Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Never stop pushing yourself or exploring.
- Deal with self doubt by reminding yourself everyday that you’re doing it already.
- Have a fierce tenacity to turn down the noise around you and follow whatever is pulling you.
- The closest people around you can be your first test group.
- Start small and start humbly but always listen to what’s driving you.
- It’s important to have a solid product and to have a value proposition.
- Be good at rejection. Not everyone will say yes to you.
- Take feedback gracefully.
- Look at everything as a learning experience and a lesson.
- Stay true to yourself and trust what you’re doing.
- There is no shame in slow and steady growth.
- Business is full of competition. Find out how you’re going to differentiate yourself.
Resources Mentioned
Quickbooks – accounting softwareContact Links
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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
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 183 Never stop
Speaker:pushing yourself and never stop exploring and never put yourself in
Speaker:a box.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, 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 on rapt helping you turn your
Speaker: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 And thank you so much for spending a little
Speaker:bit of your time with me today.
Speaker:Before we get into the show,
Speaker:I want to make sure you know about my newly released
Speaker:free master class.
Speaker:It's called how to turn your hobby into a business.
Speaker:How do you know if this is for you?
Speaker:Well, if you're starting a business right now,
Speaker:you've gotten that dream,
Speaker:but you're just not sure what steps you should be taking.
Speaker:This masterclass is for you if you're already in business,
Speaker:but something just isn't clicking,
Speaker:it's not bringing in the sales or it's just not performing
Speaker:the way you think it should.
Speaker:This masterclass is also for you to check it out.
Speaker:Just go over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash masterclass I look forward to seeing you over
Speaker:there and for now.
Speaker:Let's get into the show Today.
Speaker:I am so excited to introduce you to Christie Mangia.
Speaker:Even as a child,
Speaker:Christie loved being in the kitchen.
Speaker:She originally started giddy up nuts as a way to escape
Speaker:the crazy of everyday life.
Speaker:Today she feels lucky because it has become her everyday life
Speaker:up. Nuts was born about five years ago in her dad's
Speaker:kitchen. They started selling at the local farmer's market and then
Speaker:took on distributing to gourmet and specialty food stores from there.
Speaker:Christy says that now more than ever,
Speaker:it is important to know where your food is coming from
Speaker:and to have a connection to what you're eating.
Speaker:Giddy up nuts is all natural.
Speaker:Uses local ingredients whenever possible and tastes delicious too,
Speaker:and I can attest to that.
Speaker:Christie's mission is to create something unique and delicious that people
Speaker:can always feel good about eating.
Speaker:Christie, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I am really excited to get into your story.
Speaker:I love when I meet people love their product and then
Speaker:I say,
Speaker:wait, don't tell me anything more.
Speaker:Will you be on my past?
Speaker:That's kind of what we did here.
Speaker:Yeah, we met at the national gift basket convention and it's
Speaker:kind of funny and I was driving to Arizona from California
Speaker:for the convention and I listened to a lot of business
Speaker:related podcasts and one of my favorite kind of profiles businesses
Speaker:who have really made it and I was thinking on the
Speaker:way to Arizona,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it'd be so cool to be able to do something like
Speaker:this, and then you asked me,
Speaker:so it was very serendipitous.
Speaker:That's so crazy and I believe putting things out into the
Speaker:environment. Absolutely.
Speaker:I see those things happening all the time,
Speaker:so that's really cool.
Speaker:I love that story.
Speaker:Yeah. I like to start this off by having you describe
Speaker:yourself in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were able to create a candle that totally
Speaker:resonates with you,
Speaker:what color would it be and what would be a quote
Speaker:or a mantra on your candle?
Speaker:So I guess my first sort of clarifying question is,
Speaker:are we talking about the actual vessel of the candle or
Speaker:the flame?
Speaker:We can talk about whatever you want.
Speaker:This is your candle,
Speaker:right? I would say Mike handle the vessel would be like
Speaker:a deep green and my flame would be a bright orange
Speaker:and not orange because that's typically what candles are,
Speaker:but sort of I believe in a lot of visualization and
Speaker:putting things out there.
Speaker:And whenever I think of light and staying in the light,
Speaker:for some reason,
Speaker:orange is just what in my head.
Speaker:So it would be a dark green vessel with a bright
Speaker:orange light.
Speaker:And I think my candle would say never stop exploring,
Speaker:Never stop exploring.
Speaker:Talk about that a little more.
Speaker:So I think it's one of the little taglines that I've
Speaker:also incorporated into giddy up.
Speaker:But I think it's so important physically and mentally to kind
Speaker:of never stop pushing yourself and never stop exploring and never
Speaker:put yourself in a box.
Speaker:And one of giddy up sort of a little stub theme
Speaker:running through it,
Speaker:food for your everyday wanderings and to challenge the consumers to
Speaker:never stop exploring it,
Speaker:to take your food on that adventure.
Speaker:And I always ask whenever I get to meet customers,
Speaker:Hey, send me pictures of you out in the world with
Speaker:giddy. So you don't always have to be climbing a mountain
Speaker:or backpacking.
Speaker:I mean you could be exploring in a very urban capacity,
Speaker:but I'm someone who is a planner and I love to
Speaker:eat so I always have snacks with me.
Speaker:So I think just having that mindset of exploring yourself personally,
Speaker:professionally, physically exploring your surroundings,
Speaker:no matter where you are is just a really important theme
Speaker:in my life.
Speaker:Wonderfully said.
Speaker:And we are going to get back to the whole giddy
Speaker:up social media opportunities that you just laid the groundwork for.
Speaker:And a little bit.
Speaker:I'm going to start in the beginning.
Speaker:I know that you loved cooking,
Speaker:I guess with your dad,
Speaker:right in the very beginning.
Speaker:Well, I say cooking's kind of an air quote.
Speaker:So I have always been drawn to the kitchen and when
Speaker:I was younger it was an event.
Speaker:I don't think I was ever a troublemaker child,
Speaker:but if I ever got in trouble,
Speaker:it was around these events where I would go into my
Speaker:kitchen and I was young.
Speaker:I mean I was like four or five years old,
Speaker:so too young to kind of put it all together,
Speaker:but we'll just start grabbing random things out of the fridge
Speaker:that did not go together.
Speaker:It was predominantly condiments.
Speaker:So relish ketchup,
Speaker:Mustard. Oh dear.
Speaker:It sounds like a mess.
Speaker:It was a mess.
Speaker:That is completely what it was.
