My story is a long journey of creating businesses when and where I see opportunity and then working hard to make them successful. I have started over 20 small businesses in different industries, from tutoring to restaurants to ranch-ing. I have taken everything I know from several years of building businesses, and I now share it all with other entrepreneurs and small business owners through the M5 Academy.
I have been starting businesses since I was 9 years old, before I even knew that I was running a business! I didn’t even know that the word “entrepreneur” existed. I have always loved turning a business idea into a reality. I love seeing a need in a community and creating a profitable business to fill that niche. When I see an empty storefront, my wheels start spinning with what could fill the space and serve the community — all while making money! After all, a business is just a hobby unless it makes a profit.
As I reflect on my entrepreneurial past, it is clear that all roads have led to the ranch. When we lived in the Bay Area, my husband, Brian, and I opened several restaurants. It was always our main focus to spend a lot of our time sourcing really good quality ingredients for our menu. In the quest for super high-quality meats, raised ethically but with great flavor, we did a ton of research with our chefs to know exactly what we wanted.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We searched high and low in small farms and couldn’t find anyone who met our dry-aging, harvesting, quality and quantity standards … so we decided to do it ourselves! We found a piece of property that suited our needs. We relied heavily on my brother-in-law, who is a fifth-generation cattle rancher, as well as other seasoned ranchers to give us sage advice on raising cattle for premium beef.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We thought we could hire a ranch hand to manage the ranch during the week, and we’d commute back and forth (a six-plus-hour drive each way with four kids in car seats!) on the weekends. We were excited about the opportunity for recreation and ranch life for our kids while we got our operation started.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
It was only eight short weeks later that we decided we couldn’t do this part time! We wanted to be the ones taking care of our animals all of the time, not just on the weekends. We didn’t want to rely on someone else to do it the way we wanted it done — which was a little nontraditional and outside the box. We wanted to be full-time ranchers, and we wanted to make this our livelihood.
Start today!
— Five Marys
Our lives switched paths, and we found ourselves jumping into ranching full time. This meant selling our businesses and leaving our beautiful home we’d worked so hard for. Brian left his busy law practice, and we moved away from a land of opportunity and the only livelihood we knew.
We knew we had to find a new model and create a business from scratch to sustain our livelihood, so we started from square one. We knew if we couldn’t, we’d fall back on lawyering, and I’d switch gears to another business concept … but we wanted so badly for this to work for our family. We wanted this lifestyle. It’s not easy to make a living as first-generation ranchers, and we had more obstacles than I can count. Sometimes we were stopped dead in our tracks, but we knew we had to keep pushing, working harder until we found a way.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We started traveling for deliveries and selling our beef at farm stands (our own version of farmers markets). After a bit of time, we knew this wasn’t a sustainable option for us because we wanted to be on the ranch, not traveling all of the time to sell our meat. The answer seemed to lie in finding customers who appreciated well-raised, well-sourced meats and us
Be kind, don’t whine, be tough.
— Five Marys
When we started shipping, we had a 20-foot container at the ranch that was a converted freezer trailer. This is how everybody starts. You know you’ve got to start somewhere! I had another container where I stored all of our boxes and liners. I was printing labels at the house, running the quarter-mile down the driveway and putting it on the box. It worked fine in the summer … but then it turns to October, and it’s raining, and labels are getting wet, and it’s a big mess.
Photo by Joy Prouty
Brian built an overhang, and at that time, we were shipping about 30 boxes each week. My goal was to one day be able to fill the FedEx truck! We started where we could — and some days, I even look back and miss those times because we were constantly problem-solving and piecing things together. You just gotta make it happen!
“My best advice to entrepreneurs is this: Forget about making mistakes. Just do it.”
— Ajaero Tony Martins
Once we were in a place where we thought we were shipping enough to make it worthwhile, and I couldn’t physically ship outside anymore, we knew we had to make a change. One day, Brian brought me into town and showed me a little building that was vacant and for sale. It was a dump … but I knew it could be amazing. It was carpets and linoleum and weird walls in different places. We opened it up and went back to the original floors. We tried to jackhammer layers off the walls to give it a rustic look … and we’ve been shipping from there ever since! It’s a very unconventional “studio,” but I couldn’t love it more!
Photo by Joy Prouty
We’ve grown a ton since then, but we never want to get so big that it’s not us and our M5 team on the ranch and packing boxes. We always want it to feel homespun. People want to see you behind the scenes. That is such an important part of running a small business.
