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Michelle Weinstein, AKA The Pitch Queen, is the host of Success Unfiltered, which features an array of unique and inspiring guests. She talks to all kinds of innovators and achievers, including multi seven and eight figure entrepreneurs, Shark Tank veterans, authors, performers, and investors.

Her guests share their most intimate stories, no holds barred. It’s the raw and vulnerable stuff that you don’t always hear about, like major rejections, epic failures, and unrelenting setbacks.
They share their most inspiring stories of overcoming adversity, never giving up, and achieving success beyond their wildest imaginations.

She created this podcast to help entrepreneurs realize that they are NOT alone. Everyone who has attempted something epic has had their share of setbacks, failures, and NOs. By sharing unfiltered stories from extraordinary individuals who overcame hardships and ultimately achieved their version of success, her hope is to inspire others to stay in the game and hold out for their own dreams.

Her mission and goal is to inspire rising entrepreneurs to break through barriers, overcome obstacles, and make a bigger impact in the world. It’s her passion to show people how to take action, own their value, and grow their top-line revenue. You CAN build a successful and flourishing business and make a global impact by doing what you love, and Success Unfiltered will inspire you ever step of the way!

https://www.thepitchqueen.com/podcast-success-unfiltered/

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  2. 089 | Lizzi Ackerman Explains Why You Need to Listen to Your Gut Intuition

089 | Lizzi Ackerman Explains Why You Need to Listen to Your Gut Intuition

Feb 6, 2019

089 | Lizzi Ackerman Explains Why You Need to Listen to Your Gut Intuition

As Co-Founder & CMO of one of the leading pancake & waffle mix brands in the country, Lizzi Ackerman is instrumental in the creation of the beautiful brand and plethora of flavors found in Birch Benders’ better-for-you mixes.

At Yale University, while studying the history of science and medicine, taking pre-med classes, and serving as Senior Editor of the Yale Herald, Ackerman met Matt LaCasse, who would soon become her business partner and later her husband. Together they discovered their mutual love of flapjacks and bonded around the breakfast table, thus starting the beginnings of what would eventually revolutionize the pancake and waffle industry.

When it comes to big business decisions, like changing your branding, do you trust your gut or do you trust other’s opinions?

I want you to know, that from personal experience, listening and trusting your intuition is going to get you further in business.

Everyone will always have an opinion, but if you don’t believe in those opinions and your instincts are yelling at you to NOT listen… Then, it’s time to trust that your gut knows what it’s talking about and not listen to others opinions.

This week’s guest, Lizzi Ackerman, shares one of the biggest mistakes she made in her business, Birch Benders. Curious what led her to make this big mistake?

Not listening to what her gut was telling her.

Lizzi and her husband (and also her business partner) had beautiful packaging for their pancake and waffle mixes. They loved it! However, someone came along and gave them bad advice, and instead of listening to her gut, Lizzi made the costly change.

In this episode, Lizzi shares why really dialing into what your gut is telling you is so important!

If you’re ready to shift your mindset and start honoring your instincts and imagining what is possible, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

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Special thanks goes out to Lizzi Ackerman for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

P.S. Ever Said YES When you Should’ve Said NO to a new client? It’s that moment where your gut said NO...but your bank account said, “You need the money.” So you said YES to the wrong client. And now you’re paying the price. What if you could filter out the wrong clients, and at the same time bring the dream ones to your door? My FREE guide “Ideal Clients ONLY: 5 Steps To Pre-Qualifying Prospects And Clients BEFORE The Sales Talk” will show you how!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

  • Michelle introduces Lizzi Ackerman.
  • Lizzi shares a brief synopsis of who she is and what she makes.
  • One of the first NO’s that Lizzi experienced had to do with the packaging that they were using when they were first demo’ing their products at Whole Foods. Lizzi shares the full story in this episode!
  • That first big NO led them to realize they needed to shift from selling their product in a jar, to having it in a bag. They launched their bagged product at Expo West, and even though the bags looked great, they still ran into some trouble with the size of the bags.
  • Through this entire process, Lizzi and her husband worked hard to stay small until they had a product-market fit. They didn’t want to spread themselves too thin and not be able to complete orders.
  • Lizzi recommends that you spend a great deal of time on your packaging and branding, and to make sure it resonates with your customers.
  • Whole Foods and Target approached Birch Benders at Expo West in 2015, which was right around the time that the avian flu hit many of the chickens producing eggs. All of Birch Benders products contained egg, which led to Lizzi’s most devastating NO! She shares the whole story, how they handled it and still managed to get onto Whole Foods and Target shelves.
  • During this time, Lizzi would often see her bank accountant with a -$10K balance. This was just another hurdle that Lizzi was able to overcome. Curious how she did it? Tune in for the full story!
  • Birch Benders will never be the next Aunt Jemima, but Lizzi knew that with the right branding and placement, their waffles and pancake mixes would sell.
  • When Lizzi turned bigger stores away, it was never a definite NO, but rather a not right now. She shares how she handled this when Safeway approached Birch Benders and she had to tell them NO, not right now.
  • Lizzi and her husband focused on mastering things at Whole Foods, Target and Sprouts before they tried to get into any other stores. Now, you can find them in many major food stores.
  • Lizzi shares what she would tell her younger self.

Connect with Lizzi Ackerman:

P.S. Ever Said YES When you Should’ve Said NO to new clients? It’s that moment where your gut said NO...but your bank account said, “You need the money.” So you said YES to the wrong client. And now you’re paying the price. What if you could filter out the wrong clients, and at the same time bring the dream ones to your door? My FREE guide “Ideal Clients ONLY: 5 Steps To Pre-Qualifying Prospects And Clients BEFORE The Sales Talk” will show you how!

Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com