April 24, 2024 • 39 mins
Jeni Britton Bauer built Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams up from a single storefront in Columbus, Ohio, to a national brand. The ice cream icon’s path to dessert royalty was sometimes a rocky road, and she’s learned big time business lessons along the way from failures, from crises, and from… “The Lord of the Rings”? Plus, the (real!) power of a pat on the back — and maybe you’ve heard of love languages, but how can “stress languages” help inform your relationships? What’s your stress language? Send an email to hello@thebrightsidepodcast.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey fam, Hello sunshine. Today, on the bright side, we've
got the brilliant mind behind some of the most unique
ice cream flavors that we've ever heard of. Jenny Britton
of Jenny's Splendid ice Creams is here with her secret
recipe for success. It's Wednesday, April twenty fourth. I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Simone. Boys.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
This is the bright side from Hello Sunshine. Okay, Danielle,
I've known you for what eight months now? I still
am not clear on this. Are you a hugger?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You're not clear.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Are you physically affectionate with your friends? Does that make
you comfortable or uncomfortable?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am such a hugger. I'm such a cuddler. Yeah right,
love it. That is with people. I know. When people
I don't know hug me, I get a little uncomfortable.
Not women, let me be clear. Men. When men I
don't know names or like, do like a real juicy
kiss on the cheek, I'm like, I don't know you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You know, kiss on the cheek is never okay?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You grew up in my hand. All those guys do that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Don't even get me started on the microaggressions. From f
boys and men. Okay, I mean there's so many, like
when you're like in a crowded place and they like
brush their hand along like the small of your.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Back, that it gives me the checuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I wish you could see her face right now as
she's doing this. No, I yeah, I don't like that.
But from women, all the hugs, all the love, all
the handholding. Just call me Drew Barrymore.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Okay, this is great.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
This is great, Drew Barrymore, Because I mean, I'm a
hugger too. I love physical touch from friends, and it
can go along way when you're feeling down right. But
now there's actually science to back it up.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What do you mean?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So I came across the study that showed that getting
a hug or a pat on the back right before
you have to do something challenging can in some cases
actually reduce your stress levels.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I get that. Sometimes I ask to borrow somebody else's
nervous system. I feel, why are you looking at me
like that?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I just have so many questions. But also that sounds
so Danielle borrow someone else's nervous See, it's real, we're
not there yet. Technology is not there yet.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
No, I'm telling you, if you are really stressed, everybody
feels it differently. I always feel stressed in my chest.
Some people feel it in their gut or their throat.
But when I get that feeling of overwhelm, if I'm
with someone I love, I'm like, can I just hug
you for ten seconds? Can you give me your nervous
hit stuff?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That makes more sense?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, and it calms you down. Also, go outside, yes,
if you don't have someone to hug.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Stick your feet in the grass, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But there's something about it. Breathe somebody else's skin and
like heartbeat and I, yeah, I just want to borrow
their nervouses.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And y'all just wants to wear your skin, No big deal.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Have you ever seen those videos on Instagram where like
girls climb into their boyfriend's sweatpants and they're like, I
just want to be close to you.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's me.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
It's great, really close, great, good to know. Are you
not like that with Michael?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Were you ever?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No? That's just not me really no, it's not my DNA.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You hugged me when we first met.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I yeah, but I'm not like, let me wear your
sweatpants like me alsine.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Wow, I feel personally attacked.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I mean, I'm just sorry, it's just not that's what
I sound like. No, that's what the TikTokers sound like. Right,
okay whatever, moving on. Okay, So this study is actually
really interesting. So the researchers at the University of Boswell
studied videos of sixty NCAA women's basketball games and they
were looking at what happens right before free throws. So
(03:37):
they found that the chance that the player would score
went up when their teammates gave them just a pat
on the back that's it, or even just like squeezing
their hand before they took their shot. Huh, Danielle, do
you have any other physical touch hacks for confidence?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I don't know if I do just that I like
a good hug, but I do like I moderate a
lot of panels, or do like hosting events live and
if I know somebody in the audience and like we
just kind of give each other a head nod or
like lock eyes, that makes me feel more confident. So
I do believe in the power of support in that way.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You know, the one that I really like.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And this has been well researched is the superhero pos.
You have to spread your legs out about like shoulder
length apart, and you stick your hands on your hips
like your wonder Woman, and something about it just like
calms you down and instills you with confidence.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Does that really work?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I think it does.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I think it does. Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Speaking of reducing stress, Danielle, I saw another article this week,
and this one is about reading your partner's stress language.
We know about love languages, but stress languages. Hmmm, this
is interesting to me very so. Stress languages is a
term coined by author and wellness expert Chantal Donnelly, and
she says that stress languages are all about the way
(04:51):
that we react to and express our stress. So each
person has a different way that this manifests, and it's
important to understand how you partner reacts to stress so
that you can better support them.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Same as love language, I love exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
It feels like this is long overdue, like we've needed
this language.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, I agree, fight, flight or freeze. We need like
a language for all of them. There's five of them, right.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, So we have the fixer and these are people
who try to fix situations even when they're not invited
to fix them, and they often wind up doing more
harm than good. They cross boundaries, they're overbearing.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I know who this reminds me of, but I can't.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Say I know who this reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Two.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We all know a fixer, Oh, we know fixers? Yeah, Okay.
There's also the denier. The deniers suppress and minimize negative emotions,
so they're the type to think that the glass is
half full even when they're struggling, when they're really strugs
to funk, and they just act like the problem doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean, I guess that's one way if that works
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
As I'm going through this, I want you to think
about which one you are, Okay, okay, and I'll do
this Okay. The next one is the number, and they
tend to self medicate with alcohol or other substances like also,
using screen time or overworking can be a method of
escape for them.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I know a lot of my friends do the screen
time thing.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, I will say I'm a former number, I'm a
reformed number. Then we have the exploder. Exploders are aggressive, angry,
quick to point the finger at other people. They can
gravitate towards catastrophic thinking. They might storm off in the
middle of a conversation blame other people for their stress.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I have always admired exploders.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You admire them, I.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Do, I think because I'm the opposite.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Okay, wait, the imploder is number five, and imploders internalize
their stress and they tend to spiral into self criticism
and shame.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah that's me for sure. I hold it all inside
and then just have a good cry, usually in the
shower or in my car. But I've always admired exploders
because they just get it out of their system.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
But exploder's got to be really hard to live with too.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I know an exploder. I have lived with an exploder,
and they feel better, But then the other person has
to live with all their words for the next few
days or maybe forever.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
If we're being honest, like, we all have moments where
we are exploders. We have all exploded in certain situations,
and then you have to also live with those things
that you said while you were exploding.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, although a lot of exploders like black out and
forget what they said and just s are like, oh, yeah,
I got it out, I'm better now.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I'm trying to think which one. I am definitely not
a fixer. I'm probably a denier. Really, yeah, I'm miss
little miss toxic positivity.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Little miss that's.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
A good meme for you. Uh, what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I really try to just push through and minimize and
stay positive. I think it's I think part of it
is good, you know. I think I developed it as
a coping mechanism growing up as an only child, moving
around so much, having to be strong.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And new, and that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, yeah,
it is a defense mechanism.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, which one of these is healthy? I'm still unclear.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, I don't are any of them.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Which one should we be aiming for?
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I also feel like, similar to love languages, you can
be a little bit of a few exactly like I
think I'm a little bit of a denier, a little
bit of a fixer.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Chantal tell us who we should be? Who are we
supposed to be here? Because I'm unclear on that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I would really like to know. Okay, here's what I'm
curious about. Yeah, if you're out with somebody and you're
realizing that you're in one of these stress responses, Yeah,
are you admitting it? In person, like, if you're on
a date, are you asking your date which stress response
they are?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I think you should bring a print out and actually
to make it interactive, just create some checkboxes and like
create a questionnaire and ask them to go through and answer.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I should do that on my next date. I think
I'll be really popular with all the guys. Maybe I'll
ask them for their credit report right after.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Didn't somebody say that you asked too many questions on dates?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I got feedback that the date felt like an interview.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I think you should double down. I think you should
lean in.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Whose side are you on? Are you trying to get
me married or are you trying to keep me single?