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
— A.A. Milne
We now have the Burgerhouse and another little farm store/office space right next door on Main Street in our small town, Fort Jones. We’ve made everything super cute with flags, taxidermy and lots of our other M5 goodies. We also wanted a space on the ranch where we could gather with family and friends and share our land. We built a beautiful outdoor kitchen space for everyone to gather, host retreats and create new Five Marys Farms recipes using our own meat.
Believe in community and collaboration over competition.
— Five Marys
I love coming up with new design ideas, mismatching patterns, thrifting for rustic vintage finds and enhancing the old-school charm that old buildings and materials bring. I love being creative and finding new ways to do things and new products to bring into our brand … whether that be creating shibori-dye designs, teaming up with a local craftsman to create sheep pelts from our flock at harvest, partnering with local distilleries and wineries to create Five Marys bourbon whiskey and wine, or teaching kids all over the world about agriculture through our virtual M5 Ranch School program.
We use social media to share our story, sell our product and connect with our customers from all over the world. I have learned that it’s always best to do as much as you can yourself. I believe this is a huge part of any small business’s success to minimize outsourcing and costs and to stay true to your vision.
“The key to success is to start before you are ready.”
— Marie Forleo
I don’t think I’ll ever stop creating business ideas. But right now, I’m so happy working hard on the ranch every day with my husband and our girls, and helping others create their dreams in their own small businesses.
My story is a long journey of creating businesses when and where I see opportunity and then working hard to make them successful. I have started over 20 small businesses in different industries, from tutoring to restaurants to ranch-ing. I have taken everything I know from several years of building businesses, and I now share it all with other entrepreneurs and small business owners through the M5 Academy.
I have been starting businesses since I was 9 years old, before I even knew that I was running a business! I didn’t even know that the word “entrepreneur” existed. I have always loved turning a business idea into a reality. I love seeing a need in a community and creating a profitable business to fill that niche. When I see an empty storefront, my wheels start spinning with what could fill the space and serve the community — all while making money! After all, a business is just a hobby unless it makes a profit.
As I reflect on my entrepreneurial past, it is clear that all roads have led to the ranch. When we lived in the Bay Area, my husband, Brian, and I opened several restaurants. It was always our main focus to spend a lot of our time sourcing really good quality ingredients for our menu. In the quest for super high-quality meats, raised ethically but with great flavor, we did a ton of research with our chefs to know exactly what we wanted.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We searched high and low in small farms and couldn’t find anyone who met our dry-aging, harvesting, quality and quantity standards … so we decided to do it ourselves! We found a piece of property that suited our needs. We relied heavily on my brother-in-law, who is a fifth-generation cattle rancher, as well as other seasoned ranchers to give us sage advice on raising cattle for premium beef.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We thought we could hire a ranch hand to manage the ranch during the week, and we’d commute back and forth (a six-plus-hour drive each way with four kids in car seats!) on the weekends. We were excited about the opportunity for recreation and ranch life for our kids while we got our operation started.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
It was only eight short weeks later that we decided we couldn’t do this part time! We wanted to be the ones taking care of our animals all of the time, not just on the weekends. We didn’t want to rely on someone else to do it the way we wanted it done — which was a little nontraditional and outside the box. We wanted to be full-time ranchers, and we wanted to make this our livelihood.
Start today!
— Five Marys
Our lives switched paths, and we found ourselves jumping into ranching full time. This meant selling our businesses and leaving our beautiful home we’d worked so hard for. Brian left his busy law practice, and we moved away from a land of opportunity and the only livelihood we knew.
We knew we had to find a new model and create a business from scratch to sustain our livelihood, so we started from square one. We knew if we couldn’t, we’d fall back on lawyering, and I’d switch gears to another business concept … but we wanted so badly for this to work for our family. We wanted this lifestyle. It’s not easy to make a living as first-generation ranchers, and we had more obstacles than I can count. Sometimes we were stopped dead in our tracks, but we knew we had to keep pushing, working harder until we found a way.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We started traveling for deliveries and selling our beef at farm stands (our own version of farmers markets). After a bit of time, we knew this wasn’t a sustainable option for us because we wanted to be on the ranch, not traveling all of the time to sell our meat. The answer seemed to lie in finding customers who appreciated well-raised, well-sourced meats and us
Be kind, don’t whine, be tough.
