179 – The Brave Leap from Shyness to Living Her Passion with Lisa Wojcik of Black Bow Sweets
Lisa graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2005 with a degree in English. But there was a problem, her passion was for art and design.
Unsure about what career to pursue, Lisa made what she considers to be the best decision of her life. She applied to a design school in San Francisco and dropped everything to attend. She earned a degree in Visual Communications and for the following 9 years worked as a visual merchandiser, eventually landing as a corporate visual merchandising manager.
Although Lisa loved her work, she wanted to start a business of her own. It was at this point, she seriously started to entertain an idea that she’d had in her late 20’s – selling her mother’s candied pecans.
The inspiration came after making the candied nuts for friends who raved about them and encouraged her to start a business.
Finally, at 32, she was ready. Black Bow Sweets is now 3 years old and growing rapidly with an expanded product line and distribution across the US.
Business Building Insights
- Get used to and become comfortable with change.
- No matter how afraid you are of not succeeding, go ahead and try.
- Research is an important step to starting a business.
- Spread the word about your new business to families and friends.
- Get out into the public eye through community and non-profit events.
- It’s up to you to get people excited about your product.
- Getting positive feedback boosts you up and provides momentum to keep going.
- Communication with customers is a solid form of customer service. One way to do this is to let a customer know the progress of their order and then to followup afterwards to get feedback on their purchase.
- Write thank you notes to customers. Let them know you appreciate how they have helped a small business grow.
Resources Mentioned
The Daily Greatness Journal – A unique series of lifestyle journals, courses and content for health, fitness, business, personal growth.
Evernote – Keep your life organized.
Podcast Episodes Referenced
Top Take Aways from 100 Episodes of Gift Biz Unwrapped
Evernote Power! Get Super Productive with Steve Dotto
Contact Links
Gift Biz Resources
Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.
Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 179 no matter how afraid I was
Speaker:of not succeeding,
Speaker:I had to go and try Attention.
Speaker:Gifters, bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue Anne.
Speaker:I'm thrilled that you are spending a little bit of your
Speaker:day with me today.
Speaker:Can I ask you for a quick favor?
Speaker:Would you go over to iTunes and leave a quick rating
Speaker:and review for the show?
Speaker:Doing this gives more visibility,
Speaker:which allows more people to find the podcast.
Speaker:We're all givers here and we all love paying it forward
Speaker:so that minute that it would take for you to do
Speaker:that for me would be so greatly appreciated,
Speaker:not just by me but by the new listeners.
Speaker:That can come in to the show.
Speaker:That was my first question and now I have another question
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:Do you know somebody or have you been in a situation
Speaker:in your life where you know you're meant to do something
Speaker:else? You've been educated one way.
Speaker:The direction and the talk within your family has always been
Speaker:that you're going to be doing this one certain thing,
Speaker:but deep in your heart you just knew it didn't feel
Speaker:quite like a fit.
Speaker:That is what was going on with Lisa,
Speaker:my guest today.
Speaker:She just knew that there was something else,
Speaker:something more meaningful that she wanted to do with her life
Speaker:versus the direction she was currently going,
Speaker:so she took some bold moves and boy,
Speaker:she is so happy she did.
Speaker:Why don't I let you hear the story directly from her?
Speaker:It is my pleasure to introduce you to Lisa.
Speaker:Whoa. Jack of black bow suites.
Speaker:Lisa graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2005 with a degree
Speaker:in English,
Speaker:but there was a problem.
Speaker:Her passion was for art and design,
Speaker:unsure what career to pursue.
Speaker:Lisa made what she considers to be the best decision of
Speaker:her life.
Speaker:She applied to a design school in San Francisco and dropped
Speaker:everything to attend.
Speaker:Pretty brave if you ask me.
Speaker:She earned a degree in visual communications and for the following
Speaker:nine years worked as a visual merchandiser.
Speaker:Although Lisa loved her work,
Speaker:she wanted to start a business of her own.
Speaker:It was at this point,
Speaker:she seriously entertained an idea that she had in her late
Speaker:twenties and that was selling her mother's candied pecans.
Speaker:The inspiration came after she made the candied nuts for a
Speaker:friend who raved about them and encouraged her to start a
Speaker:business. So Finally at 32 she was ready.
Speaker:Black post suites is now three years old and growing rapidly
Speaker:with an expanded product line and distribution across the U S
Speaker:I cannot wait for all of us to hear the story.
Speaker:Lisa, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker:So I'm very happy to be here.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:cannot wait to get into all these juicy or should I
Speaker:say sweet details.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:So I want to kick it off as we always do.
Speaker:And that is by having you describe yourself in a really
Speaker:creative different way through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to share with us a candle that
Speaker:totally resonates you by color and by a motivational quote,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:I really loved coming up with this and I really want
Speaker:this candle for myself now.
Speaker:So we're going to dream it into existence somehow.
Speaker:But this candle is like a multicolor kind of multitasking candle.
Speaker:So I'm envisioning this beautiful gold metal pillar with like a
Speaker:honeycomb of sections inside.
Speaker:And then each section has a different color and scent for
Speaker:those times and those like motivation and the energy that you
Speaker:need throughout the week.
Speaker:So like there would be a beautiful tranquil blue with an
Speaker:ocean breeze send for when you need to relax.
Speaker:A fiery red orange with a citrus scent for when you
Speaker:need energy and you need to get going for the day.
Speaker:Probably a section with like a clean cotton scent for when
Speaker:you need to organize,
Speaker:do your to do list.
Speaker:So I'm just envisioning this multitasking candle,
Speaker:all of the things that I feel like I need throughout
Speaker:the day and throughout the week to get going,
Speaker:which is so real life as a business owner anyway.
Speaker:Right? It really is.
Speaker:And then the quote on the front,
Speaker:it says anchor and adjust.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Talk about that.
Speaker:So that is my saying that I learned many years ago,
Speaker:but I don't think that I fully understood it until I
Speaker:started my own business.
