August 17, 2023 • 30 mins
Ever wondered how it would be to leave a steady corporate job and plunge headfirst into the entrepreneurial world? That's exactly what Teresa Davis did, and she's here to share her exhilarating journey with us. From maneuvering the challenging world of entrepreneurship to successfully running West 40 Market in Ankeny, Iowa, Teresa's story is a testament to passion and perseverance. She specializes in selling locally raised cuts of beef, pork, chicken, bison, lamb, and turkey, proving that you can indeed turn your love for supporting local farms into a thriving business.
Teresa's unique story is not just about launching a meat market; it’s also about the importance of networking, building connections, and standing out from the competition. Delight in the inspiring tale of how her parents bought a grocery store to save it in their small town of Green Iowa, and how Teresa has harnessed the power of social media and online sales to reach customers far and wide. Find out how she transitioned her operations in response to the pandemic and managed to grow her business amidst the crisis.
In the world of entrepreneurship, balancing work and family life is a tightrope walk. Listen in as Teresa shares how her three-year-old daughter has taught her to slow down, and the systems and automations she uses to stay on track. Discover how she navigated the challenges of managing her company without prior experience in accounting and HR, and how she’s learned to buy time by reaching out to experts. Lastly, hear about Teresa’s innovative strategies, from leveraging technology to outsourcing and delegating tasks, that maximize her time and make the most of her business. An episode teeming with insights, this is one you don't want to miss.
Until next time... Follow on Instagram @buytimepodcast
Follow Jacob K. Mead on all the socials @jacobkmead
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everybody, this is Jacob K Mead and this is the
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(00:22):
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Enjoy today's episode.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Buy Time Podcast.
My name is Jacob K Mead and I'mexcited today because we have a
special guest Teresa Davis.
She owns West 40 Market inAnkeny, iowa.
And, teresa, why don't youstart with telling us a little
(00:45):
bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Sure, so I'm a mother to a wonderful three-year-old.
First and foremost, it keeps meon my toes.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It does it does.
Yeah, I have a history inworking in corporate and so this
was not where I wanted to go orwhere I intended to go.
But I started the businessabout two years ago and run that
out of Ankeny.
I keep busy between that andobviously raising a kid, and so
(01:14):
between those two things that'spretty much it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Splitting a lot of time between personal life
running, being a mom to kids andalso running a business.
And so what does your businessdo?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, so we are actually all Iowa first and
foremost.
So we specifically have cuts ofbeef, pork, chicken, bison,
lamb, turkey all raised on Iowafarms from start to finish.
We support between five andseven Iowa farmers, depending on
the time of year, and so wesell all of those individual
cuts that people can come in andget.
We also have about a dozen Iowabusinesses that we support as
(01:46):
well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So it's like fresh cuts too.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
No well, no fresh cuts.
So we aren't an actual butchershop.
We don't have a fresh butchercounter.
The way that we approach it isthat we take everything to the
locker about every two weeks.
Everything's cut specific towhat we have in the store.
They double wrap it, it'spackaged, we bring it back and
we stock the shelves.
So it's actually all frozen,other than, like the beef sticks
, jerky, we have somegrab-and-go stuff like that but
(02:09):
it's all frozen so that peoplecan plan ahead for meals.
We also do like a lot of bulksales.
So if people want to have youknow filled or freezer full, or
want to buy a big bundle of meator something like that to kind
of stock up, they can do thatand then basically shop from
their freezer.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh, that's important, especially if you have kids.
You can go to the freezer grabwhat you need.
My wife's always guilty of notputting the meat out the night
before, so we're always like ohman, we forgot to do this.
So no, that's awesome.
So you own West 40 market.
How long have you had it?
For Two years, so we justrecently celebrated our two-year
anniversary.
Congratulations.
You've accomplished it, by theway.
(02:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, two feet, that's what everybody said.
They're like, wow, you're stillaround, like, yes, I am, I am.
So, yeah, two years in, I spentabout three to four months kind
of renovating the place.
So I've been into it for abouttwo and a half years or so.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Renovation process is sometimes awesome to see where
it started and where it's at nowand remember hey it used to be
this way, and now we're here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it was a gunshot before I moved in there
Really, oh my goodness.
And I mean really great peoplethat owned it, but just
atrocious like carpet and orangeand red balls Not up top very
well.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So you're like do we have to redo all of this?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
No, yeah, yeah, so did some work in there.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Oh, that's amazing.
So what got you started?
What was the big spark and theidea to go about opening up West
Vortie Market?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Sure, yeah, so the meat, specifically the beef and
the chicken, come from myparents' farm.
So my mom and my dad moved mybrother and I out to a farm when
we were teenagers.
So I didn't grow up on a farm,but I spent the latter part of
my teenage years living on thefarm and we had cows and so it
kind of was just a hobby farm.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You're a farm girl.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You could call me a farm girl.
I don't know if I'd go that far, but I lived on a farm, yes,
but it was kind of basically ahobby of my dad's and we would
butcher beef to basically justfeed ourselves and we'd give it
to people in the community,things like that.
So it kind of started to growfrom there when people started
to ask for you know, can I get aquarter of beef or can I get
individual cuts?
So kind of fast forward.
(04:05):
Then I graduated, moved down toDes Moines after college,
fashion, design andmerchandising so I mean I
literally had no, this is, thisis as far left, as right as I
could have gone.
So yeah.
But got down with college,moved down to the Des Moines
area and at the time my parentswere really interested in kind
of selling individual cuts and Isaid, well, there's nothing
(04:25):
around here like that.
Unless you know a farmer,there's nowhere to go in the Des
Moines area at least at thetime to where you can really get
, like you can walk into a brickand mortar and get access to
Iowa raised all Iowa raisedmeats and know exactly what
farms they came from.
So we started off at the DesMoines Farmers Market.
It's kind of how we started togetting into it and I thought
you know, let's just see ifthere's a market for this.
(04:45):
Obviously there's other.
There were other vendors theredoing the same thing, but I did
that for four seasons beforeCOVID and kind of built a
customer base there and loved it.
So it was a full time vendor atthe farmers market.
Covid hit basically just kindof sold it out of my house.
I, you know, would take callsfrom people like regulars being
like can I meet you in theparking lot for 10 pounds a gram
(05:07):
?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I mean legit your meat seller in the parking lot.
This is exactly how it wentdown, showed up in the brown bag
.
I love it.
That's exactly how it went down.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I was just joking to people.
I'll meet you in the parkinglot, you know, or I'll meet you
in a dark alley somewhere, andit's.
People laugh.
I'm like, no, really, this iswhat I, this is what.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I did.
I'll say the product yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But whatever I, you know, in my head I thought, gosh
, there's, there's.
Just I just felt like there wasa really good market for it and
so for me that was kind oftrying to build that clientele.
I worked a full time corporatejob at the time, which I assumed
that that was going to be mycareer.
Never in a million years did Ithink I was going to actually
open up a brick and mortar, butI kept kind of having this drive
, maybe, or this something thatwas telling me there's something
(05:42):
here Like I feel like there's,there's, there's a place for
this to go.
And so fast forward then toduring COVID.
I was out on maternity leaveand obviously was everybody was,
you know, at home, and I gotthe call and I got laid off for
my job.
So, yeah, for the second time,but that's a different story for
a different day.
No-transcript, you know, Ihonestly I thought this has got
(06:02):
to be my kick, like somebody'skicking, giving me the push so
direction.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Don't do what you want to do.
Yeah, I always want to theopportunity.
I have the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, and I honestly don't know if I would have ever
done it on my own.
I don't know if I would havehad been brave enough to quit a
very good full-time job,Benefits, everything just had a
new baby and people think I'mnuts, right and yeah.
So I was like you know what I'mgonna do it and I started.
I got the LLC going and scoutedout some locations, you know
(06:31):
where I wanted to kind of put mystore, and Kind of went from
there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So I love that and I can think back when I was first
starting my business and kind ofthe struggles that I was going
through and I like to say it's aroller coaster of emotions.
What one day you think you haveit and then the next day you
think that you're you're failingand it's just constantly up and
down, so talk to me about howyou overcame those roller
coaster of emotions.
