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It’s that time of year when everyone goes crazy for warm sweaters, pumpkin carving and, depending on your location, apple picking. Here in New England it is the busiest season for apple orchards. Andrew and Chelcie Martin are third and fourth generation farmers at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, Massachusetts. In this episode, they share what it’s like to be part of a family business, how to deal with things that are out of your control, and what it takes to be a successful manager. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Andrew: As with any business, if you’re not morphing, and changing, and growing, you don’t have to be growing huge but growing, you’re slowly dying. Everything’s in change all the time, and so we try to look at what we can do better, or what we should add, or what might make a place more attractive to people. Even if it’s just something as simple as what variety mix we need to change and what type of trees we want to have for the future. People have the idea of a big old apple tree, but that isn’t really the future of apples. Much smaller trees is the future of apples. But also, we don’t want to change that too fast because people have this idea in their head of what apple trees should be when you come to pick apples. Dave: Andrew Martin is a third generation farmer at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow Massachusetts. If you live in New England, you know how satisfying it is to taste the first apple cider doughnut of the season, stuff a bag full of fresh apples, and find new ways to eat apples for weeks to come. Our trip to Honey Pot Hill came with the added benefit of speaking with business owners Andrew and his daughter Chelcie. Sitting outside, listening to enthusiastic children and cicadas — yup those annoying bugs you just heard in the opening quote — Andrew and Chelcie shared the rich history of their farm and how they plan to keep the business going for generations to come. Today they share what it’s like to be part of a family business, how to deal with things that are out of your control, and their best management advice. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Andrew’s grandfather bought the family farm in 1926 after moving to Boston from New York. Initially a smaller general-purpose farm, Andrew and his relatives worked to make the farm both larger and more specialized. Growing up on the farm, Andrew’s lifelong devotion to agriculture started at a young age: Andrew: I think I was born to farm. Honestly, ever since I was six years old, I started growing my first gourds and I grew some potatoes and I planted blueberries, things we didn’t have on the farm. And I started pumpkins by the time I was 12, then squash and pumpkins, my own little part of the business, as well as working on the farm itself. And I just loved it. Every time I could, I worked, summers after school, weekends. And I never had any thought in my life I was going to do anything different, really. And I went to college for it and got my associate’s in agriculture and I’ve been here full-time for the last 35 years since then. Dave: Transitioning from a kid on the farm to the manager of a successful family business is not an easy task. Both Andrew and Chelcie are familiar with the unavoidable challenges that come from working with your closest family members. Andrew: Well, family businesses can have challenges, shall we say. Chelcie: Yeah. Andrew: And on one hand when I came back to the farm, my dad said, “You’re in charge. Here you go.” But then after a little while, it really wasn’t quite that way. As long as it was his way, I was in charge, if you know what I’m saying. Chelcie: It’s hard working with your family. We do okay. Andrew: So far, so good. Chelcie: It’s only been a year. Andrew: That’s right. Chelcie: But I wasn’t quite like him. I didn’t plant pumpkins when I was growing up, but I always wanted to be like my dad. I don’t know why. We grew up here, the four of us. I have three younger siblings. The priorities were always farm first, and it never bothered us. I feel like when it goes that way, you either end up hating it and resenting it or you end up adopting that mindset. And all four of us have that way. I remember one Christmas, we weren’t allowed to open our presents until noon because dad was working, and we were like, “Nuts,” because we were 10. And yeah, it’s been challenging with family, but it’s hard to not love it. People come here and they come back and they bring their grandkids, and they bring their nieces, and they bring their cousins, and they just rave about it. It’s so hard to not love something that makes people so happy. So I think it’s easier than most businesses to deal with that one hard customer because you have most people that come through here that are just so happy to be here and away from the city. And it’s so beautiful. And I don’t know, it’s a nice place. Dave: While family dynamics don’t come without challenges, both Chelcie and Andrew would agree the family ties are the most rewarding aspects of their business. There are, however, a few challenges that they find less fulfilling. Andrew: The weather. Every year is a challenge, but this year, literally nine feet of snow last winter in about three weeks. And we do work in the winter time. A lot of people think, “Oh, you just take the winter off in farming. You go south.” Every tree has to be pruned. We have 14,000 trees, actually 24,000, including all the smaller ones. And every one takes a little bit of attention. And so there’s the snow. Chelcie: Most people don’t do this anymore. We do everything by hand. Andrew: We’re hands-on managers, so to speak, all managers, owners, hands-on. Dave: Why? Andrew: I love doing it really. One of the things about our business, I will say, is that we’re small enough, even though we’re pretty good size, that I can still do a lot of the hands-on work. But we’re big enough so we can justify hiring enough employees because I can’t do everything and she can’t do everything. Chelcie: I never wanted to be a manager. I like it but we got into it because we like the work, which is frustrating when you find yourself not having the time to do it. He gets so upset when he’s bogged down with paperwork. I do all the paperwork because if he has to do it, it’s just a lot of grumbling the whole time. Andrew: But going back to what I just said for a second just to finish out. We had one of the best-looking crops we’ve ever had this year and then we had a hail storm August 4, which put a bunch of nicks and dents in them. It didn’t ruin them but they’re just not the way we wanted them to look. And now we’re here in the fall, we still got summer weather, which doesn’t exactly inspire people to come apple-picking and doesn’t do anything good for the apples quite frankly. Chelcie: Put on my sweater today. Andrew: Today is great, but every other day has been, as you know. Dave: Yeah, it’s too hot. Andrew: But that’s the whole story of agriculture. You’re dealing with weather. Something wrong, someone is throwing a curve at you and you just do the best you can to deal with it. Dave: While Andrew and Chelcie will never be able to tame the New England weather, Chelcie focuses her energy on the parts of her job she can control. After becoming the store manager last year, she’s worked hard to get up to speed with legal requirements and management responsibilities that keep the business running smoothly. Chelcie: I went to school for horticulture, and I took some business classes and some science classes and thought it was cheating going to school for agriculture growing up here. I was like, “But I already know all of that,” which is so not true. But coming back here, because my aunt did this job for 25 years before I took over last year. And I worked here for years, so I’ve done a lot of different jobs but was totally unprepared last year because no one tells you when you’re in college, “Oh, if you want to run your own or work for a small business, you need to have this many permits.” Because, like we were talking about it, we’re managers that are really hands-on, but we split responsibility. There’s two of us. So he does a lot of the orchard work and we have migrant workers. So he handles part of that paperwork. But then the other half of it is permitting, staffing, making sure that we don’t get shut down, just making sure that everything’s in order. And I had no idea. I remember last year in May, I was in the office sifting through paperwork being like, “I don’t know what any of these forms are for.” No one sits you down and is like, “Here’s how to pay taxes. Here’s how to make sure that you’re up to health code and you make sure that everyone gets paid on time. And

Holly Furgason is motivated by many things, but comfort isn’t one of them. As the owner of Blue Sparrow Pilates, Holly has learned how to overcome major challenges — from dissolving a business partnership to weathering a major financial crisis. Listen as she shares what it takes to keep a business running for over a decade and how to build a loyal audience. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Holly: I would say that I’m… first of all, I’m never comfortable. So far, there’s very few time periods, not even a month where I’m like, “Oh, this is so comfortable. I feel really good about where we are.” So I’m always looking at what can I improve. When I travel, when I go places outside of the Bay Area and within the Bay Area, I’m always doing more education for myself. I’m reading books about business. I read online blogs. I’m looking to other masters in the field of Pilates, like what are they doing in their neck of the woods, and how might that influence what I’m doing? Dave: Meet Holly Furgason, owner of Blue Sparrow Pilates in San Francisco, California. Like many of the business owners we’ve spoken with during our first two seasons, Holly is motivated by many things. But comfort isn’t one of them. Today, in our season finale, Holly shares the story of her studio. From the initial inspiration to the trying moments when she wished she could skip town and leave it all behind. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Many of us are consumed with the thought of starting our our business. But what’s the difference between people who think about going off on their own and those who actually do it? As Holly describes the days before owning her business, listen for three important things: conviction, creativity, and commitment. Holly: I grew up as an athlete, playing soccer, all kinds of things and then found dance and became really sort of pre-professional dancer and traveled all over to compete in dance-type conventions and competitions. And was convinced that I was gonna move to New York and dance professionally. And somewhere along the way, I found Pilates and Pilates has always been associated with dance because Joseph Pilates’ original studio was really close to Broadway and a lot of dancers found it and realized how much it could benefit their dance career. And so I found Pilates and completely fell in love with it and knew that I needed to become a teacher. And I’ve jumped back and forth across the country several times but came to California to go to grad school for dance at Mills College just here in Oakland and had started a studio. Dave: A dance studio? Holly: Pilates studio, yeah. I did my teacher training in Michigan and when I moved to California, I was already teaching Pilates and I worked for several different studios that had different focuses. One was a rehab-based, like post-hospital type rehabilitation and another was a teacher training center in San Francisco And through the process of working in San Francisco for years, I just knew I was gonna have my own studio at some point. Dave: Rather than wasting time on self-doubt, Holly dedicated time to learning her craft. Through extensive training, certification, and mentorship, Holly developed mastery in multiple Pilates techniques that set herself up for success when inspiration struck Holly: In terms of inspiration, it was really simple. I had a client in North Beach that I saw at his house way up at the top of Telegraph Hill. And for some reason, in the process of learning about North Beach and traveling there, because it’s one of those parts of San Francisco a lot of people don’t go to, I fell in love with the fact that it was sort of, there’s this bird, lots of birds there, like parrots and all kinds of weird birds. And you walk through the staircases and you’re just like, “Wow, this is such a beautiful part of the city nobody comes to.” And there’s the ocean or the bay is like right around you. And there’s this sort of, I don’t know, birds like energy there and I started playing around with this name ‘Blue Sparrow Pilates’, ‘Blue Sparrow’, because of all of the things I was seeing and interacting with in North Beach, and ended up finding a space in North Beach shortly after that. Dave: So when you started, like thinking about this, right? And like “Okay, I’m gonna open my own place,” did you start discussing it with people, friends, like did you get any pushback from anybody? Holly: Yeah. Everybody kind of thought it was crazy because North Beach is, I mean, San Francisco in general, is expensive. But then, North Beach is like pasta and pizza and Italian, and nobody seemed to want Pilates there, but at the same time, I knew that’s where I wanted to be. And certainly my closest family and friends were like, “That’s crazy. How are you gonna do that? How are you gonna get the money?” There was lots of doubt. But then once… I think people that know me, they know that once I’ve decided 100 percent and I’m not talking about “Do I want to…” “Should I…” “Should I not…” it’s like, “I’m doing this.” They know me well enough to know that they’re gonna get on board and just support that because it’s happening. Dave: Holly’s conviction makes success seem almost inevitable. But the truth is she’s faced some serious hurdles over the past decade. From dissolving a business partnership to weathering a major financial crisis, there have been plenty of times when Holly wondered if she might be happier leaving her business behind. Dave: What do you remember as some of the, or just the hardest parts of getting started? Holly: There’s been a lot. In terms of the hardest part, starting with the business partner and realizing really early on that our goals and certain aspects of our partnership weren’t gonna work, and then figuring out how do we navigate our way apart, that was really hard and it required lots of legal support and a huge financial stress and at least a year of dealing with that. And that really sort of reset the clocks, so it was like several years in, I was sort of starting all over again, both because of financial and because of… I mean, just emotionally being drained from that process. It’s, at least for me, it was very much like getting a divorce, where it’s a very personal connection that’s severed. So that was very difficult. And I would also say, right after that was the financial crisis of 2008. And so it was like business really dried up in a lot of ways. Before that, it had been sort of like, anybody that sort of had heard about Pilates and was kind of interested in it, would be like, “Oh, yeah. I’ll just try a class.” Well then it shifted to, if people had really, you know, a serious back injury or some specific, really particular need, then they might try it. But then having that, it meant you had to have a lot of, even a higher caliber of instructor that could specifically target that exact thing that that person came in for or the people wouldn’t keep coming. And so that was challenging to get through Dave: Do you ever find any time where you thought that maybe this isn’t gonna work? Holly: Many, many times. Certainly, when I was going through a business partnership divorce, that was one time when I was like, “I just need to get out of town. I’ll just leave town.” Dave: The old west… Holly: It did feel that way where it was like, I’m just gonna ride out into the sunset and leave all my problems behind. And that’s probably not the only time I felt like that. Also, when the economy within the financial crisis, it was not good. You couldn’t borrow any money. So I had no capital, I had nothing to work with. It was just like all I knew to do was dig in and work harder and know that it was gonna work because it had to work. And then since then, I think it’s always sort of ebbing and flowing. I think of it like a big ship or something that sometimes the water is calm but that’s brief and then it’s just like you’re sort of trying to not basically fully turn over, I don’t know. Dave: Well, you know, you mentioned like those tough times and then like you know you had to make it work. But why didn’t you just stop? Holly: I mean moved here from Michigan. I’m totally… not that all Michigan people are the same, but there’s a certain amount of grit that I think I just have into like, just built into who I am. My grandma always said, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest till the good is better and the better, best.” And like that’s totally… I don’t know, that just stuck with me, that was always like, “Work hard. If you work hard, you’ll succeed. If you keep working at it, you’ll eventually figure it out.” Failing or quitting, not that those are always related, but quitting really was never something I did. I can’t think of maybe more than one terrible job I’ve ever had that I

