Staying Inspired as a Content Creator with Tieghan Gerard of Half-Baked Harvest

[00:00:00] Emily Thompson: Hey boss, Emily here with a little ask for you. It's time for our annual audience survey. If you're listening to this, I want to hear from you. Taking the survey only takes a few minutes and it helps us understand what type of support you need from this show. Tell us more about yourself and you better bet.

[00:00:16] I read every single one to help us shape a whole year of content at beingboss.club/survey. Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creatives, business owners and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their work and live life on their own terms. I'm your host, Emily Thompson, and in this episode I'm joined by Tieghan Gerard, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Half Baked Harvest, one of my favorite food blogs to talk about her journey from food blogger to entrepreneur and prioritizing creating from a place of inspiration.

[00:00:52] You can find all the tools, books, and links we reference on the show notes at www.beingboss.club. And if you'd like this episode, be sure to subscribe to this show and share us with a friend.

[00:01:05] As we all know, being an entrepreneur feels less lonely and more approachable when you hear about the journeys of those who came before you or who are making their way alongside you. And if more of those stories is what you're hungry for, cue up an episode of the Finding Founders podcast, hosted by Sam Donner, brought to you by the

[00:01:24] HubSpot Podcast Network. Designed to inspire Finding founders is a podcast about vulnerability and entrepreneurship where you learn from the life stories of founders, activists, and even drug lords. For something a little more boss aligned, Check out the recent interview with Jen Levy, who turned a passion for gardening into a mission to build community farms and teach others to grow food locally.

[00:01:49] You can listen to finding founders wherever you get your podcast.

[00:01:53] Tiegan Gerard, New York Times bestselling cookbook, author of Half Baked Harvest, Super Simple and Half Baked Harvest every day creates recipes inspired by the people and places she loves most. Tiegan develops styles and photographs, all of her recipes, making her a standout triple threat in the food world.

[00:02:16] Tiegan launched her blog Half Baked Harvest in 2012, and has since reached an audience of millions of people who have fallen in love with her fresh take on comfort, food, stunning photography, and charming life in the mountains. Her hope is to inspire a love for food and others as well as the courage to try something new.

[00:02:35] Her latest cookbook, Half Baked Harvest Every Day is available now and everywhere books are sold. Tiegan, welcome to Being Boss. I am so excited to have you on the show today.

[00:02:46] Tieghan Gerard: I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:02:50] Emily Thompson: My pleasure. I was just sort of saying before we jumped on that I'm a big fan.

[00:02:54] I didn't tell you sort of how, it doesn't go far. It's not like creepy or anything, but I've been baking, baking, baking and cooking things from your blog for years and you've become a favorite among some of my friends. Like where, like what have you made from half baked harvest lately? You've become sort of a reference point, for a holiday, get togethers and just like friend get together.

[00:03:19] Such a pleasure to be chatting with you today. But first, thank you for doing what you do. You feed me and have fed me for years.

[00:03:28] Tieghan Gerard: Thank you so much. I love that. It's always so fun to see, what recipes people really connect with. What you guys, you and your friends are making. It's. It's incredible to see, so I love to hear that.

[00:03:39] That's amazing.

[00:03:40] Emily Thompson: Love it. Well, it's a good mixture of like oldies but goodies and we're trying out new things all the time too. And I'm excited to share you with the Being Boss audience today because whenever I think about creating content online and showing up and, and just doing the work, you're always one who comes top of mind.

[00:03:59] For me, so I'm very excited to share your story with our folks today.

[00:04:03] Tieghan Gerard: Well, thank you. That's such a compliment, especially for someone who's been podcasting for as long as you have. I mean, you've had to stick with it to you. You're, you're an oh. G is they love as they love to today.

[00:04:17] Emily Thompson: Indeed. I like to call us dinosaurs in the podcasting world a little bit.

[00:04:23] And I think we'll have some fun things to bounce around today in terms of, of what it means to continue showing up and creating in the way that we do. We just have incredibly different mediums and ways of doing it. So to get started well, I like to start with really just setting the scene and sharing with everyone.

[00:04:42] The foundation of who you are and how you got here so that the rest of our conversation has some really good context. So if you don't mind, let's start there. Share a bit about your journey and let us know how you got to where you are today.

[00:04:55] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah, so it really all starts all the way back in middle school, I guess I would say.

[00:05:02] So I'm actually one of eight kids. I have five brothers and Gosh, nope. I have six brothers, . I have six brothers and one sister. And we're just a whole bunch. We're a whole thing. Very close with my family. My family is all really, really close. They're a big. Part of my day to day. They're everything.

[00:05:28] But when I was in middle school, my, we were living in Cleveland at the time, which is where I'm originally from. And my dad, things were busy. My mom was a stay at home mom, but she was always more. I think that when my older brothers were younger, she did a lot more cooking, but at some point she sort of transitioned and she just became the baker.

[00:05:53] She loves to bake, or loved to bake, and we would kind of have like cookies on the table before like dinner was really thought about. My dad always did dinner. But he would work nine to five in the city and then he would go to the gym. So he wasn't getting home until eight o'clock at night or so, and then we were eating dinner 9, 9 30, and it was like tacos, chicken and rice.

[00:06:16] A whole dad food. Yeah. a whole lot of the same. It wasn't a, my dad's like a great cook. His tacos to this day are like everyone's favorite. But, time to switch it up. So, I've always been someone, I never enjoyed school as a kid and I really like, have always just been a creative person really.

[00:06:45] Loved to do things with my hands, would rearrange my bedroom on the weekends. Always said I wanted to go into styling, wanted to be a stylist. I would do a lot of shopping with my grandma and would style her. She had a mannequin. She was a very, I would say, high class woman, and she liked, to do a lot of shopping.