Did you have a support group oror who was there to kind of help
(06:56):
you through those tough days?
It said like Teresa, you, youcan do this.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah.
So first of all, I have I stillhave yet to overcome them.
I don't really think you'veever do.
No, you never do.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It's like the coasters are as steep, it's like
somewhat more down, but yes,it's something never overcome.
Yeah, what kind of group didyou have in place to kind of
help you through that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so I mean fantastic family and friends,
first of all, people thatbelieve in you and continue to
Kind of clap for you, give youideas, whatever it may be.
People that also don't let youjust give up and walk away right
.
People that are gonna remindyou like?
yes and people are gonna remindyou and say, hey, remember that
one time about six months agowhen you were feeling kind of
the same way, and then look whathappened.
Right, you came back from that.
(07:34):
So I think it's important tohave those kind of people.
I also really tapped into a lotof small business, other small
business owners.
I started to kind of get outthere and network and go to
events or whatever it might havebeen, and ask around and say,
okay, you've owned a business,and it was obviously no business
, anything like mine, but stillyou're a business owner, right,
and so we.
Can I throw ideas out at him orbe like do you think this is
(07:55):
crazy?
Or like, how do I find, how doI even find, a Place to brick
and mortar, to put my store?
Or do you think this pricesounds pretty fair?
You know, for rent, I mean whoI had never rented a property, I
didn't know so.
So even things like that ofjust you know somebody that that
can offer you advice, maybesomebody that's been there, I
can kind of say it's gonna getbetter.
Or yeah, these are really harddecisions, but just make it and
(08:17):
go with it and you can always,you know, maybe just give you
some encouragement thoseconnections.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You can always make a big difference to have a
connection and be around otherpeople.
We've done the same thing andthat way they can help you
through it.
They know what you're goingthrough.
You know I understand thatroller coaster of emotions.
It's tough.
Yeah, you think what many yougot this and the next many you
don't yet.
I still go through that myself.
You know I I'm huge in thesales and I've been in the sales
almost my entire life, and sowhen I see that we're having a
(08:42):
low sales day, it's it'sstruggling, it's that's me
feeling like maybe we don't gotthis.
And then the next day, you know, we triple double our sales and
so it's amazing to actuallyhear that story.
So you, your mom and dad werethey entrepreneurs, or what did
they do?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No, my dad's a medical doctor.
Yeah, he was a medical doctor.
So when I say our farm was ahobby, it truly was a hobby.
Like we had, like you know, acouple random pigs, a couple
horses, some cows, like we werelike whatever this is, you know,
and this is great, and it justmorphed into what it is now.
I called it a happy accident iskind of how I always looked at
(09:17):
it.
But, yeah, so my dad is adoctor, medical doctor.
My mom Spent the better part ofmy childhood raising myself and
my brother, and then she workedat my dad's office.
She now so.
About three years ago, myparents bought the local grocery
store in our small town, ourhometown and by small I mean
about a thousand people on agood day Wow yeah.
Yeah, so small town, iowa, butthey they bought the grocery
(09:39):
store to save it.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
We're at what.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Green Iowa.
Green Iowa so where exactly isthat Green is?
If you're familiar with theMason City-ish Charles City area
, it's like southeast of there,okay, so like directly straight
east of Sheffield if you'refamiliar with that Cool, so tiny
little town.
So they bought the grocerystore there about three years
ago, basically just to save it.
Nobody else wanted it.
They were going to shut it downand it would have been a pretty
(10:03):
big hit for the community andso they bought it.
They put our meat in there.
They sell our meat there.
They still own it.
So that's what my mom does now.
She runs that full time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So they kind of had the opportunity and they just
took it and they didn't knowwhere it was going to go until
they started.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Absolutely not, no, no, and that's the kind of
people they are Like.
They've always been heavilyinvolved in the community,
volunteering just a lot, justdoing whatever they could to
keep the community going andthriving, and so that's yeah,
that's what they did.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
That is so cool.
So now you have your own store,West Forty Market, and it's in
Ankeny.
So where at Ankeny is itlocated?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
It's in Uptown Ankeny , uptown Ankeny Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So you guys open seven days a week, or what are
your hours like there?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yep, so we're Monday through Saturday, so Monday
through Friday 10 to five andthen Saturday 10 to two, and
we're also at the Ankeny FarmersMarket, so you can find us
there too.
That's awesome, so you stillhave the Farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You mentioned the Farmers Market and that there's
other people that do the samething that you do.
So what's something that youare doing in your business that
kind of set you apart from allyour competitors?
Obviously, all Iowa grown butwhat's something else that maybe
you were doing differently thananyone else?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, I don't know.
I do a lot of bundles, I do aton of social media and I find
that oh, it's so powerful.
It is really powerful, and Ifind that a lot of farmers your
traditional farmers, a lot ofthem don't use social media a
lot, and so I think that maybethat's something that does set
me apart just a little bit isthat I've got a pretty big
outreach from a social mediastandpoint.
We ship nationwide, so you cango on our online store and even
(11:30):
buy everything that we have inour store.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Oh, that's so cool, so you don't even need to live
in Des Moines or live in Iowa orAnkeny.
You can get it anywhere.
Yep yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So we ship nationwide , and so I think that part of it
too sets me apart a little bitwith just having that capability
of just you can know yourfarmer and get access to this,
no matter where you live, and soI think that piece of it is big
.
But honestly, I tell people alot that there's plenty of
mouths to feed too.
So we're all kind of in it.
We're all raising the animals,we're all trying to do what we
(12:01):
think is best in this scenario,and really I don't look at it as
competition by any means.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You're all a big group.
We're all there to help eachother and help each other along
the way, because there's plentyout there for everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There's plenty of mouths to feed.
And if the farmers don'tsurvive, none of us, you know
we're not going to be able to doit just by ourselves.
That's so important.
It's going to take all of us togo at it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, that's so important in business is to
learn that sometimes yourcompetition isn't your worst
enemy.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
No.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
It can be.
You know, if you look at itlike that, you're going to go
down a very dark trail.
It's like your competition isthere to also help you and it's
helped you to, you know, branchout, it's helped you to grow.
So so you, you're on WestportyMarket and you mentioned that
you're open six days a week,right?
So what's staffing like for you?
How do you staff?
Are you there all the time, orwhat's kind of that look like
(12:48):
for you?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I'm kind of there all the time.
So hey, you're just startingout, You're two years in, so I
get it.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I've been there, done that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, I'm there less than what I was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I feel like we're making progress.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
But you're.
The timing of this is kind ofinteresting because my goal for
2023 was to really dive into um,to balance of time, of getting
more working on the businessversus in the business, um, and
that was that was a huge goal ofmine and so far so good.
So I found somebody really great, a rock star that works at the
store for me, um, about 10 to 15hours a week and she does most
(13:21):
of the farmers markets as well.
Um, but I was, I was, it wasjust a happen, chance.
She bought some food one timethere and we happened to be
talking and she was looking fora gig and she's got an
agricultural background, so itwas kind of just this perfect
blend.
But, um, so I got her in thestore so that I can kind of do
behind the scenes things, um,and try to kind of figure out
what that balance looks like andcontinue to move, move the
(13:42):
store forward, kind of evolveand all of that, because
otherwise, if I'm there workingall day, every day, I can't, I
don't have a chance to do someof that stuff that's going to
continue to move me forward andactually grow the business.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Working on your business versus working on your
business it's so important Iactually teach it in a lot of my
workshops that I do is how yougo about buying more time, and
that starts with staffing, andit also starts with
understanding your value andkind of what you provide.
So you know what it's going totake to replace you and, um,
it's so important to havesomeone there that you can trust
and that you can lean on.
Yes, talk about how you feltthe first time you let her be
(14:14):
there and run the run the showwithout you being there.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean, I get anxiety all the time.
It's still, it is in it andit's almost almost feeling like
guilt, to be like overcomingthat guilt and that's something
I teach in my workshops, likeovercoming to go.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
People are like what guilt I'm like.
