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Mill Street Mocha: Interview with Brittany Todd
74 Plays4 months ago
Brittany Todd is a dedicated entrepreneur and the current owner of Mill Street Mocha in Decorah, Iowa. Brittany's career journey spans from professional photography to coffee shop ownership. She and her husband, Nathaniel, also own the beloved local ice cream shop, Sugar Bowl. Brittany is deeply involved in her community, focusing on delivering personalized service and forging genuine connections. She is also the brain behind the Reset Business Conference, aimed at empowering rural entrepreneurs with valuable insights and tools.
Episode Summary:
In this engaging episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast, host Phillip Ramsey welcomes Brittany Todd, the dynamic owner of Mill Street Mocha and co-owner of Sugar Bowl ice cream shop. Brittany candidly shares her journey from entrepreneurship in photography to successfully managing multiple local businesses. She explores the importance of being genuinely connected to the community and the personal fulfillment derived from operating small businesses. This episode is packed with insightful stories, reflecting Brittany's passion for creating a service-oriented business environment.
Brittany discusses the unexpected but rewarding path to owning Mill Street Mocha, shedding light on the complexities and lessons learned from business acquisitions. With keywords like "entrepreneurship," "community engagement," "business acquisition," and "work-life balance," this episode serves as a treasure trove of practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Brittany also highlights the significance of making incremental changes, emphasizing that understanding and empathy towards staff can lead to sustainable business growth. Key themes of resilience, community connection, and strategic planning are woven throughout the conversation.
Key Takeaways:
- Building and maintaining a business significantly benefits from genuine community engagement and personalized customer service.
- Entrepreneurship often involves unexpected opportunities and requires the ability to adapt and learn on the go.
- The importance of having systems and processes in place to prevent burnout and ensure business sustainability.
- Involving and understanding the needs of staff members can greatly enhance operational efficiency and morale.
- For those contemplating a career change or business venture: Small incremental steps and doing thorough research can pave the way for a successful transition.
Notable Quotes:
- "I've never been hired for a real job. If nobody will hire me, I'll just create one."
- "Nothing can make up for lost time, relationships, people. There is, you don’t take it with you when you go."
- "It's a vibe about that community within that building."
- "You can give a gift card to anyone who asks for one, but is that really what their organization needs? Maybe they actually need something completely different."
- "Nothing is going to be your vision, but it's gonna somehow end up better than that."
Resources:
- Brittany Todd on Instagram
- Mill Street Mocha - Brittany's website
- Reset Business Conference - More information on Brittany's conference aimed at fostering entrepreneurial growth in northeast Iowa.
To capture the full depth of Brittany Todd's entrepreneurial journey and glean actionable insights from her experiences, listen to the full episode. Stay tuned for more inspiring dialogues on the Uncommon Wealth Podcast as we continue to bring you closer to individuals who are living life on their own terms.
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Transcript
Introduction to Living Uncommonly
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life. And the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. We're going to introduce you the people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello
Meet Brittany Todd: Honest, Genuine, Organized
00:00:27
Speaker
and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncover Wealth Podcast where I'm your host Phillip Ramsey and we have a guest today. Rockstar by the way, Brittany Todd with Mill Street Mocha. Let me give you a quick background and bio for you. um I'm gonna give you three words that I think of when I think of Brittany, okay? Ready for this? ah Just so the listeners can get to know her, I would say honest. She's gonna be honest and I love that about her. She's genuine. And she's organized. Those are my three words. How great is that? Brittany, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me here today. I think that's a great start. Thank you for that. Yeah, you're welcome. OK, not only that, but she's married to the love of her life, which happens to be a rock star. I've met him and she has three amazing kids. ah Her part time job is not staining deck ah ceiling wood, but she also does that in her part time. She actually is the owner of Mill Street Mocha. So
00:01:22
Speaker
I can't wait to unpack everything. So my
The Unplanned Path to Business Ownership
00:01:24
Speaker
first question to you is when in your life did you think I want to do this whole business owning thing? Like I want to start this. Give me the reins. Give me the ball. Let me shoot the shoot the final shot. It's me. Yeah, is that I think, um, I think that was tomorrow. yeah I'm not sure that I have created this yet. Um, yeah, it's that in itself is a story that could take the full hour here, but
00:01:53
Speaker
Um, everything that has happened has just fallen into place as it's happened. i I didn't go to school for being a business owner. I didn't have any intention after graduating being a business owner. Um, it just all kind of fell into place this way. And along the way I've fallen in love with. the people behind the businesses and the stories and much like what this podcast does for everyone is that's the part that I love it's so much more than owning a coffee shop is more than making a latte owning an ice cream shop is so much more than scooping ice cream and um and not just in the logistics of it but
00:02:37
Speaker
the The regulars, the stories, the moments, the memories, like they're all real. And that is the part that I've truly fallen in love with the most. And it just so happens that I can do that while making somebody a mocha or scooping ice cream or talking to them about their business as well. So good. That's one of the reasons that kind of drew me to this whole like uncommon philosophy when I was being an advisor is if somebody gives me their money and I put it in the market and it goes completely gone, what did they learn? Like not to give me their money.
