Ep. 58 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with Hanan Alameh

It’s been a while since our last Business Therapy Thursday session, but we’re back. Our guest on this episode is Hanan Alameh, who’s looking for guidance on where to take her business next and the steps to do it.

Hanan has a luxury charcuterie board business she runs in Ottawa called Pretty Eats by Hanan. And she knows exactly where she wants to go—by the spring of 2028, she wants to have her own location, a café, while still catering.

I kick off our conversation by reminding Hanan that she actually knows more about business than she thinks. Pretty Eats also had its one-year anniversary, so it’s an ideal team for Hanan to be here and get the guidance she needs for her business.

As we go deeper into our session, Hanan reveals even MORE goals, like eventually turning her business into a franchise and writing a book. I love the big goals and vision Hanan has. And this is exactly the type of passion great business owners have, where they fall in love with the goals. But growth happens when you fall in love with the process.

Hanan opens up about how fear has held her back throughout her life and how, at 42 years old, she's finally ready to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams without a backup plan. We tackle the concept of "doing it scared" and taking action despite fear, but not recklessly.

One of the biggest challenges we uncover is Hanan's perfectionism. She's detail-oriented and creative, but she admits that hiring employees terrifies her because she feels like "an artist letting someone else draw a painting. " I help to explain the critical difference between perfectionism and having high-quality standards.

If you're an entrepreneur struggling with fear, perfectionism, or feeling like you're not good enough, here's something I told Hanan that might resonate with you: the business will grow as much as you grow.

See more about Hanan’s Ottawa and area business here:
Facebook: facebook.com/prettyeatsbyhanan
Instagram: @prettyeatsbyhanan

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: Welcome back everyone to another Business Therapy Thursday session, and today we sit down with Hanan, who is an amazing, creative genius at what she does and the vision that she has for growing her catering. Business is just out of this world. So we get down deep and figure out what may actually prevent her from achieving the vision that she has for this business.

[00:00:28] Grab a pad of paper and pen because you may find some insights that may resonate with you and hold you back as well. Enjoy this Business Therapy Thursday session.

[00:00:42] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[00:01:01] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:25] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:01:30] Good afternoon, Hanan. How are you? 

[00:01:32] Hanan Alameh: Good. I'm doing good. How about you? 

[00:01:34] Marshall Stern: I'm doing well. I'm, I'm doing well. Okay, so I know, I hear it's a little bit cold where you are right now. 

[00:01:42] Hanan Alameh: Oh, it's freezing, by tomorrow, be minus 40. 

[00:01:46] Marshall Stern: That's cold. That's, that's minus 40 now. Don't – for all you people in the U.S. – Okay. Don't freak out. This is actually Canadian talk, which is different. Okay. What or what would make today a really, really powerful session for you? 

[00:02:04] Hanan Alameh: To learn aside like, the steps, how to get from point A to point Z. I'm not, that, like, I know what to do in my work. Aside from that regarding like business, I'm clueless about that. So to learn more about the, learn more about business side. 

[00:02:24] Marshall Stern: Okay, all in 45 minutes, you can teach all about business. 

[00:02:28] Hanan Alameh: Hopefully, at least like these steps, how to get there. 

[00:02:33] Marshall Stern: Okay, so let, let's slow down for a second. Let's back up. Tell me again a little bit about your business, what it is, where you're currently at in your business.

[00:02:41] Hanan Alameh: Okay. So I do like luxury charcuterie boards and like fruit boards and veggie boards. I'm doing more on catering now. I'm including like, fruit bouquet sandwiches, like, getting there to do fall on catering, where I'm working from a commercial kitchen right now. My goal in the next, like by 2028, the spring of 2028, have my own location but still do catering.

[00:03:09] But from that catering, I'm able to, well, my goal is to open up my own cafe, but still do catering. From that catering, I'm able to open up the cafe, so I know, because I'll have the cafe, but I'm still going to do catering at the same time. 

[00:03:24] So if there's that month or two, especially like say in January, February, it's not that busy because everyone's paying off their credit cards, my catering is still paying the lease for the cafe. And the bills for it. 

[00:03:39] Marshall Stern: Okay, so that's 20 – you said? Did you say spring of 2028? 

[00:03:42] Hanan Alameh: God willing. Spring, April, 2028. I would have my own location. 

[00:03:47] Marshall Stern: Okay. I love it. Love big goals, big visions. So by December of 2026, from where you are now, where do you want to be in December of 2026, that will allow you to be on that path? The trajectory towards?

[00:04:04] Hanan Alameh: So I started, just recently, I started emailing businesses and I want to continue emailing businesses,  mortgage brokers, event planners, like companies, to tell them about like my business, introduce them to my business.

[00:04:20] And by the end of 2026, I want my business name to be more known. Because I've been in this business – on Saturday, actually tomorrow will be exactly one year. I want to reach out to cafes as well. Small cafes to do wholesale. 

[00:04:35] Marshall Stern: Hmm. Love that. First of all, happy anniversary. 

[00:04:38] Hanan Alameh: Pardon me? 

[00:04:39] Marshall Stern: Happy anniversary. 

[00:04:40] Hanan Alameh: Thank you. Thank you. So this year I'm working on to reach more businesses and do wholesale as well. 

