Riding Tandem

00:00:03 - Speaker A
Welcome to Riding Tandem, a podcast about building businesses, leadership and creating positive impact for our communities. I'm your host, Vivian Kvam, and I invite you to ride Tandem Works with me as I have candid conversations with inspiring business owners, leaders, and experts who are building on their dreams and creating impact. Get ready to be encouraged and learn practical tactics to help us build successful businesses, become incredible leaders, and have positive ripple effects. Let's go. Welcome back to this episode of Tandem Works Works. I have a delightful guest today that I've gotten to know her, and I'm excited to know her more through this conversation. I have Alejandra Valdez, and she is an entrepreneur and a change maker in our community, and she put that in her bio. And I have to say I have 100% agree. She's on a mission to create a more equitable world, and she's doing that in some really interesting ways. Very involved, and I think you're going to be excited to hear much of her wisdom. She's also an entrepreneur. She's a business owner as well, and she's the founder of Viva Fit Kitchen, which provides convenient and nutritious. And I added in here tasty food because I've had it. It is so good to the community. She's also the co founder of Embolden, which we'll talk more about, for sure, but that's an entrepreneur network created to connect high performers to influence, inspire, and impact the world. And this is where I know I just jive with her so much because I love that she puts impact the world, not just like her community, but like the world. And she was also selected to be part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small businesses for Iowa, and she's involved in a whole lot more. But I couldn't pack it all into the bio because we're going to talk about it, so I thought we should just jump in and talk about it. But the last thing I'm going to say is she was also the Rev pitch winner of 2021, which is what originally put Alejandra on my radar just to get to know her. And I remember her being there and pitching and just thinking, okay, I have to meet this woman. And so I was able to meet her, and we've had a number of run ins and conversations since then. So welcome. Thanks for being here.

00:02:11 - Speaker B
Yes, thank you, Vivian, for having me. I'm super excited.

00:02:14 - Speaker A
Yeah.

00:02:15 - Speaker B
Excited to talk about entrepreneurship and the journey and something that I really enjoy.

00:02:21 - Speaker A
Yeah. Awesome.

00:02:22 - Speaker B
Okay.

00:02:23 - Speaker A
Right before we hopped on here, I learned something new, as I always do every time I talk with you. And then you're like, and I do this and I'm part of this, and I'm like, how do you pack it in? So we'll have to talk about that. But you had mentioned I did not realize that you came from a very corporate setting before you started your business. Tell me a little bit about that because we needed to dive into that whole lot. And I think that background is really helpful to understand your story.

00:02:46 - Speaker B
Yes. So, corporate life after college. I went to college for marketing, management, and innovation. That's what I majored in. And I think, like most college graduates, you naturally gravitate towards what's? My full time job. And for some reason I decided to go into operations management, which is very different than what I thought that I went to school for, but I didn't realize it was very the same. In some ways, being in operations management, I was there nine years, and I started off with just doing assistant work and then managing drivers like truck drivers, and after that, managing the team that managed truck drivers.

00:03:25 - Speaker A
Okay.

00:03:26 - Speaker B
So it was in operations. And I think being in a corporate setting really taught me a lot of structure. I always say that small business, we should think like big businesses to get big. So a lot of the systems that Werner incorporated, just like their employee relations, even onboarding and such, those are great frameworks, I think, for any business to follow. I feel like coming from a corporate world gave me a lot of structure. Then in my entrepreneurial journey, it was pretty structured. I wouldn't say it's super structured because, of course, entrepreneurship is not really structured, but it gave me, I think, a great way to go off something like, hey, I know how employees are hired, like what the process is. I know how interviewing works. Because I did that, I was a hiring manager, and I was able to take all those things I learned in corporate and apply them to small business. When opening up a small business, of course, very different fields, what I worked in, trucking and cooking, so very different. But I think for most businesses, the foundation is very similar, like what they have to have in place to start.

00:04:34 - Speaker A
Yeah. And you were managing, I think you mentioned a team of about 40 ish people.

00:04:38 - Speaker B
I managed two different teams, and my largest one was 40. I think being a manager taught me a ton, especially like at that level where you're managing that many people and giving feedback to that many people, getting to know different personalities, working personalities, it teaches you a lot about yourself and how you can work with everybody else. And it was very intimidating, I think, at first, mainly because I managed my first team. Yeah, my first team was like, mostly males, but a little bit of mixture. My second team that I managed was just males, 20 males, and I've had one female, and that was also a little intimidating. Like, how do you establish authority, but more visionary, how do you bring people on your vision of what this should be, even though they're so different from you? So I think that taught me a lot about connecting with people and leading people.

