Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Learn before you leap. Take time to learn about what you're doing, why you're doing it and how you're going to do it.
- Don't be afraid to be vulnerable and ask people for help.
- Your recipe is everything. Protect it with an employee Non-Disclosure Agreement.
- YOU are what makes your product special. Your story is your number one marketing tool.
- Stop making everything under the sun. Start with one thing and perfect it. This is the key to success.
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 248 I just wanted to share my
Speaker:story and what worked for me with everybody else.
Speaker:Simple as that.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue Ann.
Speaker:Welcome to 2020 wow.
Speaker:A brand new decade holding so much potential.
Speaker:It's a fresh start.
Speaker:You know how it is when you get a new car,
Speaker:it has that special smell and everything is shiny and Dustin
Speaker:dent free.
Speaker:Imagine that you've just driven your new car off the lot
Speaker:and now with this new year,
Speaker:where is the road going to take you?
Speaker:If you were all caught up in festivities last week and
Speaker:didn't catch my episode with Teresa on the Enneagram,
Speaker:I encourage you to go back and take a listen to
Speaker:that one.
Speaker:I've already heard from a number of you about how insightful
Speaker:it was.
Speaker:It lays a nice groundwork to 2020 or to keep this
Speaker:car theme going,
Speaker:a nice roadway into the new year.
Speaker:One of the best things about having your own business is
Speaker:that you get to call all the shots.
Speaker:Here's a past guest spotlight that's a great example of molding
Speaker:your business into your life and not letting your business take
Speaker:over your life.
Speaker:I'd like to reacquaint you with Angela Lee of bright Smith
Speaker:studio. She designed high end custom jewelry and was on the
Speaker:show back in episode 68 which was July of 2016 the
Speaker:following year she shifted her business growth to neutral for a
Speaker:really good reason.
Speaker:Just before her 42nd birthday,
Speaker:Angela had a baby being self employed,
Speaker:allowed her flexibility in her maternity leave to be able to
Speaker:stay home for her baby's first year.
Speaker:Since this past July,
Speaker:she's back up to full capacity with some changes.
Speaker:You see,
Speaker:she recognized a market shift with customers seeking lower priced alternatives
Speaker:of her upscale designs,
Speaker:sticking with precious metals.
Speaker:She ventured into lower carat gold and added some smaller pieces
Speaker:which opened up lower cost product options.
Speaker:How's it worked?
Speaker:You might ask.
Speaker:Angela's are up 75% and her revenue has increased by almost
Speaker:50% a good strategic move,
Speaker:I'd say,
Speaker:and that's not all.
Speaker:Now she's adding onto her home more room for a baby
Speaker:and a large studio for Angela and catch this.
Speaker:Her business is almost completely funding this new renovation.
Speaker:Hm. And some people say you can't make money turning your
Speaker:creative skill into a business.
Speaker:I beg to differ.
Speaker:If you're interested in hearing more about Angela's story,
Speaker:you can do that over@giftbizonrapt.com
Speaker:forward slash bright Smith.
Speaker:Now my guest this week is for all of you bakers
Speaker:out there.
Speaker:We're diving deep into cottage food laws with an expert on
Speaker:the topic.
Speaker:Many bakers and sweet makers start from their home kitchen.
Speaker:They make treats to give away as gifts and before you
Speaker:know it,
Speaker:people are placing orders and in many businesses starting almost by
Speaker:accident. Does this sound like you?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:are you wondering if you can legally sell items made from
Speaker:your home?
Speaker:Are you confused about what's involved with labeling and copywriting and
Speaker:selling? Grab a pen and paper.
Speaker:Got you covered Today.
Speaker:It is my pleasure to introduce you to Denae Davis of
Speaker:food preneur Institute.
Speaker:Denae created the food printer Institute as an online resource center
Speaker:to educate,
Speaker:train and support cottage food operators and home food processors.
Speaker:She describes herself as a food addict,
Speaker:literally and figuratively,
Speaker:a home-based Baker and small business advocate.
Speaker:She's a passionate food crafter,
Speaker:creating unique products that can be taken to market a pie,
Speaker:Baker Xtrordinair and the mastermind behind the Charlotte pie authority,
Speaker:which is a custom pie shop in Charlotte,
Speaker:North Carolina.
Speaker:Today is also the host of stories of impact,
Speaker:a podcast supporting home-based bakers and food crafters across the U
Speaker:S welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Denae. Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. I'm so happy to be here and provide some great
Speaker:information. I am so excited too because there's lots of questions
Speaker:around the food industry.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it has another layer on top of being a maker.
Speaker:When you have a consumable product,
Speaker:there's a little bit more you need to consider.
Speaker:So I'm really excited to dive into all of that.
Speaker:But before we do,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have to ask you my now famous candle question just
Speaker:to give us a little bit more of an understanding of
Speaker:what you're all about in a creative way.
Speaker:So if you were to describe yourself as a motivational candle
Speaker:or through a candle,
Speaker:what color and quote would be on your candle?
Speaker:Well, my color would be purple and that's because the color
Speaker:purple is also the color for a lot of things,
Speaker:but wisdom.
Speaker:And as an educator I am all about learning.
Speaker:And my motivational quote would be of course,
Speaker:learn before you leap.
Speaker:Ooh, okay.
Speaker:And why do you say that?
Speaker:Because very often we get excited with the process and the
Speaker:product and the whole just making things and they're looking pretty
Speaker:and people love us and they're clapping and going,
Speaker:Oh this is wonderful,
Speaker:but we don't take enough time to learn about what we're
Speaker:doing, why we're doing it and sometimes how we're doing it.
Speaker:That's really interesting because a lot of times people will say
Speaker:at some point you just have to stop getting information and
Speaker:start doing cause the doing is the scarier part,
Speaker:right? Actually taking the action and doing it because you can
Speaker:get so involved in thinking you're taking action when you're really
Speaker:just learning,
Speaker:but I think as it applies to your industry,
Speaker:the consumable industry,
Speaker:that's really important.
Speaker:You do need to back it up a little bit and
Speaker:make sure you've gotten the information before you start taking action.
Speaker:Absolutely. We'll,
Speaker:the food industry has been out here for a long time
Speaker:and folks need to understand,
Speaker:even though they are small batch food producers,
Speaker:the big batch food producers started somewhere and there's a lot
Speaker:to learn.
Speaker:And so even though you're producing your product,
Speaker:you can still learn.
Speaker:It's lifelong learning.
Speaker:And that's,
Speaker:I suppose that's what I'm trying to share.
Speaker:I agree with you on that lifelong learning for sure.
