From donut maker to consumer & CX insights strategist, meet Beth Karawan in New York, NY.
In this episode, host Jenny Dempsey sits down with Beth Karawan, consumer & CX insights strategist, to talk about how a side hustle, a layoff, and a whole lot of curiosity led to an incredible career transformation. From student teaching and bartending to making donuts during the pandemic and launching her own consultancy, Beth’s journey is a reminder that your skills are transferable, your path is never linear, and joy can absolutely come from the most unexpected places.
Topics We Cover
Connect with Beth
All right. Beth, what is your most preferred type of donuts? There's so many types of donuts out there. I feel like you can't even say favorite because every shop has something fancy or fun, and I'm like, Ooh, that's my favorite there. But do you have a style that you usually go for? I am a classic chocolate frosted with Sprinkles girl.
Oh, I am very. I am. I am class. I'm all about the classics. Classic. Classic. I love that. Those are pretty great. Yeah. Even bad ones are good. Yeah. I had one that was a, uh. A rose matcha donut. And I will admit it was pretty good, but it was very fancy. And, um, yeah, bougie donuts, they're, yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah. My donuts were a little bougie too.
I got a little bougie too. Um, but it was more for the creativity of it and to be fun and to have things that were kind of different. Than it was 'cause I was trying to be bougie. Yeah, I love it. Everyone's probably wondering me, why are they talking about donuts? We'll get into that. First of all, Beth, tell everybody who you are, where you are, and what you're doing now.
Sure. Uh, thanks Jenny. I am Beth Caran. I am co-founder and EVP of Imprint cx. We are a customer experience and transformation consultancy. Um, I am based out of Goldens Bridge, New York, which is a suburb of New York City. I'm about 50 miles outside of New York City. Um. And what was the other part of your question?
Sorry. You got 'em all. You got 'em all. All right. Excellent. Basically, like, so right now you are kind of running the show and you are helping people in the CX industry, helping clients, working with clients, but you didn't start there and there were a lot of things along the way, um, that came up for you on your career path.
Maybe something about donuts, um, that. You know, I think can really provide insight for career flippers. So how did you get to doing what you're doing now? So, I honestly have to say it goes back to being in college. So, um, I went to the American University in Washington, DC Um, I was intending to be a communications major.
I hated my communications classes, and so then I needed to pick a different major and I had no idea what to do. And I had been a camp counselor, CIT since I'd been like 13 or 14 years old, and I thought, well, I've been working with kids this whole time. I guess I'll just be a teacher. And so it, there really wasn't a whole lot of thought that was put into it.
Um, and I changed to elementary education and while I. Loved my classes and my professors, especially once we started to talk about educational theory and psychology. Um, it was when, so this is the early nineties, and so talking about things like, um, learning disabilities and. A DHD were just really coming to the forefront.
That part was really super interesting and I enjoyed the classwork part of it. Um, but, and SPO. From what I, my, my grades, I was good at student teaching. Mm-hmm. However, there were two things. One is I am five foot two and I was teaching fourth graders, so 10 year olds that were taller and heavier than me.
Mm-hmm. That was intimidating. Yeah, I bet I was, you know, I'm 21, 22 years old, so that was, that was intimidating. And then also when I graduated I was like, I'm only 21. I don't, I don't feel like I'm an adult enough. Two shape young minds. Like, I know what I'm doing on Thursday nights and Friday nights and Saturday nights, and that, that would be all the stuff that I would tell my students nothing, you know, just say no.
Right. I, I didn't feel adult enough, so I was very lucky. I had had a work study job. Um, all throughout college and they hired me full time and it was in the marketing department for their adult education program. Um, and I did that for two years. And at the same time I worked at a Mexican restaurant in Georgetown.
Um, if anybody's familiar, Washington Harbor. Um, and I was a hostess and a bartender and a waitress, uh, and my parents were mortified that they had just spent all of this money paying for my college education and to them. They sort of conveniently forgot about the day job that was paying my rent, paying my car insurance.
I was completely self-sufficient. They were not funding me at all. Mm-hmm. All they saw was they sent me to college and I was a bartender. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. So after doing that for about two years, um, I had a family member who was in the market research industry who was working for a company that was starting a.
Training program, and they wanted people intentionally who did not have psychology backgrounds or statistics backgrounds. Mm-hmm. Which were typically how you got into the market research industry. Mm-hmm. Um, and that training that I got is the foundation that I built my career on for the next 30 years.
Really? Yeah. It, it really, it changed the trajectory of. Everything. Um, here was this industry. Here was this job that I knew going into it I knew very little about, but it turned out I was good at it. And it turned out that there were aspects of it that were really super interesting. Um, and so that's where it started.
Wow. And so it just surprised you, it came out of nowhere and it sounds like you were open to that. Um, from this per this family member, which also is a big thing of just kind of being open to what rolls your way, and then there were aspects that were interesting. What were some of those, um, aspects that were showing up for you?
So human behavior and why they make the decisions that they do. Um. Was really fast. That aspect of it was really fascinating to me. Mm-hmm. So digging through the data, um, the other part was, you know, I was the kid who had the teacher in junior high school who said that I wasn't good at math and I'd never amount to anything.
Like, you know, I had one of the, right, like I had one of those. And so I didn't think I was good at math. But data analysis, while it's math, it's not. It's a different kind of math and it turned out that that was the math that I was good at. Interesting. Um, yeah, so making connections and like looking at a big pile of data and looking, seeing all the connections and how different things influenced the answers to different questions.
And so it became like a big puzzle and that was, um. That. Those were the two things that I was like, oh wow, this is interesting, and it turns out I'm good at it. Yeah, that's so, it's so interesting and it's funny that you mentioned that I was also the kid that was not good at math. Like, I mean, I had to take like algebra one three times and then again in college, like, I mean, it was like I, I just, I really suck at math, but data, when it kind of became part of my role in customer experience, told a story and I think that's how I connected.
I was an English major. I love stories. And so when I saw that those numbers were telling a story. Just kind of hearing what you were saying, I was like, that's how I connected with it. But don't ask me to do, like, I still gotta use my fingers when I add, I mean, yeah, yeah. I understand. You know, so, so being in the market research industry, there's a lot of statistics that happens sort of behind the scenes and.
There are certain market research methodologies where I understand the statistical theory behind it, like I know just enough to be able to describe it. Mm-hmm. But I could but not to do it. Yeah. Um, and so exactly it data tells a story and, and so as my career has evolved, that's one of the reasons why.
I've been in this industry for so long is the longer you do something and the different ways that you apply the skills that you have and you take them and you use them in a slightly different way, and then you do that again and again and again, which is what I've done throughout my career, it gives you this per, but this very broad perspective of.
And if you're an inherently curious person like I am, you're constantly ingesting information and then that shapes your ability to tell those stories with data. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. So that's, and I, and I appreciate, I wanna go back to something that you said at the beginning, 'cause somebody else just said this to me recently about staying open.
Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, and how important that is. So I have a, I have a bunch of friends whose kids have just started college, um, or who, um, are about to go off to college. My son is graduating college this year, which I can't even believe the four years went by so fast. My gosh. Wow. Um, and the advice that I have given all of these kids.
Comes from my own experience, which is just because you study it in college doesn't mean that, that you're locked into doing that for the rest of your life. Right. Yeah. Because literally I have a piece of paper that costs six figures that I did nothing with, but I've had a 30 year career. Right, right.
Mm-hmm. So that's staying open, like unless you're planning on becoming a scientist, an astronaut, a lawyer, a doctor, where those things actually matter. Where the piece of paper matters, the, you know? Mm-hmm. That the upper up education matters. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause after a while, no one's gonna ask you where you went to school.
No one's gonna care what your GPA was, and nobody's gonna care what was on that piece of paper. Right. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Um, and so, and it's been interesting 'cause I do the, you know, I'll have like either face-to-face conversations or there'll be, you know, zoom conversations or whatever and you could see, 'cause kids today are so much more put together at 17 and 18, I was 30 by the time I had like my life planned out.
Yeah. I, I say that too in in my niece and, and nephews and like, it's just how do they, how are they so wise? I knew nothing until like last year, like Yeah, exactly. And I'm, I'm constantly amazed at how wise they are about how intentional they. Are about the choices that they've made. Mm-hmm. And why they've chosen the majors that they have and the, and just all that.
And I'm like, I literally picked my school at ran based on the weather. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That was, that was as much thought as I went into it. And as I described at the beginning, that was about as much thought as went into what I wound up majoring in. It was just a, oh, I don't know. I guess I'll pick this. Yeah.
