Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Leap Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dubay. For context, this podcast is inspired by the book Entrepreneurial Leap by Gino Wickman. Gino is the founder of e o S Worldwide, and an author with over 2 million copies of his books sold worldwide. Now, in his next phase, he is taking his passion for helping entrepreneurs by partnering with five equally passionate, successful entrepreneurs, myself included, who have created the E LEAP Academy, where we teach the content from the book in a one year program guaranteed to increase the success of early stage businesses. Now, a quick note about me, I've been an entrepreneur since the age of 14. When I started my first business selling Blow Pop Lollipops outta my locker with my best friend, I ran a company that I sold to a public company and later bought back. I'm an author, speaker, host of an annual leadership retreat, and I'm partners in several other businesses.

I'll be your host for the Entrepreneurial LEAP Podcast, where every other week you will be hearing life stories from successful entrepreneurs who took the leap into entrepreneurship. You will learn from their mistakes and successes and be inspired as you move forward on your journey. Now, before I introduce my guest, I'm going to share with you a bit about Ewe Academy. The Entrepreneurial Leap Academy provides an immersive nine month experience for new entrepreneurs with a focus on the three Cs, clarity, competence, and community. Let's start with the first C, clarity. You'll learn to be clear about who you are, what you want from your business, and how to get it. The next C confidence, you will learn to be confident you are on the right path, equipped with powerful mindset tools. The last C connected you will become connected to a community of entrepreneurs just like you.

Now all participants receive four full day in-person classes led by experienced entrepreneurs to equip you with the tools and strategies necessary to build a successful business. The Academy's dynamic community connects participants with a tribe of like-minded individuals for support and networking opportunities. During in between classes, students also receive a seasoned mentor offering personalized guidance and expertise to help you navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship. To start building the business of your dreams, visit our website@eleap.com. Again, that's e leap.com. There you can learn more about and sign up for the next Entrepreneurial Leap Academy. Today's guest is Ted Christophe, co-owner of Christophe and Son's floor, covering in Jackson, Michigan. Now, for context, I'd like to share some interesting things that Ted shared with me. First, his grandfather and grandmother in immigrated from Macedon in 1914 during the Balkan Wars and then fled to Ellis Island. They eventually landed in Jackson, Michigan, along with other family members and people from the village of Armco.

They went on to start one of the first Coney Island restaurants using a unique special blend of beef herd hamburger and spices. Almost all of Ted's family on his dad's side were entrepreneurs and a handful on his mother's side. Ted's dad served in World War ii, traveled a bit, and then settled down opening a Coney Island pizza shop. Along the way, he started sanding floors on the side and eventually sold the restaurant and started installing floors full time. Ted's brother Tom grew up in the this flooring business, graduated high school in, started buying out their dad. Ted went to college to study business administration, and in his senior year, sadly his dad passed away. This thrust him into the family business. Ted and his brother bought out their mother and grew the business from a small operation with $300,000 in annual sales to 26 employees and 6 million in annual sales. They have innovated every step of the way with their product and services, processes and procedures to grow and track their progress and increasing sales to build generational wealth for their employees and families. They are currently working on plans for succession and additional growth by expanding to other locations. Ted is such a grounded entrepreneur and you are going to love the wisdom that he shares during our conversation. So please enjoy my chat with Ted Christophe.

Ted, welcome to the Entrepreneurial Leap Podcast. I am so grateful for your time today and I'm super excited to talk to you.

Well, thank you Rob. I appreciate the invitation of being here.

Yeah, absolutely. I always like to start the podcast with a quote, and so I'm, what I'd ask from you is just let me know what you think about it, and if you happen to know who said it, that's like a bonus. Okay. Okay, here we go. The quote is, I want our family legacy to be that we care about our community while protecting our environment, and I want future generations of my family in this community to enjoy everything that Michigan and our planet have to offer. What comes to mind, and do you know who said it?

Wow, that sounds like something I might have said. That

Is, and you did. Sorry to embarrass you.

That's fantastic. That is fantastic. Well, I absolutely do believe that a legacy is what we're here to try and achieve. We have goals, of course, in business, but I think our family and what we leave behind with our legacy is something very important.