Speaker:But to me it's like when you're charting your course for
Speaker:where you want to go,
Speaker:you start at point a and you're trying to get to
Speaker:Z and you have this sort of straight line with these
Speaker:points and milestones you need to hit along the way to
Speaker:get there.
Speaker:But when you do a top down view and you check
Speaker:it out,
Speaker:you're actually probably going to have a zigzag pattern of how
Speaker:you actually get to your final destination.
Speaker:Because your course,
Speaker:at least in my experience,
Speaker:never looks like how you plan it to be.
Speaker:You might eventually get to that vision that you had,
Speaker:but the journey never quite looks like what you thought it
Speaker:would and so you have to thank yourself and then look
Speaker:around, think about,
Speaker:okay, I'm a little bit off course,
Speaker:so let me drop my anchor.
Speaker:Let me take a minute,
Speaker:let me observe what's happening,
Speaker:adjust my priorities,
Speaker:my timelines,
Speaker:expectations, and then go forward and you'll do that many times.
Speaker:I do that daily.
Speaker:I do that monthly.
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:I do that for big picture things,
Speaker:but it really helps me get through and not be overwhelmed
Speaker:by the fact that I'm not on the exact journey that
Speaker:I thought it would be.
Speaker:Well, you certainly aren't from the intro for sure,
Speaker:but I would also say that that's a sign of a
Speaker:successful business person too.
Speaker:I liked the anchoring cause that is a level of stability,
Speaker:but the adjusting means that you're ready to switch when you
Speaker:see something's not working.
Speaker:You need to make a change or an opportunity presents itself.
Speaker:Any of that.
Speaker:Yeah. You get very used to and comfortable with change,
Speaker:which is very helpful.
Speaker:Yeah. They've met a lot of business owners who are so
Speaker:rigid and unwielding,
Speaker:I guess that's the same word,
Speaker:but like they're going to fight no matter what,
Speaker:to make something work when an easier path would be just
Speaker:to acknowledge that something needs to change and if they make
Speaker:that change,
Speaker:sales will be so much easier.
Speaker:Business will be so much easier.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so I think you are super brave,
Speaker:Lisa, because there's a couple of points just even in this
Speaker:intro where those were some scary changes and people were probably
Speaker:approaching you and saying,
Speaker:what are you doing?
Speaker:Mostly a lot of that came from myself in the beginning.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Oh, it was asking myself what are you doing?
Speaker:But you still did it.
Speaker:So talk about that a little bit.
Speaker:When I say that going to design school in San Francisco
Speaker:was the best decision I ever made.
Speaker:I was coming off of my early twenties where I actually
Speaker:had a severe anxiety.
Speaker:I had a lot of anxiety and shyness growing up,
Speaker:but it really got to kind of a critical point when
Speaker:I was in my early twenties and I was to the
Speaker:point where I wouldn't go to somebody's house for fear of
Speaker:knocking on the wrong door,
Speaker:like if I had never been there before.
Speaker:And so to sort of like work through that in the
Speaker:end of my senior year of college and then sort of
Speaker:be in this comfortable space in Santa Barbara and how sort
Speaker:of like I had a good job,
Speaker:but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Speaker:And so for me to pick up everything and just move
Speaker:to San Francisco and have no idea if I'm going to
Speaker:be any good in art school or design school and just
Speaker:take that chance was a pretty incredible feat for myself at
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:But it was the single best thing I've ever done because
Speaker:I was putting me on the path to where I am
Speaker:today. Well,
Speaker:I would not be here if I had not gone to
Speaker:that school Well,
Speaker:and without freaking you out.
Speaker:Can I just point out we're on a podcast to buy
Speaker:the whole world.
Speaker:I'm telling everybody about my anxiety.
Speaker:Yeah. And afraid to talk to people and all that.
Speaker:I love that because I guarantee you there are people listening
Speaker:who feel the same way and who,
Speaker:just even listening to you picking up and going somewhere different
Speaker:and discovering and having to deal with it.
Speaker:What did you say in your mind?
Speaker:How did you make yourself actually do it?
Speaker:What advice would you give someone who's listening,
Speaker:who's saying,
Speaker:uh, yeah,
Speaker:she could do it.
Speaker:Not me.
Speaker:I think it's this like very sort of visceral gut reaction.
Speaker:I just knew that there was nothing else that I wanted
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:Yeah. When I read the descriptions of the courses,
Speaker:when I read about the degrees and what kind of jobs
Speaker:you could go into and the careers you could go into
Speaker:afterwards, everything felt so right and like I only wanted that
Speaker:and no matter how afraid I wasn't,
Speaker:maybe I wouldn't be good enough or maybe I wouldn't graduate
Speaker:and get a great job or whatever those fears might've been.
Speaker:It just felt like it was the right time and the
Speaker:right thing to do.
Speaker:And no matter how afraid I was of not succeeding,
Speaker:I had to go and try.
Speaker:Yeah, because you had your eye on that goal and you
Speaker:wanted that goal to be for your life so much that
Speaker:you just were willing to do whatever you needed to do.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:You know Gary Vaynerchuk,
Speaker:I don't know if you follow him at all,
Speaker:talks about regret and he says the saddest thing in life
Speaker:is if you see older people who don't have as many
Speaker:years left,
Speaker:right? I'm talking like 90 or assisted living facility people and
Speaker:they regret that they didn't do something that was really in
Speaker:their heart that they wished they would have tried.
Speaker:I cannot agree with that more.
Speaker:That is one of the things that I hope I never
Speaker:have or regrets.
Speaker:Right. And better to try something and have it not work.
Speaker:And to your point about adjusting that,
Speaker:adjust and see how it could possibly work,
Speaker:then never to try it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I think that is such an important message to your
Speaker:story. And I'm so glad we started with that.
Speaker:So here you are doing well,
Speaker:right? Because you ended up making your way up to being
Speaker:a corporate visual merchandising manager.
Speaker:Yes. So you're moving up the ladder.
