I Have No Idea What I’m Doing, But I’m Doing It Anyways: The Story of How Herby Came To Be

When do you know it’s the right time to follow your passions, and is there a right time?

I spent years waiting for the “right time”—a magical moment when I’d know I had enough experience, savings, confidence, and maybe even a little cosmic sign that it was finally time to go all in on my dreams. (Spoiler alert: that moment was not the Type A perfection I would have hoped for.)

Instead, what I got was a wholeeeee lot of restlessness, convos with Jesus, confusion, and an unabating feeling that I was meant to be doing something different. And still, I hesitated. I convinced myself that I needed more time, more knowledge, more security. Years went by before I even started really believing in myself enough to think it was plausible.

Let me explain— 

Back in 2017 when I worked in a downtown Nashville high-rise, one of the only things my office crew and I looked forward to was Food Truck Thursday. Food Truck Thursday is when Nashville’s Food Trucks come and line up the street in front of TPAC to serve their best dishes. Every week my co-workers and I would check the line up, and every week I’d be wondering – what is there gonna be for me to enjoy?

Many Thursdays came and went without any options for us plant powered people (3P’s), and then other weeks would come and I’d get the option of maybe 1 or 2 dishes out of the endless trucks hauling pulled pork, fried chicken, and southern faire. 

Over the years I worked downtown, a handful of times I would ruminate over the idea of myself bringing a plant powered option to life – I was a single 23 year old with no money and little confidence in myself, and yet I still figured if anyone could fill this gap in the market, why couldn’t I?

7 years later, at an Earth Day festival in Centennial Park as a now married 30 year old, I had the same experience. I went with a dairy free gluten free friend to the fest thinking – its Earth Day – of COURSE there will be plant options there, and quickly found out that of the 10+ trucks lined up, only 1 menu item on 1 of the trucks was plant based.

You wanna know what that was? It was 3 flour taco size tortillas, a small scoop of black beans into each and 1 (yes, singular) sprig of cilantro for $15. You read that right – $15 for a meal that cost $1 and was unsatisfying at an EARTH. DAY. FESTIVAL! 

My friend and I went to a picnic table in a shady spot once we did finally get our food, and she vocalized the thing that I had been thinking all those years. “You know, you could easily do this- have a plant based food truck”.

Like a seed being planted in the spring, hearing my friend say that was like the bud finally peeking through the soil that had been growing roots all this time underneath. I went home that night, and started talking to my husband about making more plant powered options available and accessible, and The Herby Eater / Herby idea was born.

But… it was still just an idea. I was working full time as an A&R Director in a music distribution company I had a big hand in building, and a company that had extremely lofty goals I was a part of making happen. It did not seem even remotely possible for me to leave my job. Or even, my whole entire career path I had devoted over a decade to.

But then, my husband pointed something out. Every free moment outside of my job I had I spent talking about, studying, making and eating delicious food. This was not some “I have to make food so we don’t starve” kinda thing, this was my REAL passion. I wasn’t spending my free time looking up artists or going to concerts (sorry for anyone from that job reading this now); I was spending my time on the Gronda app, or reading Michael Pollan books, or testing out how to use Agar Agar for the first time, or inviting people over just so I could make a full ratatouille.

No surprise that the person who knows me best saw something in me I didn’t see myself and had to call it to my attention.

After that big long discussion, I began spending any free time outside of my job (which was few and far between admittedly) thinking about Herby— Building out what I wanted it to look like, cooking even more than I already did, dreaming up recipes, and trying to shake the feeling that I wasn’t ready or good enough. And like a sign from my guardian angels, I started seeing 111 or 1111 everywhere.

I don’t remember what made me notice those numbers, outside of the fact that I was seeing it 4-5 times a day – a true slap you in the face you can’t ignore me level of realness. I even was at a store at one point and the cashier called out that my total came to $11.11. Like- HOW? It was the number on the clock I saw, the step count on my watch, the number of miles my car had driven, and the number of calories burned at the gym. And with each time I saw them, the more immense my sense of peace became. The more my prayers to God started to sound like “if this is really you, I need you to jump up and down about it”, and the more the events in my life began showing the jumping up and down.

My husband and I got real about our finances to see if we could swing me doing this, knowing that we would have to compromise on some things in the short term. I cried not over the idea of leaving my job but about my fears of letting my husband down if I failed, and vowed to myself that I would give it my all.
And I leaped. 

Because the truth is, no matter how much I prepared, I was never going to feel completely ready. I STILL don’t believe I am remotely ready.

But I made a decision: I am going to do it anyways.

The Myth of the “Right Time”

Here’s the thing I’ve learned—waiting for the perfect moment is just another form of fear in disguise. I *might* have had this “a-ha” realization in a small group, while we talked about fears. We tell ourselves that once we hit a certain milestone, have enough in savings, or feel more confident, then (and only then) are we ready. But readiness isn’t a feeling that magically appears. It’s built in the doing and the trusting that God or whoever you believe in already knows what lies ahead.

I realized that every person I admired had one thing in common: they started before they were ready. No one airdropped them a secret step-by-step manual or a crystal-clear roadmap to their dream. They had an idea and a passion just like me, and the guts to take the first step. That was enough for them, so it is enough for me.

Consider this a step. I’m starting to lose count and I think that is a very good thing. 

Now, do I know everything about running a business? Nope. Am I 100% figuring it out as I go? Absolutely. And honestly, there’s a strange kind of freedom in embracing the messy and the uncertainty of it all. I’ve stopped waiting for Type A perfection I always dream of but never find, and started focusing on progress.

In this current season speaking truthfully, some days I feel like I’m on top of the world. Other days though, I wonder what the heck I seriously got myself into. But through it all, I keep showing up. I keep learning. I keep trying. I keep pushing forward. And that’s what matters most ultimately in this whole great wild adventure.

If Not Now, When?

I want to leave you with this thought. There will always be a reason to wait. Let me repeat that: There will ALWAYS, always be a reason to wait— bills to pay, responsibilities to juggle, self-doubt, you name it. Life doesn’t come with a guarantee that there will ever be a “better” time. So, ala Hilary Duff “Why not take a crazy chance”? (Also, if you haven’t listened to the lyrics of that track in a while, I made sure you had easy access below!)

If you’re feeling a pull to make a change, that gut instinct whispering (or maybe even shouting) that you’re meant for something else, trust it. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to start. I personally have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyways. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.