00:03:10
Speaker
But if they do start something and they start pouring into something, the stories and the lessons that they'll learn are priceless, even if your money goes to zero. And so for for me, just like you, like I love to hear when people are truly like in the throes of it, hearing what's going well, hearing their obstacles and things like that's the reason why I love where I'm at. And it sounds like you got to unpack some of that as well.
Celebrating Milestones with Mill Street Mocha
00:03:35
Speaker
So yeah when was it that you started Mill Street Mocha? So I'm actually not the founder of it. so but And it's just coming up on its third anniversary um this October. So it's a brand new baby drive-through here in Decorah. It's the first drive-through coffee shop that we had in this area. um So that's an exciting little stat to throw out there. um But I'm actually just coming up on my one-year anniversary of it, July 1st.
00:04:07
Speaker
Wow. So it hasn't been that long. No, it's it's new to the community. It's a new concept to the community. Um, a more corporate drive-through, uh, you know, yeah came in just down the block within a year, the first year. So now there are two of them. Um, but obviously those are very different vibes. You know, we have a little more lunch food. We've got the ability to change things on a whim, yeah you know, that's not like a, it's not going with the rest of the company. We are the rest of the company. So,
00:04:40
Speaker
We can kind of tailor things to Nordic Fest coming up and every year or back to school specials or honoring teachers, you know, and we can just yeah do it. You can be part of the community where the other franchises only serving rat poison, you know, like things like that, you know? No, and it's it's so different, like right? even Even if you have corporate businesses in communities, um Like Culver's, if you didn't know, is owned locally. And so um that's a fact that not a lot of people understand or or realize, myself included, until I was speaking with the owners, like kind of thinking she's more of that manager role. She's like, no, like this is my Culver's. Like, yes, there are yeah there are things I have to do, right? um But she's like, I have the freedom to donate to things as I wish or attend or sponsor. Um,
The Role of Local Businesses in Community
00:05:29
Speaker
and that's an example of, yeah, they're totally involved in the community and willing, willing to partner and, um, be supportive in in every way they can. There are certain businesses, no matter where you go, who are going to be great at that and other businesses who are just there. Right. so Right. It's we, we love that is my, one of my biggest, um,
00:05:54
Speaker
pros of owning my own business is I've always had the ability to say yes to what I want to say yes to and can say yes to. Obviously those are two different things. um but I can also do it in a way that I know will be most beneficial. right you know you can You can give a gift card to anyone who asks for one, but is that really what their organization needs? um Maybe they actually need something completely different. I like that. So you kind of were on the coattails of a pretty amazing guy, his name's Nathan, who started a business, and this was probably you guys' as kind of like entry into entrepreneurship, entry into your uncommon path.
Nathan's Ice Cream Venture
00:06:34
Speaker
So let's talk about your husband's kind of
00:06:37
Speaker
um trajectory, his job, you know his career path. I would love to hear, when did he start the ice cream business? Because that's what he does, right? That is what he does. um So there's actually one more piece before that. Yeah. um And then it'll all kind of unfold. So we both went to Luther College. We live in Decorah, Iowa. We grew up in opposite directions from where we are now. So this is our middle common ground um that we have here where we would be equal distance as much as possible to grandparents and all the things looking at our future of wanting kids and and all of the above.
