The Createur Podcast
Welcome to The Createur Podcast, an energizing Christian entrepreneurship series inspiring young professionals and college students. Hosts Spencer James and Karli Byrd explore the intersection of faith and business, drawing from the expertise of successful entrepreneurs. Our program is proudly affiliated with the McGraw School of Business at Olivet Nazarene University, renowned for its groundbreaking Entrepreneurship degree program.
This student-produced podcast is a gateway to understanding the relationship between Christian faith and the entrepreneurial journey. Experience captivating stories, valuable insights, and strategies that unveil God's design for business. "The Createur Podcast" is your guide to the intersection of innovation, growth, and personal development within the context of faith and business.
Embark on a transformative journey with us—explore the annual Createur Conference and Pitch Competition. This Free Event is happening April 15-16, 2024. Participate in a Shark Tank style pitch competition with $15K in prizes, world-class keynotes, and networking. Open to high school and college students, as well as Olivet alumni. Learn more at Createur.Olivet.edu.
The Createur Podcast
Transforming Tragedy into Triumph: Anne Beiler's Faith-Driven Entrepreneurial Journey
What does it take to transform personal tragedy into entrepreneurial triumph? Join us as Anne Beiler, the remarkable founder of Auntie Anne's Hand-Rolled Soft Pretzels, shares her awe-inspiring journey from her Amish roots to becoming a faith-driven powerhouse in the business world. Anne's story is one of resilience and purpose, highlighting how her upbringing, centered on family and faith, laid a strong foundation for her business endeavors. Her heartfelt recounting of the loss of her daughter and the ensuing transformation into a mission-driven entrepreneur offers a poignant message on the power of purpose in overcoming life's challenges.
Anne sheds light on the often difficult path of entrepreneurship, where insecurity and criticism loom large. She emphasizes the importance of focusing on a meaningful product, supportive people, and a clear purpose. By embracing mentorship, Anne found the guidance and encouragement needed to navigate self-doubt and external negativity. Her experiences underscore the vital role mentors play in personal and professional development, offering insights on how they can be key to sustaining confidence and achieving success.
Leadership, communication, and faith are central themes as Anne discusses the art of building a business that's as authentic as it is successful. She reveals how clear communication and effective delegation are crucial in fostering a positive work environment, while faith and integrity guide her leadership style. Anne's reflections on humility and learning from mistakes offer valuable lessons for creating an inclusive and collaborative culture. Her insights remind us that authenticity and kindness can illuminate the path to a thriving business, impacting employees and customers alike.
To learn more about other entrepreneurship opportunities and the McGraw School of Business’s very own Createur Conference and Pitch Competition, go to Createur.Olivet.edu.
All right. Hello everyone. This week we are so excited to welcome the one and only Auntie, Anne Beiler, who will be sharing her journey to faith-driven entrepreneurship. Where faith and business meet, this is Creator.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Creator Podcast. Join us as we dive deep into conversations with visionaries, innovators and doers.
Speaker 1:Whether you're building your brand, launching your next big project or simply seeking inspiration, this is the space where ideas come to life.
Speaker 2:I'm Spencer, james and I'm Carly.
