Todd Rimer 00:04
Welcome to the Up in Your Family Business podcast, where we dive into the heart of family business with intimate interviews, expert insights, inspirational stories, valuable resources, and practical tips to help grow your family business.
Todd Rimer 00:16
Our guest for today's Up in Your Family Business podcast is Chris Stilwell, owner of Stilwell & Co. and Stilwell Cattle Company. Hello, Chris, how are you doing today?
Krista Stillwell 00:27
You know, it's Monday, but I'm doing okay, Todd. How are you today?
Todd Rimer 00:31
I knew we should have, we should have recorded this on Thursday or Friday. I know. I do all my podcast interviews on Fridays. Why am I doing this on a Monday?
Krista Stillwell 00:37
You know Todd, that's a really good question, but it's fine because we're going to make it through it.
Todd Rimer 00:44
We're gonna be very vulnerable and real here today, people. We're in it together. Yes, but note to self, Friday podcast interviews. Absolutely. Because the joy will be there.
Krista Stillwell 00:53
Like around three o 'clock. That's right.
Todd Rimer 00:55
Anyway, thanks for being here today.
Krista Stillwell 00:58
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Todd Rimer 00:59
I appreciate it. Krista will be sharing her experiences with navigating the demands of managing multiple family businesses because one is just not enough.
Krista Stillwell 01:09
No, I'm a glutton for punishment.
Todd Rimer 01:12
So before we move into our conversation, I'd like to share a little bit about Krista, that's you.
Krista Stillwell 01:17
Yeah, that's me.
Todd Rimer 01:18
After graduating from IU's Kelly School of Business in 2010, Krista joined the ever-changing media world in radio in downtown Indianapolis. She worked alongside much of the hustle and bustle in the city, planning corporate events, large community events, and promotionally strategizing for the sales teams.
Todd Rimer 01:38
Krista learned early in her career, as she was going through all these experiences, that her passion for empowering small business owners to achieve their goals was stronger than her desire to work in corporate America.
Todd Rimer 01:50
With a restless soul and an entrepreneurial spirit, she ventured out on her own. When she's not working hard for her clients, she enjoys traveling to warm destinations as much as she can. Once every two, three years, you'll get there someday.
Todd Rimer 02:06
You'll be able to do it every year. Yeah. When you're not doing two family -owned businesses. Correct. Okay. And enjoying time with her husband, Brian, and there are many fur children on the family farm.
Todd Rimer 02:17
She serves as board member for the Boone County Chamber of Commerce, was recently appointed to the Indiana Grown Commission, and loved serving her local communities. So let's go ahead and, there's something that stood out for me right there, and I want to touch on this right off the top, right?
Todd Rimer 02:37
So a lot of what we've been talking about today is the actual management of businesses. So let's get to know you a little bit better and transition from your bio into how you came to have Stillwell & Co.
Todd Rimer 02:49
So you're doing all this corporate event, coming out of college all gusto, all excited, doing all these corporate things. In your bio, it mentions that you learned a little bit more about small businesses and your passion.
Todd Rimer 03:01
So how did that happen? How did you transition from this corporate world into a love of small businesses, and then deciding that you were actually going to do work to serve small businesses? Yeah.
Krista Stillwell 03:13
Sure. So a lot of the businesses that you serve in the media are very large, right? So obviously you talk about the hustle and bustle in Indianapolis. I mean, we were doing things with the Colts and the Pacers and Donato's pizza and Mo's and you know, all those types of big brands too.
Krista Stillwell 03:28
But there are a lot of small businesses that invest in advertising, traditional or non -traditional, right? And one of the things that I was blessed to be able to be a part of was there was a gentleman who actually did a small business focused or finance focused radio show every week on WABC.
Krista Stillwell 03:51
And he himself had actually been a small business owner who had since retired or had passed the business along to someone else and had a lot of insights about that and spoke a lot about that when, when he was referencing different things in his finance podcast.
Krista Stillwell 04:06
And he actually did a kind of a workshop style meeting for us as we were talking about building these promotional packages, that then the sales team would go out and attempt to sell to a small business.
Krista Stillwell 04:19
And one of the things that had really revolutionized the way I looked at what I wanted to do was he said that as we priced these things and as we discussed the value ads that they were going to receive and we laid those into these packages, we needed to remember that every dollar they spent was a dollar that may not reach their dining room table through groceries or may not reach their kids college fund or may not reach the ability for them to purchase the equipment they need for their business.
Krista Stillwell 04:52
And so we needed to take the art of building value for them through their advertising methods very, very seriously, because for them they were taking it seriously to make the investment in the first place.
Krista Stillwell 05:06
And that was the moment when in my head something clicked and I don't think in that moment I don't know that I viscerally responded or sensed it right then. But my mom will tell you very early on when I was little, I would play business.
Krista Stillwell 05:21
I would play by owning a business. I know, right? I'm a nerd. I would play by owning a business. I would actually take all of her notepads and I would turn things into like letterheads and I would make my own receipts.
Krista Stillwell 05:32
Like I was very official when I played store, right? And my sister will tell you she was the creative one. She would get bogged down by me having to have all my systems and processes in place. So I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I knew that there was room for someone like me who had some of this marketing knowledge that I was putting together.
Krista Stillwell 05:48
And then you add the piece of this gentleman telling us that in a meeting it was like that all kind of came together over the next probably year, year and a half as I moved into a different role closer to home.
Krista Stillwell 05:59
But still serving small businesses, marketing, that sort of thing. And it eventually crystallized into this business model of small businesses needing an individual they can trust that can help them navigate making decisions in marketing because the marketing world is ever changing.
Krista Stillwell 06:15
The products that they're getting bombarded with every day, the emails they're receiving, the requests for proposals, the salespeople that are stopping in, how do they filter through those things when they don't truly know if they're going to grab the value for their investment?
Krista Stillwell 06:29
And so that's really kind of where all of this was born. Long story short.
Todd Rimer 06:34
Where everyone else is playing house or whatever you were playing business. Yeah While your sister was over there playing in that that Plastic kitchen you were you were making money
Krista Stillwell 06:45
Well, she was coming to buy groceries from me and I was giving her physical receipts for her grocery purchases with official logos and letterhead at the top.
Todd Rimer 06:52
Mm -hmm. Yeah, okay. So you were an entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah, I am really young. I really did. Yeah Krista, you know just on a personal note, you know much I love plays on words and puns But when you said crystallized I just you know stop.
Todd Rimer 07:04
I know it's just really
Krista Stillwell 07:06
Stop. The dad joke comes at the end, Todd. We can't do it right now. There's no space for it here.
Todd Rimer 07:10
I'm not sure I even heard the rest of what you said after you said crystallized.
Krista Stillwell 07:14
Glazed over eyes.
Todd Rimer 07:15
Good. I thought that'd be important for listeners to hear how you, as I'm sharing that bio, here it is, you're starting to incorporate and then boom, all of a sudden you're doing small business and how did that even take place?
