After graduating college in 1998, Chris Farley began work at a database management job in a government office, and hated it. “I was into running,” he says. When he saw signs asking for part-time work for runners in a store called Pacers, he had to apply. It was an instant match. In 2002, he quit his database management job, took a huge pay cut, moved back in with his parents, and set off on a quest to open his own store like Pacers.

Before he could save up enough money for his own store, the owner of Pacers took him aside and asked him to buy that store. His parents saved the day. “Not only am I living at their house pretty much rent-free, now I’m asking them for money to help me do this,” Farley says. He made his best sales pitch to convince his parents to go in with him, they mortgaged their house for it, and in June 2003, Farley was the proud owner of Pacers Running.

Going All In

“Our success was because I didn’t have a backup plan,” says Farley. “I needed to have some pressure on me to make it go. When the going really got tough, there’s no options of a Plan B.” He didn’t succeed because he was smarter or more educated than others, but simply because there was no other option except success. Farley believes that if you give yourself the option of having outs and backup plans, you’ll inevitably take them.

https://youtu.be/3B6SkeCzptk

Challenges of Growing Pacers

Farley knew the market in his area well, and knew it was red-hot. He decided that he could open a store in any town that had a Whole Foods and things would go fine. Unfortunately, not every town and market was the same. He opened one store in Silver Spring and had to close it about four years later. “What we realized was that we really needed to be immersed in the areas and the communities that we had retail,” says Farley. Satellite stores without a true community ambassador were just not going to work.

Building the Core Community

“There is nothing more important than our brand and our community,” says Farley. To help connect with the community, Farley launched a podcast. It has helped to build brand equity and spread their message. “We want to make you the best version of yourself through running,” Farley says. “That message was lost on a lot of people early on.” The podcast helped them establish that message. “It took awhile for us to understand that the brand was so important, that the community was so important, and once we did that, we made decisions based on that,” he says. “So opening a new store, yes, we’ve got to be profitable, but does it fit who we are as a brand? Will it help our brand grow?” They open, move, and close stores based not on profits, but on community, brand, and what’s best for their customers.

Competing with Online Companies

Competing with large online stores is tough. People can buy their shoes on Amazon. “But our competitive advantage is that they’re never going to be able to match our connection with that community, connection with that customer,” says Farley. Pacers is more than just a shoe store, they actually care about their customers. They want to get you into shape, get you into the right pair of shoes, get you out running, and talk about your running goals with you. They’ll even go out and run with you personally if that’s what you need. Amazon can’t deliver that to your doorstep.

Amazon can sell a pair of shoes. But Pacers can sell an experience.

Finding the Perfect Employees

“Our biggest reason for our success is our employees,” Farley says. “There’s no question about it. We can’t do it without them.” Many retailers have a ceiling for their employees in that the highest they can achieve is a management level. A number of Pacers employees have gone on to become local representatives of shoe companies, even international shoe companies. “We were invested in making sure that they were able to get to their next step career-wise,” Farley explains. “We know that retail and events are not necessarily going to be your last stop.” His employees work hard, gain great experience, develop a deep pool of contacts, and are able to participate in not just retail, but many business principles including marketing and finance.

The culture of the company is also great. Customers can tell when someone is just there for a paycheck and when someone is there because they believe in the mission and are entrenched in the culture. “We’re nothing without our culture,” says Farley. “We’re nothing without our employees, we’re nothing without our brand, but we’re nothing without our culture.” Part of that culture is giving employees a long leash to do what they think needs to be done. They’ve even let an employee drive an hour each way to deliver a pair of shoes to a customer who walked out with the wrong size. Pacers paid for their time and gas, and they gave that employee the ability and leash to make sure that customer had the correct pair of shoes.

Races and Events

In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit, Pacers put on a Gulf Coast Relief Run to raise money for relief efforts. They thought they’d have a couple hundred people show up, but 4,000 people came to run for Katrina and they raised $125,000 for relief efforts. “Not only did we raise money for this one-time tragic event, we’ve got a community of people who want to be part of something,” Farley says. After realizing that this was a way to positively impact the community and grow their base, they began starting other races. Now they have 18 road races, including the upcoming Jingle All the Way 5k and 15k on December 10th, which starts in front of the Washington Monument and follows a beautiful course through downtown.

Get in Touch and Get Involved

You can find races, podcasts, and ways to get involved at the Pacers website, or email Farley with questions. He’ll either find the answer or find someone who knows the answer, but either way, he’ll get you whatever help you need.

