Start Bold, Stay Real: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Tara Gilad

0:01Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down how to start bold, stay real, the entrepreneurial journey of Tara Gillad. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Tara into EO Fire Studios. Tara is a four-time entrepreneur, brand builder, and powerhouse behind the Vitality Bulls franchise. With over 120 units open or in development, known for turning big ideas into thriving ventures, she never lets fear stand in her way. From launching startups to scaling a national brand, she brings bold vision, grit, and real-world insight to every step of the entrepreneurial journey.

0:39And today, Foundation will talk about what keeps the fire burning for entrepreneurs, the first 90 days of launching a business, the biggest misconception people have about what it really takes to become successful as an entrepreneur, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Tara and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

1:18Fire Nation, it's time to stop guessing and start winning with a proven playbook. Inside the Freedom Circle, you'll have access to my step-by-step systems for creating offers, building processes, and driving traffic, all in just 90 days. Ready for freedom? Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Tara, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, everybody? What they disagree with, I don't know. I think resilience and resourcefulness should be at the top of the list always. I think, you know, can you keep going when things go wrong because they will go wrong.

2:01People think sometimes it's all about having the perfect business plan, but in my opinion, it's more a personality thing. And I think one of my biggest strengths and one of the biggest strengths of most great entrepreneurs or business people is resourcefulness. I think you have to be really good about figuring things out. You don't always have to be the smartest person in the room, but you need to be the most resourceful and resilient and the one who keeps going day after day and pushing no matter the highs or the lows. And it's all about problem solving and pivoting and stumbling and relaunching.

2:35And it's not failure. It's just the job. And I think success isn't always flashy like a lot of people think it might be, but it's more consistency and hard work and showing up every day and moving the ball forward, even if it's just 1 % every day. And I think many people underestimate how much of entrepreneurship is about adaptability, and it's not just about having the perfect idea. It's about how quickly you can pivot when things change and how resourceful you are. Well, Fire Nation, we could stop the episode right now and you would have already gotten massive, massive value from the words that Tara just shared.

3:12And we're talking about starting bold, staying real. And this is the reality. Tara, you've built and you've led multiple companies. This is Entrepreneur on Fire. So we talk about sparks and flames and what keeps that fire burning within you that allows you to start over again and again? Insanity. I think at the end of the day, what drives me to keep starting over is I'm just a workaholic and I'm really obsessed with working. I actually love working. I love building things and creating things. I've started four companies in the last 25 years and I still love that initial stage, like taking that initial idea and turning it into something real that impacts people or just something I want or something that will benefit my family.

4:01And I don't always see it as starting over necessarily. I see it as building smarter each time and building something new each time, right? Each business teaches me something new. And what drives me to keep starting over and that craziness is just kind of solving problems with either a product or cervix that makes either my life better or my family's life better or somebody else's life better, a customer. I think when someone uses your product and says, oh, I really needed this, or I went to your store yesterday and it was amazing. Like that never gets old. It just feels good to know that you've created something people like.

4:39And I think something else about me and a lot of entrepreneurs is I don't like complacency. I feel like complacency is just wasting your life away. And I could never do that. I'll probably work till the day I die and I thrive on momentum and learning and growing and entrepreneurship gives me kind of that never ending supply of that every single day, whether I like it or not. And I just have an insane resilience and kind of that drive and grit, which makes that true entrepreneur, right? And that's what it takes to start a company or to build multiple companies. And I would tell every entrepreneur, you know, don't always just chase a trend, but chase what energizes you, right?

5:22Like, what are you passionate about? I think that's the fuel that lasts and the real secret to building a business or in my case, multiple businesses. Now, a lot of our listeners, Tara, they are entrepreneurs, they are small business owners, and they are obviously quite impressed with what you've built over your time. If they're in their first 90 days of launching a business. Can you share a couple must do's that entrepreneurs just can simply not afford to miss? Oh my God, there's so many. First, I mean, obviously you can't start a business without an idea or validating that idea really fast. So I don't know, my recommendation would be find your niche, right?

6:05Talk to potential customers early and often. Don't build your business in a vacuum. don't just start to start start smart right talk to real people document everything make sure you're building for a demand and not just your own assumptions right not just what you want but you have to know that there's a demand out there so listen to customers read reviews talk to mentors have a trusted network have advisors I mean maybe peers can add value if If they don't, I wouldn't seek out their advice, but you really want those that will give you honest feedback and can help you navigate any challenges ahead and kind of how to keep going.