[00:04:48] Marshall Stern: Okay. Wholesale, what do you think? You talk about being, you said, used the word clueless about business. So that's a bit of an insight and it's also a scarcity mindset. So we need to know where we're from, where we're at, okay.

[00:05:01] In order to know how to get to where we want to get to. But you've been doing this for a year, so I don't know if you're really completely clueless about that business.  

[00:05:12] Hanan Alameh: Not 100% percent, clueless. I did this program in like the spring, summertime of this year. Okay. So the Immigrant Entrepreneur Canada.

[00:05:20] So they teach you about business, how to open up a business. So I got a lot of insights about it. My husband is a business owner himself but I’m trying not to ask him things. I want to learn on my own. So he's technically helping me where – it's his commercial kitchen. He helps me cut the meat and cheeses, but regarding like accounting and businesses, I'm trying to learn on my own.

[00:05:47] So I've learned a lot with the program and like – so regarding, like I said, I know how to cut meat and cheese and make something look pretty. I'm very, very creative. I'm so good at making and I'm confident in, I make charcuterie and it, turn it into art, so I'm confident in that aspect. But how do I not only – like say the goal is to open up my own charcuterie cafe, but my goal is not only to open up one, my goal is to open up a few later on.

[00:06:17] My goal is to have it as a franchise. My goal is to write a book about, you know, my personal life and my entrepreneurship. So how do I get to those goals? 

[00:06:29] Marshall Stern: That's a great question. That's a great question. So the, the first thing is, goals are great to have. We have to have goals. We have to have a vision for our business, for our life.

[00:06:41] And the question though, then a lot of people just sort of have that and they just try to figure it out. It's really, and a lot of people fall in love with the goals. This is where I'm aiming the target's there, this is where I'm going to do, but they don't fall in love with the process. Right? The ups and downs, the getting up early, the doing this right, the cutting, the meats, the, the, getting the no’s when you're reaching out, like to wholesaler.

[00:07:06] It – there's going to be a lot of no’s and there might be a bunch of no’s before you get a yes, but it's all part of the process. So I, I really want to work with my clients. I'm, I really want you to fall in love with the process. It's -  everything that happens is part of the process as long as we stay on the right path.

[00:07:22] Okay? Okay. The question is, what's the right path? Because it's so easy to sort of go off over here, right? There's so, so much noise out there. What do you think would -

[00:07:37] What do you think would take Hanan off of the path or, or put in a different way, what do you think would prevent you or can prevent you from achieving what you really, truly want to achieve? 

[00:07:49] Hanan Alameh: What prevents me? I don't know if this would, by, like, hearing from other business owners their failures. So that would scare me to put me on the path because I had that recently happen to me.

[00:08:03] Someone spoke to me, they're like, well, why don't you just stick to catering? Why do you need a location? Why do you need a cafe? They had like, a business, their, they have other businesses. They have like three or four businesses, but one of their business was in the food industry. And during pandemic, they lost it.

[00:08:24] So then they're like, they were kind of hesitant, so they're like, why can't you just stick to catering? There's, like, more profit and catering than opening up a location and then you have to pay for lease, you have to pay for bills, all that. And in a way that kind of scared me, made me question should I open up?

[00:08:42] Should I not? But then later I'm like, you know what? And I thought about it and I'm like, if I don't try, for me, that is failing. At least I tried because all my life, I'm 42 years old now. All my life I've been scared. I've had like goals and dreams and visions, and then me being scared is what held me back.

[00:09:05] Nobody held me back but my own self that held me back and that scared me not to go to step two and step three. So now I feel at this age. I don't have a backup plan. I'm like, this is what I want. Like I've been a wife for a long time, since I was 22 years old. I'm a mom, like I have a 20-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, and my 20-year-old son.

[00:09:29] Okay. I'm like, he's good. He's in university, everything. So now, and my husband's had a business since he was 31 years old and he's 46 now. So I'm like, now it's time for me. And I'm like, and I'm like, there's no backup plan. This is my plan. Now this is my goal and I need to keep going. So people listening to people's stories do, does scare me.

[00:09:54] But then I'm like, then I think about, I'm like, if I don't do this, I'm never going to do it. And for me, like I said, now in this time of my life, if I don't try, that's failing. That's not succeeding. 

[00:10:08] Marshall Stern: I, I love that. And you're a hundred percent right, and so I want to thank you for being open and transparent with me.

[00:10:15] What if I suggested to you to do it scared? 

[00:10:19] Hanan Alameh: Like, keep going and keep doing my goals? 

[00:10:23] Marshall Stern: Yeah. I, I, well, okay. So there's a difference. Like you don't want to percent where this other person's coming from. Okay. They're right. In a lot of ways the, I mean, paying a lease there, there you have the lease, you have, you have to be there or you have to have employees.

[00:10:40] So there's expenses, right? But you're, that's, we're talking about two, you know, two years from now, that's your goal. That's, you want something in two years, you can work towards that. Maybe it is more profitable on the catering side, however, maybe you can make it work on both. Because it's too, that's your plan to do both.

[00:11:00] That's what you said at the beginning. Right? And it can be profitable if you have that space. Right. Especially complimenting the catering, because you do need, I mean, right now you're using a commercial kitchen, so there's still expenses. So you have a lot more control when you have your own space. Okay.

