The Power of Believing in Yourself: Katie Collier’s Story

On this episode of the Circuit of Success, host Brett Gilliland interviews Katie Collier, the owner of Katie’s Pizza and Pasta Osteria. At 20, Katie created the business plan for the first and original location, Katie’s Pizzeria, with a dream to bring hand-made, in-house artisan and Neapolitan pizza to St. Louis. Under the ownership of her father, Tom Lee, Katie’s Pizzeria opened its doors in February 2008. She recently opened her 3rd location in Ballpark Village in Downtown St. Louis. When COVID-19 hit, and dining rooms across the country closed, Katie acted fast. She and her team immediately began freezing and selling their pizzas to save the restaurants and protect the livelihood of Katie’s team. They now ship their pizza throughout the U.S. and their products are available in grocery stores nationwide. Katie shares her journey from opening this pizzeria in St. Louis in 2008 to becoming homeless and eventually finding sobriety. She talks about the importance of thinking big and believing in yourself and encourages entrepreneurs to never give up.

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Speaker Brett Gilliland: Welcome to the Circuit of Success podcast. The Circuitive Success podcast. With your host. Brett? Brett? Brett. Brett, go over there. Brett, Gilliland visionary wealth advisory. The circuit of success podcast, to start the show. Welcome to the Circive Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland. Today, I’ve got Katie call you with me. Katie, what’s going on? Speaker Katie Collier: Not much. I’m here and I’m excited. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You’re here and excited. We’re excited to have you. Speaker Katie Collier: Thank you. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You break away from the restaurant to get over here. Speaker Katie Collier: The restaurant and the five year old. And the five year old. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s that’s the hardest part. The five year old. Right? We gotta get Katie’s, pizza and pasta to Illinois. Speaker Katie Collier: I get asked so much. I mean, everyone says of Allen, Illinois. So Right. I know I might do couple laps while I’m here. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You heard it here folks right here. No. We won’t we won’t hold you to that, but it’s a great community. Speaker Katie Collier: For rents. Yes. Speaker Brett Gilliland: We can help you with that. Well, you are Katie Collier. You’re the owner of Katie’s Gilliland Pasta. You have an amazing new location at ballpark Village. Holy crap. Speaker Katie Collier: Wow. That’s really cool. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I saw you there on opening day. And, we talked and, just I’ve been back a couple times, and it’s phenomenal. I mean, it’s just the coolest thing ever. You gotta be so proud. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Just to be right next to the stadium and that energy. Yeah. It’s really great. And the space is Huge. And, we just went all out. So Speaker Brett Gilliland: It’s so well decorated. It just looks it doesn’t feel like you’re in downtown Saint Louis. Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, I don’t think so. Speaker Brett Gilliland: It doesn’t. Yeah. So if you’ve done a great job. Well, if you can, we could talk about that all day. I’m sure. But if you can, I always like to start every podcast what’s made you the person you are today, which is a very big loaded question I know? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: But you’ve gotta tell the story. So if you can, let’s Speaker Katie Collier: start. Let’s start Speaker Brett Gilliland: healing back that onion layer talking about who Katie Collier is. Speaker Katie Collier: Obviously, parents are very key. Yeah. I have some really unique crazy ones. My mom’s not crazy. My dad’s passed, so I’m allowed to calm crazy. You can be crazy now. But, crazy in a good way. Just really unique, wonderful people. And then I think going through some painful experiences, one of my dad’s quotes was pain is the only teacher, you know. And so, I’ve been through some stuff with addiction and losing people and all the things that we all go through in life. And I think, tried to learn my lessons from those, and they definitely made me I am today. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Well, you are you’re pretty open about your story. So I don’t feel like I I feel like there’s a lot of questions I can ask because it’s all things I’ve read about anyways. So But talk to our listeners about that because I think your story is amazing because they see you now. Right? And I didn’t know all the stuff about you, I just knew this Katie and she owned this restaurant. It’s awesome. And she’s gotten into frozen pizzas now and other things all over the country. And so you hear this amazing story, these super successful businesses that in a in a business, it’s really hard to be successful. Right? So you’re doing a great job, but they don’t see the Katie at fifteen years old and seventeen and twenty five. Right? Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So if we can, let’s talk a little bit about So you worked at a restaurant, fifteen years old? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Well, I dropped out of high school, dropped out, and then started working in restaurants. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And never went back and got your education Right? Speaker Katie Collier: No. I did not. Yeah. Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So fifth so basically a sophomore in high Speaker Katie Collier: school. Yeah. Which, you know, I think I’m kind of smart, but there’s things that I do not you can tell. You’re like, oh, she’s Speaker Brett Gilliland: She did not Speaker Katie Collier: go back. Finish math class. I hate school. Okay. Speaker Brett Gilliland: God for iPhones now. Right? We’re nice, Siri or whoever to do everything. Speaker Katie Collier: I do all of that. But I did start working. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: And I, got into restaurants for a couple of reasons. One was they take anybody. You don’t need a degree. And number two, I had an aunt, Zoe Robinson, who owned, restaurants, and she was very successful. And so I was like, well, you know, without a degree, I can follow in those footsteps. So, yeah, but I learned so much about life in restaurants and started really early. So I had a leg up on everybody, I think. Yeah. I Speaker Brett Gilliland: was a bartender in Collier, and I thought it was one of the best jobs. And, You do learn a lot about people. Speaker Katie Collier: You learn a lot about people. Problem solving. I know. Problem solving and multitasking and just the whole. It’s like everything. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And then, so fifteen to twenty four, I believe, stayed working restaurant business. And then it was at twenty four years old? You started your first restaurant. Speaker Katie Collier: Right? And in between there, I did live in Italy. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Okay. Speaker Katie Collier: So that’s where the inspiration came from. My mother’s an artist, and she ran a study abroad program in Florence. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, wow. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. And so she an apartment there, and she’s like, if you can you know, save up for a plane ticket and spending money. You can come live with me. So she lived there off and on for maybe like don’t know if it’s between five or ten years, but many Gilliland we would go and spend time with her there. Yeah. And that’s where That’s Speaker Brett Gilliland: the feel of Katie’s pizza and pasta. Speaker Katie Collier: That’s where I fell in love with really cool Italian food, the real stuff. And I wrote a business plan at twenty, actually, for Katie’s pizza after going to Italy for the first time. And I actually went and found a space in the loop, got an architect to do like a simple space plan. And wasn’t even old enough for a liquor license and obviously Speaker Brett Gilliland: kinda need that for a restaurant. Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: But nobody obviously would invest in me. But the idea started at twenty. And then by twenty four, I had worn worn my father down Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Katie Collier: as we do as daughters do. And, said, can you, like, we gotta do this? And I was newly sober at twenty four for the first time. That’s the key word there the first time. Yeah. So fifteen to Speaker Brett Gilliland: twenty four, you Speaker Katie Collier: were Yeah. I was drinking and using it it was horrible. But I was young. So, like, what kinda went unnoticed. Yeah. You know? Because everybody’s kind of a mess. Right. Yeah. But I knew that it was bad enough to get sober at twenty four. And then, my father has been had been sober since I was two. So he had been sober for, like, Speaker Brett Gilliland: basically your whole life. Speaker Katie Collier: My whole life. So he was really proud. And, I was like, let’s at the time, we were He was in the junk business. Yes. Growing up. So he was a salvage junk guy. And, he’s like, well, let’s start with. You can can open a little junk store together. So we did. We called it we it had no phone number. It had no name. It’s just this weird, like, bad antique store. And, after doing that for about a year, I wore them down and said, come on. Let’s do this pizza place, and There’s these really amazing ingredients in Italy that nobody’s using in the US or St. Louis, like, really no one knew what Presciutto was when I opened up in two thousand eight. We had to explain it to everybody. Yeah. Now it’s the internet. Yeah. Now it’s everywhere. And I was doing squash blossoms and figs and stuff. So he said, okay, let’s do it. I’m gonna invest fifty thousand dollars to build it. And I I mean, the time I thought that was so much money because I had no money. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right. Speaker Katie Collier: So I thought that’s great. We can totally do it. And we actually did. We just really just bought the pizza oven, and then we just moved all the furniture from the junk store into the into yeah. And I don’t know if you ever went to that one. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I don’t think I have. Speaker Katie Collier: Okay. But every table and chair was different in mismatch. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, yes. I have. Yes. I have. Yes. Speaker Katie Collier: So, it really was a hole in the wall. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: And, he there was a, and there was a issue, which was I’m gonna put up the fifty, but I’m gonna keep a hundred percent. And at the time, I was like, he’s, you know, he’s You’re newly sober. You’re twenty four. We’re not. Yeah. It’s my money. This will be, you know, work your way, sweat equity, and, eventually, I’ll give you some And, he never did, but it was like the best thing ever because Speaker Brett Gilliland: You you darn Speaker Katie Collier: it. In here I am today. And I think if he would have given it all to me, I would never understand what goes into it. That’s true. That’s true. Right? Speaker Brett Gilliland: I tell my boys all the time. Like, my oldest is getting ready to go to college in in a year, and then he wants to get in the finance business. And I said, You need to go work somewhere else — Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, for sure. Speaker Brett Gilliland: — you know, go get your butt kicked somewhere else, and then you can come back maybe some other day, but Speaker Katie Collier: Just for your relationship. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Exactly. Speaker Katie Collier: But, so we opened up. It was a huge success because again, I was doing, like, all this crazy stuff on pizza, and it was all about you know, these regional specialty ingredients that I had learned about when I lived there. And then my drinking got really, really bad because I had all this attention. I thought I was really special. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Cool girl. New cool Speaker Katie Collier: girl. Yeah. And, also the stress and the pressure and the whole thing, it was too much for me. And I just spiraled spiraled spiral got kicked out of the business. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Fired by your own dad. Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: A tough conversation. Speaker Katie Collier: It’s happened many times by the fourth or time we were used to it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Here we go again. I get inspired. Speaker Katie Collier: And then the spiral got so bad that I ended up homeless homeless homeless, like nothing. Like, I no car, no phone, no money, everything I owned I had in a grocery bag, and I would just carry that everywhere I went. And my family and friends, like, They were all done, like totally done. And I remember the last I always talk about this. The I finally decided to get sober when I was like, mom, come on, like, let me stay with you. I have nowhere to go. I’ve been, like Speaker Brett Gilliland: Do you live in shelters, basically? Speaker Katie Collier: I was just literally Speaker Brett Gilliland: on the side Speaker Katie Collier: of the road. No. I was just living with, like, Speaker Brett Gilliland: Whoever. Speaker Katie Collier: Couches. You know? And then, but she was like, no. That’s it. We’re done. And so I think when mom Everyone’s turned their back on you. You gotta look at yourself. Yeah. Turn inward. And that was amazing because, you know, those really dark painful places are the only places really that you do look at yourself. Yeah. So I did And I was like, okay. Where am I gonna go? And I found a halfway house on South Broadway. And I went and checked in there, and I lived there for six months. Yeah. It was a really bad part of town. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I read someplace. Maybe it was our Hannibal Missouri stop Speaker Katie Collier: there was there was for a couple of days, like, Speaker Brett Gilliland: change smoking cigarettes and something I read. Speaker Katie Collier: It just in a room, and I was, yeah, that was right before that. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. I ended up in the there’s a, like, a state run, treatment center in Han ball. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: I’d been to treatments before. I’d been in in hospitals and treatment centers before the nice treatment centers. And this was the end of the stage where you go to the state run one. And then finally, you end up in the halfway house. So and all of the women that were in the halfway house were out of prison or just off the streets. It was not like someone’s neighbor who just had a drinking problem. Like, these were people absolutely nothing left. So I lived there for six months, took the bus to Katie’s Gilliland got my job back, and you know, just did that until Speaker Brett Gilliland: Under you. Under you. So what do you think? I’m always fascinated. My wife and I, we had a date last night and this actually came up We were talking about I don’t even remember what we what we’ve brought up, but we were talking about something and how life can go one of well, many directions. Right? But you have You have kids that grow up super successful families. Right? Had everything, and they grow up and can be deadbeats. Right? You have kids that grow up super successful families and continue the success. You have people Right? You see where I’m going. You have people that had nothing that were successful. If you have not and you you took something, to a level that most don’t. Right? One, I think I saw what was it? Ninety five percent of people don’t recover from alcoholism and drugs. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. I think that’s a very generous statistic too. Yeah. Yeah. So Speaker Brett Gilliland: ninety five to ninety eight, ninety nine percent. Right? Don’t. You did. You also came from nothing. Again, one more research. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Not I wouldn’t call it nothing because when you look at there’s nothing nothing, but I would say, you know, there were times we didn’t have a car, like, with my dad’s house. We all slept on a mattress on the ground with no furniture for a couple of years. And eventually, like, there would be good times and everything. So I wouldn’t say I hate to say like dirt poor, but I would say, yeah. We didn’t have I never got a car when I was sixteen. I never went on any trips. Hand me down clothes. That kind Speaker Brett Gilliland: of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, again, you’ve taken it now to this level. Right? Right. So what is it about you? Do you think that’s inside you? Said, you know what? I’m gonna take it to this level. I can do this. Speaker Katie Collier: I’m an optimistic person. Like, I think I’m just really optimistic. And, I’ve seen my dad was just such a tough guy. He was so tough. Yeah. Really tough. And he always made it work, and he always, like, hustled really, really hard. So Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I think that grit that hustles is everything. Right? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: In any business. Speaker Katie Collier: Like, he would do anything. Yeah. You know, he was really tough. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Would you also believe this statement that if if I said all pizza places had to close tomorrow. Right? That’ll never happen. But if they all had to close, you had to go to a completely different business. Pick the business, you would still make it, wouldn’t you? Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, yeah. Because it’s all really about problem solving, managing people. Inspiring people and really, like, marketing. I’m really good at marketing. Yeah. The food is great. I mean, I’m all in about the food. The unions, everything. Yeah. But, no, it’s really about leadership because I have three hundred people that work for me. And if you’re not a good person, to work for or inspire, like, you can’t I can’t be in three three locations and a frozen pizza place making stuff. I need these people to help. So Speaker Brett Gilliland: And you can’t touch all three hundred people at the same time, and Speaker Katie Collier: then you go days and weeks without them. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right? Yeah. No. Exactly. Speaker Katie Collier: No. I want them to do it. It’s so cool to see people do really empowered, and they’re like feel very they there’s people that have been with me for ten plus years that really feel like they’re. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. They’re family. Speaker Katie Collier: They’re family. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I think as a leader, right? We have to show the vision, build it, and then get out of the way. Speaker Katie Collier: Yes. Absolutely. Yep. Yeah. Getting out of the way is the hardest lesson for, I think, business owners, entrepreneurs get it. But, yeah, you gotta get out of the way, and you gotta let them fail, and you gotta pay the price to let them fail. And then they become so great. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So, again, back to the early days of the of the restaurant. And, you had to raise some money. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You had to do that. That’s not easy do. Speaker Katie Collier: No. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So you raised money, and a lot of it was on a on a handshake. Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, yeah. So I didn’t Again, you Speaker Brett Gilliland: didn’t have really much bank not gonna be like, hey, here’s a million bucks. Speaker Katie Collier: Right? Right? Right? No. No. Not to me. They didn’t. Yeah. And they’re like, do you even have a bank account? How do we where do we put this money? So I did a kit. So I was trying to figure out how to raise money I’m really into marketing, and I really know that you need to get attention Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Yeah. — Speaker Katie Collier: to get to find these people. So someone had mentioned crowd funding. I look into it and I thought, okay, that’s really great. Not so much for the amount of money I’m gonna raise on Kickstarter because it’s not enough to build a restaurant. But, I’m gonna get a lot of attention for this and attract the investors. So that was really my motivation behind it. Because I just didn’t know anybody or know how to find the people because I wasn’t in that world. Right. So I did a Kickstarter campaign and we raised forty thousand dollars, which was, you know, enough for a wood fired pizza oven. And then I put at the top of the page for traditional investment opportunities, contact Katie’s Pizza at Gmail, and I got we got tons of people. Yeah. Because it was just it was right when You Speaker Brett Gilliland: didn’t tell a story, though. Right? Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, we told a great story. And, I wrote a great, you know, business plan and, like, the whole page was beautiful thoughts of pictures and videos and, like, what we were trying to do. And, It was really cool. Speaker Brett Gilliland: The people with money see that. And they say People Speaker Katie Collier: with money see that. And they also know that I’ve had this restaurant — Yeah. — quote unquote. Yeah. Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You made that out Speaker Katie Collier: of it. For, like, four or five years, and they are they love that restaurant, and they love me and all of this stuff. So they found it, and We got all these people. A couple became IOU handshake loans. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: And we paid them back in two years, which was great. And then the last piece of the puzzle was Michael Cupstas, and he’s he was he had just retired from Panera. He was the vice president of franchise. And he took them from, like, fifty locations to, like, two thousand. So he’s a really talented, amazing person. And he said, I re I’m just come back to me if you need if I wanna be I wanna have equity and we were really holding off at the end, we needed a little bit more and we knew if we were gonna do it with anybody, it’d be him. Yeah. So we sold him twenty percent. And he was the best best partner ever. Just such a wonderful person, and I’m still really good friends with him. I ended up buying him out, a couple of years ago. But we still talk all the time. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Well, it’s so big to have a mentor like that too. Right? I’ve done it. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. And he just was such a fan, and he always said, you know, I’ve always wanted to work with you. I followed you. And so this was it was cool. Yeah. Yeah. It was really great. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And I think Speaker Katie Collier: he gave us a lot of credibility with banks too. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: Like that was we just brought in my Yeah. Mister got upset. All over Speaker Brett Gilliland: the door, but you’re gonna go in Speaker Katie Collier: and sit right next Speaker Brett Gilliland: to me and just talk. And I’ll be quiet. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. And I learned so much from him about that world. And, leases. And, yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Well, yeah, again, we talked about education earlier, but you think that your business education will blow I mean, offense to the people that are in, you know, education, the but that that business degree that you have — Yeah. — degree you have. Speaker Katie Collier: Still getting. I’m Speaker Brett Gilliland: still getting every single day is priceless. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. I’m getting it. Yeah. Every single day, and I’ve had a co I’ve had a business fail, Verome, you’ll kick company. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: And, then a new frozen pizza business and scaling and It’s a lot. It’s really cool. And I Speaker Brett Gilliland: saw a video maybe on social media. You and your brother making some calls or going to a conference or something, wasn’t it? Speaker Katie Collier: And you gotta even Speaker Brett Gilliland: get a cell Speaker Katie Collier: at the grocery store. Right? Yeah. You’ve gotta get so we’re in hundred stores across the country. Our goal is to be in every grocery store in the next five years, and it’s totally gonna happen. Yeah. We have to go to these expos and, you know, you meet with the grocers and the buyers and the brokers and everything. And so that’s in whole another world. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s crazy. Speaker Katie Collier: And then we’ve got, a beverage coming out. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Nice. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: What kind of beverage? Speaker Katie Collier: So we’re known for yeah. It’s it’s in, production right now. So we did all of the everything, designed the can, and, the recipe and everything. Our watermelon cocktail. I don’t this is what we’re known for. So that and then a basil margarita. Oh, wow. I know. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Can’t wait. Speaker Katie Collier: I know. That’s awesome. So those will be in Dearburgs, and those will be in selling out of the, restaurants. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s cool. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. We’ll see where that goes. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Walk up window. You can buy one. Speaker Katie Collier: I know. Well, we have one. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So let’s talk about how important it is to think big. Yeah. I I think I’ve thankfully I I think I’ve thought big most of my career and and I think that’s really helped. I when I think about your locations and and what you’ve done, I I keep bringing up ballpark village because it’s new. I’ve obviously been to the other ones as well. But You you have to think big, but you also have to believe big and believe in yourself. Yeah. So when you hear those things, what comes to mind for you? Speaker Katie Collier: I think it just gets the energy of yourself and everyone around you moving in that direction so it’s inevitable that it’s gonna happen. Yeah. That’s the way I look at it. Like, you can call it manifestation, and I don’t think it’s like a magical thing, like you wish something, and then you get someone waves a wand, and it happens. I think what’s happening is you’re you’re moving your life and your energy and people in that direction. Gilliland you’re just it’s amazing how it just kind of happens. And really thinking so big. I mean, if you even get close enough to or not or just short, you’re still pretty successful. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. And you said it confidently, in humbly, but But, also, I think you just say it because this is how you believe, like, I’m going to be in every grocery store in America. Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And it’s going to happen. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. And you say it, and you Speaker Brett Gilliland: like, I believe it. Right? Feel the energy. I believe you you believe it? I believe it. And so, talk about that, though. Why? Speaker Katie Collier: Because I I like I said, I just believe that I’m moving my energy in that direction, and I also know that really anything is I just feel like anything’s possible. And you just have to have that positive attitude and keep trying. And, I think entrepreneurs really just never give up. So if you never get that’s how we’re successful is because everyone else just gives up. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You’re exactly right. Speaker Katie Collier: We’re not smarter. We just keep keep going. It’s like when I did the business plan at twenty, but you know, everyone said no for four years. A lot of people would be like, okay, that’s enough. No. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Nobody’s gonna do this. This is a bad idea. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Yeah. And it just did Speaker Brett Gilliland: It’s funny. I I just I had this, discussion all the time with my Gilliland they now it’s the old dad thing. Oh, here we go again. You know, but it’s, you know, the old how do you spell, impossible? Have you heard that before? No. So how do you spell impossible? It’s I’m possible. Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right? So I’m impossible. And so I always try to tell it to my kids, and I just believe that that that And and and you said your energy is going there. So when you say my energy is going there, what does that mean to you? Speaker Katie Collier: I think subconsciously, I just start to act in a certain way or start to accomplish certain things and start to move in that direction of achieving that goal. I think your subconscious is very Gilliland so you have to, like, say stuff and believe stuff. And then all of a sudden, you start, you start to make a turn in that direction. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I just read something the other day on some entrepreneur deal on one of this guy. I don’t believe with this. I don’t believe this comment, but he said, don’t tell anybody your plans because there’s so many negative people out there that just shuts it down. Speaker Katie Collier: I know. I don’t ever understand that. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I don’t either. So I’m glad you didn’t Speaker Katie Collier: do that. Or, like, we need to don’t tell anybody because you know, they need to sign. I’m like, what are you talking about? Who cares? Tell everybody. Well, I think I think also you have to tell everybody because you never know who’s gonna say, oh my gosh, that’s exactly what I wanna do too, or I believe in you. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yep. And I think to the grit, what we were talking about earlier is that even if you do tell somebody about this new cocktail thing you’re making and I get the idea, Do I really have the stamina to go out and do it and build it and and make it happen? Speaker Katie Collier: No. No. I always it’s so funny. We have our dough recipes and all of our recipes posted, like, in the kitchen. And some a manager that we had hired was like, oh my gosh. Like, you can’t have that. Someone’s gonna take it and go, I’m like, go ahead. See you. There’s so many levels to this. It’s the people. It’s the story of our family. It’s you know, everything, and you can’t recreate it. You can go open a great pizza place, but it’s not gonna be. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Well, in you, right? Not to like he’s brag, but it’s like, I mean, you have to be part of that. You’re the face person. Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Right. I mean, here’s the Speaker Brett Gilliland: name, but you also have to be there. And you’re shaking hands at the front of the house and the back of the Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: If Speaker Brett Gilliland: you don’t have the front of the house good, then Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: It doesn’t Speaker Brett Gilliland: matter how good the pizza Speaker Katie Collier: None of that. No. They can I totally agree with you? And I think you also need to talk about it because then Yeah. You do you do meet people that can help you. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. So as a busy, entrepreneur, a mom, all these things, how do you, how do you stay in the game? Like, how do you, you know? Speaker Katie Collier: I’m so healthy. It’s obnoxious. I love it. Yeah. Because I just my father was epileptic. Okay. Okay. My whole life. And then he had brain damage from the epilepsy. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Wow. Speaker Katie Collier: And he had a lobotomy. I mean, it was like so sad. Sue’s disabled. And for some reason, the brain and just understanding the brain was so obviously very important to me because I was trying to heal him and also understand it and worried about myself. But I just know how much health the brain it needs. We have we’re like athletes. We have to fire on all cylinders. And so you have to do everything you can to stay, healthy. So I just eat really well. I exercise, and then I meditate. A lot. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I love meditation. Speaker Katie Collier: I write, like, with a pen and paper because you cannot just type on the computer. It doesn’t do the same thing. You have to have to in paper. Yeah. I don’t know what it is. Have you heard about that? Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, yeah. I mean, look behind you in in this journal. I mean, I I have journaled since July of two thousand Speaker Katie Collier: and five. Everywhere. Yeah. I mean, my child is gonna be left with some crazy stuff. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yes. And that’s why I’m like, I hope we one day they’ll read all this stuff. It’s from, you know, you’ll see the whole reason, vision even existing, you Speaker Katie Collier: know, like Speaker Brett Gilliland: all this stuff and and I think that’s powerful. Speaker Katie Collier: And then a lot of gratitude. So I write, I’m just big into that. So just writing gratitude. Let’s cause life is so tough. So you gotta kinda get your head together every day. Amen. So what Speaker Brett Gilliland: kind of exercising are you doing? Speaker Katie Collier: I’ve, like, I’ve got a trainer. So I guess it’s, like, resistance training. I wouldn’t call it weight lifting, but I would just call it. Yeah. Yeah. Resistance training, and then I hike a ton. K. And then I do some yoga. Got it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Awesome. What What’s your mission today? Like, when when somebody would ask you that question, what do you what do you think you’re here on Earth for? Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, gosh. Well, I do love I think what I love right now so much is creating opportunities for people to, like, realize potential. So I love that part about the business. I think scaling is gonna be really fun because it’s gonna allow more of that to happen. And then, yeah, I think showing people, definitely the addiction stuff. I think, showing people that there’s a way out. There’s a, you know, a new life and all of that inspiring people in that way is very important to me as well or whatever struggle you’re going through. Speaker Brett Gilliland: How long have you been sober? Speaker Katie Collier: Twelve years. I’ll thirteen. No. Yeah. 12:12 years. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. And still a battle? Speaker Katie Collier: No. No? It’s not. Speaker Brett Gilliland: It’s awesome. Yeah. Good for you. Speaker Katie Collier: That’s great. I really don’t think about it at all. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: That’s great. I don’t know. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Think time. Do you do you spend much time thinking how important is that to you? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Every day. Every morning, I get up at, like, 04:30. Yep. Coffee. God. Meditation, clear it out, and then I start writing and thinking. In visualizing, and I do it every day. Speaker Brett Gilliland: How are you how do you meditate? Speaker Katie Collier: I have to I like to do outside I like to be I focus on, like, outside sounds, so birds, insects, and stuff like that. Yep. And then that’s it. So no Speaker Brett Gilliland: app or anything that Speaker Katie Collier: you use? Sometimes I’ll do like music, like meditation music, but no app. I’ve done headspace before. It’s just like I don’t know. I feel like there’s a time limit on it, so then I’m focusing on when is the the bell gonna come off. Yeah. You’re Speaker Brett Gilliland: right. It it, I I started with headspace, you know, probably ten year, you know, twelve years ago, thirteen years ago, something like that. And I needed that because I didn’t know what the hell meditation Speaker Katie Collier: Right? Speaker Brett Gilliland: And then it was a guy. I’m like, oh, man, I’m so wimpy. Like, you know, I never I didn’t tell anybody. I’m doing meditation. Speaker Katie Collier: People think it’s like a religious thing. I’m like, no. This is when we’re all supposed to do. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And just to breathe, we’re all shallow breathing. You know? Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Clear off the brain for a little bit. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You do box breathing? Like, you know, four inch. Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All of that. Speaker Brett Gilliland: All that. Speaker Katie Collier: All the crazy stuff. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I like it. I like it. What I Speaker Katie Collier: would say walking too is a really natural way to get into meditation. It’s a really proven way because the rhythm of walking something does something brain. So if you can’t get there yet, just go on a walk. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: In nature too. Yeah. Let’s talk about fear. I asked this question on almost every pot. Cast. And it’s a the fears we put in our mind. Right? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. We Speaker Brett Gilliland: think we all do, maybe. How many of those fears you’ve put in your mind actually blew up to the magnitude you put your mind to be? Speaker Katie Collier: Well, none so far. I mean, I think that the thing is they don’t actually happen. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s the point of the question. Right? Is everybody sits here and they’re like, they all pause and they’re like, well, none of them. You know? And it’s like, well, but but yeah, how many people are listening to podcasts right now or driving down the road here on the interstate? And they have a fear. Right? It’s in their mind right now. This thing is going to happen. Speaker Katie Collier: One thing I always do, and I think when my father passed, it was such a crazy thing where I had to get really in the present moment. And when I got in the present moment, I realized that every time I’m in the present moment, I’m okay. Like, think about that. You’re all every time you’re you’re you’re okay. There’s never been a time when you weren’t okay. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So how do you do that? Speaker Katie Collier: I just remember that. And so they go, okay. Just get here right now. Are you okay? Yeah. You’ve always been okay? So you’re always gonna be okay. Yeah. You need to go by the Speaker Brett Gilliland: Talk to that person right now that’s in the dumps though. Right? I mean, they’re they’re in a room, and they’re just like, yeah, whatever. They happen to stumble across this podcast, and they’re like, yeah, but you don’t understand my situation. It’s I’m in the dumps. It’s bad. I’m not gonna get Right? Speaker Katie Collier: The only thing that I can do or suggest to get out of it. The only thing that’s ever worked for me or I’ve seen work for everyone I’ve offered it too is just write down one thing you’re grateful for. And when you write down that one thing, it leads to two, and then it leads to three. And you think you can’t even write down one, and it’s there’s something that happens to you when you start to realize that there’s stuff. There’s a light. There’s stuff to be grateful for, and you’re and it kind of proves that you’re okay. Yep. Yeah. That’s, you know, really the only thing that works. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I’m gonna, shameless plug here in my own journal that I gave you a copy of. Speaker Katie Collier: Fill it Speaker Brett Gilliland: up as I Speaker Katie Collier: told you. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And it is a a gratitude worksheet. And in that gratitude worksheet, I I’m a I’ve loved taking pictures. K. My it probably drives my kids nuts, but I I started doing this a few years ago that every ninety days, I’ll go through and look at all the last ninety day pictures. And I write down right here month one. Exactly. You know, went to Katie’s pasta, pizza and pasta ballpark village with kids. Right? I’ll literally write that down in my journal because I’m looking at the picture because how many times do we take pictures and we never look at them? Speaker Katie Collier: Oh, that’s always a joke that I always say I go here’s another picture I’m never gonna look at. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So every ninety days, though, imagine if you go through those pictures and you write them down, and now I’m in a space every ninety day. I do the gratitude. You’ll see every day. My daily planner. Today, I’m grateful for. And then, but the every ninety days, you can go through that and just like, man, look how great life is. Like, look at all Speaker Katie Collier: this stuff I’ve done. Yeah. Because sometimes you think like, oh, I’m not achieving enough. I’m not doing enough. I’m not successful enough or whatever. And then you go and look. That’s amazing. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Okay. So you got three months of that. And then you end with us is what experiences can I schedule for the next ninety days? So now we gotta be purposeful. Speaker Katie Collier: My gosh, love it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: What are the things we can put on our calendar? Because you’re like me, I’m sure that if you get so busy, you know you wanna do that thing. Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: But if Speaker Brett Gilliland: you don’t put it on the calendar, it doesn’t happen. Speaker Katie Collier: Right. So now Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: And so now I gotta put it on my calendar. So the next ninety days, what are the experiences I wanna create — Yeah. — in Gilliland Speaker Katie Collier: how often do you do those things? Cause you wrote them down. You probably do a lot of them. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Almost every one of them, Speaker Katie Collier: actually. Yeah. That’s so cool. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Experiences you know, either I’m gonna go with buddies on a golf trip or it’s something to do with my kids or something, you know, whatever it is, they’re there. And they and to your point, they happen because they’re written down. And they go on the calendar. Speaker Katie Collier: And then your energy starts to move it in that direction. Yeah. And I Speaker Brett Gilliland: think the time we take to do those experiences allows us to be even better at work because we’re recharging. Speaker Katie Collier: Well, that’s a pro I like that’s really cool. I’m gonna I’m gonna try it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Awesome. Yeah. I love it. I love it. When you hear the words, future greater than your past, that is our mission statement. That is the journal. That is everything that we do here at visionary is helping people achieve a future greater than your past. What do you say about that? Speaker Katie Collier: Believe it right now. Yeah. You gotta believe it. Like, it’s you gotta whatever you want in the future, believe it’s happening now. And then, yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: I love it. Speaker Katie Collier: Kind of just set the stage. We’re already in it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Anything that you would wanna publicly share that is, that’s out there for you, that dream, that thing. Right? Yeah. Because I believe in that too, and I think you do as well. These things that wanna go do when you say them, they’re now they’re out there in the universe. Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Well, we’ve got I told you we’re gonna have our frozen pizzas everywhere. And then I really wanna start to bring Katie’s pizza and pasta to other markets. So, looking at Nashville, Kansas City, Gilliland Denver. Wow. Yep. Those are kinda my top four right now. So I really, really wanna do that. And then, I really would love to either write a book or do something around my story. And whether it’s speaking or like I said, because I wanna inspire people who have addiction or struggles or whatever that — Yep. Speaker Brett Gilliland: — Speaker Katie Collier: you don’t need a college Speaker Brett Gilliland: degree. What Gilliland so your passion today around that is is what? Just purely helping individuals become better? Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. I think so. I don’t think you can make a lot of money off a book, so it’s not money. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: They sell a lot of books. You Speaker Katie Collier: make a lot of money. Right. Yeah. You’re doing Harry Potter. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s true. Which we just went to Harry Potterland down in Disney World. Speaker Katie Collier: Or I Speaker Brett Gilliland: guess it was in Universal. Speaker Katie Collier: Also, I think Carl Young said, like, the best thing you can do for your psyche is to write down your story. And then your life starts to kind of become even better. You understand yourself a little bit better. So I Speaker Brett Gilliland: think the legacy too. I mean, think again, the stuff that you’ve gone through — Mhmm. — and and where you’re at today You mean, people are out there that don’t believe in Katie’s dream. Right? I mean, that they’re Katie. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: If somebody would have told you at eighteen years old, this is what you’re gonna look like at XAs. Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Do you believe that? It’s hard. Speaker Katie Collier: It’s hard. Very hard. Yeah. No books are magical Gilliland they can really help. Yeah. People kinda see themselves. It’s really you become a mirror. Just becoming a mirror for somebody else. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: What, what would you tell yourself if you could go back to that twenty, twenty five year old, Katie. What advice would you give her today? Speaker Katie Collier: Oh my gosh. I don’t know what I would change. I would just say hang in there and it’s gonna be okay. Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s the exact advice I give myself. Like, it’s gonna be okay. Speaker Katie Collier: It’s gonna be okay. Speaker Brett Gilliland: It’s gonna be alright. You’re gonna make it. It’s gonna be okay. Speaker Katie Collier: We always happen and we always will be. That’s how I feel. Speaker Brett Gilliland: That’s right. What, where do our listeners find more of Katie Collier? Speaker Katie Collier: Well, I’m really big on Instagram. I love to post a lot of stuff about, you know, all the stuff I’m talking about in my life. My daughter, my business. So I’m very transparent and vulnerable on that platform. So, follow me there at Katie’s Pizza in Boston. Yep. And then, you can go to we’ve got three locations in Saint Louis or we’re in grocery across the country, and we also do e commerce shipping anywhere in the Speaker Brett Gilliland: US. Right. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Katie’s pizza dot com. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Katie’s pizza dot com. So you you should, said transparent and vulnerable. Yes. Don’t you believe that you have to be that way if I mean, to buy into the brand. Right? Speaker Katie Collier: Right. Yeah. No. My father was. He was like, he would just tell you every detail stranger, the whole Speaker Brett Gilliland: If you’re listening, I’m telling you. Speaker Katie Collier: And, so I was just raised. What I saw was, like, it would maybe offend one or two people, but the majority of the people would just be so like, in love with the fact that there was a person whose, like, walls were down and then they would open up. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: And he had so many friends and so many people that just were attracted to him because of that. So I saw that and I was like, oh, that’s how you really can connect with people is through that vulnerability transparency, which is really just honesty. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Right. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. So I’m on your, which which Instagram should I go to? Speaker Katie Collier: It doesn’t matter. We can go to that one. Alright. Speaker Brett Gilliland: We’re playing our Instagram game. So picking that oh, look at that watermelon drink. There it is. So let’s pick a number between one and ten. Speaker Katie Collier: Nine. Always nine. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Why is that? Speaker Katie Collier: It’s like the magical number. I don’t know. Tesla said it was. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Oh, I like that. And then, between one and three, Speaker Katie Collier: Three. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Okay. Number three. I do this game because we’re gonna this it’s called Lobster Thermidor. Look it up. The kids don’t know, but we know. Soft note being at ballpark Village. So it’s a video of the guy doing something here with the laughter, I assume. Speaker Katie Collier: Yeah. Speaker Brett Gilliland: So talk us, about that post. Speaker Katie Collier: Well, ballpark village is really cool because we’ve always had these tiny restaurants and this has a big beautiful kitchen where we can do all kinds of crazy stuff that we can’t. The other places. So that is a beautiful lobster dish. It’s a main lobster split in half Speaker Brett Gilliland: and that. Yeah. Speaker Katie Collier: It’s beautiful. Speaker Brett Gilliland: You got one item to order. What are you ordering? Speaker Katie Collier: I eat oh, I love steak. So we have a a Bisteca florentine, which is a rib eye, and got fennel pollen and roasted garlic and balsamic and it’s really good. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I’m going tonight. Another date, two nights, I can just talk about this. My wife and I wanna date last night, going on a date tonight too. I think we’re gonna go we’re gonna go to the restaurant tonight on the way up to our show. Speaker Katie Collier: And get a steak a lobster. Alright. Speaker Brett Gilliland: We’re in. Speaker Katie Collier: We’ll do it. Speaker Brett Gilliland: Katie, it’s awesome having you. Thank you for sharing your story with us.