Erica
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Jeremy: Hello and welcome to season three of the Jeremy Haselwood Show. This podcast is all about exploring a wide range of topics that spark curiosity, build community, inspire action, and deepen our understanding of the world around us. Each season, we dive into a new theme, Hello and welcome to the Jeremy Haywood Show. This podcast is all about exploring a wide range of topics that spark curiosity, build community, inspire action, and deepen our understanding of the world around us. Before we get started, make sure you subscribe now on whatever platform you're seeing or hearing the [00:01:00] song by tapping that follow or subscribe button.
Season three. We are shining the spotlight on women, business owners, the trailblazers, innovators, and leaders who are redefining what it means to build with purpose. Each episode will bring you stories, strategies, and inspiration straight from the women who are creating businesses that make an impact.
This season, we're going to celebrate and learn from the powerful voices of women in business. Today's guest is the founder and CEO of Livin', so welcome to the show, Erica Tuggle.
Erica Tuggle: Thank you. Thank you. Glad to be here Jeremy.
Jeremy: All right. Well, we're just gonna jump right in. We're gonna cut through a few layers off the top, and I want to know what is something that people are always surprised to learn about you?
Erica Tuggle: That's such a good question. Think people are often surprised that when I started Livin which is my company, I actually was cooking I was one of the first cooks we connect people with personal chefs. I was one of the first cooks on our platform, or the first cook I should say.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I was actually taking orders and going into homes and [00:02:00] instead of, in my corporate career it looked very different. But people are often very surprised especially some of the chefs we work with. Because
Jeremy: Wow. So,
Erica Tuggle: I should say that I like to cook and I'm pretty good at it, but I'm not trained
Jeremy: okay, cool. Yeah, we're gonna get all into Livin in a minute, but that, I guess, would be a surprise that you're actually, it's not only your business, but you're showing up in the houses too. So I would imagine that would be a surprise. I. Yeah, you're like, not anymore. So, so let's take one step back and just tell the people a little bit about yourself, Erica.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah, sure. so I'm from the Northeast. I grew up in Connecticut. Have a wonderful family. Two siblings. My parents, I always tell people, my siblings keep me grounded. They always, keep me in check. And my family has shaped a lot of who I am, which is why I always start there.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I'm now blessed to have my, start growing my own family.
And so my husband and I have two young kids. And we now live in Atlanta, Georgia which is very different from where I grew up, but has been a wonderful home for us.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I spent my career in [00:03:00] marketing very early on after attending NYU. I knew that was what I wanted to do, and so I went to American Express and started working at amazing companies in
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: management. And built from there. Then went on to business school worked at General Mills for some time. And then also Coca-Cola, the Coca-Cola company
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: us to Atlanta.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: and throughout all of that, I think I've always really had a passion for people and understanding people and. Working with people and marketing is all about understanding your consumer. And building brands is very much about the insights that drive that. And so I've really always enjoyed that personally. I've always been pretty creative. I love the arts. I love, I grew up dancing, I acting,
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: like that.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I always tell people like, I feel like my career has started to bring those things together in various ways.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: today, I went from corporate America to then building my own company, which has been a really amazing journey. And brings everything together. But yeah, that's a little bit about [00:04:00] me.
Jeremy: It's actually really cool just to be a part of working with those big brands, but also knowing that you have that background in the arts. And I didn't know all that about you, so I know a little bit about Livin and Cook Connect, so just understanding how the, all those elements come together. This is gonna be a fun conversation.
Jumping into Livin, is this the first company that you've ever started?
Erica Tuggle: It is.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: I, I had, an entrepreneurial bug, if you will, or interest pretty early on. But I had never actually started my own company. I dabbled in
Jeremy: okay.
Erica Tuggle: and so
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: that.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: But the idea of starting my own company was a dream.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I had not yet, yet realized.
Jeremy: Yeah. And do you remember that day where you're like, I'm doing this, I'm gonna start my business, and here's what I want to do.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah, a little bit. There were a few days so there is I think the day or the night where I like documented, like I have this idea. I'm really interested in trying to figure out this thing because I have a problem. And my [00:05:00] problem was that I was, busy with a young family, and a career, That didn't really allow me to do all the things I wanna do at home, which, and for the most part included cooking.
Everything else was
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: to figure out. But getting good meals into the home was hard and. had this problem and I had this idea, like right around the time my son was one. So pretty, or two, I think it was about so pretty early in terms of when I actually launched Cook Connect, which is now live in.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: and so from that idea to actually being like, all right, I'm gonna try this thing that took about three, three years, three or four
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: And I think part of it was. I wasn't ready yet to take that leap. I was doing some pretty awesome things in my career at Koch and that was keeping me interested and engaged. And it is a big decision. And we are, growing a young family. It's a
Jeremy: right.
