August 29, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens when a military spouse of 27 years finally plants roots and brings her creative passion to a new community? Lynette Stewart's journey with Board Brush Creative Studios reveals the challenges and triumphs of building a business focused on creativity, connection, and handcrafted wooden treasures.
After relocating 14 times throughout her husband's military career, Lynette found herself in Asheville, seeking a business that would provide both personal fulfillment and community engagement. Opening in 2021 as people emerged from pandemic isolation, Board Brush offered exactly what many craved—a space to gather, create, and connect. Unlike traditional paint-and-sip experiences, Board Brush workshops guide participants through creating personalized wood projects from signs and porch leaners to functional items like coat racks and clocks.
The conversation dives deep into entrepreneurial insights that resonate far beyond the world of DIY workshops. Lynette candidly shares how she balances family caregiving responsibilities with business ownership, the challenge of building community connections as a newcomer, and the unexpected difficulty of managing social media marketing authentically. Her practical approach to staffing—requiring all employees to experience a workshop as customers first—demonstrates how empathy drives customer service excellence.
Perhaps most valuable is Lynette's honesty about the emotional reality of entrepreneurship: "Nobody really said you're going to have sleepless nights," she admits, describing the constant mental engagement that comes with business ownership. Yet the rewards are equally powerful, creating a space where solo visitors form friendships and groups strengthen bonds through shared creativity.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a creative soul seeking community, or simply curious about the intersection of art and business, this conversation offers practical wisdom and heartfelt inspiration. Discover how wood, creativity, and determination combine to build not just beautiful objects, but meaningful connections in a post-pandemic world still hungry for authentic community.
Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/
All the best!
Bill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs.
I am excited to have LynetteStewart with us from Board Brush
Creative Studios.
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
All right.
So, Lynette, tell us a littlebit about you and about Board
Brush.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, so I moved back here with my husband.
He was coming home.
I'm from the Charlotte area,but we moved back here about
four years ago after he retiredfrom a 27-year career in the
military.
So we decided to put down rootsafter moving 14 times in 27
years.
And we love Asheville and, yeah,board Brush came to be because
(00:49):
we were customers up in the DCarea our last duty station for
about four years and when wewere coming here and I knew I
wasn't ready to retire, I justwanted to have something that I
could do for fun, something thatwe were already kind of bought
into, and I wanted a place forcommunity, for a place for
people to come and just enjoythemselves, especially coming
out of COVID we opened in 21.
And so it was just people werelike dying to get out of their
(01:11):
house, and so this was just agreat opportunity for us at that
time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Awesome.
So tell us like a little bitmore about what it is you
actually do.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, so I tell a lot of people that we're like a DIY
paint and sip, and most peopleimmediately think canvas.
And instead of canvas we'rewood projects.
And so we're talking wood signs, porch leaners, coat racks,
trays, pedestals, clocks, porchplanters, you name it.
We have lots of different woodprojects, and so people will
(01:41):
pick out their project ahead oftime.
A lot of them can bepersonalized.
You can add like names anddates and whatnot.
And then you pick a workshop tocome to.
We usually have those scheduledon the weekend, sometimes
during the week, and we have acalendar so they can pick their
date.
Grab their friends, come in, wehave everything ready for them,
and then we have an instructorthat leads them through all the
steps, and so the DIY part ismore for well, they're doing it
(02:04):
themselves, but, like, if you'vebeen here several times, you
like get to kind of just go atyour own pace, and so I have a
lot of customers that enjoy justcoming in and they just get
right to it.
So, yeah, that's what we are.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
So is it mostly individuals coming in, or is it
mostly groups, or what does itlook like?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, it's about half and half, so we've got a good
chunk of them are just our, mylocal customers I have.
I live actually in HaywoodCounty, so I have a lot of
friends from Haywood that comeover, but just Buncombe,
hendersonville, launce, thewhole area.
And then we also our other partof our business is groups.
So we do a lot of bacheloretteparties.
You know, asheville is such agreat destination for that.
(02:48):
We do family reunions and I doa lot of team building and
corporate stuff.
So especially towards the endof the year, that third, that
fourth quarter, we'll get peoplewanting to do their end of year
holiday parties.
Or we get groups that arecoming in for our conference and
they want something fun to dowhile they're here for their
conference.
So they'll come into the studioas well.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So I'm guessing some of that got impacted by Helene
the hurricane.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, it did.
Yeah, october we were scheduledto go into one of our best
quarters last year.
Of course, I'm sure a lot ofpeople had those aspirations and
we had several bacheloretteparties booked for October and
some of them their Airbnbs gotdestroyed and they had to cancel
.
We had a couple groups fromTennessee that couldn't get here
and so, yeah, it's been.
