Episode 232: It Starts with a Special Idea with Founder of Unreal Deli Jenny Goldfarb

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm excited this afternoon. I've got a new friend from Los Angeles, Jenny Goldfarm. Hello, Jenny.

Hello. Hello Larry and your team, your audience. Hello.

Yeah, it is exciting to have you on because what you have done is so exciting. And you are the let you know, do the formal bullet point check. Liz, founder and CEO of Unreal Deli. You're one of these veggie people, you know, I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, you know, and you're one of the veggie people. But you have made it. You're a disruptor in the food industry and you are, you know, kind of like Cathie woods is as investing with ARK Investments really pushing disruptive technology. And you're coming into a food industry who's had their own way. It's one thing to be a meat eater, it's another thing to be a chemical eater and a processed food type thing. And you know, you go to the grocery store and let's face it, 90% of what's in there is bad and not healthy. It's going to, it's sick creating sickness creating and God bless you, you're out there disrupting the food industry with alternate choices. And you know, it's, it's time for that. And people are responding because I mean people are, we're all eat up with diseases and everything we shouldn't have and you know, the medical bills are going up. And the thing, the bad thing is you get things you can't fix. You know, even go to the doctors. I mean they, they've got, they can't fix things in their life with their families and everything. So it has something got to be have to do with the food. Let's face it folks, you know, it has to do with the food. And there you got, now we have Jenny Goldfarb and she is, what she's got is, let me just a little background. She made her big splash season 11 on shark tank. She got a $250,000 deal for 20% of her company from Mark Cuban. And now she has grown her business to where there are 1,000 retailers and restaurants nationwide where you can find her products and nearing $50 million in sales, which is November of 2020, so Lord knows what it is now. And she's got a nonprofit organization that she's founded called Count your colors. And we're going to hear about all of these things. But Mark Cuban says as a self declared deli expert, I have officially placed my allegiance with Unreal. That's Mark Cuban. And the New York Times says the meat delivers on flavor. And a deli owner in Manhattan says, we're thrilled to see how much folks enjoy Unreal Deli and the new customers we are seeing with this product in our lineup. So, Ginny, you're a mother of three, you're a wife, you're an entrepreneur, and you're dad gum. Good looking, you're young, you're energetic. How does this come, how, how, how does all this happen, Jenny?

Well, I like to give a lot of credit to the fact that I started studying spirituality in my early 20s and spent a year living in Jerusalem, which gave me a lot of sensitivity to the world and helped me want to do my part to make the world a better place in a, in a really sincere, soulful way. And so when I started seeing what was happening to our animal friends on these farms, it completely broke my heart. And then after I felt heartbroken, I felt almost hoodwinked to have been taken for a ride. To think that this was normal, healthy, humane, acceptable. Like I'm looking around saying, who greenlit this? Who gave the okay on, we're not okay with this, right? So I told my very meat and potatoes husband, much like your own diet there, I said, we can't do this anymore. You will not be okay with this. He wouldn't watch the videos, but he knew how much he loved his own dog. And like, there's no way to equate any kind of animal farming, any kind. I mean, and I tried going organic, going grass fed, this, that, the quote unquote, happy farms, whatever way you cut it there was like neglect, abuse, I mean, so heart wrenching you can't even like believe it. And so I wound up having to go this vegan route just because I had a conscience and couldn't unsee what I saw, right? And I figured out painstakingly how to cook from the produce and grain section of the store to feed my family. And that's kind of how it all began.

Now, you had been, you had graduated. I've, I've, I told you before you got on, I would, I felt like I'd been talking to you all afternoon. I was listening to some of your YouTube interviews, but you had a business degree and you, you know, like most undergraduate degrees, not worth a whole lot, but. But at least, but at least, you know, different than a degree in art history or something. But, you know, your. Has to be some kind of carryover. So you decided, you know, you didn't go into business. I don't think you got married. Were you working when you were married and having three kids? We did. You always have a job. What. How long was how. As long as from the time you graduated to where you had your third child.

Let's say maybe 15 years. And in that time I did have some different jobs that were in various industries. Nothing totally pertinent to what I'm up to now, happy to elaborate, but all that to say, yeah, there were times, years that I wasn't working and I'm almost like an accidental entrepreneur in a way.

