Amy Fagan Owner Of Amy's Garden Jam and Host Of Grounded In Maine Podcast

 Hello Scuba levers and welcome to another edition of Undiscovered Entrepreneur with me, DJ scu coming at you, whatever device you happen to be listening on. All right, so today we're talking to somebody that's really. I dunno. I really like what she's doing with her business and her business is called Grounded in Maine.

Now she also has a podcast that's under the same name and it's owner Amy Fagan. Now Amy Fagan does Jams and Jellies and I can't wait for you to hear exactly what's going on with that cuz it's amazing. It's amazing. Uh, make sure you listen to it about the different types of struggles that she had, uh, getting started and, uh, how her podcast actually helped her along in her entrepreneur.

A. So today we are talking with Amy Fain of Grounded in Maine.

  Salutation, scoop believers, and we are here again with another amazing brand, spanking new entrepreneur today. We're here with Amy. Hi Amy. How are you? 

Hey, scoop. I'm doing great. How are you? 

I am fantastic. Thank you so much for coming on The Undiscovered Entrepreneur. I really do appreciate it.

But I do have one little kind of important question to ask you. Okay? Okay. All right. Are you a school believer? 

I am a S school believer. Absolutely. 

All right. Thank you so much for being a school believer, man. I really appreciate that. All right. I'm a big fan. Oh, good. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

That's amazing. All right, so if you could do me a favor a little bit and just tell me who you are. Obviously you're Amy, but tell me a little bit about yourself and uh, what your entrepreneur adventure is and how long you've actually been doing it for. 

Sure. Uh, my name is Amy Fagan. I live in Maine. Uh, I have a jam business called Amy's Garden Jam.

I started in the beginning of the pandemic, uh, in 2020. And, uh, it just was weird timing. It was all weird timing. It was, uh, luck fate. I'm not really sure yet. Uh, but I just, I had been in a car accident and I was outta work for four months and, uh,  While I was outta work for four months, I was just getting some stuff together, paperwork, and, you know, licenses and stuff like that.

Uh, because I had nothing else to do. Uh, and then I, by the time I was able to walk again, I had kitchen space reserved and I had recipes and what was that to go? 

It's amazing when you come across something that negative as a car crash or even the pandemic or anything like that, well, you could actually turn that around into something really super positive.

Taking that extra time that you've put, set aside that you're not doing anything else, and it could do something so positive, like put together a jam business or anything else for that matter. If we find yourself 100%, if you find yourself under that predicament where you don't have anything to do, make something of that time.

Yeah, it's true. I mean, I know when I was outta work, people were like, oh, you're gonna catch up on all the Netflix, and I'm like, no. I was doing workshops and webinars and, and you know, researching for jam business and, and it was just, it was just a fluke thing really. Like it was not my plan while I was out at work.

It just happened.

 Uh, if you look at these things, it's never really 100% planned. It's like, well, I got into a car accident, I guess I'm gonna start business. No, it doesn't really work out that way. It just kind of hits you like a ton of bricks and then you kind of go with it. For sure. 

Yeah, and I agree with you 100%.

I mean, the, it was definitely, you know, not planned and it was definitely not an exciting moment. But here I am, you know, three, three and a little bit years later and, um, Succeeding. Somehow. Somehow, 

somehow, some way it's happening. Well, you've gotta be doing something right? 

We'll see, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, it's a slow process and, uh, it's not, it's, it's busy.

It's busy 

for sure. Oh, okay. Well that's good. That's really good. All right, so, uh, what, I know you got into the accident, but what actually made you start the business? But what was the idea that that kind of put you into, I'm gonna do jams. I mean, what, put that in your head? Yeah. 

I It was not it, yeah. It was totally not like that.

So, I, I work office jobs. I don't make tons of money. My husband has his own business. He makes money. So I'm just like, you know, I. Needs something to feel like I'm contributing. So I've been gardening and, and preserving our food and, um, my sisters got married eight years ago. 2014. And, um, I made, I made little jars of jam for everyone as a wedding favor.

And, and people were crazy for it. Like it was all different kinds of jams. And I, I didn't have a license back then, so it was easier just to say, this is a gift. Uh, now I couldn't get away with that. Yeah. But, um, but my sisters were like, this is amazing. Like, you need to do this. And I never, I'm not a business person.

I was not like, meant to be a business person. I'm a connector. I'm not a business person. I have no idea what I'm doing to be totally honest. I'm just making jam. Um, and uh, so that was. It was kind of in the back of my head, like maybe I could do that someday, maybe someday. Maybe someday when I'm, when I know more and I feel more confident.

And it just then, you know, I was outta work and I was like, why not? This is the time to get it set up. 

So was it just that time that you weren't working is Sunday is. 

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I mean, so the accident was on October. I had surgery in December. I was outta work until March and the end of January 16th, it was that, um, I announced I was gonna be opening and then May 3rd was my first day in the kitchen.

Yeah. 

