067 – Inside The Cocoa Cabana with Ronda Priola

Gift biz unwrapped episode 67.

Actually the proof is in the chocolate.

Hi, this is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped.

And now it's time to light it up.

Welcome to gift biz,

unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit.

Hi there.

I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

I asked whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell

online or are just getting started.

You'll discover a new insight to gain traction and to grow

your business.

And today I have joining us,

Rhonda Prioleau.

Rhonda is the owner of Coca cabana gourmet chocolates.

She makes all her own chocolates in the store,

including toffee caramel creams,

marshmallow peanut butter cups budgies,

which are turtles,

and one of their biggest sellers,

chocolate covered potato chips.

The cocoa cabana is in its 10th year of business and

have been in their current location for nine years.

Rhonda is spreading the word that chocolate is not bad for

you. It's just gotten a bad rap lately.

Chocolate can actually be good for you and has health benefits

as long as you eat good quality chocolate.

That is the key.

And I can't wait to hear more about chocolate and your

business. Welcome to the show,

Rhonda. Thank you.

Would you add anything to the intro before we get started?

No. I think that you covered everything pretty good.

I like to kick off the interview by talking about a

motivational candle.

This gives us a little bit of a different feel for

what you're all about.

So if you were to create your very own perfect candle,

what color would it be?

And what would be the quote on that candle?

The color of my candle would be Aqua or the color

of the Caribbean sea.

That's one of my favorite places to be.

And the quote on there would be never give yourself the

chance to say what if and what does that mean to

you? Well,

when I have big decisions to make or even small ones,

and do I take this chance,

do I go for it?

Do I stay away from this challenge or opportunity?

I always ask myself if I don't do this,

will I regret it now?

What if I would have tried it?

Would it have been good for my business works both ways.

Good and bad,

but I don't ever want to go through my business and

never give myself the chance to do things.

So I say,

never give yourself the chance to say what if That's a

great message for our listeners too,

because we have a lot of people who are just starting

out, they're thinking,

well, maybe I want to try and create my own business

and that what if syndrome,

you know,

that syndrome like,

well, am I good enough for,

can I really do it?

And all of that creeps up in all of us.

Right? Sure.

And virtual,

your quote is saying,

just do it.

Yeah. There might be the what but overcome that.

What if,

because you're never going to know and no one's ever going

to achieve success unless they try That's.

Right. And I can think of a few things along the

way that if I wouldn't have tried it,

then I wouldn't know.

In some cases I can say,

I know that I should have done that,

or I shouldn't have done it,

but either way,

I can't say what if anymore,

right? You gave it a chance.

That's right.

Some things aren't going to work out,

but that's a learning then,

and then you improvise or you change or you adjust.

So I think the whole message just to wrap up this

little portion right here is if you're listening right now and

your thinking about starting a business,

take some type of action.

You're already taking action by listening to this podcast.

So educate yourself a little more,

learn a little more,

know a little more,

and then take the chance.

And this doesn't mean you take a huge risk and quit

your job tomorrow,

necessarily just take the chance and see what comes of it,

because you never want to live that life of regret wishing

50 years down the road,

or, you know,

whatever that length is for you given your age right now

that you say,

gosh, if I would've just done it at that point in

time, where could I possibly have been right now?

That would be just the worst feeling.

Yes, that's true.

All right.

So Rhonda and I met at the America's bacon and sweet

show last November,

I think is when the show is,

and I have tried your English toffee and I have tried

your biggest seller,

those chocolate covered potato chips and Oh my gosh.

Addicting, like crazy.

They're delicious.

So I know you have a very successful business.

Talk to us,

go back way back.

So now we're talking 10 years ago.

Okay. What was the point where you decided you were going

to start a business?

Tell us that whole story.

It goes back to my childhood of the season of Christmas

and baking with my mom.

And we always made cookies and candy,

lots and lots of plates that were passed out to people

in the neighborhood and business and at church and took that

love of doing that with me into my adulthood.

