How We Money: When Farming Meets Fashion

When farming meets fashion, here's what the finances look like. Rebekah Scott, founder and owner of Rebekah Scott Designs, and Nick Scott, a fifth-generation farmer and rancher, chat about their entrepreneurial journeys, what exactly goes on in a "Honey Huddle," and how Dave Ramsey saved their marriage.

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Transcript

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- What's a honey huddle?[upbeat music] Welcome to "Common Cents on the Prairie," a podcast dedicated to helping you demystify the sometimes complex topic of money. I'm Adam Cox, head of Wealth Management for The First National Bank in Sioux Falls. We're a community bank based out of South Dakota. In this podcast, we share expert insights from around the country, and stories from our local community to arm you with the tools you need to make better financial decisions. Because the truth is, the more we talk about this stuff, the better off we're all going to be.[upbeat music] Today I am thrilled to be talking with Rebekah and Nick Scott. Rebekah is a wife, mother of four, an author, coach, host of "The Encourager Podcast," and owner of Rebekah Scott Designs, a handmade purse and accessories business. Nick is a husband, a father, a fifth generation farmer and rancher, owner of NGS Construction and Excavation, and an avid hunter. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Rebekah and Nick. All right guys, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining me.- Absolutely.- Yes, thanks for having us on.- Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. All right, let's start this conversation where we always like to start these at the beginning. So tell me some of your earliest money memories. Rebekah, you want to start?- Yes.- Maybe. [laughs]- I know, I'm thinking like, I remember being in Rapid City and we would go to Rapid City periodically because it was 80 miles away. And I remember my mom writing a check for like $600, and that was my first thought of like,"Do you have $600?" And I didn't ask her overtly, but I just remember that was my first thought of like, I must have been 10 or 11 going,"Huh? I wonder where the $600 is." Or first of all, that's a lot. Because it's probably like groceries or something. But that was my first money thought.- Oh, interesting.- That I remember.- Interesting. And now did you grow up on a farm? Is that right?- I did. We farmed and ranched out there.- Okay. Okay.- Yeah.- And did you go all the way through high school?- We moved, so we went all the way to my sophomore summer and then my dad had a falling out with his dad rather, rather dramatically. After 45 years of farming together, and in three days time we moved. My dad says we moved to greener pastures, but we moved to East River in horse trailers and everything. But, I mean-- Three days?- Yeah. He just, and my brothers have a better recollection of it, even though I was old enough to remember, but probably just foggy in a grossly over exaggerated teenager who only had my own brain. But anyways, they say that it was right after a bank meeting and he just had had it.- Oh, interesting.- With his dad and everything and then said we're leaving.- Interesting.- So that, and so then my junior and senior year, I actually finished high school on the east side.- Okay, you moved over to East River.- Yes.- That's a big move.- It's a big deal. It's like moving states.- Yes.- It was perfect.- Yeah. [laughs]- I moved closer to my boyfriend.- Ah, there you go. There you go. Were you two dating at the time?- Yeah.- Okay, when did you meet?- At church camp four years earlier.- Oh no we were, we met when you were 14, 15.- Yeah, so right about in there, you know. Moved. Yeah.- Oh, yeah.- Wow. So you've known each other for a minute.- It's a long time. 25 years.- A long time.- 26.- 26. How about that?- Aww. Look at you.- Aww. He knows, he knows.- 14 days.- Right. [laughs]- Yeah.- Six hours.[all laughing] No.- Oh, interesting. Okay. Well do you have any other memories from that period of time? Obviously the big move and growing up and-- And then other meetings in there. Like my dad would always dress up. Like I knew if he was going to the bank, because he put on his western, like his nice western gear. So he like had his western suit jacket. And his felt black hat and maybe his western vest. And so I knew it was like,"Okay, this is a little bit more official meeting."- Sure. Was money good or was it pretty tight growing up? Do you have any recollections around that?- It was pretty tight, but I personally, just because of the way my mom did things, I don't remember it being tight, but again, my siblings recall different stories. So I must have a more like trauma set of like,"I'm not going to remember that."[Adam laughs] But my mom could sew. She's a master seamstress, so we never did without as girls because she could sew it. She always said she had more time than money. And so she could, I mean she could manufacture anything. Like we would even buy jeans. She would take a pattern off of them and like wash them, find the right thread and everything to like replicate them. She was like doing dupes before it was a thing.- Yeah, yeah.- And nobody knew any different, we just thought it was the coolest thing. So I didn't feel like I went without, but my brothers talked about like they had to buy their own Z. Cavaricci's, you know, or whatever it was. So like they remember it was tighter. But, my sister and I thought we were cool because we had matching scrunchies, so like we didn't...[laughs]- Yeah. Yeah.- It didn't matter as much to us.- Oh. I'll say, well I'm the last of six kids and by quite a ways too, so I'm probably like you, my siblings have very different stories than I do growing up.- Yes.- Mm hm.- And I, but I distinctly remember my mother sewing on a name brand patch onto jeans that were not name brand jeans. [laughs]- Nice. [laughs] For my brother, and I won't use his name, because I don't want to put him on blast here, but I distinctly remember that. That's fantastic.[Rebekah laughs]- [Nick] Yes.- Nick, how about you growing up? What was money like and what memories do you have from that time?- I guess all I remember is doing chores and, you know, getting Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, you know, did we get an allowance? No.- No.- You know, do we give our kids allowance? No.- No.- Yeah. I think it's more the, you know, doing the livestock chores. And seeing the rewards there of, you know, doing the hard work, raising this animal up, and then taking it to the market. And getting a paycheck, you know? I never knew of a week paycheck, you know, or a two weeks paycheck. It was always when we needed the money, we made ends meet.