00:05:35 - Speaker A
If you were to give one flash tip about leading a group like that or how you overcame maybe feeling a little I'm planting a word, maybe it wasn't self doubt, but a little uncertainty.

00:05:48 - Speaker B
Yeah, it was, I think self doubt, that's a great word to use because I think that self doubt is such a thing to overcome. And I think if I could give a tip, I would just say trust yourself and trust your abilities to lead. Because at the end of the day, everyone is just a person and you connect with people. It doesn't matter what your title is, connecting with people is like what matters. And if you can create that connection with somebody, then they're going to follow you and listen to you.

00:06:14 - Speaker A
I love it. Okay, we need a little background then, because you had mentioned where you went from managing a team and it's all trucking and logistics, and now you run a company where you are cooking tasty, amazing food, but there's a bit of a backstory on how you made that transition. I'd love for you to share that.

00:06:32 - Speaker B
Yes. So while I was in corporate, so I'll backtrack to when I was 17, so right before high school ended, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I knew that I wanted to go in the world of business and own my own business. And that really came from when I was in high school. I was in Deca and like just loved everything about it. And if you aren't familiar with Deca, it's like a marketing association where you do competitions nationally, if you make it nationally. And I did, and it was just such a really cool experience and I had a great advisor, well teacher that I still to this day still talk to. I'm actually going to have lunch with her next week.

00:07:10 - Speaker A
That's awesome.

00:07:10 - Speaker B
So that I think really impacted my journey of like, hey, I want to be an entrepreneur. Went to the corporate world and during this time I still wanted to own a business. I didn't know what it was going to be, and I think for the longest, I mean, I didn't know from the age of 17 till I opened it, which was what, four years ago now, so maybe like five years ago. I'm 30 now, but I got an idea of what I could finally open. And that was stemmed from when I started in corporate life. I was in a desk at a desk job, and with desk jobs, you actually gain a lot of weight, so there's little movement. So I ended up and eating bad too. I was working long hours, I was just eating at my desk, whatever was available, which is not very healthy. Things around me, they're like vending machines.

00:07:55 - Speaker A
I say vending machines or if it was DOORDASHING.

00:07:59 - Speaker B
Yeah. So it wasn't like the best, I would say environment. As far as for someone that's trying to be healthier, well, I wasn't even trying to be healthier at that time. I was just like, whatever. And I started noticing symptoms of prediabetes, and I knew they were like, everybody in my family has diabetes, both sides. And actually, I was just thinking about this the other day. Everyone on my mom's side actually has died of diabetes.

00:08:28 - Speaker A
Wow.

00:08:29 - Speaker B
Every single person that we can remember, too. It was a little shocking. And the wake up call, I think that was really shocking to me was when I started, it was like one summer day, like at the zoo where I was walking and my feet sole up, like super big. And when I got home, they were like, humongous. And I'm like, okay. They're so swollen. And they lasted like that for two days. I couldn't even fit in my shoes. Like, I had to wear sandals that were really tight on my foot too, but it stayed like that. And that's actually a symptom of prediabetes, too, when your blood isn't flowing. So that's when I said, I think I need to do something different. I feel really big. I feel, like, super unhealthy. I can't even walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing.

00:09:16 - Speaker A
And so young.

00:09:17 - Speaker B
Yeah. And so young. Yeah. That was like six, seven years ago now, so yeah. And my parents were pretty on their health journey, too, before, and my sister was too. They had already started this prior to me. I think that also had a big impact. I had a family that was doing well in the health way, so I know I would hear from a mom all the time, you need to do better, you need better. But I think it really took that experience for me to actually change. And I just started eating healthier. And once I noticed the changes of eating healthy, the energy was the first thing. I think that's what I noticed. I don't know how I was able to be so productive before with the low energy that I had. So the energy that food brings, your cognitive, it affects your mentality a lot. Just the way that you think, the way that you're able to create, I mean, that's directly related to what you intake. And I think just the confidence of me dropping weight, I dropped 70 pounds in the first 18 months. I think that was a huge confidence booster for me, too. And I mean, all of those things combined, it was super great feeling, like everyone should feel like that. And I was like, it all had to do with food. Like, you change the food that you eat. And because I come from a lion family, a lion culture, I understand the struggles that it does take sometimes for you wanting to eat healthier, but you don't have those flavors that you typically would taste from your food. So creating that was something I just saw that there was a market opportunity for that. And I loved to meal prep. That's something I did for myself. And I loved cooking and creating new recipes. So I'm like, okay, let me do a meal prep company. It started. It was a Facebook post.

