I spent eight years growing my company from scratch and started with only $4000. Not only did I grow a small business, but five kids as well.

Every year was a new adventure and many new lessons. In this post I share what year four looked like for me as a small business owner.

If you are interested in reading the first three years of my raw and real story of the momprenuer journey, the posts are below. This blog will make more sense if you do.

How to Rebrand a Business –

Year Two As a Small Business Owner –

My First Year in Business –

Fourth Year in Business

October 2019-October 2020

One of my good friends came up to me and said, “You have a very special and unique product. I think you are on to something. You should get them into stores.” I was so confused and didn’t know what that meant. sSo, I brushed it off and continued my pierogi making. A month later, she came up to me again, “ I get you in touch with someone who can help you get your product on the shelves of stores. I started thinking about it.

How do I do this?

What should I do?

What does that even mean?

I researched a ton of the terms she mentioned and found out that selling to stores was called wholesale. I needed to learn. At that time I listened to a lot of podcasts, so I researched, ‘food business wholesale.’ One interesting podcast popped up and I started listening. The lady leading this podcast also had a course that I could pay for and she would walk me through how to get my product on the shelf of stores. I agreed to start learning about wholesale starting January 2020 as a new adventure of the year.

I continued to make pierogi the rest of the year in 2019. That was also the first year I made pierogi for Christmas and I experienced when people really wanted to buy pierogi. I didn’t know that was a thing because my grandma and mom would make pierogi all the time. It wasn’t a holiday dish, it was a year round dish for our family.

One interesting and funny fact. I sold my pierogi in a ziploc bag with a sticker I created on a website. It was cheesy, but I was so proud! We all need to start somewhere. It doesn’t have to be glamorous from the beginning and you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on something you are not sure is going to take off. Get scrappy. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Pivot

As 2019 was coming to an end, I started to set some personal goals and one of them was a health goal. Over the last three years, I heard a lot about vegan and I really wanted to know what the hype was about. Why is it so popular? Is it truly that healthy? So, in January 2020, I started my vegan diet for 30 days as an experiment. 

My experience as a vegan: it’s very easy to eat unhealthy and processed food because it is labeled vegan. I was so disappointed in the junk that was put into the vegan created options. My pierogi that I was making at the time were made with milk and eggs and they were much healthier than the vegan food out there. 

I was on a mission though. I needed to create a pierogi that was vegan now. Not eating pierogi for 30 days was not sitting well with me. I started testing different recipes. I went through at least five before I hit the jackpot on a good recipe. Well, that is for my taste buds. After I settled on the final recipe, I decided to make sure it was a winner for more than just me. So I did a blind test. I offered the vegan pierogi and grandma’s pierogi side by side to my friends, family and customers. I asked them to tell me which one was their favorite. To my surprise, 100% of the people opted for the vegan pierogi. After I told them it was vegan, the most common response was, “I didn’t know vegan food can taste so good.” That’s right, it can! And that’s how I survived 30 days on the vegan diet. This also led me to change my recipe for my pierogi in the business. 

In January, I started my course about wholesale and began implementing what I learned immediately. I used all my savings to pay for the course and ordered pouches for my pierogi so they can be presentable on the shelves of stores. This was scary to do, because I had to trust God that this was the right direction he was leading me in. I believed it, but it was hard to see the bank go to $0 in a matter of days. From beginning to end, I finished the entire course by March of 2020 and received my designed bags that would replace the current ziploc bags. I took a picture with my new pouches the week the world shut down.Who knew what covid was going to do to my business and to be honest, I was focused on growing my company and too excited with what was in front of me. I was on a mission to sell pierogi in my beautiful bags.

March 2020 the world shut down with COVID, but to my surprise I got two emails that week from two grocery stores asking if I would be able to wholesale. They would like to carry my pierogi in their grocery store. What?!?! During COVID everyone was home and needed frozen meals to survive the craze. No restaurants were open to go out, so people turned to the grocery store freezers. 

After those two emails, I found hope in getting my pierogi into many stores. I am very quick to make a decision, so the following week I decided to start making phone calls to local grocery stores. My one friend who suggested that I start wholesale, also gave me a list of stores I should reach out to and get my pierogi on their shelves. By summer 2020, my pierogi were in 5 different states and 30+ locations. I never imagined that turn out!