It wasn't intentional at all. Yeah. Yeah. I literally picked my major because I, and I chose English because I did not wanna do any math. That is literally it. I was like, I like reading and I like writing. I don't want math. What doesn't have math? Okay. This, that was, that was it. That was the thought that went into it.
Um, I had no idea what it was gonna be for my career, but I also didn't think that, um, I really had. Options. I kind of thought, okay, I go to college, I get one job, I stay with that job, and then I retire. Like I didn't really think outside the box because I wasn't taught to correct. And so that openness really didn't come into my mind until much later when I kind of had to figure out how to learn to be open to this type of change because yeah, it just wasn't, it wasn't taught to me.
I didn't see it. Um, so yeah. That's actually a really good point too. And so I actually do then have to give credit to my parents. Um, my parents were first generation. My grandparents were immigrants. Um, neither of my parents went to college. Um, my father was a New York City cab driver. He did construction.
He sold men's clothing. He managed logistics at a warehouse. Mm-hmm. My mother was a secretary in an advertising agency like Think Like Mad Men era. She was a secretary in an advertising agency. She sold jewelry at Sax fifth Avenue. She became a travel agent and, um. Her last job was, she was the personal, a personal assistant to a man whose business was leasing cattle.
Wow. So the variety you grew up in. So I grew up, yeah. Yeah. I grew up, and again. It wasn't ever intentional, and it wasn't that my parents were being open to new opportunities as much as it was, it was based on I need a job. Right. Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And somebody's willing to hire me to do this job. Mm-hmm.
So I'm gonna go take this job and. So I watched that in action. So again, did they have careers? Like I've had No. Yeah. Did they have the kind of security or long-term planning that, you know, I was lucky enough to have no. Mm-hmm. But that idea of you don't have to be doing something for 30 year years in order to be seen as credible, as long as you work hard and are willing to work hard.
That's what I learned from my parents, but I saw it in action. Yeah. Yeah. You saw that in action. I mean, and that's, yeah. At that point you're just like, I gotta take this job. I got bills to pay, like I'm gonna do it and I will figure out how to do it and, and make it happen. Yeah. My family was very much like.
Grandparent. My grandpa was a pharmacist his whole life. My mom was a teacher. My, uh, you know, uncle was a lawyer. Everyone had the job. My dad worked at his job for almost 40 years. So everyone had the thing and I was just like, oh, I gotta find the thing I'm gonna do. I have no idea. So, hearing you say that, I think.
It's interesting 'cause a lot of career flippers that have been on kind of go from these both sides where either they saw it and they, they knew that it was possible to change or they didn't feel that they had permission to change like me. Um, and so I think it's really interesting that we're bringing this up and talking about at a little more length because.
It does impact the choices that we make. So your family member brought this opportunity to you and you jumped in, and so how long were you doing that role? So I had that job for five years, and then I took those, like I said, I took those skills and I went to the client side. I worked for Cannon and I worked for L'Oreal and I worked for Kraft Foods, um, over the course of like eight to nine years, um, at those three different companies.
Um, and I would say the next. Pivotal job that I had that really expounded my knowledge in the way that the very first job had was when I worked at K Craft. Mm-hmm. Um, where it really became more about insights, not just data. Mm-hmm. Telling those stories. So now, now the skillset's evolving mm-hmm. Um, working in cross-functional teams.
Mm-hmm. Um. Really diving deep in a category and consumers and understanding them really, really well. So that was, I would say, the next spot where I got this immense training and improvement of my skills. Mm-hmm. That I, again, I didn't know was possible. Yeah. Um. And I'll, I'll, this is an interesting story that kind of fits in with the whole theme of this.
So I was, and it was a research manager, so pretty still low level. Um, and I was interviewing for the job and, um, the person who was the head of the division that I was gonna work for, I said, well, you know, we typically hire MBA grads at this level. I didn't have my, I didn't have my MBA, I just have my, my bachelor's.
And she said, so why? Why do you think that you are, you know, should be considered for this job? And I said, because I've spent the past six years doing the job. Yeah, I, it hasn't been textbook. I've, I've been working with clients and I've worked at companies. Yeah. That's why. Mm-hmm. And now I look back at it and I'm like, that was a pretty audacious statement to make, but it's what got me the job.
