Confessions Beyond the Food
Confessions Beyond the Food is a podcast about working in the Food Industry. People who work in the Food Industry have grit and lots of stories to tell. W3 Sales, a sales & marketing company, will host this podcast with their confessions on how they have a new, fresh approach and invite guests to confess their secrets to their sauce.
Confessions Beyond the Food
Beyond The Hustle: The Raw Truth About Entrepreneurship
Want the real deal on what it takes to build a successful food service business? Nancy Ridlen keeps it honest, sharing a decade’s worth of hard-earned lessons they don’t teach in business school.
After landing two dream clients, she thought she’d made it—but real growth came from the unexpected twists, tough decisions, and learning to lead with clarity over people-pleasing.
As an Enneagram Three “Achiever,” Nancy admits she used to run at 150 mph. But building W3 taught her that sustainable success takes patience, realistic goals, and strong relationships. The biggest shift? Letting go of the need to do it all and empowering her team to step into their strengths.
Funny enough, Nancy never wanted to be an entrepreneur after watching her dad struggle with his own business. But ten years later, she calls this the most rewarding chapter of her career.
Want to hear more behind-the-scenes truths about leadership, failure, and building something that lasts? Tap in and connect with Nancy + W3 Sales on socials!
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food. I'm your host, nancy Redland. Let's dig in and get inspired. Hi, welcome back to Confessions Beyond the Food, where we dive into the raw, real and sometimes messy journey of building a career in the food service industry. Today, we're talking about the truths that no one tells you the hard lessons, the setbacks and the moments that test your resilience. Success is an instant. The climb doesn't happen overnight. You'll fail and you'll also let people down. But here's the thing Hard times are often the best times because they shape who we've become.
Speaker 1:We're going to break down what it really takes to grow by doing what's right is more important than being right, and why empowering others is the key to long-term success. If you're a people pleaser, get ready to get really uncomfortable, and if you're chasing quick big wins, get ready for a reality check. But if you're willing to embrace the journey, the real rewards are waiting on the other side. So let's dive in. So I've put together a list of 10 things I wish I knew before I started my business, and I really had this dream of just. You know, we had a great business plan. We're going to come out and everyone's going to want to hire us and work with us and it's going to be an instant hit right.
Speaker 1:Did it happen that way? No, it didn't. And if you would have asked me 10 years ago if I thought, man, that was a good thing, I would have said, no, I'm ready. But the truth was I wasn't ready, and so I often think about the things that I wish I knew that somebody would have sat down and told me before I started my business. So the first thing that I wrote down was hard times are the best times, and this is so true. I feel that the best times are when hard things happen and your team pulls together and you just accomplish way more than you thought you could A lot of times. I mean, of course, everybody wants the easy road. They want the road that is comfortable, that's solid, that nothing's going to go wrong, and while you might prepare for every different circumstance, you just don't know what's around the corner.
Speaker 1:I mean, clearly we're still talking about it, but in the middle of my journey, five-year mark COVID happens. We had just gotten to really the pinnacle of our success at W3. And we just made it. We hired two huge clients and it was a game changer. We doubled the size of our company and it was just really exciting. And then COVID hit and nobody could order anything and I was literally handicapped and so, but you know and there's other times throughout this journey that I that have been hard where we lost factories, and just not because of anything we did wrong, but just because they got acquired or there. There's just a lot of different circumstances that I definitely wasn't prepared for. But looking back, you know, after 10 years, I can definitely see how those hard times were probably the most fun times and I know that I sound am I a masochist for saying that, but it's really true because you really get to sit down with your team, you get to really process through it and you just work your butt off, you figure out a plan and you go execute. And those are the times that crazy things happen, funny things happen, and that we can all look back and say, oh my gosh, we made it through. So that's probably one of my all-time favorite things, of the things I didn't know.