[00:11:15] But what I'm suggesting is, so sometimes there's fear and then there's this fear. Okay. And sometimes we need to, as long as we are on the right path and it makes sense, okay. Now some things might not seem to make sense to other people. Okay? But the one thing about a vision, having a powerful vision and a, and passionate about the vision, is it goes a long way.

[00:11:44] And as long as you're not throwing money or frivolously into something, if there's a plan. Okay. Even there's going to be naysayers out there. You know that. Okay. And, and it's usually our, the people closest to us now, maybe not. Maybe your husband, maybe not. because he's in business, which is really good, because a lot of people, their partners are not entrepreneurial.

[00:12:07] Their partners just want you to be safe. Just stick to this because they don't want you to fail. They don't want you to get hurt. Right. That's true. So they feed that scarce, that scarcity. They feed that not scarcity, being scared. The fear. 

[00:12:24] Hanan Alameh: Correct. 

[00:12:25] Marshall Stern: Okay. But sometimes we just have to do it scared. Right. It's not, look, it's like one of my big, my big motto for the year is to be comfortable being uncomfortable. 

[00:12:39] Hanan Alameh: That's my motto this year because I'm an introvert. I'm an introvert, and like I said, things had scared me in life. It backed me away from doing a lot in my life. And this, my model since I started a year ago was you have to get uncomfortable to be comfortable.

[00:12:59] And that's exactly what I'm doing. Where I'm an introvert now. I've been doing networking events. I'm like, emailing. I start emailing business. I'm trying to like get to know this person and this person and this person. So it's like I'm getting uncomfortable to become comfortable.. 

[00:13:13] Marshall Stern: Yeah So you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable to become uncomfortable, if that makes sense.

[00:13:18] Okay. Okay. So in the remaining time we have here today, what is one outcome you would like? One specific outcome that that would really, you're going to go to your husband, you're going to shout out on social media. You got to talk to Marshall because, wow, I saw the light. He helped me with this. 

[00:13:38] Hanan Alameh: Let's see. How do I like, I get to people know more about my business because nowadays I know everything is social media. Find like I do have a Google, someone is working on my website, but I do try my best. Not that much post, say on Instagram, Facebook, but when people reach out to me, customers reach out to me. I do ask them, how did you find out about my business?

[00:14:06] And the majority of them are on Google. And like I said, now, advertising everything, social media. And that's why I'm saying I'm not good with that. Like I'm not good at like marketing and like the business aspect and like social media and all that. So how do I reach out to more people regarding that? 

[00:14:27] Marshall Stern: Regarding getting help with that or, or what do you mean by that? 

[00:14:32] Hanan Alameh: Starting my business where it starts making, because right now I've had this business for a year, I'm not paying myself, and I guess that's the first couple of years with a lot of businesses, you don't pay yourself. Until I start making a profit where in the next, by 2028 I'm able to lease a location.

[00:14:52] So our customers, because you know, my work is good. 

[00:14:56] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. So here's the thing. That's a big question. Okay. What I would suggest, what we would need to first do is look at your numbers or I would have suggest like, like look at all your numbers. Okay. And look at what your catering, like, just your, your packages, your profit margin, all of that.

[00:15:18] Okay. Do you have someone that can look through that with you? 

[00:15:22] Hanan Alameh: Aside from my husband, no. 

[00:15:25] Marshall Stern: Okay. And would you go to your husband with that and have him look at it? Or do you feel comfortable, more comfortable having someone else look at the numbers because you want to do it yourself? 

[00:15:35] Hanan Alameh:  I would be comfortable asking him.

[00:15:38] I've never asked him, but I would be comfortable. because also food industry as well. 

[00:15:43] Marshall Stern: Okay. So what I would suggest, I, this is what I would suggest. I would suggest because he's in the industry. Okay. 

[00:15:50] Hanan Alameh: He's had the business for 14 years. But he's not in social media. 

[00:15:56] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:15:56] Hanan Alameh: And now everything's, everything's social media.

[00:15:59] And now he's not into it. Now he's looking, say to hire somebody, but like, so the business has been doing good because, you know, it's like 14 years now. But like regarding how, and the thing is he's happy with his business and having that one, like say one, he has a restaurant, one restaurant where, me, I have a vision.

[00:16:23] More than one cafe. I have a vision opening up, you know, a few cafes doing other things, right? And everything right now these days is social media. Everything's marketing. 

[00:16:34] Marshall Stern: It is, yes it is. But it comes down in the end. It comes down to to customer experience. Okay. Especially whether it's the coaching space like this, like I can mark it like crazy.

[00:16:46] People don't know, don't know who I am. They'll just see my name and I'm just another person online. Right. They have to experience. This is what we're doing here. Okay. Same thing with you. They have to experience your creativity in what you put together. Okay? So referrals are huge, but people, you, we have to get people to experience you.

[00:17:05] So Google, if Google's a place where, how people are finding you, there are strategies you can do. We can put together something. You and I, you can work with a, a Google expert. We could just do it ourselves. And it's a matter of, like, optimizing. You have a website? 

[00:17:21] Hanan Alameh: Someone is working on my website. Yes.

[00:17:24] Right now it's just like Google and like I even got my niece to help me how to do Google, but like in the past year, like thank God, like my Google is like a five and it's 50 reviews, so I think for 50. 

