How To Move From Career Complancy to Passion-Driven Success With Special Guest Nancy Yeager

So one of the things I hate about the cold is that it keeps me from running outside .

Really , yeah , when it gets super cold like this and when we've had precipitation and you know exactly know what's on the road between the potential for falling and hurting myself and the cold weather , yeah , a couple of years ago I just decided if it's 10 or below , I can just stay inside . So there you go . That's my but .

I say all of that because it leads us right into our conversation today and I'm so excited about what we're gonna talk about and that our guests . So let me just help jump us into that . And this is our second installment of our new series , a series really focusing on the new year and issues related to spiritual , physical and our emotional well-being .

And last week we chatted with Beth Bromstead , who is a spiritual leader here in the Columbia community , and she so graciously gifted us with her wisdom and our candid thoughts on some practical ways to connect with God in a more meaningful way in 2024 .

So I hope , if you haven't listened to that episode that you'll get to , because Beth was super insightful and we're thankful that she shared that with us , amen .

Whether you're a CEO in a tenured career , a new grad trying to make your mark , or a stay-at-home mom trying to keep your sanity and the household afloat , our jobs help us feel a sense of purpose and satisfaction . They can also make us feel challenged and fulfilled , or they can make us think there must be more to life .

As another year starts , some of us will find ourselves questioning the future of our careers , asking questions like how many more years do I have to do this ? Isn't there something more meaningful for me to do in my life ? Or I think I can contribute to the world in a more meaningful way , but what does that even look like ?

She's also someone completely dedicated to keeping health and fitness at the forefront of her life and helping others to do the same , which is why I said she's the perfect guest for this episode . So who is she ? She is Nancy Yeager .

She's the owner of two fleet feet stores , which are a part of a national franchise of specialty running , walking and fitness stores that are found across the country . She opened the Columbia Missouri store in 2017 , and it was just named are you ready for it ? One of the top 50 running stores in the country by Running Insights Magazine .

Wow , what an accomplishment . And building on this success , nancy and her team recently opened a second location in Jefferson City . Beyond all that , nancy is a lifelong runner . She's an Ironman triathlete . She was the head coach for the Stevens College Cross Country Team for five seasons , until the summer of 2019 .

She's also a USAT level one certified coach , was the founder of Tiger Endurance Company , which is a youth triathlon team in Columbia and was one of the founders of the Heart of Missouri Girls on the Run . So I love how Nancy just loves helping others reach their goals and we are so honored to have her on the podcast . So thank you for joining us .

For those who are unfamiliar with Fleet Feet , can you tell us a little bit about the company and why you were prompted to start this entrepreneurial adventure ?

We were the last one to open in 2023 , our Jefferson City location but they have big goals , so they've been expanding a lot and we are a store that's known for our fit process , and that's one of the reasons I chose to be a Fleet Feet is because I actually had issues years ago . It was probably about 15 years ago .

I had turf toe , I had gone to the petiah's risk , had steroid shots , had a boot , and finally someone said why don't you go get fit for shoes ? I never , you know , I ran my whole life . No one ever told me until 15 years ago to go get fit for shoes , and once I changed shoes , it all went away . So I totally believe in the process . It helps you .

Everyone's feet are different sizes , shapes , volumes , and I was just wearing a shoe that was really low volume for the type of foot I have .

So that's what we do and that's what we're known for and that's why I , you know , decided to be a Fleet Feet , and one of the decision factors was because it had affected me so much to get fit , so I knew that it would help other people .

Man , I'm glad I found this , I want other people to find it , so that's one thing . But but how do you go from there to saying , okay , I'm going to sink a lot of money and a lot of sweat equity into opening up , you know , a store . How do you make that leap ? What prompted you to do that ?

So I was getting sick , gaining weight , all these things that were not good for me and I couldn't figure out what it was . And finally a doctor friend said it's stress . And then my friend that owned the local running store that did fits here before I opened Fleet Fleet , found out what was going on and she asked me to run her store for her .

She wanted to move to Montana and she's like do this , you would love it . So it took a lot of praying because it was a 50% pay cut to do this and I did pray . I prayed a lot and God showed me signs and you know what I took it . I took that leap and I never worried about paying my bills . It's just miraculous .