When Barbara Felix started her business, Felix the Cook, over ten years ago, she was looking for a way to provide for her family, while doing something she loved. Finding her sweet spot with custom-made sugar cookies, Barbara has attracted big name clients like Google Ventures, UPS, and The Four Seasons. How can your business do the same? Listen as Barbara shares her best secrets for attracting and delighting clients. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Barbara: I’ve spent plenty of time working in offices thinking, “How can I get out of here?” I am not a paper person. I don’t care what industry it’s in, I cannot stand sitting behind a desk. So with cookies, I just love being the boss and being the creative person. I get physically ill if I cannot create something. Dave: Meet Barbara Felix, owner of Felix the Cook. Like so many businesses owners, Barbara became her own boss to avoid a boring, cookie-cutter career. Starting a business of her own, Barbara has the freedom to spend her days as she likes — which in her case means delighting customers with custom-made sugar cookies. If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes to start a business — or if you’ve already started and you’re wondering how to take things to the next level, listen up. Today, Barbara shares her secrets for how a one-woman operation can use customer relationships to land big-name clients like Google Ventures, UPS, and The Four Seasons. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Many small businesses start with a combination of passion and necessity. When Barbara started her business over ten years ago, she was looking for a way to provide for her family, while doing something she loved. Listen as she describes her early attempts at finding the right fit and how an early mentor helped point her in the right direction. Barbara: Well, my dad was a cook. My dad always cooked at home. And I loved to play in the kitchen. I loved making things and my mother let me do whatever I want with butter, sugar and flour. So I have absolutely no fear of sweet stuff. And I grew up, got married, got divorced and decided I needed a career because I’ve been to high school, of course, but not much college. So there I was, a single mother with two children looking for something to do and I thought well, maybe I can take a cooking class and instead I decided to take the full program at the California Culinary Academy and do 16 months and come out as a chef. So I worked at a really fine restaurant for a couple years and then found it was just too difficult as a single mother to keep the hours of a kitchen, which were pretty brutal, and mind my kids. So I quit that and got into private chefing after a stint of making desserts for restaurants. There were a couple of small restaurants I worked for that didn’t have the time or the space to do their own pastry. So I’d do that for them. Again, pastry was always my favorite. And with the kids, I would make cookies with them every holiday like Halloween. I can’t get over it. That Halloween, I made black icing, my son was in heaven with black icing everywhere. So we’d do that and then one year one of my instructors was at the house for Christmas and she saw my cookies and she said, “Oh my God, Barbra, you have to sell these.” I said, “Really?” So because I trusted her, I pursued the cookies. I was private chefing at the time and I asked one of my clients what she thought. She suggested I get a year of cookies. So that was a great idea. So I designed 12 collections with 6 designs each to make up a dozen cookies for every month of the year, and got connected with a web designer, who started with that page, our cookies of the month. And from there it just grew. It was very word of mouth, very word of mouth. Dave: So, just talk us through kind of that inspiration for doing the cookies? Barbara: Oh! The inspiration was I can do this, and it’s fun and people pay me! That’s what it was. And that having someone whose opinion that I trusted told me they were wonderful. That’s what I needed because I get in my own little bubble where I can’t see outside. And if you go on cookies websites, it’s amazing what people are doing. They’re total artworks. And if you look at that, and then look at what I do and it’s like, well I’d never measure up. The funny thing is, is that they’re doing the same thing. Everybody is comparing, which is silly. But I wanted a way to make some money that wasn’t as difficult, as private chefing can be. I wanted to do something that I was entirely comfortable with, which is pastry. And it’s a fun job and it’s a happy job. People are so happy when they can get on my schedule. They are happy to order their cookies they’re anticipating, and they’re happy when they get them. So I like happy uplifting things. That’s why, I’m not curing cancer but I’m making people happy, nothing wrong with that. Dave: With cookie-making, Barbara found the sweet spot she was looking for. Now, she had to find something just as important — a loyal customer base.  Luckily, this wasn’t Barbara’s first business. Through her past endeavors, Barbara already had some ideas about her target market, what they wanted, and how best to reach them. Barbara: Now, I spent some time in Texas for 10 years and I had my own business there as well, making curtains and drapery and shades. And my first customer was a junior-league lady and I had learned very well. You tell a junior league lady, you’re set because they all tell each other, they all call each other. So with that experience, with the cookies I thought, I got to donate to the junior league. And I did the same thing. I picked a couple different charities and I’d make a significant donation and people started calling. And that’s how it started, with donations, because I had to get the word out. Dave: Did you set any goals for your business when you were first getting started? Barbara: Oh, I wish I could say yes! I wish I could say I followed my business plan to the T. I did not. My goal was to make some extra money. I’m a single mother with two kids, money was the ticket. So, with the help of friends, I thought it was important to get a website together and that was my first goal to get all those 12 months of designs made. Then to set up a photography booth or some way to get…I bought my first camera to do the photographs, my first little instant camera. And, to set up a business account, I set up a checkbook. The goals were very small and then to find charities where I could donate because I knew that’s where my market was. See, I knew, from my experience of having my business in Texas, I knew what these ladies wanted. I knew what they were looking for and knew where they were. I knew my market. And I knew what they needed. And that’s how I did it. Going for the upscale charity events and contacting people I knew in that area. Dave: What would you say makes your business different from others out there? Barbara: I would say the service. I mean, they love the taste of the cookies, there’s that. They love the cookies, they love what I do. But I’ve had people tell me, “Oh, you’re so flexible, and thank you” And it’s personable, you know, people get excited when they can talk to the person who’s actually making their product. It’s not going through several layers. In fact, a few years ago, well in 2004, Gwyneth Paltrow put me on her Goop website for Christmas. And that’s because I knew her driver. A friend of mine drove for her. I didn’t even know he was driving for her but that was my connection. And I got a lot of orders and one person called to check on her order and it was so funny the way she spoke. It’s like, “Can you go down on the factory floor and find the order?” and I said, “Ma’am I’m making your cookies.” And they’re so excited. They’re very excited to talk to the person. So I think that’s it. There’s no filter between me and the client. They call or they email or they talk to me. And that’s the way I like it. And even as I grow, I don’t know that I’ll give away that part of the business. I think I’ll still be the contact person. Dave: Barbara’s success comes from giving her customers an experience they can’t get anywhere else. By listening to her customers’ advice, Barbara creates relationships that make other people feel invested in her success. It’s no surprise that many of Barbara’s best new customers have come directly from her existing customer base. Dave: Yeah. Is there, is there some place that you go for advice or guidance? Barbara: Oh gosh, yes! Gosh, yes! I guess I’m just a friendly person. But I know so many people who seem to be more successful than I am and their always eager to help me. I have one friend I met when I was doing cookies for a charity function and it was being held at Pixar. It was a very big deal and I got to see the Pixar office. I got to look at an Oscar, like two feet from my face, a real Oscar. That woman moved on to another company and another company and she

What am I doing to make the world a better place? That’s the question that motivated Brian Beckon to leave the corporate world in the hopes of building a more democratic and just economy. As a securities lawyer and Vice President of Cutting Edge Capital, Brian has the knowledge and passion necessary to help entrepreneurs raise funds from both wealthy and community investors. Listen as he shares the most challenging parts of enacting change — from overcoming skepticism to applying solutions that have never been done before. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Brian: And there’s something kind of amazing that happens when you really believe in what you’re doing. If you’re just doing a job, and you’re working hard for a long time without a break, you can burn out. But if you’re doing something you’re passionate about, you almost never burn out. You may get discouraged, but you keep on going. Whereas, if it’s just a job you get discouraged you quit, you find another job. That is probably more than anything what has gotten us through difficult times. It’s just that focus on something much bigger than any one of us or even bigger than the firm itself. It’s something really huge. We feel at the risk of sounding cocky or arrogant, we feel that we need to keep doing it because if we don’t do it who will? Dave: That’s Brian Beckon, Vice President of Cutting Edge Capital — a consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs raise funds from both wealthy and community investors. Like so many business owners and entrepreneurs, Brian strives to make a difference by doing work that he believes in. As a securities lawyer, Brian left the corporate world in the hopes of building a more democratic and just economy. Today, he shares the most challenging parts of enacting change — from overcoming skepticism and growing an audience to applying solutions that have never been done before. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Have you ever felt like you’re not living up to your potential? In Brian’s early days out of law school, this became the rock in his shoe. Rather than sticking to a clearly laid out career path, Brian tried a few different directions to find something more meaningful. Listen as he describes how he discovered his passion for building a more democratic economy. Brian: How far back can I go? I’m a lawyer. I’ve been practicing in law for about 25 years. I went to law school back in the late 80s because I was trying to figure out what can I do to you know, make the world a better place. And I didn’t really know what else to do with a humanities degree, and I figured well, I’ll go to law school. And I came out of law school, and did the obligatory Law Firm. I was in the law firm for about five and a half years, kind of burned out I said, “What I’m I doing? I’m not doing anything to make the world a better place.” So I shifted gears, I did work as in-house corporate counsel for a couple of big publically traded companies. I had been doing securities-related work for a bank, so I was doing securities work for the Cartels Development Corporation, Side Base, a couple of big companies. And that felt better because I liked doing the securities work, but it still didn’t feel like I was really doing anything helpful for the world. So I did a major shift in about 2003 and I went to work for a nonprofit organization called RSF Social Finance. And that was really kind of a transformative experience for me because what they did was they had a community investment fund, a charitable loan fund where anybody virtually anyone in the nation could invest. And you don’t have to be wealthy. You could invest in their fund, and then the fund deploys that money in loans to nonprofits and other projects that are doing cool stuff in the world. And I love that, and I really, really felt right about the mission. I was there for about six years. Eventually, I wanted to move beyond the charitable loan fund. I really had that drive to democratize capital, democratize economy, open up opportunities for everybody to participate equally on a level playing field. Dave: Trading his burnout for burning passion, Brian discovered Cutting Edge Capital — a consulting firm created to offer better ways for entrepreneurs to raise capital from their own community. After meeting with the founding partners, Brian was asked to join the team and help increase the firm’s impact. Brian: Cutting Edge Capital’s mission is to democratize the economy. So in a way similar to what I was doing at RSF and yet the vision is much broader here. Because it’s not just about charitable work, although we do have a lot of clients who are nonprofits who are charitable, but really we’re all about community capital. That is open up opportunities for everybody to invest in local businesses, invest in something they believe in, whether it’s a nonprofit or a for-profit. Everybody should be able to invest in something meaningful. Investing should not just be a sand box for the rich, which is what it has typically been historically for the past several decades. And that we need to change. And so that’s…from looking an investor’s point of view but on an entrepreneur’s point of view, entrepreneurs should be able to raise capital from their own community. Without having to go to a Wall Street Bank, or you know a big VC firm or other institution that’s only going to look at them and you know, assess whether they can make 10 times their return on investment, and if not they’re non-fundable. Well, that’s not the way you know, to drive an equitable economy. So what’s unique here is that this is a team of folks who actually know how to do it. And we can you know, we know how to use the laws that currently exist. We don’t need to change the laws to democratize the economy. A lot of people think we need to change things. We need to change the rules, we need a new system. Well, maybe we do, but meanwhile we can utilize the rules as they currently exist, and we can change the economy now. A lot of people talk about the economy being broken. I will say, it’s not broken. The economy was as we know it sort of the systems and infrastructures and institutions that we have today were designed by the wealthy to concentrate wealth for the wealthy. And it’s doing that extremely effectively. It’s not broken at all. It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do. So what we want to do is change that, at a little bit more fundamental level and say…and again not by changing the laws, but by creating new institutions and infrastructure that can truly democratize. So the new economy it means a lot of different things. We look at it through the lens of capital because that’s what we do, but it also incorporates a lot of other aspects. There’s a social justice aspect, a racial justice aspect that’s really, really important. And there’s you know, it incorporates a recognition that there for example, is institutional racism embedded in the economy, and in our infrastructure and institutions. And that all needs to change. So in a sense the work that we’re doing is part of a much bigger movement to bring about a more equitable world, a more just and fair world. Dave: As a consulting firm lead by securities lawyers, Cutting Edge Capital has the knowledge and empathy needed to change traditional models. I asked Brian about the biggest economic problems he and his team are trying to solve. Brian: So in the conventional model, non-accredited investors and by non-accredited I mean investors who don’t have a million dollars in assets, you know this is the securities law term accredited. Who don’t have a million dollars in assets excluding the home, or don’t have at least $200,000 annual income or $300,000 with their spouse. So in the conventional system non-accredited investors are excluded from all the good investment opportunities. It’s a two tier system. There’s investment opportunities for the rich, which is 99% of the investment opportunities, and then there are those investment opportunities for the non-rich which is basically limited to Bank CDs, and publicly traded stocks. So anybody can open up E*TRADE account and buy stock in a publicly traded company, but the problem with that is first of all, the stock market doesn’t make the kind of returns that it’s purported to make. You can lose your money, but more fundamentally even if you pick…even if you open up an E*TRADE account or whatever brokerage account, and invest in companies that you really like and you think are doing cool stuff, not one penny of your money is going to those companies because you’re buying stock in the secondary market. And that’s true whether you’re buying the stock directly or through a mutual fund, some socially screen mutual fund that you think is exactly what you want. Either way, not one penny of your money is going to the company whose stock you’re buying. You’re simply buying from other shareholders and who makes a profit no matter what, Wall Street firms. So anyway,

