346: 600K YouTube Subscribers – How Jenné Claiborne Built Her Team, Leaned into Video, and Went From Private Chef to Content Creator

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Hello.

Hello, this is Bjork. As you know, you are listening to the Food Blogger Pro podcast, and today we're going to be talking to Janae Claiborne from Sweet Potato Soul.

I remember years back, Lindsay and I.

Were having a conversation and she's just like, jenny is awesome. She does such good work. She's so inspiring.

And that's why it's so fun to.

Have this conversation with her today. She talks about her mindset around business, how she's really focused on showing up every day and putting good work into the world and the results that that has gotten her. And whether it be, you know, a cookbook deal that leads to Tesla, which.

Was a fun conversation.

It's one of my. Whenever I see a Tesla, I'm like, oh, my gosh, those are so awesome. Jenna on our team, her husband works for Tesla.

They drive a Tesla.

I haven't worked up the courage yet to ask her if I can test drive it, but maybe someday I will. But. So that was a fun conversation, but also just what does it look like to build a business to 700,000 subscribers on YouTube and a successful blog and a cookbook, but also to be an involved parent. And how do you balance those things and make sure that you're being successful in both places? And she talks about her strategy and mindset for a lot of those different things as a successful business owner and what she's learned along the way in the multiple iterations of different businesses that she's had. So it's going to be a great interview.

Really excited about it.

Hey, one thing I wanted to let you know about before we jump into the interview, though, is this survey that we're doing. We want to learn more about you and hear the details for it. It's a podcast listener survey.

First.

You can go to foodbloggerpro.com survey that's going to pull up the survey.

Not only are you going to get.

A chance to see what that survey is and to get the inside look at all of the things that we care about.

That's maybe actually not a huge motivation.

But there's an additional bonus of chance to win $100Amazon gift card. You could buy the Sweet Potato Soul cookbook. You could buy new photography gear. You could buy a little dog that is battery powered and walks on its own, which is what Solvi, our daughter.

Got for Christmas, and she loves it.

So in case you needed some ideas of what you would spend that gift card on so you have a chance to win that, we'll pick somebody from that survey. It'll be open until March 11, the end of the day, so make sure to take action on that now. And after the survey wraps up, we're going to record an episode that recaps the results. So we want to make sure that as many people take that as possible so we can have some information not only for ourselves, to inform how we can make this podcast better, but also to share with you once we release that. So that's enough on Survey again, it's FoodBlockerPro.com survey. Let's go ahead and jump into this interview. Janay, welcome to the podcast. Hi.

I'm so excited to be here. Great.

We had a conversation before we press record where I wish I would have remembered when this was, but there's a time where Lindsay and I were having a conversation. We were looking, I think it was at your Instagram account or something. And we said, so sweet Potato Soul. And we said, Janae just has magic fairy dust. That's a word that we occasionally use around somebody who just has it. I also remember feeling a version of that when I watched Justin Bieber, Never say Never, the documentary. And I remember being like he. Like there's just something about obviously a very different category of like creator and celebrity. But I remember thinking the same thing. Like, do you feel like that's been true for you? Have you always been somebody who has felt comfortable being in front of a camera, like being kind of centered in that world? And was that always something that you'd hope to do was to be a creator or to be somebody who was known by other people?

Yes, absolutely. It's so funny. I was at my mom's house the other day in my old bedroom and I was looking under the bed at all the junk and the papers and the journals and the photos and I pulled out a folder with a four page long written note. I'm sure we had to do this in high school. We had to do a letter to our future selves. I found my letter to my future self. It was like in 10 years type of thing. So now it's been 20, but I finally found it and I, I wrote that I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a famous actress because that is, that is what I wanted to do back then. And that I wasn't sure if I was going to like be there in 10 years. So at 26, but I knew that I was like going to be on my way and I didn't end up becoming an actor technically, I did. I have a BFA in acting.

Sure, sure.

I did go to school for acting. And yeah, when I graduated from school I went to Boston University, I went to, to New York and I was pursuing acting. But once I discovered veganism because I was already in food, once I discovered veganism, I kind of just went a different direction. However, yes, I've always still loved being in front of people. Knew that I wanted to like have a cooking show, just like be in front of people. Because even when I was a little girl I would always be entertaining my family, putting on shows. I used to be, I wanted to be a dancer before I wanted to be an actress. But then I discovered like acting and anyway, so yes, my, in my youngest.

Years I also wanted to be a dancer. Fun fact that we both share. I remember there's, it's so far from my reality right now, but there's these like home videos of me, my parents playing these like random songs that aren't great songs to dance to. And as you can imagine me like, I don't know, I was maybe like three or four.

Oh my God, were You doing, like, interpretive dancing?

Yeah, it was probably a little bit of all of it. Whatever it was, it wasn't good, but in my mind, it was awesome.

Yeah. Yeah.

So it sounds like from your story, when. When you discovered or realized that you wanted to eat vegan, was that a kind of a pivot in your path? Like, was that this a significant kind of juncture along the journey that redirected you, or was it discovering, like, oh, I can actually create content on YouTube. I can do my own cooking show. And so I don't need to, like, go in this direction of trying to, like, get signed to a movie or commercials or a show. Where. Where did that pivot for you?

It was a mix, for sure. So before I became vegan and I was in New York and I was pursuing acting, so I was. I was auditioning for theater, for television, movies, commercials, everything. I was even doing print modeling. But about a year and a half into, like, actually pursuing this career professionally, I realized I didn't want to do it. I realized I actually wasn't passionate about it. Like, I thought I was.

What was that moment that you realized it? Do you remember? Or was it a slow realization?

It was a slow realization. It was going to auditions for things that were like. Yeah, in my head, below me, because I was trained, you know, classically trained actress, and I'm going out for, like, the dumbest commercial.

Sure. You know, like a Mucinex commercial. Yeah. It's like.

And they're not even having me act, you know, it's just like, make a face and, like, turn around and that's it. It was like.

Right.

