Reggie Kelly, former NFL player, discusses the similarities between playing pro football and running a food business. You’ll learn: Strategies to overcome marketing & brand awareness challenges The importance of conducting research before developing products How to get your children involved in the family business KYVAN Foods, is a line of seasonings, sauces, jams & jellies, and salsas. Reggie Kelly is a former football tight end, and played for the Cincinnati Bengals & Atlanta Falcons. ------------------ Timestamps  [3:01]: How Reggie & his wife Sheila started KYVAN Foods. [5:25]: Reggie and Sheila’s kids are also involved with the family business.  [7:02]: How cooking with family has influenced KYVAN Foods. Cooking with family is about the experience and making memories together [11:02]: Reggie’s experience figuring out what he was going to do after his NFL career. [15:13]: Similarities between playing sports and running a business. Reggie learned the importance of selflessness, being focused, paying attention to details, how to deliver a great product, and perseverance.  [18:04]: How Reggie and Sheila pitched their products to Walmart [24:04]: The importance of conducting research before developing products [28:46]: Marketing and brand awareness were the biggest challenges for KYVAN Foods. [30:36]: Social media engagement, product giveaways, sending emails to your email list are inexpensive marketing tools. You also need to know the right demographics to market to.  [36:15]: New KYVAN Foods products are on the way. [37:21]: Family is everything. Reggie gets his drive from his family.    Mentioned in this episode Honey Apple Salsa https://kyvan82.com/mild-honey-apple-salsa/ Honey Apple Butter https://kyvan82.com/honey-apple-butter/ KYVAN Foods website: https://kyvan82.com/ KYVAN Foods on Instagram: https://instagram.com/kyvan82  KYVAN Foods on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyvan82    Subscribe to the RSS feed: http://profoodmaker.libsyn.com/rss Listen to this episode Apple Podcasts | Libsyn | Soundcloud | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify   Reach out to the Pro Food Maker Podcast Website: profoodmaker.com  Instagram: instagram.com/profoodmaker Facebook: facebook.com/profoodmaker Twitter: twitter.com/profoodmakerpod Hashtags: #profoodmaker #profoodmakerpodcast