- Yeah. My dad would always say he'd have an extra grain bin full of grain for emergencies.- Oh yeah, yeah.- Mm. [sighs] Because farming emergencies, it takes a whole bin full.- Yes, that's right.- Yeah, that's true.- Exactly. Exactly. He would always say it was for braces. I'm like, "I think I probably paid for more than braces." But, yes. [laughs] Uh huh. Interesting. And did your family talk about money openly or just kind of put in the work and why?- Family as a whole?- Yeah.- No.- Okay.- I guess I don't remember mom and dad sitting down. I mean-- I do.- Like us, you and I sit down and have our monthly meetings. I don't remember mom and dad sitting down and having those.- Sure, yep.- So.- I remember when it was stressful, because it was just, it was stressful in the house, and that at my dad was like really quiet so he wouldn't get angry, but he was just really quiet. And then I knew when it was harvest because we got to go to the steakhouse and we never went out to eat probably because there was no place out to eat. But when we got to go to the steakhouse, that was like,"Oh my gosh, this is a big deal."- Yeah.- Celebration of the harvest being over.- Yeah. Yeah.- Yeah.- Bekah, I remember one thing you told me in our first conversation was your mom or your dad would say,"The harder you work, the more money that you would have."- Mm hm.- As you sit here today and you reflect back, do you think that was true?- Yeah. And now I'm trying to think if those are actually his words or that's just what I gathered. No, I don't think it's true. But I do think, like we've talked about a little bit earlier, Nick and I, is that you do have to work harder and smarter.- Yeah.- But I have learned like that is just what they had to work with. And I also remember like, this was kind of a money truth too is like my dad was a really good mechanic, so we never had new equipment, but he knew how to fix anything.- Yeah.- And so, I didn't know that we were doing without because he would just fix it up. And it would be fine. And the neighbors were like,"Oh, you should just get a new one or whatever." And I just didn't know that was even an option.- Sure, yeah. Okay, you two met when you were around 14 years old. I, Nick probably knows better than you.- Right. [laughs]- Obviously. Tell me about the early days of your relationship when it comes to money. Have you two always been on the same page or did you have some work to do?- Oh, we had work to do. But thankfully, like fast forward a little bit is when we first got married, one of our, I was working in radio and one of the gals was teaching the Dave Ramsey course.- Oh yeah.- And she knew that we had just gotten married and she's like, you have to take this. And I think she paid for it. I think so. Because she's like, this will change your marriage. You're the perfect example of who needs to take it. And so we took it on Thursday nights for 13 weeks, and it drastically changed everything moving forward. And so we loved using it. We had to do kind of a hybrid version because we do farm and ranch, but that got us on the same page so early on and we were so vulnerable anyways, and we didn't have a lot to manage anyways. [laughs]- Yeah, right.- So it was a little bit easier to do it, but that was great. And then before that I would just like, his habits were, you know, he was working in construction, he'd go out to eat and I couldn't believe how much going out to eat costs, but I also didn't make him a lunch or he make himself lunch. So I was like, well, I don't expect you to starve, but keep track of your receipts so that I can try and balance how this is coming out or whatever. So that we got a little bit dicey on in the beginning.- Yeah. I guess I would contradict you there, because I mean, we didn't have that much in the beginning. And I think it's easier to live, or I shouldn't say that. It's easier to not worry about it when you do have a lot.- Okay.- When in the beginning when it was tight that was when we were butting heads or I would, I was not on the same page as her. You know, and so when Dave Ramsey came about, it was like, "Okay, I'm bringing these weekly checks home." Which I wasn't ever used to. And I was like, "We got plenty of money."- Oh. [laughs]- You just deal with it.- Yep.- That's true.- You pay the bills. I'm bringing the money home, don't worry. You know, I don't want to fight about, you know, because that's what it was. It was beginning to be a fight. And so, absolutely, like you said, Dave Ramsey, I would say saved our marriage or at least it-- Yeah.- Made it a lot easier.- Oh yeah, for sure. So then after that, then we didn't fight about money, we'd just talk about it. We still talk about it. We don't end up fighting about it ever because there's like, just an overarching end goal is like-- Goal, yeah.- This is what we do with it.- Yep.- In a common language.- Yeah.- Yeah.- And the nerd in me super liked spreadsheets and how to manage it because like you said, he was bringing it home, but I could like compartmentalize it and put it here and put it here and pay off debt and all that. And he didn't care. I don't think he would've logged in or anything like that. But I was like, "Whew, now we have a plan."- Yeah. Is one of you more of a spender?- Oh, I'm sure me.[Nick laughs] But yours are more expensive when you do spend,[laughs] like-- You make it worth it.- hunting trips and guns. I'm like, "Ooh, okay."- I say, I shouldn't say it. I save up for my big spending.- You do, you do.- So do I.- You do too.- Yeah, I was going to say, I'm not, because of the Dave Ramsey neither one of us are like, let's just do it. No, never. We, first of all, we never get to say that, someday but-- Yeah, yep.- No, we both like architect how it's going to happen, yeah.- I don't understand how couples can, I don't know, not be on the same page or not be on the same budget, because if I'm spending all this money and you can't, or if we can't put food on the table.- Yeah.- You know, that's where those arguments and disagreements and fights with married couples start, you know? Well, this is my money. It's not your money.- Oh gosh.- Don't tell me how to spend it, you know? So.- Yeah, that would make you very sad.- It's the being on the same page. It's the same goal.- Well, and then it does make, when you do go to spend that much sweeter because you're like, "Yes, yes. Okay, that project is right. That's going to be awesome." You do that and then it's reversed. Like, "Well, what do you want to do?"- Yeah. And you can celebrate it.