Allison Schaaf is trained chef and registered dietitian who took her experience as a personal chef and turned it into PrepDish.com, a subscription-based gluten-free and paleo meal plan service. She helps subscribers take the guesswork out of the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?”
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Resources Mentioned:
- Audible – Get a FREE Audiobook & 30 day trial if you’re not currently a member!
- Boomerang – Allison’s small business resource
- The ONE Thing – Allison’s top business book
- Instacart – One-click grocery shopping
- Prepdish – Get a two-week free trial with Allison’s meal planner
3 Key Points:
- Welcome mistakes. It’s impossible to wait until you know everything – jump in now and learn from what you do wrong.
- Find ways to add value to other people’s lives. Solving pain points is the secret to successful business.
- Tenacity is vital. Stick with what you’re doing, even when it’s tough.
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Time Stamped Show Notes
(click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.)
- [02:39] – Generates revenue by selling subscriptions to meal plans online
- [03:24] – Allison also has a personal chef company
- [03:40] – Subscriptions cost $14 per month or $99 for the year
- [04:30] – Right now, Allison’s focusing on increasing the subscriber base
- [04:35] – Already has over 2,000 subscribers
- [4:48] – Worst Entrepreneurial Moment: Not connecting her credit card processor with her bank account and losing the first year’s revenue from Prepdish
- [07:00] – Dealing with the internal voices that say you aren’t qualified
- [09:21] – Entrepreneurial AH-HA Moment: Realizing that the process she used to plan her week’s meals could be scaled and sold
- [10:53] – Finding the moment when you can turn a pain point into a business idea
- [12:28] – Biggest weakness? – “Staying calm in a crisis”
- [12:43] – Biggest strength? – “My tenacity”
- [13:26] – What has Allison most fired up today? “I’ve just started working with Instacart – so my clients can get all the groceries for my meal plans delivered with one click”
- [14:17] – Keep improving your product and up-leveling
- [17:13] – The Lightning Round
- What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur? – “Nothing. I’ve always been an entrepreneur.”
- What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? – “Fake it til you make it: picture yourself where you want to be rather than waiting til you’re there.”
- A personal habit that contributes to your success? – “Structure. I’m very structured in how I edit my meal plans and how I go about getting customer feedback.”
- Share an internet resource, like Evernote, with Fire Nation – Boomerang
- If you could recommend one book for our listeners, what would it be and why? – The ONE Thing
- Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning in a brand new world, identical to earth, but you knew no one. You still have all the experiences and knowledge you currently have – your food and shelter taken care of – but all you have is a laptop and $500. What would you do in the next 7 days? – “Buy a chef knife and a jacket, use my laptop to find people worth cooking for, and start cooking.”
- [20:21] – Get a two-week free trial of Prepdish at Allison’s website
- [21:12] – Parting guidance: “Stick with what you’re doing”
Killer Resources!
1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!
2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!
3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!
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