Speaker 1:Bird, where faith and business meet. This is the Creator Podcast. Hello everyone, my name is Carly Bird and I am so excited I have the pleasure of being joined this week by our 2024 Creator Conference and Pitch Competition keynote speaker herself Auntie Anne Beiler. Anne Beiler is best known as the founder of Auntie Anne's Hand-Rolled Soft Pretzels, but her journey towards success began years before the first pretzel was ever rolled. Beginning with the death of her 19-month-old daughter, anne's life began to unravel and she nearly lost everything. Out of her pain, however, came purpose and a desire to persevere, personally and professionally. Today, anne teaches how to overcome pain and live out your purpose. Anne, I am so excited to have you back with me. This is such a fun opportunity. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what a joy. We had such a great time when I was at Olivet a few months ago and I met you there, and here we are again today. I'm thrilled that we can do this together.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Of course, thank you so much. You know, anne, speaking of that conference, quite a few of our listeners were actually at Creator and had the privilege of hearing you speak at our second annual Creator Conference and Pitch Competition in April. Like you mentioned, authenticity left a lasting impression on everyone at that event. It was truly amazing and your journey and the way you seamlessly integrate your faith with entrepreneurship truly inspired many of us, igniting that deeper understanding of how personal values can truly drive success. So we're thrilled to have you back on the Creator Podcast today to dive even deeper into your remarkable story and to hear some of those principles that have guided your way to entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:So, with all of that being said, just to kick things off, I think it would be great to take a step back to when Auntie Anne's wasn't even a concept yet. I'm sure that you know that's generally where you start on these podcasts, but I know that you grew up in an Amish community with no initial aspirations of actually starting a business, which I think is very interesting, because our audience you know many of us are still getting started as well. We have a lot of, you know, young high school and college students that you know some of them don't even have those business aspirations yet either. So if you could just share what it was like for you to make that pivotal decision, to step out of your comfort zone and what was familiar and embark on that journey of starting Auntie Anne's, that would be amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, like you said, growing up on an Amish farm, entrepreneurship, career and all those things are really never a part of the daily sitting around the table three times a day in our home it was mainly just about family community, about God, about, you know, each other sitting around the table and discussing and talking about my dad always read the newspaper. And so you know, we were not clueless, we didn't have a TV or radio, but my dad, you know, read the paper, so we knew what was going on in the world around us. But I mean, I would just live in the life you know, and it was an idyllic life. It was very safe and it was very secure. I knew mom and dad loved us and they cared for us and provided for us and my dad was a hardworking Amish guy and he did whatever he could to take care of his family of eight kids. And so farm life for me. I didn't realize it then, carly, but you know, looking back I clearly see, even without all of the extras, all the you know, the electricity and all the things that we have today, we have computers and technology, back in the day it was very, very simple and yet now that I look back, I clearly see that God was absolutely preparing me for the purpose that he had created me for, and I think that's really important for us to understand, or to hear at least, and to know that God has a plan for you. So it doesn't matter what your upbringing, what your home life was like yes, it does impact us greatly for life the origin of our families and you know, there's many times we think, well, because I didn't have this or didn't have that, or all these reasons why we feel like we may not be able to really follow the purpose and the plan that God has for us. But I just want to encourage you. God has a plan and all along the way, he is teaching us what our purpose is, and so, for me, growing up on the farm was some of the things that I learned there were absolutely necessary for me later in life when we launched Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels. Things like faith, family, hard work, community, love one another, be kind to one another, respect, and there's just so, so many things that I learned on the farm Integrity and some of those things. I love the fact that Olivet University and, of course, your podcast today is encouraging young people that come into this world, into the world of education, higher education. And there you are, you know, encouraging them in all of these principles, and these are the things that I learned as a kid.
Speaker 3:So when Auntie Anne was born, I didn't know any better. I just took what I had and who I was into the business world because my desire was always, has been, to follow God, always looking for His plan, his purpose, and so when Antion was born, I never wondered should I take God with me into the workplace? Does my faith work in the workplace? Is it important? I didn't know that I had a choice, because I believe that when God is within you and you're serving him, he goes wherever you go, obviously.
Speaker 3:And in the workplace is a wonderful place to live out your faith in Christ, and it can be done many times without saying a word. Because I believe, as followers of Christ, we are the light of the Christ, we are the light of the world and we are the salt of the earth. Light doesn't say a word and salt doesn't speak as well. Salt makes things tasty, light makes things visible. So I believe that if we're followers of Christ, as we grow and mature in our walk with him, we actually become salt and light in our communities and in our workplace.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so profound. Yes, and I think that's so encouraging for us as well, to know that we do have a good God who is there with us along this journey, and that there is a plan. So not to worry as much, even though it's very easy to worry, but that is very comforting. What would you say were some of the key factors? I guess you could go along with your faith as well, dive in even more with the faith sector that motivated you to take that leap into entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3:And you know, I think a lot of our listeners are even just curious about that very first pretzel and how things began Well, you know our pain propelled us into our purpose, and I have to tell you in a very short form of my history about the pain in our lives came about because Jonas and I we were married at a very young age. We had two daughters living our dream having. All we wanted to do was have our very own families serve God in our community, and just that was what we wanted to do and make a living for our small family. And at that time, soon after Angela was 19 months old, in 12 days when we experienced the trauma of her instant death when she was packed over accidentally by my sister on the farm where we lived, that changed everything for me. I was on the path of I don't know. I just knew God was with us. I knew that he was going to take care of us and I knew that all good things would happen to us and just all of the things where we were living, and it felt so right and so joyful and so happy. And that day changed everything for me and my husband. That was the beginning of our pain and our tragedy.