Erica Tuggle: big risk. And took me a little bit of time, but over that time I felt like I just kept seeing like all these, opportunities and insights and hearing, and I've started working on Coca-Cola and food and pairings and meeting more people in the restaurant industry and [00:06:00] chefs and all of
Jeremy: Mm.
Erica Tuggle: was like, there is something here.
Jeremy: Wow.
Erica Tuggle: and so I, then when I actually made the decision to at least leave and work on it or, start to understand if it could really be something that was in late 2020 where I did have an opportunity to leave Coke on a voluntary package that was
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: Restructuring. And I was like, you know what? This is the moment.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: gave me the confidence to be able to take a little bit of time,
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: interviews, some research and test and try to figure it out.
Jeremy: Wow. And that's really bold to start an in home cooking business during COVI. So did part of that like freak you out? Like, this is either like a really great idea and it's gonna do awesome, or I'm gonna be calling Coke back, like, Hey, let's, let's work something out.
Erica Tuggle: I think my husband put, it helped me, put things in perspective. He was like, you've had this idea for a while, you might
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: it. Or else you're always gonna wonder, right?
Jeremy: Yeah. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: and you can go back and you can find another opportunity. Which
Jeremy: [00:07:00] right.
Erica Tuggle: also really comforting. I left on really awesome terms but then also had to worked hard in my career,
Jeremy: mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: that I could hopefully depend on.
And I know the markets are always changing. But that was the how I left. And the confidence that I left on was that, you know
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: is worth trying. We believe there's something big here. But if it doesn't work out, then yeah you go back into the job market and you try to figure it out.
Jeremy: Yeah,
Erica Tuggle: really appreciated him. Me take the risk factor down a little bit. There was
Jeremy: yeah.
Erica Tuggle: there, but helping me
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: a little bit more. And then, yeah, and then being able to have the time to explore the idea was really, it was fun for me, but it was also
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: right?
Like I
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: way it was gonna work or not.
Jeremy: Yeah. I mean, what I like is that you had this idea for a few years, and then even corporately, like all the pieces seem to align, to pull you closer to. What your vision was like, I know I wanna do something with food and your work with Coke shifted a little, that puts you more in that food category.
So yeah, it seemed like the [00:08:00] signs were there. And shout out to your husband and, and to all the partners out there for their partners who have a business idea and saying, you know what? I support you because that support is, is crucial. I know when I started my company, it resulted from a job loss and.
My wife was like, Hey, you've been talking about this. I'll hold us down. I know that you're gonna work at Starbucks if you need to. It's your turn. Go after it. But just having that support, it gives you , a little bit of confidence, but you also, don't wanna let yourself down.
You don't wanna let your family down, so it kind of charges you to work a little bit harder.
Erica Tuggle: A hundred percent. Yeah, exactly. You're definitely motivated.
Jeremy: Yeah. Your platform if I'm not mistaken, it's now through an app. It started out as Google Sheets starting out, you know, kind of basic using some of the tools that were available. You know, obviously it's evolved a little bit since its first beginning. When it comes to like funding your type of business, what were some of the costs that you encountered and how did the funding come together for that?
Erica Tuggle: To [00:09:00] your point, we were able to start with a really low cost model.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: honestly still today is relatively low cost. I. My as I started to think through building out the business, one of the things that I saw opportunity in was that we don't really need a lot of capital expenditures.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: don't need to own property. We don't need in order to do this, we need to build great software.
Jeremy: Yeah,
Erica Tuggle: can be expensive.
Jeremy: yeah.
Erica Tuggle: we need people to really get excited about this brand and to share this brand that can also be expensive. And so
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: really the two key areas when I think about this business in terms of what, where the investment is needed. But initially to your point. I did not have enough funding to hire an engineer, and I'm not technical myself. I from a marketing perspective also did not have, a ton of funds to throw at that. And
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: where I focused the investment was really a little bit on the marketing side just to get the word out and whatnot.
But we did a lot of text messaging to mom groups and having friends share it and emails and things like that that are low cost to nature. , and
honestly, the first two. Biggest [00:10:00] outlays were individuals to help me. One on the technical side. We started, when we moved from Google Sheets, we moved to No Code, which is basically using a platform where you can plug and play things together. It's a little bit more than that, but that's essentially what it is, so you're not actually building original
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: And so I was able to find someone who could help me do that through one of the
Jeremy: Okay.
Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: then, on the other side, I needed from an operations perspective, we really need to figure out the operations of the business and like how to make this run efficiently. And so I brought on someone to support in that way, and that was everything from what is our screening process for chefs and, you
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: do we support them in the work that they're doing through us to what are some of the KPIs we should be tracking and looking at. And then as we continue to grow the next place of investment was customer service. To make sure that we were not only learning from our customers, but also supporting 'em effectively.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: those were some of the first places we spent money.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: but it was very much about keeping it low cost.
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah.
Jeremy: me through like your business, 'cause you know, we've talked [00:11:00] about some of the things surrounding it, but for the, the people listening, tell me what Livin is about. What do you do? I.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah, so Livin is a company that essentially connects personal chefs and busy families and professionals. Our goal is to help people eat better get their time back. And by better, a little healthier. Get their time back so that they can spend it on the things that matter most to them.
Most people don't wanna be in the kitchen every night or every Sunday, preparing meals. They'd rather be spending time with their family, working out, taking care of extra work, whatever it might be. And so we're here to help them do that and to help them spend time and what matters most to them. On the other side, we support culinary professionals in building their businesses and bringing on new clients and managing clients effectively and efficiently and managing their businesses efficiently. And at our core, we are a software company. And the software really enables. The chefs to be able to do their jobs well
Jeremy: mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: and supports the transactions that are taking place on the platform and making those
Jeremy: Yeah. Okay.
Erica Tuggle: Every [00:12:00] day we're very much an experience as well. 'cause
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: experiencing these amazing meals, these chefs this time back.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: it's really quite priceless. , That's who we are and what we do. Our goal is really to provide support to both sides of our marketplace so they can really live.
Jeremy: Yeah. And one thing that I, I believe differentiates you and, and I don't know in the market what, what the competition looks like, but one thing that stands out to me with your service is when you think of in-home chefs, you're like, oh, that's for rich people. You know, I can't afford a chef. So it's really important to you to say, no, it, it can be affordable.
So. , Let's help shape that perception here. If I'm hearing this and I'm like, oh, that's good for the other people, but I could never afford a chef. Why is your platform for just regular, everyday people that just don't have the time or don't want to cook?
Erica Tuggle: It is the number one thing we hear when we talk to people. We're like, Hey, we can help you. The personal chef. They're like, but I'm not there yet.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I'm like, no,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: now, likely. So here are a couple of things that, that we uncovered. One you can have a personal [00:13:00] chef coming to your home for about the cost that you're probably spending on like Uber Eats or DoorDash or those delivery models. When you look at the per plate cost of those, those platforms Livin is right there. As long as you're ordering, multiple meals for your family, which is the model. Or for yourself, even if you're doing breakfast or lunch and dinner or whatever it might be, you're gonna be there. So that's , one thing that we always point people to and say like, how much are you spending on those
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: are you spending even on groceries?
How much additional would you be willing to spend to have someone take that Kind of, all of that, the cooking, the shopping, all of it, the planning off of your plate.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: thing, and this is really what sparked me to the I idea and the opportunity. I realized that people were already doing this. So some people I was working with, friends of mine even had found someone that they were paying essentially what they were paying a babysitter to
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: and make meals for them. And they
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: hourly rate make as, as many meals as they needed.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: Oh my gosh, paying them what we pay our babysitter like. We can do this once a
Jeremy: Yeah.[00:14:00]
Erica Tuggle: even a couple times a month, maybe even every week.
Jeremy: Right, right.
Erica Tuggle: it becomes much more, plausible when you are engaging the right talent.
Jeremy: Mm.
Erica Tuggle: focus on restaurant cooks whom
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: being paid a ton hourly
Jeremy: Mm.
Erica Tuggle: and have
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: skill and are able to do this work very well and efficiently. And love the extra income that,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: come with that. And just the opportunity, the career opportunity. And then when you're able to use tools like software to make it super efficient in terms of
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: might manage a business, your personal chef doesn't have to worry about, how to manage the paperwork anymore.
Managing, menu development even. We support all of that, and
Jeremy: Thanks.
Erica Tuggle: everyone on the platform have a more efficient, service and experience.
Jeremy: That's great. And how do you control the quality of the chefs, because that's like central to what you do? Two things that I think about is who's coming to my house and how do I know that they can really cook?
