115: What's Next - Columbine Hospitality is Taking Over the Blueprint

## **Episode Summary** Christin Marvin announces that Columbine Hospitality is officially taking over The Blueprint — a coaching program originally built by Jim Taylor of Benchmark 60. This program helps hospitality professionals turn their operator experience into a consulting or coaching business. Christin shares her personal journey from terrified first-time entrepreneur to successful business owner, crediting The Blueprint for giving her the roadmap, community, and mindset shifts she needed. This episode is a call to action for former operators wondering "what's next" and current operators who know someone ready for a new chapter. * * * ## **Key Takeaways** 1. **The Blueprint is now part of Columbine Hospitality** — a coaching program for hospitality professionals ready to build consulting or coaching businesses rooted in their real-world experience. 2. **Your operator experience is an asset** — 20+ years of building teams, solving problems, and running restaurants isn't just restaurant knowledge. It's business, leadership, and consulting expertise. 3. **Entrepreneurship requires a mindset shift** — Christin had to reframe sales (not pushy, but serving), learn to value herself, and stop underselling her decades of experience. 4. **Community accelerates success** — Surrounding yourself with people who understand your journey, share resources, and challenge you is what separates successful entrepreneurs. 5. **Jim Taylor isn't going anywhere** — He'll continue supporting the program through marketing and calls as Columbine grows and evolves The Blueprint. 6. **Two paths at Columbine now** — Working with multi-unit operators ready to scale AND former operators ready to build something new. * * * ## **Who The Blueprint Is For** - Former operators wondering what's next after decades in the industry - GMs quietly burning out after 15+ years - Chefs with more knowledge than culinary schools but no idea how to monetize it - Operators who sold their restaurant and don't know what identity looks like without it - Anyone who's been "accidentally consulting" — helping friends with their businesses without realizing it * * * ## **What The Blueprint Provides** - A structured roadmap to turn operator experience into a coaching/consulting business - Clarity on your unique offering - Framework for packaging, pricing, and positioning services - Sales mindset coaching (overcoming the "used car salesman" fear) - Community of hospitality professionals at various stages - Support on time management, content creation, lead generation, and scaling * * * ## **Christin's Personal Journey Highlights** - Launched her first company with 20 years of experience but no business roadmap - Was terrified of sales and undervalued her expertise in year one - The Blueprint gave her structure, permission to take her experience seriously, and a path to scale - Realized she was the bottleneck → led to building Columbine Hospitality with a team - Key moment: Getting her first "yes" — then repeat clients re-enrolling proved the model worked * * * ## **Why This Matters to the Industry** > "The restaurant industry creates some of the most capable leaders in the world, and then has no infrastructure to honor that experience when people are ready to move on." Every operator who builds a successful coaching or consulting career becomes a resource for the next generation of restaurant leaders. This strengthens the industry from the outside in. * * * ## **Call to Action** - **Interested in The Blueprint?** Reach out at columbinehospitality.com/contact for a real conversation (not a sales call) - **Want Jim Taylor's book *Bold Consulting*?** Email the team or grab it on Amazon - **Know someone who needs to hear this?** Share this episode with the operator in your life who's wondering what's next * * * ## **Timestamps** - **0:00** — Episode intro: Big news coming - **1:30** — Welcome & show intro - **3:00** — Christin's entrepreneurial origin story - **5:30** — Finding The Blueprint and Jim Taylor - **6:30** — Official announcement: Columbine takes over The Blueprint - **7:30** — What Christin was trying to build when she joined - **9:30** — The fear of sales and mindset shifts required - **12:00** — What The Blueprint program gave her - **15:00** — The moment she knew it was working - **17:00** — How The Blueprint shaped Columbine Hospitality - **19:00** — Jim Taylor's continued involvement - **20:30** — Who The Blueprint is for - **24:00** — What The Blueprint actually does - **26:00** — Why this matters to the restaurant industry - **28:30** — Final call to action & closing