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Episode 41: Focusing Your Entrepreneurial Spirit with Evie Peterson
175 Plays6 years ago
One challenge nearly every entrepreneur we meet faces is the “shiny object” syndrome. Starting new things is fun and when we get one project off the ground, most people start thinking about the next.
When we hear that someone wants to start a new venture, we are excited for them. But we temper that excitement with one quick question, “Do you have any experience in this market?”. If the answer is no, that’s a red flag.
Not that you should never venture out of your comfort zone, but keeping your entrepreneurial activities focused on some kind of related field or area of expertise just makes good business sense.
That’s why we were so glad to talk with our guest, Evie Peterson. She is a true entrepreneur, operating (at last count) Farmhouse Catering, Gatherings Event Space, Farm Grounds Coffee Shop, and Farm Pond Inn. The awesome thing about what Evie is doing is that there is some clear connective tissue between all these ventures. She has taken her gifts and experience in hospitality and food and created ventures that work together to provide Evie and her family an uncommon life.
Since high school, Evie had worked in the restaurant business, so after college, Farmhouse Catering was a natural next step in that evolution. Over the years, she has added an event space, and then a coffee shop and restaurant. Most recently, she and her husband have refurbished an adjoining property where they host bridal parties and others who will be using the event space as well as other travelers to Nevada, (pronounced Neh-VAY-dah) Iowa.
The synergies between these businesses provide Evie with multiple income streams and flexibility that represents an ever-expanding sense of time freedom.
what you will learn in this episode:- How to add activities that don’t take you off track, but create more cash flow
- Why it sometimes makes sense to start slow and build capacity over time
- How to create synergies between your various businesses
- Best practices for having your children or other family members work in your business
- Dealing with difficult customers
- How to both have a family life and a job that you love
- Making a plan for your uncommon life
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Uncommon Lives
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit.
Meet the Hosts: Brian and Philip
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
a life worth celebrating and savoring.
Listener Engagement and Reviews
00:00:30
Speaker
Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dewhurst and Philip Ramsey.
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Uncommon Life Project where I am your host, Phillip Ramsey. And I am Brian Dewhurst. Thanks for tuning in for another episode. We have a really fun one for you today as we always do. Thanks for tuning in and also thanks for reviewing us. I know we've been pushing the reviews hard but they are hugely helping. We're beating the drum. We're beating that drum and honestly like it really helps. We're trying to get, what is the country that we're trying to get number one in?
00:00:59
Speaker
Belgium.
Dreams of Podcast Fame
00:01:00
Speaker
Belgium. Kind of crazy, but let's just shoot for something. Let's be number one in Belgium. All right, so let me just read a review that we got. This was actually July 1st. It said, thank you for being the exact thing the industry needs. Most people want you to retire tomorrow because they hate what they do. If you love what you do, you never really want to stop.
00:01:21
Speaker
and figure out what you love to do and get paid for it. Keep going. And this was from the Traction Master. So thanks for reviewing that. Again, review, rate, subscribe. They actually do mean something. We'll read them for you. But anyway, let's talk and let's go to our guest for the show. Brian, let's do the introduction. Today I'm excited we have Evie Peterson. Evie, what started out as a catering company has now evolved into a full service venue, coffee shop, and in.
00:01:50
Speaker
She's committed to quality in her catering. That full service venue is the way to go. And that we are an honest, hardworking company that wants all of our clients events to be a success. I welcome to the show, Evie Peterson of Nevada, Iowa. Not to be confused with Nevada. Welcome to the show, Evie.
Evie's Entrepreneurial Journey Begins
00:02:10
Speaker
Good to be here. Awesome. I want to go back because have you always wanted to do this? Was this your dream from the beginning or is it evolved?
00:02:18
Speaker
It's evolved. I've always wanted to own my own business. I feel like even as a little girl, I always had aspirations to do my own thing, to have a shop or just depending on what I was interested in at the time, it always seemed to revolve around that. Totally. Let's stop right there because I got a lot of questions. This is going to be how the whole show is going to go. I'm sorry about that.
