Julie Wilson is a serial entrepreneur who’s started multiple businesses in the comfort of her home. As many know, this is the dream! You see it all the time on facebook and youtube, right?
Julie and I dispel the fictions on starting an online business and also talk about the best steps to start your own.
But more importantly, Julie is the marketing arm of FreshCheq, a really innovative software that allows restaurants to operate more safely and efficiently. FreshCheq can measure temperature logs, checklist staff tasks, and now recently, can monitor how much food a restaurant is wasting.
Learn from Julie’s experience the amazing opportunity in the online space.
Sponsor – BAKERpedia
This episode is brought to you by BAKERpedia – your one-stop, resource that answers all your questions on industry trends, ingredient information, food safety and more. It’s shared knowledge, freely available, always. BAKERpedia.com – we do all the thinking so you can focus on your business.
Sponsor – FoodGrads
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Nicole is offering free job postings in the next two months and I highly suggest taking this offer. Email nicole@foodgrads.com and she’ll give you instructions.
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Sponsor – ICON Foods
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Shownotes
What do you do for a living?: I create businesses that solve problems. I love remote work because I’m not bound to anything
How did you get into the online business space?: I was reprimanded for going to my son’s game and realized it wasn’t worth it. I started my first business at 2006. I bought a foreclosure business and managed it remote. I sold my business then, started an online business
There are a lot of scams out there.
For someone who wants to start an online business: Do a lot of research and find a mentor
FreshCheq: Me and my 4 partners make up FreshCheq. Scott manages restaurants for 20 years. He noticed that recording food safety parameters in restaurants suck. So he digitized it.
What did they hire you on as in FreshCheq? The marketing arm of the business.
When you were on board, did you have an app?: it was an idea. Our co-founders are great coders
How did you build an app?: We did market research, found out what people wanted in the beginning, then they develop a wireframe, and then we start testing things as a team. It took a lot of communication. The first version was created in 6 months.
What questions have you asked to refine the app?: We ask our people a lot of questions and we almost have 400 restaurants under freshcheqs. Thanks to Scott’s network, we get really good feedback. Some questions are about accountability when people are busy. Our users said that they need text alerts
What do your customers see the results on your app?: We can see how they’re using the data such as food temperature logs. Owners can see immediately who does their texts.
Gamification: Using streaks (like snapchat)
Rollout of food waste logs: Restaurant owners will be able to log how much food they will waste
Ken Burgin
Why does your food job rock?: Every day, I make life easier for restaurant owners. With the new food waste rollout, it’s even better.
Notable people: Kristin Rainey – Food Acquisition for Google. She sources all the food at Google cafes. She focuses a lot of food waste and plant based diets
What products are really exciting you right now?: Making food careers cool (thanks!)
What is something you’d like to know more about: Food waste and plant-based diets.
Expo West
Daiya Ice Cream Popsicle – Coconut Based
Beyond Meat Sausage
Allysa Cowen – Living on live food
Raw Diet
Clean Meat by Paul Shapiro
Why did the FreshCheq team interest you?: I was really excited about FreshCheq’s mission. It solves a problem in all the fields I’m interested in.
How do you communicate remote work?:
We do an Uber Conference at least once a week. We can screen share
We also use Asana
We’ve been fortunate with the people we work with
What’s your favorite type of food?: Fondue
Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to start their own business?: Find a mentor and talk to someone that you trust.
What about your mentors?: Mine were serendipitous. People should ask to be mentored though.
My old boss did all sorts of crazy side hustles. I watched him and took notes. I kind of figured out a lot of things on my own, which is something I wouldn’t recommend.
What would you say to someone who has an idea but doesn’t know how to start: I don’t think it’s possible to research too much
Where can we find you for advice?: Julie@freshcheq.com. I’m very active on Linkedin.
Our goal for freshcheqs is to be involved in the food industry