Episode 161: A Pastor's Side Hustle with Ruth Hetland

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[00:00:30] Hello and welcome to Church and Main, the podcast at the intersection of faith and modern

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[00:01:09] So over the last few years, I've started to hear this phrase that I hadn't really heard

[00:01:16] before.

[00:01:17] It's kind of a newer phrase.

[00:01:19] It might be now new to you as well.

[00:01:22] Side hustle.

[00:01:24] Side hustle is a way to make money in addition to your full-time or part-time job.

[00:01:29] It can also be a way to explore a new career, probably an older term for that would have

[00:01:36] been moonlighting.

[00:01:40] Side hustles can be a way for folk in jobs that may not pay very well, like I don't

[00:01:47] know, being a pastor in a congregation, to earn some money.

[00:01:54] And also to gain some new skills.

[00:01:57] And today, we're going to talk to someone that is engaged in a side hustle, a pastor

[00:02:03] engaged in a side hustle, Ruth Hetland.

[00:02:06] She is a Lutheran pastor living in here in Minnesota and she started a side hustle a

[00:02:12] few years ago to support women in ministry.

[00:02:15] Now, I've known Ruth since our days in seminary back in the late 1990s and I especially got

[00:02:21] to know her very well during a seminary trip to China.

[00:02:26] Since then, this pastor's daughter has served as a pastor herself in congregations in New

[00:02:31] York State, Texas, Colorado and Minnesota.

[00:02:36] And she is currently an interim minister at an ELCA Lutheran congregation in northern

[00:02:40] Minnesota.

[00:02:41] In this interview we talk about how she started Consecrate in 2020 and how it has grown

[00:02:47] in the intervening years.

[00:02:49] Consecrate is a subscription box service serving primarily women in ministry and it has

[00:02:54] grown to over 500 subscribers from various denominations.

[00:03:02] In the interview, we talk about what letter to start a side hustle and also what advice

[00:03:07] she has to other pastors that might be interested in trying a side hustle of their own.

[00:03:14] One note, Ruth was getting over a cold and so I kind of edited out some of the portions

[00:03:21] where it was really for her, it was kind of coughing fits and things to that extent.

[00:03:26] So we've edited those out but just if you notice some kind of missing gaps or things

[00:03:35] or just even in the way she is talking, that's what's happening which actually is mirroring

[00:03:40] what I'm dealing with right now because I'm getting over a cold.

[00:03:45] So my voice is a little bit lower than usual but with all of that, let's listen in to this

[00:03:53] conversation with the Reverend Ruth Hetland.

[00:04:10] All right, well Ruth, thank you for joining me on the podcast today.

[00:04:40] It's been, we've known each other for many years over 20 years now especially our time

[00:04:47] together out in Hong Kong and in China.

[00:04:51] And so it's been great to try to also follow your career and calling as a pastor and so

[00:04:58] glad we kind of had this time to chat.

[00:05:01] Thank you so much Dennis for inviting me to come and yes, it's so nice to see you.

[00:05:06] It's been a long time since we were traveling around China and oh gosh, yeah that was a while ago.

[00:05:13] Yes it has, hard to believe.

[00:05:18] So I think first before we kind of go in to consecrate just to let people know a little bit about

[00:05:24] who you are and your ministry and all of that.

[00:05:30] Okay so I and I'll apologize to your audience too that I have a cold right now.

[00:05:36] So my voice, I sound a little bit more gravely than I usually do but so I live in Detroit

[00:05:44] Lakes Minnesota.

[00:05:45] I grew up in Minnesota and but my I'm a ELCA Lutheran pastor and I have been now for 24

[00:05:56] years and my first call was in upstate New York and then my second call was in Colorado

[00:06:05] and then we were in Texas for a few years before I came back to Minnesota and we've been

[00:06:10] back here now, boy eight years and I have two sons.