Speaker:Nothing edible ever turned out of this.
Speaker:So my parents thought as you just made a mess and
Speaker:you're being incredibly wasteful,
Speaker:but I started at a very young age of like,
Speaker:let's just mix a bunch of stuff together and see what
Speaker:happens. So that's really kind of my earliest memories in the
Speaker:kitchen. But then yes,
Speaker:growing up I did a lot of cooking with my dad.
Speaker:Is it a lot of cooking with other family members?
Speaker:And it really is just a place where I feel calm
Speaker:and it's a place where you focus as an entrepreneur and
Speaker:as my personality type,
Speaker:I think you're drawn to have your brain in a thousand
Speaker:different directions at any one time.
Speaker:And when I'm in the kitchen,
Speaker:it's just this like focus moment and you're creating something that
Speaker:nourishes people and I really think it's one of the most
Speaker:profound acts of love for someone to is to create this
Speaker:meal for them that you thought of and you put time
Speaker:into. So I have always felt most comfortable and most relaxed
Speaker:in the kitchen.
Speaker:And yes,
Speaker:it started at a very young age with these recipes I
Speaker:called them.
Speaker:That really got me in a lot of trouble.
Speaker:But that's really where it kind of started.
Speaker:I just have had this love of cooking and creating ever
Speaker:since then.
Speaker:Well, lucky for us that you identified that that's where you
Speaker:love to be because this would have never come about it.
Speaker:Lots of people have certain areas that they enjoy and they
Speaker:never think about how that could relate over to a business.
Speaker:So that's a good tip.
Speaker:Just for anybody who's thinking,
Speaker:well man,
Speaker:I'd love to be in business for myself,
Speaker:but what?
Speaker:Where do you feel good?
Speaker:Where in your life?
Speaker:What place,
Speaker:what environment?
Speaker:What are you doing that makes you feel good?
Speaker:It could hold a clue like it did for you.
Speaker:Yeah. So Christie,
Speaker:where did this idea of giddy up nuts come from?
Speaker:Can you identify the specific moment where you're like,
Speaker:wow, this could possibly be a business?
Speaker:Well, I can tell you the specific moment where the idea
Speaker:was born,
Speaker:I still kind of struggle.
Speaker:I think everyone deals with their own self doubt.
Speaker:I still have to convince myself and remind myself every day
Speaker:that you're doing it.
Speaker:But I can tell you the exact moment where it was
Speaker:this like,
Speaker:aha. So I'm from California.
Speaker:I don't know how many people listening are familiar with California,
Speaker:but there is a very popular ski resort called mammoth.
Speaker:It's nationally known but every Southern California knows about it and
Speaker:I was driving home from mammoth and I was is Sunday
Speaker:and I remember being really bummed out that I had to
Speaker:drive back home to LA because I had to be at
Speaker:work on Monday and there was,
Speaker:mammoth is such a beautiful place both winter and summer and
Speaker:I was so upset to be leaving up there to go
Speaker:back down South to a job that I wasn't particularly fulfilled
Speaker:in. Boy,
Speaker:I bet you everybody can relate to that.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Having to leave vacation early to go back to something you're
Speaker:not excited to go back to and there was just a
Speaker:lot of circumstantial things going on.
Speaker:I had,
Speaker:it was somewhat new in my tenure at this job.
Speaker:I had just finished working at Disney.
Speaker:I worked at Disney for five years.
Speaker:It was very high stress environment,
Speaker:moved in a completely different direction and was now working in
Speaker:more of a health care related company and was just still
Speaker:not feeling incredibly fulfilled and was like,
Speaker:why am I doing this?
Speaker:I'm not happy here and I don't want to get caught
Speaker:in this rat race him,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:I need to pay my bills so I can't leave.
Speaker:I've got things going on,
Speaker:I've got a life to live.
Speaker:But I said,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:if I can create something where I'll still have this job
Speaker:that I'm not incredibly fulfilled by but that pays my bills,
Speaker:but I will have an outlet where I can kind of
Speaker:seek refuge in this space and feel good about it.
Speaker:And it was on that drive home and kind of everything
Speaker:coming together where I had stopped at a store to pick
Speaker:up some snacks and couldn't find anything that I felt good
Speaker:about eating.
Speaker:Of course there's stuff that tastes good,
Speaker:but when you're sedentary for five hours in the car,
Speaker:you also kind of feel a little bit guilty about eating
Speaker:a bunch of potato chips and candy.
Speaker:But the alternative was very,
Speaker:very, very unapproachable at the time.
Speaker:I think certain things have gone more mainstream,
Speaker:but very unapproachable,
Speaker:like different jerkies and dried fruits and health,
Speaker:food, snacks that still weren't exciting to eat.
Speaker:Like you felt like you were still making some kind of
Speaker:a concession.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:why can't there be something that I'm excited to buy an
Speaker:EA and I'm excited about the flavor,
Speaker:but I don't feel totally awful about eating.
Speaker:So that was the issue that I had identified.
Speaker:And then again,
Speaker:turning it into a job or a company was I'm going
Speaker:to take all the aspects of my life that I love
Speaker:and make me feel calm and happy and I'm going to
Speaker:make that into something that I can at least come home
Speaker:and spend my time and,
Speaker:and feel fulfilled.
Speaker:So I have always loved country music.
Speaker:I always loved then the stall GIA and sort of the
Speaker:small town,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:living in Los Angeles,
Speaker:you get really caught up in a bunch of just crazy
Speaker:things. Loves just how rooted it felt.
Speaker:And so I'm like,
Speaker:if I'm going to create something,
Speaker:it's going to be something that I feel good about all
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:So giddy up nuts.
Speaker:I wanted to play off that country cowboy,
Speaker:wild West.
Speaker:When you're driving down three 95 in California,
Speaker:it looks like the wild West.
Speaker:So that's where the giddy up and that Western and pioneering
Speaker:sentiment came from.
Speaker:And then again,
Speaker:just it being focused on food because I had identified a
Speaker:need and I've always loved being in the kitchen.
Speaker:So this was really just a culmination of everything that I
Speaker:love and makes me feel good as an outlet to the
Speaker:corporate world.
Speaker:Did this all happen in the car on your drive home?
Speaker:Yeah, like the whole thing,
Speaker:the name,
Speaker:the image,
Speaker:the whole thing,
Speaker:everything. So literally I was with someone who was actually a
Speaker:boyfriend at the time I was with him and we were
Speaker:kind of just going back and forth,
Speaker:lamenting about why do we have to go back to work?