(03:22):
It's definitely been an impact.
I haven't seen a lot of thosegroups coming back to Asheville
yet, but I am starting to seesome of the inquiries, so that
usually means people arestarting to think about
Asheville again, so I'm hopefulthat that's definitely going to
start picking up.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah, I mean Asheville's open, we're open.
In Western North Carolina thereis plenty of place, everything
is back.
I mean it's not.
Yeah, you still.
There's still remnants andthere's still a lot of pain and
a lot of people still diggingout, but we're open.
I mean it is the businesses.
The business community is readyfor you.
(03:57):
The hospitality community isready for you.
Yeah, so tell me a little bitmore about the team building,
and from a from a businessstandpoint.
Obviously I'm interested inthat.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah.
So we pretty much sometimesteam building.
They think, oh, you're going tohave fun little activities for
us to do, so the activity, theexperience is coming here and
making a fun project and we cantailor that.
So if you have a smalltimeframe or a large timeframe,
we can fit that in.
We can fit just about anybudget.
But basically you're going tocome and just with your friends.
(04:25):
Mostly what our team buildingactivities are is they're just
getting a chance outside of theworkplace to hang out with each
other and talk about things notbusiness related.
Now, not to say, some groupscome in here and they end up
talking business a little bit,but for the most part it's just
a fun way for them to come inand get to know each other on a
personal level a lot deeper.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, yeah.
That's a great way to fosteremployee engagement is just to
get to know your team a lotbetter.
Well, let me ask you somebusiness questions.
So if you had to start over inthis business, what would you do
differently?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Wow, you know what?
Somebody else asked me thisjust the other day.
For us personally, coming backto the area, like I said, my
husband, he grew up in HaywoodCounty but I was new to the area
and we hadn't lived here in 20some years and so I think we
came back and jumped in reallyfast and that for me was kind of
hard because I'm kind of anintrovert.
So thank goodness things likethe Chamber of Commerce allows
(05:22):
you to do networking and to getout there and do some of that.
But it was just hard to makethose connections and I think
for me I wish we had maybewaited a little bit, gotten
ourselves kind of acclimated tothe area and ingrained in the
community a little bit morebefore we took on the business.
I think that's probably mybiggest thing, that I would have
said hey, hold your horses, getinto your community a little
(05:43):
bit and then go from there.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So, yeah, if you'd already had a few connections
and networking, all that, yeah,yeah, it's a, that's a, that's a
great one.
So what have been your biggestlearnings as an owner?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, I'm going to say social media.
Wow, I mean I can considermyself I am of the age where
Facebook was big for me, but itliterally is just a connection
thing, just kind of keeping upwith my friends and then.
So learning that from abusiness perspective is so
different.
And Instagram, literally Ididn't do much of anything on
that.
Now it's like, wow, instagramis awesome, but learning how to
(06:21):
do reels and yeah, just all thatengagement is I?
It's a full time job.
I don't even know how, howsomebody can do it like I do.
I mean I wish I could put moretime into that social media
aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, so do you do it yourself, or did you outsource
it, or yeah, I do it myself.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So, yeah, that was one of the things is trying to
find areas that you know.
They always say staff yourweaknesses.
So I found somebody that coulddo like our builds.
I found somebody who can dolike my studio prep and my
cleaning, because I didn't feellike social media was so
personal and you needed to be inthe studio talking to the
guests, getting the pictures andwhatnot.
It just felt like something Icouldn't outsource.
(07:01):
So I found other ways tooutsource so that I do have more
time to do that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I understand.
Yeah, that's great.
That's great, it's good lessons.
So what are some commonmisconceptions about running a
business?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That it's going to just be easy and it's just going
to explode.
And yeah, I think for us thatwas it.
We just thought this is thecoolest concept, asheville is
going to love us and, yeah,asheville has a lot of offerings
of things to do, so we're incompetition with other people
for fun entertainment and so,just kind of getting the word
(07:36):
out.
I think that's been the hardestthing.
I mean print media, you can'tdo that.
Nobody does mailings anymore,so just trying to let people
know I still run into people allthe time.
They're like I didn't even knowyou guys were here, I didn't
know you were in East Asheville.
So, yeah, I think that thoseare definitely some of the
things that you think, oh,that'll be the that's the easy
(08:05):
part.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, that's pretty funny.
By the way, print media doesstill work.
It's interesting for somepeople.
It may not, it may not be rightfor you, but it definitely
still works.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, word of mouth, yeah, and just getting just
being consistent with networking, letting people know that we're
here, going to events in thecommunity, being a part of the
community.