Speaker:How was it then that you decided,
Speaker:okay, I'm loving what I'm doing but I'm making a change?
Speaker:So I loved my work.
Speaker:What I love about my work is that I still get
Speaker:to do sort of merchandising and design in my business now.
Speaker:So I didn't feel like I would give up all of
Speaker:my skillset and everything that I had already learned and loved
Speaker:to do by starting a business.
Speaker:But what made me really want to make the change was
Speaker:two things.
Speaker:One, I really wanted to be able to control my own
Speaker:time and that has been an important goal for me for
Speaker:years, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it,
Speaker:but I realized that working for somebody else,
Speaker:I would never actually get there because I worked really hard
Speaker:and I'm sure a lot of people do.
Speaker:You can only work so hard for somebody else without getting
Speaker:sort of stuck or trampled on or resentful or resentful.
Speaker:Yes. And that I think one of the worst things that
Speaker:can happen at a job because then you really start to
Speaker:hate what you're doing.
Speaker:Right. And that's such a big part of your life is
Speaker:your job.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:So I got to a point where I was about 80%
Speaker:loving my job,
Speaker:loved my team,
Speaker:loved the collaboration,
Speaker:the creativity and the creation of building a brand vision.
Speaker:I loved all of that stuff,
Speaker:but there was 20% of it that was corporate politics that
Speaker:I was very green too.
Speaker:I had never experienced them before.
Speaker:I was very naive to them.
Speaker:I thought that a company in Santa Barbara where the CEO
Speaker:wears flip flops,
Speaker:like of course everything is super cool and there's none of
Speaker:that underlying kind of tension that you kind of hear about.
Speaker:But it turns out it happens everywhere.
Speaker:And I wasn't really keen on it.
Speaker:I didn't set well with me.
Speaker:I wasn't very good at playing the game.
Speaker:I just wanted to work,
Speaker:work, work,
Speaker:work so hard and that is going to get me where
Speaker:I want to go.
Speaker:But there's a lot of other factors that play into it
Speaker:that I got really tired of really quickly.
Speaker:So I was like,
Speaker:okay, how am I going to be able to get out
Speaker:of this and have a life that I really,
Speaker:really want?
Speaker:And that's when the idea for the business like I'd had
Speaker:before, I had a lot of encouragement to start it,
Speaker:but I'd always been too afraid,
Speaker:just not emotionally or financially ready to do it.
Speaker:But I finally got to a tipping point where it was
Speaker:like, okay,
Speaker:we just got to try it and see if it works
Speaker:because this could be my exit strategy from this corporate life.
Speaker:Yeah, I love this because I talk a lot.
Speaker:There are people who want to start a business and don't
Speaker:know what could possibly be like they're searching for the idea
Speaker:and having done this show for quite a bit now we're
Speaker:on 170 som episodes right around the 75 point Mark.
Speaker:I started seeing that there was commonality,
Speaker:like different reasons why people would start businesses and I actually
Speaker:broke them into three versions and that I talk about in
Speaker:episode 100 and that's not the point for it here.
Speaker:I'll connect that episode in the show notes,
Speaker:but you fall into the very first one and that is
Speaker:what did you like to do as a child?
Speaker:Or what did you enjoy and your mother's candied pecans,
Speaker:right? Yep.
Speaker:So it continues to prove the point that that's a great
Speaker:place for people if they really enjoyed something as a child
Speaker:to think about that and see if there's some type of
Speaker:business that could be wrapped around with that.
Speaker:And it sounds like for you,
Speaker:Lisa, you had that in the back of your mind for
Speaker:years. I did.
Speaker:And I think another great point to bring up is that
Speaker:like for me it felt like a complete 100% career change
Speaker:going from a visual merchandiser to essentially a Baker.
Speaker:But I use all of the skillset and all of the
Speaker:planning tools and all of the things I and like brand
Speaker:building platforms that I used at my corporate job,
Speaker:I use them in my business now.
Speaker:So it's not like I had to abandon everything I knew
Speaker:to start something completely over.
Speaker:It's just like I got to shift all of my skills
Speaker:over and apply it to something that I love to do.
Speaker:So was a building versus complete abandonment of one thing and
Speaker:a complete start over something new.
Speaker:Would you say then that the experience that you had in
Speaker:your corporate world helped you advance faster when you started your
Speaker:own business?
Speaker:Absolutely. Interesting.
Speaker:Okay. So let me take you back to this time.
Speaker:You have the idea,
Speaker:you're deciding and it sounds like you started to build it
Speaker:up on the side before you quit your job.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:What were you doing at that point?
Speaker:And I'm thinking about this as an example for somebody who
Speaker:might be in a similar situation right now,
Speaker:they can learn a little bit from you on how you
Speaker:did it.
Speaker:So you're still working,
Speaker:but what were the first things that you started doing for
Speaker:building your own business?
Speaker:The very,
Speaker:very first thing I did is when I was starting to
Speaker:get very frustrated with my job and my personal life,
Speaker:I felt like I was losing control of a lot of
Speaker:my external factors.
Speaker:I felt like a lot of things were keeping me down.
Speaker:I didn't know how to take control of them.
Speaker:So I decided to enter this candy pecan recipe into the
Speaker:Santa Barbara fair and expo in.
Speaker:They have a like a food competition there.
Speaker:And so I entered an amateur division and I just wanted
Speaker:to see a reaction to people who didn't know me,
Speaker:hadn't had the pecans before and see if they were a
Speaker:hit or not.
Speaker:And so this was sort of my first step in trying
Speaker:to test the market in kind of a small way.
Speaker:And so I made some packaging that I had already designed.
Speaker:I'd put labels on boxes,
Speaker:I did a beautiful display,
Speaker:I made the pecans and I put them into the competition
Speaker:and they ended up winning first place in my category.
Speaker:Wow, congratulations.
Speaker:That's a statement.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It was such validation and it gave me such a boost
Speaker:of confidence to go and say,
Speaker:Hey, this might be something I can do.
