The Grit Blueprint

Exit With Purpose: Creating Value When It's Time to Let Go with Deborah Everson

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Deborah Everson shares how she transformed a struggling family hardware business into a thriving community hub before executing a successful exit strategy, despite having no prior retail experience. She details their journey from declining sales to creating a boutique-style store with community events that changed customer perception from "last resort" to "first choice."

• Women's confidence in business starts with believing you belong in any room
• Discovering your business strengths through customer surveys and addressing weaknesses
• Creating community engagement through monthly kids crafts, classes, and seasonal events 
• Transforming retail spaces into destinations with unique offerings like home decor
• Social media success comes from consistent posting, not counting likes
• Business exit planning should start now, even if you're not ready to sell
• Married business partners succeed by embracing complementary strengths
• Adding small touches like penny gumball machines and temporary tattoos creates lasting memories
• Independent retailers have the advantage of being able to pivot quickly
• Maintaining consistent business hours and accurate online information is crucial

If you're looking for support in planning your business exit or transforming your retail operation, contact Deborah to learn how she can help you create value in your business through her speaking and consulting work.


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Deborah Everson :

Number one. Social media is a must. You just have to be engaging with your community. Where they're hanging out, don't feel like you have to do everything, so pick what is going to work for you.

Stefanie Couch:

What was that feeling like at the closing table when you had success?

Deborah Everson :

It was fun to have and experience the joy of success, seeing that, wow, look at what we built together, look at what his family built, and now we're able to pass that on to somebody else, for them to then take what we did and make it bigger and better. And so it's really about experiencing that joy of success together.

Stefanie Couch:

So if you're a dad of a daughter and you aren't sure how to encourage her, tell her she can do anything she wants and then let her do it and help her do that. I mean.

Deborah Everson :

I think that's important Having that instilled in me, that confidence instilled in me that I can walk into any room and I belong. It doesn't matter if it's a boardroom of men, women, whatever their titles are, you can walk in and you belong. Because you do, you do belong.

Stefanie Couch:

Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the show for bold builders, brand leaders and legacy makers in the construction and building industry. I'm your host, Stefanie Couch, and I've been in this industry my entire life. Whether we're breaking down what's working in sales and marketing, new advances in AI and automation, or interviewing top industry leaders, you're going to get real world strategies to grow your business, build your brand and lead your team. Let's get to work. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. I'm your host, Stefanie Couch, and today I'm joined by a very special guest, a fellow woman out of the hardware industry, Deborah Everson. Welcome to the show, Thank you for joining me.

Deborah Everson :

Thank you so much for having me, Stefanie. I appreciate being here with you today.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, I'm really excited to talk a little bit about your journey from. You didn't start in the hardware industry. You had a exciting career beforehand through a family hardware business and you have now since sold that business. So I want to dive into all the details and I'm sure you have a ton of tips and things that you like to share. You're also a speaker and you've done consulting and coaching. You and your husband work together, which you know is near and dear to my heart most days anyway, and I want to hear your story, so welcome to the show.

Deborah Everson :

Well, thank you again. Thank you for having me and having me be a part of your show. And yes, I did not start in the hardware industry. I always say that God has a great sense of humor, because I said I hated retail and I'm not handy and then I married into the hardware business. Yeah, it's hard to plan that right.

Stefanie Couch:

I often try, now that I'm a little older and maybe slightly wiser, to not say what I'm not going to do, because that's usually what ends up happening. So if I really want it to happen, I'll just say I'm never going to do this thing. Well, tell me a little bit about your early story, because I know that actually something happened in your childhood that shaped a lot of who you are and it also shaped how you dealt with your hardware business later in life. So tell me a little bit about your background, who you are, who's Deb?

Deborah Everson :

Yeah, so I actually we had a family business. When I was younger, my dad was a computer programmer. He designed a software that actually revolutionized the HVAC industry and he had business partners and he actually let me be a part of their meetings and so I kind of felt like a part of the team and I was only like what? Nine years old. And then one day he went on a business trip and got off the plane in the Chicago O'Hare airport and had a massive heart attack. He walked into the men's room and just fell over and instantly passed away.

Deborah Everson :

Wow, and he didn't have a plan for what life was going to be like if something were to happen to him. The software, everything revolved around him, and so losing the business then ended up losing our livelihood, and there was no plan for his business partners. There was no plan for anything if something were to happen to him, because everything had been revolving around him as the owner and the developer. And so it took about two years, but my mom ended up losing everything, except for the house, thankfully, but all the life insurance money, everything. She wasn't a computer programmer, and so she's putting in this money, trying to keep a business going, keeping my dad's legacy alive and it just didn't work, yeah, and so that was really difficult.

Deborah Everson :

So much for your mom to deal with on top of losing your dad, and then the kids have lost their dad and it's so much, it's a lot yeah a different perspective, I think, and a passion for business owners and helping them to think about the what ifs in life and in business and being prepared and how do you handle those types of situations. So it really did affect me as I got older and then as I entered into the hardware industry and hardware business and how to really help owners to start thinking of those things and how to be prepared for the what ifs.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, we were talking a little earlier and I think it's something that most of us in the trenches. Every day. You're just trying to make your business work, to be profitable, to pay yourself, to pay your employees, to keep the lights on, and it often is not something that people are thinking of the end, when they're at the beginning, but truly it should be at least somewhere in the forefront of your mind of like, hey, what will happen? And with a family business it's extra important because there's so many dynamics there and I know you got to experience that, probably in your dad's business as well as with your family hardware store. What do you think about the next generation coming up? And how can owners that are there, that are invested in these businesses day to day, also be thinking about things like an exit strategy or succession planning when they're not really ready yet? And when should they start thinking about that? Because that's a question I hear a lot.