One thing that was a challengefor us is we I call us like a
dual county citizenship becausewe live in Haywood but our
business is in Buncombe and sosometimes it's like I'm headed
(08:31):
back home, it's harder, harderto do things in Buncombe County.
So just finding that nicebalance, that's why I'm it's
harder to do things in BuncombeCounty.
So just finding that nicebalance.
That's why I'm really big withthe chamber here in Buncombe and
, yeah, just making sure peopleknow what we are.
When you said biggestmisconception a funny story
really quickly is when we weredoing our build out, we had our
dogs here and they would sit atthe front door while we were
getting everything ready andpeople thought board and brush
(08:54):
was literally like for petsboarding and brushing, and so
they'd be like, are you a doggrooming place?
And so when you said that I'mlike that's a big misconception.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, yeah it is.
It is interesting what canhappen.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So how do you, you know, balance the personal and
the business?
Wow, yeah, that took a while tofigure out.
I mean, we were about tocelebrate our fourth anniversary
here, and so those first coupleof years and, quite honestly,
one of the reasons we came backto Western North Carolina was
we're both from my family's allfrom here as well but Todd's
family we came back to kind ofhelp his parents and whatnot,
(09:34):
and so I think the balance camein.
Just knowing this is it feelslike a very much a full-time job
, but I only had part-time hoursbecause I have other
responsibilities with our family, and so again, it was that
delegation and finding peoplethat could do things that I
couldn't, and then me take thesacrifice of maybe, you know,
(09:55):
not getting paid for somethingor whatever you know, my
personal time, but you know itwas worth it to me to have my
schedule be free, to be able todo those other things that I
needed to back home.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So Right, that's great.
So do you have team members, doyou have people that help you,
or?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, we have.
We have a staff of eight peopleand so some of them are
assistants, some of them areinstructors.
Like I said, I've got a builder, I've got somebody who does a
lot of my studio prep andcleaning.
I have a girl that just doesour calendar and she, like hand
writes our calendar.
We have a big one in the lobby,yeah.
So there, yeah, we all kind ofjust I like a deep bench,
(10:31):
because you never know when aworkshop is going to blow up and
suddenly, in two days, I need,you know, two girls to help me
out or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So you know, so what do you look for in an employee?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Somebody.
They don't have to be anextrovert, but I like to see
that they can connect with otherpeople, even if it's one-on-one
.
So I want you to be able toengage with the customers.
I want you to be able to engagewith the customers.
I want you to be the hype manto really encourage them about
their project.
There's several steps wherethey might be feeling like, oh,
I messed that up, or oh, this isnot going to turn out like I
wanted it to, and we just liketo encourage them along that.
(11:05):
So most of my staff are reallygood about finding ways to, you
know, compliment them on theirproject and help them out, fix
the problem when something goeswrong.
And yeah, there's just aboutnothing we can't fix.
So that's like I call that,like my secret sauce.
I'm able to just about fix anymistake in our project before
they go home.
So that's a lot of fun.
And then just loyalty and being, you know, responsible, you
(11:29):
know responsible adults andbeing on time and coming when
you're supposed to and all thatfun stuff.
But yeah, the engaging with thecustomers is probably my
biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, no, I like it.
I like it.
So let's do a little quick fire.
Just a couple of sentencesabout this.
So BEPIC is an acronym, so I'mgoing to give you the definition
of the letters and you tell mewhat your thoughts are.
So B is bring the energy.
What are your thoughts aroundthat?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, stamina, probably we're on our feet the entire
time and so you may have beenworking.
I have several of my employeesthat work full-time jobs, so
then they got to come here andthey got to be.
You know, their game's got tobe ready to go.
So yeah, stamina.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I love that.
How about E?
E stands for education, yeah,stamina.
I love that.
How about E?
E?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
stands for education, education.
Yeah, just require anybody thateven applies for this to have
gone to a workshop ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I want all my employees to have experienced it
as a customer, and I just thinkthat gives you a different lens
to look at things through andto understand what they're all
going through.
I'm writing that down.
Experience as a customer I lovethat.
Yeah, that's great advice.
How about planning?
Took some planning to pull thisoff.
What are your thoughts aroundplanning?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, planning it took a lot of collaboration and
just going.
We went to a lot of other boardand brush studios before we
committed to this.
I just wanted to see how theywere run there's.
You know we're a franchise andso a lot of them look similar
but everybody does thingsdifferently.
So it was just neat to go andtalk to other studio owners and
kind of glean from what they'vedone and their experience before
we put it all together for ourown studio.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, I talked to a guy one time who, and I know he
owns several businesses, but oneof the businesses he opened was
a pizza restaurant and he spenta year going around the country
trying to find the right pizzasauce the recipe for that.
He visited all over the countrytrying to find the right pizza.
