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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 21: Banking, Charcuterie, and Events: Navigating Challenges & Opportunities with Leiha Lamb
Ever wondered what it takes to leave a stable banking career to chase your culinary dreams? Join us as Leiha Lamb, the visionary behind The Nest and Yellow Finch Creations, shares her fascinating journey. Leiha’s story is one of courage and creativity, as she transformed her lifelong passion for cooking into a successful business after being encouraged by a friend. Inspired by her family's deep roots in the restaurant industry, and with the unwavering support of her fiancé, Leiha is continuing to grow and evolve as opportunities arise.
Starting a new business is never easy, especially in the competitive world of catering. Leiha shares what it took to take the leap at a couple different points in the process. She also shared some insights from her 20+ years in banking for startups. Luke and Leiha discuss resources like the SBA and Small Business Development Center, and dispel common misconceptions about grants, offering advice for what to do after you decide to start a new venture.
The conversation highlights how Leiha’s children and fiancé contribute creatively, from event assistance to photography, making the business a true family affair. Furthermore, they discuss the vibrant sense of community and collaboration in downtown Marion, where local vendors and pop-up shops thrive through mutual support. Leiha’s story is a heartwarming reminder of how family ties and community connections can inspire new ventures and fortify existing ones, transforming dreams into reality.
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I had someone reach out and order their Thanksgiving order with me last week and she put a note in there that said thank you for being part of our family tradition. So my grandmother taught me to love to be in the kitchen and she taught me if you love people, you feed them.
Speaker 2:This is the Main Street Reimagined podcast, a show for people ready to turn visions into realities and ideas into businesses. Hey, I'm Luke Henry and each week I lead conversations with Main Street dreamers who took the leap to launch a business, renovate a building or start a movement, their ideas, their mindsets and their inspirations, as well as some of the highs and lows along the way. This is a place for dreamers, creators, developers and entrepreneurs to learn, share and be inspired to change your community through small business. Enjoy the show. Hey, friends, luke Henry here. This is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast. Thanks so much for being back with us. This is episode 21, and I'm happy to continue to grow our community and listeners. Thanks so much for tuning in again. So I'm excited to be back with a guest today, and today I have Leah Lamb. Good morning, leah.
Speaker 2:Good morning, howdy. So Leah owns the Nest and Yellow Finch Charcuterie and Catering and she's going to tell us a little bit about her kind of new venture here. She's expanded, she's doubled down on this business and is here in downtown Marion, so I'm excited to hear her story and share it with our listeners today. So thanks again for being with us, thank you. So if someone hasn't yet been into the nest or worked with you, yellowfinch, tell me, tell us a little bit, us a little bit, about what those businesses are.
Speaker 1:Okay, yellowfinch Creations is a charcuterie and catering and we do all kinds of events from box lunches to weddings. The Nest is our newest venture and it is a small event space in downtown Marion.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, uh, great space uh at that, uh really cool exposed brick, cool floor ceilings, like just that authentic historic building vibe in there and you can accommodate up to about 50 is 50.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah. So I'm excited to hear kind of you got from doing that to now running this business full time and so tell us a little more. I mean, let's kind of even start back. You know you're from Marion Right, and so tell us you know kind of your whole story starting back.
Speaker 1:Born and raised in Marion, my family's been in the restaurant industry for a billion years. Actually, the building we're in is the old Whitey's building, which Whitey Lamb was my great-great-grandfather.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Kind of a good history behind that?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's wild.
Speaker 1:I really enjoy being in the kitchen cooking all of that sort of thing. Started the business, kind of always cooked for my friends and family. Started doing this a little bit part time, been doing it for three years with the catering. In October I actually separated from the banking world, which was a big step. Position eliminated and kind of now let's jump two feet into something that brings me joy and I have passion for. So now just running full-fledged ahead on that and kind of worked out right when we started the nest. So it all kind of worked out in sync and that's where we're going.
Speaker 2:It's interesting how things can sometimes line up like that that you had had the opportunity to take over the whole space, right, you were just located in there with another business and had the opportunity to take over the whole space in June or so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the end of June, yep.