[00:07:08] Which I didn't mind. It was so much fun. We would do a lot of shopping together and so it always said, I really, really wanted to go into fashion. I really wanted to be a stylist. And that's kind of like what I lived and breathed. Growing up all through high school, but at the same time I was cooking dinner for my family because I had just started cooking dinner eventually in middle school at some point.

[00:07:33] And, really never stopped from like the day that I started to. You know today, honestly, I started cooking dinner. It was like just some basic Rachel Ray recipes at first. My brother absolutely loved the cheeseburger, mac and cheese, that I made. And, yeah, I think I've really enjoyed. Being able to make my family and be able to, I'm the middle child, which I don't know, people have all the things to say about that.

[00:08:05] Being able to provide for my family in that way and help out in that way. And I stuck with that all throughout middle school and high school. Was gonna go to school out in LA for fashion design and. Went to LA and I was like, I hate la No thank you. Don't need to be here. Came home and with that time we had moved to Colorado.

[00:08:29] We moved to Colorado when I was in about ninth grade. And I came home to Colorado and it was really my mom, that was kind of encouraged me to start the site and the day that I started. I really never looked back and I never stopped posting. And I post, have it posted. There has been at least five posts a week since that day.

[00:08:54] And it's been about 10 years now, which is crazy. And that's the backstory.

[00:09:01] Emily Thompson: That's amazing. Okay. I have a couple little like follow up questions along the way. One is, were you styling that hamburger, mac and cheese.

[00:09:11] Tieghan Gerard: That I don't think I was, That's why , that's why I haven't made it since, because lets mean it's scary.

[00:09:20] Emily Thompson: Not much you can do there. When did you start working the styling a joke? Like, were you that middle school kid? Because I will say I very much so remember, whenever I was about that age, also cooking for my family and like thinking it was really fancy to like salt and pepper the plate before I put the food on.

[00:09:39] Like, that was my version of styling, in like fifth, sixth grade. Sure. Of just w watching Martha Stewart on tv, wanting to style with what you got. Salt and pepper. Okay. And doing it. So were you styling your food back then? And when did that work into how you were cooking and, and sharing this food with people?

[00:10:02] Tieghan Gerard: I think I always tried to make it look nice, because I, I truly believe that we eat with our eyes. We do not, The first thing that we eat with is our eyes. Obviously we eat with our taste as well, but if that food doesn't look good, why are, why would you be excited about it? So I always, I think, tried to make it look good, and

[00:10:24] was I doing what I do today, ? No, definitely not. I really started to make. An effort to style the day I started the site because I just knew, for whatever reason, I just knew inside of me, like, I gotta make this food look good. And, or maybe I just, I just loved to make things look good. I don't know, there wasn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason as to why I was doing things.

[00:10:51] I was just doing at the time. I wasn't thinking about it. I was just doing, and I think that was really beneficial to me. I wasn't overthinking anything. I really, there is something to be said about jumping into something full force all feed in and not knowing anything that you're doing and not having like, well, really like any, there was no, like, what happens if I, there was no like, This was it.

[00:11:23] It was like, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No big deal. So like, I had nothing to lose. Thank you. I was like losing the words, . All I was trying to say is I really had nothing to lose. Yeah. So I just move right in and I, I went for it. I didn't overthink anything, which now I overthink everything. So I like semi wanna be back to that newbie self, but.

[00:11:46] Emily Thompson: There is beauty in that beginning part of the process though, where it's not strategy, you're just showing up in the way you feel called to show up. And it sounds like you were just in it in that phase. And I understand you get over strategic as things go on sometimes. But that sounds like where you were, where you were just showing up and doing what felt good, in the way that felt good and

[00:12:10] with this no expectations. Let's just see what happens.

[00:12:13] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah, definitely. I had no idea what I was doing.

[00:12:17] Emily Thompson: None of us do. None of us do. I wanna call back to the, 10 years ago, 10 plus years ago, when you were in LA you decided that wasn't going to be the thing. You moved back, you were letting go of a dream that you had held for a really long time to come back and do.

[00:12:39] Who knows what, Maybe a food blog, I don't know, . Right? Do you remember what that felt like? Or, or anything? Any maybe a piece of advice that you got or a moment of inspiration that maybe put you at ease with leaving that behind to go. Do something you hadn't thought of yet?

[00:12:59] Tieghan Gerard: No, I mean, I was so scared and I was like, Well, I'm just not the type of person that is going to sit on my butt and do nothing.

[00:13:06] I was like, that's kind of why I jumped full force into creating content for the site because I was like, Well, I can't just sit here and do nothing, so this is better than doing nothing. Was it what I thought I wanted to do at the time? No, absolutely not. But I went for it. Yeah. So I just, I just kind of went for it, you know?

[00:13:29] And I guess I was just trying something new, without kind of almost even knowing it, in a way. And, I definitely left that like fashion piece of me. For a little bit, but it's come back in recent years and I'm so happy that it has, because I definitely missed it. So it's, it's cool to see how, like a full circle picture.

[00:13:55] Yeah. But I mean, at that time I just kind of jumped right into creating content for a food blog.

[00:14:01] Emily Thompson: Yeah.

[00:14:02] Oh, I love that. There, there is a drive that I see there that I. Not as often as I would like , but I definitely see in people sometimes where, the thing that you thought you were going to do isn't going to work, so I'm just gonna jump whole hog into this other thing and just kind of see what happens.

