How To Have Fun While Running a Business with Tal Garden

Pivot! A Vegan Business Interview Series

Even though Tal Garden's family couldn’t afford culinary luxuries when she was growing up, their dinner table was always fresh, colorful, and tasty. One of the few staples on the table was tahini. Whether they spread it in pita bread, dressed it on shakshuka, or used it as a dip for veggies, tahini made it taste better. Tal created FUN Sesame because she wanted to share her love of tahini with the world. She believes that even the simplest of food can be enhanced with the right thing–tahini!

In this episode, we'll learn about Tal's journey to starting her business and some of the challenges she faced along the way. Tal opens up about how she's needed to approach certain business challenges differently because she is a female founder. We'll also learn all about FUN Sesame's motto (and where its name comes from): "Have fun, it is simple!"

Get to know Tal Garden and FUN Sesames Tahini better here: www.funsesames.com

Quote

“If you have an idea, and you don't know how to start, just start…Don't be afraid of sharing your idea because someone might steal it. It takes a lot from taking an idea to the next level and really doing something about it. So just start. If you see yourself putting a lot of time towards your idea during the night, because it really drives you and it really gives you joy, even though you slept for two hours–that's your calling.”

—Tal Garden

Shownotes timestamps

▶️ [00:44] What inspires people to create businesses: FUN Sesame.

🧆 [03:04] Growing up in Israel and having lots of lentils and legumes: how FUN Sesames was born.

⚠️ [06:58] Tal’s learning curve: understanding how people perceive your product.

😋 [09:43] What is tahini: sesame seeds are a phenomenal source of calcium, protein and healthy fats.

🤩 [12:34] How many variations of tahini FUN Sesame produces and how to use it in vegan diet.

🥙 [15:44] Tahini as a way to add flavor to leftovers: having fun with tahini and flavors.

😇 [17:33] ‘Tahini is life’ is the usual emotional response from her customers.

✅ [19:19] Where to find FUN Sesame tahini.

✌️ [23:07] Having great opportunities doesn’t mean you will succeed: it takes time to build a brand.

🏬 [27:28] Getting her products into big stores and all the things Tal learned from her mistakes.

🎯 [29:00] Tal’s goal is to provide tahini as the cleanest condiment: three layers she is focused on.

👩‍💼 [31:50] Breaking biases of male-female businesses: Tal is teaching her kids by example.

💡 [36:08] How to know what your ‘thing’ and passion is: what to do when you have a business idea.

🙃 [37:27] How to keep the fun in the business?

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Thanks for listening to Pivot, our vegan business interview podcast. This is recorded as a live-streaming session, so I hope you’ll join us for future interviews as well! If you are feeling inspired but unsure of how to take actionable steps to improve your business, I invite you to explore our two premium paid podcasts, Going Solo and Fix It.