Speaker 3:A few months after that, I went to see my pastor by invitation to see him, and as we talked that day about Angie's death and my grief. He took advantage of me and as I walked out of his office there was one thing I decided. I decided I will never tell anyone. And I didn't realize that that one choice I made that day would eventually take me into the dark world of abuse of every kind. And so I kept that secret, never told anyone, and that one secret took me into the dark world of abuse for almost seven years. So when I talk about my life and why, Auntie Anne's, I have to tell that part of the story, because through Angie's death and through the abuse I learned so much about secrets, about confession, about trying to hide, Also about the power, then, of transparency and bringing all of our things into the light, bringing everything that who we are bring it into the light, because that's where God lives. And when we bring our deeds into the light, then we begin to feel real connections with each other, as we're doing right now, Carly, you and I, the connection that we have. We have this because we met before and here we are. We're just talking to each other about life and what's happening to us, and I feel like that piece really taught me, before Auntie Anne's, the power of truth, authenticity, the power of light and no more secrets, because secrets nearly killed me literally. I was in a place of despondency, despair and thoughts of suicide. I was at the end of life when I was 35 years old. I felt like there was nothing left to live for. But again, the power of transparency. When I went to tell my husband my secret, that changed everything for me. The rest of the story is found in my book. So, as Jonas and I got through the darkness of our grief and despair this was before Auntie Anne through the darkness of our grief and despair, this was before Auntie Anne's.
Speaker 3:So, five years after I made that confession to Jonas, we opened up our very first little farmer's market store in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. And the reason we did that this is why Auntie Anne's was created. I didn't really decide to become an entrepreneur. I didn't really decide that I was going to sell pretzels and one day we're going to go around the world with the product. But I decided to go to work one day because Jonas, through all of the pain that we've been through, he went to marriage counseling and he studied psychology and he became a layman's counselor and was doing it as a free service in our home, in the church, in the community, wherever he could find a place to counsel people.
Speaker 3:And in time, in a very short time, we were not making any money, because he was doing this as a free service, because he was passionate about helping people. And so I went to work to honor Jonas because he saved me, he saved my marriage, he and Jesus together. I call him Jesus and Jonas saved our marriage and I wanted to honor him. And so one day I just said well, I'm going to go to work and make some money so that you can keep doing what you're doing. So that is a very long answer to why and how Auntie Anne's was started, and I didn't even realize then that I was an entrepreneur. I didn't even realize then that I was an entrepreneur. I didn't even know what the word was. I'm just really telling you my story. But I soon found out what I was doing and we began to grow professionally and began to grow Auntie Anne's stores around the country.
Speaker 1:Definitely Wow. I really appreciate how open you are with your story and you know, as someone who's been through some pain and trauma in the past as well in different ways, I really understand those. You know dark places sometimes. You know in a different way of course and how impactful that can be on your life and, interestingly enough, like how you say, it really can propel you into the future and you know, every little step that we go through shapes us and holds us into the person that we become and it's interesting to see how that path goes. So I admire you for being so open and honest and sharing that story. I'd love to take a look.
Speaker 1:So I had the opportunity, thanks to you, to recently read your book Overcome and Lead and oh my goodness. There were so many quotes that I was struck by, but one that I want to take a look at for a moment. There's actually a couple, of course. I was struck by this powerful moment in the early stages of Auntie Anne's when you described you know things are rapidly expanding at this rate. That, you know, is really amazing, and you know, sometimes, the people around you. I noticed that you mentioned there can be some negativity in that, whether it be insecurity or jealousy. You know different feelings that come up. Just you know, within a natural person, and your response to this was encapsulated in the quote focus on what you're building, not what people think. I would love it if you could just delve into this philosophy a bit more. That really stood out to me throughout your book. Just to you know, help some of these listeners stay focused and motivated during those challenging times that we all inevitably face.