(13:30):
It's pretty cool, All right.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Inspiration.
I, you know, probably my mom.
She's so, she's very creativeand she's all like growing up
she never had like that careershe was, she was a stay at home
mom, but she always had her footdoing something.
So one time she was workingpart-time for a Chinese food
restaurant while we were inmiddle school, or another time
she had her own jewelry businessor she just always found ways
to keep herself engaged andactive and working.
(13:57):
And that's again that's one ofthe reasons I wanted to do this
when we're moving here is I justwant to be there out in the
community and meeting.
I love meeting people.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, so you're an introvert who loves meeting
people.
Yeah, yeah, it's all aboutenergy, right?
I mean, it's about where youget your energy from, so it's
it's.
Yeah, it's all about energy,right?
I mean, it's about where youget your energy from, so it's,
yeah, it's an issue.
I think a lot of peoplemisunderstand the terminology
there, but, yeah, you can be apeople person and still be more
introverted, I guess.
(14:26):
So C stands for commitment.
What are your thoughts aroundcommitment?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Commitment.
Yeah, so we were in this for,you know, the long run.
Of course you know we have, youknow, end of our lease or end
of our contract, that kind ofthing.
But we, you know, we knewcoming into this that it wasn't
going to be something that, oh,if it didn't work out in a
couple of years we're going tobail.
So our commitment is to thecommunity to being in this.
(15:01):
You know we're in EastAsheville, so, um Haw, Creek.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
All that area is very important to us, ac Reynolds,
and so, yeah, we just we want tobe here as long as we can, as
long as it continues to thrive.
Love that, yeah, I love that.
So what do you wish somebodyhad told you before you went
into business?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hmm, that you're going to have a lot of sleepless
nights because all thatresponsibility, bam is on you,
and so that, yeah, I did notexpect the worry part of it and
just having to each month wonder, okay, how's this going to work
out?
You know, what do I need to donow?
And it's just, it's hard for meto turn my brain off from
(15:31):
constantly thinking about thebusiness.
And so, like, we took our firstvacation last year, so it took
us three years before we took avacation, and this year we're
doing it a little sooner.
So, but it's, yeah, it's one ofthose things where I had to
kind of get to the point where Iwas ready to trust other people
with it and for me to be ableto step back and and shut that
part of my brain off for acouple minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But yeah, it's just nobody nobody really said it's
yeah, you're going to have a lotof sleepless nights.
Wow, yeah, I guess it's a lotdifferent than the military life
.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, when you're being barked at orders or if
somebody else is in charge, II've thought that several times.
I'm like you know, I'm totallygood with somebody else being in
charge.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, I like that.
So what words of advice wouldyou give or would you offer to
business owners who are lookingto grow?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, yeah, so definitely, I think the
networking part of it is big.
I didn't really take thatseriously our first year here.
All I was thinking was, oh, thepeople I'd be networking with
when that person's going to havea conversation with somebody
and be like oh well, have youheard of board and brush?
And so I think, just makingsure you're out there in the
(16:56):
community getting the word outwhatever you can.
Our marketing budget is reallysmall so I try to find any
avenue and like this, I totallydo not know how much I
appreciate it, because it isreally hard just to be able to
take this little budget andspread it out there to get the
word out.
So I would say networking isone of the things that.
Get involved in your localchamber, your rotary, your
(17:17):
women's club, whatever it is,your men's group.
Yeah, get involved and just letpeople see who you are and
always wear your gear.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, a lot of people don't really think about the
fact that most marketing leadsto networking anyway on some
level.
I mean, you might get somebodyto take an action, but then
eventually you got to do apeople to people thing.
So, yeah, that's a pretty goodone.
So, lastly, what's the best wayfor people to find you or get
(17:53):
in touch?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Oh, on our website or on Facebook, so we're easy.
Wwwboardandbrushcom slashAsheville, so you can.
Actually, if you Google paintand sip for Asheville or board
and brush, we come up at the top.
But, yeah, our calendar'sonline, so that's probably the
best way.
We're on Facebook.
We're on Instagram.
All of our links are there.
(18:14):
It's hard not to not to be ableto find us, but yeah, you can
view our calendar, see when ourworkshops are and then go from
there.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, this has been great.
I've learned a lot.
Is there anything else you'dlike to add?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
No, I just.
You know, like I said, this isa great place just to bring your
friends or even come byyourself.
We have several customers thatinitially were coming by
themselves and they've madefriends in the workshop and now
they like contact each other.
Hey, when are you going to thenext one?
So you know, even if you're asingle person or don't have a,
your friends are not availableone night and you still want to
come.
Come.
My customers are great, theywelcome everybody.
So it's just a great place tohang out.