Speaker 1:The second thing is I got advised really early on to not ever get ahead of my skis, and so what that means is is that I always wanted to create a really good foundation. If you build it, it will come. But there is a balance in that, like. I do believe that you know we we invested in resources that I didn't have to have in the beginning, but it did. It was definitely attractive, um, to clients to hire us, and so. But also you don't want to get into a situation where you can't pay the bills, where you become like you just keep going on new projects and you're already overwhelmed, and, and so I think it's really important to do a health check or a mental check with someone that you trust outside the company and say, hey, am I getting, you know, am I getting ahead of my skis here? Because if you get ahead of your skis, you're going to, you're going to tum tumble, but if you can, if you can catch yourself in that moment, you'll stay up and you know it feels like oh man, but it seems like the right time, but it's not, and you just really want to find a good mentor that will give you really good, honest feedback, and I that for me, um is my stepdad. I talked to him a lot and I'm like I don't, I know what he's going to say, and and he's like you're getting ahead of your skis, nancy, and I'm like you're right, and so it's not the answer that I want to hear, but it was definitely the one that I needed to hear.
Speaker 1:The third thing that really bothers me, even saying it out loud, is that I wish I knew that I'm going to fail, and big time. And so that was I've never been fired from a job, you know, prior to owning my own business, and I've always thought listen, you know, if I work hard, if I'm a producer, you know that secures me in what I'm doing. And or if it's a customer and I'm seeing them regularly establishing a relationship, giving them good solutions, they're not going to fire me, right? So you know all of those things yield, you know, success. But in starting your own business and again, I didn't know what I didn't know, and we made some epic fails in what we did and just along the road, and I wish I would have known that it's okay to fail. I talk about it a lot, but we test everybody on our team. I've been tested. It's called the Enneagram and I'm a three, and so what that means is I'm, I'm at. The threes are achievers, and it's a good thing that I know this and it's a great thing to have achiever. You know threes on your team because they're really hardworking and it's all about achievement Like you're never good. You know you're constantly judging threes on your team because they're really hardworking and it's all about achievement Like you're never good. You're constantly judging yourself based on your performance and so failure is just not an option for threes.
Speaker 1:The first factory during COVID that we lost it was our biggest factory and they just decided that they were going to go to local, to direct representation versus hiring W3. And this was in the middle of COVID. I'm trying to figure out how we're going to pay our bills. And I literally sat there after I got off the call with them and it was a really nice conversation actually with the VP of sales. It was a hard conversation, but I understand their position and but for us, I was just sat there and thought, oh my gosh I mean I know I didn't speak for two hours. I was like I just got fired. I just got fired and this feels like a really big fail in my life and that's never happened. And it was a first for me and unfortunately it wasn't the last, because there were other things that happened. You know that happened in my world of being a manufacturer rep. We only have 30 day contracts. Lots can happen, but you know that was a really hard fail.
Speaker 1:Fail and just getting through that and understanding you know their perspective and just being like you know what. I can't do anything about that, but what I can do is try to pivot quickly and pull my team together and come up with solutions and guess what? We survived. It was a miracle. I don't know how God, but God was the answer on that one, but we really did. I mean, we were able to make it through and then.
Speaker 1:So Number four goes with this that you will fail is that you will let others down. Again, this is as a three is really hard for me. I think one of my wings is I'm a people pleaser. I want people to like me. I want people to, I want to please them, I want to give them what they want and because that's what we're taught right and sales is, you know, taking care of the customer and but with this, you know letting people down like that. That's in my control, right, that's not an option, but what you need to know is that you are going to let people down. You're not perfect. I'm definitely not perfect and I you know, as I've never owned a business before, and so I didn't know all the answers to everything and I didn't know certain ways to manage people or to handle factories, or even like my family, like I was just going to let somebody down.
