Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Steven Guistolise

Steven Guistolise shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Steven, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
Waking up at 8:30PM to feed our 1 and 3 year old breakfast. I then make sure to check my emails and prepare for the day whether that be focusing on a food truck event or phone calls regarding our franchising operation. My wife and I will take the kids out shopping or to a park and then come home for dinner and a bath. At night we have snack time and a little TV or light activity and then go to sleep.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Steven Guistolise and along with my wife, Olivia we are the founders of a food truck franchise called Stadium On Wheels. We specialize in concession styled food like footlong hot dogs, nachos, pretzels and lemonade. We have been a part of the food truck community since 2019 and have served in 3 different markets (Chicago, Phoenix and Indianapolis). We just began the franchising process and hope to be one of the most well known food truck companies in the country.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
When I was growing up I was afraid I wasn’t going to be good enough at anything to be successful in the work force. I had strong interests in things that I could not utilize as a valuable skill in my mind. As I got older I began working jobs that I thought I would really enjoy. I interned at a radio station, I got into sales and customer service, worked at an ice cream shop and I even worked for my dad on his ecommerce business. While none of those things turned into long term careers I still made sure to capture the things that I enjoyed from each of them and I truly feel those experiences helped me discover my love and life long career choice in food trucks.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
If you start your own business there are going to be times you want to give up on a daily basis. I have an entrepreneurial mindset and have come up with numerous ideas and business ventures in my life with a 99% failure rate. It wasn’t until I met my wife who was so much more disciplined and would tell me what was an actual good idea and what was a bad one. Once we got a little taste of success with our food truck business it gave us validation to keep going and see where it takes us. Our determination to be great and ability to take the bumps and bruises on this ride (which we are still on) have kept us moving in the right direction. I have realized that having a spouse or a friend who is on the same page as you when it comes to a career is such a key aspect to being successful in business.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
This is such a great question because I personally feel that being your authentic self in any life situation is so important. Whenever I would have an important and life changing opportunity that came my way I would tense up and try to mimic the personality of the person that I was trying to impress. It usually ended up just being a disguise I could wear for a short period of time until I started to feel resentful and uninterested in what I was doing because it was not my true self. I want to feel comfortable in my every day life and that starts with being genuine to myself and if the person you are trying to impress does not like your personality then that’s fine, it’ll be beneficial for you both in the long run.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I want people to remember me as a staple in their memories of growing up, and when I say growing up I mean at any age. I get as much joy from making a 50-60-70 year old’s day as I do making a 5-6-7 year old’s day. I have such fond core memories of the little corner candy shop I used to go to as a kid or the banker who would give me a lollipop whenever my parents would go to the bank. It’s such a wonderful experience to provide that type of joy to someone.

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Ash Whitmer

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