Yeah. It's true. It's so true. So, um, so that was, so that was the next part. And then after that is when I switched and I started working in creative agencies. Mm-hmm. And that was an opportunity that came to me where, um, the head of a creative agency. Advertising agencies always had date re market research and insights people.
Mm-hmm. Again, if you go back to Mad Men and you think about the focus groups that they did in the office and all that kind of stuff, um, but this was a different, this was a public, this was a promotions agency. Mm-hmm. You know, they were, at the time, it was like they were responsible for creating the coupons and the sales that you saw in the grocery store and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm. So they were considered, you know, not as important of an agency. This guy wanted to bring in this skillset that he knew existed at other types of agencies, but he didn't have. Mm-hmm. Okay. So that is what compelled me then to, again, take the skills that I had and apply them in a different way and a different type of organization and that in totality.
So really strong foundation and market research. Working on the client side and then switching to the agency side. Having those three perspectives is, that is what has given me the career longevity. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And like you say, and it does, it just goes back to being open and realizing that if you've, if you've worked so hard to develop a skillset.
Nobody can take that away from you and you can just bring it someplace else. Yeah. That is possible. Right, right. The skills are transferable. I think that is. So important, and I think we forget that so much when we think, oh, I wish that I could be doing this job. You know, like the way that you move to different things.
Some people might tell themself, well, I've never done that. I, I can't do that. But when you are aware of the skills that you have, you can apply them. And that is. Across the board, anything, whether it is moving inside a company to a different role, whether it's moving to different industry, I feel just like that is such a crucial component of career change that you can, because you got X, Y, and Z skills, probably less than a whole piece of paper or multiple pages of what you have done through experience.
I think also, I really wanna highlight that for your career as well. You did the things, you may not have known how to do them at first. You did them. You learned, you developed skills, you strengthened ones that were already there, and then you're like, okay, I'm gonna go, this opportunity popped up. You're open to those opportunities, you take it on, and now you have more skills in your back pocket and you're like, cool.
Well now what's next? Yeah, what's next? So you're at this creative agency. And you were, were you there for a while? So I was there for a while. Then I went to another creative agency. Um, and then I went actually back to the market research supplier side. So this was back in 2018. Mm-hmm. So this is, this is, this is what's gonna tee up the next flip.
Mm-hmm. Um, I went back to the market research industry and actually went back to this. Company that I started at really? 25 years before. Yeah. Wow. And the reason why I did that was because people that I had worked with back then, back at the beginning were still there, and I was so, so getting to like your family, right?
Yeah. Nobody works at companies for 25, 30 years anymore. Yeah. That just doesn't happen. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Either right. People don't feel compelled to do that. Companies wanna get rid of people like that, you know? Mm-hmm. All hosts, right? No, nobody celebrates that longevity anymore. Mm-hmm. Right. And I was amazed that there were, uh, and again, it was probably like five or six in a, you know, large multinational co multinational company, but that felt like a lot.
Yeah. And I thought, all right. This feels like this is the place that I can stay for the next five to 10 years. Mm-hmm. And then like, peace out. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I wouldn't quite be at official retirement age, but I like, I'd be close enough. Right? Yeah. And I thought, all right, this is gonna be my last stop, and then I'm gonna just totally go and reinvent my life.
Right? Like, then I can have the, you know, in my sixties, completely reinvent my life and just go and do the things I always wanted to do. Yeah, I was miserable and cried every day for two years. Hmm, wow. Yeah. But as a single mom with a kid who was about to go off to college in a couple of years, there was no way I was leaving that job.
Right. And what changed to make it be in this place where you're. Crying every day, and you're absolutely miserable. What was it about the job at that point? What was it about the job that was making me cry? Yes. Yeah, so it wasn't, so it was a couple of things. First of all, it wasn't as much the job as it was the company culture.
Okay? Mm-hmm. Which I didn't realize until I started doing CX consulting, how important that really is. Yeah. That it's not just lip service. Yeah. It actually really matters. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. And now, based on everything that I've been doing in the past five years, I can go back to that time and I can identify that I knew at the interview it wasn't gonna be a good fit, and I took the job anyway because again.
People take jobs for different reasons and different seasons of their life, and this was going to be a very well paying job. I knew that. Um, I figured, all right, I can have some security. Like I was really thinking long term. Yeah. And I was like, and even if it's the, the most exciting job or interesting or compelling.
