Join host Aaron Burnett as he sits down with Jeff Anderson, co-founder of Evergreen Market, to talk about turning a childhood trophy shop into a foundation for entrepreneurship, the cannabis lottery that changed his path, and the hard-earned lesson that you never know when you'll need your forum mates most.
Note, this podcast features real entrepreneurs sharing real challenges and solutions. No pitches, no sales - just honest conversations about the moments that shape successful businesses.
A Trophy Shop and a Million-Dollar Muse
Aaron: Tell me how you came to entrepreneurship.
Jeff: I went to the UW. Upon graduating, I was going to be a stockbroker — econ major, that was the plan. But I was also working at a trophy and awards company at the same time. The guy had bought it from my parents, so it was kind of in the family, a couple years removed. During college, I was working for him. It was called Issaquah Trophy and Awards. At a certain point after I graduated, he said, "Ah, I don't wanna do it anymore — do you wanna buy it?" And I said, "Let's go." That was a Y in the road in my journey, for sure. Do I take a corporate path or go this direction? I'd always enjoyed doing stuff for myself — odd jobs, mowing lawns for the neighborhood, that kind of thing. So I kinda knew I was born to be my own boss.
Jeff: I took over the shop — didn't really know what I was getting into at all. I knew the technical side, the engraving and all that, but I didn't know the business side of it. Only what you learn in college, which isn't really applicable to real life. So it was hard knocks. That was in '94, and then I just started growing. Wanted more out of life, so I kept pushing to get a different reach beyond the east side.Probably mid to late '90s, I was approached by someone named Shondel Slayton, who was the chapter administrator for EO. I was doing awards for EO at the time — chapter person of the year, that kind of thing — and she approached me: "So how old are you? How big is your business?" At that point it was around six or seven hundred thousand dollars. And I thought, "A million bucks — I can use that as my muse to get into this organization." So I doubled down, hit the million-dollar mark, and joined EO. That was another stepping stone. All of a sudden I was surrounded by a lot of people who had the same or a lot more experience than I did, which was great, but it was like learning through a fire hose — all the things I didn't know and needed to know.From there, I joined EO, started an internet company in a similar industry, grew that, made a lot of mistakes. The cash flow challenges, employee issues, buying things when you shouldn't — somewhat traumatic in retrospect. But really good for the things that came next.
Nine Lottery Tickets and a New Industry
Jeff: At a certain point I got out of the trophy business when I-502, the cannabis legalization, came to Washington. Me and two friends — Eric Gaston and Arnie Nelson — we were all dads from Issaquah. We decided to give it a once-over: what is this industry actually going to look like? We met for coffee on Sunday mornings for several months, talking through how we'd approach it. There ended up being a lottery. We had enough experience and knowledge going in that we had nine lottery tickets, if you will, and we actually got drawn for two licenses. At that moment, it was a real shift: okay, I need to do something different, and this is it.
Jeff: I'm not like a super pothead stoner — never really was. I enjoy it, but it wasn't my lifelong passion. The business was. And EO had taught me things like vision, mission, values — things my two business partners hadn't gone through. We went through a branding exercise with another EO member, Andrea Houston, a super successful woman leader and author. In going through that experience, we really figured out who we were as individuals and as a team for our company, which we ended up calling Evergreen Market.We opened the first store as soon as we could — about nine months after other stores had opened, but it was immediate success. We rolled into our second one, grew that. The whole group has six, but I can only have ownership in five of them. It's been twelve years of incredible ride, and I think going back to all those mistakes and learnings from the trophy shop days — those became a real source of strength when it came to cannabis. I knew how to do things. I knew what not to do. Just enough to plod along and be the leader in opening these stores. My partners had other skillsets, which was great. I'd never had business partners before, so that was a great experience — having peers within a company.
The Evergreen Difference — and What COVID Took
Aaron: Tell me about Evergreen Market. How is it differentiated from other competitors?