My mom is gonna have to call you. Oh, I
know what side she's on.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
After the break, we sit down with entrepreneur and literal
tastemaker Jenny Britton, the founder of Jenny's Splendid ice Cream.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
We're gonna find out.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
How her company went from one single scoop shop to
a national ice cream sensation.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Dare I say we're getting the scoop? Oh? Stay with us.
We're back on the bright side with entrepreneur James Beard,
Award winner and the person responsible for some of our
(09:54):
very favorite ice cream flavors. Jenny Britton is here aka
the brains be behind Jenny's splendid ice creams.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You know Danielle.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Jenny started with a single scoop shop in Columbus, Ohio
twenty years ago, but since then she's built an empire
with more than eighty scoop shops nationwide and pints available
at major grocery stores. You know you've seen them on
your shelves. She's here to talk about what it took
to get there and how she creates those delicious flavors
(10:23):
that we can't get out of our heads or mouths.
Welcome to the bright side, Jenny, Hi.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
It's so great to be here. Love talking flavor, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
My freezer is full of your ice cream. I see
your name almost every night when I open my freezer door.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I love that so much. You know, it's funny because
when I see a woman's name on a brand, first
of all, I usually reach out to her and say hello.
So like Target, for instance, there are so many women
founders in Target. But I honestly like sometimes when I
see those packages, I will wave like wave through them
to people, like there's some energy in the universe where
I can like speak to people through through these packages.
(11:01):
So I don't know, Just imagine me on the other
side when you see that, like waving to you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Saying Hi, Jenny, your ice cream hits different to me.
It's genuine hospitality in a pint. I love the way
that you view this industry and ice cream through that
lens of gathering and hospitality. What are some of your
earliest splendid memories of ice cream?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Oh my gosh, that's so neat that you say that.
I love it so much because I'm a Midwesterner and
it really always is that sort of Midwestern tradition of
coming together and serving each other. You know, it's funny
that I put my name on my company. I did
not want to do that. That is not something that
Midwesterners do. We need to just hide because it's never
(11:45):
about one person, and even at Jenny's it isn't. But
ice cream in the Midwest is like and I think
that's true of everywhere, but I mean, especially in the
eighties and nineties when I was coming up, it's something
that you do. It's like not a dessert. You know,
a lot of times in the Midwest will eat like
cinnamon rolls before for dinner. Ice Cream was just something
that we did almost every night before bed. So we
would actually have ice cream at my grandmother's house before bed,
(12:08):
and that's probably my earliest memory. It was like this caring,
loving thing to do. It's a ritual almost of care,
which I think is so beautiful and ice cream is
that way. I mean, I always say ice cream is
there for you with you win the game or lose
the game, and it does it makes you feel better
no matter what.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
You've been creating ice cream flavors for more than two
decades and the names and the flavors are so unique.
There's fluffer nut or pie, maple soaked pancakes. The one
that I crave the most is brambleberry crisp. Where do
you come up with these?
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I started in a public market, so I was making
whatever flavors I wanted to and just listening to feedback constantly.
So I would get some ingredients, i'd make the ice
creams and then I would give people samples. So I
would just listen to feedback constantly. And when you do
that for a decade, you get a sense of not
only what you want and what you like which is
always app For me, it's always butter caramel, peanut, butter
(13:04):
brambleberries because we actually picked brambleberries when I was a
kid and made crisp out of it. But you know
what you're adding to the world, but you're also listening
to feedback, so you kind of get a really good
sense of what you're doing and what people want. And
I think that's true of whatever it is you're making.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, to get as
close as you can for as long as you can
to your customers and just start playing around and then listen,
(13:26):
because you have to bring something new to it. If
I had just started making all the flavors that people
thought they wanted, like cookies and cream and mint chocolate
chip and all that, nobody would have come to me.
People would have told me that's what they wanted, but
ultimately that's not would have built my business. And yet
the first, you know, the early flavors that I was
making probably weren't exciting enough either, you know, so it
(13:46):
really was like it kind of had to like evolve together.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You put all these ingredients in ice cream that I
would have never thought of in ice cream, like there's
olive oil and just these ingredients that are so outside
of the realm of ice cream.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, well that comes from the farmer's market. Whatever was
there became ice cream at some point. Even you know,
fish and any cheese that the cheesemonger had, or any
wine or variation of some kind of spirit, or you know,
anything that was in the market. And all of those
beautiful merchants who were there every day, you know, and
they knew everything about what they sold. When they got
(14:23):
something new, I was always the first person they thought of,
so I would trade. I would make ice cream out
of whatever it is that they brought me, and then
I would trade them for the product so that I
could then sell that ice cream to my customers. I
didn't have any money in the beginning at all, so
a lot of it was just done on trade for years.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Sorry, I have to rewind fish ice cream.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying it it needs to
be made or that it was.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
The weird thing about ice cream is that it's I
always say, it's surprisingly not bad. You can almost put
anything in it, like and it's surprisingly not bad. But
it took me really a long time, like years to
learn that that isn't good. You know, like just because
you can make a smoked fish ice cream doesn't mean
(15:05):
that it's delicious.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Okay, okay, thank you for clearing that up. Funny, So
you started an ice cream company before Jenny's, called Scream,
but it didn't work out. How did that experience shape
you and how did you find the grit to try again?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Well, everything that I know comes from what I learned
at Scream. It's the foundation. Like I learned about seasonality
of produce. I learned how to make ice cream. I mean,
it actually took longer than I thought to learn that.
All four years. I got good by the end. I
thought I was good in the beginning, I wasn't. But
I learned about how the market works, which is I
(15:44):
mean in terms of like the farmer's market. So a
rising tide lifts everybody up. We're in it together. If
there's somebody failing over here and somebody's super excelling over there,
like we gotta like learn together. I learned everything I
learned about fellowship and finance in a very simplea stickway,
which is all you need to know in business to start.
So Scream was everything, but Ultimately it failed because I
(16:07):
didn't know a lot. I also had a business partner
that wasn't very into the business. I mean, we weren't
doing very well, so it kind of makes sense she
had another business. But I was there every day and
it was like all my ideas. And so when I
closed Scream, I thought I was done forever because I
had been the one working there every day. I had
(16:28):
lived out of my car for three months, like I
was trading not just for ingredients, but also just for
food to live off of. I really didn't have a
safety net, but for some reason, I just didn't care.
I was just on this cool adventure. So living in
my little chevette, I had a tiny little chavette, I
would sleep on my clothes in the back hatchback. There's
(16:49):
a rich neighborhood in Columbus, and they had the best trees,
and I would park my car under those because I
felt like maybe people wouldn't see me. But it was
a safe neighborhood and that was where I would spend
the night. But I would like look at the stars
and the tree above me. I felt very much on
my own, but very in control of my destiny.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Wow, what were you after during that time, was it
the pursuit of ice cream or it seems like it
was just something bigger.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So I had studied art and left art school to
make ice cream. When I was in college, I actually
wanted to be a perfumer. So I was studying art
and a whole bunch of other stuff that I was
just interested in. I went to Ohio State University, which
is massive, and so you can really learn anything there
that you want to. So it was hard for me
to focus, but I wanted to get into perfuming, and
(17:36):
it wasn't long after that I'd read all these books
about ancient perfumers, and I realized that butterfat, the fat
that's in milk, is a perfect carrier of scent. Then
I started to get things from the farmer's market, like
rose petals or sweet basil and actually steep them right
in the cream. It was hooking up with the butterfat,
so then it would like get frozen and then it
would melt when you eat it. So once I started
(17:59):
to work with that, I felt like there was a
lot that I could do if Ben and Jerry's did
what they did with kind of like that stoner junk food.