[00:14:18] Yeah. I absolutely love that. Okay, I wanna pivot just a little bit. Because you live in Colorado, you have a blog called Half Baked Harvest. Whenever I am recommending your blog to a lot of people, sometimes they think I'm sharing some really interesting Brownie recipes. Mm-hmm. , and I'm like, no, not that kind of half baked to very different kind.

[00:14:39] Will you share some story, like how did you get to that name? Yeah, I guess. And what does that mean to you?

[00:14:44] Tieghan Gerard: Just ridiculous. So, my mom and I were hiking in Mount Hood, Oregon, and we were just like, at the time I was, we were, I was playing with the idea of starting a flu blog. I must have been reading blogs at that time, during that summer.

[00:15:01] We would go to Mount Hood during the summers because, or I, I think I've been to Mount Hood for like two summers. And the only thing you do in Mount Hood is you hike, or you're on the glacier snowboarding or skiing. My brother is a professional snowboarder, so we would go, when he was younger, the family would go with him and, do summers there.

[00:15:25] There's nothing much to do in Mount Hood other than snowboard or ski and hike. So my mom and I were hiking and I must have been do, I was doing a lot of cooking during that summer because it was like, well, what else do you do? And I must have been reading like either food websites or food and, we were like playing with the idea of like starting a food blog.

[00:15:44] I didn't do it. And that was actually when we came up with the name Half Baked Harvest. My mom was like, Oh, well the family's so half baked. We're just very different, you know? And I was like, Well, I like half baked cookies, so cool. And my favorite word is Harvest Half baked Harvest. And I mean, that's just how we started the blog because like I said, we, I, we started the blog really just like almost out of a necessity for me to do something.

[00:16:15] There was not a whole lot of thought going into the name. It was just like, Oh, we'll just call it Half Bake Harvests. And it stuck and, and I get the questions about the, the brownies and the marijuana and the Colorado all of the time, and I'm like, for a while it really was like, this is so annoying.

[00:16:33] But now it's just like, it keeps people wondering, so I'm like, whatever. Deal with it.

[00:16:38] Emily Thompson: Yeah, I know. I feel like you do just have to at some point embrace it. And I also love that some of. I feel like a lot of people don't start things because they're so stressed about the name of the thing. But in my experience when I'm having conversations with people who are like showing up and doing the thing on really big levels, there's usually these like, just sort of like side stories of how this name came along and they just took it because they were gonna do it and they had to name it something.

[00:17:04] And so I love that, love that this is one of those stories of like something that came up during a conversation during a hike. Chose it, did the thing, and are continuing forward and, and just want to throw that out there for anyone who is not doing the thing because you can't find the name. Just do it.

[00:17:24] Tieghan Gerard: Doesn't matter. Just do it. So like the best advice in business is like, just start and just do it and just like, get going and don't let your hangups like stop you from. Because Yeah, you're never going to start.

[00:17:37] Emily Thompson: No, for sure. Oh, I love it. You just gotta get, get going and get creating and do the thing. Yeah.

[00:17:43] All right. You are a bestselling author, a founder of food blogger and entrepreneur, or a business owner. So many things. Oftentimes in this space, I find people have a hard time sort of claiming what it is that they are or not even claiming choosing because there are so many options. I'd love to know how it is that you refer to yourself if you are introducing yourself to someone or if you had a business card, do people even do this anymore?

[00:18:10] How do you refer to yourself? And, or how do you identify what it is that you do when introducing yourself to others?

[00:18:18] Tieghan Gerard: You know what someone just presented me as in, who I respect so much, as an entrepreneur. And I think I'm just gonna go with that from now on because I think that there is, So much more to me to say that I'm a food block cuz there's so many more aspects to my business.

[00:18:38] And like you said, I am an author, I am a content creator. I, am a business owner. I am all, there's so many more things in the works that I am. So, an entrepreneur really describes it best, I would say, and I love that sounds good. So I'm gonna go with an entrepreneur.

[00:18:59] Emily Thompson: High five. High five for embracing that one.

[00:19:01] I feel like that one's the most maneuverable. You can really do all kinds of things with that one. Yeah, that is a very large box that you can totally play in . Yeah. Wonderful. Okay, I love it. Let's dive into content creation, cuz this is really the piece that I wanted to get you and on today, and you even just like blew my mind a little bit more.

[00:19:20] This idea that you've been publishing at least five times a week for 10 years, you're. Ton of content, a ton of recipes. You are creating recipes for your blog, and you're also doing reels on Instagram and your books, and goodness knows what else you're up to. First, do you have any idea how many recipes you've created in that time?

[00:19:43] Tieghan Gerard: Oh my gosh, that is such a good question. Well, like I know at one point my mom was saying it was over a thousand, but I feel like that was like a little bit ago. So, I mean, But I don't think that was including the books. I think that was like the blog. I honestly have no idea. Thousands.

[00:20:05] Some old gems on the site, like good old oldie recipe gems.

[00:20:13] Like, like damn. That's a good recipe. I mean, it's sometimes you can still say that. I'm like, The photo is awful, but like the recipe is solid.

[00:20:27] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Okay. So a lot like thousands of recipes. Everyone. How many books have you written? Three. Three books five times a week for 10 years. So many, so much creativity, being output from your brain, heart, and fingers on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis.

[00:20:49] My biggest question for you, or where I really wanna start this conversation is how do you stay inspired to create that much? [00:21:00]

[00:21:00] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah. My biggest thing is honestly, Staying off of social. Like I don't really follow a whole lot of content creators. I don't get inspiration from that. I have always found it hinders me.

