Unfiltered, Unsifted, and Sometimes Undignified.
Thoughts and lessons from an artsy entrepreneur with a Rainforest Mind.
Hello friends! I call you friends although we don’t know each other that well. Or at all, as it seems. I’d like to change that. Starting today.
You may be wondering why this email is crowding your inbox.
You: “How the hell did she get my email address??”
Me: I’m the founder and former CEO of Dollop Gourmet. You remember that little company that was on Shark Tank and won Food Network’s Cupcake Wars? At some point you were aware that I, Heather Saffer existed and you signed up for my email list. And that is how I have your email.
Now, you are completely free to unsubscribe from my email list and you will never hear from me again.
OR, and let me just throw this out there… you can stay subscribed for a couple weeks and see if I have anything interesting to say. I hope I do. I say most if it in my head everyday and I’m never bored so I like to think I have some interesting thoughts. But it’s also likely I don’t.
If you choose to unsubscribe I will feel hurt and disappointed and very much rejected but please don’t let that stop you.
If you choose to stay subscribed (and I really hope you do), I would love to hear from you directly. Hit reply and tell me who you are and what your many thoughts are. Let’s be friends. I don’t have (m)any.
Now that the introductions are out of the way, let’s get to what this newsletter is about.
As you know (or probably don’t since you have enough to pay attention to in your life that doesn’t involve me), I have had some success in life: Book deals, Shark Tank, Cupcake Wars, businesses, QVC, Oprah.com, Forbes, etc.
All of that was fun but now it’s in the past. I learned a lot. Lessons I’d be happy to impart on you if you’re so inclined.
But in the middle of all those successes I’ve had struggles. I’ve learned about myself and the paradox that inflicts every aspect of my being.
This is something to be discussed in future newsletters.
Have you heard of a Rainforest Mind? Please, take a read, get to know me.
I have been journaling every night before bed for 793 nights. I like to write.
My literary agent sent me an article yesterday about food writers finding a niche in creating newsletters on Substack. He suggested I try it. I pondered it for a couple hours and decided yeah, sure, I should try it. And now here we are.
However I won’t be writing solely about food. In fact I probably won’t be writing about food much at all. Sometimes I will though as I do enjoy eating. Dessert especially.
We visited a gluten-free brewery yesterday for the fourth time in Mcminnville, OR. It’s this tiny little place run by a husband and wife with two little children. They make the best fried donuts and soft baked pretzels I’ve ever had that were gluten-free. The pretzels are crispy on the outside and coated with chunky salt crystals. Once you break through the outer crust, the insides are warm and chewy and full of yeasty flavor. Takes me straight back to middle school with that rotating pretzel machine on the countertop of the cafeteria. With warm cheese sauce and honey mustard for dipping. Heaven.
See, sometimes I talk about food.
Other times I talk about my life philosophies, things I’ve learned about business, animals and nature, wine, traveling, how hard it is to pack and move across country, looking for gig work, imposter syndrome, the joy of binoculars, solitude, what’s wrong with social media, creativity bursts, intuition tips, psychic readings, kooky business ideas, ritual and routine, spontaneity, the excitement of being on television, how to win, how to not lose, ideas that border on the bizarre, offending people, and of course, Donald.
If you’re looking for organization, it’s not here.
If you’re looking for unfiltered thoughts and vulnerability, keep reading.
I’ll be writing to you once a week. I’ll try to stick with Mondays.
If I decide to institute a subscription service for this newsletter, I will be writing to paying subscribers every other day. Everyday is too much but once a week is not enough. So much happens in the span of a week! It’s too hard to squeeze it all into one newsletter. Every other day feels just right. Goldilocks.
(EDIT: I decided to add a subscription service option. See, I can be very decisive.)
I hope you’ll stay subscribed and join me on this journey.
I’ll be journeying with or without you so if this is where we part, it breaks my heart, but goodbye.
To those of you who remain, welcome! I didn’t like those other people anyway.
Till next week!
Heather