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Welcome to the Real Growth

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podcast, where we like to talk about real stories of business, personal growth.

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And we've been on a rampage here lately, having all types of

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small business owners come in to talk about their stories.

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And today we're going to learn about one that's a startup

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that has recently grown here in Rochester, and it's poppin.

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So let's start it off.

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Go ahead and introduce yourself and share about the business that you have.

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Hello, my name is D'Angelo Tynes, and I'm with Papa's

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Gourmet Popcorn right downtown here in Rochester, Minnesota.

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We basically are over 80 flavors and we're under a year old,

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so we're brand new here to town.

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And D'Angelo, let's go back to the beginning

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stages of business in school.

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Yeah. Are you from Rochester originally? What's your story?

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Yes, I'm born and raised here, so I graduated from John Marshall in 2016.

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After that, I headed up to the U of M.

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I graduated in communications in there in 2020

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and I worked in sales for about three years after I graduated.

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Nice in high school.

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Did you have kind of an ambition to be in business or what?

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Where where would you say that started to kick off for you?

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That business was of interest.

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Yeah.

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So, you know, I grew up, you know, doing like, the hot dog stand, lemonade stand.

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So I always knew I wanted to do something.

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Then in high school, I got into a startup called Favor.

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It was actually an app that we built in town.

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It's people complete like small tasks.

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So someone needed their lawnmower and,

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you know, we'd connect the user

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and we'd connect the person who'd to complete the tasks.

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So that was founded by a couple of guys in Rochester.

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I was able to do some marketing stuff for them, get into some speeches,

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do kind of my first kind of public speaking and getting into sales.

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So that kind of helped me jump into my sales route.

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And I still work with a couple of those guys to this day.

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And were they high school schoolmates or how did they

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how do you find them or how did they find you?

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Yeah, So I played basketball for John Marshall and Solomon.

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He was actually a couple of grades younger than me, and he's always been like

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very tech savvy, He's always been a developer, and he developed the app.

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So he was a sophomore in high school.

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He developed the whole front end, a back end, something.

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He placed it on the Apple Store, the Google store,

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and he kind of came to me was like, Will you speak at these events

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where you kind of help us get the word out around town?

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And and I agreed.

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And something that I think

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was probably interesting is

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he saw it in you to be able to communicate about his app.

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What what was that that he probably saw in you

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like where you leading in in basketball where you were going in school?

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Like what were some of the traits that you had

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that made it easier for you than maybe some others?

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Yeah, At the time I was a captain on the basketball team

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and I was just kind of, you know, always more outgoing.

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I wanted to know the people

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that I went to school with, so I knew a decent amount of my classmates.

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You know, I was never, you know, mean to anyone.

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I always wanted to never burn any bridges.

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So he just kind of saw that in me and thought I'd be the perfect candidate

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to kind of speak for his app and kind of being an ambassador for the program.

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So when you started being the ambassador, what was that like as far as

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can you remember your first pitch, your third pitch, like, yeah,

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you're now I feel like you're

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now converting into the salesmanship role that you maybe hadn't had.

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Yeah.

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And so what was that like getting into that role?

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I remember my first pitch.

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We actually spoke at a BITPAY conference and there was about like 150 people there.

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So other than like my small speech class, you know, in high school,

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speaking in front of 30 of my classmates, I've never spoken

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in front of a large audience, especially like a live audience.

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So we just kind of,

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you know, getting that nervousness out and kind of being, you know,

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being okay, speaking within a large crowd and believing in the product.

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I actually, you know, I believed in the product.

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I thought we had a great app.

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I thought it was something that could do well in Rochester.

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So I had no problem, you know, speaking about it

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freely and actually, you know, putting my word

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and kind of my stamp on it and saying, you know, I kind of I would rely on this.

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I would let people come in my house and do work based off of this app.

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So just basically believe in the product helped me and, you know, the rehearsals

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and the stuff that we did, you know, leading up to the conference kind of

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gave me the confidence to go on stage and speak about it so freely.

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That's cool.

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Yeah, I feel like that's the inroads to sales in a way, right

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early on in your life when when you think about that

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phase and making those pitches,

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what were some of the hurdles you mentioned nervousness, for example.

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Like I often think people that are good at communicating,

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when others see it, they just feel like, Oh, they got it.

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It's a knack.

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It comes easy to them and they don't recognize

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maybe some of the anxieties that you have and for sure going up and talking.

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So what were some of the hurdles you and you encountered through that journey?

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Just basically practicing like I never wanted to go up there

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and not knowing what I was going to say.

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You can never practice it to be 100% perfect.

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It's never going to go exactly how you practice,

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but at least having some sort of practice leading up to them.

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So I practice in front of my parents.

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I see some of my roommates at the time, you know,

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can I practice speaking in front of you guys?

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So I just wanted to do it in some sort of live audience, in some sort of setting.

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I didn't want it to be completely brand new going up there.

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So that kind of practice and repetition, just like anything

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else, is going to help cool

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As you

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went through high school and you are faced with the decision,

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should you, shouldn't you do you want to go to college?

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Yeah.

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What led you to going to college and then ultimately deciding on communications?

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So I never knew I wanted to be in sales.

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My dad, he's a computer

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computer engineer for Mayo Clinic, so I was going to go that route.

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So I started majoring in computer science, and I found out very quickly

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that it was not for me.

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I did about a year of it.

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And it's not that I couldn't do the work as I just

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didn't like doing the work because I like speaking to people.

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I like that human interaction.