Speaker:What if we could create this thing?
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:I'm going to do it,
Speaker:I'm going to try it.
Speaker:And it was just kind of joking around and spit balling
Speaker:back and forth.
Speaker:And I think as a joke said,
Speaker:giddy up nuts and it just stuck.
Speaker:And then jokingly with Yar slogan could be put a little
Speaker:kick in your nuts.
Speaker:It all was very tongue in cheek and then it was,
Speaker:well, why not?
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I got home and started with some recipe development and it
Speaker:was right around the holidays and I had made the original
Speaker:spice flavor.
Speaker:We always host my entire family for Christmas.
Speaker:And so I had made the original spice recipe and use
Speaker:my family as my first Guinea pigs.
Speaker:And he wrote like,
Speaker:this is great,
Speaker:you should sell this.
Speaker:And then took it into the office and shopped it around
Speaker:and did little mini focus groups and said,
Speaker:Hey, would you guys buy this?
Speaker:Does it taste good?
Speaker:What's your feedback?
Speaker:And they all said yes.
Speaker:And so I signed up for a cottage food permit,
Speaker:which I'm very thankful that California has this program because it
Speaker:meant that I could start this thing with pretty low overhead.
Speaker:I didn't have to go and find a manufacturing facility.
Speaker:I could do it out of my kitchen.
Speaker:The health inspector came,
Speaker:gave me a path,
Speaker:went and started selling it at the local Calabasas farmer's market
Speaker:and it was successful.
Speaker:I think it's one of those things that the first day
Speaker:of any business you're like,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:what if I don't have any customers?
Speaker:What am I doing?
Speaker:Like you just have all of these things running through your
Speaker:head and it was great.
Speaker:I mean it was very well received.
Speaker:We had market goers buying from us.
Speaker:We had a couple of people that owned retail stores.
Speaker:We actually,
Speaker:our first account was with the national parks.
Speaker:We had a woman who runs the Santa Monica mountains conservatory
Speaker:and a couple other places which is under the national parks
Speaker:approach us and say we want to carry them.
Speaker:It was a great validation of okay,
Speaker:this works and so I developed some additional flavors from there.
Speaker:Rosemary garlic,
Speaker:coffee, chocolate and original spice were the first three flavors and
Speaker:just sold them at locals farmer's markets.
Speaker:But all the while still maintained my full time job and
Speaker:so I realized I liked my weekends.
Speaker:I was getting really burnt out and so decided to move
Speaker:away from the farmer's markets and just distribute directly to specialty
Speaker:food stores.
Speaker:So that's where we evolve from the markets.
Speaker:We don't have a distributor,
Speaker:everything's still direct today,
Speaker:but selling directly to the stores because it allows us to
Speaker:get our product out there and not have to physically be
Speaker:at a market every weekend.
Speaker:Sure. Let me stop you here for just a second because
Speaker:I want to just point out to listeners some of the
Speaker:things that you did so well early on.
Speaker:First off you got going right on that.
Speaker:I love from that car ride you pretty much made the
Speaker:commitment that you were going to do it and I can
Speaker:just imagine the emotion running through you.
Speaker:You had to change in that ride from dread of going
Speaker:home and going to a job to excitement of,
Speaker:okay, yeah I have to do this,
Speaker:but now I'm going to go do some research and this
Speaker:and that.
Speaker:Like just it changes you so fast when you finally claim
Speaker:your dream and start to take action.
Speaker:So that is so cool.
Speaker:I can just like,
Speaker:I can feel it.
Speaker:I'm getting shivers over here and then I really liked that
Speaker:you did some testing to start out.
Speaker:You tested with your family,
Speaker:so that also probably raised your confidence that,
Speaker:okay, so I've got a solid base.
Speaker:And then you've also got people who love you.
Speaker:They're not going to tell you it's great necessarily.
Speaker:If it's not,
Speaker:they might tell you that in the room with everybody else,
Speaker:but someone would have come on the side to you and
Speaker:said, no.
Speaker:Well, the second you say,
Speaker:I'm considering making a business out of this,
Speaker:come from a family that would be very honest and say
Speaker:like, this is the worst idea.
Speaker:And to be totally honest,
Speaker:I mean it took a while to win over my family
Speaker:to convince them that this was not just a hobby,
Speaker:that this was a real thing.
Speaker:Then we can get into this down the road,
Speaker:but I always say if I ever write a book,
Speaker:I'm going to open it with a line of I love
Speaker:my dad.
Speaker:He is my partner in crime.
Speaker:He is my biggest cheerleader.
Speaker:He came to every market,
Speaker:every event,
Speaker:but he was the most vocal in this as a hobby.
Speaker:Like you can't do this for real.
Speaker:He's a dentist.
Speaker:He has full expectations of me becoming a doctor.
Speaker:You enter a profession,
Speaker:you don't do this.
Speaker:And so he famously said,
Speaker:I was out with one of my friends at a farmer's
Speaker:market. We both went to USC and he sat there and
Speaker:it looked a little dismayed and said it half joking,
Speaker:but half seriously and goes,
Speaker:there's $500,000
Speaker:worth of education standing on a corner selling nuts right now.
Speaker:He's incredibly supportive.
Speaker:He said it really jokingly,
Speaker:but you have to convince yourself and you actually do have
Speaker:to convince some folks around you that know this is a
Speaker:thing and I think that's where a lot of people might
Speaker:get stuck in business is you have to have such a
Speaker:fierce tenacity to just turn down that noise and follow whatever
Speaker:is pulling you.
Speaker:And I think that's something that I still work on today
Speaker:is don't ever think you have to start off super big.
Speaker:Don't ever discount the closest people around you as your first
Speaker:test group and start small and start humbly,
Speaker:but always listen to whatever is driving you because even the
Speaker:closest people around you might think you're crazy,
Speaker:but you just have to stay at it.
Speaker:Let's stay there for a second.
Speaker:How were you able to turn down the volume of people
Speaker:who were starting to question you or saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:no, this is really more of a hobby business or some
Speaker:of the things your dad was saying.
Speaker:How would you advise someone to get through that based on
Speaker:what you did?
Speaker:Well, for me personally,
Speaker:it was a little bit easier because pretty far into having
Speaker:the company,
Speaker:I maintained another source of revenue.
Speaker:It was never as scary as do or die.
Speaker:It was always this grand experiment and I think on the
Speaker:one hand I was smart to do that.