Thirty-five years ago, Linda Harkness was a bartender in Georgetown and her husband worked at the Washington, D.C. club The Bayou. The Bayou needed a backstage caterer for bands and artists, and Harkness enjoyed cooking. “So, my first catered event was at The Bayou for Bruce Springsteen. The dish that I made was lasagna, salad, and bread,” Harkness says. Lasagna, of course, has small parts that are built together to make a casserole, so she layered it into a large baking vessel. She went to put it into the stove and it didn’t fit. She called her husband and told him to fire up the pizza oven at The Bayou immediately. “So I flew down to The Bayou, threw it in the pizza oven, and we served it, and that was my first gig,” says Harkness.

https://youtu.be/rZfpX0cyiqI

It may have been a heart-pumping start, but Harkness loved it. “I think you really have to love what you do. And food has always been something that I’ve loved,” Harkness says. “I love cooking, I love international foods, I love international groceries, I’m always on the search for something new and different.” That’s not to say that catering is without challenges. Sometimes everything seems fine, but then you walk in and boom. “I think to be successful in this business, you have to able to take a problem and solve it very quickly without a lot of stress, because you really don’t know what you’re going to walk into,” she says.

The Secret Ingredient to Making Each Event Magical

Harkness tries to learn as much as she can about her clients so she can customize their menu just for them. “We don’t have packaged menus. Everyone’s so different,” she says. “So we kind of create and craft a menu together.”

When Harkness’s son was four years old and her daughter was two years old, Harkness went through a divorce and was building her kitchen at the same time. It was very difficult, but she just did it. She’d haul two grocery carts through the store, with two children in them and both carts filled with groceries. She brought them to work at six am. She had a big window put in her office so she could see what her kids were doing while she was cooking in the other room. “I was extremely fortunate to have had that opportunity, to have my children and have my own business,” Harkness says.

Today, the biggest challenge that Harkness sees for catering companies is overbooking. “I think they overbook. I think you really have to pay attention to how much work you can handle, and if you have more on your plate than you can handle, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes.”

A Culture of Can-Do and Respect

There’s nothing in Harkness’s business that she can’t do or won’t do. If the floors need to be scrubbed, she’ll get down and scrub them. If the grease trap needs to be cleaned, she’ll clean it. “I think it’s important for everyone to work together and respect each other,” says Harkness. “I think if I’m willing to do what I’m asking my staff to do, they’re willing to do it for me.” She has great staff who have stayed with her for a long time, and she believes respect is a huge part of that. She has also always paid them more than the standard going rate. At the end of the day, they need to be able to support their families.

From Backstage Catering to Private Events

Harkness did backstage catering for about 18 years, but it was filled with long, arduous days. They’d start at five am when the trucks rolled in, and they’d end at two am. When one of the clubs brought in a new director who in turn brought his own catering team with him, she transitioned out of backstage events to corporate and private events. A wedding may be complicated, but she enjoys the higher level of artistic license.

A Presidential Gala

In her 35 years as a caterer, Harkness’s most memorable event was President Clinton’s first inaugural gala at the Capitol Center. With stars like Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, Chevy Chase, and a long lineup of more talent showing up to practice and set up, it was a week-long event of star-spangled awesomeness.

Finding a Wedding Caterer

To find the perfect caterer for your wedding, Harkness feels you must know what ambiance you want first. Some couples want a hotel, some want small reception sites, some want to be outside. Barn weddings with rustic elegance are currently trendy. Know your vision, then find your site. “I think that the reception site is really your foundation. And then you go into caterers and event planners and decide what you want,” advises Harkness. “But the most important thing is who you marry.”

 

On the Horizon

Harkness is still the director of Tasteful Affairs, but her son is now the chef at the helm. “He has really superseded me in terms of abilities. He’s just beyond phenomenal,” she says. Maybe they will continue as they are or move in another direction, but either way, the sky’s the limit.

Contact Tasteful Affairs

You can find out more about Tasteful Affairs catering at their website.

From Darkness to Kindness

A Bit About Audrey

Kindness can come from the dark places. For Audrey, kindness took over when her life exploded. She and her husband owned a general contracting business and had bought their house in the heyday. Everything was perfect. Then the market for contractors crashed as building and renovating homes dropped to the bottom of everyone’s priority list. “We couldn’t afford our mortgage anymore. It was just the worst case scenario,” Audrey says. “We had to short sell the home that we had lived in for ten years.”

