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Chef, apron designer, and founder of Hedley & Bennett, Ellen Bennett shares her entrepreneurial adventure that took her from restaurant’s kitchen line to CEO of a multi-million dollar company and the valuable lessons, pitfalls, and triumphs she’s experienced along the way.
Ellen Bennett, of Hedley & Bennett, reveals how she cooked up her apron business concept – to make kitchen staff look and feel as good as the delicious dishes they were making – on the job, while working as a line chef in a two-Michelin star restaurant.
In six years, she has gone from moonlighting and selling aprons at an LA market stall to manufacturing aprons for top chefs, restaurants, and consumers worldwide.
We bond over the hustle of building a business, from investing your heart – and savings – into your calling, to networking, branding, and social media. Ellen also shares how her Latinx heritage (she’s half British, half Mexican) gave her life principles that serve her business and mindset to this day.
Be sure to get your hands on her new book, “Dream First, Details Later: How to Stop Overthinking and Make it Happen.” It details her wild and wonderful entrepreneurial journey and gives you the actionable steps you need to shift from procrastination into productivity.
Show Notes:
Hedley + Bennett is an apron brand that Ellen started out of her own frustration with the aprons used by the restaurant where she worked as a line cook
Start before you think you're fully ready, you'll learn as you go, but you will never feel fully "ready" to launch something
Learn from the audience that you're serving, listen to what they're sharing and let that guide revisions and iterations
Be willing to hear "no", just treat it as guidance to turn one way over another
Building a brand is not an overnight journey, it takes time, experiences, and trust to cultivate
The journey will have potholes and bumps in the road, it's unavoidable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable to face those obstacles head on
The way that you face challenges starts with you, and you control how you face them and manage them
What you emphasize is what you put your energy towards
Life is a game of goals, and it's such a gift to try new things and take on new goals
Resources:
Read: “Dream First, Details Later: How to Stop Overthinking and Make it Happen”
Website: hedleyandbennett.com
Instagram: @hedleyandbennett and @ellenmariebennett
Tik Tok: @ellenmariebennett
Thank you to Butcher Box for sponsoring this episode. Head to: butcherbox.com/bewell to sign up and you’ll receive a free pack of their legendary bacon in every order for the lifetime of your membership!
Connect with Kelly:
Instagram: @bewellbykelly
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bewellbykelly
Be Well By Kelly is a production of Crate Media
