April 12, 2023 • 27 mins
Have you ever found providing healthy meals for your family without sacrificing the precious time you want to spend with them to be a challenge? Well, so did this episode’s guest, Erica Tuggle. She decided to do something bold about it! She started a concierge home cook service for the everyday family.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the You Are Techie podcast,
episode number 167.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the You Are Techie podcast, where it's
all about growing in your techso you can find the tech job of
your dreams.
And now your host technologylearning coach Ellen Tomi.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hey moms, are you trying to break into tech?
Are you wondering what skillsyou really need to get hired and
how those skills can be worth$45an hour instead of the$25 an
hour you thought when you firststarted thinking about going
back to work?
If so, then the Your techiemembership is for you.
Our combination of courses,coaching and community come with
(00:49):
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(01:10):
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Speaker 3 (01:23):
Erica Tuggle is the founder and c e O of Cook
Connect, a platform thatconnects busy families with
early career personal cooks toeliminate the burden of meal
planning and enables fulfillingculinary careers, which also
extends the benefits of personalcooking to more families with
healthier meal options withoutthe time.
(01:46):
Eric Duns worked for well-knowncompanies including American
Express, general Mills andCoca-Cola where she served in
roles in brands and market, buta heavy brand of Sprite, honesty
and Coca-Cola.
She most recently loved thestrategy and growth agenda for
Coca-Cola brand is focus on thecore customer retention, youth
(02:08):
recruitment as the granddirector.
She has an undergraduate degreefrom NYU Stern School of
Business and an MBA HarvardBusiness School.
She lives in Atlanta with herchildren ages five and seven.
And her husband Nathan.
Erica, welcome to podcast.
Thanks Grant to be here.
I love it.
It's so fun to have you and Imean it's pretty obvious why
(02:30):
someone like me would trying toconnect various and applicable.
Tell us why didn't you become afounder to connect and what
drove you, you personally tostart it?
I think my audience is gonna beboth excited about this town.
Yes, now thanks again for havingme.
Could connect.
Honestly, it came outta metrying to solve my own problem,
which was basically that I couldnot figure out how to feed my
(02:53):
family well without sacrificingthings that I wasn't willing to
sacrifice.
Honestly, sacrificing health,sacrificing our, our time,
sacrificing quality.
I grew up on homemade meals frommy mom.
I absolutely love connectingthrough food and nourishing our
bodies through food.
But it was crazy when I wasworking and building my career,
I found it increasinglydifficult to figure out how to
(03:14):
do that myself.
And so I actually got the ideafrom other moms when I was
trying to figure out like how iseverybody doing this?
And I found that they werehiring people but they weren't
ever hiring like an executivechef or someone who was super
expensive.
They were finding people intheir community who could help
them.
And so I decided to try it totry to figure out how to make it
easier for more people,including myself, to find those
(03:37):
people and two, have bettermeals without sacrifice and
without the time commitment.
Love it.
I think it's such a brilliantidea too because we often
associate personal chef withhigh end experience.
But I know when I will, I willdate myself that I still age all
the time.
I guess it's not a big deal.
When I was younger I'm, when Iwas in my twenties, I'm from
(03:57):
Detroit, everybody lost ca inDetroit.
I don't know if that's true butit feels like it's true.
But I really did not likedriving after I was 16 and I
drove for six months.
I was like, I'm done.
What I would spend money on,what luxury I would have would
be a driver.
Sure.
Transfer the world.
We got Uber, we got left.
Even if it feels like this likefancy exclusive thing, you are
really trying to bring personalcooking to the masses.
(04:21):
It's, you know, so I'm kind ofhearing you right, exactly
right.
Yeah, and it's been reallyinteresting cuz my, obviously as
I shared my perspective on thiscame from my own problem.
So more the consumer side.
But as I've learned more aboutthe culinary talent that exist
in our communities, I've justbeen blown away.
I mean, awesome.
You have people who are inrestaurants who are truly
skilled, they might be on theline, they're not making a lot
(04:43):
of money and they're looking formore flexible opportunities.
They're looking for differentways to practice their craft.
And so it was really exciting tome when I started to uncover
that part of the business alittle bit more too because
there's so much talent and evenbeyond the people in the
restaurants, right?
You probably know people who areawesome cooks who may not wanna
start their own business, but onthe side, hey, it'd be a great
(05:04):
gig tip for them.
So that's exactly what we'retrying to do.
Let's tap into that, turn in andsee how we can help more people.
Have a personal shack.
Pretty amazing.
This is so amazing.
And so, you know, I mean we'rejust talking about the masses,
but like who should use Sox andwhy?
Yeah, like give us, walk usthrough like the like a even a
day-to-day example of how theywake up.
Yeah, absolutely.
Any busy family.
(05:24):
So think about two parents whoare in their careers committed
to their careers about alo,committed to their families and
trying to juggle everything.
So I can picture right myself,you working, trying to figure
out how to get the activitiesdone after school, homework,
juggling literally everything.
Hey, if you wanna work out or do something that's not
(05:45):
in that list of things.
Forget about it.
And then, oh yeah, what are weeating for dinner?
Which is what makes everybodywanna pull their hair out.
So that's the person, likethat's the family.
That's the load that they'recarrying.
Our hope is that we can can takesome of that load that they
don't have to worry about themental burden of figuring out
what to eat.
And then of course the time toprepare to shop, to clean all of
(06:06):
that is, is taken care of by us.
Ooh, the cleaning.
Ooh I think I forgot that part.
My listeners will know that I amnot a fan of my, okay, so let,
so, so that's reallyinteresting.
So you know, you started CookConnect because of this pain
point that, but what would yousay the best part of it is isn't
(06:26):
giving people shoot industrymore opportunities to, to
generate income, which as youand I've spoken before, like
this is, it's a b really lowtheme industry, especially when
you first get started.
Yeah.
Can you speak a little bit aboutthat?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so it is, it's funny thatyou mentioned the cleaning cause
that's what customers I thinksometimes think of.
The best part, from myperspective, I have really
(06:48):
connected with just theaccessibility of it.
And when I say that you'retalking about this culinary
talent, I that's behind thekitchen or in the kitchen of
your favorite restaurant, theydon't typically have access to
these types of jobs.
It's either because they don'thave, you know, the, excuse me,
it's either because they don'thave the cache or they don't
(07:09):
have the connections or theydon't know how to market
themselves and how to get thecustomers, whatever it might be.
They just don't have access toit.
