How the Messy Road to Entrepreneurship is Often Paved with a Portfolio Career

Steve with the Duck Foot Part Inc. at trade shows.

The road to entrepreneurship is often not a clear and linear ascent to success. Instead, it’s often paved with a messy income streaming, portfolio career. This was the case for Steve and Chrisa Kastning, the owners of Duck Foot Parts Inc., a startup company that was launched in 2017. In just 5 years, their company has expanded sales into Australia and the United States. However, prior to working full-time in their business, they had a portfolio career that included income streaming from part-time work, a seasonal job and a contract job in order to bridge the gap between quitting farming and launching their business.

Steve has always had an entrepreneurial, income streaming mindset.  From 2005-2016, he had numerous forms of employment including owning a grain elevator that cleaned and shipped organic grain, he managed a farm, rented and farmed his own land, custom farmed for a land investment company, plus worked with his dad in his dad’s plumbing business in the winter. “It’s just what I did,” he said. “When you’re a farmer you learn how to juggle and make money from diversifying your income. That’s just how we think.”

In 2014, Steve had two entrepreneurial ideas on the go. He and his friend, Kirby, had everything pulled together to start a semi-truck wash business outside of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Steve says, “I had the idea with Kirby to start a semi-truck wash. He and I travelled to the US to look at a state-of-the-art wash system.  Chrisa and I traveled to Norway and Sweden to meet with the company that builds the system to work on the building plans. We had a piece of land outside of Regina and we had investors lined up that were going to invest.”

He also had another idea brewing in the background that he shared with his wife, Chrisa. “We were fortunate to be in the farming business, so the idea happened organically,” Chrisa says. “I remember riding in the combine with Steve and he started to talk about how he had the vision to create a product that would feed crops better. He then started to play with the idea to get it to work better. At the time, we were both working full-time for the farm.”  

During this time, Steve and Chrisa had the mold made for the Duck Foot and started to work on patents. In 2016, they started selling to local farmers and continued with testing, but they were having problems with the product falling off. They stopped production and went to work on making the necessary changes to improve their product before taking it back to market.   

“I’ve thought about creating this product for years as I was working in the farming industry,” Steve adds. “There were products out there that I had used as a farmer, but they weren’t designed in an efficient way. I was growing lentils, which is a short crop and hard to clear the cutter bar, creating losses. I’ve always been someone who adapted, changed things and tried to make processes more efficient. I really felt I could improve on what was in the market.”

In the meantime, the semi-truck wash came to a sudden stop. Steve adds, “The GTH couldn’t get our land prepped so we decided to put it on the shelf until the land development was ready.” At this point, they realized they had to pivot. They were waiting for the truck wash, they had a product they were launching and they had another idea brewing.

They decided to quit farming. They were renting 90% of the land they farmed and buying the family farm wasn’t an option, so they transitioned away from farming, and decided to franchise Kirby’s ‘Suds Car Wash’ and open a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan location. Time ticked away and securing investors for the franchise was a lengthy process. Like most entrepreneurs who are waiting for investors or are launching a product line, Steve and Chrisa needed to make some money. They decided to tap into previous skills and experience to look for work.

Prior to meeting Steve, “Startup Entrepreneur” was not a job title on Chrisa’s resume. She began her career as a Family Worker at Onion Lake Family Services and, before marrying Steve, for 12 years she was an Adoption and Permanency Planning Worker for Alberta Children’s Services. However, following their engagement, she worked towards her resignation and moved, joining Steve to work on the farm. Wanting to keep her foot in the door of her 1st career, Chrisa took on a contract role as a SAFE Home Study Supervisor.  “I provide consultation and to the SAFE Home Study Writer through each step of the process including reviewing the final report”, she says.  Chrisa began her first portfolio career streaming income from working various jobs on the farm including driving a grain cart and reviewing home studies, a job she could do remotely. “After we quit farming, I kept that contract and then after we sold our house and moved to Saskatoon, I also got a job at the Saskatoon Public Library.”

