On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. I just knew that we needed to have a brand that some, like, some kind of identity and that We didn't want that identity to grow over time. We wanted to show up on the 1st day with that identity. And I think that you know, it just it proved out. I pivot, like, a hundred times a day. I mean, that's what being an entrepreneur is all about. And if you can't deal with con chronic change, then this isn't the space for you.
And so at the end of the day, always remind yourself of that. You're the one who built it. You know, and own that and be prideful of that. You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and kings like today's guest.
Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. Here we go. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe gathering the king's podcast. Today, I've got Amanda Wadsworth here on the King stage as a queen. Amanda, how are you? I'm great, Chaz. Thanks for asking me on. Yes. Absolutely. Happy to have you here. And, honestly, like I told you, you know, before we hit the recording button, I was going back through my notes on all the cool things that you've been able to do. And I got hungry.
I was really hungry. I was just like, I gotta talk to Amanda. Hoping she can transfer some some goodiness to me through the through the mic here, but Amanda tells what kind of business that you have. Well, so I own a food brand in Austin, Texas called Tiny Pies. And we offer, tiny handheld, both sweet and savory pies. And, yeah, it's awesome. And I wish that I had, like, thought thought to send you some breakfast pies. We could be having breakfast together as we have.
Well, see, I didn't when you said pies, I'm I'm thinking, well, Chaz, you know, your your traditional, you know, fruit and and maybe even a little chocolate or or meringue or whatever, but I didn't even think breakfast pies. That sounds delicious. Yeah. No. We do. We can do everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. So we do it all. So, yeah, we could be eating amigas pie right now and and have any great time. Well, we we could still have a great time.
Unfortunately, it's gonna be without the pie, but I I have a couple of friends in the So I'm gonna have to make my way to one of your locations, but I wanna get I wanna I wanna get into your story here because you've built not only just an incredible brand, but you're doing cool stuff, and I wanna I wanna share with a listener with all the cool things that you're doing. Before we jump into your story piece, I wanna know your why. Like, the deep seated, like, why are you doing this?
Even at this level, you had a, like, a great amount of success, but you're still pushing. You've got these big plans ahead. Well, I mean, I think that you know, our mission statement at Tiny Pies is creating community and creating connections in communities by baking up smiles. And I think that for me, It is the community piece that drives me. I mean, it drives my I mean, I'm I'm interested in that in my personal life and in my professional life.
And I feel like tiny pies was created to connect people and bring them together, whether that's family or friends or people that you don't even know, but bringing people together over food, is really important. That's how I grew up. We always shared food at the dinner table. We always sat down for dinner and had dinner together. And that's where we exchanged all of the, you know, goods, highs, and lows of our day.
We celebrated either with with food, whether that's, you know, a celebration of something that was great or something that was, you know, difficult. It always had to do with sued. And I think that, you know, I mean, that's in the in a nutshell, like, that's what tiny pies is. It's like really trying to bring joy to people through food and getting people to take a moment in their day. That tiny moment to sit down Either connect with themselves or connect with someone else over pie.
Amanda, I love the idea of building communities. Can you give us an idea of what that looks like practically? Yes. For sure. So, I mean, on any given weekend, we're, you know, catering thousands and thousands of pies for weddings and sharing in those moments. And and then, you know, we have people that come in and out of our stores. And, you know, I'll give you a couple anecdotal stories from a time when I was working our counter, actually, at the store.
We had a woman that came in every Thursday and would buy a Texas two step high. And one afternoon she came in. And she said to me, she said, I just wanna let you know that every every Thursday I come in and buy this pie. And I and it's because I'm going through chemo. And I have cancer, and I'm going through chemo. And she said, thinking about coming in here and buying this pie every Thursday is what gets me through my chemo treatment.
Wow. And, you know, we both shared this moment and, you know, it's that kind of thing that that when I talk about building community, that's exactly what we're trying to do is be there for people in good times and in bad and and and really be place that they feel is an extension of their own family. Another instance was a woman came in and her father had just passed away. And he is favorite pie, who's rebar pie.