Speaker 3:I like the thought there focus on what you're doing, not on what people may think about you or of you, or yeah, I think that, and that goes back again to being open, honest and transparent, because I believe that once you get to a point in life and you have you kind of resolve your history and you've dealt with some things that have really tried to pull you down history and you've dealt with some things that have really tried to pull you down, you begin to feel the strength of that. You begin to want to live in that place all the time. And so then as we go into our dream job or our company that we're building, and it starts with a thought, then a dream, and then oh, wow, here we are and we're actually doing what we want to do. I mean, for me it was amazing, but I feel like the temptation is to always wonder and think about people. You know, wonder, you know. So we hire people, we hope and we pray they're the right people.
Speaker 3:And in our community, as Auntie Anne's grew, you know, people were making statements and saying things. You know that I'd never heard before. I never really thought about that, I didn't realize that, but I began to hear little sayings or people would tell me something about what they were heard. And I had to quickly, carly, I had to rein that in because if we pay attention to what people are saying about us or about your concept, or they're discouraging you, saying you'll never be able to do that. I had people tell me you cannot make a living on just pretzels and lemonade. Well, you know, if you allow those things to really take root in your heart and in your mind, it can really discourage you and you can become more concerned, spend more time thinking about what other people are saying or they may be thinking, and it steals the energy that you need to actually move forward in the purpose and the plan and the dream that you have for your companies. So it really is important to stay focused on who you are. And then, what is it that God wants you to do? And you will be tested. This is not. You know.
Speaker 3:I feel like sometimes people feel like entrepreneurship Wow, that's a great, it's a wonderful word. It must be an amazing place to be. It must be amazing to have your own business, and yes to all of that. But the pitfalls and the discouragements and the hard work and the perseverance that you have to put into this. It takes a lot of energy, and so put aside what people may think of you. They may look at you and say, wow, who does she think she is? There's so many little statements that people just say and I had to. I mean, I would hear it, but I had to just put it aside and pray that God would just give me the courage to stay focused on his. It was his plan, it was his purpose. And what was that? It was simply to satisfy our customers.
Speaker 3:I knew we had a great product, I knew we had great people and I knew we had a great purpose. I began to focus on what we had, what I knew we had. And when you focus on what you have, let me tell you you have no time left to think about what other people may be saying or thinking about you, but there'll always be those people. It could feel like a dagger in your heart or give you a hit in your stomach and it wants to like, it wants to stop you in your tracks. But if you focus on what you have, again, what is it that you have? And in time I began we had a great product and we had great people, and without those three, I might add, it's impossible for you to be successful. I didn't know that at the time, but I know now from experience. You got to have all three of those.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for that, spencer, if you want to go ahead and take the next question, yeah, one of the things that we talked a lot about at Creator is the power of mentorship and how you can succeed so much quicker with mentors, and I would maybe love to hear how you've been mentored in your life and maybe one or two mentors that have really pushed you to go further and farther because they believed in you.
Speaker 3:Wow, great, I mean, I love that question because I do believe you're right, we need people that believe in us. And I came into the business world as I was sharing with Carly, pretty broken and pretty depleted, no self-esteem and no confidence in who I was and what I could do. And my very first job was not my own store, but it was working at a farmer's market and the owner there of that store came to me one day after I worked with him. He came to my house and he said would you be interested in managing my store? I was so had no confidence in what I, who I was and what I was actually able to do. I just started crying. I'm like, dave, you don't understand. No, I can't manage your store. He just looked at me and he said Ann Piler, you can manage my store. I see who you are and I see what you can do.
Speaker 3:And you know, at that time I was probably 30. So I was 40 at that time and I had never, no one ever, told me that. That was only a very small little sentence or two, but something began to grow in me like a thought, a truth, and that's what really propelled me then and to begin to believe in who I am and what I'm capable of doing so under. We can't underestimate the power of our words to those around us when they cannot believe in themselves. If you believe in them, tell them and it in them, tell them and it will. It will encourage them and they could go further than what they think they could.