That's amazing. Good stuff. I really like. So I, I know you haven't been doing this for very long, but have you come across any problems or pitfalls as, uh, you've kind of gone along on your entrepreneur adventure? 

For sure. Uh, I mean, a lot of it is in my head that has been, you know, my own, my own doing.

But I remember I was working with a mentor, the person that I was renting the kitchen from, and we were just meeting and I didn't have everything figured out. I, I had hired someone to do. Um, my logo because I am not an artist at all. And somebody says, what do you wanna do for your label? I have no idea.

Like, it's just not something that I thought about. I just wanted to make jam and sell jam. Um, And so I got the la the logo figured out, and then I was talking to this lady and she was like, what are you doing for jars? Like you have to love your jars and just like peppering me with questions. You have to love your jars.

You gotta get lots of 'em, and, and you have, this is gonna be your jar for life basically. And I just started crying and I was like, I have no idea. Like I literally don't care about. I don't care about jars. Um, and then, you know, or do you want somebody fancy? Do you want 'em to be shaped different? Do you want 'em to be, you know, to stand out?

I'm like, I don't care. But then I just, you know, it's just, I don't, I don't like to be pressured on something that I'm doing. Like, don't, you know, you can question me or whatever. But it was just, it was hard for me to hear that. And then also the same person was like, you know, 99% of small business. Close within a year.

Oh, that helped. 

So that was awesome. Uh, but, you know, and then, and then the, the childish person inside of me said, I'll be darned, I'll be darned. Like if I, if I'm gonna fail in the first year. Um, so I'm just, I'm stubborn. I have that Irish blood. I'm very stubborn. But, um, but, and then it's just, it's really like the business stuff, you know, we're dealing with taxes right now, of course.

Mm-hmm. And I can't even figure out how to print my bank statements. But, um, you know, all that's the, you know, I was talking to my, my husband's dad and he was like, so how many jars of jam do you have to make every week to not have to work? And I was like, two. Many because it's just me. It's just me, right?

You can only make so much jam at a time and you only have so many hours in the day. And so I basically make jam on Sundays and I do as much as I can do on Sunday. 

That's kinda like me with my podcasting, cuz I work two full-time jobs on top of everything else. So, So deciding, setting aside that time to make sure I have that time to be able to do my podcasting or whatever is I happen to be doing at that time, it's really important to set that time aside.

So, you know, this is for my blank, right? Right. Yes. So what did you do for your logo? I mean, did you get some outside help for your logo or, I mean, 

I did, I mean, I, somebody mentioned fiber and I went on fiber and I hooked up with this super nice guy from Pakistan, Musab, and uh, it was like 20, 25 bucks or something like that.

And he like designed my business cards and everything. I just printed them here. So it's cool. I it's, it's fine. 

I don't, yeah, that's not bad. That's not bad at all, especially if we're just getting started. That's actually pretty cheap. 

Yeah. I just needed something and I still have, I still might change it someday.

I don't know. I have a friend who's an artist and I, we had designed, uh, we, we, she designed, uh, a logo that I really, really liked and it's still sort of there as. Maybe someday. Um, but somebody told me that it was, it was kind of basic and I was like, Hmm, I need to stand out. And that's just me questioning myself as typical.

But, um, so I might, I might go to that someday. 

That's okay. Actually, if, if you ever decide that you want to change your logo, I know what I would do is like, I would actually make a couple of 'em, like two or three of. And then get the opinion of, of people that either follow you or like past customers or something like that and get their opinion of which one they like the best.

Cuz a lot of times if you like one that's really nice and you really like it, but then you actually take it out to the market and then the market tells you they actually like a different one. It's probably better to go with the one that the market likes the best. Yeah. For sure. So that's what, uh, my friend, uh, Dragos did the beekeeper from.

Uh, episode seven. He actually talks about a, uh, story about his logo and how it came about, and that's how he actually ended up putting his logo together, was getting the opinion of other people. And finally putting it together with one that they wanted, even though it was different from the one, he already had business cards printed out and t-shirts and all kinds of stuff, but he went with this new logo.

So I also noticed that your, your zone of genius is your jams, cuz you don't want to do anything else. 

It's true, it's true. It's true. And I've actually had, I've had some people ask me if I would teach them how to make jam and I'm like, you know, I'm not a professional, like I'm literally just reading a book.

Anyone can do it, but, and I, I was, I told somebody that and she was like, but I don't want to do it. I could do it, but I don't wanna do it. So there I am. 

Really depends on 

the person. True. Yeah. I mean, some people don't feel like they can, but it's just, It's not that hard unless you're doing a whole bunch at a time.

Right. 

Then it gets, then it could give you a little tedious, right? Yeah, but I mean, I could tell just by the tone of your voice and everything else, if it has anything to do, not to do with Jam or Making Jam, you want to put that somewhere else? Put that. You know, have somebody else do it for you or maybe even hire somebody else to do it for you like you did for your logo.