You have that feeling and it'slike the pit of I should be
there, I should be there, andbut it's so awesome that you've
already done this and you'reless than three years in and
you're already learning this atsuch an early aspect in your
business and it's really goingto help you grow.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
And it's going to help your staff grow too, and so
you're.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
you have one employee right now One that works mostly
hours.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
So I have.
I have another girl that does alot of my locker runs, so, like
behind the scenes things causeusually those are entire day
events, um, and so she'll do alot of the behind the scenes
locker runs and, hey, you canget your time back from having
to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
You know, buy your time back there and that we have
time to work on something.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That that's so important, yeah, Learning it so
quickly it's, it's, it's awesometo see.
And so you, you can basicallystep out of your business.
You can let it kind of run onyour two years in.
What's your future look likewith your business?
Like, where are you wanting totake this?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
That's a great question.
I ask myself that a lot.
Um, you know, I would love, I'dlove to open up more locations.
Um, I, I.
Ultimately, my big dream is Iwant to build my own locker.
Um, that's not really feasibleright now.
I try to kind of go down thatpath or start that.
Start going down that path.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Challenges.
It seems like my gosh, and Imean from a money standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yes, you're talking millions of dollars and, um,
just a lot of.
There's just a lot that goesinto that.
And so I thought, you know ifI'm, if I'm going to grow my
business, I've got fantasticbutchers.
We use a couple of locallockers in Iowa that do the bulk
of our processing for us and,like, let them be experts in
what they do, Um, and work to bea good partner with them and
grow maybe the actual justretail front for right now, and
(15:55):
so, um, I would love to continueto grow that way and actually
expand and have multiple West 40locations um support more
farmers.
So I look at what I do as anoutlet for local businesses and
farmers 12 months out of theyear, right, A lot of them use
farmers markets and, um, that'sonly just a small fraction of
the time, and so I wanted togive them visibility and outlet.
(16:17):
And so I look at it and say, ifI open up more locations,
that's more farmers that I canhelp to support and move their,
move their product um a lot morefor them.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Supporting one another, helping other
businesses and farmers.
That's so important.
You know, people sometimesforget that where this food
comes from.
They go to the grocery storeand they just take it off the
shelves, but comes from ourfarmers and that's so, so
important.
And so you, you know we talkeda little bit about your, your
staffing, and I like to dive alittle bit deeper into business
struggles and some strugglesthat you might have, not
necessarily every day, but whatare some obstacles that you've
(16:47):
been able to overcome as abusiness owner Cause we've all
been there and what's someobstacles that you might have
overcome?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Um, you know, honestly, for me, the my biggest
obstacle is probably mypersonal versus my professional.
So I there's just a lot goingon in your personal life and
that can impact my business somuch I can.
And I'm one of those that, um, Imean I'll throw it out there.
I'm one of those that, justlike freezes, you know, if I get
overwhelmed in my personal life, I just I.
(17:13):
It's almost like there's somuch that's happening up here
that I don't know whichdirection to go.
Yeah, and I don't know how tostart Um, so I can have like a
laundry list of things to do andI just don't even know where to
begin Um, because it kind ofalmost kind of like paralyzes me
, and so I think that's been abig work.
Life balance has been a bigthing, um, which is also like
having somebody in the storeworking for me.
There are times where I stepaway and go do a podcast, which
(17:34):
is something super fun that Ireally enjoy doing.
Or like I'll go get my I meansimple, like I'll go get my hair
done.
Or, you know, I'll go eat lunch.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You're strengthening your staff while you're doing
that too.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Cause they they know that they can run it without you
being there, but you'reprobably still anxious like is
that call going to come through?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
or what's going to happen here?
Right, yeah, right here.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
But I think that that's been really important for
me, and by doing that and kindof stepping away just a little
bit, giving myself time to kindof clear my head, I'm so much
better in my business, I canmake better decisions, I can
think more creatively.
Um, and so I think for me, likethat's been, I mean, on top of
just learning, you know HR andaccounting and all the other
things that go into it- All themillion hats you have to wear.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, it's mine, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I really think that that that balance is so tricky
and, quite honestly, like I'm,I'm grateful for my child,
especially being three years old, as challenging as it is,
because if I didn't have her, Iknow I'd be there 24-7 and
that's not healthy, you know100% and I was in there.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I was in that predicament Before I had my kids
.
I was at my business constantlyand spending a lot of time in
my business, and not that Iregret that.
But I realized now how muchtime I spent in there and when I
had kids, something went offand a light came on that said I
need to change this.
I'm not gonna be at work all thetime, 24-7, like you said, and
I could be.
I'm that kind of guy that could.
I love working, I see myresults and it's important to
(18:53):
know that.
And the funny thing about kidsis they teach you a lot.
So I was just saying a coupledays ago, like my three-year-old
, she accidentally fell downsteps because we were out hiking
.
And she accidentally fell downsteps and she looked at me and
said it's okay as long as youget back up.
And I loved hearing that fromher because it's something I've
been telling her.
Like in my business I struggleand sometimes I feel like I'm
(19:14):
failing and I get knocked downand I tell her don't forget, if
you get knocked down, get backup.
Can you relate like?
Is there any stories you canthink of?
maybe with your daughter whatshe's done.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, for me personally, she forces me to
slow down.
She forces me to step away fromit and yeah, she's the same way
.
Our kids are probably gettingalong really well.
She'll fall down and stand backup and she'll look back and
she'll be like it's okay, I'mokay, mom.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'm like okay okay.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
But I think a lot of that translates and you can
probably relate it translates tomy business right, where it's a
don't panic, it's okay, and soI think I take a lot of that
from her and just the importanceof stepping away and just
having moments right, of notbeing so ingrained in what I'm
doing or like everyone.
I mean I catch myself on myphone when I'm with her right,
(19:59):
and she'll be like hey, mom,come play with me.
It's like you're right, I needto put my phone down.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I need to step away from this.
It's almost hard to because Ineed to send this email.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I need to check in with the tour, just need to do
this one more thing, but thatjust turns into 16, 20 minutes.
Yes, like you're looking atwhere the time go.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's so important that you're okay.
I'm trying to get better atthat myself.
And when my daughter comes upto me and is like dad, play with
me, and I'm like just a minute,I stop, put my phone down, I
say, what can I do, honey?
How do you?
What do you want me to do?
And it's so hard.
And it's so rewarding to beable to see that our kids long
for our attention.
They want to spend time with us.
And it means that you're doinga great job.
So, great mothering right there.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So I try, and it forces me to also be better with
my time during the day when Iam at the store.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh, it does.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So there's days where I'm a single parent to her and
so there's days where you know Ihave to leave at exact time a
certain time to go get her.
Like I don't have someone tokind of fall back on for that,
and so those days are very it's.
I know when I get to the storeat eight o'clock in the morning
after I drop the crop, you havea list of tasks that need to get
done.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's like start knocking those off because I
need to get them done.
That's the biggest things Iteach in some of my business.
Coaching is a lot of peoplewill have this long list of
tasks and they don't know how toaccomplish them all.
They say at the end of the daywell, I didn't get.
I didn't get none of this done,and normally it comes to down
to distractions or it comes downto not knowing how to implement
a particular task or system tobe able to get those tasks done.
(21:22):
So, do you have systems andautomations in place in your
business?
Do you have anything that kindof helps you get things done
that you say you're going to getdone?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, I have a alarm clock on the wall that I set
time and I'd be like all right,20 minutes.
Do not touch your phone, do notdo all these other things so
powerful, because our phones arejust a distraction you pick it
up on just going to send anemail and then you find yourself
on Instagram, TikTok.
You're like what's?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
going on.
It's because your mind's justinto the go there, yes, so I
honestly do.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I will sometimes set myself time and I'll just take
two tasks so I get rid of mylong list and I'll say OK,
there's two things on here thatI absolutely have to get done in
the next 30 minutes.
And I'll break it down that way, because long lists yes, I have
long lists.
But that also paralyzes me andoverwhelms me.
So especially when you getthrown off from that long list
and then you're like, to yourpoint, I didn't get anything
(22:11):
done today, you feel just sodefeated where, if I just take
OK, two things, that's all yougot to do in the morning, boom,
done, right, and then I canstart moving on.
