April 10, 2025 • 29 mins
Want the real deal on what it takes to build a successful food service business? Nancy Ridlen keeps it honest, sharing a decade’s worth of hard-earned lessons they don’t teach in business school.
After landing two dream clients, she thought she’d made it—but real growth came from the unexpected twists, tough decisions, and learning to lead with clarity over people-pleasing.
As an Enneagram Three “Achiever,” Nancy admits she used to run at 150 mph. But building W3 taught her that sustainable success takes patience, realistic goals, and strong relationships. The biggest shift? Letting go of the need to do it all and empowering her team to step into their strengths.
Funny enough, Nancy never wanted to be an entrepreneur after watching her dad struggle with his own business. But ten years later, she calls this the most rewarding chapter of her career.
Want to hear more behind-the-scenes truths about leadership, failure, and building something that lasts? Tap in and connect with Nancy + W3 Sales on socials!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hi, welcome back to ConfessionsBeyond the Food, where we dive
into the raw, real and sometimesmessy journey of building a
(00:20):
career in the food serviceindustry.
Today, we're talking about thetruths that no one tells you the
hard lessons, the setbacks andthe moments that test your
resilience.
Success is an instant.
The climb doesn't happenovernight.
You'll fail and you'll also letpeople down.
But here's the thing Hard timesare often the best times
(00:44):
because they shape who we'vebecome.
We're going to break down whatit really takes to grow by doing
what's right is more importantthan being right, and why
empowering others is the key tolong-term success.
If you're a people pleaser, getready to get really
uncomfortable, and if you'rechasing quick big wins, get
(01:06):
ready for a reality check.
But if you're willing toembrace the journey, the real
rewards are waiting on the otherside.
So let's dive in.
So I've put together a list of10 things I wish I knew before I
started my business, and Ireally had this dream of just.
(01:28):
You know, we had a greatbusiness plan.
We're going to come out andeveryone's going to want to hire
us and work with us and it'sgoing to be an instant hit right
.
Did it happen that way?
No, it didn't.
And if you would have asked me10 years ago if I thought, man,
that was a good thing, I wouldhave said, no, I'm ready.
(01:52):
But the truth was I wasn'tready, and so I often think
about the things that I wish Iknew that somebody would have
sat down and told me before Istarted my business.
So the first thing that I wrotedown was hard times are the
best times, and this is so true.
I feel that the best times arewhen hard things happen and your
(02:19):
team pulls together and youjust accomplish way more than
you thought you could A lot oftimes.
I mean, of course, everybodywants the easy road.
They want the road that iscomfortable, that's solid, that
nothing's going to go wrong, andwhile you might prepare for
(02:40):
every different circumstance,you just don't know what's
around the corner.
I mean, clearly we're stilltalking about it, but in the
middle of my journey, five-yearmark COVID happens.
We had just gotten to reallythe pinnacle of our success at
(03:01):
W3.
And we just made it.
We hired two huge clients andit was a game changer.
We doubled the size of ourcompany and it was just really
exciting.
And then COVID hit and nobodycould order anything and I was
literally handicapped and so,but you know and there's other
(03:21):
times throughout this journeythat I that have been hard where
we lost factories, and just notbecause of anything we did
wrong, but just because they gotacquired or there.
There's just a lot of differentcircumstances that I definitely
wasn't prepared for.
But looking back, you know,after 10 years, I can definitely
(03:43):
see how those hard times wereprobably the most fun times and
I know that I sound am I amasochist for saying that, but
it's really true because youreally get to sit down with your
team, you get to really processthrough it and you just work
your butt off, you figure out aplan and you go execute.
(04:04):
And those are the times thatcrazy things happen, funny
things happen, and that we canall look back and say, oh my
gosh, we made it through.
So that's probably one of myall-time favorite things, of the
things I didn't know.
The second thing is I gotadvised really early on to not
(04:24):
ever get ahead of my skis, andso what that means is is that I
always wanted to create a reallygood foundation.
If you build it, it will come.
But there is a balance in that,like.
I do believe that you know wewe invested in resources that I
didn't have to have in thebeginning, but it did.
(04:46):
It was definitely attractive,um, to clients to hire us, and
so.
But also you don't want to getinto a situation where you can't
pay the bills, where you becomelike you just keep going on new
projects and you're alreadyoverwhelmed, and, and so I think
(05:07):
it's really important to do ahealth check or a mental check
with someone that you trustoutside the company and say, hey
, am I getting, you know, am Igetting ahead of my skis here?
Because if you get ahead ofyour skis, you're going to,
you're going to tum tumble, butif you can, if you can catch
yourself in that moment, you'llstay up and you know it feels
(05:31):
like oh man, but it seems likethe right time, but it's not,
and you just really want to finda good mentor that will give
you really good, honest feedback, and I that for me, um is my
stepdad.
I talked to him a lot and I'mlike I don't, I know what he's
going to say, and and he's likeyou're getting ahead of your
skis, nancy, and I'm like you'reright, and so it's not the
(05:55):
answer that I want to hear, butit was definitely the one that I
needed to hear.
The third thing that reallybothers me, even saying it out
loud, is that I wish I knew thatI'm going to fail, and big time
.
And so that was I've never beenfired from a job, you know,
prior to owning my own business,and I've always thought listen,
(06:19):
you know, if I work hard, ifI'm a producer, you know that
secures me in what I'm doing.
And or if it's a customer andI'm seeing them regularly
establishing a relationship,giving them good solutions,
they're not going to fire me,right?
