From Doula to Meal Dealer with Emily Williamson

Business can be infused with community care, and Emily Williamson is living proof! In today's episode, I'm chatting with them about the evolution of their beautiful, heart-led business, Emily the Meal Dealer.

The business grew out of their work as a doula where they realised how much they loved caring for people through cooking. When their marriage broke down, Emily found themself as a single parent, and driven by the desire to support themself and their kids, took a deeper dive into their business. 

Emily shares so generously about the realities of caring work, the tension between charging for something you’d do for free, and how they’ve found a way to weave community, compassion and practicality into their business model.

I love hearing about business owners that have managed to integrate generosity and giving back in a sustainable way. So I really enjoyed this chat, and I'm sure you will too! 

Connect with Emily:
Find them on instagram @emily.the.meal.dealer

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Transcript

Annie: So, Emily Williamson, thank you so much for joining me on Yes, You.

Emily: Oh, it's such a pleasure to be here and I'm excited. Speak about my business is really fun for me at the moment, so that's gonna be cool to chat to you.

Annie: Amazing. Yeah. I'm keen to get into it. Let's just start, if you are up for this, just by checking in on where you are and how you are right now, and maybe I can start first get the ball rolling. I am in my home on Wurundjeri Country, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm pretty good. It's been a big week and it feels like Friday has just zoomed around, but I've been looking forward to this.

I'm feeling good and ready to get into this chat with you. How about you? Where are you and how are you?

Emily: Beautiful. I'm in Naarm I'm in Wurundjeri Country as well. And how am I, I'm well, where am I? I'm in my bed in my bedroom and my kids are in the lounge. It's a Friday and they're both sick, so they're home and true juggling the parent business thing. I'm still having a crack at showing up today. 

Annie: Yeah. Sure. So who knows? They may make some cameo appearances.

Emily: We shall see. But no, I'm good. I'm happy to be here.

Annie: Awesome. So a little while ago I posted on Instagram and I asked people to tag businesses that were doing good and open it up for people to interpret that however they wanted to and your business was tagged. And I, since then have been following you and then realised that we had a connection through Eve kind of a while back.

But yeah, I am really, really excited about businesses that are actively doing something good. And from what I see of your business, it looks awesome. Can we just start by just you explaining what your business is and what you do?

Emily: Yeah, my business is called Emily the Meal Dealer, and it's grown and changed and morphed, and that actually is a new name as of quite recently. But I provide meal packages for local people in our community. They're paid packages, but then we also do a community fund to support people who can't afford them as well, for whatever reason.

Anyone that's going through tricky times. So yeah, that is my business and we work out of a commercial kitchen in Coburg North. 

Annie: Yeah. Amazing. And so what was behind the name change? What was it and why'd you change?

Emily: Well, it was Emily, the doula. So my business did start out as me being a postpartum doula, and that was something that I trained to be during COVID and the Lockdowns with two small babies. And it really gave me the purpose that I needed through that time. I loved cooking. I loved showing up for people and having that really deep close connection to people.

So yeah, that, really carried me for a few years. And I really identified quite early on that the cooking part was something that just lit me up. Something that I've always loved doing, but it was so cool to actually have it within a job. And early on I connected with someone in the doula community, and cooking wasn't her favorite part of it. And so she had asked me to cook for her on behalf of the family that she was taking care of. So it was kind of an opportunity for me to be like, oh, okay, like, alright, I need to figure out how to price this. And it really just opened up my mind to something else. And then, yeah, I just was doing that for her semi-regularly and a few other doulas were asking me here and there.

So yeah, it kind of just quite organically started happening that I was cooking for other people. And during that time, during lockdown as well, I'm sure you saw as well a lot of people really connecting in a way that maybe they hadn't in the past with people in the community. And so, yeah, there was a lot of food drops on doorsteps and things like that.

And, you know, a few things sort of popped up that I just jumped on and I reached out to a bakery and we did like a little competition to support people in our local community. And I was making soup and they were donating bread and we were dropping it around. So there were little things like that were, that were kind of popping up along sort of the same time as my doula business.

So there was like this really community element that was also lighting up my soul at the time. Yeah. So it is just been this evolution that keeps on evolving, which I am just so like here for at the moment. And so that was really how it all began. And then about three coming up to three years ago, my marriage broke down.

So that was a real line in the sand for me in my business. I was doing it before that as something that I was really interested in. It was making a little bit of money, but, I wasn't the main breadwinner in my relationship, so it, yeah, while I was putting time and energy into it, it wasn't something that I was like fully focused on.

And when I found myself in this really transitional time of all of a sudden being single and having two really young kids having to make money in a whole new way, it just really lit a fire under me. So, which, which was also something that even though it was really scary and hard at that point, it was also, you know, it was this energy that I hadn't felt in terms of my career for a little while.

So yeah, within a few weeks I just really like put this new version of the business together. I already had my pricing and everything I guess pieced together in little ways, but I was like, I had the confidence to be like, okay, I know how to put a package together and I know that there's a bit of demand out there.