My daughter was a figure skater and she was on a

competitive team that did a lot of traveling class,

a lot of money,

synchronized ice skating.

It's very beautiful to watch,

but very expensive.

And at some of the events,

I was trying to think of ways to make money.

And I started making my toffee,

hoping that might use it for a little bit of income

for the travel and costumes and all.

And I sold it at some of our events and some

of the moms were saying,

well, can you make this for me?

Can you make this for me at Christmas to give to

my family,

can you make this for me at the end of school

for teachers?

So I started doing that and one of the moms was

really ordering a lot me and she said,

can you make anything else other than just tophi we'll share.

So I started making my Carmel and I started making peanut

butter cups for her and just kind of rolled into more

and more of that.

And I had a friend and it's kind of funny,

but she gave me $50 and she said,

I'd like you to use this to start your business Really

enough. But It was like,

Oh, well somebody believes in me.

Oh, that had to make you feel so good.

And so excited to,

Yeah, she was ordering a lot too.

She didn't have anything to do with the skating club,

but she was ordering a lot and she was just passing

it out to our neighbors at Christmas.

You already had a business going that you didn't even know

cause you were exchanging money for this when they were ordering

clearly you were charging them because you're buying product and all

of that,

right? Yes.

I was charging a minimal amount because at the time I

really didn't even know how to charge for that.

And I was just excited and happy to share the toffee

with people.

I love to feed people and see their joy when they

eat something they like.

And it really wasn't an official business yet either because you

were cooking out of your kitchen at that time.

Not yet,

not at all.

It was not a business that was just kind of like

you baking cupcakes and taking them to your neighbor or your

friends, you know?

Right. But my husband and I used to go on dates

and I re I say used to,

because we're so busy with the business that we don't get

to go out anymore,

but we would go on a date to say a coffee

shop or ice cream or wherever we were.

And we were talking about doing a business and it came

up repeatedly.

And I was at the time I was working with my

mother in her home doing daycare and she was going to

She said,

what do you want to do?

You want to take over the daycare?

You want to do something else that I want to make

candy. She said,

okay, how are you going to do this?

And I said,

I don't know.

So on one of my dates with my husband,

he said,

let's go home,

find out what we can find out on the internet,

start looking for equipment,

or let's just try and let's see what happens.

So I went home that night.

It was on the internet and I was looking for whatever.

I could find that I could start gathering this information to

make a good decision.

And I found a place in elk Grove that sells candy

equipment for small candy makers.

And on their site,

they had a link to a candy maker in Nebraska that

had a school and I read their brochure and they had

everything that I wanted to do.

So I went and I told my mom,

I said,

I found a small school that I want to go to

and learn.

And she said,

okay, I'll pay for it.

So I went to Nebraska for several weeks and I worked

one-on-one with this candy maker who was head at that time,

had been in the business for 70 years.

He had started working out at the age of 16 as

a soda jerk with Mrs.

Russell Stover's,

candies, ice cream and desserts,

I think was the name of it.

And he actually lived with the Stovers for quite a while,

and then worked for Mr.

Stover for 36 years.

So he knew a lot about the candy business and I

learned so much and I came home and we just started

collecting all the things that we needed.

We began searching for a place for our store and how

are we going to do this and working with the health

department. And next thing I know I had a small store

in Stratford square for six months,

and now I'm in my other store for almost nine years

in August.

All right.

So I have some questions,

but before I just want to highlight a little bit of

what you've talked about in terms of your story.

And there are some things that I think are so great

for our listeners to recognize as they're considering their journey.

The first thing is that as you were cooking and baking

for your friends,

you were getting proof of concept that your product was something

special because sure they could have gone out to a local

bakery instead they were coming to you.

So there was something in terms of the quality or the

style or your presentation that people were feeling was very valuable.

And Rhonda,

it could have been just you as a personality to,

you know,

the whole package you in complementing your product.

And, you know,

the two together is what I'm trying to say.

The second thing is that you had,

you know,

it was a situation with your mom,

the daycare,

making some type of transition.

