How I Built My Small Business

Kerri Futch - A Candid Year One at WOLF AND FOX, a Wisconsin Winery

• Season 1 • Episode 12

Share episode

Kerri Futch is a friend of mine who moved from Northern California to Wisconsin to be closer to family and to chase a dream vision for a Wolf and Fox, boutique winery and an event space.

This episode is more of a casual conversation and catch-up between friends, but there are oodles of nuggets in her story, her strategic approach, and you’ll get real-time insights and perspective into what it’s like being in the midst of a less than 1 year-old business.

Kerri and her husband, Jon, purchased forty acres of land with a barn in Calumet County, Wisconsin with motivation to cultivate a diverse, sustainable farm, vineyard, and community event space.

Let’s hear how it’s going.

Subscribe on Apple Podcast , Spotify or YouTube.

Let’s connect!

Subscribe to my newsletter: Time To Live: Thriving in Business and Beyond

Website: https://www.annemcginty.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemcginty

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annemcgintyhost


Speaker 1:

Welcome to how I Built my Small Business. I'm Anne McGinty, your host, and today we have Carrie Futch on the show to talk about being in year one of her business. Carrie is a friend of mine who moved from Northern California to Wisconsin to be closer to family and to chase a dream vision for a boutique winery and event space. This episode is more of a casual conversation between friends, but there are oodles of nuggets in her story, her strategic approach, and you'll get real-time insights and perspective into what it's like being in the midst of a less than one-year-old business. Carrie and her husband, john, purchased 40 acres of land with a barn in Calumet County, wisconsin, with motivation to cultivate a diverse, sustainable farm, vineyard and community event space. Let's hear how it's going.

Speaker 1:

Thank you to our listeners for being here today, carrie. It's so great to have you here. Thank you, I'm so glad to be here. So you left Northern California I think it was four or five years ago to chase this dream in Wisconsin, right? Yes, yes, we did. Okay. So what has transpired over that time frame to get you to today?

Speaker 2:

Oh, so many things. I think where we were four years ago was in the middle of a pandemic with the rest of the world and I had my own business. I ran a daycare out of my home. My husband was a winemaker and we lived in Sonoma County, california. But my husband's originally from Wisconsin Calumet County, wisconsin and had really been thinking about the idea of moving to Wisconsin and starting a winery there.

Speaker 2:

I wasn't ready. I'm a Southern girl from Louisiana, so the winters just seemed really a hurdle for me. But you know, it's a beautiful state, there's so much here that Wisconsin has to offer and I just needed time. I needed a little bit of time to warm up to the idea, so to speak. So the timing somehow was right. It'll be four years in May and we were evacuated from a wildfire. At the time we were in a hotel and made a decision at that moment to sell our things, say goodbye to California and move to Wisconsin and start a winery and slowly buy the family homestead from John's folks. So that's sort of like the short version of it. And so this is year four.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is year four, but when did the winery open? June of last year. And give us an idea. How is it going? What is it?

Speaker 2:

like it is so much fun and it is so much work. And you know it's funny because we aren't the type of people that typically open wineries. We just were hardworking folks who you know we both still have day jobs right. We're just kind of building our dreams slowly and surely, in ways that make sense for us.

Speaker 2:

It took us about three years to renovate the barn and some of the sheds that were on the property into a production space for the winery and the barn as a venue both for the tasting room and for other types of events like weddings and corporate events. So it took us those years, while working other jobs, to get it to a place where it needed to be, while working other jobs, to get it to a place where it needed to be. And in that time we were also interfacing with the township, the county, the state and the federal government because you know anything with producing alcohol, everybody's hands are in the pots, right. So there was a lot of back end work that we needed to do our insurance, meet the lawyer, drop contracts. So it just, you know it takes a while.

Speaker 1:

And so you mentioned day jobs. Do you still currently have a day job? Yes, we both do. How are you doing this? So how are you getting a winery and an event space started while still working?

Speaker 2:

I have to have a great sense of humor about my day-to-day life because it does feel like a lot of juggling all the time. But the big picture for me is what holds it together is that knowing that for us it's more than a business, it's a lifestyle and it's a legacy, truly, because we didn't just open a winery, we also planted 900 native trees on the property. We also organized volunteers to come and help us plant those trees, plant a bunch of different pollinators and help the birds and really create habitat in our community. So it's a bigger picture of land stewardship that we're trying to bring into our area.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I've never been to Wisconsin before and I don't know where your area is. I couldn't pinpoint it on a map. Is there enough of a population there in order to support a winery and an event space Like where are you tapping into your clientele? Where are you tapping into your clientele? That's a great question.