Todd Rimer 07:26
Obviously you can't write a bio that's 10 minutes long, but I thought it might be kind of cool to see where your entrepreneurial spirit started and how you gravitated into small business. One more thing I'll ask you before we jump into the questions I have around this topic is I know just like we do here at Element 212, you also serve a lot of family businesses.
Todd Rimer 07:49
Is that something that you seek out or do they just kind of gravitate towards you or how does that happen in your business?
Krista Stillwell 07:57
I think a lot of it has to do with geographically where we're located, right? I look at Indiana as a state that is full of very hardworking entrepreneurial people only because we live in a lot of rural communities, so you have a lot of individuals who farm, but as input costs go up and as grain prices are all over the place, then they tend to innovate and create these other complementary businesses with which they can use the equipment that they have or whatever.
Krista Stillwell 08:27
And I think because I find myself in that lifestyle and I started that business and was connected to various people who then referred me to other people who then referred me to other people, right? I'm very blessed that all of my business has come by referral.
Krista Stillwell 08:41
And so I think because of that, you know, like people stick with like people, right? So if I have a family owned entrepreneur business owner that I'm working with, he probably also has a group or a friend with whom he's associated, who is a business owner, who may have also inherited a family owned business or has worked in it his entire life.
Krista Stillwell 09:02
And I think it's just happened very organically, but I think it also has to go along with the personality of my business, the culture that I have created, the type of brand that I want to be, I think just very closely aligns with working with family owned businesses.
Todd Rimer 09:18
And the reason I thought that'd be a cool transition is because you own, you and your husband, Brian, own. And I know that he's more involved in one year more, but I do know that overlaps. So you have two family businesses, and the majority of your clients for both businesses, Stillwell & Co.
Todd Rimer 09:35
and Stillwell Cattle Company, also primarily work with family businesses. Just kind of just naturally happens. Just happens. I like it, I like it a lot. Cool. All right, well, let's get into the first question I have for you about the topic of the demands associated with multiple, managing multiple businesses.
Todd Rimer 09:50
Can you share, and you told us a little bit about the story and background of you as a child in your early career, but let's jump ahead to the actual management where you are today of the two businesses.
Todd Rimer 10:02
Can you share a bit about your background and experience in managing multiple family businesses?
Krista Stillwell 10:08
Yeah, so, uh, early on in, as my husband and I, before we were husband and wife, I learned a lot about his business specifically because it was unfamiliar to me. So he, for those who don't know what Stillwell cattle company does, his business basically does a variety of agricultural related tasks, whether it's farming help, whether it's hay production, whether it's, um, cattle herd assembly, where he'll actually put cattle together for people to utilize for rodeo sports and things of that nature.
Krista Stillwell 10:39
He has a variety of skill sets and then he does snow removal as well when it's cold and snowing. So the interesting thing about that is, early on, I was not a business owner, but he was, and so I was watching and navigating a lot of different things from the eyes of a business owner differently than I would have had I not come into relationship with him.
Krista Stillwell 11:01
Learned a lot about family farming businesses and how those inner workings work or don't work sometimes and learned a lot about farming as a business. And then, you know, you fast forward to when I was building my business and he was pretty integral in understanding what that hustle needed to look like to get that business off the ground, because I think I had some misconceptions early on.
Krista Stillwell 11:26
And part of it was because I had some clients commit, in quotes, to me early on, and then they fell through and I felt this instant like, block. It was like a fog that all of a sudden I didn't know where to go from there.
Krista Stillwell 11:39
Like, how do I go and find clients? And he was like, Krista, you're in marketing. Like, why are you making this so hard for yourself? Right. And so he was integral in teaching me like the ideology of get up every day and go do what you want to do with your life, go do it.
Krista Stillwell 11:55
So that was a very important piece that I needed to learn from him in going and managing and building my own business. Then, you know, it became the balance of, okay, you know, how do we communicate effectively to make sure that I'm invoicing for your business when I'm also invoicing for mine, like what details do I need from you?
Krista Stillwell 12:16
How frequent, how early do I need the information to make sure it's happening in a timely manner? He's learned a lot about the actual nuts and bolts of business operations from me, the organization, the software platforms, those types of things.
Krista Stillwell 12:30
He is not a technical technology person. He is not someone who wants to sit down at a computer. So, you know, we balance each other very well, but then that also comes with, you know, I want all the details really thoroughly documented.
Krista Stillwell 12:45
That is not his cup of tea. You know, for him, he's like, well, I made a note and it says two and a half hours. I'm like, what's the start time and the end time? Well, I didn't write that down. So there's those dynamics that come with him and I balancing each other, managing those multiple businesses and just finding a good rhythm that works for us when it comes to those types of things.
Krista Stillwell 13:05
Um, and then the biggest thing too, is, as my business has grown and as my network has grown, there are a lot of events or demands on my time that might not be the biggest opportunity of comfort zone for him.
Krista Stillwell 13:19
And so we've had to learn a balance of what things am I a part of really deeply in his business? What things is he a part of with me and what things make sense for us to maybe do on our own. We, we part ways.
Krista Stillwell 13:31
I go my way. He goes his way. And then we meet back in the middle after the fact. Um, and we've been married now for 10 years. I'd like to say we have it mostly figured out, but you know, every year throws us a new curve ball.
Todd Rimer 13:47
It's a lot of stuff. You cover some communications, some logistics. So let me just ask you a question that kind of builds off that one, just to go down a little bit more, a little deeper. So you shared how you guys communicate and how you maybe prioritize, however, we all know that any business, even one, is very demanding, right?
Todd Rimer 14:11
I mean, sometimes, I'm only a part of one business. I have a business partner and I sometimes, not sometimes, often go, there's not enough time in the day. And I've been in business 16 years this April and I still haven't been able to figure it out.
Todd Rimer 14:27
So one business is a lot. My understanding is Brian is in his lane more. He doesn't often come into yours, right? He's not really a part of Stillwell and Co. However, you, that's not the downplay, that's just where his comfort zone is, that's where his lane is.
Todd Rimer 14:45
But I do know being in the agricultural and being in livestock and things like that, seasonally and everything. So my understanding is you are, throughout the year, of course, more times than others, having to go on the other side and immerse yourself and dedicate a bunch of time to the cattle, right?
Todd Rimer 15:06
So how do you do that? How do you make sure that when you have to dedicate some time to your other business, how do you make sure that you don't neglect Steelone Co., how do you balance those two?
Krista Stillwell 15:19
Sure, so it's been hugely valuable for me to have wonderful team members. I mean, wonderful team members. I am so lucky. My team of boss babes are the best. And I think one of the very early skills that I had to really hone in on was the delegation.
Krista Stillwell 15:44
And I think they would admit that I'm not always great at it, but what we were very good about setting up early on is, here's how I would normally communicate this. And they would come back to me and say, okay, that's fine.
Krista Stillwell 16:01
However, I still need to know this and this and this in this way in order for me to best execute what you're asking me to do. So again, just like I talked about communication in my marriage and in dual business ownership, it was an exercise in communication in my business as my team came together.