00:02:42
Speaker
Where do you think that has come from? Was your parents entrepreneurial? Was your grandparents? What instilled in you at an early age to be like, I want to own my own business? I think my dad. Yeah. My dad is definitely entrepreneurial.
00:02:58
Speaker
has that like farmer gene that works all the time and wants to see things grow and always needs to have a new project and do this, do that. So yeah. Thanks for entertaining my stupid questions. I just liked it. You're good. You're good. No, I love it. All right. So go ahead.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah. And then I, when I was young, I was a, I worked under a chef for a lot of years, um, at a camp and conference center. And I was really where I kind of decided and really just tuned into my, um, my gifts of service and, um, and, and just that that was what brought me the most joy, you know, was serving. So.
Cooking Passion Ignites
00:03:43
Speaker
It always has come back to that. That's always what I'm good at. How many years ago was that? Oh gosh, a million. 1994, 93. Okay. I was 14, 13. Wow. Yeah, so that was high school. All through high school then I was assistant chef to him and would work on the weekends.
00:04:09
Speaker
Um, just learned, learn the craft of cooking and, um, cooking for mass quantities. Yeah. That's a whole different deal. Yeah. So this was a hidden acres, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Which is pretty known in the Iowa community. Like a lot of people, it's the largest camp and conference center in Iowa. And my dad is the one who built, who was the executive director for there, who was really the one who built it.
00:04:36
Speaker
So he took his entrepreneurial drive and put it into ministry and was able to grow that business and that to crazy proportions. Wow. So you're cooking in high school and you're cooking for a lot of people. Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
Because it's one thing to cook for a family at dinnertime. It's another thing to cook for four or five hundred people at a time. Yep. But that was how I learned. And so, I mean... So where did you take that after high school? After high school, I went to Bible college for a year, missed work and missed camp in my home and ended up coming back after a year.
00:05:23
Speaker
the chef that had trained me all those years, um, ended up quitting and I took his position at 18 years old. And so I just worked like, yeah. Yeah. So I took his job and did that for about four years. Um, got married and it kind of took a little break and then, yeah, was back to it later, but
00:05:50
Speaker
So walk us through how farmhouse catering, which is kind of your main catering business now, you have multiple businesses. That's what I wanted to have you on the show because it's kind of evolved. You've kind of evolved into this just entrepreneur.
00:06:05
Speaker
And so walk us through how farmhouse catering guys. Here's what I think I think is I just want to edify what Brian is saying is there's a lot of times when somebody starts down this uncommon path and then they see the shiny object on the left and they start doing something that's not even what they're gifted at.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah. And so what I'm really excited about kind of to unpack for you, Evie, is that you added on, you didn't abort, you didn't about face, you didn't do a 90 degree change. It was just one degree off to compliment what you're doing. So I think I want to just preface this whole conversation with that exact thing is you had add-ons that helped cashflow. So start with the farmhouse catering and then we'll kind of work into how you added on things.
Farmhouse Catering: Comfort Meals
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So farmhouse catering started.
00:06:52
Speaker
Pretty small. I mean, the basis of it was the inspiration for it was that we were living in the farmhouse that I grew up in and like had a drawing a pencil drawing of that farmhouse and that was my first logo and it was just really what I wanted to
00:07:08
Speaker
Emulate comfort and home and just I wanted people to trust me and I just felt like that was a good place to start and since I was cooking at home and Just I mean that's what it was I was cooking from my farmhouse and how many people would you cook for like? What was your biggest ones that you had in that kitchen that you had to cater for? So I actually had access to the hidden acres kitchen at that time. So I mean I
00:07:35
Speaker
I could, I would use their, I would actually have my license out of their kitchen. I see. So, it was just kind of when I first started I was living in that farmhouse.
00:07:48
Speaker
I mean, but you kind of shared like when you first got started, it was more like, you know, pocket money, vacation money. This wasn't you getting back into the mix. It was more this is like side income, make, you know, and I kind of concentrated on weddings and friends as weddings. And, you know, there was a couple thousand dollars here, a couple thousand dollars there, you know, but
00:08:14
Speaker
I didn't have a goal to, I had little, little kids and so I wasn't.