[00:21:16] So I don't really get a lot of inspiration from that. And it's looking to outside sources. I've said that I grew up loving fashion. Fashion is a huge, huge source of inspiration for me. My family is a huge source of inspiration for me. The seasons are a huge source of inspiration for me. Travel is a huge source of inspiration for me.

[00:21:38] It's, it's kind of like seeking these outside sources that you, cuz you just never know. What can inspire something like you? Just the most random things, especially for myself, because I'm such a visual person, everything in my brain works in a visual way. The most random thing can really bring, bring up an idea.

[00:22:02] And so I try to surround myself with people that I really enjoy and that don't. Bring me down or whatever. And I do stay off of social. I really don't do any scrolling. I only follow people that do inspire me. That's kind of like a big thing. And I, I've been saying this a lot lately, so I feel kind of bad, but like, I really have no problem with the unfollow button.

[00:22:28] And if this content isn't serving you anymore, it just, it's, it's just not serving you anymore. So, I always say that, but, So, but the, the seasons are huge. My family is huge, travel is huge. Fashion is a big piece of it. And I just am constantly looking to these outside sources for inspiration that like aren't really the internet.

[00:22:52] And I think that's really, really helpful to me. And I spend a lot of time thinking, rethinking, reworking, and just like then doing and then reworking a little bit, you know? So I just kind of, I think the biggest thing for me is I just kind of keep doing and, I don't let, like I do, I have Roblox Sure.

[00:23:13] But like, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna create something that day. So I just keep going and a lot of times, like, it might take a while to come to an idea, but like once I get it, it's my favorite. So you just gotta keep searching.

[00:23:28] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Okay. Real life inspiration. Right In the real world. Yeah. Great gym there.

[00:23:35] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah, I mean, like, I'm just not, like, I, I spend a lot of time on my phone as it is, so like, scrolling just gives me like a, I'm just like, Please not, I don't, I don't like this.

[00:23:46] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Perfect, perfect. If anyone was looking for any additional, permission to find inspiration elsewhere, please take that, put down your phone, go out in the world and be inspired.[00:24:00]

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[00:25:55] You talked a little bit, you sort of hinted at this motivation piece that I wanted to move in next and, judging by part of like the previous part of this conversation, I feel like you don't need motivation. You just need to do, which I love, and it's something that we've talked about here on Being Boss before, is, again, as we're just talking about, some people will won't do the thing because they can't think of the perfect name.

[00:26:19] A lot of times people are waiting for motivation to do the thing when. You don't need motivation. You just need to show up and do the work. And that sounds like your sort of way of being as well is it's not necessarily motivation. Showing up and doing it is, is your default. It's how you it. How you create and that's what you're here to do.

[00:26:39] Does that resonate with you or is there like another piece of motivation in there that, that you find helps keep you going?

[00:26:47] Tieghan Gerard: I think there's certain things that I need motivation for more than others. I think that I am just like a weirdly, sickly driven person, , like

[00:26:57] Emily Thompson: entrepreneur. There you go.

[00:27:01] Tieghan Gerard: I just think that I really just have a very strong desire to create and to create and to keep moving forward and to keep doing and to keep, always be doing something more.

[00:27:12] I love to provide for people. I love, I love to create content. And I love to work. I'm just weird in that way. And, but there are certainly things that I like drag my feet on that aren't as exciting for me, that I need motivation for bigger projects, like things that like have a longer timeline.

[00:27:39] I like starting those is hard. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, there's definitely things like I'm not just like getting up every single morning and like not having a problem here. Like I have projects that I'm working on that I'm just like, this is daunting. But yeah, I mean it's kind of just like pushing forward and like just you just like doing it and getting it done.

[00:28:00] So, I. I'm just kind of like that type of person though. I'm just not gonna like, I'm just gonna keep doing it. I don't know.

[00:28:10] Emily Thompson: Yeah, no, I think that's great. I feel like you even sort of hinted at a little bit there to this idea that you're weird because you're so driven, which I don't think is the case.

[00:28:19] I think you're just driven . I think it's totally fine and I feel like a lot of times, I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast or, if you had the ambition to start your own business, you are that way. And I do think society has a way of, of, of, letting us know that maybe we're weird or over driven or we need to chill out or whatever.

[00:28:40] But I think there's something too, if you are just innately that kind of person, embrace it and do your work. I love that for you, . And same for you. You are, you are creating so much great stuff and your creativity feeds your soul in which. Yeah, show up and create all the content you could ever create and all of your other projects.

[00:29:02] Whether they're is easy to do or not, with, without shame or I don't know, you're not weird. You're a boss.

[00:29:10] High five!

[00:29:11] Tieghan Gerard: It just, it is who I've learned to just like embrace. Who I am because I am not your average. Like there is no doubt, Like I'm just not your average. Definitely have my weird quirks.

[00:29:24] I definitely, like have, I have lots of different things about me and I've just like you are, I mean, you are who you are to a point. Obviously if you have some things you need to work on, like you should be working on those and be, But, you are who you are and the things that may, it makes you.

[00:29:42] I think in this day and age, there's so many people really trying to mimic other people and be other people, and I just think that there's something so special about having special things about you. It's me. It's what makes you unique. It's what makes the world interesting. Like, why are you, like, why are you unique?

[00:29:59] You can't be trying to do the same thing as another person because they're already doing it and. Probably gonna be doing it better than like you can do it. So, find what, really excites. I always say this, find what really excites you and run with it and embrace. I think it's so important to like, kind of embrace your flaws because at the end of the day, like a lot of times they can be that thing that's really special about you.

[00:30:24] I mean, if they're like good flaws, like you just obviously like everything. You guys gotta like whatever. But, I've just like really learned to embrace the things that make me different because they also make me, who I am and I think why people like to follow me too, so.

