We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shae Frichette a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shae , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I enjoy getting the opportunity to contribute to something. Whether it be to my own business, a relationship or community project, it makes me feel great knowing I made a positive impression. This desire drives my work ethic because I care about the legacy I leave and how I leave others feeling about themselves and me. I’m the oldest of four children and as the oldest, my parents empowered me to figure things out myself. They coached me and beamed when I accomplished tasks. They allowed me to try things. Before I could count money, I really wanted to go into the grocery store to pick up a few items. My mom practiced with me, then gave me the money and allowed me to go in and do the shopping. She was right outside the window, watching. She told me to hand the cashier the money and to expect paper money and coins back. I remember getting back outside and watching her go through the items and the change and celebrating me for not only remembering, but following instructions and nailing it. She also celebrated how courageous I was in wanting to do the shopping all by myself. I’ll never forget how proud of myself I was and how I loved that my mom was a cheerleader for me and empowered me. Since then, I’ve learned to be my own cheerleader in working to be better and I’ve learned to celebrate the successes.
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?
I was born and raised in South Carolina and after graduating from Winthrop University, drove cross country to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting, then moved into corporate training and now into making wine. My husband and I grow wine grapes, make wine and run our tasting room with our team. I also get to volunteer on professional and community boards and in the past few months, started a training business focusing on leadership and hospitality performance for wineries. My focus for the next few months include expanding our estate vineyard from 2 acres to 9 acres, adding equipment to our production process to streamline workflow saving time and resources plus improving our wines, increasing training for my new training business and planting a new garden for my family. I’m excited about our calendar of events this summer. Summer is my favorite time of year. I’m also excited to release a new wine under our Sashay Wines label this June, opening up a new market price point for our wines.
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?
When I worked at Stanley Black and Decker, I led our training and development team. For this department, I created a budget and then had to pitch this budget to the company for approval. This included the salaries of my team, equipment/material purchases and any expenses. I had a financial advisor from the finance team to guide and teach me how to do this. I was responsible for forecasting, strategic planning and the leadership for this team. I didn’t know at the time that these valuable skills would set me up to run my own business. My advice for anyone early in their journey is to look for opportunities to gain skills now necessary for where you want to be in the future. If owning your own ice cream shop is your dream, work at an ice cream shop. Offer to create the schedule, lead the training, order products, etc. Ask if there is anything you can learn to take something off of the owners/managers plate. You’ll not only be helping the company, but gaining valuable skills to help yourself.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The 4 Disciplines of Execution is a book that has made a big impact on how I run my business. The process of goal setting, accountability, and measures changed the way I work. With this process, I was able to determine the most important goals for the business and focused on that. Our performance, morale and productivity improved with this process from this book.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.frichettewinery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frichettewinery
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frichette-winery/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Frichettewinery
Image Credits
Kim Fetrow Photography
