

I mean I brought a little bit of my art stuff

too just to decorate the table a little bit.

But so many people were sitting there and they had long

faces and I said,

you know,

is this your first show?

How are you thinking,

Oh, I haven't sold anything,

but you need to make context.

This is all about building.

You may not sell a lot today,

but you have to take into consideration that you're making amazing

contacts and take those business cards and treat them like gold.

And the one lady says,

this was a mistake.

I shouldn't have done this.

I'm never doing this again.

I swear and that,

and I'm thinking,

I said,

no, no,

no, no,

no. Here's my card.

I run a podcast.

You need to listen to it on how to overcome a

lot of fear.

And if this is your first show,

just look at this as information.

Follow up with the people that were interested but don't say

you're not going to do this anymore.

Because this may not have been the venue for you,

but the next one you may sell out.

So just try to keep things as an open mind.

Try to be as positive and if you're negative at your

booth or if you're not engaging with people who,

why would they want to stick around anyway?

Right. You know,

want to talk to cranky retail person.

That's True.

But there's another thing about trade shows too,

or any types of shows that you're doing.

I think it's gold.

It's kind of like a focus group because if like take

your example of that woman.

If the product's not selling,

it's a great opportunity for her to figure out why it

might have nothing to do with actual product.

I'm assuming it was a consumable product,

right? Or something.

It was jewelry.

Okay, so jewelry.

Okay, so let's just go with jewelry.

So it wasn't a consumable product,

but why is it not selling?

Why are people passing it up?

Is it the price?

Is it the packaging?

Is it her style?

Because that's just not what people in your area are using.

It doesn't mean that her skill as a jewelry maker doesn't

work. It just means that what she was presenting to that

market, maybe it was the pricing,

who knows what it was,

but it's a great place to learn and figure that out.

So such great learning can happen at shows.

Even if she didn't sell anything,

she could be learning.

And you do by asking people,

talking with them and asking the tough questions,

I see you're leaving.

Why? You know,

why were you not interested?

Not everyone's going to say,

but some people will or do you see which pieces they

pick up and look at and try on?

Right. You see where the interest is.

There's lots of ways to get the information Right.

Anyway, there was people that said,

you know,

I was given out little samples and stuff,

little Cracker with a cream cheese on it with some of

the chopped up peppers and some people said,

Oh it smells great.

I can't have it cause I have stomach issues.

Hey, no problem.

One lady bluntly said,

yeah, I don't like jalapenos and I want to try it.

Hey, that's fine.

Didn't you say,

well, neither do I.

I said,

this is definitely not your average jalapeno,

but we traded cards and exchange some niceties and stuff like

that and I've been doing these type of things and have

engaged with the public for so long that I just don't

even let any of that type of response or negativity or

whatever you want to call it affect me because you know,

Hey, it's hard Though.

I mean you have to learn to have thick skin.

You do And you have to get the fact that when

there are down times when things like this happen,

like what you had or you know and shared,

it does not reflect who you are as a person.

That's the whole big thing for everyone to understand.

It's just situational.

You might need to adjust what you're doing.

It has nothing to do with your skill,

who you are,

the value you have as a person.

Right? Because so often we'll equate our success in business with

how valuable we are as a human being,

which is like the easiest thing,

but we do,

I guess it's human nature,

but just to know that that's not true many times helps.

Yeah, and thick skin isn't something that you just adopt one

day. You have to filter through it and just muddle through

it. Yeah.

Well, and you have to hear that other people like you

have had these problems.

You have come across these obstacles and have overcome them and

when you see that other people who you admire have also

encountered these things,

then when it happens to you,

you can say,

okay, it's not just me.

Other people have this too.

I'll find a solution and carry on.

Right. Absolutely.

Well, Sonia,

thank you so,

so much for coming on.

Again, sharing your story,

being honest about how things are going.

It's such an exciting venture.

I'm thrilled that you're here because now all of our listeners

can watch and see what's going on.

Definitely. You guys watch that YouTube channel.

I'm going to put your podcast in the show notes as

well. Oh,

thank you.

So everyone will be able to follow,

you know,

with the whole show notes page as we always do.

So again,

thank you so much.

I'm going to end with asking you to share with us

what you see as the future of Sonia sweet and spicy,

10 years down the road.

What does this look like?

Oh gosh.

10 years down the road.

You can do five if you want.

Oh, five yeah.

I would just say it all started with a little sweet

and spicy.

Now my life is nothing but sweet and spicy.

Perfect. A great way to end the show.

You're the best.

Sonia, thank you so much for joining me today.

Wonderful. Thank you Sue.

I really appreciate it and I again love your show And

I'm so honored to have been here today.

I am not going to leave you in suspense.

I did get the samples that Sonya sent me and Oh

my gosh,

she used the right word,

a dictative.

Do yourself a favor.

If you ever encounter Sonia's sweet and spicy,

pick some up.

I served it on crackers with goat cheese and then with

it spread right on the top.

Super yummy,

and if you just have to get your hands on some,

jump over to her website and order yourself a jar.

The show queued up for next week is another example of

somebody who has started a business in one way and as

time has gone on,

there's been a whole new opportunity presented that has grown from

the original business.

That's up next week on the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Bye for now.

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