So yeah, I just was like, right, we're doing this. And yeah, within like a few weeks I offered like my first packages, which people were just really excited about. And it just gave me this confidence to be like, okay, maybe there is a way for me to make money here. And you know, like that is a really scary part of separating with young kids is all of a sudden your financial position changes so drastically, so quickly.

And yeah, I'm just so thankful that that was already kind of there waiting for me in a way. 

Annie: Yeah. It's amazing how a really big life experience like that could actually be the catalyst for you kind of stepping this up to another level.

Emily: Totally. And I look back now and I think if we hadn't separated, I wouldn't be doing what I was doing, what I'm doing now. I feel like there's so much within some relationships that you just kind of put this hat on because, especially in heteronormative relationships is with young children, it's like, oh yeah, I was the primary caregiver. And while that wasn't necessarily this thing that I had to do within my relationship, it was something that I really took on. 

Annie: Yeah. Can I go back a bit?

Emily: Mm-hmm. 

Annie: Going with the, uh, you being a doula and the food making is making food a standard part of what doulas do?

Emily: Well, yeah, it really is. And the thing about it is a doula is really there to care for the parents, but it's a really hard thing to sell to people because investing in yourself in that way is really, you know, we don't do it. We're not brought up to really invest in ourselves and caretaking. But food, we all know that food is so, so helpful, you know, in those really big, times in our lives when everything is changing and, you know, we know our capacity is really low, so.

The food while being really, really helpful. And of course, like nourishing your body when you are healing and sleep deprived and all that is, you know, really key. It's something that people will invest in for themselves, you know, like if you are offering food, it's something that people are like, okay, I know that that's something we would do.

We would buy Uber Eats, we would do this. People show up with food. So it's something that within our society we do understand and it's something that you might invest in. So while it's not, you know, the real essence of doula work, in my opinion, it's the thing that kind of really, yeah makes it accessible for people to actually care for themselves.

Annie: Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. That it opens the door for them to possibly receive other care as well. Yeah. Okay. And so do you still think of yourself as a doula?

Emily: I mean, I'll always be a doula and, I don't think you need to do any training to be a doula. I think you meet people and you're like, for me, it's like this spirit. I'm like, oh yeah. Like, you know how to take care of people, you know how to sit with people when they're in the shit and you know how to show up even when it's not necessarily easy to. And there's something nice about now not actually doing that role in terms of paid work where I can show up for people in the ways that I want to without having the ickiness of money attached to it. You know, that's something that I can just do. 

Annie: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's an interesting overlap, isn't it? When you're doing work that is also something that is deeply important to you that you care about and that on some level you would probably do even if you weren't being paid for. I think it's, it's almost, in some ways it's the holy grail of work to be able to do something that you love like that. But that does come with its challenges.

Emily: Totally. And it's something that most doulas I've spoken to, they really struggle with charging for it because it's something that we are all kind of taught up, brought up to believe that, you know, caring is just like the way we should be. We should be doing this. So it's like then to be like, oh, actually what I've been taught is like, like the right way to be is now something I'm charging for. It's, it's just, yeah, it's a really big block for a lot of doulas. 

Annie: Mm. And that, I find that a really interesting idea as well, because I think that part, there's something in that, that is why a lot of people could kind of have to separate in their minds business from other things. So it's like, almost like the business is maybe in people's understanding, like inherently self-serving or something like that. And then so if you wanna be caring, you sort of have to do that separate to business or how can that be integrated. And so we end up kind of perpetuating this way of being where business is really, um, I guess just capitalist and doesn't have that kind of heart aspect of it.

But, and I guess that's why like I'm so drawn to and interested in business owners that manage to hold those things together of like, actually yep, this is a business. And also my heart is in this. I care for the people that I'm doing this for, and sort of manage to strike that balance.

Emily: Yeah, and I think for me there's always been something in that that really I've always had to include some kind of aspect where I'm giving back because I really struggled within the doula world where I was charging, you know, like I was quite confident in the end about what I was charging because it's my time and everything of time away from my children and everything like that.

But also I really struggled with the fact that a lot of people couldn't access my work because of the price. So there's always been something within that as well, where ultimately it was something that I really had to kind of move away from because it wasn't really serving the people that I really wanted to show up for and which is why it's sort of bled into this new iteration of my business, is being able to serve people that need the support without having the funds to pay for it. 

Annie: Yeah. And so when you moved into your business as it is now, or maybe another way I'll ask this. Do you think of it as your business or do you think of it as like a social enterprise or a community organisation? Like how do you frame it in your mind? 

Emily: It's definitely a business in my mind. There's the community element to it that is so important to me, but I think right from the beginning when I, you know, really it really scared me to not have money to be able to support myself and my kids. And I got really real about that fact like quite early on because, especially with food, it was like, it feels so easy to give it away to people who need it and there's always people that need it.