Within a week I lost all the weight I had gained . So it was the stress again and I loved what I was doing . I loved it . So I instantly just fell in love with running running store and I found that this was what I was supposed to do .

So about a year and a half goes into that and she decides she doesn't want to own a store from far away and she told me she wanted to close her store . Well , it just happened . This was the day before I was supposed to leave to go to the trade show for running stores , so I took took that opportunity .

First of all , I told my husband I'm probably opening my own store and he's like , oh my god .

So this trade show talked to other owners that I had , you know , made friends with over the years , not just Fleet Feets and then I did contact my friend who had he had actually bought the Ultramaxon Springfold from the same owners I worked for and made his a Fleet Feet .

So he introduced me to all these people from Fleet Feet , these other owners of Fleet Feet , and I , you know I really did my homework , but I basically was in the airport to fly home and was already calling real estate agents to find my space .

So , and a friend of mine tells me all the time , this was the path that God wanted you to take to get where you are . So , yeah , sorry , it makes me emotional , because I still like if I hadn't listened and prayed about it , you know where would I be .

and that you just felt this leading and this prompting and this complete confidence that it was going to work .

You know , at first he was a little scared . Obviously it does . It is a big commitment to open a retail brick and mortar store but he it's . It's kind of crazy because he's seen it grow and then . So when I started talking about Jeff City , I think the only thing that worried him was like my stress level and the busyness of it .

But I've surrounded myself with really good employees that we're sharing the we're sharing that busyness of getting the Jefferson City store going .

But she her degree is that she's getting right now is marketing at Mizzou , so she really likes that she's hands on and doing it every day and not just learning it in the classroom .

So that is kind of it's amazing and surprising , but yet also it's challenging because we didn't you don't schedule that many people in January . So yeah , so , and we're with the two stores . If you add them together , we're still up a little bit this month , even though the weather has been challenging this last week .

So that's something that is also surprising me because somewhat , I mean , I've been doing a lot of things to try to make sure that we don't lose the sales from Jeff City , like that it's just growth and that Columbia still stays where it's at . Columbia is not exactly where it was last year , but when you add them together we are still up right now .

So that's been the surprise just how fast we've grown , because managing the other store , I mean that had already been open like 10 years , so I didn't like see all of that so in the beginning . So it's been crazy how fast we've grown and how much the word has gotten out .

. Yeah , you know , one of the things that I admire about you is that you know your commitment to the running community . It's not just that you help start two organizations for youth athletes , which I think is amazing and I love that , but it goes beyond that to your coaching .

And then also not just like you sell shoes there , you have running events , weekly runs , I guess is the better way to say that .

Right , yeah , so it's about helping people get connected not just to the right pair of shoes or a great pair of socks or sunglasses , which all those things are there , but like to a running community , which I think is so important . Was that your goal on the front end , or is that just morphed into something that you didn't expect or plan on ?

After college so was I had went and joined a running group , so I knew how important it was to have friends . The way I got into triathlons was going and doing a training group and some of those people are my best friends now . So I know how important it is and how much to have accountability that it is .

But we also I just want to give back to the community because it's not just the people that come and show up to us , but there's , you know , runs out there that get people active .

They may not come and join our running groups but they might go do Molly's Miles or the Turkey tracks or something like that , because it's , you know , something that their friends are doing and and just helping , you know , make sure that we keep that those type of events going in our community is important to me too .

I think , yeah , I mean , we couldn't have runs if people didn't volunteer to to do all those things for us . As you know , map out the course and all of those things .

There's no way I could have ride my bicycle in front of the 10 K on on Saturday . No , denise , don't look at me that way . It was . It was so cold and the wind was like 20 miles an hour . I was like no , no , please ask me again . Last week they asked me to do it last week .

You know , I have this thing that's really special to me and I want to connect that passion with my purpose . Do you have any advice for that person ?

She a half jokes with me all the time about how thorough I am with everything I do . But you know , you just make a business plan , write it down , write down your pros and cons , but and share it with friends , because I had some friends that were very , very supportive and they they probably knew what I could do more than I could .