Speaker:But even then,
Speaker:it still took me a couple of months to really say,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to do this because it gave me a
Speaker:little bit of a high,
Speaker:but then I got to that point where I'm like,
Speaker:well, I don't know what to do next.
Speaker:And so what I started to do was just research all
Speaker:the things that you need for a business like permits,
Speaker:health permits.
Speaker:I looked into cottage food laws versus getting a process,
Speaker:food registration,
Speaker:which means you can sell across the U S you can
Speaker:ship things,
Speaker:you can sell outside your County.
Speaker:Like there's whole,
Speaker:all these different food regulations I had no idea about.
Speaker:So I spent hours and hours and hours on looking at
Speaker:all the different things that I might need to start a
Speaker:business and then started to compile a list and decided what
Speaker:was most important and then just started checking them off one
Speaker:by one because it was very overwhelming in the beginning.
Speaker:It's so much information and I had no idea how to
Speaker:do any of it.
Speaker:And so it was daunting and it made me be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm getting into these waters.
Speaker:I have no idea what I'm doing.
Speaker:Is this really scary and can I really do this And
Speaker:do you really want to And do I really want to?
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Because you were diving into,
Speaker:okay, what is the reality?
Speaker:Having a business and doing that and everyone loving my pecans
Speaker:is one thing,
Speaker:but wrapping a business around it that you want to sustain,
Speaker:that you don't want just to be available for a couple
Speaker:months, right,
Speaker:is a whole different story.
Speaker:So I think it's awesome and two months isn't that long.
Speaker:Really wait to dive in.
Speaker:And I bet at that time if you can put yourself
Speaker:back there,
Speaker:it was overwhelming.
Speaker:But I'm thinking a little bit energizing and exciting too.
Speaker:Oh my,
Speaker:I slept maybe three hours each night for like six months
Speaker:because I would go to work during the day and I
Speaker:would come home,
Speaker:I would eat dinner,
Speaker:workout, and then from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM that was
Speaker:my time to work on black,
Speaker:both sweets.
Speaker:But I was so excited about it.
Speaker:I didn't notice or miss the sleep.
Speaker:I didn't feel drained.
Speaker:I didn't feel like I was deteriorating in any way cause
Speaker:it was super exciting.
Speaker:And once I have a goal,
Speaker:it's very hard to stop me from reaching it no matter
Speaker:what emotional or physical pain I might put myself through.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:I'm just gonna do it.
Speaker:And I was really,
Speaker:really into it.
Speaker:And the more I got into it,
Speaker:the more exciting it was because I was learning so much
Speaker:too. And I love to learn.
Speaker:Oh, I love this story.
Speaker:So how long were you then in research prep mode?
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:I think you said a couple months.
Speaker:What happened after that?
Speaker:So I incorporated on August 1st and then that sort of
Speaker:when all the research went into finding a commercial kitchen,
Speaker:figuring out how to get my health permits from the state,
Speaker:working through how to do nutrition logos that are FDA compliance,
Speaker:working through all the laws about food safety handling and all
Speaker:these things.
Speaker:So I would say that I did about a month of
Speaker:research. I got into a commercial kitchen in September.
Speaker:I practiced a lot and perfected the recipe,
Speaker:making it in big batches and in a commercial oven versus
Speaker:a home oven.
Speaker:Then I started the branding process and packaging process,
Speaker:which was fairly quick for me because I do have a
Speaker:design background.
Speaker:And so creating the logo and packaging was really,
Speaker:really fun and that part went the most quick for me.
Speaker:So I was up in selling by the of November.
Speaker:I had a website,
Speaker:I was like fully licensed.
Speaker:When was that fair that you did?
Speaker:The fair was in April of that year.
Speaker:April. So eight months.
Speaker:So April to August?
Speaker:Yep. April to August was like,
Speaker:am I really gonna do this?
Speaker:Maybe I'll talk to some people and get their feedback.
Speaker:And then August was just like,
Speaker:let's hit the ground running.
Speaker:But you did a lot of work before you actually opened.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Which I think it's the right way to go.
Speaker:Making sure you've set it up properly.
Speaker:You've tested and of course yours is a little different because
Speaker:it's a consumable,
Speaker:so you're going to have to make the batches bigger.
Speaker:Why did you decide to go into a commercial kitchen right
Speaker:away? So I had actually looked into the cottage food industry
Speaker:when I was living in San Francisco and cause I moved
Speaker:down to Santa Barbara about four years ago.
Speaker:And so about one year before I started the business.
Speaker:And so when I thought about the business in my early
Speaker:twenties I looked into cottage food.
Speaker:But there are so many restrictions.
Speaker:There's restrictions on where you can sell it,
Speaker:how you can sell it on,
Speaker:how much revenue you can make in a year.
Speaker:And so it's a really good for people who want to
Speaker:sell at farmer's markets and local fairs.
Speaker:Like if you have a great recipe and you want to
Speaker:do something on the side and not have it be maybe
Speaker:your main income source that is perfect for those people.
Speaker:But since I wanted it to be a business that could
Speaker:span the entire country,
Speaker:have an online store shipped via all the carriers,
Speaker:all that stuff,
Speaker:I needed to have a state mandated health permit.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:So that's why I went there.
Speaker:Okay. And I know that that does vary by state.
Speaker:Yes. But I like what you're saying because it speaks to
Speaker:the point of what are you trying to build?
Speaker:And so you already knew that you were skipping that initial
Speaker:level, which isn't a bad stage for a lot of people.
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:The cottage industry is a great place to start depending on
Speaker:where you are in your journey and what you're trying to
Speaker:do right away.
Speaker:Yes, that makes total sense.
Speaker:At this point in the story,
Speaker:Lisa is all set up now it's time to get customers.
Speaker:We're going to hear what she did next.
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Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Okay? You're at the point you got an all of this
Speaker:done. Your packaging is on point.
Speaker:You've got your name,
Speaker:you've got your product,
Speaker:you've figured out how you're going to make it in big
Speaker:batches, so now it's time to get the word out.
