You've Got the Beat 

I’ve always loved creating and sharing healthy food, had a deep passion for helping animals and the planet, and have always had a head for business.  Put all that together and you get an entrepreneur in the plant-based food business.  But the question is, how did this start, and what is at the heart of it all? 

WHAT IS THE BEAT?

How do you know when you’ve got the beat, the knack, the passion?  The joy?  You may feel like dancing, you may have a ton of energy, or you may just feel incredibly focused, but what happens on the days you are hitting a wall and nothing seems to be moving forward?  Do you forget the years of hard work you’ve already put into your business and quit?  How do you get through those hard times?

How do you know when you've got the beat now, when the calling is so strong you are all in?  It wasn’t until much later in my life as a serial entrepreneur that I became conscious of what the big picture was for me, and then it hit me over the head like a frying pan (no pun intended).  And that is what the beat is, it’s the larger picture, it’s the deeper picture, it’s what makes you tick, it’s what you would put first, before yourself.

BAKING FOR STUFFED ANIMALS

A little back-story:  As a child, I played with stuffed animals, not dolls.  I didn’t think much of it.  I thought it was perfectly normal to set up school with all my stuffed animals, instead of “tiny people”, and even hand out report cards at the end of “term” and bake them cookies for our end of the year party.  As I got older, I also thought it was completely normal to bake various goodies, and give them away to my friends, not occasionally, but a lot.  It was my go to; it made me so happy to share.  And lastly, selling lemonade at the bottom of our driveway, or handing out samples of home-made baked bread while selling loaves outside my mom’s office seemed like a no-brainer to me.  Why wasn’t everyone doing it?  It seemed like a perfectly logical “fun” thing to do. 

Most of all, however, I’ve always loved rescuing anything, from worms left helpless on the driveway on a rainy day, to the lone ant who had found its way into our house, to lost cats and dogs, injured birds, abandoned mice, and the list goes on.  Animals in need have always seemed to find me, or I seem to always find them.  I think it is because we need each other.  I can’t imagine going through one day without my furry friends by my side.

A PASSION FOR HELPING ANIMALS, AND OUR PLANET

The beat for me is helping animals, and our planet, so everyone has a safe and beautiful place to live.  That is where my deeper motivation stems from.  That is what fills me with energy and makes me want to dance with joy.  I’m on a mission to save all the creatures that have no voice and can’t fend for themselves by creating and offering delicious plant-based foods and products.

PLANT-BASED FOODS AND PRODUCTS

Iliana Maura Dairy-Free Butter tastes great on bread, but also on vegetables and in baked goods, on almost anything!

Our protein bars are so yummy and a great add to any lunch or snack.  Check out our Peanut Butter Chocolate.  It is so satisfying.

PUTTING OTHERS FIRST
What would you put before yourself?  OK, not including your kids or family of course, but what else outside of your family?  When you know the answer to that, you have just figured out what is going to keep yourself motivated during the tough times. 

There are other techniques too that you can add that are very helpful.  One thing I like to do when things are tough, is to be of service.  Just take the day off your  normal routines, and help an animal or a friend.  I like to walk the dogs at our local animal shelter.  Another thing you can do is donate some money to a foundation.  This not only will put you in an instant good mood, but giving away money creates a vacuum or flow for money to come back your way.  The more you give, the more the flow increases and creates abundance.  Not just with money, but anytime you give.  And the last thing I find that works well during these times is to veer off the to do list and create a new list of imaginary things I’d be doing once the issue of where I am “stuck” is “unstuck”.  For example, if I’m waiting to hear back from someone, and I can’t move forward on part of my business until I do, I imagine I have heard back from them and all is perfect and exciting.  That allows me to give myself permission to focus on next steps, which will bring me back into excitement mode.  The imagination is a powerful tool.  What you focus on is what you’ll bring into your life.  

WHAT IS THE PIVOT?

But let’s say you have hit a dead end.  What other options do you have?  If you know you’ve done all you can, then, you’ll know it’s time to let go.  But sometimes, there is something you can do that I certainly didn’t know about as a young business woman, and that’s called “the pivot”. 

To learn more about “the pivot”, stay tuned for part two of How To Start a Plant Based Food Business.