00:11:06 - Speaker A
Yeah.

00:11:07 - Speaker B
Hey, order DM me for your orders.

00:11:09 - Speaker A
I think it's so interesting to me, especially when it comes to food related businesses, a common story, though not all stories by any means, as you're proving out right now. A common story is a love for food to begin with, or baking or cake decorate like that's. There already this fascinates me not to negate that. I think that's a fabulous way to start a business, too, but you're just really pointing out the whole core of entrepreneurism, which is you found a need in the market, you aligned it with a passion that you had, and you literally created something. What I'm picking up here is you didn't go to chef school and then go, okay, I think I'm going to start a business. It was much more of just kind of like, bringing all these pieces together. I think that's really neat and inspiring for people to hear. It's kind of like you never know, right? You never know how all these blocks are going to align. It's part of what I love about entrepreneurs.

00:12:06 - Speaker B
Yeah, I think definitely you never know because like I said before, that I had no idea, no idea what I was going to be starting, and it just clicked. One day, I would post about my journey, like, on my social media, and this is what I'm cooking tonight. And then people were seeing it's not even like I had to say anything. People were seeing the results. Like, I wanted to do that too, because it was an awesome journey to go through, and it was cool and enjoyable, and I was like, if someone else can do it. I've learned now, though, because, hey, I didn't start. I do love cooking on a large scale. It has been tough because I didn't go to culinary school, so even learning all that has been a little tough. But I've had some great people to assist me in the community, so I don't feel like I'm ever alone in that. There's always people to help to learn new things, for me to learn new things, especially in the kitchen space. But now I am building a team to take over for the day to day things. And as I do that, I can remove myself from the actual cooking part so I can work on the creativity of the recipes, which I love, and the running the business as a whole and growing it.

00:13:16 - Speaker A
Yeah, I remember you saying that conversation we had previously that your goal actually is not to stay in the kitchen. Your goal is to build a very large business. And that's not food industry in general is not easy. Right. And so something you'd mentioned is that you're really leaning into building teams And Building Systems. And I'd love for you to unpack that more, especially as you're thinking about your end goal is to step out and really run the business and not be the producer of what the business is putting out. Talk to me a little bit about that.

00:13:50 - Speaker B
So? Yes, in that way, like you mentioned earlier, my love of it is there. But my love of why I started a business I think is even greater. Why I started the business in the first place is to build more equity in this world. And I think that shows from when I was like, 17 that I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I didn't know what it was going to be. I still wanted that, regardless of what it was. I just found a channel that fit for me. So having a business that's going to scale big, you cannot be everything in the business. And it's hard to grow a business when you're in the day to day And I've learned that because I am in the day to day and I've still, despite being in the day to day, take a lot of time outside of just the kitchen to work on the business. So in that way I think that I've learned you have to have things written down and you have to have system to teach other people. In our conversation that you mentioned we had, I even remember the last thing that I thought I would delegate was some of the stuff that I love the most. So, like, the marketing side? I love marketing. I love content creation. I love just getting to know the customer and connecting with the customer and knowing what's going to target them. So I was like, that's the last thing that I'm going to do. I'm going to delegate everything else that I hate. And I'm just going to do my social media and my marketing and connections. And it was actually the first thing that I delegated because I learned that you can't actually delegate a process that you have no idea on because there's nothing to delegate to somebody. You need to delegate stuff that you are already building that has a good process and things that are already working for your business and you give it to somebody then to just make it greater and continue. That because you've already established that. But trying to delegate a process that's not there, I think has been the biggest well, one of the biggest lessons for me, it turned into, like, a hot mess. I'm like, okay, trying to do this, and there's nothing to go off of. So then I have to step back and I have to create those systems in the first place for then to delegate it to somebody. So that has been a big part of learning to build a team.

00:15:55 - Speaker A
I have a question about that because I'm with you. Having delegated some things that didn't have systems in the past. I agree. It's hard because depending on who you're delegating it to, because if you're delegating it to somebody and you're like, please run this thing. And maybe they don't create systems. That's not how they're wired. They need a system to run. I've also found sometimes I need to delegate the creation of the system or collaborate the creation of the system because I really don't know. I'm curious about what has your experience been with that too? Have you ever collaborated with somebody and said, hey, I just want to acknowledge there's no system here yet. Will you help me create a system and then you're going to take it over? Or have you ever done that?