And, just within my world and the way that I shop, I guess on Instagram and everything, I have a lot of connections with so many different people within our community. So I could literally give away food all day, every day to people that really need it. It was something early on where I had an experience with someone that I was chatting to one night and she was a single mom as well and she literally had five bucks in her bank account and she wasn't gonna be getting any more money for a few days. And just having that chat with her, like it just became so clear how easy it was for me in a second to be like, oh, I've got this community of people here. Like, one of my skills is like bringing people together online and be able to like connect with different people and see where there's gaps in support and who has capacity to show up and connecting people. And I was like, oh, I can just ask people for money because I can't afford to pay pay, you know, like to give this money, uh, food away for free. Because at that point in my business, I was literally like reserving just enough money for the ingredients to, for the cook the next week.

You know, like just having enough money for this, just having enough money for that and sometimes not having enough money. So I was like, I can't, you know, what can I do here? And I just put like the call out on my Instagram that night and like within a few hours it was like, bang, the whole pack had been paid for and we just were able to get her food.

And I was like, oh, it's so easy. Like that, I think that is something that is really lost within a lot of businesses is that like, if you commit to it, then it's, it doesn't have to be as hard as you imagine, like adding this extra little element to your business and, and yeah, it is like more work, but if it, especially if it's something that lights you up, then it's like, I find that it fuels the real day-to-day, like businessy business parts of my business.

It's like, I'm like, oh yeah, like I'm connected to something and this is why I'm doing it, you know? So yeah, it was like from that night I was like, okay, well this is gonna be something that I do in my business always. And it's just been the thing that has kind of kept me going when it is, you know, those really like week after week kind of, times where it's just like really dragging or I've got lots going on in my personal life, whatever.

It's like that's the stuff that really lights me up and just makes me feel connected within my community. I think that's like a big thing is like when, if we're going back to doula work, I think that's why it's, people really struggle with paying for care and everything. I think something that it really illuminates is how disconnected from our community we are, because people aren't just showing up to hold the baby while clean the house while you have a rest.

It's very real that you're like, shit like I'm paying someone to show up because my community can't do that for whatever reason. And you know, there's so many reasons we like, you know, capitalism and often, we don't have our families around us. We don't know our neighbors and everything.

So that's very real, in that aspect as well. 

Annie: Yeah. And where does that community focus and that gift, I guess, for organising community and gathering people and rallying people together for certain things. Where does that come from, do you think in you?

Emily: That's a really interesting question. I don't think anyone's asked me that before. Um, well, I mean, all my family's in New Zealand, and I've been here for 15 years. And you know, being separated and both of us living here and being so far away from my original community back there, it's like I really have had to kind of build that around myself.

I don't know what it is, but it lights me up. It really does. It just makes me feel less alone, and I guess that's what drives me to do it. And there's like some joy when you know that you're connecting other people within the community as well. I love just being able to, it's almost like I can see those webs and there's something about that just makes me, I don't know. It just, yeah, it makes me feel really good.

Annie: Mm, it's beautiful. And I think my sense is that people want to-- we want to be community and people want to show up for each other and to show care for other people. And sometimes it's almost just because of the structures of our society, it's like we don't know how to do that, or we don't have obvious outlets for that.

Even sometimes, you might think that you wanna do something for someone and then go through, am I stepping on somebody's toes? Am I, you know, is this unwanted? Will they receive this in the way that I intended? Like, there can be lots of stuff, but I think that at the heart, most of us actually do wanna care for each other.

It's really powerful, I think, that you are offering people a really clear way to do that. It's like, Hey, there's this person in need. Can you help? People like, yes.

Emily: Totally. And that's the thing that I realised really early on is that I have, you know, enough people within my, like my Instagram that I'm connected to, and I'm like, I know the hearts of these people. We are all so different like there's people that I would never usually come in contact with that I am, and it's like I know the hearts of these people and they're so good.

And often, you know, a, a majority of them are parents and really busy in all the ways, and they wanna help, but their capacity is so limited. And so I really identified early on that being able to offer people a chance to say, Hey, can you show up for this mom who you know, has just had surgery and they can't drive at the moment or whatever it is.

Being able to offer a way for them to easily help, they just jump at it because it's like they have these beautiful hearts, but they don't necessarily know where to put that within the wider community. 

Annie: Mm. And do you think your own experience of being at that point where you separated your partner and looking down the barrel of like, how am I gonna provide for myself and for my kids? Is that part of what drives you to support people in, I guess, similar situations like people who are moms and who aren't sure how they're gonna make ends meet right now or need a bit of extra support, like is it personal for you in that way?

Emily: Completely. I mean, I would say, in the last six months is when I got out of the survival mode and I remember when we first separated, someone said to me, it's gonna take you a good few years to really feel like, okay, this is my new life. I'm okay. Things are gonna be okay. And it really has taken that long.

