Posted on

The Entrepreneur Diaries – Pivoting is OK

I talk to a lot of fellow entrepreneurs and what I’ve observed is that no matter how far into your business you are – whether you just started, you’ve been a few years into it, or you’re a seasoned entrepreneur – we all go through the same things.

Maybe at different scales, but we all can relate.

I decided to start a series on here called “The Entrepreneur Diaries” where I can just be real. It’ll be similar to a “Lately” or “Update” type of post.

Anyway, in the last few months I’ve been feeling like a newbie entrepreneur. I’m currently swimming in unchartered territory with Ninong’s and I swear I thought I could plan and plan and plan and things would be fine. I thought I’d had enough experience running our business at our old location and that it would be the same thing here. Well damn, I was wrong.

I mentioned it in one of my podcasts that I posted a couple weeks ago. It’s been a learning experience, and it’s been in front of the public. The growing pains, the hard lessons, the wrenches in my perfect plan…it has taught me a lot in the last few months.

I do have to say, though, I’m actually really grateful for it. It has made me a better business owner in so many ways. I’ve learned to stand firm in my goals for our business, to take criticism with a grain of salt, to take constructive critique to heart, and to always trust my instincts.

At the end of every work day I sit in my office and while I’m finishing up my lasts tasks before I go home I remember what it took to get us here. Where we started compared to where we are today are like night and day. People ask me why I think we’ve grown so much and I think it’s honestly because we’re not afraid to pivot. Yes, we have the same main goals but we’re not afraid to try things and see if they work. If they don’t, on to the next. But if they do – GREAT!

Pivoting is part of every business’s journey. I don’t think I’ve encountered any entrepreneur or business that can say that it turned out exactly as planned to the T. But that’s the exciting part of being an business owner right? 🙂

xoxo,

Posted on

Talking about Difficult Stuff – Transparency

I thought I wasn’t afraid to be an open book. I thought I was being authentically me all day errday.

Nope.

I realized over the course of Ninong’s moving to a new space that there were so many things that I didn’t share that would have been great content because of fear. Fear of admitting that I felt like I was failing, fear of showing my mistakes, fear of sharing the unexpected. 100% fear, actually make that 99% fear and 1% me having no time to share it because I couldn’t move fast enough to get things done.

Looking back it made me think and meditate over it for a while. Why didn’t I share?

In hindsight, now that things are starting to settle down I should have. Actually I probably will in the future. But my point is it made me realize that I don’t share the difficult parts of my life. I mean, yes, there are definitely things that I want to keep private. But the tough stuff. The trenches, the downs, that’s where the “meat and potatoes” is of entrepreneurship.

Being authentic and transparent on the internet is hard. It’s so easy to share things when it’s glamorous, fun, and exciting things are happening. It’s way harder to share when it’s tough. But those tough moments are when it’s more humbling, valuable, and inspiring. When I watch or read about other people’s journeys those hard, vulnerable, authentic, and transparent moments are when they draw me in. They got me hooked cuz I saw some real emotion. But most of all, that’s when I saw the most growth in them.

I want to remember the moments where I pivot, grow, and change.

I don’t want to forget the times that I became better. Those moments where I’m in this dirty, muddy valley where there’s nothing but hardship in sight. Those moments when I think I’m done, it’s all over because this is the end and there’s nothing I can do to make it better. In those moments I forget that it’ll always work out in the end, but it always does. Yes, it might not work out the way I want it to. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, it’s easier to give up. But it’s never over.

So cheers to the hard stuff! The difficult stuff, the valleys, the moments when you think you’re done. Let’s talk about it more, let’s not let fear get in the way of being who we are and what we’re meant to become.

xoxo,

 

 

Posted on

Restaurant Feature – Ninong’s on The Filipino Channel

Ninong’s has given me and my family so many opportunities. One of them being featured in different publications, blogs, and even on TV every once in a while.

Prior to officially opening at our new location, we invited some of the friends we’ve made in the media industry to come and eat some food! We wanted to showcase some of the new menu offerings we were going to have as well as let them see the new location for themselves.

Most recently, the Filipino Channel (aka TFC) showed a segment about us on their show Balitang America from the tasting. What an honor! It was perfect timing too, we were just about to announce that we were going to start serving our Chicken and Waffle that same week. They beat us to it!

Thank you to Steve and everyone at TFC for the feature!

xoxo,