I mean, I'm a huge Ben and Jerry's fan to
this day. Well, then I can do it in the
other way, you know, in this more like, you know,
just a better quality kind of way, and to put
(18:20):
the emphasis on the experience of eating the ice cream.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
You know, I was going to ask you a question
about what you wanted to do differently, but I think
that feels like that's what it was, as you just
viewed ice cream in a different way than all these
other companies did.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
I was studying art and because all of my friends
were kind of like the punk kids hanging around Columbus,
and I was like, we would never go to one
of those like old fashioned nostalgic ice cream shops, So
maybe I can make an ice cream shop that's like
for my friends. So that also became that sort of like, well,
you know, you to find your market, you don't have
to look that far. If there's something that you kind
(18:55):
of love but it's not being served by the people
that you know and you relate to, can kind of
go after that, which is exactly what we have done.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
We all know that saying ego is the death of creativity,
and yet I'm always confused as to how ego factors
into entrepreneurship, right, because all great innovators like yourself, start
by investing in their own ideas, believing in their own ideas.
But then you have to engage in co creation with
your customers. So it's a give and take. What has
(19:22):
entrepreneurship taught you about the difference between ego versus instinct?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Oh gosh, what an incredible question. So yes, all of that.
I mean it is an act of co creation. Building
Jenny's was an active co creation, and in fact, my
first store, I didn't realize that, and that's really the
big thing that was the problem. I sort of thought
of myself as the artist, and because of that, people
people weren't actually that interested in what I wanted to
make every day. They wanted what they had last time,
(19:49):
which I didn't have because I was interested in making
something different all the time. And so when I opened Jenny's,
it was like, let's I already knew what flavors people
really loved that I was making before, and so I
knew that those had to become like regular flavors. That's
the thing that really made Jenny's Versus scream is that
idea of committing to what our customers loved out of
(20:12):
the things that I was making. I think that there
is this weird ego death in creativity in that when
any creative person puts themselves out there and says, I'm
going to put my name on this, I'm going to
stand for it, stand for my ideas. It is the
hardest thing you will ever We all know that. I mean,
you know, just even putting a post up on Instagram
can be like you have to get over yourself because
(20:35):
you have to get over that thing that tries to
protect you from expressing yourself. And people think it takes
ego to do that, but actually it takes ego to
hold you back. Your ego is what holds you back
from actually taking that step.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Jenny, you hit an unexpected bump in the road in
twenty fifteen with a lasteria outbreak that just seems so
brutal to endure. How did you navigate that moment?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I mean, I think when something like that happens, the
first thing you do is just pause and stare at
the problem. You look directly in the eye of what's happening.
We had done everything we thought we were supposed to
do to prevent it and then we got that call,
and so the moment, you know, that's the moment the
world kind of stops for us. Right. We came together
(21:21):
as a team very quickly. I had great people on
my team, just I mean, just kind of regular people.
We were just running this little company. But like we
had just opened in La To literally like a month before,
and we had this amazing collection of ice creams inspired
by colors of the Matisse paintings. So this is like
the highest moment we had ever achieved in the company.
And a month later we were worth nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
It took your company out that badly.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
We needed money so much to it that so badly
at that moment because we were coming out of winter,
so we were just waiting for any of those summer
sales to come in, any of those spring sales.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So one of my favorite Ted talks is about the
importance of grit in business. That to me just seems
like such a huge test of grit. In hindsight, now
that you're nine years out of that experience, what was
the most impactful learning from that?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Oh, my goodness, we became the company we always believed
we were after that, Because when you are hit with
that kind of a challenge, and we could have made
very different decisions than we made in terms of like
trying to protect our company, and we chose to do
the right thing instead at the risk of everything. I
think that's actually you don't know what you're going to
(22:33):
do until you are presented with that. No one does.
But when you get through it and you can look
back and say, we actually are those people, that company
is us. Nothing you can do in life can give
you that. But crisis, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Did you ever think about giving up?
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Well? No, not in that. The interesting thing about this
kind of deep existential crisis where you're just really like
is that the rules are different. You can fight in
a way for what you believe that you wouldn't in
other times of your life. And there is a weird
creativity in that moment too. I don't want to say
it's enjoyable. You would never wish it on anyone. It's
(23:16):
so incredibly difficult, But actually, like during the crisis, there's
creativity and passion. You're on fire, you're walking through it,
you're getting through it, you're doing it for reasons other
than yourself. It's the hard part actually comes afterward, when
everything's kind of subtled and you realize you just gave
everything you had. Then it kind of messes with you
(23:38):
a little bit afterward.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Creativity and crisis, that's something that's going to stick with me.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah, I wrote about it. I wrote a journal and
I wrote about that, and yeah, what.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Was the journal entry? Like, what do you remember from it?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Well, it's like, you know, I was sitting there for
so long, trying to save the company, trying to come
up with an idea. The rest of the team was
all working on amazing projects. They were in the phone
manning the phone bank which we had set up. They
were working with the FDA and trying to get us through.
There's so much red tape in all of this, and
we were doing testing and luckily we did not find
(24:12):
more litheria, so that was very good. But we were
trying to get the kitchen back up and running. But
my job is to create new flavors, and I had
no job anymore because we couldn't make ice cream. My
job is to connect with people, and so most of
that stuff was like on hold for now, and I
was just sat there thinking like what can I do?
In days, weeks, even months went by, and nothing was
(24:33):
like I remember, there's this blackness everywhere. I had nothing
to hold on too, nothing to grab onto, not even
a spark of an idea to carry me to the
next stone or whatever. And then it was interesting because
I got a call from an ice cream maker actually
in California, in Napa, and he said, come make your
ice cream at our plant. Can you do that? Can
(24:53):
we help you? And I thought, that's amazing, what a
wonderful human being. But no, we can't because it's too
far away. We wouldn't. It wouldn't it wouldn't actually work.
And then another ice cream maker starts calling. This is
actually just a couple weeks after after the recop, maybe
six weeks, and then another ice creamaker and another icere
maker and I and I tried to work with one
of them or something didn't work. But that was like
(25:14):
the spark. You know, you have to wait for that
like shift in thinking, and then it comes.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It almost seems like another small ego death in a way,
like having to having to put to bed this idea
of what you thought it should be, and then that
opens up so much greatness on the other side.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
It was mind blowing. Yeah, it really does blow your mind.
I mean you are you're it is an ego death situation,
for sure. You get a lot of those as an entrepreneur.
I think, you know, especially when your name is on it.
I mean, it's a funny thing. It seems the opposite.
But yeah, there's a lot of Yeah, killing your ego.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Tumbling to be in business is basically what it is.
I'm always really interested and inspired by compassionate leadership. I've
had enough bad bosses and good bosses to understand and
see the difference. And my friend Steven runs a company
called Flowers for Dreams in Chicago and I love it. Yeah. Yeah,
(26:11):
Well he had told me a story about you years ago,
and so I texted him and I said, you know,
we're going to be interviewing Jenny. And his response was,
she really gave me an ear when I needed one.
And I just thought that was such a characterization of
who you are as a leader who gave you an ear?
And did any of those conversations change the way that
(26:31):
you do business.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
It's weird because when you're an entrepreneur, when you're a founder,
most people in your life you have to convince because
most people around you think that you are not making
the right decision, or that you don't know what you're doing,
or that you came from art school and you didn't
go to business school, or that you're in ohioan and
you don't know from New York, like whatever it is,
there's you're a woman, and not a very very very
(26:55):
few people actually do care to listen and to it
on your side and to support you. And I've only,
i would say, recently found that, and I have found
people around me who are actually interested. And I know
what it feels like now to be pulled up, to
be allowed to expand into something I didn't know what's
(27:17):
possible for myself. Most of this in my life was
on my own, and especially when you talk about being
in the middle of Columbus, Ohio, which Columbus has a
great community, a really incredible community, But for most of
my life I was very alone. All of the women
in this city that were on the level that I
was or where I wanted to go, they were like,
(27:38):
you know, shoulder pads and pantyhose and high heels working
at the law firms. That wasn't me at all, So
I couldn't identify with them, you know. So I really
will say that like for a lot of the time
it was out on my own. I had to believe
in it. But I only recently got the support that
I need, which is pretty cool. So I have a
coach and an advisor for the last maybe five years,
(27:58):
and those people are incredible. And I would say to
any entrepreneur, the three people you need in your life
right now are a coach, because being a founder is
different than being an executive. You have different kinds of power.
You have to know how to wield it in the
right way. In your company. It's hard to know. You
need a business advisor. You just have to know what
all the things about the board are, what the contracts are.