And if you'd just spoken to me a year ago, I was still so deep in it and really was like in this overwhelm all the time. And I just know I'll never forget that feeling of well, just not being able to see a clear path forward and not be able to remove yourself and see that bigger picture and shit, it's just so hard when you're operating from that. But really it just takes, there's so many things and different supports that kind of need to slowly wrap around you and it takes so long. But once you're out of that, like I feel like I'm finally at now, like it's just so easy to, yeah, just see that that's where I wanna put so much support back in.

Because also as well, it's like I never hear about single parents that have really been able to run a business. And you know, even now, like being able to employ people, I'm like, I could have never dreamt this, that it would it get to this point for me? Because it was really just like, I need to make money. I need to, like, each week was a new week and I was like, we're still doing it. It's still working. But like hearing stories and, and now I'm sort of connecting with a few more people and when it's, when I hear from single parents especially, I'm like, whoa like, I know where you've been. It's hard enough starting a business.

It started hard enough being a parent, all of it. But when you add all those extra things in, it's like, I have so much respect for people who can keep pushing forward like that.

Annie: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's really admirable. Really impressive.

Emily: But I didn't do it on my own as well. Like even back then, I remember when we first separated and I had people turning up to my house with food, because one of my besties put out like a meal train thing for me. I remember this one night. It was dark. A woman turned up in my driveway, her baby was asleep in the back.

She gave me a meal and she just hugged me while I cried in the driveway. And like that moment for me was like, whoa, like people wanna show up even when they don't know you. And so being able to connect people with that kind of support, it's just so special.

Annie: Yeah. That's beautiful. I feel like I'm getting teary, teary, just picturing that. Really, really beautiful. I f you think about like, I guess just where, how your business has grown like that you're saying, you know, you can't believe it's at the point that it is like, do the Instagram style, like where it started and how it's going kind of how, how do you see that now when you look back? Kind of where, how, where, what did it start and how is it in comparison now? 

Emily: Well, I mean, for me there's always been this element of ADHD audacity that's always kind of driven me, where I have always had this thing where I'm like, I'll just give it a crack. I'll have a try. And, that's really the feeling of what it was back then.

And I'm just so grateful I just had a crack. But now having moved into a commercial kitchen, having my best friend, Rafferty working a full day with me when we do the cook and now we're looking for another person, to do every second week as well, just so I can focus on some other things and create some more space for me.

And the rest of the things that I haven't been able to focus on in the business. It feels like it's grown up massively. And I think as well, the huge part for me is like the confidence that I have in myself that's grown a lot over this last little while. It has been scary because I've had to like really put a lot of faith in the fact that people will keep buying from my food.

 But because it was such a slow growth over two years before we got to the industrial kitchen, like there, for me it was like, okay, there's enough data here to trust that, you know, I should really try and keep growing it. But yeah. This last, what has it been? Five months has been huge growth in terms of not just like sales, but just figuring out how to work in an industrial kitchen because, you know, I wasn't a trained chef or anything, but, so there's been a lot of learning in there, but also now just seeing my role differently as well, because before it was very much like, wooh we're in the kitchen, we're cooking, like food's going out.

Wooh, like it's, we're doing it. But now it's like, okay, I really need to look at our costings so much closer than I was. Yeah, really looking at like our efficiency within the kitchen, and more thinking about what people actually want from us as a business. And just now like, and it's interesting even just looking at the financial side of things and my accounting and all that kind of stuff, whereas before I was like I had to do it.

But now, I just had a meeting with my accountant this week and I was like so engaged because like I really, I'm like, okay, I want this to keep working and I want it to build. And it's nice to get to a point where I'm interested in it like genuinely.

Annie: Yep. Yeah, you seem to have like an energy about you talking about that aspect of it, like the business side, which I know sometimes like if you start a business in responding to a need or doing something that you love or care about, sometimes the kind of businessy stuff can feel like a frustrating add-on or a chore, but you seem to be engaged and interested in it. Do you enjoy the business side?

Emily: Well, I think I'm learning to, and it's, for me, I like having quite a few different parts of the business. It's just the way my brain works. If I'm just doing the one thing over and over and over again, I get bored of it after a while.

So it's nice to kind of, move through the different things that the business involves. And I think it's more like a challenge for me. I'm like, I wanna be able to learn about it. And it's also that clarity. I don't want it to be murky. I don't want it to be scary. I don't want for anything to be a surprise financially or whatever it is.

I think it's just feeling that stability because it affects my whole life. So I think getting to a point in my life where I'm out of that survival mode, my business is growing, I'm like, I need it to feel really stable in that area as well. 

Annie: Mm-hmm. Yeah, sure. And I think sometimes when it is kind of murky, like financial stuff in terms of just not necessarily having full understanding of what's going on money-wise or with costings or whatever in business it can almost kind of be more stressful. It's sort of like this lurking thing somewhere out there.

And it can be, I know lots of business owners, like, will go just put my head in the sand 'cause it's scary to actually deal with it. But in the kind of shining light on it and starting to understand it's re can be really empowering.