And it wasn't even on our menu at that point, and she came in and asked if we could make it special because they were doing this memorial service. And they wanted to share it. And so we did and she came back in and we talked and she shared with me how important it was for her and her family to after the memorial service to sit down and have this pie that was her father's favorite and sharing that together and create this you know, bond and and have this memory with the pie.
And, you know, Thanksgiving is another one. We sell pies across the nation for Thanksgiving, and we're becoming a part of everyone's traditions. And it feels I mean, it's wonderful for us to feel like people are bringing us into their family's traditions and that we're becoming an extension of their family. And there's there's no better job to be in than, you know, creating joy through food with people. It's just fantastic.
I love that the all of those examples are just incredible and very hard string pulling, but Yeah. You're right. It ties right into why we do this, why we do our business. We're connecting with people even more so for you building communities. I just absolutely love that. Doing your team are on a very clear mission. I love that you've spent time doing that. Do you think that I mean, you kinda given the deep seated at, like, how it where it came from.
Have you always thought like that, though, or or did that develop over time? Well, I mean, I grew up in a family where food was really just instrumental, you know, and really important.
I think as I've aged, I've realized how much more important community is, you know, when you're younger, you're surrounded by people of your age and you're, you know, it's easier to have that community around you Chaz you get older, and I'm in my fifties now Chaz you get older, you know, that's harder to maintain.
And I think that, you know, one thing that we've learned and I especially learned going through COVID is that, you know, we all had this space and time where we were even if you were in a pod with someone where you were still very isolated from your regular day to day and and the people that you love sharing time with. And I think that, you know, they're doing research on it now and saying that, isolation is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.
So I think building community and being feeling a part of your extended having an extended family around you that's outside of your in your immediate family and friends is really important, and it makes you feel, you know, makes you happy. It makes you thrive. And I and I think it's also an opportunity for us as humans to connect with each other, even if we may not agree on certain things. It's like, you know, there's no reason why we can't sit down.
And have a respectful conversation over a piece of pie and and engage and listen to one another and Yeah. I don't know. I think it's at the beginning of I mean, it's just It it is what we it is to be human. It's just to share food and break bread with another and and, you know, and and share experience. And so I think that You know, we would love for our supply shops to become a place where people feel that sense of community and that sense of extended community.
And we're actually starting a new program this spring where we're gonna be doing these pie socials in our stores where people come in and You know, and they reserve spots, and it's just, you know, anyone can can be there. It's gonna be kind of a sliding scale, so you don't even have to be able to afford that meal that night. And it will be about just, you know, meeting your neighbors and sharing. Yeah. I love that.
I love what you said specifically in there that we can sit down over a piece of pie and have a conversation even around things that maybe we don't agree on. I think that might be Amanda, the the key to what's missing in the world today, honestly. Just I agree. The ability to sit down and have a conversation. And even though we may not agree on everything, but be able to have an adult conversation and go back and forth Right.
I loved I love that picture because I can see myself even at my my family's table, my family in Nebraska, this is kind of a a a normal thing that happens. You sit down. You kinda you had dinner, and it's a little bit you know, maybe not chaotic, but there's just a lot of moving pieces because there's kids and this and that. And Yeah. And then typically some of the kids go down to sleep and and, you know, some things kinda fade away.
And then a few people sit down for a piece of pie and have this intimate conversation Right. Goes back and forth, and it doesn't have mean you have to agree on everything or be on the same page or or even be working together on it, but you can be genuinely interested in the other human across the energy supply. Right. Exactly. And that's what we're trying to create. It's just a space for that to happen. Right? Yeah. That's great. That's great. Let's talk about your story a little bit.
How how did you and pies and and bringing smiles to the world come to to come to be? Give us a little bit of the backdrop. Well, So it actually the idea for tiny pies actually came from my son when he was about nine years old. My son, Andrew, had had pie for dinner and wanted to take a slice to to school the next day in his lunch box. And I was kinda describing that it would just be kind of a mess on the other side.
And he suggested, you know, why don't you make something that I can meet with my hands? And, you know, I was just like, wow. That's kind of a great idea. And my mom and I My mom's my business partner. And we started playing around with old family recipes and, you know, long story short, we ended up taking it to a farmer market director who loved the idea and concept and took and invited us into the market.
