We recently connected with Jana Sheppard and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea?
My God brother is the one who came up with the idea that I should start selling this sauce that I would always put on my lamb chops. He is extremely goofy so I ignored the idea for a while and didn’t think much of it. I think maybe in quarantine I decided that this was something that I really wanted try to do. From there I came up with the concept for each sauce then I started recipe testing. I definitely have had some struggles along the way. This has been over two years in the making and I’m really excited for Simply Different Sauces to launch next year.
Jana , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Jana Sheppard I was born in Michigan. I am a chef currently residing in Metro Detroit. Since I can remember I was always interested in cooking. I used to be obsessed with watching cooking shows and even used to pretend I had my own show when I cooked.Thankfully my mom was super supportive and allowed me to just cook anything and would try it out. My mom would always say that a lot of the way I cooked came from my grandmother whom I never got to meet. Once I graduated high school I went on to culinary school. Afterwards started putting myself out there and selling dinners, which lead into catering. I took a break from catering last year when I was pregnant but in the meantime I have been working on a lot of exciting projects.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
For me, social media plays like a huge role if not the biggest source of bringing in new clients. Specifically, Instagram is the biggest platform. Instagram is truly just digital portfolio so people can really see my work, see my menu, and typically they inquire and set something up from there. However after social media word of mouth is probably the next biggest way I typically bring in new clients.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Honestly, I feel like staying consistent is gonna be the best thing that you can do to grow your audience. As well as getting to know your audience and really gear your content towards them. The best advice that was given to me with building my audience on social media is continue to do content that makes me feel good, that I have a passion for and the audience will organically grow from there. Remember not get caught up in the algorithms, shares and likes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.simplydifferentmeals.com
- Instagram: @simplydifferentmeals
Image Credits
Good Vibes Good Times