This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

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It's Your Business with Michael Aikens is brought to you by WCTE PBS, and the Texas Tech Center for Rural Innovation, with funding provided by the Rural Reimagined Grand Challenge for the Tennessee Rural Development Fund.

Welcome to It's Your Business where we bring you valuable advice and tips to help you thrive in the world of entrepreneurship.

The Upper Cumberland is an amazing place that cultivates small businesses with several avenues and resources to help those who want to start a new business, or those who simply want to elevate their business and see it grow.

Just as we learn about these resources and speak with entrepreneurs around the Upper Cumberland and hear about their journey into entrepreneurship.

[♪♪] [♪♪] [♪♪] With a love for seeing couples united in marriage, Tate Craig began officiating the marriage of some of her dear friends, but she soon saw a need in the community for those who didn't want a big, elaborate marriage ceremony and who preferred something more simple and intimate.

So, she started Mint To Be Elopement Chapel in Cookeville, Tennessee which offers couples of all backgrounds a more modest but beautiful setting to tie the knot with less stress and anxiety.

[♪♪] [♪♪] We're here in Cookeville, Tennessee hanging out with Tate Craig owner of Meant To Be.

Tate, welcome to the show.

Why thank you I appreciate it.

It's such an honor to be on the show.

Well, we're certainly honored to have you here.

Let's start from the basics.

Meant To Be.

What is it?

Meant To Be is an elopement chapel in Cookeville, Tennessee.

We actually service all counties in Tennessee.

Anyone who wants to visit, so we do get tourists.

I'm amazed when people even come from Gatlinburg because we were modeled after them.

For the quick, easy, simple wedding.

Something that's just a little different from the larger venues with the bigger price tags or something that's a bit more luxurious.

While we have lots of luxury, here is just meant to flow.

Be simple for those either that are shy, just want to get it done, or want something easy and simple that that just highlights the love between each other.

Well, and I think that you're really providing a very unique service here because, I mean, you think about getting married and what goes into these big weddings.

I mean, it's so expensive and so much planning, and you're offering a service that just really helps people share their love and, you know, do what they do.

So I think that's really cool.

So you said elopement Chapel.

What does that mean?

It's a little Vegas, a little Gatlinburg.

I tried to cross the two.

Our most popular package is actually 15 minutes, $50.

You come in quick, easy.

Simple.

You leave here married and with beautiful pictures and people are very shocked that that's how easy it is.

But it's a very, very fun service to do.

We allow all the vendors to come in so they could bring any photographer that they would prefer at this time.

I offer the officiation.

We have the scripts, they bring themselves rings, flowers, if they want to get dressed up, they can.

If not, people come in just straight from work sometimes and it's all about them.

Now this is really cool.

How did you get the idea for this?

We've never done an elopement chapel before.

I know no one in Cookeville has.

I'm really excited to offer this service just because we no longer have the traditional courthouse wedding, which in some rights was really fun for some people or really necessary for others.

So I saw a gap open up.

I was traveling to courthouses all around the area, and after a bit I was like, oh, I've done three today.

I've done four today.

Oh my goodness, what if they could all come, especially when it's raining.

When it's cold.

You know, I love Dogwood Park and all the services we've done there, but what if everyone could come here and there could be a stable, secure, dry place for them to profess their love safely.

So you said that you were doing this at courthouses before?

We don't really have that anymore.

Well, moving before you even started the business, how did you even get into officiating to begin with.

So many years ago it was 2019.

Legislation kind of went up in the air for everyone who was officiated online.

There was a lot of instability and insecurity in the industry.

Lots of people didn't know if their wedding was even valid still anymore.

Through all that legal process, everyone just kind of started to worry, and and you had to become officially ordained or an elected official to be able to perform weddings.

There was such a huge funnel at that point of availability.

Even the judges tried to keep up.

And then Covid hit.

And then courts were closed, the courthouses were closed.

People were staying in their houses.

Some people postpone their wedding.But some still wanted to get married.

And so at that point I had several friends who did still want to get married and I was like, okay, I will go get ordained.

And I did it for fun just to start.

And then I fell in love with it and I fell in love with love.

