Latest / Daily Influence / 544. From Scratch: Sarah Austin on Resilience, Connection & Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship

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544. From Scratch: Sarah Austin on Resilience, Connection & Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influence is here for you.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Greg Clino.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today, we have an extraordinary guest.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: My friend, who is also an amazing human, Sarah Austin.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sarah is the founder and CEO of Scratch Pantry.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an Italian chicken sausage for food service.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's also the visionary behind the founders forum, a titanic community of entrepreneurs designed to foster collaboration and opportunity.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Beyond her work in business and leadership, Sarah is also a passionate advocate for the endometrials's foundation, using her voice to raise awareness for and support for those affected by this condition.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her journey is a powerful example of resilience, purpose, and the impact one person can have in a community.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm thrilled to dive into her story.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sarah, welcome to Daily Influence.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Greg.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having me.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sir, could you share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are today with our listeners?
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've quite an expansive background and I'll try to break this down into a concise nutshell.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: So my business today came from hardship.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I own a mortgage company with my ex husband and when we lost all of our banks during the two thousand eight recession actually just prior to that we were done by April of two thousand eight.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were forced to live on a real budget budget that we've never had to adhere to before prior.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I really cared about what we ate.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I was committed to organic chicken and grass-fed beef, but I really couldn't stretch my dollar far enough.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I didn't aspire to make chicken sausage.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just that we didn't eat pork.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I couldn't afford to feed everybody the chicken sausage that everybody wanted to eat.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I joke about it because at one point it was the biggest argument I had ever had with my ex husband actually was over me making this concession of serving him the chicken sausage that he wanted.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: and giving my girls and I a lesser option just because I couldn't stretch our doll out.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's really the inception of it.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was born out of hardship.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm really grateful for my background in valuation as a result of only mortgage company.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I went into overseeing the real estate of Prasel for a large global financial services firm.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I also then became an ambassador for the thirteen verticals of the organization, which included
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: investment banking, turnaround restructuring and valuation for intellectual property inventory, M&E, et cetera.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm really grateful for all of that experience because I have a lot of very smart money people around me.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's what I like to call them.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So there's not any facet of business that I'm approaching now that I don't either one feel unfamiliar with or two don't have an advisor or a resource to help me on the journey.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, here I am.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that Sarah.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know what inspired you to start scratch pantry and what's been your biggest learning moment is a founder.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so we actually had an experience with this product retail prior my acceptance was my partner, but it just was the wrong partnership.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're actually very successful.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I put us in over two hundred grocery stores in three distribution centers in eleven months.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the relationship between the two of us is very difficult.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I walked away.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's how I ended up in court and corporate finance.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's always been me.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's always been my story.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's always been my journey.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's always been my heart.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so just really continued to call me during COVID.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I literally woke up from a dream to rain corporate and I did and
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: started the process to reformulate our blends.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought if my ex has been everyone to compete with me in business, he'd be more than welcome to.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I felt like that was the right thing to honor the relationship.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I reformulated the blends with the help of my oldest daughter who has since passed.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was literally the Saturday before she passed that the second recipe was perfected.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: So once she passed, I really had to focus on life and my job and my girls and my bandwidth was very
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then, but I did continue to push the project forward little by little picked up one of my partners is a former executive chef of Tyson food picked up some of my investor interest.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: So anyway, I, you know, circumstances, life circumstances sort of pushed me from the edge.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: My transition to another job that didn't work out.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was laid off.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were under some federal investigation.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it just was the right time.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I literally, my dad had passed the year prior and I literally felt a piece from him.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's passing me left me money from my business, I had a signing bonus that I was able to hold on to.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just, I knew that I had everything that I needed to move forward and now is the time to do that.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing it.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you recently launched the founders forum, bringing together a diverse group of entrepreneurs.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was your vision behind creating this group?
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And how do you see collaboration, shaping success in today's world?
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I have a couple other groups that I run to.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And because my background was always business development, it was my way of grouping my favorite people into an opportunity to connect because you can't do coffee lunch and happy hour and dinner with everybody month over month.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: My job was to remain top of mind.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I have a commercial real estate group that I still lead.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have a women and finance group that I still lead.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then my founders forum was something sort of post, you know,
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: launching my company.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love the M&A space and I once I
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, once this season is expires, like, you know, I anticipate, I'm gonna grow this.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, as long as we're having fun, we're gonna keep going.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: If for some reason there's an opportunity to sell or we might take it, we'll redo that with all investors on the time comes, but I love entrepreneurs.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so for me, the founder's form is a way for founders to be able to share and collaborate because it's not always easy to celebrate your successes with people who don't sit in the same seat as you.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's also challenges and hurdles that founders are going to have that.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: It might be a little easier to address peer to peer.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Within my founders forum, we have founders and funders and tons of services.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're very collaborative and we're able to help one another fill and gap sort of act as an advisory board.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's been really fun.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I anticipate that all of those relationships are going to continue with me in the future and way beyond.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: because I want to be able to return to this space and help young entrepreneurs.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would love to work in capital raising.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'd love to maybe have my own VC firm.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we'll see.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll see how that evolves over time.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love how you bring people together and really help facilitate, you know, the networking and the supporting each other.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a diverse group of people, but with all the same common goals of founding a company.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what do we do and just being there to support each other?
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, fun is my favorite part.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're a strong advocate for the endometriosis foundation and raising awareness about a condition that affects so many people yet it's often misunderstood.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: What inspired you to become involved and what do you think needs to change and how we support women's health particularly in this space?