You recognizing that,

that wasn't something that you wanted to necessarily take on that

would fulfill you because that would have been super easy just

to roll into that and more money and more money.

Instead, you were looking at something that you really loved doing,

which is a really big point gift businesses,

because if you don't love your product or what you're getting

into, it's going to be tough to sustain it for the

long haul.

But you also had a really supportive husband,

but could be anybody.

You know,

whether it's a friend member of your community,

someone in your family,

it's really important to have that support someone who's believing in

you and backing you up on those days when you're just

like, Oh my gosh,

why did I get this started?

Why did I do this?

What am I doing?

Just someone to help ground you as you're moving forward in

your journey.

And the third thing,

Rhonda, that I really,

really liked that you talked about is you didn't just open

up shop right away.

You went,

you did research to see,

you know,

how do you open a business?

What types of equipment,

all of that.

And then with the whole Russell Stover,

I mean,

what a stellar name to have in terms of education that

you now have,

that you can rely on.

So all of that going and going and training,

you really made a commitment in the value that you would

be bringing into your business.

So I see all three of those things.

I didn't know any of that before really,

really set a strong foundation for your business.

So kudos to you on that.

Obviously the proof is in the baking for how long you've

been in business.

Actually the proof Is in the chocolate Proof is in that

chocolate. All right.

How did you decide what you were going to name the

shop or your business overall?

I should say,

Well, when I was trying to choose a name,

I kept saying chocolate chocolate was the word that kept coming

to mind.

I wanted it to be something about chocolate back in the

early days of when chocolate chips were starting,

it was always somebody's name chocolates.

And I just wanted a name that represented who I was

and I wanted it to be chocolate,

something. So I had some funny names like the chocolate mousse

or the chocolate house or whatever,

something, some kind of weird thing.

Everybody kept turning their nose up at my ideas.

So I thought,

well, what's another word for chocolate.

So I got out of Saurus and actually I didn't need

a thesaurus for what's another word for chocolate because that's Coco.

And I thought,

well, okay,

the cocoa cocoa house,

the Coco cabin,

just any kind of something that had a nice little ring

to it.

So now I really get out my thesaurus and I looked

up another word for house and there's all these little choices.

And I thought I saw the word cabana and I said,

Oh, the cocoa could be in it.

Of course the song comes to mind.

And I told that to a number of people in my

family, couple of friends,

everybody gave me the thumbs up,

said, this is it.

That's the name of your store?

Absolutely. In fact,

I had to practice your name a couple of times before

we did the interview,

because I keep wanting to say in Copa because of the

song, right.

Because how many times have I song that,

you know?

Oh, wow.

Sung it probably hundreds of times.

I'm sure.

I'm sure that's true.

So a couple of things give business owners.

Also, if you can make linkage with something that's already known,

like Rhonda did super idea because nobody forgets your name,

Rhonda. Once they hear it,

I'm sure they get it.

They might not be able to pronounce it right away.

Cause they probably call you the Copa cabana sometimes.

Yeah. Just like I was doing,

but that's a great key and a tip as you're looking

for names.

The other thing I just want to bring up here round,

and it doesn't sound like you were really looking at it,

but you did touch on it.

That a lot of people will use their name with chocolate.

Rhonda could have named her store.

Ronda's chocolates.

One of the problems with doing that is if you establish

a name for yourself and then you want to go sell

the business.

If you leave the company,

the value of your business is going to be last because

it's associated with you as a person versus what Rhonda has

done her as a product.

So think about that too.

When you're considering names for your businesses,

if you're a jewelry designer,

for example,

and you are not going to sell your business because you're

the one who creates the original art for your business.

And once you ever decide you are going to be done,

nobody thinks about that.

These, you know,

of course right now when you're just starting,

but if you're not ever looking at selling and you're the

one creating,

then it makes total sense to your name for the business.

But just adjust a couple of points as you're considering names

or if you're restructuring different divisions,

that type of thing.

All right.