(28:19):
You need somebody who's protecting you outside of your company
and who's helping you understand. And then you need a
really really really good lawyer from day one, you know.
So So anyway, it's funny, it's interesting. I think we're changing.
You know, people are more open to listening now, and
I certainly take every call I possibly can for emerging entrepreneurs.
(28:40):
I'm always, I mean, I'm always on phone calls with them.
I'll have some more this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It means so much when you're building something and I
feel like you're part of that change.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
We can all be so much more than we believe
we can be. And sometimes when somebody else just sees.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
That in you, that kind of like when saw something
in Frodo that no one else saw in him. I
just want to say, I've had so much self control
throughout this whole conversation because I am such a huge
Lord of the Rings fan. I know you are too,
and I've waited this whole time to get out my
Lord of the Rings reference.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I have a Lord of the Rings question.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
I have to ask you, Okay, great, this is like
you know, I always say the Lord of the Rings
is my favorite movies, is my favorite business book?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yes, I've I've learned that you believe that. So is
there a particular scene that inspires you as a business leader?
Speaker 4 (29:31):
The one that constantly is in my mind is when
Frodo like finally like throws the ring into the fire
or whatever. You know, It's like he's so bloody, you know,
and he's so that expression that he has it just
says everything, and it's exactly like it's a metaphor. It's
like what it feels like, Like I always talk it
like instead of having a mission in the company. We
(29:52):
had like this vision quest or mission quest sort of thing,
just because I want to compare it to like what
Frodo goes through. But there is a quietness I think
in ba an entrepreneur, and sometimes we're like on instrument
out in the world of Or. But most of our
lives are just working and just trying to get that
ring to Mordor. We never show like all of the
incredible people who supported you, the fellowship, the fellowship, and
(30:14):
it's not even just supported you, but like together we
make something greater than the some of its parts. So
when I think about I like the word company better
than I like the word business. So company is a
fellowship with people who are all an important part of
the mosaic to make one thing.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Whole, one last thing.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
There's a glad Real quote that I think perfectly describes
you and your perseverance, and that is this task was
appointed to you, and if you do not find a way,
no one will.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I can hear her voice say it when you say.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
That, right, Yes, So, Jenny, our minds are like gardens,
and you've had such a vivid imagination since you were
a little girl. You've talked about searching for fairies and
nymphs in the forest, and you're constantly sprouting.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
New ideas today.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So what do you do on a daily basis to
keep your mind ripe for creativity.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
I shut everybody else out because it's to the judgment
and the opinions are too loud and the voices are
too loud. And so I just go into my own place.
And I live on a park, and I go to
the forest a lot, and those are sacred places for me,
(31:26):
and I allow my mind to just wander. And I
really do think that imagination can be therapeutic. So sometimes
it's like there's like active imagination and then there's actually
turning off your brain and just feeling just radiating and
feeling the energy of whatever it is that you're doing,
especially in nature. And for some reason, that's also where
(31:48):
ideas come from when you stop thinking.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
So you are an ingredient company, and you have this
flavor called sunshine, which is very on brand for us
here at the bright Side and sunshine, Yeah, what are
the ingredients for sunshine in your life?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
So for me, like because I was in a period
of darkness, which I'm also not afraid of, and I
kind of like I was like born under a scorpio
moon almost at midnight, So like I have those light
and dark side of me, which is I'm an optimist,
you know, but like I'm rooted in both sides. But
like I don't know the elements of sunshine. I mean
I just think of light, you know, and it takes darkness,
(32:30):
Like you wouldn't have light if there wasn't darkness, right,
So it's that balance of.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Forces, balance of forces and flavors.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
The flavor was and I don't even know, maybe I
went too far the other way because if you were
just asking about the flavor.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I mean I wasn't. I wasn't. I really wanted to know,
like what makes sunshine for you? Like for me, it's
like a dash of alone time, you know, a tablespoon
of community that if I'm being corny, that type of
a thing. I just wanted to know what it equalled
for you.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Well, I love that And in a way like the
ice cream because it was the color of a storm cloud,
but behind the storm cloud was the light. It kind
of matches up with this idea of dark darkness and
light kind of stepping into the light, which I think
that's the sunshine, that's the flavor. And also for me,
like what it represents.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
The definition of wisdom is holding two opposite truths at
one time. And I feel like you do that with
your ice cream. It's light and dark, it's sweet and
salty and all of those things.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Well, and it's also true of our company. Like you know,
it looks optimistic, it looks like it's bright and cheerful,
but there's always a little shadow behind everything that we do.
Like I said already earlier, like ice cream is there
where you win the game or lose the game. I
think people don't realize how many people in the same
line that they're in might be there because they're losing
the game right now. And we are aware of that
(33:56):
at Jenny's in a big way. And it's really what
I think is so beautiful about ice cream. And I'm
not sure how many other ice cream makers really think
that way.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I don't think any of them.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It feels very in line with your emphasis on localization.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Yeah, and I always say, like anybody in America can
start where they're at and build anything they can imagine.
I think the most valuable resources you have as an
organization or not the money that you build, but the
community that you build and the people that come along
with you, and of course your own passion and the
love that you create in the world and all that.
I mean, that's like unstoppable. That's like a course you
(34:37):
can't really mess with.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
For sure, You're founding another company soon. What can you
tell us about that? Is this a pivot a little bit?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I mean it's funny because this was I was actually
in New Jersey to work with another founder on a
project that she needs some help with. And I've been
on this big health journey for the last five years
or so. And we started working directly with this produce
company with all of their produce trimming so apple cores, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew,
mango rinds, and then and then stems of like broccoli
(35:10):
and cauliflower, started fermenting them on site, turning them in,
dehyding them, and turning them at a flour and so
we were just like, can we make something out of this?
So we just made a whole bunch of things. We
made an amazing pancake mix of chocolate, cake mix, cookies,
and we settled on doing the first product to do
a bar, a nutrition bar that's just like a twelve plants,
you know, probiotics super fiber bar that's just really really
(35:32):
good for you. But the company itself will be an
ingredients company.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You're actually raising money through Kickstarter, and I'm sure a
lot of people would think you're such a successful entrepreneur,
your way beyond Kickstarter at this point, So why are
you doing it that way.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
I like the idea of starting small. I want to
start as direct as I can with people who will
be our customers. I knew that I thought this was
a good idea, but that's it. And so having so
many people come out so quickly for the Kickstarter kind
of prove the concept to me. So to me, it's
(36:09):
a story we created together. And again it goes back
to we're co creating this and you have to have
your people, your community, your customers, your potential customers there
with you in order to really be a company. So
it's just a humble way to do it, but to me,
it's invaluable.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Jenny, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This has been
such a fun conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Thank you for having me Jenny Britten is the proto
Baggins of Frozen Treats, the Jedi Knight of Scoops, and
the founder of Jenny's Splendid Ice Creams.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
We got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I don't know about you, Daniel, but that conversation was
everything I hoped it could be and more.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
She's a really inspiring entrepreneur, and we touch on compassionate leadership.
But there's a Shakespeare quote that some are born great,
some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
And I kept thinking about that as she was talking.
I think she's a little bit of all three. To
be honest, she's a true leader.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I loved hearing her talk about how she navigated that
tension between ego and openness as an entrepreneur, how her
greatest moments of creativity came in times of crisis. When
I look back at my life, I think that's true
for me too. I think it's true for all of us.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, those moments of failure, hardship, they really suck when
you're going through them. I call them crying on the
kitchen floor moments. I've had a few since I started
pretty smart and they're not easy. But I do think
that somebody said to me one time when I had
a crying on the kitchen floor moment. They were like,
welcome to the club, and I was like, what do
(37:55):
you mean? And they said, this is the club of entrepreneurship,
now inducted. Your tears are payment to get in basically,
and there's going to be a lot more. And it
made me feel better, like everybody goes through it.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And she really pulled back the curtain and acknowledged that
it's never just about one person, that one person who
builds a business. Even though it's her name on the pints,
every self made entrepreneur is still a community made entrepreneur
at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Oh yeah, no one does anything great alone. Anybody who
says they do needs their ego checked.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Tomorrow, comedian and actress Dulce Sloan joins us to talk
all about her journey to joy.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You don't want to miss.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
It, and that's it for today's show. Listen and follow
the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
I'm simone Voice. You can find me at someone Voice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
And I'm Danielle robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yet see you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hey fam, Hello sunshine. Today, on the bright side, we've
got the brilliant mind behind some of the most unique
ice cream flavors that we've ever heard of. Jenny Britton
of Jenny's Splendid ice Creams is here with her secret
recipe for success. It's Wednesday, April twenty fourth. I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Simone. Boys.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
This is the bright side from Hello Sunshine. Okay, Danielle,
I've known you for what eight months now? I still
am not clear on this. Are you a hugger?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You're not clear.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Are you physically affectionate with your friends? Does that make
you comfortable or uncomfortable?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am such a hugger. I'm such a cuddler. Yeah right,
love it. That is with people. I know. When people
I don't know hug me, I get a little uncomfortable.