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So I talked to a couple of people, you know, around campus,

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a couple of counselors and stuff.

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So they pointed me into the communications,

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the mass communications world,

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and it kind of made sense what I was doing at the time.

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So we were still doing favor and our mass communications was basically

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communicating a message through multiple channels in which

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we were kind of doing, you know, we're speaking at public events,

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we're doing the favorite app on Facebook, we're doing it on Instagram.

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So that was multiple channels.

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So I was like, I can apply this, you know, right now to what I'm doing.

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So it ended up sticking and that's how I got the communications route.

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And how was college for you,

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just looking back, was it something that you really enjoyed?

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Was it something that you learned business other than communications,

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other aspects of business, like reflecting on college? What

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what would you say for those that maybe are considering college as an option?

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I would say the biggest thing I took away from college

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is the connections and the people I've met.

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So some of

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the people that I met in college, they've helped me to get where I am now.

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They help me, you know, advise me on some of the pop up things.

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I actually got some funding from one of the guys up in the cities

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who he helped me find a little bit of our start up our fundraising platform.

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So just basically meeting people, meeting a bunch of different people,

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and then keeping those connections and not burning bridges over time.

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It's so cool that you say that because I feel like we often get

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wrapped up in while the cost or some of the time that you're spending

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there is not necessarily worth it in quotations relative

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to, you know, the classes that you apply to later on in life.

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But if you bring it back to the connections, oh my gosh, that

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that unlocks a whole nother opportunity for you and your life.

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If you properly nurture those connections, if you build relationships,

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if you aren't afraid to just get to know people and find out what they're

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doing in their life and how you can work together and collaborate in the future.

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Yeah, I 100% agree when it comes to college

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and then deciding what to do after college where you,

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you know, in your freshman year already

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thinking about that, did it take until your junior year like

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where in college you're like, okay, what am I going to do after this?

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Is this favor going to be a thing that's full time?

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Right? Where did that decision come in?

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So I did an internship with this company based in Rochester.

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They basically hosted people's websites.

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It was I think it had to do something with juniors called Sulkin.

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So I worked with them a little bit and I was kind of, you know,

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working with templates and different things, people's websites.

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And I kind of I was like, All right, I need to steer away

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from the computer programing, the website kind of phase.

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And then I reached out.

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This was my senior year in college.

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I'm Sunny. He's actually a guy in town.

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I don't know if you know Sunny. Yeah, he reached out to me.

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He was a SDR

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manager over at Digital River, so they have an office up in the cities.

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And he was like, Hey, I have an opening on my team.

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I love it for you to apply.

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I know you're not fully graduated yet, but you're going to be graduating in

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the spring.

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So I applied, you know,

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I did the three round interview and ended up getting the job.

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So I had a job kind of lined up for when I did graduate.

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So after I graduated, I started being a SDR right away.

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And I think that was

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that was the most impactful moment of my career so far,

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because being a SDR has taught me just so much about life

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and so much about business that, you know, I always recommend people

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coming out of college who may not know what they want to do.

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If you ever you can find a sales development role,

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I would 100% take that any day of the week.

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And is that the abbreviation sales development role?

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Sales, the sales development representative or business development

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representative, BTR, SDR, they kind of go hand in hand.

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And what was it of that experience that you lead to recommend?

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It is like,

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is it because you get so many different types of interactions or like what?

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What is it? Yeah, so you're cold calling.

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So I was in the SMB, so the small to medium business and I was cold calling

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you know CEOs, CEOs, CTOs of these, you know,

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pretty decent sized companies and trying to set meetings with them.

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They have no idea who I am.

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They have no idea how I got their number.

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They don't know. They've never heard of my company.

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So being able to speak with them, you know, based off of no prior

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interaction, you know, kind of getting that nervousness out there.

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Now, if you do set the meeting now, you're set in a meeting

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for like your account manager, your account executive,

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you're sitting in on those meetings, you're kind of seen based

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like has your outreach work, so you're cold calling now,

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they coming to the meeting kind of what what knowledge have they gained over your

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company over time?

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Because you're putting them in these different sequences,

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you're emailing them over time.

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You may be calling them ten times in 30 days.

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You may be sending 15 emails in 30 days.

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So it's it's a bunch of different interactions

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with a bunch of different higher up leaders and decision makers.

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Yeah.

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So you're really getting an inside look as to

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how the sales process works and you're the beginning touchpoint of that, right?

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And how and how business works

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because a lot of the times I would get like a secretary, then,

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you know, that's a gatekeeper. So you got to get past the gatekeeper.

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You have to kind of almost explain

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your importance to her so she can give it to her boss.

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And then that boss may not necessarily be the decision

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maker in the company and you might have to go over to go up.

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So it's kind of just you get to see the structures

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and how companies work and how different roles kind of communicate with each other.

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Cool.

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Yeah, that's it's funny because some of the other podcasts

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we've had in the business journey that people have shared,

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there's that similarity of where they've done sales in

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different parts of their career and whether or not they like it.

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I feel like you like it.

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You enjoy that journey of trying to get the sale.

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Yeah, I fell in love with that over time. Yeah.

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Now it's like a cat and mouse game, right?

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And even if they don't like it, I would say that

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there's a continued message of that experience leads to you

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understanding more about business than any other experience,

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because you do have to pitch your services and pitch yourself.

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And that's, that's a really big component of any type of business is exactly

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if they have something that you may want and I'm going to try to convince you

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on what why, Right. And revenue is the bottom line.

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If your company is not generating revenue, then it's not going to exist.

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So sales is to me, it's the most important thing in business is sales.