Krista Stillwell 16:18
So early in my business, I had no one, it was me. Then I added one, then I quickly added a second one, added a third and a fourth, right? And each time I’ve dedicated to making sure that I spend time to understand what are gonna be the best ways for me to communicate things I need from you with you, right?
Krista Stillwell 16:37
So that's key number one. Key number two is I put a scheduling app in place for my time that I am in charge of my calendar on my end. So if I have that scheduling link out there and someone requests an appointment or something from me, I can block off any time on that calendar that I do not wanna make myself available.
Krista Stillwell 16:59
That was something that I only did within the last couple of years, but I'm telling you that boundary has been so freeing for me because it allows me to say, okay, I'm looking at Monday. Like today, for example, is a very full day for me, right?
Krista Stillwell 17:13
And I'm an hour and a half from home, here with you recording this podcast. I know that when I go to my client meeting this afternoon, then I have an hour and a half drive after that. So office time today, it's not plentiful.
Krista Stillwell 17:24
So what I can do is then I can say tomorrow, I don't wanna have a meeting in the morning. And that gives me the time I need to catch up on my stuff, whatever comes up from Brian and his business, you know, tonight when I get home, that sort of thing.
Krista Stillwell 17:39
So that's been another key. And then lastly, I would say, what's nice about his business is it's often outside and it involves nature. And it's in a quiet, peaceful part of the country. There is not a whole lot of traffic.
Krista Stillwell 17:53
They are the only house on the road. And so there is some regenerative stuff that comes from that, right? So there are times where I can say, I've delegated what I need to delegate.
Krista Stillwell 18:10
Here's the things that I'm gonna go ahead and say, I'm not gonna do until tomorrow because I need a couple of hours of fresh air. I need a couple of hours of being with my fur children. And so that's something that I've laid into my schedule too, that is actually better for me probably than grinding away at my computer or grinding away at things that I know are on my to -do list because I know I'll be more effective when I come back from those things.
Krista Stillwell 18:36
And that may mean I have to work on my laptop till eight o 'clock. Welcome to owning a business. There's never a time where you get to fully shut off. But that's what I've found that really works for me.
Todd Rimer 18:47
Yeah, I think I mentioned earlier about after 16 years in business. It's still hard to manage one business. My business partner we were talking to a few weeks ago and we realized how naive we are. It's like You think that you think that working fewer hours and fewer days is a destination And I know there are books out there about it.
Todd Rimer 19:09
I know there are podcasts out there about it. I mean I'm just feeling like the idea of working three days a week or even four and actually not working evenings and weekends I feel like what's the phrase a pipe dream.
Todd Rimer 19:23
I feel like it's just I just wonder if it's ever gonna be possible. Yeah But yeah, that's what happens, right? It's just it's just part of owning a business. That's exactly right. So sticking with that You mentioned again about communications and some approaches you take with Brian, but obviously Your business can get very demanding and stressful as can his, so you guys are two individuals.
Todd Rimer 19:49
Yes Yes, you love each other, your husband and wife. You have a great marriage, but you're human And sometimes it's hard to separate the business from the personal. It's hard to separate. It's hard to shut off a bad day. Not to mention the fact that you might be working on two of the businesses on a given day so are there strategies that you guys have talked through or Is it something that comes natural to you or is it something you guys just developed over time?
Todd Rimer 20:19
But we always want harmony in our businesses. We want harmony in our marriages, we know, we want harmony with all the people around us, so How do you especially when you guys when one or both of you is having a tough day or a tough week even?
Todd Rimer 20:33
How do you guys manage to separate that? Come together. Let it all go and just have some quiet and then just enjoy life for a couple hours. How do you do that?
Krista Stillwell 20:44
So sometimes this actually creates communication issues because what I will do sometimes is by the time he gets home, I just drop it all and walk away from it all. And he'll ask me how my day was. And I'll be like, it was okay.
Krista Stillwell 20:58
We had some bumps in the road. It was okay. And I just don't go into it again, right? Because I try to just shut that off because ultimately I still don't know what happened in his day. So why pour a whole bunch of stuff on him that first of all has a lot of water under the bridge.
Krista Stillwell 21:18
It's going to take some explaining, you know, that sort of thing. As funny as it sounds, like our dogs play a huge role in our lives just to help us relax. They are so funny. They're a year old, so they're full of life.
Krista Stillwell 21:34
They love to play. They're always so excited to see us. And because they typically go with him to the farm every day so they haven't seen me. So, you know, there's some lightheartedness with that when they first get home and that sort of thing.
Krista Stillwell 21:45
There's some discussion about dinner. And typically by then, whatever was stressing me out at five-thirty, six o 'clock, by the time we get to dinner and get through all that and it's seven or 7 .30 and we're sitting down for the evening, I may not even remember what had stressed me out two hours ago.
Krista Stillwell 22:01
I mean, I might, but I've kind of just put it away, right? And unless it resurfaces because of a text message or an email or something like that, I have the, I have finally developed the ability to put a boundary wall there, right?
Krista Stillwell 22:18
And if that email or text message or whatever does show up, I have laid into my agreements that after a certain period of time in the evening, I am not required to respond. Unless it's like a grave emergency, somebody's website goes down, something like that.
Krista Stillwell 22:34
That's a different conversation, right? But I have laid that boundary in and I will say at nine thirty every night, my phone goes on, do not disturb. I don't get any notifications unless you're a family member or unless you, I've put you on that list that you get through.
Todd Rimer 22:51
Of course if I text you, of course, you'll take that.
Krista Stillwell 22:54
No, I mean you're great, but no so that allows me to have from 9 30 until 8 a .m. Every morning where unless I turn that off there are no notifications present on my phone That was a huge step for me.
Todd Rimer 23:08
When did you do that?
Krista Stillwell 23:09
Probably within the last two years again, I mean, again, when I put that boundary on my calendar, when I put the boundary, I, you know, and, and I think initially I was a little nervous because I was like, well, what if somebody really needs something?
Krista Stillwell 23:18
But to be honest with you, after nine thirty at night, when I started to think about the types of communications that were occurring, it was likely other business owners like myself who were just sitting down for the evening and had a chance to wrap their heads around what the day was like.
Krista Stillwell 23:32
And they were sending me things that they didn't want to forget that didn't need to be addressed right then and there. And knowing my personality, I would have wanted to address it right then and there.
Krista Stillwell 23:41
And I was driving myself crazy. So that became hugely important. And then, you know, we just created a comfortable environment where at the end of the evening, we have a couple of things that we want to watch.
Krista Stillwell 23:55
We want to watch college sports, or we want to watch some of the shows that have been DVR'd. And it's about relaxing. It's about chilling out. And Brian holds me accountable. If I have my laptop out, and it's about nine o 'clock, he'll look over at me.
Krista Stillwell 24:10
Hey, Krista, don't you think it's time to put that away? Sure.
Todd Rimer 24:14
He doesn't he doesn't look like a baby and be like what about me? No
Krista Stillwell 24:18
No, no. So again, I think it's a balance, right? And there are weeks where I'm really good at it. There are days where I'm great at it. And there are other times when I'm really not, where it's really out of whack, but I can sense it.
