What started as a wedding favor turned into a million-dollar gourmet cookie business. Kara talks with Vicki Kotris, founder of Cleveland Cookie Dough Company, about turning passion into profit, and why your support system might be your most valuable business asset. They unpack how to grow a small idea into a serious operation, the difference between momentum and burnout, and the surprising sales channels that changed everything. Vicki opens up about the real behind-the-scenes of building a brand, managing a partnership, and why joy matters as much as strategy.
“The people that are closest to us are the most underutilized resource entrepreneurs have access to. Our network can change everything.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 The cookie that started it all
01:15 From wedding favors to full-time business
03:00 Launching with confidence (and no storefront)
04:20 Building brand recognition through food trucks
06:00 The role of friends and family in early growth
08:10 When to go from farmers markets to wholesale
10:30 Managing growth without losing quality
13:00 The surprising sales channel that unlocked 7 figures
14:45 The decision to expand into a second kitchen
17:00 Working with your partner and staying married
19:15 The invisible labor of female entrepreneurs
21:30 Rest, hustle, and choosing momentum over burnout
24:00 Social media and building a community
26:30 Vicki’s biggest lesson after $1M in sales
28:00 What powerful means now
30:15 Advice for entrepreneurs ready to start
Mobile and online businesses, if you have an idea. Start there. The one thing that's really nice about where we started, as I mentioned earlier, I'm a risk adverse person, so I am not gonna put all of my eggs in one basket. I wanted my job, and then I needed a proof of concept to say, okay, this work now, what could work next?
That's Vicki Kotris and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I am Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life. By showing you anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives, and who are making an impact, are often people you've never heard of until now.
If you knew that you loved talking to people and you loved being social, chances are someone at one point told you that you'd be great at. That's exactly what today's guest, Vicki Korus was told. And she built a great career in the sales space, but she also knew she didn't wanna be stuck in someone else's plan, someone else's dream.
So four years ago, she and her husband decided to test one of her many million dollar business ideas. And it worked in this episode, learn how Biggie has built not one but three businesses still while working full-time. How she is motivated to live intentionally and how her energy is not just changing Cleveland, but the world.
Welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast. Thanks, Kara. I'm so happy to be here. I'm really excited to have you on. You're doing so many incredible things between podcasts, multiple companies, dog, mom, like there's so much you have going on. But let's jump in and tell everyone your name, what you're up to, and where in the world you are to start.
Absolutely.
And when you say that, it makes me tired, just even thinking about it, but my name is Vicki Kotris. I'm based in Cleveland, Ohio. I, like you said, I run two small businesses, one's called Cleveland Cookie Dough Company, which is a food truck. One is called Remix Ice Cream, which is a brick and mortar.
I have a loving little boxer named Wally that I'm obsessed with, and up until very recently I've been working in corporate America. So I've done a lot of work over the past four years, which is when I built my businesses to allow myself for, to have more freedom, have more flexibility, and really architect the life that I wanna live.
Did you always imagine that you would be an entrepreneur?
I think in so many ways. I think I so what I love and what I shared with you on a Confetti Filled Life podcast, which is the one that I host on my own, is that. I had this awakening four or five years ago, and I'm actually learning that this is, this kind of thing has been hap it happens a lot, and it's this point where you realize when you are working for someone else, there's nothing wrong with it, but you have to accept that you're this cog in a wheel, like you are contributing what you contribute.
But ultimately there's so many more things that make. The wheels turn and you don't really have that much impact or that ability to change something. And I started to realize that, and I felt really lost in that shuffle. So when I thought about what I could do, entrepreneurship just seemed like the right thing for me.
It seemed like just something I wanted to do for myself that I could put in motion and start to really experience more outside of the nine to five. What surprised you about making that leap? It's funny because I am still very much in the mix of it all. Yes. So I have. A lot of people that reach out to me and friends that ask, how do you balance it all?
And how do you make things work? Because I think something that's really challenging is, I think a lot of people realize that they want flexibility and they wanna be happier. They don't wanna feel governed by their job or just. How, what society is designed of how people work, but they don't really know how to get there.
And so the fear causes people to freeze up and then you do nothing and you just keep, the wheels keep turning. And so I think what. Surprised me the most was that I could, that I could make a different decision, I could cha I can decide to change my life. And it's been a really crazy thing.
And going back to having two feet in one foot in two different places is. You have to make time for the exploration. As a part of my journey, I always knew that I, because I'm a risk adverse person, that I had to build something aside from what I was already doing. So I'm in the corporate grind, un until very recently, I, I still am and so every.
Time that I could, all the time I could spend outside of that nine to five was building something else. And that was just what kept driving me in that process is because I knew if I kept going that I would find something on the other side that made it worth it.
There's a lot of people I've seen recently on Instagram talking about it's not about what you know or who you know, it's simply that you keep going.
And I hear you talking about that and how like I just had to keep showing up. I had to like, it would be there if I just kept showing up. Who taught you to keep showing up or did you discover that on your own? Were you born that way? No, I
was, I wish I could say that, and I interview a lot of people for my own podcast that I ask that same question to, did you, do you have a lot of mentors or people in your life that you looked up to?
