Faith Hamlin – Little Jennie Ranch- Raised Different— Entrepreneurship & an Uncommon Path

And they were like, OK, go down this draw and look for cattle

and we'll see you in a couple hours.

And I was like to where? And they were like, just, you'll

figure it out. I spend a lot of time trying to

convince people this may not be the right experience for them.

He's in the cattle industry as well, but really embodies the

idea of growing a business from the ground up and doing what a

lot of people will tell you is impossible, which is starting a

ranch and being a rancher, starting with no land.

Hey there and welcome to From the Ground Up Show, the show

where we encourage and inspire the next generation of free

thinking leaders by telling the stories of those that have been

there, done that and are still getting it done.

Building a life that they love with their hearts, their hands

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Today I am really excited. I am joined by Miss Faith

Hamlin. She operates the Little Genie

Ranch in Bondurant, WY Faith was born in Ohio but raised in

Wyoming, specifically Jackson, Wyoming.

She pursued an education in political science, specifically

Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, before shifting her

career trajectory to come help on the family ranch.

She now operates the Little Genie Ranch, running multiple

businesses, commercial cattle outfitting dude ranch and direct

to consumer beef supply. She plays an active role with

the Green River Valley Cattlemen's and Wyoming Stock

Growers Associations, as well as being very involved with the

Wildlife Fund, the nonprofit arm of the Wyoming Game and Fish.

So faith, you're into a little bit of everything.

I really appreciate you making the time to chat with us today.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm excited to be here and

looking forward to our conversation.

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Well we will dive right in. We like to start every show just

learning a little bit about you and and where you came from.

So could you tell us a little bit about your life growing up?

Yeah, definitely. So as you said, born in Ohio,

Akron, OH is where my family is from.

Thankfully, my parents had a planned midlife crisis where

they said instead of, you know, us actually having a midlife

crisis, let's plan something crazy.

And so there something crazy was let's take our youngest child,

me, out of school and let's move her to Jackson, WY with us for

six months. We're going to like go, you

know, do something crazy and off of their normal beaten path and

just make it work with their work and our family.

And so in 2005, we moved to Jackson with the plan of like,

this was just a kind of one time fun thing.

And my dad would tell you that I cried nearly the whole drive out

saying like my life was over and I would never like, even though

I was headed back in six months, but I was never going to see my

friends and all these things. And he said about a couple

weeks, then he knew I was never going back to Ohio.

And he knew this was where my heart was, which he was

completely right. And I love Ohio.

It is a very special place. I'm very proud to say that I was

born there. And my brother is 11 years older

than me. And so he was raised really in

Ohio. So we kind of, he teases me.

He's like, I don't know why you keep telling people you're from

Wyoming. And I'm like, well, I've been

here 21 of 30 years. So it's been a while, but I did

a little back and forth growing up and then graduated from high

school in Jackson and then went off to school in New York,

upstate New York at Colgate University.

Childhood was a really fantastic one.

I think I look back and I'm very grateful for the family that I

have and how close we are. But my parents both were, my mom

stayed at home and cared for us and, you know, raised us to be

the best kid she could make. My parents wanted a really big

family. My dad told my mother maybe two

weeks into dating that he was going to have six boys in a

ranch. And so I remind my mother that

we are quality rather than quantity.

But it's a little far apart with the 11 years, which is why I'm

named Faith. And yeah, we just had such a

great childhood where we were involved in our parents lives.

They treated us kind of older than we were all the time.

And my dad is an entrepreneur himself and worked in and still

does work in steel and manufacturing, plastic

manufacturing. And he was never felt like we

were too young to be part of a conversation.

And I'm very lucky for that because he would challenge us

and treat us like we were older than we were.

And you know, know that we had to work really hard.

And that set me up for, I think, the success that I'm in today.

So between mom and dad and my brother being so much older, I

feel he raised me too. It was a pretty amazing

childhood and only was starting to take off when I moved to

Wyoming and was like, wow, there are other girls who really like

the outdoors like me and are, you know, focused on a little

bit more, if you will, stereotypical Wyoming things

and, you know, have, like, are interested in shooting guns and

fishing and being outside and skiing and camping and going on

a pack trip. I was like, wow, there are other

girls who exist like that. This is awesome.

And those were my peers and my teachers and our community.

So yeah, great childhood and I think part of forming who I am

today. That's fantastic.

Well, you said you guys first came to Wyoming.

It was kind of a, a six month wild hare, a a, a planned

midlife crisis. When, why, and how did you guys

decide to stay? Yeah, so one of the big things

was I was really happy here and I really enjoyed school.

And the school that I went to was able to push me in kind of

as hard as I wanted because it was, it was sort of a Montessori

And my parents started me in

that school because they were like, what other school would

put up with you changing schools midway through the year every

six months a couple times? And so it was like, hey, you're

in 4th grade, but you're taking 6th grade math.

So you just go with the 6th graders to take math or if

you're beyond, it's not a big deal.

It's just part of what we do. And yeah, I loved it.

My parents were like, I think we could possibly make this work

where we do spend still some of the year in Ohio, But my dad

just, he travels so much for work because his companies

weren't all located in Ohio. He managed them out of Ohio.

But he was always flying around anyway.

And he was like, well, if I'm near an airport, I can do a lot

of the same work. And it took a lot of sacrifice

on my parents parts because they were apart a lot and my dad

traveled a lot. But I think they really were

drawn to the community and the people and just people's heads

were on straight and they really enjoyed that.

And it was different. So.

But they absolutely, to their credit, made the sacrifice for

me because they knew there were opportunities here and I was

really happy. So.

And we're outdoorsy. My dad loves to ski.

Like that was a big piece of it. Yeah.

We moved to Jackson to ski and now my dad loves the snowmobile

more than ski and would rather go out and feed our cattle or do

things on the ranch. He's like a skiing whatever,

where is we literally moved to Wyoming kind of to ski.

Awesome. That's it.

Sounds like a family that I would fit in with.

Those are some of my favorite things as well.

So yeah. And I noticed you said that, you

know, you, you grew up partially in Ohio, you've been in Wyoming

20 years and then College in upstate New York.

Those seem like 3 almost very different cultures.

Very. What was that like transitioning

between those different cultures?

Was was there a little bit of culture shock or maybe some

lessons you learned doing that? I think that my childhood moving

to Wyoming and going back and forth so much, it really put me

on a path that I was always the new kid.

And so I just had to figure out how to be the new kid in the

best way. And my mother would call it a

hi, how Aria kid basically being outgoing.

And I think I was a little bit more comfortable being in spaces

that weren't my norm. And so when I was graduating

from school 1, I had an interest in foreign policy and kind of

international relations and some of these things.

And so looking at schools nowhere close by, like I was

kind of one, I was looking at schools that had a focus on

that, which a lot of them were on the East Coast.

And then another piece of it was I didn't really want to get out

of Wyoming because I wasn't happy, but I was like, I'm going

to go give these other folks a run for their money, like show

them that I can do it. And I'm not just like the

Wyoming kid, but I can hang. And so that was a piece of it

for sure. And so, yeah, fell on Colgate.

The funny thing is I looked at every school that was probably

exactly like Colgate, but I didn't really want to go to

Colgate because my dad had gone there and my brother had gone

there and I was like, I really cannot follow and like, I have

to be different, you know? And I, but I was looking at

every school that was like the exact same concepts and things.

And I, I, I had this moment where I think I was talking to a

mentor or something. I was like, I'm almost afraid to

like admit that I love Colgate and thankfully did end up going

there and, but I made it my own, which was incredible.

I was really happy that my family was supportive, but it

was my very own unique experience and have some of my

closest friends today from Colgate.