But, you know, I think Chaz, I have always kind of been an entrepreneur and on that journey, and that this was an opportunity for my mom and I to work together. And Yeah. It just kind of all coalesced at the right time.
But again, it was, you know, coming back to the to the part about food is that, you know, I grew up with food and food being, like, just this this just, like, sticky glue that winds everybody together, you know, and that's always been something that I've been interested in in pursuing. And so it seemed like the the right time to do it. Yeah. Got all the stars aligned.
And and I love how your your son kinda played a big role in that Did you have entrepreneurial experience before that, or what'd you do before? Yeah. So before that, I was in real estate, actually, and had started, had co founded a green real estate company with some other realtors focused on sustainability. And before that, when I was seven years old, I started walking my neighborhood and knocking on doors and asking people if they could if I could do odd jobs around their house to make money.
I mean, I've always been wanting to I've always wanted to have my own money so I could buy the things that I wanted to do and maybe the things my parents didn't maybe agree that I should be able to do. So I've always been I've always been wanting to do Chaz. And, you know, I've been working since I was fifteen. Yeah. I can relate to that. I'm I'm sure most, at least 1st generation entrepreneurs can relate to that and and maybe others.
But, you know, what you were saying Chaz you know, you wanted to have your own money to buy your own things, and it sometimes that stems from not having anything and you wanted to go get it. And and Yeah. Sometimes, like you said, Sometimes it's because you were being told maybe no or not yet. And you said, you know, I don't wanna wait on that. I don't wanna be putting a box. Right. What an entrepreneurial spirit, though? That that's exactly what that means is like, no. You know what?
You go you go do you. I'm gonna go create something brand new because Right. That's how my brain works. And so Well, also, you know, my family, my dad's an entrepreneur, and he's a filmmaker and worked for himself. And and my grandparents, his parents were entrepreneurs Chaz their own business. So I grew up around that inner and I saw what that was firsthand. And I grew up feeling that I could always do what I wanted, and I didn't have to feel like I had to go work for someone else.
And so I think that my whole life was I mean, I've worked definitely worked for other people, over the course of my career, but I've always felt that I had the ability and opportunity to, you know, go make my own way if I chose to.
Yeah. Create. I love I love the atmosphere as you described it because, you know, I think any anybody listening like myself who's 1st generation and you know, trying to create that environment for my kids and grandkids and and future generations where they can see what's normal as far as to be able to go create as opposed to the the opposite, which is, you know, such a such an outlying thought. Yeah. I love that that your grandparents and your family did that for you.
It kinda paved the way Well, you know, and there's, like, nothing that I'm more proud of than to have literally created this company out of nothing with my mom and have my I have 2 sons and have them watch us do Chaz. Watch their mom and grandma do that. It's been, you know, it's just that's Chaz that brings brings me the most pride right there. Yeah. Yeah. And it would have been just as awesome to be able to keep it at the local farmer's market.
And sell out every weekend, but, man, it's gotten much, much bigger than that. And, I wanna know, as you've been building the business, you know, like you said, kinda you and your mom doing this thing together and and going from a email, like, just a basic farmer's market to now multiple locations and you're trying to, you know, grow by multiple locations now. What's been the one decision?
If you Chaz look back, just a strategic decision that was just a really good choice that's led to a lot of your success. What is that? Well, so, I mean, this might sound kinda funny, but I think it really is is it started before we even launched it to farmers market. So before we sold our first pie, we hired a really well known and experienced design company who designed our logo and packaging. And so Before we even showed up at the 1st day of the market, we had we had all of that.
We had a brand. We looked official. And so people were at asking us the 1st day at the market, you know, where can we buy you in the grocery store? And we're like, oh, well, this is our 1st day at the farmers market. And people couldn't believe it because of how we looked, and I feel like You know, we invested in the right things. And I think that that was definitely one of them is that our brand is is is a significant part of our success, and people really identify with it.
