Garrett Peters

Garrett Peters started his career with a plan to climb the corporate ladder but was drawn to entrepreneurship. Eventually, he teamed up with his wife and a friend to grow an Etsy store into a successful stationery business that uses handwritten storytelling to capture meaningful moments. 

“We have journals for every life stage…and what customers say is, ‘We love gifting these to people we love and doing it together and experiencing that together.’ So it’s been fun to develop this little brand.” - Garrett Peters, (34:49) 

 

Navigating the Corporate Ladder

After living in Fayetteville for about a year, some of Garrett’s new connections told him there were people at NorthStar Partnering Group he needed to get in touch with. He quickly set up a meeting and accepted a position at NorthStar in 2010, giving Garrett his first foray into the consumer packaged goods world. Garrett worked at NorthStar for a little over two years before deciding he wanted to gain better brand experience by working for a supplier. He left NorthStar and became a junior sales analyst at the J.M. Smucker Company.   

This was a significant change for Garrett, as NorthStar is a small-scale company and Smucker’s is a big machine in the Walmart vendor scene. Throughout his two years at Smucker’s, he was exposed to account management and selling. And although Garrett thoroughly enjoyed working at Smucker’s, he didn’t feel like he was gaining the experience he needed to advance in the packaged goods buying and selling industry. 

“In that situation, it was one of those things where I was most likely going to have to move to another retail team or home office to get more training in order to become a sales director or account manager.” - Garrett Peters, (4:43)

Because the vendor world is straightforward to enter into but harder to work your way up in, Garrett knew he and his wife were going to have to be rooted in Northwest Arkansas if he really wanted to ascend into a buyer-interfacing role. Thankfully, Garrett had people from the Harvest Group pressuring him to join their team, and he was hired as a national account manager. Later, after almost five years at the Harvest Group, Garrett joined another local broker team called Arena, where he worked in a business development position.        

 

The Start of Something New

Up to this point, Garrett and his wife Stephanie had been dabbling in a few side projects, resulting in catching the itch for entrepreneurship. Fortunately, at the time, one of Stephanie’s long-time friends, Sarah, was running an Etsy business selling custom paper goods. With Garrett’s background in brands and Stephanie’s creative mind, the three of them soon started to have conversations about how Sarah can expand her Etsy business. It didn’t take long for them to realize Sarah had something they could make into a brand. In 2020, they launched Duncan & Stone Paper Co. with five specialty items. 

“The entrepreneurial bug was starting to develop, and I think it was being around other people and companies that had entrepreneurial types of environments.” - Garrett Peters, (8:45)

 

Choosing Peace over Prosperity

Throughout the process of establishing Duncan & Stone, Garret continued to work full-time, leaving him with little time to work on his young brand. Following their first year of business, Garrett started to feel burdened by the expectations of working his full-time job while continuing to grow Duncan & Stone.   

Garrett confided in Stephanie about his struggles, and she confidently told him to quit his full-time job. That left Garrett having to decide whether he was going to quit his nine-to-five or keep doing both jobs halfway. After some conversations with close friends, Garrett turned in his two weeks' notice twenty-four hours after returning from Christmas break and went all in with Duncan & Stone. This transition back to working at a small company required Garrett to adjust his approach from a corporate mindset to one of a startup.

“Even on the side, we complement each other…There was definitely a sense of ease that we could do something together. We never had a master plan early on that we wanted to run a business together. It just kind of morphed into it.” - Garrett Peters, (9:48)

Admittedly, 2021 was a hard year for the business with all three, Garrett, Stephanie, and Sarah, navigating how to be a startup of three and get into the rhythm of things. But, as of spring this year, Duncan & Stone is no longer being run out of a garage and Garrett has stepped into a CEO role. Currently, Duncan & Stone is focusing on its strong holiday sales and scaling the business in a sustainable way. 

Garrett’s path to entrepreneurship highlights that going bigger is not always better, and that it’s healthy to prioritize what trajectory you want to proceed with when you’ve spread yourself too thin.

Garrett Peters:

Yes, exactly. They're just like, "Okay, we're back. We're ready to hit the ground running." I have a lot of responsibilities at this job, and the weight of what was happening was just too much for me.

Rick West:

Welcome to Push Go, a podcast presented by Plum. We highlight the defining moments that impact how we live and work. Today, I'm joined by Garrett Peters. He's the co-founder and CEO of Duncan & Stone. Prior to Duncan & Stone, Garrett spent more than 10-plus years working with brands at Walmart and Sam's Club. Today, you're going to hear how Garrett made the decision to leave the corporate space and navigate the world of entrepreneurship with his wife, Stephanie. Garrett, welcome to the podcast.

Garrett Peters:

Hey, thanks for having me, Rick.

Rick West:

Hey, it's always exciting to have an alumnus-

Garrett Peters:

It is, true.

Rick West:

... to be able to engage and talk about the good old days. I was trying to think back. It was during the NorthStar days, right?

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah.

Rick West:

Back in the day. How was it we first ... How did you either get recruited by or find out about NorthStar, back in the day?

Garrett Peters:

Back in the day, I think it was 2010 when I first stepped into the NorthStar building. We had been living in Fayetteville about a year, almost a year.

Rick West:

You and Stephanie.

Garrett Peters:

Me and Stephanie.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

We moved to Fayetteville in 2009. As we were getting settled in this new city, we got connected ... People kept saying, "There's some people at NorthStar you need to meet," so showed up, set up a meeting with you guys and started working there in 2010.