[00:30:45] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Hmm. Lovely. Thank you for sharing all of that.

[00:30:48] I agree. I agree with all of those things. I think that those of us in, in these highly productive spaces, do have to embrace the fact that we are a little more productive or like have more of a desire to be productive. And then I also think those like weird, quirky things, my thought is that like those are the things that you're here to learn about in your life.

[00:31:07] And if you like, shun them or ignore them, or, try to work around them, then you're not here learning the lessons or experiencing the world in quite the way that you're supposed to, which is another reason for embracing your weird little quirks. Embrace them and, I don't know, see what you can make out of it, for sure.

[00:31:28] Okay. I wanna dive into what this process actually looks like. So, five-ish recipes a week or similar. And I sort of wanna look at this in two angles, so maybe you can pick or choose or blend them together. We can do them separately. We'll see what happens. But on one hand, I'd love to know what, like a day in the life or a week in the life of you and you showing up and doing all of this work looks like.

[00:31:51] And then on the other side, I kind of would like to know what, like the life or like the birthing of a recipe looks like. So if one of those feels more inspiring to you in this moment, feel free to pick. But I'd love to know what this, what the process of, of you being you looks like.

[00:32:09] Tieghan Gerard: Sure.

[00:32:10] Well, it's not that exciting.

[00:32:12] Not gonna lie. It's, it's truly not. It's when I am here home in Colorado, I am, and it's, it's a cooking day. I do try to break out my days, my time between like a cooking day and an admin day. I don't like to bounce back and forth though, like on Monday I have to take meetings because they're important, so I have to do it, and I, I also will be, it's, I will also be cooking on Monday, so I hate doing that, but, If it's a cooking day, I am, regardless of whether it's a cooking or an admin day, and I'm home, I'm getting up and the first thing that I'm doing is, well, I'm, I'm drinking water.

[00:32:54] I drink a big glass of water if you really need to know. And then I'm really, I'm out the door for a hike. Like I really don't do anything. I don't touch my phone. I don't do any very like, sensitive towards my phone. I get no notifications, like I hate notifications, I hate text messages. It's just so not my thing.

[00:33:13] I'm sorry. I just don't, and, I'm out the door and I'm, I'm hiking. Hiking is like my, I have tried meditation so much, but like hiking's, like my meditation, it's also my workout. I've never been someone that wants to go to the gym, but I need that physical activity. Like it gets my endorphins going.

[00:33:35] It's when I'm most creative. Like I have to do something in the morning or I'm not a hundred percent the rest of the day. Like I'm totally off. So I'm out the door for a hike and that's the first thing I do. It's like the all it's the first thing I do, no matter what day it is, and I'm home.

[00:33:57] Do the coffee, do all that. Do the whole like the morning ritual. And then I'll head home, or then I'll head from home to the studio. Now I'm very lucky in that my home is about a football field away from our studio space, so it's very, very nice and very convenient, and I'm so happy and thankful that it wasn't always that way where I was able, like I was working out of my house for a while.

[00:34:21] And I was living with all of this behind me and just like living in dishes and surfaces and it was just too much. So very thankful to separate the two. And it's kind of, even though they're like right next to each other, it is so nice to go home. At the end of the day. It's just like something about it, you're just like, Oh, Zen.

[00:34:41] But, when I'm here, I enter in, I kind of open up my computer. I don't honestly usually open up my email until nighttime. I try to avoid it. Recently, I have been opening up my email because there's just a lot of things happening and it's such a distraction. It is such a distraction. But I am the type of person that is not very with my content, like everybody thinks I'm, weeks, months in advance planned out.

[00:35:11] Not even close. I am. I. I said I was inspired by the seasons. I am inspired by the seasons so much. I am someone who really needs to be excited about what I'm doing that day. So I never really have an idea of what I'm making when I come in here in the morning. It is me in the morning brainstorming, deciding what I wanna make, picking like, Okay, I'm gonna do, I wanna do this, I wanna do that.

[00:35:40] And I like write the recipe. I write a grocery list if I need some groceries. All of the things. And then I start cooking for the day. And I'm really cooking from like, the time that I get here, which is usually between eight 30 and nine to 7:00 PM and like right now, I'm not leaving here until 8:00 PM because it's the sun is just, the sun is up.

[00:36:02] If the sun is up, I'm here. I'm cooking, I'm working. So they're long days. I try to get in as much as I can. Also, a lot of people think that I'm doing like five recipes a day. Oh my God. No. That is not the case at all. Like guys, it's a solo process. I take my time with these things and like the baking recipes, like the cooking recipe, Sure.

[00:36:25] Maybe I'm getting them right the first time. Maybe I'm not, but like I have to test these, they gotta work. So, the baking recipes could need a lot of retesting or redoing or like, I could start it and be like, This isn't gonna work. Scratch this idea. Like, or I can literally get through all of the photos, all of the video, and be at the end of it, be

[00:36:47] I don't like this. This is no good. I'm not using this. I'm very particular about the things that I share. If it doesn't feel special to me and it doesn't feel worthy of posting, I will not share it. I think that gets me can be a little bit troublesome for me because I, I've honestly noticed that the recipes that I, the content that I have shared, that I've been like not as excited about.

[00:37:11] Performs the best. I'm just bizarre.

[00:37:15] it just bizarre.

[00:37:16] Emily Thompson: It's all works. I know it's how it works sometimes.

[00:37:18] Tieghan Gerard: I know it's bizarre. So that's kind of like a cooking day and I'm really here. I'm not, I don't have like people think I have help and all of these things. Like it's me, it's my phone, it's a camera. . And nothing's special, So, And a kitchen.