So that was very enjoyable and I've just done it ever since.

Let's get more into the business aspect of it.

How are you marketing?

How are you bringing people in and ultimately how do you run this business?

111 00:05:36,235 --> 00:05:38,871 The fun thing about this business is it is not repeat customers.

It is a unique service in that it's me and essentially funeral homes that do not have return customers.

And so our business model is a little different.

Word of mouth means everything the same as every other business, but marketing wise, it's mainly social media.

Ironically, I do the forms like you're supposed to do to find out where everyone comes from.

Number one source is Facebook.

I really try to make sure all my updates are there.

Everywhere else gets a little attentiion, but right now it's owner operated, so I make sure to funnel everything to Facebook for the moment.

Hopefully one day we end up with a better social media that everyone enjoys more and all the generations are are checking out.

But for now, until we expand, that's where we're at.

So you've got your degree, you've got this business now, but you know, running a business and what you learn in school aren't necessarily always practically applicable, right?

You know, we have a lot of resources around here for, you know, the small Business Development Center, the Biz Foundry.

Have you utilized any of those resources?

Yes, those are pivotal.

While a business degree will teach you hard numbers and facts and a little bit of legal.

So you can tip toe the line.

It is not the same as just hands on learning from people who know, who have experience, who have businesses.

So between the Biz Foundry and then Kelly Sullivan at the SBA, I've had such a hand up over the years.

The Biz Foundry has constant classes and it's just over different topics.

So I kind of pick and chose for the longest of I don't know how to do this or I'm not actually sure how to get that started or where to begin here and just pick their brains.

And they were constantly just giving and giving.

They're never putting someone out for asking too many questions.

I never felt weird and that was the neatest thing, but my sister and I are actually first generation business owners in our family, so it was big, new.

It seemed so daunting.

They make it feel lighter and that's been pivotal to to the growth here.

Think about another Tate out there that's watching this right now, thinking, you know, I could do this or any other business.

What advice would you give to them?

Community and collaboration over competition.

When you look out at our market open and you say, either I need to come up with something because I want to start a business or you already have an idea.

There are lots of options without copying, without hurting the competitors, without dragging down the community.

Because this community support small business so much, which is very vital right now with everyone feeling the crunch with with finances, with the economy and everything going on, everyone wants each other to succeed because we all need each other.

I think it's vital to make sure that you know your community and make sure that you are giving in, because they're going to give to you.

Let's think about the actual process.

Let's say that I want to come and get married.

Very clear I am married.

Love you Katie, but let's say that I want to come get married.

What does that process look like?

Absolutely.

So even if you and Katie want to come for vow renewals one day.

Good point.

Come in and just reassert.

Have an elopement for fun.

We do do that for some people as well.

Whenever you go to book, it's all online.

The process is streamed online.

It explains step by step, really clear, very easy terms.

So you know which package is best for you and what you're looking for.

There's not too many, so it's pretty simple.

Well, Tate, you know, you of all people know weddings can be very stressful.

Yes.

What are some tactics that you're using to kind of de-stress for the couples?

I actually have a little trick up my sleeve.

When the couples come in, I will pull them away from their family right before the ceremony begins and let them know that they get to pick their own script for their ceremony.

I intentionally made the traditional script, so lots of people want some fun ones in between, some that could be customized all the way to something really goofy.

So they sit for a minute.

They start reading through these scripts, they start laughing.

They connect with each other again.

They pull away from all that stress that's put on them about getting married.

And I think it's amazing to hear them laugh when they see those silly ones.

It's rarely picked.

It's fun when it is picked, but I think it gives them that control back where they say, well, I don't have that silly script, I have this one I love that we love, we pick together, they come start their ceremony, and they just feel very confident that love is ignited again in the moment and we just roll from there.

Okay, so speaking of the silly scripts, would you mind if I read a few of them?

I would love that.

I would love to hear what you think Katie would think if you read one of these vows to her during your wedding.

Well, that's coincidental because I just so happen to have them right here.

Awesome.

With this ring, I promise to always share the remote, to never take the last cookie unless it's an emergency.

