R2RB Podcast - Indie Artists and Entrepreneurs
Where Indie Artists and Entrepreneurs share their journeys.
We sit down with indie musicians from diverse genres, shedding light on their personal and professional experiences. From the euphoria of their first gigs to the challenges of carving a niche in the industry, R2RB Podcast is your backstage pass to these rising stars' raw and unfiltered narratives.
We also embark on a journey of Entrepreneurs and share their inspiration, amplifying the voices and stories of remarkable entrepreneurs. Join us as we delve into the worlds of visionary leaders, innovators, and trailblazers who are rewriting the rules and reshaping industries.
We look forward to sharing your journey!
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R2RB Podcast - Indie Artists and Entrepreneurs
Sowing Seeds of Opportunity: Evelyn Fitzgerald's Entrepreneurial Journey
Evelyn's story takes us through her active involvement in agricultural associations such as the Georgia Master Gardener Program and the National Women's in Agriculture Association. Learn from her experiences as she navigates the challenges and triumphs of running a business. Listen in as she shares insights on the importance of business plans and how getting the right support can make a significant difference in your entrepreneurial journey.
Evelyn's story doesn't stop here. She has also built a strong network of women entrepreneurs, underscoring the power of community in entrepreneurship. If you're a budding entrepreneur, Evelyn's journey can provide you with valuable insights on how to turn challenges into opportunities and foster a sense of community. You don't want to miss out on this conversation with Evelyn Fitzgerald, a true gem in the world of entrepreneurship and agriculture. Tune in for a hearty serving of inspiration and insight.
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
Today I have with me Evelyn Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Garden of Goodies. Thank you so much for being here with me today. How are you, evelyn? I am well. Thank you for having me. Oh, I'm excited to have you here. So I usually like to ask two questions to get us warmed up, and the first one is if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Speaker 2:Uh-uh uh-uh. It definitely have to be Africa. I've got to go to Africa. Oh my God, there's a rich soil out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh, Is it on your bucket list?
Speaker 2:It is definitely on my bucket list. Oh nice it is.
Speaker 1:Nice, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yes, all the adventures. I think about the safaris, I just think about everything I've got to go.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And what's your?
Speaker 1:favorite app on your phone, and why.
Speaker 2:My favorite app currently is Cash App. Can you imagine why Cash App, though? Because when you hear the ching, I know somebody has placed an order. So that's the entrepreneur in me. I just I know. If somebody chooses Cash App to pay me that straight cash and you just hear the little coins, like ching, like somebody dropped them on the desk, that's my favorite app right now.
Speaker 1:I love it. Now that is the first I've heard of for Cash App. All right, my goodness, evelyn, you are an agricultureist, you are a radio host, you are a blogger, teacher, and you are the owner of Fitzgerald's Garden of Goodies. I don't know where to start to work. What to ask you first, but who is Evelyn Fitzgerald and how did you grow to where you are today?
Speaker 2:All right, well, thanks, that's a good question. Who is Evelyn? So what I can say? I am creative, I am smart, I am a serial entrepreneur, love starting businesses. Fitzgerald's Garden of Goodies is not my first business that I started. The very first business. I was a cosmetologist in my younger days and so I had to promote myself, push myself and make sure I did great services, provided great customer service. So in a nutshell, let's see I'm also a problem solver, and then I take that problem and try to create a business out of it, because I fall right back into that entrepreneurial mind.
Speaker 2:I'm never, ever scared of jumping off the cliff. I'm a risk taker, and what grew me to where I am now is a major dream, and a dream is just to be. I want to be the best me possible, period. I just want to be the best me possible. And I've never stopped dreaming, from a child on up until now. I'm 49 and I still dream. And I look at who I am now and because of those dreams, it just made me want to keep just being better and better and better. And yeah, that's me. I'm a caregiver. Yeah, oh, my goodness, I could go on and on. You have a drive. You have a drive.
Speaker 1:I do and most of the women entrepreneurs definitely have that drive, the motivation. They never stop, they keep going forward and, like you had said, the problem solver you hear one thing and you run with it, and you've been running with quite a few things Fitzgerald Garden of Goodies how did that evolve?