That's all right. Yeah. Like I've been pretty lucky up until now. Mm-hmm. You know, let me go for the money because that's what I really need as a single mom to provide security to my son. Yeah. So that was in 2018 and then COVID happened and I got let go in April of 2020. Ooh. Hmm. So. So the job that was making you miserable, but you took on for financial stability and it was giving that, and you were able to see that trade off and you were okay with that, then you lose it.
Mm-hmm. And I cried for one day and then I woke up the next day. I panicked. Yeah, absolutely panicked. Because also by April we were in, we were also as a country, we were in full mm-hmm. Lockdown mode at that point. Right. So now not only do I not have a job, like, yeah, I don't know, we're, it's, it's like almost like we're all living in nuclear bunkers.
Right? Like nobody, we're not leaving our houses. Right? Mm-hmm. So you have no idea what's happening next in the world. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um. So I cried for a day and I been panicked for a day, and I woke up the next day and I realized the universe had given me a gift that the universe forced my hand and made a decision for me that I was too scared to make for myself.
Yeah. I gave me chills. I mean, yeah, it, it's like much as a slap in the face as that is to ha to wake up after a day of feeling so low and so miserable. And to have that realization is pretty much a huge moment. So once you had that realization, you're like, okay, this is, this is a gift. What did you do next?
What did you do with that? So the first month I slept, yeah, the second month. By that point. You were allowed to do like social distancing type of stuff outside. So the second month, so now we're into like June and I got to have lunch with my friends that I had never gotten to see 'cause I was working so hard and I got to spend time outside with my dog 'cause I wasn't sitting in an office all the time.
And by August I was bored out of my mind. Mm-hmm. Because I have never not had a job since I'm 13 years old. I've always worked. That was part of my, you know, what I learned from my parents. Yeah. Very strong work ethic. I've always had a job. Um, and so I was bored. Board, board board and, and I needed something to do.
And there's a, a local restaurant, and so we're get, we're getting close to the donut story. Um, there was a local restaurant that put on one of the local community pages on Facebook that they were looking for a hostess. Now it had been 30 years since I had been a hostess in a restaurant, but, and it, and also.
Going back to the restaurant industry during COVID is a weird choice to make, but one of the things that I had always said was working in that restaurant was one of the best jobs I had ever had, and that if I could have figured out a way to do that as my career, I would have, yeah. But it wasn't possible.
So I applied for the job and I thought, and then I, I showed up for the interview and it was the owner of the restaurant. It was a husband and wife team, and it was the wife. And she's a good 15 years younger than I am. And I'm like, oh, all right. She's not gonna hire me 'cause she's gonna think that I'm just some bored housewife who's doing this for?
I don't know if I can curse, but like shits and giggles, like shits and giggles. Right. To like have some pocket change and she's not gonna take me seriously. Yeah. Um, but to her credit, she did. And um, I started working there and she said, all right, you know, it's been a while since you've done this. So for the first couple of weeks that you're working here, I'm gonna be working here too, to make sure that you kind of have the lay of the land and remember how to do the job and et cetera, et cetera.
And so that happened for a week. Yeah. And then by the following Friday, she called me before my shift and said. Um, I'm gonna go, you got this right. I'm gonna go have drinks with my friends 'cause you got this. All right. Yeah. So within a week I had made her feel like she realized she had an adult in the room.
Mm-hmm. And she realized that she could trust me to handle myself and handle even on a busy Friday night. Yeah. That I had the capability of handling it for her and that she could trust me and she could go off and do something that she, as a business owner didn't always have an opportunity to do. Oh, yeah.
That's that's great. She knew she made the right choice in hiring you at that point. I am, I'm sure. Yeah, totally. So that was in August and then by, and I loved the people that worked there, and it was, again, it's a, it's. In a town called Catona, which anybody, if anybody knows, that's where Martha Stewart lives.
Um, and so it's a tiny little, you know, commuter town. Um, so it's a lo and it's a local restaurant, so everybody knows everybody. And the people that worked there were really great. And so it was a fun place to work. And so by November, December, they had all figured out. So back when my kids were little, I had a side gig baking outta my house for people.
