You Have to Muscle Through with Business Leader Jenny Goldfarb

A recorded interview (YouTube) between host Larry Weidel and Jenny Goldfarb, founder of Unreal Deli, discussing the realities of building a food business: product development (successful corned beef, failed turkey roast), production and co-packer challenges, the importance of perseverance ('muscle through'), creative problem-solving (rest/ incubation), early hires and team-building, and CEO evolution toward delegation and scale.
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 am back with Jenny Goldfarb, and she is the owner, founder, creator of Unreal Delhi. And so, Jenny, with Unreal Deli. How did you know? We finished talking the last episode about doing it step by step and working at it. And really that applies to kind of all steps of this thing because that's what you went through in getting the taste of your first main thing really dialed into where people would go, wow, you know, not just like, ah, that's okay, but where they go like, wow. And it probably were some stages there where you didn't get that wow reaction. How did you interpret that? You know, what was your brain? You know, your eyes, you're reading their eyes and their reactions and things like that was your mind start as soon as you saw that reaction, were you starting to think, I can improve that, I can make that better, or would you wait and hear what kind of comments they had to say, what triggered you, which direction to go in to make the improvement on the taste?
So when it came to the corned beef, it was pretty wonderful from the beginning. I wound up changing certain ingredients to make them more value to scale and things like that. But the taste was pretty much on point since the start. Now, that wasn't the case with our second item, Unreal Roasted turkey, which we were going to do this big Thanksgiving thing for last year because we knew slice then people eat at Kohl's, but we were like, let's make it like a roast, like a big Thanksgiving dinner. So we got the product to the fulfillment center. Everything was set with marketing. We had these beautiful photos taken. And then we learned it's not that good heated up. A weird flavor comes out of it. For some crazy reason, it's like perfect sandwich meat. Coles heated up bad flavor. So we had to pull the plug on this. There were, like, definite losses. We're actually now donating a bunch of that. These individually turkey chip. Anyway, so you have to just muscle on through it. You know, it's like in business, you have to be willing to invest. And so if it was at the beginning with the corned beef, you have to be willing to keep at it. One thing that did happen that wasn't Necessarily with the taste, but was a definite production bottleneck. Was. Was the first oven that I was using at my tiny co packer back when I was cooking it myself, was a convection oven instead of a conventional oven. Long story short, it turned the air around in a funny way. And it made everything come out real crazy as far as the cook time and the texture. And so that took, like, months of, like, trial and error and testing to be able to get it right so that we could move up in terms of production. So hard work, boring work, frustrating work, but nonetheless totally critical to muscle through to be where we are today.
Well, and the thing that usually the people that are, you know, the fake experts on winning will kind of COVID that point. You got to grind it out. You can't quit, don't quit, keep on going. But there is a universe of. I bet you were drawing on all of your lifetime of experiences as you went through that extended period of time, because it's like, that's the grind it out. The. That's the grind it out stage. That's like step three in the process. First you got to get an idea of something you want to do. Then you got to start with a bang to get. Get it. You know, it's like, you know, starting a fire. You got to rub your sticks together as fast as you can to get a little friction. But then comes the grind. And I said, in my book, the fun doesn't begin until things start to go wrong. You know, the project really. You know, you're not really in the game until things like this start to happen. What were you telling yourself as you went through that?
So it's interesting because we were talking about the grinds, and it just made me realize that my family observes Shabbat on Saturdays. We take a full day off from work. I don't sit in this chair. It's not that I won't look at an email, but I just do my absolute best just be present and not thinking about work. And it was during this process that I, like, said to myself, all right, even though I could be thinking about a thousand things, researching, actively cooking, I said, I'm taking this whole day off right at this time at the beginning of the business when we couldn't get the cook time right. And it was while I was just totally resting that a thought came to me from another cookbook that I read that said, oh, when you use this type of product, you have to let it sleep in the fridge one night before you even taste it. Came to me. I was just you know, active. So there's this whole thing like Kabbalah talks about it, but it's like in straight up science about the particle and the wave so that there's like movement and like actual forward motion and talking and emails and testing and then there's like this refrain. It can happen. It happens at night, it happens when we dream. It could have edited at any point. Take a walk in the middle of your day to where there's like, there's no active, it's just passive. And then things can come to you. It sounds like fantastical, but it's true.