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, one of my daughter passed I only knew two people with the condition and I reached out to my girlfriend who had helped to send her diagnosis trail and I asked where should I donate money.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she had worked with the doctor who founded the enemy trio as a foundation of America and had done some marketing work for their foundation and introduced them to me.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, there were so many donations that came in in my daughter's name that they actually reached out to me and then offered an opportunity for me to tell our story
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so that's where it began.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got to know some of the people's part of the foundation and then I had an opportunity to run the New York City Marathon.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And for me, I just felt like I just want to do something.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am not a runner.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a runner.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like a fundraiser.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I did complete that marathon, but I promise you if I was not collecting donations, I probably would not have because that was brutal.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I ended up doing three New York City Marathons for the foundation.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've helped out with the past three blossom balls, which is their annual gollas.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've had friends.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: help support sending ten patients, ten plus patients to attend each gala, just not cheap.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I've also spoken at one of their patient days and I've attended a met that one of their medical conferences and a couple of their patient take conferences too.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, I found that, you know, this
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: disease, endometriosis is such a confusing and agmatic disease, and it's really helpful to have support.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that's a little bit of the silver lining.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like I'm always on the hunt for people with soul, and you can't have a condition like Enno and not have a depth of perspective.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's from beyond.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm really grateful for the friendships that I have found through all my endosisters.
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: We say it's the worst club with the best members.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like what I've really learned about advocating for this specific disease is that it's not just this one disease.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's overlooked and it's not the only battle that women face when it comes to women's health.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I since had the invitation to expand my reach into advocating.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll be half of all of women's health through the women's health advocates.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I actually just was I got to a lot of the Senate last week.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: We have another women's health matter and so I'm really excited to expand and it was always going to
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: the seat of my heart and so I'm always going to probably leave with that cause.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: First and foremost, since it affected our family so greatly, but I now know it's really important to advocate for all women's health and include as many women in the in the opportunities possible.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're so amazing, you know, at the I and team.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: We focus on responsible influence and positive influence in using our leadership to uplift others and you certainly do that in all aspects of your life, professional and personal.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a moment where you felt your work whether through scratch, pantry, founders forum or your advocacy made it positive impact on someone's life?
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure I suppose I have a lot of examples.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a really good connector.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm always looking for opportunities to add my value first.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's how I really think of it.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm always thinking of adding value first.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I listen really well to others and then I have a massive network.
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm always trying to
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Create opportunities.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have some opportunities that I could share right now, but the transactions are inked yet.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, there's transactional success, but there's also individual success.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love pairing people who I think would would just get along great and you never know what's going to come and flourish as a result of that, but I always love being a conduit.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm very inclusive.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love to, you know, our women in finance group is more than two hundred women or
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Commercial real estate group is more than hundred and fifty people.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Our founders forum is nearly a hundred.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I really, I really like being inclusive.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I have set this faction of being a connector.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's really fun for me.
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like that's my super power.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: It definitely is, you know, an entrepreneurship is filled with highs and lows.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a challenge you face as a founder and how you never get it at?
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, they're challenging all the time, but I feel like what's different about me and my seat now as I'm such a seasoned overcomber.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't view challenges with panic or stress.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I quote that my dad gave me because this is very true about him before I passed.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was able to tell him that I'm grateful to him because the greatest gift he gave me was confidence to which he replied.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: If I can think about it, I can do it.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think sometimes you really just have to slow down and allow yourself to be still the answers come and that's been my experience.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not stressful or overwhelming to me when there's a channel and I just feel like every little step is as progress forward.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I just had another
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: real successful go forward moment this this past week and again it's just it's I think I do really believe that everything is timing.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I've learned and not be in a hurry.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've learned over time and through.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I mean so much provision that has just come to me that I can trust in that.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I will say my faith for sure.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: is a huge component in my success as a founder and as an entrepreneur.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I also am not afraid to fail.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, I'm being really public with my journey with my walk because one I want to inspire other people, but also I'm learning and I have a ton of friends.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: If for some reason this doesn't work out, I'll just go get a job, but I will have expanded my skill set tremendously.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have every expectation that I will walk into tremendous success and bring a lot of people with me, but I'm not afraid to fail.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that statement.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Many of our listeners are entrepreneurs, leaders, or aspiring change makers.
• 14:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: What message or words of encouragement?
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would you like to share with those looking to make a meaningful impact in their industries and communities?
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: The word that comes to mind is just to try.
• 14:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: People are really friendly.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you ask people for information that you're seeking, those people are going to help you.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: So even if you're novice in brand new and you think, I don't have any experience in food, my background is corporate finance in real estate.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my goodness, when you're trying to forge your way into a new environment, when you ask questions, people are willing to help.
• 14:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I just want to eliminate intimidation.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know that there are people that you can communicate with that are going to share their opinions and just
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Listen for the good stuff.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be a mixed bag of feedback from everybody you talk to, but don't allow the discouragement.
• 14:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like just take their feedback, consider it.
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't mean that it's concrete or concrete for you or just because it was their experience that it's going to be yours.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So my advice is to try.
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just just take the steps forward.
• 15:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's plenty of people who want to help and don't don't be afraid to ask for help.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's the hard one.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think people have a hard time asking for help.
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's really good advice, Sarah.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so grateful that you're able to join us and sharing your stories and advice.
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, if our listeners want to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so?
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just email me, Sarah at thosecratchpantry.com.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Happy to be of help in any way I can.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll put that information in this show notes, Sarah.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: See you.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: To our listeners, thanks for listening to daily influence.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: If today's episode inspired you, share it with someone who could use a little positivity and don't forget to like and follow the show so you never miss an episode.
• 15:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Keep leading, growing and making a positive impact one day to time.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.