00:08:19
Speaker
I wasn't in a mindset of I need the career now, you know, but I was kind of like starting it slow so that I would have it for later, you know? And catering is really something that I found over the years that I could put kind of in a hibernation and then pull back out when I needed it, you know? And it could kind of ebb and flow with my seasons of life. And so I've just kind of always, always done that, you know?
00:08:50
Speaker
And so that started to come up. So at what point did you're like, I need to go all into this thing and really start making this become more of a sustaining cashflow for my career in life.
Business Growth Amidst Challenges
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it was really when, um, things got rough at home and I was, my ex-husband was ready to, to walk away from our family. And I said, well,
00:09:13
Speaker
I know how to cook i have this little catering company i'm just gonna ramp that up and just start hit the pavement and start cooking for people and so i got in with i got in with some pharmaceutical sales reps and started doing.
00:09:30
Speaker
There you go. Shout out to my friends at the pharmaceutical land. So Philip was a pharmaceutical sales rep. Back in the day, you can't do that anymore. It's considered bribery to take the food into the doctors. But back in the day, they would be doing three or four lunches a week. And so I had this nice network and handful of pharmaceutical reps. I was peddling the car dealerships. They served. Yeah.
00:09:57
Speaker
different places that I knew treated their employees to lunch. I bet you it was a really good value for pharmaceutical reps being that I was one. Oh, you were. Yeah. A nice, good family home cooked. It was. Versus like Jason's deli again. Like how many times do I have to keep Jason out of here? Get Jason out of here. Okay. So sorry. Keep going.
00:10:23
Speaker
So, now that you got the catering thing up and going, and you started putting more energy into it, you're starting to get cash flow out of it, and then when did you start thinking, wow, one, I feel like it's sustainable for my life, and two, I guess, provide for my kids and me, but then when did you're like, I think we can make this even more? Let's talk about that tweak.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. When I got married to a man that was
00:10:56
Speaker
just awesome and he was super supportive and said you do whatever you want you know like you you just do this this is what you're good at and and supported that i've always i had always known that i that it could be something big you know but until he kind of came into the picture i was never like completely encouraged to embrace it
00:11:21
Speaker
And so he encouraged me and said, yeah, you just do this. It's great. It makes sense. And and he's really, really savvy with money and business and and
00:11:35
Speaker
And yeah, he's just wise about things. Did he have a career that he was bringing into the marriage too? Yes, yes.
Partnership and Expansion
00:11:43
Speaker
Did that help in your mind of like, well, at least we got some cash flow coming in. Yeah, that helps. That does help. He has a nice job.
00:11:53
Speaker
And he is actually the one that bought gatherings, bought the building. And then he's also a, he does construction and like building rehab and house rehab. So we do a lot of that together. And yeah, we bought that building and he said, yeah.
00:12:14
Speaker
Our listeners, this building is in downtown Nevada. Yeah. And it's gorgeous. And it's just absolutely gorgeous. And that's where you're doing not only the food, but they can hold their event at your location and kind of get the full service treatment. Yeah. And really getting that getting that building was was creating a home for farmhouse. I mean, I was kind of a nomad until that point. No more hidden acres kitchen that they had to use.
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't have I hadn't used that for a long time. I had been working. I had rented the kitchen at a country club and was kind of working out of that and catering but knew that I wanted a home for farmhouse. I knew I wanted
00:12:58
Speaker
Um, a venue that I could control the environment and shout out to your husband for not only like supporting you, but like really support support. Yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. All that brought in like a whole other revenue stream. I imagine of not only just the food and the catering, but now you've got the actual venue fees and alcohol. We have our bar liquor license. And so now we were triple dipping.
