Keren Brown

Just a chronic entrepreneur deciding each day which business NOT to start, while I share and fail-forward. We were made to by the Creator.

Follow for spectacular feats of imagination becoming material by the hands of a mere mortal like you.

04/07/2024

Make Food, and Art, and Friends, and Events, and Businesses, and Change that we all want to “tag”.

gets it. When I drop 2x the $$ on the worlds best avocado toast and a 12 oz mushroom latte, I’m not buying either one.

I’ve bought time with my journal where the real stuff happens, a break from serving others, and very stable blood sugar levels for the next 6 hours which means I’m less likely to do anything (else) incredibly stupid. My family and business team thank you for that, . 😅

: What are you really selling?

If your first thought (or mental image) was the physical product, or service, think again. Literally.

Think “what am I selling” then jump a level deeper, to the result of the product or service. To the problem solved for your client (the real live human like you.)

If you’re not sure what it is, I get that. But your business WILL die- sooner, later. I promise it will never make it without this insight.

If you’d like help finding that “thing” your product or service really produces- the result of what you sell, tag your business below and I’ll be glad to throw some ideas out.

You’ll have to test them, since you know your buyer. YOU have to test anything and everything folks suggest for your business, because God gave you the vision, no one else.

Land your biz tag in the comments and let’s get to work! 🙌⬇️

02/27/2024

Why I’ve been posting less pics of chicken eggs: just a move of the retail store, expansion, and reopen with only 3 days closed. Pretty sure that could be some sort of untracked world record.

Anyhow, this is the forever home, and pilot location for Mondaes duplicatable model. Planning to see this explode in 2024 and clone itself in 25/26 near Salt Lake and Austin.

It’s generally a VERY good idea NOT to share your intentions- just do the work Gods set up for you that day that aligns with the vision you’ve been given, and don’t open the door for opinions.

The perspective of others can be valuable, but time is short and no one is in charge of hearing Gods voice, and the interpretation of that direction for you but YOU.

The season is changing for this vision: time to share its future intentions, I’m not sure why or how I know. Could be this:

I often follow the provision trail. More relationships, connections, cooperators have shown up in the last 3 weeks who I believe are part of the larger vision I can’t see.

More resources. Faster help, lower cost, better results, the burden is light. The Creator seems to have unplugged the tub. It’s go-time.

I think about that burden a lot. The one I create, instead of the easy one God creates. No one’s a stranger to trials, this ride on earth is no cake walk. But we are made in His image: little, quite powerful, Creators. With agency to create whatever we want: a heavy burden, or a light one. A new, redemptive story, or rehearse the old. Free will, baby. Can’t have real love without it.

So amongst this rambling, which I hope is useful in itself, is also an invitation.

You don’t need to know why or how, but if you see yourself as part of the Mondaes vision in a capacity: team member, educator, investor, fractional COO/CFO, or prayer, reach out anytime. This has never been “my thing.”

And if you’re just wondering how in the world a business owner gets from point A to C (I’m not to Z yet, but past B), I’m opening up time by end of March to help you grow your dream. Because I miss that more than anything in the last 2 years of my consulting hiatus.

Until then, I’m glad to share some video topics on biz help but you’ll have to request them. Yep, right thar in the comments, tell me what you’d want a video rant on and I’ll whip one up. No comments come, and I’ll keep on building what I’m building and post random pics of really big ponies and produce.

01/08/2024

Looking forward to dreams, both night and day type, coming true in 2024.

Not because I hope for the future, but because I changed today.

Now is the only time we can affect, be sure of, or change. And that changes everything.

What do you look forward to that you’re creating today? 💡

11/24/2023

To all the out there who said “Thanks” for thanksgiving dinner, and wrapped up one more thing in their business before BFCM begins in the morning, I see you.

I thought of you the whole time I added Christmas lights to the front of Mondaes in the dark on scaffolding. I also thought of whether anyone would know if I fell off , for some hours, but the occasional drug meetups began in the parking lot across the street so I was less concerned.

I’ve worked on this brand for 16 years. I used to think it was slow growth (and it is) but recently a COO called it “safe “ growth.

In any case, Ive learned things you should never have to, never would have, and some day I could write a book about what NOT to do.

I don’t regret a minute of it .

And there are plenty of days I wonder if I can keep going. Especially this year, as the expansion has called for a CEO growth level that I thought would be someone else - that I’d hire a “real” one. Turns out, the first CEO tends to be YOU. At least at a safe growth rate.

As much as I’ve loved stepping back into Mondaes for the expansion, and we’re just getting to the good part, you Brand Owners, Business Owners, and crazy Entrepreneurs are what I miss the most.

I miss encouraging you to keep going, helping you build systems that scale, and watching your whole world change for the better, faster than you thought possible.

I miss everything that I learn, and can’t learn any other way, from advising. There’s a season for everything , and I’m already looking forward to the time in 2024 when I leave my “retirement” from brand building and connect with you all again .

I would love to hear what you’re building, or want to build, in the comments below. Catch me up! 👇

10/27/2023

Question for my gardening /farming friends in the north: what did you save from this first freeze?