So you know all of those thingsyield, you know, success.
(06:43):
But in starting your ownbusiness and again, I didn't
know what I didn't know, and wemade some epic fails in what we
did and just along the road, andI wish I would have known that
it's okay to fail.
I talk about it a lot, but wetest everybody on our team.
(07:06):
I've been tested.
It's called the Enneagram andI'm a three, and so what that
means is I'm, I'm at.
The threes are achievers, andit's a good thing that I know
this and it's a great thing tohave achiever.
You know threes on your teambecause they're really
hardworking and it's all aboutachievement Like you're never
good.
You know you're constantlyjudging threes on your team
(07:28):
because they're reallyhardworking and it's all about
achievement Like you're nevergood.
You're constantly judgingyourself based on your
performance and so failure isjust not an option for threes.
The first factory during COVIDthat we lost it was our biggest
factory and they just decidedthat they were going to go to
local, to direct representationversus hiring W3.
And this was in the middle ofCOVID.
(07:49):
I'm trying to figure out howwe're going to pay our bills.
And I literally sat there afterI got off the call with them
and it was a really niceconversation actually with the
VP of sales.
It was a hard conversation, butI understand their position and
but for us, I was just satthere and thought, oh my gosh I
(08:09):
mean I know I didn't speak fortwo hours.
I was like I just got fired.
I just got fired and this feelslike a really big fail in my
life and that's never happened.
And it was a first for me andunfortunately it wasn't the last
, because there were otherthings that happened.
(08:29):
You know that happened in myworld of being a manufacturer
rep.
We only have 30 day contracts.
Lots can happen, but you knowthat was a really hard fail.
Fail and just getting throughthat and understanding you know
their perspective and just beinglike you know what.
I can't do anything about that,but what I can do is try to
(08:54):
pivot quickly and pull my teamtogether and come up with
solutions and guess what?
We survived.
It was a miracle.
I don't know how God, but Godwas the answer on that one, but
we really did.
I mean, we were able to make itthrough and then.
So Number four goes with thisthat you will fail is that you
(09:16):
will let others down.
Again, this is as a three isreally hard for me.
I think one of my wings is I'ma people pleaser.
I want people to like me.
I want people to, I want toplease them, I want to give them
what they want and becausethat's what we're taught right
(09:37):
and sales is, you know, takingcare of the customer and but
with this, you know lettingpeople down like that.
That's in my control, right,that's not an option, but what
you need to know is that you aregoing to let people down.
You're not perfect.
I'm definitely not perfect andI you know, as I've never owned
(09:58):
a business before, and so Ididn't know all the answers to
everything and I didn't knowcertain ways to manage people or
to handle factories, or evenlike my family, like I was just
going to let somebody down.
And the moment that I realizedthat I was a human being and
(10:21):
that I can make, that I willmake mistakes, it was very
eye-opening for me and I reallyhad to, not what I call fear man
and what you know.
I'm scared of what everyone youknow.
I'm scared of man.
I'm scared I'm basing all myactions on what someone react,
(10:45):
what someone's reaction will be,and so what I've learned is is
just, you know, I need to do thebest First.
You know, I always ask myselfwhat is the best for W3?
And from there that's how Imake my assessments and trying
to do what's right, to do theright thing, and but in that
(11:06):
process you might, you mightfail, you might let people down,
and you know what it's okay,and I think that even as a
parent, I give myself a reallyhard time because I'm like man.
I just really overreacted, or Iwas, you know, that was
completely crazy lady coming outof me and I think just owning
(11:27):
up to it and apologizing is thebest thing that you can do is to
like, hey, I didn't handle thatsituation correctly and I'm
really sorry, and I mean whetherit's your kids, whether it's
people you work with or yourcustomers like, hey, I've never
been in this situation, I didn'trealize it would affect you
(11:48):
that way and I'm just reallysorry.
And I just think that you cannever say sorry enough, but you
know.
And you can never say sorryenough, but you know, and you
can also correct the action.
But also you can't live in fearbased on, you know, some of the
decisions that are correct foryour company and if it's what's
best for your company but notright for the person, it's just
(12:10):
not right for the person.
And so, again, you're not goingto make everybody happy, and
that was really really hard forme and that I was going to let
others down.
Letting people go during COVIDwas the hardest thing I've ever
had to do in my life and wedidn't really let anybody go, we
just furloughed them and it wasonly a couple of months.
We brought them back on as soonas we could, but that was
(12:35):
really difficult because it wasreally out of our hands.
But you just have to know thatthese things are going to happen
.
The fifth thing that I wrotedown is and this is in no
particular order is the climbdoesn't happen overnight.
So again what I talked about inthe very beginning I thought at
the jump we were just going tosign all these customers and
(12:59):
everybody was going to hire usand nobody knew us and it was a
really slow climb and that's inmy world, because I'm usually
150 miles an hour and I don'tstop, and so if it's not
happening fast enough, I tryharder, I work harder and do all
these things, and so I probablycould have saved myself a lot
(13:21):
of stress and just less pressureto perform and to be at that
level.
But what was cool is, you know,just setting goals and like
where I wanted to be andrealistic goals, and you know
it's so cliche, like youshouldn't like everyone knows,
set your goals because that's,you know, that's where you're
(13:43):
going to shoot for, and I getthat and so but setting those
realistic goals and talking tosomebody you know that does
something similar, or in theindustry, or again, a good
business mentor and to just lookat the plan and come up with
realistic targets based onhistory, what others have done
(14:03):
and what you might have in thepipeline.