And to your point, Sarah, toyou're in Atlanta making 15,$17
an hour, you know, working inthe kitchens and a family, you
know would pay a babysitterlikely more than that.
And that's what we are basicallyproviding is them the
opportunity to get that morelucrative income but also while
(07:32):
they're still, you know,maintaining some of their other
work.
I would also say it's similarfor the families, right, to be
able to access the benefits ofthis, you know, personal chef
type lifestyle, the healthbenefits, the time savings, I
mean it, it's a dream, but towhat you were talking about
before, just like privatedrivers, it doesn't have to be a
dream for you know, the top, youknow, 1% or whatever of
(07:54):
communities.
Yeah.
Let's, so fantastic.
Or let's talk a little bit oftech.
What technical skills do youfeel have helped you the most in
your career?
And if you could even speak tolike do you feel techy?
Why or why not?
And how do you view that wholeconcept of being a founder of a
technology?
Yeah, it's a great questionbecause I, I'm not a technical
(08:14):
founder and I'm verytransparent about that.
But it's interesting because asI've been just introduced more
to the tech world or the techieworld, I've actually realized
that there are so many kindaattributes to being technical.
And so for me, I really, Iconsider myself techie because I
have a deep appreciation fortechnology and the value it can
bring to simplifying our lives,bettering lives, that sort of
(08:37):
thing.
From a skills standpoint really.
And as I've learned in BuildingCook Connect, my skill comes
from more you think about thecustomer perspective and how
that plays into the product andhow that plays into things like
UX or how that plays intocustomer journeys throughout
your product and yourexperience.
That's where I've seen some ofmy more, if you will's technical
(08:58):
skill come through, it'scertainly not encoding.
It's certainly not in, you know,bleeding out even as simply as
it can be the wire frames.
It's really an understanding theconsumer and how those journeys
should happen or will happen andalso what data sets are required
to support those.
Yeah.
Which is such an important pieceof that because so much of
(09:20):
technology is to likeunderstanding and then
communicating exactly what'sneeded.
And I think that, you know, inmy experience that can be
undervalued and undervaluedskill, people don't quite
understand how important it isand how much money and time you
can spend if you are not able tocommunicate that.
It's really, it really is partof, it's really part of that
(09:41):
process.
So I That's a great, that's agreat answer so I love it.
So, okay, you talked about yourorigin story about starting this
company, but you can go a littledeeper and maybe even a little
broader, but what are wouldfactors most impacted your
decision to start a company?
Because you know, you, youcouldn't solve this a lot of
different ways, you could justsolve it for yourself or there
are a lot of ways you could havegone with this, you know, why
(10:04):
did you decide?
Yeah, it's a great question.
It's a big decision.
I, you know, I always hadwhatever a bug or an and
appetite for trying my ownthing, trying to build, you
know, my own company.
It was part of the reason why Iwent to Harvard Business School
for general management, youknow, mba, part of the reason
even why I went to General Millscuz they also focused on general
(10:24):
management, never quite had theproblem to solve.
So it kind of just sat in me,you know, for a while and I
think a few things happened.
One, I was really strugglingwith the problem as I mentioned,
I had just had my seconddaughter, I moved into a bigger
role on the Cook trademark teamand it was really, it was very
visceral kinda experience for mebecause it's how I nurture and
(10:46):
as I thought about, you know,what problems I would wanna
solve, it very quickly becamethe one not just bubbled to the
top so that I could support morewomen, you know, like myself who
are trying to do many thingsthat fulfill them including you
know, their careers and raisetheir family the way they want
to.
And so that was a big part of itbut honestly it was also very
(11:06):
personal in terms of where Iwas.
So I felt like, you know, Iactually had the idea before and
then I really started feelingthe pain with the second child
and, but it wasn't the righttime before when I decided to
leave Koch and to start topursue this, it was absolutely
the right time for me.
Like I felt like I had been inbrand marketing for, you know,
(11:27):
over 10 years.
I had done a lot of awesome workthere that I was really proud of
but I felt to challenge myselfmore, I could feel myself
getting just excited about it,something new and something that
was intellectually challengingand would push me in different
ways.
And so that was the uh, pieceand I had experiences in my
career at that point in food andbeverage and working with the
(11:48):
culinary industry, ACA Cola andworking with our food partners
that had given me what I neededto be successful at solving this
problem.
Nice.
Oh can I add one more thing?
For sure.
Important.
I had the support system too.
I think that's just reallycritical and so yeah.
And so I remember when I madethe decision or when I was
making this decision, I calledmy parents, I talked to my
(12:10):
husband, you know, I threw itout to a couple of friends just
to hear reactions and uh,what was awesome was that
everybody was even moreconfident than I was.
But it was also just reallycomforting and reassuring to
that, okay, I'm gonna try thisreally hard thing but I have
people around me who will, willbe able to support and who will
be willing to support.
And so that was also probablythe third most important thing
(12:30):
for why it made sense and why Idecided to do it.
That's fantastic.
So you didn't just like comehome and tell your husband sorry
work.
I just called in thatconversation.
I just didn't think that's rare.
I actually think the fact thatyou like the people that in your
circle that were encouraging toyou, that's not every
entrepreneur was experienced,right?
Like was they that's a safe job,you know, you got poke where I'm
(12:54):
from is four, oh you get a jobwith four and you just stay
there and that's the way we callit floats sometimes.
Yeah.
So was there any that, like whywould you ever leave poke?
What did you get any of thatreaction here?
You know, I not I'm to my face,my face, but no interesting what
I did get and I think it's a bitof a privilege, but I had worked
(13:15):
really hard and so the reactionI got was, you know, if it
doesn't work out like go back ordo something else and that's not
always a reality.
So I recognize that but it wasalso really, you know, nice push
to make me feel more comfortablein taking the risk.
Fantastic.
That's great.
So I feels like you've answeredthis one but let me ask it again
because then there's anothertakeout this, but how has
(13:37):
motherhood impacted your careerdecision?
Yeah, it's impacted it in a lotand it's interesting as I think
about this, there's actually, I,you know that book Lena.
So I honestly, I didn't love allof it but there was one part of
it that resonated with me, whichwas concept around, um, don't
count yourself out until you'reout.
And as I've had children andstarted trying to make decisions
(13:58):
in my career, really took thatto heart.
And so I say that because Imentioned when I had my daughter
and I actually interviewed forthe Koch jab while I was on
maternity leave.
And so I came back frommaternity leave pretty much
straight into that promotion andI wasn't sure that was the right
decision, but I also wasn't surethat it wasn't the right
decision.