Speaker:And that's how we progress too,
Speaker:right? You start somewhere,
Speaker:you learn more,
Speaker:you get better,
Speaker:you learn more,
Speaker:you grow bigger,
Speaker:you have new dreams and new ideas of where you want
Speaker:to take some things.
Speaker:So you need to learn more about that.
Speaker:Absolutely. We can't have all the knowledge right in the beginning
Speaker:or we'd probably never start thinking so.
Speaker:But that leads into my next question,
Speaker:Denae which is,
Speaker:how did you get started with all this?
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Wow. Well,
Speaker:I always loved to bake and I really learned from my
Speaker:mom. She made amazing Danish pastry and cakes and candies,
Speaker:and I was in the United States Navy.
Speaker:I'm not going to go all the way back,
Speaker:but after serving in the us Navy,
Speaker:I got out and I'm a gifted Baker,
Speaker:just, it's natural.
Speaker:Let me just say that and I thought I could be
Speaker:an assistant pastry chef.
Speaker:So I was bold enough to go to a hotel and
Speaker:put in for a job and I got it.
Speaker:Sue the pastry chef there asked me if I could make
Speaker:a quiche and I said,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:And I did.
Speaker:I put on a jacket.
Speaker:He took me over,
Speaker:I washed my hands,
Speaker:I made the quiche.
Speaker:I sat down while it baked and he took it out
Speaker:of the oven and he said,
Speaker:you're hired.
Speaker:Wow. So no formal training,
Speaker:right? No,
Speaker:none at all.
Speaker:Which is a really good point for everybody to take note
Speaker:of because that could be a barrier for people if they
Speaker:want to do something in any industry really is,
Speaker:well, I've never really been taught how to do this professionally.
Speaker:Even though for you,
Speaker:you were being trained your whole life from your mom?
Speaker:Yes, from my mom,
Speaker:my grandmother,
Speaker:my aunts.
Speaker:But one of the big kickers,
Speaker:what really helped me is I lived in Japan for three
Speaker:years and I never came home to the States,
Speaker:so my husband was nice enough to buy me all these
Speaker:cookbooks and he bought me one in particular,
Speaker:creative cooking,
Speaker:and I went through the entire,
Speaker:I guess it was probably about almost 500 pages.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Yes. I cooked and baked everything.
Speaker:That's how I taught myself.
Speaker:This was a hobby for you then at this point,
Speaker:you enjoyed it.
Speaker:You were learning because it was all fun,
Speaker:not with the intent of ever doing anything professional with it
Speaker:at the time.
Speaker:Correct. Yeah,
Speaker:so I think this is so great just right off the
Speaker:bat because I think a lot of people who are listening
Speaker:to now are in the same place.
Speaker:They've done this for ever just as a hobby,
Speaker:but I think we all forget how much we pick up
Speaker:along the way.
Speaker:Yeah. It might not be a formal class,
Speaker:but you're learning just as you're describing.
Speaker:And before we go any further,
Speaker:I just have to say thank you very much for your
Speaker:service to our country.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Okay, so you were learning with this book in Japan.
Speaker:Then what happened?
Speaker:And then I returned to the States and I got out
Speaker:of the Navy.
Speaker:We got out of the Navy and I'm wanting to get
Speaker:a job.
Speaker:I found Sue that I loved baking more than cooking.
Speaker:They're very different from each other for sure.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Baking is a science.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know you can fix things up when you
Speaker:cook, but when you bake,
Speaker:well that's a different ball game altogether.
Speaker:So I put in for this job and I got the
Speaker:job and I was doing really,
Speaker:really well.
Speaker:And I had a small child,
Speaker:a little girl,
Speaker:my baby girl,
Speaker:and I was working the midnight,
Speaker:the graveyard shift.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This is not going to work.
Speaker:And so I decided to step out on faith and I
Speaker:started catering and that's where my name came up today.
Speaker:My catering company was called cooking with Denae.
Speaker:No, this was before the internet.
Speaker:This was way back in the late eighties and I operated
Speaker:a small catering business out of a VFW hall in downtown
Speaker:Detroit, and I did that for several years.
Speaker:I was written up in bone Appetit magazine in 1987 and
Speaker:I got into recipe development and food styling,
Speaker:and it's a long story.
Speaker:I have a rich history,
Speaker:but I didn't know where my gifts would take me and
Speaker:if I tell folks,
Speaker:just hang in there because you never know what opportunities are
Speaker:going to come.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:To these can be really quick answers,
Speaker:but I think it would be interesting to hear when you
Speaker:started your catering business,
Speaker:how did you get the word out that your services existed?
Speaker:Because as you said,
Speaker:there was no internet yet.
Speaker:No, but what there was was networking and in Detroit,
Speaker:Michigan, there was a lady FICA,
Speaker:new Stevens.
Speaker:She was sort of the lady about town.
Speaker:She knew everything that was going on and I knew I
Speaker:had to connect with her.
Speaker:So she would have a Friday event,
Speaker:a Friday networking at a hotel in downtown Detroit.
Speaker:And one day I just walked in with a cake.
Speaker:Ooh, that got everyone's attention.
Speaker:I'm sure.
Speaker:I introduced myself,
Speaker:put down the cake and I said,
Speaker:I need to be a part of this organization,
Speaker:this group.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:because I need to get word out about my catering business
Speaker:and I need some help.
Speaker:And that's what I did.
Speaker:And it obviously worked.
Speaker:It did work along with one other thing that I did.
Speaker:So I wrote the Detroit free press a letter and I
Speaker:told them my story and I said,
Speaker:I need a break.
Speaker:Can you guys give me some exposure?
Speaker:I don't care how small it can be a blurp.
Speaker:And I got a full page story from them.
Speaker:Wow. The editor said he was so impressed with my letter
Speaker:that they sent cameras out and everything.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:How exciting.
Speaker:Yes. And that started me.
Speaker:That was it.
Speaker:That was all I needed.
Speaker:Those two things.
Speaker:Well, you asked for help in both places.
Speaker:You asked for help.
Speaker:Yes, I boldly went where no one else would go.
Speaker:I think that's awesome.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you were showing vulnerability,
Speaker:right? Because you're not coming saying I'm the established person and
Speaker:you having all the credibility and all of that.
Speaker:You knew you had the skill,
Speaker:but you needed to help with getting the word out and
Speaker:so you asked for it.
Speaker:Yes, I did.
Speaker:How novel?
Speaker:Who knew?
Speaker:Who knew?
Speaker:Okay, so that was my first quick question.
Speaker:My second quick question is bone Appetit,
Speaker:like seriously?