Rick West:

Wow. Where did you guys move from?

Garrett Peters:

Central Arkansas.

Rick West:

Okay. Was that home for both of you, originally?

Garrett Peters:

Well, originally I was from Fort Smith. Grew up there and then went to school at UCA down in Conway. Stephanie's from Conway, and went to school at UofA. Then she went back home to get her master's degree. We met in 2007, and then got married in 2009.

Rick West:

Wow, so you made it up this way. Started at NorthStar. Those days, was this the analytics, kind of-

Garrett Peters:

Yup.

Rick West:

... that side of the world-

Garrett Peters:

It was.

Rick West:

Getting into the vendor, Walmart kind of world?

Garrett Peters:

It was.

Rick West:

Was it with Clay and Marc?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Rick West:

I'm trying to remember.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah. It was Clay. It was kind of the dream team, as a way to look at it.

Rick West:

Wow, okay.

Garrett Peters:

I will say that.

Rick West:

I'm excited then.

Garrett Peters:

I will say that because it was a team of Brandon Hall, with Clay-

Rick West:

Oh, yeah. Great guy.

Garrett Peters:

Marc Yount, Ben Kirksey-

Rick West:

Oh my goodness.

Garrett Peters:

... who you've had on your podcast was on the team. Preston was an intern at the time.

Rick West:

That's right. Preston Baker.

Garrett Peters:

Preston came ... Yeah, Preston was around. It was a phenomenal group.

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

Yes, it was my first entry into the whole supplier, CPG world. Basically, I was Marc's right-hand man. I mean, really. I just shadowed him, did whatever he said. He showed me what to do, and I worked as an analyst under some of his brands, and Clay.

Rick West:

Oh, that's so cool. That's so cool. Do you still keep up with most of them, some?

Garrett Peters:

I do. I do. I saw Marc last weekend. I went over his house to borrow something, and still keep up with a lot of those guys, for sure.

Rick West:

Yeah. Well, that's great, that's great.

Garrett Peters:

It was really good.

Rick West:

You were there for a while doing various roles. From there, did you get into selling then or did you move from NorthStar into selling roles somewhere else?

Garrett Peters:

That's a good question. From there, really cut my teeth a little bit, and to understand what account management and selling look like, but not officially. From NorthStar, I left NorthStar and went to Smucker's in 2012, and so that was entering more-

Rick West:

Which is a massive change from a-

Garrett Peters:

It was.

Rick West:

... small company to this big machine, truly in the vendor world.

Garrett Peters:

Yes, exactly, exactly.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

I made the decision at the time and said, "I really want to go work for a supplier. I want to do that." I wanted to get some brand experience, and got connected-

Rick West:

Smucker's is a great company.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, great company.

Rick West:

A great place to learn.

Garrett Peters:

I had a great-

Rick West:

The training and development.

Garrett Peters:

100%.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, it was great. I was there from 2012 to '14. Still not officially selling, carrying the bag as an account manager during that time. Funny enough, Preston, who was at NorthStar as an intern, was at Smucker's at that time, so I got to work side by side with Preston.

Rick West:

Were you working with William there? Or ...

Garrett Peters:

Wasn't working directly with William. Another person there, but I sat right outside of his office, actually, which was quite funny. I got to experience working on great brands, supporting great salespeople. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Smucker's. It was great. It really was.

Rick West:

Okay. You're starting out. You're learning, you're growing, you're adding ... What was next for you then? Did you really want to carry the bag?

Garrett Peters:

I did. I did.

Rick West:

That was your goal-

Garrett Peters:

It was.

Rick West:

... to get experience.

Garrett Peters:

It was. In that situation, it was not unlike probably a lot of companies around here. It was one of those things where I was going to most likely have to move to another retail team or home office to get more training in order to become a sales director or account manager, at that situation.

Rick West:

Let's pause for a second then. Because people that really don't understand the economy, you're living in this world, in the vendor world that's fairly straightforward to get started, but to move along, it's hard to be a new hire or inter-level person to jump into truly a buyer interface sales type of role. You knew, in your mind, getting into this there would be stair steps-

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, exactly.

Rick West:

... so you would bounce around a little bit.

Garrett Peters:

Exactly.

Rick West:

What was your first foray into selling then?

Garrett Peters:

Well, so because of that, we were rooted in Northwest Arkansas.

Rick West:

You want to stay.

Garrett Peters:

I wanted to stay. Nothing against ... I probably could have had a great future working at Smucker's, and nothing against that at all, but I was like, "I really want to stay, but I want to carry the bag. I want to be an account manager. I want to do that work." A friend of mine who was Harvest Group at the time kept plugging Harvest Group and saying, "Hey, come over. Work with us. We can get you ... You can start as an account manager," et cetera, et cetera. I said, "I'm going to do that." To your question, that was the transition into officially selling, was going over to Harvest Group and being an account manager there.

Rick West:

At that time, you and Stephanie, are you at kid number one or two yet?

Garrett Peters:

We had two kids.

Rick West:

Two kids.

Garrett Peters:

We had two kids at that point, yeah. I think this was 2014, so we had a five-year-old and a three-year-old at the time. Two of our boys.

Rick West:

To your point, you're ingrained, the community part. You're really feeling like you're part of the community.

Garrett Peters:

I did, yeah.