00:16:42 - Speaker B
Yes. So I'm currently doing that. Okay. I'm currently doing that because there are things in my business. Of course I feel like I'm four years in, but really, I don't feel like I'm really like two years in.

00:16:55 - Speaker A
We're never where we want to be. I should be way over here. My husband reminds me all the time, he's like, you've actually accomplished a lot.

00:17:01 - Speaker B
In a little bit of time, right? I think we're probably the hardest on ourselves. But my experience with that, I think that it works depending on the person. And for me, it has been really tough finding that person that can create that system for me.

00:17:16 - Speaker A
I'm with you.

00:17:17 - Speaker B
But I do have a couple of people that I recently hired, like I mentioned earlier, that have been really amazing and they're very patient and they are creating some of the systems that I lack. So I really appreciate them for that. So that's something that I'm working on now on creating some systems that needed to be there or at least be better. Because I feel like I had some type of system just wasn't the best way.

00:17:45 - Speaker A
Refined?

00:17:45 - Speaker B
Yeah, refined and something that's more easily to be understood and retrained on. So they're helping with that and that's been awesome. So I think that depending on the person, but it's taking me this long to find somebody, so depending on the person, I think it's doable to teach them. But it has to take a lot of alignment as far as getting what your vision is, to translate it. So they really have to understand you and your vision. And now that I think about it, about the two girls that I actually recently hired, I do feel like they are very aligned in what our vision is. Not just for my business, but like the world as a whole. And I think that has helped a lot in transitioning like myself out of some of those things.

00:18:29 - Speaker A
I love that. And that's a great point to bring up is to be able to grow that team. Especially if they're going to help you come up with systems, they need to be set up to understand your vision, be aligned on that, your core values, your mission, all of it. Okay, I want to put a pin there for just a second and go back to you were talking about writing down systems from a practical standpoint. How are you capturing and recording systems to pass on? Are you literally like coming up with documents? Do you house them on Google Drive? How are you creating these systems in a way that's documented? Because I think that's so important. We think we have a system, maybe it's in our head, maybe it's kind of scribbled out somewhere. But I have often found I hand it over and someone goes, I don't get it.

00:19:18 - Speaker B
Yes, and that's what I meant by refining systems that I had. So we do have documents written down where it's like how to do certain things and then I work out of Kitchen Council as well and they have very great operating procedures, at least for the kitchen part of it. Far as my branding, that's something that myself and my marketing person also have written down. Like, these are the fonts that we use. We actually meet before every month starts to plan out the whole month, just like strategy wise. So yes, it's stuff that I do have written down. I think that I can write down more things and better ways. Like I wanted to do videos on certain things, like how to cut the meats a certain way. All that I think requires a video and that's something that I would like to do in the future. I don't have it right now, but it's on my list of tasks to execute. But that is like the video part, especially now that I think about it. If you think like a big business, I feel like all of them have videos, like training videos. It's a lot of training videos. The job training is great probably after you watch the videos. And that's what right now my team is getting on the job training. So I think really having the introductory videos to things do have some documentation. I don't think enough for processes. So those are all things that I would just really like to get in order. Especially like I mentioned in the hiring process, I know how to hire people, so it's like I know these things are needed, so I need to get all that kind of just written out.

00:20:55 - Speaker A
Yeah, and it's great. Especially as you're talking about scaling and I think that is a key. I mean, you talk to anyone who thinking about scaling to a franchise, for example, one of the things they look for is do you basically have turnkey systems, right, that you could hand over and fairly quickly get people on board? I mean, no one's going to be instantly. One of the things I have found helpful for systems that we have is I do a lot of screen recordings because the types of business things that we do, a lot of it happens on the computer. And so if I'm doing something about how I do deposits or how I set up an invoice or how I make a social media or whatever it is, right, if I'm doing it, because I am, I will often just screen record it, pop my headphones in, and I literally talk through what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. And then we save it. And that has been huge. I will often share that over to somebody then and go, hey, will you take a first stab at this? Watch the video, let me know any questions that still pop up after you watch the video. And that has helped a ton. And we can reference those. And I have actually referenced my own videos because I've forgotten how I did things.

00:22:04 - Speaker B
I think that's a great idea, especially for people outside the kitchen that I could do. So that's honestly great. Thank you for that. Yeah, for sure. Screen recording?

