We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam & Elliot Archuleta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam & Elliot, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Sam:
I’m inspired by the phrase “growth happens at the edges of your comfort zone.” Simply moving to the edges of your comfort zone, let alone doing it regularly, can feel like a risk. The deeper I venture into entrepreneurship, the more I realize that calculated risks are not only a crucial part of growth but a crucial part of life. Just like striking up a conversation with a stranger, there’s a risk you’ll be rejected but the reward of potentially making a new friend, lover, or business partner well outweighs it. I’ve also learned that, sometimes, when you delay making the decision to take a certain risk, the universe finds a way of putting you in that situation anyway.

There are risks that I’ve taken in my career which have taught me valuable lessons and skills that have become some of my strongest assets. When it might seem, from the outside, like those risks were failures, I choose to see them as signposts in the direction to move in (or not). Thomas Edison said it best, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

Elliot:
Moving away from the place I called home, and truly what I think is the most magical plane on earth, Albuquerque, was the textbook definition of a risk for me. We’ve been in Denver over a year now, and it seems as though the risk has not only been worth it, but has led to even more risks. We launched Something More Human in November of 2023 and haven’t looked back. Sam didn’t renew her consulting contract for the stable job that provided a safety net for us. We’re going all in on the podcast, our backs are against the wall so to speak, but when you actively put things like paying your bills on the line, your behavior changes. Where you thought you struggled before, you find yourself much more capable of stepping up to the plate with the confidence you can reach first base.

Sam always says, if you knew that episode 20 of the podcast was going to be the episode where things really began to click and we had a following we could really be proud of, how fast would you fail through the first 19 episodes to get there? So now I live by that. Fail fast. Fail often. Failure is just a right of passage. In order to succeed we must fail! And failing is all about taking risks; the risk of feeling shame, embarrassment, alienation. We don’t fail because failing sucks! It’s true, it does. But if we could all just accept that we must fail in order to get where we want to go, I think we’d actually be chomping at the bit to talk about our failures more often. That’s where we want to get to with the podcast. I think we can do it.

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What should our readers know about your business?
Sam:

We didn’t create Something More Human with the intention of building a profitable business. When we first began, actually, we kept saying “well, this isn’t really a business.” What makes us and our approach unique is that we are centering our relationship with our community above all else. It has been from that framework that we have been able to expand beyond a podcast and curate in-person events, a merch line, and much more to come. We want the recognition of Something More Human to be a community that people want to be a part of.

Building a brand and a business is never easy. We’re grateful that there are two of us and yet still, recognize that our biggest dreams cannot be achieved alone. We are continuously learning how to not only lean into our respective zones of genius, but also how to stand back and yield to the other’s strengths. Collaboration can be difficult and navigating communication and decision making together is an ongoing lesson – one we see as pivotal to our success.

Elliot:

It’s kind of fun that I don’t have to really think about labeling Something More Human a business even though it is. I think the word “brand” describes it more accurately, it’s really just a collective mission and identity that two lovers share. That’s a pretty rad business idea. A major thing that separates us is that we’re our own individuals. Even if some of the ideas and topics we discuss or propose aren’t novel, they’re unique to us by default. The way we, together, interpret life will never align with anyone else in human history, past or present.

Our perspective is unique in that we got engaged very quickly, in five months, and that we are open about having a terrible first year of marriage and how therapy probably saved it. We are totally opposite in almost every single way but we have the same interest and passion for human connection, and its power and necessity for a life well lived. Our perspective resonates with people I think not because we know all there is to know about solving the problems of any relationship, because we don’t, it resonates because we’re just super honest about everything as it relates to us as individuals, our successes, our struggles, our inner monologues, our shame, our failures, and we’re also really passionate about discussing things that have made our lives infinitely better and we think people appreciate honesty and that’s what we’re providing.

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Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Great question. We just moved to Denver so it’s still a bit of an undiscovered playground, if you will. I’ll tell you a perfect day in the life of Sam and Elliot. I’m going to combine what we both like as individuals and the things we both do together that we enjoy.