Speaker 2:I'll keep it really short. So when COVID right before COVID okay, I owned a. I was the operator director and operator of we Care Home Health Providers and I was running into quite a bit of challenges with employees just keeping steady work. And I was sitting around with a couple of friends they also one works at Coca-Cola, one works at another big real estate firm here and I was basically the entrepreneur of the group and I said you know what y'all, I think I'm gonna sell my business. I'm pretty much I'm hitting a dead end. It was nine years and I just said you know, I'm having some problems with hiring reliable workers and I think I'm gonna sell my business. Well, really, truly, power is in the tongue, so be careful when you say it. He's listening.
Speaker 2:And COVID happened and I had to slam the doors of my home healthcare business. So that was January of that year. A group of us was sitting around together, january 2020. And then COVID comes in March of that year and I could not. I tried to stay open. But the cost of PPE equipment, families calling saying, hey, we don't know what this COVID is, we can't allow anybody in our homes, and we didn't know what it was. My husband was saying, hey, look, you can't be out with seniors and then think you're gonna come home, right, we don't know what this is.
Speaker 2:So, moving forward, I had to close the business, but then my passion was able to reemerge, because that's what my heart has always wanted to be, and it's ag and farming or something in nature. It had to be with something in nature, and so COVID was a hidden. It was a blessing in disguise for me. I know it was a lot of death, but it was a lot of rebirth too, with COVID, absolutely so birth of Fritz Gerald's Garden of Goodies 2020 came in, and it wasn't just the closing of my business, it was watching all the lines of people for food, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I said, hey, hold up, I can teach people how to grow. So I started a YouTube channel and that's how it just kept growing and it just kept getting bigger. And I said I want to teach people and not even teach. I wanted to show, so that I could just inspire them to do it, because you can't I think you can teach somebody to grow. You'd have to show them and just inspire them to want to do it, because you have to want it's work, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Did you always have that gardening, farming, agricultural kind of tug and pull at you? I?
Speaker 2:have I have. My dad had me wading in the water fishing when I was five, big old boots pulled up they probably was his and I was out there fishing my grandmother and grandfather, great grandmother and grandfather. They had a farm. I'm from San Diego originally, but my parents moved back to Tennessee with the rest of the family when I was probably like eight-ish, seven or eight, and so the interstate at that time came through North Nashville and took most of my grandparents farm.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:But at that time she still showed us my cousins and I. She still showed us how, with little space, you can still grow plenty of food, and she grew all around her home, so I got that from her as well as my mom grew tons of flowers she was the flower lady. We had the best looking yard in the neighborhood. You know we had people asking to stop and take pictures, so that's been in me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, you know, because that brings us, you know again, fast forward to now, where you know this generation growing up is attached to the computers, attached to their tablets, attached to their phones. Learning is still done a lot on the computers. So how do you get the, you know, this younger generation involved or even interested in gardening and farming and agriculture?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good question for an agriculture educator. There you go, so I wave my magic wand, but you know what I have to say? There is nature, electronics no match, no match at all. So I tell you, I've had other parents ask me the same thing. So how can you get, you know, johnny, to put his tablet down? I can't seem to get his tablet down. Well, I'm telling you, when you, when a child watches, or comes outside, puts that down, plant a seed, and when they watch that seed grow, they are like, let's go outside. I want to go outside, ms Fishjera, I want to go outside.
Speaker 2:You know, I also I raised dwarf rabbits, so I incorporate rabbits and how I make money with my rabbits. Yeah, they're cute, but my rabbits earn their key. So when I talk to the children about the type of money that's in agriculture, oh yeah, they will put this down. You know, I think it's that generation that, yeah, electronics is big for them. But they also looking at how can I be successful? They think they can just be in what are they? Influencer? I'm an influencer, so I'm going to make big, big money. Well, guess what? I scoop poop and I make good money. Right, you know, I shave my, I share my rabbits. Once a year I make a dog gone, killing, shaving my rabbit hair and selling it to people who make yarn and and crochet beautiful sweaters, hats, mittens. You know, I have a just a ball. I'm a ball of energy. So I have a unique way of just pulling the children in, wanting them to just give it a chance. Give it a chance.