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That's that's how you pay yourself.

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That's how you pay your employees. That's how you pay your rent.

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You know, all your costs is is sales.

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So you're an SDR.

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Why did you stay in that position for a long period of time?

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Was it a short period time?

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I can't wait to get to the point of like what led you to where you're at today.

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So I stayed in that position for nine months.

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So I started off with the SMB.

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Then, you know,

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I was doing well in my role and they promoted me to Enterprise.

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So then I was doing like I was like prospecting into companies

00;12;19;05 - 00;12;22;14
like Adobe, like large companies trying to get in contact,

00;12;22;21 - 00;12;26;29
you know, Lego on company gatekeepers or within companies like that.

00;12;26;29 - 00;12;28;13
See, stuff like that is crazy

00;12;28;13 - 00;12;32;10
because they have different departments overseas and stuff as well.

00;12;32;10 - 00;12;33;17
So sometimes out,

00;12;33;17 - 00;12;37;03
you know, they may be working remotely, but the guy whose decision maker

00;12;37;03 - 00;12;40;03
he may live in like Egypt or India or something like that.

00;12;40;03 - 00;12;42;09
So the time zones are a big thing.

00;12;42;09 - 00;12;45;19
So I started even waking up at like 2 a.m.

00;12;45;19 - 00;12;48;21
just to get a call in, just because I know I was like 9 a.m.

00;12;48;21 - 00;12;52;00
in time because I'm never going to make it when I'm working my regular hours.

00;12;52;08 - 00;12;55;00
So you have to start coming up with like kind of some weird things

00;12;55;00 - 00;12;58;10
you're doing and kind of some, you know, not so regular hours.

00;12;58;28 - 00;12;59;19
Yeah, Yeah.

00;12;59;19 - 00;13;02;29
So, So you're in that position nine months and then what?

00;13;03;06 - 00;13;05;23
So then Sunny, he ended up leaving.

00;13;05;23 - 00;13;07;24
Okay. Sunny He recruited me.

00;13;07;24 - 00;13;09;05
You know, I look up to Sunny.

00;13;09;05 - 00;13;10;26
I think he's a, you know, awesome manager.

00;13;10;26 - 00;13;13;26
He's probably one of the best managers I've ever had in sales.

00;13;13;27 - 00;13;18;26
So he left and then once a year, SDR of BTR and they see that

00;13;18;26 - 00;13;21;26
on LinkedIn, you have so many recruiters that recruit you all the time.

00;13;22;01 - 00;13;22;20
So like once

00;13;22;20 - 00;13;26;13
I was in my role for five months, I had at least probably like 3 to 4 recruiters

00;13;26;13 - 00;13;29;13
a week, offered me different positions trying to do interviews,

00;13;29;19 - 00;13;31;29
and then I never would reply or never listen to him.

00;13;31;29 - 00;13;35;17
But once he left and I was like, All right, you know, I'm now my ears open.

00;13;35;17 - 00;13;38;16
I'll start taking listening to kind of what you have to say.

00;13;38;21 - 00;13;41;02
And then this recruiter, she was like,

00;13;41;02 - 00;13;44;17
I have an associate account manager role, you know, based in Eagan.

00;13;44;17 - 00;13;46;26
It's for I.T Consulting Company.

00;13;46;26 - 00;13;48;03
You know, it's a pay raise.

00;13;48;03 - 00;13;49;23
I think you do well,

00;13;49;23 - 00;13;53;21
but the only thing is, is in person and I was very hesitant at the time to be like,

00;13;54;01 - 00;13;56;11
you know, I'm used to working remote but I wanted to change.

00;13;56;11 - 00;13;58;23
I was like, I've never actually worked in the office.

00;13;58;23 - 00;14;01;00
What is it like to go in every day,

00;14;01;00 - 00;14;04;13
have to be in the office five days a week to commute back and forth?

00;14;04;27 - 00;14;07;00
So I had up going through those rounds of interviews.

00;14;07;00 - 00;14;10;02
Then I ended up working at Hallstatt Consulting based in Eagan.

00;14;10;02 - 00;14;12;04
So that's a IT consultant company.

00;14;12;04 - 00;14;16;22
So I was placing people basically what we do is we'd go out and find

00;14;16;22 - 00;14;20;13
specialized developers that work in like the robotics unit at Delta.

00;14;20;23 - 00;14;22;26
We we'd have a recruiting team.

00;14;22;26 - 00;14;27;12
They would recruit, you know, these people to work on these specialized programs.

00;14;27;18 - 00;14;30;09
And we would talk to the hiring managers at Delta.

00;14;30;09 - 00;14;31;10
They'd be like, All right,

00;14;31;10 - 00;14;35;06
we need a powered by developer to work starting next month.

00;14;35;17 - 00;14;38;27
Then I would tell my recruiting team, we need a power buy developer.

00;14;38;27 - 00;14;42;05
They would find someone and I would do like the final interview Before then.

00;14;42;05 - 00;14;44;27
We passed them off to the hiring manager. Cool.

00;14;44;27 - 00;14;48;19
So even I have no idea how to code Power BI or anything like that.

00;14;48;19 - 00;14;51;19
We kind of had to learn how to weed out people

00;14;51;19 - 00;14;54;19
because you could tell when people didn't actually know what they were doing.

00;14;54;25 - 00;14;57;28
If they related stuff back to like their personal experience

00;14;57;28 - 00;14;59;21
and their work history, this and that,

00;14;59;21 - 00;15;02;02
then I kind of knew that they were going to be good for the job.