Speaker 2:And so that was probably a lot at the time. You know, you're kind of looking at it like, well, here's this opportunity, right, you want to take it, but yet also still working this full-time banking job, right. And then that sort of took care of itself a few months later, right, Right, and you had had this opportunity to really like go full force into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, when we had the opportunity to take over the space, I asked my fiance I'm like, do you think we could, you know, do something else with this? And we talked through it and he said let's do it, go for it and put a lot of work in there, change some things, and we're really happy with how it turned out. Yeah, yeah, so cool.
Speaker 2:So I mean, you make this seem like no big deal, you know, just pick this up and start doing it and then, you know, had the opportunity to go a little bigger on it. But I know that in most cases there's a lot more to it than that, and I know that you've worked very hard to make it what it is, and so you know, we always do this leap segment whenever I interview someone, and so I'd love to dig in a little bit more to some of the like emotions around that and some of the decisions and just what all went into.
Speaker 2:Initial, first of all, like starting it you know, going from hey, I like to cook for my family and friends to I'm going to make a business out of this. Tell us, like a little more deeply into that, how that happened.
Speaker 1:Right. So it's funny. My mom said that I started this in high school because she was a deli bakery manager at Foodtown for a billion years and in high school I would go do their deli trays.
Speaker 1:So, my mom said that's where I got this start, but we'll let her have that. Every time a friend had a party they would always say would you do the food? Or you do such a good job, you're so creative. And I was sitting down with my best friend and you know, making a charcuterie board and she goes, you should do this and like like a job. She's like yeah, and I'm like I don't know, that sounds like a lot of work. And she said you know, growth never happens comfortably. Just do it. And I said okay, and I'm lucky for me, she is in marketing and she's amazing. So she was like here's a logo and here's all these things. So she helped me just kind of take my dream and make it a reality and make it an actual business.
Speaker 1:instead of she said you do this for people all the time. You should definitely get paid for it. So, that's kind of how it started and kind of took that leap of faith and jumped in and it's been great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so with that logo and with some idea about what you were going to offer, you just put it out there on social media. I mean, how did you start booking gigs?
Speaker 1:Yep, I did it right before Thanksgiving, my first year, and I worked out of a shared kitchen that my grandfather owned and kind of put it out there on social media, Got quite a few orders and then it grew from there. The next year on Thanksgiving I had about five times the orders that I had the year before. So it's definitely grown and we had to make a lot of changes going forward and learned a lot about what works great and what didn't work and just kind of tweak things and move forward.
Speaker 1:It's kind of cool. I had someone reach out and order for this year for Thanksgiving and said I'm so excited that you're part of our family tradition. So, that was a really cool thing yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really love that. Yeah, and I want to dig more into some of the details that I know happened because we had some conversation around this at the time, which is a lot of folks may not know that you can't do this out of your home. Oh, for sure, right.
Speaker 2:So this because you're slicing and preparing and doing certain things that kind of trigger certain health department requirements. This is a business that you can't do out of your home, whereas like baking and some things you are able to do through the cottage laws or whatever out of your home. But this one you can't, and so you had to seek out a commercial kitchen that's been licensed and is inspected regularly by the health department and all of that, and so you're doing this in like a pizza place right.
Speaker 1:So you know and again.
Speaker 2:I mean that took some creativity to see that opportunity to say, you know, I'm not going to be deterred by the fact that this is difficult and, just you know, can't just be done out of my home kitchen, but I'm going to look for a partnership to be able to do this. I mean so just in that. I mean, how did that kind of come about? And like, what challenges were presented in the early days with trying to, you know, flex around their schedule?
Speaker 1:It was difficult. My dad's been super helpful. It was difficult, my dad's been super helpful. He's kind of because when I started this I knew how to make things pretty, but I didn't know how to order and as I have now. So I definitely my grandfather had passed away and then I was like, okay, now what do I do? I have to find something.
Speaker 2:So you can no longer be at that place, that you were at the pizza place, right yeah?
Speaker 1:And I knew that was coming up. So I had to search out another location and that's when I moved into the space I'm in now, after you know you and I had talked looking for a space, and it is hard to find a small space. And it does take some work to find something that's right for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah, but you just got to keep looking, keep putting hooks in the water, if you will right. And just letting people know, talking with everybody you can and calling people up and figuring it out. That's the entrepreneurial way you know. I think that so often people are deterred or frustrated when they hit a little bit of opposition with trying to launch new business. But that's kind of par for the course.
Speaker 2:I think is what we're saying here right, and I've heard that story from lots of people and experienced it myself as well. I mean, you're going to hit those, hit those ceilings, but have to figure out ways to.