(18:54):
And again, if you just want tosit there and work on your
project and don't want to talkto anybody, nobody's offended by
that either.
So yeah, just come and have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, that's cool.
It seems like a good way tomeet people actually.
Yeah, go to a class, go out.
You know, I hadn't thoughtabout it, but going to a class
is a great way to meet people.
It doesn't matter what theclass is, so that's awesome.
That is awesome.
Well, thanks so much for beingpart of our community and for
what you're doing and buildingyour business, and I certainly
(19:23):
wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Thanks, Bill, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, thanks, hey, and everybody, just remember
it's not too late.
Get your tickets now for theAsheville Business Summit.
Just go to wncsummitcom Pick upyour tickets there.
It's a great place to network.
It's a great place to learn.
It's going to be fun.
Just get out there and do it,hey, and until next time all the
(19:48):
best.
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs.
I am excited to have LynetteStewart with us from Board Brush
Creative Studios.
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
All right.
So, Lynette, tell us a littlebit about you and about Board
Brush.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, so I moved back here with my husband.
He was coming home.
I'm from the Charlotte area,but we moved back here about
four years ago after he retiredfrom a 27-year career in the
military.
So we decided to put down rootsafter moving 14 times in 27
years.
And we love Asheville and, yeah,board Brush came to be because
(00:49):
we were customers up in the DCarea our last duty station for
about four years and when wewere coming here and I knew I
wasn't ready to retire, I justwanted to have something that I
could do for fun, something thatwe were already kind of bought
into, and I wanted a place forcommunity, for a place for
people to come and just enjoythemselves, especially coming
out of COVID we opened in 21.
And so it was just people werelike dying to get out of their
(01:11):
house, and so this was just agreat opportunity for us at that
time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Awesome.
So tell us like a little bitmore about what it is you
actually do.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, so I tell a lot of people that we're like a DIY
paint and sip, and most peopleimmediately think canvas.
And instead of canvas we'rewood projects.
And so we're talking wood signs, porch leaners, coat racks,
trays, pedestals, clocks, porchplanters, you name it.
We have lots of different woodprojects, and so people will
(01:41):
pick out their project ahead oftime.
A lot of them can bepersonalized.
You can add like names anddates and whatnot.
And then you pick a workshop tocome to.
We usually have those scheduledon the weekend, sometimes
during the week, and we have acalendar so they can pick their
date.
Grab their friends, come in, wehave everything ready for them,
and then we have an instructorthat leads them through all the
steps, and so the DIY part ismore for well, they're doing it
(02:04):
themselves, but, like, if you'vebeen here several times, you
like get to kind of just go atyour own pace, and so I have a
lot of customers that enjoy justcoming in and they just get
right to it.
So, yeah, that's what we are.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
So is it mostly individuals coming in, or is it
mostly groups, or what does itlook like?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, it's about half and half, so we've got a good
chunk of them are just our, mylocal customers I have.
I live actually in HaywoodCounty, so I have a lot of
friends from Haywood that comeover, but just Buncombe,
hendersonville, launce, thewhole area.
And then we also our other partof our business is groups.
So we do a lot of bacheloretteparties.
You know, asheville is such agreat destination for that.
(02:48):
We do family reunions and I doa lot of team building and
corporate stuff.
So especially towards the endof the year, that third, that
fourth quarter, we'll get peoplewanting to do their end of year
holiday parties.
Or we get groups that arecoming in for our conference and
they want something fun to dowhile they're here for their
conference.
So they'll come into the studioas well.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So I'm guessing some of that got impacted by Helene
the hurricane.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, it did.
Yeah, october we were scheduledto go into one of our best
quarters last year.
Of course, I'm sure a lot ofpeople had those aspirations and
we had several bacheloretteparties booked for October and
some of them their Airbnbs gotdestroyed and they had to cancel
.
We had a couple groups fromTennessee that couldn't get here
and so, yeah, it's been.
(03:22):
It's definitely been an impact.
I haven't seen a lot of thosegroups coming back to Asheville
yet, but I am starting to seesome of the inquiries, so that
usually means people arestarting to think about
Asheville again, so I'm hopefulthat that's definitely going to
start picking up.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah, I mean Asheville's open, we're open.
In Western North Carolina thereis plenty of place, everything
is back.
I mean it's not.
Yeah, you still.
There's still remnants andthere's still a lot of pain and
a lot of people still diggingout, but we're open.
I mean it is the businesses.
The business community is readyfor you.
(03:57):
The hospitality community isready for you.
Yeah, so tell me a little bitmore about the team building,
and from a from a businessstandpoint.
Obviously I'm interested inthat.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah.
So we pretty much sometimesteam building.