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:So I went to social media,
Speaker:which I'm still working on becoming great at.
Speaker:I think it's a continual process.
Speaker:Yes, because it's always changing.
Speaker:It's always changing.
Speaker:I know once you land it and something's working,
Speaker:they're going to change it on you.
Speaker:So, and I also,
Speaker:I relied so heavily on my friends and family to get
Speaker:the word out.
Speaker:I mean I told everybody,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:look, I'm doing this.
Speaker:I brought samples to work.
Speaker:I just talked about it a lot and I really got
Speaker:my friends and family to spread the word because they were
Speaker:super supportive of what I was doing.
Speaker:And then I started to work out my brand image and
Speaker:what it looked like online,
Speaker:which took a still,
Speaker:I mean I feel like last year I finally kind of
Speaker:got where I wanted it to be,
Speaker:but it took a long time.
Speaker:I started figuring out what people might want other than me
Speaker:telling them they should buy these candied nuts.
Speaker:So I had my sister helped me start making different recipes,
Speaker:ideas of how to use them.
Speaker:And so I'm trying to educate people and give them a
Speaker:broader spectrum of the brand and what we're doing.
Speaker:So how do use them,
Speaker:meaning incorporating them into other things or,
Speaker:Yep. How do you use them in salads?
Speaker:Oatmeal, ice cream.
Speaker:We've made different meat rubs with them.
Speaker:We put them on chicken wings.
Speaker:I'm really grapefruit,
Speaker:like all the way.
Speaker:We have a whole blog of amazing recipes and my sister
Speaker:is a fantastic cook and so she is just been a
Speaker:lifesaver in helping me do all these creative things with the
Speaker:nuts and give people a little bit more inspiration of how
Speaker:they can be used every day.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Because they look very gifting the packaging and so gifting was
Speaker:an easy Avenue to sell people on it,
Speaker:but it's also like,
Speaker:Hey, look at all these things you can do on the
Speaker:daily with them.
Speaker:Right? So all right,
Speaker:so we're going to get to that at the end.
Speaker:We want to make sure to tell everybody how they can
Speaker:go obviously and see your product,
Speaker:but also the blog.
Speaker:So we're going to remember to do that.
Speaker:But if I don't ask this now,
Speaker:I'm going to forget.
Speaker:When you think of your initial sales,
Speaker:not asking you for details of numbers or anything,
Speaker:but if you were to look at like a curve on
Speaker:a chart,
Speaker:how long did it take to start building that business and
Speaker:then getting to a point where you were feeling good about
Speaker:where you were at?
Speaker:I would say that it is a very slight incline over
Speaker:the last couple of years and it has taken a steep
Speaker:upturn in the last four or five months.
Speaker:So it takes,
Speaker:I would say a couple of years to really get traction
Speaker:from what you're seeing with your business.
Speaker:Obviously everyone's different.
Speaker:Yeah, everything's different.
Speaker:Everyone's life experiences are different along the way,
Speaker:but it has taken me this long to sort of get
Speaker:that Boulder up the Hill.
Speaker:Is there something that you did that really started moving the
Speaker:needle? So the thing that actually has been the most beneficial
Speaker:is getting out into community events and doing a lot of
Speaker:nonprofit events.
Speaker:So Santa Barbara has a great community of people and they
Speaker:do all kinds of foundations and events to support those foundations.
Speaker:And there's also a lot of wine festivals in this,
Speaker:which is a really good customer of mine.
Speaker:People who like to pair wine and food.
Speaker:And so I started going to every event that I could
Speaker:find in Santa Barbara that supported the community in some way.
Speaker:And just examples.
Speaker:Sometimes you can sell stuff there,
Speaker:but mostly it's just getting out and knowing people.
Speaker:And now when I go,
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:I'd say at least 10 to 15% of the people come
Speaker:up and say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I've had you here,
Speaker:I've had you here.
Speaker:I remember you from there.
Speaker:And so getting out and having people be introduced to you
Speaker:into your brand via you who loves it the most and
Speaker:knows the most about it,
Speaker:you're the one that can get people excited about it and
Speaker:onboard a much easier for me anyways,
Speaker:then doing it via like an online platform.
Speaker:That's a really good point.
Speaker:Cause you still are the brand.
Speaker:You're the one behind the vision of your business and that
Speaker:personality adds to the product even though the product is delicious.
Speaker:It's another layer that people can talk about.
Speaker:The other thing I think that's really important now is a
Speaker:lot of people want to support community brands.
Speaker:Yeah. So,
Speaker:and I know Santa Barbara overall is very into,
Speaker:and there's a lot of great things that are made there
Speaker:and sourced there.
Speaker:But I think for all of us in our different communities
Speaker:to make sure to get the word out that it's made
Speaker:right in your location will help jumpstart sales.
Speaker:Absolutely. And it also gives you a boost because people are
Speaker:reacting positively to you and especially as me as like a
Speaker:single person that works on this business,
Speaker:you can get into your own little silo and it can
Speaker:be sort of lonely and you can start to question yourself
Speaker:a lot.
Speaker:But when you get out into the community and you're getting
Speaker:positive feedback and good interaction,
Speaker:it also boosts you up and gives you more momentum to
Speaker:keep going.
Speaker:Absolutely. So you have expanded the product line,
Speaker:but now you're also getting distribution across America,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:How did that happen?
Speaker:So the biggest thing actually that we just went to where
Speaker:I met you at the national gift basket convention and that's
Speaker:actually been the best and most quick uptick of national clients
Speaker:that I've gotten in like one weekend,
Speaker:which is amazing.
Speaker:So now we're actually in gift basket producers in New York,
Speaker:Florida, Chicago,
Speaker:Arizona. But just going and being in a concentrated place where
Speaker:people are in your same community,
Speaker:they're all looking to do the same thing and you have
Speaker:a really great product and build good relationships.
Speaker:That is the one of the biggest things that I've done
Speaker:most recently that has gotten us into a national scale.
Speaker:That's exciting.