Speaker 1:Right and especially when you're starting out and you know this was just wasn't something I had planned for and saved for and, you know, for a long time and had the money to go out and, you know, buy a building and commercial kitchen myself, so we had to definitely look for something that fit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and in both cases I mean you found something and have been able to make it work. So, and then you know, really, I feel like you took the like phase two leap here with the opportunity that came up in June where, again kind of faced with a transition point, it was like, well, we're either going to have to fold up or take over this whole space or go look for something again, right, right. So tell us a little more about that as well.
Speaker 1:The emotions and some of the decisions and conversations you had to make make that next leap yeah, um, I'm thankful that um, you know james and lily lloyd that own the building I'm in. Um, they said we love you, we want you here. Um, I asked my fiance. I said do you think we can make this work? Can we do something? And he said let's go for it. So I kind of talked to them and they loved the idea. So we changed some things, made it look the way we wanted to, and then had to rethink a whole new business plan, because now we have the rental venue, which works perfectly for what we do. We have classes and things in there now, so it works better. It is nice to have a full space that I can utilize, but it was definitely a transition. That wasn't easy. But you know, we leaned on other business. Owners had a lot of questions, had friends come over and give their opinion, and that was really valuable had friends come over and give their opinion and that was really valuable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, what is some of that feedback that you got through having other people into the space and just asking them their opinions? That helped shape what the business became.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people you know, local business owners came over and took a look and said I really like how you did this. What about you know doing this? Everybody wants to stop in and take a peek. I've had a ton of people send referrals for us because they know it's a nice space to use. But it's been nice having other people. Everybody's been super helpful, giving ideas and lending a hand if needed, so it was really nice.
Speaker 2:I think another lesson in there that is that took me a while, as I look back on my journey, to really recognize, and that is that people are often very willing to help if you ask For sure. And I think having the humility to go out and ask for people's opinions, people's help, can just accelerate a business so quickly, faster than trying to come up with all the ideas on your own. And so you know, well done from that perspective, you're learning that lesson early to allow people to help you.
Speaker 1:Well, and there's no reason to recreate the wheel. You know, if somebody is doing it great and they have a successful business, you know tapping into their knowledge and opinions is very important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyone that really like came to you in that season that helped accelerate that more than others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, derek and Andrea that own Trouble City have been fantastic. Like I said, james and Lily Lloyd have been great with helping do those sort of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean you know your business neighbors there essentially and just I agree. I mean I see a high degree of collaboration and cooperation within the downtown Marion community. You know everyone genuinely wanting each other to succeed, I agree. And even you know, even in like somewhat competitive businesses, right, it's really remarkable to me to just see people helping each other out. You know people that have restaurants, helping other restaurants or people that have you know drinkeries is. I think that as you mature in business, you see that there's opportunities for all different types and one business can't be all things to all people, right, and so there is room in the marketplace for more and it makes us better too.
Speaker 1:I know that I've heard you know, go down there, maddie's on Main. You know we're all really good too about telling each other to check out the other places in town, and that's been really good too, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the idea that a rising tide raises all ships is so true, as we're really seeking to build the downtown community and get people into more of the new places. We were talking before we got on air that one of the biggest challenges is just people keeping up with what all new is happening the new places that are opening and places that are expanding or expanding hours or expanding offerings and it can be challenging to make sure that everybody knows that. So we're all working together, it's a lot easier.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned a little bit about some of the challenges and pivots that you've had through this process. I mean, can you take us through some of those specifically? I'm thinking of the person especially that's out there again. Maybe they're not yet you know, maybe they haven't yet started a business and they're scared to do so, or maybe they're early on in business and they're just frustrated with some of the roadblocks that they're hitting. Talk to us about some of those things that have come up for you and how you've overcome them.
Speaker 1:I think just where to start, you know you have. There are so many things that go into, just, for instance, catering. You have to know where to get good products and you have to know you know supplies and all of those sort of things. It's not just putting together a beautiful charcuterie board. So trying to figure out all those, what suppliers to use and everything, all of those sort of things were a huge challenge. I like working locally. Sometimes it felt like those things seemed a little more expensive. But when you look, I use a North charcuterie. They just changed their name and they, you know I could go pick up an order today, opposed to Wade and their local, and you know you get a good product. So figuring out those things that will work for your business, but it's a lot to sit down, you know. I would say working with someone that knows. You know from being in banking and working with a lot of business owners.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:You know writing a business plan and going forward. You know how to have those things all in plan planned out. But once you get in there it's a lot harder to navigate than you thought.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Do you think that things you learned in in banking and some of the relationships did those transfer?