00;15;02;02 - 00;15;05;12
And some people just kind of list things that you can see on Google.

00;15;05;12 - 00;15;07;01
Oh, this is what Power BI is not.

00;15;07;01 - 00;15;10;01
Actually, I've done this with that and when worked with it,

00;15;10;09 - 00;15;13;04
I feel like there's some similarities to what you see

00;15;13;04 - 00;15;16;12
relative to the internet as well in people talking about business.

00;15;16;12 - 00;15;19;11
And what I'm getting at is there's a lot of people that talk about

00;15;19;11 - 00;15;22;29
what to do in business, but they may not have actually ran

00;15;22;29 - 00;15;25;08
a business or built a business or something.

00;15;25;08 - 00;15;27;29
And so it's some of that type of

00;15;29;01 - 00;15;31;10
theme that's occurring in that environment as well.

00;15;31;10 - 00;15;32;18
And that's every environment, right.

00;15;32;18 - 00;15;34;16
And you'll be able to pick that out quick.

00;15;34;16 - 00;15;36;27
Yeah, you're just talking about definitions of seven

00;15;36;27 - 00;15;39;28
you can find on Google not being hands on and you know, right away.

00;15;40;05 - 00;15;43;04
So so you're in that position.

00;15;43;04 - 00;15;44;16
How did you get into business?

00;15;44;16 - 00;15;46;27
I want to jump right to it. Like what? Yeah, because.

00;15;46;27 - 00;15;48;19
Because you're it's totally different.

00;15;48;19 - 00;15;50;02
Like you're working for somebody.

00;15;50;02 - 00;15;51;22
You have a job, you have a target.

00;15;51;22 - 00;15;56;04
It is if you accomplish your target, you right, you're doing extremely well

00;15;56;04 - 00;15;59;24
and you can grow within that field at some point.

00;16;00;05 - 00;16;05;27
The path the cross had to come where you're like, I just I got to do something

00;16;05;27 - 00;16;09;09
on my own and I'm curious what, when and why that was for sure.

00;16;09;09 - 00;16;13;16
So in 2016, my cousin, he started popping gourmet popcorn.

00;16;13;27 - 00;16;16;23
So I was always, you know, I went out to his opening.

00;16;16;23 - 00;16;19;02
I went out to both his stores opening in Illinois.

00;16;19;02 - 00;16;22;02
So I was always around the business and I was watching them grow.

00;16;22;10 - 00;16;24;27
So were you working in your other job in 2016 then?

00;16;24;27 - 00;16;25;24
202 That was 16.

00;16;25;24 - 00;16;29;03
I was I was just graduating high school and going to college,

00;16;29;03 - 00;16;31;04
so I knew I was going to college and I was kind of

00;16;31;04 - 00;16;32;20
I was just watching them from afar.

00;16;32;20 - 00;16;34;29
We travel out there for the grand openings.

00;16;34;29 - 00;16;37;00
But, you know, I was keeping up with his Facebook page.

00;16;37;00 - 00;16;38;27
I was texting him in law, you know, awesome

00;16;38;27 - 00;16;41;24
job, cause, you know, I'm glad to see your business is doing well.

00;16;41;24 - 00;16;44;28
And then I was like, I want to get into this.

00;16;44;28 - 00;16;46;19
I was like, He's doing so well out there.

00;16;46;19 - 00;16;49;21
We've always our family has always been kind of like popcorn lovers.

00;16;49;28 - 00;16;52;06
We've always experimented with popcorn.

00;16;52;06 - 00;16;52;22
I was growing

00;16;52;22 - 00;16;55;02
up, we'd pop popcorn in like Eminem's and stuff,

00;16;55;02 - 00;16;56;14
so it's always been like a thing

00;16;56;14 - 00;17;00;10
in our family to, you know, eat popcorn and kind of be enthusiasm about it.

00;17;00;19 - 00;17;01;09
And I was like,

00;17;01;09 - 00;17;04;13
I want to bring one to my hometown before you start getting too

00;17;04;13 - 00;17;07;13
big and, you know, opening too many spots and kind of forget about me.

00;17;07;25 - 00;17;11;15
So I knew he was working on another another location that's kind of

00;17;11;15 - 00;17;12;28
by the Cubs Stadium.

00;17;12;28 - 00;17;16;03
And I was like, Can we please try to put one in Rochester before we do that?

00;17;16;03 - 00;17;19;26
So this was in this was in 2021.

00;17;20;08 - 00;17;22;19
And, you know, COVID kind of was still a thing.

00;17;22;19 - 00;17;25;29
So we were kind of looking at spots and where are you working in your other job?

00;17;25;29 - 00;17;28;04
But yeah, I was still working on my other job. So.

00;17;28;04 - 00;17;31;11
So part of your is going I really want to get this thing going.

00;17;31;11 - 00;17;33;11
I've seen my cousin be successful in it. Yeah.

00;17;33;11 - 00;17;36;12
And then other part is like, well, my job is going good though too.

00;17;36;13 - 00;17;37;16
Yeah, exactly.

00;17;37;16 - 00;17;40;13
Because I still need an income because I can't just drop that.

00;17;40;13 - 00;17;40;18
Right?

00;17;40;18 - 00;17;46;25
So I didn't quit my my final job until like two weeks after our store opened.

00;17;46;25 - 00;17;49;24
So I had my job leading all the way up to the store opening.

00;17;50;01 - 00;17;55;05
Then once the grand opening stuff came, that was November 14th, 2022.