Yeah. And would you say, you know, what I'm curious about is when you look back and entrepreneurs don't look back, but if you were to look back, growing up were seeds planted along the way with people you were around, experiences you had, things people said to you, possibly that you reacted positively or negatively to that formed the, the fertile field to where as you move forward in life, that you were receptive to moving forward and make things happen in your life, not knowing what it would be, but going to make something happen.

Sure. Well, yeah, I mean, I knew I always had like this very fiery energy and I was a good student and my father was a bit of an entrepreneur. Had varying successes with businesses throughout my whole growing up. And he actually helps me now in my business because he's got a lot of this kind of entrepreneurial chutzpah. Guerrilla entrepreneur. And so we work to this day. But yeah, there were many endeavors throughout my life that I do feel like right before Shark Tank, I called my mom and my mom was like, you've been training for this your whole life? I suppose so, yeah.

And were you an athlete? Were you a musician? Were you, did you have your own entrepreneurial things growing up? Were you competitive?

I was competitive. I definitely was a bit of an athlete. Played a lot of years of softball. I was on like the debate, you know, group there, club in school. And so I definitely enjoyed speaking, standing up for my cause. And yeah, I suppose that all went into this. Of course it did, yeah.

Yeah. I tell people that I was not. No one ever mistook me for a college level athlete or beyond, but. So I wasn't that kind of athlete, but I was enough of an athlete to learn that I like winning better than losing. And so any kind of experiences you have growing up like that, where you get a chance to taste how bad it is to be denied on things you want and then how good it feels to actually accomplish something along the.

Way.

Because in doing that, you can't help but learn things, and you can't help but build relationships and kind of learn how to discipline yourself, kind of knock off your rough edges to where you'll work with other people. Well, you know, where people will tolerate you enough, where you can actually build a team. And so talk about this drive. Were you always a big cook? Was that. Was that the main. What's the main thing about you growing up? You're the defining thing about Ginny Golfar?

Well, I was definitely a little bit of, like, teachers pet ish and always kind of wanted to be great and in that sense, competitive. And, you know, of course, like, in my middle school years, I realized that could, like, work against you because that doesn't make you, like, look cool and popular. You know what I mean? So I had to come up with a new strategy. So I was always just trying to figure out how to, like, fit in and be liked, but also do well, you know, to be a good student. And then later that translated to, like, be a good person in a really deep way. So.

Yeah, and the idea of moving up and making an impact and basically be responsible, you know, when you saw you started having these awarenesses about food, it wasn't like, well, you know, that's interesting. That's an interesting little tidbit. You know, I saw that movie and now on other things, it was like, no, that touchstone inside of you said, I got to do something about it. Were you ever. Were you a big cook?

So I actually was never a cook growing up. My mother wasn't much of a cook. But I mentioned to you that when I was in my early 20s, I started getting into spirituality. It happens, actually, through my local Hillel, a little Jewish group on my university campus there. And through that, I had some friends that were celebrating Shabbat. And so the big social activity, this was how I used to party in college, was having Shabbat meals with, like, 20 and 30 people. And so I learned how to, like, cook for a crowd and some culinary skills in that I was baking my own bread. And what I think was even more valuable than any business education that I had, really, you know, because it made me comfortable in the kitchen, and that gave me the confidence to, like, all right, let's we're not going to throw out all the animal products. How are we going to cook now? But I was already comfortable with measurements and different ways of cooking and loving it, so, yes.

Now, were you in LA all of this time with your children or where were. What's the geography. The geography on this thing? I heard something about Chicago.

No, not Chicago, but I was born in New York City and I say that that like pulses through my veins to this day, of course. Why I love a good deli sandwich in the first place. Didn't get me here at all. And I have a very, like, New York family. Even though I was a baby when we actually moved to South Florida at like 10 years old, I'm still on videos with the thickest New York accent you can imagine. So I, I play in this.

Were you in the city? You guys were in the city or.