Deborah Everson :

Yeah, I think now, now is the time to start planning your exit. And a lot of times people don't understand what exit planning really is and they're like, well, what does that mean? Do I just close my business? What exit planning does? It's kind of like working with your financial advisor. So if you have a financial advisor, you wouldn't go to your financial advisor 30 days before you're ready to retire and say, hey, I'm ready to retire. Can you help me?

Deborah Everson :

So exit planning what it does is it starts setting you and your business up to see your legacy continue, and that might be through a family member, it might be through a manager, maybe, or maybe it's a third-party buyer If your store is big enough, maybe it's an ESOP that you sell back to your employees. But exit planning really just starts getting you to think about the what-ifs. So what if something were to happen to me and I could no longer be in the business? What if I was ready to sell? What if somebody made me an offer I couldn't refuse? Would I know that that's a good offer? So you just start kind of talking through each of those different scenarios and help start visualizing, envisioning what would life look like if I were no longer in the business.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, it's great to be thinking about and talking about those things. Every single day something happens in the business that changes it, and we don't know. We're not promised tomorrow. So your dad's story is really intriguing to me. I am curious. I have to ask what did he invent the software for? For the HVAC industry? So what exactly did it do?

Deborah Everson :

What it did is it actually regulated heating and cooling systems, and his first system he actually installed in the Minneapolis Government Center, so he worked for them as their maintenance supervisor, developed this program and then he installed that in so it helped them manage the heating and cooling and then how it came on, kicked on and all of those things, and so it was part of a software program instead of just having to constantly flip on or flip off. It was a software that he developed that helped regulate when the heating and cooling came on.

Stefanie Couch:

Super cool, very innovative and also like ahead of his time. I mean, that's early before the software was like everybody's a software designer. Now the AI is out, right, yeah, yeah, that's really cool. What is one or two of the things that you learned the most from your dad that you still carry with you today?

Deborah Everson :

One of the things that I learned from him and I think this is so valuable for a lesson as a woman is so valuable for a lesson as a woman is that you belong in the room and, like I said, he would let me sit in on his business meetings and his board members all treated me like I was part of the team and so as I got older and I started going into corporate America, I had no problem connecting with senior leaders and CEOs and I could always kind of walk into the room and feel like I belonged because they all treated me like I did.

Deborah Everson :

And sometimes as women we pull back or we're hesitant or we're afraid, we're not quite sure if we should step in. And I've heard a number of horror stories of where women have had doors shut on their face and then others who have said I belong. And I've heard a number of horror stories of where women have had doors shut on their face and then others who have said I belong and they open that door back up and they go in. But just having that instilled in me, that confidence instilled in me that I can walk into any room and I belong, it doesn't matter if it's a boardroom of men, women, whatever their titles are. You can walk in and you belong because you do, you do belong.

Stefanie Couch:

I love that and I think that's a message to any parent, but especially dads of daughters. So my dad has three daughters me and my two sisters and that's actually one of the biggest lessons that I think he instilled in me. Also, we have very similar backgrounds. Grew up in a business, would go into work with my dad and he let me try things and he let me ring people up and do stuff like that, and he never made me feel like I was an annoyance or if I ask a question, which was a lot of questions. There was a lot of questions, but I wanted to understand why. And he always took the time to do that and also challenged me.

Stefanie Couch:

And, very similarly, when I got to corporate, I was like what do you mean? Women can't do this leadership thing, or why are there no managers that look like me? And I never saw that as really an opportunity for me to be held back, but honestly, an opportunity for me to move up, and I think you probably had a similar experience. So if you're a dad of a daughter and you aren't sure how to encourage her, tell her she can do anything she wants and then let her do it and help her do that I mean. I think that's important, and it's the same thing with sons. I think nowadays, with kids coming up, it's important just to have strong young men as well.

Deborah Everson :

It's not just about having strong girls, right, well, and I think it's important, no matter what whether you're and I know this is geared toward business owners, but whether you're a business owner or just even a parent in general inviting your kids to be a part of what you're doing is so crucial. One of the things when we had our hardware store it's that some of the feedback we heard from the teenagers that we were working with was that my dad invites me to do something, but then he just gets frustrated and does it for me. They want to learn, they want to be a part of it, and when you let them do it and they can make a mistake with you it builds their confidence. And so that's the thing I want to encourage parents to invite your kids to participate with you, and that's some of the reasoning behind how we did our kids crafts was to invite family engagement and invite parents and kids to work on something together.

Stefanie Couch:

It's fun to be able to say you built something together. Yes, what is one of your favorite memories from that type of situation in your store? I know we're going to dive into the whole story of how you got there, but what is one of the favorite times? Something fun that you did at the store that those families were able to do together?

Deborah Everson :

There's so many good ones. One of my favorites, though, was our Santa shop, so the kids would get to shop for mom and dad or grandma, grandpa, brothers and sisters, and Santa would come and we closed the store down and kids would get to go shop with Santa's helpers and buy stuff for them, and it was so fun to think the kids actually would think about what they wanted to get for their parents instead of for themselves, and Santa or Santa who came. He said this is my favorite event, because when I asked the kids what they want, they don't tell me what they want, they tell me what they want to get for their parents. That's awesome, and so it's just one of those fun memories. We had a lefse klats, which I don't know if you're Norwegian, but I don't think so, I'm not sure and we had like three generations of mom grandma's daughters coming together and doing this lefse class, and it was so fun. We had these two gentlemen that led it.

Stefanie Couch:

What is a lefse?