My lesson from this vegan and wholesale journey. Don’t be afraid to pivot, especially when God calls you to it. Trust him in the process, even if it means wiping out your bank account. He has a plan. If I continued to just make pastries, I would be out of business as soon as COVD started. No one needed pastries for parties. All the parties were canceled. People needed food and I had what they needed at the right time and place. I am so glad I wasn’t stubborn in this situation and didn’t stand on what I wanted to do versus the right thing to do. 

DO NOT Hold Grudges!

During this time, my very first team member who was the baker decided to turn in the towel. I was extremely confused because about a week prior to her departure, she asked to review the non-disclosure form. I knew there was something brewing, but wasn’t sure what she was planning. She just showed up one day with her apron and headband in a small box and said she has decided to quit. I was surprised, but graciously blessed her. A few months later I see she is posting about her new adventure as a baker with lots of the same pastries she made for my shop on her page. How does that kind of stuff happen? Why not be honest up front and just say the truth? It’s not like I was going to hate you for wanting to live out your dream. But to take some of the same work you were doing at my shop and call it your own is just wrong. That hurt! I had to close my eyes, stop following her page because it was a complete distraction from my journey. God was calling me on a journey and I needed to focus on that. 

I quickly made another hire, which was #4. I knew what I expected more now. So, I created a job description. It was only a few months of having employee #4 until they quit and I was on my own again. Another lesson learned and more details added to the job description.

August 2020, I was left with no team members and a ton of pierogi to make for wholesale accounts. I worked long hours. My kids were at the market with me from sun up to sun down. Alex would come out and help pack pierogi after work and deliver them to the freezer we rented 20 minutes from the market. Kids had fun boxing the pierogi sometimes, but other times they were done seeing pierogi and wanted to go home. I am so grateful for their patience at that time. They saw the ugly and the beautiful in opening a business. I didn’t hide my feelings and told them I was fine. I was as raw as you can get – tears, frustration, laughter and joy. They saw it all. When they decide to open their business as they get older, they now know the truth. It takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work to open a business and they know what they will be getting into as an entrepreneur.

September 2020, after multiple interviews and a ton of no-shows, I finally hired more help. I had a great candidate! She showed up and worked hard. She then recruited her sister to come work with us as well, who also was a hard worker. In a matter of 60 days, I had two amazing team members and lots of pierogi going out the door. I was thrilled. The grind was on and I wasn’t doing it by myself. The kids were now back to their normal schedule and much happier. 

From Pastries to Pierogi

The small kitchen at the indoor market was getting really tight to make pastries and pierogi at the same time. Since the business had already pivoted naturally to making pierogi, I had to make sure people understood who I was by the name of the business as well. When I started, the business name was Tanya’s Pastry Shop. I named the shop after my mom because she inspired me and taught me so much. I wanted her name to be honored. But since I no longer was making pastries, I had to rebrand. So, we renamed the shop to Inna’s Pierogi Shop, keeping the logo design the same so that the rebrand wouldn’t throw our customers off as they were looking for us on the shelves of grocery stores. New signs were hung by September 2020 and rebranding was complete.

Second Location

Wholesale wasn’t all I was trying to do in year four of my business. Call me crazy, but in late 2019, I applied to open a stand at a local market. Lancaster Central Market was really hard to get into as a vendor. Hundreds of local small businesses apply and only a few are chosen. I wasn’t surprised to receive a letter of denial, just sad.To my understanding, I was a small fish swimming in a big pond. To my surprise, in summer 2020, I get a phone call, “Hi my name is Mary from Central Market in Lancaster. We would like to interview as a potential standholder for the market. Would you be able to come in for our board meeting?” I was speechless. Me?! Of all people, you want to interview me?! Umm….yea! I’ll be there! 

My mother taught me to never come to a party empty handed, so I took this concept and prepared some of my pastries and pierogi for the board meeting. I dressed up like in a professional suit and headed in. It was an honor to I get to tell my story to ten board members who also enjoyed the samples thoroughly. Apparently, not many people bring samples of their product to these meetings so they felt special. The board asked me lots of questions. They learned I had five kids and they seemed to be concerned. Are you going to last? Mom of five kids running a business and expanding so quickly. Not sure if this girl is a great fit because she has five kids. 

You Are Created For More!

Doubting a mom to run a successful business is very common and this time I heard it from the community. Are they doubting my ability to run a successful business as a mom of five kids? I was slightly taken back and maybe a little offended that someone would not consider my application because of the amount of kids I had. 