Yeah, no doubt about it. And you know, how you entered into your entrepreneurial journey is a really interesting story and I'm wondering if you can share every aspect of it, because you have some family history in there, et cetera. So let me hear exactly how you got into this whole thing.

Well, I think, I think I heard it from you that entrepreneurship isn't something that you learn. It's something that you are, and it is nature versus nurture. And for our story, my grandparents immigrated over from Macedonia 1914. That time was during World War I, Balkan Wars. There was a lot of immigration out of Macedonia because they were being invaded by the other territories of Greece and Turkey and such. So my grandparents came to Jackson and I think they landed, they came through Ellis Island and landed in Jackson because of a great train station about halfway between Detroit and Chicago. There were already some immigrants here. So they stayed and they opened up a Coney island. And in Jackson, our Coney Islands are a little different than everybody else's from around the, the world. It's a, a mixture of beef, heart and hamburger and spices, a loose meat on a hotdog with mustard and onion.

And, and it was a, it was something that Jackson, our town is very proud of and very famous for. Something a little different than other conies. So my grandfather, his brother-in-law, and then they typical immigrant story, they brought people over and they started more restaurants. Our family since 1914 have been in the restaurant business. My aunts, my uncles, cousins, and second cousins and cousins, quote unquote from the old village. All owned restaurants. And my dad included, my dad was a World War II veteran, got out of the war and I think like typical World War II vets, they didn't talk about it a lot. And I think he was a little free-willed and he just traveled the world and he was unmarried. And then when he finally settled down, he opened up a restaurant pizza and Coney Island restaurant. He met my mother. She had three kids and he, they got married together.

They then since had two children, my brother and I. Then my dad had a friend who was sanding floors during the day and said, I could use your help. Well, he realized he could make more money sanding floors and he'd be done at the end of the day, five o'clock or six o'clock, as opposed to the restaurant business, which starts early in the morning and goes late at night. So he thought, alright, I'll sell the pizza business and I'll go into flooring. And that was in the seventies. And, and Tom and I were born at that time, or we remember the pizza store somewhere in the early seventies cuz we remember going there. But my dad then became a flooring installer, got certified, got trained, worked for other companies and made the entrepreneurial leap and opened up a store. Him and my mom rented a building, bought some inventory, she sold it, he installed it.

And, and so Christoph's son's floor covering was birthed in 1979 in a little shop around the corner. Then it moved to a small location, but a building that my dad owned in 1984. And, and then my brother graduated high school in 87 and he decided he wanted to go into the family business. He was an installer. We grew up with working with our hands. I worked for my uncles in the restaurant business and I always thought, I'm gonna own a restaurant, you know, glamorous, you know, my uncle reminded me something out of the, you know, the, the 1950s Dean of Martin and Frank Sinatra era, you know, gold chains. And I always wanted to be like my uncle. Never wanted to be in the floor covering business. Never, ever, you know, was not glamorous. It's like a carpet store, but owning a restaurant is sexy.

So anyway, my brother decided to go to work with my dad. I went on to college, got my business administration degree at Fair State University, and my brother started buying the business from my father. Side note, my mom and dad got divorced during that time, yet my mom still worked there and my mother and brother were buying the business from my father. So that's kinda complicated, but it really isn't. They just kept the business going. It's what we did. It's what we do. Just keep the business going. My dad obviously was older cuz he was in World War ii, born in 24. So he retired early in our lives, but you know, late in his life. And in 1992, my senior year of college, he passed away of a heart attack. And, and so that was, that was very tragic, you know, that was a struggle for us.

Two young men, I have three half brothers and sisters, but they all had moved on and got married and got other careers, electrician and nursing and homemaker. They weren't involved in the business, but Tom and my mom knew that they needed to, they needed a partner. They really kinda needed my dad. He was sort of the, the financial guy. So I thought, well, I don't have a job, why not? And so I finished my year, my three months, I finished my senior year and I became a partner and I was like, I own a business. Then I quickly realized, wow, what do we have? We have a $700 rusted van, a rented building and a really cheap, crappy inventory that my dad bought because it's cheap. He always wanted something cheap, gotta buy it cheap. But we had a great name and he had a very respected clientele.