[00:17:36] Marshall Stern: That's awesome.

[00:17:36] Hanan Alameh:. And after every, every like customer, I do message them. Ask them how are they, how did they like their charcuterie?

[00:17:44] I hope they enjoyed it. If they can please leave me a Google Review. Majority say yes. Most don't leave me a review, but so far I've had the past year 50 reviews, and they're all five, like five. 

[00:17:56] Marshall Stern: Wow. Okay. So first of all, that's awesome, right?  The other thing is we'd have to look at your Google profile, Google my Business profile, which we can do afterwards.

[00:18:04] Again, I'm not a Google expert. I do know Google, especially for a local business. The, the opportunity for you is because you're local. 

[00:18:15] Hanan Alameh: Okay. 

[00:18:15] Marshall Stern: Right. So, you know, people say, oh, well the opportunity is huge. We live in this global economy. Well, the problem is how are you? Like I can coach anyone anywhere in the world.

[00:18:24] Not anyone, but anywhere in the world. 

[00:18:27] Hanan Alameh: Okay. Yes. 

[00:18:28] Marshall Stern: I've had conversations with people overseas, right? I can coach anyone anywhere. Anywhere in the world. But I'm not, like, I don't have a gazillion dollars to market that, to attract people all over the world. Okay. You have this, so because you have a, a geographical area, that's where Google can be very powerful.

[00:18:49] Okay? Okay. But again, really it's going back down to the fundamentals. So these are all the how-to’s we can work on the how-to’s, everything. Everything is – Marie Forleo. I think it's her aunt. I always get, I look, have to look it up. Do you know who Marie, Marie Forleo is? So she, she's like a, a thought leader.

[00:19:08] But she always says, everything's figureoutable. Okay. So everything is figureoutable.

[00:19:13] Hanan Alameh: Like fixable, okay. 

[00:19:14] Marshall Stern: Yeah, right. Might not know the answer right now. Like Tony Robbins says, you might not have the resources, but you could be resourceful. Okay. Okay. So you might not have the money to invest in this.

[00:19:25] But if it's important enough to you, you'll find it. Okay. Okay. Obviously, depending on what it is, if it's a million dollars, you know, something might be right. But, the point I'm trying to make is you have the vision, okay? The key with you, what I see from our conversation. Okay is to do it scared because that's one thing that could definitely hold you back and it's held you back in the past.

[00:19:50] You said, okay, now when I say do it scared, I want to go deeper with that for a second. because you don't want to do it scared intermittently. And what I mean by that is, let's say fast forward, and I'm not trying to scare you. With this, but fast forward to 2028 and you say, Hey, I'm ready. I, I found a place. I'm leasing it.

[00:20:10] I'm going to sign this 10 year lease. It's like, whatever. Crazy amount of dollars. It's way bigger than you need, but you, because you have this big vision, you're just so excited about it, right? We take our emotions, which I think we need to bring our emotions back into business more. Okay, but there's a fine line and you just say, okay, I'm doing it.

[00:20:28] I'm signing on the dotted line. Everyone's telling you around you, you, you know, I might be your coach, mentor. I'm saying, no, not to do it right now. Other people are saying, but you say I'm doing it because I have a vision. I'm going, I'm going, I'm doing it scared. I'm doing it, scared I right. I'm not saying that.

[00:20:44] Okay? And this is a bigger conversation because you don't know necessarily who to trust, who to believe, what to do. Okay. But in the end, there are a lot of things that are going to try to scare you along the way. I don't, I, I don't think that the, the location sounds like a great idea and at that time it might be something you still want.

[00:21:06] It might even be bigger at that time. You might even do something bigger, grander. Right. It's really all about having people on your team. And so far, you know, you said at the beginning it started off, you said you're clueless about business. Well. I pushed back on that a bit because you've been in business now for a year and you have learned quite a bit.

[00:21:26] But what I would suggest to you moving forward is, and you've done it by yourself, you haven't relied on,  you did the program, which is awesome, but you did all this yourself, like congrats, like one year you've done this, went from clueless in business to having this business for a year and 50 Google reviews.

[00:21:44] Hanan Alameh: Honestly. Thank you. I never thought about that like. Where I said I'm clueless in business, I guess would like how, I guess I know more than I give myself credit for. Like even like the clients – like I've had like the government, like T Hall, contact me a few times. So I had like boss contact me and like the CEO of, I did her catering, of Startup Canada.

[00:22:06] So I've, like, a few catering for a few of businesses, and like law firms and that, so maybe I don't give myself enough credit for that.  

[00:22:15] Marshall Stern: A hundred percent. Sometimes we overestimate what we can do, but many times we underestimate what we've done. Okay. So that's what I want you to keep in mind, right? I don't, and, and so when you build a team around you and the fact that you've done this by yourself, like seriously, your, and your husband was right there and he's in the industry, okay.

[00:22:39] But you said, oh, I'm doing this on my own, is amazing. So you've, you've imagined you've done that in one year. You've done it scared, but you've had this passion, this, this energy about you. That has carried you through the year. Am I? Am I correct? 

[00:22:56] Hanan Alameh: Correct. Yeah, because like I've always had a passion to think decorating and showing food with love.

