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Welcome to Episode 064, with Sarah Ford Founder of Ranch Road Boots About Sarah Ford: Sarah Ford learned the meaning of hard work when her father hired her to be the janitor for his office at just 10 years old! She didn't bristle at the work - instead, she expanded the business and ran a janitorial company, cleaning the bathrooms & offices for most of the tenants in the building until she was 17. Instilled with fortitude and commitment to work at such a young age, Sarah has never taken the easy path in life. A Marine Corps Veteran, she's served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. She then went on to Harvard Business School. She says she learned more on the battlefield than at HBS. She founded Ranch Road Boots in 2012 with $60K she had saved from her previous jobs. Her boots were inspired by her grandfather, "Daddy Tom," of San Angelo, TX. Her mission is to create leather goods with style & quality that can last forever. She also gives back to the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund with every pair sold. She waited until after becoming an entrepreneur to have her two daughters - she says if she could do it all over again, she would have had her children at a much younger age! She explained it to me like this: “Your life and career don’t get less complicated with time, and you can’t put it off until you retire when things slow down!” She's incredibly unique and offers an amazing perspective about various aspects of life, business and entrepreneurship. Here is what we discussed on this episode: How Sarah began her entrepreneurial journey (at a very young age) Why Sarah chose to go to Harvard Business School, after serving two military tours in the Marines What experiences from her youth inspired her to create a brand focused on quality The reason Sarah and Ranch Road Boots donate to the Injured Marines Sempre Fi Fund And so much more! PRODUCTION CREDITS: This Self Made Strategies Podcast is a SoftStix Productions LLC jawn.  This episode was produced, edited, and hosted by Tony Lopes, remotely in Philadelphia.  The Self Made Strategies Podcast is sponsored by Lopes Law LLC (www.LopesLawLLC.com). Follow us on: • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • LinkedIn HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 061 OF THE SELF MADE STRATEGIES PODCAST: Tony Lopes: [00:00:20] Welcome to another Special Edition, COVID-19, Episode of the Self Made Strategies Podcast. I am your host Tony Lopes and with me today is Sarah Ford, the founder of ranch road boots. Hey Sarah, how are you? Sarah Ford: [00:00:37] I'm good. How are you doing here today? Tony Lopes: [00:00:38] I'm great, thanks. Thanks for making the time to meet with us. As you can hear, Sarah is on the phone calling us from Palm Springs. Beautiful weather out Sarah Ford: [00:00:47] there. I would imagine it is. Blue sky is in sunny. Beautiful. Tony Lopes: [00:00:50] Sarah, you founded ranch road boots in 2012 with the $60,000 that you had saved from previous jobs. Why don't you tell us how you got started with ranch road boots and what inspired you to start the company. Sarah Ford: [00:01:06] I will, I would love to talk about that. To be clear.    was not directly, I think like most entrepreneur, you kind of have  to live off. Okay.  Mmm. So I was that, that sort of provided the loss of income from quitting my day job, that sort of provided day to day living expenses and ranch road. Inventory, um, which was a nice way to learn about . Uh, today we look like a very, very different company. We have the same name, very different. How funny. Yeah. Is what I originally started. But without having a lot of startups capital, that's what I had they do. Tony Lopes: [00:01:59] Now you said that the company looks a bit different. Can you explain to us how it's evolved from 2012 to now in the eight years that you've been running ranch road boots. Sarah Ford: [00:02:09] Yes. Originally I was trying to kind of the, the , the cowboy, the ID,