— Five Marys
When we started shipping, we had a 20-foot container at the ranch that was a converted freezer trailer. This is how everybody starts. You know you’ve got to start somewhere! I had another container where I stored all of our boxes and liners. I was printing labels at the house, running the quarter-mile down the driveway and putting it on the box. It worked fine in the summer … but then it turns to October, and it’s raining, and labels are getting wet, and it’s a big mess.
Photo by Joy Prouty
Brian built an overhang, and at that time, we were shipping about 30 boxes each week. My goal was to one day be able to fill the FedEx truck! We started where we could — and some days, I even look back and miss those times because we were constantly problem-solving and piecing things together. You just gotta make it happen!
“My best advice to entrepreneurs is this: Forget about making mistakes. Just do it.”
— Ajaero Tony Martins
Once we were in a place where we thought we were shipping enough to make it worthwhile, and I couldn’t physically ship outside anymore, we knew we had to make a change. One day, Brian brought me into town and showed me a little building that was vacant and for sale. It was a dump … but I knew it could be amazing. It was carpets and linoleum and weird walls in different places. We opened it up and went back to the original floors. We tried to jackhammer layers off the walls to give it a rustic look … and we’ve been shipping from there ever since! It’s a very unconventional “studio,” but I couldn’t love it more!
Photo by Joy Prouty
We’ve grown a ton since then, but we never want to get so big that it’s not us and our M5 team on the ranch and packing boxes. We always want it to feel homespun. People want to see you behind the scenes. That is such an important part of running a small business.
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
— A.A. Milne
We now have the Burgerhouse and another little farm store/office space right next door on Main Street in our small town, Fort Jones. We’ve made everything super cute with flags, taxidermy and lots of our other M5 goodies. We also wanted a space on the ranch where we could gather with family and friends and share our land. We built a beautiful outdoor kitchen space for everyone to gather, host retreats and create new Five Marys Farms recipes using our own meat.
Believe in community and collaboration over competition.
— Five Marys
I love coming up with new design ideas, mismatching patterns, thrifting for rustic vintage finds and enhancing the old-school charm that old buildings and materials bring. I love being creative and finding new ways to do things and new products to bring into our brand … whether that be creating shibori-dye designs, teaming up with a local craftsman to create sheep pelts from our flock at harvest, partnering with local distilleries and wineries to create Five Marys bourbon whiskey and wine, or teaching kids all over the world about agriculture through our virtual M5 Ranch School program.
We use social media to share our story, sell our product and connect with our customers from all over the world. I have learned that it’s always best to do as much as you can yourself. I believe this is a huge part of any small business’s success to minimize outsourcing and costs and to stay true to your vision.
“The key to success is to start before you are ready.”
— Marie Forleo
I don’t think I’ll ever stop creating business ideas. But right now, I’m so happy working hard on the ranch every day with my husband and our girls, and helping others create their dreams in their own small businesses.
My story is a long journey of creating businesses when and where I see opportunity and then working hard to make them successful. I have started over 20 small businesses in different industries, from tutoring to restaurants to ranch-ing. I have taken everything I know from several years of building businesses, and I now share it all with other entrepreneurs and small business owners through the M5 Academy.
I have been starting businesses since I was 9 years old, before I even knew that I was running a business! I didn’t even know that the word “entrepreneur” existed. I have always loved turning a business idea into a reality. I love seeing a need in a community and creating a profitable business to fill that niche. When I see an empty storefront, my wheels start spinning with what could fill the space and serve the community — all while making money! After all, a business is just a hobby unless it makes a profit.
As I reflect on my entrepreneurial past, it is clear that all roads have led to the ranch. When we lived in the Bay Area, my husband, Brian, and I opened several restaurants. It was always our main focus to spend a lot of our time sourcing really good quality ingredients for our menu. In the quest for super high-quality meats, raised ethically but with great flavor, we did a ton of research with our chefs to know exactly what we wanted.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We searched high and low in small farms and couldn’t find anyone who met our dry-aging, harvesting, quality and quantity standards … so we decided to do it ourselves! We found a piece of property that suited our needs. We relied heavily on my brother-in-law, who is a fifth-generation cattle rancher, as well as other seasoned ranchers to give us sage advice on raising cattle for premium beef.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We thought we could hire a ranch hand to manage the ranch during the week, and we’d commute back and forth (a six-plus-hour drive each way with four kids in car seats!) on the weekends. We were excited about the opportunity for recreation and ranch life for our kids while we got our operation started.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
It was only eight short weeks later that we decided we couldn’t do this part time! We wanted to be the ones taking care of our animals all of the time, not just on the weekends. We didn’t want to rely on someone else to do it the way we wanted it done — which was a little nontraditional and outside the box. We wanted to be full-time ranchers, and we wanted to make this our livelihood.