But I also feel like it's this network of people who it's

better for me to have a great community that isn't doing

usually like what I'm doing today and doesn't always.

Not everyone is doing what I'm doing or like what I'm like, and

it's better to have that diversity in my community, both

mentorship and friendship. And so I feel really lucky to to

have gone there. That's great.

Well, I know, yeah, you, you mentioned it there as well.

You had kind of a unique area of studies with political science

and specifically studying the the Middle East and Islamic

cultures. Was there something you had in

mind for a career when you started studying that?

When I started studying it, I was just taking some advice and

I wish I could tell you who had told me this, but they said

don't pay attention to the class title all the time.

Pay attention to your professor. And if you find a good

professor, follow them. Follow who they enjoy teeth,

like their friends or whatever. And so at Colgate, I had one

first professor, Professor nor Khan.

She was incredible. She is the definition of

dynamite comes in small packages.

And she taught an intro to history of the Middle East.

And just like to be clear, in high school, I had some

fantastic classes that dealt with religion and specifically

Islam and a lot of like social studies, history of the Middle

East, which just was already like fueling my fires of

interest. And I was really big into model

UN and all of those things in high school.

And so coming into school, I knew I had an interest in sort

of Foreign Relations and I did take an interest in Islam.

I'm Catholic, my families Catholic.

It's been a part of my whole life and how we were raised.

And so learning about other religions, I actually, I felt

like I had a leg up on students who didn't get weren't raised in

a religious household because I was like, oh, yeah, there's like

a lot of similar. This makes sense.

Like these are. I learned it a lot faster.

So it was a lot easier for me to kind of excel really well in the

religious studies part of history.

And so, yeah, I got to school. Professor Nora Khan, she was, it

was amazing. She gave you a hard time, but

she also was incredibly passionate.

And one of the most important things right off the bat that I

carried with me through today is she just said, flat out, every

single one of your professors, the books you read, everything

you do has a bias. And so recognize that you are in

a class. I have a bias.

The professor next door has a bias.

The textbooks we're reading have a bias, and so you need to

navigate what that is and make decisions for yourself while

recognizing it's impossible for people not to have a bias.

And I really appreciated her honesty with that and also just

loved the way she taught. And so she was the head of the

department, her husband was in the department.

So she did this sneaky thing where she kind of signed me up

for Arabic classes. And I was like, well, I'm

already in. And I guess she signed me up and

I have no choice. So here I am.

And she was awesome. And so I continued to follow

professors through the department and absolutely loved

it. Just really lucky at Colgate.

It was a very small school, but just a fantastic group of

professors throughout my time there in the political science

department, in the Middle Eastern studies department, and

throughout, throughout. So they were exciting and kept

it. So I just kept following great

professors. I kind of you'd figure out who's

good and then you'd ignore their title of their class.

In some ways you'd be like, I just know that it's going to be

a good one. And that that kept me really

passionate for school. Even when I was over the little

things or social things or was ready to get out, I was really

digging in because I wanted to work hard for the the professors

so. OK, interesting, that's some

advice I've not heard before. I'm.

I'm kind of thinking here. I wonder how my education would

have looked if I had followed that same track.

It probably would have been quite a bit different.

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your next vacation. Well, I want to dive into the,

the business or businesses of the, the Little Genie Ranch.

How did your family end up there and and then how did you end up

there? Yeah.

So it starts all from the beginning of my dad declaring he

was going to have six boys at a ranch.

So he had this lifelong romantic dream of a ranch.

And he said that while my mother was a computer programmer and he

was a banker in Chicago. So there was no clear trajectory

of how that was going to happen. So my dad had carried this dream

when we moved to Wyoming. He, it sort of ignited where

suddenly he was already, he was in a place where that would

exist. And so it was in the back of his

head and slowly but surely he was travelling around with me

for all of our sports in Wyoming, which means you're on

the road every weekend driving across the whole state.

And so as we were driving around, he would kind of pop in

and out of properties and drive around.

And mostly what he has done in his career as well is looking at

property, properties that are in distress business wise.

Either, you know, they're bankrupt or going through kind

of big problems and transition and kind of need folks to come

in and try to turn them around. That's where his skill set is.

He's very optimistic, which is you can't be a pessimist and do

that. So no, that was sort of how he

directed some of his looking at ranches.

Learned AI say a lot about ranches.

But then I look back and I'm like, we've learned so much

being actually on a ranch. But he did learn a lot in terms

of seeing a lot of different places and their what works,

what doesn't work, what's their positives, negatives, all those

things. And so the little Jenny was

purchased out of bankruptcy in typical thrifty fashion of our

family. And so we'd actually looked at

the ranch for almost 6 years prior and essentially looked at

it as a pipe dream. But it was fun to dream about.

And so we kept coming back and looking at it as the previous

owners who were sort of real estate developers and had plans

for it, I would assume. And so they we were slowly kind

of thinking about it, but also like, hey, we were looking at

other ranches and thinking of packing up to move potentially

to other places. And things came together in our

lives and there was a plan. And this is where we ended up,

which is I am still so grateful that we could end up at the pipe

dream. But we ended up here, purchased

the ranch out of bankruptcy in 2017.

So I was still in school. And but got to be really heavily

part of the negotiating and the deal and figuring out how to buy

the note from the bank and when the bank foreclosed and dealing

with a lot of those intricate pieces and parts.

And I think goes back to the fact my dad was never like,

you're a kid, you can't be involved.

He'd be like, yeah, we're going to have a conference call, I'll

phone you in. And I'm between classes, curious

about how this all works and constantly asking questions and

really involved, which was very cool.

And so I'd shared this dream with my dad despite not having

any background I didn't go to. I wasn't in FFA, I wasn't in 4H,

and yet here I was having this big dream of a ranch with my

dad. And honestly, at that point I

didn't have an intention that I had any capability of running

our operations. I just knew I wanted to be

involved and knew this was something I wanted to do with my

family. And so Fast forward, I graduated

from school, We have some, we have a team here, we have

advisors helping us kind of get started and keep everything

rolling and growing to, you know, get our feet under us.

And when I graduated from school, I had some other work

lined up, just work in Jackson, in town, and then was coming and

helping at the ranch where I could here and there and, you

know, where what I could do. So set up charge accounts and,

you know, make calls, anything that happened on a piece of

paper or an e-mail. They were like, oh, the young

kid, I was like, yeah, I can do that.

And so slowly kind of tagged along with people as much as

possible. And you have enough people turn

over, come, go, learn from them. And over time, I was starting to

kind of get my feet under me to say I think I can lead the

direction of what we're doing. Probably in 20.

I did go away to another ranch for a bit, came back, which was

very valuable. And probably 20, 2019-2020 is

when I really started running the ranch myself and really

directing it with a lot of extra heavy influence of like somebody

we were tag teaming or you know, a mentor or consultant was in

helping us. And it's hard to even describe

because I'm like, it just kind of happened overnight where and

it happens when people leave, like, you know, a nightcaver

quit and it was like, yeah, so I guess I'm half the nightcaver

and I'm going to learn and I'm going to work really hard.

And there was a lot of on the job training.

Yeah, oh man, yeah, diving into the the cattle business and the

ranch business without any experience would be difficult

enough, but. Maybe in?

Buying a bankrupt operation and trying to turn that around adds

another level of difficulty. Yep, maybe you're getting an

insight into the optimism amongst my family.

Yeah, I think that is probably true of all entrepreneurs, even

a realist that doesn't look at a business idea or a plan and

think I can pull that off. It takes a real a real optimist

to be an entrepreneur and and think that you can turn around a

failing business or start something from scratch and

really make it go. For sure.

