We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Beyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amy, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I began my self-awareness journey fairly early in life. I consider myself an extravert now, but growing up with a weight issue, I tended to hang back to avoid any attention that typically came with teasing from some of the “cool” kids. I wasn’t interested in or good at sports. I wasn’t the intellectual type and didn’t really care about getting good grades. I paid attention in school and took great notes, but I had near zero interest in putting in much effort beyond that (homework, blech!). I loved observing my surroundings, watching the stories unfold. I wasn’t particularly interested in participating in them, but analyzing (and over analyzing) became my favorite pastime. Using a more contemporary phrase, I guess I was developing my emotional intelligence.
The summer between junior and senior year of high school, I was out at some local town event with my mom and stepdad. I was boy crazy at that time and remember saying what I thought was under my breath, “Oooh, he’s cute.” about an older boy near by. My stepdad took great pride in watching me squirm when he said, “Let’s go meet him!” Usually I could literally wiggle my way out of the situation and avoid the introduction, but this time I stopped him in his tracks. “Thanks Dad, but I got this.” Rather than be embarrassed one more time, I took matters into my own hands and walked up to the cute boy and told him so. I don’t remember anything he said, but when I didn’t actually die from the encounter, I embraced the rush of adrenaline. I knew I need more of that!
A few months later, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, and every classroom that had a tv was watching the news coverage. If you were alive in 1986, it was a lot to process. I avoided participating in class discussions because I never thought I had anything much to add, but on this day, I had an opinion and needed some answers. I shot my hand up and the teacher called on me. I don’t recall what I said, or what I asked, but I do remember my observation changed the direction of the discussion and sparked a great conversation, and I have not shut up since!
I often think back to how different my life would be if my stepdad wasn’t a jokester, or the teacher hadn’t called on me. I’d like to think being confident and having strong self-esteem would have been my path all along, but I’ll never know.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
In 2016, my husband and I finally took our honeymoon after 4 years of marriage. He wanted to show me Norway and to reconnect with his extended family there. We picked up a bag of sea salt at a local bakery there, and brought it home as a souvenir. Over the course of the next year and a half, our lives changed forever! What started as one pouch has turned in to importing over 10 tons of Norwegian Sea Salt, and launching an award winning, gourmet, handcrafted sea salt and seasonings company. For the first 4 years, I was a solopreneur with a very supportive husband and bit of help on production days. Now, I have one full time and six part time employees locally and three national sales reps. It’s been great fun (with all the ups and downs) building the kind of company I would want to work for.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. I’ve collected a few bits of advice to live by and they seem to keep me on my path. Find your own mottos and have them guide you.
If you don’t want to see it splashed on the front page of the newspaper for all to see, don’t do it.
What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
Why not “me”?
It is easier to sleep at night knowing I did what I could to be a good person. Until menopause set in, now I’ve become a good person who can’t fall or stay asleep. LOL.
Be the kind of person you’d want to be friends with.
2. I was complimented just today by someone who’s been watching my Salt journey, and I’ll use his words: Grit, persistence, resilience, stick-to-itiveness, tenacity. Very proud of these! Be intentional about how you show up in the world.
3. Don’t ever stop learning. I started a salt company because I loved the taste. There’s so much more to learn about everything, including something as simple as salt. I spend a lot of time diving deep into how it affects our bodies from hydration, hypertension, POTS and low blood pressure. nerve function and so much more! It’s fascinating. Find something unique about the things you love and keep digging.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
We are greater than the sum of our parts. We are a collection of everything that has happened to us, and with self awareness, happened for us. At the time, I thought my parents getting a divorce when I was in junior high was the end. But as an adult, I take from it the lesson that we should never settle. My parents are great people, they gave me and my three brothers all the genetic makeup we need to be in this world. What we decide to do with it is up to us.
From my mom, I learned about rules, and expectations, and making intentional choices because they all have consequences. She taught me to be kind and to stick up for myself.
From my dad, I learned to be a big thinker, a dreamer, a doer and a leader.
From my stepdad, I learned to be bold.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.doyoulovesalt.com
- Instagram: @saltyprovisions
- Facebook: @saltyprovisions
Image Credits
All photos by me, my husband or my Salty Crew.