Yeah. That way you could just concentrate on your one thing and that's making your jam, which sounds like that's your zone of genius. Right. All right. Um, And I like the fact how you actually turned a negative into a positive when you're talking about your friend and they're like, oh, only 99% clothes or whatever.

But no, people like you and me, Amy, we use that as, oh yeah, well watch this. Right, right. 

Watch me, 

watch me. So that's awesome. I like that a lot. All right, so I'm gonna move on to a different question here. Um, okay. I'm just curious if you have any like, role models or influences or anything like, Somebody you model after to kind of get yourself moving, to keep yourself moving forward.

Do you have anybody like that you could think of? 

Um, no, not really. I mean, not like a person I've been, I mean, I. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and a lot of, not really self-help, but just like encourage me, you know, empowerment people. And, um, the one thing that really stuck out with me was, um, Kathy Heller had said, you don't need to know everything to start.

And that is, I'm running with that because I will never know everything. And that is, you know, it's, if I were waiting to know everything, it would never happen. 

And I think that's the mistake a lot of entrepreneurs actually make, is they really think they have to be an expert at something just to get started when really all you need to do is get.

Right. You know, and that, I mean, getting started is what I advocate for anybody that I talk to. It's just getting across that start line. Mm-hmm. And that, that way you could start learning yourself instead of having to depend on, on, you know, You know, just depend on your experience and know what you're doing by then, and just learn as you go.

I call that on time learning cuz you learn as you need to know something. Right? Oh, it's time for me to know this. Okay, let me learn this. Okay, now that I know that, I'll move on to something else. So that's really important too. And of course, and, uh, sorry, everybody, I'm gonna say it again. It goes right into my tagline.

I can, I am, I will. And I'm doing it today. Get that first start going, get that snowball ro right? I'm gonna talk about snow outside right now. Woo. Get that snow, get that snowball rolling. That way it gets a little bit bigger and bigger as time goes on, so, right. You don't necessarily have to have.

Influences or mentors or anything like that. But it does help to maybe create a shortcut for yourself If, if you're not sure about marketing, find somebody that knows about marketing. Maybe ask them a couple questions about it. If you have questions about your logo, ask somebody that's actually, you know, does that for a living mix, logos for a living, and hey, you know, what do you think of this?

Or what kind of that? Don't be afraid to find a mentor. Maybe you can create some shortcuts for yourself. 

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm, that's, yeah, it's kind of what I'm doing. I just, there I, there's so many things that I don't know and I, in my lifetime, I've met a bunch of people who are very skilled at things that I am not.

I surround myself with people that are super smart. To, I think, feel smarter just by being around them. 

Well, no, that's actually what a lot of people do. If, if you surround yourself with people that not only are smarter than you, but you know, they know more and you could, they, they don't mind teaching you these things cuz they're your friends and that kind of thing.

You are the, the.

My brain stopped. I'm so sorry. I was trying to remember what that was. You're the best of the five people that you surround yourself with. So if you look at the five people that you surround yourself with, most, more than likely you have a lot of their traits or a lot of their knowledge, or you can get their knowledge from them.

And if they're all smarter than you, that means that eventually you'll be as smart as they are. And that's why a lot of managers will hire people that are smarter than them on purpose. That way they can learn. Yeah. 

I also in that same, that same line of thought scoop, I, the, the five people, um, Kathy Heller also said, maybe it's Kathy Heller is my mentor, but, um, she said, the five people that you spend the most time with are either going to drain you or they're going to boost you up.

And so I've had to change my surroundings to. Be in a, you know, more uplifting, uh, situation. So, you know, being in, you know, since I've, I'm in the first bubble since I've ga uh, entered the podcast world. Um, the people that I've met, you included, are just so encouraging and so creative, and you just like, you just ooze that.

And I can't help but be drawn to that and not, and not just because I wanna absorb your energy, but. But kind of, I do like, I, I, I, I gain from that and hopefully that also, you know, I'm giving off as well. But, um, I just, I am putting myself in places where there are more energetic, more creative, more encouraging people than where I was before.

And that's the idea really, is to get you into the next level, to get you higher than where you are. With friends or whoever that happens to be, whether it be a neighbor, a family relative, a spouse, anything like that, of somebody that's gonna lift you up into that next level. For sure. All right. So I know you haven't been doing this for very long, but I was really curious about when you think you've known, you've made it, when you actually make it to that pillar of, Hey, this is exactly where I wanted to be.

Can you explain that to me and what that looks like to you? 

Whew, exactly where I want to be. Yes. Um, with jam. I wanna make a profit. That's always nice. Uh, I wanna, yeah. Um, this, this year has really, um, this year has really boosted my, my jam business. And not, not even like, I mean, I think financially a little bit, but more just exposure.

Uh, I. I have been selling in like a farm stand and where I make the jam is a farm store. Uh, so just small places. People said, do you wanna have it at the farmer's market? But there are like four or five other vendors at the farmer's market that are selling jam. So I don't really wanna be there. Mm-hmm.