Not women, let me be clear. Men. When men I
don't know names or like, do like a real juicy
kiss on the cheek, I'm like, I don't know you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You know, kiss on the cheek is never okay?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You grew up in my hand. All those guys do that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Don't even get me started on the microaggressions. From f
boys and men. Okay, I mean there's so many, like
when you're like in a crowded place and they like
brush their hand along like the small of your.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Back, that it gives me the checuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I wish you could see her face right now as
she's doing this. No, I yeah, I don't like that.
But from women, all the hugs, all the love, all
the handholding. Just call me Drew Barrymore.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Okay, this is great.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
This is great, Drew Barrymore, Because I mean, I'm a
hugger too. I love physical touch from friends, and it
can go along way when you're feeling down right. But
now there's actually science to back it up.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What do you mean?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So I came across the study that showed that getting
a hug or a pat on the back right before
you have to do something challenging can in some cases
actually reduce your stress levels.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I get that. Sometimes I ask to borrow somebody else's
nervous system. I feel, why are you looking at me
like that?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I just have so many questions. But also that sounds
so Danielle borrow someone else's nervous See, it's real, we're
not there yet. Technology is not there yet.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
No, I'm telling you, if you are really stressed, everybody
feels it differently. I always feel stressed in my chest.
Some people feel it in their gut or their throat.
But when I get that feeling of overwhelm, if I'm
with someone I love, I'm like, can I just hug
you for ten seconds? Can you give me your nervous
hit stuff?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
That makes more sense?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, and it calms you down. Also, go outside, yes,
if you don't have someone to hug.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Stick your feet in the grass, for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But there's something about it. Breathe somebody else's skin and
like heartbeat and I, yeah, I just want to borrow
their nervouses.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And y'all just wants to wear your skin, No big deal.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Have you ever seen those videos on Instagram where like
girls climb into their boyfriend's sweatpants and they're like, I
just want to be close to you.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's me.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
It's great, really close, great, good to know. Are you
not like that with Michael?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Were you ever?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No? That's just not me really no, it's not my DNA.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You hugged me when we first met.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I yeah, but I'm not like, let me wear your
sweatpants like me alsine.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Wow, I feel personally attacked.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I mean, I'm just sorry, it's just not that's what
I sound like. No, that's what the TikTokers sound like. Right,
okay whatever, moving on. Okay, So this study is actually
really interesting. So the researchers at the University of Boswell
studied videos of sixty NCAA women's basketball games and they
were looking at what happens right before free throws. So
(03:37):
they found that the chance that the player would score
went up when their teammates gave them just a pat
on the back that's it, or even just like squeezing
their hand before they took their shot. Huh, Danielle, do
you have any other physical touch hacks for confidence?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I don't know if I do just that I like
a good hug, but I do like I moderate a
lot of panels, or do like hosting events live and
if I know somebody in the audience and like we
just kind of give each other a head nod or
like lock eyes, that makes me feel more confident. So
I do believe in the power of support in that way.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You know, the one that I really like.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And this has been well researched is the superhero pos.
You have to spread your legs out about like shoulder
length apart, and you stick your hands on your hips
like your wonder Woman, and something about it just like
calms you down and instills you with confidence.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Does that really work?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I think it does.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I think it does. Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Speaking of reducing stress, Danielle, I saw another article this week,
and this one is about reading your partner's stress language.
We know about love languages, but stress languages. Hmmm, this
is interesting to me very so. Stress languages is a
term coined by author and wellness expert Chantal Donnelly, and
she says that stress languages are all about the way
(04:51):
that we react to and express our stress. So each
person has a different way that this manifests, and it's
important to understand how you partner reacts to stress so
that you can better support them.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Same as love language, I love exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
It feels like this is long overdue, like we've needed
this language.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, I agree, fight, flight or freeze. We need like
a language for all of them. There's five of them, right.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, So we have the fixer and these are people
who try to fix situations even when they're not invited
to fix them, and they often wind up doing more
harm than good. They cross boundaries, they're overbearing.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I know who this reminds me of, but I can't.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Say I know who this reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Two.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We all know a fixer, Oh, we know fixers? Yeah, Okay.
There's also the denier. The deniers suppress and minimize negative emotions,
so they're the type to think that the glass is
half full even when they're struggling, when they're really strugs
to funk, and they just act like the problem doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean, I guess that's one way if that works
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
As I'm going through this, I want you to think
about which one you are, Okay, okay, and I'll do
this Okay. The next one is the number, and they
tend to self medicate with alcohol or other substances like also,
using screen time or overworking can be a method of
escape for them.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I know a lot of my friends do the screen
time thing.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, I will say I'm a former number, I'm a
reformed number. Then we have the exploder. Exploders are aggressive, angry,
quick to point the finger at other people. They can
gravitate towards catastrophic thinking. They might storm off in the
middle of a conversation blame other people for their stress.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I have always admired exploders.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You admire them, I.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Do, I think because I'm the opposite.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Okay, wait, the imploder is number five, and imploders internalize
their stress and they tend to spiral into self criticism
and shame.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah that's me for sure. I hold it all inside
and then just have a good cry, usually in the
shower or in my car. But I've always admired exploders
because they just get it out of their system.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
But exploder's got to be really hard to live with too.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I know an exploder. I have lived with an exploder,
and they feel better, But then the other person has
to live with all their words for the next few
days or maybe forever.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
If we're being honest, like, we all have moments where
we are exploders. We have all exploded in certain situations,
and then you have to also live with those things
that you said while you were exploding.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, although a lot of exploders like black out and
forget what they said and just s are like, oh, yeah,
I got it out, I'm better now.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I'm trying to think which one. I am definitely not
a fixer. I'm probably a denier. Really, yeah, I'm miss
little miss toxic positivity.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Little miss that's.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
A good meme for you. Uh, what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I really try to just push through and minimize and
stay positive. I think it's I think part of it
is good, you know. I think I developed it as
a coping mechanism growing up as an only child, moving
around so much, having to be strong.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And new, and that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, yeah,
it is a defense mechanism.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, which one of these is healthy? I'm still unclear.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, I don't are any of them.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Which one should we be aiming for?
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I also feel like, similar to love languages, you can
be a little bit of a few exactly like I
think I'm a little bit of a denier, a little
bit of a fixer.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Chantal tell us who we should be? Who are we
supposed to be here? Because I'm unclear on that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I would really like to know. Okay, here's what I'm
curious about. Yeah, if you're out with somebody and you're
realizing that you're in one of these stress responses, Yeah,
are you admitting it? In person, like, if you're on
a date, are you asking your date which stress response
they are?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I think you should bring a print out and actually
to make it interactive, just create some checkboxes and like
create a questionnaire and ask them to go through and answer.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I should do that on my next date. I think
I'll be really popular with all the guys. Maybe I'll
ask them for their credit report right after.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Didn't somebody say that you asked too many questions on dates?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I got feedback that the date felt like an interview.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I think you should double down. I think you should
lean in.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Whose side are you on? Are you trying to get
me married or are you trying to keep me single?
My mom is gonna have to call you. Oh, I
know what side she's on.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
After the break, we sit down with entrepreneur and literal
tastemaker Jenny Britton, the founder of Jenny's Splendid ice Cream.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
We're gonna find out.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
How her company went from one single scoop shop to
a national ice cream sensation.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Dare I say we're getting the scoop? Oh? Stay with us.