Um, so often in my career Ithink motherhood has obviously
(14:21):
been a really important piece,but I have always taken the
perspective of let me try to seewhat I can do to fulfill me and
my family and then if it doesn'twork, take a step back.
And that has been actually, it'sworked well for me.
And it's similar honestly forthe decision to start Cook
Connect because it is, I meangosh, you know, you're fully
(14:42):
committed, nothing you have tobe to get something off the
ground and go from zero to wineand so was a very big decision
from a motherhood perspectiveand how that might change me or
you know, as a mother I thinkit's made me even better
honestly.
But I also think it has, it hasrequired me to also be very
honest about what's working andwhat's not working because they
(15:05):
feel like as an entrepreneursome things can very quickly
take over because you are sofocused on, you know, trying to
make the vision happen.
There's too much of that I gottapoke.
So what does your not like?
Yeah, some of it for me, I meanit, and I'm a go-getter, but
some of it for me I felt likealmost, you know, pushed too
far.
I think some of the things arevery personal in terms of the
decisions women make around howthey wanna mapping their careers
(15:25):
and that sort of thing.
And some of it felt, you know,very, they're presumptive or
pushy and so that was some ofwhat I didn't love about it.
Honestly, it's been so longsince I read it but I, and so I
remember that feeling.
But I really did like thatconcept that I talked about
because it has helped me I thinkto continue to move forward and
not hold myself back until Irealized, okay, you know what,
(15:46):
maybe this doesn't work.
Yeah, I think I love all of thatbecause I think that right, like
if I look at Cheryl, I meanshe's obviously fantastic.
What gave her that confidence to, to work with, I can't imagine
that she would know had anysemblance of like where that
should go.
Like it's such a big risk eventhough he was smart, like he
probably indicat something out,know what's happened and I don't
(16:06):
know everything about Facebookbut like you can't deny that's a
big impact culturally, butRight.
But I do know but even though Ihaven't been, I've no, I do know
like I circle of andI would not make those big
choices, right?
Like when my kids were young Ialways wanted to maximize time.
Can you talk about looking atyour career and making decisions
for so long I wanted to maximizetime with kids part of like
everything around in charge ofall these things.
(16:28):
And then I realized like, okay,but at a certain point are you
being example that you want yourkids?
Mm-hmm teaching andI was like okay, you know, and
also I'm a big personality andpart of working and this like, I
don't even think I've evershared this but it's pretty
sunny.
Part of my working is like mykids didn't need quite so much
Helen, right?
Like they didn't need quite somuch mom.
They're like, they need tofigure stuff out.
(16:50):
I have a huge personality.
And so just giving them thatspace, they, all of them have
these bigger personalities.
I do.
Just giving them that space.
Even like volunteering inclassrooms and things like that.
Like I don't, I don't reallyvolunteer in classrooms.
I do lots of other things liketotally I've done that.
You know, race kids are, theolder ones are older.
Yeah.
Little ones too, but Valerieones, but you know, they're like
(17:11):
teenagers and I realize thatsometimes in the presence in
their life I wanted to more ofan example of presence.
Does that makes sense?
Yeah.
Oh totally.
No, I totally relate to that Andcause it's, I mean especially I
feel like in this chapter of mycareer they have really
connected with Built and CookConnect and they have, you know,
participated and everything fromlike when we were trying to name
(17:32):
it to when, you know, I'm evenlike testing chefs and every
little bit.
So that's been for me so specialbecause to your point, you're an
example and you're showing thema way to you know, build their
own hopefully livelihood and youknow, and their own future and
take their ideas and make theminto reality and there's so much
power, all of that.
And I feel like they're gettingit so much more from this
(17:54):
experience.
Yeah, I think that's beautiful.
And I shared just like you, Ishare with my kids some more,
some less like ever interested.
Yeah.
How about like when we ask youabout my day, I'm like, okay
look I'm a really cute thingsand this is great learn and
where fail and like think aboutthat.
And I think it's reallyinteresting, powerful, in my
experience, I was raised by twoteachers so my family would
(18:16):
never say like, don't start acompany that they're just,
they're like, it's crazy all thetime, but they're a hard time
about it.
It's not like why are you doingthat?
They're like, that's who you are.
So I just have a differentprinciples.
So, but my husband isentrepreneurial and so that that
kind of only steps with us.
I often think, oh my gosh, mykids are being raised in such a
different way than I was viewingthe world from a different way.
(18:39):
Right?
As teachers there's this, and Iwas a teacher so I know like you
have to know what you're talkingabout.
You have to entrepreneurship,there's so much like don't know
Laura fail, right Failure.
That is something I had to growto in my adult that oh my
goodness, I'm excited for mychildren to really learn that
and benefit.
(19:00):
That's what I'm sure you sharethose stories with your
daughters like a failure or whensomething doesn't work.
Yes, we do.
And that's like, you know, wealways do that.
How is your day today?
And like if I've had a crappyday, I'd tell'em, gosh, it was a
really hard day and this is whyand this is what happened.
And I think it's one, I justthink it's healthy, you know,
for them to know that thingsdon't always go well.
(19:22):
Yeah.
Uh, because they absolutely, youknow, need to be able to roll
with the punches.
It's one of the things that Ifeel like this experience is, is
making me tougher.
Honestly.
You have to get tougher, but I'mhappy to share that with them
because of that.
And when things are great andhelping them understand the
details, they get it.
Some things are a little bitabstract or hard to understand
but like, I met with this personand we talked about this and
(19:45):
then I did this and then I, youknow, followed up on this et
cetera and can follow that.
And I think it just opens theireyes to your point, to a
different way of being, which isreally fine.
Hoping there's curiosity there,there's perseverance there that
starts to really develop forthem.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Okay.
What's the hardest part?
(20:05):
Hold on, sturdy.
You were saying somethingearlier that made me think about
this.
It's the emotional experience.
I'll call it a rollercoaster, that's what it is.
And the emotional experience.
And I'll be honest, I don'tthink anybody meant that to me.
You know, everybody talks about,you know, obviously the
challenge of finding your firstusers and you know, financing
the business and all types ofthings that are kind of the nuts
(20:26):
and bolts.
But I don't think people talk alot about just the emotional
component.
I mean cuz it's everything fromyour own confidence, right?
And I've had to work through andthink about that where, you
know, you might have five peopletelling you that you know,
you're not doing the right thingin in one day.
You have to take what's valid inthat feedback, but also have
(20:47):
some conviction around somethings that you're doing.