Yeah, and always find joy in the little moments with you.

I vow to be your copilot on every road trip, your teammate in every game, and your biggest supporter in every dream.

With this ring, I chose you, mischief and all.

Yes, the Cookie Clause is really important to lots of people.

Indeed it is.

I tell you what, these were awesome.

This has been such a great conversation.

I really love what you're doing here.

This is amazing.

Thank you so much for being on the show.

Thank you.

We appreciate WCTE here and everything you'll do for the community.

We're so excited to have you [♪♪] Although a food truck is a great way to let people taste your delicious products all around town, some people prefer the stability that a brick and mortar can bring.

Well, Ashley Campbell has had the best of both worlds.

While starting off with a food truck, she and her business partner have now found a beautiful spot in downtown McMinnville, Tennessee that gives people a place to get together with friends and enjoy delicious food, rich coffee and handcrafted cocktails.

[♪♪] We're here in Mcminnville, Tennessee, talking with Ashley Campbell, co-owner of Barren Fork Brews.

Ashley, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having us.

So Barren Fork Brews, let's start out with the basics.

Who are you and What do you do?

We are a restaurant, cafe and bar.

We kind of do it all.

We have coffee, we have cocktails, and we have a full menu that rotates seasonally.

So you're doing eats.

You're doing drinks here.

Tell us about what we could expect on the menu.

So we have a broad selection of items.

We do work out of the food trailer.

I don't know if we discussed that at all earlier, but we have a tiny space that puts out a whole lot of delicious food.

And this month we are focusing on Smash burgers.

Okay.

And then on top of that we also have cafe items, salads grain bowls, vegetarian options, we have a killer veggie burger.

So there's really something for everybody.

Absolutely.

But even more important than the food is you have to deliver an atmosphere where people feel welcome and they want to come back.

And so if I could choose one principle that we really want to drive home here, it's that that sounds really cheesy, but like, I want this to be like a family.

Yeah.

Like a Cheers.

It's not cheesy at all.

Cheers of Mcminnville.

Now it's fairly new here, is that correct?

It is.

We opened at the end of August.

And so end of August of 2025.

We're talking to you now.

Seems like it's going pretty good.

Let's start out with a little bit of the history.

What made you decide you wanted to get into this?

We ran a food truck for about six years in the Nashville area, and then we started actively looking for a brick and mortar.

We figured we would end up in Lebanon.

Because we were in the Mount Juliet, you know, Nashville area.

But then this building became available and we went and we toured it, and we never imagined that we would move, you know, an hour and a half away.

But it's a gorgeous place.

And after touring it once we realized that probably this is where we're going to end up.

You just had that feeling.

You just knew.

Oh, yes.

Absolutely.

You know, you said you did a food truck.

What really made you think, you know what, my business partner and I let's do brick and mortar.

Why brick and mortar?

Food trucking is really fun.

And it is really, really, really challenging.

You are constantly affected by the weather, and you need a captive audience to, to get good sales.

And we wanted something a little more consistent.

When you're in a brick and mortar, you don't have to deal with super cold weather, super hot weather.

And, you know, we just figured things would be a little bit easier.

You really started out with a foundation.

You understand what food service is.

You know, I talked to a lot of people and they'll say, oh, well, I can cook a burger really good or a pizza real good.

I'm going to open a restaurant and that's not necessarily the thing that they need to do.

But, you know, you really got that experience first.

But I'm willing to bet that there was still some things to learn once you went brick and mortar.

You've got drinks.

Walk us through that.

There's never a day you're not learning.

If you if you go off on your own.

It is, every day is a brand new adventure.

There's something that's probably going to happen that you didn't anticipate.

I would venture to say that if you have a passion for food and you have a passion for service and office work, then yeah, open a restaurant.

But if you think that it's going to be a matter of like coming in and cooking food and leaving at the end of the day, or ever leaving, your business that's not what's going to happen.

You know, I think that's really true.

And and being an entrepreneur, it's, you know, you're not only cooking the food, you're sweeping the floors, you're doing the accounting, you're doing everything.

So that was actually something I was going to ask you about in a little bit, but we'll go ahead and get into it.