Jeff: One of the things Eric was really passionate about through the branding exercise was education — making sure our customers and society are educated on the plant. We started with the store build-out around what they called the knowledge bar. Books, magnifying glasses, different things to learn about cannabis.The "market" part was Eric's vision for a supermarket experience — a meat department, produce, cheese, bakery. That's really how our stores are divided: edibles, concentrates, drinks, flower. You go in and it's like, where do you want to go? What are you interested in? You start in a department, with a one-on-one budtender. A lot of stores have what I'd call a firework stand scenario — a bunch of product behind the counter, "What do you want?" and you're out the door as fast as possible. Our ethos has been really hands-on with the customer: what kind of experience do you want, when are you going to use it, who are you with? That creates more of a bond.
Jeff: One of our core tenets is around customer connection. And COVID was a real detriment to that culture in our stores. Not only was the connection between our frontline staff and customers broken, but there wasn't a lot of celebration within the company anymore. Everybody had to go their own way, and we really haven't gotten all of that back. This year we're going to concentrate on rebuilding that connection within the company.Right before COVID, the three of us ceded control to our CEO and stepped out of the business. So we went from being operators to being owners, and that's been its own experience. Not only did COVID hit and dishevel everything, but I was also in a different space myself — I wasn't engaged through that whole period. Now I hold back a bit from speaking my mind sometimes, just to give the operating team their freedom to run the business and make their own mistakes. That's super hard, but I'm trying.
Aaron: I've found the less I do and the less I butt in, the better things run. Which is kind of neat, but also humbling.
Jeff: It's also hard when both an executive team member and an owner think their way is the right way. That's where there's definitely tension. It's been really interesting navigating that.
Aaron: For me, that's become easier as I've become certain that we're all aligned on vision — all trying to get to the same place. As long as we're aligned on vision, you might make different decisions than I would, but we'll all course correct to get there.
Jeff: I'll fall on the sword a little bit with regards to vision. I don't think we've done a great job lately of laying out what our vision and mission has morphed to, or making sure the core values are understood with this newer generation of people post-COVID. So that's another task for us. It's humbling to continue to relearn your job over and over again as it changes.
Aaron: It's really hard to learn that the very best team often doesn't include me.
Jeff: And you can do other stuff, too.
Aaron: That's right.
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Before we continue, I want to tell you about the community that made this podcast possible — the Seattle chapter of EO, that's Entrepreneurs' Organization. It's not networking, it's not selling to each other. It's real entrepreneurs sharing real challenges and solutions. If you have a business that does at least a million a year in revenue and you're curious about joining a community that gets what you're going through, check out EO Seattle.
Three Times In, Twenty-One Years
Aaron: Did you join EO twice? You've had two stints in EO?
Jeff: I've joined EO three times. In all, I've been in EO for twenty-one years. The first time I left was more financial — I was in a really hard spot and didn't feel like I could afford it while keeping the wheels on the household. Got through that and rejoined. Then COVID hit, and that was the second reason. The irony is that I learned one of the hardest lessons of my EO life during that time, and that's when I was going through a divorce.
Jeff: I found out some things that were going on that weren't really okay. And I didn't have my forum mates to talk to about it. I was really alone in making the decision — from finding out what was going on to letting her know I wanted a divorce was four or five months of real self-discovery without having my people to bounce things off of. That was probably the biggest lesson I've learned in EO: you might leave for a certain reason, but you never know when you're going to need your forum mates. I learned that the hard way.
Jeff: On the bright side, there were a couple of people I knew from EO who I was able to contact, and they really helped me get the perspective I needed. They weren't necessarily forum mates, but people who had gone through something similar. One of the great parts of my divorce — in getting counsel from one of those individuals — was that we decided not to get attorneys. We went through a mediation process. The reason for doing that was to make sure that not only were we okay, but that we weren't going to mess up the kids. Long story short: we had a pretty amicable separation and divorce. The finances were okay, no mudslinging. Going back to EO — it was more that I needed my people. They weren't there, but I still knew enough people from fifteen or twenty years of different experiences that I could call upon and ask questions, and get what I needed to apply to my life.
Aaron: With such a long tenure in EO, how has what you get from it changed from the first few years to today?