- Yes. Oh, absolutely.- For each other too.- Yeah, yeah, yeah.- Yeah.- I remember having to buy four new tires for our vehicle.- Yeah.- And if it would've happened a year prior or two years prior, it would've just put us in a hole. But with Dave Ramsey, we had saved up. And so when we had to do it, it was like, we got it. We're good.- Yep.- Yeah.- So.- That's a big stress off of a marriage.- Yeah.- Oh yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah.- Yeah.- Well, and I'm a good 4-H'er too. So when we had, we were so lean in the beginning, I would like always be doing the math. Still to this day, I'm like,"This homemade pizza cost me $6.30 cents. If I would've bought it." And meanwhile, everybody else is glazing over. They don't care. But I'm like, "Listen, I am a good consumer." [laughs][Nick laughs]- We still do that.- I know we still do it.- I love it, I love it.- And I still announce how much it cost.- Yes, yes.[Rebekah laughs]- Oh, I love that. All right, Nick, let's talk a little bit about farming. So you are, let me get this right, you were the fifth generation.- Yes.- To farm on the ground that you're farming on today.- Don't remind me.- That's incredible. Well, that'll be the next question.- Many years.- Did you always know you wanted to carry on that legacy?- Did I always know that I wanted to farm? Yes. Did I always know that I was going to carry on a legacy? No.- Sure.- I think that's two separate questions.- Yep, yep.- I apologize. But yeah, I think I've always wanted to farm. You know, that's all I've really ever known. The joys and the sorrows, you know? Did I know those? No. I mean, do anybody know what the pros and cons are to their occupation that they're looking into? Not always, but I saw my grandfather, I saw my dad, you know, and so, yeah.- Farming [clears throat] a lot of times can be a family business, and family businesses can bring different dynamics to the table. So how have you navigated those dynamics?- That's such a pretty way-- Tight, tight rope.- Dynamics. It's such a pretty word for it. [laughs]- Yeah, right. We'll just call them dynamics, yeah.- You know, there's times where, you know, working with my dad and uncle, and I was a hired hand. I had to know my place or my role so to say. You know, and as it got further down the years of as being in that position, I started realizing, you know what I needed to maybe step up a little bit and be a louder opinion or voice. And that's probably when three minds don't always see eye to eye.- Sure.- You know, sometimes it's the two that see it one way and the third wheel, you know? And so yeah, after I don't know how many years did...- 6?- 6.- 6 years?- 6, 8 years of being that full-time hired hand, we decided that it was probably best to part ways.- Okay.- With my uncle. So.- Oh, sure.- I talked to my dad, and I said,"You know, we're either going to do this or I'm going to leave and go back to construction."- Yeah.- You know? Because even though it is a family farm, I mean, you say it, there's so many [clears throat] family farms out there. The problem that they get into or we get into is we treat it as a family and not as a business.- Mm. So true.- And that's where I started seeing it not as a very good business.- Makes sense.- Yeah.- So moving forward now for the last four or five years, it's also been hard because it's like,"Okay Dad, do you want me to treat you as my father right now?"[Adam laughs] Do you want me to treat you as a partner?- Yeah.- Yeah.- Because right now I can respect you as my father, but you also need to respect me as your partner. So. And I think that'll continue from now until the end of time.- Yep.- Yeah.- You know, how do you balance Thanksgiving dinners?[Adam laughs]- Right? [laughs]- When you go up to-- Turkey tastes different.- Your-- Yeah, it does. Yeah.- Yeah, you know, when you go up and start visiting as a family or we're sitting across and saying, "Hey, what are we doing next week?" On the business side. So.- Yep.- Yeah.- And do you have any siblings?- I have three.- Okay.- I've got two sisters and a younger brother.- Okay. And you're the only one in, on the farm.- I am.- Okay. Well that can also create some dynamics as well, right?- It feels like I've always been the only one on the farm.[all laughing] I'm sorry if you're listening out there.- Yeah, yeah. Yep. No, I get it, I get it. Yeah.- I would say my younger brother, he would probably come back and help if need be.- Sure.- Mm hm.- Yep.- But-- Do you feel a lot of weight as a fifth generation on the land to kind of carry that on and maybe pass on to your next kids? Or does it just, "Hey, this is a job, this is my career?"- Day to day basis, I don't try to think about it. But when there's certain people like yourself that ask... [laughs]- Yeah.- With their nosy questions. [chuckles]- It, I mean, it's a great question. And I think you need to think more about that because, you know, work harder, work smarter. I mean, there are days where it's like,"Man, I want to get out and do more, but I'm sorry, mother nature controls a lot of that." So, yeah. There's obviously a lot of weight.- And in your defense, your dad is very history oriented. I mean, his whole basement is covered. He loves to tell people about who had it, John A. Scott and before that. And so he's very history heavy. So I think you need your, I mean, I've never say you do anything lighthearted, but we need your like more do-it attitude, because his rests so much on him right now trying to like carry that legacy on. So he definitely has that field and you have the like, okay.- I think there's a pride.- Oh yeah.- Yeah, 100%.- That goes with it. You know, and moving forward, you know, after my generation, I don't know. You know, where it's going to go. You know?- I'm sure every generation before you has said the same thing. Right?- Well.- You know, that's just kind of the nature of it. I think, you know, we see this a lot with family businesses that there is a desire to keep it in the family for sure. But there's not always a willingness either. And I think the interesting wrinkle with ag too though, is there's such a connection to the thing, to the land.- Yeah.- Or a building.- Or a building or that tree- Or a tree.[both laughing]- That tree.- You know what I mean? Like we had a tree on the farm. And by God, that was where the swings went and the whole thing. And every remembers a tree. And now you go back and the tree's gone. They're like, well, it's not our farm. You know? So it's like there's an attachment to the land that I think is even more impactful than it is for any other business.- Yeah, yeah.- Yeah.- 100%.