[00:06:18] They are 17 and 16 so they're at the end of high school and they're wonderful boys and

[00:06:26] I so and right now I serve a church in Monoman which is about 45 minutes from here to

[00:06:36] in Detroit Lakes and I'm a part-time interim.

[00:06:40] So just a couple days a week I go up there and then otherwise I work on my business.

[00:06:45] All right and so speaking of that business what led you to start it?

[00:06:50] When did you start it?

[00:06:52] And then kind of what was the background?

[00:06:55] What made you decide I'm going to start this as you call it a side hustle.

[00:07:00] Yeah, well I had always been interested in different projects.

[00:07:08] I've loved the work I do as a minister but also just I'm interested in a lot of things

[00:07:13] and honestly always trying to earn a little extra money because it seems like you're trying

[00:07:19] to make ends meet and so I had tried different projects.

[00:07:25] I was always trying different things with writing and writing for different publications.

[00:07:31] I did that quite a bit and just different things I would try.

[00:07:35] I would listen to all these podcasts about side hustles and so it was in 2020 that well

[00:07:46] earlier in that year a friend and I were having a conversation.

[00:07:51] And we were talking about she had just gotten a subscription box for the first time and

[00:08:00] she was telling me about it and it sounded kind of interesting and right that same day

[00:08:06] I was listening to one of my side hustle podcasts and it was talking about it was a woman

[00:08:12] who had started a subscription box.

[00:08:15] It was for a different group of people but then the person who is in charge of the podcast

[00:08:23] after the podcast, after his interview part was done he was kind of talking about how

[00:08:30] her business had been so successful because she found a group of people who were underserved

[00:08:37] and found a way to serve them.

[00:08:40] And it was a group of people that she knew well and I was just thinking about how there's

[00:08:46] getting to be more and more things that are created just for women in ministry but for

[00:08:53] a long time there wasn't much at all.

[00:08:57] Then I went on to a Facebook group that I'm a part of with women in ministry and I just

[00:09:03] said, you know if I were to create something like this subscription box for women in

[00:09:09] ministry because at the beginning it was very specifically just women that it was for

[00:09:16] I said would you be interested and there was a lot of excitement about the idea.

[00:09:23] And so I thought well why not try this?

[00:09:26] Why not just give it a try and see what happens, I don't have anything to lose.

[00:09:30] And so then I started listening to podcasts, there's podcasts about everything which is

[00:09:36] so beautiful, you know.

[00:09:38] You can learn anything you want to know and there was one very specifically for a few

[00:09:43] were interested in starting a subscription box.

[00:09:45] And so I followed that, I did everything she said to do and so yeah so then in the event

[00:09:56] of 2020 was when it started.

[00:10:01] And how did it, what was the beginning like?

[00:10:06] How many people did you start to get who were interested in getting subscriptions?

[00:10:11] Well it was kind of funny because my husband was he liked to do some woodworking and so

[00:10:19] he was trying to be supportive and he came up with this idea for an advent candle holder

[00:10:27] and it was really pretty and he said you know I could make this for your first box.

[00:10:33] You know he thought there might be like 20 subscribers tops that he'd have to make

[00:10:38] these four and then we ended up with 170 for the first box.

[00:10:44] And he's like I'm never making anything for this box ever again but he made all those

[00:10:49] candle holders and they were so popular that people wanted to order more of them.

[00:10:55] So then he made a few extra but yeah it started off strong and it grew fast.

[00:11:01] It grew fast like up to 500 within the first six months and then now we kind of hover

[00:11:10] at that 500 mark mark.

[00:11:15] And what does the subscription box include how, what kind of things does it have?

[00:11:24] And then who usually orders are they people who are ordering them as gifts or is it people

[00:11:29] kind of ordering for themselves?

[00:11:31] Well yes I try to have it be a good mix of items that are useful and inspiring and funny

[00:11:44] you know, like kind of humor that ministers would get.

[00:11:49] I really like to support ministers who are making things.

