Happy Hump Day :) Today’s blog post is a contiuation of Monday’s. I shared the two year journey I went on with the podcast and the conversation I had with a guest that sparked my initial idea for ENRGI.
After the guest said “what is something your friends are always asking you for? Or something you are really good at finding/creating? The first thing that came to me was finding healthy snacks. At each corporate job my coworkers wanted me to be the one buying the snacks because I would find a healthy alternative to everything. You name it I was going to find the grain-free, vegan, or overall healthier option. Boom, there was a spark-something to do with snacks.
The second thing that came to me as I reflected on some of the guests I loved the most on the podcast, there were two girls who came to mind, and both were CPG founders. They both lived in Austin and were ultimately a huge inspiration for me making the big leap. Them and my podcast producer telling me after an episode that I was meant to go to Austin. So here I had two things to go off of, a general idea with snacks and a love for the CPG space and all of their founders. I also knew I wanted to potentially be in the subscription business for obvious reasons, it is sticky, easier to get investment with MRR, and every brand was developing some sort of subscription to keep customers and predict future revenue, BOOM.
The idea: to create a subscription snack box, featuring only new and upcoming CPG brands locally here in Austin, think “Taste of Austin” that would help give publicity to new brands trying to make it and give me an opportunity to build a business. The name was going to be POP BOXX, after the pop podcast. And because snacks give you a POP of ENRGI.
So what did I do next? The thing I always do once I have an idea I talk to people in the space. I fully believe in the mentality of “take action until you feel like you have hit a huge roadblock or you feel it’s more force than flow”. I did exactly that. I attended CPG events, talked with my CPG friends, and even met one of the board directors of Austin CPG. I shared the idea, she said she had thought of the same thing, and I kept moving. But here is where I got stuck for a few different reasons and maybe this can help you.
I shared this with a spiritual mentor and he goes “you don’t seem to passionate about this, it seems like something you are doing to do and you might not make it”. I 100% agreed with him. I had started taking all of these steps for the box but something felt off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but it felt different than the podcast. With the podcast things just flowed, I found guests, I found the studio, things just aligned without much force. The box was the opposite. I continued for about 3-4 months after I moved to Austin and then I kind of let it go. My corporate job at the time was taking up far more energy with the company not doing well so I wasn’t able to give me full effort towards the box.
Once the company went bankrupt, and I was without a job I just knew that wasn’t the direction. I didn’t have the same tenacity and passion for the box but I knew I still wanted to start something. The lesson here is there will always be a pivot. You might have one idea and it ends up being something so different. I try not to hold on to tightly to what I think the “thing” needs to be and allow myself to just channel the best ENRGI into what is in front of me at the moment and let things flow. If it is taking a lot of force and you feel like you are running an uphill battle, oftentimes it isn’t meant for you. There is a difference between hard work and and force. Once you can feel the difference you can let ideas go with love and welcome in the new.