[00:37:36] It's a great kitchen. It's a nice kitchen. I will say that. I have a lot of space, which is really nice, and I have a lot of dishes. But it's super basic. It's not like this huge team of people doing things. It's I think, one of the keys to my success, which is also very hard. As we're growing and we're creating more, and we're working on new projects and new things that are much bigger picture.

[00:37:59] I think one of the keys though for me is that I've always been that person that's creating the content that is really the brains behind the operations. And, it's, it's me. It's really me. So, I'm the one kind of here. I do have help with dishes and I do have help with the grocery store and things like that, but as terms of like creating the content, filming the content, photographing the content, that is all me, doing the recipes, doing the reedits

[00:38:24] of the recipes, writing the recipes, that's all me. So that's what I'm doing kind of like here during the day on a cooking day, if it is an admin day, try to bulk up all of those calls. I'm either doing podcasts, I'm either in meetings, on, I'm on the phone. Like today I am on the phone from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM like back to back to back.

[00:38:50] So, That's an admin day. It's just kind of like that. And then I do emails and write content and things like that at night. Yeah. Oh. So there's long days, like, and then I go home and even though like I'm home, that's when I open up my email and I get back to e I'm, I'm not the greatest with email, but like that's when I respond to the important emails.

[00:39:12] That's when I'm posting my Instagram stories. . It's just, it is, it's a lot of hard work. I think people underestimate having your own business because when it is your business, it really doesn't sleep. It's kind of a 24 7 thing. And I think that most business owners will tell you that, like it's a lot of work, you know?

[00:39:35] Cause there's always something to do.

[00:39:37] Emily Thompson: There's always something to think about that's like, I'm always thinking about thinking about it. Even if I'm not doing it, I'm thinking it. Yeah. That is such a great little peek behind the scenes, what it is that you're doing. Question, if you are doing a cooking day, when is that epi or when is that episode obviously a podcaster here.

[00:39:55] When is that recipe going live?

[00:39:58] Tieghan Gerard: Usually I've been good enough. In the last couple years about it. Like, so that's like a week out? I have, yeah. At least a week of, of content. Sometimes it is the next, not, it's never the next day, but it could be the following day. Yeah. It just depends. It just depends, honestly, where I'm at.

[00:40:22] Like, I was just in New York for a week, so I'm pretty low on content. And the recipe that I made yesterday is gonna be Monday's recipe.

[00:40:32] Emily Thompson: Perfect. Perfect. Are you ever doing more than one recipe in a day, and are you being strategic with your recipes across an entire week?

[00:40:42] Tieghan Gerard: Well, I'm not sure what you mean about the strategic with my recipes about the entire, across an entire,

[00:40:47] Emily Thompson: like, like are you, are you meal planning your recipe tests basically?

[00:40:52] Tieghan Gerard: Not really. I am so. Ok, love it. I am so off the cuff. Yeah, But no, I usually try, I mean, some days it's only one recipe that I'm getting through, and some days it's two, some days it's three, but most of the time two is like a great average.

[00:41:11] Emily Thompson: Love it. And when it comes to planning out your content on whatever scale it is that you're doing, cause I know you do, you do baked goods, you'll do like a soup or some sort of just like hot cooked thing.

[00:41:25] And then cocktails, are you like thinking I've done, three hot meals, I need to do a baked good and a cocktail, or you or is there no strategy in that? Where do you fall on that?

[00:41:37] Tieghan Gerard: I mean, I try to like make sure that it's not a week long, a bunch of pastas or something like that. Sure. . I do, I, when I started, I was really, really particular for some reason about Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all like a savory dinner type of recipe or something like that.

[00:41:59] And Tuesday and Friday were something sweet. I've stuck with. Mentality for most of the 10 years, to be honest with you. Now I'm like a little bit more lenient with what Tuesday is. Sometimes Tuesday is like a fun appetizer or it's usually not a dinner. I think it's just nice to break those up. But, Friday is usually always some kind of sweet, I don't know, Friday just sounds, seemed like a fun day.

[00:42:29] do something. Sweet indeed. So I rolled with it, and then Saturday has always been my cocktail day. Especially like in the October, for the last. Gosh, like three years or so. I'm not even sure now it's, it's been a minute. I do cocktail Saturday through October, November and December. So like October is, the start of fall drinks.

[00:42:53] How some fun Halloween ones usually, because I love Halloween. I'm a holiday girl, Love the holidays. And then November is, holiday cocktails, entertaining cocktails in December is. Christmas cocktails and I have a lot of fun with them, so I always do. And that's six recipes a week on the cocktail days.

[00:43:15] But I have so much fun with those and those are just like a way for me that's just like a different kind of creativity that I have a lot of fun with. And I love holiday content. I'm very excited for the coming months.

[00:43:28] Emily Thompson: I can tell when you started talking about that. No one, no one can see this, but you just, like, you light up, you start talking with your hands a lot.

[00:43:35] You're so excited.

[00:43:35] Tieghan Gerard: I down, I'm down. I have like a little bit of a cold, so I'm like, pale is all ha right now. And you can just see it's like the, the, I love it.

[00:43:43] Emily Thompson: Love symbolic cocktails. Agreed. Agreed. I have tried several. They are fantastic. And actually what I wanna do too, for anyone who's interested in my favorite recipes of yours, I will make sure they are in the show notes.

[00:43:56] I'm gonna send those to a team.

[00:43:57] Tieghan Gerard: Wait, tell me one of yours. What's your favorite off top of your [00:44:00] head?