On top of losing their home and struggling to keep their business afloat, tragedy struck. “At the same time, my father was diagnosed with terminal brain and lung cancer. And then, just to add insult to injury, my dog died,” says Audrey. “And I got really, really sad, just beyond sad.”

When you’re in a deep, dark place, Audrey believes you can either go deeper into the darkness, or you can refuse and bring yourself back to the light. “I had had enough,” she says. “You have to make the choice, and that’s what we try to do now.” She gathered her three children up, took them to the waterfront in Alexandria, Virginia, and started handing out free wishes to people. They brought pennies to throw into the fountain, crafted wish feathers in little baggies, and handed out cards that said ‘wish on a star.’ It hurt her feelings how many people thought she was trying to sell them something or had a hidden ulterior motive, but that annoyance and hurt motivated her even more. Being kind to people made her feel good.

How Galya Got Involved

Galya and Audrey had been neighbors before Audrey had to move. They’d known each other for many years, but had lost contact after the move. Galya and her husband, Todor, own a business in web app design and development, and her husband was having a meeting in the house. Wanting to escape, Galya headed out to a coffee shop that she’d never been to before. She saw Audrey enter the shop, go to the counter, and buy herself a cup of coffee, and she heard Audrey put $20 towards paying for other people’s coffees.

It wasn’t Galya’s first experience with Audrey’s kindness. “What’s really awesome about Audrey and what I really like is she inspires people by telling her story on social media,” says Galya. “She was very real about everything that was going on in her life.” Galya had seen Audrey posting about her acts of kindness on social media as well. “She’s doing all these really great things to find a purpose, to be proactive, and to really turn all the negativity into something positive,” she says.

She flagged Audrey down and the women sat together until Todor showed up. After catching up with her and hearing about her kindness initiative, they knew they had to help. Within a week, they had built her a website and taught her how to update and handle it. “I think when you are proactive, when you want to do good, things just kind of align your way,” says Galya. “I think it was meant to be.”

Happy Orange Project

The backbone of Happy Orange Project is like-minded people coming together with a vision. “We spread simple acts of kindness within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,” says Galya.

Recently, they attended a fundraising event at MGM National Harbor for Chance for Life. They have icebreaking activities to get people networking. One such activity is the Kindness Wheel, which Todor built. It has about eight sections, with each section containing an act of kindness that you have to do right then and there. Perhaps it’s to take a drink to someone you don’t know, or to give a kindness card to a new person.

Going into companies and getting HR on board is a great area. Jobs aren’t always fun, but if your coworkers feel a bit like family, it can become enjoyable. “The majority of our time during the week is spent there, so why not create a place where everybody flourishes?” Galya says. “Then the business flourishes as well.”

Schools are another great place for kindness. Kids are so anxious, and it may have a lot to do with marketing and media. In Audrey’s house, they don’t typically turn on the news in the morning, but when she recently turned the TV on to check the weather, there was news of a shooting. “Why does it have to be 7:05 and my poor little eight-year-old, that’s the first thing that is blasted in his face?” Audrey says. “It’s unnecessary.” Children can also be very harsh with each other. Happy Orange Project has begun working with the Girl Scouts and are hoping to get into pep rallies to teach children of all ages the importance of being kind.

The Baby Beanie Project

One recent project that made a huge impact was the Baby Beanie Project. Audrey found out through a friend on social media that a hospital needed beanies to keep babies’ heads warm, especially babies in the NICU. Audrey and Galya hoped to gather 100 beanies in six weeks’ time. They gathered nearly 400.

In addition to keeping 400 tiny heads warm, they also helped a senior living facility for the memory-impaired at the same time. They went to the facility and asked if any of the women there who enjoyed knitting or crocheting wanted to craft baby beanies. Not only did the women like knitting and crocheting, they had their very own yarn club in the facility. By the time the beanie drive was over, the memory-impaired women could remember the campaign from week to week, and they alone crafted over 100 baby beanies. “We were able to make a huge impact and get so many people to contribute, and it was so inspiring,” Galya says.

Happy Orange Project also recently held a Friendsgiving with No Kid Hungry and raised $2,686, over $1,000 of which was in a single night.

Simplicity 

People think they have to do big things to make big change. They’re wrong. “It doesn’t have to be these major, huge, life-changing things,” Audrey says. “It’s simple.”