Speaker 2:You know, when I was, when my son was 14, I bought a bunch of worms, bunch of worms. He was like, oh, oh, I don't want to do this. You know he thought that was just the grossest thing. But what about? He's 16? Now he has turned this worms I use them for one thing and he's turned it into a worm business. There you go, he sells worms to fishermen right up the street at Sweetwater Creek. He even has developed a relationship with the gas station owner that's right on the corner and so they call him sometimes and so he's making a. I'm spreading that entrepreneurial spirit on to him. So he's not, he's not always holding his phone because he has to go out there. Tend to the worms. He has to feed them. Now he looks closely at them and so it's just an evolution type of experience when you dive into agriculture. He has three friends around here and in our subdivision that works for him. There you go. They found worms from him.
Speaker 1:You go and that's the whole thing right there. There I feel there is not enough programs you know, like agricultural, to teach the children that there are other things out there, that you're not always going to make money by being an influencer, but to learn that you know there there are other things that you don't have to have a regular nine to five job to do. But you've taught your son so many things. I mean to be an entrepreneur, how to run a business, how to keep an accounting sheet, how to, how to, and then and now he passes that on and that's that generational flow.
Speaker 2:That's that generational flow. He also taught a class two weeks ago for environmental justice through a partnership house representative Mandecia Thomas here in Georgia. She has an environmental program that she does every year and she contacted me because I'm she, but she with a green thumb diva of plant the sea radio show. But she contacted me because she knows I kind of know different people in that field and she wanted a teacher. Well, I threw my son in that ring. He taught one class For an hour and 20 minutes. He made 500 bucks, see.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's, that's just by one little class, one little, you've taught him one. You know one step at a time, and there's not enough of that in the schools.
Speaker 2:Well, I can honestly say I'm so thankful that Georgia has passed a couple of the House representatives. They put a bill up. It is now Cross the board taught in all of our elementary schools here in Georgia. So I am fun, I'm over the moon that it is now going to be offered period. Now, we got to move it on up. Yeah, middle school, high school, but that's okay. Elementary school, that's still. They're sponges.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, yes, oh my gosh?
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So we have those programs.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so taking that, so how do, how? How, then, do you like spread that to you know, other states, to other areas, is it? Is it more so the states that are more agricultural Connected? I'm here in Delaware, so farming here is a big thing I'm, but I grew up in Connecticut. Farming's not a big thing up there, but you do not only teach somebody to to garden and to grow vegetables and and other things, but then if, if somebody has, you know, don't, they don't have the means to buy everything they need or want, mm-hmm, they're feeding themselves now and they're there, you know, and or and or they're also sharing that bounty with other people, exactly and that's exactly, and that's the other part that this country needs.
Speaker 1:That's it right, that's it togetherness.
Speaker 2:It's a couple of places around here that I do that with.
Speaker 2:I have an abundance of banana peppers this year, tons of banana peppers. Well, hey, why not? I sack them up, different sex, I take them to the different homes or Nursing homes or different air. They're not really nursing homes, there's like a day program, but here locally. And then I'm also a Georgia master gardener. I took a class Probably two years ago through UGA. So I'm I just stay connected with Resources. I use my resources. I think one of the questions Did I have a mentor?
Speaker 2:I did. He was the guy that taught us Through that whole master gardener course and he was phenomenal and he sticks. He was actually my first guest on my radio show. I know we haven't gotten there, so I won't Take over there, but I try to stay connected with people who are resource, resourceful for me and I'm the same as them. I share my food. I'll call hey, I have a lot of banana peppers. Where can I go, kevin? He'll tell me. He'll call me hey, it's a lady giving away a rabbit. Can do you have space for a new, a new rabbit? Sure, kevin, I'll take him in. So that's what makes the world go round.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and on your website just in the same vein. You know Genesis, chapter 1, verse 29. Then God said I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit With seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Speaker 2:Yes, he gave it to us Absolutely. How beautiful is that he gave it to us to no one should be hungry, no one.
Speaker 1:No, and it just when I hear yeah, like you said, and it only takes a small plot or a small garden.
Speaker 2:You can even grow in pots. I have pots that I grow squash in. I grow whatever peppers. So you know I try to show people other ways to grow. I have a laundry basket that I lined with the the that land cover. I Just lined it up. Grow potatoes in there like pounds and pounds of potatoes. You know we can do it Absolutely acres, no Couple pots and you're good.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, oh my gosh. So I Just want to ask a question about women in agriculture. Are there a lot of women in our agriculture?