Speaker:Your product is perfect for that,
Speaker:John rhe the gift basket industry,
Speaker:so that works really well.
Speaker:That industry is always interested in bringing something new to market,
Speaker:especially for corporate clients because you don't want to be the
Speaker:same thing over and over again.
Speaker:Nor for this industry now,
Speaker:and I obviously know it very well,
Speaker:but also you don't want things that are going to be
Speaker:seen in your local whole foods or Michael's.
Speaker:Yeah, so you want something special,
Speaker:unique and high quality,
Speaker:and we're talking about,
Speaker:I'm going to say not the national gift basket people,
Speaker:but the larger indie type people and make no mistake,
Speaker:these folks are putting out hundreds of baskets,
Speaker:possibly even a week.
Speaker:So it's not like a onesy twosy type thing either.
Speaker:So it's interesting that that's how you're starting and you're still
Speaker:a new company.
Speaker:You're still young and growing.
Speaker:But it's interesting how you've elected to start focusing on that
Speaker:national growth by really driving in on an industry that fits
Speaker:your product and an industry that has a need.
Speaker:Well I feel very fortunate to have had some less successful
Speaker:runs early on,
Speaker:like the first year in business cause I was really trying
Speaker:to go the retail grocery route and it was good at
Speaker:holiday time.
Speaker:But after that,
Speaker:like really people don't shop the aisles for a specialty,
Speaker:candied nut.
Speaker:And so they didn't move.
Speaker:And we really had stagnant growth for this time period.
Speaker:And so then I was like,
Speaker:okay, let's go back to what did I use to make
Speaker:these four?
Speaker:And when I was younger I used to make them for
Speaker:holiday gifts.
Speaker:And so what avenues can I reach a lot of people,
Speaker:not just on my website,
Speaker:not trying to just reach one person at a time,
Speaker:but what kind of industries do gifting?
Speaker:And that just led straight to gift baskets,
Speaker:corporate gifts,
Speaker:hotels. And so those are the three things that I'm have
Speaker:been focusing on for the last year and a half and
Speaker:it's really paid off.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:And I love that it's industry specific.
Speaker:You've really made yourself a strategy and you're working your strategy,
Speaker:you're working your plan now.
Speaker:Yes. So you're getting customers,
Speaker:you now want to make sure that you're keeping your customers
Speaker:that you're getting.
Speaker:So do you have something in place to help with that?
Speaker:Yeah, so I actually,
Speaker:this is one thing that I draw on from my corporate
Speaker:experience, but I used to work with a lot of vendors
Speaker:who would supply us with props and various things.
Speaker:And the ones that I appreciated the most were the ones
Speaker:that made my life so much easier.
Speaker:And so I try to do that for everybody else because
Speaker:I'm now serving the CEOs and the presidents of these gifting
Speaker:companies and these hotels.
Speaker:And so how do I make their life easier?
Speaker:And so I try to make sure that I'm over communicative,
Speaker:so to make sure that they know when things are arriving,
Speaker:how it's arriving,
Speaker:check in with them to make sure that they're happy with
Speaker:everything. Everything's on time.
Speaker:I want everything to be a seamless as possible.
Speaker:So I'm giving the best customer service.
Speaker:And then I also write thank you notes at the end
Speaker:of the year to every that I have Like a real
Speaker:live note on paper that goes in the mail.
Speaker:Yep. Wow.
Speaker:But the stamp and everything.
Speaker:No, I know.
Speaker:It's a crazy,
Speaker:right. That's one of the things that my parents really instilled
Speaker:when I was a kid.
Speaker:Like we always wrote thank you notes and I'm so grateful
Speaker:for it now because I am so grateful to anybody who
Speaker:buys on our website,
Speaker:anybody who buys from us on a wholesale level.
Speaker:So I write thank you notes to hundreds of people at
Speaker:the end of the year and it takes a lot of
Speaker:days and some hand cramps,
Speaker:but I will do it as long as I possibly can
Speaker:because I am just so thankful and I want people to
Speaker:know that they are helping grow a small business and the
Speaker:small business like really,
Speaker:really appreciates them.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't know overall when you get to be huge that
Speaker:that's going to be sustainable.
Speaker:I agree,
Speaker:but that doesn't matter because as you're starting in your growing,
Speaker:there'll be certain things that you do and then when you
Speaker:get to another level you might employ the same type of
Speaker:result, but it just in a different way.
Speaker:Right. I mean I talk a lot about with people now,
Speaker:what got you to a certain level of success,
Speaker:just doing more and more and more of that doesn't necessarily
Speaker:get you to the next level.
Speaker:You change over time as the phases of your business continue.
Speaker:Yes, but it's that idea when someone gets that message from
Speaker:you however it's delivered and says,
Speaker:man, Lisa really thought about this and took the extra effort
Speaker:to show that she appreciated my business.
Speaker:That's important.
Speaker:Yeah. And I hope that that is the feeling that they
Speaker:get because that is the feeling that I have for everybody
Speaker:who has supported us along the way.
Speaker:Every single box of nuts helps us get to the next
Speaker:level. And I wouldn't be here without our customers.
Speaker:So they are King as they say.
Speaker:So there's no wonder that people love you when they meet
Speaker:you in person cause you're so authentic.
Speaker:You're so friendly.
Speaker:You're so genuine.
Speaker:Oh thank you.
Speaker:Really easy going.
Speaker:And I know that cause I just met you a couple
Speaker:of weeks ago.
Speaker:Right? Well thank you so much.
Speaker:That's it's true.
Speaker:And that's to the point of just putting yourself out there
Speaker:even if it's like a little bit nerve wracking or whatever.
Speaker:Yes. All right.
Speaker:So you talk about being a one woman show,
Speaker:although I know you're not totally because you do have some
Speaker:extra support.
Speaker:You were talking already with your sister and I don't know
Speaker:who were you with at the show?
Speaker:My dad came with me to the thought that was your
Speaker:dad. But that's great because you need extra hand,
Speaker:you need support and that's fabulous.
