IAM913- Entrepreneur Helps Businesses Survive and Thrive

Sarah is a local entrepreneur who has been working in restaurants for most of 20 years. Having done everything from bussing and hosting up through chief operating officer, she decided to venture out and start her own consulting firm, Your-White-Knight. During the height of COVID-19, as restaurants were failing, she began working with several local places to help them find a way to survive and then thrive.

• CEO Hack: Having people
• CEO Nugget: Take more chances
• CEO Defined: Life title that defines your existence ii) Stepping up to your role every day

Website: http://www.your-white-knight.com/

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-white-031372118/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahWhiteAdvocacyConsulting

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:10 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:38 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sarah White of Your White Night. Sarah, It's awesome to have you on the show.

00:46 – Sarah White

Oh, gosh. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.

00:49 – Gresham Harkless

Definitely super excited to have you on as well too. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Sarah so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Sarah is a local entrepreneur in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, where she has been working in restaurants for most of 20 years. Having done everything from busing and hosting up through Chief Operational Officer, she decided to venture out and start her own consultant firm, Your White Night. And during the height of COVID, as restaurants were failing, she began working with several local places to help them find a way to survive and then thrive. Sarah, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:23 – Sarah White

I think I'm ready.

01:24 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I want to hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with the business.

01:33 – Sarah White

Absolutely. So I started when I was 19, took my first restaurant job, paying for college, like most people. And it was just going to be a temporary thing. And it turned out I loved it. I loved the restaurant the organization and the way that it ran. So for the next 19 years now, I was in and out of different positions. You know, like I said, I started out hosting, which is where a lot of people start. And then I moved up to different parts of the front of the house and you start looking in the kitchen, go, what are they doing over there? That looks kind of cool. I'm gonna try that out. And I talked to my aunt, I lived on the outer banks and then some slower nights out back could let me jump in the kitchen and learn a few things.

They were like, hey, do you wanna maybe manage? And that's just the track that you start taking if you stick in a restaurant long enough. And I loved it. Couldn't wait to learn the next thing, the next thing. Got some of the best training in the business from some chain restaurants and then branched out to Lost Dog Cafe in Northern Virginia, which has been my home for years now. I love them, work very well with them, and I'm proud to be Chief Operating Officer for White Jar Holdings, which owns Three of the Lost Dog cafes. So just moving right along, I decided, hey, if I'm going to keep taking different management jobs and jumping in to fix things, and then I'm kind of bored, you know, what do you do next? It's running well.

I need to venture out. So I decided some friends' restaurants were struggling during COVID. Hey, why don't I jump in and give them a hand teach them a few tricks that I know might make things smoother and 1 of my lady's groups said, Hey, why don't you make that a business? Like, Oh, you mean I could get paid for this. So I turned around and started, you know, advertising that direction. I've got several clients now in over 4 states, and really enjoy helping people not only get through COVID, but you know, we see light at the end of the tunnel. What are we going to do next? How are we going to grow? And what's going to be the next big thing? So really enjoying seeing that bright spot at the end of all this.

03:42 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I feel like all great things come about after you say the phrase, I can get paid for this, because sometimes we don't realize the power and the expertise we have within. And I think especially during times like this, where, you know, restaurants are trying to figure out and, you know, the food industry, you're trying to figure out what to do. You can't jump past all the experiences that you had and the different seats and the perspectives that you have and to be able to kind of package that and be able to offer that to this industry at a time like this is incredibly valuable.

04:13 – Sarah White

Well, and it's so much fun. I love what I do. It's a puzzle. And going in and figuring out where all the pieces fit and how to make it a pretty picture is, you know, it's fun.

04:23 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that puzzle aspect. I'm a big puzzle fan as well. So that's always exciting. So I know I touched on it a little bit. You did as well too, as far as how you work with your clients. Can you take us through a little bit more on your process and what exactly that looks like?

04:38 – Sarah White

Absolutely. So the first thing we have to do is meet each other. And I encourage any restaurant anywhere that wants to have a conversation to call me because you're going to come out of the conversation, learning something like it's going to be, there's going to be some tips in it that you, if you never hire me, I'm still happy that we met. I love meeting people. I'm kind of the golden retriever of people. I'm going to be happy that we met. I got something out of it and you're going to take some tips out of it. And those conversations are so important. And then we're going to go through, how are you currently doing things?