Not exactly what I thought I'd signed up for, you know, and so I, like, my passion for it was wearing off, and I didn't really have the same fire that I had in school. In school, it's fun. Like, you can be whatever you want in school. You know, you could play. You know, I'd play men sometimes in theater. It was just, like, so much more experimental and interesting. And then the real world, it just wasn't like that at all. Also, the money, you know, of course, if you become, like, a famous actor, you're gonna get paid so much. But I wasn't making as much money as I thought I could. Theater wasn't paying as much as I thought it would. And then I also didn't like my. I had a great manager or agent, so it wasn't him, but I just didn't like the whole arrangement. So I. The whole.

What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that, like how that relationship worked? Like.

Yes, exactly.

Management agent relationship, like, just didn't feel like I. That's how you want to work?

Exactly, exactly. Because, you know, like, for me, like I'm saying, I. I actually thought I had gone to school for like, to. To do like just Broadway and to like Shakespeare, essentially. And my agent, who actually also graduated from Boston University, the same program, he was like, you know, this is a commercial thing. Like you got to go out for everything. And I would. Of course, I wasn't at the level where I could be picky about the role of I was going out for like, you gotta be pretty famous to be doing that. So. Which is great. Like you should, you know, you have to pay your dues, you have to be humble. But in order for me to be able to pay my dues and be humble, I also really needed passion, which I just didn't have for it.

Like, you have to grind for 10 years and while grinding, you have to be like, actually kind of like grinding.

Yes, you have to like grinding. You have to feel good about it. You have to know that like this is part of your journey and you're going to get to the end place that you just want to be. And I just didn't have it like.

Your soul dried out after doing a commercial shoot, being like exhausted.

Exactly. And being in like, I would do, I would do commercials where I would say at the time, like I said I was living in New York, we would literally film a commercial for like, you know, all weather. So we'd be wearing like skirts and our toes out, short sleeves. And we would film it in 20 degree weather. And then we'd like scurry back into the. The trailers or they would set up like heaters on the street. I filmed one of the first things, I can't remember what it's for was some sort of. It was a commercial for something. And we would. They had heaters on the street and we would all group, you know, bundle around heaters and shake and freeze. And at the end of all of that, I think the shoot was like multiple days, like 12 hour days. The end of it. I didn't even get that much money. That was like, oh, like a stab in my heart, like, why did I waste my time? You know?

And it's, it's almost like this separation of art and commerce where it's like there's this, there's this bucket of commerce acting where it's like, you get paid, you should show up and do it. But it sounds like it wasn't necessarily art, and it's.

Right.

And it's maybe if you go in the category of art, there's not a lot of the commerce, like you're not exactly paid until you get to this top of the triangle where you're able to do both, where you get $20 million to do it. Yeah, right, right.

That's like 20 people. You can like, count those people.

Yeah, totally.

They're that famous.

I had a friend who lived in LA for time. He was older than I was, and so he was kind of like middle career and he went out to LA to do acting. He did a few commercials and he said eventually just got like, burnt out, moved back to Minnesota. But he said it was interesting because he was at a stage in life where some of his friends who did, like, grind for 10 years started to book, like, movies and like, supporting roles. He's like, he. He said to imagine doing what I was doing for 10 to 15 years. He's like, it just wasn't worth it to me. So it's interesting to hear you kind of talk in parallels to that. So this combination of discovering, hey, I'm really. I am passionate about some things. Acting, kind of artistry and vegan, was there. Was there kind of a crossroads for those two things to say, wait a minute, like, maybe I can chart my own path and not have to, like, grind and hope and pray that eventually I get to this place. Maybe I can just get to this place now and when I am grinding, it's actually going to be enjoyable. Is that parallel, kind of what your story was?

And that's exactly. Did you say commerce? That was a huge part of it, too. The money.

Sure, yeah, yeah.

I got a job at a restaurant like all actors do, and it was a vegan restaurant. Eventually, after a year working there, I became vegan also. I was already interested. I was already like vegetarian pescatarian. So when I became vegan, it was as though I had an epiphany and like a light bulb went off. I realized, oh, my God, this is the thing I can do. Because I knew I didn't want to be an actor. But like I said, I have a BFA in acting. Like, what else am I going to use that for? So I didn't feel qualified to do anything else. And I was kind of going through like an early, very early quarter life crisis. So I became vegan. And it was, like I said, an epiphany. Oh, my God, I can do this. I didn't know exactly what that would look like. But I knew I loved the idea of being an entrepreneur because I grew up, my parents are entrepreneurs, Knew I liked that. I loved being in control. I never wanted to work for anybody. And then the third thing was I knew I could make money. I could control my money. But how? So, like I said, I was working in this restaurant in the Upper west side, so it's very wealthy area. I realized maybe I can start a private chef company because I'm a great cook. I couldn't afford to go to culinary school, but I knew I was a great cook. So I started this private chef company, and that was my way forward as far as having something I'm extremely passionate about. Feeling like I have so much purpose around that as well. Helping people become vegan for the animals, for their health, for the environment. And I have all the control. And I'm working for rich people. So I can charge, like, a really great amount of money. Way more than I was making doing those stupid commercials, you know?

Yeah.

I'm like, really in charge.

What was that like to get your first clients?

How did that happen? Let me tell you how long it took. First off, I started my business. I'm doing air quotes here because I started the business in, like, October or something. Sending my email and my little newsletter. Did all this is October of 2011. And by the way, I already had my blog. I started my blog 2010. And I didn't even say that because I started as a hobby. While I was still trying to figure out the acting thing. I was, like, not really thinking about it. It was a hobby private chefing company. I called it the Nourishing Vegan. I started it in 2011, like October, maybe November. And I was hustling, hit the ground, had my little flyers put up flyers at the restaurant where I worked at. I talked to all the patrons. All the people were like, you're rich. You can hire me. You don't need to keep coming to the restaurant. I could cook for you. I gave them. I told everybody what I was doing. I would do tastings at nail salons, yoga studios, hair salons, anywhere they would have me. I would bring my little food, set up a little table, have my flowers, and make it look real beautiful, professional. I'm trying to appeal to these people. I did not get a client until May 2012. It took, like six months to get my first client. It was torture. But I never gave up because I'm not that. I just, I'm. I just don't give up. If I pursued acting I would probably be a famous actress by now. Like, that's. I never, ever, ever, ever, ever give up if I like it.