And it's not that I don't want competition, I just, it's like I, I wanna make money. Um, But, uh, this year with podcasting, like people that I've met have ordered Jam for me. Uh, I literally just went to New York City to deliver Jam to Broadway for a Broadway show closing, which was pretty amazing. I mean, I was there for five minutes, but, uh, but the experience of, I took the bus to New York City six hours each way in the same day, uh, just to make sure that the jam got there and part of it was, Was cheap.

Like I, it was, it cost less than shipping it, but also, you know, I could make sure that it was gonna get there and I could say hello and give a hug to the lady that, that ordered the jam. Um, but it was just, it was a big deal. It was a big deal and I wasn't gonna blow it by just being. Impersonal. Right. So, but, and I just, I hooked up with some crafters that had, that actually rented a store for the holidays.

Um, and I had my jam in there and it was in Freeport, which is, if you know Maine at all, Freeport is like tourist town. Uh, and so it was right down the street from a big deal store and it, you know, there was a lady that bought nine jars of jam in one day, and that was very exciting. 

All right. That's gotta be good.

If they're buying that much all at once. They want to get as much as they can while they can. 

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's just little by little. I'm, it's growing and people are noticing, and I think, and I'm just meeting more people that are, you know, that I can network with and work with and surround 

myself with.

Good. That's really, really important. It's nice that you want to, you're, you're so willing to give that personal touch when you can. If you could just hand deliver, even if it's far away, if you have the opportunity to, to hand this over, say, here is my. You know, give 'em a hug and, and actually physically shake their hand and say, thank you very much for my, that's a whole different experience when you're just doing it.

Ordering on a website or even just, you know, on a computer face-to-face like we're doing now. It's a lot different when they, you could physically touch them and actually say thank you in person. Right. That's, that's a fantastic, you know, when you could do that. Oh man. 

Yeah, it's not something that I'll be able to do, but if it's, if it's Broadway or if it's, you know, something that's gonna really be exposure, I'll, I'll do it.

I'm neuro go coast there. Life is too short, man. 

That's for sure. So, uh, you said you, there was a big difference between last year and this year when it comes to your jams and your profit margins and things like that. What was the biggest difference between last year and this year you think that made that differe?

It was podcasting. It was 100% podcasting. I am sure of it. I mean, it's, it's also just networking, you know, the more people I meet, so I met the crafters last year and have just become really close with them. And so this year they rented the store and. It was just a whole different ballgame. Um, but it's cool for me to, to be in places like that and, you know, because I'm, I'm so stretched with social media.

I'm sure you know how that is. I mean, I have. I have a personal Facebook and Instagram page. I have a personal, I have a, I have a jam business, Facebook and Instagram page, and then I have a podcast, Facebook and Instagram page, and I, and then Twitter and like, it's just too much. It's too much. And so if I can just have my jam somewhere, I don't have to market it so much.

Not that I'm not marketing, but it's, I need to, I need to work smarter, not harder. That's what I'm learning. 

Yeah. And you know, what you could do even is like find the one that works the best for you on each one. Like, you know that your GM's gonna be really good at Instagram, but your per your podcast is gonna do really good on Twitter.

And then you as a person's good on Facebook instead of putting all three, you know, all your business and everything in a whole bunch of different places. Like leave them there the way they're. Where they're performing the best. You know, so it, that way you only have to cost a trade on three and not 3, 6, 9 of them.

Right. That way you're not burning out and you're, you're trying to send things all over the place, all at once, and it's just way too much. It is from one person. It is way too much, you know, unless you got somebody doing it for you or there's some weird automation that you could buy into, which I know I don't have money for.

Right. Um, yeah, I mean, just for now, that way. Each thing could have a, a really, really good, solid thing to stand on or a really good solid stand. And then later on when you know you can have time, then you could start building these things in different places. That way you're building each one up when you say, oh, do you want to talk about my jams?

Okay, they're over here on block. Not over here and blah and blah and blah and blah, you know what I mean? 

Right, right. So yeah, I mean, what I've been doing is just, you know, I have my Facebook and Instagram linked and so I, I mainly do Instagram, but then I'll check Facebook for any notifications if anybody's commenting, because I've gotten lazy like that.

So my, my main thing is Instagram with everything. Um, but so we, you had asked me how will I know. When I'm, when I've become a success or Right. You know, and I, and I don't think I really answered that and I don't really have a big, like, showy answer, but like, I want people to seek me out, not just at Christmas.

I want an order in July, or, no, not July, cuz it's too hot and I don't wanna make jam. But like April, I want, I want orders in April and I want orders in September. Just like I, you know, I want it to be more consistent. I try to take the summer off because I melt, my brain melts in the summer and I can't function, I just cry in the summer.

So, um, I, I prefer to not have to make you, 

especially when it's outta hot outside. 