Speaker:I think a lot of people will dive headfirst,
Speaker:bet the farm on something without truly giving it enough time
Speaker:to vet itself.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's one thing to do these small focus groups,
Speaker:but it does take time to identify who your real market
Speaker:is and get some traction at stores and streamline your processes.
Speaker:So I think it gave me the confidence to fall back
Speaker:on, okay,
Speaker:you all think I'm crazy,
Speaker:but yes,
Speaker:I am still maintaining a quote unquote real job.
Speaker:I think it gets much harder when you do dive in
Speaker:head first,
Speaker:but I think it's so important and that point really isn't
Speaker:tangible. I mean everyone kind of has to identify that for
Speaker:themselves, but there does come a point when you identify,
Speaker:okay, this is more than a hobby.
Speaker:It does have potential.
Speaker:I do believe in it.
Speaker:I am going to go all in and it's harder.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:every day I have to deal with turning off that noise.
Speaker:It never goes away,
Speaker:so to speak,
Speaker:but I think I started off in a position where it
Speaker:was much easier to trust the idea because I had a
Speaker:fallback. I'm not saying that's the right approach for everyone.
Speaker:Some people do have to go all in.
Speaker:I give props to the people who have the courage to
Speaker:go all in.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:yeah. I'm not an advocate of that at all.
Speaker:I'm way more an advocate of the way you're doing it.
Speaker:And I've never thought of it this way,
Speaker:but one of the words you said popped out to me,
Speaker:and that was your attitude because if someone who's going all
Speaker:out because they have to prove cause they quit their job,
Speaker:right? It's like do or die time.
Speaker:Now you've got to make it work.
Speaker:And you could do a lot of stupid things in that
Speaker:time too.
Speaker:I mean there's a lot of things where maybe you take
Speaker:on things that you shouldn't be taking on.
Speaker:And I think the approach that I had really has allowed
Speaker:it to be slow and organic growth.
Speaker:And you get offers from a lot of people who marketing
Speaker:companies and distribution companies and events and over going to put
Speaker:your product in front of a bunch of celebrities.
Speaker:I mean it's so easy to get seduced by this.
Speaker:Like, Oh my brand's going to blow up overnight.
Speaker:But if you listen to a lot of the established food
Speaker:brands, it takes a while to get going,
Speaker:especially in the marketplace today.
Speaker:The way things are,
Speaker:it's so important to have that slow organic growth because it's
Speaker:really easy to overextend yourself very quickly,
Speaker:and that's where I think these startup businesses can get in
Speaker:trouble. Yeah,
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:Getting back to the whole attitude concept,
Speaker:the attitude of testing,
Speaker:experimenting, all of that in the beginning in a less stressful
Speaker:environment when you're doing something else.
Speaker:Also I think is absolutely the best way to go.
Speaker:Plus, you're never,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:one person that I've ever talked to who has landed it
Speaker:right out of the gate,
Speaker:they're thinking they're making a product,
Speaker:they present it,
Speaker:and that is the winning product that is now the one
Speaker:that everybody knows about.
Speaker:There's always changes,
Speaker:whether it's the flavors or the sizing or the packaging.
Speaker:There's so many different things or adding different elements to it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:So I think that's an important point for everyone to understand
Speaker:too, is that these first stages that you had where you're
Speaker:introducing it to your family gave you some confidence,
Speaker:made you feel a little better to move forward.
Speaker:Then you started going to the farmer's market and you saw
Speaker:that you were getting reception there.
Speaker:The other great thing about farmer's markets is you can see
Speaker:how customers are interacting,
Speaker:so there's so much you get there.
Speaker:One of the things that I remember with you,
Speaker:Christie, is your flavors are so unique.
Speaker:Yeah. The flavors of all the nuts and the combinations and
Speaker:all that are really different.
Speaker:Is that one of the reasons you think that the specialty
Speaker:stores were attracted to you so quickly?
Speaker:I do so I think kind of going back even before
Speaker:the flavors,
Speaker:I think it's important to have that really solid product and
Speaker:to have a value proposition for people.
Speaker:Honestly, my advice for anyone starting off is your packaging is
Speaker:so important and just talking about evolution.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:when I first started this,
Speaker:I worked with a designer who I used to work with
Speaker:at Disney.
Speaker:We made a logo,
Speaker:it was literally these craft coffee bags and we slapped a
Speaker:sticker. The front,
Speaker:I was printing stickers at Kinko's and putting them on the
Speaker:back and I thought this is so professional.
Speaker:Look at me,
Speaker:I have it.
Speaker:And then like you said,
Speaker:you start and you think you've got it all figured out
Speaker:and then you slowly evolve to,
Speaker:okay well the next iteration was still that coffee bag,
Speaker:but now we had a sticker that was unique to each
Speaker:flavor and wrapped all the way around.
Speaker:So the product was now tamper resistant.
Speaker:You could tell if someone had been in there and I
Speaker:thought great,
Speaker:we've got it.
Speaker:And then you kind of do some more research and you
Speaker:have to get really good at rejection in this field too.
Speaker:Cause not everyone will say yes to you and you have
Speaker:to take that feedback very gracefully,
Speaker:but then realize we needed to go through a full packaging
Speaker:and branding overhaul.
Speaker:This was about three years into the business and completely redid
Speaker:our packaging,
Speaker:offered two different sizes because that was something else that we
Speaker:could likely realized as to what the market will pay for.
Speaker:For what and being a new product,
Speaker:you have to give them an offering that is less prohibitive.
Speaker:People aren't going to spend $10 on something they don't know
Speaker:about for a pound of almond,
Speaker:but maybe they'll spend $4 on a smaller amount and kind
Speaker:of get introduced to the brand.
Speaker:So we played around with different sizes.
Speaker:We now have two sizes,
Speaker:but I think the packaging and the branding is so key.
Speaker:I love our branding and our packaging.
Speaker:That's really what catches the gourmet specialty food.
Speaker:The buyers eye first is that packaging,
Speaker:it has to fit aesthetically on that shelf or it has
Speaker:to fit aesthetically in that gift basket.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how good it tastes.
Speaker:If it looks janky,
Speaker:it's not going to sell.
Speaker:But then obviously when you're getting distribution and you're working with
Speaker:stores, they'll look at their packaging,
Speaker:they buy in,
Speaker:but then they have to taste good too.
Speaker:So doing the quick and dirty market research and again everyone
Speaker:I think thinks it's much more of a a glamorous and
Speaker:involved process.