The other thing I would add tothat is, if you're crazy like me
, you're going to add some crazygoal to make, and what was
really fun is we had a goal of acertain number within five
years and it was like our dreamgoal and we hit it.
I think year three, and so thatwas really really fun, but it
(14:29):
took.
I mean, three years is a longtime and I had newborn twins at
the time too.
So very, very tired person, butI definitely after I think I
posted on my Instagram or I sawthis quote it's like you keep
stepping, you keep steppingforward.
You know when you fall down,when you fail, when you do all
(14:50):
those things.
If you keep on stepping, atsome point out of the pit, you
know you're going to look backand see that you climbed a
mountain, and I've had severalof those moments that I
definitely got to sit back andbe like, oh my gosh, look how
(15:11):
far we came.
And I really encourage thepeople on my team, especially
people.
I hire a lot of new people intothe industry and the first year
is really really, really hardbecause there's just so much to
learn about the industry ingeneral and about the way we go
to business and working with endusers, working with factories
(15:33):
and our distributors.
It's a lot.
But I tell them like, hey, youknow, you keep doing the things
that you're supposed to do.
One day you will look back andsee, oh my gosh, we did come far
.
Relationships don't happenovernight.
If you are basing your businesson quick deals, like for me and
(15:53):
my world, that just doesn'twork.
It's all about relationships.
It's all about the marathon,not the sprint, not just getting
.
I mean, this isn't the businessI would get into if you like
the quick deals, want to get in,want to get out and move on.
This is and what I dorelationship selling is all
about staying with your customer, providing them, you know,
(16:17):
giving them solutions, ideas andbeing with them through thick
and thin, and then you knowseeing those results over a
period of time and it takes aminute.
So, and then that really goeson along with number six, with.
The journey is really hard as anas starting a business.
It's not easy.
(16:38):
Again, there's lots of thingsthat, when you know, before I
was a sales rep.
They always said oh, as a salesrep, you own your business.
You know, because you own yourterritory and your customers and
look at it as business.
And I love that advice becausethat's how I took you know, as
always, how I've taken my rolesin my sales jobs.
But when I own my own business,there were some other wrenches
(17:02):
that were thrown in there that Iwas responsible for people.
I was, you know, people'sincome depended on the success
of W3.
And that was extremelystressful.
And so there's been definitenights where you're like oh my
gosh, like how is this all goingto work?
(17:23):
How are we going to payeverything?
And you know it.
Really, if you do the rightthings, I really do believe that
they it all ends up working out.
Sometimes it doesn't, you know,and somebody said that you know
it may not work.
I can see you one day and I'mlike that's definitely true and
I can't.
I can't promise myself thatit's always going to work, but
at the same time, I have to knowthat I have to be as a as a
(17:46):
business owner, you have to beaware of everything going on
around you and you have to beaware of, like, what pitfalls
might come, what your employeesare going through, what they're
thinking, turnover sucks.
You know I get really attachedto my people and then you know
this isn't for them and that'sOK.
But of course it's not OK forme because I just have I just
(18:10):
hold on too tight.
But you know that part of it isreally hard because you get
close to people.
And also it's hard, you know,because people are not like you
and so are not like me.
They're not wired like I am.
And so being a good manager,being a good steward of the
(18:31):
income that we receive, gettingthe word out you know about the
company and knowing when toinvest, not when to invest those
are all challenging things.
You know what comes first thechicken or the egg?
That's that's honestly like Ifeel like my life, and so it's
because I have all these ideas,but like just bringing things to
fruition and performing andit's just a lot and it'll keep
(18:56):
you up every night.
This is definitely not thejourney.
It's the journey less traveled.
My husband always says that I'mlike why, how did I end up?
Owning my own business?
Like this is hard and myhusband, like I said, he always
says, hey, if everyone would doit, they would.
It's definitely the road lesstraveled, so it's a tough
(19:18):
journey.
Be ready for a lot, for longnights.
Be ready for you know there'salways more, more people, more,
more problems, um, you know,good problems, hard problems, um
, it's just there's a lot thatgoes into it.
The other thing is reallyimportant is to know your
strengths and weaknesses.
(19:39):
So if you've listened to any ofmy other podcasts, I want to
know it all.
I want to be at all and so, andI want to be this um, woman
that, like, is a superhero thatcan do it all that and I'm a
three, I want to know it all.
I want to be the one that'slike hey, I know the answer, I'm
not annoying girl in theclassroom, um, but I learned
(20:03):
really quickly like I can't beat all, like there are things
that I am not good at, and I'mdefinitely not good at
accounting and theadministrative part of the job,
and I'm not good at managingpeople.
That's not my, that's not mystrong suit.
(20:24):
So I think you know, and alsobeing aware of what you are good
at, and so that you can putyourself in place, yourself in a
position that will make yourcompany super successful because
you're the OG.
As a business owner Like you,it's on you to lead the pack,
(20:44):
and so you want to and alsoproduce the optimal.
You know sales and and to dothat like you need to be in a
position where you can do yourthing.
So if it's sales or maybe youare the admin or maybe you are
the you know the liaison youknow between your clients and
(21:07):
your sales team, whatever it is.
Just knowing your strengths andthen definitely knowing what
you're not good at and don't besomething that you're not.
And that's really important andI wish I would have known that
I don't have to be somethingthat I'm not.