So let's go on.

So how did it come to pass that you pretty much

right away jumped out of your house,

making for neighbors.

It was all in your kitchen,

which I'm assuming was not a commercial kitchen,

cause it was in your house.

What was the decision and why did you right away go

outside your house versus cooking in a commercial kitchen and just

building your business that way.

First of all,

in the town that I lived in,

you're not allowed to have any kind of commercial kitchen.

They did not allow that per health standards.

And if I wanted to grow the business and be legal,

I had to move into a location where the health department

could check it out and make sure that I had my

license and that my kitchen was clean or up to their

standards. So for me to stay in my home,

I was not going to be able to progress any further

in my business.

That was a challenge for me because that's a big step

to leave your home and go into a place and picking

a location.

And how is this all gonna work out?

So the first thing that we decided to do was to

find a commercial kitchen,

where we could take a small spot,

set it up for us.

And the health department could come in and check out my

area and I would be free to use it.

We did that.

It lasted about four weeks.

Maybe it was a kitchen where they cooked food.

So the temperature was too hot.

It was not a good place for making chocolate.

So we left there and ended up finding a place at

Stratford mall that I could go to.

It was an empty store,

an old Panera store.

And I was able to use a portion of that just

for sales only because I didn't have the ability to change

that Panera kitchen into a kitchen from making chocolate.

So I was in that store while I rented a kitchen,

a commercial kitchen on a farm.

If you've ever heard of Go-Gurts farm out in Hampshire,

we knew the people,

the family that owns it.

So we asked them about using their kitchen and they only

use it for six weeks a year during their harvest season.

And they let us come in at the end of October.

And we were there from November to June.

We would go out there,

make our candy,

package it up,

bring it back to Stratford mall.

And we knew that Stratford mall was going to be temporary.

So we started looking for a permanent place where we could

have the kitchen and the retail front together.

Okay. So that was your intermediate to be able to get

in business and get started in going Yes,

but the health department was the biggest reason I had to

be out of the house because I could not make candy

in my house.

And I really wanted to try this.

I wanted to see how it was going to go and

you can't go out and get accounts.

And I did try to get accounts while I was in

my home,

but some of them are like,

well, you're still in your home.

I don't think so right now.

So will you looking at this First year as a test?

Cause it was clearly cumbersome to have to create everything in

one place and then bring in everything into your mall location.

So conceptually,

where you saying this is a test of the concept or

were you saying,

okay, this is year one,

we're going to have to change,

but this is how we're starting.

I guess I would say that I really didn't think of

it like that.

It's just kind of how it happened.

I knew I was in my home and we had to

start finding location.

It was just getting everything all together and preparing and going

places and making the decisions.

It just kind of,

it took me about a year to get into a place

and I wasn't in the rush.

I didn't know how it was going to go or how

it was going to happen.

I didn't even really have a clue of where I would

go or where I was end up.

I was just taking steps forward and seeing what would happen

if doors would open or taking off Leap of faith and

just seeing what happened from there.

All right.

So within a year you found a new location.

So talk us through that a little bit.

And also what types of considerations or what things you needed

to look for,

you would advise people if they are in the baking field,

what types of things you need to look for as you're

looking for a lease,

The least to me was most important.

I had to be able to afford it.

You know how they say location is everything.

And that is true.

There were several places we looked at didn't like the location,

or it was too expensive.

And the place where I'm at now,

I stumbled on because my son was working in that Plaza

and he said,

mom, try here.

There's a place that's already got a kitchen in it and

empty. So I did call the landlord.

We met with him.

He was really nice.

He worked with us on the rent and it was a

great opportunity.

So I took it now,

the location has not been as great for me as I

would like it to be people don't always see me going

South on the road I'm on,

but they may see me going North.

That's probably been another challenge that I've had trying to get

people going by seeing,

I think being in a location where you're visible,

maybe with foot traffic is good or just in a place

where there's a lot of retail business.

I'm in a shopping center where it's a lot of business

business. That's the same.