Speaker 2:

So we are really nicely located between Lake Michigan in like Northeast Wisconsin, between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago. So we're sort of centrally located between those two lakes and we are surrounded by I would say like mid-sized to large cities. So we're about 40 minutes from Green Bay, 30 minutes from Appleton, 30 minutes from Fond du Lac, sheboygan and Manitowoc. All of these areas are a little bit bigger in population and have a lot more going on than our specific town where we live. So we pull a lot from those areas. You know we have quite a few people that have been to the tasting room, surprisingly from as far away as Chicago.

Speaker 1:

So between locals and tourists, what sort of a division are you looking at there?

Speaker 2:

Oh, that is a great question. I am not currently tracking that very well. To be honest with you, I feel like the word of mouth has taken off in the community and we've gotten so much wonderful support from our local chamber of commerce, both in New Holstein and Chilton, and so I feel like we get a fair amount of locals and then on the weekends Saturdays primarily we're getting a lot of out of town people that are heading up to go camping in one of our beautiful parks here or, you know, passing through up to their summer cabins up north. Our main two income streams are venue rentals and wine sales. So we started venue rentals last year and we're booking weddings for this year. So we had a few weddings on the books this year. Actually, we had a few weddings last year as well, because some brave couples walked around while we were doing construction and we weren't even open yet and they said we want to get married here. So kudos to them for having faith in us and they went really beautifully.

Speaker 2:

We've had a few employee parties already. This was really sweet. We even had a memorial service in the barn for a veterinarian who had worked in our barn and his family thought that it would be a really sweet way to send him out. So it's been really wonderful. The wine sale started in June and we've paired that with having music in the barn, which has been a huge hit. So we have barn concerts every Saturday this summer afternoon, concerts all ages and lots of different types of music. So that usually brings a crowd out for wine tasting and hanging out with family and friends.

Speaker 1:

And when the crowd comes out beyond wine tasting, are they able to order other drinks or food or give us an idea of what it's like to step foot into a barn concert?

Speaker 2:

Here in Wisconsin, which is unique we have a manufacturing license to produce the wine and therefore, with that license, we're able to sell all the things. So we can sell beer, cider, seltzer, we sell non-alcoholic mixed drinks, non-alcoholic beer. We're working on non-alcoholic wine. It's in process right now. We also have bar snacks. So we live in Wisconsin. Cheese is major, major in this state, so we've partnered with a local business for them to help us get a selection of cheeses, crackers, nuts, chocolates, chocolate covered cherries, all sorts of things. We don't yet have a commercial kitchen license, so we think that might be something that can unfold in the future Our partner with a chef or someone that can hold that end of it so that we can focus on wine and events.

Speaker 1:

You've still got your day job. Yeah, you're now throwing events, both community barn concerts, also renting out for weddings, and now the winery. When will you make the leap and let go of your day job?

Speaker 2:

You know it's tough, like we made the decision to self-finance our business, which I know has people have like all the feelings about that, but that has to do with our long-term goals and purchasing the farm and not having you know if anything were to go south with, you know, the business or something happened to one or both of us. We would just want to make sure that the farm is protected and that it's something that we can continue to enjoy and share with not only family. But part of us opening this business was to really share it with the public, you know, with the community, because I think land like that should be shared, should be open, should be something that everybody can walk around and see how much land are we talking?

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned the beauty of the land. You mentioned over 900 trees being planted Right. Describe the property to us.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's funny because John would probably want me to talk about the grapes, but I feel like it's both Right. So there's total 180 acres and on it it's arable land, so productive land. There's also wetlands, forest, and two creeks converge on the land and there's a pond and two creeks converge on the land and there's a pond. So there's quite a lot of different ecosystems. And we've been working with our local NRCS, which is like a conservation organization that helps us understand what's going on in our woods and how we can make it better and what trees that we should be planting for regeneration of the land, so things like that. We've also partnered with a friend of ours who's become a friend of ours, actually a sheep farmer who is pasturing ewes on our back 40 this spring, so we'll get them as soon as right after lambing they'll come. So it's total 180, to answer your question. But we only own 40 acres right now. So that's what we're tending to and cultivating right now.

Speaker 1:

So, with that diverse landscape, would you ever consider creating a glamping type situation where multiple people could stay at once? Or if somebody decided that they wanted to have a wedding weekend and invite their closest 80 friends, would there be the potential that they could stay at the property in tents? I?