Right. But yeah, I mean, I just want people to seek me out and be like, Hey, where, how do I find Amy's Garden Jam? That's, that's all I want. It's not that big of a deal and I wanna make money, but that'll happen if people are ordering my.

All right, so you hear that SCU believers, you make sure in April and September we just flood Amy with a bunch of orders during that time. Okay? Yes, please. Okay. All right. All right, so here's a little scenario for you. If you happen to meet somebody on the road or on the street or anything like that, and they find out about your jams and they actually say, Hey, I wanna do the same thing, you're.

I wanna make jams and that kind of thing. What kind of advice would you give them? What kind of steps would you have them take? 

Um, what, I mean, we already talked about just doing it, like don't wait until you have everything. Um, I k I am not sure if I went around a, about it the right way. The, I, I, I would suggest someone goes straight to the state.

If you're in Maine, of course, um, there are rules, um, which is awesome. And, uh, just find out what those rules are, find out what is needed. And, you know, I would definitely offer my myself as not an example, but if they have questions, they can, they can ask me. Uh, and. Let them know, you know, where I'm buying, you know, if they wanna do jam jars are not easy to get right now.

So I would, you know, recommend where I'm getting jars. Uh, and then, you know, I just, the, the little things that I've figured out that really stumped me in the beginning, I, I'm happy to, to give. Whatever advice I can and um, yeah, I mean really just do it. Just get started and don't listen to people. Don't listen to people.

Just me. 

There you go. There you go. Just listen to Amy. Nobody else. Don't listen to anybody else. Just listen, Amy. Okay? So

it's nice that you'd even be willing to help somebody out, even though you're not as far as your think you think you are. You're actually a lot farther than a lot of people that are just getting started. You always have to remember, there's always somebody one step behind you. Right. You know, and that's what I found out too, is when I was going along, as soon as I figured out how to do my podcast and how to my market myself, I'm starting to re, people start asking me, well, how did you get started?

Well, I'm like, I've only been doing this for a little while, but I'll tell you what I know. Right? So, so kind of learn the fact that people are still one or two steps behind you no matter how far you long you get. And you can help other people learn to do. What you're doing. That's why I've gotten into coaching and that's why I'm helping people start other podcasts too, cuz I want to help these other people.

Yeah. I want them to succeed as much as I want myself to succeed, and that's why I'm willing to do things like this. Right. To help you, Amy, or anybody else that you know needs a little like what to do now. You know, where are you at and how can I help you? That's really what it's all about. 

Absolutely. Yeah.

We're not here to take each other down. We're here to help each other. 

Exactly. I like to say, um, I heard this somewhere, we rise by lifting others. Yes. 

That's perfect. 

Yes. So I, I like saying that when we're talking about helping other people, because we, we help ourselves by helping others. That's really what it boils down to.

Yeah, absolutely. 

All right. Now here, here's some, here's, I, I like doing this example because yours is a physical product. Ha. Okay. So say I'm in one of these shops that you're talking about and these little boutiques or anything like that, and I see your jam. But I also see a couple other jams in that same like one or two other jams from different companies in that same area.

How does your jam set themselves, or how do you set yourself apart from these other jammed companies or whatever? 

I mean, in person. I don't know that there's a big difference. I know where I, where I sell my jam at the store, at the farm store that I, where I make the jam, there are a couple of other jam companies that are also there, and I, I think that I sell quicker.

That's what I've been told, that my jam sell quicker. I think it's price point. I price it pretty low because I, I know that everyone can't afford to eat. And so I want it to be accessible. Um, and I actually, and you know, if, if people meet me, I think that they would 100% choose me over others. Not that people aren't nice, but they're, I'm, you know, I'm super friendly and I will tell them that I picked the berries myself and, you know, they're, it's the best quality and I put everything into it.

And, you know, I think that, You know, people meet me. They will, they will definitely, they'll definitely choose my jam if they don't meet me. It's just a cute little jarred jam, and I've got fun flavors and it's just price. I think I, I mean, I, that's not, that's not something that I, I try not to compare myself to others.

So that's a, that's a hard question because I, I do it in my head and I don't. I don't like to put myself in that position. Um, but I think, you know, if it's personality, it will be me. If it's not, then, you know, maybe they'll try the other jam. Maybe they'll try both and they'll say, oh, I like this flavor.

There you go. Do you have kind of a, a different flavor that most jams don't jam with?

I, I do a lot of flavors that most people don't use. Um, I mean, and they're not like special recipes. They are from the ball canning book, but you know, there's one that is Sunday in a jar, which is strawberries and raspberries and chocolate laur, which is, um, it's pretty cool, pretty good. Uh, I have a strawberry lemon marmalade.

Which is a favorite of a lot of people. And I have a rhubarb orange marmalade, which is one of my favorites. And apple preserves, which kind of blows my mind because I love, love, love apple preserves. It's like apple pie on your English muffin. Why would you not love that? Um, and it's, it's a slow one for people.

