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!

How to Build a Freelance Photography Career You Love

Josainis Veria Belet is a focused, hardworking and ambitious fashion photographer who came to Alberta from Cuba, landed in Red Deer and didn’t know at the time that this prairie town would be the beginning of an freelance career in the fashion photography industry.  Just like many newcomers, in the beginning, she worked a variety of jobs. "I started with the beauty counter at Superstore. That was my first job in Canada."  

Reaching goals doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, perserverance and the ability to plan. With these traits in hand, within only four months of arrival, Josainis enrolled in Red Deer College to study web and graphic design.  "It was an intense program and I had a language barrier but I made it through." When she finished her program, her entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and she immediately started her own business doing freelance website and logo design. "I thought this was what I wanted to do but I just didn’t like it,” she says.  "It wasn't a waste of my time though because I knew I could use the skills."

Her positive attitude seems to permeate everything she tackles. She quit her web design business and worked retail for five years running a store. She learned the ins and outs of managing a small business and started thinking about opening another business of her own. “I had an interest in photography but the equipment is so expensive. If I was going to start a photography business, I needed to make money so I quit my retail job and went to work in the oil patch.” It's not your typical career path. From beauty counter, to web design, to retail, to driving a Kenworth iron truck in the oil patch. Josainis was creating a random career path that didn't appear to make sense to someone looking from the outside in, but she didn't let perception get in her way. Her oil patch career move made sense.

To prepare, Josainis got all the necessary tickets, found a job and started driving truck with the goal of saving startup money for a photography business. Somewhere along the way, she went back to to MC College in Red Deer for makeup artistry because she thought the combination skills of photography and makeup would be good together. Her makeup artistry certificate alongside her oil patch safety certificates certainly make for an interesting combination of training and, at this point in our interview, I marvel at the unusual combination of skills she has built.

However, random skills can come together and since her business called Josainis Photography launched about 3 years ago, it has grown. Her style, business savvy, incredible work ethic and relationship building has brought her recognition in the photography industry.  She got into fashion photography by serendipity when she did a model’s headshot. Numa modeling agency became interested and hired her to do test shoots.  In addition to her work with Numa, she does her own freelance work, building model’s portfolios and shooting commercial and creative editorials that have been published in magazines.

But her entrepreneurial spirit won’t let her quit there. She recently decided to partner with two other photographers Emelia Kim and Chris McMullan to create a one stop shop for model portfolio building giving models access to three photographers, with three different styles and three different looks in one photo shoot with a hair and makeup team working alongside. It is a smart concept that helps models build their portfolio faster. The team also gives models the option of submitting to magazines for the additional exposure. She adds, “We work with the model to do whatever they want, mentoring with styling and posing so they can learn. We make up the mood board three weeks ahead of the photo shoot but we tailor for their preferences so they come out with a portfolio of photos that they feel connected to.”

Sometimes expanding a freelance career to include a partnership can be daunting but Josainis sees the value in collaborating. “Working with a team, we are shooting six outfits so it takes more time, but we help each other, and we are wearing a lot of hats. We will be a posing coach while the other photographer is doing lighting and we have to respect each other’s ideas, style and personalities. Communication can get tricky because we also have a hair and makeup team that we are also working with but the collaboration is good.” I ask her what is her role in the team and she responds, “I do a lot of the advertising. I’m the one who does the sales and communicates with the client. I also do pricing and then Emelia handles the communication. She also does the mood boards and Chris handles the printing. We have our jobs based on what we are comfortable with.”

When asked what her plans are for the future, there is a tone of determination in her voice. “I want to be able to do more commercial photography and work with other companies if possible in the beauty industry. I’m currently working on how to connect with other businesses. I want to understand more about how the beauty, modeling and commercial industry works.”  We talk about the importance of verbalizing our dreams and goals and how it is like creating a mood board of what we want our future to look like agreeing that we are more apt to go after our dreams once we put it out there with people. “What I want to do is take care of sales, work with my team, build teams of photographers, makeup artists and hairstylists and build relationships with businesses to take care of their photography needs.” She definitely has a vision of where she wants to go and she isn’t afraid of sharing it. “I’m not scared of sharing my dreams with other people. I can’t be scared because then I won’t do it.”

Josainis’ experiences and skills have come together in her business. Her retail beauty experience and makeup artistry training helps her in photo shoots. Her retail business management experience has provided a foundation for managing her own business and driving truck gave her the investment capital to get her photography business launched.  And, even though she didn’t like web design as a job, she is grateful that she has the skills to design and manage her own website and social media platforms. Since her arrival in Canada, the skills and experience built from a jagged career path has finally merged to create Josainis Photography.

