We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keir & Ashley Swisher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keir & Ashley below.

Keir & Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?

The Farm & The Odd Fellows has been quite the adventure. We captured the essence of repurposing an old building into a little lesson about love, an experience about life and family project about resilience! Building a business is never easy and going about restoring a place that was once a community cornerstone was even more humbling. However, we would do it again. The people we have done life with through this understood the mission. It has not been easy and definitely is still far from the fairytale ending, but the journey is the story. For that, we are grateful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Keir fell in love with medicine from his many emergency room visits growing up. Ashley was mentored by her older in dentistry. We met at Bethany College playing basketball. Thriving on competition, we both enjoy challenges and look for opportunities to grow where we make ourselves uncomfortable. This was certainly that! Growing up on a farm, we know hardships. We also are from small towns where communities are strong and relationships are important. Therefore, we wanted to help grow that in the community we chose to raise our boys. Our renovation of the property downtown was inspired by wanting to create a space where people gather. We also wanted to help create small town charm to big city experiences. We felt like bringing this to our community would help those in our area who may not have the opportunity to travel gain education about what the world has to offer while showing those visiting from out of town what small town hospitality has to offer. Our desire to utilize this space was also in trying to value history.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Our family and business have pivoted quite a bit the last 3 years. First, Keir transitioned from a clinical physician, department co-director and board member role at a large hospital where he spent time in meetings and managing others to a purely clinical physician role. Although he loved being a part of a big vision the time constraints away from his family left him remembering why he went into medical practice in the first place and focusing on the priorities at hand for this time in his life. The decision was extremely difficult for him since he was in an ideal role in his career and was a part of a group of colleagues that he really enjoyed. However, it has opened other opportunities for him and given him some time back as well as reminded him that getting uncomfortable is where growth happens. Ashley has built a practice in a time that most private practices are selling out to large corporations and her growth makes hers an ideal candidate for that. However, knowing the vision she set for All Smiles and staying true to those roots, helped her remain patient for the right growth once the right people came aboard. This next year, two young small town ladies will join her practice so she will have time to enjoy her growing boys in this vital time while still taking care of the growing practice’s patients. The Farm flexibility also continues. We are constantly shifting and maintaining open mindedness for what God has in store for the space and the activities there.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Staying humble!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thefarmminneapolis.com
• Instagram: The Farm & The Odd Fellows
• Facebook: The Farm & The Odd Fellows

Image Credits

These were taken by us.