I was born at NYU Medical, lived right in the city just for a bit, and then as a baby, mostly based in South Florida, but then I lived in my, I lived in New York for seven years in my 20s. So that also, you know. Right, yeah, in the city, but, but I've been in LA for just almost a decade now. Married with my three kids.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellawinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up. Okay? And I misunderstood where that kitchen was, where you got the start, and you went. One of the things when you were saying, how could I take this? You know, you, you started locally. You know, it's kind of like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones talk about like, you know, they wanted to get successful in their neighborhood and then their, their town and then their region and then kind of move, ripple out like throwing a stone into a pond. That's what I heard in your. You basically, we don't know how people are going to respond, how big, you know, you get an idea, you don't know how people are going to respond, how big it can be. But you, you know, you keep pushing the envelope, you know, until you, you see, you know, where's the edge of this thing. And so eventually along the way, you got to the point where I need. Oh, the mother in law. Talk about the mother in law story.

So when I became vegan, I had these young kids and a husband. And so there's just a natural thing, I think in, I don't know, Jewish families, maybe all families where like there's always like a little like mother in law or something. So that was always like a little bit of regular negotiating. But then when I became vegan, it's interesting, when someone becomes vegan, other people get like oftentimes very offended by it because it certainly makes it feel like you're judging them or like I'll be culpable. It's like nothing. There's no other controversial diets as much as this. You tell someone you're doing the keto diet, the Miami, they're like, great, good luck. I say I'm going vegan. Suddenly my in laws are like, my mother in law's like, how are they getting enough calcium? Where's all the pro. Like, nobody was asking me that question when I was giving them Mac and cheese all day long. You know, that was never a question. Every vitamin okay. And mineral.

Now they're worried about the calcium.

Meanwhile, it turns out a lot of vegan foods have a ton of calcium. But anyway, all of this to say they were such critics of mine that when I had made this corned beef for my own family's enjoyment and for my little food blog, they tasted it. They were visiting from Arizona at that time and they said, this is so amazing that you should make a business. It's that good. And I was like, wow, these guys were like big haters five minutes ago and now they're telling me, I was like, is this just, they just messing with me? And then enough other people, friends and family, always, you got to start local. So great that it pushed me to send a couple of emails which became wow.

And one of the things, and I thought I, I thought I could, I can imagine your mother in law. Like, you know, I knew something was wrong with this woman and I never, I never could put my finger on it. But now, now we know it finally emerged on the third child, the vegan thing emerged. So they were probably with great dread on the plane coming to, coming to see, worried about what kind of food you were going to put in front of them. And so they were not, they were not inclined to be your, your boosters on this. But it was a spontaneous thing. And there, there's really, there's really in life, no matter how much money now you make awards, you might thing or this, that the other there, things like that are worth everything. I mean you don't, you don't, you don't beat that, do you?

Exactly. Like Mark Cuban like said, that's fine, but my mother in law. Oh, hello now. Yeah, there's like another level of joy over that for sure.

Yeah, Everything else is just gravy, you know, so now. But you got to move forward and it's a trouble. It's kind of like if you were a singer and you had a hit album, now you got to do it again, you know, it's like, oh geez. And so you've got this breakthrough with the, you know, you've rung the bell, you know, you got the mother in laws on your team. But now like, what am I going to do with this thing and how can I take this commercial? And you did what people should do, go to no matter, you know, says in Ecclesiastes, if there's nothing new under the sun, whatever problem you've got, wherever you know, whatever you're wondering about, there's somebody out there who has gone through it, who can show you the ropes if you will, you know, seek and you'll find type thing. So you went looking for answers and you found someone who had done that and talk about that experience.

Sure. So I realized I just wanted to get a little piece of advice, information that could lead me to the next step on my way, or maybe not. And so I reached out to one woman that I knew in the vegan universe in la and I said, do you know anyone who has a food business? I'd love to just share a sandwich and pick their brain for a half hour. She goes, sure. I know this Lovely woman like 20, 30 minutes from where I live. Go to her. I brought a sandwich, we ate it together. She says, it's delicious. What do you want to do with it? I said, well, I'd love to try and make it and sell it and I don't know what comes next. And she said to me, well, we have a tiny commercial kitchen right here in the office and you could rent it for $25 an hour. And from that moment on I've been in commerce. But that also required that I had to do all of the heavy work of picking up all the ingredients, bringing equipment like my Vitamix. Like every time I would go there, would cook for a long day, would wash the dishes, and then in the days I wasn't doing that, I'd be driving around Los Angeles with little sample sandwiches for delis to try and move this thing.

Yeah. In spite of being a mom of three kids, I had a mom of.

Two at the time, and I was pregnant. I don't know if that maybe even makes it even more crazy.

