In this episode of Meet the Team, we sit down with Morgan Ekovich, the organizing force behind Agrarian Solutions’ podcast operations. Morgan shares her journey into podcast production, her background in fitness and nutrition coaching, and her strong connection to agriculture, rooted in her family’s heritage.
Discover how Morgan’s project management expertise and passion for teamwork have turned ideas into impactful conversations. Whether you’re an agriculture professional, a podcasting enthusiast, or someone looking for fresh perspectives on health and collaboration, Morgan’s story offers valuable lessons and inspiration.
🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!
Scott Zehr
All right. Hey, welcome everybody back to Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions. I’m your host, Scott Zehr. And today we continue our meet the team episodes. Special series we’re doing to shed light on one of our core values, which is relational. The first letter in the word RISE, our acronym for our core values. And today I am pleased to be bringing in one Miss Morgan Ekovich to the podcast table, if you would.
And relationships, we talk about them a lot, you know, in the Meet the Team series. We’ve talked at length, Morgan, about how this industry, agriculture in general, I’ve spent my life in dairy. It’s really small. And relationships are important. You know, the old adage you better not burn a bridge cause you never know if you need to walk across it later in life. Well, that is amplified by like a hundred in a small industry, like agriculture, where everybody knows everybody. And I say that because this is how we met you.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah, it is.
Scott Zehr
So, you know, a quick, just a little bit quick of who Morgan is. How you came to be working with us here on the podcast at Agrarian Solutions. And then we’ll dive into a little bit of the nuances of how we connected all those dots.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah. So kind of how I started working with Agrarian in a more, I don’t want to say day to day, but more on a regular basis is I helped them actually launch this podcast. So we helped set up the system so that you guys can get content on a weekly basis to make sure that you can get everything you need. And there’s a lot of steps on the backend.
So I was working with a woman named Jamie Peth, who you’ll hear from her in the upcoming months in her interview. And, she had been working with Agrarian, I’d been working with Jamie. Long story short, Kelly Bristley is my mom and I knew Scott before I realized Kelly and Scott knew each other.
So there was like, I was working with Scott in a different area for one of his personal businesses. And it just kind of all trickled. But really how I came to work with you guys was through the podcasting. Like before that, I knew who you were. I knew what you guys did. I’d done some talks for you guys when it came to fitness and nutrition, because that’s my own business. In addition to helping people launch podcasts as I’m an online fitness and nutrition coach. So I was helping you guys and it just kind of trickled into this different fun area where you get to kind of see all sorts of things.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. You know, some of the stuff you just mentioned, I actually kind of forgot you know, for a brief moment you know, we had you on another training platform that we do. You know, trying to bring value to those folks who are in sales, they’re on the road a lot. Some of the listeners that we have on this platform with Ruminate This, you know, I’m thinking of nutritionists and veterinarians and even dairy farmers that are in tractors a lot or in the dump truck or whatever.
But that training that you did for us on the other platform, you know, just little things that we could do throughout the day when you’re driving three, four hundred miles a day to try to keep up, you know, you know, somewhat good health, maybe healthier type snacks or exercises you could even do while you’re sitting in your driver’s seat, right? Just to keep the blood pumping. Yeah. So if you guys need more information on stuff like that, we can make connections for you.
Yeah, it is kind of a neat circle and I think back to 2018, 2019, somewhere in there. And I think, you know, a little bit of this story. But the first time I met your mom, Kelly Bristley, who is like my right hand person in my work life at this point in my career. I couldn’t do any of this stuff without Kelly.
But the mastermind behind this whole thing, Rob Hamacher. And it’s really interesting talk about relationships. I knew Rob prior to this, but he invited Kelly, Jamie, myself, Jeff Hostetter, and Mark Carpenter to the Agrarian sales conference in Niagara Falls, Canada, in 2018, 19, somewhere in there.
None of us worked for Agrarian. We all worked for a different company that has a close working relationship with Agrarian. And now, fast forward, what, five, six years? We’re, like, Mark is our general manager. Obviously, I’m full time. Your mom’s involved. I, I mean, she’s essentially full time. I can’t believe the amount of work that your mom does for us.