Emily: Mm mm. Yeah. I just want that feeling of like, all parts of my business are kind of lining up in terms of how much focus they're getting because, I mean that just feels healthy. And we shall see how this actually rolls out. I just had the catch up with my accountant and I'm fired up by it. But yeah, I'm still learning. 

Annie: Yeah. This is it, isn't it? It's ongoing ongoing learning. And so along the way, up to this point, has there been any really big challenges or any points where you've been like, actually, I don't know that this is going to continue, or where you've thought, I don't know that I want it to continue?

Emily: Well, definitely moving into the industrial kitchen, looking for different spaces. That was a real point where, because there was this space I wasn't cooking for about a month, I think it was, there was a space of like, oh, like this is a really big step. You know, once you've signed the contract in the kitchen, then you have to pay every week.

And there's no like, oh, I've had a rough week with the kids. Like we'll just take next week off. It's like, no, this is where I needed to commit more fully to the business. And of course, on the flip side of that was like, oh, maybe I'll do something completely different. Like, is this actually gonna be something that I put this much energy into for however long the business is around?

It's like, yeah. It was just that real time of just having to trust that it was a thing and kind of quiet and that noise in my head around that. But, I mean, the nature of my business is that we cook on a Monday and we sell out all the food. And then on the Tuesday we have to start all over again with sales.

So every week there's like this rollercoaster of like, okay, start again. And then like, we sell a few, it gets to Friday. And I am like, shit, I think it's been a fluke for the last two years, two and a half years. You know, like, and then by Sunday I am like, okay, no, good, good, good. We are almost sold out.

And then like we're cooking on the Monday. It's like all the food goes out the door and is delivered on a Monday night and then it starts again. So there's an element of it every week, to be honest. 

Annie: Oh, I can imagine. And I think that in some ways like that is business, isn't it? Like, just kind of like, yeah, are people still, are they still going to continue to be into this thing? And it takes a while. And I think particularly since the pandemic and things, I think just because we had that experience where kind of life as we know, it just turned upside down.

So it's hard to really, really feel sure of how things are gonna roll out over the next three months, six months, three years, 10 years, in life in general and in business. So, yeah, I get that for sure.

Emily: Mm and especially for when I think about my business and the cost of living, cost of buying ingredients and for people within their own lives, you know, how much they're actually willing to put forward for a service like this.

It has really got to a point where I'm like, okay, are people actually gonna be able to afford this? You know? Because I can't cut my prices just to be able to adapt to that because of how much I'm actually having to pay for ingredients. But then I buy Uber Eats one night and I'm like, okay, I'm spending this much money as a single parent just for one night.

And I'm like, okay. I think people were still spending money there. And, just from what people were telling me, I have to keep trusting that they'll want the food. 

Annie: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. People will always, always want the food and yeah, but, and it's so true. I think when you look at the price of food anywhere these days, it's like, whoa like it's, you know, it does feel like it's gone up, but then it's almost like those hidden sort of ones like Uber Eats or whatever, where you pay with a click of a button and not even really thinking about the money so much.

Emily: Mm Because in the moment you basically pay anything when you are exhausted, you, you know, have barely eaten all day.

Your kids are hungry. Our lives are so full and like this. I mean, for me, if in my life if I didn't have this business, I would really struggle to cook for myself regularly and eat more than one or two meals that aren't repeating that week, you know? It's so much required of us to plan meals, buy the ingredients, actually cook them, do your kids eat them? Who knows? It's so much like, so I really get it. Like I get a pack for myself each week.

Annie: Yeah. Nice. Oh yeah. So amazing to have like, I mean, anytime that you're getting food that you didn't have to cook is amazing to me. And then for it to have that kind of, I mean, I know it's in a commercial kitchen, but like a home cooked kind of quality is so lovely.

Emily: Yeah. It's still a really small batch. So we're in an industrial kitchen, but you know, the quantities that we're cooking is not huge and it's all fresh, you know, it's like cook that day goes out that night so that really affects the flavor. 

Annie: Yeah. Amazing. And so where do you see this going? What are you looking at in the next, assuming that people buy again next week and the one after and that continues? 

Emily: Yeah, well, I mean the last, four, five months have been really focused on getting into the new kitchen. I worked with a really amazing friend of mine who's a chef to look at the menus.

They also came into the kitchen to help me, us really upskill in terms of using the equipment and techniques and all that kind of thing. So we've been really focused on that part of the business. So a lot of the community work has had to just be on the back burn a a bit, you know, it's still happening here and there as people need it, but it's not been a focus, which I struggle with, but I've really had to just really put my energy into the running of the business this last little while. So I am looking forward to the next half of the year at the moment, we are looking at getting another person into cook, just so I'm not, you know, really those cook days are so huge and they really wipe me to the point where the next day basically, you know, can't do much.

So, yeah, really freeing up my time to be able to look forward and just have that space to be creative with the thinking of where it's actually going. I've always wanted to run a fundraising event. So that's something that I'm just talking about more with my people, just because the more I talk about it, the more it's actually gonna happen.