And so it's a really interestingdevelopment exercise for me in
some ways to emotionally makesure that I am maintaining
confidence in myself, make surethat I'm also not sweating this
semester, you know, in a lot ofways.
And to your point, you have tobe comfortable with that, which
(21:09):
is not my background.
That was not what we did at aCoca-Cola very well or at any of
the other large companies thatworked at very well.
So it's all of those thingswhile there are, there's some I
guess, skill component to it.
There's also a lot of emotionaldevelopment to it.
Oh, and I mean you brought thebrands so you're obviously a
good student.
(21:29):
So straight up you might havethe best educational pedigree on
the podcast.
I'll let you take a look.
As you know, third in HBS ispretty powerful.
That's a pretty powerful time.
Oh shoot.
My husband is was on thepodcast.
He's probably the podcast still.
Oh, he, he likes to say Harvard.
Harvard's second checking.
Totally disregard.
But anyway, so not, so I thinkthat being a good student can be
(21:54):
a hin starting.
It's interesting cause in someways I think you're right cuz
there's a little bit of rulefollowing there and it's
starting companies, there'squite a bit of rule breaking in
other way.
I love that.
And the way that I've addressedthat is by surrounding myself
with people who can help me pushme, you know, in, in some of
those ways can help me get morecomfortable with it.
(22:14):
Even, you know, mentors who arelike, wait you kidding?
For you.
Like, just do it.
Nobody cares.
Try it and figure it out.
Nobody cares yet.
They will.
And then the other piece,education, being a student where
it does help me, I think that Ido love to study like problems
and things like I, I love andespecially people, which is why
I went into marketing and so,and brand.
(22:35):
And so yeah.
So that piece I think helps me.
But you're right, there'sdefinitely, there are definitely
something that I have toovercome, you know, in order to
function as I need to inbuilding a startup.
Yeah, that's super interesting.
Okay.
All right.
What advice?
This is my favorite question.
You know what's funny?
You, you're like, I love thatquestion, the type question
everyone lost question.
(22:56):
Um, which I do too, and I thinkit's really important for my
audience, but this is myfavorite question cause the
answers are so fantastic.
So I'm just gonna set the buttonbars really high soon, y'all let
me down.
So the advice that you, you'llgive to a woman, especially a
mom Yeah.
Who's considering starting atech company, especially if
(23:16):
she's a non-technical founder,what advice would you give to
her?
Such a good question.
And now you're right.
I'm scared of this bar.
You immediately come to mind.
Wait, we've just had a greatconversation.
Obviously you know each otherbefore, but like, I've really
connected with women in thisspace who are more technical
than me, but who are also so, sosupportive.
(23:40):
Like, one of the things that I,and everybody always asks me,
oh, what do you like about, youknow, being in the startup
community in Atlanta is thesupport that is like when I say
number one and it's typicallycoming from women and
underrepresented founders likemyself, and not just us, but
there's something special aboutthe connection we can have with
each other.
So one of my top piece advice isto find your women.
(24:00):
Like find the ladies who are,you know, in the space, know
what they're doing and canreally support you because it is
hard.
It is very hard, right?
And so you need that.
So now I'd have, you know,groups that I'll, you know,
slack or go to lunch with orwhatever I need.
And they can do the same becauseI think we need to help each
other, right?
Yeah.
Get to where we wanna be.
(24:21):
And when I think aboutmotherhood, there's also
something about being reallyclear, even still on why you're
doing this and what you wanted.
Because I do think in last year,in my first year we, there was a
lot that, there's still a lot tofigure out, but there is a lot
to figure out.
I felt like I knew nothing allthe time.
and put myself in it.
(24:44):
Yeah.
150%.
And that wasn't all healthy forme and my family.
And so I had to remember why Iwas doing this.
The, you know, the purposebehind the problem.
I wanted to solve what I wantedto do for other families, but
also what we wanna do for ourown family.
And so I think that's somethingthat's really important too,
because as I mentioned before,it can be all consuming and
(25:05):
people talk a lot about that.
But you do have, I had someonegimme some great advice at the
top of this year.
Like everything's a choice andyou have to figure out what
choices are right for you.
But make those choices.
Don't, you know, let them, thatis so good.
That's such great advice.
I love it.
I love it.
Everything's a choice.
You make me think about, you'vesaid it a couple times and then
(25:26):
me think about dinner and what,when we're talking about cooking
mats, right?
And we're talking about, we'retalking about home stops and,
but when I'm at dinner and mykids are talking and I'm trying
to focus and then my braintravels off to student work and
then I just bring it back likeit's a choice, right?
Like to be present and Yeah.
And listen, it's, it's like, oh,it's so sweet.
(25:46):
You know, like, oh that'stotally, it's a, the thought of
it like, oh yeah, Ellen, justbring it back.
But when your 10 year old son istalking to you about, you know,
I'm gonna say Star Wars, butthat's one of the more
interesting topics, you know,like what I, we can talk about
some things that I do not careabout.
Okay.
One of his random books.
But that in like that is thehardest thing for me because I
(26:09):
love that he's talking about abook that he's reading and I
just wanna be there and I wannabe present and I want, and then
it's metrics I real, you know,mean and then you come back and
that's, that's real, right?
Like that's part of what yeah,part of what donated company is
about, I think.
Yeah, you think about it all thetime and so to your point you
(26:30):
have to actively, you know, givesome of that time back.
That's fantastic.
Okay, so now everybody in thewhole world's gonna wanna try
Coconut Connect.
We're available.
You're available.
It is latest.
So right now, yes, coming tolocal area, coming to
Nationwide.
So very soon, you guys.
Very soon.
So where can people find you?
And then I hate you have anOscar for I you we did.
(26:53):
So people can go to our websiteto find us and learn more.
It's cook connect.com.
K o n e C t.
So no C in the middle.
But you'll find the, you'll beable to peruse the menu, see
some shafts and even book ifyou're interested.
And if you do book, you can usethe techie promo code.
So it's just techie and thatwill get you$40 off of your
(27:16):
personal service with that.
I love it.
I love it.
So cch y techy book connect$40off.
How awesome was that, Erica,thank you so much for coming
down the strokes.
Absolutely.
Thank you Ellen.
I, it was really fun.
I enjoyed it.
Me too.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you
have to sign up for the are teche email list.
Imagine being in the tech job ofyour dreams.
Join me to get the strategies,training and never ending
support to get hired.
Sign up@utechie.com.
That's Y O U A R E T E C H y.com.
I'll see your name, start.