- And you wish that you could like write the most, the best paragraph about what it means. But if you are not in the farming community or even like, even those who've went back to their grandma's farm, they get it a little bit, but there's never enough words to describe the weight of like, but this means something. This land, like my great great grandfather bought this, and like starved and did all these, like, there's just a weight that you hold when you're a farmer or a rancher.- Yeah.- Yeah.- So the flip side, you are a founder, so you're not a fifth generation business owner.- No.- You are a founder and you've been running your business for 15 years is that right?- Well, yes. It's a little fuzzy right now. Because I looked at my sales tax license and I opened it in 2004.- Ah.- But clearly I'm not old enough to run in business for 20 years.- No, no, no, no, you started it in high school.- Smoke, smoke, smoke.- Yeah, that's right.- I've been in business- You started it when you were nine.- for 15-- Yeah, yes. [laughs]- Thank you. Thank you.[laughs] Such I was selling stuff on the playground when I was nine, so we'll just say that. But yes, we've been for like 15 plus years now.- Okay. Well tell me about the origins of the business, and what you do and the story.- Well-- How'd you get started?- We were poor newlyweds. And so there's that. And I've always sewn, because again, I'm a good 4-H'er. And I watched my mom be super joyful when she was sewing. So I liked sewing just because I got to see my mom like it. And then we were poor newlyweds, didn't know what we'd do for Christmas gifts. But I'm a big giver and I wanted to give something. And I love purses. I think it's just the easiest thing to update an outfit. And it's like a home away from home. I'll say no more. Okay, because I could always go on about purses.- Hey, I am a husband- But, anyways-- and a father of two girls. So I-- You get it, you get it!- I get it. Yeah.- Bag's a big thing. So I sewed Christmas gifts. I had my sewing machine. That was my college graduation gift. Some people get cars, I get a sewing machine. And I had fabric, so I sewed some purses, and then I started getting orders from their friends and family. Like, "Hey, this is really cute. Can I have one?" And I thought, "Gosh, this would be so fun." And I've always had an entrepreneur spirit. Like I was selling stuff on the playground. I was always like, I worked in radio, but I was like, "Hey, your walls need painted. Can I paint your walls? Hey, you need a janitor? Can I be your janitor?" Like, I was always like,"Hmm, what can I do here?" So I always had that spirit. Anyway, started sewing the purses, filled a couple orders and then I was like, "Nick, if I could get this up and rolling, then I could stay home and raise a bunch of your kids."[Adam laughs] So he said, "Okay." And thankfully you have never said no to business adventures. There's a few where you, I wish you would've been a little louder about your no, but, and which I'm sure he is like too, but he was very, very encouraging. Like we did the math and I did the math wrong. So I should have waited another year, before I actually quit radio. But I eventually quit radio. I stayed up that night until 2:00 a.m. sewing. I was so excited. And then I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and continued like I could not wait to hit the ground running with my own thing.- You were on fire.- Oh, I was so on fire. At one point, I ran out of money for supplies, and I was pacing around in my living room, like, what am I going to do? I can't take anything to the show. My curtains were super cute. So I crawled up on a stool and cut my curtains down, and put those into purses and sold those. So I love that story.[Adam laughing] Because that's like you get if you want it, there are options. There's tons of options.- Yeah.- So that's how that started. And then it thankfully, I mean it had ups and downs, and we'd have a kiddo and then I'd figure out like,"Ooh, I'm going to need some more help." My mom was my first employee of course.- Nice.- She's the master, and she still works for me. Even in her retirement. And then I just started getting one seamstress after the other and then had to get some admin staff in there as well. And we're still navigating what that looks like. Nobody's super full-time except for me, part-time, weekends, all the above. [laughs] And yeah, when, not fair to say the rest is history, but it just developed that way.- Yeah. Did you set out to own your own business? You said you're entrepreneur. So.- Yeah, I wanted it to be mine. And I loved sewing and I love creating. So my biggest, and it's still my biggest mission, is like I just want to sew purses. I just want to sew, because we have lots of things that we sew, but I want to sew purses and raise kiddos. And so we're still doing that. And if the vision goes any different from that, like, I've been pitched different places in town to set up and I was like, "No." Because then I can't be home with the kiddos. So I've just been very clear about what I want to do and I still want to manufacture. And we've been pitched different manufacturing facilities and I'm like, "No." I want to sew and I want to provide jobs. And then on my customer's point of view is I get to give them the chance to create. And like people say often like, why are you so joyful? Or what is it? And I'm like, "Well first of all it's Jesus. And second of all, have you ever created something?"[all laughing] It's really fun. So, on our website, they get the opportunity to create something, and it says something about who they are.- Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Well, in addition to that, let me get, make sure I get all your hats.- [Rebekah] Okay. [laughs]- You are an author.- Yes.- You're a speaker.- Yes.- You're a coach and you're a podcaster.- Yep.- Is that right?- Yes.- Okay. So tell me about how you add-- Wife, mother.- Well, yes, that's a given, all the kiddos. Tell me about how you added that onto your journey as well as a business owner. And when do you sleep?- Oh, well, I would say this. I do sleep well and I don't survive on four hours. When women hear that, especially, then they're like,"Well, whatever, she's." I'm like, "No, no, no guys, I sleep really well." I have a very distinct story about when I started my Encourager brand, which is all those things. And it's coach, speaker, author, podcaster. I love that part. But I was in a parking lot exchanging linings. That's the inside of a purse. And I was exchanging linings with the seamstress. And it was me and probably three of the ducklings with me. We were dressed ready for the day.