They're not catching on so quickly, but it's so beautiful.  It's chunky, apples, nutmeg, and lemon slices. And, and so I like to, in my social media, like my. I have, you can't see them, but I have a whole bunch of little baby lemon trees. Oh. Because I'm obsessed with lemons right now, and so my lemon slices that go in my apple preserves every so often.

My lemon tree will make like four. Seven or eight a year. So like every six months I'll have a few lemons and I'll be like, this is this, I just pulled off my little tree. I just did it a couple weeks ago and this is going in the apple preserves. Um, so I like to do stuff like that and I literally pick all the strawberries myself.

 So I mean, I know that, you know, I get to control. I'm the quality control. Um, but then, you know, as, as far as flavors, I, they're not, they're not like anything outrageous. They're just. They're just fun flavors. 

There you go. Some of those flavors are amazing that you're talking about. I would just choose your, your, uh, jam, just because the flavors are so different than most other people think.

People like stru. The normal was like a strawberry and grape and that kind of thing, but you got, you got rhubarb going. You got some lemon stuff going. You got chocolate mixed in with, oh boy, you're making my mouth water over here. 

I know, I know. Well, I do have, I do have the standards and they, they sell better than everything else, but people, I, I have a, I met a lady through Instagram who has a card shop in, uh, ni Nevada, and she bought a dozen jars of the Sunday and a Jam and Sunday and a Jar because she loves it and she was selling it in her store.

In Nevada, like across the country. So that's just, that's just really fun stuff like that when I know, when, you know, when I know what people love and I can, you know, send 'em a little extra or you know, nice notes or I just. I mean, like you were saying, you know, we, we help each other by lift, you know, however, however that went, like lifting each other up helps us too.

Um, but it's just, you know, I'm, I'm creating relationships, not necessarily business partners or whatever, but, you know, my card shop friend, I, you know, I'll just say, send me a package, you know, send me a variety. Mm-hmm. And, and so we're helping each other's businesses, keeping each other going. So it's fun.

Just for the record, it's uh, we rise by lifting others, but there you go. That's what it is. Yeah.

My brain is toast 

today, man. That's okay. You got plenty of jam for that toast. Okay, so I do, yes. So we're actually gonna get into one of my most favorite questions. And I did steal this, so sorry, everybody, but what is the one question you wish I would've asked you, but I didn't, I always missed one. Really good one, one that everybody prepares for, but I never ask.

What is that one question, Amy? 

Right. Um,

what's your favorite jam? I guess I, I, I was gonna say, I was gonna just call you out and be like, you didn't ask me about my podcast, but, oh, I, I, I, Um, but I mean, what is your favorite jam? My favorite jam is Apple preserves. I, I lived in, I moved away for a year and I was so homesick. Um, and I, so I was living in Utah and I found out that you couldn't buy apple jelly in Utah, which is just ridiculous.

But, so I called my mom and I was like, I can't get apple jelly. And so she sent me apple jelly from Maine to Utah. And so now like Apple. Apple preserves makes me feel closer to my mom who passed away. But, um, it just makes me feel close to her and I just love it. I just love it. Everything about it makes me feel so homey and, um, And loved.

That's awesome. Did, do we have to snuggle to smuggle it in here or, I mean, was it just mailed or, I mean, if it, I mean, is it against the law to have apple jam or, I mean, I 

don't know. I don't know. It was so weird. I, I don't, I don't know. I mean, it's not like the jelly that you buy in Maine. I mean, now it is because I offer it, but it's not like it was Maine Jam.

It was just sold in Maine, probably made in California. 

Hmm. That's really weird. Okay. We'll have to look into that later. Yeah. All right, so. Now that we're kind of getting towards the end here, what I would really like to know is what are your goals for the next six months? I know you have goals that you've set for yourself in the next six months.

What do you think, Amy? What can, what do you think you wanna accomplish in the next six months? 

I want to organize myself better and be able to, uh, just like streamline my process more so that I can focus on the jam making and I can. Focus on maybe getting jam somewhere else, like in another store or, you know, not necess, not a store store, but just, you know, just networking and getting it out there more, getting more visibility so I can get those April and September orders.

Uh, just, I just want steady income. I want steady income, not just Christmas income. 

There you go. So you want to have steady income, you want to have orders coming in pretty frequently and, uh, be a little more organized in what you're doing. Does that sound about right? Yes, please. All right. So we're, um, I'm gonna do like I do with everybody else, we're gonna check in with you in about six months.

We're gonna do another interview just like this, and we're gonna see if you've reached those goals. Okay? Amy. Yes. Alright, so tell me about your podcast. See, I knew I was coming up with it eventually. Right? I really want to know the name of your podcast once you actually talk about in that podcast. 

Okay.

My podcast is called Grounded in Maine, and it is about sustainability. So I, I sort of developed this with a friend of mine. We volunteer, we volunteer gardeners at a local farm that, uh, grows, produce, grows organic produce solely to donate it to food pantries. And so as we were gardening, Several weeks in a row, we were just talking about how cool it would be to be, um, gaining home studying skills.