The move to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to franchise the car wash meant Chrisa was living in Saskatoon while Steve spent weekdays in Regina working at Sud’s Car Wash, learning the ropes of running a cash wash business while they waited for the car wash franchise investors. “We were car washing and duck footing. It was a crazy time for us,” they add.

Chrisa and the Duck Foot Part Inc. at trade shows

“We were streaming income from all over the place,” Steve continues. “I took a contract in the oil field for a few months just to get some money in the bank, then I saw a job posting for a full-time Farm Supervisor for Winny Farms, I applied and got the job.”

Shortly after, in 2017, they had their big break on Twitter with their Duck Foot product.

“We didn’t have any social media platforms for Duck Foot yet and no twitter account,” Steve says. “But, my buddy, Jeromy Smith, from Nokomis, Saskatchewan had a Twitter account. He works for a farmer and they grow lentils. He tweeted about using our new and improved product. A farmer from Australia tweeted Jeromy and asked where he could get them. Peter from Australia then contacted us and we made our first sale internationally. It all grew from that point on.”

They worked on their sales funnels after that and started a Facebook account. They officially launched Duck Foot Parts Inc. as part of the Innovation Showcase at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in June 2018.  “We won a Sterling Innovation Award,” Chrisa adds, “and after that the product started to take off in Canada and internationally.”

Many portfolio careerists who are highly entrepreneurial and are using a portfolio career to leverage their expenses while building their business will tell you that there comes a time when you may have to pull the plug on some of your income streams to dedicate your time and energy into nurturing or scaling your business.

Chrisa was the first to shift to working full-time for Duck Foot Parts Inc. She quit her library job, but continued with her contract role reviewing home studies.  Steve continued to work for Winny Farms.  But, by the winter of 2019/20, Steve realized he had to take time away from his farm job to focus on the business.  That winter they exhibited at 7 trade shows, 6 in the USA and 1 in Canada.  Steve completed seeding for Winny Farms in 2020. He then also shifted to working full-time for Duck Foot Parts Inc.  It became evident he needed to be in the field doing demos, getting videos and testimonials in order to build the businesses growth capacity. 

While the Duck Foot Parts Inc. took off, Steve and Chrisa let go of the truck wash and car wash franchise focusing 100% on growing their business. In the beginning phase of launching a business, entrepreneurs work tirelessly. Steve says, “You have to have the work ethic. I’ve always wanted to work for myself and be in charge of my schedule. But, it’s hard work.”

Chrisa adds, “If you want to be an entrepreneur you think about it all day. I had a full-time job, and I had a pension and I certainly valued that, but I love the flexibility of this business. It drives us. You have to be prepared for that. You have to be ready to work 12-14 hours daily. You also talk about it all the time. Vacations aren’t going to happen. You are giving up a lot of your personal life for your business to start it up. You don’t have evenings and weekends like you do with a 9-5 job. If we are talking to Australia, it has to be in the evening.  Planning in the evenings, you’re doing the work during the day. You have to love it. You have to be passionate and love it. If you don’t, it won’t work.”

Steve adds, “The other thing is you have to realize is that you are financially tied to it. You have to be financially invested or you won’t do the work. All investors say you have to have skin in the game, and that’s why we worked a portfolio career. We had income streams so we could keep going.”

Duck Foot Parts Inc. now sells all over North America, Australia and is expanding into Germany with plans to reach other countries. They are continuing the learning curve, recently completing courses to help them create a strategic export plan. They also recently hired a consultant from an ag advisory company to take their sales to the next level getting into dealerships rather than doing direct sales. When asked what advice they would give during the growth spurts of a new business, Chrisa suggests, ““If we were to give people advice on growth, know your strengths.”

Steve continues, “I have knowledge of the product. I know farming, how the industry works and I know the product because I’ve been the consumer. Now I’m the innovator and I know the problem it solves and the benefits it offers, so we believe in the value it has for farmers. I can also talk farmer language.” He laughs.

Chrisa adds, “Know when to hire people to help you scale in the area of sales and business. Direct to farmer, we could manage, but scaling to the next level and shifting from B2C to B2B we needed support.  We have figured out how to do the farm shows and Steve is figuring out how to manufacture new versions of the Duck Foot.”