00:22:13 - Speaker A
Absolutely. You just need to get a body cam, I think. Put a body cam on, make sure it picks up, and then just start talking while you're like. And here's how I want the meat cut. It doesn't have to be I think sometimes we get intimidated with it needs to be perfect. And the production quality of a screen recording on my computer is not high. So I think we get stuck there sometimes when creating systems, and then it stops us from creating them or it's just hard to do. Okay, I want to shift gears a little bit. As you have grown this, you also have gotten involved in other things. So like we mentioned before, you've Golden Sachs. That was business, but then also embolden. I want to make sure to talk about those. And I know you have a plethora of other things, so if other things pop up too, that's great. But you're involved in so many things that are helping you grow as a business owner, as a person, and then you're helping other people do the same while running a business, creating systems, and building a really big team to help to. So talk to me a bit about that. Let's start with Was, what started all that, and you're the co founder of that, so you have a partner with that.

00:23:17 - Speaker B
Yes. So my friend Diana and I started that. It started really what was the year before last year? At the end of 2021, I was looking for someone to redesign my website. So I actually found her, like Diana, she has Super Boss, which is a website design company, and so I hired her to do my website. So we were meeting quite often and we were having all these meetings. So she really understood my vision, my brand, and could then show that in my website. So during these meetings, we got to talking a lot about just business, just how hard business was. It was really like things that we were struggling with we both also had a product business. She also has another one besides her website, but we related on that end a lot, about how we were getting supplies, about even accounting things, how we could get extra capital, anything like that. We were just like talking about those things because we were connecting, because we were both business owners. And now that I look back, I never really had a lot of business owner friends that I had around. I have friends, but at the time I feel like I wasn't around on the daily around a lot of business owners. So I feel like when we would get together, it'd be like we just would talk about everything business that I felt like if I was just talking to another friend, they didn't even know what I was talking about or they would just now because I'm talking too much about it. I think from that relationship, if people got around other people that were building things like them, then this would feel so much like more normal. It would feel so much more normal. So that's why I was like, I think we should create something to bring people together like that. And she was like, yeah, I think that would be awesome. And we were both very strong in our values of what we wanted, what the future to look like, so we're like, yeah, let's create it. I remember we started brainstorming things at the beginning of 2022 and then we finally in May launched our first event where it was I honestly forgot what the first event it was like, I think a building your brand panel, something of that sort. And it was just we looked up a location to rent, we put out our tickets out there, it was just so random. And reached out to connections that we knew other business owners that would sit on the panel. And it was such a great first event. I feel like we were just high off connections. It's such a great feeling, just like connecting with people that are doing things like you in the community. And I thought that was and it was something that just has since then, we've had events every month and each month I feel like we're looking for ways to do better and even using connections that we've met through these things. And I know a lot of us hang out just outside of just the involved in meetings that we have every month, but it's been super great, like meeting other business owners and then becoming friends with other people that maybe you wouldn't have not met if you wouldn't have came to one of the events and don't even know how they heard about us. But it's been awesome just to get connected with different people. And something that we value a lot is like diversity and even connecting people of very diverse backgrounds together because you don't get that. And we saw that when. We went to a networking event. You didn't have every type of culture there at this event. And I feel like you can find that at our events. Like, you have every culture there. It's not like it's just one type of person. And we didn't want to make it just a woman's group either. We wanted it to be like the world. We needed business owners of both genders, all races, to come together and talk, because I think that sometimes you stick with what you're comfortable with and we just want to make people go outside that comfort zone. So that's been super awesome. And something that I think that we're both very passionate about is just providing that to the community. Because not just our community here, but we've even talked about traveling and doing different events in different cities because we really want a big impact. But we love Omaha, so in councilors area, too, I really just was like, we can start here and then grow from there. But it is something we host events every month, so if any entrepreneurs are listening in the Omaha Council of area, I would definitely recommend for you guys to come out. They're all different that the events. Some of them are panel events where we have business owners on the panel, or we have a certain topic that we feel like they're equipped to talk about. And we have those we have more intense segmented workshops and then we also have just networking events. Like just networking and some food or drinks.

00:28:00 - Speaker A
Yeah, of all types. I love it. And this is I think so important to hear is that if you're not finding the community that you want or you crave or your heart needs, make it right. And that is what you did. And I think, too, it's inspiring to me because I think sometimes people look around and they go, oh, well, there is this networking group and there is that workshop thing. But you went, no, again, saw a need in the market and went, but we have something different to offer. I could tell people can't see on a podcast, but I'm like this really? We have some tears over here.

00:28:34 - Speaker B
Oh, no, I always actually but no, it's something like that kind of stuff is like what I am passionate about. So it's something that I continue to do and strive for all the time.

00:28:46 - Speaker A
Yeah, we need some kleenex.