00;17;55;05 - 00;17;58;18
So once that came, I was like, All right, I don't even have enough time to

00;17;58;22 - 00;18;00;15
to be back and forth.

00;18;00;15 - 00;18;03;13
So once I approached him, he was like, All right, let's put one downtown.

00;18;03;13 - 00;18;05;13
Let's start looking. That was 20, 21.

00;18;05;13 - 00;18;06;24
You know, cold was still around.

00;18;06;24 - 00;18;08;17
And I was like, we need walk in traffic.

00;18;08;17 - 00;18;12;17
So people were kind of moving around the same side, like, let's wait.

00;18;12;27 - 00;18;16;26
And then actually so coming up in like five days will be our year

00;18;16;26 - 00;18;18;05
anniversary of signing our lease.

00;18;18;05 - 00;18;21;04
We sent like we signed it July 30th, 2022.

00;18;21;04 - 00;18;21;23
Okay?

00;18;21;23 - 00;18;24;10
So once we signed it, it was kind of,

00;18;24;10 - 00;18;26;12
you know, all right, now we got to do the build out.

00;18;26;12 - 00;18;28;20
Now we got to kind of design it and do all of that.

00;18;28;20 - 00;18;32;16
And, you know, our landlord, he was he gave us one month free rent,

00;18;32;23 - 00;18;36;05
so we had to kind of put things together so quickly

00;18;36;05 - 00;18;39;20
just because we don't want to keep paying that our downtown rent.

00;18;39;20 - 00;18;42;05
And, you know, we're not bringing in any money, right.

00;18;42;05 - 00;18;45;18
So it was kind of like a scramble to, you know, get the architect in to get the

00;18;45;29 - 00;18;48;20
get the general contractor in, which was Kramer Construction.

00;18;48;20 - 00;18;49;20
He did an awesome job.

00;18;49;20 - 00;18;52;08
He was Adam was great to work with throughout the whole thing.

00;18;52;08 - 00;18;53;27
So I was just very lucky to have, you know,

00;18;53;27 - 00;18;57;25
him on the team and my cousin on the team kind of guide me throughout the process.

00;18;58;00 - 00;19;01;07
So you jump into business and you're leaving.

00;19;01;07 - 00;19;01;24
Your job.

00;19;02;27 - 00;19;05;27
Was their pay that was guaranteed.

00;19;05;27 - 00;19;11;04
Was there any or was it faced for sale for for for you personally?

00;19;11;11 - 00;19;15;19
So so here you you leave your job that has pay on a regular basis. Yes.

00;19;15;19 - 00;19;19;08
And you get into business was there like okay Daniel,

00;19;19;08 - 00;19;23;00
you're going to get X amount an hour just to go through this process, right.

00;19;23;11 - 00;19;26;11
Or was it you're going to learn

00;19;26;22 - 00;19;30;14
how to make money and then you'll get pay after you learn how to make money.

00;19;30;14 - 00;19;33;17
And we try to set it up as Yeah, best as possible.

00;19;33;17 - 00;19;36;01
That's that's basically exactly the second option.

00;19;36;01 - 00;19;38;03
It was kind of like, we're going to learn how to make some money

00;19;38;03 - 00;19;39;16
and then you're going to pay yourself second.

00;19;39;16 - 00;19;43;12
So we just, we just dove in headfirst and has been a, you know,

00;19;43;12 - 00;19;46;14
a crazy journey up until this point and a big learning experience.

00;19;46;26 - 00;19;49;26
You know, I'm thankful for it all because without it, you know,

00;19;50;00 - 00;19;52;18
I wouldn't be able to make the decisions I'm able to make today.

00;19;52;18 - 00;19;55;09
I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today. So I'm very thankful for the.

00;19;55;09 - 00;19;58;01
Have you been able to pay yourself yet? Yes. Yes.

00;19;58;01 - 00;19;59;27
Now I now I am.

00;19;59;27 - 00;20;02;08
That's awesome. Yeah. It took I work with my account.

00;20;02;08 - 00;20;04;23
I got an account now and at first I didn't have that.

00;20;04;23 - 00;20;05;22
I was the account

00;20;05;22 - 00;20;10;10
I was doing the social media, you know, I was still popping popcorn in the store.

00;20;10;17 - 00;20;12;05
I was trying to find employees.

00;20;12;05 - 00;20;14;18
So it was just it was just so much at first.

00;20;14;18 - 00;20;18;04
But once now that we got a good team and I don't have to necessarily be in there

00;20;18;04 - 00;20;22;00
every day now, I'm able to kind of start, you know, expanding the brand.

00;20;22;08 - 00;20;24;12
We've been focusing on fundraising a lot lately.

00;20;24;12 - 00;20;27;28
That's something I'm very passionate about and want to, you know, continue to grow

00;20;27;28 - 00;20;30;06
throughout these next couple of months and years.

00;20;30;06 - 00;20;33;24
So I love having you here being that it's basically the one year anniversary

00;20;33;24 - 00;20;35;10
of signing your lease. Yeah.

00;20;35;10 - 00;20;38;15
And and just I want you to dive into

00;20;39;07 - 00;20;43;14
if you had to sit right here with someone that has this idea of opening

00;20;43;14 - 00;20;48;07
a restaurant, has this idea of opening a business that involves making things

00;20;48;07 - 00;20;50;23
such as yours, what would be some of the advice

00;20;50;23 - 00;20;53;25
you would give them relative to that process alone?

00;20;53;25 - 00;20;55;08
And I ask it from a place of

00;20;55;08 - 00;20;58;25
we get a lot of people that inquire and ask about opening a restaurant.