Speaker:I literally just went to a bunch of different stores and
Speaker:was like,
Speaker:okay, what's on their shelves,
Speaker:what flavors are there?
Speaker:There was a lot of,
Speaker:with Sabi,
Speaker:a lot of barbecue,
Speaker:a lot of salt,
Speaker:lot of ingredients.
Speaker:I couldn't pronounce a lot of almonds that originated in a
Speaker:different country.
Speaker:And so having that appreciation for food,
Speaker:I really wanted to have some different and unique flavors and
Speaker:I still feel like I have so many ideas that I
Speaker:want to introduce and we're trying to figure out how to
Speaker:have a seasonal flavor that's an ever evolving skew.
Speaker:But I didn't want to get trapped in the wasabi barbecue,
Speaker:smoked almonds.
Speaker:I really wanted to do something different.
Speaker:And so that's where our flavors came up from.
Speaker:We have six now.
Speaker:I think all of them are unique in their own right
Speaker:and kind of catch people's eye.
Speaker:But the packaging is so important.
Speaker:But then once you open the bag,
Speaker:you have to have a product that stands up on its
Speaker:own that people will ribeye or that you're convincing buyers to
Speaker:bring into their store.
Speaker:Well said.
Speaker:You have to be strong on both sides for sure.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:You are talking such a great story.
Speaker:Everything is beautiful.
Speaker:Life is wonderful.
Speaker:We both know that that can't be the whole story.
Speaker:There has to be something in there that was challenging or
Speaker:a struggle or something that you will get really anxious about
Speaker:as you were building your business.
Speaker:Can you bring us to that point So often it sounds
Speaker:like business owners who listen to and are successful have just
Speaker:had an easy road the whole time.
Speaker:Well that's never ever the case and Christie's going to share
Speaker:with us some of her struggles.
Speaker:Right after a word from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
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Speaker:Yeah, so you know it's interesting.
Speaker:I think it's all perspective and I definitely can point to
Speaker:a couple of tangible times that it was challenging either we
Speaker:had a massive order come in,
Speaker:so I remember a couple of years ago when I was
Speaker:still producing everything under the cottage food act in my dad's
Speaker:kitchen. We had a massive order come through and it was
Speaker:like, how the heck am I going to do this?
Speaker:And it was just really long hours and really challenging.
Speaker:Your mindset is really the biggest challenge.
Speaker:I try to look at everything as a learning experience and
Speaker:a lesson,
Speaker:so I was actually just telling one of my mentors the
Speaker:other day.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I finally have gotten to the place where I feel like
Speaker:there is not a single challenge that you could physically put
Speaker:in front of me that I couldn't give it my honest
Speaker:try and try and work my way around and figure out
Speaker:some sort of solution.
Speaker:The biggest struggle in all of this is again,
Speaker:keeping that chatter down and staying true to yourself and trusting
Speaker:what you're doing and not getting sidetracked by any one thing,
Speaker:whether it be the person wanting to give you marketing advice
Speaker:or someone wanting to give you money for equity,
Speaker:or there's a myriad of things that business owners will become
Speaker:tasked with.
Speaker:If you have your mindset right in,
Speaker:I trust what I'm doing and I trust myself and I
Speaker:can turn off all those negative little voices,
Speaker:there's really nothing that can get in your way and stop
Speaker:you. I agree with you and your point about mindset,
Speaker:when you got that big order,
Speaker:you could say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:yes, it's going to be a ton of work,
Speaker:but look,
Speaker:we got this huge opportunity.
Speaker:Or you could be sitting twiddling your thumbs and doing nothing.
Speaker:Right? I mean,
Speaker:that would have been the other side of it.
Speaker:Yeah, so I think everything has its specific challenge.
Speaker:When it came time to move out of my dad's kitchen
Speaker:and find a co-packer.
Speaker:Yeah. We could talk for hours about the hysterical stories of
Speaker:just the hilarity that ensues and being a business owner,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:I used to buy my almonds retail and the step that
Speaker:I had to take to go and find an official supplier.
Speaker:I didn't have any experience in the food industry.
Speaker:It was all just getting your hands dirty and I remember
Speaker:pulling up the California almond board's website and going down the
Speaker:list of 200 different people that were on the almond board
Speaker:and calling them.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:when I started this,
Speaker:I had no idea there were different types of almonds.
Speaker:I thought an almonds and almond.
Speaker:I had no idea that there were different types.
Speaker:So I would call and people would say,
Speaker:well, what type and what size?
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I just need almonds.
Speaker:And so their reaction was funny.
Speaker:I had certain people that were like,
Speaker:okay, well what's your first order going to look like?
Speaker:Well, about a hundred pounds.
Speaker:And they had 40,000
Speaker:pound minimums.
Speaker:They were used to doing these massive export deals or selling
Speaker:to the major players in the nut industry.
Speaker:There is always to be hurdles and challenges,
Speaker:so finding a good supplier and one that we could have
Speaker:a relationship was definitely something that took some time.
Speaker:And then when it took time to move out of the
Speaker:home kitchen and into a production facility and making that decision
Speaker:of do I want to be in her producing or do
Speaker:I want to have it be more of a co-packer capacity?
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:finding a partner that I still consider myself at a nano
Speaker:business. We're almost a small business status,
Speaker:but finding partners that would say,
Speaker:Oh well you have to guarantee at least eight hours on
Speaker:a production line.
Speaker:Okay, well how many bags is that?
Speaker:That's like 50,000
Speaker:bags. I mean,
Speaker:trying to find the right partners and finally landed on someone
Speaker:who is great.
Speaker:They're an amazing partner.
Speaker:I feel like they're my guardian angels and just everything that
Speaker:they've helped us do so far.
Speaker:But even that,
Speaker:I mean then you talk about recipes scaling,
Speaker:I mean that you would think,
Speaker:Oh, okay,
Speaker:well I used to make 10 pounds in the home kitchen
Speaker:and now I need to make a 50 pound batch,
Speaker:so I'll just multiply my recipe times five that doesn't work.
Speaker:So it's all these challenges that are,
Speaker:I think every person in food manufacturing faces.
Speaker:Then I feel like I still have so many ahead of
Speaker:me, but really there haven't been any that are crippling.
Speaker:And I really think you can avoid those crippling experiences as
Speaker:long as your mindset is right and you trust everything that's
Speaker:going on and look at it all as one big learning
Speaker:opportunity. I agree.