Because you can't fix something if you don't know how it's currently working. And I'd love to hear from the owners, the managers, the staff, what's going on? What do you think you need? What do you see? And a lot of times I'm going to agree with you on some of it and then I'm going to see a couple of things that you didn't. And we're going to work together on a plan for how we would fix that. Then we start talking about, you know, moving forward to actually work together. So You get a lot of my time and a lot of knowledge before we've ever even talked money. It's definitely worth the call.

05:37 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that phrase. I might have to borrow that from you, the golden retriever of people, because that's actually awesome. I'll be the golden retriever of podcasters, I guess, something like that.

05:47 – Sarah White

That's perfect.

05:48 – Gresham Harkless

That'll work. But no, that is so huge. And I mean, I think so many times, and I don't know if you find this when you talk with clients, when you're sometimes in the business, in the restaurant, It's very hard to get outside of yourself and have that outside perspective and long with the expertise. So that's why it sounds like, you know, getting that second set of eyes or maybe third or fourth set of eyes to really give you perspective. But also with that knowledge is entirely insanely important.

06:16 – Sarah White

Well, it's so true. And you know, you'll see maybe some of the biggest things, but you won't know the cause. You might know why you know, you can tell that your food isn't going out on time. You can tell that your tickets are late. And you think that it's 1 reason and I can tell you 5 others that it probably is also. You know, if your people have to move their feet from here to the walk-in every time you order something, 1, we use that walk-in to cry in. I don't know if everybody knows that, but that's where we do all of our emotional, like get-it-out moments. So you just lost your guy and if you're already wrecked, he's probably back there gonna take a minute. So it's that kind of timing issue we can talk through.

06:54 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. It always helps to know from somebody who actually knows the industry and can see that. And so would you consider that to be what I call your secret sauce? The thing you feel kind of sets you apart, is it that ability to be able to see those things from that experience and be able to say, hey, it might be that person that's crying in that specific section?

07:12 – Sarah White

I've been that person eating ice cream on the floor of the walk-in going, I'm not going to make it. I don't know. So I get it. And I think that you're right. I think that's what it is, is that I've been there. And you know, I've had that night where everything crashed around you and how do you dig yourself out of it and been there with a team that's done successfully and been there with a team that didn't do so successfully? And it's all those different experiences that add up to learning some, you know, I took notes on the worst days and on the best days, I took notes and now it's using those notes to help you not have to deal with that.

07:45 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of sounds like, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's a lot of benefit to people that may be even just starting, not even just trying to figure out what's right or wrong, or maybe thinking about pivoting to get that expertise and talk with you because you have had you know the successes you have had, but not exactly successes, and each of those experiences helps you to kind of give that advice and consult to people.

08:07 – Sarah White

Early is always better. So I have a couple of people now who are looking at opening restaurants for the first time. We have a lot of, you know, unfortunately, restaurant spaces open right now. And there's definitely if you have always had a passion and it's your life's dream to have a restaurant, there's some appeal to jumping in now while prices are down, while there's more of an ability and being ready to go as we open back up. And I definitely support that decision, but call me early. Let's go ahead and set you up for success so that you know when the next emergency comes along whatever that happens to be whether it's your truck didn't show up and you have no food or it's a global pandemic we're ready We're set up for success and we know how to go into it and how to survive and thrive.

08:51 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely and you know knowledge is definitely power and you can't always you know guarantee success but you can get as close to setting yourself up for success as you said, you know so well and I think being able to kind of lean on that expertise and know, you know, from people like you that know exactly what's going on in the industry, know exactly how to be successful allows you to increase the likelihood of being successful.

09:12 – Sarah White

Exactly. It's just being prepared, being prepared for anything because if you've ever worked in a restaurant on a Friday night, you know you have to be.