And I think, you know, it was really expensive for us to do that in the beginning because we hadn't even sold product yet. And it was expensive to jump out and and and I think that sometimes people won't spend that upfront money You know, in the beginning when you're bootstrapping because we bootstrap for a really long time. But there are times when I think it's really important and I feel like we made a really great choice by doing that. What do you think led you to that decision?
I mean, obviously, we can all invest a ton of money or a little money. Like, Like, that's not the choice. The choice was, man, this right here will make us look professional or whatever your thought process Like, what what had led you to that moment, and why did you choose that as opposed to maybe going and doing Facebook ads for your pies instead of the farmer? I mean, you could have spent a ton of money in a ton of different ways.
Yeah. I think it was that I just I just knew that we needed to we needed to have a brand to some, like, some kind of identity and that We didn't want that identity to grow over time. We wanted to show up on the 1st day with that identity. And I think that You know, it just it proved out. I mean, you know, a lot of people when you start at the market, you know, they might have some little you know, design that they've created themselves.
And then over time, you know, as they are as they grow, that brand kinda morphs and grows.
And and that's fine too, but I I felt like, you know, we wanted to launch with this very significant brand and and and tagline and logo, and that's what we did, and it seemed to pay off do you think that inside of that choice, you had, like, maybe, like, a hidden confidence because you knew how good the pies were, or you just really thought it was gonna gonna be big or I mean, what what allowed you that moment to go, you know what? No. We're showing up all in.
Because, I mean, what if you showed up into the the, you know, I mean, listeners thinking right now, what if you showed up to that Farmers market. Nobody bought any pies. You spent all this time and money on this brand, but there was obviously something that you knew or maybe Chaz an inkling What was it? Yeah. Well, I mean, we had tested our pies with friends and family and, you know, people love them and the farmers market market director did too, but I think Yeah.
Beyond that, it's just You know, as a founder, if you're creating something out of nothing and you're gonna found something, like, you have to have faith in yourself. I mean, founders are are fearless. You know? I mean, if you're if you're if you're gonna allow your What if mind and to spin off and, you know, roll out all of these different scenarios, you're not gonna end up doing that. And at the end of the day, it was just We had faith in ourselves. We had faith in the product.
We had faith in our own abilities, and we knew that we could do We we knew that we could do this, and we actually baked all day the day before, baked 75 pies, took them to the farmers market, and we sold out the 1st day. And I knew from that day, like, just deep in my heart, I knew that we were gonna be successful. I knew it was gonna time and a lot of effort and a lot of work, but I just knew that we had a product that resonated with our customers.
And I knew that the only thing between, you know, being 6 possible or not was how hard we could work and and what we could do to to push it forward. Yeah. I love that. I just, and was talking with a couple of entrepreneurs just the other day of about the difference of interest or committed. And, obviously, there's a difference, but I was using it as a discussion point to kind of drum up, you know, deep seated conversation, and it's exactly what you just said.
You said, I didn't show up interested at the first time charter. No. I was freaking committed. I was all in from the beginning love what you talked about as far as, like, the founder being, like I mean, if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it. Otherwise, you're really not doing it. You're kinda just stating Chaz. Exactly. Exactly. And I think that you, you know, on the 1st day of the market, I already had the vision in my mind of, like, multiple locations.
So I wasn't I was you know, excited to be at the market and trying to sell there, but I already had this vision that I've had this entire times since, you know, and we o we opened 12 years ago. And I think that that is also key is that I believe in law of attraction, and I believe that You know, if you if you believe in something and you keep it in your present mind and you focus on that, you know, I mean, that that's not the only thing that's gonna make you successful.
Obviously, hard work comes behind that for sure. Oh, yeah. And a lot of it. But, you know, to keep that vision and keep, like, just being linear focused on what that end goal is, that's gonna draw it into you. And I truly believe that. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. There's a there's a there's a whole book on this. It's called Thinking Grubridge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It gives it gives you actually there's actually exactly six steps, and you can find it right there in in the chapter 2.
Anyway, I just so appreciate your willingness to, like, just go for it because even though you were doing it for you in the moment, There's thousands of people listening right now going, alright. Like, like, if it doesn't fire you up, like, I'm fired up right now. It's freaking Monday morning, and I'm fired up at Amanda store because she went all in.