We're back on the bright side with entrepreneur James Beard,
Award winner and the person responsible for some of our
(09:54):
very favorite ice cream flavors. Jenny Britton is here aka
the brains be behind Jenny's splendid ice creams.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You know Danielle.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Jenny started with a single scoop shop in Columbus, Ohio
twenty years ago, but since then she's built an empire
with more than eighty scoop shops nationwide and pints available
at major grocery stores. You know you've seen them on
your shelves. She's here to talk about what it took
to get there and how she creates those delicious flavors
(10:23):
that we can't get out of our heads or mouths.
Welcome to the bright side, Jenny, Hi.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
It's so great to be here. Love talking flavor, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
My freezer is full of your ice cream. I see
your name almost every night when I open my freezer door.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I love that so much. You know, it's funny because
when I see a woman's name on a brand, first
of all, I usually reach out to her and say hello.
So like Target, for instance, there are so many women
founders in Target. But I honestly like sometimes when I
see those packages, I will wave like wave through them
to people, like there's some energy in the universe where
I can like speak to people through through these packages.
(11:01):
So I don't know, Just imagine me on the other
side when you see that, like waving to you.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Saying Hi, Jenny, your ice cream hits different to me.
It's genuine hospitality in a pint. I love the way
that you view this industry and ice cream through that
lens of gathering and hospitality. What are some of your
earliest splendid memories of ice cream?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Oh my gosh, that's so neat that you say that.
I love it so much because I'm a Midwesterner and
it really always is that sort of Midwestern tradition of
coming together and serving each other. You know, it's funny
that I put my name on my company. I did
not want to do that. That is not something that
Midwesterners do. We need to just hide because it's never
(11:45):
about one person, and even at Jenny's it isn't. But
ice cream in the Midwest is like and I think
that's true of everywhere, but I mean, especially in the
eighties and nineties when I was coming up, it's something
that you do. It's like not a dessert. You know,
a lot of times in the Midwest will eat like
cinnamon rolls before for dinner. Ice Cream was just something
that we did almost every night before bed. So we
would actually have ice cream at my grandmother's house before bed,
(12:08):
and that's probably my earliest memory. It was like this caring,
loving thing to do. It's a ritual almost of care,
which I think is so beautiful and ice cream is
that way. I mean, I always say ice cream is
there for you with you win the game or lose
the game, and it does it makes you feel better
no matter what.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
You've been creating ice cream flavors for more than two
decades and the names and the flavors are so unique.
There's fluffer nut or pie, maple soaked pancakes. The one
that I crave the most is brambleberry crisp. Where do
you come up with these?
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I started in a public market, so I was making
whatever flavors I wanted to and just listening to feedback constantly.
So I would get some ingredients, i'd make the ice
creams and then I would give people samples. So I
would just listen to feedback constantly. And when you do
that for a decade, you get a sense of not
only what you want and what you like which is
always app For me, it's always butter caramel, peanut, butter
(13:04):
brambleberries because we actually picked brambleberries when I was a
kid and made crisp out of it. But you know
what you're adding to the world, but you're also listening
to feedback, so you kind of get a really good
sense of what you're doing and what people want. And
I think that's true of whatever it is you're making.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, to get as
close as you can for as long as you can
to your customers and just start playing around and then listen,
(13:26):
because you have to bring something new to it. If
I had just started making all the flavors that people
thought they wanted, like cookies and cream and mint chocolate
chip and all that, nobody would have come to me.
People would have told me that's what they wanted, but
ultimately that's not would have built my business. And yet
the first, you know, the early flavors that I was
making probably weren't exciting enough either, you know, so it
(13:46):
really was like it kind of had to like evolve together.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
You put all these ingredients in ice cream that I
would have never thought of in ice cream, like there's
olive oil and just these ingredients that are so outside
of the realm of ice cream.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, well that comes from the farmer's market. Whatever was
there became ice cream at some point. Even you know,
fish and any cheese that the cheesemonger had, or any
wine or variation of some kind of spirit, or you know,
anything that was in the market. And all of those
beautiful merchants who were there every day, you know, and
they knew everything about what they sold. When they got
(14:23):
something new, I was always the first person they thought of,
so I would trade. I would make ice cream out
of whatever it is that they brought me, and then
I would trade them for the product so that I
could then sell that ice cream to my customers. I
didn't have any money in the beginning at all, so
a lot of it was just done on trade for years.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Sorry, I have to rewind fish ice cream.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying it it needs to
be made or that it was.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
The weird thing about ice cream is that it's I
always say, it's surprisingly not bad. You can almost put
anything in it, like and it's surprisingly not bad. But
it took me really a long time, like years to
learn that that isn't good. You know, like just because
you can make a smoked fish ice cream doesn't mean
(15:05):
that it's delicious.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Okay, okay, thank you for clearing that up. Funny, So
you started an ice cream company before Jenny's, called Scream,
but it didn't work out. How did that experience shape
you and how did you find the grit to try again?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Well, everything that I know comes from what I learned
at Scream. It's the foundation. Like I learned about seasonality
of produce. I learned how to make ice cream. I mean,
it actually took longer than I thought to learn that.
All four years. I got good by the end. I
thought I was good in the beginning, I wasn't. But
I learned about how the market works, which is I
(15:44):
mean in terms of like the farmer's market. So a
rising tide lifts everybody up. We're in it together. If
there's somebody failing over here and somebody's super excelling over there,
like we gotta like learn together. I learned everything I
learned about fellowship and finance in a very simplea stickway,
which is all you need to know in business to start.
So Scream was everything, but Ultimately it failed because I
(16:07):
didn't know a lot. I also had a business partner
that wasn't very into the business. I mean, we weren't
doing very well, so it kind of makes sense she
had another business. But I was there every day and
it was like all my ideas. And so when I
closed Scream, I thought I was done forever because I
had been the one working there every day. I had
(16:28):
lived out of my car for three months, like I
was trading not just for ingredients, but also just for
food to live off of. I really didn't have a
safety net, but for some reason, I just didn't care.
I was just on this cool adventure. So living in
my little chevette, I had a tiny little chavette, I
would sleep on my clothes in the back hatchback. There's
(16:49):
a rich neighborhood in Columbus, and they had the best trees,
and I would park my car under those because I
felt like maybe people wouldn't see me. But it was
a safe neighborhood and that was where I would spend
the night. But I would like look at the stars
and the tree above me. I felt very much on
my own, but very in control of my destiny.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Wow, what were you after during that time, was it
the pursuit of ice cream or it seems like it
was just something bigger.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So I had studied art and left art school to
make ice cream. When I was in college, I actually
wanted to be a perfumer. So I was studying art
and a whole bunch of other stuff that I was
just interested in. I went to Ohio State University, which
is massive, and so you can really learn anything there
that you want to. So it was hard for me
to focus, but I wanted to get into perfuming, and
(17:36):
it wasn't long after that I'd read all these books
about ancient perfumers, and I realized that butterfat, the fat
that's in milk, is a perfect carrier of scent. Then
I started to get things from the farmer's market, like
rose petals or sweet basil and actually steep them right
in the cream. It was hooking up with the butterfat,
so then it would like get frozen and then it
would melt when you eat it. So once I started
(17:59):
to work with that, I felt like there was a
lot that I could do if Ben and Jerry's did
what they did with kind of like that stoner junk food.
I mean, I'm a huge Ben and Jerry's fan to
this day. Well, then I can do it in the
other way, you know, in this more like, you know,
just a better quality kind of way, and to put
(18:20):
the emphasis on the experience of eating the ice cream.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
You know, I was going to ask you a question
about what you wanted to do differently, but I think
that feels like that's what it was, as you just
viewed ice cream in a different way than all these
other companies did.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
I was studying art and because all of my friends
were kind of like the punk kids hanging around Columbus,
and I was like, we would never go to one
of those like old fashioned nostalgic ice cream shops, So
maybe I can make an ice cream shop that's like
for my friends. So that also became that sort of like, well,
you know, you to find your market, you don't have
to look that far. If there's something that you kind
(18:55):
of love but it's not being served by the people
that you know and you relate to, can kind of
go after that, which is exactly what we have done.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
We all know that saying ego is the death of creativity,
and yet I'm always confused as to how ego factors
into entrepreneurship, right, because all great innovators like yourself, start
by investing in their own ideas, believing in their own ideas.