Krista Stillwell 24:30
I can tell when it's getting out of whack. I can feel it, right? And so then I just have to go back in and put those willpower boundaries back in place. It's a choice.
Todd Rimer 24:41
Does it have boundaries that work for everybody?
Krista Stillwell 24:45
Not always. I mean, from time to time, there will be people who will say, hey, I tried to call you last night. Yeah, I know. But I had a rough day. I needed to take a moment. So I apologize, but I'm available today. What can we talk about?
Todd Rimer 24:59
That happens, I work in the evenings and weekends sometimes, and I have to communicate something to a team member. Rarely, I don't email outside of the company.
Krista Stillwell 25:10
Yeah.
Todd Rimer 25:11
Even though I put in there, hey, this is not meant to be looked at until Monday. But at the same time, if I don't send it, then I gotta send it myself. I got to make a note as a reminder to send that on Monday and I'm just creating another task.
Todd Rimer 25:26
So selfishly, I'm just like, this is silly. At the same time, I feel horrible about it because it's like, I'm telling them that they don't have to respond, and I'm hoping and praying that they don't see it.
Todd Rimer 25:38
We have some team members who get notifications all the time and then I see them open it and I'm like, oh.
Krista Stillwell 25:45
No, but schedule send is a real thing. And I think people forget that it exists, but like I have a schedule to send in my text messages. So there are a lot of messages that I will go ahead. So I may go ahead and open up my text just to make sure before I go to bed that I'll see something and I'll go ahead and respond to it.
Krista Stillwell 26:00
But I'm gonna schedule to send that for 8 a.m. in the morning, right? And the same thing with Gmail. So we do Google workspace for all of our communications and I will schedule sends for that. It's a good idea.
Krista Stillwell 26:10
But I also, you know, again, like I have team members who are just night owls and they like working really late into the night. And that again was a communication point. Like, hey guys, I'm gonna go ahead and tune out around 9 .30.
Krista Stillwell 26:23
You guys can go ahead and work as late as you really want, but understand that I may not get your notifications until the next morning when I log back in. And that's okay, that works for us because we've communicated that and set that boundary.
Todd Rimer 26:37
Interesting. Yeah, I should probably do a better job with that too. Okay, so it sounds like, okay, so boundaries were put in place a couple years ago. It sounds like the communications continue to improve with your team members, probably with your clients as well, and with Brian particularly.
Todd Rimer 26:55
So keeping with the theme of managing two family businesses, I'm pretty sure no matter how great you are and how great Brian is, there has to be conflict every once in a while. So without getting too personal, you don't need to get too deep into it, the story or the example.
Todd Rimer 27:09
But I would like to get a little bit real with that and just share one example maybe of where you had conflict and how you addressed it and what's your process or approach for doing that.
Krista Stillwell 27:21
Well, we're, we're in the throes of being self-employed people trying to buy a house right now. So this is a great time for me to provide examples of business ownership and marriage. Um, we are different types of communicators.
Krista Stillwell 27:35
My brain rapid fires information, like fast, like a nerf gun. Okay. That's just how my brain works. And at the moment I process very quickly and provide answers very quickly. That's just the nature of how I'm created.
Krista Stillwell 27:53
Brian, on the other hand, is a processor. So he receives information, processes, then maybe like a day later is prepared to answer. Okay. That's just how he is. And honestly, like if I, if I really stop and think about it, my sister is that way.
Krista Stillwell 28:10
I may think about a lot of the times when we had conflicts, it's because I was demanding of her in the same way I demanded Brian now answer, she didn't have, and she didn't want to give yet. Same thing with Brian.
Krista Stillwell 28:24
And so a lot of our conflict is less about the actual crux of the matter and more about me getting flustered and frustrated because I'm demanding of him what, what his brain doesn't function to do. Right.
Krista Stillwell 28:42
It's not that he's not a smart person. That's not what I'm saying, but he is a processor. He likes to think things over. And in his world, in a lot of ways, he can have that pace in my world. I can't right, because I have clients asking me to have answers right away.
Todd Rimer 29:02
Yeah, you don't have the luxury of saying, I'll get back to you in 24 hours. Right.
Krista Stillwell 29:05
And I like having things, I like crossing things off my list. Now, does that lead to me sometimes doing things too quickly? Could I learn a little bit from the processing side of things? Absolutely. So a lot of our conflict comes from me demanding of him what he's not ready to give.
Krista Stillwell 29:23
And so that's, you know, this mortgage process has been one of those moments, helping him understand why from a self-employed taxation perspective, why we have to provide all this documentation like that kind of stuff.
Krista Stillwell 29:34
It kind of frustrates him, but in my world, I'm not surprised by it because I experience those types of things every day. So you know, a lot of our conflict surrounds communication demands or things like that.
Krista Stillwell 29:47
And we just have to let it blow over, come back together. And I'll usually try to have a conversation of, can you tell me why in this moment you reacted in this way because I want to understand. And he's used to those conversations now.
Krista Stillwell 30:03
And so he's used to how to respond to those things. Like I'm not ready to give you an answer yet. And you kept rapid firing at me, wanting me to give you an answer. And I got frustrated, fair, right?
Krista Stillwell 30:14
So I think it takes effort and I think it takes a dedication and a commitment to wanting to understand why your business partner or your fellow business owner or the people on your team or your relationship, why they responded the way that they responded, and then ensuring that the next time that situation shows up, that you're not handling it the same way.
Krista Stillwell 30:39
Okay.
Todd Rimer 30:40
Just on a side note nerf is not an official endorser or response.
Krista Stillwell 30:45
Oh, I deeply apologize I dropped a brand name in a podcast yeah there is no formal affiliation or endorsement for me saying nerf in this podcast
Todd Rimer 30:53
I don't want us to get in trouble for that. I deeply apologize. This is a great podcast. They should be thanking us. They should be. But they might get upset in this crazy world.
Krista Stillwell 31:00
I'm so sorry.
Todd Rimer 31:03
Okay. All right. I was going to ask you a little bit about the demands of prioritizing your personal growth and well-being. So, you did mention earlier about how you and Brian have a commitment to kind of unwinding, right?
Krista Stillwell 31:20
Yeah.
Todd Rimer 31:20
But let's just, let's stick with you personally. So you have the two businesses, okay? You have your husband, who's a business partner and just your partner. You have the dogs, you have your clients.
Todd Rimer 31:35
I mean, there's a lot of your parents, but I can go on. We all wear, we always say we wear many hats in our work, but we also wear many hats in life. And we try to invest in all of our relationships and all the things that are important in our life, whether that be our faith, time alone, whatever.
Todd Rimer 31:52
And it's hard to do. It's very difficult. In fact, in a podcast that I did with someone else, we talked a little bit. Honestly, Krista, it's hard not to talk about this probably in every podcast. When you're sitting across from a family business owner, it's hard not to gravitate towards, how are you managing this thing called life?