Erica Tuggle: Yeah, exactly. A couple of things there. One is the prescreen, and second is our community. And so the first is from a prescreen [00:15:00] perspective. That's where Livin has the most influence on that.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: look at hundreds of applications every time we post for Livin. And we evaluate them.
For experience. We also do interviews. We do tasting interviews in addition to , traditional job interviews background checks and also reference checks. And that is,
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: goal is to your point, find highest quality and also diversity
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: that we can have on the platform so that everyone can come.
We talk about being a company about personal chefs. For everyone. That
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: Not only can you afford it, but you can also find a perfect fit for you and your family. And then on the other side, I mentioned community. We have ratings, right? Just
Jeremy: yeah.
Erica Tuggle: or Airbnb. You're gonna rate your host, you're gonna rate your chef.
Jeremy: Nice.
Erica Tuggle: ask our customers for their reviews and their honest feedback, even if it's negative. Because that does also help us control for quality on the platform. So the
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: community can start to regulate that a little bit themselves.
Jeremy: Yeah, sad picture you like with a lot of [00:16:00] chefs, like Top Chef and they all have to prepare a dish and you're like, okay, this is the best dish. You can be a chef with Livin, but that's not how it goes. But it sounds like your system is probably more efficient than doing that and doesn't take as much time, but , still maintaining the quality.
So that's good to hear kind of behind the scenes. Because these are the questions that I would have. So I know people listening, you know, I know this podcast, this season's really focusing on entrepreneurs, but, if you're in the Atlanta area,, you might wanna reach out and you may not want to cook today or this week.
So, you kind of wanna know what's going on with everything, with the business and the chefs and the food and everything like that. You're a relatively young company and you've already done a rebranding. So tell me why the rebranding and what led to that.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah. Quite a few things. So I always tell people, when you're first starting a company sometimes and I, all stories are different, but for
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I really just wanted to get out into the world and start learning and see
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: would be and what we needed to tweak and change or pivot or not do
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: right?[00:17:00]
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: I worked very quickly to just get the idea into the world, which is why I was,
Jeremy: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: And so with all of that, it was you know the name Cook Connect, which was our original name was great at explaining what we did. For some people it was hard to say and spell, 'cause we all alter the spelling so we could get the url, the domain and
Jeremy: Oh
Erica Tuggle: those
Jeremy: yeah. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: But. Then we start to learn, right? And as I said, I went to get in market and learn and we start to learn that this is like a very emotional experience for people and they're meeting a person and there's a relationship there. The reason people are coming to us most often is because they want to get time back to spend, on the things they really enjoy in their lives. Or it's because they're dealing with something from a health and wellness perspective. And that could be anything from allergies to
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Or
Jeremy: Hmm.
Erica Tuggle: Or even just, I prefer to eat whole foods that are gonna be better for me.
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: all of this we were seeing and hearing and could connect, just it fell a little flat in [00:18:00] communicating some of those things.
And it
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: And like I said,
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: and something really special here that we were helping to build. And
Jeremy: yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Raised some some funding.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: instrumental in helping us work with an incredible agency, the Working Assembly out of New York to really help us , talk to customers, talk to chefs, and figure out what this brand is really about.
Because I knew marketing was gonna play a huge role in this, right? We
Jeremy: Right?
Erica Tuggle: the marketing engine for the chefs on the platform,
Jeremy: Yeah,
Erica Tuggle: we're driving business to them. It's really, live in obviously takes a piece of that, but it is, the platform is about
Jeremy: sure.
Erica Tuggle: with business, with customers, and
Jeremy: yep.
Erica Tuggle: the marketing engine, we need a strong brand to build
Jeremy: Yeah.
\
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: Livin was about bringing that strong brand forward to be more of a lifestyle brand, put me
Jeremy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: to connect emotionally with customers and hopefully communicate a little bit of what we're gonna help you do in the payoff. And also to bring forward that health and wellness piece a little bit as well. And
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: \. I am definitely biased, but I love the work that the Working
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: did with us. And we are just having a lot of fun [00:19:00] bringing the brand to our existing customers, but also new ones.
Jeremy: Oh, that's great. And just going through a rebranding and knowing that you've worked for some really big brands in the past, how do you feel like that experience helped you not only start your business, but understand branding and the importance of branding?
Erica Tuggle: Oh yeah. That's my career. Like I'm a brand
Jeremy: Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: and my husband always laughs at me 'cause I am that person too, who will like, make purchase decisions off of brands. And he is it's probably not
Jeremy: Right
Erica Tuggle: no, I think this brand is better.
Jeremy: right, right. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: So anyway, so I brands are remarkable.