Speaker 2:

love this question so much because, if it was up to me, it would already be happening, but alas, this is probably phase 10, because my dear husband, john, is really good at pumping the brakes, but that is something that we're hoping for in the future. There's a little bit more liability involved in overnights with a pond and open water, so there would just be a lot more things we'd need to have in place licensing and insurance wise to even, you know, consider that. But yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

It sounds like there's a lot of potential for all of the directions you could go with this. It sounds like there's a lot of potential for all of the directions. You could go with this. So, okay, you're open for year one of business. What kind of growth are you expecting from last season? And we haven't even discussed the seasonality of your business. But when are you operating and what do you expect last year to look like in comparison to this year?

Speaker 2:

I'm not really comparing yet, you know, last year to this year because I still feel like I'm just really in it. You know, I feel like I'm like day to day, week to week, and right now, for example, I'm planning all of the summer music. In fact, our lineup is done. I just need to create the flyer for it or the poster. So I haven't had that like perspective, that bird's eye view, yet. You know, last year versus this year, what I will say is that we were really happy with our wine sales. I guess we've booked double this year than we did last year, so that's great. And then we've been giving tours for next year, weddings and such. So it's all moving along.

Speaker 2:

One of the things that I put out, I guess, in the universe was that I want to call in more artists and makers, crafts, folks that would like to come and teach and skillshare in the barn, because I feel like there's a great opportunity to share. For example, I have a friend, Natalie, who's a fiber artist. She's going to be using the wool from the sheep that are on our farm to create wool products and I was like, why don't you just come and do that here and like, show, like, open that up to the public and she just was super excited about it. So we're dreaming up all the things and I know that I should probably be getting a little more practical about, like you know, sales and numbers, but I still feel like we're in a space of of dreaming in a way.

Speaker 1:

Well, and you had mentioned that this is a lifestyle business, so you really get to pick and choose what fills you up. So a maker series. It sounds like these community events. Potentially glamping is obviously there's the winery and the wine which is an anchor there. What else are you thinking up?

Speaker 2:

I am thinking of variety shows, theater like community theater, children's programming, variety shows theater like community theater. Children's programming like nature-based I mean once an early childhood educator, always an early childhood educator. So I'm thinking of school programming for like. So once all of our perennial gardens are mature and our diverse food forest is mature to invite the public you know, school to kids to come and be able to see like, oh, this is what a honeyberry looks like, or this is what a goji berry looks like, you know. So yeah, I have that in me as well. So having that long term vision of being able to not only have a place to drink wine, but also just like to spend the day and maybe learn one thing or two, you know, while you're at it.

Speaker 2:

We're both curious. We both love music and the arts in general. John also has a fine arts degree, so that's what we end up doing, for fun is being around artists, musicians, makers, so that's what inspires us, and if we're going to build a business, then we need to be doing things that inspire us. One of the things that's really fun and that we just did was a blind tasting in order to figure out how we want our new petite pearl that's in barrel right now, the oak profile on it, how we want it. Basically to pull out what's good, what's wonderful about this varietal which a lot of people don't know about, and to soften the edges and to make it something that is just a really delicious Wisconsin wine. And for me that's like science, but it's also art, you know, it's also sensory, and so I feel like if we can get the artists, the chefs, you know, the other makers in the room, it would just be so fun to be doing that all the time.

Speaker 1:

And when you're doing these summer series concerts or you're inviting artists in to do a workshop, how many people realistically can come and attend one of these?

Speaker 2:

So our capacity is 175 max. That's how much room we have in the barn, and we always sort of try to keep our events limited to that amount, because it's not like we can, you know, in bad weather. All we have is the barn, so it's important for us to keep it at that number. So a lot of our most of our events are ticketed events. Some of them are free, but you still have to reserve a ticket just so that we can keep it capacity and then how do you handle the staffing, going from not necessarily needing anybody there?

Speaker 1:

if you're closed, I assume you're closed for some of the weekdays. Actually, I don, I don't know what you're, what are your hours?

Speaker 2:

So the venue operates seasonally, since the barn is not climate controlled. So we open May, end of May and then through October like mid-October is our kind of season and then the winter we kind of shift gears and we move to our production space in the winter for wine tasting and those hours are Thursday, friday and Saturdays from 1 to 5.30.

Speaker 1:

Right now, so then, from May to mid-October, when you have these occasional summer series and you, let's say, you pack the house and you get 175 people there, how are you staffing this?