00;20;58;25 - 00;20;59;06
Yeah.

00;20;59;06 - 00;21;02;17
And I, I do my best to describe what it takes.

00;21;02;22 - 00;21;06;22
But hearing it from you, I think would be extremely helpful.

00;21;07;08 - 00;21;09;09
I would say ask around.

00;21;09;09 - 00;21;12;05
Don't be afraid to ask questions and ask people for help.

00;21;12;05 - 00;21;15;05
Dave Canonsburg, he's one of the owners over at Chip Shots.

00;21;15;16 - 00;21;18;14
He you know, they're not necessarily a restaurant, but they serve food.

00;21;18;14 - 00;21;21;14
So he knew what it's like opening a commercial kitchen.

00;21;21;14 - 00;21;23;18
So he told me about the process.

00;21;23;18 - 00;21;27;10
He actually put me in contact with Adam Kramer, the general contractor.

00;21;27;10 - 00;21;31;22
So and Adam, he put me in contact with Paul Harmon, the architect.

00;21;31;22 - 00;21;33;17
So it's just ask around.

00;21;33;17 - 00;21;35;01
Use your Labrador connections.

00;21;35;01 - 00;21;36;15
You never know who people might know.

00;21;36;15 - 00;21;39;01
So don't be afraid to ask your network for help.

00;21;39;01 - 00;21;42;29
And when you had to touch on the timeline because I feel like often,

00;21;43;09 - 00;21;46;21
like you said, it was a month like and that's fast turnaround like guys

00;21;47;00 - 00;21;48;18
and ended up being longer and

00;21;49;18 - 00;21;50;09
we ended up having

00;21;50;09 - 00;21;53;08
to pay you know we didn't we got it in July.

00;21;53;16 - 00;21;55;04
Our plan was to open in September.

00;21;55;04 - 00;21;57;07
So we have that free month, do the build out.

00;21;57;07 - 00;21;59;29
But as you know, it permits and everything in Rochester

00;21;59;29 - 00;22;03;06
and Olmsted County, it doesn't necessarily move fast.

00;22;03;06 - 00;22;05;22
They're they're very thorough on how they look at their plan.

00;22;05;22 - 00;22;09;02
So you're not going to get a permit in two weeks or three weeks.

00;22;09;02 - 00;22;11;19
So it's going to take that for 6 to 8 weeks.

00;22;11;19 - 00;22;13;28
And that's something I didn't realize.

00;22;13;28 - 00;22;16;28
My cousin didn't really realize it either because Illinois is different.

00;22;17;18 - 00;22;21;22
They're able to, you know, do some of the work even before the permit.

00;22;21;22 - 00;22;24;16
You can't pick up a hammer in Rochester until you got that permit.

00;22;24;16 - 00;22;27;00
You can't dig a hole until you have a permit.

00;22;27;00 - 00;22;29;10
So it's it's very is very different.

00;22;29;10 - 00;22;32;06
So that was a learning process for the both of us through that whole thing.

00;22;32;06 - 00;22;35;15
And then to add on top of that, you're going

00;22;35;15 - 00;22;39;22
through the backlog of what COVID created for the construction industry.

00;22;39;22 - 00;22;42;28
So there had to be some pieces that drag on relative

00;22;42;28 - 00;22;46;06
to getting parts or yeah, aspects that you just didn't.

00;22;46;21 - 00;22;49;04
Our, our biggest thing was the popcorn equipment.

00;22;49;04 - 00;22;51;07
That was the biggest backlog for us.

00;22;51;07 - 00;22;52;29
Like our machinery.

00;22;52;29 - 00;22;55;29
We didn't know if it was going to arrive in time for our opening date.

00;22;56;04 - 00;23;00;03
I actually had to go to Illinois by the equipment

00;23;00;03 - 00;23;02;18
because someone just happened to sell some used equipment

00;23;02;18 - 00;23;06;21
and then bring it back ourselves because if we ordered it brand new, it's

00;23;06;22 - 00;23;09;24
it was like 6 to 8 months out, something crazy like that.

00;23;10;03 - 00;23;12;12
And I'm like, we already signed the lease.

00;23;12;12 - 00;23;16;11
Like, we have to we have no other option at this point but to get the equipment.

00;23;16;24 - 00;23;19;02
So we, we search throughout the country and,

00;23;19;02 - 00;23;22;03
you know, piece by piece found things that we need.

00;23;22;03 - 00;23;22;22
You know,

00;23;22;22 - 00;23;26;06
we have like these thing called tumblers that spend like the two families.

00;23;26;06 - 00;23;27;11
We have two tumblers.

00;23;27;11 - 00;23;31;05
We found one tumbler in Indiana, we found another tumbler in Illinois.

00;23;31;13 - 00;23;34;28
We found one of our caramel risers, I think they had down in Cincinnati.

00;23;35;04 - 00;23;38;04
So like, we were piecing things together

00;23;38;04 - 00;23;42;03
and that I love that because just know you are not the only one

00;23;42;03 - 00;23;47;14
that goes through that entire process of like you sign the lease

00;23;47;14 - 00;23;49;27
and you think, okay, now we're going to get things rolling,

00;23;49;27 - 00;23;51;17
and then all of a sudden you find out all that

00;23;51;17 - 00;23;54;17
it takes to get things rolling and it's like, right, you're

00;23;54;20 - 00;23;57;14
you're driving across country to pick up equipment.

00;23;57;14 - 00;23;58;27
Yeah. And it was crazy.

