We were lucky to catch up with Erin Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When my husband Anthony and I got married in 2021, we wanted to thank our guests for coming to our wedding in a unique way that also resonated with us. Since we both love to cook, Anthony played around with a seasoning blend that he previously made to see if he could perfect it for a wedding favor. After a few tries, we were both pleased with the outcome and soon ordered all of the supplies to make enough for 100+ people. Everyone loved the idea and enjoyed it even more when they were able to use it in their kitchen. What we didn’t know at the time was that our first flavor was born, “Slow Noon” (Chile Lime). We received such awesome feedback about the seasoning from our family and friends, everyone kept asking for more! So we thought, “hey, I bet we could sell these.” Within a month of the wedding, we created our LLC, and we were ready to start a business. From there, Turn Em Red Seasonings’ focus was to create unique flavored seasonings that couldn’t be found elsewhere. For example, Island Sunrise is a pineapple habanero flavor. You can probably find this in a salsa or even a hot sauce, and I bet you can find Mango Habanero in a seasoning but pineapple habanero? Nada.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’ve always had a passion for cooking and creating new recipes to share with my loved ones. It’s always been a priority to cook healthy, nutritious meals. Now, I get to take that passion and share it with the world. Turn Em Red Seasonings currently offers 8 unique flavored seasonings that pair well with all kinds of meats, seafood and veggies. A few flavors can even make amazing dips – they are truly versatile in all ways! Additionally, we don’t like to fill our seasoning blends with fluff, so they are all low sodium, gluten free, and do not contain any MSG or preservatives. Since we started in 2021, we have steadily increased sales on a monthly basis and have no intention on slowing down! Our weekends are spent either at a local farmer’s market or sometimes a large, multi day event. Turn Em Red Seasonings can be found in a few shops around the Phoenix area, and we are working on breaking out to different stores around the country.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

At the time Turn Em Red Seasonings was created, I was in a managerial position for a large mortgage lender. Being in this position, it allowed us to be able to fund the initial investment on our own. Thankfully, we have been able to break even or get into the green continuously since the initial investment was made. While we are still working to pay ourselves back that initial investment, it has been such a blessing that we did not have to seek funding elsewhere. We also started with the bare minimum once the business was established. Only 4 flavors were offered at the time, our farmer’s market booth was very basic, and we worked to keep costs low as much as possible. The more we sold, the more we were able to grow.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing a business is linear. There have been many ups and downs since this business was created in 2021. You expect that either it goes steadily up or it fails which is not the case at all. We have walked into events thinking “this is going to be huge for us!.” When the outcome isn’t what’s expected, it’s easy to get down. It’s easy to think, “maybe we’re not good enough to do this.” But that’s just part of doing business and owning your own company. Things always won’t go smoothly and outcomes won’t always be as you hoped. It’s important to grow from those moments and become resilient.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.turnemredseasonings.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turnemredseasonings/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turnemredseasonings/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzHFmU2_tsl-XwDU6LYQNuA