Speaker 2:

Well, john and I can handle that number. Like for weddings, we do that. We've learned ways over time to be able to manage crowds. We have our bar packages arranged in a way that make it doable for two people, and our parking is like you don't need a parking attendant, people can self park. We have good signage, so typically we can handle it Just the two of us. We do have family members as well, always willing to help. So that's, that's nice. But I hope to be able to start hiring folks in the community. So we'll just see what the numbers are and what the ticket sales look like and however it unfolds in the next year, I'm hoping to be able to get a few more people on board to help with some of those events and also that will help us to extend our hour, our open hours. Right now we're pretty limited in our hours but hopefully, you know, we can start to branch out a little bit.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, with day jobs and then running at lean this way with you two running the show, you must be busy.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and we have two kids, so it's a lot yes, and we have two kids, so it's a lot Okay.

Speaker 1:

So I know that that's got to be one of the hardest parts is just juggling having all of these things going on at the same time between being a mom or parents, I should say and running this business, but then also having your day jobs beyond that, specifically when it comes to the starting and getting ready and running of your business, what are the most challenging parts?

Speaker 2:

To get started in our industry, it was all of the like, licensing and permitting that we had to do. There was a lot involved with that, not only for like construction and inspections, but also production spaces are different than other types of licensing, so there was just a lot of kind of logistical stuff that we had to figure out.

Speaker 1:

And did you do this yourselves or did you hire somebody to help you with this?

Speaker 2:

No, we did it ourselves, which that's probably why it took so long. But you know, we know we're in for the long haul, so we were willing to put in the work, and I think we also are people that it's really difficult for us to let go of something when we can learn a new skill, and we're both like that. So I think it's a good way to be in the world in general. But when you're both kind of starting a business, sometimes I feel like we should just be like no, we should just contract that out or, you know, find somebody else and get it done quicker. So we need to balance that. That's hard. And then I would say the other pieces.

Speaker 2:

Now what's hard is I feel like there's this running list of to do's it's a punch list, right and we use a giant dry erase board. We were using like things on a computer, but what we found was like it just wasn't big enough and we couldn't use it in the way that we needed to. We were visual, so like it's hard to find the time to go over what I call scope of work, right. So there's like the farm and the homestead stuff, so that includes like chicken chores and you know, cats go into the vet, like all the kind of stuff. Then there's planting and vineyard maintenance and orchard maintenance and perennial garden and you know all that kind of stuff, and then there's like winery production, and then there's venue, and then there's like winery production and then there's venue, and then there's all the administrative stuff. So, staying organized, I guess, and making sure that the big picture there's things that we're returning to and, you know, checking off in a way that it makes sense.

Speaker 1:

So this giant punch list on a whiteboard is like those categories that you were mentioning, are like the headers, yeah, and then underneath you've divided it up into the sort of micro tasks underneath.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and then we'll put our name on it Like he'll do this or I'll do that, like whoever's job, and then we'll put a date if there's like you know, all this needs to be done by this date or this date. Sometimes we've chosen to take things off that feel like, oh, we're just not going to do that, but so far it's not shrinking.

Speaker 1:

I don't think it's going to shrink for a while. But what do you do about the decision making process? So what motivates your decisions? It sounds like it's not entirely income. You'd mentioned lifestyle, the community. So what drives your decisions?

Speaker 2:

I think our vision and our values and our vision really have to do with a life that we love and want to show up for, and cultivating like doing the things that we want to be doing on our terms. So you're right, like, while money is, you know, something that drives decision-making, it's not the number one for us. You know, we want to have a lifestyle that we both can feel like spaciousness about, be able to go on vacation every once in a while, and also just like be with our kids. I mean, one of the reasons why we don't work on Sundays is because that that's. We call it kids day and they get to decide what we do and we're not allowed to work. So so a lot of times, you know, we'll do whatever they want to do. They like rock climbing, or we'll go to the woods and make fires in the woods, or Roger really wants me to play video games, which you know, sometimes we have to do things that they want to do.

Speaker 1:

You said video games and I was like oh, she's probably not that into that. No, but we all do hard things, so how realistically, how successful does this business need to be? Like, how driven are you? How ambitious are you? Do you have a target number in mind that you're like, once we get that, it's all lifestyle? From that point forward, like all the decisions are about lifestyle? Or are you like, oh, if we can get this to, you know 200,000, and then 500,000, like we're gonna go for a million.