A huge value, one that you can create for your company through branding and ineffective brand development. They are, you're building a relationship with your consumers and your consumers are building a relationship with your brand. And building that brand through insights and through insights that are going to sustain and are not, temporary is something that I also learned a lot in my career. But really generally just the power. Of what a, a brand means and what it can mean. It's not just even about the [00:20:00] consumer. Like eventually it's about the type of people you hire, you can hire, right? The type of
Jeremy: Right. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: in being a part of that brand.
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: that you can then gain, the people who respect the brand are excited about the brand.
I wanna be a part of it.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I think that was really from my career, one of the takeaways and then that brands are
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: not only for the consumer relationship, which is an. Absolutely essential. But
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: what it can mean for just growing the total business.
Jeremy: Right. Yeah. And I always say the brand is way more than a logo. People are like, Hey, I need a new brand. And they're really saying they need a new logo. But a brand, if you're really doing a rebrand, you're basically deconstructing and reconstructing almost like a human being. You have your logo, you have your values, you have your experience.
It attracts talent, it attracts chefs, it attracts. Partnerships because they want to be a part of that. And it's just as much as like when you think of certain logos like McDonald's, Starbucks, CNN, Fox, like you have an emotional reaction to those [00:21:00] brands, you know, good, bad, or indifferent, but they make you feel something.
So being able to understand branding and be intentional about. When people hear Livin, I want them to feel something as well, not just see it , and you know, the more your brand grows, the more people interact and connect, they'll get that experience. And when they experience that, now it's like, okay, I had this great experience.
So when I see it like, oh, it's taken me back to that moment of this good food or this great experience that I had with this chef. The experience is so important. It's not just the logo, it's not just your colors, it's everything. It's the emotional piece to it as well.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah,
Jeremy: As a business owner, like what are some of the things that you love the most and what are some of the things that you're like, ah, this is the part that I really don't like about owning a business?
Erica Tuggle: Yeah. I didn't talk about this, but one of the things I was really interested in from an entrepreneurship perspective was having impact.
And being able to feel like, the hours I was putting in were making a difference in the lives I was impacting. That's probably one of my favorite thing about business.
Being a business [00:22:00] owner, I always looked for that and the jobs that I was in even when I was in corporate America. And you can find it. But I think it is just so every day
Jeremy: Hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I do is about bettering the lives for our customers or bettering the lives of our chefs. ,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: really meaningful to me.
And the stories and the experiences as you said that have been shared with us. Just reinforce that. So that's probably the best thing, honestly. If you're building something that's really solving a problem and a pain point, just making a wonderful, beautiful mark on the world.
And love that. I also love it's hard and that can be good and bad, but I actually love the intellectual challenge that we have every day.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: it's. in terms of the different challenges that we deal with and are dealing with. But it is really thought provoking. It is really exciting for me intellectually.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: then what I don't like so
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: a business is that you really do wear all the hats for a long time.
Jeremy: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I'm not coding for us clearly,
Jeremy: Right.
Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: in, I'm not technical. I don't know if I mentioned that, but though I'm not doing that [00:23:00] work. But I'm doing a lot of the other work, even if we have people in those roles to either support them or to if they're out on vacation right or,
Jeremy: right, right. Right.
Erica Tuggle: I'm the
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: has to step in.
So it really is, that part is really hard. And I I have places where I prefer to lean in and not. And and I've done things like, we've had chef need, a last minute service that we really wanna take and a chef, being able to take it, but not being able to grocery shop.
And so I'm like, okay, I'll get the groceries. I'll meet you here,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: you,
Jeremy: Wow.
Erica Tuggle: Just let's get this new customer in the door.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: the, especially in the early days, like there's a lot of that stuff that's like just the groundwork and the grind that
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: not love. And I
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: a lot of that happening
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: ways.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: but that's basically, comes down to the fact that you're wearing all that as I know, and that can be really hard.
Jeremy: Yeah. And to that point, like, how does Mom Erica balance work? Erica?
Erica Tuggle: That is very hard and I'm always
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: about that. I think
Jeremy: yeah.
Erica Tuggle: it's probably the thing I do the least [00:24:00] well in
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: balancing. I think there's mom, Erica, work Erica, and then there's Erica, right? Like
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah, right. Exactly. True.
Erica Tuggle: I don't, do as well, I'll be honest.