00:13:27
Speaker
Into events is what I'd call it like instead of like that trip of nipping instead of just going to other places with food We had been paying us for food and for the building and for alcohol, you know, and they're coming to you you're not And right all of a sudden those weddings that I was doing off-site that were
00:13:50
Speaker
you know, three, $4,000 are all of a sudden 10, you know. Right. For sure. So let me talk through this. Did the menu change at all when they started coming to you? Not really. Okay. Let me just check. I mean, a little bit, but not the basis of it. I'm always adding stuff, but really the basis of it.
00:14:12
Speaker
Has it changed a lot since the very beginning? I still stick to what I know and I still stick into the roots. Yep. I still stick to the roots and what works. So, thanks. So then, so you've been doing that. So then you added something else next door. So tell us kind of what was the Genesis for, for adding the coffee shop.
Innovation with a Coffee Shop
00:14:32
Speaker
So I, we started renting the building next door. Um, I had a couple employees,
00:14:39
Speaker
and we were needing some office space. And so we started renting the building next door.
00:14:44
Speaker
and for office space and there was all this extra room. And then we said, well, maybe we should make sandwiches during the week. We're here anyway. And we had leftover lettuce and leftover this and that from our weddings this last weekend. Why don't we throw sandwiches and salads together and people that work downtown can come and have lunch or grab their quick to go lunch.
00:15:10
Speaker
So we opened up this little lunchbox, seriously. It was open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and we just served soup, salad and sandwiches and people would come in. And so then everybody in town was coming in because we had like homemade soup and fresh salads and stuff that we couldn't get it subway. They couldn't get it subway and the Mexican place, which were the only other two options. Yeah.
00:15:40
Speaker
So then people kept coming and then they would say, Oh, why don't you open a coffee shop? And I'd say, no, I don't want a coffee shop. I don't want a restaurant. And I said, I've said for years, I don't want a restaurant. I don't want a restaurant, you know?
00:15:56
Speaker
and people that know me have teased me. Man, this place looks an awful lot like a restaurant. What was the genesis of only doing the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? What was the thought process behind that? It was really to use up our leftovers. I mean, we had
00:16:13
Speaker
I order all this food for the weekend for a Saturday event and then there'd be like a bag of like a three pound bag of lettuce left over and there'd be all these mashed potatoes left over and there would be things that hey I was thinking okay you could give it we could give it away or I could sell it again.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, like there's, I'm just going to step into your world for a second for a caterer, your ultimate, like worst experiences where you don't have enough food. It's got to be like the worst thing. So you always are over, over, over, overshoot. I mean, you're like my wife. Like when she, there's only two people coming over, honey. Like why do we have, why do we have 16 sticks? You know, I don't know.
00:16:54
Speaker
But for her, we cannot run out of food. No, you can't run out. It's the nightmare and it's the scarlet letter. And once you are out of food at one event, if there's 400 people at that event, every single person knows. And so you can't get that reputation.
00:17:18
Speaker
We, we do really, really well with portion sizes and, and so, so when, what forced you to add the coffee? Wait, did you go, did you move to Mondays and Fridays or the whole time? Eventually, eventually we ended up being, you know, we kind of expanded and I said, we're open Fridays and then we're open Mondays. And yeah, it's a slippery slope now every day of the week. Yeah, you are. And then get a coffee and a,
00:17:46
Speaker
burrito you know but absolutely and so what did you start the whole coffee thing when you opened up more days or is this before no no we started we just we started doing the sandwich thing in October and by June
00:18:03
Speaker
I had an espresso machine. So I really was saying, well, you guys keep buying sandwiches. We'll open a coffee shop, you know, but I was hesitant. It's a small town and there's been a lot of everybody that's opened up coffee shop has failed in our town. Nobody has ever been successful. And a lot of that is because they didn't have the backup of another company or if they were trying to make the living off of it, I'm not going to get rich.