Jamie, the mastermind behind initially the other training platform and with you and then now the podcast, folks, like I said earlier, man, you can’t go through life burning bridges. And the relationships you make today sometimes you just have no idea, Morgan, where they’re going to end up.
You know, the first time I met you, right, and through Jamie. And, you know, we’re doing this, other training platform. Did you ever think we’d be doing a podcast together? And essentially you are, you are our team lead. Like you have taught us how to produce a podcast and get a podcast out.
I just think that’s so wild, the connections. And honestly, Morgan, like it comes back to rise, right? It’s relational, strategic. I can’t even spell rise, relational, integrity, strategic, and excellence. And you have demonstrated that like full display from the minute we started working, talking about doing this podcast.
So it’s, been a lot of fun to get to know you on that level and, work with you. So one of the things I like to ask people in this meet the team series is describe, in your mind, the perfect team. What does it look like? How does it function? And what’s the key to making it all successful?
Morgan Ekovich
So I’ve been very fortunate to be part of a multitude of teams. So yes, I have an online fitness and nutrition company, but I also work with you guys. I also work with Jamie and her team and they’re all different dynamics. But one of my roles that is consistent is I’m essentially a project manager. Is I’m not necessarily the visionary of it, but I think every team needs a visionary.
Someone who is that pinball in a pinball machine. That is like, boo, boo, boo, doing all these things, because we need somebody with those ideas.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
Then you also need somebody such as myself, who is, okay, those are amazing. Which one are we going to do? Let’s create a plan. Let’s make it all organized. Let’s actually figure out how to bring this to execution. Because if you don’t have that piece, those visionaries, they just keep producing ideas, but there’s no execution.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
And then I feel like you need the person who is then going to implement. Who is going to not just implement the task, but be willing to learn something new to make that task move faster, to allow us to implement quicker.
Scott Zehr
Yep.
Morgan Ekovich
So I think those are the three main. And I think here on our team for podcasting, at least like, I know you’re Agrarian as a team is much larger than the four of us that work really closely on a weekly basis to help produce this. We have that. Kelly and Ambar are very similar. They have different roles, but they’re both executioners.
You’re the visionary and I’m over here making sure all the boxes get checked so we can move forward. Cause if we’re missing one of our, roles, this podcast wouldn’t happen. We would have all Scott’s amazing ideas, or we’d have all these tasks getting done with no ideas to follow them.
Or I would be managing something that there’s nothing being produced. Like, all these roles are very important. I think part of every team, honestly. And I think it’s important not that you, you just have these roles, but you mesh well with these people.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
Cause you may have, you may have a visionary and you just hate their visions. Probably not the visionary for you to have on your team. Like you’re doing yourself and the company a disservice. So I think that’s also important, is to have a role, not just filled, but with the person that actually aligns with you guys.
Scott Zehr
That’s a great point. And I think it takes a certain amount of humility as well you know, from each team member to foster that cohesive working unit too. And I see that within our podcast team. I see it within our sales team, right at every level. But, sticking to what we’re, kind of speaking about. I know I am not the executioner. I’m not the tenacity guy. And I’m, I’m referencing like the six types of working genius kind of thing.
So like based on that assessment, mine is idea and wonder and galvanizing, those are my main traits. So yes, I can come up with a crazy idea and I can rally a group of people around that idea. But to your point, I would never bring this home on my own. Not going to happen. I just, I’m going to lose focus on the fine details and it’s, you know.
but where I see the humility come in a lot is just in my own perspective. Or I guess my own personal perspective of this podcast team that we have here at Agrarian. It can be really intimidating, not knowing what you don’t know. And it takes as an entrepreneur, I have my own business as well. You feel like you have to know everything. You know? You have to figure it out and it’s on you to figure it out.
And, I think sometimes that’s one of the frustrations I have as an entrepreneur is that I’m actually forced to do the things that I hate doing. I have to fill out the paperwork. I have to get it turned into the state. I have to cross the T’s, dot the I’s that kind of thing.
So then when I started working with you, and Kelly, and Ambar, it’s like, I wanted to be the one that was like involved with all those little things, and it it didn’t take a lot out of me. But it took me realizing that a little bit of humility right here will go a long way. And I’m glad that I reached that point with you and Ambar and Kelly.