I'm like, I'm doing great. We running this event later in the year in spring is when I'm saying it is. So now I'm like, okay, now I need to actually put in some, you know, the work to actually get there. But I wanna do a big fundraising event to have our community fund filled up so we can do our community food very regularly again.

Because at the moment we're kind of working on, someone comes to me and they need help, so then we'll fundraise and then. It takes a lot more energy than it actually probably needs to, than if we could do one big event and then have that pool of money that we can allocate to certain people.

And then, yeah, this real big question of around how this works within my business, oh, hold on a second. One of my children's here. What's up darling? Come here. It's okay. You can come in. It's okay, buddy. What do you need? Do you wanna just come in?

Hold on one second.

Annie: No worries. Take time. 

Emily: Okay. I'm back.

Annie: All good?

Emily: Might need to ask that question again.

Annie: Yeah, sure. How do you see the next, however long panning out for you? What are you looking for towards?

Emily: Yeah, so I am freeing up my time now basically, so I can really start focusing more again on the community work side of my business. I really wanna run a fundraising event so I can have that big push to have a pool of money that we can then more actively, like support people rather than just on a basis of people coming to me or their friends coming to me and asking for support and then having to fundraise.

That takes up quite a lot of time and energy just doing it ad hoc like that. And I'd rather look at it as a project within the business that we can really focus on and bring people together as well. So much of my work is online and talking to people in dms and I luckily do get the part where I can drop food off to people's houses and speak to them face to face, but it would be really cool to bring people together, especially people that have really supported the business for a long time.

I'd love to have food and music and like some kind of raffle or something. So that's something that's exciting for me and I've been speaking about that with people for a little while, which helps me to actually do it. But then also recently, I've just been thinking about more longer term for me because I know that the community work is something, is the real heart of the business.

I love cooking and I love food and I know how essential it is for people to be able to pay for that support if they need it. But I've been able to bring the community fundraising into it, but more longer term, I'm really thinking about what that essence evolves into.

And it might be something that is separate from the business. I'm not really sure at the moment, because at the moment there is this part of the business where people are paying for it and it's not cheap. People really do have to think about making that decision and putting the money there each week.

But then there's this other part where I'm asking for money at the same time. So I feel like sometimes it can be kind of confusing for people when they're coming to my business and trying to figure out what the two things are and how they kind of work together. So yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about a not-for-profit down the track.

I would love to keep running the business as it is, but I would also really love to start thinking about still supporting people with food, but making that the main sort of focus for the enterprise. What really lights me up is when a system within a business all kind of supports a bunch of different goals.

So there's the people that we're providing food for, but then I was like, but then who could be cooking the food? And like, how can we support the people that are cooking the food? I'm really interested as well as supporting young people and maybe that's like a part of it for the future, especially queer and trans young people. And providing people with work experience or upskilling or just teaching them to cook possibly. And then yeah, that whole system of then that food that they're cooking supports other people within the community.

That's like one idea, which I've just told everyone about. But may it be, so, may it be so,

Annie: It's out there. May it be so, absolutely. I love it.

Emily: We shall see. I mean, I have to go at snails pace with everything that I do because my children have very high needs as children do. But they need me a lot. I get excited about these things, but I, yeah, it's been a big lesson and just sitting with it and going slow.

Annie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How does that go for you? Does, do you--

Emily: I think it's lucky that within my business now I can pop up and do little fundraisers here and do community work there. And that seems to really soothe that need within me to support people in whatever ways. 

But yeah, I think it's just been one of the biggest lessons of being a single parent as well is just really having to sit, I mean, a parent, not just a single parent, you know, is really keeping my eye on like what I wanna do, but, you know, being strategic and going slowly. 

Annie: Yep. Yep. And how do you manage the boundaries between the business being a business that is profitable and supports you and the fundraising side of it, or community care side of it? Have you ever had to choose one over the other in certain instances or?

Emily: I mean, not massively, no.

I mean, recently moving into the new kitchen I had to, you know, I was very aware that I had to just be quite boundaried with it and just, it wasn't something that I was advertising much at the time either. I've just had to go a bit quieter around that. I mean, still when people will reach out, I'll always try and help, or at least put them on a list for when I have more capacity.

Generally it's really not as big a thing that people might think it is because, for me there's something just so every day about chatting to a mom in my DM about the support that they need. Because I think it supports me as well having those conversations and being able to connect like that.

And as well, the way that I do it is because from the very beginning I was like, I can't just give away food for free. So I'm fundraising and it's actually supporting my business as well. It's worked into my business in the way that it's not like this big drainer of my energy.

Annie: Yeah. And I guess to me that's also just another example of just how you seem to be doing it really well, this blending of care for others and also your business, that it's not like you've had to go, okay, for this to be genuine care for someone, then I can't be covering my own costs.

Or like, it has to be a complete sacrifice from everyone involved or whatever. But it's actually no, for it to be sustainable, it's about sort of finding that balance that you can maintain. 