Speaker 3:So that was my very first two line mentor, yeah, and then he kind of helped me in the business there for about seven months and uh, and then we started Auntie Anne's. And now I'm feeling overwhelmed again and I've had many people that came along just at the right time. I never really went looking for a mentor. They came to me I guess they could tell I needed some help. I hired a lady that was. I had no idea who she was and she then became my mentor. She became my assistant and she and her husband had owned a company, not a huge company, but she knew a whole lot more about business than what I did. So then she became the mentor for me and then down through the years it seemed like at every level of EMTNs God brought someone to me wherever I was at that time. So yes, mentors are absolutely important.
Speaker 2:I think that's so great. And even when you're getting ready to scale, I mean, what was that like trying to bring these franchise owners around you? I mean, you then kind of had to believe and speak into some of these owners right To make sure they align with the vision and communicate effectively with them to make sure the values and beliefs were on par right.
Speaker 3:Yes, correct. Franchising, again, I mentioned earlier I had no experience in PISs and franchising is like the ultimate, like wow. I knew nothing about litigious, I didn't understand it, you know. But what I knew was very simple and that was. I learned this, and I was telling Carly earlier, I learned this at home, on the farm with my mom and dad Like people, respect them, honor them. You yourself be a person of integrity, and so I had those really strong qualities.
Speaker 3:But the thing that I really had to learn how to do was how to communicate. I had to learn the language of a business, the world of business, and that became my my uh. I wanted to learn. I became hungry. I wanted to become someone that could communicate well with our employees and with our franchisees and with our vendors. And in order to do that, I really had to.
Speaker 3:In my mind, I had to think about what is the proper way to address my employees, my vendors, my franchisees, and so I began to read books on leadership and I self-taught myself about how to communicate effectively, because that's really the key. And so how do you communicate when an employee is not up to par? They're in the wrong, they're a square peg in a round hole. How do you communicate that? And over time I learned to be very, very at the very beginning, be very clear with them what their role is, what their job is, what they're supposed to be doing at Auntie Anne's, and so we had a list of things. They knew when they came in what their job was. And so then we met weekly Every department head met weekly with all their employees, and I had a team of about 12 people meeting every Monday because it was important to me that we are clear with you what your responsibilities are.
Speaker 3:And so then, in order to confront someone, it became easier for me because everything was written down. So if I get with you on a Monday and you didn't fulfill what you said you would by the following Monday, then we had to talk about it. If, six months down the road, you're still not doing your job, it became easier for me to confront and to bring in the right people and to let go of those who are not bad people, but they just weren't able to fulfill their responsibilities. So communication and being able to confront without attacking the person that really became my goal. I didn't want to ever attack anyone, so I learned I didn't do it right perfectly every time, but I certainly learned how to do that, because that then creates a healthy team in your workplace.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that transparency, too, of being able to have it written down Right, because then it takes away the like, the feelings like maybe of attack right, like you know why are you attacking me on this but it enables a lot more transparency and saying, hey, this is, this is something that we've been aware of for a while now that that you know this is, this is in writing, so so I love that. I love that. Do you feel like your faith played a pretty big role maybe in how you went about handling with some situations like that?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. My faith was everything to me. Without my faith in Christ, without believing that God has us on this journey, my husband and I if I didn't believe that, then I could have been reckless, I could have been unkind, I could have been really hard, and I learned how to become what I'm describing to you, just loving people, respect. I learned how to become that person because my faith said to me I'm doing this as unto the Lord, he is my boss, and so when I didn't know what to do or how to act, or maybe be a salt and light in every situation, I would pull out the Bible. I read Proverbs all the time and I would read the words of Jesus, matthew, mark, luke and John, the red letter words and verses because I wanted to know what would Jesus do. Red letter words and verses because I wanted to know what would Jesus do and what did.