00:07:14
Speaker
We did not um secure jobs very quickly after graduation at all. um and in In the intro of when we first met, my fun fact was that I've never been hired for a real job. and so I just keep making my own. um If nobody will hire me, I'll just create one. And that's one of my business quotes now is when the world keeps telling you, no, just create your own. Yes. And so that's, that's what we're doing here. So, um, I was applying to be in residence life and that only happens once a school year. And so I didn't get it in the first round, long story short. Um, and I started doing photography really, really part time. Hmm.
From Photography to Coffee: Brittany's Business Journey
00:07:56
Speaker
a couple sessions here and there. That is what then turned into the first business that we had in our family. um was my My photography business became my sole source of income. That is what was paying all of the bills because also in there my husband went back to get his master's and was only doing that for a short period of time.
00:08:18
Speaker
And so that photography business um was about a 12 year stint of being my full time career. Wow. um And turned into a studio downtown. So first out of just out of my home on location, then I got a studio downtown. And during that time, when he was getting his masters, the ice cream shop across the street from my studio was for sale. And his final project was to find a real world business problem and help someone solve it. And so the joke is he cheated cause he helped the man sell his business to my husband. see yeah So the real world problem i don't know was this gentleman couldn't sell the shop and he didn't know, we we didn't understand why it wasn't selling. um It was newer to the community. It was started in 2008. So this is the sweet 16, putting that in quotes year of the ice cream shop, but we've been the owners. This is our eighth season. wow um So we're officially on the we've owned it longer than he has um side of things, which he is also our neighbor now small world. um So good thing we like the guy, and we have always had a good relationship with them because he lives across the street.
00:09:30
Speaker
So that is how we got to the ice cream shop is wow this gentleman couldn't sell it. We didn't know why Nathan looked at the books, looked at the potential. It didn't have a social media presence. He didn't use any advertising and it was doing better than. his the teacher's salary that Nathan had for that. If you were crunching the numbers correctly. And so we just knew the potential it had to put it on social media, build a better website, you know do all the above.
00:10:02
Speaker
Then that led to multiple expansions. Ice cream shop in a different town. We have a mobile unit. The ice cream shop in the other town closed. We were on college campus. That has since closed. So now the focus is just this mobile unit and this ice cream shop. But in the meantime, the one that was in another community had the opportunity to have coffee at it. And so we learned from the roaster in that community how to make lattes, how to grind coffee, how to do the ins and outs of that part of the business. We already understood the serving. We already understood the ice cream. Yeah.
00:10:42
Speaker
And then fast forward less than a month after, less than a year after we had to close that location, this coffee shop, Mill Street Mocha fell into our laps and we couldn't have said yes if we still had the other coffee shop and ice cream
Mentorship and Preparation for New Ventures
00:10:59
Speaker
shop. Right. We couldn't have said yes if we never had that one because that's how we learned how to do all of this. Yeah. And full circle, same roaster is in charge of the coffee at this job. For sure. Same person that has taught us all of the things that we knew about coffee to this point. And I was like, you know, they always say hindsight's 20 20 and you're going to understand. I'm like, you could have just told us. Yeah, quickly. I could have done all that. Yeah. But I do think there is something that you appreciate more when things start falling into place and you start seeing like the 100 years start locking in. You're like, wait a second. So super cool. Tell me this. What happened to the photographer photography business?
00:11:40
Speaker
So I keep saying that I'm retiring and people keep making their way into my heart. Um, and so I just, I was just too much. Um, you know, I built that business having zero kids, having one, having two, having three nannying inside our home for the same family along that whole stint. So I had up to five kids at home while running that business. Um, They all went to school and then our surprise angel child came along into our life and we started all over again with ah having a baby in the house. um And that's when I was like, this doesn't make sense. I have a studio, but I'm at home the majority of the day. Let's just so let's let someone else rent that space. so Because again, i'm I'm for the benefit of the community as well. And I wasn't bringing foot traffic. It was basically a display window because it wasn't being utilized.
