#50: From Fitting Room Fail to Fashion Founder: The Evereve Story with Megan Tamte
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 important 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 zone and given her empathy for individuals who work for and with her
63:50 Megan shares the exciting trends for fall!
67:00 Where to find Evereve (nationwide) and the amazing subscription service, Trendsend, that curates looks just for you by an actual stylist!