Rick West:

Tn this vendor world, you could see the path. You could see where you could keep progressing along.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, yeah.

Rick West:

You didn't stay there.

Garrett Peters:

At Harvest?

Rick West:

Yeah.

Garrett Peters:

I didn't.

Rick West:

Where did you go from there?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, so was at Harvest Group. Great time there, 2014 to 2019.

Rick West:

Uh-huh.

Garrett Peters:

From Harvest, I went to another local broker team called Arena.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

Went to Arena Group in 2019, and into a more business development type role, honestly. I was involved in some of the account management side, but stepped in more into trying to track down clients and grow that side of the business for them.

Rick West:

Through a relationship again.

Garrett Peters:

Through a relationship, always. Oh, yeah.

Rick West:

Was Clay there at that time?

Garrett Peters:

He had just left. Actually, had just left. Yeah, still kept up with Clay over those years, but he actually just left. Yeah, every move that I made was really tied to a network or a relationship.

Rick West:

Love it, yeah.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, it was fun.

Rick West:

We talk, often, how a lot of times, success will follow the path and the speed of relationships.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

It's so important to hold onto those and keep progressing along.

Garrett Peters:

Absolutely.

Rick West:

This point in time, if an outsider was watching Garrett go down this path ... I don't want to say this in a negative way, but you're like the other 200 people going ... There's a certain career trajectory, and you're following the path, so you know where this is going, so just stay, lower your head-

Garrett Peters:

Just keep going.

Rick West:

Keep focused, because eventually, top manger, then you'd be director, then you'd be a VP team leader.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, exactly.

Rick West:

Right?

Garrett Peters:

You could take that path.

Rick West:

This is your path, right?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

This is the path you're going to go down.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

You and Steph, on the side, had been dabbling in a couple things, you're entrepreneurial. Was it real estate?

Garrett Peters:

It was real estate first.

Rick West:

Did you guys dabble in real estate at first?

Garrett Peters:

It was.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

It was, yeah.

Rick West:

That was Steph kind of itching, at this point. You had three-

Garrett Peters:

We had three kids.

Rick West:

Three kids.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Rick West:

You're dabbling in real estate.

Garrett Peters:

Yes, yes.

Rick West:

You had the bug then for entrepreneurial thing?

Garrett Peters:

I did. I did, yeah. In 2000 and probably '12 or '13, we just started to get into other random things. You call-

Rick West:

The two of you together.

Garrett Peters:

The two of us together.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

Stephanie and myself. It was more so, could we flip a house? Could we get into rental properties? Things like that within the umbrella of real estate, which was fun. We're just always, we're testing different things. The bug, the entrepreneurial bug was starting to develop. I think it was just being around people and companies that had entrepreneurial types of environments.

Rick West:

The spirit, yeah.

Garrett Peters:

The spirit. Harvest Group is one of those. Arena was one of those, and just other mentors and people that even way back to NorthStar days, being around you guys. There was something in there that was kind of itching, and so fast forward to 2019, Stephanie and I are going, "There's something going on here."

Rick West:

You liked working together?

Garrett Peters:

We did like working together. We did.

Rick West:

Not everyone-

Garrett Peters:

I do.

Rick West:

... wants to be working ... All joking aside-

Garrett Peters:

I know.

Rick West:

We often talk about spouses, where opposites attract. Sometime, it's not as simple and easy, someone will work side by side because you could kind of push, and now you're together 24/7, so you guys are feeling pretty good about working together.

Garrett Peters:

We were. We were. Yeah. I think because we had done a few projects together, even on the side. We complement each other. She's the level-headed person in that situation, where I'm an extreme kind of person, and I'm just very volatile, which is my own issues.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

There was definitely an essence of ease of, we could do something together. We never had a master plan early on of, "Hey, we want to run a business together, and this is what we're going to do." It just kind of morphed into it over the years.

Rick West:

You knew that real estate was not going to be it. Not that you wouldn't dabble in it, but that probably wasn't-

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, it just wasn't going to be it, long term.

Rick West:

... the right thing.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

You guys are processing that along, and you got the career. You can see how you can progress. You're dabbling over here, but then Steph and a friend got involved in a little something different. How did that next venture get started? Which is going to get into your defining moment of making a call in your career. How did Steph go down the-

Garrett Peters:

That's a good question.

Rick West:

What was the right ... What's the category? I'll say journaling. It's not journaling.

Garrett Peters:

It's stationery,

Rick West:

Stationery.

Garrett Peters:

Stationery goods, yeah.

Rick West:

How did she get started?

Garrett Peters:

That's a great question, man. Stephanie and Sarah Autry, who are now business partners, they've been friends for a long time. They've had a long friendship. Sarah was running an Etsy business on the side for many years, okay? Custom cards, invitations, it's paper goods type of stuff. Stephanie's always ... We're at their house at night, and she's packing up orders, and she's doing all this random stuff. Over the years, Stephanie's going, "I feel like you could do this differently." That's just how Stephanie thinks is like, "What could we do differently with this thing?" What started as just talking about her Etsy business and looking at some of the best items that she was selling, we start just dreaming and thinking about what that could be.

What initially was just operationally like, "Hey, I think you could do this differently," began to look ... As I'm in the conversation too as we're hanging out, going ... I love brands. I love selling, I love the process of manufacturing, and so I'm thinking about this going, "What if you sold these other places than Etsy? What if this looked differently?" In 2019, we're all just talking about it, of products and marketplace things. Stephanie and Sarah start really going, "I think that there might be something here."