It was like 9: 25:24

00 a.m. And probably everybody under the age of 10. And the seamstress arrived with her three kids. And it looked like one of those funny gifs that you get where they're like rolling in of the minivan, and she gets out in her little tracksuit, and the kids are in their PJs and bedhead and all that. And she's like, "Oh my gosh." And mine were ready for the day. Stay tuned for the side by side. Believe me, nobody feel guilty. And she said, "Oh my gosh, tell me you are not like this." And I said, "No, no, no, no, no. We have days like that too." And then immediately felt a punch in my gut, because after reflecting on it, the truth was I was being falsely humble. Like we did have it fairly well put together. And that was how I was succeeding. That's how I was able to employ her to do what she was doing. And I heard a very distinct message of you need to tell people how. And I was being asked how all the time at shows, they would see my sheer amount of inventory. They would see the pictures of my kids, and Nicholas and go like,"Wait a minute. How are you? How do you do all this?" Well, I couldn't tell them in two to three minutes why I wanted them to buy a purse. But I was like, well, I have some radio background. I'll hop into a microphone before everybody was podcasting. And I was like, "I'll just tell people how to do this, so that they can feel encouraged." And so after that moment, I jumped on the microphone and just tell, started telling as many processes. Because I have a lot of tools and strategies that I use to help encourage women to do both work and home life well. And then the rest rolled out from there. So then they wanted one-on-one coaching. I have a digital course where you could just, for six hours or less, you can absorb it an hour at a time. It talks about my food system, my me system, how I take care of myself, sleeping included. You know, my family system, my work system, and then my home system, like how do you do the laundry. And that sort of stuff so that women could absorb it and take what they want. But it's a guided worksheet so they can do it their way. Because the truth is, I can't possibly guess what your role or stage is or how it is you operate, but I can for sure ask you the questions that you don't even know to ask yourself on how you want to do it. And so there's that. And then the book was somewhere in the middle, they said they wanted something tangible. And I said, "Okay, that's easy. I can just Google how to write a book." And I did.- YouTube it.- And I found a guy in Sioux Falls. And I had a couple meetings with him, and I was like, "All right, I'll get to writing." And then I realized I was like 10 months pregnant,[Adam laughs] and I was like, this is not going to happen. I got to be wise here. Like I can't write a book in the middle of this. So I called him after I already had money down on it. I was like, we're going to have to pause. And he totally respected it. And then to get the second round, like published, and all that stuff we did, I did have to ask Nicholas for some livestock. I was like, "Hey, do we have anything we could sell for my second round here?" [laughs][Adam laughing] And he obliged. And so that's how the book got written.- Sold some cows to publish a book.- Yeah, kind of. [laughs] It's a little more layered than that, but yeah.- Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love that story.- Yeah.- That's awesome.[Rebekah laughing] Well, don't feel bad. I, we paid for this podcast a year before we did our first episode because-- [Rebekah] Right.- I knew how much work it would be.- Yes.- And I was scared to start. And I knew once you started you have to keep going.- Yes.- And so I was just like frozen. And so finally I just said,"We're going to do it." And here we are four years later. So.- Oh my gosh.- We'll see what happens.- And see the world of podcasting really is consistency in tech. And obviously you have beautiful tech.- We do.- And you've been consistent. If you can manage those two things, you can podcast.- And some days it's hard enough to manage those two things.- I know. I know. [laughs] They're enough, right? That's why I'm glad I have the purse business, because I always have content of like,"Well, I learned this guys don't do this."- Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Well, speaking of managing things, you guys are so busy. Like how do you, at this point in your marriage and your relationship and the businesses and all the things going on, like how do you stay on the same page financially?- Oh, we have a meeting.- You have a meeting?- It's called the honey huddle. Mm hm, I know.- She named it.- I thought you might've- Actually, my staff helped me name it.- named that Nick.- But it's called the honey huddle. We just had it last night actually. And it's just a monthly meeting. And it's actually a downloadable resource on my website, theencouragerpodcast.com. Anyways-- Plug.- Plug.- Yeah, there we go. Printed it off. And it's just prompts. So it's like calendars and schedule. And then one of the prompts is budget. And so then I can tell him like I still manage it. So I go onto every dollar, and I enter in all the stuff that's coming in, and then all the stuff that's going out. And then I tell him like if we're short or if we're above. And he goes, "Okay." And then probably about the middle of the month we refer back to it, and I'm like, "Hey, we were prioritizing this, but this happened." And he's like, "Oh, okay." So not that, but...- There's always going to be a kid getting hurt or injured or needing football cleats.- Yep.- You know, that you don't plan. You know, so if you can meet once a month and get on the same page, then those uncertainties aren't a curve ball. And you know, and make it that much harder, so.- It helps too when we put our priorities on there, because it prompts that too. So that-- Yeah, I was just going to ask about that, yeah.- The expectations are the same. Where if I'm like, "Hey, can you build the deck this month? Would that be possible?" He's like, "Honey."- No.[Adam laughs]- I'm like, "Okay, fine, but can I move it to next month?" But like the expectation, if I would've been thinking like,"Oh, I thought we would finish," then there, there'd be anger there. But as long as he can tell me no politely and kindly, I'm like, "Okay, fine."