Speaker:How did that happen?
Speaker:Well, in bone Appetit,
Speaker:there was an area called too busy to cook and you
Speaker:would talk about recipes that if you were so busy,
Speaker:you would have a recipe that you could prepare in just
Speaker:30 minutes or 45 minutes.
Speaker:And so I wrote them because you could write them with
Speaker:a recipe.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I wrote this long,
Speaker:wonderful story about two recipes and lo and behold,
Speaker:about probably a month later,
Speaker:I got a letter that said my recipes were going to
Speaker:be included and they wanted to write a little blurb,
Speaker:a little story,
Speaker:who I was,
Speaker:and as they say,
Speaker:the rest is history.
Speaker:Wow. I love that you didn't wait to get discovered.
Speaker:You took it upon yourself to show yourself to everybody and
Speaker:that's when things happened in both cases here.
Speaker:Absolutely. And from the bone Appetit right up in the magazine,
Speaker:I was contacted by them twice for recipes for their bone
Speaker:Appetit, end of the year cookbooks,
Speaker:and I never saw that coming.
Speaker:Right. But have you not done the first step?
Speaker:The next step would've never come.
Speaker:Exactly. So it just builds on itself once you get started
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:Okay, so food for thought gift biz listeners,
Speaker:don't wait.
Speaker:How can you put either an ask out there,
Speaker:be vulnerable and put an ask out there or offer up
Speaker:knowledge that you already have somewhere where you could get visibility
Speaker:and amazing things might happen.
Speaker:Absolutely. I have been using that process of writing and sharing
Speaker:my story forever.
Speaker:That's what I do.
Speaker:And when I started the Charlotte pie authority,
Speaker:just so your listeners will know,
Speaker:there was no pie shop in Charlotte outside of Charlotte,
Speaker:guess there was one.
Speaker:But I wrote the observer,
Speaker:which is the local paper in Charlotte,
Speaker:and I wrote a lifestyle journalist and he read my article
Speaker:and lo and behold,
Speaker:the farmer's market where I was selling,
Speaker:he came out one day complete with the camera crew and
Speaker:I didn't even know he was coming.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:I wanted to catch you off guard and just see your
Speaker:pies and talk to you.
Speaker:That's so exciting.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:it was shocking for me.
Speaker:I'm still like,
Speaker:are you serious dude?
Speaker:You could have at least,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I could have done my hair,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I could have,
Speaker:but you don't know how these,
Speaker:as I said,
Speaker:these opportunities are going to come about.
Speaker:You don't know when they're going to come about.
Speaker:So my thing is try everything,
Speaker:but don't,
Speaker:you're right.
Speaker:Don't be afraid to be vulnerable.
Speaker:And that's never been my,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I don't care.
Speaker:I want to get the word out.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I say this to a lot of folks that I work
Speaker:with the,
Speaker:I teach classes and to my students you have to be
Speaker:a social butterfly.
Speaker:You just do.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:we see this now online a lot that the less formatted
Speaker:and staged content is number one.
Speaker:What people really believe in more because it's more authentic,
Speaker:it's more the true person,
Speaker:but they also people like those better than you know the,
Speaker:if you would have had your hair all done and you
Speaker:knew they were coming,
Speaker:you would have affected your scene differently.
Speaker:I mean it's just natural to do that.
Speaker:So it gives us all,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:Liberty to just be who we are and get that publicity
Speaker:however we can.
Speaker:The other thing I think that's really important to remember too
Speaker:is all these news outlets,
Speaker:whether it's radio,
Speaker:television, print,
Speaker:anything are always looking for stories.
Speaker:They're in need of the content and I think we forget
Speaker:that going to them helps them.
Speaker:We don't have to wait and have them reach out to
Speaker:us, we can go to them.
Speaker:And that's valuable to them because that's one less story they
Speaker:have to go find.
Speaker:So it does work both ways.
Speaker:You get visibility,
Speaker:they get stories,
Speaker:especially local stories.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right,
Speaker:so let's move on now to food preneur.
Speaker:So where did that come on to the scene?
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Well, I relocated to North Carolina in 2005 and I learned
Speaker:about, it's called the cottage food law or cottage food rule.
Speaker:That's a generic name,
Speaker:so people understand it's not necessarily cottage food,
Speaker:it's just kind of what we call it.
Speaker:So everybody knows what we're talking about.
Speaker:Nothing more than preparing non-hazardous foods from your home kitchen for
Speaker:sale to the consumer.
Speaker:Simple as that.
Speaker:And every state is different here in North Carolina.
Speaker:It's the home food processor program.
Speaker:And I learned about that when I relocated to North Carolina.
Speaker:I was living in Kerry and I said,
Speaker:wow, I could sell baked goods.
Speaker:Oh man.
Speaker:Wow. That would just blew my mind.
Speaker:So I started to learn everything I needed to learn.
Speaker:And then I started to sell my pies because I am
Speaker:a PI.
Speaker:Extraordinary. But I wrote everything,
Speaker:the educator in me,
Speaker:and I've been in education now for 34 years.
Speaker:The educator in me said,
Speaker:document everything and share this with other people.
Speaker:And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker:And my first website was home-based baking.com.
Speaker:And that website,
Speaker:uh, was seen by a publisher in Connecticut.
Speaker:A young woman contacted me and said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I want to turn your website into a book.
Speaker:And the rest is history.
Speaker:It took me a year and one month to write the
Speaker:book. I had editors,
Speaker:I had people working with me.
Speaker:I was not doing it alone.
Speaker:And it was not my goal to write a book with
Speaker:the website.
Speaker:I just wanted to share my story and what worked for
Speaker:me with everybody else.
Speaker:Simple as that.
Speaker:Right? So upon landing the book and writing the book,
Speaker:I decided I need to do something more.
Speaker:And so I want to turn this into an Institute,
Speaker:a school,
Speaker:and I know my family and members were like,
Speaker:you've gotta be joking.
Speaker:Nobody's going to go to your school,
Speaker:nobody cares.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:no, I'm going to do this because I'm an educator and
Speaker:this would be the next natural step.
Speaker:And from that I just decided,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to build an Institute and it's going to
Speaker:be called food foreigner Institute and we are going to educate
Speaker:people about a very tiny niche,
Speaker:niche market,
Speaker:cottage foods and home food processing.
Speaker:And that's where it came from.
Speaker:And that's where you've stayed,
Speaker:you've kept the bracket around that cottage food operators and home
Speaker:food processors.
Speaker:Yes. Just so you'll know.
Speaker:So when I started in 2005 there were only nine States
Speaker:that had some type of cottage food law or rule.