Deborah Everson :

It's kind of like a Norwegian I want to say pancake, but it's super. Maybe a crepe Okay, more like a crepe, and you can make it out of potatoes, you can make it out of flour and and so they would come and do this demonstration and then everybody got to come up and make some. Okay, and it was such it would sell out every year. It would sell out within the first week or two. That I would post. The event Sounds like fun. It was fun and it was such a great way for families even husbands and wives they'd come together for a date day and just creating those memories together just meant so much to me to see families coming together and creating fun, positive memories in our store.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, that's really cool when retail becomes a destination place, whether it's for something you love to buy there, because you have some recognition around, a brand that you sell, that you love, or an event or something like that. So tell me more about the hardware store. How did you get there? Talk to me about your hubby and a little bit about your journey. What were you doing before you went into hardware? So you were young. You have this entrepreneurial experience with your dad. You obviously have a fire in you that I'm sure you were born with, and then he passes away. You grow up. What happens?

Deborah Everson :

next. So I ended up in IT project management, of all things. And so when I met my husband, we met online and we were married within five months of meeting. That's awesome, and I had no interest at that time in being in the hardware business. I was doing very well in IT project management. And then, a couple of years into our marriage, my husband came to me and said our store isn't doing well and would you come and be our project manager? And so, after some praying and stuff and talking it through and really getting a vision for what that would look like, I ended up leaving my six figure job to go make $12 an hour at our hardware store.

Stefanie Couch:

Crazy people do that. I have to like I feel like that's a totally normal idea, but most people are like you're insane, right Well?

Deborah Everson :

the thing is, though, is that it's so different. Like you said, when you're an entrepreneur, you're investing. You're investing in your family, you're investing in your business, and so it's a sacrifice. We, as entrepreneurs, we make sacrifices, and it's a sacrifice that you're willing to make, and so, during that, through that whole process, we ended up creating a five-year plan, and we completely remodeled the store. We reset the store. We worked with our distributor to reset the store, and we also did a customer survey during that time to really better understand what it was. How are we serving our customers? What did they think of us? Our store was family owned. It had been in our community for over 50 years.

Stefanie Couch:

And what is the community like? Where is it? What was the store like, what were your customers like? I'm just curious because you know I live in a small hardware store, Right?

Deborah Everson :

Well, our community at that time was about 12,000 people it's a beautiful lake community and had gone from, so our business had been like about 80% trade-based so your electricians, your plumbers, your painters, those construction people. And then, after the housing market crashed, it turned and so then we became 80% more customer focused and so our business struggled. It was hard to redefine our identity as a hardware store. And, yes, people came to the store but it almost felt like we were their last resort. They would say, oh, I've been to everywhere. And then I came here and here you were able to help me. And, dagger to the heart, right Like the worst thing, they thought it was a compliment, but it did feel really hard to hear. And so doing the survey was really insightful for us to find out what it was that they liked about our store. And then the things that they didn't. And we had to kind of deal with some hard things that you're overpriced, your store is dated, your stuff costs too much. But then they said good things, your family owned. We love that. When we come in, you can help us. That's a big one, yes. And so we decided let's take the feedback that we received and what are the things that we can change and that helped formulate our five-year plan. We're like, if we can't turn this thing around in five years, then we've got problems.

Deborah Everson :

And so we reinvested in the business and we did the things that we could change. So we remodeled the store, we reset the store and then we created this beautiful, unique, boutique-style hardware store with a huge paint counter where people could come and look at paint samples. We created part of the reason why we created the paint counter. The way we did too is so that we could hold classes. We wanted to start building a way for the community to re-engage with us and to start inviting them into our space, and we started having monthly kids crafts. We had, you know, adult classes.

Deborah Everson :

There was a lot of things where we started re-engaging with the community and then inviting them to come into our space and then also being a part of our chamber. So any chamber events we tried to be a part of, inviting, you know, when they had their ladies shopping days and stuff like that. But one of the unique things we added to our store was a whole home decor section and it just turned it into such a different experience and, you know, we had moms that would come in. We had hockey moms that would come in and get their kids hockey skates sharpened, and before we remodeled there was nothing for them to buy. Yeah, so they'd get their kids hockey skates sharpened and then they would leave with those same hockey skates, right, but nothing else. How much did it cost?

Stefanie Couch:

to sharpen hockey skates, Because I'm from the South so that doesn't resonate at all At that time it was $6.50. So that's a very small amount of money walking in and out the door with no other sale Right and as I saw those moms shopping and I'm going well, what about them, what's for them?

Deborah Everson :

I saw those moms shopping and I'm going well, what about them, what's for them? And so when we added our home decor section, it went from 650 hockey skates to maybe we added another $25 home decor item or a kid's birthday gift, or maybe it was a you know $50 wall hanging or something. But I tried to bring in things that were unique, that fit with our community, especially after hearing the feedback that we got from our survey, and so, as people walked in, we created this really warm welcoming experience. So when you walked in with like oh, wow, yeah, and we did we changed people's perception of us of being their last resort, to becoming their first choice.

Stefanie Couch:

That's amazing, and that was huge and you really took something that had been. So how long had the store been around at that point? About 50 years. So three generations, is that right? Two, two generations, 50 years old? And tell me more, because we were talking earlier and your husband is lovely, I spoke with him earlier and we were talking about. You know, he's part of a family business. His parents had started it and this was a really small town when they started, and how many hardware stores were there in this small town?

Deborah Everson :

It was a town of, I think, 2,500 people, five hardware stores in town.

Stefanie Couch:

That seems like a pretty crazy ratio. I guess back when hardware stores were a little bit more common, but then you ended up being the last woman and man standing in the hardware game there, right, I mean locally, that was it. So how did the change come in with the family? Because I know when something is the same way. I mean, I worked in a family business for a long time. My dad worked for his dad, and trying to get people to implement change in any business well, any part of your life honestly, is really hard. Old habits do die hard and sometimes we don't see the things that could be because we're worried about losing what already is. How did you navigate that? Because you married into the family and you're now coming in and trying to really change the whole business model. What happened there? How did that go?