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 2:It is. I'm a part of an organization Layed by dr Tammy steel is the national women's in agriculture Association. Our chapter president, georgia, here in Georgia, is Noreen Whitehead and it's full of women and she is. She's stationed in Oklahoma, actually, so she's everywhere. She's at the White House trying to push for more agriculture programs to be recognized, her Agriculture program. She want them recognized.
Speaker 2:Just as for age, have you heard of 4h? Oh, yes, okay, 4h, I'm a 4h kid. Oh, I grew up with 4h, and she does the same thing. There's another young lady. She has an HBO Show and her name is miss Jamila. She's also a mentor here and it's patchwork city farms and her name is Jimmy Jamila Norman and she's been on HBO. I want to say almost to two seasons, to receive three seasons now. And what she does? She comes in or Goes by someone's home and gives them tips on how to make an edible landscape. And just.
Speaker 2:There's another young lady too that I wrote down, miss Chante Johnson. She's of a mud-borne grown. She also teaches you how to propagate. Pinch off a peach tree, start that peach tree from nothing, from a branch, apple trees, things like that. It is women. Oh, my goodness, I met, so last year was my first introduction to at least 30 to 40 women who grow hemp here in the Georgia area and they create all these different CBD products for Joint pain for veterans. They also offer jobs. Employment for veterans and these are women farmers was like. I met one young lady. She has a hundred and sixty acres that was left to her and she had. She was from Rhode Island and she had to move here to North Georgia, didn't know a thing about nothing, but she's out there putting up fence. I went and visited her, her land it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:She has cows, and she's just learning as she goes. That's the beauty. Hey, we're in there now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh good, and you're there, and you're there to stay, to stay. Yes, I have a question. Did you ever have, did you ever have, any doubts with any of your, your businesses? Did you ever feel like, what am I doing? The?
Speaker 2:why never, never crossed my mind. I couldn't say the why did what in the heck am I doing? I probably did say that when I purchased the rabbits and, knowing my husband is not a fan of animals, okay, so I purchased these rabbits and I first had them inside and my whole thing. Why I purchased rabbits. I'm, I'm a, I'm curious about fertilizer, organic fertilizer. So I did a study, my own study for one year Rabbit poop versus this store bought stuff. So part of my garden was fertilized with the rabbit poop, the other part was furthers Fertilized with a store bought brand and then the other part was for it was not fertilized at all. So I wanted to do a comparison with the same crop, with the same type of it's in the same environment, watering I just it was sort of like my own mad scientist type of thing. So at that time I was thinking like she but what in the heck are you doing? But it turned out to be so successful because I am now closely working with the Department of Agriculture To actually market my fertilizer.
Speaker 2:Wow so I've gone through my first testing of my rabbit poop and it has to be in a range span. So I'm learning more about that and what to feed my rabbits, what not to feed them or up their greenery so that I can have a higher nitrogen level. So I'm just like are you a mad scientist you doing girl? Are you a? You love these rabbits, but then your husband is looking at you like girl. What are you doing? How long? How long have you been married? We over 10 years now, but he goes with the flow. It's never been a doubt in my mind, any of the businesses that I've started Home health care was passion driven, truly passion driven.
Speaker 2:My grandmother who had the farm whose land was taken. She passed away with Alzheimer's. So to go through that whole, she knew me, she didn't know me. She knew me one day and then she totally didn't know anybody else. That's the most heartbreaking disease I know. Cancer is, but to have your loved one not know you anymore. It broke my heart to go through that. So my give back was take care of seniors, give back and help others who are going through the same thing and be the nicest, the most kindest person you can be and I was. I truly was.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I didn't market myself. Word of mouth was my. Oh, that was the lock. Oh my gosh, that's invaluable Word of mouth. I never paid one cent.
Speaker 1:Absolutely One cent for marketing. That's right. Absolutely, yeah. But from there then you went on to Finch Steril Garden of Goodies, and that has been thriving. It has. So what's the premise of your website? And I know you have a few things on the website people can sign up for- yes, the gardening sessions are more like a consultation.
Speaker 2:So I had a young lady called Sunday, last Sunday. So she called for a survey of her land. She has land and didn't know what to do with. So my expertise comes in. I'll go out, visit her land, give some suggestions. Look at shading, where's the light the most light coming in from the sun? I just kind of surveyed, ask her what is she wanting to grow? What's your? What is your pantry looking like? What does your family eat? Get a notebook. Let's jot down some things and see what you can grow. Let's see what's native to this area.