Speaker 2:

like I think I need to hire you to be a coach, because I, you know, I really haven't thought about that. I feel like we're yeah, I mean that that isn't something we even talk about other than my goal was to book 10 weddings and we're not there yet, like in a season, in one season, and we're not there yet. But now, because we didn't book 10 weddings this year, I pivoted, because that's what you do when you're a driven person you pivot and you decide, okay, if that's not going to be what we're doing, then we're going to do other things. We're going to bring in music, we're going to bring in artists, we're going to have other types of events, and so I think that, just like keeping that open mind and moving forward, has been really great.

Speaker 1:

I remember being in year one of business and you're just kind of operating, sometimes without a whole lot of time to necessarily like evaluate all the steps, because it's you're in it. So how are you going to grow this thing Like? What are the strategies that you're going to use to pull more people there, whether it is for the barn concerts or your science series and your kids series and your art series? Yeah, how are you going to get the word out?

Speaker 2:

So John and I were not on social media before we started our business. Can we just pause for a minute? That is pretty crazy this day and age. You know, john's never been on social media. He just opted out and I was on and off a little bit. I've been burned, we'll say it that way. So I was taking a break, kind of a long break, and then we were like you know what we can. So I was taking a break, kind of a long break, and then we were like you know what we have, like we can't not be on social media, right? We knew we needed a beautiful website. So there was a huge learning curve there for me to be able to start posting and you know kind of figure out my way around, how to get the message out and it's a whole thing, the whole marketing piece. So, to answer your question, we're still figuring that out in real time and making mistakes and we're going forward anyway. One of my strategies is to do some direct advertising to some of the colleges around us. So that'll be like in the next three months, because that's going to be kind of more for the venue side of things so posting about our barn concerts but also for, like, weddings, because that's sort of the target market, that age group.

Speaker 2:

We did some market analysis here. What we found was who's buying wine, who's coming to wineries in our area are predominantly women, older women, middle-aged, older women. So we were on Facebook. We're doing lots of posts about you know events. We're buying ads when we feel like we should. We just paid someone to do our website like a proper website because, guess what, we did our own website. I don't recommend it. You know. We did our best and there was a lot we didn't know. So I'm open, I'm totally open to any kind of advice about, like, how to get the word out, because that's new for me. I was never in those types of positions in my life, having to sell things. I've always been like you know, if somebody wants something, they will go and get it, which is so bad as a business owner your business is one that I've never really run before.

Speaker 1:

I think you're doing the right thing with the community events because that going to draw people there, hopefully repeatedly and I am the wrong person to ask when it comes to social media, because I am like you, I think, where I might post like once a month, I know it's an effective strategy.

Speaker 1:

But I do think there's other things that you can do in real life, especially if you are near those university type campuses and you're offering a fun activity for a weekend. You know Mark's friend. He he owned bars in New Zealand and they used to find the connectors on the campuses and they would give those connectors T-shirts to give out to other people for free that were branding for the bar itself or whatever it was that was trying to draw people in. And if you had one of these t-shirts you got free admission. And so it became kind of this fun little way to organically spread the word about hey, there's this new venue that got a cool band coming in, let's all go, and it's free to get in because you've got a t-shirt. So I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but just thought I'd throw that out there.

Speaker 2:

I love that idea. I love it so much, it's kind of fun. Yeah, it is. That's great idea. Actually, Mabel um my, she was 10 at the time designed our first t-shirt for wolf and fox, so it's her illustration of a wolf and a fox they're facing each other, and so that's like we just have like one run of them. So I can even do that. I can put that in practice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's like that. I mean you could do a hat, anything to kind of like get the branding out there and people talking about it. Ok. So what have you learned in this process? That you think if somebody is listening and you could help shortcut it for them.

Speaker 2:

It has more to do with like deciding that you're not going to be good at everything right away and like being okay with that, like leaning into that because there's so much, I mean, unless you come from a background with entrepreneurs around you that can give you advice like great, but we weren't those people. So, starting out, if you're someone like me who is like I have a dream, I want to make this work. I'm a hard worker, I'm willing to do what it takes, it also takes. I'm willing to make mistakes and learn from them. I'm willing to ask for help. I'm willing to reach out to people, mentors, like people that are doing what you want to do and just learn what you need to learn. Just learn what you need to learn. That's the main part, is just like having a dream is easy. It's like putting yourself out there and being vulnerable is harder, and I think that that is something that we're continually doing.

Speaker 1:

This has the potential to turn into as big of a business as you want it to turn into, which was the other reason why I was asking you like, what are you visualizing? Like, so, let's say next year, okay, what does this look like to you in a year? And then say five years. What does it look like to you in five years? What is your ideal?