You were trying to make. You were. You were just trying to up the degree of difficulty, weren't you? At all.

Raising bars, that's all.

Raising the bars. Now. Now, the thing is, you know, I don't know if you feel this way, but people ask, you know, how did you do this and the other? And you look back and you say, how did I do that? You know, and it's like, in fact, I don't think I could. I don't think I did it really. But then you look at. Somehow you must have. But when you look back on how you did it, it was just you. The thing is, when you're starting out with a great idea, there is no team, there is no revenue, There is no. Yeah. There is no real monetary proof of concept. You know, you get a feedback proof of concept. People like it. It's unbelievable. I can't, you know, but there's another big, long step until you get money coming in from it. You know, where you becoming that. That's commercial, that's professional. And it's another thing to where it's steady money, because you gotta get to the steady money phase before you can start adding on staff. Until that time, you're the mule. You know, you're the mule, you're the CEO, you're the creator, you're the Michelangelo. Would you agree with this? My advice for people is go round the clock during that phase so you can get it behind you as fast as possible.

I do agree with that. I still love taking off that one day for Shabbat. I think there's definite need for one day to recalibrate yourself. But other than that. Yeah, if you're not living, breathing, loving it, dreaming of it, then it's probably not like, you know, your greatest. But people are often like, well, how do you figure out what is that passion? And it's like, well, you have to keep doing it. It's not like you're going to find it under a rock somewhere. You're going to find it because you keep working at it. And if you love that thing that you're working at, it will pour out of you and people will want to buy it before they even try it.

Yeah. And that's where a lot most people go wrong, is they Never really get sure. In fact, I'll tell you something, I get a call from a friend of mine, actually, he's just closing in on going over a million dollar a year income in his business. But his kids have grown up and now he's at the point where his wife is saying, you got to get a hobby now. You know, you can't be a maniac working around. So he's calling, he says, I need a hobby. And he said, you know, everyone says call you because, you know, I bore so quickly, I wound up doing a little of everything in my lifetime. And so he said, everyone says call you, Larry, and you'll, you know, you're the master of recreation. And I. And so we went through this whole thing. I said, well, what is it you want to do? He said, he just kept talking about football, football, football. He said, it's only five months a year. And he said, I don't know what to do with the other seven months a year. He said, should I get a guitar and practice, learn how to play the guitar? I said, do you like the guitar? Are there any guitar songs that you can't get out of your head? I said, can you? I said, do you know what learning to play the guitar is? You're sitting in a room by yourself. Pract. And I said, do you want to do that seven months a year? And so what we came up with, and I said, you live on a golf course, you like to play golf. Get your butt out there and meet some other guys who love football as much as you. And that way as you go through the year, you can talk about the draft, you can talk about the trades, you can talk about, you know, who signed high school guys signed for this college and all that. I said, you can be doing football 12 months a year. You're just out, you know, out of the house, playing golf, meeting new friends. But the thing is, most, you know, he could have just as easily been talked into going down to guitar center and getting a guitar and starting lessons and wasted a year or two, you know, but people, once you got an incredible advantage when you can lock in on something you're passionate about right from the beginning. Isn't that right?

Totally. I mean, that's like this whole, like, it's, it's like an energy and people want to be in on that.

Yeah. Well, what would you say? I really enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you a little bit. What would you say? I think it's time for us to kind of wrap this episode up. But what Would you last kind of comment you would have for people listening to this. And they have a passion. They want to lock in and make something, you know, get going on something they could be really excited about. And they can feel like it's worth it because they love it and it's going to have value, not just making money, but another value out there. So what would you say? What kind of last word? Give you a last word on that.

So my biggest piece of advice, it's not rocket science. It's to actually do it, to make it, to create it, to share it with the closest people to you and then keep going. As Larry said, you know, one level out and one level out. And at the beginning, beginning. We're not looking to sell it on day one. We're looking to ask for feedback. Do people love it? What would they like better? What if it was more like this? How to ask a series of questions and then keep getting back at it until you make something that people are really loving far and wide. And then one level at a time. Like, for me, it was like, sell it at the local deli. And then from there we could start talking to Whole Foods Net regional, and then from there, you know, one step at a time, but start close to home and just start actually doing it.

Phenomenal advice from Jenny Gofarb. Thanks so much and can't wait to talk with you again soon. If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.