Speaker 1:to this new business I mean talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:What did you learn in your banking life that has crossed over to now this business venture?
Speaker 1:I would have people come and sit in my office and say I want to start a business. Okay, well, what kind of business? Well, I don't know. You have to have a solid plan and working through you know a business plan. And not only that how are we going to make money? Because it's lovely to have a business, but you know you have to make money or it's not. If it's not profitable, it's not really working. So, trying to talk people through, you know what your expenses are and you know where to even start. And did you think about if you're going to build a new building? You have to. There's all these fees and architect plans, and so people oftentimes have big ideas. They just don't know how to push it forward. So I always loved getting those people in front of me. You know, sit down with them and you know let's make a plan how to go forward. So that was something I really enjoyed doing, but it's different when it's you.
Speaker 1:Right yeah there was no one there like, hey, what do I do? Yeah. But, there's so many resources I did the minority business owners class that the chamber had so many resources out there for business owners to tap into financially or just knowing what to do. There's so many resources out there for people to use too.
Speaker 2:Would you share a few of those that came up?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the lending that you can get through the like a women-owned business. There's a few hoops to jump through to get registered for that, but it's not really that hard. But then you have opportunity to get lending at a cheaper you know interest rate and there's down payment assistance and things like that that were really good to know that were available.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. Yeah, other resources that you learned there, that any of them that you heard of and didn't use or that you did tap into.
Speaker 1:I did refer a lot of I have. I had clients that were veterans and there was great programs for them. The SBA has tons of options out there and that's where I would refer people to If you want to know how to start a business from A to Z. Tapping into that it will tell you how to write a business plan and where to move forward, and there's tons of resources out there for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would refer people to the Small Business Development Center, SBDC. That's kind of the local arm of the SBA and we actually just did a Bagels and Business at Connect Co-Works with Mickey Schneider that runs that for our local area here and she helps a lot. She's helped a lot of folks locally in partnership with like the Forge, write business plans and some of that, and I know that you saw some of those business plans that came out of the Forge and stuff, because, again, I know that we talked about that at one point, that you're working with someone on lending, on some of those things.
Speaker 2:And so that's really great. One thing that when I talk with Mickey from the SBDC and then also our local like SBA group, they all said like all right, now, let's just get the G word out of the way here. Grants. Like everybody thinks like oh, if you're starting a business or buying a building, like there must be grants out there like free money.
Speaker 1:No, no, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, there are. There are loans and there are, you know, some financing assistance or you know the great local lenders, the banks or credit unions. That will work. If you have a solid plan of how you're going to make money, that will work with you. But yeah, there's no free lunches out there, right?
Speaker 1:No, no.
Speaker 2:It's interesting. I mean just thinking. You know, as you're kind of talking about, like your banking life. You know I've learned so much about working with banks through business and, if you wouldn't mind again, I know there's a past life for you, but you're kind of like this wonderful crossover of you know, banking into small business.
Speaker 2:now that people I just don't think understand, like banks aren't looking for speculative investments, like people have to go if they're looking for lending there has to be a pretty airtight plan of how the bank is going to get paid back.
Speaker 1:Right, right For sure.
Speaker 2:I mean talk a little bit more about like kind of what you might counsel someone if they were like hey, I have a business idea, I need some money. What do I do?
Speaker 1:Right, you have to have a little skin in the game. So I always tell people if you're thinking about it. You have to get your ducks in a row, make a plan, figure out how much money do I need to make what I need to be profitable? So getting all those things figured out before you jump into something. And figure out, you know, and a bank says, no, this isn't going to work but might not work now. But try to figure out all those things to get everything in a line to when you're ready. You know, having a good business mentor, like you mentioned, to work with locally, that would, you know, kind of walk you through all of those things. People definitely start small businesses all the time. It's just having all those things in order.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's a difference between being ready to be a business owner and having an idea. Yes, but you can definitely take your idea and move it forward if you, you know, have the right resources and such to move forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've often suggested to people that if they can do something that like helps them establish, like a minimally viable product or concept that's like so helpful, like for you, you started on the side doing this and you build up a clientele and you like had a proven revenue model and you knew what you made, you know per event or board or whatever. And then once you needed to take the leap to something bigger, if you needed to go to a lender and say, hey, I need furniture, fixtures and commercial kitchen equipment and I need $50,000, it'd be a lot easier for you to make that case.