Totally. That was going to be my question, and maybe that's the answer is what was different between saying, you know what, I'm not acting no more, but maybe a similar type of struggle around this, but sticking with it to the point where you were able to book your first clients. What was different between those two scenarios?

Because I had like this, this whole food thing. Veganism to me at that time was still so new to me. You know, I. I was doing my blog, so I was experimenting with recipes and sharing them on the blog. And that was just. I would get a little bit of feedback, maybe like one or two comments, but that would meant the world to me and I really felt like I had a purpose. I felt like I need to help change the world by making other people go vegan. Whoever wants to go vegan, they need to know me because I'm going to help them.

Yeah, it was a really strong why.

Yes. I feel like I was born to do this. I feel like I was born to be vegan and born to help other people become vegan. I never felt that about anything else in my life. Still to this day, I still feel that way. Yeah, that is the only thing I've ever had that drive for.

Yeah, that's really cool. So what did that. What? So you have your. And when you said you started your blog, that was Sweet potato soul in 2010.

And then.

Yeah, and then you start the nourishing vegan as kind of business where you're doing private chef. So is that like parties, gatherings, or is it like an individual who's like, I want to eat vegan, then I have no time to do it. Help me, please.

It was everything, but it was mostly the latter. So cooking for clients on a weekly basis, that first client, within like a month, it turned into three because she was her friends on board. Yeah. And then that turned into like five or six. Then Google found my website. And so if you would search in New York City for a private chef, personal chef, for, you know, vegan or vegetarian, I would be the very first to pop up. Awesome. So that just kind of took off from there. And so what I would do was like, yeah, cook for the same people every week. There's only, of course, so many people I could cook for. I was doing meal delivery where on Sundays I would cook from my home and then deliver the food. I was also doing supper clubs in my own house and also around the city. I was doing a lot of cooking classes in public places like Whole Foods at the time, had a couple different locations where you could do cooking classes in the stores, beautiful culinary kitchens. And then I'd also do cooking class in people's homes. People would hire me for a birthday party to learn how to cook vegan, or one on one, they're just becoming vegan. So I ran the gamut. I did all sorts of stuff all throughout New York. And it was. It was great. I was only me. I never hired anybody. And of course, I could have scaled more if I had hired other people, but I just wanted all the money to myself. I was like, first real business. I was parting with anything. I was, like, was so successful doing so well.

It's what. What I think is so great about that is I think sometimes people in general will feel behind because they're just starting out. So an example being like, somebody starting today to build an Instagram following. I'm so far behind. Everybody's worked so hard to do this. But I think what we discredit sometimes is all of our previous experience that leads up to that point and the asset that we have in those seemingly uncorrelated skills and abilities that can be in some way folded into what we are doing now. I see that in a really obvious way with what you were doing in acting, where I would imagine part of doing. If you're doing, like, an event where you're with people, it's like you need to understand people and the feel of a room and to feel comfortable on your feet, to, like, come up with stuff. It moves into, like, an improv version of acting. But, like, definitely that. That's like, there's probably. Well, I guess it's a question. Do you feel like there were things that you learned or knew from your. Your experience as an actor that rolled into this new business?

Yes, 100%, that presentation. So presenting myself. So much of what you learned in acting school is not actually acting, but it's about, like, embodying a character. Right. So. But like, beyond, like, way before you get to, like, saying words and actually acting, but, like, putting on a character. So I was able to. I'm actually. I'm. I'm actually like an introvert, even shy person, but nobody would know because I'm. I actively put something on to, you know, like, even having this conversation with you right now, I'm like, I was. I got prepared earlier and I was, like, super nervous. And, like, you know, I'm like, I still feel very nervous. But I'm an actress, so I have, like, this Persona that I put on top.

Is it an actual, like, Is it a named Persona in your mind? Okay, no, but it's a mind, and I know some people have that where.

Yeah, they'll be like, Beyonce, Sasha Fierce.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm thinking of. That's what I'm thinking of. Where. Yes. But for you, it's putting on the Persona or the character of what it's.

Just a character of. It's another me. And I've always had to be like this because I have a very boisterous family, and it's hard to get a word in that type of family. And as a kid, I was very shy, and it was hard for me to talk to anyone, so I had to basically learn how to, you know, be, in a way, comfortable. And, like, I had to. I had to really actively develop myself to fit into the family, you know, and that person who I developed being, you know, I'm very outgoing and, you know, I want to entertain. That is something that, like, I became this person, like, consciously.

Yeah.

I can think back to as a kid, like, you know, thinking like, oh, I have to make sure that I'm louder or I have to get them to look at me, because if they don't look at me, they're just. I'm literally going to be forgotten, you know? So I have to do this to have them look at me.

Yeah.

I think it's inspiring. It would be inspiring for people who are listening, who can resonate with that idea of being, like, shy or, like. And that would be this way, too. Like, if I have a weekend where I'm not doing anything and it's just me in the house, like, some people go crazy. I'm like, I live for that. Like, awesome.

Thanks. Don't come over Nobody.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think for people to hear you and to see you and to see how you are and to know that that's something that you've worked on is inspiring because it can be a skill that you develop, and you can be aware of it, and you can. You can move towards whatever. It might be, like, being more comfortable in front of people, or for some people, it might be speaking. So I think that's. It's really cool to hear you talk about that and inspiring in a lot of ways.

So.

At what point were you like, you know what this is. This business is successful, and this is a thing in the early stages, it's like, is this going to Be a thing. And then with the business, I feel like you're growing it and it looks like it could be a thing. Was there a point where you're like, wait, this is a thing?