We all have young kids. They're at the house during the day taking care of kids, talking about different items, and all these things. Well, what transpired in 2019 was, "I think we have something, and I think we can make a brand that these things live under." We landed on, early on, journaling, cards, those sorts of goods. Yeah, they were the masterminds behind this thing of like, "I think there's something here," and that's where we're at in 2019.

Rick West:

I love the way you're thinking through this is that your experience as an account manager, you're exposed to brands, how things worked. Your wife, Stephanie, understanding processes. Now you've got a business partner over here that says, "Hey, I understand the channel." You really have-

Garrett Peters:

We got the pieces.

Rick West:

You got the pieces-

Garrett Peters:

[inaudible 00:13:09] Yeah.

Rick West:

... that could come together without having to go recruit folks.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

I love the way it just naturally come together, but it's not a hobby, but it's not ... You're not changing the world yet.

Garrett Peters:

We're not changing the world. Not at all.

Rick West:

This is just a hobby. You're still over here grinding, doing your thing.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

Let's talk about that moment. You reach a point where you and Stephanie are looking at this like, "This could work."

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

What changed for you? What got you to the point-

Garrett Peters:

That's a great question.

Rick West:

... that said, "I maybe should make a complete career change and jump into the entrepreneurial world"?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, that's a great ...

Rick West:

What was that moment you hit push go?

Garrett Peters:

That's a great question, Rick. It was, so when we officially launched in 2020, in spring-

Rick West:

And the brand is?

Garrett Peters:

The brand is Duncan & Stone.

Rick West:

Duncan & Stone.

Garrett Peters:

Duncan & Stone.

Rick West:

That was the official ... No longer in Etsy, playing with cards.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

It is a legit brand-

Garrett Peters:

Legit.

Rick West:

... company to get started.

Garrett Peters:

Yep. We launched in 2020 with five items, and-

Rick West:

You said, "We."

Garrett Peters:

We.

Rick West:

This is you helping? Because you're still working full-time over here.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, I'm still working full-time. This is a complete moonlight gig for me, so it's Stephanie and myself, and then Sarah, and Garland, our other business partners.

Rick West:

Is Garland involved or is Garland watching and saying, "Good luck"?

Garrett Peters:

He's watching. He's watching.

Rick West:

He's saying, "Good luck. I know Garland.

Garrett Peters:

I know, yeah, you're right, basically, He's a part owner, and we call him the founder, although he didn't really find, did anything, but he was involved.

Rick West:

Someone's got to be a spiritual founder.

Garrett Peters:

Exactly. We love you, Garland. He was involved early on. We launched the business in 2020, officially.

Rick West:

Working nights and weekends.

Garrett Peters:

Working nights and weekends. I have a full-time job. Stephanie is working predominately on the business, because she's able to more than me. That was just a crazy year, obviously, and for a number of reasons. I'll tell you, the point that you mentioned for me was at the end of 2020, first of 2021.

Rick West:

It's one full year of the business.

Garrett Peters:

Yep.

Rick West:

You've experienced the nights and weekends, and a lot of entrepreneurs ... Listen, when we started Field Agent in 2010, we had five LLCs, we're running them, and we're working nights and weekends to do this side project.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah. I remember. I remember you guys doing that.

Rick West:

It was crazy days.

Garrett Peters:

I know.

Rick West:

You were having one of those. It's been a year and you have to reflect a little bit. It's the end of the year, so what's going on?

Garrett Peters:

Okay. End of the year, this is our first holiday season as a brand. Our business is online. We're an e-commerce business. Two things happen. One, I was at home during the holidays-

Rick West:

It's COVID.

Garrett Peters:

The full-time job is shut down for the season.

Rick West:

Yeah. COVID's there.

Garrett Peters:

We're off. I've got my full-time job is shut down. We're working on Duncan & Stone, and our first holiday. For us, we thought it was so crazy. We look back now like-

Rick West:

Nothing.

Garrett Peters:

... that was nothing. Like, that's so silly that we were so busy, but it felt crazy. It was our first time to do this. We didn't know what we were doing. We get through the holiday season. We're celebrating. We have momentum. We're rocking and rolling, and we get to the first of the year, and two things happen. One, I am celebrating the fact that we're like, "This is happening. This is a thing. This is going on."

Rick West:

You could see it.

Garrett Peters:

I could see it. It's like, something's building. You know?

Rick West:

Yeah.

Garrett Peters:

At the same time, I check back into my full-time job-

Rick West:

Which expectations are-

Garrett Peters:

I'm coming back.

Rick West:

... you are going to come back in January, right?

Garrett Peters:

Yes, 100%.

Rick West:

Because you have clients expect a certain thing.

Garrett Peters:

Yes, yes, exactly. They're just like, "Okay, we're back. We're ready to hit the ground running." I have a lot of responsibilities at this job, and the weight of what was happening was just too much for me. It was-

Rick West:

Wow. Let's anchor on that a bit. Explain the weight.

Garrett Peters:

Yes. The responsibility and the-

Rick West:

Expectations about-

Garrett Peters:

The expectations of others, and rightly so, honestly, because I stepped back into the first of the year, they're saying, "Hey, you're a part of our leadership team. You're ready to rock and roll. We're going"-

Rick West:

You've committed to that. You're committed. Now you've got-

Garrett Peters:

I was really involved.

