Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sari Kimbell, founder, and CEO of Food Business Success, located in Denver, CO, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
You make something delicious in your kitchen (salsa, cookies, trail mix, kombucha, etc.), and everyone tells you to start a business. You want to give entrepreneurship a try, but you aren't quite sure where to start. I help you with the process from start to finish with licensing, food safety, branding, go-to-market strategies, and so much more inside Food Business Success®! It is an online program that combines coaching with me, video modules, and a group community to help foodpreneurs go from idea to launch quickly, legally, and profitably.
Tell us about yourself
I have been in the food industry for most of my life in some way. After working for a farm selling produce and eggs into stores along with the front range and then working for Whole Foods Market for nearly five years as a buyer and marketing director, I packaged my skills and talents to serve early-stage CPG food businesses. In business now for six years, I realized that successful entrepreneurship is more than the knowledge or doing it the "right" way. Most people fail not because of money or expertise but because of their mindset. Doing hard things. Risking rejection. Failing and what it means. In 2021 I became a certified life coach to coach food founders on action steps to achieve a big goal and the mental strategies to overcome our worst critics: ourselves.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Over and over again, it is when a founder has a product in hand and launches their website or goes to a farmers market or gets on that first store shelf. I celebrate with them and know the journey it took to get here and that the real work is just about to start.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Managing your mind so that you can take the actions required of a successful business owner. This means changing habits to become more productive and stop procrastination, directing your brain to more positive thoughts, putting yourself out there in really uncomfortable ways, and getting really good at problem-solving instead of wallowing in wishing it were different.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Get a coach.
- Find a community of entrepreneurs who are also doing hard things to challenge and support each other.
- You SHOULD be failing (i.e., learning). If you aren't experiencing any failure, then you aren't taking big enough risks.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Entrepreneurship is the fastest way to bring up all of your drama and baggage about yourself because you are asking more of yourself than you ever have before. Welcome it as a chance to grow as a human and do some really cool sh*t in the world. It will be the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. If you are willing to feel all of that, then jump in and hang on.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.foodbizsuccess.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodbizsuccess/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodbizsuccess/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarikimbell/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.