00:28:48 - Speaker B
I don't know.

00:28:51 - Speaker A
What is it about it that creating something like that really moves you that deeply? What do you think it is?

00:29:00 - Speaker B
That's a great question, but I think that it all comes back to I think my mission in life is creating that change. That's why I think that it's something that I feel like I'm actually doing.

00:29:15 - Speaker A
Yeah, you are, which is awesome. You've brought up the equitable piece in both your kitchen and what you're doing there with Embolin, getting involved with Goldman Sachs and this is something that has come up a lot for people is just that how can we include more people? And I love how you mentioned it isn't even just culture or race or gender or like you're really trying to be inclusive of everyone. How can we do that better? Especially as business owners, we get a lot of leeway, we can make a lot of decisions.

00:29:53 - Speaker B
Yeah, I think making it intentional to work with different type of people because I think sometimes we stay in our bubble and work with people that we may know and they probably may just all look like us if we know them. So I think that just making it intentional to work with different types of people. Just because they're different from you doesn't mean that your visions are different. And then also because you learn so much and I think in that way. And then also always being intentional about your money too. It's not just working with different people, but paying everybody an equal. Like you wouldn't pay someone less just because you thought they could do it cheaper or why you went with them because they could do it cheaper. It's because I just think in that way, I think we need to all look at that as a major thing, is really what are we paying people and are we really paying them because we think that we could get their work cheaper because of whatever reason? That's why it's important to me, too. And because I think also underrepresented communities, in order to help, you need to build wealth to help. And as people say, money doesn't matter. It really does matter.

00:31:07 - Speaker A
I am not one of those people, by the way. I like money.

00:31:11 - Speaker B
Yeah, when people have good people have more money, they can create better things in this world. But you have to be financially stable. I mean, if you're not like you're going through so much stress, can you even think productively to achieve any of these goals? And I think that a lot of underrepresented communities experience that. How can we even get ahead and create these things or even dream that big when you don't even have access? Or I would say like the same equity as everyone else.

00:31:40 - Speaker A
I 100% am with you. And it's one of the things I struggled for a long time with, knowing that money is important to me. Because if you say that, even I've gotten better now at saying it, but even there's a little twinge that goes, I'm not supposed to say that, but it does. And because you can use it to drive things, that doesn't make you a lesser person or anything. If that's not your drive or you don't have a lot of money, it's not a status thing. But the type of change that I desire to make requires funds. And that is just a fact for most people. For most people. And I wanted to just pick up piggyback on what you're saying too. If you can't meet those needs, the basic needs and even above basics, be thriving. Not just meeting basic, but to truly thrive. Your headspace cannot be in the game of being a healthy human. It cannot. And I know that because I have lived there. And I cannot be a healthy human when my brain is either consciously or subconsciously preoccupied with paying bills or keeping on top of what I need as far as what funds provide. So I'm with you there and then the underrepresented too. And I think it's so important and I love again how you are shining a light on that. And there are absolutely underrepresented communities and I love how you're shining a light on that's more than what people often think of. I think we often think again of race, culture, color, right. Which is it is like that is a true thing. They are underrepresented. But I love in our conversations that you are so open and bring up. It's more than that. It is that. And maybe you're underrepresented because you don't have a college degree. Maybe you feel underrepresented because you're a woman in the workplace. Maybe you feel underrepresented because you're a guy in a very female driven work. You know what I mean? And I love that about you, that you are when you say inclusive, you truly mean fully inclusive.

00:33:50 - Speaker B
Thank you.

00:33:51 - Speaker A
I think it's huge. Okay, question for you shifting a little. There's so many things that I want to talk to you about and I know you have so much wisdom, but this Goldman Sachs, talk to me just a little bit about what made you decide to apply for something like that. And I know that you have been involved in other things like that, things that help you grow. What's the driver there?

00:34:12 - Speaker B
So I always want to continually grow as a leader because I think it's important to be open and to. Especially when you're starting out as a business owner and being in the community, you want as much a support around you as you can to guide you from experience, because people out there are already doing stuff that you want to do. But to get to that level and more, you need to also learn from what other people are doing or haven't done or whatnot. So I'm always looking to be like a better leader. I have a very growth mindset. I feel like I've been like that since forever before I started business.

00:34:50 - Speaker A
I'm picking up on that a little bit.