Deborah Everson :

It's a delicate balance. So one of the things that I learned is acknowledging and celebrating what worked in the past and honoring that and honoring what they did, because we didn't, they didn't get to 50 years for nothing, right, I mean, it took blood, sweat and tears. So honoring that and gosh, I get a little emotional, but then also helping them see the vision. Yeah, right, and we used to work in business even right now.

Stefanie Couch:

You know we're in the age of AI, so what worked 30 years ago it doesn't even matter now because this didn't exist back then. So what they built then worked for them probably for a long time very well. And the customer base change, the go-to-market strategy changes very well, and the customer base change, the go-to-market strategy changes. That's one of the things I think is so great about older legacy businesses like that is they do have that really solid foundation and some of those core things like customer experience, you know value, all those things they kind of stay the same. It's just how you deliver. That that changes right and sometimes it's hard to. That delivery vehicle can be hard to sell.

Stefanie Couch:

If it used to be on a phone, a ring phone with a cord I don't know if anyone's here, gen Z, listening they don't know what I'm talking about now, but now it's e-commerce or it's Instagram or wherever you're finding your customers now. And I know that social media was a big part of your plan. How was that perceived and received? And what did you do to build social media for a small town hardware store? Because I hear all the time, every day when I go out, it's like well, we know we probably should be doing social media, but so much work and we don't know what to do.

Deborah Everson :

What would you say to a owner of a retail store about social media Number one social media is a must, right, you just have to be engaging with your community. That is where they're hanging out. Don't feel like you have to do everything. So pick what is going to work for you. It could be Facebook, it could be Instagram. It could be Facebook, it could be Instagram, it could be TikTok. Maybe you have a high schooler who works for you that is totally into TikTok and give them that trust and see how it goes.

Deborah Everson :

But just getting on social media and being a part of it, I think what happens is people feel this pressure of oh, this is what I have to do, you don't have to do this is you don't have to do it. You probably have somebody in your network, a high schooler. So, like for our, for our customer survey, we had a employee who was getting his master's degree, so we had engaged him as part of his credits to help us put together the survey. That's such a great idea. So it's really engaging the people that are currently working for you too, or even the high school. There might be people, kids in your high school that you can engage. But getting on social media being consistent, you know I've heard a lot of people say, well, I'll just hire that out and that's fine. But then it takes away from the local, personal touch of it and personal feel also hard to be timely as well.

Stefanie Couch:

You know, that's what that's. What I've found is like, yeah, we can go do bulk content and all those things and it works. But if you're posting it like live and in action and it's right there and that event's happening that afternoon, people can see and then they feel FOMO and then like man, I missed that, whatever the, the pancake making thing was, let's just, let's go. Um, so obviously I'm not an oriental, that's but um, they missed that event, right, and they want to go to the next event. And the kids see those crafts online like, hey, my friend at school made this cool birdhouse or whatever Christmas ornament we were doing. And then I can go to the next event and they start to become like must see, must attend, type things for the community and it can.

Deborah Everson :

it can even be something, as one of the things we started doing was we allow dogs in our business. Love that, amen.

Stefanie Couch:

I'm speaking. I'm so upset that every restaurant doesn't allow dog. Every place should allow. If kids are allowed, dogs should allow that. That's a little off topic. I won't get on that soapbox today.

Deborah Everson :

But so we would take pictures of people's dogs Actually, we had somebody bring their cat oh, I love that. So we took a picture of the and or kids. You know, the people would come in with their kids and so we started doing stuff that was engaging, or our employees celebrating employee birthday. Then we'd get a photo and, hey, everyone wish so-and-so a happy birthday, and it was just a fun way and a person, and it didn't take hours, you don't have to have special cameras, it was just our phones, yeah, and you take a quick photo and you post it on. You know, for us it was Facebook and we were able to. I mean, I think when I got the Facebook, when I took over our Facebook page, we had maybe a handful of followers. Yeah, and I was able to, you know, more than quadruple our followers and our engagement. Yeah, it became kind of part of our sale as well.

Stefanie Couch:

People think Facebook is dead and it is not. Facebook is not dead. Facebook ads still absolutely crushed. I think the thing for me that I want, especially small business owners, to hear you saying and you've said both of these things, but I want to make sure we capture this. If you think it's too late because everybody else like you've already been in business so long and you didn't start Instagram when it first came out, it's not. It's not too late and you don't have to do everything. You can do one platform to start. You can get someone else to help you with it. I do highly recommend, like you said, somebody on the ground. If you can and you've just got to try some stuff, just keep posting, because tomorrow you might post something that's totally a dud and then next week you might get a hundred likes on something and sell a bunch of stuff because of it.

Deborah Everson :

And I want to piggyback off of that because I think it is so important. It doesn't matter how many likes you get or you don't get. And this was a really key thing because I started feeling really bad after our followership really started growing and I wasn't feeling like I was getting that much engagement. But what changed for me was when people would come in the store and say I saw your post, but they didn't like it. They didn't comment, they didn't like it, but they said I came in because I saw your post.

Deborah Everson :

Now, as a business owner, I say I don't care how many likes I get. The likes don't matter, it's what got them to the door, got them through the door, got them to the event was the post, Absolutely. And so if you're feeling discouraged because you're not getting a ton of engagement on your social media, keep posting, keep being consistent, because they're watching. They may not be interacting, but they're watching. And that was a key when I started hearing people say I saw it on your social media and I came in. That's what ended up like oh. Then it clicked for me because now I had the foot traffic. It wasn't. Who cares about all the likes if they're not coming in, you know. And so to me it was because when they come in, that means they want to spend money, right, yeah, and I'd rather have the money than the life, for sure.