00;23;58;27 - 00;24;01;05
You you have no other choice because what are you going to do?

00;24;01;05 - 00;24;03;04
You can't you can't just not bring in any money.

00;24;03;04 - 00;24;04;18
You can't not bring in any revenue.

00;24;04;18 - 00;24;08;18
So it's it kind of with your back up against the wall, you get creative

00;24;08;18 - 00;24;10;02
and it kind of brings out the best in you.

00;24;10;02 - 00;24;11;12
Honestly, when you have the,

00;24;11;12 - 00;24;12;18
you know, limited amount of time

00;24;12;18 - 00;24;15;04
and let in the amount of resources, you're going to get creative.

00;24;16;13 - 00;24;17;24
So you get open.

00;24;17;24 - 00;24;20;13
And it was November, November 14th. Yeah.

00;24;20;13 - 00;24;22;25
So you're pushed back from September, you know,

00;24;22;25 - 00;24;26;16
So one positive I would see in that is you're going into the holiday season.

00;24;26;16 - 00;24;29;08
So in this business, I imagine that's a great place to be.

00;24;29;08 - 00;24;29;18
Yeah.

00;24;29;18 - 00;24;33;07
Still to this day, November has been our highest grossing.

00;24;33;07 - 00;24;36;03
I mean, no, December has been our highest grossing month. Okay.

00;24;36;03 - 00;24;39;22
And that was, you know, our second month being open, not even a full month.

00;24;39;22 - 00;24;42;03
You know, we opened on the second week in November,

00;24;42;03 - 00;24;45;22
so I can't even imagine what holiday season is going to look like.

00;24;45;29 - 00;24;49;27
So you're able to get your feet underneath you very quickly relative

00;24;49;27 - 00;24;53;00
to sales coming in through that process,

00;24;54;14 - 00;24;56;22
How do you even explain all the things you learned?

00;24;56;22 - 00;25;00;17
I mean, now, now, now I feel like, okay, so you've done all the work

00;25;00;17 - 00;25;02;03
and I'll use the analogy of swimming.

00;25;02;03 - 00;25;05;03
You've done all the work to like get the pool built

00;25;05;03 - 00;25;08;17
and you got the diving board and you know, you got the pool full of water.

00;25;08;17 - 00;25;10;03
So it's all set up, right?

00;25;10;03 - 00;25;11;11
And now it's like

00;25;11;11 - 00;25;15;05
you got to learn how to swim, so someone just pushes you or you just jump.

00;25;16;13 - 00;25;19;10
And then how the heck do you what do you learn in that process

00;25;19;10 - 00;25;23;10
of getting the business open and then being bouman Right.

00;25;23;10 - 00;25;27;01
Come December, having a good team is critical.

00;25;27;01 - 00;25;31;13
Like now I have two good managers and I have a solid staff of ten

00;25;31;13 - 00;25;32;15
that I can rely on.

00;25;32;15 - 00;25;36;09
At first we were just scrambling just to get anyone in there

00;25;36;09 - 00;25;39;10
because at the time all these holiday orders are coming in.

00;25;39;22 - 00;25;42;00
You know, we have a thousand bags.

00;25;42;00 - 00;25;43;21
We have to get done by Tuesday.

00;25;43;21 - 00;25;46;26
They they might place it on like Sunday night or something like that.

00;25;47;08 - 00;25;49;18
So it's just finding people that I can rely on.

00;25;49;18 - 00;25;53;18
And at first we had a bunch of people, you know, call in sick, stuff like that.

00;25;53;18 - 00;25;54;22
I never had to deal with it.

00;25;54;22 - 00;25;55;16
You know, growing up,

00;25;55;16 - 00;25;58;20
being younger, the person in high school, I was the one who was calling in sick.

00;25;58;27 - 00;26;01;28
Now I'm on the receiving it and I'm like, all right, I get it.

00;26;01;28 - 00;26;04;21
And I get why they, you know, you got to find a replacement

00;26;04;21 - 00;26;07;02
or you have to have someone to cover your shift and stuff like that.

00;26;07;02 - 00;26;12;00
So just going through that whole process was, was crazy, especially being

00;26;12;00 - 00;26;15;25
in our second month, being open and not really having a solid staff.

00;26;16;03 - 00;26;19;15
Now this upcoming Christmas, it will be it'll be a lot different.

00;26;19;15 - 00;26;21;21
I won't be scrambling as much.

00;26;21;21 - 00;26;26;17
I won't be staying in there till 2 a.m., 238 late at night bagging bags.

00;26;26;25 - 00;26;29;27
I was doing, you know, my girlfriend and I, her sister

00;26;29;27 - 00;26;34;08
and me, my mom, my dad, we were the ones bagging a lot of the orders.

00;26;34;08 - 00;26;36;29
So it was like family, you know, close friends helping out.

00;26;36;29 - 00;26;39;29
So it we look a lot different this year.

00;26;40;12 - 00;26;41;07
You got through it.

00;26;41;07 - 00;26;43;13
You learn the team is one piece.

00;26;43;13 - 00;26;47;13
Talk a little bit about the efficiencies that you learn

00;26;47;13 - 00;26;51;00
in operation as well, because that I imagine, has changed in

00;26;51;16 - 00;26;54;06
where you put things, how they get place, how they get made.

00;26;54;06 - 00;26;57;06
What are some improvements you've found in that process.

00;26;57;06 - 00;27;01;16
Yeah, so I recently read a book on Amazon called Profit First.