But then it's like I feelaccomplished because that short
little list that I reallyabsolutely had to get done is
done.
And then I start to kind ofcheck in everything else Do some
of the most important thingsthat you need done right away.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Something I did and my wife has actually been really
good at helping me accountableto this is I sometimes will go
in the day and I have a list ofthings I want to get done and
something that comes up thatabsolutely needs my attention.
I have to handle that and thenat the end of the day I look at
my list and maybe there's onlyone thing on there that I got
done.
I go to her and I tell her I'mfeeling defeated, I didn't get
this done.
She goes well, what else didyou do?
Put everything else that youdid today on that list.
(22:50):
And I do that.
And then she's like now, check,mark them off.
And then you start checkmarking them off and you can see
that, wow, I actually didaccomplish something.
So I always like to try and getdone what I have to, but there's
going to be times somethingcomes up, especially with kids.
That can be hard.
Sometimes you never know whatcan happen.
You always want to be there foryour kids and that's awesome
that you are there always andlearning that at such an early
(23:12):
aspect in your business.
So we talked about yourstaffing, we talked a little bit
about your obstacles, but whatwould you say some of your
biggest struggles are right nowin the business.
Is there anything that you canthink of that comes to the top
of your head, that you'restruggling with in your business
.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I don't know if I would say struggle.
I think it's just stillfiguring it out, still learning.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
We're always learning , always learning, always
learning.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
For me, a lot of I'm not an accountant, I'm not HR.
This isn't the background thatI have, and so some of that is
challenging for me because ittakes me longer to grasp it.
I don't always I have to reachout to, maybe multiple people,
or I have to pay for resources,which I hate.
I'm like oh, why don't you knowaccounting, teresa?
(23:53):
Come on, you have to paysomebody to do this.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Hey, you're an expert in your field.
You're an expert in what you do, and sometimes it's OK to reach
out to someone else that's anexpert in another field.
There's another way that you'rebuying time.
You're buying someone else'stime to be able to do something
that you're not an expert in, soit's good that you're doing
that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
So I think that those are probably just kind of
almost everyday struggles.
Those are always kind of thereFor me right now.
It's what's next?
It's how do I grow and I knowI'm just two years in, and so
I'm not talking like how do Iopen up 14 shops tomorrow it's
just how do I continue toprogressively grow and keep up
with demand as my business grows.
(24:28):
It's a how do I pivot just alittle bit, or which direction
do I go and making thosedecisions?
There's gonna come a point intime where just my parents beef
Aren't going to be able to keepus up.
Yeah, they can't supply me withenough beef to keep up with
With where I intend to go in thenext year if we continue on the
pace that we're on, and sothat's a okay.
(24:49):
So how, what does?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
that?
Where do we go?
Where do we go for this?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, and you can't just come up with you know more
cattle overnight either.
So it's yeah, it's a.
How do I then source from otherfarmers?
But also be careful, becausethe quality is, it's so
important and the people thereason why people come back is
because of the quality andbecause they know where it's
coming from.
And so it's like you know youhave to, you have to scale, but
at like little, tiny incrementsof like I don't know it's hard,
(25:14):
it's kind of hard to explain,but it's a.
I can't just come up with onefarm that can supply me with
everything and I knoweverything's gonna be perfect
every time.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You don't want to scale too quickly, where it just
collapses everything.
Yeah make sure you have thestructure systems in place.
Absolutely.
That's awesome that you'resharing that and it's great that
you understand that growth isimportant and everything that
you want to do to get there andthat's.
It's so cool to be able to talkto somebody.
It's two years in and has thisgreat mindset you know mom and
having kids and being able tosplit your time between work and
(25:44):
personal life as you said thatis.
That is one of the hardestthings you can possibly do is is
make sure that you're there foryour kids, but make sure that
you're growing your business andso your employees that that's
there today rely a lot on sales.
Did you teach him any salesprocesses?
Is that something that you,that you're familiarized with,
or is it just more?
Hey, this is what we need tosell.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, so she, fortunately, the girl that works
in the store a lot, does have alittle bit of a sales
background, so she's at leastable to, like you know,
communicate with people and it'svery natural, and so that I
honestly I think that's thebiggest thing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's so important the natural communication.
Yes and actually generallywilling to help someone get the
best deal or actually get thebest product.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Absolutely.
So you know, I think that she'sshe's great at that.
You know, the one thing thatI've that I've really been
focusing on is how can I, howcan, how can I give her more
Responsibility, how can I gether more invested in the
business by feeling like she hasa role, like she plays an
important role.
It's not just standing at acounter and ringing people up
when they come in, and sothere's there's things that we
(26:44):
have on our list and she's, youknow, texting me earlier saying
I put these New Father's Daybundles together for the weekend
.
You know, what do you think ofthese?
And so I've kind of got herworking on some of that kind of
working for me and keepingthings moving forward while I'm
away doing other things.
So I think that that'simportant.
So you know, but yeah, you'regeneral so something's getting
done while you're.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
It's so cool is watch to be able to put things
together.
Yes father-day packages that's,that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And she feels invested and that to me, you
know, in my my I managed peoplein corporate for for years and
so I always felt like if they,if they feel like there were
something like they're investedin it, you give them
responsibilities, you empowerthem with these things, they're
they're gonna work even harderfor you and they're gonna want
more for you and your success.
They're gonna be part of thatright.
(27:31):
And so I think that that'sreally important for for me and
and Kelly working at the storeis how do I empower her to make
her feel like Her opinionmatters and her feedback matters
and she's helping me grow thatlike together, she and I are
growing the business right and Iwant to keep her around, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Well, it sounds like Kelly's a great employee.
It sounds like she knows whatshe's doing.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yes, she loves her job.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I mean just hearing that she's, you know, texting
you and ideas and coming up withthings for the store and for
the business sounds like shereally wants to grow with you.
Yes, and that's that's superimportant to have someone, yeah,
be able to do that, yeah.
So, yeah, we talked a littlebit about your struggles and in
staffing, and so if somebodywanted to know a little bit more
about you, a little bit moreinformation, how could they get
(28:14):
a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, I was gonna say me personally, or me, me
professionally.
Let's either way.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I let's say they love your business advice.
How could they hear about youor what's your business
Instagram?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, yep, so we've got obviously social media,
instagram, facebook or West 40market all spelled out, all one
word, so you guys can find usthere.
I love when people message me.
I do the same thing if I relateand kind of connect with
somebody on social media, nomatter where they live, like
I'll message them and be like Ilove your content or can you
give me some advice on thisthing, you know, or something
like that the connections are sopowerful.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Absolutely one little connection you might not think
goes goes anywhere in a yearlater that person's messaging
you back.
Yes, I'm experiencing thatmyself and I have people that
message me and I've never evenheard of and they're saying hey,
thank you so much for thisinspirational video.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, where did that come from?
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, it's it's amazing to see how powerful
social media is yeah so are youon your on tiktok or?
I try tiktok so you're tryingit, then that's what matters.
You guys try things you don'tnecessarily know how to do,
especially in business.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's true, I have a 16 year old, a friend of mine's
daughter that comes in and worksjust a couple hours every week
and you know she watches mydaughter doing the tiktok dance,
and she does.
I'm like okay, here's my phone,teach me how to tiktok I'm not
good at it.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I am.
I'm like, what am I doing?
This right?
What button do?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I know, yeah, what's wrong.
Do I add how do I dance?
No idea.
So that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
At least you at least you know, hey, I.
This is an area I need to focuson, and you're on Instagram,
facebook, facebook.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, we have a pretty big audience on both of
those and again.
So we've got our website thatpeople shop from you can.
You can order on there to pickup in store, or we ship, like I
said, nationwide.
But yeah, I mean you canconnect with us at any point in
time on either one of thoseplatforms, or email us or stop
into the store, whatever sothat's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well, I appreciate you coming on the podcast and
yeah, about yourself and sharingabout your business and your
struggles and how you'veovercome it, most importantly,
like how you've gotten to apoint where you're able to buy
some of your time back, andthat's being able to step away
and work on your business versusworking in it.