[00:11:54] So almost every month there's something in the box that a minister has made whether it's

[00:12:03] a book or maybe we have ministers who like a beekeeper who we've had his honey in the box.

[00:12:14] Minister who's a baker she made cookie you know a decorated cookie I mean just everything

[00:12:19] you can imagine and so yeah it's a balance of like five to six items and I try to have

[00:12:27] it be just a good mixture of items and then either from creative ministers or other small businesses.

[00:12:36] And how helpful I mean you saw a need there and I think one is kind of looking at

[00:12:47] these boxes to help support especially women in ministry.

[00:12:52] How would you describe what why was there in that way and this is probably one of those questions

[00:12:59] that I could always I could answer but why was there a need for these type of boxes especially

[00:13:07] for women who are in who are called to ministry and I guess one trying to say is what has the kind

[00:13:15] of the outlook been and and I know that there are some still in this day and age challenges

[00:13:21] for women in ministry. Yeah you know I thought a lot about when I was first starting out and

[00:13:29] you know my first call I was single and I was that you know I'll be myself to a western New York

[00:13:38] and didn't know a soul and getting happy male you know meant everything and I know we live in

[00:13:45] a much more digital age now but happy male is still a beautiful thing and and especially when

[00:13:53] I don't know it's something that is supporting these side projects of other ministers too because

[00:14:00] I know how much life I get from my things I do outside of ministry how they add to my ministry

[00:14:09] and so to support the things that they do and share with other people around the country

[00:14:14] in the world it's really been a beautiful thing and you know I don't know for and women are

[00:14:22] really good at supporting other women too I think like I just you know all of my subscribers have

[00:14:29] been such cheerleaders from the very start and and so it's a beautiful community that gets built too

[00:14:35] and like how they talk to each other on our Instagram page and we've built a book group where now

[00:14:45] we have a book group that meets monthly we actually have a trip excuse me we're doing a trip

[00:14:53] in January and they're all consecrate people and so you know getting to know each other too and

[00:14:59] building community so I should want to kind of curiosity how he's had is what made you decide

[00:15:08] to come up with the name consecrate so I had a big list of names when I was trying to come up with

[00:15:16] the name like amazing crates and how great that art and you know different things like that but

[00:15:30] consecrate seemed to just seemed right from the start yeah and are you getting

[00:15:39] requests from people from I mean obviously as a Lutheran pastor a lot of Lutheran ministers but

[00:15:47] other ministers from other denominations yeah in fact I have subscribers who are I mean all

[00:16:00] across the mainline denominations a lot a lot of unanimous this a lot of Presbyterian

[00:16:08] I mean I don't even know that Lutheran is our majority so that's that's really been a fun thing too

[00:16:16] because with the book group and with the trip that we're doing it's this cool cool way for

[00:16:23] ministers across denominations to spend time together too. So about that trip that's coming up

[00:16:30] to believe tell me a little bit about that what is the the goal there the plans and what how did

[00:16:37] that actually come to be. So it came about on a winter day in Minnesota when I was thinking I've got

[00:16:53] to get away and I understand that. Yes and I happened to have a good friend who just what she

[00:17:03] has had her own business for for a while a travel company she's a pastor as well and Sarah Raymond

[00:17:12] her tour company is called Sunlight Tours and we had just had coffee and I had been toying around

[00:17:20] with this idea of a trip for a while but then I thought well you know excuse me

[00:17:29] you know I have this idea and I have this group of people and I also also have a travel

[00:17:36] person who can help me plan it so why don't we just plan something and

[00:17:40] I didn't even the only direction I gave Sarah was warm I want it to be warm in January

[00:17:48] and I wanted it to be in January because that just seemed like a good time before land after Christmas you know

[00:17:56] the once sabbatical I've taken it was January February March it was just perfect you know perfect

[00:18:02] to get away and so she had some connections with Belize

[00:18:09] and so that's why we decided on that for the first one and it's going to be