Speaker 3:Proverbs what can I find out in Proverbs? I want to tell you every answer that you need you can find in Proverbs or the four gospels. There's a whole lot more, but I'm just saying I limited myself to that because there's so much in those books that you can't exhaust them, and I found many, most of my answers through Proverbs and the book the four gospels. Again, I read many leadership books as well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, to add on to that. So I know that you've mentioned a few times, whether it be in your book or even in person with me. I love that you really focused in your business on your strongest abilities, which, of course, was being a strong communicator and the empathy that you have for your employees, and you really honed in on those qualities and knew what you excelled at and put that as your priority. What was it like? How do you go about everything else, though? So the delegation and finding the right people that are good at things that sometimes we feel you know that's not my strong suit. You know, focusing on what you know is your highest capabilities and potential and then finding people that can do the same in their strong suits Well, I think a delegation is a must If you're an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:You can't grow your company without delegating, and so it was a very difficult choice for me to make, because I was a little Amish girl. I was no longer Amish, but she's still living inside of me, so I was a diehard doer on the farm. That's all I knew to do. You know, if you have a task, then do it and do it well. My mom and dad always said do it with will, do it with might. Things done by halves are never done right. So I learned at an early age, if I'm going to do something, I want to do it right the first time, and so going into the business world doing was my thing. I wanted to train people, I wanted to meet with the franchisees and help them sign the agreements, and I wanted to go visit the stores and see all the new franchisees in their work environment and sample product for them. And I wanted to do all these things until one day I had a nervous I mean I absolutely had passion burn day. I didn't even know what it was called at that time, but I know it was a nervous breakdown. I fell on the floor in my office because something came to my attention that we were going to get people from Chicago. They were going to come in and help us write a training manual, and when my brother came in and told me that I completely lost it to the point where they wanted to take me to the hospital. Yes, I crashed and burned. And I just lost it to the point where they wanted to take me to the hospital. Yes, I crashed and burned and I just said, no, I can't go to the hospital. I have to go visit a franchisee in New Jersey today. So that is one of the reasons that I began to think about and my team there was only a few of us on the team, but they said you can't do this. All You're going to have to give it away to other people to do.
Speaker 3:Well, now I know that is delegation, and so I learned how to delegate out of necessity, but I'd like to say it's important for you to know that when you go into your business, you're going to have to delegate. So kind of tuck it in the back of your mind and begin to look at the things that you love to do, and that's what I discovered during this time is, I'm not a manager, I'm a leader, and a leader is an influencer. I still did a lot of the work, but I began to understand my gift was connecting with people, communicating with them, encouraging them, and I began to do that and I began to soar. This was so much fun, and so delegating actually, I believe, forces you into your gift.
Speaker 3:So do what you love to do, what you're gifted at, bring that into the workplace and then delegate to things that are more difficult or the things that you don't have time to do anymore. It will make you feel you'll be a healthy leader, and your employees may actually breathe a sigh of relief. They don't think they have to do everything, and so you bring people in to do their job. Well, let them do it, and in the meantime, you go into the things that you enjoy and love doing.
Speaker 2:I love that and I'm so inspired by your story and I just want you to know that, hearing you back in April, I was like just so taken back by that and like just in awe because of how inspiring it was and just seeing how driven by faith that was. And I think that's something that entrepreneurs getting started that's hard to balance. And so how did you maybe balance keeping your faith integrated and starting this new business? And obviously there's a lot of factors that play into that and I know you've maybe touched on this a little bit already, but how did you find that balance? There's a lot going on when you start something new.
Speaker 3:Correct. Again, I have to go back to one point, that is, know what your purpose is and know that you're in God's plan number one, okay, so if you know that, then I think that we have to understand that we are in this world but we are not of it, and that's a little. I mean, how can we be in this world and not of it? So I think that it's important for us to take on the principles of the Word of God, and what are they right, and implement them into the business that we're doing in this world. And I can tell you it is actually doable. And the other thing, there's a whole lot more to that. But the other thing is that I was able to when I understood that we're salt and light and I had my Bible on my desk because I wanted to see that every day, because that is the bread of life, and I wanted the employees to know that I believe in the Bible, without telling them all the time.