Speaker 1:And the moment that I realized that I was a human being and that I can make, that I will make mistakes, it was very eye-opening for me and I really had to, not what I call fear man and what you know. I'm scared of what everyone you know. I'm scared of man. I'm scared I'm basing all my actions on what someone react, what someone's reaction will be, and so what I've learned is is just, you know, I need to do the best First. You know, I always ask myself what is the best for W3? And from there that's how I make my assessments and trying to do what's right, to do the right thing, and but in that process you might, you might fail, you might let people down, and you know what it's okay, and I think that even as a parent, I give myself a really hard time because I'm like man.
Speaker 1:I just really overreacted, or I was, you know, that was completely crazy lady coming out of me and I think just owning up to it and apologizing is the best thing that you can do is to like, hey, I didn't handle that situation correctly and I'm really sorry, and I mean whether it's your kids, whether it's people you work with or your customers like, hey, I've never been in this situation, I didn't realize it would affect you that way and I'm just really sorry. And I just think that you can never say sorry enough, but you know. And you can never say sorry enough, but you know, and you can also correct the action. But also you can't live in fear based on, you know, some of the decisions that are correct for your company and if it's what's best for your company but not right for the person, it's just not right for the person. And so, again, you're not going to make everybody happy, and that was really really hard for me and that I was going to let others down.
Speaker 1:Letting people go during COVID was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life and we didn't really let anybody go, we just furloughed them and it was only a couple of months. We brought them back on as soon as we could, but that was really difficult because it was really out of our hands. But you just have to know that these things are going to happen. The fifth thing that I wrote down is and this is in no particular order is the climb doesn't happen overnight. So again what I talked about in the very beginning I thought at the jump we were just going to sign all these customers and everybody was going to hire us and nobody knew us and it was a really slow climb and that's in my world, because I'm usually 150 miles an hour and I don't stop, and so if it's not happening fast enough, I try harder, I work harder and do all these things, and so I probably could have saved myself a lot of stress and just less pressure to perform and to be at that level.
Speaker 1:But what was cool is, you know, just setting goals and like where I wanted to be and realistic goals, and you know it's so cliche, like you shouldn't like everyone knows, set your goals because that's, you know, that's where you're going to shoot for, and I get that and so but setting those realistic goals and talking to somebody you know that does something similar, or in the industry, or again, a good business mentor and to just look at the plan and come up with realistic targets based on history, what others have done and what you might have in the pipeline. The other thing I would add to that is, if you're crazy like me, you're going to add some crazy goal to make, and what was really fun is we had a goal of a certain number within five years and it was like our dream goal and we hit it. I think year three, and so that was really really fun, but it took. I mean, three years is a long time and I had newborn twins at the time too. So very, very tired person, but I definitely after I think I posted on my Instagram or I saw this quote it's like you keep stepping, you keep stepping forward. You know when you fall down, when you fail, when you do all those things. If you keep on stepping, at some point out of the pit, you know you're going to look back and see that you climbed a mountain, and I've had several of those moments that I definitely got to sit back and be like, oh my gosh, look how far we came. And I really encourage the people on my team, especially people. I hire a lot of new people into the industry and the first year is really really, really hard because there's just so much to learn about the industry in general and about the way we go to business and working with end users, working with factories and our distributors. It's a lot. But I tell them like, hey, you know, you keep doing the things that you're supposed to do. One day you will look back and see, oh my gosh, we did come far.
Speaker 1:Relationships don't happen overnight. If you are basing your business on quick deals, like for me and my world, that just doesn't work. It's all about relationships. It's all about the marathon, not the sprint, not just getting. I mean, this isn't the business I would get into if you like the quick deals, want to get in, want to get out and move on. This is and what I do relationship selling is all about staying with your customer, providing them, you know, giving them solutions, ideas and being with them through thick and thin, and then you know seeing those results over a period of time and it takes a minute. So, and then that really goes on along with number six, with.
Speaker 1:The journey is really hard as an as starting a business. It's not easy. Again, there's lots of things that, when you know, before I was a sales rep. They always said oh, as a sales rep, you own your business. You know, because you own your territory and your customers and look at it as business. And I love that advice because that's how I took you know, as always, how I've taken my roles in my sales jobs. But when I own my own business, there were some other wrenches that were thrown in there that I was responsible for people. I was, you know, people's income depended on the success of W3. And that was extremely stressful. And so there's been definite nights where you're like oh my gosh, like how is this all going to work? How are we going to pay everything? And you know it.