Well, okay, kind of. Because keep in mind, now, technically at this point, I only have one business, the Nourishing Vegan. But I also have the blog.

Yeah.

I'm interested in the parallels of how those work together.

I always did them at the same time. I started the. I started the. My YouTube channel before I even started my business. The Nourishing Vegan.

Sure.

Because back then it wasn't obvious how you would ever make money from a blog or a YouTube channel. It was like more. It was so difficult to just build your subscribers and your viewers and your traffic for the blog. That's like, I'm not going to put on ads, you know, I don't care. I have another business. I don't need it.

Not worth it.

It's not worth it. Early stages.

Yeah.

And for the blog, if you know, I'd often. I was reading a post about, you know, about this yesterday. There's a blog post on my blog, of course, about the recipe is for my vegan crab cakes. And really, the whole blog post is like trying to like, I'm like advertising my supper club in my house.

Yeah, right.

All the photos about that.

Like, that's the thing you're promoting.

Yes. It was like pushing. I'm trying to push people to the Nourishing Vegan, to my supper clubs. It was called the Little Harlem Kitchen, but that's what. That was the goal of the blog. I never was trying to monetize it, but I did the blog on YouTube because it was fun. Like, why not? Like, I never thought, like, oh, this is a burden. I need to stop. This is a waste of time. It just, I just never. They just never considered that it was just fun. It would be great if it grew into something else. So why not just do it now? In 2016, I was doing very well with the Nourishing Vegan, but the blog and the YouTube channel. So sweet Potato Soul was also starting to grow. I don't remember what my traffic was. I don't remember what my subscribers were, but I had started paying more attention to growing my platforms, specifically the YouTube. I don't remember social media. I don't remember the advent of Instagram, though. I was there and I was posting, but I can't even tell you back then. I have no idea. I don't remember. But the blog and YouTube, I was starting to pay more attention to starting in like 2015. So what happened was I was on the train with a friend who is an author of. I think now she's on her. She's written 12 books. At the time it was 10. And she said, who, who was it?

We can give a little.

This is Victoria Moran.

Okay.

Yeah. And she's an amazing. She's a vegan author. But prior to writing mostly about veganism, she was more a self help spirituality author. And she also lived in Harlem. We were going home and she said, janae, I think it's time for you to write a cookbook.

Yeah.

I was like, maybe, but who's going to buy it? You know, like my 12 clients. She's like, well, you know, you have your, your blog and your YouTube channel. Like, I think it's like you're doing really well. So she saw that in me, which I didn't even. I didn't think I was ready. She referred me to her, her literary agent. He signed to me. And then 2016 was like the big year for me. At the beginning of 2016 1, I got my first sponsorship deal. Sure, I had never reached out to a brand. I wasn't trying to do that. But a brand was the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission. They reached out to me for a year or six month long ambassadorship. That was my first ever paid anything for Sweet Potato Soul.

So that immediately opens the door into like, this is a thing.

Yeah, isn't that funny? It's like the other brands might have noticed or something because then after like a month, then I'm like, oh, here's two more brands want to work with me. And you know, and it just kind of snowballed. That was crazy because I'm still, remember, I'm still doing the nourishing vegan. I'm still doing my supper club. I'm still having my, my cooking clients. I'm starting to get busier. Then in June 2016, I got a book deal with Harmony, which is the imprint of Random House, Penguin Random House. So that was a big deal too. And so now I'm having even more sponsorships and my YouTube channel is growing, my blog is growing. Like, I'm not even really trying to. And then now I have a book deal. So what happened was I just kind of got overwhelmed and I had to start passing my clients off to other private chefs. I was just like referring them away and saying, I'll be back. I just have like six months to write this book, but let me do this. And then I'll be back to you. Like the beginning of 2017. That never happened.

Things just kept. Yeah. And it's interesting because you had done a lot of work up until that point, like you had been putting coal into the fire. And it's almost like four or five years of doing that with no intent, it sounds like. With no intent of that being like, please, when is this thing going to take off? But like, hey, I just enjoy the process of doing this. And eventually there's enough coal in the engine where it started to go forward. And then it's kind of like it feels like you're trying to like, captain two different. Or what?

No.

Yeah. A train conductor. You're trying to conduct two different trains.

Different trains, definitely. And it's funny because it's not like. But it's. There's no. It's not an accident. Right. That's a blog. And YouTube took off and then I bought. That's a book deal because I was very intentional about my business. It's funny, like, the end of 2015 and beginning of 16, I was very much thinking. I was thinking, how am I going to grow my private chef company? I need to bring on other chefs so I can take on more clients. I was getting so much traffic to my private chef company, I just had to, like, turn people away. So that was my focus. But at the same time, I wasn't just being loosey goosey with the blog and the YouTube. I was very intentional. Like, I want to post the video every week. I want to do a blog post every week. I got to get better with my food photography. Constantly, like, I was very constant constantly, constantly thinking like that. It just, I just wasn't monetizing it, you know, I just wasn't expecting to make money.

It sounds like you're reaching out to sponsors.

Yeah, yeah, I wasn't doing that or I didn't have ad network or anything like that.

Yeah. And I think what I want to point out is like, you were really. And you just said this but, like, real, really intentional with it, but weren't trying in the sense of like, oh, I just want to make money from this. I need to make money from it.

Because I didn't have to.

And I think that's what's so great, is you have. I'm trying to think of a good on the fly, like, way to brand this. But the best thing I've come up with in the last 60 seconds is like a bridge business. But you built this bridge between where you are now and where you were before. Where It's a business in the sense that you have complete control, you don't have a boss. But it's maybe not scalable in the way that YouTube or Instagram or these other businesses, business units are, but it did allow you. It sounds like flexibility, autonomy, like you could, in a season where you have to do the cookbook, pass off some clients to other people. And I love that idea of working first towards, like a bridge business, to allow you to have kind of the freedom of flexibility, like in your case, to not have to really push to do sponsorships that might have not been a good fit or to monetize too early, which. It's just really cool to see that. And I think the first time that it's been such a clear example of somebody doing that, which is really cool to see. So was it hard for you to wind down a successful business or was there enough progress with Sweet Potato Soul where it was like, oh, this feels like the right thing to do? Or is any part of you that kind of wanted to hang on to that?

Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was very hard. And it's still, like, I still have that website up. Yeah, I still use the email.

That's part of. When I was like, oh, I need to ask about this. Because, like, this is the email. And I was like, so this must be like a bigger. But it's. It sounds like, not like, yeah, okay.

My business now is Sweet Potato Soul llc. It's not, you know, like, I have a whole different business. And it was hard. And even thinking about it now, it is hard. Like, I don't want to. Like, there's a part of me where I'm like, oh, I can always go back to that. Or, you know, I just cannot. For some reason. I just. All that work, even though I haven't done it in, like, it's been. It's been six years. It's been five and a half, actually. I just cannot let it go. And I still update it sometimes. I just can't let it go.

Do you still get people reaching out?

Yep. Yeah, about once a day.

Oh, really?

One email a day? And now, because I was in New York and then I moved to Los Angeles and now I'm here in Atlanta, now I get primarily emails from LA because I've only been here in Atlanta for like, six months.

Sure.

So now people think I'm in la. So at least once a day I get an email from someone in LA wanting to book me. So.

Interesting. So if the last thing on that before we move on. But what would your advice be? Or what did you learn about business with that first stage of kind of your business development and your career?

I learned a lot about the need to. To outsource, even though I wasn't doing it.

Sure.

But looking back, especially, you know, everything is clear and 2020 hindsight. But looking back, I see, like, how I really could have scaled more and still been able to have the nourishing vegan and sweet potato soul. If I were able to relinquish some of that control and hire other chefs and bring on, you know, maybe an assistant to help me even to just coordinate other people's schedules, I could still technically have that business. And I think that's one of the reasons I haven't let it go, because I'm like, maybe I'll do it.

Like, maybe there's something there.

Yeah, maybe there's something there still. But definitely, I. That was the biggest thing. You know, if you want to grow, you need to, like, you. You say it all the time and hear it all the time on your podcast. You know, it's not not who, but how, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah.

Yeah, that's.

Or not how about who?

Is it not how about who, not how, not how, but who, not how, but who idea being for those who aren't familiar. And this was. This actually came up in conversation. It's a name of a book which I haven't read, but I feel like it's one of those books where it's just the title. Like, that's. That's the takeaway. Um, but. But I notice of myself sometimes, I'm like, oh, how do I do this? How do I do this? But as business owners starting to think about who knows how to do this and go to that person. And an example being, like, in my previous life did it and, like, actually really, like, troubleshooting stuff. Like, there's a little part of me that's like, anytime. Yeah, exactly. Like, I forget what it was the other day, but something came up where I had to troubleshoot it. It was just, like, the best. It was 15 minutes of, like, troubleshooting this tech issue, and I loved it, but it's like, I can't do that for, you know, if we have a team of 16 people who have random stuff. So it's like, who? And we hired a, you know, fractional kind of IT service, and they remote in and they help. And so I think that's a. That's a great takeaway. Did you roll that. Those learnings into sweet potato souls you started to scale that up. And I'm curious to know how the learnings of the first stage or first chapter impacted the next chapter.

Oh, my gosh, yes. And I'm still learning. Yeah, like every single day. Right? It's a learning experience constantly. But yes, I definitely did just organization as well was super important for going into sleep with datasoul, because like my old business, I in sleepy Data soul, it's not just the blog. I've got the Instagram, I've got, well, just social media in general. I've got the YouTube channel. I have the blog, I have the newsletter. And so it's like all these little different parts. And so, yes, I had to grow a team. Didn't want to. I had a lot of fear around that.

Where do you think that fear came from?

Letting go of control. Like just afraid that someone else isn't going to do it as well as I would do it and. Or they would take such a long time doing it the right way that I might as well just do it by myself.

How did you overcome that?

Just letting them do it, surely. Like hiring people.

Exposure therapy.

Yeah, exposure therapy. Also hiring the wrong people and becoming even more afraid. Oh, my God. See? Confirmation bias. I knew it wasn't going to work out, but still, I know, like, on an intellectual level that in order to scale and grow my business, I need to bring in the people who, you know, to help me. So I knew this person didn't work out, but yes, I will find the one who does. Yeah, that's a struggle because I'm, you know, like most of us, like all of us, I'm led by emotion primarily, not my intellectual. So it was hard, but yes, I just pushed myself.

It's one of those things that I think is a skill working with people, working with the team, but we don't think of it as a skill. And I think there's certain categories that we definitely think of as skills. Playing guitar, skateboarding, like cooking. Cooking, painting. And we're like, oh, my goodness, like, I'm terrible skateboarder, but I'm like, if I could do this for five to 10 years, then I'll maybe be a good skateboarder. Right?

Yeah.

I'm a bad dancer. Five to ten years. Maybe I can be doing a YouTube dance.

Right? You'd be Michael Jackson.

But I think when we think of, like working with a team or hiring, that's something we don't necessarily put in the category of a skill. But I think it is, like, we need to get better at it. We need to improve at it. I remember this conversation I was having with Lindsey. We were driving down the highway and we were talking about kind of next chapter type stuff where we see things going. This is maybe a year or two ago, or two to three years ago. Covid kind of warps everything. But I remember saying to her, I think that all the stuff that I've been good at I kind of have to let go of and I have to get good at this new thing, which is like figuring out how to work with people. And it's abstract and I don't really understand it, but what I love about some of the things that you shared was this realization of, like, hey, you know what? Like, I need to just commit to doing this. I know it needs to happen. And so you just do it and learn over time. Hey, this did work. This didn't work. And continuing to commit to it. So what does that look like now for you? What are the things that you've learned and who are the kind of team members, whether contracted, freelance full time, that are most important for your day to day?