If you want to learn more about freelance career strategy, subscribe to Career Corner Toolkit for FREE monthly injections of freelance, portfolio career and other career tips. To subscribe to Career Corner Toolkit or to have a free consultation, go to my home page.

I would love to connect with you if you are thinking of starting a freelance career or already have one and want to OPTIMIZE.

Emelia Kim, Chris McMullan and Josainis Veria Belet

How to Juggle Multiple Income Streams with a Portfolio Career

Photo by juan pablo rodriguez on Unsplash

Crystal Willms is in mid-transition with her portfolio career. She has recently changed her website name and logo. Her new brand is The Crystal Factor rebranded from Headway Coaching. “I’m in mid-transition with my portfolio career,” she offers. “Headway Coaching has been around since 2008, but because I have expanded so much it no longer matches all of what I do. I changed the name, logo and website to thecrystalfactor.com.”

Crystal’s brand tag line is “Facilitating Positive Change” and coaching is at the root of what she does. Since she started coaching brain injured clients, she has added public speaking, career transition consulting, outplacement, and writing. She became a virtual franchisee with Juice Plus, a Reiki Master Practitioner and has recently returned to modeling. Whew...that's a long list of things to do. I call her the portfolio careerist extraordinary because she makes her juggling act look easy, and she approaches her work life with an adventurous, open spirit.

For 8 years, Crystal worked as an employment specialist exclusively for brain injured clientele supporting them in their return to work. She transitioned to a new team and now works on retainer working up to 32 hours a week. Her role is to coach clients for personal or professional goals. Her hours vary from part-time to full-time weekly. She also privately coaches non-injured and injured clients who come to her through word of mouth, networking, speaking engagements and referrals.

Coaching and Juice Plus support health and nutrition and are the root of her portfolio career. Although the two services attract different clientele, they are the financial foundation that brings her stability. Crystal believes you need one or two streams of income that have consistency. However, she clarifies, “We (portfolio careerists) understand that stability is not necessarily consistent so we become adaptable.”

Adaptability is the name of the game with portfolio careerists. They derive their stability from their ability to adapt to change. Although Crystal has a foundation for her portfolio career, she has learned to change things up and move forward quickly. She describes herself as being less attached to outcomes. “If something doesn’t work, I believe I can create something new that will work.” She envisions her portfolio career to be like the ocean. “It ebbs and flows so change feels more natural. I am able to adapt, move on and find something else.” 

“Adaptability is the name of the game with portfolio careerists. They derive their stability from their ability to adapt to change.”

I asked Crystal what she believes is the recipe for success in a portfolio career. She sees having a higher degree of multi-tasking ability as a helpful skill set. She also thinks being accustomed to receiving less direction and being comfortable making decisions would be important skills. She has noticed that portfolio careerists spend time planning where to spend their energy. Crystal adds, “There are sometimes multiple decisions to make in an instant. We have to quickly decide which direction we are going to choose and we evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each direction. In some cases, these decisions are going to be made based on current financial need, or other factors driving our portfolio career.”

Portfolio careerists make rough value based decisions on a regular basis. Crystal and I discussed the reality of paying our bills and she pointed out that she often makes decisions based on helping vs. making money. As Crystal says, “Depending on what we are doing, well paid work and work that pays less don’t play together and there is no crossover.” This creates an interesting juggling act for portfolio careerists. She adds, “In some cases, work may pay well, but we may not love it as much. Then, there is work that pays less, but we love it more.”

Just like any job, there will be projects and tasks that we prefer. With portfolio careerists who have entrepreneurial ventures or do more contract work, they design their work life, accepting and turning down work based on various factors. In some cases, they choose work based on personal values, interest or passion. Other times, they choose projects or jobs because they have to pay the bills. Work isn’t always glamorous or a perfect fit, but portfolio careerist value the variety they create in their work lives and the freedom that comes from choosing the work they do.

In some cases, work adds value in other ways. Crystal’s modelling jobs are a great example. She finds modelling to be beneficial on a personal level because, she says, "It fills my cup. I love it and I'm learning about myself." The networking opportunities are also amazing since she is interacting with people she wouldn’t normally meet, and is extremely fulfilled from those experiences. She also feels modelling improves her coaching practice because it makes her a happier person and being a happier person isn't a bad thing!

“Crystal believes you need one or two stable income streams.”

She also believes her modelling builds character, challenging and pushing her outside of her comfort zone. In turn, she feels she can better understand, lead and support her clients who are forced to face significant transition and challenging change. She also adds, “When we are forced to face our fears, then we also become better entrepreneurs and better leaders.”

Crystal approaches her portfolio career like an adventure, and we had fun unpacking the concept, discussing the challenges and benefits and what this style of work means to us. We had so much fun, in fact, that I have enough material for a Part II. My next featured Portfolio Careerist post will be a continuation of Crystal’s story.