When Susie Coliver started ARCH Art & Drafting Supply at 24 years old, she never could have anticipated how her business would evolve over the next 38 years. From skyrocketing rent prices in San Francisco to the rise of digital drafting tools, Susie keeps her store going by facing trends head on and maintaining strong relationships with her customers and staff. Listen as she shares how to stay relevant in a changing market and how she’s built a dedicated customer base that keeps her business going. Find us on Stitcher Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Susie: For me, I think that we have all learned to be so efficient in the way we transact our days. We’re able to multitask so completely. We’re able to do so much from our desktop or our laptop or our telephone that you can actually go through days and days and days of never actually talking to anybody. From my inexperience, but long-term perspective, we all lose out in that equation. That being human, we need and want the connection. Dave: You just heard from Susie Coliver, an architectural designer and the owner of ARCH Drafting Supply. Since starting her business over 38 years ago, Susie has faced challenges within an evolving San Francisco and architectural community. From skyrocketing rent prices to the rise of digital drafting tools, Susie’s store remains a cherished part of her community because of the connections she’s developed with her customers and staff. Today, she shares how to stay relevant in a changing market and how she built a devoted customer base. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Susie’s path to becoming a business owner is an interesting one. While many people start a business to pursue their passion, Susie initially started her store as a way to finance the work she loved to do. Listen as she shares how she decided to start ARCH Drafting Supply at just 24 years old. Susie: I came out of a very people-focused architectural education. Right out of school, I started doing architectural community organizing in an underserved neighborhood in San Francisco called Bernal Heights that was starting to undergo gentrification. And there was an effort being made to provide opportunities for families who had always lived there or whose children had lived there and had gone away and wanted to come back, to be able to come back. That it wouldn’t become so fabulously expensive that it would become out of reach. So I was doing this community organizing for about six months, and when I had tallied what I had actually been paid to do it, I realized I was being paid about 25 cents an hour. That’s what I was making. We figured the number of hours I was putting in and the paltry amount of money, and it was not sustainable. So, I’m trying to think of how… But I really loved it. So how would I keep doing this and pay for it? And simultaneously to the community organizing, I was also working part time in an architectural office. And I was the low person on the totem pole. At that time, to run an office, you needed a lot of supplies because computers hadn’t been invented yet. I was the one who had to go, when we ran out of the perfect green pencil or the roll of vellum or needed an ellipse template of a size that we didn’t already have in the office, I was the one who had to go and buy it. And the nearest place to buy that was about a half hour walk away. This was before people were bicycling. Nobody had bicycles then. This was in the late ’70s. It just wasn’t being done. Hitchhiking yes, but bicycling, no. And the place where the architectural office was, was in the middle of where all the architects in town were. Not all, maybe 75% of the architects in town were all within this one district. All those offices, the people had to go on a half an hour walk to get a single useful pencil. And I thought, “I wonder if I can open a store to serve the architectural community, all of which is in this neighborhood, and get it started, run it for six months or something, hire some great people, and go back to my community organizing full time,” which is really what I wanted to do. I wasn’t enjoying the work in the architectural office, and I was enjoying the work that wasn’t paying me. So, I did it. I found a tiny, little space. It was probably 400 square feet. It had been a garage. And started it with $4,000, which was what I needed to outfit it and buy inventory. In those days, you could do that. Today it would take close to $1 million, but then it was in this city. Four thousand dollars got us off the ground. And the only part of the calculation that didn’t work is the six months and then go back to doing what I set out to do. It was more like two and a half years until I could extricate myself enough to do anything else. It was two and a half years of 80-hour weeks. And then for like the next, I don’t know, 8 or 9 years, it was 40 hours on other stuff, architectural organizing, and 40 hours of store. It was still an 80-hour week, but it wasn’t 80 hours in the store. Dave: The same passion that Susie felt for community organizing began to spill over to her store. At ARCH, Susie curated a world of technical pens, ellipse templates, rolls of vellum, and fine Swiss made compasses. The store’s incredible selection, along with a knowledgeable and helpful staff, quickly established ARCH as the go-to place for architectural supplies and support. Susie: We were serving as the sole supplier of architectural drafting supplies and knowledge, because we knew what architects needed and because I’d done it, and we knew what they didn’t know they needed but that we knew existed. So we became the “Cheers” of the architecture community. It was the place and actually the only place, short of the local offices of the AIA, which is the American Institute of Architects, short of a professional stomping ground. We became the place for the architecture community to meet. It became a hangout. Any time you came, you knew you would see people you knew. I think the people who come to us recognize “Their pricing is good, it’s fair,” and they recognize that in order to pay our staff a living wage, we cannot compete with online businesses, and we don’t try. We’re in it for the face-to-face, we’re in it for the engagement, for the relationship-building. We know the community of artists in San Francisco, they know us. There’s a lot of mutual respect. They treat us as peers, especially our staff who’ve been here forever, and they’ve grown up with them. And they look to us as a place where people know their stuff. We’re used as a resource. We are on the phone a lot more than most businesses are these days because people call us for advice all the time. Now, is that to say that people call us for advice and don’t then go buy the product online? No. Some of them do. But we’ll keep giving the advice regardless because we know, in time, that builds value. Dave: Despite quickly establishing her business and customer base, it wasn’t long after Suzie opened ARCH’s doors that the whole architectural industry changed.  As design went digital, the demand for drafting materials declined significantly. Suzie and her staff had no choice, but to shift their focus to reach a wider creative community. Susie: The business has shifted focus a couple of times, out of necessity. When we started, we were strictly architectural drafting supplies. We didn’t have art supplies. When CAD, Computer Agent Design, came in to the architecture profession…and when I say architecture initially, that was architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering, structural engineering, and all of the related construction design professions. But they all took on CAD within a five-year period. It went from needing a full cohort of supplies and equipment, to needing nothing that we sold. During that five years, we transitioned to being a supplier to architecture students. So, less focus on the professional, more on architecture students who were still being taught things traditionally. It wasn’t until later that the architecture students also went on to CAD. Although architecture students still buy supplies and remain a large part of our business. But we did transition over that period into art materials. We were trying to focus on the kinds of materials that not every other art store sold, things that were hard to find. So that there would be a reason for people to come to us. Because we can’t compete on breadth of stock. At this moment, there is a great interest in this area — I don’t know nationally, but in this area — in the maker movement, in making things. There is a backlash against technology of a sort, or folding technology into a craft tradition. And with that rise of interest in making things by hand, there’s a lot of prototyping going o

When Libby and Brad Birky decided to start Colorado’s first pay-what-you-can restaurant, So All May Eat (or SAME) Café —  no one thought their idea would work. Now, after ten successful years in business, Libby and Brad share their story on the today’s episode of Small Biz Stories. Listen as they share how they transformed a unique idea into a thriving business. Find us on Stitcher Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. You can also read the transcript below: Libby: I would say most people were really polite… Brad: Yes. Libby: …and listened and cheerleaded us. And I’m certain that as soon as we walked away, they were like, “Those morons.” Brad: Yeah. To our faces it was, “Oh, good for you guys! That’s great!” As soon as we turned around, “That’ll never work.” Libby: We’ve at least had one person admit to it. Brad: Yeah. Libby: Yeah. Who, you know, probably three or four years ago came back and said, “When you told me you were gonna do this, I thought you were nuts and that would never work. And here you are.’ I’m like, yeah, see. Dave: Ten years later. Libby: Yes, yes. Brad: Ten years later. Dave: That’s Libby and Brad Birky, co-founders of So All May Eat (or SAME) Café. Colorado’s first pay-what-you-can restaurant. Today, they’ll share what it takes to run a successful nonprofit restaurant. From their early sacrifices to the life-changing moments that make it all worth it, you’ll learn how they transformed a unique idea into a thriving business. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: SAME Café sits on Colfax Avenue — the longest commercial street in the United States. Walk along this 26-mile street and you’ll come across a variety of mom and pop shops, including independent bookstores, record stores, iconic bars, and famous bakeries. But SAME café still manages to stand out. The café’s cornfield yellow walls, freshly cut wildflowers, and window tower garden take you out of the hustle of the city and into a place of comfort. Listen as Brad describes how he and Libby were first inspired to start their business. Brad: Let’s see. So Libby and I, we’re college sweethearts. We started dating when we were both in college in different states, did the whole long distance relationship thing, but we grew up within 20 minutes of each other. Our parents actually kind of knew each other. They were in similar fields. Our dads were both in road construction. Moms were both school-related workers. And so we just kind of fell into each other and started dating. And as soon as we graduated from college, it was like five minutes later I think we got married. And we started looking for a place to volunteer, to give, build community. We wanted to be part of this. This is kind of how we were raised. We were both raised in somewhat religious households. So Libby was raised as a Catholic. I was raised in the Mennonite Church. And so we were taught to do stuff for and with other people. So we started volunteering at soup kitchens and shelters and cooking and just got hooked and wanted to figure out how to make that volunteer lifestyle and serving others into a more permanent full-time job or life. And that’s how the SAME Café kind of came around. Dave: After moving to Denver from Central Illinois, Libby started teaching at a specialty school and Brad contracted as a computer consultant. Still, neither one of them could shake the idea of creating their own space. Somewhere they could make a meaningful difference. Brad: And one day we were flying back from a trip to Austin, Texas, and on the flight back, we were just like where we both had…we’re done. We’re ready to figure out what’s gonna be next. So we took out the inflight magazine and started writing down ideas. And like, “Well, what if we started a restaurant? But it can’t be a regular restaurant. Restaurant workers, you know, the hours are terrible. You never see each other. But what if we started a restaurant that didn’t have any prices and we could feed people who really need it and make a difference, not just, you know, make a dollar?” So it was a great brainstorming session and we landed all inspired and we started to figure out if it was legal to make a nonprofit restaurant in Colorado. It turns out it is. They don’t recommend it necessarily, but it’s legal. You can do it. Dave: After landing on an idea, they were both excited about, Libby and Brad had to figure out how to make their dream a reality. Listen as they describe some of their earliest challenges. Libby: We tried to do our homework. We tried to be as prepared as possible. I say we had no business starting a business. But because I was a teacher, I spent all my summers researching all kinds of business plans and opening a restaurant in Denver and all the crazy things. So we did as much research as we possibly could ahead of time. So that we went into it with, you know, as much knowledge as we could gather. I wouldn’t say we knew everything because we learned lots, but at least we had some kind of system and thought process to it. It was enough to convince our parents that we had thought it through. Brad: So that when we took all the money out of our retirement accounts to start the café with that, they didn’t totally freak out. Dave: Yeah. Were you guys doing both or were you working still and doing this? Brad: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I