 When asked how she made the incredible leap from her full-time stable job, to a portfolio career, to full-time entrepreneurship Chrisa says, “I have no background in business or sales. I was a social worker, but I accessed free webinars all the time, and read to try to train myself and advance my knowledge and skill sets. We’ve met a lot of business owners through the farm trade shows and talking with one another and supporting each other has been really valuable. We text and call each other with questions. We are active in each other’s social media.”

“It has cost us a lot of unnecessary money because of what we didn’t know. Get mentors, connect to people in the industry who are slightly ahead of you as a business owner so you can connect to advice and also connect to entrepreneurial groups. Also, remember,” Steve adds, “It’s not going to happen over night. You’re going to have to work hard. It’s an absolute grind, so make sure you’re going to love it.”

Website:  www.duckfootparts.ca  

Facebook & Instagram: @duckfootpartsinc 

Twitter:  @duckfootparts

 Remember: Our first big sale came from social media!

What are the Benefits and Challenges of Being Entrepreneurial?

Self-employment seems to be in the air! I have recently been meeting former portfolio careerists who became solopreneurs or entrepreneurs, income streaming from various entrepreneurial ventures. I am so intrigued by their work lives that I have decided to spend the next few months covering self-employed solopreneurs like Kym Keith (recent June article) and Brad Hussey (future August article) who work on their own providing a service or selling a product without hiring staff. They are flying solo in their business and are streaming income from multiple directions.

Others like Ryan Corry (this month's July article) are entrepreneurs; the term used for self-employed individuals who hire staff to help them with their business. Entrepreneurs, like Ryan, who are also portfolio careerists may stream income from more than one entrepreneurial venture or they may run a business and possibly work in a salaried job or do contract work.

Whether they are flying solo or hiring staff, there are definite benefits to operating a branch on our portfolio tree that is completely donated to self-employment. Portfolio careerists who are opting for self-employment tend to like the freedom to create, innovate and control the work being done. They like the ability to take charge of marketing, networking and the growth of their venture. Their entrepreneurial project gives them an outlet for their creativity and business savvy, and also provides them with a sense of pride and ownership.

There are certainly advantages to having a self-employment branch to our portfolio tree. However, as I've said before nothing is perfect. The ability to start a small business that will make and not lose money is a difficult endeavour. It requires doing our homework, learning how to write a business plan and coming up with an idea that will be marketable. As mentioned by Kym Keith, she went through an intense business planning course to come up with a marketable plan.

A good business plan is just the beginning. Just like hard work without a plan can lead to business failure, a well-done business plan won't be executed without hard work. Launching and running a business is exceedingly time consuming and most business owners work long hours, which for some people may be a disadvantage. Another disadvantage is that many businesses don't make money right away and, hence, streaming income from other directions will be necessary. This is the juggling act that can become tiresome because there are only so many hours in a day.

However, I enjoy being a self-employed solopreneur who primarily works on contract. I have an incorporated career services business as part of my portfolio career and I like the freedom self-employment gives me to create my own work life. There are downsides. If I don't work, I don't get paid. I don't have paid vacation or benefits. I have to come up with my own retirement plan and I often have no idea how much money I will make in a month.

When I read the above paragraph, I realize self-employment is not for the faint of heart. I tend to have a higher than average risk and uncertainty tolerance, but being comfortable with risk isn't the key ingredient of a self-employed person. I have met people who have a lower tolerance for risk, yet they choose self-employment because they prefer to be in control of their work life rather than leave it up to someone else who has the power to lay them off, leaving them with no income at all. I have learned through meeting various entrepreneurial portfolio careerists that everyone is different. No two are alike in their approach and their level of risk.

In the articles to come, I will feature some of the inspiring people I have met who are streaming income from various self-employed ventures and are, in a sense, paving some interesting pathways that may change the way we all work in the future.

The following link solopreneurs has more information on the differences between the two self-employment approaches.