And you're two years in andyou've already gone to this
point, and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, so you should feel accomplished there.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This is another episode of the buy time podcast
with Teresa Davis, the owner ofWest 40 market.
If you need any help businessrelated or you're wanting to buy
your time back, check out buytime podcast calm.
We have more episodes withother great guests and if you
just want to work with mepersonally, jacob K me calm,
click on the link apply.
We'll be happy to connect untilnext time.
(30:40):
Thanks for listening to today'sepisode.
My name is Jacob K Mead anduntil next time.
Hey everybody, this is Jacob K Mead and this is the
Buy Time Podcast, where wediscuss everything there is to
know about buying back your time.
Be sure to like and follow andshare with somebody who needs to
buy back their time.
Enjoy today's episode.
Today's episode is brought toyou by MobileSpot, located in
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(00:22):
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You're all in IT guys can helpyou out MobileSpot.
Enjoy today's episode.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Buy Time Podcast.
My name is Jacob K Mead and I'mexcited today because we have a
special guest Teresa Davis.
She owns West 40 Market inAnkeny, iowa.
And, teresa, why don't youstart with telling us a little
(00:45):
bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Sure, so I'm a mother to a wonderful three-year-old.
First and foremost, it keeps meon my toes.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It does it does.
Yeah, I have a history inworking in corporate and so this
was not where I wanted to go orwhere I intended to go.
But I started the businessabout two years ago and run that
out of Ankeny.
I keep busy between that andobviously raising a kid, and so
(01:14):
between those two things that'spretty much it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Splitting a lot of time between personal life
running, being a mom to kids andalso running a business.
And so what does your businessdo?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, so we are actually all Iowa first and
foremost.
So we specifically have cuts ofbeef, pork, chicken, bison,
lamb, turkey all raised on Iowafarms from start to finish.
We support between five andseven Iowa farmers, depending on
the time of year, and so wesell all of those individual
cuts that people can come in andget.
We also have about a dozen Iowabusinesses that we support as
(01:46):
well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So it's like fresh cuts too.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
No well, no fresh cuts.
So we aren't an actual butchershop.
We don't have a fresh butchercounter.
The way that we approach it isthat we take everything to the
locker about every two weeks.
Everything's cut specific towhat we have in the store.
They double wrap it, it'spackaged, we bring it back and
we stock the shelves.
So it's actually all frozen,other than, like the beef sticks
, jerky, we have somegrab-and-go stuff like that but
(02:09):
it's all frozen so that peoplecan plan ahead for meals.
We also do like a lot of bulksales.
So if people want to have youknow filled or freezer full, or
want to buy a big bundle of meator something like that to kind
of stock up, they can do thatand then basically shop from
their freezer.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh, that's important, especially if you have kids.
You can go to the freezer grabwhat you need.
My wife's always guilty of notputting the meat out the night
before, so we're always like ohman, we forgot to do this.
So no, that's awesome.
So you own West 40 market.
How long have you had it?
For Two years, so we justrecently celebrated our two-year
anniversary.
Congratulations.
You've accomplished it, by theway.
(02:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, two feet, that's what everybody said.
They're like, wow, you're stillaround, like, yes, I am, I am.
So, yeah, two years in, I spentabout three to four months kind
of renovating the place.
So I've been into it for abouttwo and a half years or so.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Renovation process is sometimes awesome to see where
it started and where it's at nowand remember hey it used to be
this way, and now we're here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it was a gunshot before I moved in there
Really, oh my goodness.
And I mean really great peoplethat owned it, but just
atrocious like carpet and orangeand red balls Not up top very
well.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So you're like do we have to redo all of this?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
No, yeah, yeah, so did some work in there.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Oh, that's amazing.
So what got you started?
What was the big spark and theidea to go about opening up West
Vortie Market?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Sure, yeah, so the meat, specifically the beef and
the chicken, come from myparents' farm.
So my mom and my dad moved mybrother and I out to a farm when
we were teenagers.
So I didn't grow up on a farm,but I spent the latter part of
my teenage years living on thefarm and we had cows and so it
kind of was just a hobby farm.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You're a farm girl.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You could call me a farm girl.
I don't know if I'd go that far, but I lived on a farm, yes,
but it was kind of basically ahobby of my dad's and we would
butcher beef to basically justfeed ourselves and we'd give it
to people in the community,things like that.
So it kind of started to growfrom there when people started
to ask for you know, can I get aquarter of beef or can I get
individual cuts?
So kind of fast forward.
(04:05):
Then I graduated, moved down toDes Moines after college,
fashion, design andmerchandising so I mean I
literally had no, this is, thisis as far left, as right as I
could have gone.
So yeah.
But got down with college,moved down to the Des Moines
area and at the time my parentswere really interested in kind
of selling individual cuts and Isaid, well, there's nothing
(04:25):
around here like that.
Unless you know a farmer,there's nowhere to go in the Des
Moines area at least at thetime to where you can really get
, like you can walk into a brickand mortar and get access to
Iowa raised all Iowa raisedmeats and know exactly what
farms they came from.
So we started off at the DesMoines Farmers Market.
It's kind of how we started togetting into it and I thought
you know, let's just see ifthere's a market for this.
(04:45):
Obviously there's other.
There were other vendors theredoing the same thing, but I did
that for four seasons beforeCOVID and kind of built a
customer base there and loved it.
So it was a full time vendor atthe farmers market.
Covid hit basically just kindof sold it out of my house.
I, you know, would take callsfrom people like regulars being
like can I meet you in theparking lot for 10 pounds a gram
(05:07):
?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I mean legit your meat seller in the parking lot.
This is exactly how it wentdown, showed up in the brown bag
.
I love it.
That's exactly how it went down.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I was just joking to people.
I'll meet you in the parkinglot, you know, or I'll meet you
in a dark alley somewhere, andit's.
People laugh.
I'm like, no, really, this iswhat I, this is what.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I did.
I'll say the product yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But whatever I, you know, in my head I thought, gosh
, there's, there's.
Just I just felt like there wasa really good market for it and
so for me that was kind oftrying to build that clientele.
I worked a full time corporatejob at the time, which I assumed
that that was going to be mycareer.
Never in a million years did Ithink I was going to actually
open up a brick and mortar, butI kept kind of having this drive
, maybe, or this something thatwas telling me there's something
(05:42):
here Like I feel like there's,there's, there's a place for
this to go.
And so fast forward then toduring COVID.
I was out on maternity leaveand obviously was everybody was,
you know, at home, and I gotthe call and I got laid off for
my job.
So, yeah, for the second time,but that's a different story for
a different day.
No-transcript, you know, Ihonestly I thought this has got
(06:02):
to be my kick, like somebody'skicking, giving me the push so
direction.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Don't do what you want to do.
Yeah, I always want to theopportunity.
I have the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, and I honestly don't know if I would have ever
done it on my own.
I don't know if I would havehad been brave enough to quit a
very good full-time job,Benefits, everything just had a
new baby and people think I'mnuts, right and yeah.
So I was like you know what I'mgonna do it and I started.
I got the LLC going and scoutedout some locations, you know
(06:31):
where I wanted to kind of put mystore, and Kind of went from
there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So I love that and I can think back when I was first
starting my business and kind ofthe struggles that I was going
through and I like to say it's aroller coaster of emotions.
What one day you think you haveit and then the next day you
think that you're you're failingand it's just constantly up and
down, so talk to me about howyou overcame those roller
coaster of emotions.
Did you have a support group oror who was there to kind of help
(06:56):
you through those tough days?
It said like Teresa, you, youcan do this.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, yeah.
So first of all, I have I stillhave yet to overcome them.
I don't really think you'veever do.
No, you never do.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It's like the coasters are as steep, it's like
somewhat more down, but yes,it's something never overcome.
Yeah, what kind of group didyou have in place to kind of
help you through that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, so I mean fantastic family and friends,
first of all, people thatbelieve in you and continue to
Kind of clap for you, give youideas, whatever it may be.
People that also don't let youjust give up and walk away right
.