Emily: Yeah. And I'm so inspired by all the mutual aid groups that are working out there like Food Angels and Husk Housing, and there's so many different groups that are doing such wonderful work.

And for me, I'm so inspired by it, but I'm also very real about my capacity to be able to do it. And so, yeah, just from the beginning I've had to really have those boundaries around. I will give away free food if there's food left over and I don't have capacity to fundraise to pay for it.

I'm like, of course it's gonna go to someone that needs it. But I have really from the beginning just been very real about that.

Annie: Yeah, I think it's great. To me, the mix is really appealing. I think it's probably good for your business, like people seeing the way that you do support others in the community and that you do rally the community together to do that.

I think that that makes yours the kind of business that people probably want to support, people want to buy from. Yeah, I think it's great. And I, I, to me, the mix. Is really appealing. Like I think, I think it's probably good for your business, like people seeing the way that you do support others in the community and that you do rally the community together to do that. I think that that makes yours the kind of business that people probably want to support, you know, people want to buy from.

Emily: I think so. I mean, it's such a huge value of mine and just to me, being known for that, is just such a beautiful thing. I would really struggle like I have with my doula work in the past where it's purely for profit.

Like it's, you know, I mean obviously it wasn't purely for profit, but like, if it's not actually accessible in some shape or form to people who can't afford it, then for me it would just really, I would really struggle to sit in that space. So to be known that I'm working with community in that way, yeah, makes me be able to charge what I charge and make the money and really see it as a business, you know, as well.

If it wasn't seen in that way, I would have a hard time.

Annie: So if somebody, if you knew someone who was looking at starting up their own business, maybe with some aspect of doing good in the world, in, in some way, you seem to have a real kind of go-getter, give it, like you said at the beginning, give it a crack, like it's kind of your nature and that's like person after my own heart. I'm that way too.

Would you encourage kind of everyone and anyone who has an idea for something to just to give it a crack or do you think, is there some sort of caution that should be issued there? What do you think?

Emily: I think a lot of people can get really stuck in a place of not moving forward because of rules and regulations and all the things and like, yes, they are very real.

But also if there's something you wanna do, I think testing it out is a really good thing to do early on within your own community. If it is community based, it's like if you wanna pay, if you wanna support people with food, then why aren't you supporting food packages to people in your community already to try out your meals or, if you're working as a doula, you can just even try and, you know, raise some funds and just see it as like a once off.

And if that works, then you kind of build a confidence to be like, oh, I can do that again. And I think also like really speaking to other people, I think that's such a key part of really figuring out a way of doing it. Because if you're just working on your own like that, it's really easy to kind of get stuck in the limitations that you see.

Um, I also just wanna think about this one a little bit more as well. 'cause I think it's really, I think so many people have such good ideas and I'm just like, what is like some gold that we could give them around that?

I mean, obviously I have ADHD, so I am give it a crack. Like I get excited and I leap forward. So I have that in me, which I know is not everyone, but I think I see so many people that get stuck in the not doing it and people that really have amazing ideas and even create the thing and then can't get it out there because they get stuck or they see other people that are already doing something similar and like I would just really say, I think what is so important. It's just talking to other people about it. Because I think you need those people that are like pushing you as well. If someone else can see that your idea is really cool or really meaningful or you need needed within the community, having that kind of push from someone else can be so, so important.

And I've had that all along with my best friend Rafferty. You know, early on they would come and sit with me in the kitchen and be working on their own thing. They would like peel a few carrots here and there, just while I was doing it. And they've been really cheering me on the whole time, and most of my close friends.

But I think, it's really important to just like, keep dropping back into like what you're actually chasing, you know? Is there like a feeling? Is there like something you wanna see in the world? Is there, whatever it is, like what-- focusing on that thing is, I find is like a really good way to get out of like, what's holding you back?

Because often it's just us and our own bullshit. You know, it's like there's so many stories that kind of hold us back or patterns or whatever. And sometimes it's like really focusing on what it actually is that you're trying to do and like why it's important for the world to have that out there.

And that can kind of be the thing that pushes you 'cause it's not easy to do something new and it's definitely more comfortable to stay where you are. So I think speaking to people is a really good one. I have always like gone by just like talking about my idea, even if it's like really early on and I'm not even sure, but talking about it somehow seems to make it more real.

And then also there's that thing where people are starting to hear about what you're doing. And so they're expecting it and sometimes that's the thing that you need to kind of actually do it.

Annie: It's like, oh crap, I said I was doing this thing. 

Emily: I mean, I'm doing a fundraising event. 

Annie: Yeah, you are. You definitely are. 

Emily: I've told so many people about it, so now I will do it.

Annie: That's right. Everyone's just gonna show up and be like, where's this thing? I think the story of your business, it seems also like a really great example of organic growth in, you said that it's been a practice of patience with you because as a single parent you are, you know, juggling different things.

But I think there's really something to be said about said for, I guess just starting with something at a certain size and then it growing kind of bit by bit. Sometimes I think. And maybe particularly these days, there can be this sort of expectation or desire for starting a business and it just absolutely booming.