But then you have to engage in co creation with
your customers. So it's a give and take. What has
(19:22):
entrepreneurship taught you about the difference between ego versus instinct?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Oh gosh, what an incredible question. So yes, all of that.
I mean it is an act of co creation. Building
Jenny's was an active co creation, and in fact, my
first store, I didn't realize that, and that's really the
big thing that was the problem. I sort of thought
of myself as the artist, and because of that, people
people weren't actually that interested in what I wanted to
make every day. They wanted what they had last time,
(19:49):
which I didn't have because I was interested in making
something different all the time. And so when I opened Jenny's,
it was like, let's I already knew what flavors people
really loved that I was making before, and so I
knew that those had to become like regular flavors. That's
the thing that really made Jenny's Versus scream is that
idea of committing to what our customers loved out of
(20:12):
the things that I was making. I think that there
is this weird ego death in creativity in that when
any creative person puts themselves out there and says, I'm
going to put my name on this, I'm going to
stand for it, stand for my ideas. It is the
hardest thing you will ever We all know that. I mean,
you know, just even putting a post up on Instagram
can be like you have to get over yourself because
(20:35):
you have to get over that thing that tries to
protect you from expressing yourself. And people think it takes
ego to do that, but actually it takes ego to
hold you back. Your ego is what holds you back
from actually taking that step.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Jenny, you hit an unexpected bump in the road in
twenty fifteen with a lasteria outbreak that just seems so
brutal to endure. How did you navigate that moment?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I mean, I think when something like that happens, the
first thing you do is just pause and stare at
the problem. You look directly in the eye of what's happening.
We had done everything we thought we were supposed to
do to prevent it and then we got that call,
and so the moment, you know, that's the moment the
world kind of stops for us. Right. We came together
(21:21):
as a team very quickly. I had great people on
my team, just I mean, just kind of regular people.
We were just running this little company. But like we
had just opened in La To literally like a month before,
and we had this amazing collection of ice creams inspired
by colors of the Matisse paintings. So this is like
the highest moment we had ever achieved in the company.
And a month later we were worth nothing.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
It took your company out that badly.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
We needed money so much to it that so badly
at that moment because we were coming out of winter,
so we were just waiting for any of those summer
sales to come in, any of those spring sales.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So one of my favorite Ted talks is about the
importance of grit in business. That to me just seems
like such a huge test of grit. In hindsight, now
that you're nine years out of that experience, what was
the most impactful learning from that?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Oh, my goodness, we became the company we always believed
we were after that, Because when you are hit with
that kind of a challenge, and we could have made
very different decisions than we made in terms of like
trying to protect our company, and we chose to do
the right thing instead at the risk of everything. I
think that's actually you don't know what you're going to
(22:33):
do until you are presented with that. No one does.
But when you get through it and you can look
back and say, we actually are those people, that company
is us. Nothing you can do in life can give
you that. But crisis, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Did you ever think about giving up?
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Well? No, not in that. The interesting thing about this
kind of deep existential crisis where you're just really like
is that the rules are different. You can fight in
a way for what you believe that you wouldn't in
other times of your life. And there is a weird
creativity in that moment too. I don't want to say
it's enjoyable. You would never wish it on anyone. It's
(23:16):
so incredibly difficult, But actually, like during the crisis, there's
creativity and passion. You're on fire, you're walking through it,
you're getting through it, you're doing it for reasons other
than yourself. It's the hard part actually comes afterward, when
everything's kind of subtled and you realize you just gave
everything you had. Then it kind of messes with you
(23:38):
a little bit afterward.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Creativity and crisis, that's something that's going to stick with me.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah, I wrote about it. I wrote a journal and
I wrote about that, and yeah, what.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Was the journal entry? Like, what do you remember from it?
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Well, it's like, you know, I was sitting there for
so long, trying to save the company, trying to come
up with an idea. The rest of the team was
all working on amazing projects. They were in the phone
manning the phone bank which we had set up. They
were working with the FDA and trying to get us through.
There's so much red tape in all of this, and
we were doing testing and luckily we did not find
(24:12):
more litheria, so that was very good. But we were
trying to get the kitchen back up and running. But
my job is to create new flavors, and I had
no job anymore because we couldn't make ice cream. My
job is to connect with people, and so most of
that stuff was like on hold for now, and I
was just sat there thinking like what can I do?
In days, weeks, even months went by, and nothing was
(24:33):
like I remember, there's this blackness everywhere. I had nothing
to hold on too, nothing to grab onto, not even
a spark of an idea to carry me to the
next stone or whatever. And then it was interesting because
I got a call from an ice cream maker actually
in California, in Napa, and he said, come make your
ice cream at our plant. Can you do that? Can
(24:53):
we help you? And I thought, that's amazing, what a
wonderful human being. But no, we can't because it's too
far away. We wouldn't. It wouldn't it wouldn't actually work.
And then another ice cream maker starts calling. This is
actually just a couple weeks after after the recop, maybe
six weeks, and then another ice creamaker and another icere
maker and I and I tried to work with one
of them or something didn't work. But that was like
(25:14):
the spark. You know, you have to wait for that
like shift in thinking, and then it comes.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It almost seems like another small ego death in a way,
like having to having to put to bed this idea
of what you thought it should be, and then that
opens up so much greatness on the other side.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
It was mind blowing. Yeah, it really does blow your mind.
I mean you are you're it is an ego death situation,
for sure. You get a lot of those as an entrepreneur.
I think, you know, especially when your name is on it.
I mean, it's a funny thing. It seems the opposite.
But yeah, there's a lot of Yeah, killing your ego.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Tumbling to be in business is basically what it is.
I'm always really interested and inspired by compassionate leadership. I've
had enough bad bosses and good bosses to understand and
see the difference. And my friend Steven runs a company
called Flowers for Dreams in Chicago and I love it. Yeah. Yeah,
(26:11):
Well he had told me a story about you years ago,
and so I texted him and I said, you know,
we're going to be interviewing Jenny. And his response was,
she really gave me an ear when I needed one.
And I just thought that was such a characterization of
who you are as a leader who gave you an ear?
And did any of those conversations change the way that
(26:31):
you do business.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
It's weird because when you're an entrepreneur, when you're a founder,
most people in your life you have to convince because
most people around you think that you are not making
the right decision, or that you don't know what you're doing,
or that you came from art school and you didn't
go to business school, or that you're in ohioan and
you don't know from New York, like whatever it is,
there's you're a woman, and not a very very very
(26:55):
few people actually do care to listen and to it
on your side and to support you. And I've only,
i would say, recently found that, and I have found
people around me who are actually interested. And I know
what it feels like now to be pulled up, to
be allowed to expand into something I didn't know what's
(27:17):
possible for myself. Most of this in my life was
on my own, and especially when you talk about being
in the middle of Columbus, Ohio, which Columbus has a
great community, a really incredible community, But for most of
my life I was very alone. All of the women
in this city that were on the level that I
was or where I wanted to go, they were like,
(27:38):
you know, shoulder pads and pantyhose and high heels working
at the law firms. That wasn't me at all, So
I couldn't identify with them, you know. So I really
will say that like for a lot of the time
it was out on my own. I had to believe
in it. But I only recently got the support that
I need, which is pretty cool. So I have a
coach and an advisor for the last maybe five years,
(27:58):
and those people are incredible. And I would say to
any entrepreneur, the three people you need in your life
right now are a coach, because being a founder is
different than being an executive. You have different kinds of power.
You have to know how to wield it in the
right way. In your company. It's hard to know. You
need a business advisor. You just have to know what
all the things about the board are, what the contracts are.
(28:19):
You need somebody who's protecting you outside of your company
and who's helping you understand. And then you need a
really really really good lawyer from day one, you know.
So So anyway, it's funny, it's interesting. I think we're changing.
You know, people are more open to listening now, and
I certainly take every call I possibly can for emerging entrepreneurs.
