Stephen Smith, Part 2 - Evolution & Reinvention

Those of you who have been listening to the podcast since the early days probably remember my first conversation with Stephen Smith. We talked for an hour and a half about his career as a professional photographer, his motorcycle adventures around South America, his time working on farms and ranches, surfing, and more. Since that conversation almost exactly two years ago, Stephen has continued to evolve as an adventurer, entrepreneur, and artist. He bought a 170-acre property in eastern Oregon, founded a plant medicine CBD company, and has continued his work as a professional freelance photographer. With all these exciting developments, I thought it was time to have him back on the podcast for round two. • Stephen has a big vision for his new endeavors, and, more importantly, he has the work ethic and risk tolerance to achieve his goals. We talk a lot about his new property, which he’s calling Crow Creek, and how he has gone about transforming a raw piece of ground into his full-time home. We also chat in detail about his CBD company ONDA Wellness, which provides all-natural plant-based relief for everything from muscle soreness to anxiety to insomnia. If you are someone who is thinking of starting your own business, or simply has an interest in outside-the-box entrepreneurship, you will learn a lot from Stephen’s story. • As you’ll hear in our conversation, Stephen is amazingly open and honest about the challenges he has encountered while pursuing these new ventures, physically, mentally, and financially. He pulls no punches when describing the difficulty of simultaneously homesteading a property, running a start-up, and freelancing, but you’ll notice that his tone remains focused and optimistic, while still being realistic. Yes, the Instagram posts of Crow Creek and Stephen’s travels around the West are stunning, but make no mistake, he’s grinding at a breakneck speed to make it all work. His journey is inspiring and real, so I know you’ll enjoy listening. • And as an added bonus, Stephen is offering a 15% discount on ONDA Wellness products to Mountain & Prairie listeners. Just use the code “ED15" at checkout, and the discount will be applied. I can’t speak highly enough about ONDA, so I encourage you to give it a try. • Thanks to Stephen for coming back on the podcast. Hope you enjoy. ••• http://mountainandprairie.com/stephen-smith-2/ ••• TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:40 - Stephen describing his new ventures 8:20 - Crow Creek described 12:00 - Awesome aspects of Oregon 15:00 - Building Crow Creek up from scratch 18:15 - Breaking his fingers 21:10 - Upcoming event with Chris Eyer 24:20 - Breaking out of the southeast 26:25 - Mentors and heroes 30:00 - On generosity 32:40 - CBD and ONDA Wellness 40:30 - Ed’s endorsement of ONDA 42:30 - More explanation of CBD 49:30 - New favorite books 51:50 - Good films 53:10 - Biggest surprise about building Crow Creek 56:55 - Best advice ever received 58:25 - Words of wisdoms for the listeners 100:45 - Connect with Stephen online