And so we were thinking we would do a YouTube channel together and talk to people and learn new home studying skills and incorporate them into our lives and then report back on it like, this is totally doable. I'm, I'm taking this on, this is gonna be, this is gonna be a game changer. Like all these things.

And then it, it didn't end up working with the two of us regularly, so I had. I went to a podcasting retreat last March and learned about podcasting and they gave me a microphone and they gave me some equipment and I was like, I guess you know, this is, this is how I live. Like I'm, I will talk about stuff forever and ever and ever, and say, someday I will do this.

And then someone puts a freaking micro microphone in my hand and I have to do something with it, or I'm wasting the opportunity. So, I that, you know, so then I was like, okay, so we need to come up with a podcast plan, which is, um, Talking about sustainability, uh, talking to people who are doing different sustainable activities.

Uh, I've talked to people who are beekeeping, like your friend. Um, foraging, herbalism, recycling. Uh, I talked to a really cool lady who has a refill store, so you don't have to buy like your laundry soap in the big plastic jug and throw that away or recycle it. Um, it's just less waste. And then, you know, talking to people who are gardening and I'm gonna be talking to someone about composting and warm composting and stuff like that.

Like I just want, I want, I want to learn more. Like they came from me wanting to learn more and be a better sustainable person. Be a more sustainable person. And I figure if I'm learning by talking to people, other people hopefully will wanna learn as well. And so I'll just record my conversations. So that's 

it.

That's the way to do it. That's the way in a nutshell to do it. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, can you just, when you say sustainability, yes. Can you gimme a quick like definition of what you consider sustainability? That way we kind of get a better understanding cuz there's different ways of doing it. But I mean, when you hear sustainability, what are you?

Absolutely. It's a really big word if you just say, and I, I ask all my, my guests, I'm like, what does sustainability mean to you? And they're like, uh, you know, it's a really big word and I get that, but that's why I'm asking, you know, what does it mean to you? Because for me, it means, Mostly for me, mostly it's like less waste, like adding less to the landfill, lessening our carbon footprint and our, you know, our just general imprint on the earth, just to tread lighter and, you know, leave it better than how we found it.

I just, I think about. As much as I love the eighties, and I will say it every single Sunday while I'm making jam, I listen to the eighties and I love the eighties, uh, but the eighties were a time of excess and hairspray and all the chemicals, and we did this to ourselves with global warming. And I just want to not, not, I don't know if we can actually start to reverse it, but we need to not keep going forward like that.

We need to backtrack and. Just try to fix it a little bit. And it's, you know, it's, it starts with one person, you know, you, I will make less waste. I will use less plastic. I will make more things than I will purchase. And, you know, that's, that's my impact. And it may seem small, but it, it all adds up if everyone is doing something.

All right. That's fantastic. If anybody wants to know about sustainability, Make sure you take a listen to Grounded and Maine, and you could always ask Amy questions if you need 'em, please. Um, now this is your time to shine. You ready? I want you to talk about your jam business. Now that we're done with the podcast part, I want you to talk about your jam business and how to get ahold of some of that lovely jam that you're making.

Ah, okay. Uh, my website is amy's garden jam.com. Haha. Uh, you can find me on Instagram or Facebook at Amy's Garden Jam. 

Oh, is that it? 

Yeah. I mean, you can order from the website. My, I have a friend who is, um, super, super smart with websites and she put my website together. I literally pay her in jam every month.

Uh, so she, she keeps that running. I don't know anything about it. I don't know anything about it. So, uh, you can order, she set it up so you can place orders, you can pay for shipping. It's pretty awesome. And it's a beautiful, beautiful. I take no credit, but um, yeah, you can order through the website. You can send me a message.

You can tell me how awesome the jam is. You can tell me if you don't love it. You can ask me about ingredients or where it comes from. I'll tell you anything. I'm an open book. 

There you go. How do we get ahold of you personally? Personally, yeah, if you're 

comfortable. Uh, yeah. Um, I'm gonna say Instagram.

Like I said, Instagram is where I'm at more often. Uh, my personal Instagram is Amy Beth Bella's mama. I think that's really sad. I look at it every day and I have no idea. I think it's Amy Beth Bella's mama. 

Do you have an email address? We can. 

Oh, just the Amy's Garden Jam. 

Oh. So Eddie, uh, 

Gmail. Amy's Gar.

Oh, I'm sorry. It's Amy's Garden Jam at Gmail. Yes. There we go. Okay. I did not give that. I 

apologize. That's okay. I wanna make sure we go to the right place for you. Somebody's gonna be, what is this? So 

you're like, is there anything else? Nope. 

All right. Amy, thank you so much for being an undiscovered entrepreneur.

It's been an absolute pleasure. I, I know I learned a lot about sustainability and, and I learned a lot more about Jams than I thought I would when I first got started, so this is fantastic. Thank you so much for being on the show. 