Speaker:Today there are 49 States.
Speaker:New Jersey is the last holdout and I am determined in
Speaker:2020 that New Jersey will have a cottage food law.
Speaker:Okay, well there you go.
Speaker:You've put that out there.
Speaker:Now it has to happen.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:That actually worked really well in your favor because you were
Speaker:at that point when you started food preneur Institute,
Speaker:you were talking about the whole world.
Speaker:And you weren't just talking about North Carolina.
Speaker:Correct. Not the whole world.
Speaker:The whole country.
Speaker:Right. So you only had to deal with nine,
Speaker:which was kind of nice then because as more came on,
Speaker:you could add them in.
Speaker:You didn't have to do 49 at one time.
Speaker:It was a kind of got to grow with you.
Speaker:Absolutely. And in fact one of the legislators in South Carolina
Speaker:contacted me because he wanted to know about the North Carolina
Speaker:cottage food rule.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Yeah. So I told him all the things that would make
Speaker:their state great.
Speaker:Well he didn't use the mall,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:you can only hope,
Speaker:Right? Well you can only provide it and you know,
Speaker:just like everything we do,
Speaker:right, we can share information,
Speaker:but it's up to that person to take action like we
Speaker:were talking about in the beginning.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right,
Speaker:so let's start addressing someone who's listening right now who is
Speaker:baking from the kitchen just for fun.
Speaker:So kind of where you were Denae way in the beginning
Speaker:it was a hobby you were learning and all of a
Speaker:sudden now this idea is starting to form like maybe just
Speaker:maybe this could be a business.
Speaker:How does someone start the right way with this particularly because
Speaker:it's a food product,
Speaker:what do you do?
Speaker:That's a great question.
Speaker:The first thing you need to do is to make sure
Speaker:that the product that you want to produce can be produced
Speaker:in the home kitchen.
Speaker:Everything cannot.
Speaker:And so I have a map Fu preneur Institute and there
Speaker:are lots of people who have information out there,
Speaker:but my map takes you to your state cottage food law.
Speaker:So you go to the map and you go straight to
Speaker:it and read it,
Speaker:go through it with a fine tooth comb.
Speaker:That's where you start.
Speaker:If your product is listed,
Speaker:then you know that you can produce your product from home
Speaker:and then it's a matter of finding out if you need
Speaker:to have your kitchen inspected.
Speaker:Some States don't require that from you,
Speaker:and then whatever those rules or regulations are,
Speaker:make sure you understand them.
Speaker:Is it overwhelming?
Speaker:Well, let me put it this way.
Speaker:Anytime a state is responsible for providing information,
Speaker:of course it's overwhelming,
Speaker:But is it understandable?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:I don't want anyone at this point to be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's way too much for me.
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:No, absolutely not.
Speaker:And there are thousands and thousands of cottage food operators.
Speaker:If you don't understand something,
Speaker:you can either contact your state or you can just mosey
Speaker:over to food.
Speaker:Panera Institute,
Speaker:I've been doing this long enough,
Speaker:tell you exactly what you need to do.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:such a sigh of relief.
Speaker:You are now our expert of all things food.
Speaker:Let's just go with that baking or everything.
Speaker:It's not just speaking.
Speaker:There are States that allow you to cook food as far
Speaker:as the baking,
Speaker:making jams and jellies,
Speaker:candies, dried mixes.
Speaker:If you have a soup mix that you've put together and
Speaker:it's the dried vegetables,
Speaker:dried seasonings,
Speaker:and you'd like to sell that,
Speaker:that's possible.
Speaker:The list is endless.
Speaker:But the list is dependent on where you live,
Speaker:what state you live in.
Speaker:Okay. And so if someone comes over to your site and
Speaker:clicks on their state,
Speaker:there's actually a list of approved products that they could produce.
Speaker:Yes. So it's that black and white for people.
Speaker:It is the state's actual cottage food program.
Speaker:And so you're going to click it and you're going to
Speaker:start reading and they're going to say welcome to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and then they'll give you the list of foods that you
Speaker:can make.
Speaker:They'll give you the list of foods you cannot.
Speaker:And if there's a food that you cannot produce,
Speaker:you need to contact them.
Speaker:Because very often they may even add a product.
Speaker:Oh. So you don't have to be broken hearted.
Speaker:If you don't see your product on there right away,
Speaker:there's some action you can take to possibly get it included.
Speaker:There is of the foods that you normally can't make are
Speaker:perishable, and those are foods that have any type of dairy
Speaker:or cream cheese.
Speaker:Any product that after you make it,
Speaker:it immediately has to go into refrigerator.
Speaker:That's not going to be a cottage food product,
Speaker:Like all those warnings that you see in the magazines when
Speaker:you're thinking of like 4th of July foods,
Speaker:make sure to cover it or refrigerated and bring it out
Speaker:right before you serve it,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:Correct. Okay,
Speaker:so that's the first thing you do when you're getting started.
Speaker:I'm going to let you carry on.
Speaker:I have a question,
Speaker:but you might cover it.
Speaker:So I'm gonna let you carry on.
Speaker:What do you do then?
Speaker:Yes, it's possible.
Speaker:Increase your sales without adding a single customer.
Speaker:How you ask by offering personalization with your products.
Speaker:Wrap a cake box with a ribbon saying happy 30th birthday,
Speaker:Annie, or at a special message and date to wedding or
Speaker:party favors for an extra meaningful touch.
Speaker:Where else can you get customization with a creatively spelled name
Speaker:or find packaging that includes a saying whose meaning is known
Speaker:to a select to not only are customers willing to pay
Speaker:for these special touches,
Speaker:they'll tell their friends and word will spread about your company
Speaker:and products.
Speaker:You can create personalized ribbons and labels in seconds.
Speaker:Make just one or thousands without waiting weeks or having to
Speaker:spend money to order yards and yards.
Speaker:Print words in any language or font,
Speaker:add logos,
Speaker:images, even photos.
Speaker:Perfect for branding or adding ingredient and flavor labels to,
Speaker:for more information,
Speaker:go to the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com.
Speaker:Okay, so you found your food.
Speaker:It's on the list.
Speaker:Yay. Celebration.
Speaker:Now what?
Speaker:Now you're going to find out if there's any type of
Speaker:home kitchen inspection.
Speaker:If there is,
Speaker:there will be a process,
Speaker:an application.
Speaker:You'll have to contact someone,
Speaker:go through the process.
Speaker:You only do it once and once you're approved to produce
Speaker:your product,
Speaker:then that's it.
Speaker:They're going to say,
Speaker:okay, you can start selling And do you find out if
Speaker:you need the inspection or where to get that inspection?