Rick West:

... Sarah and Stephanie over here, you kind of committed to them.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

Then you're looking at yourself saying, "What am I doing?"

Garrett Peters:

Absolutely. I don't know if it was a full-on mental breakdown. I haven't fully experienced that.

Rick West:

Let's call it anxiety. Let's call it just anxiety.

Garrett Peters:

High anxiety.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

My eyes were twitching. My body was a mess. This was like the first day back at my full-time job, first day, and I was just overwhelmed. I'm like, "This is too much."

Rick West:

You truly are torn between two opportunities. Both have high expectations and you realize, for the first time, that you can't do either one of these halfway.

Garrett Peters:

Exactly.

Rick West:

It's to fair to either one-

Garrett Peters:

Exactly.

Rick West:

... for the responsibilities you've committed to. How are you processing this? Are you just in a fetal position in the corner?

Garrett Peters:

Basically.

Rick West:

Are you calling any friends?

Garrett Peters:

Basically, basically.

Rick West:

Are you talking to Steph? What are you doing?

Garrett Peters:

Here's exactly what happened, here's what happened. I was working at home. Everyone's working at home still. Walked into the kitchen at lunchtime. Stephanie is in there. I look at her. She's actually working on forecasting that year for our business.

Rick West:

Which you should have been doing that work.

Garrett Peters:

I should have been doing, exactly.

Rick West:

But you weren't because you had your real job.

Garrett Peters:

Exactly. I couldn't forecast the business. She's looking at the numbers. She's thinking about all this stuff. I walk in there and I'm like, "I'm losing it. I don't know what's going on. I'm a mess." She looks at me and she says, "You need to quit your job."

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

That's it.

Rick West:

Just deadpan.

Garrett Peters:

Just like that. Deadpan.

Rick West:

No maybe.

Garrett Peters:

Nothing.

Rick West:

"You need to quit your job."

Garrett Peters:

Exactly.

Rick West:

Had she ever inferred or hinted-

Garrett Peters:

No.

Rick West:

... at that before?

Garrett Peters:

We had talked about it, like at future state. Like, "This is something we could work towards." Like, "That could be a great goal for us."

Rick West:

But for Stephanie, she's normally not a, "Hey, you do this." More, "Let's talk about it. What do you think?" She's like, "Nah, quit your job."

Garrett Peters:

"Do it. Do it."

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

I was not expecting that, first of all.

Rick West:

You responded ...

Garrett Peters:

I was like, "No. What are you talking about?" I'm like, "What are you talking about? I don't need you ... Don't solve it. Don't solve it for me."

Rick West:

Oh my goodness. That's so good.

Garrett Peters:

Totally like such a guy thing to do, "We'll fix it." She was like, "No. I'm looking at the numbers right now." She's like, "We can do this. You need to quit your job." Because here's the deal, and it was ... You explained it perfectly. I couldn't do both halfway. I had to go one or the other. I basically told her, "I'm going to either stop working on this side hustle that is Duncan & Stone, or I'm going all in. I can't do this halfway thing."

Rick West:

Yeah, I love it. If you were having that cup of coffee talking to someone right now, and someone's dealing with this kind of decision, it really is, at some point in time, you have to commit.

Garrett Peters:

Yup.

Rick West:

I'm a that your yes be yes, your no be no. Don't live in the world of maybe, and you're in the world of maybe. "Well, maybe I could maybe ..." That's not healthy.

Garrett Peters:

It isn't.

Rick West:

And it's not fair, so now you're at this point and you still have to make the decision.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

This is like noon your first day, so you're not even-

Garrett Peters:

100%.

Rick West:

... past your first day.

Garrett Peters:

I'm not even past my first day back at the office.

Rick West:

It's noon, and she says, "You need to quit your job," and you're like, "What are you talking about?" What do you do?

Garrett Peters:

I basically wrap up the rest of the day, finish the day and I told her, I said, "Listen. I need to talk to some people. We need to meet as a team tonight." What I started to do was just to call a couple of my close friends, a couple of my very close friends. Some of them run their own business themselves. Others don't. They're just good friends. I'm just processing. I was just like, "Hey, what do you think about this? What are your"-

Rick West:

Does this surprise them? Or they should, because they know your story.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, they weren't too shocked. They weren't too shocked, so it was a combination of reaching out to close friends to talk to them. Then that night, we met as a team of four, and I said, "We need to talk about this because we have owners. We have other owners that we work with." I'm like, "What does our team say?" Unanimously, everyone was like, "Yes. Duncan & Stone isn't going to be anything unless you do this." That was what our team said.

Rick West:

You felt the weight of that then.

Garrett Peters:

I felt the weight, and it wasn't a pressure-

Rick West:

Was it healthy? Was it a healthy weight?

Garrett Peters:

It was a healthy weight.

Rick West:

Like, "Okay."

Garrett Peters:

It was like confirmation. It was just confirmation of-

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

... wow, this is a good ... Now, fast forward. We could talk later about all the other stuff, but at the time, I'm going, "I'm getting a lot of thumbs-up here." Ultimately, what I said and what I was thinking was, "At the very least, if this doesn't transpire or grow, I can go probably get a job somewhere."

Rick West:

Well, but you're giving it a shot.

Garrett Peters:

I'm going to give it a shot.

Rick West:

You're giving it a chance to succeed. Now, was this all happening in one night, or was this over one day?

