When we created the characters of Pete + Pari for “A Giant Story,” we grabbed inspiration from those closest to us – Intuit employees and our customers. Here is a real life story behind the inspiration for Pete.
Meet Ross Logas, founder and owner of The Moral Omnivore. Ross was chosen as the winner of our Super Bowl 4340 contest and received $4,340 – the average tax savings per year from QuickBooks Self-Employed – for sharing why he had to miss watching the big game for work!
His role has him serving as a small business owner filling bellies in Minneapolis, and this is his prosperity story.
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Intuit: Congrats on your 4340 win! Can you tell us about your submission?
Ross: We had some down time while serving at the Super Bowl and I saw the Intuit contest on Twitter. I thought to myself, “What do I have to lose?”
Intuit: Well worth it! What did you do with the winnings?
Ross: I decided to invest in my business, which gives me some piece of mind, financially, and allows me to relax a bit.
Intuit: Tell us about your background and how you started The Moral Omnivore.
Ross: We are starting our 6th season, so we have been open for 5 years now. I was working a dead-end management job for a restaurant with no room to grow. My grandmother passed away and left us money, giving me an opportunity to create a job for myself. My wife and I decided to use that money to finance our food truck and paid the rest off in blood, sweat, and tears.
We opened a food truck because I have a passion for cooking, and my friends have always loved my food, telling me they would pay money for it.
My wife and I work on the food truck together. She was wonderful enough to follow my passion.
Intuit: Love that you guys have some solid teamwork going on! What was it like starting your own business?
Ross: It is a labor of love and a love of labor. To do it well, it takes your whole being.
Similar to raising a child, running a business needs to become your entire focus. You need to be able to adapt to new situations that come your way and accept that what you held or what you wanted to get might not be attainable as you shift to a different goal.
Intuit: That’s smart perspective. What are some challenges you’ve faced?
Ross: We’ve run into a number of challenges getting our food truck up and running, including finding cooking spaces, landlords, truck repairs, maintaining kitchen equipment, interacting with city regulators, parking police, special events, and traffic control.
I was exposed to QuickBooks through my previous job. As The Moral Omnivore grew, we turned to QuickBooks and TurboTax to help us manage the administrative aspect of our business. I really appreciate how seamlessly QuickBooks transfers over to TurboTax. It saves us a lot of time.
Intuit: Glad to see our products are helping you out! Did you get a chance to see our film, “A Giant Story”?
Ross: I did. It was very cute, and a nice representation of the work giants can do for small businesses. I could identify with Pete, the florist, because no one wants to be doing paperwork when they could be spending their time doing things they love.
Intuit: In terms of doing things you love: do you have any other plans to grow your business?
Ross: My wife just finished her master’s and is currently working on ways to get another small business off the ground.
Intuit: As you continue to grow in your business adventures, what advice would you give to others just starting out?
Ross: I would tell them to make sure they have the right support system in place. Not just financial support, but also people who can help with all the moving pieces in a small business and provide emotional support. Friends who will tell you if something is a good idea or a bad idea.
The people who are around you are similar to the people you are serving. Having people who will give you constructive criticism, as well as encouragement and support, is so important.