What You Think You Need vs What You Actually Need

On the left is a jar of hot peppers from Potbelly Sandwich Shop.

That's what most food business owners think they need.

On the right is a bottle of barbecue sauce from Satterfield Smoke Pit, a restaurant that a family friend recently opened.

The jar of peppers cost $6.95 and the bottle of barbecue sauce cost $10.

[RELATED: You Can Start Your Cooking Show At Any Age]

The only reason that bottle of barbecue sauce is available

is because I kept badgering Terry Satterfield about doing it.

I even did the legwork for him to find glass bottles at a good price because glass bottles would give a premium feel and make the absence of a label unimportant.

I wasn't the only one bugging Terry about providing some barbecue sauce. He had lots of other long-time customers (he's been running a catering business for years) asking him to sell them some sauce.

But he kept delaying because he felt like he needed to get a fancy label designed and then get it printed and on and on.

Cash Cow

That's what the sauce is for Satterfield Smoke Pit.

The bottle costs about 70 cents.

The cap costs about 25 cents.

And there's about a dollar's worth of sauce in the bottle.

And he sells them for $10 each.

Cha-ching.

This barbecue sauce is easily the most profitable item Terry has for sale.

With the pent-up demand for his sauce, he is effectively printing money every time he whips up a batch.

And nobody cares about a label.

That's the advantage that you have when you're in the early stages.

People will buy from you because they know you and they know what you offer. They don't need to see a label because they know what's in the bottle.

It's just a matter of you getting out of the way of your own success and giving people a chance to support your business.

I bought the first three bottles of Terry's barbecue sauce.

One for me, one for my cousin who Terry grew up with, and one for my parents whose house Terry has done work on because he's also a home improvement contractor.

I was proud to be the first customer of Terry's first packaged product.

And he has lots of other people who were proud to start buying his sauce.

You have people like that who will be happy to support your business, too.

But if you let perfectionism get in the way, they'll never get the chance to do it.

Get started with what you have.

And deliver something great for people to buy because they're ready to pay you as soon as you do what you're supposed to do and give them something to buy.

By the way, in my Celebrity Chef Masterclass (click here), you'll learn how to start your cooking show with what you have...even if you don't have a fancy TV kitchen because you can build a six-figure cooking show with the kitchen you already have.

Is there a better way to sell your sauces or spice blends than by hosting your own cooking show where you teach people how to cook with your products? Click here to learn how to get started.