Speaker 1:Right, right.
Speaker 2:Right. So whenever people can do that, I assume that you would probably recommend that as well. Like start small. Like you don't need to. Like go to the major leagues.
Speaker 1:Like right off the bat. Right, because that's, you know, setting yourself up for a lot of stress and possibly failure, yeah. Yeah, jumping in over your head is definitely not ever a good idea.
Speaker 2:Right, Right. Yeah, it's one thing you know if you are learning $2,000 rent payment and $500 in utilities and everything else Like it can snowball very quickly yeah.
Speaker 1:And I did a lot of that, learning as I go, um, you know, trying to figure out things, and there were a lot of things that I did at the beginning that I did not make much money on. It helped me understand what I needed to do better.
Speaker 2:Yes, nothing teaches you like something that hits your checkbook.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's Small Business 101, school of Hard Knocks, right, right, so that's great. So, shifting back to your business, I appreciate the little banking aside there. We've not had any guests talk about that specifically, but that's really helpful, I think, to somebody out there that's considering something. But, you know, tell us a little bit about. We talked about some of the challenges and pivots. I mean, what are some of the kind of unexpected, like good moments, you know, joy or fulfillment that you found in in doing this business that you didn't maybe necessarily expect?
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, what I told you before we started. I had someone reach out and order their Thanksgiving order with me, um, last week and she put a note in there that said thank you for being part of our family tradition. So my grandmother taught me to love to be in the kitchen and she taught me if you love people, you feed them. So that's kind of normally if you have a lot of food, no matter it's for a funeral or a wedding, people are together and they're enjoying each other's company and that's kind of where my love for this started. You know, kind of knowing that it's bringing joy to people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is incredible. I mean hospitality and events and food, I mean, can be very stressful businesses, very challenging sometimes, but also so fulfilling, you know, because you are like, you're with people on some of their best and worst days, right, and you have the opportunity to really be, you know, a shining light in those moments to help through this gift that you're giving through food and space, and that's really cool.
Speaker 1:And then recently we had a friend of mine came to me and said I have a friend that's getting married and she found an out-of-town caterer super expensive. But she kind of wanted to work with you and didn't know what to do. And it was, she hadn't paid for her full catering yet and we talked about it and, um, I kind of gave her some options and she said I really wish I would have known you were here and I could have worked with you. Um, but she wanted a few things that I can't do. I don't do hot items, but I worked with another, um local caterer and we actually were able to help her um, um, much better than she was going to get from an out-of-town person that she had no real connection with.
Speaker 1:It was just a very large company that dropped it off and went and didn't really care that everything looked perfect for their wedding, so she was very thankful that we could do that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's so great. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's so great, just, and it reminds me again just the importance of continuing to get the word out about all of our fantastic local businesses. We have here and the the ability to meet most needs Right Right here in our own community and not have to go elsewhere.
Speaker 2:So so that's awesome and not have to go elsewhere, so that's awesome. What are you most proud of, as you kind of look back over this journey? And I mean, you know, in the grand scheme I think you're just getting started, but really starting to hit your stride here, yeah.
Speaker 1:But what's something you're proud of? I'm proud that I can give something to our community that makes them happy, like we just talked about not having to go somewhere else. I'm very proud of the fact that my children see me. You know doing something and succeeding. And you know, when my parents and my fiance and my children tell me all the time I'm so proud of you, that's like the best feeling ever. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think them seeing that I'm succeeding in doing something you know, not having a job that I have to go to nine to five just to bring home a paycheck, but something that actually allows me to be happy and then bring joy to other people, and I think that's really my proud thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Really love that. Have you spoken about this? You know more as a family. You know, are your children helping at all in the business? Yeah, or you know, tell me a little more about that.
Speaker 1:So Chad and I have four kids between us. My daughter has moved to Florida but she came home and when she was home, anything I had going on. Can I go with you, can I help you? And she had a blast. My son, lane, is a senior in high school. He's over there all the time helping me and, surprisingly, he could put together a grazing table and it would look great, and that had him love being in the kitchen too.