Yeah. My, I remind my family or folks

when like this girl's, I think she's a little crazy to be

thinking that we could do this. And or, you know, I don't, I

don't know how we're going to pull through.

And I usually say with a name like Faith, there's not really

much room for quitting. That's good.

That's good. Oh, what was the what is your

most interesting experience of the on the job training?

Was there something that just really knocked you off your feet

or or came as quite a surprise that you had to figure out on

the go? Yeah, I mean, everything I would

say, you know, it starts from I didn't know how to saddle a

horse When I moved here. I'd ridden a horse and I had an

older woman in the community who's sort of like my Wyoming

grandmother. She was stopped riding and said,

hey, here's my, here's my mayor taker.

And I was like, OK, I don't, I don't know anything.

And there was just so many times where it was like here I'm I'm

going out with the crew, I'm going to tag along.

And I wasn't out there saying I know what I'm doing.

I was just like, I'm going to do my absolute best and that's all

I can do. And people would.

I remember there was a day and we were probably, I don't know,

15 miles from home headquarters, but we'd driven an hour to get

somewhere and then had to navigate home.

And I'd never done that. And they were like, OK, go down

this draw and look for cattle and we'll see you in a couple

hours. And I was like to where?

And they were like, just you'll figure it out.

Like you'll go hit the Creek, just keep falling downstream and

you'll eventually see someone. I don't think I saw someone for

a couple hours. And I look, I think in the

moment I was like, OK, I found cattle.

I'm looking for cattle, bringing them home.

I have all the cows, calves. I've got a couple yearlings.

Like I think I know what's going on.

Kept everything together, but was totally alone.

And I was like, I guess I'm supposed to see someone maybe.

And eventually I end up in this amazing basin, which is one of

my favorite water waterways in the area.

But it was the first time I'd been there and I ran into

another neighbor and was like, OK, I found them.

I made it. But I was like, I have never

seen any of the this place I've ever been to.

I don't even know how to get home.

And home was actually just like 1 Ridge away.

So thankfully I had run into the neighbors and we had to

breakthrough the ice of the Creek to get the cattle moving

through. And here he was with his two

little kids. And here I was trying to help

push everything across and yelling.

And I remember he turned to the kids after we made it across the

Creek and was like, you guys remember the rule, right?

And they were like, Yep, don't tell mom any of the words you

just said while we were moving cattle.

And I just looked back and I'm like, that was the best way to

learn to just be thrown in and like, you'll figure it out.

And someone saying like, and I think the match of like, I don't

think I know everything, but you have to have a little bit of

confidence that you can figure it out.

And that just happened over and over again where it was like,

Hey, we need you covering, you know, a couple night calving

shifts alone And I'd been with people enough and I was like, I

think I can figure this out and do this on my own.

And, you know, got Catalan that need to come in and you know,

hey, I'm noticing this or that and keeping an eye out and just

gain confidence and then learn what to do when there's a

problem like this. We need to pull this calf out of

this heifer and like what to do and then when to call for help.

But yeah, the biggest learning on the job, I would say like

there were these little pieces where I was like, you're sent

off. In my career so far, one of the

most stressful, difficult times was I had a manager here who I

just in hindsight hadn't done a very good job of hiring and they

weren't the right fit. And unfortunately, all of the

team they hired below them were either family members or

basically people who were like fully loyal to that person

rather than the ranch. And so we started to come to

grips that we weren't going to be the right fit.

And he decided to leave. And when he left, he left with

seven people in one day. And, and I, you know, had to

take, I was had to be really strong and say, Hey, I'd like

invite people to stay and continue to work.

And I had one after the other between the family members and a

couple team members say like I'm a like they were afraid to stay.

They were like, how is this ship not gonna think?

And so they jumped ship and one after the other walked into my

office and quit. And on the day like no two weeks

notice. No, that was my entire cattle

crew. I had one young man who ended up

working with us for 4 plus years further and that was it.

And I was like, OK, you've got to be really strong right now.

And I buckled down and was, you know, made calls to get some

help and someday work and really dug in to learn our US Forest

Service leasing, running cattle, doing a lot of the work myself.

Like, OK, we're going to pack salt.

And like, well, that didn't we didn't, we didn't do that

Kuwait, right? So we're going to learn the next

time. But there was a lot of you just

have to do it yourself to get through that time.

And that has strengthened me as a leader today because one, I'm

like, you know, things can be really bad, but we will figure

it out because that's all we've ever done and we'll continue to

do. And also having the experience

and knowledge of for my now like leadership and people here to

say I've been in your shoes when things are not going right.

And I've been in your shoes and I understand what has to go on

on the ground and how difficult it is and that your job really

does matter. And I think sometimes being a

leader of other people just saying like, yeah, I've been,

I've done, and I don't know everything, but I know enough to

understand what your work is that I'm asking you to help me

with. And so, yeah, that was a really

critical learning point for me. And we came out of it.

I hired a fantastic guy after that season who's here still

with me building the ranch. And it was all meant to happen

despite it feeling in the moment like everything was had

completely fallen apart. And so, yeah, I think those

times not only teach you the skills on the job training, but

also the mental fortitude that's required of being in business,

you know, 'cause things are not always positive, they're, you

know, you're gonna, you know, go for broke.

And so yeah, that would that would be the like most dramatic

of the on the ground on the job training.

OK, alright. And it sounds like you kind of

gradually slipped into this role in this business that your

parents bought the ranch while you were still in school.

You came back and we're working some other jobs while helping

them and and even went to work on another ranch for a while.

At what point in time did you decide to go all in?

And OK, this is where I'm at. This is what I'm doing.

Yeah, So spring 2019, I had just finished a season at another

ranch. I had an offer to stay, and it

was a guest ranch, and it was so much fun.

You work with a ton of young people.

Like, you're working really hard.

I just spent a season snowmobiling, skiing, getting

paid to teach people how to dance.

Like, I was like, this is awesome.

You know, this is fun, but in the back of my mind I was

thinking about the ranch the whole time.

I think there were a couple things that happened before that

season or during that season when I was at the ranch in

Colorado. I had met some incredible people

down in southern Wyoming and they were incredibly

intelligent. I think they were a lawyer, had

so had a JD, one had an MBA, incredibly capable people and

were running their cattle business in a way that I hadn't

exactly seen and or just had it flushed out in their thought

process. And I was like, these are real

business people running a really hard business, enjoying what

they do, but using their brains about it.

And so I switched that, switched a flip to switch in my

understanding of the Little Jenny in that we can run a

really great livestock business here, not just how do we run the

little Jenny keep it going, know, how do we run businesses

that work at the little Jenny? And so that flipped a switch in

my thinking and what I could do and the people in the industry.

And then another thing that happened was I had this job

offer. I came home, it was probably

April, first week of April. And I pulled up that night from

driving home and pulled up to one of the guys who was at the

ranch and they said, go catch your horse.

We're going to just go start our night of calving and go check on

some things. And I said awesome.

And about a week later we had a night caver quit and I was like,

game on, I'm here to stay. We had like just some turnover

and I was like, I need to be here.

And I said no to everything else that I was thinking and planning

and said, I think I'm ready to dig in.

And it really started at that minute where it was like, go

park the truck, catch your horse and we're off.

And it was sort of like from that moment, I didn't look back.

OK, that's cool. That that's really neat that you

have kind of that one, that one moment where everything changed

and made. That decision for.

You, yeah, that's great. So you mentioned it there.

You guys now run, like you said, kind of multiple businesses at

the Little Jenny. So you do dude ranch, cattle

operations, beef sales, tours, a little bit of everything.

