There is GOOD in everyone

There is good in everyone. Hey, Polk County, we're back for another episode of the Elevate Polk podcast. Hoping you're having a wonderful week. My name is Chrissanne Long, and I'm here again with my co-host, Nate Kendrick, who always helps us tell the unique and personal stories of entrepreneurs in Polk County, Florida. How are you doing, Nate the Great?

Ah, I see. Okay. Okay. I like that we switched it up.

Yeah. Yeah, I was getting tired of the old intro.

Got it. Okay. I like that.

It was kind of boring.

Well, it's good to be here.

It's great to be here. And we have a wonderful guest with us today, Stephanie Gregg, and we're going to wave to our live streaming audience as well. We added this into our mix a couple of weeks ago and it's kind of fun.

Yeah, we're elevating the—

We're elevating the Elevate Folk Podcast. You got jokes today.

Yeah, right.

So Stephanie, welcome, welcome. If you don't know who Stephanie is, I will just introduce her as the Buena Market because that is her baby, that is her vision coming to life, and it's just been fun to watch it grow. So why don't you just do an introduction?

Sure, yes, my name is Stephanie Bernal-Gregg. I have been in Lakeland for a few years and for almost the past year have been hosting pop-up markets around beautiful Lakeland with Wayne Market. We've hosted more than 50 different local makers from Lakeland, Winter Haven, Orlando, Tampa, St. Pete, and yeah, we're just having a really good time. We host events every month, several events per month. We've done dinner theaters, pop-up restaurants, markets, art bazaar was our most recent one.

Yeah, I saw that on the social.

Yeah, it's been an amazing sort of creative scene that has come out of it.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's really cool. I think you guys did one at night. My buddy was talking about that. Wait, wait, wait.

We got to wait for that one. That one to me is the most exciting.

Oh, I jumped the gun. Okay. Just kidding.

Okay. Cool it. No, I'm just kidding.

Cool it, mister. I want to just, I want to kind of get familiar with where you came into pop-up market, pop-ups. I mean, I had a pop-up wedding. I love the idea of pop-ups, but like the There was a whole trend going and then you kind of just hopped into that. So talk about the little background, the context for that.

Yeah, I mean, I think pop-ups have been, I mean, I think they've just been growing in popularity, like pop-up restaurants where a restaurant or a chef will take over a restaurant space that, you know, maybe it's just sort of like in limbo, it's not yet occupied. They want to test out something, test out a concept and So that's, you know, one way to do it, like in the restaurant world. And then with markets, it's just something that I've seen in so many other cities. In Austin, where I'm from, like that was a regular thing for me to participate in, you know, farmers markets and creative markets. There's one in particular called Frida Friday that my mom was a part of, and it's like a Latina women—

Is it like Frida Kahlo?

Yeah, like Frida Kahlo is the inspiration, but it's meant for like, women of color specifically and people from the LGBTQ community, like, to— that's their space. So they are given priority in these markets and just a beautiful cultural scene that happens. And there's a lot that I just kind of thought that could be something we could have here.

Yes, I love that. I love taking ideas from other cities that we see and then bringing them back and then them actually taking off, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's been nice to kind of bring a piece of home here with me. Like, that was the sort of scene and the culture, then the collaborative experience that I was used to. And so it's been really beautiful.

So how long have you been here from Austin? When did you move to Lakeland?

I moved here in November of 2017. Okay. So 3 and a half years.

Yes. Wow. Look at how much you've done so far. That's amazing.

Thank you. Yeah, it's been, it's been an interesting ride, but Lakeland's been good to me. Yeah.

So do you, you can go now into, into that really cool thing that happened. So, so one of the things about the downtown scene, right? Yeah. Like there's just been so much growth in downtown Lakeland for several years and it's just kind of culminating into this very cool, you know, almost Austinesque, you know, attitude, right? Mm-hmm. Like, you know, we're not necessarily as weird maybe as Austin might be, but I'd love for us to get there.

There's some weirdos here. In the best way possible.

In the greatest way.

That's what I was going to ask. I was going to say, Austin is in my mind kind of like popping, like it's like a legit city. So what brought you to Lakeland?

Well, what brought me to Lakeland were more personal reasons. So my husband is originally from Lakeland.

Got it.

His family is still here. And just some things with the family made us kind of reconsider whether we should be in Austin or maybe try relocating here, which he never thought he would move back to Lakeland. But, um, once we sort of started visiting again in, you know, recent years, I was like, you know, I feel like there's something cool going on here. And I saw a lot of opportunity and Austin is a beautiful place and there's so much going on, but I feel like I kind of missed it. Like I missed that growth period. I was maybe too young or I just wasn't ready. I just didn't, I wasn't there yet. And so I saw like more of a groundswell happening in Lakeland than I thought, you know, if I want to have my own business one day and really make an impact, maybe this is a better place for me to do it in. So. So we didn't give it much more thought than that. That's awesome. We just moved and saw how it went. So yeah, it was rough for a while just being away from— I mean, I've never left Austin. I never had a reason to leave. I love it. I love it still.

Do you get to go back often?

I do. Yeah, of course, this past year I haven't got to visit much, but I do as much as I can. It's definitely a priority. I mean, my family's there, all my friends.

So tell us about what I'm going to call the culture shock of the initial first couple of weeks. And be honest. I mean, this is reality, right? We want to attract people from other cities across the country or even the globe. And what's the first impression? What do you see? How did you think of Polk County, Lakeland when you arrived? And knowing, maybe having lived it through your husband's lens, knowing a little bit about it, How did it, how did it match his perspective or how did you have, what were your thoughts?