Todd Rimer 32:14
And what I mean by that is, work can be demanding and there's only so much time of the day, as I alluded to. So you've touched on a lot of different areas of your life. The one thing we haven't talked about is, where does Krista with two businesses that you're demanding of your time, where does Krista find time to take care of Krista?
Todd Rimer 32:33
We haven't touched on that. So in the midst of all these responsibilities, all these obligations, all these people in your life who you have to give up your time, where do you find time for yourself?
Todd Rimer 32:45
How do you do that? And what do you do in that personal time?
Krista Stillwell 32:48
Yeah, so again, this was something that was kind of forced on me about two years ago. I had come to a place where I had been burning the candle at both ends for a really long time, and I started to notice that my body was kind of revolting against me.
Krista Stillwell 33:04
I had put on a lot of unhealthy weight, and I couldn't figure out why. I was tired all the time, I just felt awful. And so I started down the road of being like, I'm not even, so at this point in time, I would have been 33, 34 years old.
Krista Stillwell 33:22
I'm like, I shouldn't really feel this way, should I? So I started doing some investigation of thyroid and things like that, started doing a lot of reading. And what I found out is that there were some tests that I probably needed to have done.
Krista Stillwell 33:35
And through the entire process, so now I look back, so over a couple of years, I ended up finding a medical practitioner that truly helped me get to the bottom of what was going on with my body. And there were a lot of hormones off balance, there were a lot of thyroid things off balance, a lot of chemical imbalances in my body, and basically my body was not acting optimally.
Krista Stillwell 33:55
And what we ended up really pointing to is the fact that I was demanding a lot of my body in a lot of ways that probably weren't healthy for me, and in turn were causing a lot of inflammation and things that were making all the dominoes start to fall.
Krista Stillwell 34:11
So here I am at 34 years old, I got some diagnoses I didn't like, but I was forced to make some changes. If I want to be my optimal self, I need to take better care of my body. So I made some dietary changes, I was put on some medications temporarily to get some things cleared up, and really started focusing on taking care of my body, making the appropriate choice as well on the road, what I eat when I eat, what I drink when I drink it, a lot more water, a lot less sweetened beverages, and then also vitamins and things like that too.
Krista Stillwell 34:50
All that starts in the morning. That has to start in the morning. I have to make the choice for the rest of my day in the morning, right? So my mornings are very important to me. One of the boundaries I put on my calendar, I do not take appointments before nine o 'clock if I can help it, why?
Krista Stillwell 35:04
Because I need that time to read my Bible, to pray. I need that time to exercise or do yoga. I need that time to sort through what my to-do list looks like, what my calendar looks like. I need to sort through emails, get those cleaned up first thing in the morning.
Krista Stillwell 35:21
I need to have my quiet house time.
Todd Rimer 35:27
What time does your day start?
Krista Stillwell 35:29
I mean, Brian's typically up about 6 :30, 6 .45. If not Lainey and Lola, our dogs have us up around then. And so he's up and I'm awake functioning that period of time. I truly get into the bulk of my like alone time morning stuff when he leaves about 7:15, 7:30.
Krista Stillwell 35:50
And so then that's when I have about an hour before I would need to leave to go somewhere to truly focus on what I need to do to get my day started. In the evenings, it's the same way. I have to wind down in a certain way.
Krista Stillwell 36:02
So I have to put my screens away from my face to allow my brain to stop working. I have to stop reading emails, scrolling through social media, those types of things. That's become hugely important. That's probably good in the morning and at night.
Krista Stillwell 36:17
It is. I've actually done a lot of reading. They say that you should not pick up your phone. I screened a blue light device for the first 30 minutes to an hour after you wake up. It's really hard on your eyes.
Krista Stillwell 36:31
And actually, whether or not this is scientifically proven, I don't know. I'm sure people can tell me I'm wrong. I'm not trying to be a health expert here, but they actually say that it can cause some inflammatory responses in your body because you're demanding things from your eyes before they're ready to do what you want them to do.
Krista Stillwell 36:49
Wow. Because of lighting and things like that. So that was something that I had to break the habit of. When I roll over first thing in the morning, I wake up. I would grab my phone. I've had to break that habit.
Krista Stillwell 37:01
At night, they say the same thing. If you're on your screen scrolling up close to your face, within an hour of going to sleep, you're gonna have a really hard time getting your brain and everything to unwind.
Todd Rimer 37:12
Yeah, that part I did know that about the nighttime. Yeah, I just didn't I didn't realize the morning. That's interesting
Krista Stillwell 37:18
I had to start prioritizing breakfast sounds really funny. I was never a breakfast person. I could skip it every day I had to start prioritizing that so again, it's like those little things and i'm not saying it's a one-size-fits-all approach Everybody is a little bit different But if there's anything from what i've read or learned or observed It's that the mornings tend to be what a lot of successful people talk about is what they do in their mornings And so I had to take some of that to heart.
Todd Rimer 37:44
Interesting. It's funny. It sounds like two years ago was a big turning point in your life. It was a huge charge for a lot of the topics that we've either talked about in our stores. You've shared Yeah, I keep hearing two years ago two years ago that the communication shifted scheduling shifted Prioritizing your personal time shifted.
Todd Rimer 38:02
It sounds like it sounds like your body actually did you a favor?
Krista Stillwell 38:06
It did. I mean, it literally said to me, we can't keep doing this.
Todd Rimer 38:10
Our bodies are telling us things all the time, it just doesn't matter whether we tune in or not. It's amazing how that works. Our body, our internal ecosystem, if you will, it's like when it's off, it almost self-regulates.
Todd Rimer 38:25
It's kind of a cool thing, and again, I'm not a doctor, I'm not on the health side. I study a lot too, but it just seems like if we pay attention, our body's going to tell us what we should be eating, what we shouldn't be eating, what we should drink, what we shouldn't drink, and I think the people that suffer are the ones that just either don't know or they're just not paying attention.
Todd Rimer 38:45
I think if you're having the demands of your day, it's impressive because I don't always find time for all those things. I try to prioritize. It takes a commitment, and I think that's the hardest thing.
Todd Rimer 38:58
Consistency is really hard because you have to say, okay, I'm going to get up at this time every day, do this every day, and there are going to be days where you're probably being pulled. Something may come up that says, hey, I need you here at eight o 'clock today, and you have to literally go.
Krista Stillwell 39:15
Yes, but you gotta do it, you know, every once in a while, but
Todd Rimer 39:19
But anyway, my point is that it's good that you do that. That's why I wanted to ask you that because I'm pretty good. I take care of my body. I mean, I'm always trying to learn things too about what I shouldn't be doing, but God knows how many I'm still not aware of.
Todd Rimer 39:31
Yeah. And I don't do a good job. I mean, I have an agenda every day and it's just not easy. And I'm a task person too. So if I have something on my Monday .com and I leave at like four or five and I haven't checked it off yet, sometime between when I leave and when I go to bed, I couldn't do that.
Todd Rimer 39:50
I don't want to push it off. I'm getting a little better at that. I'm getting a little better, not in the last two years, but in the last two weeks.