Mm-hmm. Um, and so by then they had sort of connected the dots and they realized, and so the, and the name of the company was called Beth's Kept Secret. Okay. That was my side gig. And they realized from, so again, from social media, local Facebook, you know, parent pages, community pages, whatever, that, that was me.
Okay. Okay, so the owners of this restaurant owned a cafe down the street that was just open for breakfast and lunch, but had closed down and they hadn't reopened it yet. Mm. Okay. And they're like, all right, we think we're gonna be in a good place to reopen in January. Um, we wanna do something different.
We'd had these grand plans. 'cause the town didn't really have this kind of restaurant. It didn't, we didn't have a bakery in town, none of that kind of stuff. And they said, but we have to scale back our plans and we wanna do donuts on the weekends and we want you to do them. And I was like, that's awesome.
Yeah. But I've actually never made a donut before in my life. And they're like, that's all right. You'll figure it out. Yes. And I got a four hour crash course from a friend of theirs who was a CIA grad. Okay. Um, culinary Institute of America, not Central Intelligence Agency. Um, for those listening and, um.
They handed me the keys and that literally handed me the keys, and I showed up the next morning at five 30. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And had the entire restaurant to myself. On the second day I burned some coconut and the fire department came. So that was a really awful phone call that I had to make at six 30 in the morning to my boss to say, um, you need to come down to the restaurant.
The fire department is on their way. Oh gosh. Um, and they were very kind and, uh, you know, just found, found it to be humorous. So. Every weekend for 2021, I, uh, made donuts. So you're making donuts every single weekend and you're, I'm guessing, learning every time. Did you have recipes that you were creating?
How did you kind of keep that momentum going when you were still kind of. Learning that process. Um, so I had a basic recipe that I followed and because I was, I had been baking mm-hmm. My whole adult life. Self-taught. Yeah. Um, but again, good enough that people were buying my stuff. Yeah. Once upon a time.
Um, I felt confident pretty early on to start leaning into. Different kinds of flavors. Mm-hmm. Being really creative. And I was also just very lucky in that the owners gave me carte blanche, so that's a so, so, you know, which I'll get to then why I have my newsletter in a second. But they real, they just trusted me.
Mm-hmm. That trust. When you have that trust, that is invaluable. When you are at a job. I don't care if it's working in a restaurant, I don't care if you're working in an office, I don't. Right. It's mm-hmm. When you've been micromanaged to death and then you go to the complete opposite of that. Yeah. It's amazing.
Oh yeah, you feel actually motivated to do things like you feel free. Like you can really, I don't know, be your true self experiment, make mistakes, like learn new things. Like I think it's just, there's a really strong freedom with that. And you clearly had that and after what you had left behind and you didn't have for a couple years, now you are.
Thriving and you're creating and you are doing something that you had done before, which I do have a question about because I think. Knowing that you were working full time or you know, when the kids were little and having this on the side, I think there's also a bunch there. 'cause a lot of people will start small things on the side and then pick 'em up and you know, put 'em down as time goes on and careers change.
But the fact that you had that on the side and then you stopped for a while and you know, you put your focus into other things career-wise and then now it's backup, but it's on a scale that maybe when you were doing it. In your kitchen when your kids were little, you never like, did you ever dream of doing something at this scale or was it something that you thought about?
It was something that I had thought about, but what I realized for myself was the business of, of scaling and having your own restaurant or having your own bakery, the business part of it would take away. All of my time to focus on the creativity. And it gave me, every time I thought about it in that way, it gave me so much anxiety that I was like, I know I don't wanna do this.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, but now I was in a position where I didn't ha I literally, all I had to worry about was the creative part. It's not my restaurant. Yeah. It's not, I don't have to worry about. Profit and loss. Mm-hmm. And waste and mm-hmm. Buying ingredients and, right. Right. I didn't have to worry about any of that stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. So it was the best possible scenario that I could, you know, that I never would've dreamed Yeah. Would've happened. Right. And so it really was a dream. Um. But again, I have a mor you know, I, I'm a single mom and I've got a mortgage to pay and so I was also, so I was still, I was host, I kind of went back to what I had been doing back when I was in college.
Mm-hmm. I was a hostess. Mm-hmm. Some days. And I was a waitress some days and I ran food some days and I worked at both restaurants. Get up on a Saturday morning and I'd do the donuts and I'd go home and I'd walk my dog and I'd take a shower and I'd come back and I would be a hostess at the cafe. And then I would go home, walk the dog again, and be a hostess that night at their other restaurant that I had originally started at.