- Yeah. So do you use those meetings to talk big picture stuff too?- Mm hm.- Or is it? Okay.- Yeah, that's why you went to Africa was because I can look back at our notes. It was like three years ago that there's a prompt in there that says his and her goals- Dreams. and dreams.- So that it prompts both of us to be like,"Hey, what do you want to do?" And Africa actually wasn't one of his, it was the Yukon. But I was like, "Well this one's available." I mean, he came to me and said, "This one's available." I was like, "I'm pretty sure you've been asking for that. Let's make it happen." So then that was a whole nother money conversation of like,"Well, how?" And we figured it out.- Again, being on the same page. You know, if I wanted to go to Africa, and she was, you know, not for it, you know, it would've been that much harder. You know, but if-- Which is interesting during that, and I might have told you this too before, it's like women, when I said you were in Africa, were like, "Oh boy." Like I should have had all these reactions. I was like, I couldn't understand because it was such a, like we had saved for it. I was so excited for you. I didn't have any of those resentment feelings that I think a lot of couples experience. And I don't even know how to describe why you wouldn't be excited if that was the other person's dream.- Hmm.- I don't know.- That's probably a different show.- Probably.[all laughing] Fair. Fair.- But I get the reaction, and like, because I hear that as well. And it's sad, you know, I think we should each value the things that we want to work towards. And they may be different, you know, between husband and wife and that's fine. Because we all have different goals and different dreams. But you save for them and you work for them and you celebrate the heck out of them for each other, so.- Yeah, I did declare a new one last night. I want to do the rim-to-rim.- The what?- The rim-to-rim Grand Canyon.- Oh, okay, I thought maybe you were-- I don't think he wants to go with.- Nope, I'm good.[Rebekah laughs]- I love it.- I think as farmers, I mean, bring it back to our livelihood, you know, with Facebook and all the media, you know, you see so many people at their lake house. Or you see so many people going on vacations to Florida or wherever they're going. And as a farmer with livestock, it's 365 days.- Yeah.- And so it's a lot harder to take what's it called?- Vacation.- Vacation.- Oh, that.- Starts with a V.- I think that's the word.[Rebekah laughs]- [Adam] The word the kids are using.- And it is hard because you see our kids hearing about all these other families going on vacations. So for us to be like,"Hey, I would like to go to Africa." It's not just a last month we decided this. You know, and it's planning and planning and planning and I think it's planning those vacations, those special moments with your kids as well. And it's, what do you always say? It's the quality of time.- No, it's the reverse. It's quantity, not quality that your kids will remember. And that's pretty good when you farm. You don't get all those quality times, but the quantity, the amount of time that we spent with them.- Yeah.- Yeah.- And love is spelled T-I-M-E.- Yeah.- So, check, check. They're well loved. [laughs]- Or like your grandma spelled it, B-U-T-T-E-R.- Butter. [laughs]- Butter. [laughs]- She was a great baker.- I love that. Nick, you told me that you dream a little differently when you farm and ranch. What does that mean?- Yeah, I mean, again, it's not dreaming of that lake cabin. It's not dreaming of, you know, how many vacations we can go to this year. It's how can I even save for a new piece of equipment? Or how do you save up for another piece of ground? You know, that piece of dirt, you know, that, [clears throat] excuse me, that might mean something to our generation or the generations before or the generations after. So when you dream, yeah, I mean it's, those are bigger dreams.- Well you're not just dreaming for your nuclear family. Like you dream for the generations to come as well. And I think we, like, we dream, if I answered it, it was we dream, what can we enhance with what we already have. Like, we get to have seemingly five yards. And so it's like, well what can we do with this? Let's build a cool backyard oasis where this is our lake place or whatever, and have family's in.- Yeah.- Mm hm.- Speaking of, I know that's one of your goals is to kind of create a place for your family and friends to gather and people to come back to. We all have those dreams and goals. Tell me a bit about that goal, and why you want to do it, and what other goals you might be working towards.- Well, we just cut the boards last night [laughs] for part of it.- Okay.- There, I mean, there's so many phases, you know? And I think that's the part that is hard to comprehend and it's hard to swallow because it's like, I want this like right now, you know? Or we have graduation coming next year for our senior and it's like, we want all this to be done by then. And it's like, wait a minute, the funds aren't there. You know, your podcast "Common Cents," it doesn't make any sense to build this when we're going to be, you know, struggling Dave Ramsey wise-- Yeah.- Yeah.- paying for it, you know, you pay cash for it. I don't like to take out any more loans than I have to, you know? So. Yeah, it's different phases and different priorities. You know, if it's meaning just a hot tub that's one.- Yep.- Yeah.- You know?- Yeah. Well we just like, I don't even know if it's like entertaining people, but we just like people to have a soft place to land and to restore and like go back to like wholesome things of what families like to enjoy together. So it's like fires and board games. And we got to host the youth group on Friday night and then I was like, there was a moment where I was like,"Dang, this is what we've been planning for." And we didn't have any of the things that we thought we needed. Like we wanted to build a bunk house that's two thirds gym and one third living and the lofts. Everybody could have like a lock in. We didn't have any of that. All we had was the hot tub, and the pool, and the basketball court. And they had a total blast. I don't think any of those kids knew any different. So I was like, "Dang, we still, we are doing this." And I want to do it over and over and over again. It was really fun.- Maybe you're closer to your goal than you thought.