Speaker:I also think when you come to those forks in the
Speaker:road, that's where a lot of people fall off.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:when you were changing from your commercial into a production facility,
Speaker:you could have said,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this is too much.
Speaker:I can't figure it out.
Speaker:They want more than I could possibly need and fall off
Speaker:and be done.
Speaker:And so the more of these hurdles you're able to overcome,
Speaker:the less competition you have because so many other people start
Speaker:falling to the wayside.
Speaker:Yeah. And just in terms of advice,
Speaker:I mean each one of these sources came from a place
Speaker:where I would least expect it.
Speaker:So don't always go through traditional avenues.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:like we kind of touched on when we were first starting,
Speaker:I truly believe in setting an intention and putting it out
Speaker:there and,
Speaker:and part of it is the mysterious powers of the universe
Speaker:and part of it is you yourself just subconsciously always working
Speaker:towards that.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I had two very serendipitous things happen that led me to
Speaker:get these contacts.
Speaker:And I think something that people will always ask successful entrepreneurs
Speaker:is how much do you attribute to luck and how much
Speaker:do you attribute to hard work?
Speaker:And I don't think anything is really locked so to speak,
Speaker:but I think your ability to set your intention and then
Speaker:connect the dots is so important.
Speaker:And a lot of people identify that as luck.
Speaker:But at no point was I sitting in a restaurant and
Speaker:had someone walk up to me and say,
Speaker:Hey, do you need almonds?
Speaker:It's not luck like that.
Speaker:It's things turning up when you least expect it.
Speaker:And in places where you least expect it,
Speaker:which you could call luck,
Speaker:but I call setting your intention and just kind of being
Speaker:open to everything.
Speaker:I kind of liken it to being on the right path
Speaker:because if you're not up walking,
Speaker:that opportunity is not going to be there for you cause
Speaker:you're not going out to get it.
Speaker:So you have to be out there for it even to
Speaker:connect to you at all.
Speaker:Yeah. Are you just going to leave us in about the
Speaker:serendipitous events?
Speaker:Like you're just going to let us guess or will you
Speaker:share that?
Speaker:So in terms of my co-packer,
Speaker:so I had thought I was going to partner with,
Speaker:I think by industry standards,
Speaker:a mid range facility down in Torrance and things were kind
Speaker:of slow to move and then yes you have those monkey
Speaker:wrench. Like what the heck am I going to do?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they were traditionally a bakery and so they had a real
Speaker:issue with producing our savory flavors because the brazen Buffalo wing
Speaker:and the Rosemary garlic flavor,
Speaker:both have very intense flavors and aromas of garlic and chili
Speaker:powder. So they had some real concerns.
Speaker:And so it was like here,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we'd spent all this time and we thought we figured it
Speaker:all out and it was going to cost a fortune,
Speaker:but it was what needed to be done.
Speaker:And then they come back and say,
Speaker:well, we can't produce two of your most popular flavors.
Speaker:And so it was like,
Speaker:well shoot,
Speaker:now we're back to square one.
Speaker:And so the serendipity came in where I was approached by
Speaker:a very prestigious retailer,
Speaker:actually in France,
Speaker:Labon Marshay.
Speaker:They had sent me an email that said,
Speaker:Hey, we're doing a casting call in downtown LA and will
Speaker:you come and pitch your product to the buyers?
Speaker:And if it's accepted,
Speaker:you'll be sold in the bond.
Speaker:Marshay which,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was a total pinch me moment right there.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it is the Holy grail of specialty food stores in Paris.
Speaker:When we got into Labon Marsha,
Speaker:I think that was when my dad finally kind of switched
Speaker:to like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this is a real thing.
Speaker:Like you are exporting or almost to a foreign country to
Speaker:a very prestigious store.
Speaker:You're doing it.
Speaker:Yeah. So I went to this open casting call and the
Speaker:people that I shared the table with,
Speaker:we kind of got to chatting and we exchanged information and
Speaker:they produce a product that required some roasted almonds.
Speaker:And so they called me a couple of weeks after we
Speaker:had met.
Speaker:We were just bouncing ideas off of each other,
Speaker:roasting techniques and certain flavor profiles and again,
Speaker:connecting those dots.
Speaker:And they were not a co-packer.
Speaker:I mean they were manufacturing their own product.
Speaker:But I just said,
Speaker:well Hey,
Speaker:do you guys ever have spare time in your kitchen?
Speaker:Would you be interested in taking on giddy-up cause I need
Speaker:a space,
Speaker:I need a partner.
Speaker:I think it's a good size fit.
Speaker:Let's try this.
Speaker:And that's where that partnership came into play.
Speaker:And it really was because we had serendipitously shared a table
Speaker:at this event and we're just kind of talking shop about
Speaker:roasting things.
Speaker:They became a co-packer and I found my solution in these
Speaker:people, so I think I had called at least a hundred
Speaker:different places who offered production services and again was either laughed
Speaker:at where they said,
Speaker:well we spill 40,000
Speaker:pounds of almonds and production stories like that too.
Speaker:No, we really can't handle your product to now finding someone
Speaker:who really fit my needs on a size scale,
Speaker:but also who could be a true partner and they've just
Speaker:been great.
Speaker:That's a wonderful story.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you can't really explain why these things happen,
Speaker:but you can't stop trying.
Speaker:That's the thing.
Speaker:You can't stop trying and somehow it just comes to be,
Speaker:it's crazy.
Speaker:As our last big topic before we start to wind down,
Speaker:I want to go to how you were talking and defining
Speaker:giddy up nuts.
Speaker:What food that you enjoy eating,
Speaker:the add on of country music,
Speaker:the small town pioneer field,
Speaker:and then how that extends into what you're asking people to
Speaker:do in social media.
Speaker:Let's talk about that.
Speaker:Yeah. So I think again that connection with our brand and
Speaker:I even look at how I have changed my shopping habits
Speaker:and I think I always will go and look up a
Speaker:brand on social media before I go and purchase from them.
Speaker:Most of the time it is an online brand so I'm
Speaker:trying to get some perspective.
Speaker:But I think social media is so important nowadays and it's
Speaker:important to not just have a presence but have a really
Speaker:strong and curated presence.
Speaker:It's interesting cause your Instagram is like this timeline of your
Speaker:brand. So I'll scroll back to like giddy up in the
Speaker:early days.
Speaker:Yeah, you're not using the same aesthetic and you're kind of
Speaker:mixing in personal stuff,
Speaker:which I think is important.