Well, I've found that. And I don't know if I've ever read it, but I've found that, you know, when you have the difficult problem, I write things down and some, most of the time it's an email to whoever the problem person is or whatever, you know, or someone who's involved with me in solving it. And I'm putting, putting down exactly what the confusion is to the extent that whatever this and that has got to be fixed and I didn't and whatever and then it's down. Yeah, I mean there reaches a point in all of these things where you're done, you know, you thought about it it all you can. There's no idea and. But then you put it aside and that gives your creative side of your brain is the subconscious. That's where the genius side lives. And if a logical side of you goes and sorts it down to like, we know this, we know that, we know, here's what's left to figure out. Then it makes it easy for the subconscious to be creative, you know, because you've kind of identified the issue for your own self. And I found this in guitar. Like, you know, I've always been jealous of the people who can just listen to a tune and then, you know, play it on the piano, the guitar. And what I found this Jenny, that if you go, even me, I'm terror. I have a terrible ear. But if I try and play a tune, I could pick out some of the notes. But then there's some things I just can't. I can't, I can't hear it. It's like there's only, you know, there's only so many notes, you know, in a scale and it's got to be one of these and I'll pay them all, but it won't sound right. Come back the next day, you know, I'll have it all worked out except one or two little spots. Come back the next day. And they'll just be there. My hands will just go to it. And it's just like. It's like, maybe I could learn how to play by ear if I would spend more time on it.
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 that's 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.
By the way, like, all the greatest composers, I think there's a massive actual list of, like, creators. And so many of them have said, when does the genius piece come through you? And when I get out of the way. That's actually, many have given, you know, when I'm to control it and I can, like, let go a little bit, there's like, a flow that can then take place.
Did you pick up. Where did you get inspiration or where did you get support from? How big was your staff at the point that, you know, like, this was like, last Thanksgiving.
Yeah, correct.
How big. How big was your staff at that point? How much of a staff did you have? Nobody so small.
So I mentioned that, like, my father, who's been, like, an amazing source, so he's always been partly involved. And then it was like, two weeks before Shark Tank airing that I brought on, like, my executive assistant who wears 17 hats also. And so that was my first hire. Now we have nine people in the company. We have co packing teams, so that's not including the people that make the food.
Yeah, and that is very useful when it comes to coming up with ideas because I found that, you know, different eye, you know, different eyes can see different. Different things that are right in front of you. And how has that been reward? Has that been a rewarding experience for you? A bit made the business. I know it's been making it more productive, but has it made it more fun going through it with a committed staff?
Definitely making it a lot more fun. Of course, we had Covid, you know, getting in the way of, like, any, like, major close bonding 3D, but we really figured it out on Zoom, and some of us are getting together now in la, and it's amazing. I have, like, a few people Specifically that are like at VP level that have been in this food world for a long time that we've brought, we've come together and like the brainstorming, the pure fun and joy in it all. They're also passionate vegans and so we're like, you know, we're really mission driven and it's just beautiful camaraderie. I truly love my team. I want to, you know, as we grow and scale, I want to shower them with the best benefits and salaries. I want us all to really, you know, just enjoy of this because it's, it really is a pleasure.
Well, it is something you earned. You know, when you're, you're starting out, you know, you're thinking of so many things and the pressure and this, that the other. But one of the rewards that's sitting out there waiting for you is the fun of the team that you're going to put together and enjoying the breakthroughs with a team rather than just yourself with the mother in law, you know, is excited. But if you have a whole bunch of people cheering and clapping and everything when you're, it makes it so much, so much more enjoyable. And you know, the phrase that you said that came through and I think kind of summarizes this episode is you just have to muscle on through it. When things go wrong. You just have to muscle on through it and you've got to find a way to coach yourself to stay on track through it because usually the things we run into are so complex, there's so many pieces to the puzzle that it would take you two days to get somebody up to scale and you got to make these decisions on the run. So what have you to pat, what would you say for people that are going through this stage, the grind it out stage of making the first real big breakthrough to getting a staff and really, you know, you have a business, Jenny, when it'll run when you're not there.
Exactly.
You're in.
And you're in the process of getting that in place now. And you know, the, what would you say to the people that are going through that stage and getting, getting, earning the right to have that kind of permanence and stability?
Sure. So it's such an amazing gift in the earliest days to hold all these roles yourself because number one, you've been able to prove that you can churn something out and make something come of your own actions. And then number two, you'll know as you start to delegate what's really required and how the position can get even bigger. So it gives you such an incredible vantage point to come from the grind to then the growth. And, you know, one of the classic phrases I try to continue to remind myself is the continuous job of the CEO is to continue to make herself obsolete. So to try and get all of these things taken care of so that the more I can free up my plate, I can dream of, like, the next big industry we're going to conquer with this or the next huge account. What creative way can I try and get in there? How can I use Cuban or this or that or, you know, so I'm not thinking in the small. I'm, like, able to, like, look at the very big, vast picture because if I can be in that state more hours of the day, I'll be, like, infinitely worthy to the whole company. So, yeah, yeah.
In essence, we only have 24 hours in the day, and you earn the right to move up to work on more powerful type things by duplicating yourself and getting people in place that you've trained to do the things that otherwise you'd be doing, you know, and there, there would the day go, you know, and so that's how you multiply your time and multiply your effectiveness. So thanks so much, Jenny. This has been absolutely fantastic. Look forward to next time.
Yay. Thank you.
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. 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.
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