And it was all at different points, but I reached that point at a time where we didn’t hinder the team. And so for me, that was a proud moment for myself personally. But, like from your perspective, how did you see this team all coming together? Cause I, I do think right now we do have a very cohesive team especially on the podcast side.
Morgan Ekovich
So I think I had a different perspective coming in because, so I’ve been working with Ambar with Jamie and her business and I believe we launched in March last year. Is that correct?
Scott Zehr
Yeah. April, March, somewhere in there. Yep.
Morgan Ekovich
Okay. So during that time, I’d been working with Ambar and Jamie, just us three on her team for I don’t, at least a year at that point. So I already knew what Ambar was capable of. I knew what we could hand over to her and that she would get it done. And I didn’t need to micromanage her process. We need to had some communication so we were all on the same page of like, you’re going to check in with me when something’s complete, or am I checking in with you?
Like you just had to feel that out. So I already had that relationship with her. You and I had already worked together, not on a regular basis, but we’d already worked together about All In calls, about just like little side stuff, because we also took a personal development course together, like, we had a relationship already built there.
And then with my mom, I, I grew up with her. I worked for Central Star for, I did some temp work in the summer. Like, so I’d already had a working relationship as well with her. And I knew what she was good at. I knew where stressors were, for her and for you. And I kind of was able to come into this team knowing that all these pieces were going to fit. It was just about us finding our battle rhythm essentially, to the system.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. True.
Morgan Ekovich
So I think my perspective was different because I already had three different opportunities to work with you guys before we came together and we’re like, we’re going to do this as a team now, because this is how we are spearheading this project.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. So you may not see it from this perspective and we’re kind of switching gears here a little bit, but, so your personal business nutrition and fitness coach, Get Fit With Morgan. Right? Or Get Fit with ME, with Morgan Ekovich.
Morgan Ekovich
Get Fit With ME. My initials.
Scott Zehr
Yes. And yes, yes. Morgan Ekovich. Yep. But you know, you’ve been around agriculture your whole life in some way, shape, or form, and as a nutrition fitness coach, you are still involved very much with agriculture. Food is agriculture, right? So with that perspective on, what to you is so special about the agriculture industry?
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah. my mom grew up as a dairy farmer. My dad grew up as a dairy farmer. So I had it in my background. I grew up with horses. So I didn’t actually like have cows growing up, but we had horses.
We had chickens. I don’t remember having chickens, but I remember having a chicken coop. I had to ask my mom about that recently of, did I make up that part of my child? I don’t ever remember having eggs, which was my concern that like we had a chicken coop, but never, I remember having eggs.
Scott Zehr
Just had a lot of roosters.
Morgan Ekovich
Oh, I don’t know. So there was a point in my life where I really didn’t think that that area of like my family’s generations was ever going to kind of follow me because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.
But then when I got into doing what I was doing and talking about food, talking about exercise, and starting to really understand some of the challenges we’re facing in agriculture when it comes to generations and families not wanting to continue farms.
And some of the struggles that are coming up with the environment and all of the things, the more I’m in it, the more it is important because it’s all about putting in whole foods into our body and our system matters. And over the years, that system gets smaller and smaller because less people are doing it.
So for me, it’s been really impactful to actually kind of have my hands in the agricultural side, because I feel like I can talk to my clients of like, Hey, so the benefits of this is one, there’s no additives because it’s whole, but also you have a better idea of where it’s coming from. You know this, okay. Difference between organic and non organic.
Like I have a understanding of all of that, just because I kind of know the ins and outs of how cattle are being taken care of. Not at every farm, but that generalization where I think a lot of people don’t get that insight because they just see whatever’s on social media and they take it and everybody’s an influencer.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
So, I think it’s, it’s been really beneficial to have an idea of, wow, small farms, if you have one in your local community and you can afford it by from that small farm. How can we make the farmer’s markets in the summer last longer for us? Like even just those small things like that, because our bodies respond better to it, than it does the ultra process trans fat, saturated fats, things like that.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. And, you know, I think COVID did wake a lot of people up to that idea. I mean, just like locally in my area, we saw almost an explosion of people seeking out local sources for beef, lamb, pork and poultry too to the point where like, I have a friend of mine that, that’s his business, he does beef, lamb, pork, poultry. And like, he can’t keep up.