00:12:36
Speaker
um So there's now a wedding dress shop, dressed by Morgan Lynn, come up to Decorah and check it out everyone. um Morgan does a fantastic job with that space and we still own that building um as well. And so that is That's what happened to the studio side of things. At this point in life, we're now to the point where evenings are critical family time, and evenings are the best time to do photography. Yeah, right. It doesn't line up. Yeah, it doesn't line up. It doesn't line up with my ability to create my hours, to have that family time, to to have the purpose behind owning your own business. And it's not a family business if you're not able to spend time with your family.
00:13:21
Speaker
yeah how that's it no it's a job but takes of defeats so Yeah, it kind of defeats the purpose. So I last year or two years ago, I announced it was my last full year of doing weddings. um A few people were already booked at that point for 2023. So I think I had four or five weddings last year. But in the past, I was doing anywhere from 20 to 30 a year, along with senior pictures, families, all that. um And then this This year, I have one for a friend. And recently, um the very last wedding I did last year, his brother got engaged. And so they were like, please, just we already know all the things you're good at. but And I was like, dang it, your family's amazing. And
00:14:11
Speaker
you caught me on a weak moment. Um, no, so I have their wedding next August, but it's like, you know, just like one thing yeah a year. Will I, will I pop up and do some mini sessions? The answer is probably yes. Let's be honest. probably that's I just miss my people. You know, those are all stories. That was my favorite part of photography was, man, I was there for engagements, proposals, their wedding, their first baby, their maternity. It's a big deal. Family pictures. I mean, I was at more milestones for some people than literally than like grandparents. Yeah. And just because I mean, I was literally in the birthing room for some people.
00:14:54
Speaker
And right like there's only so many people allowed. Yeah, there's always so many people that you can let in like that. Yeah. And and those are those were people that man when I announced that I was retiring from that, you know, and like, this next chapter my life, ah the business conference is the next chapter after that. And I was like, I still wanna help people with their stories. It's just gonna look different. And yeah, that was that was an emotional emotional time. For sure. For sure. It is, you get all caught up in the business. And it's not the business, it's not the numbers, it's the people. I should have said you're relational. I should have maybe used that for one of your bios. I didn't know that, but I'd say genuine, still the same thing. Okay, here's my question. I like to throw at least one question out to our guests that are on the show that are kind of like, wait, what?
00:15:41
Speaker
Okay, what do you think your kids are learning from witnessing your husband and you running businesses? Yeah, that is an excellent question that I would like them to come answer. i you know
00:16:00
Speaker
It ebbs and flows. so yeah There are days when they're like, don't ask, we're not taking over this business. I don't care if you have as much ice cream as I could ever eat in my life. I don't ever want to see ice cream ever again. And then there are other days when they're like, look, I built a lemonade stand and it's got three levels and a spot for the cash register. And we're going to do it from this hour to this hour. Cause that's the most epic sunlight on the corner street, you know, like they, yeah and you're like, Okay. They, they pay attention a little bit. Um, there's deaf, there's so many pros and cons to any job, right? And they, they understand. I mean, when we go on a family vacation, we're like, if we work X amount of hours in the shop this week, that equates to us saying yes to more things on vacation. So, yeah let's go you know, like, don't, Not that they can't be upset that we're going to work, but like everyone's parents go to work at some point. So we don't need to feel guilty about that. Just like, I'm not going to make you feel. I think that question is fascinating because I've seen, uh, I just get to work with a lot of people in a different areas, but like my grandparents, like my grandpa and specifically bought a mobile home park. And that's the way that he provided for his family. very entrepreneurial. I would say a lot of people in his generation were entrepreneurial or uncommon. And then it was like my parents and they got sold this bill of lies at like 401ks, benefits, all this stuff. And a lot of that generation like were locked up into employee mindset and trying just to get the benefits and this, that and the other. I do see a resurgence of
00:17:43
Speaker
entrepreneurship or it's kind of like a blend now where people kind of want to do it, but they don't know how, how would I even have for health benefits? What would I do? That's the one that comes up, but I think it's interesting to see like what would happen with my kids and your kids as they get to witness us creating something every day, going through the ebbs and flows of owning a business, processing that out, refining ourselves through it.