They think, oh, you're going tohave fun little activities for
us to do, so the activity, theexperience is coming here and
making a fun project and we cantailor that.
So if you have a smalltimeframe or a large timeframe,
we can fit that in.
We can fit just about anybudget.
But basically you're going tocome and just with your friends.
(04:25):
Mostly what our team buildingactivities are is they're just
getting a chance outside of theworkplace to hang out with each
other and talk about things notbusiness related.
Now, not to say, some groupscome in here and they end up
talking business a little bit,but for the most part it's just
a fun way for them to come inand get to know each other on a
personal level a lot deeper.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, yeah.
That's a great way to fosteremployee engagement is just to
get to know your team a lotbetter.
Well, let me ask you somebusiness questions.
So if you had to start over inthis business, what would you do
differently?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Wow, you know what?
Somebody else asked me thisjust the other day.
For us personally, coming backto the area, like I said, my
husband, he grew up in HaywoodCounty but I was new to the area
and we hadn't lived here in 20some years and so I think we
came back and jumped in reallyfast and that for me was kind of
hard because I'm kind of anintrovert.
So thank goodness things likethe Chamber of Commerce allows
(05:22):
you to do networking and to getout there and do some of that.
But it was just hard to makethose connections and I think
for me I wish we had maybewaited a little bit, gotten
ourselves kind of acclimated tothe area and ingrained in the
community a little bit morebefore we took on the business.
I think that's probably mybiggest thing, that I would have
said hey, hold your horses, getinto your community a little
(05:43):
bit and then go from there.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So, yeah, if you'd already had a few connections
and networking, all that, yeah,yeah, it's a, that's a, that's a
great one.
So what have been your biggestlearnings as an owner?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, I'm going to say social media.
Wow, I mean I can considermyself I am of the age where
Facebook was big for me, but itliterally is just a connection
thing, just kind of keeping upwith my friends and then.
So learning that from abusiness perspective is so
different.
And Instagram, literally Ididn't do much of anything on
that.
Now it's like, wow, instagramis awesome, but learning how to
(06:21):
do reels and yeah, just all thatengagement is I?
It's a full time job.
I don't even know how, howsomebody can do it like I do.
I mean I wish I could put moretime into that social media
aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, so do you do it yourself, or did you outsource
it, or yeah, I do it myself.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So, yeah, that was one of the things is trying to
find areas that you know.
They always say staff yourweaknesses.
So I found somebody that coulddo like our builds.
I found somebody who can dolike my studio prep and my
cleaning, because I didn't feellike social media was so
personal and you needed to be inthe studio talking to the
guests, getting the pictures andwhatnot.
It just felt like something Icouldn't outsource.
(07:01):
So I found other ways tooutsource so that I do have more
time to do that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I understand.
Yeah, that's great.
That's great, it's good lessons.
So what are some commonmisconceptions about running a
business?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That it's going to just be easy and it's just going
to explode.
And yeah, I think for us thatwas it.
We just thought this is thecoolest concept, asheville is
going to love us and, yeah,asheville has a lot of offerings
of things to do, so we're incompetition with other people
for fun entertainment and so,just kind of getting the word
(07:36):
out.
I think that's been the hardestthing.
I mean print media, you can'tdo that.
Nobody does mailings anymore,so just trying to let people
know I still run into people allthe time.
They're like I didn't even knowyou guys were here, I didn't
know you were in East Asheville.
So, yeah, I think that thoseare definitely some of the
things that you think, oh,that'll be the that's the easy
(08:05):
part.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, that's pretty funny.
By the way, print media doesstill work.
It's interesting for somepeople.
It may not, it may not be rightfor you, but it definitely
still works.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, word of mouth, yeah, and just getting just
being consistent with networking, letting people know that we're
here, going to events in thecommunity, being a part of the
community.
One thing that was a challengefor us is we I call us like a
dual county citizenship becausewe live in Haywood but our
business is in Buncombe and sosometimes it's like I'm headed
(08:31):
back home, it's harder, harderto do things in Buncombe County.
So just finding that nicebalance, that's why I'm it's
harder to do things in BuncombeCounty.
So just finding that nicebalance.
That's why I'm really big withthe chamber here in Buncombe and
, yeah, just making sure peopleknow what we are.
When you said biggestmisconception a funny story
really quickly is when we weredoing our build out, we had our
dogs here and they would sit atthe front door while we were
getting everything ready andpeople thought board and brush
(08:54):
was literally like for petsboarding and brushing, and so
they'd be like, are you a doggrooming place?
And so when you said that I'mlike that's a big misconception.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, yeah it is.
It is interesting what canhappen.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So how do you, you know, balance the personal and
the business?
Wow, yeah, that took a while tofigure out.