And if that doesn't get you fired up, then you probably listen to the wrong show, but or or maybe they're not all in, like you and I are, I mean, I don't know, but Let's flip the script. I wanna know if a bad choice, something that didn't work, something that we can learn from. We can stick a we can stay away from from the bruises, as they say.
Yeah. So, you know, being a founder is a is this, you know, windy road, right, and and you you make bad decisions sometimes, and we definitely have made bad decisions. I one that I would highlight, I guess, is something that happened not too long ago. And it was, you know, kinda came out of COVID. When we were in COVID, you know, we saw our e com just, you know, shoot through the roof, like everyone else who had e com business And Right.
So we were, you know, sitting with our finance team and making projections about all the packaging. And we have a seasonal business, so Q Four is really big for us. Sure. So we're, you know, looking at what we anticipated to sell through that ecomm channel Chaz year and ordering packaging and all of the supplies, all the shipping supplies, and etcetera.
And, you know, we were basing that like everyone else did kind of on this, you know, nice little trajectory that we were all kinda seeing through COVID And and then that dropped off. And so one of the things that happened to us then is that we overshot. We spent money on this packaging. We ordered we ordered a lot also to reduce the expense, partly, you know, by bringing down the per unit price. But we thought we would be able to sell through Chaz. And so now I've been sitting on some packaging.
So I'm storing storing packaging, pain to store packaging. And so, you know, that was one of the You know, I mean, that was a costly decision. But, you know, now, I mean, with every one of those missteps, it's an opportunity for growth. And it's an opportunity to learn about yourself, your team, you know, your business. And so Yeah. You know, it will be the last time I make that mistake.
And, you know, and so I think that in some ways, it's not that you wanna have these mistakes and you don't wanna definitely be so crucial that they really, really harm the business, but On some level, these mistakes help you become a better fan better leader and and better business owner. And, you know, it's all about how you approach them. And if you learn from them and you don't get stuck in, oh my gosh, we've made this bad mistake. You always constantly have to be pivoting.
I mean, I pivot, like, a hundred times a day. I mean, that's what being a entrepreneur is all about. And if you can't deal with con chronic change, then this isn't the space for you. I agree a 100%. It's so interesting the COVID conversation because, you know, we hit we were on a roller coaster of Yeah. Wolfe falling apart. And then because we're all locked down. It actually, like you said, ecom and a bunch of other things started exploding. Right. And you're right.
I have talked to many other entrepreneurs and maybe even somebody who's listening right now, who is like, okay. We started calculating this this this COVID boom as, like, regular growth. Right. And it wasn't. It wasn't. Yeah. And and that's okay. We know now. So that way Yeah. When, you know, external things happen and we start to see an up or a down, it's like, It's momentary. It's a wave of sorts, and we gotta be able to kinda somewhat plan for Chaz, although it's still very difficult.
I don't know. Even if we went through it again, if we'd be able to time it perfectly, but Right. The idea is, like you said, as we got to learn, you Chaz to learn probably a lot about your team and the fortitude is just, you know, who was who was maybe really all in with you. For sure. For sure. I mean, we went to our team at the beginning of COVID. This is just a little side note and said, you know, we didn't know. I mean, we were all terrified. We didn't know what this meant.
And, you know, we have a customer facing business. And I didn't wanna ask my team to do something I wasn't willing to do. And quite frankly, I was concerned about being out in front of customers at that point because we just didn't know what was going on. And so we sat down and talked to our team about how we were gonna handle it, and we all came to an agreement of how we would handle it. And I feel like, you know, from that moment on, our team just worked just tirelessly.
I mean, it was like it was I mean, you know, you've you've you've got a business that is similar to mine and that You know, I felt like I was back in startup mode. I don't know if you did, but it was just like every day. It was just a new day of trying to recreate and innovate to to survive. So That's right. I love that energy, that recreation. You're right because it happens at certain times, or sometimes you kinda have to recreate it yourself.
Some sometimes they things get a little stagnant, and it's It's time to reinvent. Time to get things rolling again. Yeah. I love that. I wanna switch over here to our speed round, Amanda. And my first question is around KPI. And the way I say it is this. If you could only track one thing inside of your glorious pie business, what would that one thing be?