Know that my dad did good quality work and, and they, they just bought from us. And there was a course, a lot of very loyal customers as I came into the business. But first few months we didn't get paid. And it was a very much, you know, eye-opening situation where we'd look and go, here's how you get paid at the end of the week, you open up the drawer and if there was money in it, you get to split it. If there's not, you don't get paid. And with everything on c o d we thought, this has gotta change. This is not sustainable, this isn't a business, this is a job. And, you know, coming outta college I did learn a lot of processes and procedures and that's what a business administration was for. I think that's my forte. I like organizing, I like pro, you know, putting processes and procedures together to create a, a, a functioning organization.

Well, this one needed it. And so my brother and my mother and I were partners. We then, within two years, my brother and I bought my mother out and she retired. And then we quickly started adding employees, creating processes, getting credit from our employee, our, our vendors. We organized the showroom, started marketing, started advertising, became a student of our industry. We read every magazine that was out there, every trade magazine we went to, every convention there could be. We talked to everybody else who we wanted to be like and emulated them and, and used their their best practices and put 'em into place for us. We, in 1995, few years later, we built a building. So we went from a 1200 square foot building and we built a 8,000 square foot building, which was heaven. I mean, it was just great. We'll never need another space again.

It's so wonderful. Brand new building. And that was a challenge too. I remember going to the bank, my brother and I, and getting a loan. We said, well we need to, we need a loan for this building and, and some inventory. And I remember them saying, well, if this gets approved, we stop. And I'm like, well, what do you mean if, I mean there is no, if there is no, there is no other alternative plan here. We need the money. We're building a building, we're gonna grow a business. And, and we were very disappointed with the bank that we were at. So we went to another bank and, and they, we ended up getting a loan and I think that they just took a chance and a couple of young boys and it's paid off. And so we, we added more employees. We started marketing more.

So our, our sales went from, I think they, the, the hand penciled paperwork that we had from 1992, I think we did three or $400,000 in sales. And then we grew to the magic number of 2 million. And and that was incredible growth. And it was, and and there was a lot of, a lot of hard work to do that. And we had some good dedicated employees. So we kept growing. We focused on a, a lot of our products, our, our, our residential products, our commercial products. And then we added more products and vendors and then jumped forward to 2000, well, 2019. And we had the opportunity of buying another new building right downtown. And this, this is the building that we're in now. It's 33,000 square feet. And, and it was a, an icon building in our town cuz it was a, a toy store for like 60 years.

And everybody, we refer to it as the toy house. I mean, that's way, are located at the toy house and everyone knows that. But God delivered that to us. I mean, God's just been good all steps all the way through our blessings of, of all these opportunities. And so we got into this building and then we had a grand opening and Covid came and we shut down. And so that was, that was interesting. But you know, through faith and perseverance and understanding that we've done this before, we've done overcome obstacles before, we'll just continue to push through and grit is on the bathroom wall because that's what we do. Grit is what we do. Watched a ted talk on grit and I thought, that's it. That's it, that's what you do. You just keep grinding and you keep pushing forward and you figure out ways.

And, and it ended up being with c o d, the construction home improvement market was flourishing because of co covid. And so we were very much a recipients of that. And then we doubled our sales. So we went from 3 million at that time to 6 million in two years. And that was a, that was a lot to manage. Oh yeah. And yeah. And so here we are now in this wonderful new showroom and we've added kitchen cabinets and countertops and drapers and blinds and we've added more designers and kitchen and bath remodeling and vanities and faucets and sinks. And it's un it's incredible. I don't even know where to where it stops, but it's, it's just this train that keeps moving. But our team is so cohesive now, and the culture is so good. We started working on all the culture that we needed to build our team and to create a, an environment that people wanted to work here.