Which sector of your business or or which business there on the

ranch do you find most exciting or most rewarding?

Yeah. So I guess to take a step back,

yeah, at the ranch we are running commercial cattle.

I kind of group all of my guest operations into our outfitting

business. So we don't take folks into

cabins and have them stay for a week.

But mostly all of our guest operations are Backcountry

excursions throughout the year. So in the winter snowmobiling

and sleigh rides, in the summer horse back based adventures and

then our direct to consumer beef which is growing and moving.

So what do I find most exciting? I actually just was in a

managers meeting yesterday where we, I started the meeting asking

everyone to talk about what they're most excited about

within their own section of businesses at the ranch and then

in another business at the ranch.

And so very, very timely and thinking about it.

But for me, I said there was something in every single piece

of course I was excited for. We've really developed our

leadership team at the ranch and it's been a long journey and I

know is a continuous journey. But this season will be one of

the first ones where I have a full leadership team of very

capable people where I am not the manager of the outfitting

business and the direct to consumer beef.

And that is a huge relief to have much more capable people

than me allowing those businesses to flourish because

they've been maintaining and growing and just waiting to kind

of explode. And so I've started some new

managers on the guest side of things last fall and they are

kicking butt. And I have my first full time

employee dedicated to our direct to consumer beef starting here

in a couple weeks. So both of those things really

excite me. And yet here we are in the

cattle industry. That's what fuels my fires.

That's why I'm here and why I fell in love with the ranch so

continuously building, but excited to have a leadership

team so I can look more at the whole business and help

everybody a little bit better. Yeah, six years in and you're

finally fully staffed for. Now, well, I wouldn't say we're

fully staffed, but we've got good leadership staff.

We're still trying to get a tale of the older time.

Yeah, the leadership's probably the most important part.

Yes. Of those various businesses or

various sectors, which one is most profitable?

Yeah. So when you ask this question, I

was like, oh, this is a great question because right now with

our cattle markets where they are, which are is super strong,

I would say our cattle business is most profitable, which is

awesome. It hasn't because it's the base

business of where we started. It probably is has been the most

profitable because we've been growing it and working on it

longest and it was already somewhat established when we

moved to the ranch. We continue to have a bit more

overhead than maybe your average ranch for two reasons.

One, it's my family ranch. So there are ways in which we

have expenses that, you know, my mom and dad will say we'd kind

of like some post and rail fence around headquarters instead of

like the standard post and barbed wire that we'd run

everywhere else. And so generally my family and I

haven't really well worked out where those expenses do get

allocated towards the fact that, you know, it's also my families

home It's but so that doesn't get charged necessarily against

our businesses, but it is a piece of what we deal with.

And then the other overhead item that we're dealing with is a lot

of deferred maintenance. So prior to our ownership, the

last two owners had just been transitioning and working

through hard times or kind of at the end of their ownership and

so didn't do a lot of reinvestment in our

infrastructure. And so we've had to reinvest and

slowly build back our infrastructure and now with

multiple businesses we house everybody at the ranch.

So that's the big piece that I'm trying to manage and strategize

around. I do see like profitability,

like margin wise, the direct to consumer beef business is

quickly growing, but it's been difficult because cattle markets

are so strong and beef prices are rising so quickly.

I'm very dedicated to the fact I'm really trying not to price

gouge all of my new customers over the last couple years.

And so I'm doing my best to keep those prices reasonable instead

of like, well, yeah, all these things skyrocketed.

So you're going to see the exact cost.

I'm eating a little bit of cost to try to do best by my

customers, knowing that for the long haul, my goal would be that

the direct to consumer beef is actually the majority of what we

do. That would be an incredible,

like, exciting thing for us to do, but.

Yeah. And that's kind of brand new.

It's just been in the last few years that that was legalized

here in Wyoming and you were able to open that wing, is that

correct? Yeah.

So we have, there's been a lot of flexibility.

I was kind of on the end. So I've always, I've never

really struggled with the legality.

But one of the things that we do is we have everything USDA

butchered and so that allows us a lot of flexibility to sell to

grocery stores, markets, restaurants and the public

really easily and also cross state lines and things like

that. So yeah, it's been a big

learning process. I was feeling somewhat confident

on live animal and raising a really quality animal and bonder

Ant. And what that takes and the

genetics and all of the little things on the ground.

I'm not an expert, but like confident, more confident.

And then we started the direct beef and I was like, wow, one,

I'm probably a lot terrible, a lot more terrible of a cook than

I thought. And two, now I have to

understand how our animal is performing on the plate and how

to talk to people about their meat and, you know, make a

consumer confident in their meat.

And so, yeah, that's been, it's been fun though it's utilized a

lot of our selling skills. All right.

Well, you dove right into my next question here.

I know the the cattle business and also you know kind of luxury

service businesses like your outfitting business.

Both of those are very different from probably more common

businesses, the white collar businesses or your, your

plumber, your roofer, electrician, things like that.

What are some of the unique struggles or difficulties that

you face in these unique businesses that other leaders

may just not really understand or or have any idea that you

have to deal with? There's a lot of struggles

common to almost every business, but you guys probably have some

that the average person just is clueless about because of the

the unique nature of your businesses.

Yeah, I think so. This question is probably hard

for me to fully process because even in the cattle industry and

the outfitting industry, we have a lot of different unique pieces

and parts where sometimes it is hard for us to relate to others

in the industry. But I think just like when we're

looking at ranching and outfitting and comparing that to

kind of your other businesses in the business world, some of

those things mostly are around your people and your team.

And it's because what we do is not just your job.

And I expect people to be professionals and be just like

any other business. And yet they this is their

lifestyle. They are doing this because they

have a passion and a heart for it.

And we work really hard to have great benefits and great pay.

But at the end of the day, it really is far too much work not

to be proud of what you're doing and how you're doing it.

And that's something that we all carry, I think, on the team and

something that we're all living to work in some way and have to

be passionate about it. And so that already limits a lot

of the people who can come into this business and work and enjoy

it and do it. And so balancing that with

expectations, I have pretty high expectations of how I expect our

business to run. But at the end of the day, this

is also someone's passion and it's also where our team lives.

So probably also unique to a lot of businesses, most of our team

is housed here at the ranch. And so that is a huge challenge

that we deal with and continually changing because

just when I think everybody, we can house all of the people we

need and like the young ranch hands in our amazing, really

nice new bunkhouse where they have individual rooms and all

these nice things. Then I end up getting a couple

folks who are older or have a child or are married and you're

like, OK, how do we deal with this dynamic?

And how do I, as someone who has a heart for the people who live

here, try to give them the most opportunity while still being

dialed in as a business? And so there's a lot of balance

there to be had because, and we're living all around each

other. So that's the other thing.

You know, I can have my day off, but my team is all around.

They know that my friends are coming over and I know that

their friends are coming over. And there's a lot of challenges

with trying to build healthy boundaries at the ranch.

That's really hard because all of us are probably pretty

terrible at building healthy boundaries because we want to be

working all the time and give our heart.

We're not afraid of staying up all night to, you know, take

care of an animal or solve a situation.

That's just how I think a lot of us are built.

So, but we all need that little bit of time and space to

ourselves. And yet we all live around each

other. And you know, I say I work from

home every day. And so it's that everybody else

does as well. And so those are some really

unique challenges, but I feel more confident today than I

probably have been in the past because one of the things that

I'm working towards is building a network of other ranches and

people in the industry to lean on and be like, are you, how do

you deal with this? How?

Because we're not the only people in the whole world trying

to run a ranch as a, you know, really great business.

And, you know, how do you deal with these, setting these

expectations and caring for the people at the ranch and on your

team and knowing that what you're doing is part of their

family and their home. And so yeah, I feel more

confident today and trying to gain more knowledge and

experience from others all the time.

Oh, man, yeah, that's a great answer and something I hadn't

really thought about it. Yeah, you you get to work from

home every day, but all of your employees are in your home every

day. Yes, yeah, it kind of reminds

me. So we are in we're we're growing

all the time. Our office used to really be my

parents home and we continue to eat most of our team dinners

when we have those, you know, depends on the season once a

month, once a week, but we eat in my families dining like in

their living room. And so, but so was our office in

the early days. And so all of the things were

going on. And then my mom would say, we

have people coming for dinner. You can't have all of your

paperwork on the, you know, table.

And I'm like, why don't where else am I going to have work?

And then my mom would also say, I really don't appreciate when

we have these like intense logistics or disciplinary

meetings in my pantry and I'm trying to be in my P JS, get

coffee and go back to my room. And you all are in the midst of

like a really stressful conversation.

And so we did eventually get an office that like one of these

buildings that rolls off a semi and it's a one room office.

And it's been awesome. It's helped us grow.

It's where we host our guests when they arrive for their

snowmobile tour. But today I laughed.

Yesterday was a great example. There were 2-3.

There were like at least five of us in there doing various work.

And every single time you take a phone call, you either need to

go into the bathroom and close the door or go outside or go

into your truck. And so now we're growing towards

hopefully having a bigger office where we have some extra space,

but working around everybody. And like it being in your home,

we've been there. And that's how that's how you

grow. Like you don't start off

building the office of your dreams.

It's like, yeah, it's at your kitchen table, you know, after

dinner. That's great.

So I know a growing part of your business and a big part of it is

kind of the the luxury services, the outfitting.

Specifically what what services do you offer and what can a

guest expect? What is that experience like

when someone comes to visit the little Jenny?

Yeah. So our outfitting business is

really catered towards folks looking for that sort of real

connection to a working branch and looking for sort of an

experience that is authentic and going to have those memories of

a lifetime. Because we are smaller, we're a

little bit more customized and we're a working cattle ranch.

So I usually say we don't have to have conversations about

becoming authentic. I have to ask people to be a

little less authentic. I'm like, yeah, so if the guest

is sitting between the two Cowboys, maybe don't both be

chewing Copenhagen and spitting out the window like on the first

car ride, maybe on the way home, you know?

Anyway, so anyways, we are an authentic experience, but we're

also trying to create a memorable, safe, happy

experience as well for people to have ridden a horse a zillion

times, they've maybe ridden all over the world to someone who

has never ridden before and is a little nervous.

And so my ideal favorite clients are families who come and you

have one family member who's like, this is the part of the

trip for them and they could not be more excited.

And then you have maybe like the little brother who's like, this

is going to be the worst day ever and everybody leaves really

excited about what they did. And so we in the summer, and

that's where my minds at right now.

We host everything horseback and we take folks into the Bridger

Teton National Forest and we're either taking them in into the

Backcountry for a day out in the mountains or we're taking them

into our hunting camp that we operate year round.

And so we have 130 year old cabin that we take folks to

that's on the National Historic Registry, the Craig Cabin.

And so we're taking them there talking about the history of the

land and who's been there. And we have wall tents and

teepees where folks come and stay with us overnight.

It's a little bit of a glamping

And then we'll also what I'm excited about this season is I

have one of the folks in charge of the outfitting.

She has an extensive background of being a chef and, um, she is

going to up our food and all of the culinary experience.

And so I think that's been an area where we're just waiting to

flourish and provide that next level of service.

And so, yeah, in the summer, it's that in the winter we're

taking folks on snowmobile tours to the same cabin, the Craig

cabin, and serving lunch, serving Little Jenny Ranch beef

as much as we can to talk about how it all comes full circle to

the land that we're riding on is also the land that we graze

cattle and that we're raising this beef off of.

And then we also do a sleigh ride dinner, which has a special

culinary experience where the entire menu, it's usually about

5 or 6 courses, is all locally sourced.

And we have a conversation about what it means to be a farmer and

rancher in the area and bring them together for kind of this

romantic sleigh ride, but make it ranchy and talk about the

land and being a working ranch. So yeah, that's, I would say

most folks come and are looking for that authentic experience

and leave being like I get to be part of the Super special club

that is the Little Jenny Ranch. I love all their guides.

I want to keep up with them. They want to stay in touch.

They feel like they're part of our family and I really do feel

like they're part of our family. You know, we have a group of, we

have lots of clients who return and you know, guides who have

come and gone or not even here anymore.

They want to communicate back to talk to clients who are are

coming back and hearing what their stories are.

So does that give you a good picture?

I mentioned one of the horseback experience says that's really

unique to the ranch is we do allow limited small groups.

It's only three or less folks come out who are very

experienced horseback. They can come cowboy with my

team for the day. And I spend a lot of time trying

to convince people this may not be the right experience for them

because it's often quite humbling.

And it's not meant to be. Like, I don't plan it to really

be humbling, but I do plan it to be real.

So we're doing all the same work that we would do any other day.

We pack a big lunch and I'm like, it could be a normal today

or it could be we're out there till dark because there was

something that went wrong and the team has to stay out there

to solve it and you're with them and that is what it really

means. And my team's really good.

They look out for the clients, but they also are not trying to

sugarcoat what we're doing. And it's good when people walk a

little sore at the end of the day because that's how my team

walks away every day. Yeah.

Oh man, that's awesome. Is there one of those

experiences that seems to be a number one or a guest favorite

that people come back to again and again?

Yeah, I think a lot of folks love coming to camp overnight,

and that's because it's just such a magical place.

It's actually where we host, and we've hosted the Inspire Kid

Camp with the Wildlife Fund for several years, and we're on

pause at the moment. But it's just such a compelling

place to talk about the land and what it means to be here.

So that would be probably something that people just feel.

It never gets old. And then about 1/3 of my clients

in the summer are international clients and they probably

they're looking more for those big riding days often because

they're seeking out specifically horseback high, like a higher

level of experience. And so the Cowboy Day experience

or some of our big Adventure Day rides are really popular with

that crowd as well. Is there something that

significantly delayed the growth of your businesses and if so,

how would you do it differently? I'm a big believer, as critical

as I can be about myself, I'm a big believer that all of the

mistakes leading up to now, that's how it was meant to be.

And you had to do that to be where you are.

And so I don't really have any, like, regrets in some ways.

I know a lot of ranchers would be like, huh, bet you wish you

studied AG, you know, instead of the Middle East.

And I was like, not really. Yeah, a big set back.

I think for me it really is just finding the right people.

But it takes time. It doesn't happen overnight.

And sometimes I think the confidence to hire a very

capable person. I've always known I need people

who are much more capable than me.

But sometimes I'm afraid to bring on folks with too much

experience that they will come here and be overwhelmed by a

business in its infancy. And, you know, I think that

would have speed up some of our work here.

But I also think, you know, I'm so happy with my team right now.

And it had to happen in the timing.

They had to be doing what they were doing to line up the timing

that they came here. I was without an outfitting

manager for almost a year and a half.

And I was the person hiring the team, trying to like figure out

guest stuff, just barely making it.

And I'm so grateful to the team I had making it happen.

But I was determined to find the right people.

And I think that's that's the biggest, you know, thing and

probably myself, you know, I'm constantly learning.

I don't know what I don't know and trying to get there and get

better all the time for my team. That's one of my favorite lines

is you don't know what you don't know.