You are listening to the You Are Techie podcast,
episode number 167.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the You Are Techie podcast, where it's
all about growing in your techso you can find the tech job of
your dreams.
And now your host technologylearning coach Ellen Tomi.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hey moms, are you trying to break into tech?
Are you wondering what skillsyou really need to get hired and
how those skills can be worth$45an hour instead of the$25 an
hour you thought when you firststarted thinking about going
back to work?
If so, then the Your techiemembership is for you.
Our combination of courses,coaching and community come with
(00:49):
the mentor support you need tokeep moving forward in your tech
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It's like no other membershipprogram available.
We have the exact skillsemployers are looking for you
learn how to maximize yourincome with portfolio ready
skills that hiring managers areseeking.
Not to mention the steps you canskip so you don't find yourself
down that endless tech learningrabbit hole.
(01:10):
Join me as I walk you step bystep through the getting hired
process and tech Signup@uteche.com.
That's Y O U A R E T E C Hy.com.
I can't wait to see you in ourmembership.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Erica Tuggle is the founder and c e O of Cook
Connect, a platform thatconnects busy families with
early career personal cooks toeliminate the burden of meal
planning and enables fulfillingculinary careers, which also
extends the benefits of personalcooking to more families with
healthier meal options withoutthe time.
(01:46):
Eric Duns worked for well-knowncompanies including American
Express, general Mills andCoca-Cola where she served in
roles in brands and market, buta heavy brand of Sprite, honesty
and Coca-Cola.
She most recently loved thestrategy and growth agenda for
Coca-Cola brand is focus on thecore customer retention, youth
(02:08):
recruitment as the granddirector.
She has an undergraduate degreefrom NYU Stern School of
Business and an MBA HarvardBusiness School.
She lives in Atlanta with herchildren ages five and seven.
And her husband Nathan.
Erica, welcome to podcast.
Thanks Grant to be here.
I love it.
It's so fun to have you and Imean it's pretty obvious why
(02:30):
someone like me would trying toconnect various and applicable.
Tell us why didn't you become afounder to connect and what
drove you, you personally tostart it?
I think my audience is gonna beboth excited about this town.
Yes, now thanks again for havingme.
Could connect.
Honestly, it came outta metrying to solve my own problem,
which was basically that I couldnot figure out how to feed my
(02:53):
family well without sacrificingthings that I wasn't willing to
sacrifice.
Honestly, sacrificing health,sacrificing our, our time,
sacrificing quality.
I grew up on homemade meals frommy mom.
I absolutely love connectingthrough food and nourishing our
bodies through food.
But it was crazy when I wasworking and building my career,
I found it increasinglydifficult to figure out how to
(03:14):
do that myself.
And so I actually got the ideafrom other moms when I was
trying to figure out like how iseverybody doing this?
And I found that they werehiring people but they weren't
ever hiring like an executivechef or someone who was super
expensive.
They were finding people intheir community who could help
them.
And so I decided to try it totry to figure out how to make it
easier for more people,including myself, to find those
(03:37):
people and two, have bettermeals without sacrifice and
without the time commitment.
Love it.
I think it's such a brilliantidea too because we often
associate personal chef withhigh end experience.
But I know when I will, I willdate myself that I still age all
the time.
I guess it's not a big deal.
When I was younger I'm, when Iwas in my twenties, I'm from
(03:57):
Detroit, everybody lost ca inDetroit.
I don't know if that's true butit feels like it's true.
But I really did not likedriving after I was 16 and I
drove for six months.
I was like, I'm done.
What I would spend money on,what luxury I would have would
be a driver.
Sure.
Transfer the world.
We got Uber, we got left.
Even if it feels like this likefancy exclusive thing, you are
really trying to bring personalcooking to the masses.
(04:21):
It's, you know, so I'm kind ofhearing you right, exactly
right.
Yeah, and it's been reallyinteresting cuz my, obviously as
I shared my perspective on thiscame from my own problem.
So more the consumer side.
But as I've learned more aboutthe culinary talent that exist
in our communities, I've justbeen blown away.
I mean, awesome.
You have people who are inrestaurants who are truly
skilled, they might be on theline, they're not making a lot
(04:43):
of money and they're looking formore flexible opportunities.
They're looking for differentways to practice their craft.
And so it was really exciting tome when I started to uncover
that part of the business alittle bit more too because
there's so much talent and evenbeyond the people in the
restaurants, right?
You probably know people who areawesome cooks who may not wanna
start their own business, but onthe side, hey, it'd be a great
(05:04):
gig tip for them.
So that's exactly what we'retrying to do.
Let's tap into that, turn in andsee how we can help more people.
Have a personal shack.
Pretty amazing.
This is so amazing.
And so, you know, I mean we'rejust talking about the masses,
but like who should use Sox andwhy?
Yeah, like give us, walk usthrough like the like a even a
day-to-day example of how theywake up.
Yeah, absolutely.
Any busy family.
(05:24):
So think about two parents whoare in their careers committed
to their careers about alo,committed to their families and
trying to juggle everything.
So I can picture right myself,you working, trying to figure
out how to get the activitiesdone after school, homework,
juggling literally everything.
Hey, if you wanna work out or
(05:45):
in that list of things.
Forget about it.
And then, oh yeah, what are weeating for dinner?
Which is what makes everybodywanna pull their hair out.
So that's the person, likethat's the family.
That's the load that they'recarrying.
Our hope is that we can can takesome of that load that they
don't have to worry about themental burden of figuring out
what to eat.
And then of course the time toprepare to shop, to clean all of
(06:06):
that is, is taken care of by us.
Ooh, the cleaning.
Ooh I think I forgot that part.
My listeners will know that I amnot a fan of my, okay, so let,
so, so that's reallyinteresting.
So you know, you started CookConnect because of this pain
point that, but what would yousay the best part of it is isn't
(06:26):
giving people shoot industrymore opportunities to, to
generate income, which as youand I've spoken before, like
this is, it's a b really lowtheme industry, especially when
you first get started.
Yeah.
Can you speak a little bit aboutthat?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so it is, it's funny thatyou mentioned the cleaning cause
that's what customers I thinksometimes think of.
The best part, from myperspective, I have really
(06:48):
connected with just theaccessibility of it.
And when I say that you'retalking about this culinary
talent, I that's behind thekitchen or in the kitchen of
your favorite restaurant, theydon't typically have access to
these types of jobs.