Speaker 1:Really, if you do the right things, I really do believe that they it all ends up working out. Sometimes it doesn't, you know, and somebody said that you know it may not work. I can see you one day and I'm like that's definitely true and I can't. I can't promise myself that it's always going to work, but at the same time, I have to know that I have to be as a as a business owner, you have to be aware of everything going on around you and you have to be aware of, like, what pitfalls might come, what your employees are going through, what they're thinking, turnover sucks. You know I get really attached to my people and then you know this isn't for them and that's OK. But of course it's not OK for me because I just have I just hold on too tight.
Speaker 1:But you know that part of it is really hard because you get close to people. And also it's hard, you know, because people are not like you and so are not like me. They're not wired like I am. And so being a good manager, being a good steward of the income that we receive, getting the word out you know about the company and knowing when to invest, not when to invest those are all challenging things. You know what comes first the chicken or the egg? That's that's honestly like I feel like my life, and so it's because I have all these ideas, but like just bringing things to fruition and performing and it's just a lot and it'll keep you up every night.
Speaker 1:This is definitely not the journey. It's the journey less traveled. My husband always says that I'm like why, how did I end up? Owning my own business? Like this is hard and my husband, like I said, he always says, hey, if everyone would do it, they would. It's definitely the road less traveled, so it's a tough journey. Be ready for a lot, for long nights. Be ready for you know there's always more, more people, more, more problems, um, you know, good problems, hard problems, um, it's just there's a lot that goes into it.
Speaker 1:The other thing is really important is to know your strengths and weaknesses. So if you've listened to any of my other podcasts, I want to know it all. I want to be at all and so, and I want to be this um, woman that, like, is a superhero that can do it all that and I'm a three, I want to know it all. I want to be the one that's like hey, I know the answer, I'm not annoying girl in the classroom, um, but I learned really quickly like I can't be at all, like there are things that I am not good at, and I'm definitely not good at accounting and the administrative part of the job, and I'm not good at managing people. That's not my, that's not my strong suit.
Speaker 1:So I think you know, and also being aware of what you are good at, and so that you can put yourself in place, yourself in a position that will make your company super successful because you're the OG. As a business owner Like you, it's on you to lead the pack, and so you want to and also produce the optimal. You know sales and and to do that like you need to be in a position where you can do your thing. So if it's sales or maybe you are the admin or maybe you are the you know the liaison you know between your clients and your sales team, whatever it is. Just knowing your strengths and then definitely knowing what you're not good at and don't be something that you're not. And that's really important and I wish I would have known that I don't have to be something that I'm not. I don't have to be a man in this role. I know that's not. I'm not a man, you know, and everyone I've gotten so much advice Like you need to just say it like a man would. I'm like, but I'm not a man. I'm, you know, I'm Nancy, and so I'm going to say it in a way that that you know that's me and that's genuine to what I, what I think, and and so and so. But again, you know you have to watch your delivery and all that other stuff. So, again, just knowing your strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker 1:Number eight this is a good one. Doing what's right is more important than being right. I'm going to speak into the mic. Doing what's right is more important than being right. So this is something that you know, I knew, but when I when somebody told me this one day, I was like I love that, because it's definitely something you're going to have to do as a business owner or if you're in sales or you know any type of job. This goes up for anything actually.
Speaker 1:Um, but doing what's right, um is definitely more important than being than than being right and or winning or being number one and as a three, it is hard because I want to be number one and um, but if that comes at a cost of of not being transparent, not being truthful, compromising our values and being ethical, then that is not. That's not the right thing to do, and that's our mantra at W3. And we always ask ourselves what is right. And then you know and what's best for W3? So those things that I really had to ask myself all through, you know, the last 10 years in this journey is doing that. So number nine is empower others. So, like I said, this kind of goes into knowing your strengths and weaknesses, but it's really, really important to empower others.