I had a hard time. Of course, you know, I'm a very social person and I had a very social life when I lived in Austin. Like if I wasn't doing a business event, it was, you know, have, doing something fun, volunteering, being engaged in the community, having, you know, dinner with friends, just like going out. There were so many things to do. to entertain. There was a thriving music scene and all these things. So that wasn't really happening here in Lakeland. And that was really hard for me because I didn't have a lot to go out, a lot of ways to go out and meet people. Mm-hmm. Um, and also I just already didn't know anyone. Right. So it was really, I, I knew a few people through my husband, but like, you know, when you leave a town and then you come back, everybody's already got their lives have gone on in your absence. And so you can't really just jump back in and—

Insert yourself into their life and pick up where you left off.

Yeah, it doesn't really work that way. And you know, you gotta find your own groove. And when we first moved here, we actually lived with my in-laws for a period of time. So that kind of made things even different cuz you're more like insulated in the family unit and you're just kind of figuring that whole living situation out. So I was bored. I was probably depressed. Realistically, I was having a really hard time because I left everything I knew. And I didn't realize how hard that would be for me. Like, I was excited for the fresh start, but then I was like, oh, this is lonely and this is difficult. And, you know, we're just trying to find our way.

And thank you for that honesty. I mean, I think— I mean, it's, it's a, it's a hard thing to To come to a new place. I would say I'm from Polk County most of my life. I mean, 5 years old. I don't know if that really qualifies as not being able to say that I'm not, I wasn't born here. That's about all I can say. And even moving from one part of the, of the county to the other, like from the east, east to the west. I didn't know anybody in Lakeland when I moved to Lakeland. I got divorced. I moved here. And then it was like, oh, I mean, I knew a couple of people, but I think that there's a cultural challenge of that insulation that we kind of— it's like, you're not one of us. And so I don't know how quickly we're going to open up to you because nobody knows you. And it does require a lot of exerted effort to break into the circle. And I think that that's fair. I mean, it's probably the same a lot. You know, it's not like special or unique. But at the same time, you know, coming in and kind of seeing a slower pattern of life, you know, and not really— okay, well, what did I get get myself into.

Yeah.

Um, so thank you for that. Just for being that, that honest.

Yeah. I mean, and that, I think it's like, it's, it goes hand in hand with the value of a tight-knit community. Like that is an amazing thing. Mm-hmm. Because you know so many people and you can be close with these people. And, um, so that's the other side of it. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. It's scary cuz you wanna be like, how do I, where, where can I get in?

Right.

But I just had to make that decision to be like, I'm just gonna put myself out there. And that's what I did. And I just, you know, went to coffee shops. I joined Catapult. I just started after I came out of my little, you know, sad cocoon. I was like, all right, I can do this.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I, I think that energy was reciprocated. I've made a lot of really amazing friends and connections here. So that's great.

Well, and, and so when I met you, mm-hmm. That was speaking of meeting people. Yeah. Um, we, we were trying to remember when that was and it, it, Couldn't have been much longer after Revival had opened.

No, I don't think so.

It was kind of like that initial surge of, "Hey, there's a new place, let's all go check it out." And so I was there and I think I met your husband. He was standing at the bar next to me and I'm looking at him talking and, "Hey, I don't know you," or he knew somebody that introduced us. I think that's how it happened. Somebody was with him that introduced us. We started a conversation and then I'm like, "Well, this beautiful wife of yours, where is she? Is she here?" And so you tell that version of the story 'cause it was funny because I was just like, "I would love to meet her." And so he walks away.

So he came over to me and I, I was like within a conversation with somebody else and he was like, this woman at the bar, she needs, she wants to meet you. And I'm like, okay, great. And he was like, no, like she's just, she seems really great. And like, she's excited about you wanting to be an entrepreneur and like, you should just go talk to her. So I was like, all right. And so then I would just like, like I said, just put myself out there. And so, and we had a really quick, you know, quick conversation. Yeah.

And I knew you were with friends and, you know, I was with my husband and there were maybe some people joining us. I don't remember. Yeah. But I was like, all right, well let's connect. So I think we connected on Facebook.

Facebook.

And then we've just kind of stayed, you know, we've had some chats here and there. We've had some conversations and I've just been following you and excited for your growth, you know, and not knowing even the background, you're not really even knowing that you had recently moved from Austin and that you were kind of right in that transition of trying to find your way. And I maybe in retrospect, I wish that I had been maybe a little bit more helpful because I feel like I could have just said, hey, let's go grab coffee. I would love to get to know you more, but we just kind of were connected on the socials and then that was that. That's okay. But now we're here.

Yeah, we're here now. So look at us go.

There we go. So I think so either 2.5 or 3 years into Lakeland, that's when you came up with the concept for Bueno Market.

Yes.

Okay.

So, well, sort of. So when I moved here initially, my thought was like, I'm going to open a brick and mortar business. And so that's what I actively started working on. Once I joined Catapult, I started building a business plan and making connections and finding advisors and trying to figure out like, this is such a complete career pivot. I used to work in real estate and investment property management when I lived in Austin. So I was very much like immersed in the downtown while it was undergoing this huge transition and development and like the food scene and the creative scene and the arts, like we're just— they were the heart of what I loved. And so when I moved here, I was like, well, maybe I want to follow more of that than the you know, this real estate thing. So I started working on a business plan for a brick and mortar concept that was sort of what— when a market is now in my mind is a deconstructed version of that. So that brick and mortar would've housed like local makers and food entrepreneurs and things like that. But it would've been like a food retail business for the community.

Got it.

Which, um, yeah, so I worked on that for a long time, hit some obstacles, didn't give up on it, but then the pandemic hit. And so I sort of had to like be like, what am I gonna do now? Because it did not make sense a year and a half ago to start pursuing that again. So yeah, Bueno Market, um, is it just kind of grew out of that. And so I knew because of the work I had been doing and being engaged in the small business community here, I had a lot friends that were creatives and makers and food entrepreneurs. And so we— I kind of like gathered a few of them together and said like, let's just do like a pop-up at my house. And then from there we did another, and then I had connections with like other business owners and reached out to them and said, can I use your lawn? Can I use your porch? Can I use this space? And then it grew to a point where Winter Market brought an audience and a crowd that local businesses hadn't necessarily been experiencing because we were in a pandemic, but we were able to do it outdoors with masks and be, you know, considerate of each other's safety and bring foot traffic to these local businesses. So I think it's been a win-win.