One of the things we knew with, with a shortage of, of employees is, well, if we can't grow 'em then, and we don't like to steal 'em, we're gonna have to create an environment that people will be attracted to us. And then, and it's happened, the phones rang and, and qualified people called us and said, I wanna work here. This is a place that I wanna work. And so we've just been blessed with good people and, and so now we're in another transition. We are looking to move to the next generation and bring my children into the business. We're working on plans to buy out my brother and he's not leaving, but he's gonna buy out his shares and bring my wife into the business who she's been in our business for the whole time. But be a partner. My daughter works here and, and we're looking to expand and buy another store in another town. All this is happening almost simultaneously. And it's like, I look back and think, wow, from 1200 square foot to now, it's amazing journey. Yeah. It's just an amazing journey. It's

Amazing what can have, well that's

All the details.

That's a wonderful story. I mean it's sums it all up in terms of an entrepreneurial path. And for those of the listeners that are also watchers on YouTube, Ted is not in his kitchen, he's in his showroom and it's beautiful. But remember he start the, the, his father started by sanding floors. Yeah. And now that's right. And now's you're selling kitchens and you know Yes. All kinds of things. So the company has evolved a great deal. Now, one of the things we talk about in the book is, should I go to college or should I not go to college? And your brother didn't, he came right outta high school. Yeah. But you chose to go to college and we always like to ask, what was your thought process and now looking back good decision, not good decision.

Oh, I think it was a good decision. And I've, I am an advocate for both, not only in the community, but in my family as well. My brother and I both grew up in a hands-on environment. Our dad always taught us how to use power tools, how to build stuff, go ahead and try and, and we worked in woodworking in high school when there was woodworking, you know, and drafting and metal glasses. There were a lot of the technical trades in schools and we were a product of that. And so my brother just naturally was good at laying floors and he and some electricity, but he realized he could make a living and, and why not? I always had the passion for being a manager. I, it's funny that I said I, I wanna own a business, but I don't wanna do sales. Well, I'm not gonna do sales and we don't like sales.

And, and that's the first thing that I am, is a salesman all the time, every day. Everywhere you go, you're always selling. So once you understood, cuz I thought selling was cold calling and, and begging and swindling, you know, you think of, of sales as a bad thing. Used car salesmen, and I'm sorry for the ucar salesmen that are out there, but you know, something that was negative. But we realized selling is really solving problems for people. And that I like doing. We really enjoy serving our customer. We enjoy serving the community, we serve our employees. And, and that's one of our core values, you know, is service to one another. Honesty, service and efficiency is the core values of our business. And, and that's everything that we do. We have to be a servant. And so we'd use servant instead of sales. We just serve the customer and solve their problems.

So for me though, I always thought I was gonna work at, there's a large utility company here in Jackson, consumers Energy at the time. And I was gonna work at Consumers Energy. I was gonna be on the seventh floor, whatever floor they had and, and wear a suit and tie and, you know, the young Donald Trump was one of my idols. I had his picture on my poster on my wall and the art of the deal. You know, I just, I thought that that was my, my goal. And when I went to college, I, I did gain I think organizational skills. I, it's just something I, I don't like disorder. And so it fit well and it worked out well that my brother needed that. We work, I do sales, he does installations. He's in charge of the installers and the quality. I know how to, I, I know enough, I have done plenty of installations, but that's not my forte.

And so you kind of need to have both. One thing we find in all businesses, especially in floor covering businesses, is that, and my dad was typical, just because you're a good installer doesn't make you a good businessman. And just because you're, if you're in business, you don't necessarily have to be the technical end of what you're trying to sell. So you need a partnership. That's why my dad had a partner and my mom. So those two partners, my brother and I basically just re took them, took the reins and, and, and grew it. But I think it's a great opportunity to go to college. I think it's also a great opportunity now that the trades are becoming prideful again. There was a time of where everyone was forced, literally forced in high school through the, the federal and state re guidelines that you had to be college prep ready.