kept working all the way until we’ve been open…the restaurant had been open for a year and a half. I was still doing at least part-time IT consulting on the side and Libby kept teaching up until… Libby: Year three. Brad: Year three, yeah. So we were trying to keep that safety net there and pay back the loan, do our retirement accounts and… Libby: And health insurance. Brad: …keep health insurance and, yeah, make our mortgage payment, all that stuff. Because we didn’t take a salary from the café up until the other job… We would quit the other job, that’s when we started getting paid here. So that’s 18 months for me, 36 months for Libby. So a lot of free volunteer work. Dave: In addition to some financial maneuvering, one of the most difficult parts of getting started was selling the city on an idea that had never been done before. As a nonprofit restaurant, a lot of legal requirements weren’t written for Libby and Brad’s type of business. Brad: I’d say for me the hardest part was trying to paint a picture to the city and county government of what we were trying to do. And figure out what requirements we had to follow because we weren’t a nonprofit. We weren’t a regular restaurant or full-service restaurant. We were kind of this hybrid of in between. And they really want you to be one or the other. And if you’re a restaurant, then they want you to have a $250,000 build-out plan of all these systems and extra things that we’re gonna be way beyond the scope of the foods that we were gonna be serving. So we are trying to navigate through all of that without having ever been through that process before. I don’t know how people start restaurants that have never done it before on a shoestring budget. Because it takes so long and there’s so many different red tape areas that you have to navigate through. Until we finally had somebody take us under their wing and say, “Look, I’m gonna take you from department to department and explain it for you in terms that they will understand.” If it wouldn’t have been for that, I don’t know if we would have been able to even open by October, which means we would have run out of money. Because we were down to our last couple hundred bucks by the time we finally opened the doors. Libby: Yeah. I would agree 100%. Even with all of the systems that the city and county put in place, it was still hard. Like they had, you know, some kind of step-by-step flyer that you could pick out for opening a restaurant which still was like reading a foreign language to us. I still didn’t understand what it meant. One of our last things was something about the ventilation in the space. There wasn’t enough ventilation. And the first guy was like, “You need to put in a $250,000 hood system, all these things.” And Brad and I were like, “Ahh.” There’s no way possible. And the next guy we got said, “Just tell him you will open the front door and install a fan in the back.” Like, “Seriously? Okay, yes. That’s what we’re gonna do.” But then it was like you just had to make sure you got the right person or you… Brad: Yeah. A $250 fan as opposed to a $250,000 exhaust… Libby: Fifty-thousand-dollar hood. Yeah. Brad: …all because there’s some 50-year-old law in the books about Legionnaire’s disease that used to run rampant through old buildings. Because they didn’t have enough recycled air or they were only on recycled air… Libby: Only recycled air. Brad: They didn’t have enough fresh air. Like we have windows and doors, we’ll open them. Libby: Yes. But it was so… It was just that whole process was really challenging. Dave: After a couple challenging years e

Traci Brown is a body language and persuasion expert whose winning mindset propels her business to success. Today, on episode 10 of the Small Biz Stories podcast, Traci shares her best stories — like the time she got a product deal with Kevin Harrington, a Shark from ABC’s hit show Shark Tank — as well as her biggest setbacks. You’ll hear her unexpected journey from champion athlete to body language expert and her best advice for other business owners. Find us on Stitcher Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Traci: Here’s the thing: If you’re waiting for someone to give you some kind of approval, you’re way behind the curve. And I can’t always say that I’ve been the most successful person that there is, but I can say that I’ve learned a few things about how to not quit. Dave: That’s Traci Brown, body language expert, keynote speaker, and former champion athlete who knows: if you don’t play, you can’t win. Welcome back to Small Biz Stories! This season, we’re back with businesses — from a pay-what-you-can restaurant to a capital raising consulting firm — to find out how they turned their dreams into reality. Today, Traci shares how her unlikely path led her to a product deal with Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. And how a winning mindset can propel you to victory, even in the face of setbacks. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Have you ever met someone unstoppable? Someone with so much drive and energy, the room can hardly contain it. Sitting in Traci’s home in Boulder, Colorado, her energy and confidence is tangible — which explains how she can command a keynote stage and work a packed room. Listen as she shares her unexpected journey from winning athlete to body language and persuasion expert. Traci: it’s funny how one really…life kind of unfolds if you just follow it. And I raced bikes for, gosh, 12, 14 years and I got pretty good at it. I won three national championships in college and I rode for team USA. And through that time I knew one thing about myself is that I was the wrong size to be a cyclist. I was too tall, strength to weight ratio wasn’t there for me. But I knew that I could outsmart my competition if I watched them really closely and started to anticipate what they were going to do. That gave me the information that I needed to raise my game and beat them on certain days. And a few days when it counted, it was nice. But through that, I started telling her, “Wait a minute. Okay, so the same things that I’m looking for in bike racing to get ahead, what if I applied that to business?” And the tells are different but I was able to start to…I wanted that same level of knowledge as to who was across from me and what were they likely thinking and what were they about to do next. Dave: Traci, obsessed with understanding how to persuade and influence people, became certified in neurolinguistic programming, which is the practice of understanding how people organize their thinking, feeling, language, and behavior to produce the results they do. The practice teaches body language, persuasion, and how to create deep unconscious rapport. Traci started to find that she had a strong grasp on using these tools outside of the clinical setting. Traci: And so there was a time right about 2008 that I decided okay, it’s time to speak, right? I really want to be a keynote speaker, a professional speaker. And the problem is right about then the recession hit and everybody canceled their conferences. Which is not…that’s what you need to be a speaker is a conference to go in and speak at or a meeting. And I was…I thought I’d be the retired athlete who spoke to corporate America and pumped them up. Well, it was hard to sell. It wasn’t an easy sell. It’s not always done very well and I think it’s a little bit overdone. And so I was having a hard time booking and the few bookings that I did have canceled. In the first week of January 2009, everything canceled. And I said “Okay. I need to get in front of as many people as I can get in front of. I don’t care if they pay me.” It was just a little deal I made with myself. And right about then my phone rang and it was a client of mine and he said, “Hey, I know you know this body language stuff.” And I said…and this is a quote. I said, “Who cares?” And he said, “No, people care now.” I’m like, “Keep talking.” And he said “Look, I’m the new executive director of the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association. Money for focus groups to try out arguments on juries has just dried up. Lawyers need to pick and persuade a jury on the fly. I know you know how to do that. Put together a program and come in. I’ll see you in three weeks.” And I went,” Well, nothing else is on my schedule. I might as well go.” And it went so well that I said, “Huh, maybe I have something here.” And so whenever I’d be talking to someone about maybe speaking to their group, I’d say “Well, I have this great insight, the championship mind program. It is phenomenal. You’ll be able to do anything when you’re done or…I have this body language program.” And everyone went: ‘Body language?’ And I said, “Yeah, I’ll teach you how to persuade and influence using your own body language.” And it got to the point I couldn’t talk anyone out of it. And I just ran with it because it was really a lesson in listening to what the market wants from you. And I still continue to do that and to make little shifts in what I do to better reach the audience, to niche a little tighter and make the bigger feat. Dave: Shifting her focus to body language meant that Traci had a whole new industry to understand. Her first step was to learn how she could get in front of the right people and build her audience.   Traci: You know, it was a slow progression over time because I still didn’t know what the market would bear. I still didn’t know much about the speaking industry because there’s a whole…I mean, there’s a whole industry and it’s called the meetings industry. And you…and it’s not something that’s in your face. But if you start to look you go, “Wait a minute. There are conferences every day all over the place.” And so I had to figure out who was going to want me. And over time, I just started to figure out, “Okay, sales people are going to like this and maybe customer service.” Now, the sales people have bitten harder than the customer service people, right? And that’s something that I learned. And I’ve worked a lot with the wedding industry because weddings are very high touch. It’s probably the highest level of emotion a sale is going to happen with. And even when you start to niche within that people say “Oh, the rich is where the niche is.” And it’s true, right? But I think you have to naturally find that niche. You can’t just decide it for yourself. At least for me that’s not how it’s been. And so what has happened is I started out working with…well, pretty much anyone in the wedding industry. So who’s in the wedding industry? You’ve got a lot of venues, cake makers, flower people. But then you’ve got the bridal salons, right? And the high-end bridal salons have started to hire me, to bring me in so that not only am I teaching them how to deeply connect with the bride. But here’s the thing. Nobody ever buys a wedding dress alone. Never. And so I teach them how to read the whole group, bring the group together into one to make one decision. Dave: That’s really interesting, yeah, yeah. Traci: Yeah, and you can do that all through body language. And obviously, you’ve got to open your mouth at some point. So I have a whole unit on words and persuasive language. And again, it goes with profiling people. So wedding industry. I’ve worked with car sales people, I’ve worked with auto body paint refinish people. The apartment industry, I work a lot in the apartment industry. And a new niche that I’m going into which I think is going to be really big is for my lie detection segment because I do teach how to read body language and there’s a certain body language that goes with lying is banking and finance type folks and detecting fraud. And that can be a pretty expensive problem. Dave: Sure, yeah. Traci: And so that’s a new thing, but it seems to be going pretty well. So those are some of the niches I work in. I never know what’s going to happen tomorrow and I just roll with it and see where it leads me. Dave: As Traci’s business picked up steam, she increased her reach to land larger clients and opportunities. But, there’s one opportunity that stands above the rest. Listen as Traci describes the play-by-play that lead to a product deal with Kevin Harrin

Dawn Noble is the owner of La Provence in Rockport, Massachusetts. Since taking over the store 10 years ago, Dawn has learned what it takes to be a successful small business owner. Listen as she shares the unexpected way she became a business owner, her biggest challenges and lessons, and her best advice for others looking to start their own business. Find us on Stitcher Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. You can be a marketer, all it takes is Constant Contact. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Dawn: Just knowing that the harder I work, I was going to benefit. You can work like crazy for somebody else, but they’re not going to appreciate you, necessarily. And just knowing that all the hard work I was doing was going to come back to me. It was going to pay off. Dawn Noble is the owner of La Provence in Rockport, Massachusetts. Like all the owners we’ve spoken to in the first season of Small Biz Stories, Dawn has a gift. From the moment you enter her store, you’re transported by the vibrant colors of French linens and bright bread baskets. The French-milled soaps fill the store with smells of Jasmine Ginger and Rosemary Mint. It’s the type of place you could spend hours exploring each and every detail. Since taking over the store 10 years ago, Dawn has learned what it takes to be a successful small business owner. Today, in our final interview of the season, Dawn shares the unexpected way she became a business owner, her biggest challenges and lessons, and her best advice for others looking to start their own business. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Becoming a business owner can take months, or even years, of careful planning. But for Dawn, the journey started unexpectedly. Dawn: It was sort of happenstance — it was completely by accident. I was working at what was then called The Greenery Restaurant, and I was about to start graduate classes. I had finished college, and it was my favorite store in town, La Provence. I had tablecloths from there, I had soap, I had colognes. I loved the owners, they were great guys. And Bill, one of the previous owners, Bill Chisholm, came into the restaurant one day and he just said…they were trying to sell the business, one of the owners was really sick. It wasn’t an ideal situation for them, so they were looking basically for an exit strategy from the business. It had been there baby for 10 plus years, so it was really hard. So he came in one day and he just…we were talking and he said, “You should buy La Provence.” And I was like, “Yeah. No. What?” I was like, “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. I know nothing.” I had an art background, a photography background, and I waitressed for 10 plus years. And so I went home and I mentioned it to my dad, who is an entrepreneur himself. And I said, “What you think, dad?” And he said, “Go for it.” And I was shocked because I just couldn’t believe my dad said, “Go for it.” So I thought about it and I’m like, “Yeah. I’m going to give it a try.” So I basically had a three month plan, literally a three month plan. The guys were great, they helped me with my first big order to France. I basically sent all the money I had to a company in France that I wasn’t even sure existed. It was a totally leap of faith, and I just sent all my money over there and I hoped they sent me products, and they did, thankfully. And I’ve just been going ever since. That was 10 years ago. So it’s been awesome, it’s been amazing. Dave: Making the switch from customer to business owner meant Dawn had to learn a lot in the first year. She remembers her biggest challenges. Dawn: Well, money because I didn’t take out any loans. I was like, “I’m going to do this on my own.” My biggest learning experience was what sells? I don’t know anything about what’s going to sell. Jean François and Bill helped me with the first orders and any questions, they were great. I would call them with questions every single day basically, I would call him. But their style too, was so different, so I learned that in the beginning. They were steering me towards products that I didn’t necessarily have the same affinity for, so it took me like three or four years to really make the store my own, probably five years where everything in the store was more hand-picked by me. I learned what the customers were