So any time I'm trying to learn about things, I ask what are the

questions I should be asking that I'm not asking?

So. Exactly.

Exactly. Is there something that you once

had a strong opinion about, but your experience has caused you

to change your mind? Yeah.

The I, this was a difficult question for me to think on.

I think that there have been a lot, I would say trying to think

of changing my mind. I've had to learn a lot of

things. There are things changing my

mind all the time. I'll give you a really like

recent example of changing my mind, but trying to keep an open

mind and that's the most critical piece.

We're in part of a new technology and use of some

virtual fencing this summer and we're also using some geofencing

tags as well. So this there will have a huge

summer of new technology and I would say most people in my

community and in the industry who know me already think I'm

sometimes crazy, but sometimes I like them to call me innovative

rather than crazy. So I have kind of been anti

virtual offense or I just didn't think it was the right fit for

us. I wasn't anti and but I've kind

of like, OK, great, that's not for us.

We're moving forward, not doing that and pretty confident in

that. But someone asked me for coffee

over the winter and said, hey, like, I just want to have a

conversation about this and you know, there may be some funding

that we could help you with. And I was like, hey, I'll have

coffee. You know, you're my neighbor.

Of course, I'll come to have a conversation.

And in that conversation I entered being like, there's just

no way, no how. And I listened to where things

had evolved and changed in the virtual fencing world and was

like, this actually could be fantastic for us on so many

different levels of how we interact conservation wise,

wildlife wise, how we manage our cattle better.

And suddenly I had this left the coffee talk and was like, I

think I'm about to go into a contract overnight because I had

to rush to try to get into this new technology and where we are,

we're going to be running virtual fence on a group of our

animals this coming summer. And so I think they're, I'm so

new to the industry that, yeah, sometimes I have ideas and

thoughts and I do change my mind.

But it's really easy because I'm so new and I really am.

I think my superpower has been that I do have an open mind and

I'm not afraid to throw the bowl of spaghetti at the wall and see

what sticks. Even if everyone thinks we're

insane. I'm like, yeah, I'm new.

Of course you're going to think I'm like, I am not in the

industry. I'm not fifth generation.

I didn't come from this. So no matter what I do, people

around are probably going to say they're, they're kind of be

like, they're insane. They're never going to make this

work. You know, there's always going

to be those doubters no matter what.

And that's OK because I'm like, that relieves all the pressure

that people think I know what I'm doing.

So when we do things really well, I'm like, double thumbs

up. Like everyone thinks that we did

something smart. And that's happened a number of

times at the ranch, which has been really, that's what

motivates me. I love being underestimated.

Like talk about what fuels my fires.

That's great. I, I was going to mention, yeah,

I love the, the humility that you approach this with that I

don't know what I'm doing, but we're gonna figure it out.

And yeah, I think that probably speaks a lot to the success you

found. You guys are trying new and

innovative ways to do anything and everything you can and it

seems like it's working for you. Yeah, working hard at it.

Feel really lucky. I think the humility also it

helps breakdown barriers between folks where I've had a lot of

fantastic mentorship because I'm kind of go to folks hat in hand

like I'm new and I need help. And I'm wondering how to learn

from you and folks in the cattle industry and ranching in general

and across the outfitting industry too and the direct to

consumer beef folks who are in that.

It really is such a great community that if as long as you

don't walk in the door thinking you know everything, people are

wanting to work and collaborate together and that is the highest

level of sort of business environment that you want to be

in. And so I feel very lucky to be

part of it, but never walk in the door thinking you know

everything because then nobody will share anything.

Yeah, no, that's some great advice.

And I guess I operate mainly here in Wyoming, maybe it's a

Wyoming thing, but I, I find that true of a lot of

industries. If you have some humility and

ask questions, those that have found some success are willing

to share and and teach you what they've done.

But when you know it all, why would somebody try to teach you

something so. Exactly.

Yeah. So if you could go back and do

it all over again, would you choose to leave a a more

professional career track and and come back and run the ranch

again? I would 100% or 1000% choose the

ranch every single time. And that's probably because I'm

really fulfilled by the work that I do.

And it's not just because I think a lot of people have in

their mind that ranching is such a wholesome life.

And sometimes people think it's simple and it is really

fulfilling, but that's not because it's simple or, you

know, perfect. I think that I'm very fulfilled

by it because it's really hard work.

I use my brain a ton and so I am constantly stimulated about what

I can do. And for me, this is my

professional sphere. I'm able to take what I do and

bring it into professional environments and that's what's

allowed me to do well and get in front of a lot of different

people. And for me, this is like my

professional environment. I just wear a lot different

clothes and I office view looks a little different.

So I would choose this over and over again.

Lot of people will ask kind of what's your favorite part of the

job and it's why I would choose this over and over again.

I sell what I believe in with my whole heart.

I get to raise cattle in a way that I believe in, which means

we're raising beef that I believe in.

We're taking folks from the public onto the landscape in a

really responsible, thoughtful way, while also intertwining the

importance of raising livestock on the Western landscape.

I mean, I just believe in it. And so, Gee, that's like the

easiest thing in the whole world to sell.

And that's what we do at the end of the day with everything.

We're constantly selling a product.

And so, yeah, that's probably why I would choose it over and

over again. Awesome, awesome.

That's fantastic. And yeah, I think that's

something that's maybe misunderstood is a lot of people

think of ranching as the the business that hasn't changed in

a few 100 years. And it's a simple life.

And growing up here in Wyoming and interacting with a lot of

ranchers and AG folks, there's some real business professionals

and it's business. It's not just sitting on a horse

and keeping a cow alive. There's just complex business

involved with running a ranch. Yes, and the best part is you

get to sit on your horse and keep a cow live and then you go

behind the scenes and are like, you know, that cow, she requires

a lot of Labor, which means more overhead, which maybe we can

consider like a different, you know, and that's where that is

like where the fun of it all is. And so I love that we we run

everything still horseback. So we have a lot of really

important traditions that we feel we're stewards of, but

we're also going to be as innovative as possible to do

Best Buy the land and the animals and the future of the

ranch. Yeah, you guys get to mix

running everything horseback with using a wireless fence and

virtual fence technology. It's man technology that hasn't

changed for a few 100 years mixed with cutting edge

technology so. Yep, haven't done it yet.

We'll see. In progress.

Yes. What has been your biggest win

as a leader? My biggest win, I think it just

comes back to a team of people who, you know, we are working to

build a team. It's not the same people for the

last 10 years, but really constantly changing and yet we

build a team that does feel like a family, which is a balance in

a business. But I think folks understand and

live by the values in which we run the ranch and believe in it

and feel like they're part of something bigger, which is the

ultimate goal. That folks have bought into the

vision of what we're building here and don't think of

themselves as just the individual, their day-to-day

work, but the overall mission of the ranch and what we're trying

to achieve here. And so, yeah, I think my success

is I see a lot in my team's successes and when they're doing

really well, but it is absolutely a work in progress

all the time. And yeah, I think that would be

one of the bigger wins. I think another win for me just

so I'm thinking of the ranch in my work here is a win in my

leadership. But when you take a step back

and look at kind of all of my work between the Wildlife Fund

and the Stock Growers and Cattlemen's and another

organization I work a bunch with is the Jacksonville Land Trust.

I've gotten to be in these spaces where I'm the only person

with the perspective that I have.

And also I'm fairly young woman rancher to be in a lot of these

spaces. So not everybody, even if they

have another rancher, they don't always look like me.

And that's great. I'm honored to be in those

spaces, but take it really seriously that I try to bring in

a perspective and ideas and thoughts that aren't being

spoken about. And sometimes it's uncomfortable

bringing them up because I think it may be against the grain.