(28:40):
I'm always, I mean, I'm always on phone calls with them.
I'll have some more this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It means so much when you're building something and I
feel like you're part of that change.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
We can all be so much more than we believe
we can be. And sometimes when somebody else just sees.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
That in you, that kind of like when saw something
in Frodo that no one else saw in him. I
just want to say, I've had so much self control
throughout this whole conversation because I am such a huge
Lord of the Rings fan. I know you are too,
and I've waited this whole time to get out my
Lord of the Rings reference.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I have a Lord of the Rings question.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
I have to ask you, Okay, great, this is like
you know, I always say the Lord of the Rings
is my favorite movies, is my favorite business book?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yes, I've I've learned that you believe that. So is
there a particular scene that inspires you as a business leader?
Speaker 4 (29:31):
The one that constantly is in my mind is when
Frodo like finally like throws the ring into the fire
or whatever. You know, It's like he's so bloody, you know,
and he's so that expression that he has it just
says everything, and it's exactly like it's a metaphor. It's
like what it feels like, Like I always talk it
like instead of having a mission in the company. We
(29:52):
had like this vision quest or mission quest sort of thing,
just because I want to compare it to like what
Frodo goes through. But there is a quietness I think
in ba an entrepreneur, and sometimes we're like on instrument
out in the world of Or. But most of our
lives are just working and just trying to get that
ring to Mordor. We never show like all of the
incredible people who supported you, the fellowship, the fellowship, and
(30:14):
it's not even just supported you, but like together we
make something greater than the some of its parts. So
when I think about I like the word company better
than I like the word business. So company is a
fellowship with people who are all an important part of
the mosaic to make one thing.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Whole, one last thing.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
There's a glad Real quote that I think perfectly describes
you and your perseverance, and that is this task was
appointed to you, and if you do not find a way,
no one will.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I can hear her voice say it when you say.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
That, right, Yes, So, Jenny, our minds are like gardens,
and you've had such a vivid imagination since you were
a little girl. You've talked about searching for fairies and
nymphs in the forest, and you're constantly sprouting.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
New ideas today.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So what do you do on a daily basis to
keep your mind ripe for creativity.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
I shut everybody else out because it's to the judgment
and the opinions are too loud and the voices are
too loud. And so I just go into my own place.
And I live on a park, and I go to
the forest a lot, and those are sacred places for me,
(31:26):
and I allow my mind to just wander. And I
really do think that imagination can be therapeutic. So sometimes
it's like there's like active imagination and then there's actually
turning off your brain and just feeling just radiating and
feeling the energy of whatever it is that you're doing,
especially in nature. And for some reason, that's also where
(31:48):
ideas come from when you stop thinking.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
So you are an ingredient company, and you have this
flavor called sunshine, which is very on brand for us
here at the bright Side and sunshine, Yeah, what are
the ingredients for sunshine in your life?
Speaker 4 (32:04):
So for me, like because I was in a period
of darkness, which I'm also not afraid of, and I
kind of like I was like born under a scorpio
moon almost at midnight, So like I have those light
and dark side of me, which is I'm an optimist,
you know, but like I'm rooted in both sides. But
like I don't know the elements of sunshine. I mean
I just think of light, you know, and it takes darkness,
(32:30):
Like you wouldn't have light if there wasn't darkness, right,
So it's that balance of.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Forces, balance of forces and flavors.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
The flavor was and I don't even know, maybe I
went too far the other way because if you were
just asking about the flavor.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I mean I wasn't. I wasn't. I really wanted to know,
like what makes sunshine for you? Like for me, it's
like a dash of alone time, you know, a tablespoon
of community that if I'm being corny, that type of
a thing. I just wanted to know what it equalled
for you.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Well, I love that And in a way like the
ice cream because it was the color of a storm cloud,
but behind the storm cloud was the light. It kind
of matches up with this idea of dark darkness and
light kind of stepping into the light, which I think
that's the sunshine, that's the flavor. And also for me,
like what it represents.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
The definition of wisdom is holding two opposite truths at
one time. And I feel like you do that with
your ice cream. It's light and dark, it's sweet and
salty and all of those things.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Well, and it's also true of our company. Like you know,
it looks optimistic, it looks like it's bright and cheerful,
but there's always a little shadow behind everything that we do.
Like I said already earlier, like ice cream is there
where you win the game or lose the game. I
think people don't realize how many people in the same
line that they're in might be there because they're losing
the game right now. And we are aware of that
(33:56):
at Jenny's in a big way. And it's really what
I think is so beautiful about ice cream. And I'm
not sure how many other ice cream makers really think
that way.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I don't think any of them.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It feels very in line with your emphasis on localization.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Yeah, and I always say, like anybody in America can
start where they're at and build anything they can imagine.
I think the most valuable resources you have as an
organization or not the money that you build, but the
community that you build and the people that come along
with you, and of course your own passion and the
love that you create in the world and all that.
I mean, that's like unstoppable. That's like a course you
(34:37):
can't really mess with.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
For sure, You're founding another company soon. What can you
tell us about that? Is this a pivot a little bit?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I mean it's funny because this was I was actually
in New Jersey to work with another founder on a
project that she needs some help with. And I've been
on this big health journey for the last five years
or so. And we started working directly with this produce
company with all of their produce trimming so apple cores, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew,
mango rinds, and then and then stems of like broccoli
(35:10):
and cauliflower, started fermenting them on site, turning them in,
dehyding them, and turning them at a flour and so
we were just like, can we make something out of this?
So we just made a whole bunch of things. We
made an amazing pancake mix of chocolate, cake mix, cookies,
and we settled on doing the first product to do
a bar, a nutrition bar that's just like a twelve plants,
you know, probiotics super fiber bar that's just really really
(35:32):
good for you. But the company itself will be an
ingredients company.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You're actually raising money through Kickstarter, and I'm sure a
lot of people would think you're such a successful entrepreneur,
your way beyond Kickstarter at this point, So why are
you doing it that way.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
I like the idea of starting small. I want to
start as direct as I can with people who will
be our customers. I knew that I thought this was
a good idea, but that's it. And so having so
many people come out so quickly for the Kickstarter kind
of prove the concept to me. So to me, it's
(36:09):
a story we created together. And again it goes back
to we're co creating this and you have to have
your people, your community, your customers, your potential customers there
with you in order to really be a company. So
it's just a humble way to do it, but to me,
it's invaluable.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Jenny, thank you so much for being here with us today.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This has been
such a fun conversation.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Thank you for having me Jenny Britten is the proto
Baggins of Frozen Treats, the Jedi Knight of Scoops, and
the founder of Jenny's Splendid Ice Creams.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
We got to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I don't know about you, Daniel, but that conversation was
everything I hoped it could be and more.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
She's a really inspiring entrepreneur, and we touch on compassionate leadership.
But there's a Shakespeare quote that some are born great,
some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
And I kept thinking about that as she was talking.
I think she's a little bit of all three. To
be honest, she's a true leader.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I loved hearing her talk about how she navigated that
tension between ego and openness as an entrepreneur, how her
greatest moments of creativity came in times of crisis. When
I look back at my life, I think that's true
for me too. I think it's true for all of us.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, those moments of failure, hardship, they really suck when
you're going through them. I call them crying on the
kitchen floor moments. I've had a few since I started
pretty smart and they're not easy. But I do think
that somebody said to me one time when I had
a crying on the kitchen floor moment. They were like,
welcome to the club, and I was like, what do
(37:55):
you mean? And they said, this is the club of entrepreneurship,
now inducted. Your tears are payment to get in basically,
and there's going to be a lot more. And it
made me feel better, like everybody goes through it.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And she really pulled back the curtain and acknowledged that
it's never just about one person, that one person who
builds a business. Even though it's her name on the pints,
every self made entrepreneur is still a community made entrepreneur
at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Oh yeah, no one does anything great alone. Anybody who
says they do needs their ego checked.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Tomorrow, comedian and actress Dulce Sloan joins us to talk
all about her journey to joy.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You don't want to miss.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
It, and that's it for today's show. Listen and follow
the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
I'm simone Voice. You can find me at someone Voice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
And I'm Danielle robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yet see you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
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