It's either because they don'thave, you know, the, excuse me,
it's either because they don'thave the cache or they don't
(07:09):
have the connections or theydon't know how to market
themselves and how to get thecustomers, whatever it might be.
They just don't have access toit.
And to your point, Sarah, toyou're in Atlanta making 15,$17
an hour, you know, working inthe kitchens and a family, you
know would pay a babysitterlikely more than that.
And that's what we are basicallyproviding is them the
opportunity to get that morelucrative income but also while
(07:32):
they're still, you know,maintaining some of their other
work.
I would also say it's similarfor the families, right, to be
able to access the benefits ofthis, you know, personal chef
type lifestyle, the healthbenefits, the time savings, I
mean it, it's a dream, but towhat you were talking about
before, just like privatedrivers, it doesn't have to be a
dream for you know, the top, youknow, 1% or whatever of
(07:54):
communities.
Yeah.
Let's, so fantastic.
Or let's talk a little bit oftech.
What technical skills do youfeel have helped you the most in
your career?
And if you could even speak tolike do you feel techy?
Why or why not?
And how do you view that wholeconcept of being a founder of a
technology?
Yeah, it's a great questionbecause I, I'm not a technical
(08:14):
founder
But it's interesting because asI've been just introduced more
to the tech world or the techieworld, I've actually realized
that there are so many kindaattributes to being technical.
And so for me, I really, Iconsider myself techie because I
have a deep appreciation fortechnology and the value it can
bring to simplifying our lives,bettering lives, that sort of
(08:37):
thing.
From a skills standpoint really.
And as I've learned in BuildingCook Connect, my skill comes
from more you think about thecustomer perspective and how
that plays into the product andhow that plays into things like
UX or how that plays intocustomer journeys throughout
your product and yourexperience.
That's where I've seen some ofmy more, if you will's technical
(08:58):
skill come through, it'scertainly not encoding.
It's certainly not in, you know,bleeding out even as simply as
it can be the wire frames.
It's really an understanding theconsumer and how those journeys
should happen or will happen andalso what data sets are required
to support those.
Yeah.
Which is such an important pieceof that because so much of
(09:20):
technology is to likeunderstanding and then
communicating exactly what'sneeded.
And I think that, you know, inmy experience that can be
undervalued and undervaluedskill, people don't quite
understand how important it isand how much money and time you
can spend if you are not able tocommunicate that.
It's really, it really is partof, it's really part of that
(09:41):
process.
So I That's a great, that's agreat answer so I love it.
So, okay, you talked about yourorigin story about starting this
company, but you can go a littledeeper and maybe even a little
broader, but what are wouldfactors most impacted your
decision to start a company?
Because you know, you, youcouldn't solve this a lot of
different ways, you could justsolve it for yourself or there
are a lot of ways you could havegone with this, you know, why
(10:04):
did you decide?
Yeah, it's a great question.
It's a big decision.
I, you know, I always hadwhatever a bug or an and
appetite for trying my ownthing, trying to build, you
know, my own company.
It was part of the reason why Iwent to Harvard Business School
for general management, youknow, mba, part of the reason
even why I went to General Millscuz they also focused on general
(10:24):
management, never quite had theproblem to solve.
So it kind of just sat in me,you know, for a while and I
think a few things happened.
One, I was really strugglingwith the problem as I mentioned,
I had just had my seconddaughter, I moved into a bigger
role on the Cook trademark teamand it was really, it was very
visceral kinda experience for mebecause it's how I nurture and
(10:46):
as I thought about, you know,what problems I would wanna
solve, it very quickly becamethe one not just bubbled to the
top so that I could support morewomen, you know, like myself who
are trying to do many thingsthat fulfill them including you
know, their careers and raisetheir family the way they want
to.
And so that was a big part of itbut honestly it was also very
(11:06):
personal in terms of where Iwas.
So I felt like, you know, Iactually had the idea before and
then I really started feelingthe pain with the second child
and, but it wasn't the righttime before when I decided to
leave Koch and to start topursue this, it was absolutely
the right time for me.
Like I felt like I had been inbrand marketing for, you know,
(11:27):
over 10 years.
I had done a lot of awesome workthere that I was really proud of
but I felt to challenge myselfmore, I could feel myself
getting just excited about it,something new and something that
was intellectually challengingand would push me in different
ways.
And so that was the uh, pieceand I had experiences in my
career at that point in food andbeverage and working with the
(11:48):
culinary industry, ACA Cola andworking with our food partners
that had given me what I neededto be successful at solving this
problem.
Nice.
Oh can I add one more thing?
For sure.
Important.
I had the support system too.
I think that's just reallycritical and so yeah.
And so I remember when I madethe decision or when I was
making this decision, I calledmy parents, I talked to my
(12:10):
husband, you know, I threw itout to a couple of friends just
to hear reactions
everybody was even moreconfident than I was.
But it was also just reallycomforting and reassuring to
that, okay, I'm gonna try thisreally hard thing but I have
people around me who will, willbe able to support and who will
be willing to support.
And so that was also probablythe third most important thing
(12:30):
for why it made sense and why Idecided to do it.
That's fantastic.
So you didn't just like comehome and tell your husband sorry
work.
I just called in thatconversation.
I just didn't think that's rare.
I actually think the fact thatyou like the people that in your
circle that were encouraging toyou, that's not every
entrepreneur was experienced,right?
Like was they that's a safe job,you know, you got poke where I'm
(12:54):
from is four, oh you get a jobwith four and you just stay
there and that's the way we callit floats sometimes.
Yeah.
So was there any that, like whywould you ever leave poke?
What did you get any of thatreaction here?
You know, I not I'm to my face,my face, but no interesting what
I did get and I think it's a bitof a privilege, but I had worked
(13:15):
really hard and so the reactionI got was, you know, if it
doesn't work out like go back ordo something else and that's not
always a reality.
So I recognize that but it wasalso really, you know, nice push
to make me feel more comfortablein taking the risk.
Fantastic.
That's great.
So I feels like you've answeredthis one but let me ask it again
because then there's anothertakeout this, but how has
(13:37):
motherhood impacted your careerdecision?
Yeah, it's impacted it in a lotand it's interesting as I think
about this, there's actually, I,you know that book Lena.
So I honestly, I didn't love allof it but there was one part of
it that resonated with me, whichwas concept around, um, don't
count yourself out until you'reout.
And as I've had children andstarted trying to make decisions
(13:58):
in my career, really took thatto heart.
And so I say that because Imentioned when I had my daughter
and I actually interviewed forthe Koch jab while I was on
maternity leave.