And most people say no, and there's a few that do, but I didn't grow up in a family that ran a business or had high powered like enterprise type of jobs, at the C-suite. I feel and what I've through my own kind of self-development is that, sometimes we're limited to the highest branch that we can see.
And so we have to start climbing ourselves to really uncover what's the next level, what's the next level. And I feel that really strong enough to remind myself too, that if I keep going, I will see the higher branches. So in my perspective, I. Thought that everybody just had jobs and worked a million hours a week.
My parents did, my parents always had two plus jobs. They worked really hard, and so that was what I, that was how I modeled my life. If I work really hard, I can just stay in middle America, and then that's just. I get 10 days off a year and I can just enjoy that, so I think when I was saying that I had this awakening five years ago, it was like there's a lot more to unpack there.
And so that's, and I spent a lot of work doing it, and that's what I mentioned if. To even my friends who ask is there's a lot of things that I've done to help. I've read every self-help book you can imagine. I listen to every self-help podcast you can think of. And those are the things that you gotta put in the time to, to be able to go to that next level.
And my business is no stranger to that because we are constantly met with challenges and issues and hiccups and fuckups and everything in between. Yeah. And. Every time I'm able to problem solve or get to the next place, I always look back. And to me, that's what feels fun because I'm like, wow, I got through that.
Now I know now I know. And if this ever is to happen again, I have so much more confidence that I can get through it.
I wish that more people knew that it wasn't, what corporate career do you want? But the question was more, how do you wanna spend your time to pay for the life that you want?
Yes. And I feel like we're having an awakening culturally in the US right now of all the myths that we've been talking about. And I, we haven't out loud just said that there's this whole myth of having to be stuck in that wheel you were talking about that we just have bought into. And I think, the silent quitting the.
Mass exodus, the people from the corporate space, all of it's in there. But I don't think we're having a bold enough, high level conversation of what the other questions are we need to be asking ourselves. Yeah and I hear that you wanted to be out of that space and then. You chose to create companies where everything is like sweet and delicious and happiness, have you always been into food in that way or were you like, how did you pick.
Cookies and ice cream to be like, that's what I'm gonna do.
Yeah. I that's, I think that's why I love so much about how you coach your clients because you talk so much about that thriving is intertwined with having fun. And that goes back to this idea that we put so much pressure on ourselves and society.
Systemically, it is ingrained from when you turn 18 years old, you just have to pick something. You're like, okay, I'm gonna be a veterinarian. And then you get to veterinarian school and you're like, oh, I hate this. I don't wanna put my hand in places that I don't belong. So we don't, you don't say. Wow.
What's gonna be the most fun for you? What are you gonna enjoy? And so that, that whole thing got lost for me, and so I, I'll take this to go back just a little bit. Like when I started my corporate career. So I got a job straight outta college. I like to talk a lot.
I got a degree in communications at a party school because I was really great at socializing. I was really great at drinking beer. So I thought if I go into sales, I get to schmooze, I get to travel, I get to do all of these things. I get that job. I get fired from my first job, and I'm like, shit, what am I gonna do?
Because everyone said I should, I would be good at sales. But no one ever said to me. What's fun is like, how can you make this fun? And so it took me a long time in corporate America, in technology sales to wanna do a complete 180 of that. And so a lot of times I get asked like, how, was I, am I a baker?
Did I just love being in a kitchen? And there is some truth to that because I wouldn't. I wouldn't go into a business that I didn't feel comfortable. So I like to bake. I've liked to cook, I like to try new recipes. Sure. But I think I was just so driven to do something that was on the complete opposite scale of what I've been doing.
One is from a sales perspective, I'm really familiar with really detailed, complex sales scenarios, and if anyone has been in that world, you know that it is. It can be really tough. It's really hard mentally. It's, you have to have stamina to see it through, especially when you're talking about six, seven figure products that you're selling.
But I'll tell you what, I have never had more fun than selling a $4 ice cream to someone and watching them walk away. Celebrate with their friends or coming into remix and saying, it's my 10th birthday and I brought all my friends with me, and it's like I am building an experience for someone that is just so fun.
It is so unlike what I've done and I wish. I think back, if someone would've told me 15 years ago, the fun of sales is what you're bringing to someone else. Not what you think you're just suited for. It's really looking at the service aspect. I think that I, the past 15 years of my life would've been completely different, and now I'm choosing to.
Really lean into that. So I guess that's a long-winded answer of saying I didn't think that I was going to own an ice cream store. I'm sure like my 8-year-old self would be elated that I did. But I think I just wanted to do something that was completely different from my experience. And prove to myself that I could do it
well.
And I love that there's the full circle perspective of. Loving to talk to people, loving to be in a social party situation. And you're getting to do so much more of that. Yeah. Selling cookies, selling ice cream than doing tech sales because like you, you just mentioned it, right? You get to be part of like parties every day.
They might be 10-year-old parties. They might not be frat parties, but like you're like, this is just as much fun because I think we underestimate the power of the impact we can make in someone's day. Like right there in that moment. And you just made that 10 year old's day, week, year because of the experience
that you got to give them.