You know , I'm not a runner , like women are the first ones to come in our store and not call themselves runners and it's like but you are a runner , it doesn't matter what your pace is , it doesn't matter , you know how much you're doing or anything like that . So I can see that perspective of it .

And then , as an aging woman , I can see some of the other things too and that , like , my pace has gone down and that it's just what happens to us as we age and it's okay . And it's okay that we have to do some other things sometimes too , that we can't just keep running the amount of miles that we used to do .

We need to cross train by riding our bike or swimming or doing something different , but just having that female perspective because , like I said , a majority of our customers are women and when they come into our training groups . Same thing .

Majority of the people that run with us are women and I think they see that camaraderie once they get in there running with other women , and I love the guys that run with us . There's some really good guys that run with us too , but it's so .

I think it's so important also , you know , to come run with a group to have that accountability , but also to be safe . And also so I bring that perspective too , because a lot of times even my like my husband hasn't said it , but I've heard other people say their husband has no idea , like , what it's like to go out and run and not feel safe .

So , having that perspective of what product should we buy to make sure that women can go out and enjoy their runs and , you know , not not feeling safe about it or feel a little safer . I even saw that when I was coaching at Stevens , like the way guys would look at my college athletes , and I actually said something once . My girls loved me for it .

But I have that perspective of like what is it like to be a woman out there trying to just take care of yourself but yet you have other things to think about ?

There's just so much that I don't think men really , like you said , can appreciate because they don't have those same sorts of fears . Yeah , what challenges have you faced that maybe men haven't experienced in a similar role ?

And yeah , absolutely , even if they know I'm the owner , they'll just talk to him , like and not acknowledge , and that is to me first of all . That just , oh , it grates on me . Amen , it's true , yeah , cause I've worked hard , I've done a lot of work to get the stores where they are .

And yeah , and I , you know , I try to understand that sometimes that's just still a mentality that's out there but it shouldn't be .

There's lots of women that own running stores and even at the trade show occasionally not very often , but occasionally I still get that feeling with some people at trade shows too , like the , and fleet feats are great because we are about everyone can become a runner and running changes everything , and so we're not that elitist running store and so we don't get

that as much . But you , you still get that a little bit with some vendors and you still , you know , I still get that when people come in and assume that and they've assumed my husband was the owner too before , or even when we're out and about , they'll assume we own the business and they'll talk to him instead of me .

And he's good , I've kind of talked to him about that Like can you like stop ? You know , change that attitude . And you know change that attitude and and like let them know I'm the owner . So he's really been doing good about doing that , so that we can hopefully change that , change that mentality out there that the man is always the one in charge .

It's a great thing and something that I think that women you're still making a way for other women and it's weird in 2024 that women still have to do that for other women , but it's the reality and so I know , I I appreciate your willingness to do that ,

and I was . I was struck by what you said about the majority of your customers are women , and so , when we think about , according to runner demographics and statistics for the United States , 36% of runners are women , six to almost 64% are men , and the average runner is 44 years old . So , uh , I would wonder , are those ? Are those numbers surprising to you ?

Probably not , cause you know running , but it's surprising to me , given that you said the majority of your customers are are women .

Okay , yeah , just because it is , we sell a lot more women's shoes , like , I just looked at our numbers for last week and it was like 90 some women's shoes and 60 women's shoes . And , yeah , granted , not all of our customers are runners and that's that's .

Fleet feet used to be fleet feet sports and we dropped that because we wanted people to know they could come in when they're just in pain or they're walking or they're just on their feet all day .

But I still just by our running groups and , and you know , having ran my whole life , I you know , I think that's probably why the numbers show what they do , just because there are so many women that won't call themselves a runner .

And then I was walking up the hill to our house and I remember telling my husband , tom , I ran a whole mile without stopping . And that was the first time I'd done that since , since , after children , he and I did used to go out and run a little bit , and we I'd be like , okay , take me for a mile , and we'd run a mile .

And then we he'd say , okay , a mile is right up there at that stop sign . And then we get to that stop sign and be like you can go further , and I'd be like , screw you . We said we were stopping at the stop sign . Don't try to do that to me . But I digress .