Speaker:Also in the location where you find your food laws by
Speaker:state, Yes you do.
Speaker:Everything is right there complete with the applications and any information
Speaker:that you need to fill out.
Speaker:Most of the States even allow you to fill the information
Speaker:out online,
Speaker:so it goes immediately to the cottage food operator,
Speaker:whoever that representative is.
Speaker:Okay. All right,
Speaker:so I'm two questions here.
Speaker:I hope I'm going to remember both of them.
Speaker:You said you only have to do the kitchen inspection one
Speaker:time. You don't have to go back and get updates like
Speaker:you do when you have a brick and mortar shop For
Speaker:most States and now there are one or two exceptions and
Speaker:I'm not going to get into that,
Speaker:but for most States if you have to be inspected and
Speaker:not all States require that,
Speaker:but if you have to be inspected,
Speaker:you are initially your first inspection is just to find out
Speaker:what your kitchen looks like and what you're going to be
Speaker:preparing. No one comes back to your kitchen for any reason
Speaker:unless there is a complaint.
Speaker:Now, if there is a complaint,
Speaker:then the cottage food representatives will come back.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:And it probably goes without saying,
Speaker:but if you move then you need to be reinspected.
Speaker:Exactly. Yes you do.
Speaker:Okay. What if you add new products?
Speaker:That's usually done by email and if you're inspected,
Speaker:even if you're not,
Speaker:you're going to have a representative.
Speaker:There's someone that you can contact to get information about your
Speaker:cottage food program law rule.
Speaker:You would contact them and say,
Speaker:I am going to be adding the following products to my
Speaker:menu, and then they'll tell you what they need.
Speaker:Usually the name of the product and a list of the
Speaker:ingredients. I did not say the recipe.
Speaker:No, no,
Speaker:no, no.
Speaker:We're going to talk about that.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:We'll talk about that.
Speaker:Okay. If you make English toffee,
Speaker:do you have to list all your flavors of English toffee
Speaker:or is it just a general category?
Speaker:How detailed do you have to get with your product listing?
Speaker:You do have to get that detailed.
Speaker:You have to list every detail for each flavor that you
Speaker:sell. Yes.
Speaker:Okay, so good thing to know.
Speaker:I'm not in the food industry specifically,
Speaker:but good to know.
Speaker:So anytime you add a product you just have to make
Speaker:the contact,
Speaker:add it to the list.
Speaker:If it's just a variation of a current product,
Speaker:that should be like a no brainer.
Speaker:It's just one more thing you do real quick and it's
Speaker:no approvals or anything.
Speaker:It's just it has to be listed there.
Speaker:Absolutely. However,
Speaker:I want everyone to understand they're still rules and regulations and
Speaker:when it comes to listing ingredients on your labels,
Speaker:this is for the safety of the consumer.
Speaker:It is not about you at all and so that is
Speaker:what your kind of true agency is trying to just remind
Speaker:you that there are people out there that have all sorts
Speaker:of allergies against this,
Speaker:that and the other,
Speaker:and there are specific requirements that you have to follow.
Speaker:So that's why if you do a tophi with pecans and
Speaker:a tophi with walnuts,
Speaker:yes, you have to have one label that says pecans and
Speaker:a completely different label that says walnuts.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. In terms of what that label should look like,
Speaker:where does someone go if they're just starting in,
Speaker:they're not sure about that.
Speaker:Well, your state cottage food law should have a sample label
Speaker:for that state.
Speaker:Perfect. They should have that on their website so you can
Speaker:look at it now.
Speaker:If they don't,
Speaker:then you're going to mosey right on over to food manure
Speaker:institute.com you're going to hit contact and you're going to say,
Speaker:Hey, they don't have a label.
Speaker:Can you send me what I need and I will send
Speaker:it to you.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:Okay. What do you do if you include in your product
Speaker:something that's a branded product,
Speaker:like let's do one of my favorite Reese's pieces.
Speaker:What is my responsibility?
Speaker:Then what can I and can't I do if I have
Speaker:that product included in something that I make?
Speaker:Okay, well no brands on your labels Use it in your
Speaker:product though,
Speaker:right? Yes,
Speaker:absolutely. Okay,
Speaker:but then you say no brand on the labels in terms
Speaker:of the name of the product or the ingredients or,
Speaker:I'm going to let you talk about it.
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:No name as far as the brand.
Speaker:So if I'm using Reeses pieces in my chocolate chip cookies
Speaker:and I'm not using chocolate chips,
Speaker:I'm using that.
Speaker:I'm just going to say chocolate pieces and then in parentheses
Speaker:I'm going to turn that Reese's species a package over and
Speaker:under ingredients.
Speaker:There's a list of everything that's in it,
Speaker:in those pieces,
Speaker:you're going to list that in parentheses,
Speaker:all of it.
Speaker:Okay, so you never Actually say Reeses at all.
Speaker:You say chocolate pieces and then actually on the receipt pieces
Speaker:bag that they have,
Speaker:the ingredients,
Speaker:you turn it over and then you list everything that's on
Speaker:there. Exactly,
Speaker:yes. Got it.
Speaker:Interesting. And not hard.
Speaker:Not hard at all.
Speaker:It's not.
Speaker:It just can be a lot to type,
Speaker:but understand for that particular product that you're making,
Speaker:once you get that label complete,
Speaker:as long as you don't add anything to the recipe,
Speaker:it's done.
Speaker:Now, if you decided to add also pecans,
Speaker:then you do the same label,
Speaker:but you would add pecans.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. Easy.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:So next question on the label,
Speaker:they'll have how many calories?
Speaker:Like you know,
Speaker:all those extra things,
Speaker:how does someone figure out what that is for their product?
Speaker:Well, there are a number of tools that I can recommend
Speaker:that are free,
Speaker:and there are some that may have a small fee that
Speaker:you'll, a monthly fee that you'll have to pay.
Speaker:But right now nutritional information is not necessary on food products
Speaker:for cottage food operators unless you're making a claim,
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:Making a claim?
Speaker:If you are saying that my cheesy crackers are low sodium
Speaker:or low fat,
Speaker:you're making a claim and if that's the case,
Speaker:then you need to put the nutritional label on them to
Speaker:prove that.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so here's a very positive,
Speaker:I guess just for the business owner,
Speaker:a really positive point that you don't have to take that
Speaker:extra step unless you're making a claim like you're saying,
Speaker:but that changes then when someone goes brick and mortar,
Speaker:right then because they have their product on display in a
Speaker:shop or if someone,
Speaker:let me ask you this,
Speaker:if someone is a cottage food maker,
Speaker:I guess I would say,
Speaker:and they want to sell wholesale to a local shop,
Speaker:then what changes with what we've talked about?