But it’s really scary when you think about it. I mean, that was the first time in my life that I saw, you know, reports of empty grocery store shelves in the US and then you start looking into it, and I mean, like 15, 20 years ago, not even that long, like 10 years ago. This is why we need a fact checker to check my facts.
But it was, it was pretty recently though that, but at that point there was. Anywhere’s from six to eight months food supply in the system in the U.S. So it’s like the idea of us running out of food is ludicrous. Like there’s, we got a buffer. You go back to 2020 during COVID when we started seeing empty shelves and that kind of stuff. At that point in time, that snapshot, there was 30-day supply of food in our country in the pipeline.
Morgan Ekovich
That’s crazy.
Scott Zehr
And yeah, that woke some people up like, Hey, you know what? I never thought the idea of putting a freezer in my basement. Or somewhere in my house was a great idea, but if I can go buy a side of beef and know that I have 3,400 pounds of meat sitting in here. That protein is pretty cheap. It doesn’t matter what you pay for it.
Morgan Ekovich
Right. And I, I think the new trend that I’m seeing people, even in my clients, is the homesteading. Which homesteading looks different to everybody. You’ve got the full, like live off the grid. You’ve got three years worth of everything.
And then you have somebody like me who I’m buying a deer this year. Were eventually, I bought a deep freeze for the first time in my life because I was like, I can also taste a difference in me. So like, I want the meat from the butcher. I don’t want the, I love Aldi, but I don’t want the Aldi ground beef.
Like, I want the better tasting. And it’s also like, I’m going to learn how to make my own tortilla shells. It does take more time and energy. But there is this other level of, I think we’re just starting to get more conscious and more aware of what we’re putting in our body.
And eventually we’re going to get down that rabbit hole or people probably are of, well, what are they putting in the cows? Which comes back to you guys, of what types of vitamin, supplements, all that things are the cattle taking because that eventually all comes back to us. So making sure that they’re also having high quality things in them because it’s a cycle.
Scott Zehr
That’s one of the coolest things I think that we don’t talk enough about at Agrarian is, our business is probiotics. We’re a probiotic company and it doesn’t get any more natural than good bacteria, you know, to help keep cattle healthy.
Yeah, so I just think that’s something neat that, over the course of time and, we could get into a really long conversation about how warped our food supply became in the country as we, you know, we’ll push that aside a little bit. But in the…
Morgan Ekovich
Conversation for another day.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, in the 25 year history of Agrarian little more than 25, like, we’ve been a probiotic company and we were a probiotic company when probiotics weren’t cool. And, and now all of a sudden we’re becoming the cool kids on the side of the road again because we’re a probiotic company.
I think that’s pretty neat. So, a question I would have though is, you know, from we don’t get, I don’t get to ask this question very often in these things. But your perspective, you know, you work with clients in your own business that likely have no ties to agriculture whatsoever.
Like the true consumer, right, in the marketplace. What is their perception of agriculture in the U.S.? What things are they concerned about that dairy farmers and beef ranchers and other producers can take home and try to apply?
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah. So first thing that I think has gotten, and I’m going to kind of go on trends, cause I think this is something that I don’t care who you work with. If you have a social media account, you’ve seen something like this. And these are honestly like two of the most important, is you’ve got the people out there who believe dairy is bad for you, which I have very strong opinions on. That, so one of the things I believe in dairy. I love dairy products.
I go to, I speak at PDPW’s business conference. I’m going to speak again here in March. And last year they had a whole charcuterie, like they are known for cheese and milk and that. And one of the things is, yes, it doesn’t sit well with everybody, but sometimes it actually goes back to your gut health.
It’s not necessarily that your body can’t tolerate it. It’s because your body can’t tolerate it because of all the other crap you’ve put in your body. So that is something to look at. Like there are ways to double check and see, are you really lactose intolerant? Cause if we think about it, back in the day, where our grandparents or great grandparents ever lactose intolerant, like that, I don’t think that was a term we used.
Scott Zehr
Yeah
Morgan Ekovich
Like. So one of the biggest things is continuing to promote dairy in any way possible, because I do remember in 2020, when people weren’t buying milk, and they were having to dump milk because it wasn’t being sold how it was supposed to and that is money, that is money that is essentially being dumped.
