In this episode I interview Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge, co-founders of Beekman 1802 – a TV Show, Mercantile, bestselling cookbook and memoir, website and tourism destination all inspired by the Beekman 1802 Farm in Sharon Springs, NY.
In 2012, the duo competed and won the grand prize in CBS’s The Amazing Race. Over 10M viewers watched for 12 weeks as Josh and Brent beat 20 other competitors in a 45,000 mile race around the world through 12 cities in 9 different countries.
Check out the full episode to find out how Josh and Brent overcame some huge challenges and how, with determination, persistence and inspiration, they created one of the fastest growing lifestyle brands in the country.
Check out the full episode here:
1:01 - Introducing Josh and Brent from Beekman 1802 as well as how the company got started and some background.
3:30 - Digging into the desperation part of their story.
4:33 - Using your overall vision to push through the desperate times and how Josh and Brent really got their brand launched.
8:14 - How the story of starting a company intertwines into the overall brand.
9:13 - Facing the big challenge of pricing when dealing with a wholesale situation and how they dealt with it.
10:42 - Stages of success and never feeling like you’ve ever truly made it.
11:42 - The differences they saw from their previous career stages and how they utilized social media early on; their anecdote about a celebratory bottle of champagne.
14:20 - Shifting industries in the middle of their careers, but finding the underlying principles and lessons from each stage.
16:07 - Finding the determination to work through the early stages and begin settling into their trajectory towards creating a lifestyle brand and their own ethos.
19:55 - Making truth and transparency core to your business and how social media plays into that.
21:08 - Generational differences in receptiveness to different marketing messages.
23:44 - Challenges Beekman 1802 has faced in maintaining their brand while scaling the company and how they’ve addressed it through transparency with their customers.
28:25 - The purpose that Josh and Brent are pursuing and the responsibilities they feel to their both their customers and the artisans they work with.
32:04 - Connecting the message of their artisanal brand with people who may not always be able to pay top dollar for the higher end products; maintaining their product quality over their profit margin.
37:19 - Creating a high quality, egalitarian experience with an approach similar to Disney.
39:42 - The rapid fire questionnaire.
45:34 - Getting in touch with Josh and Brent and learning more about Beekman 1802.
Resources and Links Mentioned:
Beekman 1802
Martha Stewart
Henri Bendel
Anthropologie
Disney
Target
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
