Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Waller.
Lindsay, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Alex and Lindsay Waller, a Mechanical Engineer and Art Educator, have always been “DIY Project People”; anything we dream up we like to do ourselves. Whether it’s a small home renovation, building an outdoor shed, designing a garden….or a small business…no project seemed too big when we combined our strengths. A High Achieving Engineer and a Perfectionist Artist…what could go wrong!?
Alex grew up assisting his dad in wine making, later brewing his own Mead and finally dabbling in Home brewing Craft Beer. Lindsay taught Art in De Soto and Olathe for 12 years until needing a change from Education after making it through the Covid years.
We moved our Family to De Soto from Olathe looking for a bit of land and instantly fell in love with De Soto’s small downtown district. Already lovers of Craft Beer, we’d describe what kind of beer we’d make if we ever did it seriously and brag about how cute our small town was but how it lacked one thing in particular….our dear friends encouraged us to make the Herbal Infused Brewery a reality and bring something really great into De Soto: a small family owned brewpub that strives to create a connected community inspired by great flavors, great art and great music.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Having never started a business, let alone a business dealing with Alcohol in Kansas, we faced many struggles along the way that included: securing the location, working with our Landlord, hiring an architect, overseeing the work of the Contractor to update the 1902 building with plumbing and structural supports, partnering with strangers to build the business, collecting the furniture and glassware, testing recipes, building the beer truck, attending events to get our name out and test our product, finding investors, writing business plans…there was a LOT that needed to be done JUST right and almost always some kind of delay or error in the way.
You need many different licenses for this business and obtaining the correct ones was a challenging process; initially the State declined our Microbrewery License as a result of our building being too close to the church down the street. This would have caused us to not be able to brew our beer on site. Fortunately the State decided a few inches wasn’t worth the fight.
While all the challenges mentioned above pertain to building and preparing the physical brewery, there were, and still are, endless emotional struggles to running a small business. The time it takes away from our family to vacation or relax together, the pressure that comes from the public responding to the kind of business you are trying to be vs. what they think you should be, the emotional and mental challenge of changing careers, the learning curve is steep and you have to stay persistent and believe in what you are building.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Lindsay Waller has a Masters in Art Education from the University of Missouri. She taught Art at the Elementary Level in De Soto for 6 years and at the Middle School Level in Olathe for 6 years. She is a musician and visual artist who sings, plays harmonica and creates large-scale landscape tapestry weavings. As an Art Educator, Lindsay was very involved in the state and national level Kansas Art Educator Conferences leading workshops and meetings for her educator peers. 12 years of teaching developed her ability to see the bigger picture and perfect planning a Scope and Sequence for learning Art that is still supports Art Educators and students all over.
Lindsay understands that people want unique and creative experiences and attempts to design those for her brewery using tastes, sights and sounds that produce a positive affect. She invites local musicians to perform and local artists to show and sell their work. Lindsay also uses her creative skills to produce all the marketing and advertising for Force of Nature. Every event that takes place at the brewery or post you see on social media is created, designed or initiated by Lindsay. Every piece of furniture in the brewery or glass you drink out of was hand picked by Lindsay after searching through all the local thrift and antique stores.
What has always set her apart from others is her inability to say “no, I can’t do that”…because she just don’t think it’s true. Lindsay has always believed she could do anything she wanted to, and so she does unabashedly and unforgivingly.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
As a self-conscious 20 year old I visited New Mexico with a family friend. We stayed with another family and one night went out to dinner where there was a band playing live music outside. As we were walking by the mom from our group ran up towards the band and just started dancing on her own, all alone. I was struck with her bravery and spirit: I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be a person who danced when I wanted to dance and not care about who was watching or not dancing with me.
That moment changed me: If she could be brave enough to dance out loud, then I could too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.forceofnaturebrewing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forceofnaturebrewing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Forceofnaturebrewing/
