Evereve’s co-founder and co-CEO, Megan Tamte, joins me to discuss making new, very close friends later in life. And by later, we mean any time in adult life. We talked about how to reach out to potential friends, how to hear “no,” how to say “no,” reaching out to old friends, and real friends vs. deal friends. Megan also gave me some emergency fashion advice at the end.
I recently saw a story on the Today Show about two women who traveled around the world together. They promised they would do this for their 80th birthdays. While I was interested in the framing of this story as two best friends making this commitment and keeping it, it was the line that said they’d been friends for 20 years that really got me excited. They met when they were 60!
It is never too late to make new, close friends, but we need to be in the right frame of mind and right time of life to let those friendships soar. Megan and I discussed this new frame of mind and time of life. And Megan also stepped in with some much-needed fashion advice for me!
Meet Megan Tamte
Megan Tamte is a visionary entrepreneur. Twenty-some years ago, a dressing room disaster inspired her to reimagine the women’s shopping experience, and today, she’s the co-founder, co-CEO , and Chief Brand Officer of EVEREVE, a contemporary fashion retailer with over one million customers, 100+ stores in 30+ states, a booming e-commerce business and a fast-growing subscription box service, Trendsend.
When she’s not leading EVEREVE with her co-CEO and husband, Mike, Megan is sharing her retail knowledge and expertise with aspiring entrepreneurs, and proudly serving four other organizations, as Board member of the Chicago-based Common Ground Foundation, a board member of Warners’ Stellian & Jaxen Grey fellow Minnesota-based retailesr, and the Global Leadership Network. Megan recently joined a team that welcomes refugees to Minnesota through the organization, Arrive Ministries.
Find Evereve on their site and Instagram! And Megan has a great Instagram account of her own.
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Detailed Highlights from my conversation with Megan
First, we talked about the sacrifices Megan made to build Evereve—mainly the sacrifice of a social life in her 30s and some of her 40s.
Steps Megan used to make new friends in this new stage of life:
- Megan chose a day of the week that she would say yes to invitations or to actively schedule social outings.
- She was courageous about reaching out to women who seemed interesting to her.
- She didn’t take it personally when people said no or made it clear it wasn’t the right time.
- She allowed new friends to introduce her to other new friends. (And appreciated it when they did.)
- She reached out to old friends, even if they lived out of town.
How to say no:
If the person doesn’t time though . . . how to say no. I loved Megan’s experssion, “I wish I could.” She genuinely meant this, but truly could not schedule things while growing the business and taking care of her family.
The difference between “real friends” and “deal friends”
We discussed when building friendships during and after a big career, having to be attuned to whether people want a friendship or a business connection. Sometimes you actually have to ask!
Not to say there isn’t a place for “deal friends.” I love talking about writing and podcasting with certain friends.
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2 Responses
Great interview! Checking out her store now…
Hi Anne! Love seeing you here. Thanks so much for listening!!