I know. I think about that so much about how the world is shifting into a new place. And I'm not, I probably won't put this as like eloquently as I can, but we're shifting so much from just consumption. And just buying products. And we're moving into an experiential phase that, especially being in a recession and people are so much more cautious of how we're spending our dollars that if we're spending it.
We have to feel something we can't. It can't just be like the product, and so that really drives me for whatever. I know that I'm not done creating businesses. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I'm really driven by that whole experiential factor to make sure that is always something that's part of it.
How much is your community a part of why you love your businesses?
The community part I think is a surprising thing about starting a business. And there is a there's two women that I interviewed for my podcast and they own a company called Queer Gear. And so it's an L-G-B-T-Q clothing company.
And they said something that I'm just gonna borrow from them is just like the community building, the community was the most surprising part for them. 'cause it's like they knew what, they knew who their market was. Community is so much more different. It's like creating a mission and supporting groups of people and whatever is to come from that.
And I feel that really strongly. With what we're building with Cleveland Cookie Dough and remix. And it's probably because it's so rooted in those special events and I, when I try to look at my life, I look at that, it's really just. Myriad of really like fun moments, whether we choose to recognize them or not is on us.
Yeah. Because I, we could spend all day talking about the bullshit and the, didn't, this wasn't fair, this sucked it, rained it, whatever. But really, like life is comprised of those really special moments. And that's what is so rooted in our community. So we do things well. One, it was really important for me to have a business in.
Urban Cleveland. So I live in the city of Cleveland. I wanted to have a physical presence there within my community. We do a lot of events to support the kids, whether it's softball teams whether it's a neighborhood trick or treat, and. It's based upon that, that I just want everyone to feel a certain way.
I want you, when you walk through the doors or when you are tasting a treat, that you feel excited and you're happy to be there, and that becomes one of the moments that you celebrate in life. Because we can make them every day, but we really just have to take a minute to really recognize them.
You have the similar pleasure that I have of getting to talk to these incredible people who have started companies and are choosing. Their path versus somebody else's.
Yeah.
And I tell, I, I honestly tell everyone that this podcast is the most selfish thing I do. Everyone I'm talking to is 'cause I'm like, I wanna be friends with them, have them on the podcast.
Yeah. I wanna know. And there's not enough people doing work that they love. And. Just how you shared about your community doing something that you love meant that you're creating space for other people to be happy and you're changing, like there's such a deep ripple effect. Yeah. When people get to do work that matters to them, that can change a community, change a household, a neighborhood faster than I think anything else.
And when we're in such, at least appearing to be divided times from a media perspective and a political perspective. I have not talked to an entrepreneur yet that isn't doing it because they want to make a positive impact. Yeah. It's like how do how can we come back to that as a greater community, do you think?
I think it's just like what you mentioned. It's so the answer is so simple, Kara, that when people are searching for these like. These huge world answers of like, how do we solve these things? I personally think that it is so simple. I think it really comes down to two things. One is acts of service.
I think that is a head space that everyone should get into. The mindset of I, and I don't care what anybody does. If you if you have a corporate career, you have no ambitions to start your own thing. You don't wanna side hustle, you don't care that's okay, but to look at everything from the lens of how can you serve someone else better?
That is the, that would change the entire world. If we all woke up one day and said, today I'm gonna, I'm going to make it my day's mission to just. Give someone a compliment to help someone carry something to their car, to reach out to my network and say, Hey, I'm pretty good at marketing.
Or I'm, I, I got a podcast. Let me help you evangelize your business and your message. That I think can solve so many things. And that is so simple. And I think the really unfortunate part is. That a lot of people, we've gotten to this quid pro quo type of lifestyle. What are you gonna do for me?
What have you done for me lately? Instead of really recognizing that how it makes us feel, as people, as community members, as business owners, whatever it is. But that it, that's really how I look at it is the biggest one is service. And the second thing that I would mention is tuning into.
Just how we do feel about those things because we don't tune into those enough. And I don't know. That's my theory is that we overcomplicate so many things in life and there is no reason to do that. We so do,
somebody if somebody wanted me to narrow down my coaching approach, yeah.
I canari your business. Maybe your life
is that joy or you don't
Yeah. And there's 80% of what's on our to-do list. We just don't need, and we're so good at making ourselves busy for no reason. We're stressed for no reason.
Yeah.
All the things. And it's like how do we, the reset that I think the world needs is maybe not the one everyone thinks they need on an individual level.
And I love that you talked about the feeling piece. I I love taking like assessments, personality tests, things like that. And one that a client sent me was the human design report.
Oh yeah. I just did that actually. Okay. I love
it. Yes. And
what are you
I am a manifesting generat. Me too.
Manifesting. Yeah. Okay. I think that most people on this podcast probably are. Yeah. But I love that it talked, it reconnected me with the fact that if anyone said Meyer Meyers Briggs, right? I tend to be very logical in my approach to the world, but I make choices based on how I feel. And I know I can get spun out when I'm trying to logic my way through something.