I don't have to be a man inthis role.
I know that's not.
(21:28):
I'm not a man, you know, andeveryone I've gotten so much
advice Like you need to just sayit like a man would.
I'm like, but I'm not a man.
I'm, you know, I'm Nancy, andso I'm going to say it in a way
that that you know that's me andthat's genuine to what I, what
I think, and and so and so.
But again, you know you have towatch your delivery and all
(21:51):
that other stuff.
So, again, just knowing yourstrengths and weaknesses.
Number eight this is a good one.
Doing what's right is moreimportant than being right.
I'm going to speak into the mic.
Doing what's right is moreimportant than being right.
(22:13):
So this is something that youknow, I knew, but when I when
somebody told me this one day, Iwas like I love that, because
it's definitely something you'regoing to have to do as a
business owner or if you're insales or you know any type of
job.
This goes up for anythingactually.
Um, but doing what's right, umis definitely more important
(22:34):
than being than than being rightand or winning or being number
one and as a three, it is hardbecause I want to be number one
and um, but if that comes at acost of of not being transparent
, not being truthful,compromising our values and
(22:55):
being ethical, then that is not.
That's not the right thing todo, and that's our mantra at W3.
And we always ask ourselveswhat is right.
And then you know and what'sbest for W3?
So those things that I reallyhad to ask myself all through,
(23:15):
you know, the last 10 years inthis journey is doing that.
So number nine is empowerothers.
So, like I said, this kind ofgoes into knowing your strengths
and weaknesses, but it's really, really important to empower
others.
You can't do it all Like it'sjust.
(23:39):
Again, like I said, it'simpossible to be all those
things.
You know, when I started I'venever been, I never went to
business, I was a liberal artsmajor I didn't know I'd never
taken an accounting class, andso I did.
But when we started thebusiness, you know, people were
(23:59):
throwing around all these termsthat I just didn't know, and so
I took a community collegebusiness one like accounting
class, just so I couldunderstand.
It was very, you know, easy,simple, didn't take much time,
but it kind of gave me all theessentials of what I needed to
do to understand the business.
I mean, I think it's reallyimportant as a business owner
(24:20):
that you do understand yourbusiness and you know, don't
just give it away and not checkon it and know what's happening,
because I can get sidetrackedand forget about that piece of
it.
But the big thing is, it's justlike if you try to do
everything, you will beexhausted and you'll be tired,
(24:44):
you'll be cranky I know for afact like you will be super
cranky because you know you'redoing it all and no one's doing
enough and that's not being agood leader, and so we've really
tried in our company to.
We have a leadership team nowand I.
You know they specialize indifferent things based on how
(25:07):
they're gifted, and it is reallyharmonious in our company.
You know.
We get along really really wellLike we challenge each other
for sure, we ask hard questionsand so, but I think that when I
figured it out that I wasn'tgoing to be everything to
everybody and everything, itreally really took a lot of
(25:28):
pressure off me and I actuallylearned.
I've learned so much more fromothers than you know than what I
could on my own, and that'sprobably my 10th thing that I
wish I knew.
I've learned to just really sitback and listen to other people
and their ideas and as much asI want to be the one that had
(25:50):
the idea like not super fun butat the end of the day, as I've
gotten older, I've really kindof calmed down and tried to
listen to other people on theteam and what their ideas are,
what they're feeling, what'simportant to them, and I have
learned so much in just being astudent for life and just not
(26:12):
being a know-it-all and notbeing that annoying girl.
That's like I know the answer,you know, let other people
answer, let other people stumblea little bit, it's okay, just
like it's okay for me.
You know, I'm not perfect,they're not perfect, you can't
ask for that.
But yeah, I mean, there's beena lot of lessons that I've
learned, but out of all of them,I think these are definitely
(26:35):
probably the top 10 things Iwish I would have known and I
might have heard it, but Ididn't really believe it and I
didn't execute it all the time.
So, sorry, sorry, people alongthe way, but I hope that, as a
leader, that I continue to tryto improve the way I lead the
(26:56):
company, the way that we grow asa company, the way we build our
foundation and we don't cutcorners, and so that's, um,
that's been really, really.
You know, as I'm, as I'm gettingolder in my old age and as I'm,
you know, grow with W3 and intodifferent things, um, that's my
(27:22):
mantra is like, just do what'sright, slow to you know, just
get it right, you know, then youcan get it right.
And just, you know, do yourbest.
And so, anyways, I don't even Idon't even prepare a confession
for today, but I think that myconfession would probably be
(27:43):
that some of you might know thisconfession, but, but one of my,
one of my biggest things is Inever wanted to own my own
business.
I never, ever wanted to own myown business, and I think I
shared that on one of my firstor second podcasts.
But my dad was an entrepreneur.
I watched him and I watched himhow hard it was.
(28:05):
And so here I am repeatinghistory, and I always wanted to
work for a very large company, aFortune 100 company.
That's where I started, andthen here I am now leading a
small company as an entrepreneur, and so I would have never
thought, you know, 20 years ago,starting out my career, that
(28:27):
this is where I would end up,and as much as I.
And another confession is is Idon't always love this job every
day, and so I'm sorry, but youwould be really weird if you're
like I love everything about myjob, you know.
It's just that's not real life,um, and if you do really feel
like that, why don't you send mea message?
I'd like to know, just kiddingUm, but, and and and.
If you do really feel like that, why don't you send me a
(28:47):
message?