Stefanie Couch:

That keeps the lights on a lot easier than a thumbs up on Facebook. Right, and I think that's a great point in general for any social media, but also for other things that you're doing, like your website. Some people are like well, you know, I don't know, we're not getting a ton of people that are converting from that or whatever it is, even e-commerce. They may not want to purchase online, but they may want to browse online and figure out what you have, and I think that's really important. A lot of people don't want to put the money into e-commerce. They don't want to fool with it. E-commerce in our industry in the building and hardware and construction industry has 3x in the last three years and it is only going to continue, because people want to be able to see what you have before they come. They also want to get kind of an idea sometimes so they maybe can browse in their PJs with their morning coffee, then go hit the hardware store up and grab what they want, because they already know what you offer. And I think that it's always going to be something where it's kind of that old legacy fighting the new ideas of e-commerce and all these things. But eventually the people who don't do this stuff, they're going to probably lose out. They may not close, but their sales will hurt. Their social media is not driving, you know, traffic into their store and we both have a mutual friend who Gina Schaefer, who has talked about some cool things like pottery and grills, and you got to figure out what works for your market too.

Stefanie Couch:

So your market had hockey skates. My local hardware store does not sharpen our hockey skates, but what they do sell is fly fishing gear, because there's a really great fly fishing river near where I live and they crush it with that and it's actually super expensive. But these people don't care because they're there and you're in the moment and you like find the gear that's perfect for that trip and I think capitalizing on that is important. What are some other moments that you've capitalized on or things that you've made people really want to come to your store for? So I know there's. It doesn't always have to be something big. Is there anything little that you can think of? Like that? People thought of you and they're like we have to do this, one of the things. So we were a hardware Hank branded store.

Deborah Everson :

Ok, and one of the things that I wanted to do was bring in hardware hank temporary tattoos. Oh, super cool, and that was such a hit. We had kids that wanted to come just so they could get a tattoo. The other thing was we had a one cent gumball machine and that had been with the store for over what close to 30, 40 years and so it had been gone through like three generations or three, you know, and people would be like I remember I came into the store with my grandpa and got a one cent gumball machine and did we make any money? It costs us more money for that one cent gumball, but you know what? It was worth it because it was all part of that whole experience and that's the thing people need to realize.

Deborah Everson :

It can be frustrating when you are dealing with competition like the box stores, but we as independent retailers, we have the edge because we can change and pivot and we can do things that give people that personal touch that a box store is not going. You're able to give that full on customer experience and giving them that personal touch that they won't necessarily get at a box store. And so we can complain and be frustrated with box stores, but we have. We are actually, as independent retailers are, sitting on a gold mine because we're able to pivot and change and do things that speak directly to our customers' hearts and to their experiences.

Stefanie Couch:

And what they really value the most. I think that survey you mentioned that people're not sure what you need and you know that you walk into a store and they have experts that will help them. Even if you're not 100% sure of the answer, you're going to find someone in there. Maybe you don't know a lot about plumbing, but you're going to find the person who is kind of the expert on that. They go the extra mile. I know with my dad's business that was always something I felt like. Even if I got to a big corporate which I ended up going to, I tried to keep that heart of service and like that exceptional experience. I think Ritz Carlton and Chick-fil-A do it so well and talking about like customer experience is everything and there's a very large competitor. It starts with an A A and they are next day a lot of places and they are shipping things you know quickly and they are obsessed with the customer is what you know. Bezos has always said and I think if we take that idea and then add the competitive advantage of small and local, we can win.

Stefanie Couch:

One of the things that you actually mentioned earlier when we were speaking about your business is operating hours and there's a lot of not just hardware stores but other businesses, people. I had a recent experience. I had a meeting in a small town right near my house and there was a new, pretty new coffee shop that had opened up and this was like a Tuesday at 11 am so coffee shop should have been open and we went to go get coffee for this meeting and the guy came back and said well, coffee shops closed. And they went across the street and they said well, the guy said he got too busy so he just had to close, he didn't want to handle it.

Stefanie Couch:

And I think sometimes people have a hobby business, like they have this idea of hey, I'm going to start a business, it's going to be a coffee shop, people are going to have a cat in the corner and like read books and all these beautiful moments like Hallmark movie, yeah, and this is. It's hard, like we both know that, and things get tough and it's hard to keep that up. But if you're not open, all it takes is one time for somebody to go to that coffee shop on a Tuesday at 11 and it's closed and they're not going to go back. Talk to me about what should an owner do to make sure that they can optimize their business of foot traffic in that way. As far as lost opportunities like that, there's a couple of things.

Deborah Everson :

So, number one, make sure that your social media branding matches your location. On your social media, your websites have your address, have your hours and then what your hours are. Then be open. If your business says it's open, be open. And that's one of the number one complaints that we've been hearing as we're out in the marketplace and hearing from customers is they're not consistently open. People knew that if our hours said eight to 630, they knew that we would be open, whether it was raining, snowing, ice, storms, whatever, we were there. And they knew that they could come in for that last minute thing. Their toilet started acting up and they had an issue and they knew we would be there. And so those are, even those small little things, are differentiators being consistent in your hours but then also posting what those hours are, yeah.

Stefanie Couch:

It seems really simple to have your address on your Instagram, but I would say probably 80% of the ones I see don't. Yeah. And there's no like links to go anywhere or a website link or anything almost.