Yeah. And the report I got back was like, Hey, are you trying to logic your way out of a whirlpool? And I was like, shit, how do they know? How do they know?
Trust it.
And there is, there's so much, the people who I follow that are so successful, they spend so much time in their relationship with themselves. I think they can hear that feeling, that intuition.
At a louder place. Because sometimes as an entrepreneur or just as a human, the logical choice makes zero sense.
Yeah.
And so what do you do to keep dialing back into what you know to be like your truth and the answers versus all the noise that is out there?
That is such a great question. I think that it's a work in progress. I think a lot of people would say that unless they're like, completely enlightened and they're like the dolly. I don't know. Because it takes so much work to be introspective. And even when you are talking about that, you make a lot of decisions based on how they make you feel.
I think for myself anyway, it is a practice. That has to be practiced in hundreds of times a day, if not more. Yeah. And I think that's something that I'm really focused on is for the past few months, I've decided to start saying no to the things that don't feel good. If it doesn't sound fun, I'm not gonna do it.
If it's if it's nothing that's gonna help me in any way or make me feel better, I'm just not gonna do it. And it's hard because I think you start to change your relationships that way people don't look at you a little bit differently. Earlier this year I took a break from drinking alcohol and that changed a lot of relationships with people relationships.
So I think when we talk about making decisions off of that drive to just wanna feel better, I don't think there's I think with a lot of things in life, there's never that end goalpost. I think the goalpost just keeps moving. So it's like you're not gonna just land there and say, yay, I feel like completely fulfilled and all the decisions I make are great.
But it's like an internal mantra that we have to do a check-in. Okay, does this feel good? Will this help me grow? Will I be okay with my decision? And if it's no, then. Why would we do that? Yeah. And then that's what I've been putting into practice. I'm not perfect yet, but I'm making a concerted effort.
We use alcohol so much to fill the gaps of boredom. Like you, you were saying boredom. Yeah. And when we have nothing else to do. And so something that I've been really cognizant about in the past few months is I'm trying to identify areas in my life that I overdo it with entertainment. And I'll explain why.
I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but. Even when running two businesses and working I think that I put pressure on myself to have, still have a lot of fun. Still be very social. But I'm realizing, wow, I'm spending a lot on concert tickets and I that I don't, of bands I don't love or I'm going out to dinner to places I don't really like and I'm doing things just to fill. That time. And so I think that's alcohol and entertainment are in that place. What if we just reallocated that time to doing something else like that? We really love going on a bike ride, go reading a book, which is like.
I've gotten really big into reading and it's, those types of things. So I think it's that self-awareness, Kara, honestly, of what am I getting out of it and where am I overdoing it with things that don't matter that much.
Yeah, I do a men's mastermind and I think I'm making it co as we go into the future, but it's just called How to Live Extraordinary.
And every time I've bled that mastermind, it kicks my ass because. I hear the echo of what I'm telling people and I'm like, shit, that's not extraordinary right now. I have to go work on that. And like all the things start being illuminated in my own life that aren't totally in alignment with what I'm up
to.
To piggyback off of what you said is something that I think is also really hard, especially for women. We get really attached to labels and the same as with our diet, the same as with who we are. It's if we look at the things that we do well, if I'm a mother, then how could I be a business owner?
And if I'm a business owner, I need to be a, I need to be the boss or the bitch or what, whatever. Yeah. And the same thing applies to diet and exercise. I gotta be keto, and if I'm keto then I can't, eat a slice of bread and it's if I'm a vegetarian, then I can't ever have fish.
It's no, those are just. Fake made up parameters we put on ourselves to create more guilt. And it's just not, yeah, it's not right. And it's like we have to create lifestyles that support all of it. Yeah. That it is not anything to be embarrassed or guilty or anything about
Guilt is a big thing that I've been working on with my coach lately, of knowing that I have this massive to-do list and to manifest list and.
Knowing that in the past 12 months with my clients, I've helped them achieve such huge things and I'm feeling guilty 'cause there's big things on my list that I have not given the attention to. 'cause I'm giving all to my clients.
Yeah.
And she's okay, let's scale. How do we make. Allow you to have great goals for 2023 and not have them be guilty.
And I'm like, shit, I don't know.
So what did she say? What's the secret?
So we're working through that right now, but for me, what I've done is instead of having too many things on the list, I'm saying these are the, and honestly, it's what I coach people on. So it's so annoying to go to my own coach and be like, I just told someone that.
Why can't I hear it myself? But I'm focusing on three things, three core pillars of my business going into next year. Love it. I'm setting them up. I'm doing the math behind it, and everything else that's on the wishlist is going into what I'm now calling the bonus game. And if they happen.
If they don't. And I'm not allowed to judge myself about anything in the bonus section. The three things that are on the goal list, I'm allowed to get judgy on those other ones. No. So just that psychological switch for me to know that those are bonuses and not official points for scoring automatically freed me up to be like, okay, I can relax.
I can focus on those three things and. Stop being so mean to myself.