I'd like to know, just kiddingUm, but and and and.
If you do feel like that everyday.
That's really awesome.
But no company is perfect, nojob is perfect, but I've just
really really enjoyed the last10 years.
It's been hard, but they havedefinitely been the best 10
years of my career.
So thank you so much forjoining in and stay tuned for
(29:11):
more of the top 10s of our 10thanniversary.
Have a great day.
For more inspiration, followour social media at W3Sales.
Please like, comment andsubscribe.
You know all the things wewould love to connect with you.
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hi, welcome back to ConfessionsBeyond the Food, where we dive
into the raw, real and sometimesmessy journey of building a
(00:20):
career in the food serviceindustry.
Today, we're talking about thetruths that no one tells you the
hard lessons, the setbacks andthe moments that test your
resilience.
Success is an instant.
The climb doesn't happenovernight.
You'll fail and you'll also letpeople down.
But here's the thing Hard timesare often the best times
(00:44):
because they shape who we'vebecome.
We're going to break down whatit really takes to grow by doing
what's right is more importantthan being right, and why
empowering others is the key tolong-term success.
If you're a people pleaser, getready to get really
uncomfortable, and if you'rechasing quick big wins, get
(01:06):
ready for a reality check.
But if you're willing toembrace the journey, the real
rewards are waiting on the otherside.
So let's dive in.
So I've put together a list of10 things I wish I knew before I
started my business, and Ireally had this dream of just.
(01:28):
You know, we had a greatbusiness plan.
We're going to come out andeveryone's going to want to hire
us and work with us and it'sgoing to be an instant hit right
.
Did it happen that way?
No, it didn't.
And if you would have asked me10 years ago if I thought, man,
that was a good thing, I wouldhave said, no, I'm ready.
(01:52):
But the truth was I wasn'tready, and so I often think
about the things that I wish Iknew that somebody would have
sat down and told me before Istarted my business.
So the first thing that I wrotedown was hard times are the
best times, and this is so true.
I feel that the best times arewhen hard things happen and your
(02:19):
team pulls together and youjust accomplish way more than
you thought you could A lot oftimes.
I mean, of course, everybodywants the easy road.
They want the road that iscomfortable, that's solid, that
nothing's going to go wrong, andwhile you might prepare for
(02:40):
every different circumstance,you just don't know what's
around the corner.
I mean, clearly we're stilltalking about it, but in the
middle of my journey, five-yearmark COVID happens.
We had just gotten to reallythe pinnacle of our success at
(03:01):
W3.
And we just made it.
We hired two huge clients andit was a game changer.
We doubled the size of ourcompany and it was just really
exciting.
And then COVID hit and nobodycould order anything and I was
literally handicapped and so,but you know and there's other
(03:21):
times throughout this journeythat I that have been hard where
we lost factories, and just notbecause of anything we did
wrong, but just because they gotacquired or there.
There's just a lot of differentcircumstances that I definitely
wasn't prepared for.
But looking back, you know,after 10 years, I can definitely
(03:43):
see how those hard times wereprobably the most fun times and
I know that I sound am I amasochist for saying that, but
it's really true because youreally get to sit down with your
team, you get to really processthrough it and you just work
your butt off, you figure out aplan and you go execute.
(04:04):
And those are the times thatcrazy things happen, funny
things happen, and that we canall look back and say, oh my
gosh, we made it through.
So that's probably one of myall-time favorite things, of the
things I didn't know.
The second thing is I gotadvised really early on to not
(04:24):
ever get ahead of my skis, andso what that means is is that I
always wanted to create a reallygood foundation.
If you build it, it will come.
But there is a balance in that,like.
I do believe that you know wewe invested in resources that I
didn't have to have in thebeginning, but it did.
(04:46):
It was definitely attractive,um, to clients to hire us, and
so.
But also you don't want to getinto a situation where you can't
pay the bills, where you becomelike you just keep going on new
projects and you're alreadyoverwhelmed, and, and so I think
(05:07):
it's really important to do ahealth check or a mental check
with someone that you trustoutside the company and say, hey
, am I getting, you know, am Igetting ahead of my skis here?
Because if you get ahead ofyour skis, you're going to,
you're going to tum tumble, butif you can, if you can catch
yourself in that moment, you'llstay up and you know it feels
(05:31):
like oh man, but it seems likethe right time, but it's not,
and you just really want to finda good mentor that will give
you really good, honest feedback, and I that for me, um is my
stepdad.
I talked to him a lot and I'mlike I don't, I know what he's
going to say, and and he's likeyou're getting ahead of your
skis, nancy, and I'm like you'reright, and so it's not the
(05:55):
answer that I want to hear, butit was definitely the one that I
needed to hear.
The third thing that reallybothers me, even saying it out
loud, is that I wish I knew thatI'm going to fail, and big time
.
And so that was I've never beenfired from a job, you know,
prior to owning my own business,and I've always thought listen,
(06:19):
you know, if I work hard, ifI'm a producer, you know that
secures me in what I'm doing.
And or if it's a customer andI'm seeing them regularly
establishing a relationship,giving them good solutions,
they're not going to fire me,right?
So you know all of those thingsyield, you know, success.
(06:43):
But in starting your ownbusiness and again, I didn't
know what I didn't know, and wemade some epic fails in what we
did and just along the road, andI wish I would have known that
it's okay to fail.
I talk about it a lot, but wetest everybody on our team.
(07:06):
I've been tested.