And so I came back frommaternity leave pretty much
straight into that promotion andI wasn't sure that was the right
decision, but I also wasn't surethat it wasn't the right
decision.
Um, so often in my career Ithink motherhood has obviously
(14:21):
been a really important piece,but I have always taken the
perspective of let me try to seewhat I can do to fulfill me and
my family and then if it doesn'twork, take a step back.
And that has been actually, it'sworked well for me.
And it's similar honestly forthe decision to start Cook
Connect because it is, I meangosh, you know, you're fully
(14:42):
committed, nothing you have tobe to get something off the
ground and go from zero to wineand so was a very big decision
from a motherhood perspectiveand how that might change me or
you know, as a mother I thinkit's made me even better
honestly.
But I also think it has, it hasrequired me to also be very
honest about what's working andwhat's not working because they
(15:05):
feel like as an entrepreneursome things can very quickly
take over because you are sofocused on, you know, trying to
make the vision happen.
There's too much of that I gottapoke.
So what does your not like?
Yeah, some of it for me, I meanit, and I'm a go-getter, but
some of it for me I felt likealmost, you know, pushed too
far.
I think some of the things arevery personal in terms of the
decisions women make around howthey wanna mapping their careers
(15:25):
and that sort of thing.
And some of it felt, you know,very, they're presumptive or
pushy and so that was some ofwhat I didn't love about it.
Honestly, it's been so longsince I read it but I, and so I
remember that feeling.
But I really did like thatconcept that I talked about
because it has helped me I thinkto continue to move forward and
not hold myself back until Irealized, okay, you know what,
(15:46):
maybe this doesn't work.
Yeah, I think I love all of thatbecause I think that right, like
if I look at Cheryl, I meanshe's obviously fantastic.
What gave her that confidence to, to work with, I can't imagine
that she would know had anysemblance of like where that
should go.
Like it's such a big risk eventhough he was smart, like he
probably indicat something out,know what's happened and I don't
(16:06):
know everything about Facebookbut like you can't deny that's a
big impact culturally, butRight.
But I do know but even though Ihaven't been, I've no, I do know
like I
choices, right?
Like when my kids were young Ialways wanted to maximize time.
Can you talk about looking atyour career and making decisions
for so long I wanted to maximizetime with kids part of like
everything around in charge ofall these things.
(16:28):
And then I realized like, okay,but at a certain point are you
being example that you want yourkids?
Mm-hmm
also I'm a big personality andpart of working and this like, I
don't even think I've evershared this but it's pretty
sunny.
Part of my working is like mykids didn't need quite so much
Helen, right?
Like they didn't need quite somuch mom.
They're like, they need tofigure stuff out.
(16:50):
I have a huge personality.
And so just giving them thatspace, they, all of them have
these bigger personalities.
I do.
Just giving them that space.
Even like volunteering inclassrooms and things like that.
Like I don't, I don't reallyvolunteer in classrooms.
I do lots of other things liketotally I've done that.
You know, race kids are, theolder ones are older.
Yeah.
Little ones too, but Valerieones, but you know, they're like
(17:11):
teenagers and I realize thatsometimes in the presence in
their life I wanted to more ofan example of presence.
Does that makes sense?
Yeah.
Oh totally.
No, I totally relate to that Andcause it's, I mean especially I
feel like in this chapter of mycareer they have really
connected with Built and CookConnect and they have, you know,
participated and everything fromlike when we were trying to name
(17:32):
it to when, you know, I'm evenlike testing chefs and every
little bit.
So that's been for me so specialbecause to your point, you're an
example and you're showing thema way to you know, build their
own hopefully livelihood and youknow, and their own future and
take their ideas and make theminto reality and there's so much
power, all of that.
And I feel like they're gettingit so much more from this
(17:54):
experience.
Yeah, I think that's beautiful.
And I shared just like you, Ishare with my kids some more,
some less like ever interested.
Yeah.
How about like when we ask youabout my day, I'm like, okay
look I'm a really cute thingsand this is great learn and
where fail and like think aboutthat.
And I think it's reallyinteresting, powerful, in my
experience, I was raised by twoteachers so my family would
(18:16):
never say like, don't start acompany that they're just,
they're like, it's crazy all thetime, but they're a hard time
about it.
It's not like why are you doingthat?
They're like, that's who you are.
So I just have a differentprinciples.
So, but my husband isentrepreneurial and so that that
kind of only steps with us.
I often think, oh my gosh, mykids are being raised in such a
different way than I was viewingthe world from a different way.
(18:39):
Right?
As teachers there's this, and Iwas a teacher so I know like you
have to know what you're talkingabout.
You have to entrepreneurship,there's so much like don't know
Laura fail, right Failure.
That is something I had to growto in my adult that oh my
goodness, I'm excited for mychildren to really learn that
and benefit.
(19:00):
That's what I'm sure you sharethose stories with your
daughters like a failure or whensomething doesn't work.
Yes, we do.
And that's like, you know, wealways do that.
How is your day today?
And like if I've had a crappyday, I'd tell'em, gosh, it was a
really hard day and this is whyand this is what happened.
And I think it's one, I justthink it's healthy, you know,
for them to know that thingsdon't always go well.
(19:22):
Yeah.
Uh, because they absolutely, youknow, need to be able to roll
with the punches.
It's one of the things that Ifeel like this experience is, is
making me tougher.
Honestly.
You have to get tougher, but I'mhappy to share that with them
because of that.
And when things are great andhelping them understand the
details, they get it.
Some things are a little bitabstract or hard to understand
but like, I met with this personand we talked about this and
(19:45):
then I did this and then I, youknow, followed up on this et
cetera and can follow that.
And I think it just opens theireyes to your point, to a
different way of being, which isreally fine.
Hoping there's curiosity there,there's perseverance there that
starts to really develop forthem.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Okay.
What's the hardest part?
(20:05):
Hold on, sturdy.
You were saying somethingearlier that made me think about
this.
It's the emotional experience.
I'll call it a rollercoaster
And the emotional experience.
And I'll be honest, I don'tthink anybody meant that to me.
You know, everybody talks about,you know, obviously the
challenge of finding your firstusers and you know, financing
the business and all types ofthings that are kind of the nuts
(20:26):
and bolts.
But I don't think people talk alot about just the emotional
component.
I mean cuz it's everything fromyour own confidence, right?
And I've had to work through andthink about that where, you
know, you might have five peopletelling you that you know,
you're not doing the right thingin in one day.