You are running a restaurant and you are doing the food, but you have to do the accounting part, how did you learn how to do that?

I guess you just really need to know where to look for guidance.

Like, we were lucky because the person who owned the bar and restaurant where we worked years and years ago, he has been incredibly helpful, and kind of our coach through lots of things.

So I think that having your tribe of restaurant people is probably super important.

What I would say equally, it's probably encumbant upon using the entrepreneur to be open to suggestions, to be open to help.

And listening.

Yeah.

You can't you can't really like get in your own head, you know, because everybody has an opinion.

And at the end of the day you have to read reviews and you have to read feedback and you have to take criticism with grace and you have to realize that not everything is for everyone.

So one thing I'm always interested in, you know, when you're running a business, many times you're dealing with inventory.

You know, here you've got drinks, you've got food that doesn't last too terribly long.

How are you dealing with inventory?

How do you manage all that?

I'm not going to lie.

It's it's been a challenge that we're still trying to overcome.

With our food truck We had a very minimal menu because you have to have that for events.

Kind of more of a just-in-time type of thing.

Yeah.

So with that, we had everything I mean, literally down to a science.

We, we, we had everything based off of sales and there were not a hundred surprises.

With this, We're still very much learning.

When we opened here, it took 2 or 3 months to get our liquor license.

Before that we had our beer license, but it was like every month was a different cost.

You know, challenge.

So we're getting there, and I think we'll have it down pat by summer.

But it's not easy.

It's a challenge.

You know, you have to keep records and you have to pay attention to receipts.

And it's a thing.

The life of an entrepreneur, isn't it?

So in thinking about coming down to McMinnville, you all came out of the Nashville area.

Now you're serving this rural area.

How cool is that, that you're able to do that and really kind of give back to this community in the form of food and other things, jobs.

Yes.

I am so happy to be in a small community where we can grow with them.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the tourism group here in McMinnville and with the Chamber of Commerce here in McMinnville and all the other small business, like everybody is a community here.

And so it's been really neat to go from, you know, big, big where everybody isn't really familiar with one another to coming into a smaller community where, you know, everyone wants everyone else to succeed.

So I also understand that this is a woman owned business.

Is that correct?

It is.

Yeah.

So how does that make you feel to be that?

I think it's really, really cool.

The restaurant industry is very male dominated, and it's really neat to be not only a woman owned business, but our business is 98% woman ran.

It wasn't even intentional.

But you know, we have a bunch of girls and we all come together and we get stuff done.

And it's been really, really neat to be able to do that in a male dominated field.

So speaking to many other women that are watching this, thinking you know what, I could go do this, whether that be a restaurant or something completely different.

What are some tips of advice that you would give woman to woman?

It just think that you need to be confident.

I think that if you think that you can do it, you probably can.

Yeah.

It takes a whole lot of hard work and I think that it is necessary for us women to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize, like, we can do anything that anybody else can do.

And, and I think that if you want to do it, you should definitely do it.

And that every single one of us is capable of making it happen, if that's really what our passion is.

And here you are setting that exact example.

How cool is that?

I think it's pretty neat.

So, you've talked about your business partner couple times.

Unfortunately, they can't be here today.

But I did want to ask you, you know, when I talk to people that co-own businesses, usually there are complementary but different skill sets.

Is that your all situation?

How do you deal with different skill sets?

We are by so blessed that the two of us have very different personalities that like, we can both get different things done and we don't overlap those, there are things that she does on a daily basis where I sit down and I think, oh, I couldn't have done that.

And I know, you know, it, it comes full circle.

Well, last question for you.

Let's look at the future.

Yeah.

What does is hold?

We are putting together catering packages and things for, because we're in a really neat spot with a lot of beautiful outdoor wedding venues and things.

So we are currently working on, offsite catering and onsite catering.

In addition to that, we plan on opening our food truck back up for a limited service.

It's called Tennessee Tater Cakes.

We don't know if that's going to spread into 2027.

And then if things go the way that we think that they're going to go here, we want to look into another spot, not what we're doing now, but another concept.