[00:23:02] I'm Lebanese, we feed you, we show food with love. So I'm like, I combine two together. And it’s my passion and like my goal as well. And like also I said it's like for now it's like my time to work on like for the past couple of years I've worked on my personal self and personal development and I do believe in life we'll still be working on ourselves till the day we die.

[00:23:29] It's all on ourselves. But since, like I said, 2017, I've been truly working on myself. Now it's like working on myself, but in another aspect, in the goal aspect. In the business aspect. 

[00:23:43] Marshall Stern: Yeah. A hundred percent. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you a bit of a secret. Okay? This is the Stern Truth. I can tell you a bit of a secret for in business.

[00:23:50] Okay? The business will grow as much as you grow. Now, some business owners, outgrowing their business, and some businesses outgrow their business owners. Okay? 

[00:24:03] Hanan Alameh: Okay. Say that more? 

[00:24:04] Marshall Stern: So, some businesses grow, outgrow their business owners. All right? Some business owners can take their business to a certain level, okay?

[00:24:11] They can grow as much as they can, right? It's, it's, it's all about leadership. Okay? I had my sign company sign graphics company for 29 years. I outgrew it, but, but it actually probably outgrew me well before that. Okay. It probably could have used a fresh face, a fresh voice, years before I sold it, being honest with myself.

[00:24:34] Okay. I should have probably sold it seven, eight years before. Okay. I was running, I had my coaching, mentoring business as well, so I was doing both, but this is my passion. This is what I love to do. My heart and soul was not in my sign company. Okay. Okay, so I outgrew it, but I also think I took it as far as I could take it, and I knew it, but it took me seven or eight years to actually, as my father used to say shit or get off the pot.

[00:25:02] Hanan Alameh: Okay. 

[00:25:03] Marshall Stern: It took me about eight years, seven, eight years to get that. It took actually my mother passing away for me to realize it's time.

[00:25:10] Hanan Alameh: And it wasn't your passion anymore. 

[00:25:12] Marshall Stern: It wasn't my passion for a long time. Okay. Okay. The people in the business, my, my, my employees, my clients love them. Awesome. But the actual business itself wasn't doing it for me.

[00:25:25] And I probably wasn't in retrospect, doing it for the business either. Okay. So I ended up selling my business to my biggest competitor. And what he's done with it is amazing because he has that passion. He has the, the vision. I kept trying and pushing, but my vision, my passion, my vision really was with my coaching, mentoring business.

[00:25:49] Okay. 

[00:25:51] Hanan Alameh: So if, like, you have a passion for something, you will succeed. It will grow big if you have that passion. 

[00:25:58] Marshall Stern: No. 

[00:25:59] Hanan Alameh: Okay. 

[00:25:59] Marshall Stern: Not necessarily. Okay. Because you can have all the passion in the world, you can have all the talent in the world. If nobody wants what you're selling or you're not good at it.

[00:26:11] Okay. Both one or the other, it's not going to succeed. Number one. Okay. So obviously you have the passion, obviously you have the talent. 

[00:26:20] Hanan Alameh: I do. because honestly, not like to toot my own horns, but like when after I create them, I'm like, wow, like. It turned out like amazing, like I believe it's a gift I have not knowing.

[00:26:32] First I was doing it for family and friends, and as doing more, I became more creative and like it showed more. And like even like sometimes if I be like, oh, it's not that good, but the customer sees you, they're like, oh my God, it's amazing. But I guess we're our worst enemies where I'm so detail oriented.

[00:26:49] If like even a strawberry is a bit off place, like I know, right? 

[00:26:54] Marshall Stern: You have high standards. 

[00:26:55] Hanan Alameh: I do. 

[00:26:55] Marshall Stern: Quality standards. Quality standards. It's all perfectionism. Okay. Do you find you're, do you think you're a perfectionist? 

[00:27:02] Hanan Alameh: Yes, I am. Okay. And deeply oriented, even in my personal life and like my home, and that if you move a box of Kleenex like half an inch, I'll know.

[00:27:13] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Well that's something we, that that's something that you and I have to work on. Okay. Because perfectionism will kill your business. 

[00:27:20] Hanan Alameh: And that's why I think one thing is that will hold me back is. I know when I open up my cafe, I'm going to have to hire employees. And what might be holding me back, and I know that will be, is it's like an artist telling somebody else to draw a painting.

[00:27:37] They're not going to, the artist isn't going to let somebody else draw a painting. So that's me. And affect my business is I have to do it myself, or I think I have to do it myself. 

[00:27:49] Marshall Stern: It, it's not going to happen. There's no way. I'm not going to let that happen. Okay? Because I'll tell you something. That's where the perfectionism comes in, where it'll, it'll kill your business a little bit, maybe of a harsh word.

[00:27:58] Okay? It'll halt the growth of your business because there's a difference between perfectionism and having high, high standards. Okay. Okay. So I want you to focus on quality standards, high standards for everything you do, and when you begin to hire people, okay? Even if it's like a marketing strategist or let's say a coach, you have high standards.

[00:28:24] Doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to reach these standards. So every plate you, every charcuterie board you put together, every event you do, it has to follow and have these, you have high standards. Because what is, what is perfection? Like seriously, what is perfection to, and it's to who? 

[00:28:44] Hanan Alameh:  I don't think in life nothing is perfect.

[00:28:48] We're not perfect. My son, like I said, he's 20 years old. I used to tell him, what is it? It's like try, try, makes perfection. Now with my daughter, I don't say that at all. I'm like, you try. It makes progress because I know. So now she knows there's no such thing as perfect, and I know there's no such thing as perfect.

[00:29:10] I know nothing in life is perfect. We're human beings. 

[00:29:13] Marshall Stern: But, but that's, but I have to say that is what, if you live in a world of perfection, only I can. I do it best. No one can do it. As good as I can do it. You that's going to hold you back. Right? Yeah. So that's something we'll have to work on when you get to that point, because for, in order for your business to grow, even as you grow the catering, you might need to bring on people and.

[00:29:36] So that's where having standard operating procedures and high, like high standards and expectations and they can see this is what, our standards, this is the charcuterie board we put out. This is the, this is the quality. And we strive for that every single time. because in the food industry, in a restaurant, yeah, you have to strive for that every single time.

[00:29:59] Okay. But employees are going to make mistakes. Employees are going to do it maybe different. And the other thing is they might have some suggestions that might not be the way you would do it, but it's still high standards. Right? And the more you, you empower people on your team to use their imagination as long as it's within the high standards.

[00:30:22] They might not be the your perfect way. 

[00:30:25] Hanan Alameh: I want to, I do want to learn that, especially like when the other day you had the webinar and like speaking where it's like you want to be the employer where you're able to take time off and join your family and join and having employees. So I want to be that where I can take time off, but I know the business will still succeed even if I'm not there from open to close.

[00:30:48] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Okay. So for you, what do you think right now your next steps should be? 

[00:30:55] Hanan Alameh: Start emailing more businesses and going to cafes with a whole, with a wholesale spreadsheet basically. And tell them, this is what I offer and this is like the charcuterie box. This is how much, you know, basically it costs me, this is how much I want out of it.

[00:31:14] This is what you're, you know, you can make from it. And that, so reaching out businesses and companies. 

[00:31:20] Marshall Stern: Okay. And do you have a plan of how to do that and how many you want to do, let's say on like, on a daily or a weekly basis? 

[00:31:28] Hanan Alameh: No, that I still don't know. 

[00:31:30] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Well, we, we can work on all of that. It was just, yeah, I was just curious if you had that and what type of companies, what, what type of businesses and companies are you going to reach out to? 

[00:31:41] Hanan Alameh: Like, I know definitely mortgage brokers and real estate agents, because I know when someone purchases a house, they get like a gift basket. 

[00:31:49] Marshall Stern: Yep. 

[00:31:50] Hanan Alameh: So instead of getting gift basket, you get charcuterie box. So I want to do that. I want to reach out to spas. I want to reach out to say hair salons as well. It's like, you know how sometimes a customer comes in, a client comes in and they'll be like, would you like a coffee with that? Well, why not? Would you like a charcuterie box with that as well? 

[00:32:10] Marshall Stern: Right. 

[00:32:13] Hanan Alameh: Out to like, actually I'm a part of a networking event and I was speaking to the person who created this networking event yesterday.

[00:32:22] We became friends and she was telling me now they're collaborating. Instead of having, they were meeting once a month at a cafe, a hotel, reach out to her. A networking event to go to the hotel. So she had told me, she's like, why don't like next time I believe it's in February, we're going to be meeting.

[00:32:45] She said, why don't you talk to the hotel and see if someone, how you can collaborate with them? Okay. I have to get uncomfortable to be comfortable. So even that networking took me a lot to start doing networking. 

[00:32:59] Marshall Stern: What about automobile 

[00:33:02] Hanan Alameh: I have two. I have two other have reached out to me. One is in the Gatineau side.

[00:33:07] In the Quebec side. Okay. An hour away from me and another one I'm meeting her next week, I guess it's a restaurant. They want me to do a charcuterie styling workshop, so they reach out to me. One I'm going to be doing on February 14th and one on February 23rd. But the second location I'm going to, I guess it's like a pub restaurant.

[00:33:27] I'm going to go see it next week. So also, I guess, reach out to businesses as well and people who do like paid nights to even start doing that. 

[00:33:37] Marshall Stern: Well, yeah. There's no shortage. There's no shortage of people to reach out to. Right. It's, you want to go, you want to go to where you're going to get the, it's the 80/20 rule.

[00:33:45] You want to go to the 20% that's going to yield 80% results. Okay. Yeah. You know what I mean? You can walk down the street in Main Street, Ottawa and you can like knock on every single door and offer this. Right? Or you can go somewhere where they go and they have, and someone can introduce, introduce you to all of them.

[00:34:04] Right. Or somewhere like when you talk about like realtors. If you can get an in with one real, let's say the top realtor in Ottawa, like I know where I'm in Vancouver, our realtor's amazing and she gives not only just when we bought the house, okay, but even Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Father's Day.

[00:34:26] Maybe even we get something and just one day, like in, I remember in, in October, I came home and there was a branded umbrella on my doorknob. How brilliant is that? This is Vancouver. I'm in Vancouver. It started to rain, like now we're getting to rain season and I use that umbrella all the time. 

[00:34:42] Hanan Alameh: And I do personally know our mortgage broker.

