Small, meaningful steps
I am CRAWLING into the new year.
November 30 was effectively the end of my ‘big things’ in 2024, and I was so looking forward to a slower pace in December and January, across all of my obligations.
For La Dolce Vélo, I was stoked to have the time to sit at the computer and send emails. Do sales outreach, create collateral, revisit my website, and get everything spiffy for the new year.
As it turned out, I needed December to recover from January through November. I even took a beach vacation over Christmas, and came back refreshed but still in need of deep sleep.
Here it was January 16th (at first draft of this post), and I had yet to find the big burst of energy and motivation I thought would surely propel me towards my goals for this quarter, and this year. But I think I have a new perspective.
That Thursday morning, I had coffee with Austin’s original bicyclepreneur: David Ansel. Founder, 100% owner, and CEO of The Soup Peddler.
At the recommendation of another business owner I appreciate and admire (Samantha Saladino at Ace of Cups) I reached out to David for coffee. I admit I didn’t have a clear objective going into this meeting, just that I wanted to hear a story from a local entrepreneur about their journey many years past their humble beginnings.
David has been running The Soup Peddler for 23 years, now in seven locations with NO outside investors. He owns 100% of The Soup Peddler. THAT is the business model I want to replicate.
I told him a fast version of my story, somewhat breathless after an 8 mile ride from my chiropractor, who coincidentally is another fan and friend of both David and Samantha. I started in education, wanted to work on the racial wealth gap, was lured into tech by the promise of generational wealth building opportunities, and have comfortably chosen non-technical entrepreneurship in a way that speaks more clearly to my soul.
I read some articles about David and listened to some interviews ahead of meeting him. There were two things that were easy takeaways from those pieces of media:
live by your pro forma to make decisions
take small, meaningful steps in the right direction.
Again, this is all advice that intellectually makes sense, and is pretty easy to remember.
But it hit different hearing it from David directly. He came to our meeting in a Soup Peddler tee under his flannel, with a gold penny-farther pin fastened to his paperboy cap. On brand and comfortable - another tenet I follow when dressing to represent LDV.
Throughout our conversation over coffee and pastries, David made it seem like he stumbled into all of his success that has led him to this point. Certainly there are always elements of luck and timing that make some things just work when they work. But even if all else being equal, he only followed these two simple rules and everything else was luck, it’s not entirely difficult to imagine this formula being enough to propel you forward for 23 years. When you make it that simple, and try to have fun along the way, are 7 locations and a workday that ends at noon so hard to imagine?
This conversation brought the swirling edie of ideas thrashing in my head to a gentle ripple. When you have strong fundamentals, and don’t get ahead of yourself, you’ll probably be OK.
My financials are not yet telling me it’s time for any major new investments. It’s telling me it’s time to focus on sales, and I’ve known that.
So what’s one small, meaningful step I can take in the right direction?
I found one to take the very next day.
I had already scheduled lunch on Friday with Jacqueline Hughes, a friend and local standout in event planning and creativity in the entrepreneurship scene. We’ve been connected through work and friends, and I’ve been asking her out for lunch or coffee informally since last summer knowing that she had wisdom I could benefit from absorbing as a hopeful event vendor.
On Friday, I asked her to make it official - be my first Advisory Board member, and let’s have monthly and quarterly meetings to talk about my goals so she can hold me accountable and help me prioritize. I’m notoriously unaccountable to myself when I’m the only stakeholder, so having another legitimate stakeholder (as opposed to an always encouraging and supportive cheerleader) is a meaningful step in the right direction. And the direction I need to go right now is confidently forward.
Today (January 20th - an auspicious day in 2025 being MLK Day, Inauguration Day, and my mom’s birthday) I’m sending Jacqueline an agreement contract to make it official, along with my laundry list of improvements, projects, and ideas I need help sorting through. And thank goodness for the timing, or I’d be going into yet another week with no clue what to focus on.
Big thanks to David, Jacqueline, and Sam for dropping in this January to fuel Sweet Ideas at La Dolce Vélo. Cheers to a new year, one to be filled with many small and meaningful steps in the right direction.
-Heather