But I do definitely remember , after childbirth , coming home and saying I ran a mile and in Tom and I having this conversation about when , when can I call myself a runner , like how much do I have to run , how fast does it have to be , how far does it have to be ? You know I started running pretty consistently , but only three miles at a time .

For the longest time I only ran three miles at a time and so , based on what I saw other runners doing , I wasn't really a runner and it was . It was looking back pretty self deprecating , like I was out there doing it for a long time before I could Embrace the fact that I was doing . It just didn't look like I thought it should look .

Well now , have you ever done a marathon ? Because it's like well , that makes you a runner , and it's like no , just go sit down Because it is degrading . You know , it's like no , I've been , you know , logging miles for 30 years now .

But I do wonder , and maybe Robin and I should ask ourselves this but what do you think it is about running that attracts women ?

. And then we see it in our groups like we see people who progress from 5k to 10k to marathon . I have , I even have someone who started our trail running group years ago who now has done a hundred miler , and I love she also met her now husband by trail running . So I always like , take a little bit of . Are you talking about Kim ?

No , it's her name's Heather . Okay , okay , yeah , kim hasn't done a hundred . She even joked today on Facebook of all like who's crazy enough to do 100 miles ?

You see this progression of people like they just say I'm just going to do a 5k and then , like I was a runner who said I want to try a triathlon and I did not swim , denise , before , and now I coach people , which is crazy , and if you would have ever told me I would swim , you know , 2.4 miles in the ocean , I would have laughed at you .

But I did . My first Ironman was in in Florida , and you see this progression and it's awesome because you see them , they're like I can go out my door and do a mile , then I could do two miles and I could do three miles , and then , you know , once they get into a group , then that helps them . I think .

Keep going and believing that they can do further and further .

It really is not an expensive sport . So you start signing up for runs . But , yeah , it is very doable and I and I'm glad to hear you're a swim coach , because Robin wants to learn how to swim next- I'm so full of it .

This is a good point , cause , like I think you know , like there are people that are listening to this , that's that they're thinking like , oh , I wish I could run , or I wish I was brave enough to go to the , to the gym , or , for me , I wish I could breathe If I knew how to breathe , I would swim .

I like coaching the beginner triathlon group because I know where they're coming from , because most people , swimming is what keeps them from doing a triathlon . So I were , you know , I was in their shoes .

I can totally relate to what they're going through and I totally tell them if I can do what I did , you can , because I I did not like putting my face in the water . I would swim with my face out of the water , but I , yeah , I was not comfortable with my face in the water and trying to learn how to breathe and I did it .

But but there is part of me that just feels a little bit defeated , that there is this goal that I've kind of always had here and I haven't ever gotten over my fears enough to really to really do it . So you are inspiring me . You're inspiring me , denise . I feel like you have something to say . It's so loaded over here .

You know , if you want to keep being active , I think you do have to switch it around and do some swimming a couple times a week and a biking , you know , a bike on the weekends or something , and run a few times . But my goal , even at my age , is just to keep moving and swimming is so good for that .

I so value what you bring to our community , and your leadership and and your dedication to running is really inspiring . So I hope our listeners will lace up a good pair of running shoes that they purchased at Fleet Feet and give it a try .

And if people want to , to find your stores or learn more about your stores or about your coaching , where would they do that ? How would they find you ?

I'm knowing the answers , all those messages . So we'll be kicking off . We just kicked off our half marathon marathon training group . We'll be kicking off our 5k 10k group here at the end of the month and our triathlon group . We usually kick off about March .

Well , I hope that anyone who feels stuck and wants to to make a move , I hope that they are inspired by your story and inspired to make a plan , pray about it and then just do big things . So congratulations on all your success , thank you .

Thanks for listening to the podcast . We're honored . You're sharing your day with us . Do you love a good book ?

Or if you have a topic you'd like us to discuss on the podcast , use that same email the problem with perfect at gmailcom to send us your ideas or feedback .

And while you're there , make sure you've subscribed to the podcast so you never miss an episode , as always a special shout out to our editor , jordan Overkamp , for making us sparkle and remember . There's always enough grace for you today , so be sure to give it to yourself .