Lessons for the Next Generation in Business
00:18:09
Speaker
And then at the end of the day, but what are they witnessing? That's just like, I don't even know if we can really answer that yet. right But it is fascinating to think about. And I do think like our personalities and our like attitudes after we get home from work, it actually weighs a lot more than we would think, right? yeah So it's fascinating. So thanks for at least going down that rabbit hole. I just think it's- Yeah, you bet.
00:18:33
Speaker
um Okay so Mill Street Mocha everybody it's been you've been dominating that thing for about a year. What do you think the hardest the most challenging things that you've had to like work through in the past year talking about Mill Street Mocha? I would say the biggest challenge so far has been um there were there were rules and guidelines and patterns established by two really amazing people who loved what they were doing, loved the team, but got burnt out because they were also working full-time jobs alongside running this full-time job. um and and That's why they sold so quickly. is so my The hardest thing for me is to come in and make all these changes,
00:19:22
Speaker
and seemingly, you know, and for staff to ah think like, wow, she's really coming in and changing a lot of things or the community thinking that, or, you know, just that perception of it even, but without diving into all of the behind the scenes for them, for me, for my future, my family's future, the staff's future, it can just look like, oh, a lot of changes are happening and and why fix something that wasn't broken? And it's like it was broken it's broken. Yeah, like, right like, right, like they were burning out and they weren't even two years in. And I one year from now don't want to be that version of myself for my kids, for my family, for the staff. And so.
00:20:09
Speaker
You know, and a lot of that is just assumption, awareness, you know, perception of I'm assuming that's what people are thinking. You hear certain comments, but then you're like, we serve how many hundreds of people a day? If I hear something once every two months, is that really the majority or is it just that one person? Yeah, right yeah. um So that's the hardest thing. Great question. it It changed a lot with the season and the school year. yeah um I would say we're right around 15 right now. yeah um one One full time. um One is, well, one position is currently up for grabs ah to all of the
00:20:55
Speaker
<unk> ah No, but we're currently hiring in the process of hiring another full-time in-house manager so that I can be more behind the scenes, so social media, marketing, managing meetings, you know, all that side of it without so much focus and needing to be behind the counter. I love working behind the counter, but I can't help the business if I'm there 40 hours a week. Yeah, no, burnout city, baby. burnout city And that's the thing that I think a lot of people will have a misconception of being going down this uncommon path is like, no, we go down this uncommon path so we can create what we wanted to create for our life. And so we don't get burned out. So if it doesn't grow as fast as maybe the Elon Musk did, like, it's fine with me. I don't want to be burned out. And I'd like to be married at the end of this thing. So
00:21:42
Speaker
But it is something that I am constantly i guess reevaluating. OK, how am I doing? Am I getting burned out? Am I pushing too hard? And that's something that we have to feather back and forth of like, OK, now I got to slow down a little bit because it's just not worth the consequences that could happen if you burn yourself out. No one wins. No one wins. great Okay, so i want to I want to do a left face here because this is something interesting. You and your are husband, Nathan, have had two buyouts in like a very short amount of time.
Insights from Successful Business Buyouts
00:22:14
Speaker
And successful buyouts, by the way, which is not easy to have one buyout, you've had two. So what do you think you've learned in those two buyouts that a listener would be like, oh, that's actually really good. Tell me those. That usually is not very, it's not very common.
00:22:31
Speaker
I would say we knew a little bit going into the first one, what it looks like to own ah and run a business. Okay. Um, so that benefited us the first time cause I knew how it, what it took to run a business and market for myself and my services is what you're talking about. Yep. Okay. Yeah. So that, but that was service based. Yep. These are both very heavily product based. Mm-hmm. But you have to understand the service part of that. Yeah. It's so key. So key. And it's, I am not a huge fan. You don't just buy local because it's local. You buy local because you care it's a vibe about yeah that community within that building.