I mean, we were about tocelebrate our fourth anniversary
here, and so those first coupleof years and, quite honestly,
one of the reasons we came backto Western North Carolina was
we're both from my family's allfrom here as well but Todd's
family we came back to kind ofhelp his parents and whatnot,
(09:34):
and so I think the balance camein.
Just knowing this is it feelslike a very much a full-time job
, but I only had part-time hoursbecause I have other
responsibilities with our family, and so again, it was that
delegation and finding peoplethat could do things that I
couldn't, and then me take thesacrifice of maybe, you know,
(09:55):
not getting paid for somethingor whatever you know, my
personal time, but you know itwas worth it to me to have my
schedule be free, to be able todo those other things that I
needed to back home.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So Right, that's great.
So do you have team members, doyou have people that help you,
or?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, we have.
We have a staff of eight peopleand so some of them are
assistants, some of them areinstructors.
Like I said, I've got a builder, I've got somebody who does a
lot of my studio prep andcleaning.
I have a girl that just doesour calendar and she, like hand
writes our calendar.
We have a big one in the lobby,yeah.
So there, yeah, we all kind ofjust I like a deep bench,
(10:31):
because you never know when aworkshop is going to blow up and
suddenly, in two days, I need,you know, two girls to help me
out or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So you know, so what do you look for in an employee?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Somebody.
They don't have to be anextrovert, but I like to see
that they can connect with otherpeople, even if it's one-on-one
.
So I want you to be able toengage with the customers.
I want you to be able to engagewith the customers.
I want you to be the hype manto really encourage them about
their project.
There's several steps wherethey might be feeling like, oh,
I messed that up, or oh, this isnot going to turn out like I
wanted it to, and we just liketo encourage them along that.
(11:05):
So most of my staff are reallygood about finding ways to, you
know, compliment them on theirproject and help them out, fix
the problem when something goeswrong.
And yeah, there's just aboutnothing we can't fix.
So that's like I call that,like my secret sauce.
I'm able to just about fix anymistake in our project before
they go home.
So that's a lot of fun.
And then just loyalty and being, you know, responsible, you
(11:29):
know responsible adults andbeing on time and coming when
you're supposed to and all thatfun stuff.
But yeah, the engaging with thecustomers is probably my
biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, no, I like it.
I like it.
So let's do a little quick fire.
Just a couple of sentencesabout this.
So BEPIC is an acronym, so I'mgoing to give you the definition
of the letters and you tell mewhat your thoughts are.
So B is bring the energy.
What are your thoughts aroundthat?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, stamina, probably we're on our feet the entire
time and so you may have beenworking.
I have several of my employeesthat work full-time jobs, so
then they got to come here andthey got to be.
You know, their game's got tobe ready to go.
So yeah, stamina.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I love that.
How about E?
E stands for education, yeah,stamina.
I love that.
How about E?
E?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
stands for education, education.
Yeah, just require anybody thateven applies for this to have
gone to a workshop ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I want all my employees to have experienced it
as a customer, and I just thinkthat gives you a different lens
to look at things through andto understand what they're all
going through.
I'm writing that down.
Experience as a customer I lovethat.
Yeah, that's great advice.
How about planning?
Took some planning to pull thisoff.
What are your thoughts aroundplanning?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, planning it took a lot of collaboration and
just going.
We went to a lot of other boardand brush studios before we
committed to this.
I just wanted to see how theywere run there's.
You know we're a franchise andso a lot of them look similar
but everybody does thingsdifferently.
So it was just neat to go andtalk to other studio owners and
kind of glean from what they'vedone and their experience before
we put it all together for ourown studio.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, I talked to a guy one time who, and I know he
owns several businesses, but oneof the businesses he opened was
a pizza restaurant and he spenta year going around the country
trying to find the right pizzasauce the recipe for that.
He visited all over the countrytrying to find the right pizza.
(13:30):
It's pretty cool, All right.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Inspiration.
I, you know, probably my mom.
She's so, she's very creativeand she's all like growing up
she never had like that careershe was, she was a stay at home
mom, but she always had her footdoing something.
So one time she was workingpart-time for a Chinese food
restaurant while we were inmiddle school, or another time
she had her own jewelry businessor she just always found ways
to keep herself engaged andactive and working.
(13:57):
And that's again that's one ofthe reasons I wanted to do this
when we're moving here is I justwant to be there out in the
community and meeting.
I love meeting people.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, so you're an introvert who loves meeting
people.
Yeah, yeah, it's all aboutenergy, right?
I mean, it's about where youget your energy from, so it's
it's.
Yeah, it's all about energy,right?
I mean, it's about where youget your energy from, so it's,
yeah, it's an issue.