[00:34:45] He's very, very well known in Ottawa and I believe Toronto as well. He has a company as well. So I, I was telling my husband, I'm like, maybe I do a charcuterie platter for him and his family and then he can talk. because he knows him very well. He can talk to him. 

[00:35:02] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yep. A hundred percent. A hundred percent.

[00:35:04] And also, I mentioned earlier, but there was a lag in the conversation automobile dealerships. 

[00:35:11] Hanan Alameh: I never thought about that. 

[00:35:13] Marshall Stern: Because these are talk, we're talk, and I'm not talking about like, I'm not going to mention brands. I'm talking about like nice, like quality high-end dealerships, like the Land Rover and Jaguar or Audi, Lexus, right?

[00:35:25] You're talking about, you know, I guess Tesla, whatever, like these places where, well, Tesla people order online, but these dealerships, quality, high quality dealerships. Hey, wouldn't that be great? I remember, I remember. Yeah, I, you know, you bought, you, you come and you, you get your car, right?

[00:35:43] You come in and the whole delivery thing and they take pictures and whatever. They wanted to put a ribbon on my car, my Audi. I say I don't need a ribbon. I've had a car before. I don't need a ribbon. Just gimme the car. I'm excited. It's clean. It's like, I'm excited. I, but how cool would it been for me to get into that car to sit down and beside me on the seat would be a charcuterie, charcuterie box.

[00:36:03] Hanan Alameh: I honestly love that idea. I've never thought of that idea with like the nice dealerships like, right. That is a great idea. because I know of dealerships in our area that are like the BMW’s and the Mercedes and that. 

[00:36:16] Marshall Stern: Yep, yep. For sure. I, I remember just going, I don't suggest this, but this is – you people want to wow their customers in ways that blows their mind.

[00:36:28] Okay. So to give you another, here's another suggestion, I'll, I'll get to that one in a second. I remember years ago I went to this, retro mechanic shop, took my car into this retro, it was retro, meaning it looked like it was from the fifties. They wore like the - it was like the bowling alley kind of outfit.

[00:36:46] They just, you know, the mechanics and it was very, and the logo was all retro to the 1950s. It was very cool. And when I went up, went to pick up my car, even though I'm a guy, whatever, it doesn't matter. When I sat, sat in my seat, first of all, the car smelled nice and everything, and there was a rose on the seat beside me with the little notes saying thank you for your business.

[00:37:05] And it was a real rose. It wasn't plastic. It was nice. 

[00:37:08] Hanan Alameh: Yeah. 

[00:37:09] Marshall Stern: Right.  Property managers, right. Strata manager. Like, so stick with real estate. When I leased, speaking, leasing, when I leased my, one of my spaces from my sign company the day I moved in, right there or not right there, they came in with it. Beautiful gift basket.

[00:37:29] Hanan Alameh: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:37:30] Marshall Stern: Right, but it wasn't just a gift basket of just like apples and potato chips and whatever. It was a gift basket. Like it was, they spent money on it like it was, there was like a coffee, there was a bag of premium coffee beans, a coffee, two coffee mugs. Because it was a bit office, right. So to kind of get us going,  a coffee grinder, like the actual appliance itself and a few other things, but just sort of like to, to help us, me and my team get going in the, in the new space, stuff like that.

[00:37:59] Like it's, there's so many opportunities. 

[00:38:01] Hanan Alameh: I believe there is, and that's why I am giving myself to 2028. It's like, yeah. Maybe this time for a year to work on reaching businesses and companies and then start searching for like a place to lease by, maybe like the fall or winter of 2027. 

[00:38:21] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Before we go, I have a question for you because you got the vision down pat. Okay. You're going to do it scared, right? 

[00:38:28] Hanan Alameh: Definitely a thousand percent. And I think the one thing is, like I said, I am, I'm telling myself I don't have a backup plan. So either I win or I win. 

[00:38:37] Marshall Stern: That's, no, it's a great attitude. Great attitude. 

[00:38:40] Hanan Alameh: Like that's my thing. It's like I'm going to keep going. 

[00:38:44] Marshall Stern: So the one thing I'm just going to suggest to you, and I've said it before, don't do it alone.

[00:38:49] Okay. I know it's, it sounds like you're determined and you're going to do it, and nothing's going to stop you. And that's great. And so one thing. We've talked about this before. I'm very, and I think you have this down pretty much down pat, but like, get clear on your why. Why are you doing this? And your, what, your three year, what, which you have, like you're talking about, the location, the eventually multiple locations or franchising, whatever it'll look like at that point.

[00:39:14] And it might change. It's going to, it might evolve and that's okay, but make sure that you bring on people onto your team that can help you stay, not just stay on the path, but continue down the path and support you in the process. 

[00:39:30] Hanan Alameh: And that's where I feel like a part of when I tell you I'm not that good at business wise is that's a part where it's like, okay, I'll give you an example.

[00:39:41] Like, Nike for example, or say KFC. because KFC, he started in his sixties. 

[00:39:47] Marshall Stern: Yep. 

[00:39:48] Hanan Alameh: And he tried for a long time and everyone shut the door in his face until he finally succeeded. 

[00:39:55] But eventually he got people with him. 

[00:39:59] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:39:59] Hanan Alameh: Like any other business, like Nike or whatsoever, it's like there's people behind the owner that you don't see and that- 

[00:40:07] Marshall Stern: Aa hundred percent, a hundred percent. 