People come to work every day.

There's not much retail in there.

And that's hard to The one thing that I hear you

saying that was really good is you found a location that

already had a kitchen.

So since it already had a kitchen,

you knew it met code in terms of structure with the

building and the landlord was willing to negotiate with you probably

to fill the spot.

So you've negotiated and balanced that visibility factor with it being

affordable. And then also you not having to build out a

whole kitchen.

Yes, that was big.

We didn't have to build out this kitchen.

It's a gorgeous spot.

It's got nice tile floors that had the three sinks in

the back already.

It was just perfect.

It wasn't a lot of places we looked at was just

an empty shell.

And so you had to try to visualize how you wanted

it to be.

And when the costs would come to mind,

it became overwhelming.

And I was discouraged.

So this place encouraged me,

but being there nine years,

I can see now that a different location might be more

beneficial to me.

Do you think you'll stay there?

I don't know.

We talk about it often and try to imagine how it

would be what we would do.

Where would we go?

And those questions haven't really been answered yet.

I would really need to know where we're going to go

and have to try to visualize being there.

The nice thing is you are open to the idea.

You see that that could be another step for you.

So who knows,

if you find a space that is available,

you've already been thinking about it.

Do you might find another space with a kitchen in a

better area in terms of visibility,

Right? And it all goes back to my quote.

Never give yourself the chance to say what if so if

I was to close my business up and not try another

location down the road,

would I be saying to myself,

what if I would have tried to another location?

What if I would've done this?

So that's kind of where I am at right now.

Just that this crossroads of what am I going to do?

Where am I going to move?

Do I stay here and try to do more advertising or

Got it.

Can you bring us to a point a story that was

really dramatic with the growth of your business,

some problem or something where you thought like,

Oh my gosh,

can I resolve this?

Bring us to a point where there was a real serious

issue that you had to overcome and then talk us through

how you were able to do Well in my business,

there's a lot of serious issues.

I guess.

I see they have all these small challenges sometimes make the

whole business,

the challenge,

but probably I'm an,

I'm going to say it's an ongoing challenge.

It's something that I haven't been able to really resolve yet

because of the size of my business,

because I'm still small and I don't have the sales to

be able to employ a lot of people right now.

So the challenge is that I really struggle with today is

how am I going to plan my day?

I need to go into my office and do some work

on the computer,

respond to emails.

I need to order things.

I need to go inventory this,

Oh, there's a customer at the front door.

I need to help them.

And I need to get the chocolate going.

I need to make this.

I need to make that,

Oh, there's another phone call.

And so there's pull every day of what do I do

first? How do I make something of priority?

But then I get pulled in another direction.

And when you own your own business,

you have to do all the work.

And if you don't have enough sales to hire anybody,

then you're stuck with being pulled in many directions.

And I think that's my biggest challenge.

I hopefully with my sales get big enough and I can

hire lots of people.

That challenge will be overcome.

That's what I hope for.

And that's really probably the thing I struggled with the most.

So you struggle because you have to figure out how to

get it all done.

Number one,

and then number two,

you may have a project that you want to do,

but you can't under prioritize.

A customer wants is coming in to buy something.

I mean that obviously,

no matter what you're doing,

if someone walks in the store has to rise to the

top of the list of your priority.

Oh yes.

There's many times.

If I'm in the store by myself,

you're just ready to pour a mold and your chocolates they're

ready to be used or you put chocolate on or centers,

caramels or chips or toffee,

whatever on your chocolate and rubber.

And do you have them coming off the other end of

the belt and you got to take them off and the

doorbell rings and you're like,

I'll be with you in just a minute.

Or you have to let your chocolate sit because you have

to go help a customer or the phone rings.

And there's just that ongoing challenge.

Right. But I get through every day.

Well, that's good.

That's good.

Give biz listeners.

We talked about this in an episode,

a couple of episodes ago,

not too long ago,

it was with Carl Benson cooks of Crocus Hill.

And he was talking about the other side of this.