looking for, what their needs were, what they were going to basically want to buy and put in their homes. Dave: Aside from money, what were some of the challenges that you were running into? Dawn: Oh God, everything. What wasn’t a challenge? Knowing the inventory, knowing how much the order, my orders were all over the place. The orders I used to place, when I look back I just laugh because I would spend $500 with the soap company. Now I don’t place an order unless it’s 3,000. I just don’t. And before I’d be like, “Okay, I don’t need three cases, I’ll just get one case.” And now I’m like, “Okay, we’re in it. If we don’t have it we can’t sell it.” So that was just learning the inventory, learning what sells, learning when to order because you don’t order inventory one day and get it the next, sometimes it can be two to three weeks. And if you miss two to three weeks in the summer, you miss a lot of money in Rockport, so you have to time out your orders, you have to be really ahead of that. So just knowing when, especially when to place the order to France because that takes a long time to come here. So knowing how to time that, definitely what to order, what your customers are looking for, and making time just to pay bills. When you’re working 70 hours a week in the beginning, when do you pay your electric bill? You got to come up with a schedule basically. Dave: Getting to know her customers and staying organized helped Dawn gain confidence as a business owner. Dawn also maintains strong relationships with other business owners in her community. Together, they support each other and work to drive business during the slower winter season. Dawn: It was great because I knew so many shop owners from coming in the restaurant. They all knew me and I knew of so many locals. And even tourists that come once a year, they knew me from the restaurant, so a lot of them followed me to the store, they loved to come check in, and they’ve grown with me over the past 10 years. They know my kids. They come in and ask about my family and my kids. And I do the same. I can’t imagine being isolated. I just can’t imagine the big city feel because it’s so…when we just walked up the coffee shop, I said hi to 10 people. Everybody knows each other. And yeah, it’s a great town. It’s awesome. Dave: So seasonality, right? You mentioned that a bit, so tell us about what’s your ebb and flow like with the year. Dawn: So Rockport is known as a seasonal town, unfortunately. I am open year-round. A lot of my fellow business owners through Dock Square and Main Street are open year-round, but we still have that stigma that we shut down, so it’s tough. We’ve tried to do different promotions, and to promote throughout the summer that yeah, we’re here. We’re here all winter long. But it is tough because we’re at the end of the line. You don’t accidentally pass through Rockport, you’ve got to be coming here, unless you’re really lost. So we’re trying to attract people in the off-season, and that’s been tough. But we do have a pretty long season. Once May hits, we get busy from May and then through the summer crowds, and then we have a great fall crowd, usually people coming to see the foliage, a lot of bus tours. And then the holidays are great here. I think more people should come here for the holidays because it’s just beautiful here during…Christmas time’s my favorite time of year in Rockport. It’s amazing. But then yeah, January, February, and March, yeah, it’s tough to get people to come to Rockport, so we’re trying different things, me and a few other shop owners because this is our livelihood, it’s our job. Unless I’m going to get another job, which I don’t want to. We’ve really got to step it up and work together to attract people here. Dave: As you might imagine, the holidays are a busy time for Dawn. I asked her how she inspires people to shop small and support local businesses during this busy season. Dawn: December’s a huge month for us, especially where we’re very gift oriented. We have so many gifts for all prices. If you’re looking to buy a $20 gift, not only do I have plenty of gifts to sell you, there’s so many great stores in Rockport. It’s like an outdoor shopping plaza, it’s great. We’re all so different. You’re not going to see, pretty much you’re not going to see any of the same product lines in the stores. So you can find something for everybo

Kellee Twadelle, owner of Rose & Dove Specialty Gift Shop, is proud to own her own business. In this episode, Kellee shares how support from her local business community, quality staff, and loyal customer base keep her business going strong throughout various industry changes and personal challenges. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Kellee: It was nice sort of being in charge of your own destiny. Then again on the flip side, there’s so much pressure in wanting to make it succeed and that always in the back of your head, that chance of failure. I think seeing my father and how successful he was, that fear of failure, I sort of had this drive. “I’ve got to just keep going and running with this and changing and mixing it up and evolving.” I think anyone who goes straight to starting their own business has got such great moxie. My hat is off to them because that’s pretty amazing, too. At least I’ve got a base, a foundation of . . . I was a project manager, so I kind of knew how to approach certain things and events and I’m like “Okay. I can kind of use that template.” But someone coming, brand-new, that’s pretty incredible. Dave: Earlier this year, we surveyed small business owners to hear about the sacrifices and rewards of owning your own business. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that 59 percent of those surveyed agreed that the freedom to try new things, make your own mistakes, and control your destiny is the best part of running a small business. As important as personal freedom is to many owners, listening to their stories has shown that no successful business is truly self-sufficient. Today you’ll hear from Kellee Twadelle, owner of Rose and Dove Specialty Gift Shop. Kellee shares how support from her local business community, quality staff, and loyal customer base keep her business going strong throughout various industry changes and personal challenges. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Unlike a few of the other business owners we’ve talked to, Kellee didn’t start off her career as an owner. After spending over a decade working in the corporate world, Kellee shifted her focus to explore other talents. Kellee: We moved to North Andover back in 1998 and at that point, I was a stay-at-home mom raising two kids. By the time they both got to elementary school, I started getting antsy and wanted to sort of tap into the artistic side. I had been doing 12 years in system conversions. I had a master’s in computer science. It’s a pretty intense, rigorous 24/7 job and didn’t want to go back to the corporate world. I actually started making jewelry and going to craft fairs and traveling around selling to stores. Then just being in the retail environment, realized that’s something I just wanted to sort of tap into and start my own business. That’s how Rose & Dove evolved. Dave: When it came time to move beyond making her own product, and expand to a retail location of her own, Kellee initially pulled inspiration from her corporate background. Dave: How did you get to that point where you’re like “All right, it’s time to do my own shop” rather than bringing your wares around to others? Kellee: I think I liked the idea of having diversity in product and selling . . . I’ve sort of gotten a taste of the wholesale side back and selling to retail stores, sort of the retail side being in the festival environment and just wanted to expand upon jewelry and offerings. At the time, the model was corporate. Targeting companies, because that had been my background, for gift-giving to their clients to say “Thank you,” to give around for their employees. We did a lot with food and gift baskets. We had our wine license. For a while, that was working. But then when the economy changed, the whole model had to change and we shifted to more of . . . we changed our tagline. I worked with a marketing person and more towards the line of “Artful and affordable gifts for everyday occasions.” Finding something that wasn’t going to break the bank, but was a nice gift, it sort of represented who they were gift-giving to. It was just that price point level. It started with small gifts and then just sort of expanded. Dave: In addition to her own professional experience, Kellee’s inspiration for Rose and Dove comes from her father, who served as an important role model and motivated her to persevere through some early business challenges. Dave: Where does the inspiration for the store come from? Was anybody in your family an entrepreneur? Did anybody else own a business? Kellee: My dad was blue-collar, I should say, he was an electrician. He really instilled, I think, a strong work ethic in myself in terms of . . . I think just setting a goal and working towards that and doing everything you could to make it successful. I spent a lot of long hours in Lawrence sort of building the business. How do we build our customer base? For me, the most important thing is our customers. We have such a loyal customer base, it’s amazing. They have supported us in Lawrence and then when we moved to North Andover, they came and supported us here. That’s really the premise of the business. I think that drives me to find new products for them every year so they have got diversity in the gifts that they’re giving and there’s always something new and fresh for them. Dave: Did you ever receive any push-back when you . . . “All right, I’m going to start my own business.” Kellee: Absolutely. It’s the typical . . . the syndrome of a small business owner. You’ve got that panic. Those first couple of years are so trying. And I just threw myself out there. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no marketing background, I had no business background. It was a lot of trial by error and you learn and you build upon it and you try not to look at it as a setback. Just say “Okay, what can I take from this?” Then figure out “Let’s move forward.” Put that behind and how can we turn a negative into a positive? Dave: Can you tell us a little bit more about that? What were some of the hardest parts for you when you were starting out? Kellee: I think it was the location of the business. I really loved the charm of the historic building, the mill building that we were in. It was during a process of where Lawrence was going through the whole Gateway Revitalization Project. I really thought that there was momentum in a five to ten-year pace that they would be on track and there would just be this viable . . . just bring all these old buildings back to life. Unfortunately, one of the larger developers lost his funding because he had sort of the “Go Green” concept and they found asbestos in the buildings. That really set, I think, that whole project back years. Then with the bridge closing, I wasn’t getting the traffic from Andover which is one of our . . . we have a significant number of customers from Andover. At that point, I had to really think about “Okay, where are we going with this? What are we going to do?” I loved the concept of the store, people loved the product. Instead of being a destination store, I had to find somewhere we could be an anchor and really be visible. Dave: Making her business visible and growing her customer base has relied on strong communication with her existing customer base. Kellee began using email marketing in the early years of her business as a way to keep in touch with her customers and keep them up-to-date on the products she has in-store. Dave: What were the most challenging aspects for you besides finding the location in those beginning years? Kellee: It was the marketing portion of it. How do you get the word out that you’re there? There’s the print and direct mail and those are so costly. Then there’s building your database and we were from it, the get-go, really consistent about gathering our customers’ information once they came in and having a system in place that we could track their sales. What is the hot thing right now? What’s trending in terms of jewelry? Are we doing better in baby or bridal versus home accents, tabletop? We could gauge the back end in our buying part of it by capturing their e-mails was probably the smartest thing we ever did. Because then through software programs like Constant Contact, we were able to touch, but not inundate them. We always were of the philosophy of sending one to two e-mails a month, just letting them know sort of what’s new, what’s happening, events, special events. Making them feel special that “Thanks for supporting us in giving your e-mail’ and that’s how we do a lot of special offers out through those e-mails. Dave: You mentioned you send an e-mail out about a couple of times a month or so. What are some of the things that you do in there? What is your approach to doing that? Kellee: Obviously, the time of the year. I’ll start the beginning of the year and be like R

Jim Kilroy, owner of Danish Country Antiques, knows what it takes to be a small business owner. Listen as he shares how he’s stayed motivated for over 30 years, his best advice, and what it really means to think like an owner. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Jim: There was no hard part. You just did it. You had to do it. There was no choice. I wasn’t going to go apply for a job. I just had to do it. And I had to succeed one way or the other. My wife was pregnant. You know what I mean? I had no money. I had to succeed. It was as simple as that. And I did. I was lucky. Dave: Jim Kilroy, owner of Danish Country Antiques, is the sixth business owner we’ve interviewed for Small Biz Stories. Since starting the project three months ago, we’ve talked to people like Andy and Jackie, who sold their home to start their own artisan bakery. Then there was Peter, a man who loves cheese enough to roll a 400 pound wheel of it down a red carpet during his annual cheese parade. We heard from Marie, who keeps her business going by displaying her talent both online and off. And most recently, Jason and Chris shared how their efforts contribute to community development and make a lasting impact. With each story comes a new adventure, shaped by the owners and their unique points of view. But look closer and you’ll start to see some unmistakable commonalities. These are people who hit the ground running on day one, and have followed through ever since. Their motivation comes from a strong desire to call the shots, as well as an unwavering belief in the value of what they do. Like a handcrafted Danish cabinet from the 1760s, these traits can’t be forged or copied. When you see the real deal, you just know it. Today Jim shares how he has stayed motivated for over 30 years, his biggest business regret, and what it really means to think like an owner. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Starting a small business, it doesn’t take long to realize what you’re up against. Listening to Jim talk about the early days of his business, you’ll hear his determination, as well as the importance of having a support system to make it through some early challenges. Jim: I was going to do an antique store one way or the other. Dave: What year was that when you started the shop? Jim: That was in ’84. Dave: ’84? Jim: Yeah. It was actually ’83 when I planned it, but it was ’84 when I opened it. Dave: Did you get any push back from folks who were like . . . ? Jim: No. No. No. No. No. Everybody was thrilled actually and then when I came back and found this location, everybody pitched in. It was a family affair. We painted the ceiling blue and my friends we did the basement. We tore out a wall. We did all this stuff. It was really, well, I see it happening around here, too, with small shops. People come in on a Saturday and Sunday and they blow through it. It took us a bit longer. This place was a real dump, but we got it all together within a month and then the container. I had already bought the furniture and we unloaded the first container in a snowstorm right out front. Four of us. Dave: Snowing? Jim: Yeah. It was snowing. Wind coming that direction was blowing in the back of the container. It was classic. Dave: New England. Jim: Yeah, I know. But on the other hand everybody was kind of interested. What’s going on? You know? And I was a lot younger in ’84 and it was really new merchandise for Boston. I was very lucky. This was before Pottery Barn. This was before you guys saw the blonde wood that you see there or you see there or you see behind you. I was really, I can’t say the first, but I was damn close to the first and then I was really big on it. Talking about inventory. So that’s how I got started. Dave: The pieces that Jim chooses to fill his shop are what make his store unique. Jim still travels to Scandinavia a couple times each year to hand pick each piece of inventory. Walking through his shop, you’ll notice lanky Swedish clocks, matching Mid Century chairs, and gleaming Chinese lacquered tables. Jim: I was never a guy . . . I didn’t want to expand to the typical Georgian mahogany and the English this and the French that and the Italian this. I wanted to always do something a little bit on the edge and the pine, I know people find it hard to believe, but it was on the edge at the beginning and it was very successful. So I didn’t have to worry about the first five years of being a success. It was more how to keep the momentum going, how to do it right, how to always keep the quality. And one thing about this business, one of the best things, is you learn every day. There’s no such thing as knowing it all. Never, ever, ever. I mean, I don’t know a thing about silver. People come in and ask me, do you know? No. I don’t know a thing. I know what I know. And you can learn something new about that every day, too. Dave: Yeah. What is it about one being a small business owner and this business that excites you the most? Jim: Well, excite, after 30 years I don’t know if excites is really the right word but keep me going I’d say is that every day is a new day and you have to make it that way, because no one else is going to do it. I mean, no one’s going to tell you to do it. But it really is and because you do come in and you do learn something and sometimes you learn something from reading. Sometimes you learn from people coming in and talking to them. We just start talking but you do get a chance to talk to people and 95% of the people are really nice. I wish it were 100 but it’s not. Dave: Yeah. Jim: So that’s where, excitement, I’d say the motivation to come in and if I had extra time, what was I doing? Cleaning the windows. I don’t really want to clean the windows and climb on the bars, but guess what? They had to get cleaned. Jim: And so that’s what you do. Dave: Would you ever go back to working for somebody else? Jim: I don’t think anybody would hire me. Are you kidding me? What am I going to do? No. Well, I wish you wouldn’t say that. No. I run into people young and old who I say act like owners and they don’t just stand there and say, “Okay. What do I do next?” They are already thinking ahead. They’re already saying, okay, if you’re the boss what do you need? I’m going to try to make it so that I’m almost giving it to you before you need it. And that’s thinking like an owner. So I’m trying to think, like now, on inventory, on my buying trips, I’m thinking what do people want? Now I don’t really know what people want. I just, it’s from listening to them, it’s from looking at the magazines. From reading this or just getting a feel for things. And we did the Chinese before anybody else. Well, there was one other store that was a month ahead of me and she unfortunately went out of business because she was very nice. But it’s always thinking ahead. It’s always, you can’t get deeply into a routine or you have to be in some kind of routine but you have to also think outside the box. Dave: Like many business owners, one of the things Jim spends a lot of time thinking about is how to reach his customers. I asked him why his customer base chooses Danish Country Antiques over his competition. Jim: Well, at the beginning it was really fresh, interesting merchandise and then if they compared me back then I think it was the quality and I like to think it was customer service if I want to use an abused word. And today it’s the same. I mean, I think I try to have a nice mix. It’s much more of a mix now. But it’s all a certain, it’s all point of view. It’s all the way I buy. If you came with me on a buying trip and you had to buy something, you’d be like, “Shoot I don’t know what I want to buy. Do I buy this one or that one?” But you’d have to trust what you like. And so that’s what I’ve always done. From the beginning, I trusted what I liked. It’s just the way it is. I think really the way at this point it’s a question of keeping the merchandise interesting, because old clients or new clients you have to stay up to date. What are we sitting around in? Gorgeous rosewood table from 1960. Mid century chairs, they’re so comfy. You know? They’re great. Ten years ago I wasn’t doing it at all. I probably should have started eight years ago, because I knew dealers in Denmark that were starting it, but I didn’t, because I was a little slow on that. So you have to, but you have to then be ready to open up. When it’s time to rock and roll you have to rock and roll. So now I do the mid-century in a very big way. I don’t have much right now, because we’ve sold most of it. But that’s what, when I go buying I will be doing that and getting the older things, but the real old things. The things that now, well, they just they still tell a story, but they’re real. They’re real stories. This isn&

In episode 5, you’ll meet Chris Iousa, owner of Destaré martini bar and Chaibo coffee and tea house in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Listen as he shares how small businesses have the power to transform Main Street and revitalize communities. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher. You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Chris: The chasing of money, it actually bores me. It’s just not something that intrigues me. It’s difficult for me to be around a lot of other business people. They’re talking about their profits and their return on investments. It doesn’t inspire me. It’s like, what have you done? What have you created? What difference have you made in the communities that you’re in? By default, the businesses do make money, but that’s never been my passion. It’s been really about engaging with customers, engaging the neighborhood, hoping to help make people feel a little more pride in their community. Dave: Chris Iousa remembers the first time he drove through Fitchburg. The old mill town architecture and Victorian homes awoke an excitement that hasn’t left him since. Driving down Main Street, Chris saw an opportunity to revitalize a community and reclaim Fitchburg as the destination spot it once was during the peak of its industrial and commercial prosperity. Like many small business owners, Chris is passionate about his local community. He knows his customers’ names and their favorite orders. He listens to his staff and gives them opportunities to directly contribute to the business. Above all, Chris holds a strong conviction that small businesses have the power to transform communities. Today, Chris shares how he overcame doubts and challenges to create profitable small businesses in his community. He’ll share how his approach as a business owner has changed over time and his best piece of advice for those just starting out. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Chris’s interest in community development stems from a background in real estate. For years, Chris has made lasting impact by renovating space and stimulating neighborhoods. Chris: My passion is transforming space. Prior to acquiring this building, most of my development activities were looking in the most desperate of residential neighborhoods. I’d find the worst house in the neighborhood and I went in and renovated it. We did a full development of the space of the building. I watched on a small scale that our efforts on one building in a neighborhood would start getting. I’d send my crews down there. The landscapers would go out and do their thing. Then I’d watch the next weekend a property that had been completely unmaintained for years and years and years, now the other person, a neighbor was out actually raking the leaves that had been accumulating for many, many years. I looked at that and I said, “You can’t count on the neighborhood transforming but you can make a difference.” I did that for a lot of years. I took homes that had notorious reputation for gang activity or notorious activity for drug activity and went in. We did our thing and turned it into a beautiful spot, beautiful landscaping, and turned what was the eyesore of a neighborhood to really the jewel of a neighborhood. It transformed neighborhoods. I figured with that experience, I would take that experience and bring it down to Main Street. Because it’s really once General Electric left Fitchburg, the Main Street area really had suffered dramatically. For 10 years, I’ve been working in various capacities both from a private business perspective and with nonprofit organizations to try to find ways to just put us on the map as being a destination spot. Dave: Chris will be the first to tell you he’s not afraid to go out on a limb. When it came time to find the right building to renovate, he chose one of the most visible buildings in the city — the massive and historic Dickinson building. Chris: This building had been vacant for 40 years when I bought it. I went out and did my typical real estate developer activities and attempted to find larger, more well-recognized, the Starbucks and the 99 Restaurants. I said we’ve got a beautiful space. It’s the Gateway Building on Main Street and it’d be a great spot for your establishment. They looked at the demographics of Fitchburg and had no interest. So I kept hearing this time and time again. I said, “You know what? I’ve heard it enough. I’m not going to continue to go down those roads. I’m going to just try to reestablish this city as a destination spot. We started with the business center just to get some activity in the building and then moved over to Destaré and really put the effort into designing a space that would be considered really over the top for the area just to get the recognition factor, and we did. We got Chronicle come out. We did a piece on Chronicle. It was just a very interesting interview, because from their perspective the question was why. In this particular area, why would you ever consider? We owned the building. The only way that this area was going to make a transformation is if we stepped up to the plate and made things happen that otherwise would not be happening. I think they called it the most audacious display of confidence they had ever seen. From my perspective, it’s all made sense. Dave: Despite the misgivings from other businesses and media outlets, Chris pushed forward with his mission.  His first step was to open Fitchburg’s Business Center, which serves as an incubator space for local small businesses. Then, on the street level, Chris focused his efforts on Destaré, a martini bar named for its Italian translation: awakening. But making his business a reality was not an easy process. Here’s Chris describing some of the early challenges that occurred before opening Destaré’s doors to the public. Chris: The challenge, it took us two years to get a building permit to open our doors. If it were just monetary gain that I was seeking, I never would have went through the two year process. We started this process of the building plans right after the horrific experience in the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island. So the idea that we were now going to open a nightclub with a large capacity of people as our potential customers, the fire department was very alarmed, justifiably so. I mean, people lost their lives and there was a tragic accident, but the pendulum swung so far to the other side that they came to us and said, “In order to build your space, you need to take the five floors above you and heat it and make it fire safety ready.” We need sprinklers up through there. I said, we have a 48,000 square foot building. Almost 40,000 of that are on the upper floors. The idea that we’re going to heat that amount of space to maintain a sprinkler system is just absurd. It was a year after year process of negotiating with the architects and the engineers to finally be able to create what we consider to be a very, very safe spot from a fire safety perspective. It worked with the fire department as well. But for two years, it was a long drawn out process. There were times where I said this is testing patience, but the conviction was always there to make this happen. We followed through and here we are. Dave: With patience and persistence, Chris made it to Destaré’s opening day. While the wait was longer than he would have hoped, it did create anticipation and curiosity within the community. Chris: We just put our lights on and the trickle of people flow and people started coming through. They said, “We’ve been waiting for this moment. Because a lot of the time during construction, we took and put a great big question mark in the front window.” People were driving by. A lot of people were saying, “What is going on in this building. It’s been vacant for so many years, what is happening?” I just played into that a little bit and put the big question mark up. A lot of people who were not really close to me either personally or in a business perspective had asked what was going on. I’d say, “We’ve got something unique and special going on. I can’t fill you in much more of the details.” So there was a little bit of built up pent up demand to know what was happening. Those customers came in, our friends and family and business associates in there just started trickling in. It was just great to see the menu being well received and people going up and down the menu saying, “Wow, look at the selection. Look at the diversity of beverages and food.” It was just a great experience for us. Dave: The quality of food and drink is something Chris approaches with a great deal of pride. With Destare, Chris made bold menu choices to offer Fitchburg residents something new and distinctive that they couldn’t get anywhere else in the area. Chris: There were no other martini bars. To get a martini in this area, you really had to travel outside the area. The martini, they’ve heard of it. Everybody’s familiar with James Bond. But