It's nice that you're con marrying yourself. Yes. Like in reverse psychology, which is true. You're just talking about simplification and it's finest. Yeah. And that's what I mean, like so many of these things could be simplified.
And you actually, it's funny 'cause you when you were a guest on my podcast, we were talking about. How you coach people who either wanna start businesses or have ideas, then they don't know where to start. And you're like, A business plan should be one page. Yeah. What you're spending hours and hours building a hypothetical that you're spending too much time on.
And I think that's a really great example of just simplifying it too. What's your idea? How are you gonna get it done in three to five steps and now, go get 'em.
Yeah. It's I. I would love to know how you approached your businesses in that way too, because to just, you jumped in from corporate into we're gonna start these businesses and most people stop right there.
I can see it. I don't know what to do next. Abandon ship. Go back. Go back to corporate life. It's safer.
Yeah, I know it. I still have those thoughts.
Yeah. So when you were starting your business, was it just did you have a clear plan? Did you have a roadmap you were following? Like how did you know what to do next?
I would never recommend to do what I did because the question I cannot answer for you is, I don't know why this idea versus many ideas, because I have lists and lists in my phone, in my notes section that's labeled million Dollar Ideas and it could it, I started it 10 years ago, so there are tons.
So I can't tell you why this. Stuck. I think it was just right place, right time. Inspiration caught me, but when we started our food truck business, which was the first one, we only started it because we had full-time jobs. We thought we, we need to have a business that we can operate just on nights and weekends.
We picked up steam really fast. And so when I started, I bought a truck that we had never driven. It had 70,000 miles on it. So I thought, wow, we're getting this for a steal, this amazing. But don't do that. I would never tell a listener to do that because literally we've broken down tens of pluses times, over the past four years.
We've learned a lot from that decision. Don't do that. Drive the truck. But we didn't, we had no roadmap. We had no plan. I had. Money left over from our wedding and we used that to buy this truck. And I, this is how I know that ideas work. And so I think when people talk about like how I know when I have an idea and I'm excited about it, I am a bulldog.
I am chomping at the bit at anything that I can. I can't stop. Networking with people, jotting down ideas actually creating things, scheduling events, and that's exactly what happened is think there's, a lot of times we get in our head, we say we don't really need we, why would we follow, why would we like, follow through with this?
But I think when that spark of inspiration comes and you can't stop thinking about it, that it, that deserves your attention, that's, you owe it to this idea to actually express it. And that's exactly what happened in both of my businesses. So the first time I'm a really big proponent of.
Of encouraging people to start mobile businesses because I mobile and online businesses, if you have an idea. Start there. It's the low lowest barrier to entry. There's obviously different investment levels that you can make, but the one thing that's really nice about where we started is I mentioned earlier I'm a risk adverse person, so I am not gonna put all of my.
Eggs in one basket. I wanted my job and then I needed a proof of concept to say, okay, this worked. Now what could work next? Mobile businesses allow you to do that. You test the market. You see what works. Do you like it? No. Okay. Scrap it. You didn't spend much on it anyway. Cough it up to another hobby, failed hobby or something, so I so that's how we started. I was really big on networking. I talked to anyone I could think of. I made a list of all of the people that were friends of mine, or friends of friends that I thought could help in some way. I would ask them out to coffee. That would be my foot in the door. I'd ask them if we could host a popup.
I would ask them if they had corporate events that they would consider purchasing from us. And then I. From there, everything is very it's like the momentum. And I think about this all the time. When I'm at the gym, the first 10 minutes on that treadmill sucks so bad. Oh, I don't wanna be here.
It's so early. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, whatever. After those 10 minutes, you like, forget that you were complaining usually. And that's what I think about in building a business is like the first 10 minutes were our first. For each business, probably the first 18 months. Is really hard.
And if you're doing it right and you're following that inspiration, the momentum of what you're building, it can't be stopped unless you stop, but the ripple effect is. More people learn about your business, more people refer you to customers. Customers then become repeat visitors. Repeat visitors, turn into different sales channels like there's just so much opportunity if you can get through the suck and that's. That was my strategy. I didn't have a business plan. I bought a truck that didn't run. And four years later, we've turned them both into multi six figure businesses. And actually just last month we hit our million dollar mark in lifetime revenue, which is Yay.
Amazing. Yeah. Thank you. And I'm really proud because I, I, a lot of people think, how could I get to that seven figure mark? And we're not making seven figures. Every year we will, there will be a time when we do, but just to prove and know that's possible is really fucking awesome.
Yeah. And there's so much that I wanna acknowledge you for in that share because you didn't know what you were doing. You did it anyway. You went, you are like, I'm just gonna figure out each day. We're just gonna figure it out. Figure it out. And the one thing that I think most business owners step over that you took on at full steam.
Was telling everyone Yeah. That in October for the Thrive Mastermind we're, the whole topic of the month is power of proximity. No one is using their network enough. And it's not about selling everything to your network, it's where are the influencers and the people with the keys you need and the next, like people have the answers and most of the time we already know the people we need to go to the next step.
