We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ross Canter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ross below.
Ross, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Did I overcome it? I’ve had imposter syndrome way too often throughout my life and career(s). When I was a movie executive, I never felt as smart and aggressive and schmoozy as the other executives and legitimately used to think that the fraud police would come and yank me from my office (and, at that point, I didn’t know imposter syndrome was a thing — I thought it was just me). I rationalized these feeling by telling myself that the truth was, I really wanted to be a writer not an executive so maybe if I changed careers I wouldn’t feel like a fraud. So, I became a writer. No big surprise, the feeling was still there. I thought if only I sold a script… if only I was able to join the WGA and I had an actual membership card with my name on it… if only something I wrote was produced… And after reaching each of those mini milestones, the feeling remained. WTF?!! When we started Cookie Good I thought: this is not about me, it’s about the cookies and cookies can’t be imposters, right? Well, not exactly. If someone gave us a bad review on Yelp or if the postal service took too long to deliver a box across the country and cookies arrived old or broken or if the recipe we’d been using for years suddenly and unexpectedly produced flat, greasy cookies, the feeling crept right back in. But at this point, well into my 50s, I’d finally had enough. So after lots of noodling and self-reflection (and a little therapy), here’s what I’ve ultimately come to realize: I can’t be an imposter at being me (truth is, I’m the only one who can be me). This might sound a bit new-agey but it’s been kind of life-changing. When I stop comparing myself to others, when I stop seeing failures or set-backs as identity flaws, when I push myself to do and be my best and accept/learn/take responsibility when my best doesn’t quite cut it – when I stop judging myself for not being someone else, all is actually pretty good. And, while life and work and even cookies can be a little stressful at times, now when I hear our shop door open, I’m no longer afraid the fraud police have arrived to cart me away.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
When we started Cookie Good in 2008 there were not many cookie shops (and most of those followed the Mrs. Fields model of making the classics like Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal-Raisin, Snickerdoodle, etc). The idea of using cookies as a canvas for something fun, new, and at the same time familiar and nostalgic was the perfect creative diversion for my life as a screenwriter. I realize this might sound a little odd since screenwriting is a creative pursuit but for me, writing was about 15% creativity and 85% torture). Interestingly enough, the process for writing and “cookie-ing” was pretty similar: I’d have an idea for a cookie — say, Red Velvet Cake (again, in 2008, people weren’t yet making Red Velvet Cake Cookies), I’d noodle it for awhile (really thinking about what makes a Red Velvet Cake special and taste uniquely Red Velvety); I’d think about how I might translate those specific tastes/expectations into cookie form and then I’d head into the kitchen and get to work. While not every cookie creation was an overnight success, it was always incredibly satisfying. With writing, there was nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a script but it was always tempered with the realization that there was a pretty good chance the script that just took me months to complete would never, ever actually become a film. But with cookies, the end of my creative process typically ended with something sweet and delicious and all-new to eat. It’s hard to beat that. The good news is: fifteen years (and about 250 cookie flavors) later, it’s still the same and really, this is what feeling “Cookie Good” means to me.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think there are three thing that years working in film production helped prepare me for having my own business: 1) work hard and work fast — the hours are long and even though you may work 18-hours a day, 6 days a week, there is still never enough time so make the most of every second (and as a side note, remember that it’s about the work, not about me)
2) anticipate — always know what’s supposed to happen 10 steps ahead; being prepared is vital because invariably something will come up, some wrench that threatens to derail the entire plan and having a handle on the hurdles you know about will free you up to deal with the ones you don’t
3) pivot when it doesn’t work out — while anticipating is key, you have to be okay with switching things up quickly when the plan goes awry; it’s easy to want to dig in your heels and stick to your original plan but sometimes the best, fastest, and (surprisingly) easiest way is to just let it go and come up with a new plan (again, it’s about the work, not about me)
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We have been looking for our dream partner since we started Cookie Good. Melanie (my wife) and I work great together — we have different strengths, do very different things, and we have the same goals/vision for Cookie Good…but neither of us is a “shark”. Our business has grown because we work hard and make cookies that people still seem to like. But to get to the next level — to have Cookie Good grow into the business we really believe it can be — we think we need someone with a completely different skill set who can help navigate our next phase. We’ve met with lots and LOTS of smart, motivated people over the years who wanted to help us grow. Some had ideas, some had money (and some had both) but none of them had the experience to implement their vision. We still have hope that the right partner is out there and we’ll just keep looking until the right one comes along…
Contact Info:
- Website: info@cookiegood.com
- Instagram: cookiegoodla
- Facebook: cookiegoodla
- Linkedin: cookiegoodla
- Twitter: cookiegoodla
- Yelp: Cookie Good
