From Fitting Room Fail to Fashion Founder: The Evereve Story with Megan Tamte The Everyday Entrepreneur Podcast

Episode Summary
Welcome to our 50th episode!! This week we have a VERY special guest to celebrate, Megan Tamte! Megan is the Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and Chief Brand Officer for Evereve. Together with her husband, Mike, they have built what started as a single store in Edina, MN to over 100 stores nationwide!
Megan shares with us how the idea for Evereve first came to her through a horrible dressing room experience she had 26 years ago. She walks us through the seven year process of dreaming and brainstorming before they officially opened their first store in 2004.
We also dive into the culture of Evereve and how Megan intentionally created a culture of HEART (Humility, Empathy, Authenticity, Relationships, and Tenacity) values. She also shares how a VERY special expert helped her take these values and scale them to her growing business, you definitely do not want to miss this pop-out!
Finally, Megan shares what exciting trends we can expect for fall and where to find an Evereve near you to stock up!
In this episode you’ll learn:
1:00 Our 50th episode is here!
2:20 FREE Business Blueprint!
3:00 Holly introduces how she knew of Evereve and Megan and how she met her one day in an Evereve store
6:22 A brief breakdown of HEART values before we learn the whole story from Megan herself
7:25 Welcome Megan to the podcast
8:15 Evereve's origin story, Megan's horrible dressing room experience 26 years ago
10:00 Holly's experience shopping at Evereve and how it makes her feel
11:45 Megan's fashion philosophy for Evereve, making fashion warm and approachable for all women
14:05 The importance of talking about your dreams and goals in life with fellow supporters and dreamers
17:20 After 7 years of brainstorming, Megan is feeling unhappy in her professional life and looking to make a change
19:00 Committing to herself to start every morning alone in quiet time to reflect and brainstorm
20:10 How asking herself, "What did you do in 5th grade on the playground for fun?" pointed her back to the idea for Evereve
21:30 Wrestling with the fear and self doubt of going after her dream
22:30 Spending three months writing down her dreams for the business
24:36 Her husband and Co-CEO, Mike Tamte, reviews what she has put together and makes a formal business plan
25:15 The magic $1,500 / day number that had to be met
26:45 Officially opened their flagship store in Edina, MN in 2004 - 7 years after she had the idea
28:30 Megan and Mike's vision since day one for an Evereve brand versus single store
30:40 What they learned after opening their first store and how they had to work outside their natural strengths while they grew the business
33:00 Megan shares how her "Founding Leaders" have and continue to be an integral part of Evereve's culture and success
35:25 Megan breaks down Evereve's HEART values culture and how she intentionally went about scaling the culture along with the business itself
38:30 How the amazing Brené Brown helped Megan better define and refine her HEART values culture
42:35 The importance of accepting help from others
46:00 The one key strategy Megan believes always leads to success
48:45 A day in the life of Megan, how she builds her days and more
53:10 The inspiration she gets from traveling to stores and abroad
54:35 How Evereve handled COVID with the help of their HEART values culture and the ability to work together and quickly pivot
56:15 How Mike's financial transparency with the company builds trust
57:58 Megan breaks down the boards she sits on, how she decides who to work with and how she can provide them value
60:55 How her Warners' Stellian board seat has pushed her outside of her comfort...