Speaker:Yeah. So during the day when you're working,
Speaker:is there some type of an app or something that you're
Speaker:using that helps you keep everything organized?
Speaker:You were talking earlier about when you were doing research,
Speaker:how you were making lists and all that.
Speaker:So I'm guessing you have some pretty good advice for us
Speaker:here. So I have two things that I love and use
Speaker:every single day.
Speaker:One that I started with,
Speaker:it's called the daily greatness journal and it's actually a hard,
Speaker:like it's a paper journal,
Speaker:but it is chocked full of everything that you need to
Speaker:sort of lay out your plan for your business.
Speaker:And they have ones for your personal life.
Speaker:They have ones for diet and fitness,
Speaker:they have one for business.
Speaker:So they have sort of all these little niches of these
Speaker:journals. But the one that I got first was the one
Speaker:for business.
Speaker:And it has you start by laying out your overall mission,
Speaker:your vision,
Speaker:sort of just getting all these ideas that are floating around
Speaker:in your head onto paper.
Speaker:So you can sort of let those be and move on
Speaker:to the details.
Speaker:And then it has you list out your one,
Speaker:three, five and 10 year goals and just like a snapshot
Speaker:and then it has you dive down to your one year
Speaker:goal and it keeps you accountable by the day,
Speaker:the week,
Speaker:the quarter and the year as you go through the journal.
Speaker:And that is like has been a lifesaver for me.
Speaker:Oh that sounds so good.
Speaker:Will you share with me,
Speaker:not now,
Speaker:but will you send me the link to where you got
Speaker:that and I'll attach that into the show notes for everybody.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Super. Okay.
Speaker:And what,
Speaker:what's the second one?
Speaker:So the second one is actually it's an app as online.
Speaker:It's called Evernote.
Speaker:And I don't know,
Speaker:it's been around for a long time but I recently rediscovered
Speaker:it and it has really boosted all of its capabilities.
Speaker:But I basically,
Speaker:I sort of replicate some of the things from the daily
Speaker:greatness journal into an online form so I can check things
Speaker:off cause it syncs between my desktop and my phone.
Speaker:And so you know,
Speaker:when you're on the run on the go you can be
Speaker:updating your notes and it sinks for you.
Speaker:And so I use that to make lists for every event
Speaker:that I go to for all my quarterly events,
Speaker:my daily tasks,
Speaker:and it just keeps everything in one place.
Speaker:I can attach PDFs and online pages and all kinds of
Speaker:things and it just comes to one space and that is
Speaker:where I keep my second brain in the Evernote.
Speaker:Awesome. Evernote,
Speaker:I know can be challenging for some people and then other
Speaker:people are completely dedicated to,
Speaker:I'm the dedicated,
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I actually interviewed Steve Datto and we did a whole episode
Speaker:on Evernote.
Speaker:Oh I have to listen to that.
Speaker:That was a couple,
Speaker:like I'd say almost two years back now.
Speaker:I mean it was way in the beginning so I know
Speaker:Evernote has evolved,
Speaker:but if anybody's interested,
Speaker:hearing different things you can do with Evernote,
Speaker:I mean the guts and the base is the same.
Speaker:I will also reference that show in the show notes because
Speaker:that was a goodie and Steve Dotto if you ever want
Speaker:to know anything about anything,
Speaker:he has the videos for you.
Speaker:Oh awesome.
Speaker:Yeah, it's called Datto tech on YouTube and he's awesome.
Speaker:Fantastic. I'm going to look Him up.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:He's a crazy guy.
Speaker:So much fun.
Speaker:What is one of your sources that helps you stay current
Speaker:in your industry or for business development?
Speaker:So actually one of my very favorite things to do is
Speaker:listen to different podcasts and I got really into it when
Speaker:I was first starting the business because I was up so
Speaker:late and I needed some sort of music or some kind
Speaker:of inspiration and I found a podcast called startup and the
Speaker:first season talked about them starting up this podcast and then
Speaker:they have since done seasons of other companies who were starting
Speaker:up. And that was really the one thing that kept me
Speaker:connected to other people doing the same thing that I was
Speaker:doing because I live alone and I was working on this
Speaker:business alone and I didn't have anybody else like sort of
Speaker:immediate community that was starting a business and I felt a
Speaker:lot of the times like what am I doing?
Speaker:Why am I doing this?
Speaker:This is really hard.
Speaker:Half the time I feel like I don't know what I'm
Speaker:doing, but then you listen to these podcasts and everybody feels
Speaker:the exact same way.
Speaker:You don't feel like you're the only one struggling and questioning
Speaker:all of your choices and like wondering if this is really
Speaker:something you should be doing and you go through these troughs.
Speaker:Oh sort of,
Speaker:I think they called it the trough of despair on this,
Speaker:but there's some days when you just get so bogged down
Speaker:by things that you really start to question everything you're doing
Speaker:and usually the next day you're fine.
Speaker:But it's super normal for everybody to go through these kind
Speaker:of peaks and valleys and just learning small things like that
Speaker:really helped me get through the beginning stages where I was
Speaker:still questioning a lot of what I was doing.
Speaker:Yeah. I think questioning all the way around still happens no
Speaker:matter what level of success that you get to.
Speaker:So startup podcast was one.
Speaker:Any other podcasts that you listened to regularly you'd want to
Speaker:share? So I started listening to the pitch,
Speaker:which is people pitching brands and the companies.
Speaker:And that's very interesting because you get to hear a lot
Speaker:of questions that VCs ask them and it really helped me
Speaker:think about things that I do.
Speaker:In my business and how would I answer questions to those
Speaker:VCs and what should I be doing to think about these
Speaker:things? So I think I'm in that category of people that
Speaker:I don't necessarily listen to stuff super specific to the food
Speaker:industry, but I listen to growing companies,
Speaker:questions that people will ask them and about where they're going
Speaker:and how they're going to get there and how much does
Speaker:it cost to get there.
Speaker:And those kinds of things that you can easily push aside
Speaker:and just pretend aren't there.
