Building a Safety Net of Failure, With Tiff and Leon Chen (Tiff’s Treats)

In 1999, Tiffany Taylor and Leon Chen started a business delivering hot-from-the-oven cookies out of Leon’s college apartment in Austin, Texas. Today, Tiff’s Treats has 90 stores across the U.S., 1,800 employees and continues to grow. But their road to success wasn’t exactly easy. In this episode, Tiffany and Leon discuss the challenges they encountered as they built Tiff’s Treats over the past 20 years, the importance of embracing failure as a tool for growing your business, and insights into teaching your children about hard work and perseverance. Learn more about Tiffany and Leon’s story in their bestselling book It's Not Just Cookies.  We’ll also find out: (1:50) – How did Tiff’s Treats start? (5:16) - What were some of the failures Tiff and Leon encountered (and learned from) along the way to success? (7:07) - Why is it important to be open about your failures as well as successes? (8:16) - How did Tiff and Leon’s upbringings shape their career paths? (10:09) - What are some of the values Tiff and Leon want to impart to their children? (11:34) – What are Tiff and Leon’s core family values? (15:51) – Why were Tiff and Leon initially hesitant about appointing a board of directors and how has their board helped them grow? (18:20) – What are Tiff and Leon’s thoughts about life after Tiff’s Treats? (21:04) -  What is the ‘why’ that motivates Tiff and Leon to put the hard work into their business? (23:32) – What’s it like being in business with your spouse, and how do they deal with conflict successfully? (26:16) – What advice do Tiff and Leon have for young entrepreneurs starting out on their own business journey? (28:30) – What inspired Tiff and Leon to write their book, It’s Not Just Cookies?