Women Thriving in Business

Episode 210: Season 2 Finale: Plant, Grow & Harvest Your Business

June 02, 2021 Nikki Rogers Season 2 Episode 10
Women Thriving in Business
Episode 210: Season 2 Finale: Plant, Grow & Harvest Your Business
Show Notes Transcript

The entrepreneurial journey is a winding one and you sometimes arrive at a different destination or achieve a different result other than the one you planned when starting out. Business requires you to go through the learning process and experiment over and over again in order to overcome challenges, improve, and succeed.

This episode is the Season 2 finale and I wanted to share with you my experience in creating a homemade strawberry jam. This culinary project I took on this week has great relevance for us entrepreneurs and it taught me lessons in commitment, perseverance, and valuing process over results.

In the process of making jam, I realized that I was committed to achieving my vision despite not knowing exactly how it would happen. This adventure raised questions that are relevant to consider for business: What’s in season for you? What life outcomes do you desire? What goals do you have for your business? Determine the answers to these questions, assemble your resources, decide on an approach, and you’ll surely reap the sweet rewards. 

Season 2 is a wrap! This has been an amazing season with wonderful guests and topics that are truly worth listening to. Please check out any missed episodes and we’ll see you in Season 3! Until then, keep thriving!

Thriving Points:

  • Sometimes in business, you don't always get the yield that you hope for, but you learn in the process. 
  • Identify what's in season for you right now, and take advantage of that.
  • Determine the ultimate outcome that you want to have and commit to the process. 

About the Show:

Women Thriving in Business features candid unscripted conversations with entrepreneurs, business experts, authors, and academics aimed at contributing to business success. This weekly show provides interviews with business leaders who have built, grown, and are thriving in business. Nikki A. Rogers, host of the show, also discusses achievements, lessons learned, and advice for aspiring business owners to develop the mindset, strategies, and connections necessary to thrive in business. Whether you are just starting or you have been in business for decades, WTiB offers inspiration, strategies, and resources to help you THRIVE in business. 

About the Host:

Nikki is a strategist and transformation coach who believes life is too short not to do what you love. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build sustainable companies and supports business leaders in developing the mindset, strategy, and connections to create thriving businesses and build legacy wealth.

Nikki is the CEO of The Bladen Group and an alumna of North Carolina A&T State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Connect with Nikki:

A Team Dklutr Production

Nikki Rogers: Your business is an asset that can support a thriving life. I believe this, and I'm committed to making this a reality for every entrepreneur and business owner who listens to this podcast. The Women Thriving in Business Podcast was created with you in mind, whether you were thinking about entrepreneurship or you're a business veteran, this podcast has inspiration, information, and advice you can use to thrive in business.

Women Thriving in Business features candid, unscripted conversations with entrepreneurs, business experts, authors, and academics who will contribute to your business success. I seek out and talk with business leaders who have built, grown, and thrive in business. My name is Nikki Rogers, transformation coach, author, and the host of the Women Thriving in Business Podcast. I work with women entrepreneurs to develop the mindset, strategies, and connections necessary to thrive in business. Join me and your fellow Thrivers each week on this journey of discovery and success.

Welcome Thrivers to this week's episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcast. I'm so excited to have you here with me today as we celebrate the finale of Season 2. That's right, y'all. We are at Episode 20, and it is just so wonderful to have created this many episodes and to have brought you all so many great guests during Seasons 1 and 2. This week's episode is a solo one in which I share my adventures, or maybe even call them misadventures of creating homemade jam, and how the lessons I learned are relevant to you as an entrepreneur. So listen to this final episode of Season 2, take the lessons, and then apply them as you wait and anticipate the launch of Season 3 later this summer. Let's go.  

Nikki Rogers: Hello Thrivers, and welcome to this week's episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcast. 

Today, I want to share with you a culinary project that I undertook this week that also has relevance for us, as entrepreneurs. This week I made homemade strawberry jam. This started off as a family outing to go pick strawberries at a local farm. Once we got there and we started picking the strawberries and I realized just how many strawberries that we were going to have, I decided I wanted to make homemade strawberry jam because it sounded like a great way to use up a whole bunch of ripe red strawberries, and also to create a real delicious treat in the process. 

I had seen my grandmother making jam and canning other fruits and vegetables when I was growing up, and I thought it was just going to be an easy process. What I came to realize is I really only remember the outcome or the output of the process, and that I hadn't really paid close attention to the details of how the jam actually got made. More on that in just a second. 

I thought I only needed strawberries and jars, but as I got started on this project of making this homemade jam, I realized that I actually needed additional supplies and special equipment, so that I could keep everything sterile, and also be able to handle these hot jars of jam that I was going to have at the end, without burning myself or causing any other major incident in the kitchen. So three shopping trips and an Amazon purchase later, I've finally had everything I needed in order to make the jam, and then the work began. 

First, I had to wash all those jars in some hot soapy water along with the lids and rings. Then I had to put those into the oven in order to let them dry and also to keep them warm in order to be able to put the hot jam into the jars without breaking. I had to hold the strawberries, mash them down and then combine the ingredients, and cook them down into a nice, well-formed jam.   

In this process and looking at all the different recipes and all the instructions, I expected that I was going to get eight jars of jam out of this process, but my final yield was only two jars.  All that work just for two jars. So I share this story because sometimes in business, you don't always get the yield that you hope for but you learn in the process. 

In all honesty, if I realized that it was going to take all of this work in order to get those two jars of jam, I probably wouldn't have started the process. But after picking those strawberries, I decided that I was going to make homemade jam. That was my goal, and I committed to that. After I made that commitment, then I had to figure out how to make it happen. There was a lot of trial and error, and figuring out the necessary tools and equipment but I kept going until I had gathered what I needed. 

There were tons of recipes and opinions online on what ingredients to use, and what process to employ in making the jam. I studied these, cross-referenced them, and then decided on the approach that felt right and had a high likelihood of success. Now, my advice to you is to do the same in your business. Identify, one: what's in season for you right now, and take advantage of that. Just like I did with the strawberries, they were ripe for picking. So determine for you what's ripe? What's in season for you and your business? And take advantage of that. 

Determine the ultimate outcome that you want to have and commit to the process. Then assemble the resources that you need, determine your approach, and then reap the sweet rewards. 

Now, I'm sure you're asking that after all of this work, will I ever make jam again? The answer is yes. Now that I have the tools, understand the process, and know how to increase the yield for next time. I'm even thinking of experimenting with some new flavor combinations, and I'm going to take the same approach as I identify new business ventures. 

First of all, I'm going to take advantage of what's in season, determine my ultimate outcomes, commit to the process, assemble the resources I need, implement and then reap the rewards. 

I hope that you have enjoyed Season 2 as much as I have. My guests were great, and I learned so much from each one of them. Take a moment to share which episode and which guests you enjoyed the most. I know it's hard to choose just one, but I love to hear comments and feedback about this season. 

Season 3 of Women Thriving in Business Podcast will debut later this summer. So until then, keep thriving.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcasts. If you like this episode, share it with a friend. You can also join us on social media to share your feedback and comments. We'd love to hear from you. Be sure to like, review and subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode. Until next week, keep thriving.