People that are gonna remindyou like?
yes and people are gonna remindyou and say, hey, remember that
one time about six months agowhen you were feeling kind of
the same way, and then look whathappened.
Right, you came back from that.
(07:34):
So I think it's important tohave those kind of people.
I also really tapped into a lotof small business, other small
business owners.
I started to kind of get outthere and network and go to
events or whatever it might havebeen, and ask around and say,
okay, you've owned a business,and it was obviously no business
, anything like mine, but stillyou're a business owner, right,
and so we.
Can I throw ideas out at him orbe like do you think this is
(07:55):
crazy?
Or like, how do I find, how doI even find, a Place to brick
and mortar, to put my store?
Or do you think this pricesounds pretty fair?
You know, for rent, I mean whoI had never rented a property, I
didn't know so.
So even things like that ofjust you know somebody that that
can offer you advice, maybesomebody that's been there, I
can kind of say it's gonna getbetter.
Or yeah, these are really harddecisions, but just make it and
(08:17):
go with it and you can always,you know, maybe just give you
some encouragement thoseconnections.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You can always make a big difference to have a
connection and be around otherpeople.
We've done the same thing andthat way they can help you
through it.
They know what you're goingthrough.
You know I understand thatroller coaster of emotions.
It's tough.
Yeah, you think what many yougot this and the next many you
don't yet.
I still go through that myself.
You know I I'm huge in thesales and I've been in the sales
almost my entire life, and sowhen I see that we're having a
(08:42):
low sales day, it's it'sstruggling, it's that's me
feeling like maybe we don't gotthis.
And then the next day, you know, we triple double our sales and
so it's amazing to actuallyhear that story.
So you, your mom and dad werethey entrepreneurs, or what did
they do?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
No, my dad's a medical doctor.
Yeah, he was a medical doctor.
So when I say our farm was ahobby, it truly was a hobby.
Like we had, like you know, acouple random pigs, a couple
horses, some cows, like we werelike whatever this is, you know,
and this is great, and it justmorphed into what it is now.
I called it a happy accident iskind of how I always looked at
(09:17):
it.
But, yeah, so my dad is adoctor, medical doctor.
My mom Spent the better part ofmy childhood raising myself and
my brother, and then she workedat my dad's office.
She now so.
About three years ago, myparents bought the local grocery
store in our small town, ourhometown and by small I mean
about a thousand people on agood day Wow yeah.
Yeah, so small town, iowa, butthey they bought the grocery
(09:39):
store to save it.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
We're at what.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Green Iowa.
Green Iowa so where exactly isthat Green is?
If you're familiar with theMason City-ish Charles City area
, it's like southeast of there,okay, so like directly straight
east of Sheffield if you'refamiliar with that Cool, so tiny
little town.
So they bought the grocerystore there about three years
ago, basically just to save it.
Nobody else wanted it.
They were going to shut it downand it would have been a pretty
(10:03):
big hit for the community andso they bought it.
They put our meat in there.
They sell our meat there.
They still own it.
So that's what my mom does now.
She runs that full time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So they kind of had the opportunity and they just
took it and they didn't knowwhere it was going to go until
they started.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Absolutely not, no, no, and that's the kind of
people they are Like.
They've always been heavilyinvolved in the community,
volunteering just a lot, justdoing whatever they could to
keep the community going andthriving, and so that's yeah,
that's what they did.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
That is so cool.
So now you have your own store,West Forty Market, and it's in
Ankeny.
So where at Ankeny is itlocated?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
It's in Uptown Ankeny , uptown Ankeny Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So you guys open seven days a week, or what are
your hours like there?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yep, so we're Monday through Saturday, so Monday
through Friday 10 to five andthen Saturday 10 to two, and
we're also at the Ankeny FarmersMarket, so you can find us
there too.
That's awesome, so you stillhave the Farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You mentioned the Farmers Market and that there's
other people that do the samething that you do.
So what's something that youare doing in your business that
kind of set you apart from allyour competitors?
Obviously, all Iowa grown butwhat's something else that maybe
you were doing differently thananyone else?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, I don't know.
I do a lot of bundles, I do aton of social media and I find
that oh, it's so powerful.
It is really powerful, and Ifind that a lot of farmers your
traditional farmers, a lot ofthem don't use social media a
lot, and so I think that maybethat's something that does set
me apart just a little bit isthat I've got a pretty big
outreach from a social mediastandpoint.
We ship nationwide, so you cango on our online store and even
(11:30):
buy everything that we have inour store.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Oh, that's so cool, so you don't even need to live
in Des Moines or live in Iowa orAnkeny.
You can get it anywhere.
Yep yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So we ship nationwide , and so I think that part of it
too sets me apart a little bitwith just having that capability
of just you can know yourfarmer and get access to this,
no matter where you live, and soI think that piece of it is big
.
But honestly, I tell people alot that there's plenty of
mouths to feed too.
So we're all kind of in it.
We're all raising the animals,we're all trying to do what we
(12:01):
think is best in this scenario,and really I don't look at it as
competition by any means.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You're all a big group.
We're all there to help eachother and help each other along
the way, because there's plentyout there for everybody.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There's plenty of mouths to feed.
And if the farmers don'tsurvive, none of us, you know
we're not going to be able to doit just by ourselves.
That's so important.
It's going to take all of us togo at it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, that's so important in business is to
learn that sometimes yourcompetition isn't your worst
enemy.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
No.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
It can be.
You know, if you look at itlike that, you're going to go
down a very dark trail.
It's like your competition isthere to also help you and it's
helped you to, you know, branchout, it's helped you to grow.
So so you, you're on WestportyMarket and you mentioned that
you're open six days a week,right?
So what's staffing like for you?
How do you staff?
Are you there all the time, orwhat's kind of that look like
(12:48):
for you?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I'm kind of there all the time.
So hey, you're just startingout, You're two years in, so I
get it.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I've been there, done that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, I'm there less than what I was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I feel like we're making progress.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
But you're.
The timing of this is kind ofinteresting because my goal for
2023 was to really dive into um,to balance of time, of getting
more working on the businessversus in the business, um, and
that was that was a huge goal ofmine and so far so good.
So I found somebody really great, a rock star that works at the
store for me, um, about 10 to 15hours a week and she does most
(13:21):
of the farmers markets as well.
Um, but I was, I was, it wasjust a happen, chance.
She bought some food one timethere and we happened to be
talking and she was looking fora gig and she's got an
agricultural background, so itwas kind of just this perfect
blend.
But, um, so I got her in thestore so that I can kind of do
behind the scenes things, um,and try to kind of figure out
what that balance looks like andcontinue to move, move the
(13:42):
store forward, kind of evolveand all of that, because
otherwise, if I'm there workingall day, every day, I can't, I
don't have a chance to do someof that stuff that's going to
continue to move me forward andactually grow the business.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Working on your business versus working on your
business it's so important Iactually teach it in a lot of my
workshops that I do is how yougo about buying more time, and
that starts with staffing, andit also starts with
understanding your value andkind of what you provide.
So you know what it's going totake to replace you and, um,
it's so important to havesomeone there that you can trust
and that you can lean on.
Yes, talk about how you feltthe first time you let her be
(14:14):
there and run the run the showwithout you being there.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean, I get anxiety all the time.
It's still, it is in it andit's almost almost feeling like
guilt, to be like overcomingthat guilt and that's something
I teach in my workshops, likeovercoming to go.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
People are like what guilt I'm like.
You have that feeling and it'slike the pit of I should be
there, I should be there, andbut it's so awesome that you've
already done this and you'reless than three years in and
you're already learning this atsuch an early aspect in your
business and it's really goingto help you grow.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
And it's going to help your staff grow too, and so
you're.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
you have one employee right now One that works mostly
hours.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
So I have.
I have another girl that does alot of my locker runs, so, like
behind the scenes things causeusually those are entire day
events, um, and so she'll do alot of the behind the scenes
locker runs and, hey, you canget your time back from having
to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
You know, buy your time back there and that we have
time to work on something.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That that's so important, yeah, Learning it so
quickly it's, it's, it's awesometo see.