Garrett Peters:

It was one day.

Rick West:

This is all one day, all one night.

Garrett Peters:

This is one day.

Rick West:

Now, you've got to go in the next morning-

Garrett Peters:

I did. I did. I set a meeting.

Rick West:

... and have a conversation.

Garrett Peters:

I set a meeting up that night. I think I may have been going to the office for some reason. I set up a meeting with my boss the next day and I put in my two weeks notice the next day.

Rick West:

Wow. In 24 hours.

Garrett Peters:

24 hours. The next day, I told them that I was going full-time, Duncan & Stone.

Rick West:

Okay. Did it surprise him?

Garrett Peters:

It did not.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

It did not. It was one of those, because of the entrepreneurial spirit of that place, I knew-

Rick West:

You had a good relationship with your boss.

Garrett Peters:

I had a good relationship with my boss, and respected him, and he knew about Duncan & Stone. They were excited about Duncan & Stone, so it was, what he told me at the time was, "I knew this day was coming. I just didn't expect it to be this quickly," was basically what he said.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

It was a very pleasant experience, honestly, because they were cheering for us, ultimately, which was cool. It was wild.

Rick West:

All right. Now you're like, "Okay. I'm going to make this happen." Now, did you have a other mentor, or a parent, or family saying, "What are you doing?" Or is everyone onboard? Did you have any naysayers out there?

Garrett Peters:

Not to my face, at least. I'm sure, Rick, that people were probably thinking like, "What are you doing?"

Rick West:

"I can't wait to see ..."

Garrett Peters:

What are you doing?"

Rick West:

"He's not going to ..."

Garrett Peters:

"This guy's going to sell journals?" Like, "What are we doing over here?" I could feel that, and it honestly was a little bit of like a challenge to me.

Rick West:

Yeah, prove them wrong.

Garrett Peters:

It was a little ammunition for me to be like, "I'm going to do this."

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

I had a couple ... No one's sat me down and was like, "Man, I don't think this is a good idea." Almost unanimously, people were supportive, "Go for it," and it helped us. During that season of just uncertainty, it was like we had a lot of support, so, "We can figure this out."

Rick West:

I guess, that was the hard part, and the rest of the story's easy, right?

Garrett Peters:

That was so easy.

Rick West:

Because that day, like that two weeks-

Garrett Peters:

After that, it was so easy. It was a breeze.

Rick West:

Yeah, so you're finishing up at work. You give the two weeks. You're going down that path. Let's speak a little bit to the, now you're starting in, and it's not Garrett part-time. You've got roles and relationships. Steph and Sarah aren't used to you being there every single day, because this was a surge. You have to start working through responsibilities. Did you guys have one of those heart-to-hearts?

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm.

Rick West:

Was it a natural conversation?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

How did you ... Because with friends and family, it's difficult-

Garrett Peters:

It is.

Rick West:

... to do business together.

Garrett Peters:

It is.

Rick West:

How did that transpire?

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, that's a great question. We were all over the place a little bit for 2021.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

When I left that January, we took a ... It was not a hard and fast like, "We're diving in and we're doing this and that." Part of it was because Stephanie and Sarah, they were also part-time. They were moms. They're raising our young kiddos, and so they're only able to put ... We don't have formal work hours. It's just a-

Rick West:

Yeah.

Garrett Peters:

It was a little-

Rick West:

It's a lifestyle business.

Garrett Peters:

It was a lifestyle business.

Rick West:

Yeah, yeah.

Garrett Peters:

It's a little more ambiguous, it was, but I was like, "We got to get this going. We got to figure this out," so I'm coming in hot. You know?

Rick West:

Yeah.

Garrett Peters:

They're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time-out, dude."

Rick West:

"We were fine before you got here."

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, exactly. "Garrett's now working full-time and we're all stressed out." I had to ease into it a little bit because I spent 10-plus years in the corporate world and I'm going, "What are we doing? What are our lists? What are our goals?" I'm just coming in hot.

We, over time, got better at figuring out how to draw boundaries around, we're going to meet, there's set meeting hours. We're going to talk through the business, but I had to learn where to push and where not to push, and where to ask for stuff from them and when not to.

Rick West:

Boundaries are so important. My wife, Kim, is so adamant about boundaries in your life, and that, it's much like playing a game. It lets you play the game well.

Garrett Peters:

Mm-hmm, it really does.

Rick West:

Not having boundaries in a football game or a basketball game is really hard.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, what's going on?

Rick West:

Like, "How do I know what's fair?"

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

In life, it's so true, and she's always challenging me, "Hey, that's kind of a boundary you need to set," so that's a healthy thing-

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, that's really good.

Rick West:

... for people to hear.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

Set some boundaries. It's not a bad thing. It's actually a good thing. You could always move them.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rick West:

But set those boundaries now-

Garrett Peters:

That's really good.

Rick West:

Okay, so you're working through that. When did you feel like, "We're hitting on all cylinders, that I think we've navigated the startup, and it feels like we have a little bit of a routine and a rhythm as a company"? How long did that take?

Garrett Peters:

It took almost a year. It took a little over a year.

Rick West:

Okay, so it wasn't an overnight success.

Garrett Peters:

It wasn't an overnight success.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

I will tell you, 2021 was a really hard year.

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

It was hard for me personally to ... As I was transitioning into doing the business full-time, it was hard relationally, and we were only in our second year of being a business. It was, we're not making it rain. We're not doing much at all, and so we're just constantly trying to push this little thing forward.