Krista Stillwell 39:57
Well, but I really think though, if we really stop and think about it, like high achieving personalities like us, and let's be honest, a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs are higher achieving personalities, they just are, otherwise they wouldn't likely be super successful in business because we want to achieve and we want to grow.
Krista Stillwell 40:11
I think we are our own worst enemies because we are the ones that put timeline expectations on ourselves that people don't have for us.
Todd Rimer 40:20
It's funny you say that. Yes, I agree. It's I just had a conversation with someone the other day It was on Friday and we were talking about schedules and oh, yes So I was doing I do a monthly call with another Someone in the business world here locally and we were talking like we had to reschedule I had to call him to reschedule our video call and push it back a week and I hate to do that and Once again, it was another instance.
Todd Rimer 40:45
He actually told me he's like Todd I didn't tell you but like I was so glad that you rescheduled because I actually just got back from vacation I was so bogged down, but I didn't want to cancel on you So I'm just I'm gonna keep our appointment But when you called and said that you needed to reschedule, it was a real blessing.
Todd Rimer 41:02
It's not that I want to talk to you. It's just like let's just push this back a week. Yes, and I've had that happen. Like there was a time where I never canceled anything I was a real staunch person like you you never cancel you never reschedule You you keep your commitments and then but that was really Tough to do because it puts a lot of limitations on you.
Todd Rimer 41:24
It totally negates any kind of flexibility, right? And all of a sudden there was one time kind of like your health thing where your body kind of spoke to you There was one day that I there was one time years ago Maybe it was a couple years ago Where I had to cancel there's nothing to do about and the person in there inside goes I'm so glad because I'm so busy today.
Todd Rimer 41:45
Thank you. Can we make this for next week and then I got comfortable and I can tell you it's not a cliche. I can honestly tell you nine times out of ten. I know that's a popular phrase But I really do believe nine times out of ten if you need to reschedule.
Todd Rimer 41:59
You just gotta do it. We think it's such a we think it's a horrible thing. It's life.
Krista Stillwell 42:01
It's life Yeah, it's life and I hold ourselves to a really really high standard And I'll tell you like in the case of you and I because I know you really well.
Krista Stillwell 42:17
We are, dare I say perfectionistic
Todd Rimer 42:24
I'm more ADHD than anything, I don't know if I'm a perfectionistic.
Krista Stillwell 42:28
And so unfortunately for us then, we are holding ourselves at this impossibly high standard that a lot of people around us are like, can you just stop succeeding at that standard all the time? Cause it would make the rest of us feel a lot better about when we need to change things or we need to adjust things, right?
Krista Stillwell 42:47
And I, that was a hugely valuable realization actually that came by way of me working with a business coach this last year, where she had to shift me away from the mindset pathway, the neural pathway as she called it, of associating not being perfect how I needed it to be with the shame and the guilt and the embarrassment that comes after that, because I was the only one with those feelings.
Krista Stillwell 43:21
And that was a huge light bulb moment for me that reinforced some of these other habits that I had already tried to put in place, that sometimes you just can't and it's okay.
Todd Rimer 43:35
Yeah. I'm still trying to do better about not having to move tasks ahead. I'm doing a little bit better recently and it's helping. It's like giving myself permission. It's like it's okay. It's okay if it gets done tomorrow.
Todd Rimer 43:53
So I'm trying to do better at recognizing what's really priority. Like am I just getting something checked off a list or does this really need to be done? Yes. I'm getting better at that. I really am.
Krista Stillwell 44:04
And as a business owner, I would say that's a skill that everybody needs to lean into. It's like, is this deadline my deadline or is this deadline an actual deadline that I'm facing? Am I being proactive or am I being reactive?
Krista Stillwell 44:18
Because as a business owner, you could react all day long and your to -do list might not get touched.
Krista Stillwell 44:25
So which of those things then when you do have a moment, which of those things have to be touched? Yes. That would warrant you staying till 6 30. Or would warrant you grabbing your laptop later that night or whatever.
Krista Stillwell 44:40
Or can any of these things that I have deemed priority, can any of them be moved to tomorrow or the next day or next week? Can you have a conversation with someone else that says, Look, I know I promised you this.
Krista Stillwell 44:52
I have been hit with a lot this week. Can we discuss an alternative route for that? And in most cases, I can't say 100% of the time, but in most cases, I have found that that honesty is actually refreshing for that other individual.
Todd Rimer 45:06
I agree. I agree. All right. We're about to wrap up. I do want to ask you a couple more questions. Okay. What are some things we talked about very specific things? But this will give you an opportunity to share what are some Just off the top of your head.
Todd Rimer 45:22
What are some valuable lessons that you have learned? And obviously some of the lessons you've already touched on but in addition to either expounding on something you've shared or something separate What are what are a couple like most valuable or top lessons you've learned through this process of managing as you've grown and evolved managing to businesses
Krista Stillwell 45:43
There were some things that I didn't take the time to think about or process or put, not in concrete, but just concretely solidify the way I viewed them when I started my business. That looking back, I think would have helped me avoid some missteps or some bad experiences or things early on.
Krista Stillwell 46:04
And it's funny now because I coached a lot of business owners to do these things and they were things that I didn't do myself either. So it's this exercise of, okay, you've probably been in business for a while, but did you miss these foundational steps that will help guide decision making moving forward?
Krista Stillwell 46:21
So those are some of the things that I feel like I've learned a lot about since is some very foundational, important thought processes, guidelines, beliefs, whatever that you wanna solidify early on in your business that will help truly guide how you make decisions, how you get clients, how you accept or turn away revenue, those types of things.
Krista Stillwell 46:45
I think a mistake a lot of people make when they're starting a business is they say, money's money, I'll take whatever I can get. And then all of a sudden their original vision and dream for that business model is watered down.
Krista Stillwell 46:55
So I found myself in that position as well. I found myself locked into this niche of these specific services when I had all this other value to offer. And in some of my conversations now with business owners or whomever that I'm speaking to, now it's a little bit of me having to shift some of those perceptions that have become steadfast about my business or my team.
Krista Stillwell 47:19
So that would be one thing. Another thing that I learned by happenstance would be the value of bringing on someone in some way to assist you early on in business formation. And so some family businesses may have been in existence for 40 years that are hearing this conversation and would say, okay, well, we already have a huge team.
Krista Stillwell 47:48
Okay, but you as the business owner, who's your right hand, your go -to, your person that you can count on for accountability, for tidying up some of those to -dos that really you don't have to do, that you could delegate to someone else.
Krista Stillwell 48:01
Do you have someone like that? And if you don't, why not?
Todd Rimer 48:05
Mmhmm.
Krista Stillwell 48:07
That first hire that I made was revolutionary for me. It allowed me to- Was that two years ago? No, actually. Funny enough. It was in 2021. Okay, three years ago. Three years ago.
Todd Rimer 48:19
All right, no fairness.