But there, to me, I think there's something really, really valuable in the slow, steady growth rather than the boom. Like, I sometimes I think about my own business, and I just think, I don't know if it would've survived it, if it boomed too hard, you know? And just all the lessons that you learn in the early days doing it in that kind of organic way.

Emily: 100%. You know, it's like you do have to be conservative, I think, is what I've learned. And that's something that I've been really aware of the whole time because I didn't have someone to fall back on to pull me out if it went to shit or had to close. I'm like, okay, I just need to really work on what I can afford and what I can afford, like in terms of my energy as well.

I think that if there's something that you really wanna put out the world and there's this passion or there's this real meaningful part of it for you, I think for me anyway, it's like even in the times where I would've wanted to sell more or I would wanted to have done more community work, whatever it is.

The focusing on that part is the part that has kept it, you know, exciting for me in the long run. Even when it is my numbingly slow. But yeah, being conservative, I think that's a really big one.

Annie: Yeah.

Emily: As boring as that can be. 

Annie: Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't sound very fun, but, but I think, I think it's really true. Um, yeah, yeah. It can always be.

Emily: Like there's so much, I mean, I was a graphic designer in the past life, and I think also in terms of business as well, it's like people often are like, I need to get branding and I need to have the perfect website and I need all of this before I can begin, or right at the beginning.

So I look professional and it's like, I still don't have a website for my food two and a half years later. I just put together my new logo in like five minutes and was like, people are not buying the logo. You know, it's like there's so much else to the brand, which is so real and not something that you have to outsource money for.

It's like the values and sharing that with people or, actually doing the work and then, you know, that's the brand that people then learn about. It's not the colors and the all of the fun things.

Annie: Yes, that's so true. I was saying to somebody the other day that at for Eve when our first studio, that I opened, it was only about 10 months or so into that, that we actually got like a proper sign the front and-- 

Emily: Well, like, you wanna know that your business is gonna work before you pay for all these things. 

Annie: Well, yes. Yeah. And then suddenly we had all these people coming in, going, I never knew that you were here and like, we've been here all this time.

But there was something really precious about the time leading up to that, where in some ways it almost, it felt more community oriented because it almost felt like, oh, people had stumbled across us. I mean, it's not like we're doing no promotion at all. We had some kind of variations of signs out there and things.

But there was just this really kind of organic nature to it. And then kind of grew from there. And I always, I like to think of, businesses having like kind of the whole DNA sort of in the right from the very beginning. So it's almost like there's like a hint of what it can expand into and grow into.

And it may not be in its fullest expression right from that very beginning, but like, say for you that, you know, so early on it had this community support element, and that now you're talking about maybe a whole not-for-profit like organisation, which you probably couldn't have even thought about doing right at the beginning.

Emily: No way. I was saving my $500 to pay for ingredients the next week and just, you know? 

Annie: Yeah, I love, love that story.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

And you know what? I was like coming along to classes at Eve with my baby, what, eight years ago?

Annie: Yeah. Wow.

Emily: To the mums and bubs classes. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. And now look at you.

Annie: Look at all of us. It's one of the things I love about kind of Northside Naarm. Just there's lots of connection.

Emily: Yeah. I love it, obviously.

Annie: Yeah. Same. Well, thank you so much for this. It's been so great to chat to you. And if someone is interested in connecting with you, buying from you, supporting the community stuff coming to your fundraiser. What can they do?

Emily: Well, at the moment I'm still only on Instagram. So my handle is emily.the.meal.dealer. So yeah. Literally drop into my dms. I still take every order through my dms. I'm gonna have a website is another thing I'm saying out loud.

That is gonna be happening.

Annie: Yeah, sure.

Emily: But there's always been something that is just that I've really held onto because taking orders in my dms, I know every single person I've had a conversation with that I'm cooking for. And that feels so real. I'm just really thinking about how I can keep that close kind of connection while moving to a website for orders.

For now you can find me there and that's where I share lots and that's where I am. 

Annie: Yeah. Perfect. Awesome. I'll pop that into the show notes as well, so people can go there and find you. Well, thank you so much and yeah, thank you especially for doing this while you do have your kids sick at home with you.

Emily: Oh, I'm just learning to stretch in the ways to hold my life and my business all in one big, beautiful crazy bubble. But no, thank you so much for having me. It's really nice to talk about business because it feels even though I've been running the business for two and a half years, it feels like only in the last six months or so really have I jumped from, I'm cooking, I'm a doula to like, oh no, like I'm a business owner and I'm a cook.

So it's really. I love talking about this stuff and, yeah, I think it's really cool that you're sharing that. 

Annie: thank you. And yeah, thank you for doing it the way that you're doing it. I think it's, it's amazing. It might all be like new and something that you're stepping into more fully but doing it beautifully and, excited to keep watching and to order some food from you. 

Emily: Thank you. 

Annie: All right, thanks, Emily.