00:18:32
Speaker
selling coffee and the beta, but, um, it's a good compliment. That's what I just love about your story is it's kind of like you've, you've added things, but they're just so complimentary to the overall brand, your location, you know, what you're providing to the community. Yeah. And I mean, I've gotten coffee there several times and it's just, yeah, it's just neat. Yeah. I'll never do anything that doesn't,
00:19:00
Speaker
Flow with what we're already doing, you know, yeah And I think that's a big part of our message as we see people pivot to things and it's like you don't know anything about that Yeah, it's like totally is a totally different business, you know where yours is always I feel like been enhancing the food and the experience and and you know playing to your skill sets and research so
00:19:23
Speaker
So you have one other, I know that's kind of the primary, you know, those three things, farmhouse, catering, gatherings, event center, and farmgrounds, coffee. Those are your three main, you know, businesses, sources of income, passions, but you've added another one that Philip and I talk about a lot. If you could tell us about the farm pond in. Yeah.
Dream Property as an Airbnb
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah. Well, my husband and I were able to buy our dream property two years ago.
00:19:48
Speaker
here in Nevada. It's nine acres in town. It's so pretty right next to the creek and we have a pond and big willow trees. But in that property there was a there's a big building that the gentleman who had owned it previously had built and the upstairs had an apartment and it was actually just like an apartment that he had built for his buddies or
00:20:16
Speaker
his son, it was pretty plain. And my husband and I saw this building with that. And then there's a spot where we have our offices in that I'm here now. And then there's another spot with another kitchen for the company. But the Inn really was a place, we were needing a place for our brides to get ready at gatherings.
00:20:41
Speaker
And so kind of started out as that, you know, let's fix this up and make it real pretty and they'll rent it. So it really complements gatherings in that are
00:20:53
Speaker
our clients will use it and get ready and spend the night and their family will gather. Sure. And is it on Airbnb too? It's on Airbnb and Verbo. It's actually just about ready to go as an Airbnb Plus. It's so much nicer than a normal Airbnb and it's also certified in.
00:21:16
Speaker
Like it's gets inspected every year and all of that stuff So if we ever get to the point where we can't do airbnb anymore, then we'll just go to that, right? We just yeah, we're we're okay. So Fans of that, uh, you know kind of airbnb market Oh, it's so great and uh, and then so you have five children in the mix of all these endeavors
00:21:40
Speaker
Can you just share what it's been like incorporating them into the
Family Business Dynamics
00:21:44
Speaker
business? You know, I think as parents we all battle the like great question. Are we gonna pay for stuff? Are we doing allowance? You know and you've got four businesses they could come into so yeah It seems like a good idea to have all the kids like work for you
00:22:05
Speaker
No, it's a great it's a great thing to have them and and they do work and they get scheduled that we kind of treat them like The other employees in some ways like we've had to set up some Parameters of you can't call mom and get out of your shift Right. I think but they fit in real well. Um, I
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah, I have encouraged my son to go and get a job at fairway just because I I am gonna I should have encouraged the girls to go and work for somebody else besides me just to understand like It's it's hard to employ your kids and I worked for my dad for years. I understand that relationship but so but yeah, they're gonna they're gonna be okay and
00:22:55
Speaker
I think they're going to be okay and they're going to be hard workers. I'm going to go hard right here, so hang on.
The Tale of a Canceled Wedding
00:23:04
Speaker
Tell us about Bridezillas. Do you have any Bridezillas up in Nevada? Oh Lord, have mercy, yes. Give us your best story. A long time ago, I had this girl.
00:23:14
Speaker
that um oh Miranda I can I even say her name I don't know if I'd go that far but we called her crazy Miranda that's what we called her but she wanted like she wanted insane things for her wedding like
00:23:31
Speaker
little tea bit these little like tea sandwiches and she brought me like this folder full of recipes that she wanted me to make and then she wanted like to take down the price to like nothing she wanted me to do it for basically free you know and i was like i cannot do this and then at one point she was
00:23:48
Speaker
Yelling in a meeting and all of this that I we got to the weekend of the wedding and I I seriously was dreading it I said I cannot I can't even go shopping For this stuff that this girl wants like I I cannot stomach this wedding
00:24:05
Speaker
And Friday afternoon, the groom came in with his checkbook. He paid the bill and he said, I'm paying my bill and you guys have the day off tomorrow. I'm getting that coming. Oh my goodness. He walked out? He walked out. He left crazy Miranda. Oh my goodness. So that was like, I mean, that was like the best ending scenario of a bridezilla. You do have to get to the end of it with them.