We're just have been too scared, embarrassed to, unsure to. Even say I don't know what you can help me do, but I think you can help. Yes. And obviously with your background and communications and network, like that's you. That's what you do. You talk to people. Yeah. I wish everyone knew to get out there and scream from the rooftops.
This is what I'm doing. Who wants to help? Yes.
And where I think people get caught up and I was I've been talking to other coaches just of who will be guests on my podcast coming up. And everyone is scared of the sales word, yeah. You have this great idea, but you're afraid to sell it, especially if that's just not a comfortable place for you.
And like my husband is my co-founder and he is not a salesperson. But I'll tell you what, he is so motivated to. He's so motivated by what he does that he doesn't even realize that he's selling. And that's where I would tell any business owner to just chill out that the sales piece, again, we don't need to overcomplicate it.
No. It's building relationships. It's creating a message that will connect with the people that you want it to connect with, and then that's how you're able to convert into dollar signs. It's not. That different, but it's oh, sales, I'm not salesy, I'm not this, I'm not that. It's can you have a conversation with somebody because that will be a sale,
yeah. It's there's, and people are so happy to support you. I know. I think we undervalue how much people want to make an impact for us, and most people are amazing. Great, fantastic humans. Great. Amazing, fantastic. Humans. Going back to what you said earlier, they wanna be of service.
Yeah.
And most people don't know how they can be of service and it's such an opportunity when we ask someone like, how can you help?
Or Can you help me? Or, I think you can. And it opens up a whole other world for other people that we underestimate, I think too.
I know. We have a friend, my husband's best friend, he comes to our big like company events. And so when he came to our opening at Remix, he said something like, I heard this quote somewhere that it's if you don't have a dream.
You have to show up for your friend's dream and help make them, help it come true for them. And it always stuck with me that it is true. While even while we're building what we want and we're having the, our, the own, our own things going on in our lives is that we have an obligation to support and we want.
So I, I echo that so much, Kara. I'm glad that you're, that's even like part of what you teach people because I think it's so true. It's such an underutilized resource is the people that are closest to us and people are afraid to even start that conversation. I think everyone's, sometimes people are afraid of people stealing their idea.
I don't wanna, yeah. I wanna hold it close until it's actually perfect, but never gonna be perfect.
The new idea that I have that I'm happy for people to steal 'cause I think we need them in lots of different places, goes back to the sobriety conversation of I want there to be places to go for happy hour that do not serve alcohol.
Yeah.
Why doesn't this exist? I want it to be cute. I wanna feel like I should get dressed up. I want it to be fun. I want all the same things you would get from a cocktail bar, but make that make it healthy for me.
I love it.
Plus there's so many new, like non-alcoholic drinks coming out and everything else.
Yeah. I'm like, please, someone go make that so I can hang out guilt free.
Yes, I'm with you. I will join you at whatever establishment pops up, but I think it's a fantastic idea. Excellent. Thank you.
So I would love to get into what it means for you when you hear the words powerful and ladies and.
Do the definition shift or change when those two words are put next to each other?
It, no, nothing changes. I think. I think what it really means is the power to create impact for everyone, whether it's women, men, anyone in between, however you identify is. That there is. So we are capable of so much, and I feel like on the day to day we tap into 5% of that.
Because of the overwhelm, because of the millions of thoughts and things going on around us and through, I think the way to step into your power is to simplify like we've been to. That's, I think that's our theme of our conversation today. And just pick what is. Exciting, like like the, express yourself in ways that make you feel creative, that you can make an impact and whatever gifts that you were born with, that you're able to use those in some way that's of service to other people.
But I think and women are likely more guilty of this than men of just not feeling that kind of.
Economic power or that type of ability to impact. And I do my best to make sure, especially as hosting my own podcast to let people know anything is possible. Yeah. You change your mind. Start small, start big. Take a risk, do whatever is gonna make you feel good. But that's the only way that.
You can really step into that power is by recognizing that it's there. I think that's the first step
you reminded me of. I sent a friend a DM of this woman having a picnic on the sin in Paris. Yeah. And I was like, wanna meet me there? And they wrote back, yes, I wish it was that simple. I'm like, honestly, as long as you're a yes, everything else we can figure out.
And yeah, I just. I think we need pins or something that say I'm in the anything's possible club because I just want people to know come talk to us. I know if they find you or me on the street, come tell us what you want. We'll wave our magic wands and you can go and have it.
A hundred percent.
I am a amateur hype woman. I will for any dream that anyone has, and when I was doing I, I like a little bit of prep and looking at the questions that you had. One question was, what's your favorite quote? And I think it lines up really well with this, but it's a Maya Angelou quote and it's put your crown on.
It's already been paid for. Yeah. And it just I'm probably butchering that a little bit, but it's so perfect for that. It's like you don't have to fucking earn it. You don't have to wait for someone to tell you that you're the queen, that you are. Put the crown on your damn head because everyone else that's gone through situations before that allowed you to be here today to go through these lessons.
That's what it's all about. So don't wait. It's right there. And that's a really big I think it's a really big message. I wish I, I want more people to experience that.
And it also speaks to the power of having like-minded people in your circle. Yeah.