Meet Jason Talbot, co-founder of Artists for Humanity. Jason shares his views on how to transform ideas, individuals, and the greater community. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Jason: I could feel it happening to my mind, to myself, to my self-image, to my vision for my future that I wanted to continue. I wanted to have an art show in that gallery every weekend for the rest of my life, because it felt that good. And that’s why we do it, because it makes that effort worth something. Dave: If you own a small business, you’re probably familiar with this feeling. There’s a moment when all the hard work and sacrifice you’ve put into something finally pays off. You feel a true sense of accomplishment. As any small business owner can tell you, you’ll need hard work, focus, and discipline to take full advantage of the opportunities available to you. Today, Jason Talbot, co-founder of Artists for Humanity, shares how a strong work ethic has the power to transform your idea, self-image, and community. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Artists for Humanity is a nonprofit that started off with an idea: to address the lack of arts experiences in Boston’s Public schools by employing urban teens to provide creative services to clients within the local business community. Jason has been involved in this program since the beginning — first as a student of the program, and today as a co-founder and Special Projects Director for the organization. Dave: So I guess let’s look at the history starting there. You’re in a unique position where that you’re kind of a product of the program, I guess, before it was a program, right? Jason: Yeah, yeah. Dave: Tell us a little bit about how that all started. Jason: Well, Artists for Humanity, it started in a real organic way. Susan Rodgerson, our executive director, saw what was going on in the Boston Public School System. Saw art programs being slashed and really took it upon herself in a real entrepreneurial way to make sure the young people got the enrichment that art brings to their lives. And she wanted to make sure that there was art in schools, that kids had that experience. And so she had this plan to paint a big, giant painting with a bunch of kids and sell it off to a corporation for lobby art to then fund the next painting. In a cyclical way be able to make sure that there was an art program for kids. And I was one of the kids that worked on that very first piece. She came to my junior high, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, and we worked and we started painting this painting together. And there were a group of six of us, but we were art minded, we were art focused. Our teachers knew that we were into art. The principal knew we were into art. We drew together, we doodled together, we all had a love for spray paint. She saw that we kind of rose, she saw our leadership, and after that project we continued to work together. Dave: Artists for Humanity gave this small group a transformative and meaningful experience. For the first time, Jason and his fellow students had a place to call their own and began to feel truly accepted. What impact do you think that’s had on your life? Jason: Wow. It’s totally changed my life. It’s totally shaped my path. See, growing up, there wasn’t much of a future. Dave: Yeah. Jason: It was both real and it was both imposed. So there was violence in my neighborhood, I was the victim of violence, attacks. And then in the newspaper every Monday there was a tally of how many kids got murdered in my neighborhood or on my block and it was just like . . . So I was in danger but it was even amplified by the media. And it really gave me the impression that I had a bleak future but also the people around me, my teachers and the other people in the community, that I was expendable. I think here at Artists for Humanity there’s a total shift where the message is 100% different where, “Hey, guess what? You are not hooked into any future. You can shape your own fate and destiny. And the best tool to shape your destiny is hard work and focus and discipline.” And Susan had the highest expectations of us. She knew that if we worked hard, if we were focused, we could accomplish amazing things. We had done it way back at the King School and every time a client came to us with a job we put 100% into it and ended up with some really great accomplishments. And I got really hooked on accomplishments. I just loved working with my team, I loved the whole process where even when we were working at the eleventh hour and everything was . . . We had issues and problems and drama. We would fight through, we would solve those problems, and then we would end up . . . It just made that success even more sweet and wonderful. It bonded our relationships even better. And even in the end I even got more connected with my education and looking for opportunities and dreaming about an awesome career for myself. So being in this building, working in this facility, working with these projects and this community, it was absolutely transformative. Dave: One of the most important values for Artists for Humanity is that ideas can come from anywhere. Students know that their opinions will be taken seriously and they’re not afraid to try something new that’s never been done before. Dave: What would you say, then, makes Artists for Humanity different from say another youth program that’s out there? Jason: Well, we’re different not just from any youth program, we’re just different. Dave: Okay. Jason: Because we listen and we respond. And there’s a point where somebody says, “Hey, I’ve got this great idea.” And everybody else is like, “Oh, but we planned to do this.” And that idea gets left on the table, it gets swept under the rug, it’s on the cutting room floor and who knows what. But I think this is a place where that idea gets put to work. I think that’s the difference. If government ran like that, if corporations ran like that, if car companies ran like that, then we would constantly build, evolve, innovate. There’s room here for that. Again, our organization started with this very simple idea, but since then it has built . . . We have added layer after layer after layer. Every time we see an opportunity, every time there’s a program to develop, or a service we can provide for our teams we just pull it on in. Dave: Right. Jason: And add it to the organization. So I mean hey, are we an artist organization? Of course, art is our medium, it’s our vehicle. With that we’re able to tack on all this positivity, all this enrichment for our teens, for our staff, for our community, and of course for our clients. Dave: Yeah. Why is that? This idea of listening and then evolving based on what the problems are, why is that so important to you and to the organization? Jason: Well, somehow I feel like it just makes sense. I think that there’s a . . . When you’re working with a team you need a plan. You need to have some guidelines. You need to have an easy way to make sure everybody’s on the same page and that everybody’s able to communicate. But when you let that plan restrict you, or that curriculum restrict you, or the guidelines restrict you then you lose a lot. And here our focus is on creativity. It’s on problem-solving. It’s on innovating. And so we have to give our young people the opportunity to do that, and in doing that, and our staff people there an opportunity to innovate and have ideas. And so to do that we have to be a little bit flexible. We have to be able to hear and make things happen and react. As well as be thoughtful and plan things out. And that kind of is tough for a lot of people to juggle. There’s a juggling going on with all that we do here. Whether it’s the experience to mentor and the innocent mentee, protege, we’re balancing those things, those two, into a beautiful piece of artwork or beautiful project, a commission for our clients. And there are benefits to be added by both people in that arrangement. Dave: This unique approach makes Artists for Humanity a popular place for students looking for work, as well as creative opportunities. As the organization continues to expand, Jason and his team work hard to maintain the same level of commitment to personal and community development that existed when the program was only 6 students. Dave: So when you started it was just a small group of you, right? Jason: Yeah. Dave: And so where are you now? Like in terms of staff, and how big have you grown since those early days? Jason: Yeah. So right now we’ve got about 145 kids employed. That’s about how many we can stuff into the building. We’re actually gonna ramp it up this summer to about 150. Throughout the year we’ve probably employed about 250 kids this year. And then we have about 30 staff members who are in support of that, but we wanna ramp that up. We’re looking to double youth employment. We’re looking to activate our space all

Join us for episode 3, where we share the story of Marie Mouradian, owner of Window Designs Etc. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Marie: How I determine success? Jeez, I don’t know. To leave everything more beautiful than it started with. And everything is different; each job has a little different twist on it. Dave: What is it about success that makes it so hard for us to pin down?  Maybe the biggest reason is that success looks and feels different for each person. For Marie Mouradian, owner of Window Designs Etc., success is not something to be accomplished, but something to constantly strive for. As her own boss for over 33 years, Marie has pushed herself to stay at the top of her craft within a changing industry. Today she’ll share where she gets her inspiration, her biggest challenges, and advice you can apply to your business. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: Stepping into our office, it’s clear that Marie’s passion for design and aesthetic are not only part of her business, but something she lives and breathes each day. There’s an attention to detail in the way that she presents herself. I started our interview by asking Marie where her love of fashion and design comes from and how it translated to starting her own business. Marie:  Ever since I was really small my mother and my grandmother taught me how to sew. And so I started sewing clothing when I was probably about seven. And that’s what I have my degree in, is clothing and textiles. And then I went into fashion merchandising, into the retail end. And that was when stores started opening on Sunday, and I was working way too much for schlepping all kinds of clothing all over a store. And so I started doing things on the side. And it was through encouragement of my family, my friends, my then-fiancé who said, “You really just need to start a business.” And so at the ripe old age of 22 I went into business. Did I have a business plan? No. Was I crazy? Yes. But I was very fortunate that I had people who believed in me. Dave: For Marie, the doubts and uncertainties of starting a business were overpowered by a desire to pursue something personal and meaningful. Marie: Fabric makes my heart sing, and color and texture and all the types of style and design. Dave: Tell me a bit more about that. What about it makes you so excited? Marie: That you can take something flat, a flat bolt of fabric, and you can create anything, anything. Anything that gives you a feeling. And, of course, as it transfers onto windows, it absorbs sound, it creates all other functions. Whether you’re going to block out light or add some style, hide some architectural faults that many clients don’t seem to realize that their house has until you point them out. And it just creates magic. Dave: This magic is what attracts clients to work with Marie. They’re comfortable inviting her into their home because of the passion and energy she brings as she walks through the space. So tell me a bit about your customers then, and your clients. Why do they come to Window Designs? Marie: Because they want to feel special at home. They take value in their home, whether it is a 7,000 square foot house or it’s a little 600 square foot condo. They work hard all day, they’re uncertain in the world, and they want a place to call their sanctuary and welcome guests into their house. Dave: So what’s it like when you meet with a client then? How does that process go? Marie: When I initially do a consultation, I have the client walk me through the whole property because I want to know what the other rooms are like; I want to know what’s important to them. And also, it’s very important to ask what they dislike. They might tell me that they strongly dislike this lamp, but they have to keep it because it’s their great aunt’s or their husband’s great-aunt’s that was handed down, but they really dislike it. So we’ll work with that. And what I really like is when the client will show me a piece of artwork and then she’ll start telling me about her and her husband’s trip to Sedona when they picked it out. And they can remember the little gallery, and then they went out to lunch after. And those are the things that are important to have in your house. So maybe we’ll use that as a jumping off point as to what the feeling is for the room, and that’s a good thing. And then I ask them lots of questions, lots of questions, “Who uses the room? How do you want it to feel? Are you in here during the day or in the evening?” I observe which direction the sun comes in, is it a north-facing room or is it saturated with sunshine at 9 o’clock in the morning. And yeah, I get to know them. Dave: All of Marie’s enthusiasm makes it easy to forget the hard work that has gone into building her business. It’s not until she starts to explain the challenges of balancing her business and family, that you start to realize the huge commitment and dedication her business has required over the years. Marie: I had people tell me, “Don’t worry, honey. You’ll get a real job someday,” which made me laugh. And yeah, people wondered what I did all day as I was developing my business. And even as I was well into business, one of the best things about being in business for yourself is flexibility. And I should say I work from home, I do not have retail space. Dave: Okay. Marie: So my flexibility. And so I have two children and when they were young, I would work after they went to bed. And then I’d get up really early in the morning and work before they got up for the day. And a couple of people, friends, our children’s friends’ parents would say, “Oh, so what do you do? Work 10, 12 hours a week?” And I said, “No, I really work about 60.” But the facade was there, I was always there. I was always the mom, and so that what it looked like. And so people really didn’t realize what I did. Dave: Yeah. How did that fuel any of the things that you did? Did that do anything for you? Marie: Oh gosh, determination. Yes, determination. Dave: Yeah. Marie: And then with the onset of the Internet, I’m a very early adopter. And so it was a very easy way to set myself up on the Internet as an expert. Dave: Yeah. Marie: And so I think it wasn’t until after that that people really saw what I could do. Dave:  Looking back to the early years of her business, before the Internet came into play, Marie remembers struggling to find information related to her industry. Dave: What did you find was most challenging for you in those beginning years? Marie: Information, getting information, getting vendors and all to trust in me. And yeah, lots of information as to how to do things, what the industry standards were. Dave: Okay. Marie: And what I quickly learned was the industry standards were not my standards. I wanted something more. Dave: Where did you go for that information? Where did you go for advice, just either within the industry or just in running your business in general? Marie: Within the industry, magazines that were initially coming out. And, of course, I giggle at them now because they were so archaic. And again, some of my fabric vendors would have things. There was very little information out there. I did, obviously, go to the library, study some history of different things, but there wasn’t much how-to. So it was a lot of trial and error and learn my way. Dave: Right, right. Was there ever a time where you felt like, “All right, maybe this isn’t going to work”? Marie: Yeah. I still think I feel that way. I still think I feel, “Well, maybe I should go work for somebody else,” for about 15 seconds, and then I say, “No way, I’m not doing that. That would be awful, that would be awful.” Yeah, I don’t think there was really a down, down time. Of course the economy has taken some peaks and dips, but in the dips that’s when I learn. That’s when I try to invest in myself and figure some other things out, or just grow my business or grow my marketing. And that’s when I have a little bit of time to do some other things. But did I ever think that I wasn’t going to succeed? No. Because it’s up to me, not anybody else. Dave:  With more information now readily available online, Marie relies on a combination of traditional advertising methods, as well as new marketing channels, to stand out and reach her audience. Marie: I live in a small town and there is a local newspaper, weekly newspaper — which you may think newspapers are dead, they are not. This local newspaper goes to five, six towns. And I do advertise every week and I always get clients, always. People will cut my ad out, place it on the refrigerator. And because I’m a sole proprietor, I do have the advantage of asking every phone call, every new potential client that I get, “Jeez, how did you hear about me?” And they will say, “Oh, I’ve had your ad on the refrigerator fo