It was a trying year for us as a team. We're trying to figure stuff out. I would say spring of this year, 2022, I would say we got into a better rhythm of weekly meeting times, and we had a rhythm of roles. We had now established some role clarity. We knew what we were working on as a team of three. Predominately, me, and Sarah, and Stephanie are the ones that predominately work on the business. Until the spring of this year-

Rick West:

Really?

Garrett Peters:

... it was, we were kind of all over the place, so it took some time. It did.

Rick West:

Okay. At that point looking at, at the spring, you're at this point. Looking back at it, back to that previous 18 months or so, or 14 months, what would you have done differently? Did you have any, say, "Gosh, I really wish that Sarah and Stephanie would have done this differently"? Or, even as you think about starting up in your role, anything that you would change or go back and say, "Gosh ..." Because if folks are asking those questions, they're trying not to make the same, quote, mistake, or at least be more efficient, anything come to mind there?

Garrett Peters:

The biggest thing that comes to mind for me is offloading and outsourcing specific things that would have freed me up to do other things on the business. For us, the biggest piece was the fulfillment piece for our business, so-

Rick West:

You're running that out of the garage?

Garrett Peters:

I was, out of the garage. Out of the garage for the first ... All of 2021 until the spring of this year, so all year and a half.

Rick West:

So your inventory is in a two, three-car garage, all stacked up, and you're truly working-

Garrett Peters:

100%.

Rick West:

It is a startup.

Garrett Peters:

Startup.

Rick West:

It is an e-commerce, classic-

Garrett Peters:

Straight up startup mode.

Rick West:

Wow.

Garrett Peters:

100%, fulfilling out of our garage. I had some friends caution me and like, "Hey, man. This isn't a good idea." There was definitely people saying, "You guys got to figure this out." I look back on that season and go, "I wish we would have."

Rick West:

Earlier.

Garrett Peters:

Earlier.

Rick West:

Earlier. Because you need to learn it.

Garrett Peters:

I wish we would have, earlier.

Rick West:

You need to, you have to understand it.

Garrett Peters:

Exactly, exactly.

Rick West:

So maybe at month six or eight-

Garrett Peters:

Earlier, should have done it.

Rick West:

... as opposed to like 18 months.

Garrett Peters:

Should have done it earlier because for us, it freed me up to actually work on the business, and help grow the business, and work on being more strategic. You can't do that, for me, I was packing boxes, and there's a season for it.

Rick West:

You have to do that, yeah.

Garrett Peters:

And it was good. I look back and probably wouldn't change it, but I wish I would have done it earlier, probably.

Rick West:

Yeah. Andy Stanley, who's a pastor but a leadership expert, and one of the quotes he always uses is that when your company gets to a certain size, you have to look around and say, "Am I only doing the things that I'm uniquely designed to do?"

Garrett Peters:

That's good.

Rick West:

Because if I don't, when I do these other things thinking I'm saving money, instead of growing the business, I'm just simply saving some money, and saving money is not going to grow your business. You don't want to spend the money, but you're uniquely designed to go drive the business. You can't do that because you're too busy, but you reach this tipping point, so you get enough volume. You can actually afford a legit-

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, exactly.

Rick West:

... distribution center. What's life for you like now? Because you're-

Garrett Peters:

Oh, man.

Rick West:

... a tremendous success. You guys are killing it. You're raining, all this is coming.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, thanks. Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

Rick West:

What is the role for you now? Are you more selling? Are you working for distributorships, relationships? What's the role look like?

Garrett Peters:

I've stepped into more of a role on our team, and this is with guidance from a good friend of mine who's helped us on the business this year, is to truly step into a CEO type of role for me, which seems kind of crazy. I pushed back on it. I was like, we have a team of four, but he's like, "You are the CEO and the one that's going to execute Duncan & Stone."

What I've stepped into is being really involved with more forward-looking strategy. Where are we going? Are we going to build to sell in a couple years? What does that look like? Really getting into the nuts and bolts of that, and that comes in the financial side of our business, and all the ad spend, and all of the cogs work and profitability. All these sorts of little things that, for the first couple years, we weren't looking into.

I've dug into that stuff, and now for us, we're trying to scale at a healthy and sustainable way as a team, as a business. That means a lot of trying to get into Sarah's world. She's our creative director. What are things that we can begin to take off of her plate and find right partners to help take some of these things away? I've spent the last six months, eight months trying to become an expert in Duncan & Stone, and going, "Okay. What are we actually doing, and what are the ins and outs of what we're doing? Then, how can we continue to grow and scale in a healthy way?" That's basically-

Rick West:

Yeah, the healthy part is so important for any business person that would be having this conversation. We all know cash is king. It is kind of important.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah.

Rick West:

But a healthy, sustainable growth is better than a growth you can't keep up with because it's going to cause major problems, and no one wants to be in that, so I love that healthy growth approach and what you're trying to do. That's fantastic. This year, we're approaching the season. This is a-

Garrett Peters:

It's holiday season.

Rick West:

... peak holiday season.

Garrett Peters:

I know, yeah.

Rick West:

How are you guys feeling about the business? What's-

Garrett Peters:

It's great, man. We're thankful. We're so thankful. Our holiday sales are very strong right now. Like I told you before we got on here, I'm not having to pack boxes today. So-

Rick West:

Well, if you did pack boxes-

Garrett Peters:

... it's amazing.