Yeah, yeah, and I love, I love seeing it taking hold and, and really how the community is responding to it. Right. It's just a fun new thing that doesn't, doesn't fit any molds. Right. So it just gives it— it has its own presence, its own culture. You know, like you're bringing your own new little mini culture inside of ours and it's, it's melding beautifully. It's just a really neat picture that you're painting. And I love it. I love that you're doing it.

Yeah.

It's awesome. I've actually been to one of your markets before at the Joinery.

Oh yeah.

It's a really cool vibe.

Yeah. That was, you know, such an amazing opportunity with the joinery too, 'cause, you know, obviously it's a beautiful place, great setting. And I, you know, suggested like, could we do a market here? And they were great. Yeah, let's do it. And again, like I do think it's a mutually beneficial thing because people that come to our markets are also going to go in and buy food and, maybe visit the joinery if they hadn't already been there, and same, like people are at the joinery are going to come through and find, you know, the woman that does microgreens or the person that makes, you know, that does street poetry and like custom things for everybody. It's just, it's so cool, and I think one of my favorite things is that people that I like, regular faces I see at the market, are like, "Oh yeah, like this morning I, you know, text my friend and they were like, oh, Are you going to Buena today? Like, let's meet up there, you know? So, and I'm like, oh, that makes me so happy.

You're a destination.

Like they just wanna come hang out with each other in this setting. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, but it's such a gift to me for them to be there.

So it just, it's all, it's that beautiful symbiotic part.

It's warm and fuzzy.

Yeah.

I love it.

So I do too. I love that. I love that that's happening. I love that you were able to pivot instead of just like, I wouldn't even say you would squash the dream. You probably just would've paused. Yeah. And waited. And then you didn't wait. You just said, okay, well, Well, how could I do this anyway, even though, you know, things are shut down or because things are shut down and maybe that's the opportunity, you know, and you were able to see that in that white space. I mean, we've had an episode about the discussion of finding white space and where opportunity lives. So talk about like you had the business plan, it was going to be brick and mortar, pandemic comes along. You probably revised the business plan. But like, these are— were these skill sets that you felt like you already had and knew how you would go about achieving this, or did you learn some things along the way? Where did you get—

I've learned so much. Yeah. I do think that honestly, this concept is a more natural entry for me to go the brick and mortar route one day because it is already You know, using my skillset to build relationships with people. It's, um, you know, feeding my passion for small business. Like I love small business. I love supporting artists. I want, like, I wholeheartedly believe like that is, that's our culture. You know, we have to take care of the artists and the makers and the people that are like just contributing their talent to our community. Such a gift. And so I love being able to nurture that and foster it and say, like, I see you, I want you to do this thing, how can we make it happen? And so I think that for me, like, those are my passions and my skills. And also, like, I am— I think I have good taste and I can put together an experience, like, You know, I've been told I'm a good host, and that's what I think— that's what differentiates me then, like, from the farmers market, because our farmers market is amazing, but there's a different opportunity with Bueno Market too, because I'm there, I'm saying, like, is this— if this is your first market, like, are you nervous? Let's talk about it. What, you know, come out from behind your table. This is, you know, you're going to be able to talk to people, or you have a brand new product that people haven't experienced, a different cuisine. It's okay. Like our, the people that come here want to try something that's new. I promise you're going to have a good day because I'm trying to think through when I curate the markets to like actually set them up for success. Like I don't want you to come and not have a successful day, which sometimes that happens, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that you're taken care of and you feel like if I have a question, if I have a need, if whatever, like somebody's going to be there to help me.

Yeah.

We've been able to offer that. So I don't know if that answers your question.

Yeah, absolutely.

So how's it been? And you know, because you're, you know, you had a concept, now it's, now it's a crystallized full, full, full, full idea where you're starting to grow it. How has that been at the growth stage where now you're having people, I would assume, starting to come to you and say, hey, I want to be a part of the market? How have you been able to manage all that?

Um, well, we're trying to find spaces that we can host larger events at. Um, but I also think there is a niche for the smaller market. So like I'm, um, going to be doing a few pop-ups this month at Concord that are really small, like 10 to 15 vendors. Um, and I think that's a better opportunity for some, like for a good mix of some of the vendors that are really established and some that are brand new either to Lakeland or just in general. Um, so even though I have a growing roster, like I try to give people a different opportunity at different markets. So we sometimes have themes or it'll depend on the venue. Um, and just the product mix. Like I don't want to oversaturate in any one particular category that way everybody has their time to shine and, you know, maybe it won't be for this particular one, but it'll happen for the next. And, um, And sometimes people just aren't the right fit and that's okay. Like we just kind of have to navigate that when it happens. But I do my best to make room for everybody because that matters.

Well, that's part of the culture. I mean, you know, let's talk about Buena. I want to kind of go into like the Buena Market. Why is it Buena Market? Talk about a little bit of your background, your family, your culture. You know, let's talk about that.

Absolutely. Well, I'm Chicana, so I'm Mexican American. My family on both my parent's side, we've got kind of a mix of people that came from Mexico or that were in Texas already. And so, Wena is actually like a combination of my pet names for my grandmothers, my maternal and paternal side. So, Abuela is my dad's mom and Nana is my mom's mom. And so, Wena is kind of pulled from both of those things.

Oh, that's great.

So, that was very personal to me. And again, like when I first came up with the name, it wasn't intended to be for what it is now. Because I feel like Bueno Market now is a community thing. It's not Stephanie's business. Right. It's a community. Mm-hmm.