Deborah Everson :

It's just not optimized Well and my husband and I had that experience. So there was an ice cream shop and their social media was amazing. It was so funny and it was fun and they showed all these great pictures of these great ice cream treats and stuff that they were making. And so one day I said let's go. And so we went to their social media and there was no location. We had no idea. They didn't have a website, they didn't have anything. We had no idea how to find them. Wow. So what kind of customer experience did I have? Yeah, I never made it to their location.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, you don't want to. You don't want to go and do all that work on social and then some really small thing. But I think we're all so busy as business owners Sometimes we do forget the little stuff like that. And it's people like you that are like hey, I've been there, here's the as a customer, the experience you had, and also as a business owner, you understand, here's how to optimize, and I love that you're doing that for people and sharing your knowledge. You also have another really cool fact that you and your husband were in business together. You ran this hardware store. You turned around this family business together and then you exited it and you were both really amazing people that love business. But you did sell that business. What was that experience like for you guys? How did that work? How long did it take? Was it something that was super stressful? How did you know what to do?

Deborah Everson :

So, like I said, we had created our five-year plan and we got to that five years and we and we took a look around and actually let me just take a quick step back. So in 2020, we all know what happened COVID hit us all and the only other hardware store in town closed, so we had gone from there being two of us. So remember, in 1966, there were five hardware stores. Now, in 2020, we're down to two hardware stores and then we're down to us.

Deborah Everson :

And we're down to one hardware store and everyone is buying hardware and projects and all the things. Yeah, so we had COVID business and then the other hardware store in town closed and so now we have their business. So thankfully we had done the work ahead of time and we were prepared for all of that new business and we had re-engaged with our community and so they were already shopping with us and ready to shop with us. But during that time then we had somebody approach us about buying our store and we thought, well, we weren't quite sure we were ready for that. My husband and I are quite young still and so we started going through that process with them and we realized they weren't a good fit for us. But also we realized we weren't ready. We didn't have our inventory and our financials and all of that stuff in order, and so we said okay. So now we know that somebody would be interested in buying us.

Deborah Everson :

What would it look like if we were to prepare? And so we took two years and started really nailing down what our inventory numbers were Did we have the most up-to-date merchandise on the shelves? You know what did our store look like, all of those things and getting our financials in order, and really started preparing for what would it look like to sell our business. And it also helped starting the discussion because we were a second generation and my in-laws still worked with us and having those discussions and start talking about it started preparing them as well, because my father-in-law he was in his 80s and he's still alive and he's still very spry and my mother-in-law as well and his idea of retirement was working until he could no longer work any longer, of retirement was working until he could no longer work any longer. So just starting those conversations helped get them prepared as well as us, and once we kind of got all of that settled, we ended up approaching our buyer.

Stefanie Couch:

That's awesome. And how did you find them? How did you know they were a good fit?

Deborah Everson :

Well we, my dream originally was to have a young family buy our business, but our market had grown so much that we realized that if we were to sell it to a young family it would crush them, yeah, especially if they didn't have any hardware industry knowledge or experience Like running in front of a freight train, knowledge or experience Like running forever freight trains.

Deborah Everson :

And so what we realized is we needed a larger organization that could know that they could withstand.

Deborah Everson :

You know just how the market is up and down and you've seen I mean we've seen how the market has changed so much, which within just the last year, with all the changes and different buyouts and stuff like that. And so we realized we needed a larger organization that could withstand just all the market changes. And because then it became our passion and our goal became keeping it a hardware store, and so we knew we needed somebody that could keep it a hardware store. And that's how we ended up finding our buyer. And then we sent them a letter and through our attorney and had a very good business attorney which I highly recommend yeah, that's important for sure and then they responded back to him and we started talks and just kind of going through that process, and so it took about 10 months from start to finish, and then we signed over the paper, the signed over the business to them and then handed them the keys and they started day one. Wow, we literally made it turnkey for them.

Stefanie Couch:

That's awesome that you had that process nailed down, because a lot of businesses are not actually sellable because they haven't done any of that front end work and then, like you said, they decide somebody passes away. They decide they've just had all they can take and then they end up walking away and a lot of really great businesses actually close and they just shutter the doors and then there's not a hardware store anymore, or even if somebody was going to reopen it, the business pretty much dies and people get used to going somewhere else instead of there. So I love that you kept that alive, that legacy alive. How's the store doing now?

Deborah Everson :

It is doing very well. We had such a great experience. My father-in-law still shops there. It's not under our name anymore, but I'm telling you, Stefanie, the community even though my husband and I don't actually live in that town, but we're still very engaged and involved in our community they still come up and thank us. They said you could have just closed your doors.

Deborah Everson :

We own the property. We could have sold it to somebody else, but we knew that it was the only hardware store and we cared enough about our community to say we want to keep a hardware store in our community. And they still thank us for keeping a hardware store going and selling it to somebody that is able to keep it a hardware store. And so I think, just even looking at your broader community, it's not just about us. It's about how do we keep the hardware, independent hardware retail businesses going and thriving. And that's the passion that my husband and I have now is we want to help independent hardware store owners continue to thrive even after they leave the business. So how do we prepare you and your business to keep thriving and to keep your legacy alive?

Stefanie Couch:

Maybe it's not named the same, but it's still going and your business is still thriving even after you left and you have so much knowledge for any age business owner in that space to help them with some of those things like undervalued areas, that they can grow. Social media, even like print media there's just a lot of opportunities. You were talking about leveraging some of those things when you were doing your community engagements. You know magazines, newspapers People don't think about that as an option and a lot of times that's free media. And if you can get in the local newspaper and then your kid comes and begs for a hardware, hank tattoo and gets their free gumball and you spend $50 on something that maybe you weren't going to buy before or maybe you already needed, that's a win. So you're leveraging something that other people are basically discarding as not even useful. How do you think that young people I mean you know people that are coming up are more interested now in the trades and what we'll call boring businesses? We both know they're not boring.

Stefanie Couch:

There's never a dull moment usually, but how would you give advice to a young man or woman, or maybe even a couple, that is interested in possibly owning a business like a hardware store? What would you say to them?