Speaker:Then When you get into commercial sales,
Speaker:the rules and regulations are going to be different.
Speaker:Even if you're still making and selling it to a shop
Speaker:owner to then sell in that shop.
Speaker:Yes, because the rules and regulations around selling wholesale to a
Speaker:commercial vendor are different.
Speaker:And that's why I said gotta know who you're selling to.
Speaker:And as you sell to different vendors,
Speaker:it's going to change.
Speaker:Now let me say this,
Speaker:as a cottage food operator,
Speaker:you may or may not be able to sell to a
Speaker:coffee shop or to a candy shop or wholesale to another
Speaker:vendor. If your cottage food law says you cannot do that,
Speaker:then you can't.
Speaker:Right. And it will tell you who you can and can't
Speaker:sell to.
Speaker:Yeah. It's really interesting.
Speaker:I was looking in preparation for this.
Speaker:I was looking up Illinois because I'm in the Chicago area
Speaker:and it shows that I can sell at farmer's markets but
Speaker:not at craft shows.
Speaker:So it does get really specific and very clear and I
Speaker:don't want anyone to feel like that's over limiting either because
Speaker:there are still lots of opportunities for you.
Speaker:You just have to know what parameters you have to work
Speaker:within. Absolutely.
Speaker:And in Illinois,
Speaker:the cottage food law is different for every County.
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:Denae and how will somebody in a state know if they're
Speaker:County specific?
Speaker:Well, they would have to contact the state.
Speaker:It's a state law and then the state says to the
Speaker:County, would you like to do this?
Speaker:And some counties say,
Speaker:Hey yeah,
Speaker:we'll do it.
Speaker:But you know,
Speaker:reluctantly. So you wouldn't go to the state first and it
Speaker:will either be your state health department or department of agriculture.
Speaker:There are different departments.
Speaker:You'll have to find out which one oversees the cottage food
Speaker:program in your state and go to the map.
Speaker:And then once you call or email them,
Speaker:they'll tell you Illinois,
Speaker:there are a few States that have County cottage food laws.
Speaker:California has County cottage food laws.
Speaker:So every County in California is different.
Speaker:Okay. So if I went to the state on your map,
Speaker:will it also say find out additional requirements by County?
Speaker:Will it tell me that there or is this a two
Speaker:step process?
Speaker:I need to find out what the cottage food laws are
Speaker:by my state and then I still need to do that
Speaker:second check with the County.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a two step process.
Speaker:You're going to contact the state and they will let you
Speaker:know if it's the same for the entire state.
Speaker:No counties or no,
Speaker:you need to contact your individual County health department,
Speaker:department of agriculture or whatever.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:Okay. Two steps there.
Speaker:Okay, so great to know.
Speaker:We've talked about the ingredients lists and I know already food
Speaker:preneur Institute is like the place to go.
Speaker:If you have any questions on anything or there's questions that
Speaker:I'm not thinking of to ask,
Speaker:you guys knew where to go.
Speaker:Just pick up and find Denae and she's going to tell
Speaker:you. Okay,
Speaker:so let's keep going.
Speaker:Not business development specifically,
Speaker:but in the cottage food industry.
Speaker:Once you know your food laws,
Speaker:you had the inspection.
Speaker:Dawn, is there anything else you need to do before you
Speaker:register your business for this?
Speaker:Like all the other business development stuff,
Speaker:is there anything else specific for the industry?
Speaker:Actually there is not,
Speaker:other than looking,
Speaker:making sure that the product you produce is something that's needed
Speaker:in the marketplace.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:I want to then talk a little bit about the recipe.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you alluded to it earlier and I'm going to let you
Speaker:take it away.
Speaker:What does the recipe mean to your business?
Speaker:Well, your recipe is everything,
Speaker:but first,
Speaker:let me put this out there because there's a lot of
Speaker:question about copyrights and recipes and a recipe can not be
Speaker:copywritten. What can be copywritten is the process,
Speaker:the procedure,
Speaker:and that's under what to do.
Speaker:Blend three eggs with flour,
Speaker:sugar, that is the process that can be copywritten,
Speaker:but the actual ingredients,
Speaker:the list cannot.
Speaker:And so I always say that your recipe is like the
Speaker:heartbeat of the business.
Speaker:And if the recipe gets out,
Speaker:that's just something that you really have to protect and value
Speaker:and understand how important that is because that's yours.
Speaker:That's the one thing that you own that makes you different
Speaker:from anybody else.
Speaker:And it could be just the way the order in which
Speaker:the ingredients are done.
Speaker:Just like you're saying with whatever the procedure or the process
Speaker:is. How do you keep that safe?
Speaker:Don't share it.
Speaker:So let's say you copyright it,
Speaker:but what if you have people who are now helping you
Speaker:cause you're getting bigger and so they're coming into your kitchen
Speaker:to help And then you would make sure that you contact
Speaker:an attorney to draft a nondisclosure and all you can do
Speaker:is ask them to sign it and hopefully they won't share
Speaker:anything. But I can tell you right now,
Speaker:there are no guarantees.
Speaker:So I've talked to other people in the industry who protect
Speaker:themselves with things like this by their portion of it.
Speaker:Let's say it's a family business initially and now they're bringing
Speaker:in employees to help in a home kitchen again.
Speaker:Okay, so we're not talking about if you are having the
Speaker:product made elsewhere,
Speaker:we're only talking home kitchens right now.
Speaker:They will,
Speaker:let's say it's flour and sugar and salt and some other
Speaker:fancy ingredient or a secret ingredient or whatever it is.
Speaker:They'll make all that up beforehand and then have employees take
Speaker:it from a certain point so that that portion is still
Speaker:protected even though it's part of the process.
Speaker:Absolutely. There's a restaurant in Nashville that has a hot chicken
Speaker:recipe and they take the sauce part of the sauce and
Speaker:then the employees get to blend the rest of the ingredients
Speaker:with that special sauce.
Speaker:Absolutely. You can do that.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a way to really protect herself.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah. I know a restaurant in New Jersey,
Speaker:do you know Steven cookies?
Speaker:No, I don't.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It's one of those places where you can barely ever even
Speaker:get a reservation.
Speaker:Like I'm hoping to get into the fancy part of the
Speaker:restaurant next year when I go out to the Jersey shore
Speaker:and we have to make the reservation soon.
Speaker:But they have this blueberry pie that is,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:to die for.