But I think I've tried to do that in a really responsible way

Where you're talking to a group, whether it's stock growers, and

it's like, yeah, I'm the new kid on the block.

Like my family aren't ranchers. And so this is the perspective

I'm bringing. Or when you're talking to some

of these sort of conservation focus groups and you're like,

let me kind of bring back in working lands as part of this

conversation. I'm being responsible with how

you listen and interact with folks, but not being afraid to

step up to the plate and say something that may not be that

popular while doing it in a very respectful way.

I'm not there to rock the boat. I'm there to try to build the

vision or the work board with all of the solutions that we can

throw at it from all the perspectives we can.

So I think that has been a really fulfilling piece of my

leadership and hopefully a win. OK, awesome.

Well, I know you've mentioned it a couple times.

I know you're pretty heavily involved with the Wildlife Fund.

Can you tell me about your involvement there?

How do you participate? Yeah.

So the Wildlife Fund is the nonprofit arm of the Game and

Fish created by the Game and Fish Commission, and I am a

board member of the Wildlife Fund.

Been there. I should know my years but I

think I've been on the board just over 4 years and have

absolutely loved it because it is very intersectional with

working lands and how we interact with wildlife.

Being an outfitter and also being a sportsman myself and so

been with them and gotten to do a lot of great projects.

The one I'm most proud of is the Inspire a Kid camp, which has

gone on the last three years. This year we're sort of in a

building pause, figure out stage as we work through some growing

pains on the fun. But it has been a hugely

successful project where we've gotten to impact, well, let's

see, probably close to 100 kids where they come to the ranch for

a week and experience what it is to be an outdoorsman and be at a

ranch and care for the land and how important that is with our

wildlife and just as a resource. And normally they're all

students who may not otherwise get the opportunity to do a camp

like this. And so that has been my baby

with the Wildlife Fund and hope to see that we can impact

students in Wyoming and make them the next generation who

cares for the wildlife and our their habitat.

And so that's really what I've been doing.

But I've also gotten to work on a lot of other cool projects

like the pooled migration fund. I'm getting money on the ground

really quickly to help our wildlife navigate Wyoming.

We're one of the last places in the lower 48 where our wildlife

are able to migrate naturally. And so we want to keep working

on that and there's a lot of exciting work there.

So yeah, happy to be part of it and continue to be part of their

next chapters. Well, if one of our listeners

wants to get involved with the Wildlife Fund and help out with

some of that or make a donation, what's the best way to get in

touch or contribute to those resources?

Yeah. So we've got a website, which is

a great way to find some resources about us.

But to contribute, there's a bunch of different ways, whether

it's volunteering with a day of work that we have or maybe with

one of our student education programs.

Like we'll have Kids Fishing Day coming up this summer, which is

really exciting. We get hundreds of kids out for

their first time fishing and leave them with kind of this

excitement for being an outdoorsman.

And then another way to contribute to the fund is just

through donation. We have a really great program

across Wyoming, if you're not familiar, Wild Gives, where

we're able to match funds with nonprofits across the whole

state. And the Wildlife Fund was the

number one fundraiser last year for Wild Gives.

It's a kind of a competitive event.

There's a lot of dynamics involved and we work really hard

to get folks involved in that day.

And so that happens at the start of July.

So WILD gives us a great place to contribute to the Wildlife

Fund and you can actually contribute to specific projects

and initiatives that we're working on there.

Oh, that's cool. I've often suggested that maybe

the IRS should work that way. We could have to contribute a

specific amount, but we get to choose which funds it goes into.

So. I think it's a great idea they

can match. There you go.

That's awesome. And we'll make sure we link to

the Wildlife Fund website in the show notes so people can get in

touch there. Was there a a major turning

point in your career thus far where you felt like you kind of

levelled up or or made it kind of were able to take a deep

breath and like we're there to some degree?

Yeah, I would say once I got through that season where we

were really short handed, that was a big transition for me.

I think it's slow little things for me that tell me we're

actually doing it. And that's as little as our team

being asked to contribute in on projects and weigh in and be on

panels and folks asking our opinion on how the heck do you

do this thing that you guys tried.

That feels really good in terms of not only myself but my team

leveling up as well. And then I think, yeah, more and

more as I'm going to mentors or folks to kind of ask advice, I

am on the verge of feeling like I can offer something in return

and knowledge in return and experience in return.

And so I'm more valuable in these forums or communities

where I can provide from my experience or perspective.

And there's a little bit of, you know, time behind that and

success. And some of that is a lot of

times the new thing that I tried that was crazy.

And now more people are thinking about it.

But yeah, I think that it's little wins.

My dad would tell me you kind of got to, you know, pat yourself

on the back because nobody else will.

I'm kind of bad at that, but I'm working on it and I'm taking

those little wins where I can, where I'm excited when folks are

asking me to contribute to their learning.

Yeah, that's great. I think that's a great signal

that you guys are doing some innovative and successful things

that with only, you know, six years running a ranch and the

the relatively limited experience and the scope of

families that have been on the same place for hundreds of

years. When people are reaching out to

you for your expertise, you know you're doing something right,

So. Yeah, it's a blessing to work

with your family. And I'm lucky that my family has

been in business together in their own realms.

And yeah, it's it is such a blessing.

But I'm particularly lucky because at my operation, even

though my family's involved, they have given me a lot of

freedom to make the decisions and empower me to to do that and

to lead the direction of the ranch.

They are never here to say, I really don't like the bulls you

bought this year. They're like, yeah, I didn't

know you bought bulls this year. Great.

Like, you know, it's there's a lot of freedom in that.

And so I am very lucky to have that family support.

And yet they don't have all the bias of, well, granddad did it

this way and we're going to keep doing it that way.

And so are you like they're like, nobody did this, so good

luck. That's great.

Speaking of that, would you have some advice for somebody in a

family business working multi generational?

I know that that's often a difficult thing to pull off.

Do you have some tips that has worked well for you and your

family? Yeah.

So just a little bit of context here.

My dad's been in a couple different family generational

businesses from building to steel and plastic manufacturing.

And today my brother manages that family business that's kind

of involved with a little bit wider family.

So I have a more perspective than just the ranch and my

brother and my mom and dad are always my mentor.

So I'm learning from their experiences in family business

as well. But I think one what's really

amazing is family businesses are some of the most resilient over

time. It can be very difficult.

Anyone in a family business knows it is really hard and yet

they often times are the businesses that are the hundred

200 year old businesses that stand the test of time because

family is involved. So there is a particular

strength and difficulty there. One of the things that we feel

as a family is it remaining close and practicing.

We're not perfect, but we try to practice times where you don't

talk about work. We're not perfect about it, but

we kind of like, OK, we're the car ride home.

We're not going to talk about work or, you know, which for us

is about an hour and then dinner time.

We're going to try. Mom's a really good referee on

that and she is the glue of our family to understand that we're

Better Together than apart. And that is always a great

reminder. My dad, is he?

It's kind of a joke, but it's very serious in practice being

close with all of your in laws. I have the most wonderful

sister-in-law. She is like my sister, the only

sister I've ever had. And so remaining really close

with your family personally is really important to success

business wise and yet like also really healthy boundaries.

I'm not saying we have figured it out by any means.

I'm very lucky to have the brother that I do.

He's very understanding and thoughtful and I'm just like a

tornado of loudness. And he is so patient and

wonderful. And so it's good to have a

brother who can hold on tight and hold the Fort down for you.

But yeah, I think just remaining really close and knowing that,

hey, I'm game on, bring on the storm.

Like that's part of the game for sure.