It's hard. My, you talked about the responsibility you feel when you do something like this,
Jeremy: Yep. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: to your family.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: feel that, and I, to bring my kids into live in and they love it
Jeremy: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: fun. So they're very aware of the business and where we are in our journey and the challenges I have, or if I'm looking stressed, like they wanna know what's going on. And so I love that part, and that is part of how, honestly, I balance the two. Because I do
Jeremy: yeah,
Erica Tuggle: important for them to have exposure to what's happening and
Jeremy: of course. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: But but I've had to, go through a lot of phases, I would say,
, In terms of learning from other founders, not everything's gonna get done,
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I have to really think through my priorities and then, have commitment to that. And if it's a priority for me, it to be at every one of my son's soccer games,
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: On the weekends that I'm in town Then. [00:25:00] I might be in the car during halftime or actually usually
Jeremy: Right? Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: at halftime,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: a few things in or be on my phone whatever
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I know he wants me to be there, and so that's a
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: for me. And so those are the things that you just have to be really clear about.
But again, I think it's really easy for the founder to get lost in all of that. 'cause at the same
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: You are there for your business in every way.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: That's where I've tried to learn from other founders about, when to take breaks, how to take breaks, how to restore myself, what fills my cup, which
Jeremy: Yep.
Erica Tuggle: spending time with my family. And so those things I've tried to be more purposeful about.
Jeremy: Okay. your kids growing up and seeing you work and build something and understanding a work ethic and having a vision and having goals and going after it. They're watching everything that you do and it's definitely making an impression on them. I think as parents, we can't help but feel guilty sometimes about where we may feel we're coming up short with our kids, but.
A lot of times they see what [00:26:00] we're doing and we're impacting them in a tremendous way that we don't even realize until, they get older. My kids are in their twenties now and I'm seeing things now from them and I'm like, wow, these are seeds that I planted when they were younger and, but during that time it was very stressful and the self guilt and stuff like that.
The balance is crucial. It's hard at times, like you say, it's like. You go to those games I've been in in those situations as well, where it's like you wanna check in, be present, and you are, but you also are juggling multiple balls over here and you can't let any of those fall. But it's the challenge and it's the energy and it's displaying that if you have a dream and you go after it, you can make it happen, you know?
I definitely commend you for the, the inspiration that you're leading for your family and your kids. How do you find inspiration?
Erica Tuggle: Oh my goodness. Yes. That's so important. I find in a lot of places I mentioned talking to other founders and people who have done this or have this experience before. [00:27:00] Think that is really special and important and
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: a lot of them have remarkable stories as I know
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: as well.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: learning from those stories, hearing their learnings and just seeing what they've been able to either overcome or accomplish is very inspirational to me and just reminds me that this is hard.
It's supposed to be hard.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: that there can be some really bright and awesome moments as you get closer and closer to your vision. And so I love that. I take a lot of inspiration from that. I take a lot of inspiration. It's funny, we talk about the kids.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: my kids are they're very energetic, but they're also very blunt, like a lot of kids are. And
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Love the way they live. And and so a lot of times like my daughter just lives very loud. My son is a little bit more like thoughtful, but but also just has this incredible energy and not a lot of reservations about them. And I love that. And so I take some inspiration from that too. Because a lot of what , you're doing as a founder is stepping into new situations and having to show up in [00:28:00] ways that are different than maybe you're used
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: in order to get noticed or to get the call or the meeting or whatever it is, or someone to understand who you are and what you do. And so I take a lot of inspiration from them as well. 'Cause I love
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: live.
Jeremy: Yeah. It's all so important.
And so outside of work, we, you touched on it a little bit. You say you used to love spending time with your family, but what do you enjoy doing when you're not Livin?
Erica Tuggle: This is gonna sound funny. I love to cook.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: So where one of our things right now is like stop cooking, start Livin, which
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: like most Mondays through Fridays and even Sundays when I'm extra busy. But in terms of like my free time, I love to grab the food and wine magazine, find something that my husband and I have picked out, go to the store, get some fun ingredients
Jeremy: Nice.
Erica Tuggle: go to town.
I love that. I don't have time for it very often, but I absolutely
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I also, I love shopping,
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: that's also one of those things I don't get in a lot. But I,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: get the opportunity, I'm like, all right, let's get a good shopping trip in. So yeah, so those are [00:29:00] some of the things I love to do in my spare time.
In addition to what you said, just spending time with the
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: is always fun.
Jeremy: So is the shopping trip, is it just like comprehensive, like it doesn't matter what you're shopping for, are you more like outfit shoes? Like what, what, what are the shopping trips? What are you shopping for?