And so you, you can basicallystep out of your business.
You can let it kind of run onyour two years in.
What's your future look likewith your business?
Like, where are you wanting totake this?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
That's a great question.
I ask myself that a lot.
Um, you know, I would love, I'dlove to open up more locations.
Um, I, I.
Ultimately, my big dream is Iwant to build my own locker.
Um, that's not really feasibleright now.
I try to kind of go down thatpath or start that.
Start going down that path.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Challenges.
It seems like my gosh, and Imean from a money standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yes, you're talking millions of dollars and, um,
just a lot of.
There's just a lot that goesinto that.
And so I thought, you know ifI'm, if I'm going to grow my
business, I've got fantasticbutchers.
We use a couple of locallockers in Iowa that do the bulk
of our processing for us and,like, let them be experts in
what they do, Um, and work to bea good partner with them and
grow maybe the actual justretail front for right now, and
(15:55):
so, um, I would love to continueto grow that way and actually
expand and have multiple West 40locations um support more
farmers.
So I look at what I do as anoutlet for local businesses and
farmers 12 months out of theyear, right, A lot of them use
farmers markets and, um, that'sonly just a small fraction of
the time, and so I wanted togive them visibility and outlet.
(16:17):
And so I look at it and say, ifI open up more locations,
that's more farmers that I canhelp to support and move their,
move their product um a lot morefor them.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Supporting one another, helping other
businesses and farmers.
That's so important.
You know, people sometimesforget that where this food
comes from.
They go to the grocery storeand they just take it off the
shelves, but comes from ourfarmers and that's so, so
important.
And so you, you know we talkeda little bit about your, your
staffing, and I like to dive alittle bit deeper into business
struggles and some strugglesthat you might have, not
necessarily every day, but whatare some obstacles that you've
(16:47):
been able to overcome as abusiness owner Cause we've all
been there and what's someobstacles that you might have
overcome?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Um, you know, honestly, for me, the my biggest
obstacle is probably mypersonal versus my professional.
So I there's just a lot goingon in your personal life and
that can impact my business somuch I can.
And I'm one of those that, um, Imean I'll throw it out there.
I'm one of those that, justlike freezes, you know, if I get
overwhelmed in my personal life, I just I.
(17:13):
It's almost like there's somuch that's happening up here
that I don't know whichdirection to go.
Yeah, and I don't know how tostart Um, so I can have like a
laundry list of things to do andI just don't even know where to
begin Um, because it kind ofalmost kind of like paralyzes me
, and so I think that's been abig work.
Life balance has been a bigthing, um, which is also like
having somebody in the storeworking for me.
There are times where I stepaway and go do a podcast, which
(17:34):
is something super fun that Ireally enjoy doing.
Or like I'll go get my I meansimple, like I'll go get my hair
done.
Or, you know, I'll go eat lunch.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You're strengthening your staff while you're doing
that too.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Cause they they know that they can run it without you
being there, but you'reprobably still anxious like is
that call going to come through?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
or what's going to happen here?
Right, yeah, right here.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
But I think that that's been really important for
me, and by doing that and kindof stepping away just a little
bit, giving myself time to kindof clear my head, I'm so much
better in my business, I canmake better decisions, I can
think more creatively.
Um, and so I think for me, likethat's been, I mean, on top of
just learning, you know HR andaccounting and all the other
things that go into it- All themillion hats you have to wear.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, it's mine, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I really think that that that balance is so tricky
and, quite honestly, like I'm,I'm grateful for my child,
especially being three years old, as challenging as it is,
because if I didn't have her, Iknow I'd be there 24-7 and
that's not healthy, you know100% and I was in there.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I was in that predicament Before I had my kids
.
I was at my business constantlyand spending a lot of time in
my business, and not that Iregret that.
But I realized now how muchtime I spent in there and when I
had kids, something went offand a light came on that said I
need to change this.
I'm not gonna be at work all thetime, 24-7, like you said, and
I could be.
I'm that kind of guy that could.
I love working, I see myresults and it's important to
(18:53):
know that.
And the funny thing about kidsis they teach you a lot.
So I was just saying a coupledays ago, like my three-year-old
, she accidentally fell downsteps because we were out hiking
.
And she accidentally fell downsteps and she looked at me and
said it's okay as long as youget back up.
And I loved hearing that fromher because it's something I've
been telling her.
Like in my business I struggleand sometimes I feel like I'm
(19:14):
failing and I get knocked downand I tell her don't forget, if
you get knocked down, get backup.
Can you relate like?
Is there any stories you canthink of?
maybe with your daughter whatshe's done.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, for me personally, she forces me to
slow down.
She forces me to step away fromit and yeah, she's the same way
.
Our kids are probably gettingalong really well.
She'll fall down and stand backup and she'll look back and
she'll be like it's okay, I'mokay, mom.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'm like okay okay.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
But I think a lot of that translates and you can
probably relate it translates tomy business right, where it's a
don't panic, it's okay, and soI think I take a lot of that
from her and just the importanceof stepping away and just
having moments right, of notbeing so ingrained in what I'm
doing or like everyone.
I mean I catch myself on myphone when I'm with her right,
(19:59):
and she'll be like hey, mom,come play with me.
It's like you're right, I needto put my phone down.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I need to step away from this.
It's almost hard to because Ineed to send this email.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I need to check in with the tour, just need to do
this one more thing, but thatjust turns into 16, 20 minutes.
Yes, like you're looking atwhere the time go.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's so important that you're okay.
I'm trying to get better atthat myself.
And when my daughter comes upto me and is like dad, play with
me, and I'm like just a minute,I stop, put my phone down, I
say, what can I do, honey?
How do you?
What do you want me to do?
And it's so hard.
And it's so rewarding to beable to see that our kids long
for our attention.
They want to spend time with us.
And it means that you're doinga great job.
So, great mothering right there.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So I try, and it forces me to also be better with
my time during the day when Iam at the store.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh, it does.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So there's days where I'm a single parent to her and
so there's days where you know Ihave to leave at exact time a
certain time to go get her.
Like I don't have someone tokind of fall back on for that,
and so those days are very it's.
I know when I get to the storeat eight o'clock in the morning
after I drop the crop, you havea list of tasks that need to get
done.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's like start knocking those off because I
need to get them done.
That's the biggest things Iteach in some of my business.
Coaching is a lot of peoplewill have this long list of
tasks and they don't know how toaccomplish them all.
They say at the end of the daywell, I didn't get.
I didn't get none of this done,and normally it comes to down
to distractions or it comes downto not knowing how to implement
a particular task or system tobe able to get those tasks done.
(21:22):
So, do you have systems andautomations in place in your
business?
Do you have anything that kindof helps you get things done
that you say you're going to getdone?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, I have a alarm clock on the wall that I set
time and I'd be like all right,20 minutes.
Do not touch your phone, do notdo all these other things so
powerful, because our phones arejust a distraction you pick it
up on just going to send anemail and then you find yourself
on Instagram, TikTok.
You're like what's?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
going on.
It's because your mind's justinto the go there, yes, so I
honestly do.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I will sometimes set myself time and I'll just take
two tasks so I get rid of mylong list and I'll say OK,
there's two things on here thatI absolutely have to get done in
the next 30 minutes.
And I'll break it down that way, because long lists yes, I have
long lists.
But that also paralyzes me andoverwhelms me.
So especially when you getthrown off from that long list
and then you're like, to yourpoint, I didn't get anything
(22:11):
done today, you feel just sodefeated where, if I just take
OK, two things, that's all yougot to do in the morning, boom,
done, right, and then I canstart moving on.
But then it's like I feelaccomplished because that short
little list that I reallyabsolutely had to get done is
done.
And then I start to kind ofcheck in everything else Do some
of the most important thingsthat you need done right away.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Something I did and my wife has actually been really
good at helping me accountableto this is I sometimes will go
in the day and I have a list ofthings I want to get done and
something that comes up thatabsolutely needs my attention.
I have to handle that and thenat the end of the day I look at
my list and maybe there's onlyone thing on there that I got
done.