00:24:34
Speaker
but that was one of the wilder. You didn't disappoint. That is a great story. It was awful. What is your, what is doing all this done for your faith and, and can you just share a little bit about that? Yeah.
Faith and Service
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's just, uh, it continues. I continue to love to serve, you know? And so it just really, um, it's just,
00:25:02
Speaker
It strengthened my faith, it strengthened my love of people, and I think just my abilities to work with them and show love to them and compassion for people. I mean, in the business, we believe everybody deserves the best, you know, which is what God has for us, the best, you know. And yeah, it's just really, it's really showed me that
00:25:30
Speaker
Like if I serve with him, you know, along with him, like amazing things happen and people are blessed and sometimes people will just look at me when I say things that like, oh no, we can do that. You know, whenever you say yes to somebody and you just embrace them and say,
00:25:53
Speaker
We can do that for you. The surprise sometimes is amazing. You know, the surprise that they have, like, I can't believe you would do that for me. You know, when that's Jesus, like that's, that's what it is. Like he'll do whatever he'll do those amazing things for you, you know? And I don't know. Have you ever read the book, Love Does by Bob Goff? Yeah, I have. That seems like you'd be right up your alley. See, I'm not steering you wrong. Yeah, no, it's, I love it.
00:26:20
Speaker
Okay. Well, man, it seems like God's really blessed you and your path. And for sure, all this stuff that's, you know, in front of you, it has to be daunting at times, but farmhouse catering has evolved to something that's bigger than you. Yep. And that's why we wanted you on the uncommon life project because you get to wake up.
00:26:39
Speaker
you're going to do something that you love to do, serve people that you love to serve, and bring a little bit of peace of, I'd say, the gospel to every person that you serve. And that, to me, is the biggest thing. Like, when do you want to stop doing this? I think your answer would be like, well, never. I love this. That makes sense. Like, I want to keep being more efficient and thinking about ways to do it different. And that's, I think, our biggest
00:27:02
Speaker
If we could say one thing that we've done in the past seven years that we just keep hearing over and over, people want to truly retire tomorrow if they could. And if people were loving what they do, they would never want to stop. So it doesn't have to do about retirement. It has everything to do with like, how's God gifted you?
00:27:23
Speaker
And how can we help you align your money to those giftings and get you to wake up in the morning getting excited about what you do for how you do it for the people that you love to do it for. And so to hear your enthusiasm and the way that you bring an uncommon approach to even serving espresso coffees is
00:27:41
Speaker
It's inspiring, and I think that you need to know that. I'm sure the people that you've served feel that. And to be able to have a husband that supports you in that is invaluable. And the fact that he wrote a check to have a building to complement all this stuff is the reason why you have four or five income streams. And so kudos on you and your husband, because it's not always easy, but it sure is rewarding.
00:28:07
Speaker
And even when things don't go your way, which I think that obviously you talked about a little bit, uh, you ended up being a more of a character building. Like I always talk about James chapter one, uh, producing endurance and steadfastness. Like that's what happened. And you would never change that. Like some of those hardest moments in your life are the things that I would say shaped your character, what they are now. And so now you have five kids to pour into to the next generation. How do you,
00:28:34
Speaker
get to offset some of the experience that you have and help them try to have that, I want to run my own business like my mom does.
Teaching Joy in Work
00:28:42
Speaker
Cause I think there's some people who look up to their parents that run a business. They're like, I don't want to do that ever. Like, um, so how do you kind of push into your kids and the next generation and that?