6:46And second, I would say build your brand on a foundation, right? Know your why, know who you are and what you stand for and what your company stands for, and don't compromise on that ever. You know, for example, with Vitality Bowls, we started because my daughter was born with severe food allergies and our why and our mission has always stayed the same. And it's, we want to continue to bring high quality superfoods to all communities in an allergy safe manner. So know your why, know your foundation and stick to that. And then last, I would say, gosh, I mean, be ready to work your ass off those first 90 days, right?

7:28Set up systems from the start. be ready to work from morning to night. You don't need all these fancy softwares or programs necessarily, but you have to get organized. You have to have a clear, you know, project management goal or clear checklists or clear financial tracking or action items, whether it's daily or weekly or monthly, like I thrive and live off of checklists and action items. And I think you have to create repeatable processes on how you test and launch things. So start creating your SOPs right from the start, right? Or join a franchise, right? Like Vitality Bulls or any out there because they do all this for you.

8:08And in general, franchisees have a significantly higher success rate than independently startups. So most franchises, you know, can help give you all that support and the training and all the operational playbooks and the marketing support and all that stuff. Well, let's just stop there because I don't want to overload the audience with too much amazingness this early in the episode because we have so much to get to. And I want to actually build off of what you've been saying by maybe shifting into what you would say the biggest misconception that people have about what it really takes to succeed as an entrepreneur.

8:41Because we see what people say it takes online, but they're typically just kind of fake influencers and life coaches. I'm talking to a real entrepreneur now, a real business woman. What's the biggest misconception people have about what it really takes to succeed? I think that it's flashy and fun and cool and you get to be your own boss. I think it's actually really hard and I think it's so rewarding, but there are pros and cons and starting a business isn't just about being the boss and bossing everybody around. You actually have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty and you got to put in a ton of work to make any business successful.

9:19I don't care what you start. It's hard work. And if anybody tells you it's easy, they're lying. It is hard. And it just takes a lot of grit and grind. And, you know, of course, there's pros and cons. But being an entrepreneur isn't always flashy, like some people think. And it's not only that, like a lot of people say, Oh, I want to be an entrepreneur. So I don't have a boss anymore. Well, you are turning in one boss for hundreds, and then maybe 1000s. And if you're successful, hundreds of thousands of bosses. They're called your customers, your clients, the people that you are providing value to.

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12:19These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Tara, we're back. and you know this, I know this, but I wanna really break it down. Fear and doubt, specifically self-doubt, they're part of the journey. How do you personally push through when those voices just show up and rear their ugly heads? Gosh, for some reason, I was born with an insane amount of confidence. I don't know why, I don't know if it's in my blood, but as long as I can remember, I've always believed in myself and I've not let fear hold me back.

12:56So I would tell everybody, don't let fear be the boss of you. Like you have one life and I've always wanted to just make it count and do what I wanted. I've been an entrepreneur since I was 25. So I guess I've kind of learned to expect fear, which means that I'm growing or stretching my comfort level. If something scares me a little bit, it's probably worth doing, right? I'm kind of always at that teetering off the edge. But, you know, I just launched my fourth business this year called My Flexi and it's selling products. And I've never done that before. And it was super scary and I had all this fear around it.

13:33But I believed in our mission so much. So the fear quickly dissipated. And, you know, we're starting slow and we're launching just a few products and dropping more products each month so we don't get in over our heads. So I think fear, you have to manage the process so it's not so scary. So I always try to break big, scary things into like tiny manageable steps and that kills overwhelm. And it allows me to almost compartmentalize what I have to do to move ahead. So it's more manageable because I mean, we all feel fear. We all feel fear. Well, that's a tongue twister. We all feel fear. And I think the difference is whether or not you let it stop you.

14:13Right. And unfortunately, most people let fear prevent them from ever becoming the entrepreneur they dreamt about. And I kind of, I don't know, started so long ago and I've had this mantra hanging at my desk. I'll read it real quick. It's just one sentence. It says you can let fear or you can feel fear and still move forward. You just have to have the courage to move forward and have the skills to accomplish it. So I love that. You can't let fear hold you back. Man, there's so much greatness in this conversation right now, Fire Nation. And I mean, Tara, obviously, we're going to make mistakes as an entrepreneur.

