[013] How to Balance Faith and Risk in Your Business

Sitting on a stoop outside their Brooklyn apartment on the day after their wedding newlyweds Ben and Emily van den Heever had an idea. Ben noticed that at their wedding their friends couldn’t seem to get enough of his homemade batch of biltong, a South African version of beef jerky. Ben, a native of South Africa, had grown up eating biltong in his grandfather’s butcher shop in Pretoria and loved to make small batches for friends. Sitting on the stoop of their Brooklyn apartment, Ben and Emily got a vision and the idea of Brooklyn Biltong was born.

Since they launched their company in 2014 sales have more than doubled each year. This year Brooklyn Biltong will be available in retail stores including a grocery chain with more than 30 locations (find where to buy in your area here). The company has been featured on Bon Appétit, Eat This Not That, Uncrate, Inc with Marcus Limonis (of “The Profit”) and elsewhere. The product, which is Whole30 approved, can be spotted on the social media feeds of healthy-lifestyle advocates (including Whole30 co-founder Melissa Hartwig).

Recently I sat down with Brooklyn Biltong Co-Founder Emily van den Heever to talk about the early days of growing the business (including some difficult lessons learned and a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign) and to talk about what faith, risk, and growing a business looks like for her today.

In this episode Emily talks candidly about the ups and downs of growing a business with humor, wisdom and grace.

In this conversation Emily offers insights about:

• How to overcome early obstacles in your business
• How to do a “spirit check” when making key business decisions
• How to balance faith and risk as the stakes in your business get bigger
• How to build a brand that is authentic to who you are
• How to build a customer base in the early days

This episode is filled with inspiration and encouragement for anyone who is building or growing a kingdom business. Listen here or on iTunes (and leave us a review).

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SHOW NOTES:

Here are links and resources that were referenced during this episode.

• Brooklyn Biltong website
• Brooklyn Biltong on Instagram
• Brooklyn Biltong Kickstarter (closed)
• Brooklyn Biltong in Bon Appétit
• Brooklyn Biltong in Eat This Not That
• Brooklyn Biltong in Inc with Marcus Limonis
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast