Behind the Magic – Walking Deer Snack Company

Today on Behind the Magic, I interview the dynamic couple behind my favorite snack right now, Walking Deer Snack Company. They make the best trail mix I’ve eaten and I currently can’t get enough of them.

This interview is going to be the last for our first season and I’d like to thank everyone for reading, commenting and supporting it. It is my goal to always inspire people through story telling, and create a platform where we can have real and honest conversations about life, business and style.

I’m hoping to return with a bang at the end of the Summer with more fun and inspiring content. Until then, SUBSCRIBE to my blog and get fresh content about my adventures, travel, life and style. Enjoy!

1. Can you introduce yourselves and your business?

Our names are Cadie and Walker Gamble, and the name of our company is Walking Deer Snack Co. We work to provide the best snacking experience for our customers by allowing them to customize and personalize their own trail mix. We also provide pre-made packs and bulk orders for businesses.

2. Can you describe yourselves and your personality?
We love new adventures and our trail mix business is one of the biggest adventures we’ve taken on! We love seeing new places and have a love of helping people.

We also have a 5-year-old spoiled mutt named Daisy!

3. What’s your educational background?

Currently Walker is in Graduate School getting his Masters in Business Administration. Before Walker started his MBA, we both graduated in New Media Communication from Centenary College of Louisiana.

4. What inspired you both to start a business and what’s your mission?

We decided to start Walking Deer Snack Co. after having a hard time finding trail mix that had everything we liked, especially since I cannot have any trail mix that contains gluten. Our mission is to provide our customers with trail mix with everything they like and nothing they do not.

5. Who has influenced you the most and what inspires you now?

We have been very influenced by successful entrepreneurs and start up businesses. We are constantly reading articles, watching shows and listening to podcasts that feature entrepreneurs. These start up stories inspire us to make our business and journey better and we hope we can learn from their past mistakes. We love watching Shark Tank and seeing entrepreneurs growing their businesses.

6. Did you always know what you wanted to do with your life?

Walker is a born entrepreneur and he’s always known he wanted to start his own business. While I have always been interested in marketing. When this idea came up, it was the perfect opportunity to bring the two loves and interests together for this company.

7. Any advice for people who are struggling with finding their passion or career paths?

I think the advice we could give is to just keep trying until you find something you love! You have your whole life to figure it out, there’s no rush, just go for it!

8. How did you create your business and how long did it take, from idea to launch?

From idea to launch, it took about a month. A few weeks after the launch, we started selling online and started to get multiple orders a day.

Walking Deer Snack Co. started for several weeks as just an idea. We decided to buy a few pounds of nuts and test it out on our parents and friends and it went from there. Once we figured out this business could work, we started working on our website. It took a few weeks to perfect the website and once it was ready, we created social media pages and promoted it on Facebook and had all of our friends share our page on social media. Once friends shared it we started getting orders and it went from there!

9. What has been some of your biggest challenges as business owners and how did you deal with it?

As a business owner, one of our biggest challenges at the beginning was finding time to set to make our business great and fulfill orders. I have a full time job and Walker is a full time student in graduate school.  Our schedules make it very difficult to find the time for Walking Deer Snack Co. but we realized we needed to make a schedule to fulfill orders and spend time on marketing. Based on our schedule currently, we fulfill orders Tuesday and Thursday and ship out Wednesday and Fridays. We also spend a few hours a week on marketing and PR.

10. What’s your biggest fear and how do you deal with it?

Our biggest fear is not doing what we love in life.

11. What’s your favorite thing to do and why?

One of our favorite things to do is to travel. We love seeing new places and being together on new adventures! One of our inspirations for this company came from traveling. Trail mix was an easy snack that we could take hiking, kayaking or walking and all over the world!

12. Where are you from and what’s your favorite thing about your city?

Walker is from Shreveport, Louisiana and I’m from Houston, Texas. We both met in Shreveport during college and moved to Houston after graduation, for Walker to go to grad school. Our favorite things about Houston are the opportunities and all of the stores and restaurants we didn’t have in Shreveport.

13. Where’s your favorite place to go and why?

Buffalo Bayou Park on a nice spring day! We’re lucky to have so many beautiful places to spend the day outside in Houston.

14. What does creativity mean to you and what’s your creative process?

Creativity allows us to not have limits during brainstorming and our thought processes. We both have a graphic design background and we both have different ways for our creative process. I like to think big and sketch out ideas, where as Walker likes to think practical and go straight into a project.

15. Can you describe your personal style in 3 words?

Laid back, creative, organized.

16. What’s your go to outfit of the day and why?

My go to outfit is jeans, tank top and a colored cardigan. Walker’s go to outfit is shorts and a t-shirt.

17. What’s your favorite type of clothes or accessory?

I’m a very frugal shopper and loves any clothing and accessories I can find on a bargain. When I do splurge, I love long statement necklaces.

Walker never takes his Chaco sandal’s off.

18. If you could raid someone’s closet or go shopping with someone, who would it be?

Oprah!

19. Favorite fashion trend of all time and why?

I love Boyfriend jeans and an easy jacket!

20. Favorite clothing designer?

I am constantly changing and can’t choose just one! I love any designer that can provide a natural and laid back look!

21. Which do you prefer, reading or watching TV?

We both love watching movies and TV shows! We usually binge on new Netflix series on weekends or before we go to bed. We recently finished 13 Reasons Why.

22. What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

On our honeymoon we traveled across the world to Tokyo, Bangkok and ended in Indonesia. It was the best adventure we’ve ever been on!

23. Tea or Coffee?

Tea! We live off the soothing flavors of Tea and have a collection of mugs that we use everyday from around the world.

24. Beer or Cocktail and person you’d most like to have a drink with?

Cocktails! I’m allergic to beer and Walker makes the best cocktails! We’d love to have a drink with the sharks from Shark Tank.

25. Favorite food and favorite place to eat in your city?

Either Mexican/Tex-Mex or Italian. 100% Taquito and Berryhill are two of our favorites in Houston.

26. What does your normal day look like and how do you maintain a balance in your life?

Our normal day includes balancing a full time job, freelance jobs and a being a full time student. We try to find and schedule time to hang out with friends, have great meals and of course continue excelling at our business! We have a shared google calendar for our schedule.

27. What does success in life mean to you and what does that look like?

Ultimately, happiness means success in life to us. It looks like being content with what we have and what we are doing. We both value experiences more than things.

28. What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned within the last year and do you have any regrets?

In the past year, we have both learned if we have an idea we need to go for it! We have also learned that we are the best team together and we need to live life to the fullest. By living this way, we try not to have any regrets in life.

29. How do you give back in your community and how do you want to be remembered?

We both volunteer in the community when we can and we want to be remembered for making a difference, even if it is a small one.

30. How can people contact and follow you

To order and learn more about Walking Deer Snack Co.
Website: http://walkingdeer.com/
Say hello:
Email: Hello@walkingdeer.com
Follow:
Instagram: Walkingdeersnacks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/walkingdeersnacks/

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