Because,
I'm the last person that anyone ever checks on.
Oh yeah. I don't need I don't usually need to be checked on, but every once in a while there's a, it would be amazing people'd be like, what can I do for you today? Those are my favorite humans. Like I tell my team to ask that regularly because I will forget. I'll be so in go power mode.
Sometimes it's as simple as did you have lunch today? Oh shit, I didn't thank you. Like I need a chaperone sometimes as an entrepreneur. So what have you done to make sure that people who are in that same anything is possible mindset, people who are in the hype space for you. What are you doing to build that?
Community or group around you to make sure that you are getting back a lot of that energy and inspiration that you're giving away.
Frankly, conversations like this, Kara, honestly, yeah, being open to that. And. And seeking them out. Because what I realize is I do audits of my friend groups and my networks often, and I have an incredible support system.
I love my friends, I love my family. But I'm being a lot more intentional this year of expanding that network because I know how important it is to have people that we will grow in different ways, I have a really great group of friends from college, ones that have known me since I'm 18 years old, and they have seen me grow up and now I am having a new friend group of seeing me when I started my business and now we're growing up through, in a different way together.
I think it's really important to put that. To make yourself accountable, to find those people. And so I do the same for myself. I'm very big on outreach. One of the reasons why I'm so inspired by my podcast too, I know you feel the same way, is. When you don't have that circle of people that are doing a lot of things, you have to create that for yourself.
And one other practical tip that I'll mention to anyone who's listening about starting a business is, one thing that was really impactful for us is we sought out entrepreneurial workshops within our city. There are so many underutilized resources that people don't recognize, especially.
Local governments, state governments, the amount of money that has to be spent and has to be given to small businesses is insane. And the amount of businesses that apply is so few. So again, it's not across the board, but from what I've learned and the groups that we work with is type into Google. If there are workshops in your area or.
Or organizations, nonprofits that can help in that way because our network has grown substantially just by doing that. And I think there's a lot that comes out of it, if not, just having more people to commiserate with when things, you know are bad or ones that can help you celebrate when things are good,
when shit does hit the fan, what do you do?
I'll, I am a work in progress. I'm very lately my six month mantra. The past six months have been a huge shift in our business. I've taken on a lot more responsibility than I ever have, and it's taught me a lot of things about myself. One that, when. Shit comes up when someone quits on the spot.
When a freezer goes out, when a truck breaks down, there is always a solution. There is no, I, there's no throwing in the towel. There's just not. And it's taught me to be resilient. Taught me that I have grit that is unmatched. That's the grit. And the problem solving is what gives me the confidence to know that I'm really capable of anything.
And so you'll learn that through time and unfortunately, learn that the hard way. But when things get hard, I right now my goal is to set boundaries within myself that is this something that's life or death? The answer is almost always no. And so I have to I have to emotionally and mentally let it go and find a solution to it.
And detach from that a little bit, that it's not, this is not soul crushing and earth ending and I have to find a solution. It's hard. It's, I think it's a learned practice. I bet you feel that way too, is when things feel really bad. You can give yourself the hour or the day to feel really bad, but I never live there.
I never ever live there. And I, it that's a practice in itself of talking yourself out of it. The mental toughness that it takes to get through it is a learned practice and so I back to not feeling guilty. People put a lot of pressure on themselves to have all the answers, to be the best manager, the best boss, the best operator, the best finance person, and small businesses.
You're everything at once. You'll never be great at all of them. You just won't. Yeah. And so what we're doing now from a practical perspective is we're outsourcing some of the things that are really difficult and cause a lot of frustration. So it doesn't happen right away. We put four years in, but.
That's how I deal is mentally I am learning to detach. I am recognizing there's always a solution. And then that third piece is that I'm learning to let go and outsource some of the things that cause the heartburn. Yeah, absolutely.
And it goes back to that guilt piece, right? Because as entrepreneurs as a whole set of guilt and founders fraud and everything else.
Yeah. And then, women are notoriously horrible for. Giving themselves any grace. And it's like all these layers that we have to always be looking at okay, who's showing up today? Am I feeling this way because of, this is a 8-year-old me thing showing up? Is this an entrepreneur thing? Is this, do I actually care about this thing in the first place?
Who's here right now and who needs to leave the room? 'cause they're not invited.
I know, and you know what I will say about the whole imposter syndrome that you just brought up is that we're all imposters. Like we are all faking it because the fact that what I've been able to build in four years, I still look and I'm like, ugh.
How. Yeah, but you know what it is, it's just never giving up. And so if, if once you do that, you get in that cadence, you get that confidence, your mindset starts to change. You won't feel that way as much, but I don't think that it ever goes away. And even I talked to CEOs of companies, people who have had, have way more experience than I have.
They still feel the same way.
And if you're someone who keeps growing and expanding, you keep being at a table that makes you more and more uncomfortable that you don't think you've earned yet. So yeah, it's a feeling that I am learning and guiding other people to celebrate. 'cause if you are uncomfortable, you are winning.
Yeah. And it's, we don't have that. Perspective most of the time.