I would say customer lifetime value because we You know, our customers, we want our we want a customer that comes into our shop, and then we have all these other channels. And so we wanna be able to track and we want them to be coming back. So it's like the first time you come into the shop and you enjoy your experience, we want you to then think about ordering them for your anniversary. And then we wanna send well, we want you to send them as client gifts and Yeah. On and on.
And so it's tracking that that I think is the most important to us. Yeah. I think that there's a, like, a strung together relationship Right? Like, you're trying to add value to someone so much so to where Chaz you become part of their life. Correct. What What do you do to track that? Well, I mean, I think we we track. I mean, we track it through all of our sales data. You know? And we can we can get granular on you know, which customers are coming back and so forth.
I mean, we just had a pie day, which is one of the biggest days of the year for us outside of, like, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Right. And we had it we had the best pie day we ever Chaz.
And we we I haven't done this yet, but we're gonna go in and do a deep dive to see you know, what customers were new customers, which customers came back, and get a feeling of, you know, are we growing with where we are we growing with additional cut when, obviously, we're growing with additional customers, but, you know, which customers are coming back and which ones aren't and trying to figure out and segment You know, how why have we lost certain customers?
Is it certain stores that that aren't growing as much as others and just try to segment it out and see what's going on? But I think that it's important to I mean, that's for us, that's really that's really tells us whether or not we're doing our job of whether it is whether or not people are coming back in. I mean, obviously, we want new customers. We we want those returning customers. That is the bread and butter. Those are the people that are gonna be keeping us alive.
Not the not the one time customer that comes in for Thanksgiving, but the customers that come in over and over. Yeah. It's interesting once you start calculating, you know, the average comes in two point three times in the year or whatever the number is. And you go, okay. Well, if I can take my average to from 2.3to3.5 over this many customers, Chaz starts to really change the business. It does immediately. Yep. Yeah. That's great. Okay. Next next question is about resources.
What book or maybe resource or maybe even podcast Wolfe you recommend listening or for a business owner who wants to Well, so the book that I would recommend is not a business book, but it's a it's a it's a life book. It is the power of now by Effort Tully, and I read it, like, years ago, but it's something that I kinda keep up my bedside and I go back to it a lot. And it's basically about just focusing and being living in the present moment.
And I think that, you know, I mean, in life in general, that's really important because it allows you to just be more at peace and and be more in your flow. I think that in business, it's really key. I mean, I've, you know, I mean, every time I go through a difficult situation with a business, there's an opportunity to get you know, to get stuck in the stuck in the past of, like, maybe mistakes you've made or or opportunities you've missed or something.
And and then or to get too far out over your skis in the future and be, you know, be allow that c or to start ticking up on you of all the what ifs. Right? If we if we had lived through if we had lived in that faced during COVID, it would have made us crazy, you know, because there was just so many un unknowns around what was going to happen. And so we had to stay in the present moment. We had to deal with with what was happening that day at hand.
And I think, obviously, you have to plan for the future and you have to make projections, and I'm not saying that you don't do any of that. But if your mindset can be what can I do now and take action today, then I think that that is, I mean, that's really helpful? It's been really helpful to me. And allows me to not get too spun up on the what ifs. Yeah. I love that perspective. Most people don't realize this, but Depression is the overthinking of the past.
Anxiety is the overthinking of the future. Correct. It doesn't mean that you don't do either. There's reflection of the past that helps you grow. There's Right. Good deep thinking of the future that helps you plan, but just as you just said, most of our our time, even though we're visionaries, and we're always thinking, you know, I I had the I had the vision of multiple locations the whole time.
Like, you were living in the future, but in order to build it, you have to be right now, and you gotta be problem solving right now. I love everything that you just said. Correct. And I think, actually, that'll give a lot of, like, you know, release to a lot of entrepreneurs because There's a lot of quote, unquote depression and anxiety, and I'm not, like, a medical person. So, you know, I'm not gonna try to drive or diagnose anything here, but it's the overthinking of one or the other.
