This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to Side Hustle School. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau. So glad you're tuning in today. Today is our weekly segment known as Throwback Thursday, also known as Where Are They Now? In this segment, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them.
We've been doing this podcast a very long time, 993 days in a row, to be precise. Lots of stories in the archives, so many changes along the way. And last week, specifically, we heard from the owner of a luggage storage business for tourists in Nashville. Today, we'll go to the West Coast and hear from Sandeep Rajmandari in San Francisco. And we first featured Sandeep on episode 935, meal prep company cooks up profits with customized orders.
He started this business with a couple of partners and they turned $2,000 into $2 million in less than five years. We covered those details in the original episode. And as you'll hear in this update, more than a thousand days later, Sandeep now runs the show on his own. Well, he's got some employees, but he's the one in charge. So let's hear about that, as well as a few other updates from him.
And I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap-up. [Music]
Hi, my name is Sandeep Rajmandari. I own a health food delivery service business. And I am based out of San Francisco Bay area. We were featured on episode 935 of Side Hustle School in 2019.
So the way we got started in 2014 was me and a couple of my friends all worked corporate jobs. And on a weekend, I was complaining to my friends about my struggle to eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle. That was the conversation that sparked the idea of starting a business that provided healthy meals to people for people that were like me, struggling to eat healthy while pursuing a career. Both partners that I started the business with decided to exit the business. So fortunately we came to a very good business negotiation and I bought them out at the end of 2019.
By March of 2020, as you all know, the world was in a pandemic. We weren't sure what the future would look like for us. At first, the business dipped a little bit and the news came out later that the food was not what caused COVID. So our business did come roaring back, fortunately. In addition to that, since we are a meal delivery service, our procedures required very minimal changes to comply with COVID restrictions.
We were also able to partner with other nonprofits and provide meals to people in need. And I'm glad we were able to be of service to a lot of people. Also, one of the major issues that we dealt with was supply chain for sure. We had packaging, food, and other things that we would normally source from various parts of the U.S. and on the world, which were disrupted.
So things that would normally take us, you know, a week to get what was now taking us two to three months or things that were taking us normally two months to receive were being pushed out to about six months. So we did have to scramble a little bit and get things done and source things from different places in order to meet our business needs. So that's definitely the biggest challenge that I can think of. Also, another thing I can think of is figuring out what direction the business needs to grow and then coming up with a plan and executing it, right? It's a lot to take on a new project, trusting your judgment, getting into the particulars of it, determining what needs to be done, and figuring out, you know, if there is a skill gap, knowledge gap, who we need to hire, things of that nature.
And then, obviously, finally, there's the human element, right, that's very difficult to control. You can always put your best foot forward to get everything done that you need to do, but sometimes you just need to depend on other people to come through, right? So, and if that doesn't happen, it becomes a challenge. So I think those are the three main challenges in any business and us as well. Something I would advise somebody who wants to follow in our footsteps is I would say, I'm always learning, so be open to learning and keep a broad mind, consider other people's opinions, even if you don't agree with them initially, because sometimes, you know, they're coming from a place that you've probably never considered, right?
Another thing I would say is have a goal, strive for it, but you need to learn how to enjoy that process, right? Because if you're only always chasing a shiny object on the top of the hill, you're always gonna be chasing, right, and when you get there, it's gonna feel like, you know, you're gonna just look for another, you know, shiny object. So I think it's important to appreciate the journey and appreciate how far you've come and strive for it as well. [Music]
Thanks so much, Sandeep. Really appreciate you sharing those updates with us.
Listeners, check out his website, localfoods.co, and here are foods is spelled with a Z. So I guess I should say localfoods.co. If you are in the San Francisco, Oakland, or Berkeley areas, you might even wanna check it out and try it for yourself. It looks both delicious and healthy. All right, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories as we approach episode 2000.
In fact, if you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, let me know what's going on, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Our show notes, of course, are at sidehustleschool.com/1993. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you'll come back tomorrow. New episode every day.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