[00:40:09] Hanan Alameh: Vision and big goals.

[00:40:11] And I know I need to have people behind me like maybe not now, not today, but eventually to start to go up and for it to become a franchise, I, yeah. No, a thousand percent, any people behind me. And that's why like say a lot of business owners or there are entrepreneurs that have six, seven entrepreneurs you see on social media, oh look, they're doing so well, but you don't know how they got it.

[00:40:38] Or you don't know who's behind them. And when I'm doing this, it's like that's why I'm like out of know about business. It's like I need, I know I need to hire people to help me. 

[00:40:51] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. And, and you will, and we'll have future conversations. Just stay on the path, keep the passion, keep, keep moving forward, keep doing it scared.

[00:41:03] My suggestion, just like aside from, in addition to obviously we, we just talked about like bringing people on your team at times, slow it down. So I've got some action steps for you. Going to hold you accountable for this. And it's basically around the wholesale. Okay. Not necessarily the wholesale, but the, the direct outreach.

[00:41:22] So what I would suggest for the next, and we can talk about this further later, but for the next, let's say 30 days. Okay. 

[00:41:29] Hanan Alameh: Writing it down. 

[00:41:30] Marshall Stern: So for February, because February is right around the corner. 

[00:41:34] Hanan Alameh: Yes. 

[00:41:34] Marshall Stern: Okay. It's the end of January now. February's right around the corner. So for the month of February, have a primary focus.

[00:41:40] Pick a couple of these industries and have a plan of getting the list and start reaching out to them and introducing yourself. Be firm on, here's what it is, like connect with them first though. Is this something that would be of interest to them you'd love to discuss because you're making, you're helping them look good for their clients, right?

[00:42:00] Realtors love that. 

[00:42:02] Hanan Alameh: Or would I like for that? Like say if it's a set location, would I go in person, like give them a charcuterie box so then they see what I'm talking about? 

[00:42:12] Marshall Stern: Not right away. I wouldn't. Right away. Right away. Because they might not be interested. You don't want - and it's time consuming. And costly.

[00:42:18] Okay. If they want to sample it, if they have interest, you have to gauge their interest, pique their interest, gauge their interest. Okay. So you can reach out to them. It could be on social media, it like through DMs, through email. It could be the old phone. I would do it, honestly, warm it first, rather than a cold call.

[00:42:38] You could do a cold email or a cold message. And then you can always follow up by phone saying, let's say I'm a realtor. Hey Marshall, I sent you an email the other day, or a DM or LinkedIn, whatever it was the other day.  I'm not sure if you've got it. Look at, if this is a voicemail, or if you get me live.

[00:42:54] If people actually pick up the phone, which is the challenge. That is a challenge, especially mortgage brokers, realtors, anyone like a B2B space or any, anyone in business, really. B2C. B2B didn't really matter unless it's a retail location. Most like professionals have who, who work from their cell phone don't answer their phones.

[00:43:14] Unless they recognize the phone number because there's just so much, so many scams and spams and whatever. So I would first start with the email and then I would basically follow up. If they answer, great. If it's a voicemail, just say, just send you an email or message the other day. Just want make sure you got it.

[00:43:33] I would love to take five, 10 minutes of your time and just show you or explain, show you what I could do for you and your clients. I think it might be of, might be of interest to you. 

[00:43:45] Hanan Alameh: I like that. I really like that. 

[00:43:49] Marshall Stern: Right. And, and that, and that's it. 

[00:43:51] Hanan Alameh: That's a goal for February. I can definitely work on.

[00:43:54] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Okay. Was this helpful? 

[00:43:56] Hanan Alameh: More than you know. 

[00:44:00] Marshall Stern: Okay. I'm glad. I'm glad. Okay. Don't go anywhere. Okay. We're just going to sign off of this, this, this part of it. Okay. Don't go anywhere. So if you guys are, I thank you very much for being open and authentic and transparent. And honestly, if I can include your information, if you're good with it, into the show notes of this.

[00:44:20] Hanan Alameh: Definitely, yes. I’d like that

[00:44:22] Marshall Stern: And if people want to reach out, what's your geographical area that you can serve? 

[00:44:28] Hanan Alameh: Like I can do in Ottawa, even in Gatineau, where it's like 20 half an hour away. I've had, even I believe one client or two clients, one was on Vancouver Island. Their family lives in Ottawa, so I've had even from Dubai, people from Dubai reach me.

[00:44:45] Their family are in Ottawa, so I've had from everywhere. In Canada, the farthest was like in Dubai and there they have family members here and they purchased from me. And I deliver it, and I even personalize it with a nice card. 

[00:45:00] Marshall Stern: Love it. Love it. Okay, well, so for everybody watching this, okay, first of all, thank you.

[00:45:06] She isn't she amazing? If you know anyone in Ottawa, you want to surprise a family or a friend, or a colleague, or you know, a potential client or a client in Ottawa, go to the show notes order from this amazing lady. 

[00:45:19] Hanan Alameh: Thank you very much. 

[00:45:21] Marshall Stern: Okay. Alright, and for everyone else, we'll see you again next week. This was a special Business Therapy Thursday episode, but we'll see you back on Tuesday on the Stern Truth.

[00:45:33] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in an upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:45:52] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.