I think if we just follow what you just said that, there'll be a lot more peace. Right. No. I agree. And it keeps you focused on what's at hand, and then you can make decisions based on what's happening right now, and you don't get, you know, I mean, the other thing that comes with that is you can get paralyzed with fear. You either, you know, fight or flight mode. Right? And Yep. So, you know, being in the present moment helps with everything. That's right.
What do you think, Amanda, about in mentionally networking or masterminding with other entrepreneurs. I think it's crucial. I think that it's so important quite frankly, I have to admit I don't do it enough. And it's something that I am have literally put on my list of things to to do more this year because I think it's really important. I feel that founders, a lot of times, get siloed, you know, and in isolated. And I definitely have felt that as a founder.
And I, you know, have a group of founders that I hang out with and talk to you on a regular basis. And It is so important. I mean, when I have those conversations, I'll be going through something and I'll reach out to somebody and just to hear that someone else has gone through what I'm going through or is Karim going through what I'm going through and not sealing so isolated is so important, but also learning best practices from them and and just and being able to share that as well.
I mean, I think that Here in the Austin community, people have been so open and willing to help, and it's been such a supportive community. And I would say that if you're starting if you are a founder now or you're or you're launching a business, it is one of the most important things you can do is to build out kind of mentor relationships with others to learn from them, but also to to give back too. And I try to work with you know, young entrepreneurs too and give my time anytime I can.
I call it Pine it forward and we, you know, pay it back that way, but I think that's It's critical. I I think you're spot on. You I don't think I could've gotten a better a better answer. That's really great. I got a question for you about family. You had mentioned, obviously, you've got you know, a couple sons and and you're even in business with your mom. The question that comes up a lot of times, actually, not a lot of times.
Every time with an entrepreneur, is Chaz, okay, I'm obsessed with my business Chaz, and I'm all in, and I've got this definiteness of purpose and these plans, and I'm all in, and I'm successful. But we don't do that with our family. So how have you, Amanda, give us some practicals on how have you been obsessed, if you will, or successful with your family, your kids, alongside being all in on your business.
Well, so I would say probably when I started my business, my kids were younger, and I had actually I'm a single mom most divorced. And so, you know, I think we grew the business intentionally slower than we could have. We bootstrap for a really long time. And slower than we could have because I made the conscious choice to want to be able to be with my children and and, you know, be a of their life in the evening, but also, you know, go to the baseball game. Go do those things.
And, I mean, I didn't hit every one of them for sure. I missed a lot because of work. But it was really important for me to have those boundaries to protect that time with my family. I think that quality of life is the most difficult thing that an entrepreneur faces. I'll never forget. I was at the fancy food show. I don't know. In the beginning of our our throws in tiny pies.
And I was in this lecture, and the speaker was saying that He was VP of some big CPG company, and he was saying that he said if you're not willing to more put a second mortgage on your house and risk your marriage, you need to get out of this. You need to step of this rim. And I was like, wow. That's really harsh. Yeah. But I think that I I think that in a way, it's it's and not that you wanna risk those things, but it is poor.
It's very hard to grow something and build it over time and and put all of your energy there while also trying to be present and be engaged in and even just personal, just personal time for yourself, which is really invaluable, which, you know, I I still struggle with that. Quality of life for me is is is a constant struggle. I'm getting better at it. I am, you know, starting to put up boundaries and and and get better about protecting that, but it's always been it's always been a thing.
And I think that most founders Really struggle with that. Yeah. The example that you gave of the the guy speaking, you're right. It it you hear it and you're like, oh, you know, the very principle of what he's talking about Chaz committed versus interesting that we are interested that we talked about earlier. I mean, if we talk about being defined, Everything that he was talking about is being committed it all in.
My only thing would be that it sounds like he's not very committed to his Mary, sounds like he's not very committed to his Right. You know, whatever else it was. And so I understand that you kinda have to burn the ships. That's what committed actually means is to forget everything else and go all in. And that's why there's, like, this conversation that I keep drumming up over and over again, not necessarily about balance because I don't think that exists. But going, okay.