[00:18:16] just a lot of rest and adventure and time together we also have a spiritual director who's going

[00:18:24] who's going to be leading sub sessions you know excuse me on self-care and the we call these

[00:18:37] consecrate out of the box and kind of the theme of the first retreat is sort of that idea that we all

[00:18:46] all put ourselves in boxes of how we think we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to act and

[00:18:52] what would it be like if we didn't you know have that box and if we let ourselves think bigger

[00:18:59] and more different and differently and so and I'm I've really really gotten into yoga in the last

[00:19:07] few years and so I I did my yoga teacher training this past year just so I would be able to also

[00:19:15] lead yoga at the retreats for anybody that would like to do it so I think it's going to be

[00:19:20] I think it's going to be fun we've got a group of 20 women who are going this January

[00:19:29] so if there are ministers out there who are interested and as like a lot of ministers I think a

[00:19:38] lot of ministers are always looking at other sources of income because of course

[00:19:47] being a minister does not make you rich what would you suggest how would you suggest that they look

[00:19:53] into other into into side hustles that are not simply just even just a paycheck but also

[00:20:04] something that allows them to do what they part of their kind of maybe vocation or avocation.

[00:20:12] You know the best thing that I did there's a podcast called side hustle school

[00:20:19] and um what's fun about it he does an episode every day and it's just they're really short episodes like

[00:20:27] five minutes long and everyone features a different something that some other regular person has

[00:20:35] done to create you know extra income or side project in their life and and it's just so wonderful

[00:20:44] to see the variety out there and and to think about that excuse me if all these people came up with

[00:20:53] some idea that you know has been a blessing in their life and life giving to them and and maybe

[00:21:00] has brought them a little extra cash I bet I could come up with something too and and also that idea of

[00:21:06] maybe the first thing you try isn't going to be what you end up doing but then try something else

[00:21:14] you know what does it hurt to just to try something and we have all of this experience I mean

[00:21:23] you know like if you had told me four years ago that I'd be running a business I would just

[00:21:28] have laughed because I have no business training whatsoever and yet everything about

[00:21:35] my life as a minister informs what I do with consecrate you know it just feeds it feeds into it

[00:21:42] and yeah it had to learn a lot of things too but you know all the life experience that we bring

[00:21:49] to these things it it matters so yeah so I don't know I guess it's this blending of what are you

[00:21:58] interested in what would what makes you excited to get out of bed and talk to people and engage with

[00:22:06] the world and excuse me as Rob Bell would say just throwing things at the wall and see what sticks

[00:22:15] and yeah yeah I think that's something that is important and especially I think it's interesting

[00:22:25] because more and more I think the future of the church as churches are not as large as they

[00:22:32] once were so salaries are not going to be as large as they once were that pastors are going to have

[00:22:41] to find ways of being creative and in remaining true to their call but also finding ways of

[00:22:49] of finding sustainable sources of income as well. Yes that's so true and

[00:22:58] and it's it's made me enjoy my ministry I do a lot more because I'm

[00:23:04] I'm less worried about the money piece of how much the church can afford to pay me when

[00:23:13] you know I've got this other piece that where money comes in and so I don't know it just helps

[00:23:19] helps me free up my mind so I'm not worried so much about well how's the church budget doing

[00:23:26] you know and just be able to do ministry so it's all tied together. Yeah

[00:23:34] so what do you think is the where do you see consecrate going in the future

[00:23:41] are there any kind of big plans or ramping up or yeah um well the the journey to Belize is

[00:23:52] the first in a series so like when we're in Belize we're going to announce where the next one

[00:23:58] is going so so excuse me it's kind of and you know as long as people are interested in going

[00:24:08] I think that would be a fun series to continue to do to once a year have this trip for

[00:24:14] women in ministry so that's a big one.