Start today!
— Five Marys
Our lives switched paths, and we found ourselves jumping into ranching full time. This meant selling our businesses and leaving our beautiful home we’d worked so hard for. Brian left his busy law practice, and we moved away from a land of opportunity and the only livelihood we knew.
We knew we had to find a new model and create a business from scratch to sustain our livelihood, so we started from square one. We knew if we couldn’t, we’d fall back on lawyering, and I’d switch gears to another business concept … but we wanted so badly for this to work for our family. We wanted this lifestyle. It’s not easy to make a living as first-generation ranchers, and we had more obstacles than I can count. Sometimes we were stopped dead in our tracks, but we knew we had to keep pushing, working harder until we found a way.
Photo by Kathryn Gamble
We started traveling for deliveries and selling our beef at farm stands (our own version of farmers markets). After a bit of time, we knew this wasn’t a sustainable option for us because we wanted to be on the ranch, not traveling all of the time to sell our meat. The answer seemed to lie in finding customers who appreciated well-raised, well-sourced meats and us
Be kind, don’t whine, be tough.
— Five Marys
When we started shipping, we had a 20-foot container at the ranch that was a converted freezer trailer. This is how everybody starts. You know you’ve got to start somewhere! I had another container where I stored all of our boxes and liners. I was printing labels at the house, running the quarter-mile down the driveway and putting it on the box. It worked fine in the summer … but then it turns to October, and it’s raining, and labels are getting wet, and it’s a big mess.
Photo by Joy Prouty
Brian built an overhang, and at that time, we were shipping about 30 boxes each week. My goal was to one day be able to fill the FedEx truck! We started where we could — and some days, I even look back and miss those times because we were constantly problem-solving and piecing things together. You just gotta make it happen!
“My best advice to entrepreneurs is this: Forget about making mistakes. Just do it.”
— Ajaero Tony Martins
Once we were in a place where we thought we were shipping enough to make it worthwhile, and I couldn’t physically ship outside anymore, we knew we had to make a change. One day, Brian brought me into town and showed me a little building that was vacant and for sale. It was a dump … but I knew it could be amazing. It was carpets and linoleum and weird walls in different places. We opened it up and went back to the original floors. We tried to jackhammer layers off the walls to give it a rustic look … and we’ve been shipping from there ever since! It’s a very unconventional “studio,” but I couldn’t love it more!
Photo by Joy Prouty
We’ve grown a ton since then, but we never want to get so big that it’s not us and our M5 team on the ranch and packing boxes. We always want it to feel homespun. People want to see you behind the scenes. That is such an important part of running a small business.
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
— A.A. Milne
We now have the Burgerhouse and another little farm store/office space right next door on Main Street in our small town, Fort Jones. We’ve made everything super cute with flags, taxidermy and lots of our other M5 goodies. We also wanted a space on the ranch where we could gather with family and friends and share our land. We built a beautiful outdoor kitchen space for everyone to gather, host retreats and create new Five Marys Farms recipes using our own meat.
Believe in community and collaboration over competition.
— Five Marys
I love coming up with new design ideas, mismatching patterns, thrifting for rustic vintage finds and enhancing the old-school charm that old buildings and materials bring. I love being creative and finding new ways to do things and new products to bring into our brand … whether that be creating shibori-dye designs, teaming up with a local craftsman to create sheep pelts from our flock at harvest, partnering with local distilleries and wineries to create Five Marys bourbon whiskey and wine, or teaching kids all over the world about agriculture through our virtual M5 Ranch School program.
We use social media to share our story, sell our product and connect with our customers from all over the world. I have learned that it’s always best to do as much as you can yourself. I believe this is a huge part of any small business’s success to minimize outsourcing and costs and to stay true to your vision.
“The key to success is to start before you are ready.”
— Marie Forleo
I don’t think I’ll ever stop creating business ideas. But right now, I’m so happy working hard on the ranch every day with my husband and our girls, and helping others create their dreams in their own small businesses.
The Women Create Foundation is a catalyst for small but significant strides to empower women creators through grants that help bring projects to life and foster innovation.