Speaker:People want to know the person behind the brand.
Speaker:So I think it's important to confuse some personal things when
Speaker:appropriate. But it was very distracted.
Speaker:So I think it's one thing to have pretty images,
Speaker:but you need to make sure that your images really fit
Speaker:your brand.
Speaker:And so I really try to be more conscious.
Speaker:And by no means am I an expert,
Speaker:but it really lately tried to be very specific in the
Speaker:type of content that I want to put on social media.
Speaker:And I think it's so cool.
Speaker:I'm lucky to be in touch with a community of athletes
Speaker:and adventurers and hikers and over the summer we hosted five
Speaker:PCT hikers,
Speaker:the Pacific crest trail,
Speaker:which is what Reese Witherspoon did and wild.
Speaker:We hosted them.
Speaker:We actually my soon to be husband and I have a
Speaker:place in mammoth now and so we hosted them at the
Speaker:house and said,
Speaker:Hey, you can stay here for free and we'll cook you
Speaker:dinner and we'll exchange stories but take the nuts out on
Speaker:the trail and literally trail test them.
Speaker:Tell me how does it work for someone who's backpacking 30
Speaker:miles a day?
Speaker:Is it something that you want to grab out of your
Speaker:packet, eat cause they give you energy,
Speaker:does it keep you going?
Speaker:But also send me pictures of you and really cool places
Speaker:with the almonds because I think that's so part of the
Speaker:story of never stop exploring and fuel for your everyday wanderings
Speaker:and these people everyday wanderings just happened to be the crazy
Speaker:trucks through the Sierra Nevada,
Speaker:but love to see people interacting with the product and I
Speaker:think that's important.
Speaker:So you're encouraging people to send you pictures directly of lifestyle
Speaker:shots of them with the nuts,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:Okay. And then you select from there what goes on.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:you don't have people posting directly to your wall or anything.
Speaker:You don't do challenges like that?
Speaker:No, no.
Speaker:I kind of manage what goes through because again,
Speaker:I want to make sure it's one thing to have pretty
Speaker:pictures, but you really want to make sure that the look
Speaker:and the feel fit into the overall mood because I think
Speaker:it's so important.
Speaker:Instagram really is just a mood board and you really get
Speaker:acquainted with what a brand is through that mood board at
Speaker:this point.
Speaker:I really want to curate that.
Speaker:So, yeah,
Speaker:but I mean it doesn't have to be some Epic adventure.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I encourage people to,
Speaker:Hey, if you're sitting at your desk and you have your
Speaker:almonds, like that's your every day thing.
Speaker:Send me that.
Speaker:If you're on the train.
Speaker:Yeah, wherever you are.
Speaker:You don't have to be in some crazy,
Speaker:beautiful place.
Speaker:I want the aesthetics of the image to be good,
Speaker:but really it's to give them that look and that feel
Speaker:of having something that ties into a more romantic idea of
Speaker:exploration. But you literally can eat when you're walking from subway
Speaker:station to subway station.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And I totally agree with you on the Instagram side,
Speaker:you do the same approach for Facebook.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:Gotcha. Okay.
Speaker:So moving on really quickly.
Speaker:You are a girl going in a million directions clearly.
Speaker:Always have those condiments in the kitchen,
Speaker:right? Specifically?
Speaker:Well, I guess let's just say now because that's going to
Speaker:be the easiest.
Speaker:Are there any apps that you're using that you really count
Speaker:on day to day to keep yourself organized and to run
Speaker:the business?
Speaker:QuickBooks. I use QuickBooks a lot or invoices,
Speaker:so I use them.
Speaker:I am old school in that I love lists,
Speaker:I think to do lists.
Speaker:I have,
Speaker:unfortunately, like you said,
Speaker:I'm going in a million different directions,
Speaker:so I used to be really good about keeping one list
Speaker:and keeping it updated.
Speaker:I now find to do lists everywhere,
Speaker:but I really rely on QuickBooks to keep the accounting side
Speaker:managed at any one point.
Speaker:I can log in and be like,
Speaker:okay, this is,
Speaker:we're doing good right now.
Speaker:And also just for the invoices from a technology standpoint,
Speaker:again, Instagram is so,
Speaker:so, so critical in the business and then yeah,
Speaker:just old fashioned to do lists.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:So for somebody who's just starting out,
Speaker:who's taking that car ride like you did,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and comes across an idea and just isn't sure if they
Speaker:should jump in or not.
Speaker:What would you say to that person?
Speaker:I would say try it,
Speaker:but try it responsibly.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:don't go out and quit your job and embark on this
Speaker:new version of you without any research.
Speaker:There is no shame in that slow growth.
Speaker:And I think it's really hard to stay true to that,
Speaker:especially in today's world where we live in the world of
Speaker:overnight successes and hundreds of thousands or millions of followers.
Speaker:And I even get caught up in just,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this person's in this store now and this person's doing this
Speaker:and you have to stay true to your story and your
Speaker:path. And there is no shame in slow and steady growth
Speaker:and, and doing it systematically.
Speaker:I am a big,
Speaker:big fan of self-funding,
Speaker:which of course when you still have a full time job,
Speaker:you're able to do because then it's,
Speaker:you're allowed to be playful in those first creative years.
Speaker:There's not this crazy amount of stress and you're really allowing
Speaker:the brand and the product to take on what it's meant
Speaker:to be as opposed to maybe saying yes to things because
Speaker:you needed the money for it.
Speaker:So I think you really allow the brand to find its
Speaker:truest identity when you don't have that financial pressure hanging over
Speaker:your head.
Speaker:That being said,
Speaker:there is going to be a moment where you have to
Speaker:take that jump because you are going to need people to
Speaker:start taking you more seriously.
Speaker:Whether that in needing to raise capital or getting into a
Speaker:big store,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:where you are going to have to take that jump and
Speaker:that jump is really,
Speaker:really scary.
Speaker:But it's also so gratifying and I think it's so important
Speaker:to do so.
Speaker:I would say definitely road test your concept,
Speaker:research, all the different ways that you can do it on
Speaker:the cheap.
Speaker:There's also no shame and sort of Jimmy rigging it and
Speaker:figuring it out and having your product evolve.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:slow and steady and just do it.
Speaker:Try it.
Speaker:I mean sell it amongst your friends.