I'm so thrilled to be here, SCO. I appreciate the time. 

All right. All right.

School believers, thank you very much and make sure you stay tuned for the wrap up. Okay. Goodnight everybody.

All 

right. S school believers. That was Amy. Boy. Amy had a lot of great information when it comes to sustainability. I'm glad I actually was able to get her to talk about it a little bit. Uh, I was really excited to learn about sustainability, but to, uh, learn about what she had. Put together for her jam company too.

I hope we actually were able to help her out a little bit. So make sure school believers, if you want some amazing jam, she's looking at April, September, go to where she's at on the websites. I'll go ahead and link all that, uh, in the show notes if you want to take a look at some awesome jams.

, I just really love the fact how we talked about how her podcasting, it really made the biggest difference in her business and, uh, moving things along in her entrepreneur venture. OB obviously that's kind of an important part for me cuz my entrepreneur venture is a podcast, so, but I really like the fact also that.

Is so willing to share her knowledge of what she's learned up to this point with anybody else that asks her. She's always opened up to new questions and anything that anybody asks her about how you did this, she's so willingly be able to get up the information so you could possibly do something that's similar to what she's doing, and I really like that about her.

I love, and I'm just gonna put this right out there. I love the different awesome flavors she actually had in her jams when we were talking about the dips, different types of flavors that she actually had. Oh man, I just, I'm, I'm gonna totally go right now and get some, as a matter of fact, if you wanna get some for yourself, go down to the show notes down there, click on it and get yourself some amazing jams.

Little bit of a plug, but hey, you know what? That's okay. And then I also like the fact that she values friendship over business. I mean, you really have to do that nowadays because if you don't have any kinda relationship and it's just a business relationship, there's no real substance to it at all. So God really, really guided value that friendship and the building of friendships over bus, over just having somebody that's a business partner and that's pretty much it.

So make sure you look for a grounded in Maine in the podcast and all your favorite podcast platforms. All right, so more information about me and what I'm doing right now is I have gone really big into NoMo Spec and their community. I've in and out of there and learning so much from all the people, all the fantastic people that said NoMo Spec.

Um, I've learned a lot from Bree and Trevor and Gordon and anybody else that I've actually been interacting with. Hey, just right up the bat, I just wanna say thank you very much for, you know, sharing your information with me and helping me on my entrepreneur adventure too. So, if anybody's really interested in looking into Nuo, expectin actually joining me in the NuMo Spec community, please go to tu podcast.net/lab and that'll get you a 14 day free trial to see if you actually.

Uh, pneumo Speck and you like the Creator Lab that they have going on right there. I really think it would be a huge plus. I know for a fact. I've looked into a lot of different types of communities out there, and they're just so gosh darn expensive on the monthly cost really high. This one actually is not very expensive at all, and for the exchange of the information that you're getting and the leadership and the being held responsible for your work, God, there's nothing like it.

So look into that. I also have new sponsors coming up. I've gotten into a couple new sponsorships and you will be hearing those in either this one or the next one. I won't know exactly when, but it'll be coming up here real soon. Different types of, uh, sponsor spots, however you want to call 'em. I hate to call 'em commercials cuz it just kind of sounds ah, but, uh, sponsors.

I'm gonna have these sponsorships and, uh, maybe just look out for those and I think they'll be very beneficial for you.

so I've started my coaching episodes. I hope you're enjoying those. I really hope that you're actually learning something. And as a matter of fact, what I'd really like to do here is if you can just reach out to me at any of my socials and let me know. What you've actually learned in this podcast or any other, uh, any of the coachings or anything like that, I'd really like to know that I'm making a difference in your entrepreneurial adventure.

So reach out to me. Uh, I'm gonna mention the, all my socials here in just a second, but reach out to me and let me know what you've actually learned up to this point. I would really appreciate it.

And all that being said, here they are. All right on Twitter. You could reach me at DJ scoop, that's s k o o b 2021. You could reach me on Instagram and TikTok. It's the working the TikTok thing at UE podcast 2021 and, uh, been dipping my toe into LinkedIn. Uh, that's. It's definitely been a struggle for me about LinkedIn, but things are actually starting to pick up there.

So if you wanna reach out to me, that's Jesse DJ's Scoob Blo, and that you could find me there on LinkedIn. So, um, please, if you, if you feel you can give me a five star review, help that algorithms pick me up so we can actually get more school believers out there to listen. And learn about their entrepreneurial adventure, and I'm still looking for that first Facebook person in that Facebook group.

TU podcast.net/fb scoob, that's S K O O b. First person in there basically is gonna be going one-on-one with me, and I could help you in any way possible. I've still been posting in there even though I haven't had anybody in there. So you have some actual content to look into and make sure it's something that you're really into.

All right, everybody, thank you so much for another. And we will see you in one week with another coaching. And uh, I love you all and you'll have a great evening. Okay? Thank you. Goodbye wee.