And not everyone was prepared for that. They go to college and they fail and they feel like failures when you're not, you're just in the wrong environment. And we are now seeing a huge shift of people who are very talented with their hands and their minds and they can figure out geometry. Although they don't know they're doing geometry, they can figure out math, they just don't know they're doing math. And, and those are the people that we need. Yeah. The plumbers, the floor covering guys, the roofers, the drywallers, these, these construction people and they pay well, they pays very well. There was always that connotation that the, they were secondary jobs and they're not. And so we implore everyone that I can when I talk to, to kids in schools and colleges. Even in colleges, because some kids are in college cuz they're supposed to or have to be, they may not ever even use that degree. So the trades are fantastic and I I think they should be equally praised.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, when we're talking to these early stage entrepreneurs or people thinking about getting into business, they even even started yet our goal is to help increase their odds of success. And sometimes that means don't become an entrepreneur, it's not the path for you. Other times it's a spark that really gets them going. Yeah. And gives them the confidence. And you've hit on so many of the key concepts that we talk about. And there are a couple I wanna reference right now, what we call must dos. And you know, one of the things that you talked about was that sign in your bathroom, I think you said grit. And you know, we say work hard, really hard and, you know, can you just elaborate just a little bit more on what exactly does that mean? Like, what are you getting yourself into in the early stages and working hard, really hard?

Yeah. Well, I can say that one of the things that my brother and I have been very fortunate is that we grew up as with a parent from a, the a different generation. My dad was 46 when I was born. So he came from a different generation. He was born through the depression and went through World War ii. You had to work, you had to work and work hard. That's the only way you were gonna survive. And so it's just all we've ever known, we just, you never give up no matter how hard it is. You just get up to tomorrow, you go to work and you forward. And that really has been a key to success for us because wealth is built in small increments. One step at a time. You're never gonna just, even if you did win the lottery, statistics are you're gonna be broke again in five years because you haven't built the processes of how to handle and build wealth.

So wealth comes from learning how to manage yourself and your time and, and then responsibility is, I think that's one of those things that we talk about as an entrepreneur. You're just built with a sense of responsibility. If I, I mean, I just, I don't play hooky, I just don't, I mean, I, I try to play golf and I'll play golf on a league, but I'm just not the guy that's gonna go, wow, it's really sunny out today. I can ditch this work and I'm gonna go spend some time on the golf course. I have to plan for those times. I, I, I plan for my vacations, I plan for my personal time. I have plenty of personal time, but my work has to get done and my customers have to get satisfied. And my sales staff or my employees, their needs have to be taken care of. And you just continue to grind until they're done. Yes. So being organized helps

Organized, holding yourself accountable. Another of the, this is one of the stages that we talk about and you know, I thought a lot about you even with how how many years now you've been running the business, owning the business. And I I learned about the, recently, I think it was fairly recently, there was a builder show. And this goes to working hard, really hard and this holding yourself accountable. You know, you had this idea to have a, a setup at the builder show with a Yeah. Bathtub overflowing. And somebody had asked you, you know, how'd you get that? How'd you get that done? Or something? And you said, it was my idea. I built it myself and I delivered it myself and set it up myself.

Yeah. Well I love marketing. Yeah. And it was a great, but I have the ability to get it done. I mean, I, sometimes it's a curse. You get these yeah. Things in your head, these projects and you just want to get 'em done. Yeah. And, and so I, yeah, I, I move forward and that was a, that was a fun time. We still have the tub and, and it was such a showstopper. Yeah. But yeah, we just love to find new ideas, you know, thinking about learning again, I was, I remember I wanted to say that I'm always a learner. I mean, I think that as an entrepreneur you have to understand, I remember this one time when I was in college and was just before my dad passed away, I thought, I can't wait to graduate. I am not gonna read another book again.

And I mean, I'm done with the homework and I'm done with books. I mean, it's been high school and college and I can't wait to get done with this. And it never ends. And you never want it to end. I mean it was for a while there I didn't, but you wanna be a student of your industry all the time. You always need to be curious about what is going on in your marketplace and what others are doing. So always being curious and always learning is something that we constantly do. Yes. Yes. So that's a way of life.

And you know, when you came back from college and became partners with your brother Tom, and now I hear how the succession is kind of taking place and different things like that. And we talk about another must do, which is really determining whether you're a partner person or not. So I think you're a partner person, but what do you think are the positives in with you, with, with your partnerships and what are some of the things that people should watch out for?