Well all of this sounds so good, and congratulations for what you've been able to do and where you're at now.

Thanks so much for being on the show.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

[♪♪] I'm Jeff Brown, president and CEO of the Biz Foundry, the regional entrepreneur center for the Upper Cumberland area in Tennessee.

The Biz Foundry is really a nonprofit started by entrepreneurs, led by entrepreneurs to help people start and grow a business from an experienced standpoint.

How do we help you solve all the problems?

You don't really learn entrepreneurship any other way.

You start doing it and get mentors, coaches, people that have been there before and help you work through issues.

We do what we do to try to build a regional economic development ecosystem for entrepreneurs.

So entrepreneurship is a major leg of economic development in any area of the United States of the world.

And so how do we build a system that helps serve those people that are working on that idea, trying to launch a business that can build companies that provide jobs, grow wealth in the area and really help our area thrive economically.

One of the things a lot of people don't understand is starting a company from scratch is very different from building projects for large companies.

So working for a large company, you have almost unlimited resources at your disposal.

And when you're starting out, you and your best friend in the basement, why do things have to be done?

So we help you figure that process out.

We're part of the launch Tennessee Entrepreneur Center Network.

Which is kind of interesting compared to most states, launch working along in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Economic Development, there are eight entrepreneur centers across the state.

So this network, we're all connected.

So while we may operate a certain way in the Upper Cumberland, we also have access to the other seven entrepreneurs centers to get you the help you need.

If we don't have the expertise or whatever it may be that you need for your business or your idea.

We have locations in Cookeville, McMinnville and Sparta.

We also do co-working at all three locations, so we do co-working places for entrepreneurs to get started when they need an office, or at least a spot to work out of, also do a lot of remote workers there.

Because in building this ecosystem, we need more tech workers here, which are generally remote workers.

And then they can become a part of helping you with your next startup.

And so, you know, we really cover the entire region.

It doesn't mean that we don't have a location there.

We want to help you.

You will come to you.

You come to us.

We'll make it work for you.

You know a lot of people, this is a scary process.

So again, we're very entrepreneurial, friendly.

We do a lot of counseling and then try to lead you down the trail of does your idea have legs?

Is it something people will buy all those kind of things before we jump into the nuts and bolts of formally forming a business, we call it customer discovering, or really going to work a lot with you on that.

Businesses normally don't go out of business because they run out of money.

Well, that may be what happens, but they run out of money because they never get enough customers to break even.

So we really work in that phase.

We are kind of the two book ends.

We do a lot of work with you out front to flesh the idea out, so you know how much money you need to raise or borrow or whatever that may be.

Then kind of on the other end is the higher growth businesses that you have, some technology, intellectual property, whatever that may be.

So how do we help you get set up?

And then on that other end, is how do we help you raise investment, larger loans, all those kind of things that it may take to get you up and going or certainly growing.

And so really, part of, you know, a big part of what we are working on, how do you access capital in the region?

So we spend a lot of time working on that, not only our educational type programs, but a lot on how do we build the capital stack in the region that you you don't see in most rural areas compared to a bigger city.

Just go to the website.

There's a process there.

We do an intake meeting, which is very informal.

We just meet with you, get to know you a little bit, tell you about us, make sure you're comfortable.

And then, you know, kind of try to get some idea of your idea.

What help you think you need.

And then, of course, we do a little powwow and on.

What do we think we could bring to the table that help you, be it training program, introductions, Can we introduce you to a customer, a mentor, a coach that can help you move along and try to make the journey easier?

[♪♪] Thank you for joining us yet again for another episode of It's Your Business.

Hopefully you've learned that there are plenty of great resources right here in the Upper Cumberland to help you achieve your dream of starting your own business.

And if you'd like more information on today's topics, please visit the WCTE website and to learn more about free small business resources and expert assistance, please visit the Business Resource Collective website.

And until next time, I'm Michael Aikens.

[♪♪] It's Your Business with Michael Aikens is brought to you by WCTE, PBS, and the Tennessee Tech Center for Rural Innovation, with funding provided by the Rural Reimagine Grand Challenge and the Tennessee Rural Development Fund.

This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.