Meet Byron Stithem | Founder Proper Sake / Rice Vice

We had the good fortune of connecting with Byron Stithem and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Byron, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
When I first started Proper I found myself getting trapped in the minutiae and would frequently find myself “working to be working”. Not that it doesn’t happen anymore, but I think I’ve gotten better about asking myself, “Is this a project that can yield fruit, or is this just busy work that I’ve created for myself?”

More importantly as a parent, everything gets weighed against the amount of time a project will take my attention away from the family. I’ve really had to learn how to say “No” politely with more regularity…

What should our readers know about your business?
The most unique and/or ridiculous thing about Proper Sake is that we’re a sake brewery (one of very few) based in the U.S. The really wacky part is that sake only makes up about .002% of North American alcohol sales, which means we really have our work cut out for us… There are a few reasons why the big alcohol companies aren’t invested in the space but the biggest is that sake is really time/labor intensive and specialized. That said as we continue to grow the market, we are able to take an increasingly larger part of this small piece and hopefully help it to grow into something more substantial. There’s a lot more room to grow here, but I believe we’ve carved a very unique corner out of the market that will hopefully blossom when the time is right.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Foods:
Peninsula
Smith & Lentz
Dreamburger
SS Gai
Xiao Bao
Kisser
Folk/Rolf & Daughters
Red Headed Stranger
Otaku
Bastion
Present Tense
Iggy’s

Drinks:
Coral Club
Chopper
Southern Grist
Bearded Iris
Fait la Force
Attaboy
Fox Bar
Spicy Boys

Activities:
Nashville SC soccer game
Fiery Gizzard Backpacking/Camping
Climb Nashville
Canoeing on the Caney

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It goes without saying but my wife and son have been the unofficial partners/recipients of my business obligations. There have been so many times where they have had to join me at work or pick up the slack as I’m sucked in to this or that work task/travel.

I would also want to thank my business partner Bryson Aust for his patience and efforts as well as our advisor Carmen Wenkoff. I’ve learned so much from each of them, certainly with regard to business but just as much about being a good friend and parent.
It goes without saying but my wife and son have been the unofficial partners/recipients of my business obligations. There have been so many times where they have had to join me at work or pick up the slack as I’m sucked into this or that work task/travel.

I would also want to thank my business partner Bryson Aust for his patience and efforts as well as our advisors Carman Wenkoff and Andy Nelson. I’ve learned so much from each of them, certainly with regard to business but just as much about being a good friend and parent.

Lastly, Daniel Kahneman the behavioral economist who passed away recently. His revolutionary work on thought processes, psychology, and economics have certainly changed the way I approach work.

Website: https://www.propersake.co

Instagram: @propersake_ricevice

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/byronstithem/

Image Credits
Alex Crawford