Speaker 2:

I think that it would be so great if I was in a position to be able to focus 100% on this and let go of my day job. So for me, that would be my one year, my goal. I don't know what that looks like yet and then like two, three, four or five years it's. It's about making great wine, great connections in the community, being a hub. You know, I really want people to associate our name, our brand, as not just a winery, like a fantastic winery, but also just like a place they want to go and relax and hang out and like learn and find their people and feel like there's a lot of positive things happening. You know, because there's a lot of things in the world that are chaotic and hard and I just want our place to be a place that people feel like, no, I want to go there, I want to spend time there, I want to camp there, go to a music festival there or whatever. It is to be a hub and to be a light for folks Ooh, you just said music festival.

Speaker 1:

I did that sounds bigger than a barn concert. So what is this, do you?

Speaker 2:

want to have a festival there. I do, Actually, we talked with. The very first band that we had over. Last year was June 1st, our opening day, the very first day we sold wine, we had a band, and that day I talked to the lead singer of the band the Wicksnippers is her name and we were dreaming up. After the set I was like you know, it'd be so great to have a day long music festival here. We have all these bathrooms, great parking. We could do multiple stages Like it's. It could be amazing, and so that was. I planted the seed and at some point I'll water it.

Speaker 1:

I might know a couple of people who could help you bring that vision to reality. I'm all ears. I'm all ears. Yeah, well, we'll talk. It could be a rev share situation, but you know, they bring in their expertise and experience with running music festivals and then, yeah, you do a rev share. You provide the land and the facility.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that would be, and the facility, yes, that would be perfect. Honestly, that would be amazing. And you know we're talking small scale, right, because we have a dead-end road in the middle of a very rural area.

Speaker 1:

So sounds exciting, though I know a surprising number of people who are actually in this industry, but not out there. Out here on the west coast I think I know three or four people and it can be very lucrative for a weekend. But is it really?

Speaker 2:

but is it like fun and relaxing for the organizers?

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that that is you bring people in, right, you're going to bring in the team that is used to producing that scale of an event and then you learn from them while they're there. But okay, just as a final question here, if you could go back and talk with yourself when you were in your early 20s, what life wisdom would you give yourself?

Speaker 2:

surround yourself with people that are smarter than you, that you can learn from people that are doing things that you admire. I feel like that's the advice I would give, but then I would also say like girl, you got this, like you, so so got this. Like, keep going, and there's going to be hard times, but keep going, you got this.

Speaker 1:

Carrie, it was so great to catch up with you. I can't wait to keep on following along and checking in and seeing how your business is growing. And thanks for coming on the show and sharing where you are today and what got you there.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, and it was my absolute pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1:

Today's key takeaways be open to your timing and listen when life nudges you towards something new. And listen when life nudges you towards something new. Don't wait for perfect, because progress beats perfection every time. You don't need to be an expert to start. You also don't need to quit your job to start your dream. Carrie and her husband built their winery while still working day jobs. Start small and build steadily alongside your current commitments. Choosing to self-fund may slow you down, but it can also protect your long-term values, minimize risk and help you maintain full ownership over your project. Be willing to make mistakes, ask for help and stay open to learning as your business evolves. Asking for help is a sign of wisdom, not weakness, whether it's a giant whiteboard or a digital tool, create a system that works for your brain to keep all your tasks and roles in check. If you're interested in seeing Carrie's organizational whiteboard, I'll post a link on my Instagram page at annemcgintyhost. Set boundaries that serve your well-being. For Carrie and her family, sunday is kids day, when no work is allowed. Designing a business around family rhythms creates balance and ensures your kids see firsthand what purposeful work looks like.

Speaker 1:

Define what success means to you, not just by following society's metrics. How do your decisions support the life you want to live? From volunteers planting trees to local bands playing barn concerts, building community around your business can create momentum, loyalty and long-term support. Carrie has partnered with local cheesemakers, fiber artists and conservationists. Look around your own community for natural collaborators instead of trying to do everything alone. Being near larger cities can drive traffic, so get clear on your radius and tap into nearby hubs and tourist patterns. Having a long-term vision helps you stay inspired and focused. Don't be afraid to imagine the future out loud. Remember the what-if game from last week's guest, duncan Wardle. He was the former head of innovation and creativity at Disney and he has so many insightful ways to expand your creativity and innovate. Lastly, be brave, do hard things and surround yourself with people who inspire you. That's it for today. I release episodes once a week, so come back and check it out. Have a great day.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Anne McGinty

Host