Speaker 1:And then our other daughter, kaisa. She's helped me with a couple events and loves it. And then the boys all helped put the shop together, and our other son, kai, does photography so he took the pictures. So everybody's kind of had a hand in getting everything together and it's really fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. We've often commented in our family that just some of our best family moments have been when we're working together, and especially working together in service of a greater good or a client or something. So it sounds like you're experiencing that as well and I mean what great experience for them. You know, not only getting that work you know I say that everyone should have to work in food or retail. As a younger person, you know there's so many important, helpful real life skills, skills that they learn in doing that right but also to see, as you said, see you going out, taking this risk, doing something and seeing that path of entrepreneurship too.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's really exciting when younger people can see hey, some people it works for them to go out and work a 95 job. Some people just aren't really cut out for that Right. You know, some of us are like certifiably unemployable because, we're just, you know, entrepreneurs like too deep in ourselves, and if you don't know that that option exists, you can kind of spin your wheels a lot Right, trying to kind of fit into the traditional employment box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we talk about. You have to be a good leader. You have to learn to serve. Yes so we talk about that a lot at our house, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely love that. And so, then, you and Chad have worked together along this journey as well, and that's something we've talked about on a few other podcasts that dynamic and that can be challenging, right? Yeah, we still love each other.
Speaker 1:It's actually. It's funny when we were doing things. You know, I have a vision. I'm not a put it together person, so I want this to look this way. And he's like well, babe, that doesn't really work like that, but we found a way to figure it out and he's been super helpful and definitely my biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. That's again just so important and a pattern that I've heard on so many of these interviews, just where it's so critical to have that family support.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. And if you don't, you know, there's times where I have a huge event and I have to be late for something, or someone has to come help me, and my family is very understanding of that and very helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it just has to be that way. You know, I mean it's just the small business mindset and you know, sometimes like the buck stops with you and if you're supposed to have help and they call off or don't show up or something goes sideways at the event, like it's up to you to fix it, and yeah, sometimes that impacts and spills over to personal time or events or whatever, and so yeah, that family understanding is so critical. Oh yeah, so that's awesome. You learn a lot about each other as you're working together too, and it sounds like you have a great dynamic.
Speaker 2:I mean again, that's just what I've seen in a lot of successful businesses, where you have that visionary person and then the person that gets it done. Yeah right, you know, you got to have somebody that could kind of cut that into bite-sized pieces, right? So great. You know, as you look around downtown Marion, we talked a little bit about this and just the cooperation and collaboration, I mean, what are some things that you see and what are you excited about for the downtown community as a whole?
Speaker 1:Yeah, something that we've started doing. If we don't have events rented at the nest, we've been doing some pop-up shops. That has allowed me to have some local vendors that don't necessarily have a storefront or a presence other than online able to help them out. So that's been a good feeling. We have a couple more that we'll be doing before the holidays some shopping events so that's been nice to help people with that. It's nice to see. I brought my cousin over, like I told you, and we took a walk downtown and just you know, popping in different places and talking to people and just everybody's support and working together on different events and different things and everybody being really helpful to each other. I think getting people downtown to see all the wonderful things that we have. Every time someone comes in to the nest, I always say have you stopped next door to fable? Because they just opened and it's. It's nice to share. Share the joy of other people and, you know, their businesses with them too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that is great. Yeah, it's been interesting, I mean through the years. You know we did some pop-up shops in the early days of of the downtown kind of Renaissance here as well, and some of those pop-up shop vendors have turned into downtown business owners. Right downtown business owners Right, so, and others that have inspired someone to do their own thing, or maybe one of the downtown businesses now carry their line Right, and so you know those can be great collaboration opportunities as well, so that's really fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love seeing that cooperation. So if there's somebody out there that is considering taking a leap into a new venture, I mean, what is some advice you'd share from your story and your experience here? Find someone that's doing it well and figure out what they're doing. You know, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll copy everything you're doing and call it my own, but looking at other people that do great things and kind of how they run their business, just do a lot of research. Don't be afraid. Like we said before, don't be afraid to ask for help, ask for people's opinion, you know.