I know that I was blessed. I, I think our story is unique it because I can see and have seen many partnerships fail, but I have a brother who is very close to me and I'm close to him. I read his mind, he reads mine, you know, and the only person closer is my wife. You know, so we know each other deeply. And one thing that we had similar to a good solid marriage, which no matter whether it's rocky or not, you're never gonna get divorced. You're just gonna work it out. You doesn't mean it'll always be great. Same with our partnership. We've had many of fights, we've had many yelling arguments, we've had many walk away storm away meetings. But we will always return and we'll always return with gratitude. And so that the ability to work out your problems is something that has to be something that the two of you or the three of you agree upon.

Family businesses create another unique struggle dynamic because sometimes you can take more liberties with a family member than you would with a non-family member. And so you have to face those head forward and say, look, this is how we're gonna treat each other. And, and, and you just gotta have good communication. You really do. So am I a partner person? I don't think I am. I don't think I am, but I'm a partner to my brother, you know, so I don't know if I could have any other partner Yeah. Other than my wife. I will put that there because again, she's very, very close. You have to be a yin and yang. Tom and I talk about this all the time, you know, opposites are okay. He's different than I am. He thinks differently than I do and that's okay because the things that he does I need and the things I do, he needs.

So I think if you're gonna find a partner that I think that could go two ways. One, you just have to find ones that's so like you, that you guys are connected, but yet it's also looking for someone that can compliment you is probably better. Because for us to survive or the, for us to, our success has come from the fact that one in one is three or four because we can put two together and do multiple things. Where if, if we were exactly the same person, we probably would both want to be the C F O. We both wanna be in charge of sales or we both wanna be in charge of this and there would be conflict where he don't wanna be in charge of sales and I don't wanna be in charge of installations and we need someone in charge of those. So yeah, that's been our strength is that we've communicated very well that we know what our roles are and now let's execute 'em.

Yeah, I love it. It's interesting. You know, you say I'm actually not a partner person. You have a unique scenario that you have family, there's a great deal of trust and complimentary skills, so it works. But maybe if you went outside of that, that might not work so well for you. So that's really great wisdom. Yeah. You know, we talk about these eight critical mistakes that we ask entrepreneurs to walk, watch out for. And one of them that I wanna touch on with you is not spending enough time with your people. Because earlier you alluded to your core values and people wanting to be a part of this organization that you guys have built. And so can you talk about the importance of that and kind of how you go about it so people can understand a great way to work with their people?

Well, I, I would have to say that's a lesson that I learned of late and it's certainly been one of the best lessons I've learned. I think that's where we've grown so much in the last three years. And maybe, you know, sometimes you just have to mature. Maybe some people are just quicker to learn than others. For us, it wasn't that I never spent time with our people. We always developed relationships. That's one of the assets we think of when we're you wanna work at Christophe and Sons because we w we care about you. That's, we put our employees first and our customers second. Our employees are absolutely first. But in the last few years, as we really officially said, what is our culture? What is our mission? What is our purpose? And we started writing these things down instead of just doing work and cashing checks and paying bills, what is our purpose?

And then we realized it's the relationships that we have. It's these relationships and we need to, we need to cultivate 'em. We need to, and we lost some good relationships. And those were, those were eye openers for us. And we thought, you know, why we lost that person wasn't because of pay and it wasn't because of, you know, vacations or perks or benefits is, I don't think they felt we cared. I don't know that they knew that we cared. So we now have to make sure that everyone we hire knows that we care. And so it's intentional. It's more than, yes we do have a well-stocked refrigerator for and snacks for our employees. Right. But it's not that. It's about finding out about their kids and their lives and, and praying with them when they need prayer and, and, and, and ringing the bell. One of the things we do around here, I stole this from a Disney Institute training.

We ring a cow bell and there's something weird about this cow bell that you can't stop but stop what you're doing. And we, we celebrate a victory. Maybe somebody closed a big deal, maybe somebody's kid made a home run in the baseball last night. Somebody is, you know, celebrating anything whether it's personal or business. And we ring the bell and it's like a cow bell. Everybody in the building stops what they're doing. They come around and they gather to find out what's the good news for the bell. And that has really been helpful because now you get the opportunity to share what's important with you. And, and I just think caring for your employees is, is paramount. It's just absolute paramount to having good employees. And, and you know what? They can't start to care about you. You know, cuz we're humans sometimes, you know, employees think that managers or owners are, you know, thick skin and resilient and have no emotions. This is a tough job and sometimes it becomes overwhelming and we need the support of our family and friends and heck, I spend more time with these people here than I do with my family and friends. It's true. Other than my family that works here. It's true. So, you know, good thing.