Jeff: The one thing that's remained constant for me is my willingness to be vulnerable with my emotions. Everybody in my forum knows I'll tear up more than most. But beyond that — the depth and willingness to go there — what I've really learned over the years is that growth builds on itself. The knowledge from being involved with the chapter and the board, learning about leadership and business... after five, ten, fifteen years, you are the one who knows a lot, and then you can give it back. Last year there was a need for someone to be a seed moderator for six new members coming into the chapter, and I raised my hand. What a joy that's been — seeing EO through the eyes of someone joining for the first time. We met two hours after their forum training to coalesce, and that forum is really strong. Tight. You know they're there.
The Lessons That Stuck
Aaron: We all learn a lot through EO. Can you give one or two examples of the most valuable lessons?
Jeff: Two come to mind. One: during a really dark emotional and financial time — I was beat up, really down, couldn't see a way out — one of my forum mates, Chris Carlson, shared in his experience share that "it's always darkest before the dawn." And that gave me hope that maybe the dawn was coming. Because I couldn't imagine it being any darker.
Jeff: The other: James Wong told me once, when I had this tough decision — a work thing and a family thing, two conflicting commitments at the same time — "You're smart, Jeff. You'll figure it out. Do them both." Instead of using it as an excuse — "I can only do one or the other" — I took his thought as a challenge. Okay, this is a puzzle. I need to get creative. Have conversations with person A, person B, figure out how to make it work. And I did. I'm just saying that sometimes when you think you can't do something, looking at it from a different perspective, you might be able to do more than you think.
Jeff: What drew you to EO?
Aaron: I'd been aware of it for a couple of years, but I was suspicious. Then Russell Benaroya reached out to meet for coffee. I had a chat with him and was impressed by him and what he had to say. He gave me a different sense of what EO might be. That drew me in. And then my first forum was with Eric.
Jeff: Small world.
Aaron: Yeah. And your company did work with us for a while.
Jeff: I think part of that was our rules really prohibit us from marketing. At that point our biggest need was getting more customers, but our hands were tied.
Aaron: We've since focused entirely on highly regulated markets — med tech, healthcare, situations where you're super constrained in terms of data or audience targeting. We've actually developed proprietary technology that enables us to be effective in those markets in a way you can't be without a proprietary approach.
EO Shows Up
Aaron: What have I not asked you that you'd like to talk about?
Jeff: I've lost a couple of forum mates over the last twenty years. I think about them often. One was Joey Abrahamson and the other was Renwick Congdon. Renwick's memorial service was quite amazing and touching. You know you have friends, and you know EO is an important part of your life — but EO showed up for Renwick's memorial. Everybody loves Renwick. And I don't think you really know the value of EO and your friendships and your forum mates until you see something like that — when someone is taken from us. From an outsider's perspective, you really know the impact of EO at that point.
Jeff: There's a fun side of EO that we haven't touched on. I can definitely put them away, and I'm not very shy — different retreats, GLCs, where you meet people, make friends, enjoy a beverage or two or ten, late nights, go to bed at 2:00 AM and get up at 7:00 for breakfast. It's fun, but I can't do that as much anymore.But the legacy members — people who have been in longer than myself — you see them around and there's just warmth. Anybody who's been in EO that long, even if it's just through retreats, you have a bond. You want to give them a hug and check in. And it's amazing, like the connection you make even outside Seattle — you'd see somebody on a plane, "Oh, you know EO? I'm in EO." All of a sudden the conversation goes deep. There's that quick understanding that you are safe. I can talk to you. We can go wherever you want to go — because we're on the journey together. That's the best part, for me.
Jeff: Going back to the beginning — how does a new EO member find out about the organization? How do they get in? How do they integrate? You have to find out about it first. But it really takes the guts of somebody who has a business that's still growing, who aspires to be more, who has the willingness to learn and the guts to throw down and go with it. Go with being authentic to your forum mates. Go to an event that might not feel comfortable, but you're going to learn something from it. It's just been a joy.
Aaron: I think that's a great place to end. Thank you.
Jeff: Yeah. Thanks for taking the time.
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