- Yeah, yeah. We could still play ghost in the graveyard at one in the morning. We were like 10 year olds. It was so fun. [laughs] Maybe it's so we feel younger. [laughs]- I think it's the different aspect, you know, having those friends and family from town to come out to the country to smell the cows and the horses and everything else. To come out and bottle feed a calf, you know, those, we want to show friends that, hey, living out in the country has its blessings. You know? And so, yeah.- You also both have large hearts and you want to give back. Tell me about some of your goals towards that end.- I just want to live on 10%, and what do they say, give the 90%. I think that would be amazing. That would be so fun.- So you want to give away all the money?- Yeah.- Okay.- Like all the, I consistently thinking about like,"Huh, how could we help?" So one of my big goals is like to solve Brandon School Districts hunger problems, because I can't solve the world just yet, but maybe someday. And so, like in our community, there's actually some, there's a lot of hardships just in Brandon, and everybody could say that for their own community. So I set to making some phone calls to find out how to do that. And we've done a couple different food drives for our little elementary, for some families there. And that felt good to start. And then my girls got to watch it. Our girls got to watch it from the car. We just stayed in the parking lot as they loaded and the joy on these kids' faces. And I was like, "Ugh." So even if it's like maybe 1% of what I originally thought, I'm like, "This matters." So that was really fun. And yeah, anytime we get the opportunity, when we do our tithing, we do it uniquely sometimes to our church. And sometimes we just ask each other, like in our honey huddle, like,"Hey, is somebody in need?" And sometimes it's a friend or sometimes it's another business that we know just had a weird season. Sometimes it's our kids' friends. Anytime that we can have an opportunity to give outside of the regular, and to touch and give, not just like write a check, which is valid and it's important and it's valuable. But when you can touch the family and your kids can see like, whoa, there was an exchange that happened here. That's unimaginable.- Priceless.- Yes, yes. Yeah. And sometimes it's not money everybody. Sometimes it's time, sometimes it's feelings, sometimes it's a free hug. I mean it's all that like give, give, give.- Yeah. Love that. What's been the best financial decision you've made to date?- Dave Ramsey, year one. [laughs]- [Adam] Dave Ramsey, year one.- And...- I mean, obviously the worst decisions are a lot easier because there's so many more.[Rebekah grumbles]- Yeah, but the best that influenced our family would've been Dave Ramsey.- And then buying grandma's house.- Mm.- Yep. We moved 50 yards into grandma's house. That was a very good decision.- Yeah. The next step, yeah.- Yeah.- Which was layered,- The Goal.- because it's family and it was her house. So guys, everyone, her trees and her perennials are still living, but there's a lot of pressure on me, on myself.- Well don't cut up her curtains for purses.- No, no. Well, no I changed those.- Okay. [laughs]- Sorry everyone and the pink porcelain sink.- Oh.- But her, she was really good at gardening, and just a really, really, really awesome woman. So I try to preserve that because when people drive by, that's still Lorna and Richard's place. And so we need to honor that, but marry it with the future of what it looks like too. So I think we've done a pretty good job.- How about worst financial decision?- Oh. [laughs]- [Adam] If you had to pick one one.- Oh, you said, I guess another best one- Oh yeah.- would be probably my trip to Africa.- Oh, okay.- You know, just because we had planned it saved, you know, and it went, I think smoothly. I mean, but it proved that, you know, it showed probably the kids and myself that you can have those goals. And you can, you know, go ahead and do it. You know, is there a right time to do it? Probably not. But if you don't set your-- Yeah, if you've saved. It's not a right time if you haven't.- So yeah, that would've been another one of the better decisions.- Yeah.- Yeah.- Love that.- And I can't wait for you to go on yours.- Oh, awesome. I'm going to extend mine by two weeks everyone.[all laughing]- You heard it here first.- You're taking the kids with you.- Yeah.[all laughing]- Actually we were thinking about it like some of our nieces so that they could have the experience too.- Oh, that's funny.- Worst ones. Aye, aye, aye. You said your pickup, your very first pickup was a disaster.- I wouldn't say my first vehicle, but yeah, there was a pickup that I was somewhat forced into buying and, you know, said that it was going to be a good deal. And obviously it turned out not to be, and so...- Not so much.- I don't know what?- Well, it's like what do we share with Adam today here?- Only what you're comfortable.- Business wise,- Business.- I invested in some consultants that didn't work out. We just couldn't get on the same page. We tried and tried and tried, and Nicholas had like a gut feeling all along. And I wish that was my biggest mistake is not leaning into that more. And it just, it cost me a lot of money and a lot of digging out. So I learned a lot. I learned it the expensive way, which is, most of my lessons are very expensive. But I learned a lot. And now I knew what to do going forward, but that was not a very good financial decision.- Sure.- I think I went and worked over the road for-- Oh that was terrible.- Six months,- Nine months.- Nine months. And so yeah, that was another bad decision.- In the very beginning. Yeah, you did construction, and Gus was only like a year old. It was bad. And to this day, he's 17, he will come into a room, and he'll take roll call and I know it's because of those years where he was like,"Where's Dad? Where's Mom? Where's Nana? Where's Papa?"- Oh sure.- He still does the same thing.- Really? Oh, that's funny.- Not to hold that over your head. Sorry, that's what that sounded like. But... [laughs]- So we learn, we learn.- Yeah.- So we all have like impactful money moments that stand out to us, good and bad throughout our lives. What are some of those best money moments that you can think back on that are like,"Oh that was really cool?"