I’ve watched Ina Garten most of my life on the Food Network, but I really knew nothing about her or her life (other than she has a sweet husband named Jeffery and lives in the Hampton). Boy, did her memoir surprise me!
I love memoirs. There’s something about reading real stories written by the people who lived them. And Ina has lived quite a life and built quite a brand.
In addition to the stories of adventure (both travel and food), there were so many great business lessons in Ina Garten’s memoir Be Ready When The Luck Happens. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it.
Here are 10 business lessons you can learn from the Ina Garten memoir Be Ready When The Luck Happens.
On Building A Brand
Ina explains that when it comes to a personal brand, you shouldn’t be focused on building a brand that you have to force yourself into. Instead, she suggests staying true to yourself and your vision. Do what’s true for you every day, and ultimately that adds up to your brand.
This is so important when it comes to building authentic connections and for sustaining your brand longterm.
A Barrier Isn’t A Stop Sign—It’s A Call To Action
Whether it was getting a mortgage, a business loan, or convincing her parents to let her get married before she graduated college, if someone said, “No,” Ina said, “Watch me.”
This is a great lesson in going after what you want in business and life, but it’s also a reminder that as business owners, we ultimately solve problems for our customers.
If your customers have hesitations, that doesn’t mean it has to be a NO. Think about how you can reassure them and take those hesitations away.
How To Approach Negotiations
Time and time again throughout her life, Ina was faced with situations most of us would have given up on. But her father taught her a valuable lesson in how to handle negotiations. He taught her that it’s important to understand what the other guy wants, not just what you want to get out of the deal. When you find out what the other guy wants, then figure out how to give it to them within the parameters of what you need in a deal. When you do that, everybody feels good about the outcome.
Sometimes figuring out what the other guy wants takes some trial and error and some strategic thinking, but that’s part of the fun.
Don’t Get In Your Own Way
When her assistant first suggested Ina should be on Instagram, she was resistant. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t want another thing to manage. But, as she wrote, you can’t say you don’t like something if you don’t try it. And guess what? She wound up loving Instagram. Proof that when you do it your way, and show up authentically, it can be fun! And it should be.
I say this all the time…you don’t have to do all the things. You don’t have to be on all the platforms. You don’t have to use all the features on the platforms you choose. But you should try it before you write it off immediately.
Not All Advice Is Created Equal
I say this all the time. Pay attention to who you turn to for advice and expertise—both IRL and online. Not everyone’s advice is meant for you. Not all advice is well-intended. And even if someone knows what they are talking about, it doesn’t mean they are talking to you.
In her book, Ina Garten recounts a conversation with an artist and author she highly respected. She asked what he thought of her first book’s art direction and he said it was the worst he’d ever seen. He encouraged her to hire a new art director (btw, she was the art director) but she went with her gut and has been the art director on every cookbook since. I think it worked out for her.
What she realized was that his advice wasn’t bad advice. It just wasn’t the right advice for her, her brand and her audience. Ultimately, ask people you trust for advice, but in the end you have to do what’s right for you.
On Taking Risks
Reading her book, I was so impressed with how Ina approached risk. She wasn’t afraid to take a risk, but she was so strategic and analytical in her choices. Three pieces of advice around risk she shared stuck with me:
- Swing for the fences. You won’t hit a home run every time, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t swing.
- Limit your liability. When you are weighing the risk of a choice, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen if it doesn’t work?” Will it change your life, or will it be a learning lesson?
- If you jump in the pond to take a risk, make sure you can get out if it’s not where you want to be. Have an exit plan that helps you limit your liability even further.
Never Compromise On Quality
If you know me, you know this is one of my core values. Ina shared that she is a stickler for quality. She could sleep well at night knowing that even if something didn’t succeed, it wasn’t because it wasn’t good quality. I love that mentality.
Leave Space For Opportunity
Sometimes it’s important to be in control. Sometimes the opposite is true. Don’t assume you know how a product or service will be received. You can do your best with the experience you have and what you know about your customers, but you also have to be open to what happens with you put something out and watch how people use it. See what their response is and then improve.
Small Changes Make a Big Impact
At Barefoot Contessa, they never asked shoppers, “Is that all?” Instead, they asked them whether there was anything else they could get for them. This left the conversation open, made customers feel welcome rather than being rush out the door. They also had a return policy that made even unhappy customers become customers for life.
Think about the small changes you can make that will leave an impression and turn your customers into raving fans.
Your Customers Don’t Want The Cheapest
Ina Garten has long been known for her delicious brownies. When she was evaluating her cost of goods and pricing her brownies accordingly, she realized she should price her brownies at $2.75 compared to the $0.75 the average brownie was selling for at the time (it was the 90s). She thought there was no way anyone would pay that, but she wasn’t willing to compromise on the quality of the ingredients she was using (see lesson 7). She sld 1,600 brownies that weekend.
She learned that her customers didn’t want the cheapest products. They wanted the best. And they were willing to pay for it.
Remember that in your business. When you know your customer and what they are looking for, also know that they are willing to pay for it.
Which of these lessons resonated most with you?
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