I'm gonna be all in here. I'm gonna be all in here, and I'm gonna be all in here. And sometimes it's like there's this, you know, like, I'm sure your kids have been in and around the stores, and I'm sure your kids have been in and around the marketplace and inside the pie happen. Like, there's this there's this commingling that happens with entrepreneurs because the the business is is part of the family. The family is part of the business. And and It's like I 3rd child.
So Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I had a guy on the show, I don't know, maybe 2 or 3 months ago. He said it the problem is is when the business is a mistress. And you and you keep her from your Wolfe. And you and you'll tell the kids about her because Yeah. Yeah. She's over here, and she's a secret. And and then your family starts to resent you for it. As opposed to it being a third child. And it's like Yeah. They know the name. Everybody's involved in the activities.
Like, they he's they sit at the dinner table with you. It's like Right. Oh, what a concept when you Chaz think about That being, okay. This is how it should be, and entrepreneurs are different. You already said it's like we're all gonna have this struggle. We just gotta, like, be proactive about kind of being all in in all areas. Right. Well, in a different different stages in the year and different stages of development, it changes.
There's time when you're able to, you know, commit more and be more present with family, there's times when the business requires you to be more present there. And it's just this it's just this flow that you have to get in and and and, you know, like you said, it's about communication with the people that you love in your life and making sure that everyone's on the same page and always revisiting those commitments and making sure that, you know, everybody is staying committed to the path.
You know? That's right. That's right. I love that. Amanda, I have one last question here for you. Ready? Sure. If you could whisper in the younger Amanda's ear, What would you say? I would probably say, trust your gut. K. I think that sometimes You can allow others even within your organization to To because you think maybe they have an expertise, and maybe they do have an expertise in a certain area that is not your expertise.
And so you rely on them for for that information that I would say more times than not when I haven't gone with my gut instincts. I've made mistakes. And when I I mean, it's not just going on gut alone, obviously, but when you trust that intuition is when I feel like I'm I'm doing the best job. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. The intuition is a big deal. And, you know, they're I can come from a lot of different places.
So I appreciate that that almost like just peaceful word because I think there's probably some younger entrepreneurs listening right now, and it's tough in the moment to trust your gut. It's tough because it's like, I don't know what's gonna happen. Man, You know, maybe I make a mistake. I don't know.
But I think that once you and especially once you've started and you've founded the business and you've been in the business, I mean, if you'll start bringing people on your team, you know, it starts out with you and maybe your co founder, and then you start bringing people on the team. But, like, at the end of the day, You're the one who knows your business better than anyone else. I mean, you founded it. You created it. You came up with the idea. You know what your vision is.
You know what your trying to accomplish. And so at the end of the day, always remind yourself of that. You're the one who built it, you know, and own that and be prideful of that. It's so profound. You have to really, really own it. Amanda, I wanna give you a chance here to tell us where we can get these delicious pies because you've You've kept us wanting this entire time. You got breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You got desserts. All this crazy stuff.
Also, tell us how we can find you if we wanna pick your brain as an entrepreneur. So we've got 3 stores in Austin, Texas, and 1 in Waco. You Chaz go to www.tinypies.com to find all of that. We're on social media. So we're tiny buys on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, you can go to LinkedIn to find me Amanda Wadsworth LinkedIn. If you want to email me, and you can do that at amand@tinypies.com. And yeah. And I'm feel free to reach out.
I'm happy to, you know, give time and advice and and share experience, good, bad, the ugly, whatever. So feel free to reach out. And get you some pies if you're listening to Ryan and I know that know I am for sure. Maybe one I mean, do you have the classic pumpkin pie? I assume. We do. Yeah. We do. Not all not all year, but we do have it for the season, for sure. Yeah. That's that's my Yeah. Classic go to. Right? Never never mess with a classic.
Amanda, you have been absolutely sensational here today. Thank you for being here. We wish you nothing but blessing on your family and your business, your team, all your locations, all the growth that you guys are gonna experience this year. Thank you for being here. Thanks, Chaz. I really appreciate it. Thanks so Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from malt businesses in multiple different industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300 other very successful 789 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone.
And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you.
And you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit. To 1000 kings. Talk soon.