[00:44:00] Emily Thompson: Oh, my favorite, favorite. I've had it like two or three times. Always the summer for me. It's like the quintessential summer one, and I think it's like one of your most popular. It's that corn, bacon, chicken, like creamed corn situation.

[00:44:11] It's a good, That's a good recipe. Oh my God, everybody. It is delicious. Have you guys had to made that top? It is topnotch. I think about

[00:44:20] Tieghan Gerard: corn is, we're like at the end of corn right now, corn season. It's a good time to make it.

[00:44:25] Emily Thompson: Yeah. I, I squeezed one more time of making it out of our, the last corn that I could get as well.

[00:44:31] I was like, All right, these are like the sad pieces. Y'all, We can have it one more time. Yeah, one more time. Yeah. So that's, that's probably, that's my. Most top of my favorite, but I'll go through, add a couple to our show notes if anyone is interested. Emily's like , Emily's cherry picked faces.

[00:44:49] Tieghan Gerard: No, I'm, I'm curious.

[00:44:50] I wanna know .

[00:44:52] Emily Thompson: Perfect. Perfect. I'll make sure you have a link. So, I love this little peak because what I wanted to to illustrate for anyone listening is, is how it is that you go at content strategy. Again, I think a lot of people don't go into creating content on this level because they think they need to plan things a month in advance, or they need to have this incredibly rigid s trouble.

[00:45:16] Oh. Okay. So maybe lessons learned.

[00:45:19] Tieghan Gerard: Well, like I just won't be excited anymore and I won't use the content, so, Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have to feel excited about what I'm sharing. I have to feel excited.

[00:45:31] Emily Thompson: Yeah, I can totally see that. I can relate to that in seasons when we do a bunch of like really like batched up episodes cuz maybe I wanna take a month off or whatever it may be.

[00:45:42] I struggle with some of the ones that come out at the end of it because I don't even remember having that conversation or who was it? Or like someone will, email me like, I love that thing you said. And I'm like, what did I say? Like I don't. It's, it's difficult for me too.

[00:45:55] Tieghan Gerard: Well, I understand that too, but like also what I mean is that like I have to be excited in the moment of creating it.

[00:46:00] So if I'm creating recipes in August or November, I'm not excited. Yeah. And I'm not inspired. So that's kind of what I mean. Like I have to feel inspired in the time. And so because I'm creating for that time and then posting in that time, it just, That's why I'm not as, I would love to be months in advance on content in reality.

[00:46:21] Yeah. But like, I just need to feel really inspired, like on that day to create something. So that's why it's always really hard, like cookbooks are actually really, really hard for me because I'm essentially creating, a recipe for something that isn't going to be seen. Honestly, like two years. Yeah. And, it's can be really hard for me to like, be excited about that and to be like, like, I wanna create this.

[00:46:48] And a lot of times I'm creating things because you're creating cookbook content. Like a lot of times you're creating those recipes within a span of two months. So you could bere needing to create fall recipes in literally the spring. That's not like, I don't wanna be doing that. So that can, that's, that's what I mean by it being.

[00:47:08] Really hard for me to be in advance. Yeah. If that makes

[00:47:12] Emily Thompson: sense. It does. It makes perfect sense. Because what I'm also hearing here is that the, maybe one of the ways that you've been able to keep at content creation on this level, and not even content creation like that, just creativity like creation for creativity's sake, is that you have prioritized creating in the way.

[00:47:35] That keeps you inspired enough to keep creating. Whereas I feel like a lot of times people will over systemize or like, prioritize the wrong things, like being super ahead or making sure things are super strategically planned out to meet, x, y, or Z goal, whereas your goal is being Inspired enough to show up that day and do the thing.

[00:48:01] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah. And I would agree with that, and my, cookbook editors and publisher, they hate me because No, no, no. They, they, they hate me because the way that I like to do the books is really like, Way too fast for them, way too fast for them to, on their end, to actually like, create the book.

[00:48:23] Because I'm like, okay, well I wanna create the content this way and do it like this so that I'm excited about it. And then it's gonna publish in, six months. So you guys have like six months to take this and do it. They, whatever. Anyways, it's, it's very last minute with me and, They hate me for that, but they love the books.

[00:48:45] Emily Thompson: Right, Right. Yeah. So you can get your way in some things, at least. I think that's, I think that's such an important thing to highlight here is that, is that you have figured out what works for you and even if it doesn't work for, blueprints [00:49:00] or sort of blogging quote unquote best practices is more like what people want you to do.

[00:49:06] Tieghan Gerard: I don't follow most blogging best practice.

[00:49:09] Emily Thompson: Let me tell. Right. You shouldn't , you shouldn't. I think what you're doing is fantastic.

[00:49:15] Tieghan Gerard: Sorry.

[00:49:17] Emily Thompson: Right. But, but you're showing up to do it in the way that you most want to do it. And because of that, you've been able to stick around for this long creating, in this way, in a way that is, and I also just wanna highlight that like.

[00:49:31] A content creator creating some TikTok's or, or, even, even just a blog post, you're creating a recipe. You are photographing said food, you are then writing about it and then creating accompanying marketing or like, social media stuff around it. This is a vast creative process, and you have really found what most works for you.

[00:49:58] Did you always feel that way? If not, how long did it take you to get to that place?

[00:50:04] Tieghan Gerard: Well, I've always been in this place because I just always done it this way. I've tried to do it another way and it doesn't work for me. I've tried to sit and have days where I plan my days and I plan my weeks and I'm just,

[00:50:24] I can't do this. This is a waste of time for me. So I just stopped and I just do, It's, Is it chaotic? Do the people on my team kind of hate me for it? Absolutely. But also like at the end of the day, it's kind of how I get it done.