Yeah, so I actually brought on. I hired my first team member in 2019. It didn't work out, but then I. So I actually didn't have anybody else. Also because I'm shy and because I'm an introvert.

Yep.

I don't want to say I'm shy. I don't like to say that because.

Introvert.

Definitely I'm over that now.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

The introvert is strong. I just don't like having a lot of people around me. I just rather just work from home, work by myself. That I like that. So that's another reason I didn't want to bring anybody on because I didn't want to have to talk to people.

It's a work preference. Whereas some people would be like more people around me, the better. I want to work with the team. I want to have more calls.

Yeah, exactly. And I'm the type of person who, because of this, like, the way I am, I. If there are people around, I can sit in silence. However, I'm going to want to entertain you. I'm going to want to like, feed you. I want to make you laugh.

So, like, you have some burden of like entertaining, hosting, making people feel comfortable. Yeah.

And then of course, when you hire people, you have. For me, I have that. But for all of us, when you hire people, you have the burden of actually having to give them work and pay them. And so now you are their employer and they count on you. And that's like a whole another. It's a whole different thing. Right. So I didn't want any of that. So I hired my next team member. I thought she was just going to be part time. The very beginning of 2021. I waited a whole year.

Yeah.

So I hired her and now she's full time. She's been with me since I think January 4, 2021. Just over a year now. Full time, the entire time. I don't think we ever did part time. Maybe for like a day.

Sure.

And she's great. And her role has kind of morphed. She. At first I hired her just as an assistant because at the time my husband, my ex and I, we were splitting up and I was expecting for him to just move out of the house. And I just needed help, you know, like being a single mom, managing all that stuff. Hired her. I don't think she ever did any of the assisting stuff because I'm like, well, you know what I really need you to do?

And she's smart, capable.

Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. She's also a videographer. She went to school for that. So then she became my videographer and my editor. She's still full time, even though I don't even live in the same state anymore. Now we're in Georgia. She's still full time. She mostly does all my editing. She also does, like my newsletter. She does a lot of my social media. Not my Instagram, I haven't outsourced that yet. But all the other stuff, Facebook, Twitter, you know, helps me with project management. And I. When I moved down here to Atlanta, I also hired a videographer here. And he's been amazing. He's part time and he has his own business, so he does lots of other things as well. And I also hired a part time personal assistant because now I am a legit single mom.

Totally.

I really needed that.

That's awesome. I. One of the. So I read this book. I think I put it up there. I won't grab it, but it's called your world class assistant. Michael Hyatt, who is a. He speaks a lot about like leadership and business and whatnot. Anyways, hired Mary, who came on board as an executive assistant. I'm like, how do I. How do I even do this? One of the things that was really interesting, Mary's in Michigan, but was. They talked about the importance of that actual. When you're a business owner, it's your work and your life and those aren't separate. It's all mixed together. I know I'm interested to know. Well, and the other piece within this is, I think sometimes we do think of them as separate. And so it's like we have our business over here. I need to hire for my business. But I think for some people, a good first step is actually to figure out how can you hire for somebody to help with all of your other life stuff, which you're doing two, three, four hours. Who knows a day of that life stuff. What was that like for you to hire a personal assistant? What's most helpful about that relationship and how did you find that person?

Oh, my God. So helpful. She is. She's a godsend. Because. So first off, what it was like, was a little difficult because I. I have this thing where I don't want, you know, I. I just want to feed you, I want to take care of you. I want to be your personal assistant.

Yeah, totally. Like, it's uncomfortable for you to have somebody taking care of you.

Right. Like, can you take the recycling and the trash out? For me, like, that makes me uncomfortable. And I grew up, My mom has a cleaning service and my dad has, like, a commercial janitorial company.

Yeah.

So I grew up very blue collar. I started working at cleaning houses at 8 years old.

Yeah.

So that was like. That's like my background. Background. So I think I have, like, a thing about actually hiring somebody to do that. Like, I've never hired a cleaning service. Now that I live in Georgia, I have a cleaning service because they. It's my mom. Like, she does the cleaning. Like, I never felt comfortable for. Whatever. Anyway, hiring a personal assistant was like that too. Because you do, like in the job listing I posted it on. Indeed. It's very long. And in the job listing, I'm just like, you know what? I'm uncomfortable with all this, but I'm going to write it out because then I'll find someone who is comfortable with all this.

You. You say, here's exactly what it will be as opposed to saying like, personal assistant and like, oh, yeah, P.S. it's taking out the trash and recycling. Sorry. Actually, you know what? I'll just do it. I'll just do it.

Yeah, exactly.

If that's like a line item on the job description.

Yeah.

Write it all. Laundry, Take it out of the trash. Clean the kitty litter box. Like, everything I wrote, everything I. What I did, I took like a week to notice with my. What my ex does a lot because, you know, I was so busy with my daughter and yeah, just like my business. So my ex was doing a lot of this stuff that my assistant does now. And so I just was like. And he, he and I worked together with this. Like, what do you do? Okay, yeah, clean the litter box. Because I'm not gonna do that.

Yeah.

Just together. Made this very long list. Posted it on. Indeed. I got a lot of. I did the same job listing in LA and here in Atlanta literally just reposted. So I got a lot of interest both times. And the first person I hired in LA worked out great. She's still full time. The first person I hired here in Atlanta did not work out. Long story, but didn't work out. So I found another who is my assistant now. And she's great. She will do all of that stuff. She's very sweet. My daughter loves her. As you know, we're just all here at home and she's helpful with my business as well. That's amazing. She can take photos for me, which I also put in the listing. Like literally everything I needed her to do, I put it in the listing. She can take photos. She can read books to my daughter. She can right now because she's a lot younger. Great thing about working with like people in their 20s.

Yeah.

She's like way ahead on like TikTok and reels and everything because I don't even pay attention. Attention. So she. That she's my TikTok girl now. Let her do that. That's like her part time. Part time, yep. So she does everything, you know, she does have to do around the house and then she's like on the computer, like scheduling, you know, like planning my tick tocks and like, okay, Friday, we're gonna film this tonight.