We have that in common. You know, it's kind of the creation of the thing is, yeah. Is a platform that allows others to, yeah. To get, yeah. You know, access to, to the things that they want.

Yeah. So everything I, I do, I try to be very conscientious of like inclusiveness and diversity. Diversity, and I just don't see why not, why you wouldn't. But, um, so that's part of like my mission with Bueno Market too. Like, I want to make sure that we're considering our community, like really, you know. I want to represent what our world looks like. I want people to be able to come and, you know, see things that like, oh, this is my, this is my culture here, you know. I love that. And It's such a vibrant community. So I hope that Buena Market is reflective of that. That's what I try to do.

So I want to dig a little deeper because I know that there were conversations you and I have had on social about the inclusive, about social, some of the social challenges of the society we are in and specifically how we as a community may or may not be as welcoming or as inclusive as we can be. So from your observation, why don't why don't you give your perspective on that? Like, I think you have a very unique perspective because you come from a unique background in a community that seems to have some things figured out as to how to create an inclusive community. That's why it is dubbed as, you know, Keep Austin Weird. Yeah. So where are the barriers? What are our blind spots? What are the things we can be doing better as a community to foster the same kind of community that you're fostering, but maybe on a grander broader scale?

Mm-hmm. Well, first I want to say that I am, you know, a straight, light-skinned, cis, hetero woman, so I have a lot of privileges. So I am not the, you know, necessarily like a mouthpiece for communities across the board, but from my perspective, as someone who just cares about being inclusive human and business owner, I just, I just see a lot of just a lack of, a lack of diversity in our community in general. In, you know, people that are in positions of power, people that are business owners, or people that are given— not given opportunities, but who get opportunities. And that is not only here in Lakeland, that's everywhere. And even Austin is beautiful and opportunistic, like, as that community is, it has blind spots too. It's not like we're not alone. So I hope that no one takes a personal offense to that. I think it's just an opportunity to grow and be better.

Um, and nothing changes if we're not brave and we aren't able to speak our perspective. Like you said, you clearly identified it as this is your perspective.

Yeah.

Um, all of us are going to see things narrowly through our own lens, right? We can't not see it through our lens. That's not humanly possible, but it is possible for us to say, I know that I can only see it my way, and I want to be open to understanding how it is from your lens or from your lens or from whoever else's lens. And I think it's important that we don't— I mean, obviously we don't want to criticize or become combative about something, but I'm asking you the question and giving you that open opportunity because I know that I share a lot of what you think and what you feel. And I want it to be an opportunity for you to not feel like you have to apologize for where you're coming from.

I know it's a little— It's a little scary, right? Because I know I've mentioned things on social media and people don't— they don't get it. They don't hear me. So I think it's just a little— it's very vulnerable, but I hope that people can hear me when I say it's just an opportunity to help people feel like they matter, that they're— whatever they have to contribute to the world or just to be themselves It matters. And we see you and we hear you and we want you here. You know, it's not that like, "Ush, don't say anything about that. Don't say anything about that. Don't be angry. Don't be loud. Don't be this. Don't be that." Just no, like, just allow people that space to become themselves and to participate in our community in a real meaningful way. And to be taken care of.

Part, yeah, part of, part of the community.

Welcome them in. I think for me, like, I, I try— I'm not perfect— I try to just create space for other people to do their thing. And for me to just be back here, like, I got your back. Yeah, I support you. I'm here. I want you to get paid. I want you to be visible. I want you to showcase whatever talents you have. You know, I, I try.

Um, and you, and you're pulling that out. Like you said, you're seeing somebody who's maybe hiding behind the table. Mm-hmm. You know that they're not there to not engage, but we have, we, as the people that I think both of us are very similar in that we're pulling that out of others. We're includers.

Yeah.

Right. If I, if I go to a networking event, I think I've shared this before. If I go to a networking event and I see somebody standing on the wall, mm-hmm, you know, kind of even looking busy on their phone.

Yeah.

I know that they didn't get out of their car to come be on their phone. This is a defense mechanism. This is something they're, they're afraid, they're uncomfortable, they don't feel welcomed. So I go out of my way to pull that person out from the corner and into the middle and introduce and connect and do all of that. And I think that's the leadership that we need to see across the board is looking out for those that are not already here. It's not like every— there's the table cannot be big enough for everybody to have a seat at the table, but we all have to understand that The table is all of us coming together and seeing the people that are not here and finding a way for them to join us.

Yeah. Or maybe saying like, take my seat. Yeah, I can go, right? I don't need to be here. I don't need to be the one that's talking here. You know, it's fine. I'll be right over there. You know, I think that there's just, there are so many opportunities like in everyday life and I, I've, I'm so grateful to have started to see that at Buena Market. Like, I want, um, I just want people to feel welcome, and to— they are welcome. And I even like have put that, started putting it in my vendor agreements. Like, you are agreeing that like hate speech, harassment, anything of that nature is not tolerated in this space. Yeah, absolutely not. And I think I, you know, when I look at vendors and their, the products they make, like, if there's room for them to be more inclusive or You know, maybe the language we want to think, think about that. Like, I have to be careful. I'm not here to judge people, but I do think that because I'm engaged in these conversations with different communities and people from different backgrounds that like, I have some things to share, you know?

And so, and I think it's just an, you're an, you're an illustration of be the change you want to see in the world, right? You're creating that culture. Absolutely, it is.

I mean, I feel honestly, I feel really humbled by like the community that we have because I'm grateful for them.

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I mean, like, Buena Market doesn't exist without all the people that come, but you're giving them the space.

Yeah.

And then the space is being honored by the people who are coming to support it, right? So it's a beautiful mixture of just such complex but, but simple, you know, conversations all at the same time. So it's, it's a beautiful idea.

So I like asking our guest this question.

Okay.