Yeah, yeah. And, and and investing in your people, which is one of the things I learned about you. You know, you talk about that the staff is incredibly well trained, they're welcoming, they point people in the right direction. When you get in there, everybody kind of has a certain hospitality mindset. And talk about how important it is to make that kind of investment. Maybe if you have a i something you could share that you do there to cultivate that.

Well, you know, one of the things that I knew learning from college, you know, is your unique selling proposition, right? So what makes Christophe and Sons a floor covering store different than any other carpet store? And I think part of that, we talked about well the people, well how do we show off the people and, and our building, you know, we're very proud of our building and I think about if I were to invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner or even just dinner, right? I wouldn't just expect you to walk in the door and wander around my house and figure out what's going on or where your put your coat, you'd be greeted. Of course you would. And so we make a very, very specific details about greeting people without them feeling like they're being swarmed by salespeople. So our shopper is a woman that, that's our target market.

And we have done a lot of research on what she feels comfortable with, the lighting, the temperature, the ability to see through the building, to be able to see the front door that she came in from wherever she's at, having wide aisles so that she doesn't feel trapped, having pleasant music. The smell in the air, of course it all smells like carpet, which is a great smell I think. But you know, just the sight sounds and, and and the all the senses are are touched and, and then we bring people into it. We are always asking questions part of our trade in floor covering to be able to even do what we do. We have to ask a lot of questions. And so people just feel welcomed that we care enough to ask these questions. Not knowing that we kind of have to do that anyway to do our job.

But you know, we're just, it just trains us to be welcoming. And, and you know what, and if you show up on Friday at about three o'clock, we're gonna have Margarita Friday anyway, so why not turn on some music and grab a margarita? Cuz not against the law to, to have a drink while you're shopping. Right. That's, it's like a sip and shop for wine. It's, it's just fun. I mean, why not have fun? We're selling fun. People are, are just en enjoy what we sell and and we just try to create a better, an environment that everyone's happy and customers and employees alike. Yeah.

Yeah. I love that. And you know, we talk about these six essential traits of an entrepreneur. And so during our conversation, you know, I'm kind of thinking about each one of them and Ted I think you're gonna agree as I read through them, and I'm sure the listeners will agree as well, you know, first of all, are you a visionary? And obviously the answer is yes to that. And if you've heard Ted talk about things like, I love the smell of carpet, then, you know, he's passionate. And that's the second one. Passionate, I can tell. Yes.

It's so many levels, so many levels. Problem solver, obviously you've talked so much about that. Driven, I mean, you keep growing, you talk about how much you wanna learn and that's a never ending thing and you find it fun risk taker. I mean, you went from 1200 square feet, I think you said to 8,000 now 33,000, you refurbished the toy building. I I probably said that wrong. The the old toy building, toy house, Jackson Toy House. Yeah. I mean that's really amazing. But it takes risk. You took a loan out, you had to go to a couple banks when you were young. And then lastly, responsible, which you've taken some of what you've learned and really created structure to the business. So check all the boxes without question. Now I wanted to ask you, because I, I sense that through your father, you know, he, he I'm imagined to a certain degree and, and maybe your uncle and other people in your family, they were great mentors for you. So obviously you've had some great mentors. Have you ever had a mentor outside of the family by chance?

No, I haven't. Okay. And, and I've tried, no, not an official mentor. I have started to look at some of the people in our community that I respect that have good businesses, long family businesses, successful businesses. I consider them successful business people. I've invited them to lunch and just said, tell me your story similar to the what we've done here. How can I learn from you? And it amazed me how open they are. And I thought, why would this person ever wanna talk to me? Right. And I just called them and said, I mean, here's who I am. You kinda know who I am cause I'm on TV or on the radio, so that might help open the door a little bit. But they've given me such great advice and I take lots and lots and lots of notes. And it's funny, I've done that three to four times now.