How to Work as a Contractor and Consultant

Kym Keith is a independent worker and portfolio careerist with a newly launched business called Stillwater Workplace Training that provides life skills and workplace training, instructional design and technical writing. With the recent launch of her business, Kym is streaming income from primarily contract workshop design and delivery for First Nations. She prepares each workshop according to client needs then delivers on site. Kym’s ability to custom tailor her workshops to suit the needs of the students is what she believes is the key to her success. She loves to create hands-on, relationship building activities that students can easily apply to life.

Kym launched her business in January while simultaneously studying in an entrepreneurial program at Douglas College that helped her start her business after being laid off. “To get accepted into the program I had to complete an orientation and create a business proposal outlining my business idea, market research, and target market to see if my idea was viable. After being accepted into the first part of the program, we learned how to write a business plan,” she continues. “The business plan went to a team of four people. They decided my proposal was realistic and I continued on to the remaining courses in sales and marketing, business law, accounting and business operations.”

Kym has a diverse background in education, with a Master’s degree. She has managed programs in Special Education and ESL, provided sessional instruction at a small university, launched an international student program, managed an Adult Literacy program, and has done instructional design and technical writing. Her years of experience in management, design and work with adults have prepared her well for her own business. 

It was a combination of experience, passion to help people, her skill sets, good timing and networking that started her working with First Nation’s. “A week before I was laid off, I met with a friend who was going to be resigning to take a job with First Nations. She knew I had experience teaching life skills and workplace readiness and asked me if I would go onto the reserve and facilitate some life skills workshops. Afterwards, the manager on -site told me she was happy with my work and that my training was well received by the students. They called me back several times to facilitate. I just fell in love with working with First Nations. It is so rewarding when the students have those ‘aha’ moments or when they hug me and tell me that I have made a difference in the way they see something.”

Kym has additional skills that provide opportunity for her to grow her business: instructional design and technical writing. Over the years she has gained a reputation for writing good program funding proposals. “It’s the teacher in me that loves good writing and ensuring that what people write is what they mean.” She also does instructional design, creating training materials for companies. She has written on-boarding manuals, work search programs, banking curriculum, and respectful workplace workshops. However, her true passion is providing life skills and workplace training.

“I love being my own boss and being responsible for my own success. I like making a difference. I like change. The idea of a 9-5 day drains me. I’d rather work longer hours and get something out of it at the end of the day.”

Kym chose to follow her entrepreneurial, pioneering roots rather than go back to a full-time job when she was laid off, because she felt it suits her better. “I love being my own boss and being responsible for my own success. I like making a difference. I like change. The idea of a 9-5 day drains me. I’d rather work longer hours and get something out of it at the end of the day."  She does recognize that there are significant disadvantages to being self-employed. “It can get lonely if you don’t network and I’m consistently looking for new work. However, once my reputation is established, I feel I will have regular work. “

It hasn’t been easy. There have been weeks when she doesn’t have any work coming down the pipe and it looks like it may be a tough month. When I asked her what motivates her to keep going she said, “When I had exposure to First Nation’s people, I realized that I wanted to invest in people and not in the corporate world so that I could make a difference. There is nothing better than at the end of the day than thinking ‘I can’t believe I get paid to have so much fun’. To make a difference in the lives of people is rewarding and doesn’t feel like work. I had a gentleman come up to me last week and thank me for some things I had taught him. He told me it made such a difference in his life. He is now working full time and loves his job. I believe that I can build a business that is year round once I become known within the First Nation’s community.” She adds with a laugh, “Right now, I seem to freelance on a wing and a prayer.”

When I asked her what advice she would have to anyone venturing off into a self-employment, she said, “Make sure networking is something you enjoy or can learn to enjoy. Never burn a bridge and always be kind.”

Her business plan gave her focus and networking has provided the start she needed. She is still studying while she actively seeks out more work possibilities for Stillwater Workplace Training.

If you want to learn more about how to work as an independent contractor or consultant, subscribe to The independent edge for FREE injections of independent worker tips.

No more 9 to 5.