So again, that work ethic and that hustle of like, I, I got bills to pay. Yeah. So I was working here's, and here's the thing. I was working longer hours and harder than I had in 20 years. Yeah. And I was so happy. Yeah. So happy. I had no complaints. Yeah. I loved it. I loved the job. Yeah. Isn't that, isn't that wild?
That's so funny how things happen like that. You're like, yeah, I was working harder probably for less. Um, and oh, for a lot. Oh, for a lot longer hours. And you were so happy. Were you also looking for jobs, like applying to things on the side? Were you thinking that this was only temporary? Or what were you kind of like thinking at that point?
So I had no idea what was gonna come next. I wasn't actively applying and I actually, in the very beginning, didn't tell a lot of people what had happened. Mm-hmm. I wasn't as active on LinkedIn as I'm now because, um, which is how you and I met. But, so my, an old boss of mine. Who is, you know, if you're all, if we are anybody is ever so lucky as to have that one boss that really becomes your mentor and treats you really well and teaches you lots of things and respects you as a person, right?
And so that's what she was for me. She had been in a, she was in a different role and she said, um, I need you for about four months, um, to just fill in for me. Uh, and I said, well, you're the only person I do this for. So then it was, I was consulting. I, so that's how I started consulting. And I was, so I would do Zoom calls from the um, liquor cap, the liquor closet.
That's funny. Yeah, because you know, it, it was quiet. Well, it was quiet and would be like a Thursday afternoon. Yeah. And, and, and so this was for a, a bank and people never knew, they never knew that I wasn't part of the company. Mm-hmm. They never, it wasn't until I left that they were like, oh, wait, you don't actually work for us.
So what was supposed to be a four month gig turned into an 18 month gig. Wow. That's awesome. Okay. By that time I had done a little bit more consulting work, and the person who's my business partner, um, came to me with this opportunity and said, um, I want us to, I, I wanted start, you know, I've been doing my own consulting thing too.
Mm-hmm. Being a solo. Consultant is really difficult. I think if we come together and you've got a skillset and I have a different skillset and the skillset is very complimentary, I think that, um, we could work really well together. Yeah. Um, and so that was in 2023, and so that was how Imprint CX started and then being in cx Yeah.
Was another I'm like, I don't, what do I know about? I don't know anything about CX except once I started doing the work and got acclimated to the industry, I realized I had absolutely been doing customer experience work this whole time. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That mys skillset was absolutely applicable.
Yeah. And also, not to mention. I was, I literally was just because, so I, and I kept the restaurant job until 2000, until 2003, 2003, 2004. So I was still on the front, you know, as we say at the front lines. Yeah. Yeah. So I had firsthand knowledge of customer experience in a way that a, a lot of our colleagues in the industry did not have.
Yeah. And I realized I was absolutely suited for this job. And so going back to this idea of. Human behavior. Why do people do the things that they do? How do you impact human behavior? Mm-hmm. So it was another opportunity of like, all right, take my skillset and just apply it it in a different way. And that's how I got to where I am today.
Wow. What a journey. What a delicious journey. And, um, you know, I think there's, there's this part where. Um, you know, you kind of touched on this, like with what your parents were saying when you were first working in the restaurant industry and how they were like, Ugh, we just spent all this money on your education and you're doing this.
Uh, but knowing their background and where they came from and that hustle, it kind of makes sense why they would feel that way, but it also sounds like there was some shame. And I was curious because I experienced this myself when I kind of was like, yeah, getting laid off made a little pivot and it was different than what, you know, 'cause I couldn't find anything picking up furniture from the trash and working on it.
But when I would start to talk to other people in the, in the industry, and everyone obviously has the best intentions, but sometimes it was kinda like, oh. Uh, have fun with your little hobby or, oh, like you're, you're doing that like when you, like when is the real job coming? Mm-hmm. Um, or when I would tell people, 'cause I also did apply to work at Starbucks, for example, as a barista.
I did that in college. I loved it. And I was like, oh, I'll do this. Or there's other local coffee shops. I've like, I got barista experience. It's been a while, but I could pick it up again. No problem. And it was so fun. And people were just kind of like, yeah, that's, that's a, that's not really like a real job.