It's called the Enneagram andI'm a three, and so what that
means is I'm, I'm at.
The threes are achievers, andit's a good thing that I know
this and it's a great thing tohave achiever.
You know threes on your teambecause they're really
hardworking and it's all aboutachievement Like you're never
good.
You know you're constantlyjudging threes on your team
(07:28):
because they're reallyhardworking and it's all about
achievement Like you're nevergood.
You're constantly judgingyourself based on your
performance and so failure isjust not an option for threes.
The first factory during COVIDthat we lost it was our biggest
factory and they just decidedthat they were going to go to
local, to direct representationversus hiring W3.
And this was in the middle ofCOVID.
(07:49):
I'm trying to figure out howwe're going to pay our bills.
And I literally sat there afterI got off the call with them
and it was a really niceconversation actually with the
VP of sales.
It was a hard conversation, butI understand their position and
but for us, I was just satthere and thought, oh my gosh I
(08:09):
mean I know I didn't speak fortwo hours.
I was like I just got fired.
I just got fired and this feelslike a really big fail in my
life and that's never happened.
And it was a first for me andunfortunately it wasn't the last
, because there were otherthings that happened.
(08:29):
You know that happened in myworld of being a manufacturer
rep.
We only have 30 day contracts.
Lots can happen, but you knowthat was a really hard fail.
Fail and just getting throughthat and understanding you know
their perspective and just beinglike you know what.
I can't do anything about that,but what I can do is try to
(08:54):
pivot quickly and pull my teamtogether and come up with
solutions and guess what?
We survived.
It was a miracle.
I don't know how God, but Godwas the answer on that one, but
we really did.
I mean, we were able to make itthrough and then.
So Number four goes with thisthat you will fail is that you
(09:16):
will let others down.
Again, this is as a three isreally hard for me.
I think one of my wings is I'ma people pleaser.
I want people to like me.
I want people to, I want toplease them, I want to give them
what they want and becausethat's what we're taught right
(09:37):
and sales is, you know, takingcare of the customer and but
with this, you know lettingpeople down like that.
That's in my control, right,that's not an option, but what
you need to know is that you aregoing to let people down.
You're not perfect.
I'm definitely not perfect andI you know, as I've never owned
(09:58):
a business before, and so Ididn't know all the answers to
everything and I didn't knowcertain ways to manage people or
to handle factories, or evenlike my family, like I was just
going to let somebody down.
And the moment that I realizedthat I was a human being and
(10:21):
that I can make, that I willmake mistakes, it was very
eye-opening for me and I reallyhad to, not what I call fear man
and what you know.
I'm scared of what everyone youknow.
I'm scared of man.
I'm scared I'm basing all myactions on what someone react,
(10:45):
what someone's reaction will be,and so what I've learned is is
just, you know, I need to do thebest First.
You know, I always ask myselfwhat is the best for W3?
And from there that's how Imake my assessments and trying
to do what's right, to do theright thing, and but in that
(11:06):
process you might, you mightfail, you might let people down,
and you know what it's okay,and I think that even as a
parent, I give myself a reallyhard time because I'm like man.
I just really overreacted, or Iwas, you know, that was
completely crazy lady coming outof me and I think just owning
(11:27):
up to it and apologizing is thebest thing that you can do is to
like, hey, I didn't handle thatsituation correctly and I'm
really sorry, and I mean whetherit's your kids, whether it's
people you work with or yourcustomers like, hey, I've never
been in this situation, I didn'trealize it would affect you
(11:48):
that way and I'm just reallysorry.
And I just think that you cannever say sorry enough, but you
know.
And you can never say sorryenough, but you know, and you
can also correct the action.
But also you can't live in fearbased on, you know, some of the
decisions that are correct foryour company and if it's what's
best for your company but notright for the person, it's just
(12:10):
not right for the person.
And so, again, you're not goingto make everybody happy, and
that was really really hard forme and that I was going to let
others down.
Letting people go during COVIDwas the hardest thing I've ever
had to do in my life and wedidn't really let anybody go, we
just furloughed them and it wasonly a couple of months.
We brought them back on as soonas we could, but that was
(12:35):
really difficult because it wasreally out of our hands.
But you just have to know thatthese things are going to happen
.
The fifth thing that I wrotedown is and this is in no
particular order is the climbdoesn't happen overnight.
So again what I talked about inthe very beginning I thought at
the jump we were just going tosign all these customers and
(12:59):
everybody was going to hire usand nobody knew us and it was a
really slow climb and that's inmy world, because I'm usually
150 miles an hour and I don'tstop, and so if it's not
happening fast enough, I tryharder, I work harder and do all
these things, and so I probablycould have saved myself a lot
(13:21):
of stress and just less pressureto perform and to be at that
level.
But what was cool is, you know,just setting goals and like
where I wanted to be andrealistic goals, and you know
it's so cliche, like youshouldn't like everyone knows,
set your goals because that's,you know, that's where you're
(13:43):
going to shoot for, and I getthat and so but setting those
realistic goals and talking tosomebody you know that does
something similar, or in theindustry, or again, a good
business mentor and to just lookat the plan and come up with
realistic targets based onhistory, what others have done
(14:03):
and what you might have in thepipeline.
The other thing I would add tothat is, if you're crazy like me
, you're going to add some crazygoal to make, and what was
really fun is we had a goal of acertain number within five
years and it was like our dreamgoal and we hit it.
I think year three, and so thatwas really really fun, but it
(14:29):
took.