So, um, uh, a lot of people are probably listening and maybe they're like, oh man, I want to start something too. I'm excited, you know, have a concept that may be similar or just a concept in general. What are some key things that you would say to them when they're thinking about this idea and they're trying to build a business and grow a business? And, and, you know, they see your success and like, oh, I want that, but they may not understand what it took to get there?

Yeah. Uh, well, to be fully honest, like I'm in a space right now that I feel like it's time for me to scale my business. It's time for me to figure out some ways where I can step away from certain tasks so that I can actually develop this. And it's a hard place to be because I feel a little bit stuck. Um, but I know that's normal and it's okay. I'm just trying to be conscientious with my own needs as a person and a business owner. Um, but there was a long period of time where I didn't take action because I was afraid of what was on the other side of that action. And so I think like my best advice is for people to just try it. Yeah, just try it. Just put it out there. And it doesn't have to be like in this perfect shiny little package where you have everything figured out. Like, it can be messy. You can—

it's gonna be messy.

Yeah, it's inevitably gonna be messy.

Figure it out along the way. It's all right. Especially with things that are like creative in nature. That's the beauty of it. Like, you just put your, put your things out there. And I, like, for me, my vendors, I try to— I'm here for them. Like, if they want to talk about their products, their pricing, their merchandising, their branding, like, I'm, I'm trying to get to a point where I can be more present for them to have those types of conversations. Because once you get to a point, like, a certain point you need that. But I really think it's just trying, you know, just figure it out. Like, what, what do you want to do? If you think, you know, somebody wants a cup with wood grain on it, yeah, make it.

Yeah, right.

Sell it. Like, just, you know, especially with something like the market, I hope that is a space for people to try new things. Like, you get your customers, they're here, you get to be face to face with them.

Yeah.

You get their feedback. You can, you know, figure out what they like, what they don't like, what are they willing to pay for.

Yeah.

You know, we'll help you with your setup. I mean, and that's just like, that's just point of market. But I think for anybody in general, like, I think you just, you just really have to take the first step and just figure out what that first step is for you. Yeah. And take it. Um, like what I do is Um, I, I just try to envision like how I feel once I've accomplished this goal. Um, once I'm doing the thing that I want to be doing, or once I've like, you know, hit this metric, like how would, how does she feel? That future Stephanie.

Yeah.

What is she?

It's a great exercise.

It is.

And then you're gonna just pull yourself towards it.

Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I mean, and that's like maybe like not everyone's cup of tea, but that's mine. Like, I will sit there and meditate and be like, what is she, you know, how does she feel? What is her energy like? Who's around her? You know, what does her day-to-day life look like? And that, like, and just like, yeah, pull yourself toward it.

So, well, that's what I'm glad you asked that question.

Yeah, no, I think it's, I think it's huge because a lot of people, it's so interesting when people, when people start businesses, there, there's this And I'm not, I'm speaking to myself too. There's this fear of failure or fear of stumbling or, you know, just like, oh man, I don't want to mess up, but it's, you know, it's inevitable. It's like, and for some reason there's just this block in our heads. Like, but I think about when you were talking, I think about like when you're riding a bike for the first time, you didn't think that you were going to immediately be able to ride the bike.

Right. Well, that's why your parents put the training wheels on. Exactly. It's okay.

Yeah.

It's okay.

It's okay to, fall and get a few scrapes and maybe bump your head and maybe, maybe you'll cry a little bit. Maybe it'll be a little bit tough, but it's a, it's part of that process.

Yeah. And I think like simplifying it, you know, like you don't have to do all the things. You don't have to be the best at every aspect of your business. Like where, what is the most important thing? And, you know, first it's like spend time on the product itself. What is, what is that that you're really offering to people? And just go from there. I mean, honestly, like you mentioned, when I, you know, started the pop-up markets, like, oh, you probably rewrote your business plan. No, I didn't. No, I just, I just thought like, hey, let's try this thing. 'Cause it sounds fun and it's gonna get me out of my house and I need this and I think the community needs it too. So it just kind of happened.

Yeah.

And so the whole way we've been going, I've been building the plan, you know? Yeah. So it's, Sometimes it works out that way.

We say that like we're building the plane as we're taking off on the runway. Yeah, that's how it feels. We've got the engine, we've got the fuel, we might need the wings, but we don't need the wheels until we land, right? So we could build those.

Yeah, and I have an awesome support system, and my husband helps me a lot. So he's taken a more significant role since I came home one day and was like, okay, if I'm going to keep doing this, I need help. And either it's you or I have to hire somebody. And he's like, well, I can do it, you know? And so that's great. It's been really nice.

That's huge.

So shout out, what's his first name?

Steven.

Steven. Shout out to Steven for all of your help for making it possible.

Yes, we call him our market husband because he's always the one, he's there, he's setting everybody up, he's like, can I carry that for you?

That's awesome.

Let's fix this.

And he's like, see, I knew I liked him when I met him that first time.

He absolutely is. And he he loves this too because Lakeland's his hometown. He never knew that it had the potential to be a place where he wanted to come back to. And now he's seeing it and I think he just, he's so happy. So, and I know he's not alone.

Like there's a whole, they call 'em like the boomerang, the boomerang Polk County people. Yeah. Yeah. They say they're never coming back, but here they are.

Oh yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

So we gotta make it like a fun place.

Yeah. I was, I was the opposite. I always knew I wanted to come home. Like this was, I grew up here. Grew up here. I went to Florida State, thought I'd graduate and move home. I don't, I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew that I, this, this is home. Like I lived in Miami for a year. I didn't want to live in a big city. I just, I'm a very, my family's Cuban, so I'm very connected to the family roots. I want to be close to mom and my grandmother and, and everything. So I don't know, what do you call the people who always knew that they were going to come home to Polk County? But that's me.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was definitely a boomerang because I was in Orlando. I was like, I'm never coming back ever. Growing up in Lakeland, there was really nothing going on, but it's just so exciting to see the growth. And one of the things I like that what you said is you were in Texas and you kind of felt like you missed out on the growth, but realizing that we're at that moment in Lakeland where it's, it's bubbling and the growth is starting to happen and we're really seeing opportunity like never before. And so it's inspiring to see businesses like yourself come out into Lakeland and say, man, I would have never thought that that would have even existed in Lakeland even 5 years ago. And now it's happening.

And I love the random thoughts of someone visiting Lakeland on a day that you have a Buena Market and walking in and seeing this accidentally, right? And going, whoa, what a cool culture there is in Lakeland, thinking that this is like an everyday or an every week or an every weekend kind of thing. Those are the kinds of fun things that, you know, I have a house on Airbnb and when my guests are coming into Lakeland from all these really different, interesting places and why they're coming to Lakeland, that's one of the things I'm always like, I'm available to tell you what's going on in the community. Because if you want this kind of experience or that kind of experience, I'd love for you to get to know Lakeland like a local.

Yeah.

And that's just a fun part. Yeah.

That's what I loved. And when I worked in real estate in Austin, I felt like I was more of a tour guide than I was a realtor because I would just, drive them around the neighborhoods where they were thinking about moving, and I would tell them like, here's where you're gonna go for drinks, here's where you're gonna get your groceries, oh my gosh, there's this really cool place over here and a park. And so I felt like I was sort of like sharing this like community, like their little neighborhood with them, and that is— that's what I loved. Like, I love for them to be able to like paint a picture like, oh, this is what my life could be like here, and That's what makes people, I think, like the food and beverage and the arts and all that is what makes people really like feel tied to a place.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you mentioned a little bit ago, you were talking about, you're kind of at a spot where you think you are going to need to scale. You want to scale. So what does scaling Buena Market look like in the vision of, you know, what you're manifesting?

I think that it looks like more resources for our vendors.

What do you mean by resources?

So, I mean, they are all micro and small business owners, so they need support. So they, I think, need maybe like a consultation. Like, I want to be able to offer them more time with me, say like, all right, where do you want your business to go? How can I help you grow it?

Wow.

I love that. And, And then I have like, you know, I have an amazing media team, a graphic designer, you know, people that I know, people do websites and all kinds of things. So I kind of wanna just be able to share those things with them to say like, this is the next step for you probably. And so here's where, here's some referrals for you and sort of try to build like that network. And I think that's a great opportunity for me too with advertisers because That's also a different way we need to scale Point of Market because, you know, I want to— I need to keep the fees accessible for the vendor. So there's only so much I can charge, like realistically. I'm not going to gouge them on pricing. But I think there's a huge opportunity for advertisers with Point of Market.

Yeah, there's definitely a different revenue stream completely than the admission fee or the cost to the market.

Yeah, and I think that kind of is— I need to focus is— so when I say scaling, I guess I need to scale on that side of the revenue for us so that I can bring on people to do some of the day-to-day things that I'm doing.

Yeah.

Um, so I mean, but you know, if you look at our social media, like, I work so hard on our social media to promote our events. Um, I promote the vendors, I promote the venues, the co-hosts. Like, I'm I am always on it.

Yeah.

And I think that's partially why we have been so successful is because I've just tried to be constantly present on social media. And I like that. I think it's fun. And it's like a, that's my little creative outlet. Like I have a lot of, I have a lot of fun with it. So, so what I want to be able to offer to like advertisers or sponsors, or I'm not really sure what to call them yet, cause I have had sponsors in the past. And that was a lot of fun. But I just want to build out like, what can I offer them beyond like social media promotion and being—

maybe you need a podcast. Maybe I need to bring your podcast. You have your sponsors, you have your, your vendors.

I like the plug.

Chrissanne Long, you need a podcast. I have a studio.

Maybe I do. Yeah, so I think that's, that's pretty much, I think, the next step for us. And then, because as far as scaling the size of the markets, that's not hard for me to do. Yeah, like we've done, you know, events with 30 vendors in a day. We've done a full weekend of events. Like, we've— we can grow the, the size of the market themselves.

Do you ever see there being markets simultaneously at like throughout the county? Like maybe a Winter Haven Buena Market and a Haines City?

And I hadn't thought about that. No, I've had a lot of offers to come to Winter Haven too, so I definitely want to because we have a lot of vendors from Winter Haven. Um, and, uh, the people, the people, Amy, that run, uh, Winter Haven Farmers Market, like, they're so great. And so we share a lot of vendors and we like are always kind of just hyping each other up because they have such a cool thing going on. But, um, I don't know.

Yeah, that's cool, that's cool. Well, one of the things I, um being a CEO of a company with employees, I didn't get here in that traditional way, right? Like the story, a super quick version of the story, it was Craig and Chrissanne Long running the business. We were invited to merge and suddenly overnight I had employees. That's really how it happened.

Wow.

So I didn't walk into this with like the feeling like I was prepared. So when you were talking about just try it, just do it. Yeah. Like that's the only way you're gonna get there. But I feel like there was a, a process for me that I had to get to cuz at that point I was doing it all myself. And then I was, I had employees, but I didn't know how to lay out the expectations of what the employees' roles and responsibilities were. And so I was still doing a lot of it myself. And the things that I can't, like I have no gift to do, like the graphic design and the web design and all of that, that was easy. But it's the process of getting to a point where you're able to delegate that I was kind of wanting to just plug in here and say, there's a, there's actually a program called CEO Mindset. That's a woman, her name is Julianne. She's, she's been great. And she's got a program for people who want to start thinking like a CEO. And one of the lessons that she talks about is you have to either automate it, delegate it, or eliminate it because you're the CEO isn't really doing anything, right? Like the CEO is just the vision. The CEO is doing whatever it is that the CEO wants to do. And then kind of gets to a point where everyone else is doing that. And so I was just thinking, you know, I can introduce you to Julianne if you wanna do that or just start thinking about, all right, how can I, how can I delegate this? Or who would I delegate it to?

Mm-hmm.

And you know, I, one of the things that I'm on right now in my mind is like trying to help younger entrepreneurs start to value their time more and more quickly. Mm-hmm. Right. It's like, what, how much are you making? How much time are you spending? So how much is your, how much is an hour of your time worth? And right now it might be low, but then you go, okay, well, I want it to be here. So how do I get it to here? Because if you get to a point where you're at, like my, my time is worth $250 an hour, well, then you're not going to spend time doing the things that you could pay somebody $15 an hour to do. Right. And it's that shift in your, in the mindset of how you want to position the work, because at the beginning you are doing it all yourself and there is no one else except for thanks to Stephen. There's Stephen. But I was just plugging in that because you were saying that, because I'm thinking, okay, scaling looks like you being able to focus more on the vision and the planning and the organizing and not in the day-to-day minutia of the things that you have to do.

Yeah, I have a lot of ideas that I would love to pursue that I think could be, you know, segments of Buena Market that we can grow. Like, I just— there's just so much potential, but it is hard to get there when you're in the thick of it. You're in the day-to-day and you can't like I feel you, sister. I feel like I'm like running. I got a little extra time. I'm going to do the thing.

You get pulled back. Yeah.

It's hard, but I chose it.

Yeah. And you keep choosing it and it's great. It's just that there are— you mentioned resources for your vendors, you know, just realizing that I think leading by example too. Like if you can, if you can get yourself to this point, then you can show them how you did it. And then they can start to kind of find that level of success that you're getting to.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And I, and I think it's part of that, the growing up stage of a business. I think we've talked about it before where you get to a point where you, you, you have to make the choices of, okay, how am I allocating my time on a day-to-day basis? And I'm getting to a point where there's only so much time in the day of things that I can do. And some of these skill sets may not be my strongest skill sets, so it's taking me twice as long. So how do I have someone that comes alongside me? That can help so that I can go and do these other things. I mean, I'm preaching to the choir because I'm actively learning it as we're growing the business that I'm a part of.

That's why we're on this show. I mean, the reality is this is not something that you go to school and you walk out and you know how to do all of the things. You have to go through the— and that's the part of the relationships too, the network, the connecting, the relating, the empathy. You know, it's like if you know that you're not alone, then you don't feel so bad and you're not beating yourself up. And if you hear other people in the space, in the ecosystem saying, yeah, oh man. Oh, well, but wait, this is how I solve that problem. Here, try this. Hey, let's get together for coffee and I'll actually show you my workflow. You know, it's, that's the nature of this community.

Yeah. Oh man. I'm so grateful for the other entrepreneurs and business owners in this community. Like I just have felt so well taken care of and I know there's more where that comes from because sometimes, you know, you get, or at least I get, I'm like working solo at home trying to figure something out and it's just like the task is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and I feel like I'm shrinking and just like, how do I do this? And then I, when I come out of that bubble and I reach out to somebody and I'm like, I am struggling with this.

Yeah.

And then they can say like, oh, I got you.

Yeah. Yeah.

I got you.

I, I agree. I, I, I love, I love the entrepreneurship or the community, the bi— the bi— especially the business community in Lakeland. There's people that. That you would probably never even think that have such a willingness to give back and to say, hey, I'm here for you. And, or because, you know, I'm the same way, I have questions all the time. I'm like, hey, hey man, I'm struggling with this. Yeah, I need some help. I need your wisdom. Yeah, you've been, you've been in business a lot longer than me. What should I do? Yeah, to have that's huge.

And if you don't invest in those relationships, you don't have somebody to call. Yeah, right. You can't call somebody out of the blue that doesn't know you from Adam's house cat and say, hey, I need help. So there's this, there's this side part of the relationships you have to build. That's an investment. That's not an expense. That's an investment because then at some point in time you can come back to that and say, hey, remember that time I helped you? I need your help. And sometimes it's not even a reciprocity thing. It's just more of like, it's a part of the ethos and we put it out there. We know it's going to come back. I might give to Nate, something comes from Stephanie and, and we're all kind of working in that symbiotic way.

Yeah, I mean, when I first started doing Bueno Market, I think I reached out to like Jason Ellis at Cobb and Penn, Richard D'Angelis, Red Door, Jeannie at Revival. Like those, they just were like, what do you need? I got you. Yeah. You know, and have continued to be like so encouraging, so supportive for no real reason. Just 'cause, you know, the ethos, baby. Yeah. At that point, like I had nothing really to offer them, but Um, you know, all— I think Cafe Zuppina too. I mean, that's my, you know, those are my, my family at this point, and they have just been so awesome this whole time. So I could name every— so many people.

So, well, I think that it's great you did some shoutouts today. And, and, you know, I think I love this conversation that we've had. I want to give people an opportunity to learn how to get involved. So if they're a vendor and they want to, you know, apply, how do they do that? And then how does one follow along with your schedule? Maybe someone listening wants to be an advertiser or a sponsor, so give them all of the things that they need to get in touch with you.

Sure. So whenamarket.com, you could go there, you can see our upcoming events, you can apply to be a vendor. And so what we do is we just take applications and then when we start curating a market, we just reach out to you and say, hey, are you available on this date? Here's the details. You want to book it, we got you. So that's pretty straightforward. And then if you have other questions about sponsoring or being one of our advertising partners, you can reach me at stephanie@buena-market.com. I would love to chat. I have a lot of ideas and I just, yeah, there's a lot of potential there. So don't miss it. And Facebook is where I keep all of our events, like our schedule on there. So I have an events page on Buena Market Facebook. Um, so anytime we have an event coming up, you can find it there. And then Instagram is the main, like our most active channel. So, um, @buena-market is where you find us on Instagram. And, um, that's a lot of fun. We have all kinds of like videos and vendor features and all kinds of things.

You have a really great Instagram channel. I really, I have Instagram envy.

That is my baby.

I want to, I want to point out one thing. I don't know if you know the date off the top of your head, but when's the next time you're doing the downtown nighttime event?

I was just about to ask that.

Thank you for asking. I don't have a date yet, but I will be working on that in the next couple of weeks.

Okay. So tell us what happened because we talked about it. We never did get back to it.

Yeah.

So one of the things, you know, in Lakeland and just speaking to the audience in general is You know, we have our First Fridays, and that's a cool thing. It's very well known in the community. But it's not really like a nightlife thing. It's more of like a family kind of everybody comes and checks out the booths and gets together, walks around in the park and whatnot. But you changed that a little bit a couple of Saturdays ago. So I don't even remember what the name of it was. So go ahead and kind of plug that.

And yeah, that was the Buena Block Party. It was a first, um, that we've done. We, we've done a lot of daytime events. We've done some nighttime, but that, I think, going into the summer, nighttime makes sense.

Yeah, it's so hot.

Um, so yeah, Julie Townsend with LDDA, um, I had been, you know, I just keep in touch with her because we're always doing stuff around downtown. I just let her know, hey, we got this going on, this or that, can I put a poster in the window? You know, just kind of like asking her for some guidance on like what's allowed, what's not allowed. Um, so she's come to my markets and so she reached out to me that they wanted to try to do something, um, on a Saturday night. Cause the streets are already closed for the farmer's market. Maybe we could just keep them closed, uh, all day long and do, um, something that's a little bit different. And so she was like, I want your crowd. I want your vendors to be there. Um, so I want it to be something that is different than any of the other events we do downtown. And of course I jumped at that opportunity because, I mean, we got to set up on South Kentucky and downtown and, um, they, you know, help organize everything. I mean, I was just kind of— they were like, you do the market, you curate the vendors and the music and everything, and like, we're gonna kind of figure out what this looks like from the city side. So I think That's why we haven't put another date cuz we still got some things to figure out. Mm-hmm. Um, how does that work going forward with the city? But, um, it was so much fun. Yeah. It was a huge turnout.

Uh, it was the same night as Mayfair, right?

Yeah. Okay. I think, and I, I do attribute some of the success to it just being like a lot of people in town for Mayfair. Mm-hmm. And, um, I know, uh, Taylor at the museum does the marketing for Mayfair and she's a friend of a friend and was like, if there's any way I can help, like let Mayfair know this is also going on because that's like another mutually beneficial thing.

Absolutely.

Yeah. So I promoted Mayfair and they, you know, mentioned the block party. But, um, yeah, we had 20 vendors, we had a DJ out there. Um, some of the businesses brought out like special, like their booths. So Revival did, um, blocktails, buena blocktails. So they made like a special cocktail menu and the city got it approved for us to have, um, for people to be able to have open containers just in that block for that party. Oh, that's awesome.

That's really cool.

So, oh yeah, people got really excited about that.

Yeah.

Of course. Of course they did. So then all the businesses down there, you know, everybody that participated had a great night too with all the established businesses. So it was, it was really fun and it was such a different scene. I keep using that word, but that's the only way I can really describe it. But so many people.

Well, and it was the first time that the city kind of stepped in to my understanding and said, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna coordinate and assist and help with this thing.

Yeah.

And I think that's a step in a direction that would be nice to see on a consistent basis. Yeah. I just, hats off. I mean, the city manager Sean Schurhaus was kind of instrumental in kind of helping make sure that that was, from my understanding, I think he opened some doors and made some decisions that made that possible.

Yes. I know. And Julie is, you know, my point person, but I know. Yeah, absolutely. Sean on is a big part of it.

I was about to say, shout out to Julie though. Julie's super innovative. I love the way she thinks.

I love the way she thinks as well.

Yeah, yeah, I, I really appreciate it, just like having that space for them to be like, you just do what you do, just do it here for the downtown community.

What a compliment. And I was like, okay, yeah, I can do that.

Yeah, so it was, I mean, you know, night, it was a beautiful night, and you know, people are shopping. So many of the vendors had amazing nights. They like couldn't believe how much money they made.

That's awesome too.

They were like, oh my God, I, I've sold out. I don't know what's happening. Like, this is just amazing.

Yeah.

Because I think we just had that introduction to a, a new audience in addition to our own, because our, our own audience, like the audience that's been with us since day one, like they're amazing and I love them so much. Um, cuz they're all like friends at this point. Mm-hmm. Um, But yeah, we had that opportunity to reach a completely different audience here in Lakeland.

And it's a common thing that happens in cities, you know, across the country, right? This isn't like rocket science. So we can just reach out to others across the state or in other areas and say, okay, how are you doing this? And how is this happening? Because I was in Miami for a wedding earlier in the spring, and we were walking from our hotel to get dinner. And there's this beautiful market with all of these artisans and all of this great stuff happening. And I'm like, this is what Buena Market does in Lakeland. You know, it's explaining to Craig.

Oh, I love that.

And it's just like that feeling of we have that, you know, we don't have to go to Miami. We can have that here at home, that homegrown reality of the greatness that we have here. And that's what the point of this podcast is, is really to say, let's shine the light on the greatness and the awesome people that we have in this community that are doing great things.

Yeah.

So what a great conversation.

Yes.

I'm so glad that you were here today.

Yeah. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me. It was a lot of fun.

We'll have you back if there's another adventure going on. Let us know. We'll bring you back.

Yeah. Yeah. You guys keep in touch.

All right. Well, that's a wrap. Thanks for listening to this week's show, our live studio audience over there. If you'd like to help us get the word out about the podcast, check out our post on Facebook, share it. Better yet, comment with your favorite part of the episode. We're looking forward to learning what you loved about this this conversation. And if you have some ideas for upcoming episodes and possible guests, we'd love to hear from you. We'll see you next week, Polk County. Boom!

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