So this is very compatible and Randell kind of fill you

in. We'll use talking about,

they have a bacon supply shop up in Minneapolis and he

was talking about the fact that individual store owners like you

Rhonda have the challenges,

but they want to stay the masters of their store.

They want to stay only in the one store.

And they cooks has elected to now have multiple stores.

And the challenges change because the business owners management of their

day changes because now they have to manage employees versus the

other things that Rhonda is talking about.

And some people don't want to do that,

right? They want to stay closely connected,

baking their products,

all of that.

So it's a,

at that point,

when you start adding employees or start growing,

it's a real changing point in terms of really self inflection

of what do I really want to be doing?

What do I really love in the business?

I just bring it up for you to consider if you

are an established company and you're thinking you always have to

grow, that's not the case because you may grow out of

exactly what you love to do.

So, and I don't know for you,

Rhonda, I mean,

you know,

bringing in staff,

I mean,

as you grow like that,

it solves some problems,

but it brings up a whole nother set of problems.

That's true too.

And let's face it.

Having businesses is a journey.

You know,

you start one place just like Rhonda has been talking about

out of her house first,

then her year one,

where she was using the kitchen on a farm,

great option,

by the way,

I think that's fabulous.

And so creative and perfect.

Now she's been in our shop for nine years and POS

you know,

possibly stay in,

possibly moving.

It's a journey.

We need to enjoy each step along the way and appreciate

it for what it is,

because it's always like when you get to this destination,

the dream that you were searching for,

you're already ready to go.

Another step.

That's true.

Yeah. So Rhonda,

what types of things do you find really work in terms

of bringing business,

either into the store or people ordering online from you?

What are you finding is working best for you these days?

Actually, the,

what I find works the best for me,

as far as bringing business into the story is doing local

events, small,

local events.

I've tried doing big events,

big chocolate festivals or an a woman's expo.

They don't work for me because there's so many people in

there and they come from so many vendors in there and

they come from so many different places and the people that

are attending come from all over.

So they're not going to buy a box of my candy,

go home and like it and come to my store.

If they live way South or way North,

they're not going to drive an hour.

And they say,

they're going to order online,

but they don't.

So for me doing a local events that are within a

certain distance of my store,

I have the most luck because those people live close by

and they'll say,

Oh, you're local.

I'll come into your store.

And you do see some of them come in.

So for me,

it's the local events that are small and there's not a

lot of competition.

And just,

or you're the only person at the event or whatever it

is. But the local things are best For me.

And I think people love supporting local businesses too.

So when you talk about having a little bit of a

visibility issue,

then going to local events,

you're upping your visibility and you're connecting with the community and

they know then you're right in the area.

So then that starts to be ingrained that,

Oh, she's right here.

So even if you can't see or they know you're there,

right. And what do you do on the customer service and

to make people feel appreciated and valued?

Well, When customers come in the door,

the first thing I do is I go out to the

front and I'll say,

hi, how are you today?

And sometimes you get a,

Oh, I'm just fine.

And I'm a happy person at the time to get a

grunt. But either way,

I try to engage the person and ask them,

this is their first time here.

If it is the first time,

how did they find out about us?

What is it that they're looking for?

If they need help,

I can make suggestions,

just trying to not really get personal with them,

but just engage with them and make them feel really welcome.

You don't get that a lot of stores because it just

doesn't happen a lot.

Do you have a customer list that you keep in communication

via email or any of that type of thing?

Set up?

I have an email sign up sheet by our cash register

and we do send out emails here and there.

I don't do a lot of emailing because I know people

are bombarded with emails,

but I do like to send out something special.

Like if we're doing something at Valentine's day or when the

holidays are coming around or just,

if there's something I feel,

if I'm going to be an event,

I would like them to know about it.

Just little things like that.

I don't send something out weekly.

Some people feel like there needs to be a structure,

but what your talking about here is you make sure that

your emails are a value to people.

So even though it might not be on a consistent basis,

they know if they're getting an email from you,

you have something to say that you think that they should

know. It's not just a method of getting your name in

front of their face all the time.