Speaker:And I mean like a blueberry pie like I have never
Speaker:ever seen before.
Speaker:The thing that's so interesting about it is when I go
Speaker:out there and you know I have a good girlfriend who
Speaker:lives on the Jersey shore,
Speaker:which is why I'm there,
Speaker:how I know about it on and on,
Speaker:but I'll be out with some of her friends who are
Speaker:now my friends since I said I go down there and
Speaker:they'll be like,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:I know the recipe.
Speaker:I deconstructed it.
Speaker:I know how to make it too and I don't know.
Speaker:I mean I don't know that they really do because nobody
Speaker:knows the process part.
Speaker:I mean it might be a little bit similar,
Speaker:but nobody knows for sure and these pies sell out literally
Speaker:in like maybe an hour when they're made.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:Let's see.
Speaker:I was into recipe development and so if you're really good
Speaker:at it and you taste it and it's food,
Speaker:it's not an,
Speaker:even though it's a science for some people it's not going
Speaker:to be challenging to deconstruct it.
Speaker:There was an amazing chocolate chip shortbread cookie from a bakery
Speaker:back in the 1970s and I was able to duplicate it.
Speaker:And it is exactly the same cookie.
Speaker:Hmm. It is not impossible.
Speaker:That's why I say what makes your product your product?
Speaker:It's not the product.
Speaker:It's you Love it.
Speaker:Oh you're speaking my language today.
Speaker:Okay, so you're making peach pies and someone else makes peach
Speaker:pies. No one can talk about that peach pie.
Speaker:No one can make it.
Speaker:Describe it and sell it like you can.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:It's all the other things you bring.
Speaker:Well, your product has to be awesome first,
Speaker:right? Cause there's so much competition and it's not just for
Speaker:consumable products.
Speaker:That's for every product,
Speaker:right. People make jewelry and pottery and candles and everything,
Speaker:but it's the other things you bring in.
Speaker:You add on top.
Speaker:Exactly. And your story,
Speaker:just like you were talking to Nate about how you know
Speaker:you had that,
Speaker:the book and you learned how to cook and it was
Speaker:with your grandmother and your mom and the Danish pastries.
Speaker:It's the whole backstory to that.
Speaker:You add onto it,
Speaker:Your story is your number one marketing tool,
Speaker:particularly today.
Speaker:The first thing people want to know is how did you
Speaker:get into this?
Speaker:Wow, how did you make that?
Speaker:And that's the time when you need to have your story
Speaker:down and you let them have it because it first begins,
Speaker:yes, a great product,
Speaker:but it also begins with you.
Speaker:And I think people forget or don't understand how important that
Speaker:is because they want to just talk about the product and
Speaker:not add their personality on top where really that's where you
Speaker:get an advantage.
Speaker:And it also gives someone something else to talk about,
Speaker:not just,
Speaker:Oh, the peach pie is so great,
Speaker:but Oh her peach pie is delicious.
Speaker:But do you know she also competes in with horses or
Speaker:like whatever the extra things are,
Speaker:right. It gives someone something else unique to talk about in
Speaker:conjunction with your company and your when you share your story.
Speaker:Absolutely. Okay,
Speaker:so when you have your recipe,
Speaker:protect your recipe to the extent that you can.
Speaker:If you have employees do noncompete,
Speaker:let's circle into what mistakes have you seen people make that
Speaker:we should be aware of and make sure to avoid.
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Wow. That's a big one.
Speaker:That's a great question.
Speaker:Will we be adding on an hour?
Speaker:Our talk here?
Speaker:Probably. Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Just a couple of top ones.
Speaker:Okay. A couple of the top error.
Speaker:Test your product.
Speaker:Okay. And test your product because you're dealing with food.
Speaker:Test your product with people you don't know.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah. Your family members and friends love you and they will
Speaker:always love you.
Speaker:They will love you through everything,
Speaker:but the consumer of the general public will not.
Speaker:And so if you really want to know whether or not
Speaker:your product is successful,
Speaker:it's delicious.
Speaker:It's going to sell.
Speaker:You need to,
Speaker:and I'm in North Carolina,
Speaker:so we are notorious for popups and I tell a lot
Speaker:of cottage food operators go to your church,
Speaker:even though some of those people know you,
Speaker:some of them don't.
Speaker:But go to a church,
Speaker:a coffee shop somewhere public,
Speaker:and ask if you can have a popup and test your
Speaker:recipe. I mean,
Speaker:really test it and see what people are saying and give
Speaker:them an opportunity to share.
Speaker:And of course grow tough skin because everybody's not gonna love
Speaker:what you have.
Speaker:And that's okay.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:If you hear one or two people being critical of your
Speaker:product, that doesn't mean you stop.
Speaker:Absolutely. And the second thing is stop trying to make everything
Speaker:under the sun for cottage food operators.
Speaker:I always say,
Speaker:okay, look in your pantry right now at the food that
Speaker:your family eats and attach a dollar Mark to it,
Speaker:to everything in the pantry.
Speaker:How much money do you have?
Speaker:Now you're getting ready to go into business.
Speaker:You have 15 items listed.
Speaker:You have to buy all the ingredients for that.
Speaker:You buy it,
Speaker:you put it on another shelf or series of shelves in
Speaker:your pantry,
Speaker:attach a dollar price to it.
Speaker:Remember, if you've got 15 different items,
Speaker:you've got a lot of money.
Speaker:They're sitting on the pantry shelf.
Speaker:Do you really want to do that?
Speaker:So you've got to think about what you're going to prepare.
Speaker:I always say start with your very best.
Speaker:Hmm. Start with your very best,
Speaker:become known for that and then you can start building arms
Speaker:off of it.
Speaker:The key to success is one thing.
Speaker:I don't think people will miss this.
Speaker:The key to success is one thing.
Speaker:Find one thing that you do better than anyone else.
Speaker:That's what you start with.
Speaker:I make an Apple pie that will make your eyes roll
Speaker:back in your head.
Speaker:That was the first thing that I started with and that's
Speaker:what I got known for and oftentimes we don't do that.
Speaker:As makers,
Speaker:I want to make this and I want to make that,
Speaker:Oh, so I've got nine different types of stop.
Speaker:Start with one thing and perfect it.
Speaker:It also confuses people,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and the people can get overwhelmed with choices and then instead
Speaker:of making a choice,
Speaker:they make no choice.
Speaker:No choice.
Speaker:Exactly. The other thing I want to just say in terms
Speaker:of the ingredients,
Speaker:you're talking about it having too many ingredients because you have
Speaker:to have all of that for the products you make.