00:23:19
Speaker
right and so so you have to earn that and you you have to be willing to put into a community what you're asking them to give back not even give back to you but to keep you there like what's going to keep your business there um so we We know the amount of hours that go in to training someone really well so that you don't have to be there to correct all their mistakes. Right. But also so that they know they can make mistakes, right? These are things that yeah i um I've talked about before, like a practice, what do we call it? um
00:23:59
Speaker
a practice vacation where you tell your staff that you're gone. I'm going to be gone. sweet But you're not. And they they know. But at the end of each day, we would say, like, which fire did you put out today? Yeah. And they're like, none. And I'm like, see, there's proof you did it all on your own. Or they're like, actually, these three things happen. And I'm like, OK, you can put on fires. I still work there food got served and what was your instinct like what's that gut instinct and just allowing them to understand like you can make mistakes well to take ownership to one yeah like and and you're important here you're not a robot in our life you. martin
00:24:39
Speaker
That's not about the buyout though. Like you're walking into this guy. Obviously he wants to sell it, but he hadn't sold it yet. Like, what did you learn to be like, no, we can sell it. We can buy it. And maybe it was just like, Oh, you're going to give me the price I want. But it seems like there's always more than that. Like I see potential in you because this is my baby. I've raised from a little baby and I'm giving it now over to a new parents. And I hope you run out like that. To me, there's a lot of emotion in buyouts. So how did you get that deal done? And then how did you get Mill Street Mocha deal done? Yeah. So, okay. Looking at it from that perspective. So Craig is the original owner of Sugar Bowl, literally built it, built it from the ground up. Hey Craig, good job man. Craig across the street, says hi to our kids, all the things.
00:25:27
Speaker
It's very difficult to buy from someone that you live in the same town as, let alone we weren't living across the street at the time. um Because you know they're going to walk past. Oh yeah. You know they're going to see, you know, and same the previous owner of Mill Street came through the drive-thru yesterday and the amount of pressure of handing her a drink in that moment. Right. If it's not perfect, you know, and it doesn't matter if this is how we do it now, I still want her to love it. Every single sip of it. um
00:25:59
Speaker
They were both two very different situations, right? Cause Sugar Bowl was for sale. yeah Nathan helped him analyze that, basically told him like you're saying like, you've got a legit asking price, but I'm not just going to give that to you. And he literally said to us, he was like, So I don't like negotiating. So um and just tell me what you would offer. I'll tell you my bottom line and let's figure it out from there. Yes. Yeah. And so that emotion part of it.
00:26:33
Speaker
was like, okay, we're on the same page from the beginning. No one's trying to rip anybody off. right but We're not trying to undercut him. He's not trying to oversell. ye But then it was just like, for a while, I mean, he helped us transition. He came in and first few weeks, helped us scoop, do all the things. um But then after a while, it was like, okay, we're ready for you to like, let us free, you know, let us fly, let us do what we want to do at this point. yeahp And, um, and he's been nothing but supportive. I mean, the day our mobile unit showed up in our driveway, he was like, can I come see it? You know, like he's, you came over, we gave him a tour of an empty mobile unit and he could just like see the vision. And that is something that's like,
00:27:22
Speaker
Gosh, it's to have his support. It doesn't matter at this point, right? But it does. It does. It doesn't. It's like ah he's still proud of his baby. That's right. He's his baby girl. Bigger than he ever thought he could. So that was that was that side of it. But then um over the last few years, we actually were helping Michelle and Denine are the previous owners of Mill Street Mocha. We sat down with them before it was built. And they asked us a few questions about Um, they knew about the, the reset conference and my ability to help people, social media and my, my love for all of that. And they sat down with us and they're like, Hey, we're going to bring this business to town. What advice do you have? What point of sales should we use? So we were not at all like how it came to be, but we did have like this little insider scoop. Sure. And we would still text back and forth over the last couple of years. So.