We’d wake up and go to Onefold, an Asian Mexican fusion scratch breakfast/lunch joint in Uptown, just 5 minutes east of downtown Denver. It’s Sam’s favorite breakfast spot. Elliot gets an iced vanilla latte, Sam gets a black coffee, and we share a large order of the chilaquiles (made vegetarian). If you’ve never heard of that, just imagine breakfast nachos. It’s Sam’s top 5 favorite meals ever and though it doesn’t crack Elliot’s top 5, it certainly sits close in his all time favorite brunch category.

Next, a walk to Cheesman Park, which is one of our favorite parks in Denver. We’d take a stroll around the perimeter, people watching the whole way, watch for woodpeckers and ponder the often overlooked aggression of squirrels. If we have time, a stroll into the botanic gardens is always delightful.

Then we’d head to Tattered Cover to chase the high that comes from buying your next book to read. Twist and Shout records is right next door so we’d at least stop in and maybe get a record or two if the budget allowed.

Coffee again. Elliot’s favorite thing to spend money on is any sort of iced beverage. If he could, he’d wake up and purchase an iced latte, follow it up a few hours later with another iced coffee drink, and end the day with an iced tea from New Mexico Tea Co or if he’s feeling really naughty, Liquid Death’s iced teas go extremely hard.

Back to the itinerary–we’d head for Middle State coffee and try one of their seasonal drinks. Middle State and Little Owl do specialty and seasonal drinks unlike any other coffee shop in America as far as we’re convinced.

City O City for lunch – perhaps the finest of all vegan establishments, but without that pretentiousness of a fine dining establishment. Sam’s go-to is the BBQ Mac Wrap with seitan. She loves it so much that were she on death row, this would absolutely be her last meal request.

Okay we’re bogged down a bit, time for some exercise. Let’s go to Confluence Park to see the river and REI in the distance. Yeah, it’s certainly a commercial experience, but there’s lushness, bridges, a skatepark, and usually lots of other people enjoying the park. There’s a lot of life happening and we love to experience it.

To wrap it up, the night would definitely end with a dinner at Tavernetta, some of the best Italian food we’ve had since our honeymoon in Italy, and then a trip to Ratio Brewing for a taste of Elliot’s favorite beer on planet earth: King of Carrot Flowers. This day is a Wednesday, by the way, and Ratio has free comedy nights on Wednesday in the back, so we’d stay for comedy.

A truly perfect day.

A few other notable favorites we’d love to hit during a weeklong trip: Jazz in the park at City Park, coffee at Lavender Coffee Boutique, lunch at Vital Root, cocktails at Pretty Neat and Death & Co, happy hour at Watercourse, pizza at Cart Driver, and beer at 4 Noses.

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Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Sam:

The last 5 or so years have been filled with pivots. I couldn’t have navigated any of them, let alone launch Something More Human without Elliot’s constant support and hype. Get yourself a partner that hypes you up the way Elliot hypes me up – seriously. The book “You Are A Badass At Making Money” by Jen Sincero is also an incredible money mindset resource that has set us both up for success. Lastly, I’ve met some of the most incredible humans through Business by Design and alongside a small group of women, we’ve formed a mini mastermind that has been invaluable.

Elliot:

Shoutout to my community in Albuquerque. My family and friends deserve all of the love and praise I could give them from human to human, but in the context of this interview, from the brand that is Something More Human to our community. Without them, the podcast wouldn’t exist as far as I’m concerned. Knowing what it means to have some community is what has brought me to understand what I believe to be my purpose in life, which is to have a community to love and be loved by, and that just happens to include all of the fun and difficult parts of life.

Website: https://somethingmorehuman.co/press

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somethingmorehuman/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-archuleta-134910194/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6mVeguuxNRyjhPauip2xw

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@somethingmorehuman

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Image Credits
Headshot photo by Kay Maes

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