I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, it is such a job. But there was a shame attached to it that I started to feel and I was like, oh, I can't do that. And I was just curious as we kind of wrap up everything today, but like, could you talk about that a little bit? Because sometimes these in between points where, you know, things may, like, these choices might be made for us by the universe or whatever it is.
Um. There are decisions that maybe we make that we really love, but others might see it as something like, oh, what are you doing? And then we kind of pick up on the shame. I know I picked up on it and kind of carried that around for a while, until I worked through that. But did that come up for you at all when you were doing something?
No, I owned it. Nope. Yeah, I, I owned it and I, because I was happy. Yeah. Right. So. Giving into the shame. And again, people aren't intentionally trying to shame you, right? They don't like you say they have the best of intentions, but there's this, yeah. There is this sort of like weird idea that this is not, these are not real jobs.
Yeah. And my comeback has always been, and St and I still use it now, is. If you are advising companies on customer experience or if you are internal and are trying to shape the customer experience for your organization and you haven't actually seen what it feels like mm-hmm. To be on the other side, that's act.
I actually find that to be problematic. Yes. Yeah, yeah. You know, or totally have you. Have you ever had a service industry job like ever in your life? Even in high school as like a bus boy, any like bus boy, Starbucks pizza place, you know, doing deliveries for Domino's, whatever it is. Yeah. You know, all those jobs that we had as teenagers and in college.
If you've never had a job like that and you've never had that kind of experience, I think. I don't know. I'm gonna say this 'cause, and I know it sounds controversial, but I really do feel it's like, well then how can you really be good at shaping customer experience? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because this isn't a, the, this isn't a job that you can learn studying out of a book.
Yeah. Right. That's, yep. Right. Right. And the empathy that is required and the emotional intelligence that's required to do the job well, yeah, you don't, you either have that or you don't. And that comes from and at, you know, at the age that I am at, at this point, it's like either I have that, right? Mm-hmm.
Like either that's become part of who I am as a person or it's not. Mm-hmm. And so I. So I, I wasn't, I wasn't public about it until about this kind of journey that I had been on until it was a Friday afternoon and I hadn't put out some content on LinkedIn for a while and 'cause now I've got a business that I'm trying to push, so I'm trying, I'm on LinkedIn now, like all day.
Yeah. Every day. And I. Wrote about my time making donuts and how it was the best employee experience I ever had for the reasons that I mentioned of I had complete freedom. Complete trust. Yeah. And isn't that all you know? Isn't, isn't that amazing? We're all searching for that and I, and I did it as a goof 'cause I didn't know what else to write about.
And to my absolute surprise, people were like, oh. Tell us more. Wait, what? You made donuts? What's that all about? Tell us more. And so that is what eventually evolved into my Donut Friday newsletter on LinkedIn. I love that. I love how it just, it's all connected. Whether it be skills, whether it be interests, that your hobbies, there were side businesses that turned into more.
It's really these like golden threads that are woven together in our stories and. It's really cool when we piece it together and can tell it in this whole picture, when you're going through it, it can feel so, I don't know, like a puzzle you're trying to find that missing piece for, but it's under the couch and you don't know.
Like it feels so messy. A hundred percent messy. Yeah. And so hearing this and knowing that you can find your way and learning with those skills, being open to those opportunities and just leaning into who you really are and letting everything else go, is just a testament to. Following your path and Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. And I'm so grateful for you sharing all of this, Beth. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Oh my gosh. I mean, I, when, when I found you, or I, I guess it was on a post it someone maybe tag us. Mm-hmm. Together. I mean, I was like, oh my gosh, I need to talk to her.
Like, this is really, really amazing and. Where can people find you and talk to you? Like how can they connect with you? How can they get your newsletter? Where are all the places? Um, so my newsletter's on LinkedIn and it's called, it's Donut Friday. So if you just look up, it's Donut Friday, you'll find it.
Um, I'm on LinkedIn, Beth Caran. Uh, my company, imprint cx, so imprint CX all one word.com, beth@imprintcx.com. Um, those are all of the places that you can find me amazing. Everything will be in the show notes, so please reach out to Beth, subscribe to your newsletter. I read it every Friday. Beth, thank you so much for being here.
I appreciate you. I appreciate you too. Thanks so much, Jenny.