So the more we can promote those recipes, I know cottage cheese recipes are a huge trend right now. I love yogurt and I love different ways that you can do yogurt, different ways you can do breads with yogurt and cottage cheese, like any way you can promote dairy, the better. Because you’ve got good proteins, you’ve got vitamins and minerals, and there’s nothing else in the ingredients, but the way that it’s processed.
So that is one of the things that I can say is like, if you know that you need, like milk is a big, or dairy in general is big for you and your business or your clients, help them like promote it. Help them sell to people because there is so much going against us right now, on it’s bad for you. Don’t have it. It’s bad for this. Like, there’s ways to decide that.
Scott Zehr
Morgan, you bring up a good point because, every dairy farmer, every beef rancher has the opportunity to tell their story. And, okay, full circle, relationships. Build a relationship with the consumer. You know, and it doesn’t always have to be a relationship, like, from a farmer’s market where you got to talk one on one with somebody and, you know their kids, you know their whatever, whatever. We’ll use the example of over time, especially as I get older, not that I’m old.
You know, you become more conscious of what you’re putting in your body, what you’re putting on your body, deodorant. Like I, about a year and a half ago was like looking at the ingredients and I’m like, yeah, this looks like a bad idea to put on your glands and your armpit. Right? And so sought out a more all natural alternative.
And the only reason I picked the brand that I did was because their marketing messaging spoke to me. And I felt like I developed a relationship with their brand, their messaging. People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it. And that they got me. And I’ll probably be a customer for a long, long time, you know? So yeah, I, I liked that. Like it really does come back to that, you know, make it personal.
Morgan Ekovich
And it doesn’t, and I don’t think it has to be complicated. I think we get caught in building a relationship online has to look a certain way. Like, no, it can literally mean like, send out an email to your people using your Gmail account, BCC everybody on it.
Like, it can be the most basic thing of like, hey, really appreciated. For instance, if you’ve got a farmer’s market, collect people’s emails throughout the year. At the end of the year, send them out an email that says, “Thank you so much. You’re receiving this email because you’ve purchased something from us over this last year. It’s meant so much to us. We wanted to tell you a little bit about our story.”
Because our background and where we come from and how we got to where we are matters. And that’s what people connect with. People connect with people. And the more we can be people to other people, the better we’re going to be.
Scott Zehr
Okay. I was actually going to not try to say it in this episode, but you’re going to tease it out of me. Again, show me a business that’s ever done business with another business, I will show you the amazing men and women behind the scenes that make it happen. It’s people to people. And that’s really what this series meet the team is really all about.
It’s bringing that to light. And You’re right. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You know complications in any relationship lead to demise. And you know, the simpler, the clear, the message, the communication, the better off you are, for sure. Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
And it’s just, it is circle back to your initial question. So I said dairy. That’s something that I think people are pushing out of their diets, which I really don’t think is necessary. Get some tests done, figure out what’s actually going on internally. The other thing that I see people doing an influx of though, is meat, because everybody’s focused on their protein goal.
Dairy is a great source of protein. But also If you sell any sort of meat…
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
Like there’s a huge market for you right now.
Scott Zehr
Yeah
Morgan Ekovich
Like tell your story, get in conversation with people, show up, ask, like answer people’s questions, give people answers to things that they’re too afraid to ask.
Because like, if you can create that relationship with them, they’re going to buy from you of like, Hey, that was Sally out there just three weeks ago. This is now Sally in a package. Like, whatever it is, like, build that relationship with them that like, yeah, no, we do all of this ourselves or we trust these people because we want you to have the best possible and show that.
Scott Zehr
You know, for my own business, we’re maple syrup and I haven’t like officially put this out as like a tagline or anything, but when I’m talking to people one on one, they’ll ask me like, well, what does your maple syrup taste like?
And so you try to describe the flavor and, but it really, what I like to tell people is I have a five year old daughter. If she says it’s good, I’m good with that. Like that’s, you know, don’t be afraid to make it personal. Like it’s okay. You know? So I’m glad we, we got into that. It’s maybe a little bit off the meet the team topic, but I think that’s a good message for people to think about as they listen to this and…
One of the things I’d like to ask to Morgan and, I’m curious to hear your answers on this. Mentors. So you can mention names, you don’t have to. But speak from your perspective, the importance of even seeking out mentorship from somebody. And then, you know, who are some mentors that you have had throughout your life personally, professionally, either way you want to go with it, and the impact that they’ve had on you.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah, so I don’t think I’ve actually sought out a mentor. I don’t think I’ve actually like gone out trying to look for somebody to fill that role. It just kind of happened. For instance, I would consider Jamie one of my mentors. Long story short, COVID happened, I was laid off from my job, went to start an online business, started going live on Facebook, my mom goes, go check out Jamie. Found Jamie on LinkedIn, sent her a message, Jamie and my mom knew each other, the rest is history.