00:28:19
Speaker
She actually didn't text me one day and was like, hey, I need to talk to you about something. And I was like, am I going to the principal's office? My heart's beating fast. I'm clamming. I was like, I don't think I did. Did I hurt there? Like, what did we do? All these things. Yeah. And she she said to us, she's like, hey, you know, we offered this opportunity to the roaster um who, you know, he was like, no, thanks. At this time, we don't want another location. And she's like, you and Nathan were the next people that came to my wondering like to buy the shop. That's an honor.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah. And I was like, I'm going to be really honest with you. That's not where I saw this phone conversation. Yeah. Yeah. so I'm going to need to talk to Nathan on this one before I just give you any sort of answer. um And it was, it was just like such a humbling experience because it's, it's a passion of mine to help people Do their business in a way that allows them to live alongside working, alongside a job, alongside a career, whatever you wanna call that side of it. If you're not living alongside it, yeah what is it all for? right Okay, so we've got the photography business, got the ice cream business, got Mill Street Mocha.
00:29:35
Speaker
But there's going to be something else. So what's the next thing for Brittany Todd and the Funky Bunch? Let's go. Yeah. So
Launching the Reset Business Conference
00:29:44
Speaker
um this is the the fifth year we'll be hosting the Reset Business Conference oh in Northeast Iowa. OK, tell me more about the Reset Conference first. So the reset conference is, it's an acronym. It started during COVID and it was a way for people to connect virtually through reset bingo is what we started this whole thing out. The very fast version of this is it's regroup, reevaluate. What exactly are you trying to get out of what you're doing right now? um Energy. How do you keep the energy necessary to do it?
00:30:25
Speaker
yep Stress relief, different tactics depending on if you're working from home, working out of the home, um different moments of your day, what that looks like. enhance your surroundings, um, from like a candle that you light while you're working at home to how to declutter your space to whatever that looks like. And the key is, uh, try today. So we can't implement everything we want to implement in 24 hours, or you're going to fail at it. And that's, that's proven. Um, if you shout out for atomic habits, right? It's like, got to do one thing at a time. So just try, try something today and see what's going to work best for you. um So that's, that's what it started as was like, how can we enhance our living space and still exercise, but we're trying to help our kids learn virtually and we're doing all these things.
00:31:20
Speaker
And we were supposed to go to business conference that year and it got canceled like everything did. Yeah. And I looked at my business coach at the time, um, through the SBDC and I was like, I think I need to host it instead. Yeah. She was like, all right. So you think like fall of next year? And I was like, no, like now probably like, yeah, like this in three, she's like three months in and I was like, yeah, that feels like enough time. Do you think let's do this? So that's how reset came about um and it's it's intentionally in northeast iowa in a rural community because we don't have those resources not everyone can fly across the state the country be gone for four days have the full staffing and so the child care everything needed.
00:32:08
Speaker
the accessibility to go to that, it's not accessible to everyone, whether it's two hours away or three states away. Right. So we intentionally have it up here in this little corner of Iowa to help out the rural community here as much as possible to attend. But that reach also spreads completely throughout the entire United States. We have people from all over come and attend and speak at it. um But from from that, a little something has also stemmed of the hope for um a more coffee-driven version of this in the future, um because I could have used that a lot of months ago. yeah um And there's a lot of things you can learn in a lot of different places, but man, to have that centralized into one thing. no
00:33:02
Speaker
couple of years from now, stay tuned. That's going to be and where you're at. We're already working on the parts of that. Well, I like that. The whole reset idea. I think that's really brilliant. And there is something dynamic that happens when you get business owners in one area just to talk through what's going on, how, you know, what's been a challenge, what's been great, like just even talking through stuff is just life giving. So it's going to be great. OK, so if you were to flash your back ah flash your life back 15 years, what would you tell your younger self knowing what you know now? Like what was that advice? Yeah, that's, um, that is, ironically, I think what 15 years that's basically my senior year of college. Um, nothing is going to be your vision, but it's going to somehow end up better than that. Oh, wow. That's good. You know, I,
00:34:03
Speaker
That's one of those things, especially this time of year, it makes me so emotional too. Because how many seniors, high school seniors get that diploma and they're like, what the heck am I doing? What do you mean I'm supposed to know what I'm doing next? Yes. Yeah. They're like, I don't even know where I'm eating breakfast tomorrow, let alone like what I'm going to do the rest of my life. We have so much pressure on that. And then likewise college seniors who are like, I paid all this money for this degree. Now I better go get something in that major. yeah Like what a waste. What a failure. And it's like, Oh man, no, like sure. You could do things cheaper. You could have not gone to college for sure. I didn't need to go to college for anything I'm doing right now. That's exactly right. um draw back up I don't need a diploma for anything I'm doing right now. Right.
