Choose Folsom’s year-end panel delivers raw honesty, powerful advice, and the “meat and potatoes” of running a business from four of the city’s most recognizable owners.
FOLSOM — There was a charge of anticipation inside Bayside Church on Wednesday morning as entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and business professionals gathered for the final Folsom Focus event of the year. Presented by Choose Folsom, the program brought together four local business owners whose stories have become tightly woven into the community. What unfolded was an unexpectedly candid, deeply human discussion about the realities of building a business, navigating setbacks, and staying grounded in purpose.
Choose Folsom’s Shannon Robb-Bundalian, the organization’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, opened the program by reflecting on when she first met each of the panelists—long before their businesses became familiar names in town. She recalled seeing Karyss Bollen selling handmade jewelry from My Trendy Trailer at markets, receiving an early phone call from jeweler Adrian Blanco before he even had a storefront, watching Chick-fil-A’s arrival unfold under operator Matt Crane, and visiting Colleen Shannon when Shannon Family Automotive had only two service bays.
“When we talk about how to grow and sustain a business, that experience piece—that memory tied to your business—is one of the most powerful things you can ever create,” she said.
Crane began the discussion with his trademark humor. “Everyone having Chick-fil-A withdrawals?” he joked. “We’ve been closed for six weeks now, and I know some of you drove by the job site this morning hoping for a miracle.” The Folsom location remains closed for a major renovation that will extend into early next year, a long-term investment Crane said will benefit customers and staff for years to come.
His journey began at fifteen, when he rode his bike to his first Chick-fil-A job in the Midwest. “I feel like I’ve got peanut oil in my veins,” he said. After years of working under several franchise owners, he was recruited to help lead Chick-fil-A’s West Coast expansion. “I spent seven hundred ten consecutive nights in Marriott hotels,” he said. “That’s how much they leaned on me—and how much I learned.”
Crane admitted that his first months in Folsom were anything but smooth. “Nobody knew who we were,” he said. “Someone asked if we sold women’s clothing.” He hired sixty-one employees for the opening—only one had ever eaten at a Chick-fil-A. Four months later, sales dropped seventy percent. “I had to let go forty percent of my team. I was working seventeen-hour days. It was brutal.” He also recalled the uncertainty after the brand’s 2012 controversy. “But adversity is part of entrepreneurship,” he said. “You push through. You lean into your values.”
For Crane, success starts with people. “Only an empowered and educated team member can be me when I’m not there,” he said. His store mission—“Folsom’s fastest, freshest, friendliest restaurant”—is strengthened by a philosophy he calls being “shockingly different,” rooted in stewardship, hospitality, operational excellence, kindness, and generosity. “My team members are my customers now,” he said.
For Bollen, the road looked completely different. “Like Shannon, I was a stay-at-home mom,” she said. “Before that I worked in banking, but I needed something more.” She began creating jewelry and clothing at home, slowly building her confidence. “Twelve years later, that’s what people describe me as—creative.”
Her first venture—My Trendy Trailer—was born out of necessity. “We didn’t have money, and I wanted to look cute,” she said. She sold handmade items at markets and community events before expanding into her two Palladio storefronts, MTT Collective and Sun & Shade. “Business owners are feisty and stubborn,” she said. “We make our way.”
Bollen champions “community over competition,” a philosophy she embraced through the Boutique Hub. “The moment you start looking side to side, you will always find someone doing it better or cheaper,” she said. “Everyone’s success looks different.”
She emphasized the sensitivity required to work in retail. “When people try on clothes, they’re vulnerable,” she said. “There’s an art to interacting with customers in those moments. I teach my team to be honest but kind.” Though she admitted systems are not her strength, she hires people who thrive on process. “I joke that I hire OCD people to balance my ADD,” she said. Clear protocols guide everything from greetings to email collection to custom orders.
When Blanco took the microphone, his voice carried the steady confidence of someone who built his livelihood on trust and relationships. “I’ve been doing this nearly thirty years,” he said. “A girl I pierced as a baby—I just sold her an engagement ring. That’s community.”
Blanco began in the jewelry industry at eighteen in Davis before moving to Folsom—his wife’s hometown—to raise their children. Corporate jewelry environments didn’t align with his values. “It was all about numbers, not people,” he said. He filed for his LLC in 2016 and opened his storefront months later. Before even securing a location, he contacted the Chamber. “I told them, ‘You guys need me. I’m going to be the number one jeweler in Folsom,’” he mused.
But the competition was steep. “I didn’t have marketing dollars,” he said. “So I shook hands.” He attended every event he could—from galas to fundraisers to ribbon cuttings. “My success is predicated on how many hands I shake,” he said. “Being part of the community is more than writing a check.”
Blanco hires based on values rather than résumé. “I can teach skills, but I can’t teach character,” he said. Promoting his first manager “changed everything,” giving him room to focus on growth, partnerships, and customer relationships. “You can’t grow if you try to do everything yourself,” he said. “Hire people smarter than you. Surround yourself with people who challenge you.”
Colleen Shannon’s story carried its own depth and grit. “We opened in 2011 with two bays,” she said. “My husband and one mechanic. We had two kids, I was pregnant, and we were buying groceries on $35 a week. It was one of the scariest decisions we ever made.”
Today, Shannon Family Automotive operates out of 13,000 square feet with seventeen employees and services as many as 150 cars a week. But she emphasized that growth required defining her brand—and protecting it. “You have to recognize that you have a brand—even as a small business,” she said. “And sometimes you have to let people go who don’t fit what you’re building. Even if people talk.”
One of her key interview questions is revealing: “Tell me about your best boss and your worst boss.” “It tells me how someone will work with me,” she said. “If they only speak negatively, that’s a red flag.”
Her mission centers on empowerment. “I didn’t build it, I didn’t buy it, I didn’t break it,” she said. “My job is to empower you to fix your car.” She teaches her team through repetition, reinforcing that “there’s no detail too small to build a system around. Systems protect your credibility, your integrity, your brand.”
Before the morning wrapped up, audience questions added another layer of honesty. Attendees asked about self-doubt, burnout, hiring, and the pressure to maintain a brand alone. The answers were vulnerable—Crane describing long days questioning whether his business would survive, Bollen admitting she sometimes feared she wasn’t skilled enough, and Shannon recalling moments she needed a brief break outside before returning to greet a customer.
As the event neared its end, Blanco stood once more with a grin. “I promised the meat and potatoes,” he said. “What really makes a business successful.”
He delivered his thoughts plainly. “A lot of people ask me how to be like Adrian Blanco. You can’t be me. You can’t compare yourself to others. Trust your team. Hire the right people. Surround yourself with people smarter than you. Have breakfast with other business owners. Don’t do this alone. Be generous. Know your brand. Be honest. Have fun.”
Crane followed. “Expose people to the heart of why you do what you do,” he said. “Make sure they want to be part of it before you hire. And don’t forget—your team members are your customers.”
Bollen added, “Every person who walks in is a customer—whether they buy or not. Success looks different for everyone.”
Shannon closed with clarity. “You have to know what you’re building,” she said. “And you have to keep pursuing it.”
As attendees gathered their things, conversations continued throughout the room. A restaurant operator who rode his bike to his first job. A stay-at-home mom who discovered creativity out of necessity. A jeweler who built a business handshake by handshake. An auto shop owner who once survived on $35 a week. Different industries. Different beginnings. Different obstacles.
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