Meet Summer Yarbrough | Cofounder of Rustic & Main

We had the good fortune of connecting with Summer Yarbrough and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Summer, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Before Rustic & Main took off I was a homeschool mom managing a home, school for my boys and all of the many health care issues that came with raising a child that was chronically ill. I quickly had to whip my creative and artsy self into a habit forming machine to be able just to make it through any given day. I carried the habits formed during this season and the will power to lay down more into my work  running Rustic & Main. There have been three habits that have carried me through the last couple of years.

#1 Practice the habit of Personal Growth
I had some serious problems with boundaries the first couple of years of Rustic & Main. I was a big people pleaser and allowed fear of what other people think to create a timidity in my leadership  that was very confusing to my team. I read the book Boundaries by Townsend and Cloud and from there I slowly started putting on my big girl britches. One of my favorite quotes is “ we are responsible to others not for them”.  If someone makes bad decisions at work after they have been clearly coached not to do that and loses their job that is on them not on me.

#2 Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
This goes for what I am doing at work and away from work. Most mornings I am up bright and early so that I can take care of three important things. Spending time with God, exercising and taking care of my pup, Pippin. Make it a habit to have time in your schedule to do what is important for yourself. There will always be more work to be done even if you start your work at 5 am. Believe me I have tried that. At work, scheduling the right type of meetings every week is key and allowing for time in your work schedule to complete your head’s down work is equally important . Make sure you schedule meetings with just  yourself so you can get your head’s down work done. Everyone knows they will get my full attention in their due time so there is less confusion for the teammates and less stress on me by being pulled in to many directions at once.

#3 A habit for your heart, Thinking the best of others
Grant it, I am still working on this habit. I can get pretty defensive especially when I feel like lying or something unjust is happening at work. That is when I need to take a breather and try to think the best about others. When I was raising my kids we called this practicing charitable judgment. I try to think through why someone else may be acting the way they are. Most people’s motivations are not bad but can be misguided. Perhaps they are coming from a place of wounding that creates beliefs and behaviors that I can help them work through and correct so that they can be a better teammate. A lot of time there can be simple miscommunication that has caused an issue and a brief straight forward conversation can help everyone feel settled and on the same page. Other times it is just a matter of choosing to have grace on people for where they are because you are going to want that from your teammates too.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Most couples who get married at 18 years old do not stay married much less run a successful business for 7 years of the 27 year marriage. However, Mike and I definitely march to the beat of our drums. We have created a brand that captures this spirit. Rustic & Main is a fiercely US handcrafted bespoke brand. We love our country and those who sacrificed for it so we make it a practice to hire veterans. They all can bring enormous talent and dedication to their craft. Another unique aspect of Rustic & Main is we are one of the few businesses that I know of where customers can send their own materials to be added into their one of a kind rings.When we began in 2016 there were several other small businesses that specialized in men’s alternative wedding bands launching. Unfortunately, several of them have gone out of business. Others have sacrificed great customer service for the quantity of sales. Some have sadly sold out and sent their work overseas. We have stayed the course and kept true to our ethos. Great product, great customer service and supporting workers and other small businesses in the US. It is not always easy. Sometimes it feels like it is one continuous stream of work when your business partner is your partner in life. Even your home becomes a satellite office to the business. We attempt to balance this out with no business talk once we pass the bedroom door threshold and getting away regularly. There have been several groups and fellow business owners that have lent a hand or an ear along the way. I have learned to really respect those who have gone forward. One of the things I am most proud of is we were able to stay open in the midst of Covid. So many wedding based businesses went under. There was a lot of pressure and touch and go situations. At one point we ran the company from 15 different houses in order to make sure a customer got a ring by their wedding date, but we made it through.
One of the hardest lessons we have learned is if you are a speciality brand it is not a good idea to try to bring people into your business on a fractional level. We have tried a fractional CFO and a fractional Marketing team. They just do not get it and can cause some real damage while they attempt to cut their teeth on your business. We have stopped working with outside vendors for our significant marketing roles and hired a full time Marketing Director. It is a slow process to build the right internal marketing team but we are getting there one person at a time. The other hard lesson is to build your e-commerce brand on your own real estate such as your website and email list. Paid per click and social media is a fickle beast that just wants to be fed continuously. We are working hard to steer the ship back in the right direction by investing more in what we control and less on what others control.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow, Charlotte really has it all. It is such a unique town because we have a vibrant art scene and great food as well as lots of parks and places to play in nature. First and foremost we would go to the White Water Rafting Center. You can spend two days there. Another day could be spent exploring the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art as well as the public art downtown. We would have to hit up a musical or play. As far as food there are tons of great restaurants to explore in our South End area. Our favorite is Luna’s Living Kitchen where you can chow down on sweet potato and cabbage tacos made with handmade tortillas. Last but not least we would top it all off with a day trip to Asheville for food and hiking.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
When I was in my C12 mentorship group I had several fellow business owners suggest we try the EOS model for running Rustic & Main. EOS stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System. This system was created by Gino Wickman. When we started to apply this system so many of our pain points in our business started to disappear. Between the books and the practical advice from my fellow C12 members I was able to make life at Rustic & Main better for the whole team.

Website: www.rusticandmain.com

Instagram: instagram.com/rusticandmain

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/summer-yarbrough-8ba557199

Facebook: facebook.com/rusticandmain.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rusticandmain

Other: Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/rusticandmain/

Image Credits
Nathan Dowdy