Erica Tuggle: Yeah, outfit, shoes, and sometimes home decor. So depending on the day,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: right now I think I need to do some shoe shopping, and so I need to figure out where
Jeremy: Of course, of course. Right. I mean, today, when we're done with this, I think it's a good day for shoe shopping. Yeah. So it sounds like you're reversing your logo or your, your tagline when you need to decompress. It's like, I'm gonna stop Livin and start cooking, and that's what you're doing. We're reversing it here a little bit.
What is your favorite meal to make?
Erica Tuggle: My favorite to make.
It's actually pretty simple, but linguini and clam sauce, it's the dish
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: kind of go back to my mom. It was one of my favorite ones that my mom made growing up. And so it would
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: birthday request, what do you wanna have for your
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: yeah, let's help some m we need cla sauce. And one of the first meals I [00:30:00] made for my husband, so I always kinda go back to that meal,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: meaningful. It's actually pretty easy to make if anybody ever tries it. But I
Jeremy: Wow.
Erica Tuggle: it's absolutely delicious.
Jeremy: Nice. And that definitely sounds like some northeast influence with the clam sauce. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: exactly. And I love seafood, so that works
Jeremy: Yeah. So what's on your playlist right now?
Erica Tuggle: Oh my goodness. I'm a huge Beyonce fan,
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: and I did of course go to her recent
Jeremy: I was, yeah, I, I was going to ask, but I was like, I'm not gonna ask. Yeah. I'm, I'm like, you probably went
Erica Tuggle: so yeah, so I was there with my daughter. We had an amazing time. So anyway, so she's on my playlist. I've got else or what else is on my playlist right now? I do the most I listen to music, honestly, is at the gym.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I will do, like this morning either pop or hip hop and sometimes an afrobeats,
I think this morning. Who was popping up in there? Ariana Grande, popped up in there or something.
So yeah, so I've got quite a mix going on.
Jeremy: Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm always curious.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah.
Jeremy: So yeah, I've [00:31:00] got, I don't know, I so many playlists and it seems like I'm creating a new playlist every day. I just, or not, that's an exaggeration, but I probably have 50 playlists for different modes.
Erica Tuggle: Yeah,
Jeremy: got like a, yeah,, I nerded out like a few years ago and I'm like, I'm gonna do like a 1988 through 1992, hip hop playlist.
All the songs that came out in 88, all the ones that came out in 89, because , that's my era, late eighties, early nineties, mid nineties hip hop. And I know I never listened to 'em though. I feel like it was a project I did and once I finished it, like I didn't listen.
So I'm gonna listen to it today though. Yeah, I'll share 'em with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So this entrepreneurship journey, tell me what you've learned about yourself along the way.
Erica Tuggle: I love that question. 'cause I always tell people, I feel like it's as much as it's hard to build a business, you're also just, it's hard to go through the emotional and also this personal growth
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: is required.
what have I learned about myself along the way? I would say things. One, I mentioned before, like I love people [00:32:00] and I think I knew that, but I. Think I realized it was like a, hesitate to call it a superpower, but like a superpower. If that makes sense. I think
Jeremy: Hmm.
Erica Tuggle: order to do what we're doing, which is. Connecting, chefs and cooks with new customers and busy families, professionals who need their support and their help. I think you have to have a really deep appreciation and willingness to understand the other, each side of the business. And so that's a love for people, that's empathy. Which I think I, I possess more than I, I even thought I did.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: it makes us, I think, a better company in terms of the tools we're able to build for each in the way that we're able to build for each. And so
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I think, interesting to me, to really, I always in my career, love developing people on my teams and like those things I really delved into. But it was really interesting to see how that has come to life with Livin and how important it has been and how central to how I operate it is. I think I also learned that. I've gotten better at sales. You have to be a salesperson as a
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.
Erica Tuggle: I am [00:33:00] not, I don't love sales, so I've
Jeremy: Yeah,
Erica Tuggle: really fast.
But you I, there are some things you just gotta do. And so I
Jeremy: right.
Erica Tuggle: and pitch you in a second
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know.
Erica Tuggle: So that, that's been interesting. And the other thing I think I've learned is that . I've always worked really hard. And I've learned that I need to, regulate that especially,
Jeremy: Mm,
Erica Tuggle: don't know that I would've even ever gotten to that point when working in my own job in a corporate job, I should say,
Because it wasn't mine.
And I worked really
Jeremy: Mm,
Erica Tuggle: with
Jeremy: yep.
Erica Tuggle: I can work like harder than I've ever,
Jeremy: Oh, yeah.
