Have you ever successfully arranged to pitch to a potential buyer but as you were driving to the meeting, allowed your fears to overpower you, resulting in you not showing up and missing out on an opportunity to grow your business?
Janessa Rutter has.
It's likely many of you can empathise with the fear that Janessa has grappled with. As a Foodpreneur striving to secure shelf space through successful pitches, she has often been plagued by imposter syndrome and a tendency to ‘play small’ when it comes to her brand Bask & Co.This detrimental mindset, however, needs to be overcome, as it prevents talented, hardworking food and beverage entrepreneurs with amazing brands from successfully scaling their businesses, and ultimately living life on their terms.
In this week’s episode of the Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford podcast, Janessa candidly shares her journey, how she’s overcoming imposter syndrome and how it’s helped her get Bask & Co on more shelves.
We go through what YOU need to do to back yourself, overcome imposter syndrome and take your business to where it should be, including:
💪 Getting out of your own way and taking the emotion out of the business.
💪 Detaching your personal emotions from negotiations, even when your business is deeply intertwined with them.
💪 Triumphing over the fear of rejection and learning not to internalise 'no' as a personal failure.
💪 Streamlining daily decision-making by reducing the number of questions.
💪 Exploring the concept of putting on a 'mask' to boost your confidence and "fake it till you make it."
💪 Working with intermediaries to help your business growth if you don’t like the ‘sales’ aspect.
💪 Gaining the confidence to negotiate on margins.
LINKS & RESOURCES
If you haven’t listened to episode 74 (51 mins), ‘Moving from DTC (Direct to Consumer) to Wholesale’ listen here.
Season 15
Season 15, out now, is 'Marketing Season' and is being presented by Foodpreneurs Festival.
The highly anticipated 2026 BiteBack Awards & Foodpreneurs Festival are both must-attend events dedicated to bringing consumer packaged goods food, drink (alc and non-alc), pet and supplements brand owners, buyers, media, industry specialists and distributors together under one roof.
You can't miss these events. Here’s why:
The full program drops early 2026. For now, block out May 21-22 and click this link to see how you can be part of it.