09:19 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, everything and anything always happens. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

09:33 – Sarah White

I know it's probably the most generic answer in the world, but my people. So I'm in 4 chambers of commerce. I'm in several different groups, National Association of Women Business Owners, DC Femme Proneur, and just the people, the things that I learn and the networking that I do, and just having those people that I can call up and say, hey, I know that you've dealt with this and I have no idea like I'm out of my depth or even I've dealt with this 100 times and I'm drawing a blank but I need somebody I have when I pick the name for my business I sent out a Facebook message and I was like okay who's free and feeling creative And I had 5 ladies hit me back instantly. They were like, we're here for you. What do you need? I started a little private chat. We went back and forth on names and they helped me pick it. So it's just having people.

10:25 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And that's, it's huge because I always say like to sometimes start a business, you kind of have to have a little bit of ego to say, Hey, I can help out as far as like creating something that's bigger or helping people turn around. But I think you brought up a really good point the people that are surrounding you, but also asking for help are huge. And I think so many times we can let that ego take over us and lead us to not be successful because we need to ask for help and we have the people around us. How can we ask them so that we can increase our likelihood of being successful?

10:55 – Sarah White

I wish I'd learned that 20 years ago. It's something that really, I think, comes with age and with practice. You do it the first couple of times and you're like, oh wait, this was actually really great. So I wish that I had, you know, broken down and asked 20 years ago and learned how cool it would be. But COVID has taught us 1 thing and that is that social media can be a great thing to bring people together.

And I've just met the most amazing people all over the world. And leading in and asking them for help the first time was a little intimidating. And after that, it just, it just flowed like, Oh, wait, they want to help you. That's the big secret people want to be there for you and they feel that bond with you when they get to help you with something.

11:35 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, it's so powerful, you know, when you start to realize that I think, and probably everybody, you know, has that struggle to some degree, but someone told me that 1 of the best things you can do is to give to somebody else. And if we really like to reverse that and think about asking for help, we're asking and giving somebody the opportunity to give. So if we don't ask for help, we're kind of blocking somebody from that opportunity to do 1 of the greatest things. So if you see my younger business stuff as well, please also tell him. Do that a lot sooner.

12:05 – Sarah White

Right.

12:06 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. So that might be what you consider what I would call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice you would tell a client Or is there something else that you might tell your younger business self?

12:18 – Sarah White

So a younger business self, I think I would just say, take more chances, trust you a little bit more because everybody, and here's something I like to tell my nieces, they're teenagers now. And I like to say, that when you walk into your room and you're standing there wishing somebody would talk to you, everybody around you is wishing for the exact same thing.

12:39 – Gresham Harkless

So, Sarah, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Sarah, what does being a CEO mean to you? So to me, CEO is not a job title. It's a life title. It is something that defines your existence basically. So I may just now be CEO of a corporation of my own little corporation, but I've been the CEO of my life for let's not get into how many years now.

And so it's it's a mindset of being that person to step up, look at the world around you see how you can change it, who you can take care of, because to me, that's what a leader does. That's what somebody who's given the responsibility of being in charge of people, you work for those people, you take care of those people, those are your people. And so it's just doing that every day, all day, no matter what circumstance you're in.

13:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. I love how everything comes back to people because it's something we often overlook and we'll skip over or have as a footnote, you know, in our story or what it is that we do, but it really makes everything worth it. It really, you know, brings everything back there. And I think when we understand our actions, our inaction sometimes even too, it affects those that are around us. So we have to be cognizant of that and make sure we're putting our best foot forward.

13:58 – Sarah White

Absolutely. And that's, if you have the right people, they can open up things that you only thought were dreams, and they can push you to achieve them. So, you know, get people, get the right people, you know, it's being there for the people around you and letting them be there for you.

14:13 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely powerful. Well, definitely appreciate that, Sarah, And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

14:30 – Sarah White

Okay, so if you look up your-white-night.com, you're gonna get me, Sarah, your white night, it's written the same way, and it's gonna be a great way to email me. You can call me anytime, at 252-671-9148. That number is public, it is my cell phone and you will get me anytime that you want to have a conversation, I'm here for you. So love to talk to anybody interested in talking about specifically restaurants, but the world in general, hey, I'm up for it. Let's meet.

14:58 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well. But truly appreciate you Sarah for all the awesome work that you're doing and the time that you took today. And I hope you have a phenomenal today.

15:08 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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