Rick West:

If I asked you to maybe show us an example of ... Oh, wait a minute.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, wait.

Rick West:

You don't pack boxes.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, well, I don't have ...

Rick West:

You're not in the little details.

Garrett Peters:

No, no.

Rick West:

You don't carry samples anymore.

Garrett Peters:

No, hands off, man. Hands off.

Rick West:

And so we have to-

Garrett Peters:

Hands off the business.

Rick West:

We have to virtually kind of understand what this ...

Garrett Peters:

You have to go check on the internet, yeah, and see pictures.

Rick West:

Wow, wow.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

All joking aside, what is your number one seller, the thing that you cannot keep enough of?

Garrett Peters:

We have run out of this item the last two holidays.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

We committed to not running out this year, so we ordered a beaucoup amount of them, and it's our Legacy Journal. That is our best item.

Rick West:

By having the Legacy Journal, explain to folks, what is Duncan & Stone the business, and what is a Legacy Journal?

Garrett Peters:

That's a great question.

Rick West:

Tell me, because you're not selling stationery, per se. You're selling something else.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, we are.

Rick West:

Give me the pitch.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah. The pitch is Duncan & Stone makes prompted keepsake journals. We're a giftable, keepsake journal business. What we have found over the years is that people want to capture their memories. They want to capture their memories and moments. Specifically, the reason our Legacy Journal's so good is most people at my stage of life, what do you get your parents? What do you get your grandparents as a gift?

Rick West:

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's great.

Garrett Peters:

We want it to be meaningful, so we created Legacy Journal years ago as a place to capture someone's life story, and so-

Rick West:

A journal helps them write that out.

Garrett Peters:

It helps, it's a prompted, family keepsake journal, very easy to do. You can check it online, for sure. We have made a commitment to not run out of that thing, and I would love if we did, actually. That would be amazing, but-

Rick West:

That's so good.

Garrett Peters:

Anyway, that's our best item.

Rick West:

Well, for us, about a year or so ago, I purchased for my wife the journal that was tied to recipes, so made for that.

Garrett Peters:

Oh, yeah. The family recipe book.

Rick West:

Family recipe book. It was so cool because-

Garrett Peters:

I remember.

Rick West:

... over the last year or so, when we go home and visit aunts, my mom, her mom, we've pulled off a journal and said, "Okay. We love your blond brownie recipe. We love your ..." My Auntie Manalou, she's 90 years old. She has an amazing Italian spaghetti recipe. I'm telling you, her sauce, it's a pork ... Anyway-

Garrett Peters:

[inaudible 00:34:22]

Rick West:

What was beautiful about it is that she wrote ... Which the journal prompted her, where did it come from? Well, it came from her in-laws in Sicily. Boom.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

Okay. "What are the ingredients? Tell us a story about when you made it with me." It was just-

Garrett Peters:

That's cool.

Rick West:

It's on her writing.

Garrett Peters:

That's so cool, man.

Rick West:

It is priceless.

Garrett Peters:

That's so cool.

Rick West:

And how often we've gone around ... It's not just a recipe card. It's a memory thing, so-

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Rick West:

Kudos to you guys. It was fantastic.

Garrett Peters:

That's awesome.

Rick West:

It was a great experience for us.

Garrett Peters:

I love that. I love that. That's what we're trying to do. We have journals for every life stage, basically. Engagement, wedding, a family recipe book, gifts for parents, and that's what we've seen. That's what customers say is like, "We love gifting these for people we love, and doing it together, and experiencing that together." Anyway, it's been fun to develop this little brand over the years.

Rick West:

Well, I love the fact that you guys are truly solving a problem. It's not a bad problem, which is A, what do you give someone? We could joke about that, but having a way in today's digital world of getting back to a little bit, or old school so that you can provide some legacy types of memories in a very unique way, I think you really are solving something there.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, yeah. I think we are.

Rick West:

Thanks for-

Garrett Peters:

I appreciate that.

Rick West:

... making the effort and doing that.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah, yeah.

Rick West:

Let's say that someone wants to have a cup of coffee with you, or better yet-

Garrett Peters:

Would love to.

Rick West:

... they want to buy a journal.

Garrett Peters:

Yeah.

Rick West:

How do we get ahold of you and how do we take a look at the Legacy Journal?

Garrett Peters:

Absolutely. Well, you could get ahold of me, LinkedIn is definitely a place to do it. LinkedIn's easy, or send me an email. You can send me an email at garrett, two Rs, two Ts, @duncanandstone.com.

Rick West:

A-N-D Stone?

Garrett Peters:

Duncanandstone, with an A-N-D in there. Our website is duncanandstone.com.

Rick West:

Okay.

Garrett Peters:

We have all our items on there. Go check them out, enjoy them. You can find them on a couple different sales channels, but our website's great place to go-

Rick West:

Fantastic.

Garrett Peters:

... see what we're about.

Rick West:

Garrett, man, thanks for coming on today.

Garrett Peters:

Thanks for having me, Rick.

Rick West:

Thanks for listening to Push Go, a podcast highlighting the defining moments that impact how we live and work. It was great to have Garrett on the show. If you like what you heard, you can find more stories just like this on listen.plumshop.com. Hey, we wouldn't be mad if you left us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. We have new episodes drop every Wednesday, and if you're watching on YouTube, feel free to like and subscribe.

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