00:34:53 - Speaker B
It's something that I continually challenge myself to, especially, I think, in the last year where I've joined maybe like three programs. But Goldman Sachs one was a very one that I didn't know that I was going to do because I actually saw Sue Pitt with IR Western. She sent out a newsletter and it had the Goldman Sachs information on there. I just opened it. I'm like this looks like a cool program because I'm always looking for that kind of stuff. But as I was going through it, I didn't see a lot of information on their website, so I just applied, and then I realized how much time commitment it was. After I applied first to apply, it was like an application process. There was, like two or three interviews to get in to the program, and also they have some stipulations to make it. Hey, you have to be a business that's already been in business for two years, already kind of growing in that way. And I was just like, this is like a different type program. I remember once I got in and I went for the first day of orientation, I knew this was going to be different. We went to Des Moines for orientation. First off, it wasn't like on Zoom. It had to be in person. I have, like, four or five meetings a week for this class, and we cannot miss any classes.

00:36:08 - Speaker A
It's truly an intensive right.

00:36:11 - Speaker B
It's all immersive. It's super intense. But I really felt like I needed something like this, a growth plan. Because now when you go into business, you can become very stagnant, especially if you don't keep innovating and keep yourself on top of what's next, what's new, what are my customers? You need to really connect and know your market and forever keep researching and redeveloping, because you can become like a.

00:36:35 - Speaker A
Hamster on a wheel.

00:36:36 - Speaker B
Yeah.

00:36:36 - Speaker A
And a lot of people left the hamster on the wheel, got off and got back on.

00:36:40 - Speaker B
Yes.

00:36:40 - Speaker A
Right?

00:36:41 - Speaker B
Yes. So that has been tough because I feel like at this point, my business is growing. But I felt like this year I didn't have as much growth as last year. Of course, from the first year to the second year, it grew and it doubled. And then this year, I feel like, yes, it grew, but it wasn't the substantial growth that I was looking for. So I was like, I think I need to have a better strategy of where I want my business to go. A program like this, they walk you through everything about what it takes for a growth plan. And before I had this idea a couple of years ago, which is what I pitched for the Rev to doing vetting machines, at the time, I didn't realize how much even capital it even took to start a business, because I actually had no capital to start a business. I just bootstrapped everything. So the influx that we received from the Rev pitch went so quick into just building things for the business. Branding, marketing, product upgrades, all that I didn't have enough money to execute for the vending machines. And I thought at the time, maybe this is like, a failure. I didn't do the vending machines. And during this growth plan that we're going back into, I'm like, that was such a great idea. And I can still do it, even though it's taking me longer than I thought to do it. So I actually am working on that growth plan right now as a vending machine because I still really believe in it. I think that I was scared to even bring it back up as a thought to do because I felt like I had failed at that, hey, it wasn't for me anymore. But it wasn't just the right time at the time. And as I've grown as a leader, as a person over the last couple of years, I feel like now is a better time to revisit that. And now that I'm able to start delegating more, I can focus on how I'm going to grow that part of the business. Because when you talk about growth opportunities, what's something that you're adding to your business, not just expanding for what you're currently doing? And I think the vending machine opportunity for my business, vofit Kitchen, was or is a great idea, and I really just need to execute on that. So that's what I'm working on right now. And my growth plan, it's been intense.

00:38:56 - Speaker A
But it's yeah, I love that. And what a great reminder of so often we'll go into business with this really big idea because that's kind of what lights the fire, right? And then you get in it, and then it gets kind of shoved to the side for a myriad of reasons. And I love that encouragement of, hey, don't be afraid to go back and think about that kind of first fire. And is that still a viable thing? It may be, and it may be your journey has changed and it was just the thing that got you started, but it might be that you were on that path. You just needed to do all these things so that you could go back and do it in a really big way. What a cool perspective to have, and I think such a great reminder for people when they go into something. So many tears. I just love the passion that you have with this. I wish people I mean, everyone's always like, I'm a terrible cry, I don't want to see this, but I want people to know, like, this really moves you, and I love that. Okay, well, we have to wrap up. So I have a couple of rapid fire questions for you. Just off the cuff. Don't have to overthink it. Just fire off whatever comes to mind. They're just for fun mostly. What do you think has been the biggest misconception of owning a business? Other misconceptions you get from other people that they think about owning a business.

00:40:17 - Speaker B
So a lot of people, I guess sometimes they don't think that you're in the work as much as you are. I think that that's a very big misconception just because you run the business and make it look like good you're a lot in the day to day things, especially when you're starting the business, you're everything.

00:40:36 - Speaker A
Yeah. You're like, you should see me up to my eyeballs, and I'm cutting peppers and grilling stuff over here, and I'm slicing meat for sure. You're like I do wear a chef's coat sometimes. What do you think is an important piece of advice that you've been given anytime in life and you've actually applied?