I think a lot of peoplemisunderstand the terminology
there, but, yeah, you can be apeople person and still be more
introverted, I guess.
(14:26):
So C stands for commitment.
What are your thoughts aroundcommitment?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Commitment.
Yeah, so we were in this for,you know, the long run.
Of course you know we have, youknow, end of our lease or end
of our contract, that kind ofthing.
But we, you know, we knewcoming into this that it wasn't
going to be something that, oh,if it didn't work out in a
couple of years we're going tobail.
So our commitment is to thecommunity to being in this.
(15:01):
You know we're in EastAsheville, so, um Haw, Creek.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
All that area is very important to us, ac Reynolds,
and so, yeah, we just we want tobe here as long as we can, as
long as it continues to thrive.
Love that, yeah, I love that.
So what do you wish somebodyhad told you before you went
into business?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Hmm, that you're going to have a lot of sleepless
nights because all thatresponsibility, bam is on you,
and so that, yeah, I did notexpect the worry part of it and
just having to each month wonder, okay, how's this going to work
out?
You know, what do I need to donow?
And it's just, it's hard for meto turn my brain off from
(15:31):
constantly thinking about thebusiness.
And so, like, we took our firstvacation last year, so it took
us three years before we took avacation, and this year we're
doing it a little sooner.
So, but it's, yeah, it's one ofthose things where I had to
kind of get to the point where Iwas ready to trust other people
with it and for me to be ableto step back and and shut that
part of my brain off for acouple minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But yeah, it's just nobody nobody really said it's
yeah, you're going to have a lotof sleepless nights.
Wow, yeah, I guess it's a lotdifferent than the military life
.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, when you're being barked at orders or if
somebody else is in charge, II've thought that several times.
I'm like you know, I'm totallygood with somebody else being in
charge.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, I like that.
So what words of advice wouldyou give or would you offer to
business owners who are lookingto grow?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, yeah, so definitely, I think the
networking part of it is big.
I didn't really take thatseriously our first year here.
All I was thinking was, oh, thepeople I'd be networking with
when that person's going to havea conversation with somebody
and be like oh well, have youheard of board and brush?
And so I think, just makingsure you're out there in the
(16:56):
community getting the word outwhatever you can.
Our marketing budget is reallysmall so I try to find any
avenue and like this, I totallydo not know how much I
appreciate it, because it isreally hard just to be able to
take this little budget andspread it out there to get the
word out.
So I would say networking isone of the things that.
Get involved in your localchamber, your rotary, your
(17:17):
women's club, whatever it is,your men's group.
Yeah, get involved and just letpeople see who you are and
always wear your gear.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, a lot of people don't really think about the
fact that most marketing leadsto networking anyway on some
level.
I mean, you might get somebodyto take an action, but then
eventually you got to do apeople to people thing.
So, yeah, that's a pretty goodone.
So, lastly, what's the best wayfor people to find you or get
(17:53):
in touch?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Oh, on our website or on Facebook, so we're easy.
Wwwboardandbrushcom slashAsheville, so you can.
Actually, if you Google paintand sip for Asheville or board
and brush, we come up at the top.
But, yeah, our calendar'sonline, so that's probably the
best way.
We're on Facebook.
We're on Instagram.
All of our links are there.
(18:14):
It's hard not to not to be ableto find us, but yeah, you can
view our calendar, see when ourworkshops are and then go from
there.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, this has been great.
I've learned a lot.
Is there anything else you'dlike to add?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
No, I just.
You know, like I said, this isa great place just to bring your
friends or even come byyourself.
We have several customers thatinitially were coming by
themselves and they've madefriends in the workshop and now
they like contact each other.
Hey, when are you going to thenext one?
So you know, even if you're asingle person or don't have a,
your friends are not availableone night and you still want to
come.
Come.
My customers are great, theywelcome everybody.
So it's just a great place tohang out.
(18:54):
And again, if you just want tosit there and work on your
project and don't want to talkto anybody, nobody's offended by
that either.
So yeah, just come and have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, that's cool.
It seems like a good way tomeet people actually.
Yeah, go to a class, go out.
You know, I hadn't thoughtabout it, but going to a class
is a great way to meet people.
It doesn't matter what theclass is, so that's awesome.
That is awesome.
Well, thanks so much for beingpart of our community and for
what you're doing and buildingyour business, and I certainly
(19:23):
wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Thanks, Bill, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, thanks, hey, and everybody, just remember
it's not too late.
Get your tickets now for theAsheville Business Summit.
Just go to wncsummitcom Pick upyour tickets there.
It's a great place to network.
It's a great place to learn.
It's going to be fun.
Just get out there and do it,hey, and until next time all the
(19:48):
best.
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