I now work for Jamie and like, we’ve got all these different dynamics. And she’s always been a few steps ahead of me in business, which has been great to see her kind of try these processes. Okay, great. Now let me see if I can try it. Okay. And we work very well together. She’s that visionary and I’m the implementation.
So we’re a good yin and yang. So I would definitely say that in the business sense she has definitely been one of my mentors. The other two that I would say have been very unexpected mentors would be my nanny family. So, I still nanny once a week, and he was my professor up at school, and he lived near my hometown.
I went up to him and said, Hey, don’t know if any of your kids friends are looking for a nanny for the summer, but I’m home, I’m looking for a nanny job. He goes, “I think we need a nanny. Call my wife.” So, called her, ended up getting set up with them, and they are massive believers in personal development.
And, I didn’t realize it in 2018, in 2018, end of 2018, 2019, how important personal development was. I had all this stigma behind it of all the computer for dummies, like all that type of stigma behind it I had, for no reason at all, other than it just wasn’t something prevalent in my mind. But since then they got me introduced to the Landmark form, which was super amazing for personal and professional development.
And then getting to work alongside of them, they’re both entrepreneurs. They both have their hands in three to four things all at once. The values they teach their kids, the way we have conversations that without even knowing that a family that I thought I was just going to be a nanny for, that both of them would turn into great friends and mentors was just very natural.
And when I’ve got those problems coming up of like in all areas of life, “Hey, can I have your input on this? Where would you recommend me go? What should I think about?” So those would be the two in my later life that I think have stuck around and just kind of happened without any force per se.
Scott Zehr
I think that’s, and I’m glad you responded to the question the way you did because that’s kind of the point, right? You know, people, we tend to think, okay, you know, we can’t talk to anybody or nobody wants to talk to us anyway.
And, you know, maybe you do have this mindset that you have to like, you know, try to go find somebody or whatever. And it’s like if you’re looking for a relationship. I can remember back when I was you know, before I met my wife, I’d gotten out of a relationship and it’s like, Oh, I, need to find somebody. I need to find somebody.
And then it’s like, you come to the realization that, you know what, if you just stop looking and voila, appeared Summer. And I think the, the main thing Morgan is just being open to the idea that somebody cares about you. Somebody is going to want to invest.
Yeah, I mean the impact, obviously what you just described, that’s huge for you. I did not know that Kelly was the actual mastermind behind introducing you and Jamie. That is, that is pretty funny.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah, she said, go check out Jamie’s YouTube. Jamie has now shown that YouTube video as like, this is where you can start. This is how far you can come.
Scott Zehr
I know. I had a friend of mine and he course he says it because he’s a friend, but he, he listens to the podcast. And I was actually just with him a couple of nights ago and we were visiting and he’s like, you know, I really enjoy like listening to the podcast and he’s, he’s an agriculture, he’s a full time employee for the U.S. mail, but he has beef cattle and he does some hay and stuff like that.
And I think he even said like, you know, you do a good job on the podcast, right? And that means a lot to me, I hope people think I do a good job, that’d be great. But if you go back and watch, you know, the other training platform that we do, and I’ve watched that video from like four years ago, the first time that I was on, you know, on the Zoom screen. And, like, it’s embarrassing. Oh, but yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
We all have to start somewhere.
Scott Zehr
We do. And I, think, you know, I’m reminded of a quote Steve Gilliland is an author that I followed. He’s a speaker and he does some stand up stuff too, but there’s a book that I read from him that I was probably in that same stage where it was like, you know, personal development I always think of, like, the self help books, and I don’t need any help anyway, you know.