I mean, three years is a longtime and I had newborn twins at
the time too.
So very, very tired person, butI definitely after I think I
posted on my Instagram or I sawthis quote it's like you keep
stepping, you keep steppingforward.
You know when you fall down,when you fail, when you do all
(14:50):
those things.
If you keep on stepping, atsome point out of the pit, you
know you're going to look backand see that you climbed a
mountain, and I've had severalof those moments that I
definitely got to sit back andbe like, oh my gosh, look how
(15:11):
far we came.
And I really encourage thepeople on my team, especially
people.
I hire a lot of new people intothe industry and the first year
is really really, really hardbecause there's just so much to
learn about the industry ingeneral and about the way we go
to business and working with endusers, working with factories
(15:33):
and our distributors.
It's a lot.
But I tell them like, hey, youknow, you keep doing the things
that you're supposed to do.
One day you will look back andsee, oh my gosh, we did come far
.
Relationships don't happenovernight.
If you are basing your businesson quick deals, like for me and
(15:53):
my world, that just doesn'twork.
It's all about relationships.
It's all about the marathon,not the sprint, not just getting
.
I mean, this isn't the businessI would get into if you like
the quick deals, want to get in,want to get out and move on.
This is and what I dorelationship selling is all
about staying with your customer, providing them, you know,
(16:17):
giving them solutions, ideas andbeing with them through thick
and thin, and then you knowseeing those results over a
period of time and it takes aminute.
So, and then that really goeson along with number six, with.
The journey is really hard as anas starting a business.
It's not easy.
(16:38):
Again, there's lots of thingsthat, when you know, before I
was a sales rep.
They always said oh, as a salesrep, you own your business.
You know, because you own yourterritory and your customers and
look at it as business.
And I love that advice becausethat's how I took you know, as
always, how I've taken my rolesin my sales jobs.
But when I own my own business,there were some other wrenches
(17:02):
that were thrown in there that Iwas responsible for people.
I was, you know, people'sincome depended on the success
of W3.
And that was extremelystressful.
And so there's been definitenights where you're like oh my
gosh, like how is this all goingto work?
(17:23):
How are we going to payeverything?
And you know it.
Really, if you do the rightthings, I really do believe that
they it all ends up working out.
Sometimes it doesn't, you know,and somebody said that you know
it may not work.
I can see you one day and I'mlike that's definitely true and
I can't.
I can't promise myself thatit's always going to work, but
at the same time, I have to knowthat I have to be as a as a
(17:46):
business owner, you have to beaware of everything going on
around you and you have to beaware of, like, what pitfalls
might come, what your employeesare going through, what they're
thinking, turnover sucks.
You know I get really attachedto my people and then you know
this isn't for them and that'sOK.
But of course it's not OK forme because I just have I just
(18:10):
hold on too tight.
But you know that part of it isreally hard because you get
close to people.
And also it's hard, you know,because people are not like you
and so are not like me.
They're not wired like I am.
And so being a good manager,being a good steward of the
(18:31):
income that we receive, gettingthe word out you know about the
company and knowing when toinvest, not when to invest those
are all challenging things.
You know what comes first thechicken or the egg?
That's that's honestly like Ifeel like my life, and so it's
because I have all these ideas,but like just bringing things to
fruition and performing andit's just a lot and it'll keep
(18:56):
you up every night.
This is definitely not thejourney.
It's the journey less traveled.
My husband always says that I'mlike why, how did I end up?
Owning my own business?
Like this is hard and myhusband, like I said, he always
says, hey, if everyone would doit, they would.
It's definitely the road lesstraveled, so it's a tough
(19:18):
journey.
Be ready for a lot, for longnights.
Be ready for you know there'salways more, more people, more,
more problems, um, you know,good problems, hard problems, um
, it's just there's a lot thatgoes into it.
The other thing is reallyimportant is to know your
strengths and weaknesses.
(19:39):
So if you've listened to any ofmy other podcasts, I want to
know it all.
I want to be at all and so, andI want to be this um, woman
that, like, is a superhero thatcan do it all that and I'm a
three, I want to know it all.
I want to be the one that'slike hey, I know the answer, I'm
not annoying girl in theclassroom, um, but I learned
(20:03):
really quickly like I can't beat all, like there are things
that I am not good at, and I'mdefinitely not good at
accounting and theadministrative part of the job,
and I'm not good at managingpeople.
That's not my, that's not mystrong suit.
(20:24):
So I think you know, and alsobeing aware of what you are good
at, and so that you can putyourself in place, yourself in a
position that will make yourcompany super successful because
you're the OG.
As a business owner Like you,it's on you to lead the pack,
(20:44):
and so you want to and alsoproduce the optimal.
You know sales and and to dothat like you need to be in a
position where you can do yourthing.
So if it's sales or maybe youare the admin or maybe you are
the you know the liaison youknow between your clients and
(21:07):
your sales team, whatever it is.
Just knowing your strengths andthen definitely knowing what
you're not good at and don't besomething that you're not.
And that's really important andI wish I would have known that
I don't have to be somethingthat I'm not.
I don't have to be a man inthis role.
I know that's not.
(21:28):
I'm not a man, you know, andeveryone I've gotten so much
advice Like you need to just sayit like a man would.
I'm like, but I'm not a man.
I'm, you know, I'm Nancy, andso I'm going to say it in a way
that that you know that's me andthat's genuine to what I, what
I think, and and so and so.
But again, you know you have towatch your delivery and all
(21:51):
that other stuff.