Speaker 1:You can't do it all Like it's just. Again, like I said, it's impossible to be all those things. You know, when I started I've never been, I never went to business, I was a liberal arts major I didn't know I'd never taken an accounting class, and so I did. But when we started the business, you know, people were throwing around all these terms that I just didn't know, and so I took a community college business one like accounting class, just so I could understand. It was very, you know, easy, simple, didn't take much time, but it kind of gave me all the essentials of what I needed to do to understand the business.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it's really important as a business owner that you do understand your business and you know, don't just give it away and not check on it and know what's happening, because I can get sidetracked and forget about that piece of it. But the big thing is, it's just like if you try to do everything, you will be exhausted and you'll be tired, you'll be cranky I know for a fact like you will be super cranky because you know you're doing it all and no one's doing enough and that's not being a good leader, and so we've really tried in our company to. We have a leadership team now and I. You know they specialize in different things based on how they're gifted, and it is really harmonious in our company. You know. We get along really really well Like we challenge each other for sure, we ask hard questions and so, but I think that when I figured it out that I wasn't going to be everything to everybody and everything, it really really took a lot of pressure off me and I actually learned.
Speaker 1:I've learned so much more from others than you know than what I could on my own, and that's probably my 10th thing that I wish I knew. I've learned to just really sit back and listen to other people and their ideas and as much as I want to be the one that had the idea like not super fun but at the end of the day, as I've gotten older, I've really kind of calmed down and tried to listen to other people on the team and what their ideas are, what they're feeling, what's important to them, and I have learned so much in just being a student for life and just not being a know-it-all and not being that annoying girl. That's like I know the answer, you know, let other people answer, let other people stumble a little bit, it's okay, just like it's okay for me. You know, I'm not perfect, they're not perfect, you can't ask for that. But yeah, I mean, there's been a lot of lessons that I've learned, but out of all of them, I think these are definitely probably the top 10 things I wish I would have known and I might have heard it, but I didn't really believe it and I didn't execute it all the time. So, sorry, sorry, people along the way, but I hope that, as a leader, that I continue to try to improve the way I lead the company, the way that we grow as a company, the way we build our foundation and we don't cut corners, and so that's, um, that's been really, really.
Speaker 1:You know, as I'm, as I'm getting older in my old age and as I'm, you know, grow with W3 and into different things, um, that's my mantra is like, just do what's right, slow to you know, just get it right, you know, then you can get it right. And just, you know, do your best. And so, anyways, I don't even I don't even prepare a confession for today, but I think that my confession would probably be that some of you might know this confession, but, but one of my, one of my biggest things is I never wanted to own my own business. I never, ever wanted to own my own business, and I think I shared that on one of my first or second podcasts. But my dad was an entrepreneur. I watched him and I watched him how hard it was. And so here I am repeating history, and I always wanted to work for a very large company, a Fortune 100 company. That's where I started, and then here I am now leading a small company as an entrepreneur, and so I would have never thought, you know, 20 years ago, starting out my career, that this is where I would end up, and as much as I.
Speaker 1:And another confession is is I don't always love this job every day, and so I'm sorry, but you would be really weird if you're like I love everything about my job, you know. It's just that's not real life, um, and if you do really feel like that, why don't you send me a message? I'd like to know, just kidding Um, but, and and and. If you do really feel like that, why don't you send me a message? I'd like to know, just kidding Um, but and and and. If you do feel like that every day. That's really awesome. But no company is perfect, no job is perfect, but I've just really really enjoyed the last 10 years. It's been hard, but they have definitely been the best 10 years of my career. So thank you so much for joining in and stay tuned for more of the top 10s of our 10th anniversary. Have a great day. For more inspiration, follow our social media at W3Sales. Please like, comment and subscribe. You know all the things we would love to connect with you.