Speaker 2:If it's flowers that you want to grow, I also incorporate us. I'll take a soil sample. So, like I say, I'm a Georgia master gardener. So I run that on up to our extension office and get a test done and see is it lacking phosphorus? Do you need magnesium? What's your? It never tests nitrogen because nitrogen is the first to go anyway. Right, but I still. I'll run this test, I'll get back with that person with my test results and we just go from there. So it's a consultation basically. It's just a walk through the garden or your land and we see what we can do together.
Speaker 1:Wow, oh my goodness. So then, fitzgerald gardener goodies. And then how did the radio show evolve from that?
Speaker 2:The radio show evolved because of the YouTube. Fitzgerald's garden of goodies was developed. Then the YouTube happened because I'm like, well, I need to show them what I'm doing so they can see it. But then one day I was on Facebook in this group and a lady was like I'm looking for new shows, and I was thinking to myself, huh, an agricultural radio show. How cool would that be to be able to listen to somebody educate you on growing. I talk about agricultural jobs. I talk about high school I mean school lunches. I talk about dog food. I talk about who's running. I had I had several candidates on. Come on to the show.
Speaker 2:I was in the department of agriculture. I interviewed everyone that ran for that office Agriculture, my whole message. There is no culture without agriculture. I talk about different bills that are being passed in all states and not just here in Georgia. So plant the seed radio show was about anything in America that it has to deal with agriculture. I reported about something going on in Alaska. I would talk about whatever is going on in Tennessee, whatever that commodity is. I remember one time I talked about Michigan. There's cherries. Cherries are big up there and I had no idea. So my radio show taught me Antimology. I've researched different bugs and talked about bugs. I just encourage people don't squish the bug, find out about that bug. We need that bug. That bug is here for a reason, absolutely. And bees, bees, oh, the bees, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Without them we would be, it would be over for us, absolutely, over, Absolutely. So I did a two part series, one for two weeks on on bees. I had a beekeeper come in and I interviewed him on just everything I could think of to ask him. I asked him about bees. I need to know the bees needs, I needed to know. So you know I did. I did gardening. I did a poetry in the garden Type of series where I had people come in and read poetry that they written about gardening, though the whole thing is about gardening. I had one year later she she'd read a poem called cornrows and and oh my God, it blew me away, but it's. I try to reach people at their level to bring them into agriculture.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So if you're into poetry, come on listen to the show and that way I can bring you on in and listen to some more agriculture, you know here, in Georgia we had a big thing.
Speaker 2:A bill was passed last year about raw milk. I didn't even know raw milk was a thing, that that it was against whatever for having raw milk. Well, now that opened the door for small farms to make a living. They don't have money for the big processing to do what they need to do that get the milk on the shelf. Yep, you know. So it opened the door for these small farmers and it was just, oh, it was a grand day for them.
Speaker 1:It really was, absolutely, and I think that's the things that I like to talk about. A plant, the seed. I was just going to ask you what was the name of the radio show, so you've been a seed right, I like it, and you've been on a hiatus from the radio show and you're looking to start it up again. I haven't have it on good authority.
Speaker 2:Show enough I would love to teaching took over. I was on a Sunday through Friday and my show was on Fridays at 10 am and it just so happened that the owner didn't have anything on a Saturday or Sunday and I was looking to do a Sunday. I kind of did a poll or survey of my listeners. I had gotten up to like 150,000 listeners and so I sent a poll out what day was is better that they would listen to a Saturday or Sunday. So unanimously, everybody was like Sunday morning, could you get us on a Sunday morning? She didn't have anything and so I just said you know, I'll keep doing it on the internet. Maybe I'll try to post things on the social media, but it's not like a set time. I loved it.
Speaker 1:I do too, oh my gosh. So, before we go any further, where can people reach out to you? Where can they email you?
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, so email is. It's a pretty long email address, but if you just go on Facebook, I'm under Fitzgerald's Garden of goodies LLC. Plant the seed radio show is also on Facebook. Instagram is the same thing Plant the seed radio show All one word and it's F underscore garden of goodies on Instagram and my website is wwwFitchgeraldsGardenOfGoodiescom.