You have to take what's valid inthat feedback, but also have
(20:47):
some conviction around somethings that you're doing.
And so it's a really interestingdevelopment exercise for me in
some ways to emotionally makesure that I am maintaining
confidence in myself, make surethat I'm also not sweating this
semester, you know, in a lot ofways.
And to your point, you have tobe comfortable with that, which
(21:09):
is not my background.
That was not what we did at aCoca-Cola very well or at any of
the other large companies thatworked at very well.
So it's all of those thingswhile there are, there's some I
guess, skill component to it.
There's also a lot of emotionaldevelopment to it.
Oh, and I mean you brought thebrands so you're obviously a
good student.
(21:29):
So straight up you might havethe best educational pedigree on
the podcast.
I'll let you take a look.
As you know, third in HBS ispretty powerful.
That's a pretty powerful time.
Oh shoot.
My husband is was on thepodcast.
He's probably the podcast still.
Oh, he, he likes to say Harvard.
Harvard's second checking.
Totally disregard.
But anyway, so not, so I thinkthat being a good student can be
(21:54):
a hin starting.
It's interesting cause in someways I think you're right cuz
there's a little bit of rulefollowing there and it's
starting companies, there'squite a bit of rule breaking in
other way.
I love that.
And the way that I've addressedthat is by surrounding myself
with people who can help me pushme, you know, in, in some of
those ways can help me get morecomfortable with it.
(22:14):
Even, you know, mentors who arelike, wait you kidding?
For you.
Like, just do it.
Nobody cares.
Try it and figure it out.
Nobody cares yet.
They will.
And then the other piece,education, being a student where
it does help me, I think that Ido love to study like problems
and things like I, I love andespecially people, which is why
I went into marketing and so,and brand.
(22:35):
And so yeah.
So that piece I think helps me.
But you're right, there'sdefinitely, there are definitely
something that I have toovercome, you know, in order to
function as I need to inbuilding a startup.
Yeah, that's super interesting.
Okay.
All right.
What advice?
This is my favorite question.
You know what's funny?
You, you're like, I love thatquestion, the type question
everyone lost question.
(22:56):
Um, which I do too, and I thinkit's really important for my
audience, but this is myfavorite question cause the
answers are so fantastic.
So I'm just gonna set the buttonbars really high soon, y'all let
me down.
So the advice that you, you'llgive to a woman, especially a
mom Yeah.
Who's considering starting atech company, especially if
(23:16):
she's a non-technical founder,what advice would you give to
her?
Such a good question.
And now you're right.
I'm scared of this bar.
You immediately come to mind.
Wait, we've just had a greatconversation.
Obviously you know each otherbefore, but like, I've really
connected with women in thisspace who are more technical
than me, but who are also so, sosupportive.
(23:40):
Like, one of the things that I,and everybody always asks me,
oh, what do you like about, youknow, being in the startup
community in Atlanta is thesupport that is like when I say
number one and it's typicallycoming from women and
underrepresented founders likemyself, and not just us, but
there's something special aboutthe connection we can have with
each other.
So one of my top piece advice isto find your women.
(24:00):
Like find the ladies who are,you know, in the space, know
what they're doing and canreally support you because it is
hard.
It is very hard, right?
And so you need that.
So now I'd have, you know,groups that I'll, you know,
slack or go to lunch with orwhatever I need.
And they can do the same becauseI think we need to help each
other, right?
Yeah.
Get to where we wanna be.
(24:21):
And when I think aboutmotherhood, there's also
something about being reallyclear, even still on why you're
doing this and what you wanted.
Because I do think in last year,in my first year we, there was a
lot that, there's still a lot tofigure out, but there is a lot
to figure out.
I felt like I knew nothing allthe time.
(24:44):
Yeah.
150%.
And that wasn't all healthy forme and my family.
And so I had to remember why Iwas doing this.
The, you know, the purposebehind the problem.
I wanted to solve what I wantedto do for other families, but
also what we wanna do for ourown family.
And so I think that's somethingthat's really important too,
because as I mentioned before,it can be all consuming and
(25:05):
people talk a lot about that.
But you do have, I had someonegimme some great advice at the
top of this year.
Like everything's a choice andyou have to figure out what
choices are right for you.
But make those choices.
Don't, you know, let them, thatis so good.
That's such great advice.
I love it.
I love it.
Everything's a choice.
You make me think about, you'vesaid it a couple times and then
(25:26):
me think about dinner and what,when we're talking about cooking
mats, right?
And we're talking about, we'retalking about home stops and,
but when I'm at dinner and mykids are talking and I'm trying
to focus and then my braintravels off to student work and
then I just bring it back likeit's a choice, right?
Like to be present and Yeah.
And listen, it's, it's like, oh,it's so sweet.
(25:46):
You know, like, oh that'stotally, it's a, the thought of
it like, oh yeah, Ellen, justbring it back.
But when your 10 year old son istalking to you about, you know,
I'm gonna say Star Wars, butthat's one of the more
interesting topics, you know,like what I, we can talk about
some things that I do not careabout.
Okay.
One of his random books.
But that in like that is thehardest thing for me because I
(26:09):
love that he's talking about abook that he's reading and I
just wanna be there and I wannabe present and I want, and then
it's metrics I real, you know,mean and then you come back and
that's, that's real, right?
Like that's part of what yeah,part of what donated company is
about, I think.
Yeah, you think about it all thetime and so to your point you
(26:30):
have to actively, you know, givesome of that time back.
That's fantastic.
Okay, so now everybody in thewhole world's gonna wanna try
Coconut Connect.
We're available.
You're available.
It is latest.
So right now, yes, coming tolocal area, coming to
Nationwide.
So very soon, you guys.
Very soon.
So where can people find you?
And then I hate you have anOscar for I you we did.
(26:53):
So people can go to our websiteto find us and learn more.
It's cook connect.com.
K o n e C t.
So no C in the middle.
But you'll find the, you'll beable to peruse the menu, see
some shafts and even book ifyou're interested.
And if you do book, you can usethe techie promo code.
So it's just techie and thatwill get you$40 off of your
(27:16):
personal service with that.
I love it.
I love it.
So cch y techy book connect$40off.
How awesome was that, Erica,thank you so much for coming
down the strokes.
Absolutely.
Thank you Ellen.
I, it was really fun.
I enjoyed it.
Me too.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you
have to sign up for the are teche email list.
Imagine being in the tech job ofyour dreams.
Join me to get the strategies,training and never ending
support to get hired.
Sign up@utechie.com.
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I'll see your name, start.
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