That's awesome.

So it's great.

Yeah, it's. I think what's inspiring for me to see with your story as it relates to that is this idea of coming up against a complex problem and then figuring out a solution for it. And I think essentially that's what we're doing as entrepreneurs is it's a never ending set of problems, complex problems that we're coming up against. And it's both personal and it's work and they're overlapped and it's figuring out how do we both get what we need in our personal lives and our business and working with other people to do that.

Exactly.

Cool to see that. So you mentioned TikTok. You mentioned earlier YouTube. You have almost 700,000 followers on YouTube now, which is incredible. Instagram. I'm curious to know, when you look at the pie chart of your business, what are the areas that you are like, hey, this is the important thing for me, this YouTube is 50% of kind of the value of my business. And TikTok is 5% or whatever it might be. Would you be able to rank order, like, the top three parts of your business?

Well, TikTok is zero. Oh, my God, I have such a tiny TikTok. It's so sad. So sad. But I haven't really. So let's see. I'm going to value it, like, actually, like, monetarily, not just in my head, because in my head, number one is the blog, but in real life, the blog is not number one. So I would say. I would say 50% Instagram. I would say 20, 15 to 20% YouTube. I would say, yeah, 15 to 20% YouTube. And then the rest, I would just put the blog. The blog. And I'm gonna put the blog and the newsletter together because those are very tied together. So blogging, newsletter and then other social media. Facebook. Let's give them Facebook, Pinterest. Let's give them like, 1%. We'll put TikTok in category, too.

Yeah.

Instagram is one.

It's interesting. When you look at just pure follower count, you'd think, wait, YouTube's really big. That should be more. What's the difference between those two platforms? Is it sponsorships and brands and that just being more aligned on Instagram right now than it is on YouTube.

Yeah. And it goes back and forth too, also for me, not just so for money. Yes. Right now more money is in Instagram and in TikTok, specifically Reels and TikTok, however, like, two years ago, it was far heavier leaning towards you. YouTube. YouTube was the biggest thing. Like, even. Even I had, like, you know, maybe a third of what followers that I have now, but it was still like, this is super, super, super important to have a YouTube channel. And people were paying a lot of money. Now I talk to brands, and I'm actually not really working with brands at the moment. But, you know, in the last year or so, they'd be like, we're not really focusing on YouTube now. When I give them my ratings, like, yep. They'd be like, can we cut this? And how much money can we save? That sort of thing.

But yeah, they would be focusing on Instagram.

Yeah, Reels. It's got to be video.

Sure.

I don't know. I don't. Is anybody doing. Maybe they still are. I'm not. I don't really know. But as far as with me in the last year, the main focus for every single One of my partnerships, not everyone, but the majority has been video. And so that's either reels. It's right now going forward, it's going to be reels until Instagram changes their whole approach. But in the last year, it was just video in general. Instagram was just any type of video. IGTV video directly to the feed or reels. Yeah, anything would work.

Yep. Interesting. And YouTube kind of waning. So you're still probably able to earn ad revenue from YouTube, but it's not like passive thing. Right. It's just kind of going in the background. Whereas Instagram, you're able to get aligned brand deals. It sounds like focus on video. And then your blog, any traffic there monetized via ads and potentially sponsored content there. Interesting to hear you talk about the importance of video. Not only the significance of that, just in terms of the traction, but also I think one of the opportunities, one of the benefits there is like, you are a good video person. It's probably both of those things. Like, if you were somebody who, like, you know, would fumble over your words and, like, not know what to do. And it's another example of that.

I do that too.

Sure. Like your career in acting impacting what you do now. It's like in some. What's cool for me to see is like. And maybe this kind of brings it full circle in the conversation. It feels like you're. You've maybe fully realized your dream of.

Oh, yeah.

Becoming an actor. Do you feel like that's true?

Oh, yeah. Well, the actor, it's not.

It's not acting. It's not a different character.

Like you are you.

But it's. It's. You are getting paid to.

Yes.

To the high level of it is you're getting paid to. To be on video and for people to watch that.

Exactly. And I'm probably getting paid more than the other people who I graduated with.

Right.

Are like, actually acting.

Yeah. Yeah. And in part of that, having to. The reason for that, like, you own your brand, like, everything about it is. Is owned by you, which is cool to see.

Oh, I should also put the cookbook in that category too.

Sure.

In one of the pieces. My cookbook came out in 2018, so it's been a long time, but it's always done very well. And so a good part of my, like, my fancy car is paid for by my book royalties that I get every six months. So that's also really good to have a cookbook that actually will buy.

What is. I'm curious, when you say fancy Car. What is your fancy car?

My car. I have a Model Y. A Tesla.

You do?

I do.

I was going to say, don't tell me it's a Tesla because I'm going to be so jealous. You love it.

I do. Yeah. We get one. Okay.

You just can't. No, I. We have a. Here's what I have. I have a super Outback, and I drive like two miles every day. Like, I drive here to the office and I drive home. So there's that. But also. But also, like, I don't drive enough for the battery to be fully charged. So literally every day I have this little. It's. It's the worst. And we need to get a fix. There's probably an easy fix for it. I just. I jump it every day. Like, I go out to the car. I Even in the. It's negative 10 today, I go. I hook up a battery, I start it. So anyways, I do have an appointment to see what's. What's wrong with it. But there's been multiple times that I've thought, like, oh, man. Model. I wouldn't have to do this if it was.

Yeah. I mean, this car is so easy. And here's the thing. I'm not a person to get a fancy car. It's just that because I just separated with my ex, I needed a car because he took the car. I would have been happy to take that car. That was a little ionic also. It was a hybrid, so very good on gas. I would have been fine. It's totally fine. But I didn't have any car at all.

This was your opportunity to be like.

Yeah, my dad talked me into it.

You can maybe draw a little bit of a parallel to like, here's this money I'm getting here. Yes, I this off.