Speaker 1:And you will remember Fitzgerald's Garden of goodies. That's right. F G O G. That's it. F G O G is absolutely right. Oh my goodness. So just on the business side, did you write a business plan for any of your businesses?
Speaker 2:No doubt I did. I'm also a business major so my professors would be highly upset if I didn't. But I did. The first one was a basic, little generic one, but it had out my goals. It had out a mission. I try to make sure I have that because it has to be a GPS to get to the goal. So I did and I highly recommend creating a business plan for anybody that has an idea. Plan it, or you will plan to fail or move very slow. You need a map, you need a roadmap to get you there. You know, don't start a business to fail it. You're starting it to solve a problem.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I had a business plan and I do read. This is just me, I don't know, some people may not, but I do revise mine, at least two, you know, two times, maybe before. No, what I'm saying is nine years ago, when I had we care the first business plan. By the third, fourth year I had to make a new business plan. Fitzgerald's Garden of Goodies has evolved probably three times since 2020. So I've had to update that business plan. I wanted to succeed.
Speaker 1:Absolutely and I have said this to other women entrepreneurs starting out just write a basic one, just write the basic plan. I mean a couple of sentences. For you know, get a template from offline, online, free, yeah, fill it out and then, as you said, then you just keep revising it, because as you revise you think of what's next, you think of your goals and there you go. Absolutely Especially smart, oh, absolutely, for just just the everyday. And then if you have to or need to go to the bank or alone, that's the first thing they're going to do for business plans. That's it, that's right.
Speaker 2:And even if you want to invest, you really have to have a. You know your investor wants to see. Well, what's the plan? Absolutely that's right. A sponsor wants to see what's your plan. What am I getting ready to sponsor? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you don't, you know, I know, I know we all get to a point where we just feel so overwhelmed starting a business. We have all these things in place and then having to write a business plan. That's why I always say start small, start basic, and then put it aside and then go back to it.
Speaker 2:That's right, and it's a lot of free websites. That's what I did. I went online and just Googled and found one and just it was basic. And it it asked you it's already typed out and you fill in the blank yeah, that's right, you want your business to be successful and, as an entrepreneur, you know some. Sometimes you're, you're, you're diving into this and we don't have a lot of capital. No, some of us don't have the capital off the bag. So just do something simple fill in the blanks and keep on going, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I saw on your website you were managing the West End farmers market in Atlanta. Do you still still do? Do you sleep?
Speaker 2:I don't know, goodness, gracious, when do I get that in? But the beauty of the farmers market. I, I used to. Last year I was hands on, I was there every Sunday, but now I'm more. My number is on the on the flyer. They call me, I make the moves happen and I contact the other managers, the lady who, who runs it. She's ran it for over 30 years and I, I, I, I, just I can make the phone calls and I show up when I need to. So the management work on that is pretty much distant.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I'm just answering questions, making sure payments are made, you know, and I'm also marketing and on the page helping push that and sending out emails. So that's the beauty of that mark, that management, I can do it here.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Did you encounter any obstacles when you were first putting together? You know your first business, your second business, and and and your third business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, with we care. I did. I ran into because I didn't know what to do. Basically, like minor things, like I dealt with home health care, I had an incident where the children would come in grown children maybe come in and take medication. Well, I didn't know what to do, because now I'm trying to call the pharmacy and and get these people's prescription refilled, but it's too soon. So those were different things that I ran into and it just was simple things I had to. That's when that business plan had to be revised. I need to come back. I need to go and take some classes. I went and took some classes. I hired somebody to help me Okay, basically as far who already was in the game, who already knew home health care.
Speaker 2:She acted, she was a, an RN, but she also had her own from New York, had just moved here, and she took a liking to what I was doing, in the style of home health care that I was giving, and she said let me help you. So you need to put parameters in place. Perhaps locking things up with the key, you keep the key, but with Alzheimer's, you know, sometimes locking it up and children coming in, they it. That was. My first big problem Was medication.
Speaker 1:I'm sure I had to.
Speaker 2:I had to take classes and just find out. What do I do when this happens? Right?
Speaker 1:What do I?
Speaker 2:do, do I? I found out I have to get a police report. So always stay open to to learning, so I did. I always had to keep my I know now jobs say CEU, your continuous education. So I had to in home health care. That was the first and only major issue that I had with that one Fitzgerald's Garden of goodies. I thought my biggest supporters were going to be my friends and family. Not wrong. I've had more strangers support me than than my own crew. You know it was a shocker to me.
