7/28/2023 0 Comments Swing it and ding it podcast![]() When the stay-at-home order began and group gatherings were limited to 10 people, Friederichs realized she’d have to try a different method for sales. Sheri Friederichs joined the Tastefully Simple team as a consultant 22 years ago. Instead, they post photos, promote ideas and share recipes. But when transferring online, people don’t need to make the food or clean their house. ![]() Consultants shifted from tasting parties to virtual platforms, such as Facebook groups and Zoom calls.įor in-person events, consultants prepare a spread of food using Tastefully Simple products. Revenue has been up the last two years, and unlike most businesses, sales increased once COVID-19 hit. “I told the team, ‘This is happening because we still want to be here, and if we don’t make these choices, we won’t still be here.’” Adapting for the futureĪfter a long rough patch, Tastefully Simple seems to be picking up steam again. It’s hard to tell those people goodbye,” she said. Expenses were cut by $19 million by the end of 2018. “She’ll do whatever it takes.”įrom 2014 to 2017, the Tastefully Simple team was cut from 350 employees down to 75. “A lot of people told her to close the doors, but she didn’t,” Tastefully Simple consultant Sheri Friederichs said. The financial boat had many holes in it, Blashack Strahan said, so choosing which ones to plug first to make the boat stay afloat proved to be hard choices. “If I lose everything financially, I still have an amazing life,” she said. One night, with tears in her eyes, she reminded herself of the worst thing that could happen. She set a different goal for $10 million in sales by the end of the fifth year. When the business’ five-year mark rolled around in 2000, Blashack Strahan had forgotten about her original projection from 1995. “I started to live with intention, and I didn’t know at the time, but I look back now and remember thinking, ‘Would I regret this? Would I regret that I didn’t at least try?’ So, that’s always been my mantra.” “I started to live differently,” she said. Her brother died in a fire in his 20s, and she teared up nearly 30 years later recalling how this tragic event has shaped her mindset. You figure it out, you bootstrap it.”īlashack Strahan said taking this big step was scary, but she asked herself if she would regret not doing it. “We didn’t have money to put into this business,” Blashack Strahan said. When she started Tastefully Simple, around two-thirds of the money was taken out on a loan. “But I finally came to the conclusion that if I could grow an $11-million company, I could run an $11-million company.” Bypassing regret and taking a risk In shock, Blashack Strahan grabbed a pack of graham crackers and a slab of Land O’ Lakes butter, lathering each cracker and sticking them in her mouth. ![]() She got up from her computer, walked to the kitchen and stood in a corner nook between the stove and refrigerator. When Blashack Strahan finished her projections, she realized she could be managing $11 million by 2000. “Once you start doubling or tripling on those bigger numbers, it just snowballs,” she said. Her goal was to hire seven salespeople by the end of the first year, 30 the second and 100 the third. Blashack Strahan realized people wanted convenient food, not gift baskets.īlashack Strahan was aware of the significance her business could have months before she hosted her first tasting party in 1995 when she sketched out a five-year plan. That was her “ding ding” moment to start Tastefully Simple. That weekend, Blashack Strahan sold about a third of her average annual profit in two days.Īs she was paging through an entrepreneur magazine one night, Blashack Strahan noticed the cover highlighted those who became millionaires before turning 40, and one of the featured businesses became successful by hosting home parties. She brought five themed gift baskets along with seven individual products separate from the collections that people could taste. After closing her store, Blashack Strahan was asked to bring her baskets to Alexandria’s annual Holiday Crafters' Tour. She started selling gift baskets and hosted open house tasting events for the holidays. By age 23, she owned Jill’s Grill in her hometown. Buttering up an ideaĪs a dairy farmer’s daughter, Blashack Strahan said she didn’t have big dreams, but she was determined. Today, 25 years later, Tastefully Simple is a multi-million-dollar business with thousands of sales consultants nationwide and 75 employees working from its Alexandria headquarters, but that growth didn’t happen overnight. By the end of that calendar year, she hoped to hire seven salespeople to help her out. Jill Blashack Strahan founded a business in 1995 in a shed with no running water, packing orders on a pool table in the town of Villard.
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