Krista Stillwell 48:20
Um, I was doing so much on my own that I was losing out on the value of growing the business in the way I wanted to. I was losing out on time for myself. Right. So finding that right hand person, whatever you want to call them, an assistant or whatever, that was, that was something that I had heard so many people talk about and I was like, man, I'm fine.
Krista Stillwell 48:39
I'm super productive. I'm good, but there is some truth to that. There really is. Um, and, and then the last lesson that I already touched on is just boundaries with your time. I could not emphasize that one enough.
Todd Rimer 48:54
The biggest one.
Krista Stillwell 48:55
Biggest one. And you're tempted not to because you're the boss or you're the owner or you're the founder or whatever, but founders are your time to
Todd Rimer 49:03
Yeah, I would say we could probably do a whole podcast on delegation or I'd do a whole podcast on boundaries Because they're just hard, very difficult. They're very hard. Okay All right. Last question for you today Krista and thanks so much for being here today.
Todd Rimer 49:17
It's been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this great For families that are considering so let's say and we know them there are I don't know about there are a lot of I think a lot of family business. I'm not saying that non family business owners don't but there seems to be a strong entrepreneurial spirit within family business owners.
Todd Rimer 49:39
Yes, and we both know some of those in addition to yourself and There so there are a lot of people out there that have multiple family businesses and there might be people out there that are considering a second a second business For those who are considering going from one to two you've shared a lot of advice that would benefit one or you know that people had already there. For those out there And I'm gonna challenge you here because it might be hard It might be hard to share something beyond the three lessons that you just shared so do your very best But if you were to pick one thing, one piece of advice to someone out there that is looking to go from one to two What would you say?
Todd Rimer 50:24
I know I put you on the spot cuz you've shared so much you did already
Krista Stillwell 50:28
And now I'm sitting here and I'm like, you know, I just talked about how I like to rapid -fire answers and so I'm sitting here trying to find an answer. You know, I sent you these questions ahead of time.
Krista Stillwell 50:35
You probably know you did. And I looked them over. So here's what I would say. I would first and foremost consider if that business is complementary to the existing one. Or does it align closely with it?
Todd Rimer 50:51
That's a good idea.
Krista Stillwell 50:53
What's great about that is, you have a customer base built in for the existing business that may also benefit from this secondary opportunity or maybe be able to utilize it, refer to it, that sort of thing.
Krista Stillwell 51:09
Because again, we didn't really plan it, but I have a lot of business owners in the agriculture community.
Krista Stillwell 51:19
I don't think that happened by chance, right? It aligns with my lifestyle. It aligns with your values. It aligns with my values. It aligns with my husband's business because we're interacting with a lot of the same people.
Krista Stillwell 51:33
And so I would really ask you to stop and think, if you own a restaurant, why couldn't you also consider building up a business that feeds things into said restaurant? Sauces, meats, things like that.
Krista Stillwell 51:51
If you own a retail store, what's something that you hear a lot of your customers talking about in that retail environment that you feel like could benefit them? Is there a specific line of a piece of apparel that they need from you that doesn't exist in the marketplace or at least for you, right?
Krista Stillwell 52:09
I think that would decrease the amount of pain of creating something and fostering something because you have kind of this already built resource base of people and customers and information where you can test a product or a service, you can advertise that product or service and then go off and build.
Todd Rimer 52:31
Hmm, it sounds like it's actually really good advice. You should be in marketing. Oh, you should be a consultant. Wait a minute. That's what steel -glowing code does a good job on. I was impressed not only did you not only have an answer but like immediately I'm like, that's really good Thanks, you might have actually that might be the best answer.
Todd Rimer 52:48
It was the last question. Oh Thank you. Do I have a gold star? Yeah, I never really thought about that. Like I mean, I Do know there are people out there that they do have multiple businesses and they have no relation to one another I'm sure that gets stressful Yeah, but like if you but if you're if it's a line with your passions It's a line with the world in which you live you're talking similar audiences similar language You don't you dont you don't have to like necessarily Start from scratch and learn all new stuff on it
Krista Stillwell 53:20
I think about shared overhead, right? I think about all those types of things. Like, are there things that you can share the same transportation vehicles for? Are there things, because early on in a business, the biggest stress typically is capital and operating revenue, right?
Krista Stillwell 53:34
Like, how do you go about building this thing? And if you have some of those structures in place, really it all just comes down to accounting, right? Talk to your accountant. Make sure you're accounting for it all properly.
Krista Stillwell 53:46
But it just takes some of that initial pain out of it. And if you think about a lot of really great ideas that have happened over the many, many years of the business marketplace existing the way that it has, you think about the fact that a lot of people who have invented things likely had experiences that caused them to invent that thing, whether it was a family business or it was watching their mom or dad operate in something, or they themselves operating in that business, right?
Krista Stillwell 54:15
Think about a lot of movies and they talk about how you come up in the movie business? Well, I was a courier in film and then I was this and then I was this and then they started from those types of things.
Krista Stillwell 54:27
So don't negate the spirit experiences you have in your existing business to spur ideas for that next business. So what's your thing?
Todd Rimer 54:34
The third business is going to be, have you given thought to it?
Krista Stillwell 54:37
I actually have, so I'm working currently on a coaching and workshops division of my business. I get asked to speak a lot to groups of people about things that I take for granted.
Todd Rimer 54:48
You’re a good speaker. I should have you as a podcast guest.
Krista Stillwell 54:50
Oh my gosh, what a great novel idea. And then I also have kind of an entire market of people who aren't necessarily ready to jump into an ongoing integrated relationship with me and my team at a high level, but they need information from me.
Krista Stillwell 55:09
They need guidance, right? So I'm in the process of developing a membership program that would give them access to content on a monthly basis. That's very timely. It's related to their business, but it's gonna help teach them some skills that early in their businesses or even early in the concept of taking on marketing in the business, they have some tangible things that they can do and learn on their own.
Krista Stillwell 55:34
And then they'll be ready to make the decision when it's time to hire someone accordingly.
Todd Rimer 55:39
So you're going to help them not have to wait eight years.
Krista Stillwell 55:41
Yeah, no, but exactly. I mean, this is for the startup person, this is for the person who's never had a marketing strategy before, and it's gonna be a lower cost to entry than hiring me and my team to come in and really do it for you.
Todd Rimer 55:57
Do you think a lot of them, based on our last question, do you think a lot of people that come into that will necessarily be in the agricultural livestock world or not necessarily?
Krista Stillwell 56:06
They might be, but I think there's so many business owners that contact me on a regular basis, wanting advice, wanting to sit down for coffee, those sorts of things. And I think this will really help them feel, we can still have those conversations.
Krista Stillwell 56:18
I always love having conversations, but this will help them feel a little bit more equipped. And they have something to look forward to every month. They can take a little nugget here or there as they are able to consume it and then go out and execute it.
Todd Rimer 56:30
Please forgive me for sharing this, but I think if you're in the agricultural world, everything should just grow organically. So that's probably the best way to grow that business, wouldn't you agree?
Krista Stillwell 56:42
I thought there was a moment for dad jokes and I do not think this is it. That was not it.