But there’s a book that he has called Making a Difference, A Matter of Purpose, Passion, and Pride. And within that book, there’s a quote that really stuck with me. And he says, he frames it up, you know, taking action, right? The first step to making a difference is actually doing something. And he said, like my mother always said, “taking the first step puts you halfway there. Because most people won’t take the first step.” I think it’s important for people to realize that, like, your mom made the connection between you and Jamie, but you actually had to take action.
Morgan Ekovich
Mmm.
Scott Zehr
You know, put yourself out there a little bit. And…
Morgan Ekovich
And I think what’s funny is we get introduced to people all the time. We get business cards all the time. How often do we reach out to all these people? And do we reach out to everybody? Like, just, in general, with relationships is, one, it’s making sure you’re having the relationship with the right people, I think is a big thing.
Because you get business cards and you’re like, nice meeting them. I don’t need to contact them again. Like, I don’t see how this would fit long term.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
But then you remember, just because They may not be who you need, they may know the person you need. So relationship is always going to be beneficial somewhere down the line, but it’s taking that first step like you said to, I’m going to sit down. I’m going to thank them all for meeting them at this conference, or I’m going to thank them, whatever that looks like, because most of the time, if we sit here and we wait for mail to come, if we wait for somebody to write us a letter, it’s not going to happen. We have to send the letter first for them to respond and send us one back.
Scott Zehr
You know, I’m going to do a callback to our very first episode with Mark Carpenter. And we were talking about the relational aspect of it. And he made the comment, you know, like his daughter, like she had asked him and it was like, Hey, dad, what’s the secret to being successful or, you know, something along those lines.
And you know, what you were just talking about was like, Hey, send a little note, say, Hey, nice to meet you. To me that’s being a nice person. And at the end of the day, like people, there’s a stereotype out there that the nice people finish last. And I’m here to tell you, it’s not true. It’s not true. Like it’s, and it’s not that hard to be a good human being.
It’s really not. You know, I’m reminded of a quote and I, you know, it’s one of those little corny things you put on your Facebook profile when you’re in your younger years. And I think it’s actually still on mine. But, I don’t remember where I heard it, but it says if you are open to everyone, you have the opportunity to be inspired by anyone.
And, yeah that business card thing, that kind of brings realization into it because I’m sure there’s some people that I got cards from that I haven’t reached out to, so now. Thanks. You made me feel bad. Now I got to go do some stuff.
Morgan Ekovich
I have mine organized because I have, I always, if I meet somebody, I do the ones that I think are going to be the most beneficial relationship first, medium, and then the people last. And I don’t always get to them, but they’re there.
So that if I ever run out of things to do, that’s kind of where I circle back to. It may be a year, like, hey, met you here at this time. Bet you don’t remember me, but just wanted to say thanks for that conversation.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, yeah, that’s cool. Well, hey, we are almost out of time, but we haven’t really talked about what you like to do for fun.
Morgan Ekovich
I like to travel. Traveling is one of my favorite, love being on an airplane.
Scott Zehr
What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?
Morgan Ekovich
Oh, probably recently has been Barcelona. Last February, my sister and I took a trip to Barcelona. We stayed in Madrid for a night or two and then spent a few days in Barcelona and it was, it was awesome. We walked everywhere. The food was delicious.
I will say, eventually you get tired of that meat that they, I forget what it is. I think it’s ham. Some sort of cured ham. You eventually get tired after seven days of eating it at every meal. That you get to the end and you’re, you’re kind of wishing for a vegetable. But it is totally amazing and worth it.
So Barcelona is probably the most cool place I’ve been. But I’ve also took a cruise a few years ago down Bahamas, Cayman Islands, things like that. So that was, really cool to kind of see something and do some of that adventuring that I haven’t gotten to do. I’ve only done like all inclusives before.
Scott Zehr
The cruises, we, we did a cruise for our honeymoon. We went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island, Labadee, Haiti, and the Mayan ruins in Mexico.
Morgan Ekovich
Ohh.
Scott Zehr
And, yeah, like I, I would do a cruise tomorrow. We had, we had a lot of fun yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah, I love traveling. I also just love being outside. We’ve got a little patio area at our house where I’ll hang my hammock and come springtime when it things seem to be a little less busy in the spring.