I go to her and I tell her I'mfeeling defeated, I didn't get
this done.
She goes well, what else didyou do?
Put everything else that youdid today on that list.
(22:50):
And I do that.
And then she's like now, check,mark them off.
And then you start checkmarking them off and you can see
that, wow, I actually didaccomplish something.
So I always like to try and getdone what I have to, but there's
going to be times somethingcomes up, especially with kids.
That can be hard.
Sometimes you never know whatcan happen.
You always want to be there foryour kids and that's awesome
that you are there always andlearning that at such an early
(23:12):
aspect in your business.
So we talked about yourstaffing, we talked a little bit
about your obstacles, but whatwould you say some of your
biggest struggles are right nowin the business.
Is there anything that you canthink of that comes to the top
of your head, that you'restruggling with in your business
.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I don't know if I would say struggle.
I think it's just stillfiguring it out, still learning.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
We're always learning , always learning, always
learning.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
For me, a lot of I'm not an accountant, I'm not HR.
This isn't the background thatI have, and so some of that is
challenging for me because ittakes me longer to grasp it.
I don't always I have to reachout to, maybe multiple people,
or I have to pay for resources,which I hate.
I'm like oh, why don't you knowaccounting, teresa?
(23:53):
Come on, you have to paysomebody to do this.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Hey, you're an expert in your field.
You're an expert in what you do, and sometimes it's OK to reach
out to someone else that's anexpert in another field.
There's another way that you'rebuying time.
You're buying someone else'stime to be able to do something
that you're not an expert in, soit's good that you're doing
that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
So I think that those are probably just kind of
almost everyday struggles.
Those are always kind of thereFor me right now.
It's what's next?
It's how do I grow and I knowI'm just two years in, and so
I'm not talking like how do Iopen up 14 shops tomorrow it's
just how do I continue toprogressively grow and keep up
with demand as my business grows.
(24:28):
It's a how do I pivot just alittle bit, or which direction
do I go and making thosedecisions?
There's gonna come a point intime where just my parents beef
Aren't going to be able to keepus up.
Yeah, they can't supply me withenough beef to keep up with
With where I intend to go in thenext year if we continue on the
pace that we're on, and sothat's a okay.
(24:49):
So how, what does?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
that?
Where do we go?
Where do we go for this?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, and you can't just come up with you know more
cattle overnight either.
So it's yeah, it's a.
How do I then source from otherfarmers?
But also be careful, becausethe quality is, it's so
important and the people thereason why people come back is
because of the quality andbecause they know where it's
coming from.
And so it's like you know youhave to, you have to scale, but
at like little, tiny incrementsof like I don't know it's hard,
(25:14):
it's kind of hard to explain,but it's a.
I can't just come up with onefarm that can supply me with
everything and I knoweverything's gonna be perfect
every time.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
You don't want to scale too quickly, where it just
collapses everything.
Yeah make sure you have thestructure systems in place.
Absolutely.
That's awesome that you'resharing that and it's great that
you understand that growth isimportant and everything that
you want to do to get there andthat's.
It's so cool to be able to talkto somebody.
It's two years in and has thisgreat mindset you know mom and
having kids and being able tosplit your time between work and
(25:44):
personal life as you said thatis.
That is one of the hardestthings you can possibly do is is
make sure that you're there foryour kids, but make sure that
you're growing your business andso your employees that that's
there today rely a lot on sales.
Did you teach him any salesprocesses?
Is that something that you,that you're familiarized with,
or is it just more?
Hey, this is what we need tosell.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, so she, fortunately, the girl that works
in the store a lot, does have alittle bit of a sales
background, so she's at leastable to, like you know,
communicate with people and it'svery natural, and so that I
honestly I think that's thebiggest thing.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's so important the natural communication.
Yes and actually generallywilling to help someone get the
best deal or actually get thebest product.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Absolutely.
So you know, I think that she'sshe's great at that.
You know, the one thing thatI've that I've really been
focusing on is how can I, howcan, how can I give her more
Responsibility, how can I gether more invested in the
business by feeling like she hasa role, like she plays an
important role.
It's not just standing at acounter and ringing people up
when they come in, and sothere's there's things that we
(26:44):
have on our list and she's, youknow, texting me earlier saying
I put these New Father's Daybundles together for the weekend
.
You know, what do you think ofthese?
And so I've kind of got herworking on some of that kind of
working for me and keepingthings moving forward while I'm
away doing other things.
So I think that that'simportant.
So you know, but yeah, you'regeneral so something's getting
done while you're.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
It's so cool is watch to be able to put things
together.
Yes father-day packages that's,that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And she feels invested and that to me, you
know, in my my I managed peoplein corporate for for years and
so I always felt like if they,if they feel like there were
something like they're investedin it, you give them
responsibilities, you empowerthem with these things, they're
they're gonna work even harderfor you and they're gonna want
more for you and your success.
They're gonna be part of thatright.
(27:31):
And so I think that that'sreally important for for me and
and Kelly working at the storeis how do I empower her to make
her feel like Her opinionmatters and her feedback matters
and she's helping me grow thatlike together, she and I are
growing the business right and Iwant to keep her around, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Well, it sounds like Kelly's a great employee.
It sounds like she knows whatshe's doing.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yes, she loves her job.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I mean just hearing that she's, you know, texting
you and ideas and coming up withthings for the store and for
the business sounds like shereally wants to grow with you.
Yes, and that's that's superimportant to have someone, yeah,
be able to do that, yeah.
So, yeah, we talked a littlebit about your struggles and in
staffing, and so if somebodywanted to know a little bit more
about you, a little bit moreinformation, how could they get
(28:14):
a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, I was gonna say me personally, or me, me
professionally.
Let's either way.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I let's say they love your business advice.
How could they hear about youor what's your business
Instagram?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, yep, so we've got obviously social media,
instagram, facebook or West 40market all spelled out, all one
word, so you guys can find usthere.
I love when people message me.
I do the same thing if I relateand kind of connect with
somebody on social media, nomatter where they live, like
I'll message them and be like Ilove your content or can you
give me some advice on thisthing, you know, or something
like that the connections are sopowerful.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Absolutely one little connection you might not think
goes goes anywhere in a yearlater that person's messaging
you back.
Yes, I'm experiencing thatmyself and I have people that
message me and I've never evenheard of and they're saying hey,
thank you so much for thisinspirational video.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, where did that come from?
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, it's it's amazing to see how powerful
social media is yeah so are youon your on tiktok or?
I try tiktok so you're tryingit, then that's what matters.
You guys try things you don'tnecessarily know how to do,
especially in business.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's true, I have a 16 year old, a friend of mine's
daughter that comes in and worksjust a couple hours every week
and you know she watches mydaughter doing the tiktok dance,
and she does.
I'm like okay, here's my phone,teach me how to tiktok I'm not
good at it.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I am.
I'm like, what am I doing?
This right?
What button do?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I know, yeah, what's wrong.
Do I add how do I dance?
No idea.
So that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
At least you at least you know, hey, I.
This is an area I need to focuson, and you're on Instagram,
facebook, facebook.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, we have a pretty big audience on both of
those and again.
So we've got our website thatpeople shop from you can.
You can order on there to pickup in store, or we ship, like I
said, nationwide.
But yeah, I mean you canconnect with us at any point in
time on either one of thoseplatforms, or email us or stop
into the store, whatever sothat's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well, I appreciate you coming on the podcast and
yeah, about yourself and sharingabout your business and your
struggles and how you'veovercome it, most importantly,
like how you've gotten to apoint where you're able to buy
some of your time back, andthat's being able to step away
and work on your business versusworking in it.
And you're two years in andyou've already gone to this
point, and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, so you should feel accomplished there.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This is another episode of the buy time podcast
with Teresa Davis, the owner ofWest 40 market.
If you need any help businessrelated or you're wanting to buy
your time back, check out buytime podcast calm.
We have more episodes withother great guests and if you
just want to work with mepersonally, jacob K me calm,
click on the link apply.
We'll be happy to connect untilnext time.
(30:40):
Thanks for listening to today'sepisode.
My name is Jacob K Mead anduntil next time.
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