I’m posting this way too early in the morning. Calling it morning because “grown ups” don’t stay up this late.

Extra virtual points if you can name what’s in this bowl, that I just picked on a ladder by moonlight. 🌙

10/25/2023

“Newness Comes.” - Oil on canvas, 16x 21”.

I completed this around 25 years ago, along with 15 other final works, only a few of which I know the whereabouts.

I had a good friend once ask why I would want to run the business I started, if I can paint like this. His reasoning seemed to be that not everyone can paint, but anyone can build an art supply store.

I just explained that anyone can run an art supply store but only I can build a Mondaes. I’m sure at the time a Mondaes didn’t seem different enough for that to make sense.

And what I barely realized then is that I have much more fun watching other people paint, or draw, or create pottery, or spin, or weave. I would rather build the theme park for the masses than buy a ticket.

There is a season for everything.

When I ran across this painting just now I was doing what Costco photo/Shutterfly asked, and transferring what I thought were my hundreds of photos before they’d be lost in the company merger in January.

Just this one image transferred, or only this was saved prior.. no way to know.

But that is what it takes for me to look back on my own artwork. It has to be in the way as a digital speed bump.

I’m long past the years where people ask if I’m going to paint again, and find it curious that we try so hard to understand humans by asking what they do.

Others try to settle by asking “what thing do you like best” or , “if you could only do one thing would it be x, y, z.” And I’m no help there.

I’m a Maker of Things, happiest when I’m creating. I think we all are.

Whatever creating means to you in the season you’re in, do more of that.

10/02/2023

I’m happy creating somehow, whatever the medium: tile, oil paint, lumber, soil and water, clay, business systems, they’re all fine with me and there’s a season for everything.

Sometimes all at once. ⛈️🌪️☀️

The winds are changing … can you feel it?

07/31/2023

These events Puffy Mondaes Makerspace & Supply really make it all worth it. SO many people leave feeling accomplished, which is really all I'm interested in as a founder.

Some business owners like to build something and own it. Be known for owning it, and go there. All.The.Time. I'm most proud of what I build when it doesn't need me at all, and people have no idea who started it.

It's not humility that drives this, its absolute natural selfishness under its best use: to make me a lot happier, and bless others in the process. What!? I'll attempt a better explanation:

I have a lot more fun when others have fun, and I can go home and pet ponies. I'm not interested in being needed, though I think people are pretty great. Especially when they don't need me to have fun. :) But we do have a lot of fun...

So check out only a few pics of what these have accomplished, who 100% NEVER thought they could before coming to Mondaes. Best. Results. Ever.

07/19/2023

Sometimes Facebook lands an ad in my feed that makes me wonder what metrics the algorithm is feeding someone’s traffic buyer.

Has a lawn, Loves robots, Looks at fast cars, Early tech adopter, loves red shiny things. NAILED IT.

07/17/2023

For those who know where I live and have thought “she bought my dream house “, due to the romanticized vision of living in a reclaimed school or church:

I didn’t buy your dream house. I bought a 5000sq ft building with no AC, sometimes heat, and I live more like Laura Ingalls Wilder than Joanna Gaines.

My “bedroom” is has 12 ft ceilings, and is 91 degrees at 10:16pm.

Aaron just figured out tonight his Mac runs far faster when sitting on a large bag of frozen corn.

Of the 32 windows, about 6 don’t shut quite right so we have “extra visitors” like mice or giant spiders you don’t know roam the ground outside at night.

And since this is Facebook, and complaining is easy to find and join, you may have read everything I just wrote and assuming I don’t like any of this.

I love it . For real . All of it .

And you’re welcome by anytime, though we may not be fully clothed like other people in ”modern homes” across the street.

07/12/2023

Anyone else garden (or farm) in the dark?

And what’s the difference between gardening and farming, if your garden gets really (really) big?

Asking for a friend. 🌛🌱🍅

05/20/2023

Meet Willa. She’s the first bottle baby to grace the interior of our home since 2017.

I’m really really good at making sure mama goats take their babies, learn to feed them, and mostly, that I never have to.

This time nature won at including me in the process, and Willa seems to have known the importance all along.

Her little mind has faster problem solving skills than a dog, knows she’s not a human, and is completely content with the set up she’s got going : playtime with the goats, feeding and nap times with her trained protectors, the farm family.

She’s come in to my life at a time that seemed it could not get any more multifaceted, any more challenging, any crazier.

But I lean on this understanding at all times :

I created this entire world and story I’m walking in, and I can own it, dial it up or down, change the players in the show to a great degree, and for the most part I’m grateful for all of it .

What I’m not grateful for shows me the edges of my capacity, and the need to add gratitude .

Responsible living as a made in His image is a Win Win. The losses are already taken off the return I’m filing.

Stay tuned for vids in the story of Willa’s house party time, and the solution I come up with to getting to KS by June 3, which may include a 3 lb diapered goat in tow.

Address

Austin, TX
78701–78705, 78708–78739, 78741–78742, 78744–78769

Website

http://www.kerenbrown.com/

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7703 N Lamar Boulevard, Suite 109

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