Cause once summer hits, I feel like the schedule fills up. So in the spring I get to sit out there quite a bit and work, which I really enjoy. My newest hobby that I love doing, is I took pottery in high school. Like pottery, where you throw pottery on a wheel and you make bowls. I realized my mom, my sister didn’t do that.
My sister didn’t take like every craft class in high school, like I did. I didn’t like real school. So I took every gym class, every woodworking class, every class, other than the mandatory ones that I was supposed to take if I could. So I took a pottery class in high school and I made bowls. They were all bowls and I painted them all the same color.
So they look uniform. They are not all the same size, I can guarantee that. But over Christmas break, my sister came into town from New York and I scheduled a pottery class for my sister, mom, and I. And there’s this place locally and we all were successful in making bowls and I just kind of jumped into it as if like, it hadn’t been 11 years since I had made it.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Morgan Ekovich
So that was really fun to get. It’s fun to like, get your mind off and do something creative. So I’d say pottery is my new hobby for the year that I’m going to, take a seven week course on it. In person, I want to make plates. I want to get rid of my hand me down plates and I want to make plates for my house.
Scott Zehr
Oh, that’s cool.
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. I was terrible at pottery in high school. Yeah. I made, I could make a good snake. That’s about it.
Morgan Ekovich
So a handle to a mug. Somebody else had to make your mug. You made the handle.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, I didn’t inherit the crafty gene. When it comes to stuff like that, I can draw stick figures and I can make snakes out of clay. That’s about it. Morgan, I appreciate you taking time out of your day today to join us on Ruminate This and thank you for being the cause you’re, like the North star for us on this podcast thing.
Like we, we didn’t know what we were doing. We talked about at one point, I’m going to say in 2020, early in 2023, like, Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to do a podcast and, talk about this which is kind of what our regular episodes are. And then there, there sat on the shelf and it got brought up again towards the end of 2023 and, voila, here you were. And so you’ve really provided a lot of leadership that was much needed and teaching us how to do this. So definitely want to say thank you for that.
Morgan Ekovich
Well, thank you. I appreciate it. You guys are an awesome team to work with. Like it’s super fun to watch you get inspired by an episode, find the person that’s going to be great for it, and make the episode. And then it’s also fun to like watch all the intricate parts and watch everybody kind of give up control on what isn’t theirs.
So, I’ve really enjoyed working with you guys, and I can’t wait for what we have for 2025, because it’s already here. But we’ve got some fun stuff coming up this year on the podcast. So it’ll be fun to kind of see how it all unfolds.
Scott Zehr
I think so. And lastly you know, Morgan, I have followed you on Facebook, Get Fit with ME and Instagram, I think. And so with your nutrition and fitness business, like you’ve put out some really good content that has helped me. So thank you for that. So if people want to follow Morgan Ekovich on social to get nutrition and fitness advice, where can they go?
Morgan Ekovich
Yeah. So I will give you all these links so you can put them in the show notes. But I have a, for women, I have a Facebook group, so I’ll give you the link to that. It’s a free Facebook group. My Facebook page is Get fit with ME. So, Me is just M E capital. And then my Instagram is @MorganEkovich. So you should be able to find me on there. You may stumble upon my personal profiles as well. It all interchanges and flip flops over each other. So if you find one of them, you’ll find the rest.
I do have a website, so I’ll leave that below, but it’s really long and lengthy. One thing, if you are starting a business and you are listening, keep your website concise as well as your email. It’s, it’s really hard later in life to switch it.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, definitely. Yes. You, you will find all of Morgan’s links in the show notes. So. Yeah. Check it out. Oh, go ahead.
Morgan Ekovich
And I do have, it is a podcast specifically for women, but it does, I’ve had many men reach out to me and say it was very beneficial is I have EmpowerHer, all one word, Wellness podcast on wherever you listen to podcasts. So I’ve, I actually launched mine alongside of you guys. So it’s been fun to kind of learn that together. So if you want, if you like the podcast style instead of the content scrolling style, go check that out as well.
Scott Zehr
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you again, Morgan, for jumping in the Ruminate This podcast with us meet the team series. And yeah, I look forward to continued working together as we keep putting these things together every week for our listeners. So…
Morgan Ekovich
Awesome. Well, thank you so much again for having me on.
Scott Zehr
All right. Thank you, Morgan. Have a great day.
Morgan Ekovich
You too.