Well, when you get emails On a weekly basis or every

day, even you tend to just delete them because it's the

same thing.

If you start looking at your daily emails from another type

of store or something,

it's the same thing.

They're just reminding you we're having the sale or having the

fail and you just start deleting.

But if you get an email from somebody that,

Oh, wait,

I remember signing up for them and I,

what are they saying?

You know?

So you do stuff to look at what they might be

saying because you don't get something from them every day.

Right? Yeah.

So it's valuable information versus just in your face,

Sally. And that's for sure.

We hope it's valuable.

That's a turnoff,

right? Yeah.

So, all right,

Rhonda, I want to roll now into our reflection section.

This is a look at you and how you're managing your

day, what you feel from way back when has made you

successful. So if you think about a trait that you naturally

have, that just is Rhonda,

what would it be?

What is the trait you call upon to be successful?

I love people.

I like to watch people.

I like to interact with people,

but I'd like to do that more on a one-to-one basis

or face-to-face,

I'm not great in front of a group or anything,

or, but I like to just know people.

And I like to hear those stories.

And my husband laughs and says that we're,

you know,

like the chocolate bartenders,

because we listen and talk to people so much and they

start to open up and tell you their stories and then

you're going,

no, I got work to do,

please leave.

I love that.

The chocolate bartenders.

That's funny.

I just think that I really like people.

I think that I'm a friendly person and I just like

to get to know them.

And I think that's really,

what's helped our business.

People come in and treat them well.

And people over the years have been coming back since the

beginning, we know that we've seen their families grow up.

We've maybe gone through like a wedding or a baby or

even a death.

And you just get to know those people.

Yeah. I mean,

what you're doing,

we were talking about that as you talk about how you

greet people in the store.

I mean,

what you're doing is making somebody feel special,

special, and uniquely to them.

It's because you know about them.

You're learning about them.

You're talking with them.

So the experience in the store makes them feel good.

And naturally they're going to want to come back.

All right.

What tool do you use?

You've been talking about how your day,

you know,

everything you get pulled off tasks frequently throughout the day.

I think a lot of us can relate to that,

but is there a tool or something that you use to

help you either keep productive or to create balance in your

life? Well,

my husband tries to keep me balanced.

And how does he do that?

Good at calming me down thing.

Don't worry.

We're going to get it done.

It's okay.

No, one's going to come in here and yell at us

because we're running a little late or this is behind.

So he really does a good job at thing,

you know,

just relax,

you know,

because I do tend to get anxious because I do have

so many different things pulling me in different directions and he's

a really,

really positive part of our business.

He's able to show you the other side to put things

in perspective for you.

Yeah. He's a very positive,

optimistic person and I can tend to be the other way,

very negative and critical of myself because I want to be

a perfectionist.

Then he tries to bring me back to it's.

Okay. You know,

it's not going to be perfect.

And if people are late or people are,

I don't know what the word is I'm looking for,

but people are going to be perfect and they don't expect

you to be perfect.

I mean,

remember that the person that you're working with doesn't know what

you're going through and just,

he just helps balance me,

I guess.

And he's,

he's a huge part of keeping me thing.

Yeah. I mean,

we're all our own worst critics,

you know,

we know that,

but you're right.

I like what you're talking about.

I I'm challenged with that myself because I know what I

want to be doing next in a way.

It's good.

Because then you are pushing yourself forward.

You know,

you have goals.

You're not just procrastinating,

but when you know what you want to do next,

it causes so much stress that you're putting on yourself.

Right. Right.

And nobody else Knows what's in your mind of what you

are planning to do.

So I love the fact that you're using your husband as

the one that you go to,

to help balance you out because your drive to move forward

and his balance to keep you with reality.

And that everything is fine is a great mix.

And he's been your support from the very beginning,

which is It's super cool.

Oh yes.

And sometimes I tell him that this business is his fault

because he's the one that said,

let's go home and see what we can find out on

the internet.