Four different people. One a coup, one a couple of times. And then about every six months I pull this file out and I just reread my notes and remember what they talked about and what their words of wisdom were. And these are people that are still respected in our community. And, and so I I would say they're slightly mentors Yes. Of mine. Yeah. But it's, it's amazing how the impact my father had on my brother and I in the 21 short years that we had him and his nickname from he, when he was young was eso. And no one really knows where the origin of that is. And, and so as we were my have kids and, and my kids were working here, I'd say stuff, I'd go, well, you know what ESO would say about that? And my, my son would pick up on it and he'd say, so he'd grab his phone, he's like, what are you doing?

He says, well, I'm making a list of ioms. And I said, oh, really? He goes, yeah, I've been listening to you and I've been writing them all down of what your dad would always say. You'd say your dad would say. And he's got a list of almost a hundred things. Oh my gosh. That we, that are just things that are ingrained into us, you know, do the right thing and and be responsible. And, and some of 'em are, you know, not fit for television. Right. But they're still true. It was all about being responsible and moving ahead and don't blame others and do do the right thing. And yeah. And he just would say it in weird ways and, and we call 'em eism. So that's kind of our language around here. You know, this is, well what would IL say? I love it. And so we keep his memory alive and so I kind of think he's my mentor. Oh yeah. Even after he is passed. Oh yeah. So we, yeah. So we still use everything that I've learned from him and amazing. And, and we still today. Yeah. Yeah. I mean even today

And, and I really think, and thank you for sharing how you've reached out to people because those are mentor relationships as far as I'm concerned and as far as we would look at it and what, you know, what was really wonderful about what you shared is how you said you'd just picked up the phone and asked, you'd be surprised how open people are in the community to meeting with you if you show an interest and as you say, ask some really good questions and learn their story and, and that then they will no doubt open up and be more than willing to help you. So, and, and by the way, the way that you pull out that file every six months, a great, that is a great lesson for people. Bring out the notes and keep reviewing them and submit them in your mind. So thank you for sharing that. That's really great. You're welcome. Okay, so we're gonna end here with one last question. And that is simply, what advice would you give to an early stage entrepreneur?

Well, what a great segue. I would think it would be mentorship. It really would. I, I wanted to follow up with any opportunity that I get to mentor others, whether it's kids in high school, just even if it's a day speech tomorrow we've got two kids coming for job shadowing. Any opportunity that we can get to share with our experience with one another. We tried to do. So if I were to talk to my younger self again, I would've said get a mentor, a real men. I won't wanna say a real one, but someone to help guide you. Maybe it is a parent, you know, it certainly would've been my dad had he been alive. But I, and my uncle, who was also my mentor, also passed away right about the same time. So I lost them both. It was pretty tragic. But anyway, is being a student, having a mentor is no different than being a student.

So if you don't have the mentor, I, maybe you should do, like my brother and I did, we used all of the, the, the, the, the leaders in our industry, we use them as mentors, we studied them, we questioned them. We go to your trade conventions, read your trade magazines, call the people who are leaders in your industry and have a cup of coffee or a zoom meeting with them. Join an organization to be of like mind with one another cuz the, the sharing best practices is also a form of, of mentorship. Yes. So quit recreating a wheel. I mean, unless you're Elon Musk doing something that's never been done before, pretty much we're doing stuff that's been done before. So why not share? And you, here's an eism, I'll give you one. It's really good to learn from your mistakes, but it's better to learn from other people's mistakes.

That's a great eism.

Yes. It's, I love that.

I love that. Great advice for anyone in the beginning stages. And I love that you came back to mentorship. I mean, at the academy we find it so important that we actually match the academy member group with individual mentors because just as you say, yes, we don't need to recreate the world wheel and certainly hearkening back to the esom. That is so good. Ted, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so grateful for your time. It was such a joy to talk to you. What a guy.

Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate this. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. And to all the listeners of the podcast, I'm so grateful that you've taken time to listen to Ted's story. And as always, I wish you much love and gratitude.