Speaker 3:What we did was at every all-employee meeting, which was once a month, and then, of course, in our weekly meetings, we would always talk about faith. We would talk about the importance of Auntie Anne's being a company of integrity. We would talk about being light in the business world. We would talk about the principles that we're using are really foundational to our success and to employees personally. The principles that we're using build a strong foundation, trust, being people of our word, being open, honest, people of integrity, not telling little white lies. Like I would encourage employees that if you told someone that you're going to package something or package and mail it today and you're going to get on the phone you say I mailed, that it should be in your mailbox by Thursday or whatever, then then it has to be done. That way you can't tell little white lies. I was so I didn't know you could tell little white lies. I didn't know you could and get away with it. You know, so you know.
Speaker 3:Honestly, it was a very simple thing that I learned on the farm the principles in the Word of God. I took them into the world and continued to communicate that to our employees in ways that was not abrasive or offensive or demanding or you know, it wasn't like that. It's just that it became a part of what we talked about, and so I think that we need to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove and in the world in which we live today. Let me tell you it's really important to understand what that means. We cannot be in people's face all the time about my faith or my. We have to be kind, have to be calm, have to be price-like, and that is something that I worked on and I'm still working on it, guys. I'm still working on that. It's a journey.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Wow. Yeah, I love too that approach that you described of not forcing the faith into somebody's life or down someone's throat, because that can often scare people away as well. So it's such a delicate concept that you need to, you know, slowly integrate and weave those concepts and people will see it then even in your character, as you're describing, and the way that you're leading your life, and they'll see the Holy Spirit through you that's so powerful.
Speaker 3:Let me just add one line to that is that, you know, even though we never talked, I knew I was not called to be an evangelist, but we were called to be salt and light, and the power of that really amazed me.
Speaker 3:As franchisees began to know Auntie Anne, to understand who we are and the impact that we made on the franchisees and our employees. I could write a book about that. Jewish people I mean from all cultures, from all backgrounds, from all ethnic groups became part of Antaeans and you know, people from India, people from Jakarta, just all over the world, and we were able I feel like we were able to be salt and light, be tasty and be light and like what is this, what is this? Well, that's how we lived our lives and that's what we taught our employees just to be that. And as the years went by, the stories and the life changing, many of them changed their whole way of doing business because they were involved with Auntie Anne's and it was without us telling them go to the book of Proverbs, go read the gospels. It's being salt and light.
Speaker 2:It's powerful. I love that. I love that so much. That's so great. One of the other things that we talk a lot about in Creator is making mistakes early on, and there's so many mistakes that you make early on that you learn from, and we've even talked about one here, and I think for me, it's just like you have to make those in scared to start because of the mistakes that they're going to make down the road.
Speaker 3:Well, that really feeds into fear. You know, I'm afraid I'm going to make mistakes, afraid I'm going to not do the right thing all the time. Well, guess what? You're not going to do the right thing all the time and, yes, you will be afraid at times. You know how do you overcome that.
Speaker 3:I learned very early on because I didn't know anything about business. I decided that I'm just going to be real, I'm going to be me, I'm not going to pretend that I know something that I do not know. So I think one way whether you know it or not, maybe you have a lot of education, maybe you actually know a whole lot more going into the business than what I did. But even then, I think it's really important for us to. We don't have to have the first word and we don't have to have the last word. And the thing that I learned as I began to grow the company was that it's really healthy to ask questions, to ask questions Even if you are knowledgeable or you know, like for me. I knew what it took to bake a really perfect pretzel every single time. I knew what it was like to go into a store, work the store every single day, from nine to close, I knew what it was like to have to be a great customer service, so I knew all of those things.
Speaker 3:I mean there's a lot that I knew, but yet I would still meet with the employees at the stores or in the office and we would have conversations about how do we do this? You know what does customer service look like, and I would ask them questions about what do you think? I mean, what are you doing? So I think that we don't need to go to our companies and act like we know it all, like we know what we're doing. Come on, no, we don't. Most of us don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 3:So be humble, bring your team together, be okay with asking questions and don't talk so much. I did way too much of that because I was so excited about aunt to aunt, you know, initially, and if there's one mistake that I made, I made many mistakes, but there's one mistake that that has already embarrassed me or like. When I look back, I'm like, oh my goodness, I mean you don't have to say everything you know or everything you think, but I was so excited and so passionate about things that I felt like I had to just, you know, go HR team meetings and be this spokesperson. Wow, you got to give other people time to talk. You have to learn how to listen. That's a mature business person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been working on that. That's my 2024 goal. I heard a quote somewhere. They said the greatest leaders are the greatest listeners. And you know, even seeing the Bible right, Like, stop talking so much, Just listen.