00:34:55
Speaker
I don't need a transcript for anything I'm doing right now, but holy smokes do I need the connections. The organization. so Yes, the the understanding how things are connected. The soft skills, like that's what I think the college is good for, the soft skills and like the community and the relationships and like, how do you adapt? How do you overcome? How do you do all these things when you feel like I don't have a second in the day? the are Yeah. And I just think like there was so much pressure that I put on myself to do extremely well as a student that I missed out on a lot of opportunities. Like it worked out in the end, right? But there were how many times I didn't go to something cause I was studying or how many times I sat there staring at an exam thinking I had aced it. And like, let me tell you that first F,
00:35:49
Speaker
really just goes right to the heart. You know, I'm just like, what, what letter is that? yeah Um, but like it didn't matter. It didn't matter what that said, what matters, what was I, what could I still talk about after the test? What did I actually learn? yeah not What could I regurgitate? that's right there's that's right Um, and so I think that's, that's the one thing like going back 15 years, like just learn along the way, just learn something. Yep.
00:36:22
Speaker
yeah And I think even the hardest lessons are the ones that like are the most challenging and the biggest failures of my life, are the ones I've learned the most. like So as much as it sucks, like I learned the most when, you know, I screwed up the most. And so that's not necessarily horrible. Obviously you don't want to do that. But as long as you're learning from what's your, what you're doing and your successes and your failures, I would say my failures have been the biggest teacher of my life of like, okay, let's think through that. Like, yeah, yeah it's just there's multi percent of that.
00:36:54
Speaker
ah So, okay, my last thing is that this podcast is really to try to encourage other people that they're their best asset. Like you do
Following Your Passion: When to Make a Change
00:37:03
Speaker
have a gifting, you do have value and you can't impact the world and just the people around you who cares about the world. But I do think that's powerful. And so one of the reasons why I have this podcast is it's encouraged people who are on the sideline, the sideline being Wells Fargo or working at some conglomerate ah from a desk job of like, what can you do one step to just kind of get closer to like your uncommon
00:37:27
Speaker
You're uncommon. I don't know what that looks like, but that's the reason why this podcast is. So for you for you, what would you say to those listeners that still are working a nine to five job, nervous about the unknowns? Like what advice would you give them to be like, guys, that you could do this. If you could just make a fifth of what you make or what you're making the company that you're working for, you be rich beyond measure measure. What would you give advice to those people?
00:37:57
Speaker
And if they're. How how much can you can you hear the construction? I can hear it a little bit, but that's good. It's good. Great, great. um
00:38:11
Speaker
If you're on the fence. of trying to do something else because you don't love where you are, that should that alone should be the signal to do it. That's right. I love it. there there is there is no i understand I understand that financially, some people cannot just quit their job yeah and try something new tomorrow. That's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying drop everything, but I am saying when you have a free second, do the research.
00:38:42
Speaker
Take time. You don't need to apply to 15 other jobs. You might start making something at home. You might find a friend who is already doing that and you just want to do the books. You just want to do nothing can make up for. lost time, but relationships, people. there is You don't take it with you when you go. yeah you don't You don't need it all. you don't You don't need millions of dollars, especially if you have no one to share that with or experience that with or live life with. Not worth it.
00:39:16
Speaker
It's good, I love that advice. Okay, thank you for being on the show. Thank you for sharing you and Nathan's wisdom, because I think there's a lot there. If our listeners wanted to hear anything more or reach out to you in any way, how could they reach out to you, Brittany? So you can find me on social media at Britneytoddofficial, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y, and or at Britneytodd.com. If you want to find a little bit more behind the scenes, come check out Reset later in October in Decorah, Iowa. It's good. You've been listening to the Uncomwealth Podcast. I've been your host, Philip Ramsey. Until next time, go be in common. Thanks for listening.
00:39:58
Speaker
That's all for this episode 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.