I know, and it's it's all relationship building, getting confident in building relationships and you Yeah. If you're talking to a CEO, there is one to 10 things at least that have a commonality. Yeah. We're all humans, we're all having this weird, human suit experience together. We don't, we've never done this before. It's like we're all, we all have so many things that connect us, but back to what I was saying earlier about labels and all of these things that are designed to separate. That's what makes you feel different and less than, more than not enough, whatever.
And that's, that mindset will hold anybody back.
Yeah. Yeah. If I, that's on the list of things I wish I could just evaporate for people. Yeah. Yeah. It just holds us back. It does. So 2020 has been, or Wow, 20 20, 20 22.
Yeah. I can't go back there. Can't go back there.
22 has been a big year for you. A lot of shifts, a lot of leveling up.
What are you looking forward to as this year wraps up when you go into 2023?
That's a, it's a, I'll give you an interesting response. Maybe not what you're thinking, but I'm actually trying to quiet. A lot of the minutia that I have going on. And simplifying against, I keep using that word, but I know there's no other word I can use to describe it.
For the past four years, I have been grinding, building two businesses working a corporate job, hosting a podcast, being a wife, a daughter, a friend, all of these things. And I wanna do less. Yeah. So my goal, my short term goal for the next six months is really focus on. Letting go of the things that I don't serve me anymore.
So leaving corporate America, finding my new identity as just. Vicki and being open to where that takes me. So my, my whole mantra for 2022 was that I surrender to whatever's meant to find me. And I feel like even though we're in, the last quarter of 2022 is that I'm really able to experience that and let in.
Opportunities that will find me. So our businesses will continue to grow. We always have business goals, we always have new things that we wanna try out. I think experimentation is really fun and that's what drives me creatively. But as a person, I am really looking forward to just decluttering my life a little bit and getting back to that idea of architecting the life that feels really good and what I know I deserve.
I
love that. I think that's one of the best answers anyone's given in a long time. And it's why you're doing all this work, right? Yeah. So I think it's, I get as excited thinking about that as when people are like, oh, I'm gonna launch this new thing. 'cause it's you are launching something new and it's like, who am I today?
Who am I gonna be for the next. Five years, 10 years, like what's the next version of you? That feels way more free, more flow, more ease, more. Oh look, it doesn't have to be this complicated.
Yes. And we I'm really doing a mindset check of getting rid of that belief that the grind and the hustle and the hardships and all of that is part of the story.
Yeah. Which I'm shedding little by little, but that's exactly right. It's as humans, we're not meant to burn ourselves out, just constantly going. We have to oil up the machines or shut things down and I feel that really strongly. So I'm giving myself that opportunity to do that.
And I am trusting and have a lot of faith that opportunities, whatever's right for me will find me.
Love that. But we ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves in the powerful lady, scale it. Zero is average, everyday human, and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine. Where would you put yourself today and where would you put yourself on average?
Oh. Oh my gosh, Kara, what an interesting question. I think sometimes I can I can I can be at a 10. I like, there are times where I really step into that and feel like I am the biggest boss and I can do whatever I can. I would say on an average day. I'm about at a six, but I always am learning.
I always am like. The funny thing that's a sliding scale. 'cause I think it depends on what I have going on, and I'm sure a lot of people feel that way too, is like, again, we can't be great at everything. I can't be really good at like the accounting work and then be really great at marketing. So I guess that my sliding scale would depend on what I have going on.
Yeah, love that. We've also been asking everyone this year, what do you need? This community is big and powerful and exactly what we were talking about. Very resourceful. What is something that you need or you're looking for?
What do I need? I always need incredible stories on my podcast. So if anyone is interested in sharing their story, they can contact me at confetti Filled Life on Instagram.
I would love to connect. And I think just what I had mentioned earlier of continuing to grow my network and being really intentional of the people that I meet with to, to make sure that. I feel really empowered. I feel like there's an opportunity for impact. But also just relationship building just because I love having these types of conversations and this is what really energizes me to be able to build and feel inspired.
If I think of other specifics, I'd love to let you know, but I feel like please do. Today. It's just continuing that network.
Love that. For everyone who would like to work with you, reach out with you, support you, where's all the places they can find you and connect?
Oh you can follow me on my podcast at Confetti Filled Life on Instagram.
You can also shoot me a note on my website, which will come directly to me, and it is confetti filled life.com. Perfect.
Thank you so much for your time today. I'm so glad that we got to switch roles and have you in the hot seat. Cool. It's been a pleasure to talk with you and as I said before, it.
It makes me feel better about all the things that I know we have to do and the work we have to do to just get people into a place of just being happy and fulfilled and knowing that there's people like you making that happen as well. So it reminds me that we're not alone and we're all kicking ass in our own ways, and hopefully our ripple effects start to hit and magnify because we do it
and we all owe it to each other.
That's what we're here for. So I am, I buy into that a hundred percent.
All the links to connect with Vicki, her podcast, and all of her businesses are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com slash podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and please leave us a rating and review. They're so helpful in connecting us with new listeners. Come and join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or find me on Instagram at Kara Duffy.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope we're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