- When we were doing the Dave Ramsey program and we finally paid off your student loans.- Mm.- College.- And my last phone call to SDSU to pay them off was for only $13.[Adam laughs] Like we, and I was like,"Dang, isn't there like a hundred dollars and less? Like, do I actually have to pay it?" And she was like, "Well, you're on the phone." I'm like, "Dang, I should have read about this." And I actually made the phone call while I was still in radio in my cubicle. And afterwards I was like, "Does everybody want to know this?" Or like, yeah,- No confetti.- and this was before like cell phones, you know, and stuff. But I just, I remember where I was, I remember when I was sitting, I remember the amount that was such a cool, like,"Oh, we do not owe anything right now." And then we paid for a minivan in complete cash, like dollar bills. And when we went in we're like,"Do you have a cash machine to count all this?" And it was the best because it was with a family member. And he was like, "Uh?"- "What are you guys doing?"- How are you? Why? And we're like,"We're doing Dave Ramsey, so this is what we do." We paid this minivan.- I think have to report this.[Adam and Nick laughing]- But there's some like added costs in here. And we're like, well, not today. And if you can't, we totally get it. We'll go to the next guy. So we jammed him into that decision because we're like,"No, this is it, this is it. This is everything." We're not even eating on the way home. Like this is what we're paying and so we got it. [laughs]- [Adam] Yeah. [laughs]- But I don't know what it did for him. That was very memorable.- Yeah, love that. Are there areas today as you sit back and think, like, financially speaking, you know what, we're winning. We're doing this okay.- Oh.- Not lately.- [laughs] This has been a rough year for retail, but I always, we're still like, obviously follow Dave Ramsey, but kind of a hybrid version now that we're fully farming ranching, but we still have envelopes with cash and it has never run dry. And there has been, I mean, it's got down to like $20 before, but it has never run dry. And it's like that Bible analogy of the oil jar. It's just, it's always provided and it's always been enough. And so when I got the money out today to get groceries, I'm like just such a grateful moment again of like, thank you for always providing. So that I feel like we're winning in that.- I think we're good at that analogy of keeping your hand open.- Yeah.- Yes.- You know, and if you get a hundred dollars, if you grasp it and never let it go, you can't get another a hundred dollars. You know, your hands already, you know, gripped on that. So I think that analogy of just keeping our hand open for whatever comes in and whatever we can give. So at times we need two hands.[Rebekah laughs] Lately it's only been one. So it's seasons, you know, we talk all the time about seasons of farming and ranching and you know, it's the same way with money and how people like to spend. I mean, some people like to spend more during the Christmas holiday seasons, you know, so those seasons are better for us. But yeah, there's-- And the girls, I shopped with our youngest today at grocery shopping and she was price comparing and she's nine. I was like, good 4-H'er for one. And then my second thought was, "Okay, we're winning." Like We're teaching 'em, you don't just buy the $6 cereal box when you can buy the granola or whatever. So I was like, okay, okay. They're seeing, and they see us both work independently. Which is one of our core values as a married couple, is that we want to work independently, and they watch that. And so they also like, especially my daughters cheer lead me when I go live. Because they're like, "Okay mom, it looks adorable. You look great. It's going to be fun." Because they know like, this is what I do for a living. And so I've got to show up ready and prepared and they know when people like it and buy it. And so I feel like we're winning there too. Like, you can do what you love.- I love it. Last question for me. What's most important to you guys at this stage?- Lots and lots and lots of family time. So even if it doesn't involve a vacation right now, like I want to go eat popsicles on the trampoline. Like as much quantity time as possible. Going on four-wheeler rides, watching the sunset, going for walks with my son, having tons of conversations with him up until they go. That is the most important for me right now. For them to just lots and lots and lots of time. Bean bags. We rope him into all kinds of stuff at the end of the night when he is been out in the elements all day and we're still like,"Dad, can you please come out and play with us?" That's most important to me.- Love it.- I think just sitting back and seeing the change of character in their seasons, you know, whether it's in elementary school or whether it's in high school, just seeing the changes, the trials, you know, them fighting through whatever, and sitting back and saying, "We're doing it." You know?- Love that. Proud parent moments.- Sitting back and soaking it in. You know, trying to anyways.- Because it moves quick.- Oh.- Yeah.- Hmm. Well, you two are a blessing. Thank you so much for sharing your story. This was awesome having you. We really appreciate it. And I love your missions. I love, I just love how you're focused on today, but you have long-term goals and you communicate and you're doing so many of the things that people talk about in books and you're actually doing 'em, so.- Oh, we're trying.- And so I hope people can use you as a model. I know it's not always perfect.- No, my gosh, no.- But, you stay in there and you fight. So thank you so much for sharing your story.- Oh, thank you for having us.- Yep. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, please subscribe and share with your family or friends. If you have a topic you want us to cover in future episodes, send us a note through our website. And if you're at the point where you want an expert opinion on your finances, reach out and we'd be happy to start a conversation. And remember any comments, insights, or strategies discussed on this podcast are intended to be general in nature and therefore may not be suitable for you and your situation, whatever that may be. Before acting on anything we discuss, please consult with your attorney, CPA, and/or your financial advisor.