Well, this is my favorite question I ask every guest I

know. You mentioned you grew up

Catholic. You studied Islam pretty in

depth. Do you practice a particular

faith tradition, and if so, how does that shape your leadership?

Yes, I am Catholic and my faith is incredibly important to me.

I think that for me, if I didn't know there was something greater

than myself, the challenges in life would be just impossibly

difficult. And I, I'm very, I'm just so

lucky that my parents made sure that I had a very strong faith.

And I feel very lucky that I studied other faiths.

I felt like that strengthened my faith and just an understanding

and a little bit of an outside perspective of that importance

in your culture and community. And yeah, I just, I feel very

comfortable with that. I don't share it.

Like, I don't think my community always knows where my head's at

on certain things like my political feelings and my faith.

And yet it is really strong and important for me and how I

conduct myself. And it's just what I fall back

on and every single challenge and uncertainty in life.

And So what a gift to have that. But yeah, I think it's given me

a set of values that's helped me lead the direction of my

businesses, which I'm very grateful for.

Great. Awesome.

So what is next for the Little Genie Ranch?

What are you guys working on? What?

What's the next step in building that business?

Yeah, Next steps. Well, I think building our

direct to consumer beef is very exciting path forward.

We're continuing to grow all of our businesses, but we have to

adapt. We're in a unprecedented time of

cattle markets being really strong.

My mind is thinking about all of the ways in which we will ride

out the next fall of that and what that may look like or what

may bring that. And so preparing, which I love

about ranching because everybody's always, they're

like, it's great, but it's going to get bad like they are.

They are always preparing and they're a great group of folks.

Like it's raining, but you're like, you may not rain next

month. I love it.

They're thinking about can't be too optimistic, which I think is

I think it's a good thing because they enjoy the moment.

But for the ranch, what's next? I think we're trying to get

really locked down in how we do things and do them really well

so when opportunities come up, we can take advantage of them.

Or when we want to do the next extra awesome thing, we're ready

and we're dialed. And we've been doing a lot of

really cool events and things. We had a 200 person farmers

market local resourced dinner last summer.

We've been putting on a ski door for three years.

We've had kids camp for the three years.

We've had these lots of different events.

We've had two commercials, several music videos, all these

things that come up and are like these big production moments for

us. And.

But my team, I haven't gotten everybody locked in and our

systems really dialed. And so I've kind of taken a

little bit of 1/2 step back to be like, I want to support

everybody and get them and feel really good about what we're

doing. So then the extra stuff isn't

that big of a deal and we pull it off.

I'm always so proud of us. Like my crew, they just can do

anything. They know they work for somebody

who's never satisfied and always hungry.

So it's their own fault. But I think getting that dialed

in so we can say like, let's bring back doing the ski jorb.

Let's take advantage when we can do this special event or the

next thing or an opportunity comes where I don't even know

what it could be. But if we're not dialed in on

how we're doing things now, it makes it harder to jump in the

pool. So, but I'm a big believer.

Jump in the pool, you'll learn to swim.

That's great. Yeah, I can hear that in your

story. And I think that was a big part

of what you say growing up that gave you the confidence to do

what you're doing is being thrown in the deep end and

having to figure it out. And I, I can relate closely to

that. My dad did that with me really

well. And I, I struggle to find the

best way to do that with my own kids.

But it it sounds like your parents did a fantastic job.

Yes, I have very loving, supportive parents, but I feel

very lucky that they pushed really hard and they had

expectations and they made me tough cuz you know, they, I had

a very happy like home life, lots of positive things.

I was good at school, good at sports.

And so they were like, yeah, you need some slush balls in the

face. So we're going to throw them at

you whether it's like at work or whatever it is.

And so I do really appreciate it because it's made me stronger

mentally in my faith and what I'm doing today.

That's great. That's fantastic to hear.

So if our listeners want to take advantage of some of your

services, if if they want to purchase some of your beef or

come and share an experience on the little genie, what's the

best way to do that or the best way to get in touch with you?

Yeah, best way to get in touch with me is going to our website,

thelittlejennyranch.com and you can communicate with us right

there through a portal or e-mail us info at the Little Jenny

Ranch. You can also call us the old

fashioned way. We'd love to talk on the phone,

3077331044. And that's great way to get in

touch and get to the right person or what you're looking

for at the ranch between coming to book an experience or a ride

or an adventure to how do I get beef today?

We are selling beef just kind of in our local areas of Pinedale

and Jackson, but we are at farmers markets in the summer

three days a week in Jackson. And so able to do that.

And the future hopefully holds some shipping of beef as well.

We have a great way to connect with us and stay connected and

learn about the ranch. And I love this.

So, you know, like and follow, but mostly follow and talk to us

is Instagram and Facebook. We're on there trying to tell

our story. I, I try to be positive, but I'm

telling the real story of what's going on.

I'm not sugar coating and selling to you all the time.

I'm like, this is what the day was and things are goofy.

Things can be hard or sad and we're talking about it there.

And so follow along on that adventure and we really do enjoy

connecting with you. That's one of the also the most

impactful ways that we're able to build our business.

Great. Well, we will make sure we link

to all of those links in the show notes so listeners can just

click there. And Eric, you can see this, but

I guess most of the listeners unless they're watching, but

Jenny is spelled Jen i.e. I'm sure you would find this if

you spelled it with a Y, but the right way is with an IE, so

that'll be a lot faster to find us.

OK. All right, Jenny, IE perfect.

Is there anybody that you'd like to see on the show, somebody you

know or know of that has a really interesting story and

interesting business that would be fun to learn more about?

Yeah, so I have a friend acquaintance in the cattle

world, and his name is Sage Askin.

And when I was, I kept thinking like who?

Who should I say? Who should I say?

But I have really enjoyed hearing about Sage's story, and

he's in the cattle industry as well.

But really embodies the idea of growing a business from the

ground up and doing what a lot of people will tell you is

impossible, which is starting a ranch and being a rancher,

starting with no land. And he's doing it.

And he impresses me so much, I, he probably doesn't even know

how much I have like fangirled over his and his wife's story of

what they're doing and how they're doing it.

Listened to some of like his talks or some podcasts he's been

on. But I think he would be a great

person to talk 1 because I love the cattle industry and think

it'd be great to see them on here, but also because Sage

really is making it happen and I think would be really well

aligned with your audience. And I, I always try to kind of,

I have feel like I retell his story a little bit because

folks, I start from my ranch. I'm nepotism at its finest.

They had like, I already got to start there and I'm trying to

earn my way to all the things that I'm enjoying and Sage is

doing it and kicking butt from the ground up.

Awesome, awesome. Well, I'll reach out.

That would be fun. I'd love to dive into the ag

industry a little bit more and learn a little bit more there.

So well, our our last question we ask of most of our guests, if

you have a job to do and have to use a cordless tool, which brand

do you prefer? I laugh.

So we at the ranch are mostly using DeWalt, but we have a joke

on the ranch. It's like whichever one's

charged. Perfect, I think that that's the

best answer I've heard to that question yet.

Yep, with whatever is charged we're using.

That's my favorite. Awesome, awesome.

Well, thank you so much, Faith. It's been a pleasure having you

on. I am definitely going to follow

on Facebook and Instagram and I'm excited to watch your

journey more and and just watch as you grow this business.

It seems like you have something really special there.

Thanks, Eric. I really appreciate it and

appreciate your time and talking to you.

And if you're ever in western Wyoming, let me know.

Oh, we'll, we'll check it out. I'm going to have to look into

some of those adventures myself. So and thank you guys for

joining us here on from the Ground Up show.

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Until next time, keep grinding.