Speaker:So that helps me be like,
Speaker:Oh Hey,
Speaker:you really have to be accountable to yourself and for the
Speaker:growth of your business.
Speaker:Those are the two that I really like.
Speaker:And I think the other thing,
Speaker:and that's what we try to accomplish here too,
Speaker:is show that It looks like it's such a scary thing
Speaker:out there.
Speaker:It's so much in,
Speaker:it's almost magical.
Speaker:Like how does all of this happen where you can actually
Speaker:start a business,
Speaker:right? But when you break it down into the individual steps,
Speaker:yes, it takes work.
Speaker:Yes, it can be scary.
Speaker:You need to be brave.
Speaker:Which you're a great model,
Speaker:right? But people can do it.
Speaker:And I think people are realizing that if they just start
Speaker:and take steps and individually,
Speaker:each step doesn't look insurmountable.
Speaker:It's the whole picture that looks insurmountable.
Speaker:Yes. And more often you're not the first person who's done
Speaker:the very same thing that you're trying to do.
Speaker:So it's not impossible.
Speaker:Might be creating something that doesn't exist and that might be
Speaker:a little bit more of a daunting task.
Speaker:But if you're starting a food business or if you're starting
Speaker:a gifting business,
Speaker:they've already been done.
Speaker:And so you know it is possible.
Speaker:You just have to take the steps to figure out how.
Speaker:And the best part is that when you do it and
Speaker:you know how to do it,
Speaker:it's not scary at all.
Speaker:And your confidence just builds and builds and builds cause you're
Speaker:like, wow,
Speaker:look where I started.
Speaker:I knew nothing and now I've got this entire platform of
Speaker:things to build my business upon.
Speaker:That's fabulous and totally motivational to people.
Speaker:So I love that you talked about that.
Speaker:So Lisa,
Speaker:you've given us so much here today.
Speaker:In terms of really some great insight.
Speaker:You've been very honest with your journey.
Speaker:It's an exciting one,
Speaker:that's for sure.
Speaker:I love what you're doing here.
Speaker:And so now I want to offer you a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Well, first of all,
Speaker:thank you very much for this gift.
Speaker:Inside this box is actually all of the intangible things that
Speaker:I strive for but are sometimes hard to find a path
Speaker:to. So it's a happy and peaceful mind.
Speaker:It's openness to new people,
Speaker:places and experiences,
Speaker:a charitable spirit,
Speaker:a thirst for knowledge,
Speaker:the strengths overcome challenges and the excitement to take them on.
Speaker:And I think going through life and creating things like creating
Speaker:businesses, relationships,
Speaker:a family,
Speaker:those are the things that will lead to this end result.
Speaker:All the things inside of this box,
Speaker:but at the end of the day and that sort of
Speaker:like where we're talking about at the end of your life
Speaker:when you have no regrets.
Speaker:These are the things that I would like to have.
Speaker:I so love this.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:it's a list so I know that right away I noticed
Speaker:that right away,
Speaker:the thing I really liked about it,
Speaker:besides the good feelings and all of that is it didn't
Speaker:really have anything to do with the business.
Speaker:Your business is a means to the end,
Speaker:right? It's a means to creating all of this for yourself
Speaker:and for others and I think so often we get lost
Speaker:in the of our business and connect it to the success
Speaker:of us as a person and what you are talking about
Speaker:here are all things that are so much more meaningful than
Speaker:that Kind of gives me chills over here.
Speaker:I think my business gives me all of these things,
Speaker:but there's also so much more in my life that also
Speaker:does that.
Speaker:But at the end of the day I want to look
Speaker:back and feel that I have achieved sort of these intangibles
Speaker:versus something that I can like point to and say,
Speaker:look at that thing.
Speaker:You want these emotions and these feelings and this sort of
Speaker:peacefulness. Love that.
Speaker:But we do want to talk about the product.
Speaker:I think some people might be interested in seeing more of
Speaker:it. So where would you direct someone if you were just
Speaker:to give one place for someone to go to see more
Speaker:about what you're about,
Speaker:where would that be?
Speaker:I would say the best place would be to check out
Speaker:my website,
Speaker:black boast,
Speaker:sweets.com there you'll get a background of the company and a
Speaker:little bit of background about me,
Speaker:but you also be able to see our whole product line
Speaker:and there are links to our Instagram feeds so you can
Speaker:kind of see what we're doing on the daily.
Speaker:And then there is also that wonderful blog that we talked
Speaker:about free and get all kinds of recipe inspiration,
Speaker:gifting, inspiration,
Speaker:father's day,
Speaker:mother's day,
Speaker:different things to do with all of our candied nuts.
Speaker:Perfect, and yet another best practice business example that your website
Speaker:is your home base and everything can be connected from there.
Speaker:Yes, and give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know that there'll be a show notes page where I
Speaker:will have direct links to Facebook,
Speaker:Instagram, all of those different places and links to the resources
Speaker:that Lisa has been mentioning,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Lisa, I so appreciate your taking the time to get on
Speaker:and share your whole story with us.
Speaker:I know for a fact that our listeners will get so
Speaker:much out of this.
Speaker:Thank you once again for being here.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I had a one.
Speaker:Are you discouraged because your business is not performing as you
Speaker:had envisioned?
Speaker:Are you stuck and confused about how to turn things around?
Speaker:Sue's new bestselling book is structured to help you identify where
Speaker:the holes are in your business and show you exactly how
Speaker:to fix them.
Speaker:You'll learn from Sue and owners just like you who are
Speaker:seeing real growth and are living their dream maker to master
Speaker:find and fix what's not working in your small business.
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Kudos to Lisa who was brave enough to startup this new business on her own. I received a little bag of Black Bow candied pecans in a lovely gift basket from Heavenly Edibles along with chocolate covered strawberries as a welcome gift to my new apartment.
The pecans are like nothing I’ve ever tasted, so fresh & delicious, what a nice touch.
I now need to ask how one can order these pecans.