Something as simple as recognizing a cashier’s name and thanking them in the grocery store can make their day. “Just be kind,” says Galya.

Get Involved 

Find Happy Orange Project on their website. “Go to our website, sign up for our newsletter to keep involved, and sign up for initiatives,” says Audrey.

When inheritance hands you land that’s been in your family since 1716, you make a winery. At least, that’s what Kirk Wiles did. “We made our first wine in 2007, and then navigated some political, legal challenges to get open,” says Wiles. “We finally opened the winery in January 2010, and we’ve been going strong ever since.”

The original land grant to the family was 330 acres. When Wiles’ great-aunt passed away in 2005, 36 acres with the old log cabin on it was passed on to Wiles and his mother. At first, they used the land as a party spot for their friends, but due to an incorrect transfer, they almost lost the land to inheritance taxes. Nearly losing a piece of their family history prompted Wiles to start looking at what he could do with the land and put the family farm back to use. “The easy out would be to develop it and collect a paycheck and move on, but what good does that do?” Wiles says. “It ruins it for the future generations and what could have been.” Growing up on the land had been a great childhood, and Wiles wants that passed down to his children and grandchildren. “Something about this place just had magic to it,” he says.

https://youtu.be/mdk5-7YCNtg

Challenges Along the Way

The wine business is not an easy one, especially in Virginia. Paradise Springs Winery went through a 2-year litigation battle against the county because the county didn’t consider a winery to be agriculture. Being one of the mere handful of farms left in Fairfax county has been difficult from a political standpoint, as well.

In addition to persevering through the battle, they also had to build the winery and infrastructure. The location is also difficult from a growing standpoint. There’s a lot of moisture in the air that they have to combat, and dealing with the variation in Virginia weather is a challenge. “Every year we have to look at it like a blank slate because the methodologies that you use to grow a grape and to make a wine can change year to year based on what we’re given from Mother Nature,” says Wiles. “It’s not this consistent, scientific flow of how to make wine.”

The wine industry has many facets that require success. “You have to farm and grow the grapes successfully. You have to then bring it in and manufacture it and produce it into a great wine successfully,” says Wiles. “You have to get your branding correct, bottle it, bring to market, and then be able to sell it, and all of these have to work in harmony for the whole business to work.”

Learning from Mistakes

It’s important to look back on early mistakes and learn from them. For Paradise Spring Winery’s grand opening day, there was snow on the ground, it was 30 degrees out, they’d rented a tent in the barn, which wasn’t climate controlled, and had even hired a band. What they didn’t have was parking. “All these cars showed up and we had nowhere to park them,” says Wiles. They hadn’t intended to have such a large opening day, but their story is compelling and people wanted to come check it out. “People wanted to come and support that and I underestimated that on our opening. “Learning from those challenges and seeing how we’ve grown today to be able to accommodate so many people and have people come and really enjoy great wine here, it’s been really rewarding,” Wiles says. “You learn from those mistakes.”

Passion for Land, Passion for Wine 

Although the winery started from a passion to do something great with the land and preserve the sense of history, wine became Wiles’ passion in its own right. “You have to find what you love to do, and follow what you love to do. If you’re not happy doing what you do, you’re not going to succeed at it,” says Wiles. “If you follow your passion and you’re passionate about what you do, you can succeed at whatever you want to do.”

Paradise Springs Winery has been so successful at what they do thatthey’ve opened a second location in Santa Barbara. Wiles attributes their success to the passion of his team. “There’s so many people that work so hard here. We have an amazing team,” he says. “[They’ve] inspired me to work harder.”

On the Horizon

Wiles is helping write the script of the wine industry in Virginia. “I’m pretty heavily involved in some of our state boards, and I think there’s a real evolution that’s happening,” he says. “We are writing the story right now, and I think that’s an exciting thing to be a part of.” Virginia is an obscure region for a winery, but Wiles is changing that and it’s something special. “Not often can you come into an industry and help define what that industry is going to become,” he says.

Opening a location in Santa Barbara is also special. Taking a wine from an unusual location into the lion’s den of wineries is a gutsy underdog move, but people are taking notice. It’s something different, and the sky’s the limit.

“All I know is that we’re on a great path forward,” says Wiles. “We’ve got to continue that, do the little things right every single day, commit to making quality wine, and sharing wines around the world.”

Contact Paradise Springs Winery

Find Paradise Springs Winery on their website, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.