Deborah Everson :

I would say do your research, know your market and then find a store that still has you know they still have some life to them and then get a vision. And there's so much that can be done still in retail and especially hardware retail. I think it's so unique. I've heard some people in the business world say, well, don't buy a retail business. What I'm going to say is hardware retail is different in a lot of ways because you're selling things that people actually really need. Yeah, so figure out what it is in that industry that you really like. So one of the good pieces of advice that we got when my husband and I were remodeling the store pick a department that you really like and then get super knowledgeable on that and then grow in that. So for me it was home decor, for my husband it was smoking, and so we completely expanded our smoking section and we ended up selling tons of trigger pellets and smoking equipment and all sorts of stuff. But, as a younger person, find that thing that you enjoy and then expand on that. But then just get involved and then partner with the owner. So show them that you're truly interested.

Deborah Everson :

I think owners just want to know that their legacy is going to continue and you're not going to run it into the ground? Yeah, absolutely is going to continue and you're not going to run it into the ground? Yeah, right, there's. That is such a fear that if I passes on to somebody else, are they going to be able to keep it open or are they going to run it into the ground? Yeah, work something A lot of times they want to work alongside you and help you, but then, as the owner, be willing to hear those new ideas. Like social selling is a really big thing right now.

Deborah Everson :

So whether it's on TikTok or even doing Facebook live selling, so incorporating some of the things that you might be a little unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with, but working together, I think owners have so much knowledge and passion that they I mean I look at hardware retail almost like a trade. You can mentor somebody into business ownership and into that trade and helping them take it over, especially if you have no one in your family who's interested. My husband and I don't have kids and so we didn't have anybody else to pass it on to, but maybe have a manager and I love that. The National Hardware Association they offer training for the younger generation that you can go through and go to hardware school, you know, and get mentored and trained in how to be a good hardware store owner, and so those are just, you know, a few things that you can do to have a thriving hardware business as a young person, and honestly I think now is the time to do it, because there's what is it Like?

Deborah Everson :

60% of retail business owners are owned by baby boomers. They're getting ready to exit their business. So if you're looking to get into business ownership, now is such a good time and maybe there's some seller financing that you can. There's so many different opportunities and things that you guys could work together.

Stefanie Couch:

Do the research and figure out options, because you don't have to have $10 million to go buy a local hardware store. You know you may be able to actually get into it and work with someone, like you said, and do seller financing and have very little investment. There's also places like co-ops and different things that really can help you understand. You know you mentioned the National Harbor Association. I'm obviously partnered with Do it Best and there's Orgul and CNRG and all these other people. There's tons of people that have trainings. They, I mean you can YouTube things. I don't know how many YouTube videos are on there, but that's something that you can find information on and most people, like you said, they love their businesses, they want them to survive and if somehow we can bridge this gap between the younger generation and the owners and say, hey, let's keep this thing going and hand it off, I think one of the lost arts that makes me so sad, honestly, that we have pretty much abandoned this, is internships that are like unpaid, just apprenticeships, and people used to do that. You know the hardware store owner would pay someone to work there and train that person and then they were planning to take it over. And if they didn't have an heir or somebody that was going to inherit it, that would take it over. They would do that and that happened all the time. That's how blacksmiths trained people and it's I mean, that's how everyone did things and we somehow lost that.

Stefanie Couch:

Everyone goes to college now and gets a degree, which I'm not against. I have a college degree but I can just tell you I learned a lot more in my dad's lumberyard about life and business than I ever learned in a classroom, and there's some things you need in the classroom and some things you need to learn by doing. I find that most business ownership skills you can read about. You don't know until you've done it. So figuring out who will partner with you is really important, and partnerships obviously are important, because you're married to your business partner I am as well and what do you think makes it work and how do you guys function as business owners spouses? Is there a divide? Is it all just one big pool that you can't separate? How does it?

Deborah Everson :

work for you. I think you're going to relate to this as it is a lifestyle. It really is a lifestyle and it's understanding what each other's strengths are, honoring and embracing those strengths and then functioning in that. So when I first came into the hardware business, it was a little rocky because I'm trying to tell my husband, well, you should be focusing on this, and he's going, but you should be focusing on this, and I'm trying to put stuff that I should probably be doing onto him. And until we realized, okay, what are our strengths, where are you? So what are our strengths, where are you? So I like doing events, I like doing all the HR. So I did a lot of the hiring, I made sure the schedule was done, and so we said I was front of the house, he's back of the house, he liked all the financial stuff, he handled our inventory, you know all of the things that were day-to-day operations where I kind of focused more on the projects. And then the fun stuff, like the home decor and the paint, like helping people pick out paint for their homes and stuff, and so understanding what each other's strengths were and then embracing it. We're not in competition, we're actually a team.

Deborah Everson :

And starting when we realized that that we started functioning as a team. It also made it so much easier for our employees. If there was something inventory related, I would tell our employees to go talk to Tracy. If there was something that was HR or events or anything else like that related, he would say go talk to Deborah, she knows. And so, instead of trying to do each other's jobs or feeling like we were in competition, we said what are our strengths? Let's embrace that and let's honor that in each other. Like even when we went to sell the store I'm the one who led that piece of selling the store. He did the day-to-day operations. If we were both trying to sell the store, who would keep the store running? If we were both focusing on the day-to-day operations, who was going to work on selling it? And so when we realized that this was where I was thriving and that was where he was thriving, we were both able to partner together to reach our goals.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, A team of horses pulling in the same direction. My dad always used to say when I was little that if both of you are the same, one of you is not needed, and I think that's really important and Ben and I have obviously very complementary strengths, but we have very similar values and we have similar goals. And also I think that he's my biggest supporter and I feel like Tracy's been very supportive of you and when one of you is not killing it, or you're weak or you're not able to push harder, that person pushes you, and I think Brene Brown actually was talking about her and her husband. You know it's never 50-50. I don't, that's a myth. It's like saying I give 110%. Well, that's not possible.