So, again, just knowing yourstrengths and weaknesses.
Number eight this is a good one.
Doing what's right is moreimportant than being right.
I'm going to speak into the mic.
Doing what's right is moreimportant than being right.
(22:13):
So this is something that youknow, I knew, but when I when
somebody told me this one day, Iwas like I love that, because
it's definitely something you'regoing to have to do as a
business owner or if you're insales or you know any type of
job.
This goes up for anythingactually.
Um, but doing what's right, umis definitely more important
(22:34):
than being than than being rightand or winning or being number
one and as a three, it is hardbecause I want to be number one
and um, but if that comes at acost of of not being transparent
, not being truthful,compromising our values and
(22:55):
being ethical, then that is not.
That's not the right thing todo, and that's our mantra at W3.
And we always ask ourselveswhat is right.
And then you know and what'sbest for W3?
So those things that I reallyhad to ask myself all through,
(23:15):
you know, the last 10 years inthis journey is doing that.
So number nine is empowerothers.
So, like I said, this kind ofgoes into knowing your strengths
and weaknesses, but it's really, really important to empower
others.
You can't do it all Like it'sjust.
(23:39):
Again, like I said, it'simpossible to be all those
things.
You know, when I started I'venever been, I never went to
business, I was a liberal artsmajor I didn't know I'd never
taken an accounting class, andso I did.
But when we started thebusiness, you know, people were
(23:59):
throwing around all these termsthat I just didn't know, and so
I took a community collegebusiness one like accounting
class, just so I couldunderstand.
It was very, you know, easy,simple, didn't take much time,
but it kind of gave me all theessentials of what I needed to
do to understand the business.
I mean, I think it's reallyimportant as a business owner
(24:20):
that you do understand yourbusiness and you know, don't
just give it away and not checkon it and know what's happening,
because I can get sidetrackedand forget about that piece of
it.
But the big thing is, it's justlike if you try to do
everything, you will beexhausted and you'll be tired,
(24:44):
you'll be cranky I know for afact like you will be super
cranky because you know you'redoing it all and no one's doing
enough and that's not being agood leader, and so we've really
tried in our company to.
We have a leadership team nowand I.
You know they specialize indifferent things based on how
(25:07):
they're gifted, and it is reallyharmonious in our company.
You know.
We get along really really wellLike we challenge each other
for sure, we ask hard questionsand so, but I think that when I
figured it out that I wasn'tgoing to be everything to
everybody and everything, itreally really took a lot of
(25:28):
pressure off me and I actuallylearned.
I've learned so much more fromothers than you know than what I
could on my own, and that'sprobably my 10th thing that I
wish I knew.
I've learned to just really sitback and listen to other people
and their ideas and as much asI want to be the one that had
(25:50):
the idea like not super fun butat the end of the day, as I've
gotten older, I've really kindof calmed down and tried to
listen to other people on theteam and what their ideas are,
what they're feeling, what'simportant to them, and I have
learned so much in just being astudent for life and just not
(26:12):
being a know-it-all and notbeing that annoying girl.
That's like I know the answer,you know, let other people
answer, let other people stumblea little bit, it's okay, just
like it's okay for me.
You know, I'm not perfect,they're not perfect, you can't
ask for that.
But yeah, I mean, there's beena lot of lessons that I've
learned, but out of all of them,I think these are definitely
(26:35):
probably the top 10 things Iwish I would have known and I
might have heard it, but Ididn't really believe it and I
didn't execute it all the time.
So, sorry, sorry, people alongthe way, but I hope that, as a
leader, that I continue to tryto improve the way I lead the
(26:56):
company, the way that we grow asa company, the way we build our
foundation and we don't cutcorners, and so that's, um,
that's been really, really.
You know, as I'm, as I'm gettingolder in my old age and as I'm,
you know, grow with W3 and intodifferent things, um, that's my
(27:22):
mantra is like, just do what'sright, slow to you know, just
get it right, you know, then youcan get it right.
And just, you know, do yourbest.
And so, anyways, I don't even Idon't even prepare a confession
for today, but I think that myconfession would probably be
(27:43):
that some of you might know thisconfession, but, but one of my,
one of my biggest things is Inever wanted to own my own
business.
I never, ever wanted to own myown business, and I think I
shared that on one of my firstor second podcasts.
But my dad was an entrepreneur.
I watched him and I watched himhow hard it was.
(28:05):
And so here I am repeatinghistory, and I always wanted to
work for a very large company, aFortune 100 company.
That's where I started, andthen here I am now leading a
small company as an entrepreneur, and so I would have never
thought, you know, 20 years ago,starting out my career, that
(28:27):
this is where I would end up,and as much as I.
And another confession is is Idon't always love this job every
day, and so I'm sorry, but youwould be really weird if you're
like I love everything about myjob, you know.
It's just that's not real life,um, and if you do really feel
like that, why don't you send mea message?
I'd like to know, just kiddingUm, but, and and and.
If you do really feel like that, why don't you send me a
(28:47):
message?
I'd like to know, just kiddingUm, but and and and.
If you do feel like that everyday.
That's really awesome.
But no company is perfect, nojob is perfect, but I've just
really really enjoyed the last10 years.
It's been hard, but they havedefinitely been the best 10
years of my career.
So thank you so much forjoining in and stay tuned for
(29:11):
more of the top 10s of our 10thanniversary.
Have a great day.
For more inspiration, followour social media at W3Sales.
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