Do you know what date that was?

You should have that date marked down.

I don't have a date and I have looked back and

wish that I knew,

Have you read a book lately that you think our listeners

could find?

I don't get a lot of time to read.

I do love books and I have my favorites and I

do have a book that a girlfriend and I read together

maybe two or three summers ago.

And it's called so long insecurity.

You've been a bad friend to us and it's by Beth

Moore. And it just kind of talking about how we're insecure

about everything from our looks to our worth as women.

And we're insecure about our relationships and our future and everything

else in between and you name it.

We're probably insecure about it.

So insecurity makes us miserable and just makes us feel worthless.

So I kind of learned through reading the book that when

I would say something negative,

I had to stop and ask myself,

am I telling myself a story?

Is this really how people are perceiving me?

Is this really true?

And if I stop and ask myself that I'm saying,

wait a minute,

that person doesn't know me.

They're not thinking that of me.

They're not probably thinking anything of me.

And so it just kind of helped me realize that it's

me and the voices and me talking to me,

it was insecurity.

And so I had to learn a way to overcome a

lot of that.

I'm going to check out that book because I think it

could be worthwhile for so many people.

The majority of our listeners and the people that I work

with are women.

I'd say probably 90%.

We have more of an issue with this then men do.

I don't know about this book.

I'm very interested to check it out.

Self-talk can be terrible for us,

How it can be very defeating gift Biz listeners,

just as you are listening to the podcast today,

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible.

And if you haven't already,

you can go to gift biz,

book.com, make a selection and get an audio book for free.

You can find that again at gift biz,

book.com. Okay.

Rhonda, I would like now to invite you to dare to

dream, I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

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

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

I'm inside.

My box is going to be two compartments.

One is going to be related to my business.

And one is related to my family because being a small

business owner,

they're both intertwined in my business.

My idea of unlimited dreams would be to have maybe four

or five stores and have people that I could trust running

them and working them.

But yet give me the ability to kind of leave and

go do what I want to do.

And B if I want to go to my grandson's baseball

game or my granddaughter ballet recital,

I can do that without having to close my store and

know that I have people I can trust.

And the other compartment would be my family because my family

is extremely important to me.

And I want those opportunities to build into my children,

my grandchildren,

and to be with them.

And I want us to be able to take vacations together

and spend time together and not have the business side,

keeping me from that.

So for me,

my biggest dream would be just to have a business that

could operate on its own.

So I could spend time with my family.

That's a fabulous dream because I think all of us start

our business for what freedom,

financial freedom and time,

freedom. And often it doesn't work out that way.

Well, my family Is very important to me and I never

want my family to become less important than my business.

And if I'm always saying no to my family,

because I'm saying yes to my business makes me very unhappy.

And so I w in order to say yes to my

family and I have to get my business going and get

it to be,

or I can leave when I want to,

For sure,

on the show notes page,

we're going to have all the links that you had provided

me earlier,

like all your social media and all that.

But if there was one place for the people who are

listening and not at the show notes page right now,

where would be the best place for people to connect with

you and your business?

Well, probably the best place to connect would be the website.

You can see our products and the different things that we

do with our business,

and that would be the best place.

Okay. And that be@thecococabana.com.

That's correct.

And give biz listeners,

all of the links,

again, are over on the show notes page.

If you happen to be in the Chicago area,

we'll have Ronda's shop address there as well,

because you can only see it coming from the North side,

not the South.

Is that right?

Or is it the other way around going South is not

easy. You can't see it going North to Kim.

All right.

Super well,

Rhonda, thank you so much.

I really,

really appreciate your sharing.

The story.

The development of the business is really interesting.

You've given us a lot of insight and a lot of

help for people who are just starting out.

And that is the whole goal of the podcast here.

So my wish for you for the future is that you

continue to be able to release yourself from your business.

So you have more time to spend with your family and

may your candle always burn bright.

Thank you.

Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

and life.

It's our gift to you and available at gift biz,

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