Speaker 1:I've heard that before.
Speaker 2:I have heard that before that Yep Family and friends are like no, and I'm like I'm doing something so positive, like y'all eating from me, y'all calling me, Can you make me some strawberry jam and send it to me? Sure, you know, I'm thinking they're going to push my radio show. You want to be? You want to be a guest? Oh, I see what you're doing. No, I don't want to do that. I'm like well, did you listen to my show? No, I didn't get a chance to what. So I have had strangers support me bigger. So, mistake of thinking my immediate crew was going to be my largest supporter, was going to share my products, was going to talk about what I'm doing. No, no, so naive thinking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it happens in their family, so you can't get rid of them. So you know it all works out. It all works out Absolutely. What has been one of the most valuable lessons you have learned running your own business?
Speaker 2:That there really are great people in the world. It really is. I'm a crybaby, but it really is good people in the world and want to learn that also are super, duper, encouraging me to continue what I'm doing. Um, one of the house representatives. I had to have her on my show last year and I presented her with a bouquet of roses because she said some things to me. Back here in Georgia, we have a women in Ag Day at the Capitol, and I met her for the first time there and she said I would like to have lunch with you, like me. Wow, yeah, and that was one of the connections, though, through the NWIAA, national Women's in Ag. So once we sat down, she knew that I had the radio and she said I want to tell you you're a trailblazer, don't stop, stay on the air, we need you. And not only that, I'm the first black woman to have an agricultural radio show that we've spanned out to try to look and find and no one is doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:So I brought her on to my show and just to recognize her, because she told me different people that I needed to meet, that I needed to interview, and I've met all of them. They are all in the house, representatives. They've all granted me an interview. So it's just kind of people and I mean I'm not one political way. They have to be a Democrat, they have to be a Republican, they have to be independent. I've interviewed everyone and everyone received me so well. I've just learned the value in collaboration. I've learned the value in just staying me Absolutely, absolutely, true to your true. I don't know how to be anybody else.
Speaker 2:And true to yourself. True, stay true to yourself. And so my passion is here in the act, always have been, and so I just stayed true to me. So that is just a valuable lesson is to stay you. Don't try to be anybody else. It doesn't work.
Speaker 1:It pays to be you Absolutely, and I'm so glad that. I am so glad that you are true to yourself and you are you.
Speaker 2:Yes, no way, nobody's like me.
Speaker 1:So what advice would you give to another woman entrepreneur just starting their own business?
Speaker 2:Oh, get you some nose. Get you some nose. They make you grind harder. Don't stop. When you hear those nose, just tweak it a little bit and keep pushing, keep pushing. Again. I'll say it, too To any woman that's pushing forward being an entrepreneur stay yourself. Just because somebody else is doing the same thing you're doing, it's still not you. It's still not you. So remain authentic to yourself. Get you some nose, because that gives you that grit, it gives you that tough skin. Absolutely that's what I would like to tell them. Keep going, though, don't stop. Don't stop.
Speaker 1:No, and I hear that time after time, but I like the part where get you some nose Absolutely. Get you some nose, absolutely. So one of my goals with a woman entrepreneur spotlight is to build a network of women entrepreneurs who can reach out to each other, and I would love to add your name to that list. Show enough, add me, add me. I'm adding you Absolutely. So let everybody know one more time how they're going to get in touch with you, because they're going to get in touch with you.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right. So I am Evelyn Fitzgerald, also known as Sheba. Sheba the green thumb diva. You've got to say it twice. It sounds so nice. So look, you can reach me on Fitzgerald's Garden of Goodies. That's Facebook. Instagram is f underscore Garden of Goodies Plant the seed radio show. One word on Instagram and on Facebook that website is wwwFitchgeraldsGardenofGoodiescom.
Speaker 1:Thank you, evelyn. Thank you so much for being here with me and telling me all about you, agricultural Fitzgerald Garden of Goodies and everything else that you have done and everything else that's in your future.
Speaker 2:Thank you for this opportunity. You are welcome. It's been a delight to meet you. I was so glad we crossed paths in that Facebook group.
Speaker 1:Me too, so thank you again.
Speaker 2:You are so welcome. All right, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