00:28:52
Speaker
I make sure they see that I enjoy it. I mean, it's really a part of our life and we make them a part of it and I don't make it this, I gotta go to work. They never see that in me. And what's kind of cool is they see other people in their lives that are like, I gotta do the daily grind. But they also,
00:29:19
Speaker
as they gotten older, they've seen the benefits of having a mom that is self-employed, you know, that I'm the boss and I can go and pick them up and go do things or be available, a lot more available than the parent working nine to five down in Des Moines, you know, like, um, I just hope that they, I just want them to see that
00:29:43
Speaker
they can have a family and they can have a job that they love. And, and I've just encouraged all of them to, I haven't pushed, we haven't pushed college or any preconceived, you need to go make a whole bunch of money, you know? That would be the worst, like that would be the worst thing ever is if they would just go to make a whole bunch of money and be miserable. And so I see it in my two older girls.
00:30:11
Speaker
I've got one who just wants to travel and she's going to make no money whatsoever. Like she just wants to travel and be an artist. And so two things that are like, yeah, it's great. And I'm like, go for it. Do it. Whatever you want to do, you know?
00:30:30
Speaker
So he heads to Japan in 20 days for a year. Good for him. And so I'm just so excited. Now is the time to do it, right? Yeah. Let's figure it out.
Future Plans for Creative Freedom
00:30:42
Speaker
So where's the future for you, Evy and Farmhouse Catering? What do you see on the horizon for you? Or maybe not, like nothing. I don't know if you're content.
00:30:51
Speaker
I'm preparing for that next step of handing over a lot of the business. I would like to get a general manager into my company eventually that handles that day-to-day. It has to be the right person. I'm just perfectly considering some options. My husband and I both have said, yeah, it would be nice by next summer for someone to be handling
00:31:18
Speaker
a lot of the pieces and juggling. And then I can continue to...
00:31:25
Speaker
create and kind of help on the back end and like, yeah, yeah. So I have other ideas. There's other things than my wheelhouse. They're always turning over there. They're always turning, you know, I, I kind of have like a older, older version of myself plan that does a little more gardening than runs my end. And that's good. I don't know. Does some farm to table stuff and some more purposeful, um,
00:31:54
Speaker
smaller type.
00:31:57
Speaker
type of events. So yeah. Well, I don't want to get on my soapbox too much, but here's the deal. At the end of the day, this whole uncommon life, you have to have a plan. Does that make sense? Yeah. And so Brian and I have been for the last seven years helping people get plans for their uncommon life. Yeah. And really what it boils down to is do you know your budget? And if you know your budget, you have a savings account, right? And then once your savings accounts big enough, then you can go into this investing world where you are at and where you've obviously saw success with farmhouse catering.
00:32:26
Speaker
What's that farmhouse catering and all the other little venues have done enough to cover your monthly expenses? Now you can just like you kind of go into the fourth phase of what we call it of time freedom. Yeah. I'm freedom is this is the best part because if you do the investing correctly, you actually get to time freedom. You're like, I want to do it better. I want to tweak it a little bit more.
00:32:48
Speaker
I want to hire somebody to be able to run it so I can go on a monthly vacation and it doesn't fall in the face. But it's always about engaging in something you love to do. So I would say that you are in time freedom and now you're looking back of like, but I can make it better. And that's the coolest thing about this whole uncommon life is if you do it right, you actually are way more passionate about working in the business that you've created for the life that you've always wanted.
00:33:15
Speaker
Good on you, Evie. Thank you. Oh, I like it. So how can our listeners, if they want to hear more or eat your food or taste your coffee? Or stay in your Airbnb. How can they get ahold of
Connect with Evie's Ventures
00:33:28
Speaker
you? They can find us online at www.farmhousecaters.com or gatherings, gatherings.com. Yeah. What is it? www.gatheriesdevada.com.
00:33:45
Speaker
But they all intertwined. If you just Google me personally, it all shows up.
00:33:54
Speaker
it all pops up. So we can't wait to hear and see what God has in store for you as this new chapters. And we hope you find that general manager and thank you so much for sharing your story today. For sure. Thank you. So you've been listening to the Uncommon Life Project. I'm your host, Phillip Ramsey. And I am Brian Dewhurst. And we hope you come back for the next episode of the Uncommon Life Project. Have a great night. Bye.
00:34:18
Speaker
That's all for this episode of The Uncommon Life Project, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.