Speaker 3:Absolutely and that you know what. That's a great message, spencer, for both of you to take into your class, because we're living in a world today that you can say whatever you want to say, it doesn't matter, there are no filters. But to encourage people to filter their words, think about what you want to say and think about you know you don't want to hurt anyone by what you say, as the leader you know, because that then begins to pull down your team and the atmosphere in your office. So encourage your people just to. You have two ears and one mouth and it took me very long it took me too long to really understand that and fully make that a part of my leadership. But the earlier you can learn that, the better it will be for your team.
Speaker 2:I think the greatest advancement of being able to share and communicate so quickly is also one of the greatest hurts. Information right and we can share information so quickly and so easily that you know it's so easy for us to not even think about it before we send it, and that can hurt.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That can hurt.
Speaker 3:Yes, and I remember initially I always felt like I had to open up the meeting. Of course, yes, and I remember initially I always felt like I had to open up the meeting, of course, and I had to say everything that I'm thinking to kind of get it out of my head and my heart. Well, as time went on I realized I can open the meeting with good morning. I'm so glad you all made it to the meeting and we're going to begin the meeting with prayer and then go into what are your thoughts. And what I discovered is that there's some meetings I didn't have to say anything because all of my questions were answered, so I didn't have to ask all the questions or input. So the people around you, actually they do know some things you know, and so I learned that too late and that is certainly one regret that I have. No one's come to me and told me that, but I know.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, I love that. Well, anne, I wish that we could stay and do this all day. I feel like there's so much that we could talk about and it just goes too fast. But we do have one final question for you. Here at Creator, we always like to end with what we call our quirky question of the week. So, anne, are you ready for your quirky question? Well, it depends on what it is.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:All right, Spencer, you got this yeah.
Speaker 2:I can. I can ask the. I can ask the quirky question. All right, if you had to create a brand new, unexpected flavor of pretzel today, like right now, what would it be and why?
Speaker 3:Well, maybe peanut butter and jelly, I don't know. I didn't think about this. I don't right now because you have to understand, the pretzel is bread. Yeah Well so if you, if you could learn how to integrate the peanut butter and jelly into the pretzel, and if I was still owning the company and running my own store, I know exactly how I would do that but the corporate Auntie, anne's corporate right now probably wouldn't allow me to do that which.
Speaker 3:I don't own the company anymore. I don't know. Think about it. You can do anything you want with bread right and peanut butter and jelly is something that kids love Absolutely Adults actually, you know. Anyway, maybe that would be it.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's a great idea. Oh, my goodness, I love that, that's a great idea. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:I love that, yeah, I could definitely see that. I just got back from a vacation and we went hiking and we were hiking lots and lots of miles and every day for lunch it was peanut butter and jelly peanut butter and jelly and I got so sick of it, but it's kind of a staple, right, so that's a great answer and a product.
Speaker 3:You know really what do you want. What kind of a product do you want? You want something that people want or need. Yeah, so you just answered that question People, it's a staple. People want peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would have been so down for a peanut butter and jelly pretzel, way over any whole grain sandwich, whatever I was eating, I don't know, I can't remember. Yeah Well, anne, hey, thank you so much for joining us today. It really is truly an honor to have you back at ONU here virtually once more, just to hear some of your wonderful insight and how faith has played such a large role in your life. You are truly, truly an influence and we're just so thankful and honored that we could just have a couple of your moments today.
Speaker 3:Well, it was my honor and just keep the faith, trust in God and know he's guiding you. It's so important to just know that and hang on to that as you go through your journey. Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:I love that Thank you so much for so many incredible insights today and your wisdom. It's always a joy and an honor getting to speak with you and talk with you and learn from the best.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you. It's my honor to be on your show today. Thanks for the invite and really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely All right. Well, hey, we're going to wrap it up. We always say this to close where faith and business meet. This is the creator podcast. We'll see you next time.