Todd Rimer 56:46
Speaking of dad jokes, thank you.
Krista Stillwell 56:48
That was luck. That was luck. That was luck.
Todd Rimer 56:49
That was not planned. I just couldn't help it. We're talking about how to...
Krista Stillwell 56:52
I knew what was coming because your face lit up like a Christmas tree.
Todd Rimer 56:55
You can tell, it's anyone who knows me well, they can always tell when I'm, something's- You were like brewing. Yeah. Like I could smell the smoke. Like I'm hearing you, but I'm just waiting. But I couldn't help it.
Todd Rimer 57:05
That was not planned, but it does go very well into our dad joke segment. So for those of you out there who are listening or maybe even watching, here at Element 212, and unfortunately she's on the receiving end anytime we talk, we have, we're really big on plays on words.
Todd Rimer 57:24
Dad jokes and things like pins and things like that. So we are going to do a dad joke segment on every podcast. As you should. Yes. So what we'll do is just for fun. And then we'll wrap up with today's conversation.
Todd Rimer 57:41
But so I'm going to share a dad joke in honor of my company and my team and anyone out there who loves dad jokes. So what I'm going to do is I'll share it. It's going to be rhetorical questions. I'm going to ask the dad joke.
Todd Rimer 57:54
I'm not going to give you the answer. If you want the answer, just go to our Facebook page and the answer will be there. But don't cheat. Try really, really hard to try to figure it out yourself. That's what we do.
Todd Rimer 58:06
In fact, we do a dad joke on every team huddle. We do a weekly huddle. And I, and we do a praise and prayer request at the end. And then I finished with the, and I might do some inspirational story, but we always end with a dad joke.
Todd Rimer 58:20
Sometimes I get thumbs up. Sometimes I get thumbs down. Sometimes I don't get anything. I don't get any response. I'm not sure which one's the worst. I think I like the thumbs down better than no response at all.
Todd Rimer 58:30
Okay, that's fair. The only thing I will say is I don't take it personally. I used to, at first I took it personally because I was delivering the message and I realized I don't write these things. I'm just, I'm just great at fun.
Todd Rimer 58:37
You're just the messenger. I'm just the messenger. Yeah, so it's no big deal. Okay, so for the, for those of you out there who want to play along, this, the dad joke for this podcast is, and this by the way was the very first one, my very first dad joke, and I'm not even sure how it came to be, but it was on July 3rd.
Todd Rimer 58:58
I looked it up, July 3rd, 2021. So I've been doing these dad jokes every week for almost three years. That's intense. And I'm still finding new ones.
Krista Stillwell 59:07
Well, of course.
Todd Rimer 59:08
Yeah, I mean they're never ending. No. So anyway, all right, here we go. The dad joke for this podcast is for your benefit Krista, but don't if you know the answer don't say it How do you follow?
Todd Rimer 59:21
Will Smith in the snow? How do you follow Will Smith in the snow? It was like it's not. I don't think it's a coincidence that that was the first one because it's like still to this day My all -time favorite dad joke, especially when you see the answer.
Todd Rimer 59:39
So anyway, so that's the part That's the dad joke for this podcast. After you hear this Go to our facebook page and the answer will be there but have some fun with it See if you can come up with the answer.
Todd Rimer 59:51
Okay Uh, uh, oh Krista, I don't think you got it. All right, you got it. Don't say it. Don't say it. Oh man, you just shared how you saw my eyes light up. You want so badly to give the answer, don't you? I know All right.
Todd Rimer 01:00:08
So Krista. Thank you for humoring me and allowing me to do that. Um, okay. So let's wrap up with you again. Thank you so much for being here. I know you mentioned earlier about how we talked a lot about time and managing our time.
Todd Rimer 01:00:23
So thank you for Prioritizing me and your day and doing this um, and uh, I do apologize now for I don't know what I was thinking doing this on a Monday
Krista Stillwell 01:00:34
It's okay. I think the conversation turned out okay.
Todd Rimer 01:00:37
I'll make it work, but next time we'll do it on a Saturday or Sunday, I mean a Thursday or Friday. I'm kidding. Just kidding. Yeah. So thank you very much for being here. Absolutely. This has been great, and I think this is an important topic.
Todd Rimer 01:00:47
And you know, the cool thing is the topic was about the demands of multiple businesses, but let's be real. Whether you're doing three businesses, two businesses, or even one, a lot of the stuff that you share today probably applies.
Todd Rimer 01:00:58
It's just even more applicable and more valuable the more demanding our day gets based on additional businesses. Absolutely. I know you're not discouraging anyone from doing two businesses. It's just that you got to have a plan, and you got to manage your time.
Todd Rimer 01:01:15
You have to prioritize your tasks and your responsibilities. You have to remember that if you're in a family business, you have other people in there, and you have to remember that they're trying to do the same thing.
Todd Rimer 01:01:24
So you got to communicate, and you got to strategize, and you got to come up with systems and approaches and things like that. So these are good for anybody, but I would think that with two businesses or more, you got to get even better at this.
Todd Rimer 01:01:36
You have to be constantly learning about skills and approaches and even changing your mindsets just to do this because it gets harder and harder.
Krista Stillwell 01:01:45
Yes, it does.
Todd Rimer 01:01:46
So it sounds like you and Brian are doing a great job and I know you very well. I'm always impressed with how you balance your time and how you always seem to be in a good mood. I know that you will personally tell me that isn't always the case.
Todd Rimer 01:01:58
I Wouldn't characterize you as necessarily anyone you're very real and genuine So you're not fake like some people are fake like down underneath their brewing They're just angry or they're upset or they're having some kind of negative emotion I just I think you just handle all the demands of the day very very well Thank you.
Todd Rimer 01:02:14
I think that's one of your great strengths probably all started back in the day when you were starting your first business at age 3
Krista Stillwell 01:02:20
when I was, you know, providing receipts to my sister's grocery run. There you go.
Todd Rimer 01:02:24
All right. Well, let's let's turn this back on you a little bit more So I want to make sure I get this right so learn more about Krista Stillwell, you can find her on LinkedIn. To learn more about her company Stillwell and Co visit her website at stillwellandco.com so that's still well and co com anywhere else
Krista Stillwell 01:02:55
The coaching and workshops website is launched. That product will be launching on April 1st. That is Christastillwell.com. Yeah, it was available. I was thrilled.
Todd Rimer 01:03:06
This is not part of Stilwell & Co. This actually is a third business.
Krista Stillwell 01:03:09
I'm going to launch it separately, yeah.
Todd Rimer 01:03:11
Oh my gosh, you see, I didn't know that. I got all your emails, and I just assumed that was an extension of Stilwell & Co.
Krista Stillwell 01:03:17
It is, but it isn't.
Todd Rimer 01:03:19
Okay, so our next podcast with Krista will be meeting the demands of managing three businesses.
Krista Stillwell 01:03:25
Don't say it that way, makes me wanna crawl in a hole.
Todd Rimer 01:03:28
Thank you again for being here today, Krista. Have a great Monday and a great week.