[00:50:42] Emily Thompson: Yeah. And it works. And like not only it's how you get it done, but people also love it.

[00:50:49] Tieghan Gerard: They just have weren't learned to work around it. , it's good. It's a madness, , but it does. At least you know it. It looks you. [00:51:00] You gotta do it works. You know you gotta do it works guys.

[00:51:04] Emily Thompson: Yeah, for sure. Oh, Tiegan, this has been such a pleasant conversation. I have so appreciated sort of a peak under the hood as to how it is that you are showing up and creating on this scale.

[00:51:15] I've always wondered, as a content creator myself, I'm always like, How in the world is she doing all this? One? I'm blown away that you are doing all of this yourself. I have the late nights . . Yeah. Right. But you also have, like, you have a very driven work, work ethic. We can talk about work life balance one day to see if that's really where you most want it to be, right?

[00:51:38] But like, but you're showing up and doing work in a way that feels really great to you. And I think as, as a someone who admires people's creative process, I do have to say I have some admiration for how it is that you show up and do this.

[00:51:55] Tieghan Gerard: Ah, thank you. I do, yeah. I really, I do. I think it's really about embracing.

[00:52:01] What works for you, Because especially in today, because there are so many things, you read online, this is how you should do it, and this is, this is the way that I did it and I found success. And it's like, But what works for you? Because what works for someone else might not work for you. We're all different, so, so different, So it's just like you gotta figure out

[00:52:24] how you work and what makes you work. And what's gonna make you show up. I mean, this is so cheesy, but like, show up and be your best self every single day.

[00:52:35] Emily Thompson: Absolutely. Oh, I think that's a really fabulous place to start wrapping this up. I do have a couple like final quick fiery questions for you. Number one, what is your favorite recipe?

[00:52:48] Tieghan Gerard: I hate when people ask me this.

[00:52:51] I'm just gonna be honest.

[00:52:54] It changes with the season. Yeah, it really does. It's, I'm such a seasonal, like I love a mood. Okay. So like I, in the summer, I love a light, airy, breezy mood in the fall, moody dark. Cozy. It depends on the month. If it's a Halloween month, my favorite recipe is definitely one of the cocktails that I'm sharing because they're so fun.

[00:53:19] So. I can't see you on my view.

[00:53:23] Emily Thompson: Okay. You don't have to. Then I have a follow up question that may be a little bit easier. We are recording this in September. I can't remember when this is going live. September, October. Somewhere around in there. Yeah. Given these vibes, Yeah. If you were to make a recommendation for someone wanting to check you out for the first time, what do you recommend they make?

[00:53:41] Tieghan Gerard: Okay, so we are entering fall. This is definitely gonna come out in the fall. I would do one of the Apple recipes or one of the pumpkin recipes, one of my favorite Apple recipes from years back. If you're a sweet person, you should try the apple cider donuts. They're baked, not fried, guys. Try those. They're really, really good.

[00:54:00] Or my apple salad, it's like an honey crisp apple and feta salad. It's so good. And if you are a pumpkin pumpkin lover, I have a lot of savory pumpkin recipes that are super delicious and a really easy, pumpkin ravioli or like a butternut squash pasta. There's some good fall recipes. My fall recipes, everybody that follows me will tell you are my bread.

[00:54:25] And.

[00:54:25] Emily Thompson: Yeah, for sure. Okay, perfect. We'll go look at some of those and put those in the show notes, but also you cannot go wrong. Go to her website, check them out, which is my sort of next question. Where can people find more about you, your books, and all of these fabulous recipes?

[00:54:40] Tieghan Gerard: Yeah. Half Baked Harvest is kind of the hub.

[00:54:43] You can find everything about me there. You can find my Instagram handle, which is also Half Baked Harvest. My TikTok, which is, I believe Half Baked Harvest. And, but everything is really kind of, you can find everything there. You can subscribe to the newsletter, get all of the recipes, and if you follow on Instagram for sure, you'll see a lot of behind the scenes on Instagram stories.

[00:55:07] Emily Thompson: Perfect. And my last question for you is, what makes you feel most boss?

[00:55:13] Tieghan Gerard: Oh, you know what, it's it's really creating a strong team and having a strong team cuz we're just really starting to do that. And it's one of the hardest things that I've had to do with owning your own business is, creating a team and learning how to be a boss.

[00:55:31] Because being a boss is really, really hard.

[00:55:34] Emily Thompson: Yeah, it is. Especially when you are used to doing all the things yourself.

[00:55:38] Tieghan Gerard: Exactly.

[00:55:40] Emily Thompson: Perfect. Tiegan, this has been such a treat. Thank you so much for coming and sharing this conversation with me. I'm about to go do some meal planning with your book.

[00:55:48] Tieghan Gerard: Aw, well,

[00:55:49] I hope you find some good recipes.

[00:55:51] Emily Thompson: I know I will. Thank you.

[00:55:53] Tieghan Gerard: Thanks for having me.

[00:55:57] Emily Thompson: All right, boss, because you're here, I know you want to be a better creative business owner, which means I've got something for you each week. The team at Bean Boss is scouring the news, the best entrepreneurial publications and updates and releases of the apps and tools that run our businesses, and is curating it all into a weekly email that delivers the must know tips and tactics in the realms of mindset, money, and productivity.

[00:56:20] This email is called Brewed. We brew it up for you each week to give you the insight you need to make decisions and move forward in your creative business. Check it out now and sign up for yourself at beingboss.club/brewed. That's beingboss.club/B R E W E D. Now, until next time, do the work, be boss.[00:57:00]