Speaker 1:Ask around, do you think that this product or this idea would be a good thing for our area? Because there's a lot of great ideas but it might not be something that fits in our community well, but there's a lot of things that would be great for our community and we would love to have here, and if someone did take that leap, it would be great to have some other things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think that's really well said. I think that people just have to be willing to put themselves out there a little bit and not kind of like scheme and think and plan in silence or in privates, but rather get out there and try to socialize the idea and people generally are going to try to help make it better, yeah, and then they'll be so happy to tell people, hey, so-and-so is doing this now, and I think just not being afraid to ask for help is the biggest thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're building your team of cheerleaders before the place even opens, exactly. So what about, as you've been learning, your favorite inspirational or educational resource? I mean again, I know you pointed to people and kind of mentors and all of that Is there also been something that you've discovered podcast or YouTube channel or book, or something that's helped you a lot through the process?
Speaker 1:And I read, I was reading over these questions that we might talk about and that was something that popped up. And you know what? I am a self-help junkie and there's not one thing you know that I would narrow down on, other than you know one quote that I and I tell this in my personal life and you know Rachel Hollis said, other people's opinion of you is none of your business. Everyone might not be your biggest fan and that's okay. You have to. You know, keep going and doing what you're doing and not worry about the naysayers, I guess, and that's a big thing and just keeping a positive outlook on you know, I love hearing things that people, inspirational quotes, and just things to keep going and just things that make you happy. So there's not necessarily one thing I, you know, focus in on, but I, anytime I will hop on a podcast and listen to a self-help, whatever, just how to be you know, how to be happy and how to be successful. All of those things you know are always good to listen to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, cause there's going to be some dark days and I think that we have to recognize that, like you know, my joy is my job in terms of, like having to pick myself up on those tough days and, you know, to have some go-to. You know, yeah, whether it's mantras or quotes on sticky notes or a YouTube thing that you listen to to kind of jazz you back up, we've got to be able to do that yeah because there's tough, tough times yeah, just, you know small business and you know not listen, I am big on you know.
Speaker 1:I don't want to hear all the bad things that are happening. I just anything that I can hear that brings you up and makes you happy and keeps you positive is something I'm definitely for absolutely we need.
Speaker 2:We need more of that, for sure. Well, I think that you've I mean, I've loved hearing your story and loved just hearing the whole progression of how this is all built together to be what it is and continuing to grow and expand in the future. Really, we're only a handful of months into this kind of expanded venture, so it seems like onward and upward from here. I mean, you were sharing before we went on air. I mean some of the big catering opportunities that you have coming up and just a lot of really cool stuff going on.
Speaker 2:So, I'm cheering for that. So I'd ask you to kind of put a put a capper on in here in terms of telling us again if somebody is out there they've never heard of you before, where can they find you, where can they keep up with what's going on and all of that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are located at 119 West Huber Street, suite A. We are on social media best place to keep up to date on things. We like to have the pop-ups and carry out lunch specials and things like that. If the space is not rented so we'll try to put those out there. So, just keeping an eye out on those sort of things. And the Pink Week pink weekend, we're definitely going to be open for that, um, and we'll have some. We do have some retail items and some gift baskets for christmas. We do custom gift baskets. So, um, just watch social media. Um, we always post on facebook, especially when we're going to be opened and different things going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, love that, so yeah, so be sure to follow on social media. It's under Yellowfinch Creations, right. Yeah yep, and so keep an eye there. And the West Huber Street kind of like throws people off. It's really like North Main Street, right it's right behind the Fahey Bank drive-thru. Yeah, right behind the Fahey Bank drive-thru. Yeah, right behind the Fahey Bank drive-thru. So people are like where the heck is Hewer Street? Yep, If you got to the railroad tracks, you're too far yeah.
Speaker 2:So right there and so check out. As you said, fable Bar, just right next door, their team's going to be on our next podcast, so folks can look forward to hearing their whole story as well. So, leah, thanks so much for being with us here. Loved hearing your story and just being able to share it with folks here locally, as well as those that listen that are not here, and hopefully found some education or inspiration from hearing your story. So to our audience. Thanks so much for tuning in. Once again. I sure appreciate all of your continued feedback and support and we hope to see you again on the next episode. Thanks for listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast. To learn more about Main Street Reimagined Henry Development Group or our work in downtown Marion, ohio, please visit MainStreetReimaginedcom. If you want to connect or if you know someone who we need to interview, shoot us an email at info at MainStreetReimaginedcom. Until next time, keep dreaming and don't be afraid to take the leap.