And it's the only way because for me, you know, we haven't talked about money. Money. But for me, I've always been very good with money. And I'm very conservative, especially with money. And for me, if I'm going to have a. Literally a liability, like that car is sitting on the street right now. Somebody just like rent Ram into is such a liability. So if I have any liability that has to be paid for by some passive form of income, it has to. That's my rule.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's why it's connected to the book royalties, because. And I financed the car. I didn't pay for it in cash. I financed it so I can invest the money elsewhere. And that my royalties, that is what pays for that. Car, otherwise I would not have bought that car. I don't care how much money I have. It's just like a trick in my brain that's just like. Like, how do you get rich without also, like, saving and investing is not by buying fancy cars and, like, just paying for it from, like, hard work. So anyway, that's why I'm the next car.

If you have five more minutes, we've already gone over. Okay, I'm interested because personal finance is an area that I'm super interested in, and I think there's a subsection of personal finance, which is like, business owner finance. I'm curious to know your stance on. So you're making money, you've have a successful business. What do you do with it? Like, oh, my gosh, I have one friend who's like, put it in a savings account.

No.

And then. And other people who are like, put in crypto. For me, I'm this, like, middle of the road where I'm like, you put it in, like, index funds that are low cost and. Okay, so talk to me more about that.

Oh, my God. I could be. That could be a whole. Another show. Truly, like, whole episode. Because I. When I. When I separated. So prior to this, I've. I've always been interested in money and I've been good with money, but I haven't been, like, very financially educated. Like, I'm still, of course, learning. We're always learning. But I was always a very good saver. I was always very good at making money. I was always good at, you know, like, I, you know, I wouldn't buy, like, the fancy car. I always knew I'm going to buy the fancy car. I'm going to make sure I have a house already, and that car is going to be paid for by something else that I don't have to slog for. However, really, at the beginning of 2021, I really dove into personal finance because here I was, you know, becoming a single mom.

Yep.

And I was the breadwinner anyways.

But still, it just feels different where you're like.

It just feels totally different.

It's just me.

And I need to have literally just me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

And so then I started looking at my money and looking at my whole business structure. And, yeah, a lot of stuff had to change because I was putting a lot of money in my savings account. I was not maxing out my retirement accounts, even though I was eligible to do Max. And I was just really leaving money on the table, which I didn't. I was Saving a lot of money because I was going to buy a house in la, so I was saving. The homes are so much more expensive there. But when I decided to move here to Atlanta and I had my house, what I have to do is suddenly.

The budget looks really different, 50% less.

So, yeah, I had to put my money elsewhere and had to start thinking differently. And now I'm thinking very differently. And right now I'm looking for a new property to purchase a rental property. I'm also at the same time navigating, trying to figure out, like, putting money in a real estate syndication. I do, like, max out all my accounts now. Hsa, I have a SEP ira, like all of that stuff. And so my accountant, I got a really good accountant finally.

And that's one of those team members that I feel like is one of the most important early team members for a business owner is CPA, accountants. And I would say, like, for CPAs and probably emailing them once a week. Like, there's just so many random. Because you realize when you get to a certain point, your greatest expense is taxes.

And so it really is.

You want to learn what the rules are and play by them. And I think a lot of times people don't know what the rules are. And it's like retirement accounts being a great example. Like, Right, man, that's. That's going to make a huge difference long term and short term, depending on.

How you do it.

Exactly. Oh, my God. And I. I didn't even realize, you know, before my. I did. I. My mom opened a retirement account for me when I was young, when I was 18. And I just remember she would put $50 in a month. $50 a month, that's all you have to do. And I'm like, oh, I'm broke. I'm broke. Anyway, I'm not going to retire for like another 50 years, you know, but now that I'm in my mid-30s, I'm like, oh, my God. It's like, tomorrow. How much money can I get in there?

It's on the calendar.

Yeah, it's on the calendar.

That's awesome. It would be. It'd be a really fun episode to do. And I feel like one that would be worth doing is another episode. Just personal finance as it relates to business.

And it's hard to talk to other bloggers about this personally. That's how I feel because I'm afraid to ask. But there's also, for me, my little competitiveness. I'm, like, afraid to know.

Sure.

Because then you're afraid to feel behind.

Totally. Yeah. It's that, like, comparison trap type thing where it's like, shoot, how many.

How much money do you have in your retirement?

You want to protect yourself against the comparison trap, which. Totally.

Just protect myself. Just keep learning, keep doing better. But I don't want to know all the details, I'm afraid.

Janae, we could talk forever. Um, I just so appreciate your experience, your willingness to. To share that. Um, and we'll have to book another conversation here in the not too distant future.

So fun.

Um, I feel like there's a lot of different things we could dive deep on. So we talked to a few different places that people can check you out and follow along then. Nourishingvegan.com is one. Although they can't book you there.

Yeah, don't go there.

Where else can people follow along with what you're up to and what you're.

Doing and connect with you?

Sweet potato Soul everywhere. Sweet potatoesoul.com, instagram, YouTube, the book, that's all you do.

And the name comes from where? As the last question. Where did that come from?

So sweet potatoes are my favorite food and have always been my favorite food. And I grew up eating soul food and I knew my blog wasn't going to be just like all soul food, but my grandmother always said that soul food is any type of food that you put love and your soul into. So Sweet potato Soul.

Oh, I love that. What a great. What a great name. So thanks so much for coming on. Really appreciate it.

This is great. Thank you.

Thank you one more time to Janae for coming on and sharing her story. As a reminder, make sure to go through that survey. Foodbloggerpro.com survey. We want to learn more about you and we want to make this podcast and this community better. And the way that we do that is continually having these conversations with our audience. So make sure to go to foodbloggerpro.com survey and fill that out and you'll get a chance to win a hundred dollar Amazon gift card, which you can spend on a little battery powered dog.

Or something like that.

And that wraps up March 11th. That's it for this episode. Make it a great week. Bye. Bye.

Sam.