Speaker:We live in a day and age now where it's so
Speaker:easy to start up business,
Speaker:which is good and bad because I mean that makes the
Speaker:competition. No,
Speaker:I listened to these podcasts and hear about how like Larabar
Speaker:started and she literally brought her part into whole foods in
Speaker:a Ziploc bag or like honest tea who brought his samples
Speaker:in and a Snapple bottle.
Speaker:Unfortunately, we don't live in that world anymore.
Speaker:You to get into a whole foods or somewhere like that,
Speaker:you have to have a fully fleshed concept with UPC and
Speaker:a sales record.
Speaker:So on the one hand it's great because we have tools
Speaker:like Instagram and cottage food permits and different avenues that make
Speaker:it so easy to get into the business.
Speaker:But the business is also very flushed with competition.
Speaker:So figure out how you're going to differentiate yourself.
Speaker:It always gets kind of scary because very few ideas are
Speaker:truly new ideas and they don't have to be,
Speaker:you just have to come up with a better or more
Speaker:compelling way than is already being done right now.
Speaker:So I mean,
Speaker:spice almonds are not a new concept.
Speaker:I'm not breaking any barriers there.
Speaker:It gets the way that it's positioned and that you can
Speaker:pronounce all of the ingredients.
Speaker:It's unique flavors,
Speaker:it tastes good.
Speaker:But you don't have to feel guilty about eating it and
Speaker:it's a brand and a story that you connect with that
Speaker:is so important.
Speaker:And that,
Speaker:again, I know I'm going in a million different directions again,
Speaker:but I think it's also super important to have that story.
Speaker:There's reasons why companies like Disney are so successful and it's
Speaker:because they have really solid storytelling and they communicate it all
Speaker:throughout the brand.
Speaker:And I think that's so important to have that story and
Speaker:make sure it manifests everywhere that you can in your business.
Speaker:Christie, that is spectacular.
Speaker:I am not even going to comment on any of it
Speaker:because it was perfectly said,
Speaker:it was a model of just best practice after best practice
Speaker:after best practice.
Speaker:I am leaving it just the way it is,
Speaker:but I'm not leaving you yet because I'd like to offer
Speaker: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 magical box?
Speaker:Okay, so I'm going to cheat here a little bit.
Speaker:If I had to pick the,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:no, you have to pick something.
Speaker:Answer I would say a little black book of contacts of
Speaker:people who I can truly get a hold of and get
Speaker:in front of because that is so much part of the
Speaker:battle relationships in those contexts.
Speaker:So I would want a little black book where I could
Speaker:sign that grocery manager or retail buyer for whoever I was
Speaker:trying to go after and get in front of them.
Speaker:So if I had to pick that physical gift,
Speaker:that would be it.
Speaker:If I had to pick it in more of a spiritual
Speaker:setting, I would just say a magical power that allows you
Speaker:to always have that confidence and stay true to your voice
Speaker:and turn down that background noise and just be courageous and
Speaker:go for it.
Speaker:Beautiful. What are you thinking is next?
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really am hoping,
Speaker:I'm working right now with a chain of stores,
Speaker:but I really hope what's next is our regional distribution deal
Speaker:with like a big store.
Speaker:I would love to be able to finally,
Speaker:when someone asks,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:where can I get your products and not have to ask,
Speaker:well where do you live?
Speaker:I would love to be able to say you can go
Speaker:to whole foods.
Speaker:We're just starting off with Bristol farms,
Speaker:which I know is pretty regional to California,
Speaker:but my next one year plan is to find a retailer
Speaker:and get a regional deal with them,
Speaker:at least on the West coast.
Speaker:So I can say you can go to whole foods or
Speaker:you can go to natural grocers or whatever and not have
Speaker:to say where do you live?
Speaker:Perfect. I love it and I know it's going to happen
Speaker:and it's all steps along the way,
Speaker:right? It is Regional leads to divisional leads to national leads
Speaker:to whatever.
Speaker:Yup. World domination.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:So give biz listeners.
Speaker:Remember there's going to be a show notes page,
Speaker:so you're going to be able to go back.
Speaker:I know everyone after our conversation is going to want to
Speaker:see the Instagram site,
Speaker:right? For giddy up nuts.
Speaker:Christie, where would be the single best place you would direct
Speaker:people? If they want to see what the nuts look like,
Speaker:all the different flavors,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Instagram is the best sort of up to date.
Speaker:There's also the website,
Speaker:so www.giddyupnuts.com
Speaker:I try and keep a blog up to date on there
Speaker:too. I haven't been so good about it lately,
Speaker:but just different recipes,
Speaker:ideas. I actually,
Speaker:my soon to be husband is on a pretty restrictive diet
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:so I've been playing around with some of the almonds and
Speaker:they're not just good for snacking on.
Speaker:I actually made a quiche crust out of our Rosemary garlic
Speaker:almonds. I turned it into an almond flour.
Speaker:Yeah, so you can play around with them.
Speaker:Do you have that recipe up there?
Speaker:I will post it.
Speaker:Okay. Not only can you munch on these,
Speaker:but you can stick them on your ice cream sundaes or
Speaker:your yogurt or you can turn it into a quiche crust.
Speaker:Made my own almond flour out of it,
Speaker:so I try and post that kind of stuff on the
Speaker:blog. But you can buy the nuts directly online.
Speaker:Hint, hint.
Speaker:Our online store is a great place to try them.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I'd say Instagram and our website are probably the best places
Speaker:to visit.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:That's so great.
Speaker:I was not expecting all of this value.
Speaker:I mean we had a lot to talk about but this
Speaker:was just an absolute perfect example of the way to find
Speaker:an idea.
Speaker:Take action right away,
Speaker:test the market,
Speaker:go step by step and grow in a safer environment.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:where you had your full time and then how eventually that
Speaker:went away and then you build and you're still growing.
Speaker:We caught you at such a great point because you're already
Speaker:so successful and there's so much more to come.
Speaker:So I know on behalf myself and My listeners,
Speaker:we're going to be very excited to watch your progress.
Speaker:Thanks for giving me this platform too cause they think it's
Speaker:so much fun to talk about this kind of stuff and
Speaker:reflect on where you've been and where you can still go.
Speaker:And like I said at serendipity cause I was literally driving
Speaker:where I was going to end up meeting you and was
Speaker:like, man,
Speaker:it'd be so cool to do something like this and here
Speaker:I am doing it.
Speaker:That's how these things happen.
Speaker:That's why we have so much confidence in what's going to
Speaker:happen for you in the future.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Have a great day.
Speaker:You too.
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