00:40:54 - Speaker B
You feel like you the especially as of recently is the people management part. I have a great leadership coach that I currently have through, so I'm also another program, the Iowa Women and Tandem Works of Color and Leadership program. And I have a great coach there, and she really has taught me to connect to people on an emotional heart level where it's like, how can I get through to that person? And I think that that's an advice I take all the time. With me through everything is connecting with people in a way that I'm listening to who they are as a person and aligning what they're doing as a person to what they're doing.

00:41:41 - Speaker A
I love that. That's cool. What would you tell your 1718 because you started your story around 1718 self knowing what you know now.

00:41:54 - Speaker B
That it's okay not to know what you want, but to try new things. To try things. Because I think that if you never try new things that you are maybe uncomfortable with, you're never going to know what you really love, maybe, that for sure.

00:42:14 - Speaker A
No, I love that. Is there a song or a book or a podcast that just really inspires you or is inspiring you right now?

00:42:22 - Speaker B
Yeah, I listen to CEO school. It's a podcast by one of my favorite entrepreneurs. Her name sanera Madani. Started a payments company and then ended up selling it. Just recently exited as a founder. But she grew the company to a couple billion dollars.

00:42:42 - Speaker A
But I'll bet money matters to her a little bit.

00:42:45 - Speaker B
Yeah, so it was really cool. And then she sold it, and she teaches other entrepreneurs how to grow their business to multifigures.

00:42:54 - Speaker A
That is a great podcast. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Okay. Do you have a favorite sort of kickback and relax beverage of choice?

00:43:06 - Speaker B
I don't know. I love anything with, like, egg white in it, which is different, but egg white like a pisco sour.

00:43:14 - Speaker A
Cool. That is unique. Love it. What excites you the most about the future?

00:43:21 - Speaker B
I think that there's so much great change to be made and just new things all the time. I know our community, especially here locally, is growing a lot, and it's almost feeling like bigger cities. And I think that's awesome that we get to be at the forefront of that in the innovation space. And being around all the people that are doing it is probably the coolest thing ever. Yeah, that's awesome exciting to me.

00:43:50 - Speaker A
Is there something that people often get wrong about you?

00:43:55 - Speaker B
Yeah, that I'm mean, I look intimidating, but so I'm really like a softie and nice, so I don't know, maybe I just look intimidating, but yeah, that.

00:44:06 - Speaker A
You'Re probably just thinking, yeah, maybe. Yeah.

00:44:09 - Speaker B
I don't know.

00:44:10 - Speaker A
I had somebody early on in life who was like, do you ever smile? And I was like, oh, my gosh, I thought I was smiling.

00:44:19 - Speaker B
I don't get to smile. I was like, I smile a lot, but I don't know. All right.

00:44:24 - Speaker A
I would not have pegged that.

00:44:26 - Speaker B
That's good.

00:44:29 - Speaker A
This one. I feel like we've talked about the whole podcast, but I'm still going to ask it. What do you feel business owners can do to make the world a better place?

00:44:38 - Speaker B
Be the change, for sure. I just do it with your actions instead of just saying it. And that goes for any company because coming from a corporate especially, I feel like I see that a lot. People say things like they're this and they support this, but how are you really supporting it? Or how are you really inspiring the change for it?

00:44:59 - Speaker A
Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you so much.

00:45:02 - Speaker B
Thank you.

00:45:03 - Speaker A
I didn't feel like we get to cover even a smidge of what you do and so I want people to be able to connect with you. Do you have a favorite I'm going to list all of your social handles and all that down. Do you have a favorite platform if people want to reach out and just connect?

00:45:16 - Speaker B
My favorite platform to connect is Instagram. Honestly, my personal one is like I merge my whole both on there, but depending on what you would like, if you want more of the meal prep side is the Viva Fit kitchen. And then I also have the entrepreneur side emboldened network. And my personal one if you want to connect with me personally is Lady AV.

00:45:41 - Speaker A
Awesome. Good. Well, I hope people do connect because I think, again, like you said, bringing the diversity of thoughts and people and things and I think it's so important to think about and you are like a perfect story of this, of, hey, maybe you're in the trucking industry. It doesn't mean you can't talk to somebody in the cooking industry. It doesn't mean you can't talk to somebody in the beauty industry and talk to somebody in financial services. You know what I mean? Like bringing that all together. And so I think that's so awesome and I appreciate everything that you shared today.

00:46:07 - Speaker B
Thank you. Thanks so much.