After the meeting, I didn’t have negative or positive feelings if I would be chosen. Several other interviews were happening that day as well, so they had options. So I waited…weeks and months went by. I was sure I wasn’t chosen, so I closed that chapter and started seeking new opportunities. 

A random phone call comes through on my phone one day. I wish I could remember more about this moment. The only thing I remember was that I was at my small stand and getting caught off guard with Mary’s proposal to come choose a stand at Central Market. She asked, “Are you still interested?” Still interested? What kind of question is that? Yes! 

Right after Mary’s conversation I call Alex, my husband and tell him the happy news. We were so excited and yet also lots of questions. Where are we going to get all the equipment? How are we going to manage two locations? How much is it going to cost? Where do we get started?

God Will Provide

If this wasn’t enough chaos happening in 2020, the market we currently were a part of (the little small kitchen we built) was considering closing their doors. It was only a rumor at that time, but we took it for what it was and started planning an exit strategy in October. 

I started looking for a kitchen to rent. I called multiple kitchens, cafes and found out prices. Everything I was looking for was pretty much nonexistent. At some point, I felt defeated. But giving up was not an option. I kept asking people if anyone knew of someone with a kitchen or building to rent. I told the market manager who was currently staffed at the market that was closing down that I was looking for a kitchen. This woman was sent by God to me at this moment. She knocked on doors for me, made phone calls and asked people. She comes to my stand one glorious day and says, “Inna, I got a contact for you. This man named Mark is looking for a tenant in Lititz. I am giving you his phone number. He would like to meet with you.”

Great! Let’s see what he can offer, I thought to myself. As I was making my pierogi, I put in an earbud and I gave this Mark guy a call. 

“Hello, my name is Inna. Is this Mark?”

“Yes.”

“I received your contact information from Amy Spangler. She had mentioned you would possibly have a space for rent?”

“Yes, would I be able to stop by and see your stand? I can stop by today at 3pm.”

“Umm, yes. That works great.”

“See you then.”

What?! Mark was going to come down and look at my stand to see if I would be a great fit for the complex they were planning to build.

Mark shows up at 3pm sharp. I treated him with pierogi as I would any one. Mark walked around, looked at my equipment, asked questions and listened to the vision I had for the future. He then says. “I think you would be a great fit. Would you like to come down and look at the building and space?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. In just a few short hours, I was back in business and the hope of having my own kitchen was coming back alive. 

A few days later, I went to see the space in Lititz. Mark’s team was going to build a brand new building and it would be outfitted to my liking and to my business needs. I had a choice to rent the entire building or just take a portion of it. The team was asking me questions and what I wanted. I was humbled and yet so excited at the same time to have such an offer. It was truly God sent. I can’t make up this story even if I tried! Mark did not know me and he trusted I would be the right tenant in the vision they were building for this complex. I chickened out and only took 70% of the building. Mark’s team made a floor plan and divided the building for me to have my portion and to bring in another tenant next to me. 

As we continued to plan with Mark’s team, we learned that the building process would take 6-9 months. In the meantime, while I waited for the kitchen space to get built, I needed another commercial kitchen to rent. I had this gut wrenching feeling that the current market we were renting currently was going to close down sooner than later. What was I going to do while I waited for my space? Well the search for a temporary kitchen was on!

Wow! Year four was full and looking back at it, I think I was a bit crazy, lol. No regrets though. I learned a lot of valuable lessons. Year four did end with lots of unanswered questions and so many new adventures to live out in year five of our journey. I can’t wait to share.

Lessons I learned:

1. Don’t be afraid to pivot. What got you here won’t get you there. 
2. God is always on time. If I didn’t start making pierogi in 2019, I wouldn’t have pierogi to sell for the craze of 2020 in that capacity. 
3. Don’t hold grudges. Even though I was hurt, I had to bless and forgive. I needed to stay focused on my lane to get to the place God was calling me to go. 
4. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t because of your life situation. If you are called to it, He will give you the strength, ideas and wisdom and see you through it. Not only did the Central Market board doubt my abilities as a mom of five, but other moms and people did too. The comments I received for opening a business as a mom were brutal. I am one who likes a good challenge, so when people told me I was crazy and I was going to ruin my kids and family for opening a business, my response was, “watch me!” WIth this silent response that only I heard and made. I quietly put my head down and hustled. I am so glad I didn’t get crushed by the comments.