Speaker:You get to a certain point where you're not going to
Speaker:be wanting to go to your local grocer and mine your
Speaker:ingredients. You're going to want to buy more in bulk.
Speaker:And just imagine having all of those ingredients in bigger sizes
Speaker:too. That would be overwhelming.
Speaker:You're going to have to get another house.
Speaker:Well, you're right.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Although I can honestly say that everything doesn't need to be
Speaker:purchased in bulk or from whole food vendors,
Speaker:and it kind of depends on what your product is and
Speaker:that's beyond the scope of this particular podcast.
Speaker:But you really have to just,
Speaker:you have to pay attention to the numbers and work the
Speaker:numbers when you start to look at your cost and then
Speaker:ultimately Price.
Speaker:And that's a whole nother story too,
Speaker:really is so building the price.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Okay. So where do you see food preneur Institute going in
Speaker:the future?
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Ultimately I would like to have a brick and mortar,
Speaker:an actual school or a location,
Speaker:and it would be set up such that we would periodically
Speaker:have classes that people could come to and host a conference.
Speaker:Ooh, I love that.
Speaker:Yes. So that we could all come together.
Speaker:Since we're all at home and we're making these products from
Speaker:home and we can talk about what we've done,
Speaker:right, what we've done wrong,
Speaker:what we need to change in the laws,
Speaker:because everybody's cottage food law is not equal.
Speaker:There are some that will not permit you to sell more
Speaker:than X dollars,
Speaker:like $15,000
Speaker:I'm going to tell you right now,
Speaker:I live in the greatest cottage food state in the nation.
Speaker:I do not say that haphazardly.
Speaker:There is no limit to the amount of money you can
Speaker:make in North Carolina and you can ship your product to
Speaker:other States.
Speaker:Oh, so yeah,
Speaker:the world is your oyster.
Speaker:Really. The world is your butterscotch chip.
Speaker:I tell folks in my class here in Cary,
Speaker:North Carolina,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:listen, if you cannot make this work,
Speaker:there is a problem because there's nothing you can't do.
Speaker:Nothing's stopping you.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Denae this has been such great information and a real good
Speaker:insight. I,
Speaker:especially for people who are just starting to think about this,
Speaker:to get an overall picture of what would happen next and
Speaker:understand that this is possible for them.
Speaker:So what would you say to somebody who's listening,
Speaker:who's really starting to think they're starting to see that glimmer
Speaker:of hope that this could be something they could do?
Speaker:What advice would you give them?
Speaker:The first thing I would say is if you love your
Speaker:product and what you're doing and you feel you could do
Speaker:this day in and day out because you get gratification and
Speaker:pleasure and it builds your confidence,
Speaker:go for it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Do it.
Speaker:Just do it.
Speaker:Do it.
Speaker:Yeah. Wonderful.
Speaker:Okay. And where can people learn more about the food preneur
Speaker:Institute? They can just go to food poner institute.com
Speaker:and when you get to the home page,
Speaker:you will see a video and I'll be talking to you
Speaker:and then just click the little hamburger bar.
Speaker:If you want to contact me.
Speaker:If you'd like to just talk to me.
Speaker:I have set up Denae davis.com
Speaker:it's free.
Speaker:Schedule a time.
Speaker:We can just talk for 30 minutes.
Speaker:Wow. That is a very generous,
Speaker:generous offer.
Speaker:Deny. Absolutely.
Speaker:I've been doing that since I started,
Speaker:uh, for years and years and years and a lot of
Speaker:people don't take me up on it because they say,
Speaker:Oh, I don't know what to add.
Speaker:I'm going to ask you lady,
Speaker:I don't know what I want to do.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Don't worry about it.
Speaker:Let's just sit on the phone quiet for a minute.
Speaker:It'll come to you.
Speaker:And I'm sure that that's good for you too because you
Speaker:then continue to have a finger on the pulse of the
Speaker:things that are concerns for people.
Speaker:Maybe it's additional piece of information you want to add to
Speaker:the Institute or whatever,
Speaker:but there's value out of those conversations for sure.
Speaker:Absolutely. And just contact me@contactatfoodpreneurinstitute.com
Speaker:and of course follow us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram
Speaker:and LinkedIn and everywhere,
Speaker:everywhere. Food,
Speaker:Pandora Institute,
Speaker:you'll find us.
Speaker:Wonderful. Denae thank you so much.
Speaker:This has been such great information.
Speaker:I'm so excited to be presenting food preneur Institute overall to
Speaker:everybody and Denay.
Speaker:You're so approachable that I'd be surprised if you don't get
Speaker:quite a few calls from people who are listening and I
Speaker:encourage you guys to do that.
Speaker:This is your opportunity to talk to an expert,
Speaker:get advice you need on your specific situation so that you
Speaker:can move forward and achieve whatever dream you're looking for.
Speaker:So donate.
Speaker:You're giving them the resources to do that.
Speaker:And I am so thankful to you.
Speaker:Well Sue,
Speaker:I'm thankful to you for giving me this opportunity to get
Speaker:this information out because it's such a small industry and I
Speaker:want to share the information.
Speaker:I want everyone to succeed And I want to taste everyone's
Speaker:product. So yeah,
Speaker:you guys need to get started.
Speaker:Thanks again for being here today.
Speaker:Denae thank you.
Speaker:See how amazing was all of Denny's information?
Speaker:What at first may seem so daunting and insurmountable becomes doable
Speaker:when you have the right resources and knowledge behind you.
Speaker:Those of you who are in my maker's MBA program,
Speaker:get another chance this month to take a deeper dive with
Speaker:DNA during our expert interview.
Speaker:So get your questions ready and if any of you aren't
Speaker:familiar or know what I'm talking about with maker's MBA,
Speaker:this is my fully inclusive business development program.
Speaker:Jump over to gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA if you'd like to get on the
Speaker:wait list to be notified when enrollment opens.
Speaker:Again, I'm only running the program one time in 2020 so
Speaker:don't miss out on knowing when it's available.
Speaker:Again at that time you can review all of the information
Speaker:and then decide if this is something that could be right
Speaker:for you up next week.
Speaker:We're talking visibility.
Speaker:Nobody can buy from you if they don't know you even
Speaker:exist. Kind of like what I was talking about just now
Speaker:with maker's MBA.
Speaker:If you don't know about it,
Speaker:you're not able to join more on how you can ensure
Speaker:you're getting the exposure you need to grow your business.
Speaker:That's next Monday.
Speaker:I look forward to all of us being together then.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is free.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:We've got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week I have to say where
Speaker:I invite all of you to share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show them what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeds.
Speaker:Don't delay.