[00:24:17] mm-hmm

[00:24:24] and I have to add one of the things that I've enjoyed um

[00:24:30] especially as you're putting out new product and merchandise

[00:24:35] I saw that you have a new teacher out um the one that has both a man and a woman

[00:24:43] and I have the one that says male pastor um and I kept seeing that it's like I think I want that um

[00:24:50] because I think that there you know obviously I get the joke um and I think there's something kind

[00:24:56] of cool about that. Yeah that's um yeah so probably about a year ago

[00:25:04] I started an Etsy shop where I have t-shirts and cups and things because

[00:25:09] you know there's some people who love the surprise element of well what's coming in the box

[00:25:16] well let's see what's coming in the box but but then there's other people who don't like the

[00:25:20] surprise they want to know what they're getting and so yeah and so I thought well I'm going to

[00:25:24] make it at see shop where people can get an idea of you know my sense of humor and

[00:25:31] and and then just buy things and see what they're buying and actually get them all a cart you know

[00:25:37] and so that's been really fun too to to design those things and uh I get a lot of joy

[00:25:46] and then sometimes just you know like I think boy I really think this funny I wonder if

[00:25:52] I want I think this is funny I wonder if anyone else will think this is funny and then it's such a joy

[00:25:56] because you know we all you know other ministers get it and then they laugh too and

[00:26:03] maybe people who aren't ministers don't get it but but who cares if they don't think it's funny

[00:26:10] that's okay everyone has their own you know so on style and everything but yeah I saw that

[00:26:15] and it's like I will be getting that at some point so I just thought okay I like that

[00:26:22] I do so yeah so yeah and I've loved to like um you know as I put things out there a lot

[00:26:32] of times customers customers will come come to me like if they like a design but they would like

[00:26:39] something slightly different then it gives me a whole other idea of something I can make and put

[00:26:44] up in the shop so my customers have been a great a great help to my business in a lot of ways

[00:26:50] awesome yeah so if people want to know more about Consecrate um forget its description or even go

[00:26:59] to your Etsy place where should they go on the internet so the website for

[00:27:09] consicrate is consicrate.createjoi.com and then on Etsy it's we're called Consecrate Box

[00:27:19] so just all one word the regular just consicrate was taken so consicrate box so someday

[00:27:27] everything will be under the same website but we're not at that point yeah so yeah but yeah

[00:27:36] comment come and take a look at what's there and I remember us as Christmas is coming if you

[00:27:43] ask. Exactly. And there are a lot of if you want to say thank you to your pastor or kind of a

[00:27:50] Christmas place this is probably where you want to go. Yes you won't find you won't find I like to

[00:27:59] think that it's pretty unique some of the things that you'll find to consicrate. Well Ruth thank

[00:28:06] you for taking the time to chat this was really great and thank you for your business

[00:28:12] I think that that is a going to be it's been a help for a lot of people and I'm thankful to see

[00:28:18] the joy that is brought to you as you are continuing your ministry and hope to have you back on

[00:28:25] the podcast soon yeah a little bit more about women in ministry especially and maybe about the

[00:28:30] retreat. Yes I'd love to talk more and hopefully that day I won't be coughing and also a little more

[00:28:37] like myself but thank you so much for having me Dennis. All right take care. You too.

[00:29:07] Well I hope that you enjoyed that interview with Ruth Hetland and thank you for taking the time to

[00:29:23] listen. As usual there are going to be links of interest that are going to be included in the show

[00:29:31] notes there are links there for Ruth's business consicrate. Also there is a link to a new podcast

[00:29:40] that she is doing called created creative she's doing that with someone else and so I wanted to

[00:29:48] link to that podcast and hopefully that you would consider giving it a listen. So that's it for this

[00:29:55] episode of church and main remember as always to write and review this episode on your favorite

[00:30:02] podcast app so that others can find the podcast and consider donating so that we can continue

[00:30:07] to produce more episodes. I'm Dennis Sanders your host again as I always like to say thank you so

[00:30:14] much for listening take care Godspeed and I will see you very soon.