14:48I mean, we're going to. It's just a part of the game is how do we react? How do we pivot? How do we adjust? How do we bounce back? But, you know, at the same time, if we can avoid a mistake, that'd be pretty cool. So what's one common mistake that you see new entrepreneurs making that's totally avoidable? I guess probably trying to do everything at once all in the very beginning. And I think that creates burnout, despair, overwhelm. I think you have to really focus and ruthlessly prioritize what your action items are and make it manageable, right? So like, what's one thing I can do this day or week or month that will move the needle forward and then do that first.

15:35I think it requires extreme focus and I think you've got to follow a checklist. You can't just go in blindly. You'll completely burn yourself out or you'll miss something. Let's talk about product development, innovation because you've been doing this with a lot of companies over a lot of years. So when it comes to product development, when it comes to innovation, what's your secret to creating things that people don't just need? but they actually want? The secret. Well, I guess I've learned to not only fall in love with my idea, but I also want to fall in love with solving a customer's problem.

16:14Or like, you know, you have to obsess over the customer whenever you build a brand, right? You have to listen to your gut, but you also have to be ahead of trends and understand your customer and read reviews and check out competitors. And I treat product development kind of like a research project, not just a guessing game or not just something I wake up one day, I'm like, oh, I want this. You know, for example, at Vitality Bowls, you know, product innovation means, you know, we're creating healthy meals that are both nutritious and delicious. And for us, it's always staying aligned with our mission, which is finding fresh ways, you know, to serve our customers in an allergy safe manner.

16:53And we go through a full R &D process. So, you know, we talk to our customers, we talk to our team members, we talk to our franchisees before we make any decisions. And I think another secret to building things people actually want is finding that white space, right? Like what's missing from the market? What's frustrating about what already exists? What is your customer frustrated about? And, you know, like with my new company, MyFlexi, we started creating clean, conscious sleep and beauty products because we were so frustrated at how many products were on the market that are just garbage and they have synthetic fragrances and synthetic preservatives and harsh chemicals.

17:31And we wanted to create a clean product that focused on ingredient integrity and clean, conscious ingredients. And I feel like customers want that and they're frustrated. So if we're frustrated, we've done a lot of research and we see that customers are frustrated. And so I think just creating high quality products based on customers frustration is important. And I guess at the end of the day, I'd recommend starting with customer pain points and definitely something you're passionate about. I think most great products or ideas are born where frustration meets creating a better solution and something that owners are truly passionate about.

18:08I think passion and personality really are the true secret recipe for every entrepreneur, in my opinion. Tara, you have dropped value bomb after value bomb. If you could just take a step back and give Fire Nation the one piece of advice you would really want us to walk away with from this conversation, what would that one piece of advice be? Be resilient and resourceful. You don't need to be perfect or fearless. Again, you don't need to be the smartest person in the room. Just be the one who figures it out and keeps going and build with integrity and be obsessed with quality and not cutting quarters.

18:43And I guess just go for it, right? Don't let fear stop you from starting. I think, you know, don't let fear be the boss. You be the boss and you've got one life to live. So make it count. I know that Fire Nation is inspired by this interview. There's a lot of people that want to learn more about you, want to connect with you, your businesses. What would your call to action for our listeners be? Yeah, I mean, you can find me on Instagram, Taragalad. Vitality Bowls, My Flexi Brand. We're all on Instagram. We all have websites. And we are going to offer your listeners, I don't know if we talked about this yet, but we'd love to offer your listeners$1 ,000 off the initial franchise fee if they mention your podcast.

19:25So if anybody wants to join Vitality Bowls, they get$1 ,000 off that initial franchise fee. Just mention Entrepreneurs on Fire, Fire Nation. I can tell you, if anybody's listening right now that wants to open up one of these in Puerto Rico, please talk to me because I want to make it happen for sure. And Tara, Fire Nation knows that they're the average of the five people they spend the most time with. And they've been hanging out with you, TG, and me, JLD, today. So Fire Nation, keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Tara, T-A-R-A, in the search bar.

19:58The show notes page will pop right up. Tara, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Tara for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. And I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk.

20:32The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, it's time to stop guessing and start winning with a proven playbook. Inside the Freedom Circle, you'll have access to my step-by-step systems for creating offers, building processes, and driving traffic, all in just 90 days.

21:20Ready for freedom? Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Thank you.