Sweepin’ Sprinkles
I think it’s important to be cautious about glamorizing entrepreneurship. We as a culture, get pretty rah-rah about “chase your dreams!” and all gushy about “be your own boss!” Don’t get me wrong, creating something from scratch and contributing to the world through your work is fundamental to our growth as a society and individuals; but there seems to be a sort of expectation that it’s ALL FUN.
It’s been romantic, us building Lightbox. And continues to be extremely fulfilling. The logos, the merch, the paint colors, ice cream flavors, and catchy names– FUN all that is out-of-this-world fun!
As an eternal optimist and rose-colored glasses gal, there definitely is some truth to the notion “to every romantic moment, there is a realistic one”. The instagram vs. reality kinda deal.
Last August we had a private event in Brentwood, a well-to-do suburb of Nashville. A sweet mom wanted to surprise her daughter and her friends with an end-of-the-summer treat.
It was a Tuesday and I sputtered up to an impressive and elegant home. I have to set the stage here because while our truck is a cutie girl on the outside, she’s got a little attitude when it comes to driving her, she is 57 years old after all! No AC and no power-steering–did I mention it was August in Tennessee?? I’m starting to sweat just writing this.
I’m greeted by a gaggle of high school girls, oohing and awing over Dolly. She really is a stunner, Posty’s ‘candy paint with the white on top’ (plays in my head, y’all know what I mean??), a vintage 1967 Chevy P-10. I could tell these girls knew what was up. They have style, and swag and dripping with brand names. “Here to serve, here to serve, Hannah you are here to serve” my self-talk. And also “keep smiling, and stop sweating”.
We’ve got a charming little set up. It ain’t pretty getting it all ready for service though. Once we pull up to a location, we have about 30 minutes of prep work. Fun fact: soft serve is made fresh. It’s not like scooped ice cream, that’s already frozen. When we arrive is when we start to freeze it. After toweling off the sweat from literally just driving, the real work begins. We use generators, about 100 lbs each and have to be wheeled 30 feet away from the truck. I’ve got a little yellow service cart with all my fixin’s and supplies. I get in my zone, wipe more sweat and voila! I’m transformed into ICE CREAM QUEEN. LET’S GO!
I always get a little nervous on the first pull from the spout, because again, with soft serve the batches are on demand. We sample it prior but only as ice cream mix not fully frozen. You’re there with the guest watching and if it didn’t freeze right, you don’t get a do-over. This is the point in time when I praise God that Jason’s a chef because if there’s one thing I know, his food is fire. His ice cream is no different. It’s all a hit and several tik-toks, insta stories and selfies later, we’re all BFFs. Ok fine, I’m a granny to them but they were fun!
But it’s when all the fun fades and the dopamine has worn off that I realize, we’re done here. They’ve moved on to flanking the backs of their Jeeps and Mercedes suvs giggling about their weekend plans and still looking so classy. Not a drop of sweat on them. Jerks.
My part was over. There I was eavesdropping, picking up their used sunshine-colored napkins and sweepin’ up sprinkles. Why did I feel low all of a sudden? I was tempted to waller in the feelings of inferiority and scantiness. I could feel the beginnings of comparison creeping up in my mind, analyzing their lives to mine. I’m a grown woman wearing a trucker hat and slingin’ ice cream cones for cryin’ out loud!!! Then it hit me, “but I wanted this.”
Heck yeah I want this! I want my own business that pours more light into the world and I get to do that through ice cream. Doesn’t ice cream just make your day better? (unless it’s full-dairy then your day is definitely NOT better! Y’all feel me??) I get to do that! So if it means I have to do some unglamorous things, then BRING IT ON. Owning a business is not always romantic but romance can be so cheesy sometimes, am I right?? When you have a balance of both, romance + real, that’s when you know you just might have the right recipe.
Until next time, I’ll be sweepin’ up sprinkles with a smile.
Anyone else have something similar in their business that feels like the low job but you smile all the way through it?