In this episode, we visit The Cheese Shop in Concord, Massachusetts to meet Peter Lovis. Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Peter: He says, “Why? How much are you . . . ” He’s looking around a small little store and said, “How much you gonna buy?” I’m like, “15, 20 wheels.” His eyes popped in the back of his head. He says, “Well, you know they make a 400-pounder.” I’m like, “Well, I’ll buy a 400-pound wheel.” I know I’m gonna sell it. Right? I know I’m gonna sell that many pounds of this one cheese. I’ll buy a 400-pound wheel of cheese. Dave: How many people do you know with that kind of confidence? I can surely think of one — his name is Peter Lovis, owner of The Cheese Shop in Concord, Massachusetts. But even with Peter’s confidence, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been moments of doubt. Today, you’ll hear from Peter as we explore how he got started in the cheese business, the day he thought he made his biggest mistake, and how he pushed through to continue to grow his business. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Dave: When you first meet Peter, you can see you’re meeting a man in his element. Half cheesemonger, half magician — he is the Willy Wonka of cheese. Standing behind the counter, handing out generous samples, those of us waiting in line, hold on to our numbers tightly as if we’re clutching our very own golden tickets. Watching him in action, I wanted to know how he first got started. With almost 40 years in the cheese business, he remembers his first day like it was yesterday. Peter: Well, I wanted a job. So I went downtown to the Green Grocer in New Jersey, Green Grocer and hardware store and deli and cheese shop and asking people if they’d give me a job. I was 15 years old. My first day was October 16, 1976. I just loved it. I’m still in touch with Mr. Knowles. He’s a great guy. He’s 90 this year. Dave: Mr. Knowles was Peter’s first boss, and is still the inspiration for a lot of Peter’s own management style. Throughout our interview, Peter brought up a few lessons he learned from Mr. Knowles early on. Peter: So, I started in October, October ’76. February of vacation week, 1977, February ’77, I hadn’t even worked there for six months. I was not even 16 years old yet. He said to me, “My wife and I are going to St. Bart’s for a week. Will you take care of the store?” So I was 15 years old. I had the keys to the store. I ran the store all by myself, all week. Peter: Because of that investment that he put into me, that really drives that inspiration to continue to invest in young people and frame them. So many things that I do, so many things that I like about what I do,. . . so many things I like about the way I do things, I learned at the cheese shop when I was 15, 16 years old. Can you imagine giving a 15-year-old kid keys to a store? Dave: Crazy. Yeah. Peter: I’d ride my bike down. It’s three miles to work. Undo the alarm, set up the counter, take care of the customers, put it to bed at night, ride my bike home. One of the things that’s real important to me as a businessperson and as a member of the community is young people. Young people . . . The more we invest in the younger people, the more we’re gonna get a return on that. Right? So I spend a lot of time and energy with young kids. So a high school kid here will be probably six or eight years younger than the next youngest person, but we work with them. We give them great work habits. Like Cory… just had his 10th Christmas with me. He just graduated from college. He’s already been working for me for ten Christmases. Dave: After Peter’s initial job at the cheese shop in New Jersey, he spent some time working with cheese importers and distributors. But it wasn’t long before he started thinking about what it would be like to get back into selling cheese directly to consumers. Peter: Then in ’98, 1998, a good friend of mine, who I went to college with, was a general manager at this store. So when I’d go to buy cheese, I’d come here and pick up a few things. I got my wedding cheeses here. If I needed stuff shipped, she would take care of it. She wouldn’t just send me the stuff because she knew me. She knew I wanted the good stuff. Dave: Yeah, yeah. Peter: So in 1998, I was here, buying some cheese. She said, “You know, Peter, you should put an apron on and get back to the retail business.” I’m like, “I’ve been out of retail for a long time. I don’t know. It’s a special thing. I don’t know if I still got it.” “No, you should try it.” So the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so not the day before Thanksgiving but the prior Wednesday, I knew it would be busy, but not crazy yet. I’d just kind of see if I still got it. I took a day off of work and came in here and put a cheese plate in my hand, and it was just great. Selling cheese is a gas. Selling cheese is a blast. It really is a lot of fun. Dave: What makes it so fun? Peter: Well, when you give somebody a taste, and you tell them a story, you get to watch their expression. They have a great time. You watch their faces, and they’re loving it. You can tell a story, and you’re connecting people with product, and it’s passion. It’s very intimate. It’s just a lot of fun. Dave: Soon Peter began taking more and more days off from work to help out at the Cheese Shop. Then, one night, the shop’s previous owners shared some news that pushed Peter to take a big leap. Peter: It was Christmas Eve night, which is the big day. You know? I’m saying, “So long. I got to go home and take care of my baby. I’ll see you next year.” Bill’s wife, Louise, said, “We may not be here next year. The store is for sale.” So I raced home. I live just about an hour west of here. Raced home, got two speeding tickets that night on my way home, and signed a nondisclosure, made an offer, was accepted, and signed the purchase of sale in August ’01. Dave: The Cheese Shop in Concord has been in business since 1967. As the store’s third owner, Peter works hard to deliver an experience that makes a lasting impression on its shoppers. Dave: What makes your cheese shop different from other cheese shops out there? Peter: Well, we’re one of the few that are still cut-to-order. So many are now what I call cut-and-dump. Cut it, price it, and let people pick it up. You can’t buy anything in my store without talking to a human being. Dave: Okay. Peter: Without talking to an intelligent human being who knows what they’re talking about, can tell the story. You don’t see . . . I have very low employee turnover. I spend a lot of time and energy thinking about employee turnover and how to avoid it. Kim is still new. She’s been here three years. You know? Arma has been with me for . . . I think she’s celebrating her 11th or 12th year with me, end of this month. Justin has been with me over ten years. Mary has been with me over ten years. Dave has been with me over ten years. Jen has been with me for four or five. Bri [SP] has been with me for seven. Then the kids, the high school kids, there’s usually one or two of those. We train them in the summer because they want summer jobs, but it’s not a summer job. It’s a Christmas job. You’re expected . . . If you work here and work here over the summer, you’re expected to come back every year that you’re in school. A year abroad, okay. But that’s the deal. Dave: Yeah. Peter: Because it’s a lot of time and energy to train somebody to get to the point where they can be productive helping a customer. So the employee, the level of expertise, and the same faces time and time again. We’re not . . . We’re just as happy selling somebody a $9.99-a-pound cream cheese spread, as we are a $40-a-pound goat cheese from England, if that’s what they want. They’re gonna get that same level of service, that same interaction, that same appreciation. Some places that have this caliber of product and this caliber of service were like, “Oh. No, we don’t sell havarti.” Dave: Yeah. Peter: You know? We’re like, “Sure. Plain or with dill?” As an early mentor once told me, I think I just said this, “Sell your customers what they want to buy.” Dave: This pride Peter feels for his staff, as well as his product, is really what makes the store stand out. We spoke with the store’s general goods buyer, Arma, to hear what it’s like working at the shop. Arma: My name is Arma Neroute, I’ve been here 15 years this month. What’s it like working for Peter? He’s great. You know, he’s got a good sense of humor, he likes to tease me because I’m very teasable and I try to tease him back but it’s very hard for me to get the one liners in, but he’s, he’s very good. You know, he doesn’t ask much, he knows… We

Join us for episode 1, where we visit A&J King Artisan Bakers in Salem, Massachusetts. And if you’re in their area, get about one newsletter a month outlining their seasonal specials, upcoming events, and other fun happenings! Small Biz Stories tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact. Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing. Find out more at ConstantContact.com. Jackie: Where do you go for advice? Sometimes you feel all alone, “No one will understand I don’t even know where to begin to explain it.” Dave: You just heard the voice Jackie King, co-owner of A&J King Artisan Bakers in Salem, Massachusetts. If you own a small business it’s likely you’ve felt something similar. Off on your own, with limited time and resources, unsure of where to go for help and guidance. This is why we started SMALL BIZ STORIES. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Stepping inside Andy and Jackie’s bakery, it doesn’t take long to realize you’re in for something good. The display cases are filled with freshly made earl grey scones, almond croissants, and coconut meringue tarts. The staff is friendly and focused, and the walls show off the many framed awards the bakery has received since opening its doors in 2006. Maybe most impressive is the energy of the bakery. A quick survey of the room reveals that everyone — from the people behind the counter to those seated enjoying their meal — look satisfied and at home. After speaking with Andy and Jackie, I’m not surprised their bakery has this effect on people. Growing up, both agreed to have inherited a powerful love of food from their families. But it wasn’t until they tried to pursue other, seemingly more practical careers, that they began to feel like they were missing out on something. Jackie: I went to college, and then two years into that I was doing fine but I was totally feeling like I had missed out on doing what I really wanted to do. So I left traditional college and went to New England Culinary and just said, “I feel like I’ll be upset if I don’t try this.” Dave: Andy, who graduated with a music degree and started working at an educational center, described a similar realization. Andy: I remember one day I was biking through Palo Alto through the Stanford campus, because this was on the West Coast, and I saw a cafe with a bunch of professors eating and talking. And then there was the back door to the cafe where there was a bunch of cooks sitting and laughing and smoking cigarettes on their break. And I just knew I’d rather be them. Dave: It was at the New England Culinary Institute where the couple first met. After their graduation and getting married, they started wondering how they could continue to be together and practice their craft alongside each other. Jackie: That kind of started our wheels turning, “Well, do we want to just stay baking for someone? What could we do? What should we be doing?” Andy: Should you go back to school? Jackie: “What should we be aiming for?” He thought about taking a food writing job, I thought about going back to school. And then we both, I guess I suggested, “Well, what if we open our own bakery? What if we move back down to where I grew up? And all my family is there and they can help us and there’s no bakery like this right in the area where I’m from.” And that’s where it started. Andy: That was pretty much it, too, as soon as she said it. Jackie: Yeah. And then I can’t even still believe that we even followed through on any of this. We had no money, we had the baby, and we worked weird hours. Andy: It sounds so stupid. “Let’s see if I can make the worst decision.” It’s not the road less traveled, it’s like there’s a path and there’s the woods. “Let’s go into the woods.” Jackie: We sold our house and put that money into helping start up the business. Dave: It’s funny, I always find when it’s the right path, things just start to fall in line like that. And so it happens so fast that you almost don’t know what’s going on. It’s just kind of like boom, boom, boom, boom, “We’re done, here we are.” Jackie: You’re on a train that you can’t get off of. Dave: Yeah, yeah. Jackie: And you feel like you are, you’re like, “Wow. Wow. I’m stressed, but we got to do it.” Andy: We still feel like that. Jackie: Okay. Anyone who’s looking to start a business, it was a stressful as you would imagine. Dave: Yeah. Andy: But ignore that. Plan it out; make sure you’re making good decisions that are based on real things, real numbers. And then just once you get it all set, just close your eyes and run into it. Dave: Just do it. Andy: Because it’s like having a baby, it’s like you think you’re prepared. You’ve read all the books, you have the nursery set up, you have the diaper service or whatever all set. No way, man. It’s a whole different thing. For better or worse, I think we came out okay. Especially even in the beginning, it was exhausting, but, yeah, you just got to do it. Dave: It’s obvious when you’re talking to Andy and Jackie that they take a great deal of pride in their work. Their commitment to tradition, as well as their local community, allows them to create a product that people come back for because they can’t get it anywhere else. Andy: So I think what makes it different is that we were willing and we have a staff that’s willing to put in insanely hard hours and being on your feet for long periods of time to produce an item that you sell for fairly small amounts of money. Like it takes 36 hours to make a baguette, and we sell it for $3. Normally when you have a product that four people are working on and it takes 36 hours to assemble, you’re selling it for more than $3. So it’s cool to see lines out the door, but we need lines out the door or else we close the door. Jackie: Just to add to any of that. Everything is from scratch; we don’t use pre-made mixes or anything like that. We use a lot of locally sourced ingredients, fruits mostly, some dairy, just to bring more of the surrounding area to the products that we’re making and try to support that community, try to support that economy. But it’s also just more fun to work that way, to have firsthand knowledge of where something comes from and going to actually pick it up, bring it there. It’s also a lot of extra work and stress sometimes, but it’s a neat experience. Jackie: I think you feel like you’re really putting your stamp on it when you take it from its most elemental point and bring it all the way to a finished product. You’re not using someone else’s flour mix to make your muffin; it’s the one you came up with. And you like the way it tastes and that’s why you do it, so it does reflect you. And when someone comes into the bakery and says they don’t like something, you really feel hurt. Andy: Taking water and sourdough culture, which you grew yourself, and flour and mixing it together and watch it grow. Like, “I made this from scratch and someone is buying and giving me money and I have to make them change.” It’s like, “Holy smokes. It worked, I actually sold something.” It was such a neat feeling. But it’s really just what we like to do and, like I said, it’s a sense of pride in what you’re doing. You can get a pumpkin latte at the coffee shop down the street, but our pumpkin latte is made with real pumpkin that was picked from a local farm that we ground up and we put in it. Dave: In a time when many businesses are focused on offering faster, more efficient solutions — a business like A and J King really stands out. But even with their recipe for success, Andy and Jackie have always been learning as they go. Here’s Andy reflecting on the grand opening: Andy: Yeah, we opened the door and the guy came in, his name was, was it Bob? He was the brother of a woman that owned a restaurant. I know about 20 people who claim to have bought the first thing at our bakery, but he was and he bought a ciabatta. And I would have loved to have kept the $20 that he gave me, but we needed it. So that went right into the bank account. And so we had a great day, it was mostly family that came in, some curious locals came in. I think we sold $400 worth of stuff. And when we closed, we pulled the cash drawers out and we had not done a cash-out before. So we sat there with our one retail employee, Hannah, and we were just staring and we were trying to figure out what to do with these drawers of money. And eventually we told her to go home because we were like, “Okay, so how much started the day? I can’t remember.” So we said, “Go home and we’ll be better about this tomorrow.” So then we had to figure out how to do a cash-out. And then we figured that out and it was really like I didn’t even know that was like, “Oh, okay. So we have to put back what was in, and then what’s left is profit, right?” So we did that. Jackie: And then for the next nine years we’ve