Stefanie Couch:

You can work really hard and some days you just can't give 50-50. And some days he's going to have to carry you and some days you're going to carry him. And we've definitely had seasons of our life and our marriage because we've been married a long time now that he's carried me and I've had times where it's been me carrying the weight. Now that we're in entrepreneurship journey, I feel like it's pretty equally yoked and some days I'm better than others and vice versa, but it's been fun. It's also been really cool to do something and accomplish something together. How have you used your journey and what was that feeling like at the closing table when you had success? Like what was that feeling?

Deborah Everson :

It was fun to have and experience the joy of success. So see, not even knowing that number one, at first wondering is our business worth anything, and then going through the whole process and it's very, very intense because there's a lot of emotions and everybody's trying to get stuff done and run a business at the same time and you had family and like legacy and all these different things and but then seeing that, wow, look at what we built together, look at what his family built, and now we're able to pass that on to somebody else, yeah, and for them to then take what we did and make it bigger and better, and so just experiencing that joy of success, even after we remodeled.

Deborah Everson :

It was so fun for me to see my in-laws come in and see this store, because they'd been in it for so long and not even realize, wow, this is what it could be. And people are here again and they're creating fun memories with their families and this is what we wanted. And so just to have them experience that joy of success and saying, wow, look at what we did and we were able to accomplish as a family, as a team, with our employees and then as a community, and so it's really about experiencing that joy of success together and it just I don't know, I can't get teary about it.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, it's a really beautiful ending to such a cool story with the family and, and especially like I can just envision your father-in-law going in the store still and that pride of ownership, even though he doesn't own it, that the legacy is still there and he still is a part of that. And how old is he now? 88., 88. Yeah, that's amazing that he's still going to the hardware store. My grandfather lived to be 101. And when it was during COVID, but we would be there visiting him and he would laugh about stories from the lumberyard. And I can kind of hear that in my mind of thinking about him laughing about something funny that happened or my dad, or he really thought it was really funny when bad stuff would happen to my dad in the lumber truck, you know, like a bundle of lumber would fall off the side and like he'd have to pick it up by hand. You know those types of things when the band breaks and my dad doesn't think those stories are as funny. But my granddad really loved those stories and so I think about that and I'm sure he has a million stories in your mother-in-law as well. And that is what family independent businesses are about. Is that that story will continue store to get a gumball or whatever they do there, will remember going there.

Stefanie Couch:

And that is why independent businesses can win is because it's really hard to replicate that with an online store. Even if you have an online store, it's not the same. No, and we all have those memories from our childhood and adulthood and you know I love going to the hardware store and especially when they have cool things that I like to buy. Clothing, obviously, is an affection of mine. If they have hats, I'm done for, dog stuff done for. But that is really where I think you guys have you won in your business. So, if you're an independent retailer, figure out what your audience really wants, how to make that customer experience All right, we're going to end this with a few lightning round questions. Are you?

Deborah Everson :

ready.

Stefanie Couch:

I'm ready. All right, if you were an animal, what would you be? A cat Okay, that did not take very long.

Deborah Everson :

We have thought about this I'm a cat girl through and through All right, what color cat? Oh boy. Well, so we have two cats. We have a tuxedo cat, a black and white, okay, and then I have kind of a mixed tabby cat. So I just love cats Actually. My dream, though, is to have a big, fat, fuzzy, fluffy cat.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, the orange Maine Coons are pretty awesome. They kind of look like little miniature lions in the house. Ben always says that it's kind of interesting because cats are actually like wild big cats in your house. They're just eight pounds or 10 pounds or whatever instead. But I love that answer and obviously you've thought on that one. Okay, If you could go one place and speak, because I know you're a speaker where would you go to do a?

Deborah Everson :

speech Australia. Okay, Hands down, I'm not getting very good. The lightning like you are lightning. So when my husband and I we met online, I said and one of the things that I had put on there is that my dream was to go to Australia and he commented on that in his first email to me and that was part of what won me over. That's amazing. He caught that detail of how much I love Australia. Never been there, but that is my one, All right. Well, we're manifesting that now, all right.

Stefanie Couch:

And then last question is what is next for you? What's exciting you right now? What's what's getting you up in the morning? What are you doing right now?

Deborah Everson :

What I'm excited about is being able to speak with people and share our experience of hardware ownership and just all the things that we went through and then helping them experience the joy of success up, just being able to come alongside independent retail business owners and encourage them and help them and let them see that they're not all washed up. It's not all about the box stores. You still have business there and let's help you re-engage with your community. Let's come up with a plan and help you get back what your original vision for your business was. And then I love speaking to audiences about this. I love how I do a presentation on one, two, three success and how to create value in your business, in just the little things. And sometimes it just takes going back to basics and you're like duh, I should have known that. But sometimes it's just having somebody remind you and it's not a put down, it's just hey, let's just remind you of what are the basics that we need to do to just help set you apart.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, going back to fundamentals always usually is where to start. Well, I love that and you are available if people want you to speak at events and you're doing lots of amazing work, and I'm so glad you joined me today on the Grip Blueprint. What a great conversation with a fellow woman in the hardware business, which I always love, and also just a great energy here. So I mean, we're vibing today and you're wearing the pink color and everything. So thank you so much for joining me on the Grip Blueprint and we will see you on our next episode. That's it for this episode of the Grit Blueprint podcast. For more tools, training and industry content, make sure to subscribe here and follow me on LinkedIn and other social media platforms To find out more about how Grit Blueprint can help you grow your business. Check us out at our website, gritblueprintcom.

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