Erica Tuggle: and harder than I've ever worked
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: That has really illuminated for me that I need to work on boundaries. And
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: been a big learning.
Jeremy: Yeah, and it probably doesn't seem like you're working as hard sometimes. 'cause you just go in, you're focused and you look up and you're like, wow, five hours have passed. It seems like it's been 45 minutes. But that's the confirmation though, when you're doing something you love, the time just almost doesn't exist.
, Those are all really good. And it's been interesting to hear more about your company and [00:34:00] kind of taking it full circle from having this corporate background to having arts and food is art, a lot of, chefs will tell you that, they don't look at it as culinary, it's art the way that you put the flavors together, the way you do the plating and everything like that.
So being able to take kind of all of your experience in. Build a company is a pretty amazing thing and it's inspiring to others out there who may wanna do the same thing. So if you could instill hope in another woman that's considering starting her own thing, what would you tell her?
Erica Tuggle: Oh my goodness. I think especially as women we have, I often talk about what is your kind of unique perspective on the world and your unique experience,
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: and how is that coming through the work that you're doing? As women especially, we have such a unique experience and the roles that we play in our families or in our networks, in our communities, With that experience, I think we can really drive remarkable change because that experience is very honed in
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: types of people and [00:35:00] various, people in different roles. That experience is diverse which means that we're already handling a ton of things. We're already wearing all the hats.
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: So
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: like wearing all the hats for your business like that is,
Jeremy: Like we've been doing this. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: what we do.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: and and then I think as women, we are extremely resilient. And you, whether you're fighting, a glass ceiling or whether
Jeremy: mm.
Erica Tuggle: Working through raising children obviously you're not doing all these things alone, but they are uniquely difficult and different for women. And
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: I say that to say that as a woman, especially starting a business. You have what you need just by being a woman in this world.
Jeremy: Hmm.
Erica Tuggle: I think that's pretty special. And
Jeremy: No, that's great.
Erica Tuggle: into, what are your superpowers from your own experience and and give it a shot. sure you have great support, which is what I also say you were talking about, that the support of a
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: the support of friends whatever, and whoever it might be. Make sure you have at least one person there on the guidelines that you can , [00:36:00] talk to, and cheer you on. But then, go after it. See what you can do. And I think you'll be surprised at how much you're already bringing to the table.
Jeremy: yeah. That's great advice. Thank you for sharing that. So we've reached the time where we're pulling out the clarity cards and, and your card is when you were a teenager, what did you envision your life looking like at your current age when you were a teenager?
Erica Tuggle: Okay.
Jeremy: What did you envision your life looking like at your current age?
Erica Tuggle: This is so funny. That's a really good question. I definitely don't think I envisioned this,
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Leading
Jeremy: Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: Company and so building
Jeremy: Right.
Erica Tuggle: every day.
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: When I was a teenager, , I was acting and
Jeremy: mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: for things, I grew up in Connecticut, so right near New York, so I was able to go in and try out for different things.
I think I probably thought at this age in my life I would be like on some TV show
Jeremy: Mm-hmm.
Erica Tuggle: or doing
Jeremy: Yeah.
Yeah,
Erica Tuggle: that's probably what it, what I thought. I always knew I wanted to have kids, so I probably thought that I would have, kids and family. But [00:37:00] definitely probably doing something different career-wise, which is
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. And who's to say that Livin won't expand into a lifestyle and a, a whole show and all that? Who knows? So it may end up there.
Erica Tuggle: in Livin between chefs
Jeremy: I can imagine. Yeah.
Erica Tuggle: so you're right, we might, we
Jeremy: Yeah. So, we'll, yeah. We'll , put a pen in that and we'll revisit that and see how, how that develops. Cool. Well, Erica, thank you so much for joining today.
If people wanted to reach out and get ahold of you, what's the best way to do it?
Erica Tuggle: You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. You find me there, Erica Tuggle. You can also check me out on Instagram. That's Tuggle Kitchen is my handle. But if you're interested in Livin and Learning more about us, you can also find us at ChooseLivin.com, which is LIVIN. There's no
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: end.
Jeremy: Okay.
Erica Tuggle: can follow us on Instagram as well, which is choose_ live in L-I-V-I-N.
Jeremy: Cool. Awesome. Thanks for sharing that, and thanks for taking time today. Thanks for your wisdom and appreciate you joining. And for the listener, thank you for tuning into the [00:38:00] Jeremy Haselwood Show. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to follow or subscribe, so you're always up to date when the latest episodes drops.
Until next time, keep following your dreams to find your purpose. Thank you