00;27;01;21 - 00;27;06;13
I read it about 3 to 4 months ago and it completely changed how I look at business.

00;27;06;22 - 00;27;09;17
When I first opened up, I was so new to being

00;27;09;17 - 00;27;12;22
a business owner, I was taking on unnecessary expenses.

00;27;13;01 - 00;27;14;29
I was paying people to do so.

00;27;14;29 - 00;27;17;11
I may have paid someone to do our social media.

00;27;17;11 - 00;27;21;06
You know, I'm paying for different subscriptions for stuff I don't need.

00;27;21;12 - 00;27;23;10
And I just looked at the bottom line.

00;27;23;10 - 00;27;25;29
Once I got with my account, it was eating away at the profit.

00;27;25;29 - 00;27;28;20
All these stuff that you don't necessarily need.

00;27;28;20 - 00;27;31;28
So I started cutting down on anything that doesn't affect our quality

00;27;31;28 - 00;27;34;02
and our service. I completely cut out.

00;27;34;02 - 00;27;37;03
So now, like those nets, those same subscriptions,

00;27;37;03 - 00;27;40;18
I don't need I don't need, you know, Adobe software to change a PDF.

00;27;40;18 - 00;27;42;07
I thought I needed that at first.

00;27;42;07 - 00;27;46;21
I don't need to pay someone, you know, $1,000 a month to help us out on SEO.

00;27;46;21 - 00;27;50;20
I can go on Fiverr Upwork and find someone to do it for 50.

00;27;50;28 - 00;27;53;28
So it's being more resourceful and being more creative.

00;27;54;04 - 00;27;58;02
And kind of what I started doing is I take the profit first

00;27;58;02 - 00;27;59;00
out of our business.

00;27;59;00 - 00;28;00;29
So once we have our gross revenue,

00;28;00;29 - 00;28;03;06
I take the money that we're get a profit out

00;28;03;06 - 00;28;05;18
and then what's left over is what we have to

00;28;05;18 - 00;28;09;07
for our expenses, for our rent, you know, to spend on marketing,

00;28;09;17 - 00;28;13;03
to spend on, you know, any upgrades we might want to make.

00;28;13;12 - 00;28;16;24
So once I'm able to start taking that money out first, paying myself,

00;28;16;24 - 00;28;18;12
you know, my family first

00;28;18;12 - 00;28;22;11
and then kind of using the leftovers, it's forcing me to be more creative.

00;28;22;11 - 00;28;24;17
Interesting. Yeah. Because now I don't. I don't.

00;28;24;17 - 00;28;28;17
Now I see once I take the money out that we have, I don't have the money.

00;28;29;11 - 00;28;30;02
Yeah, I don't have.

00;28;30;02 - 00;28;33;23
So I don't have the money to pay someone $700 to do our social media.

00;28;33;24 - 00;28;34;05
Got it.

00;28;34;05 - 00;28;38;15
I don't have, you know, $1,000 in Facebook ads to do so.

00;28;38;15 - 00;28;40;22
It forces you to get more creative. Got it. Yeah.

00;28;40;22 - 00;28;44;10
So in that analogy, you take the profit out meaning pain yourself

00;28;44;13 - 00;28;47;04
because so many business owners don't pay themself.

00;28;47;04 - 00;28;47;24
Exactly.

00;28;47;24 - 00;28;50;27
And I can see how that could spiral on for years.

00;28;50;27 - 00;28;53;27
And then you're constantly living check to check, you know,

00;28;53;29 - 00;28;57;18
So I realize, like if I'm doing work in the business, if I'm going back there

00;28;57;18 - 00;29;01;09
and making popcorn, I'm going to clock in and put myself.

00;29;01;15 - 00;29;04;13
I'm not going to pay myself a crazy amount, $50 hour.

00;29;04;13 - 00;29;08;22
I might clock in for $16 hour and that will be separate than the profit

00;29;08;22 - 00;29;09;16
I'll take

00;29;09;16 - 00;29;12;16
because if I'm not doing it, that was supposed to be someone else doing it.

00;29;12;19 - 00;29;14;09
And it will skew your numbers

00;29;14;09 - 00;29;14;24
because if

00;29;14;24 - 00;29;17;24
you constantly doing all the work, if you're constantly doing this and that,

00;29;17;26 - 00;29;20;08
you may think you're making money, but you're not really paying yourself.

00;29;20;08 - 00;29;24;25
So you're you're labor screw you skewed compared to your revenue, right.

00;29;24;29 - 00;29;27;01
Yeah, that's, that's a really good point.

00;29;27;01 - 00;29;29;18
What was the title of the book Profit for Profit first.

00;29;29;18 - 00;29;30;13
Okay. Yeah.

00;29;30;13 - 00;29;33;13
And that's the it's we started the podcast with that is

00;29;33;13 - 00;29;35;12
you know have have you started paying yourself

00;29;35;12 - 00;29;38;28
and you said you have and that's part of what Tesla's brand new just started

00;29;39;20 - 00;29;44;15
so it's like three month process and I do see that a lot, including myself.

00;29;44;15 - 00;29;46;21
Where do you sign up for something and you think you need it

00;29;46;21 - 00;29;48;13
and it's going to help solve some problem.

00;29;48;13 - 00;29;48;27
And you know,

00;29;48;27 - 00;29;52;02
they get you on the sales pitch relative to how they package it online.

00;29;52;02 - 00;29;54;14
And next thing you know, you're six months into it.

00;29;54;14 - 00;29;58;13
You're like, Am I really utilizing that tool to the extent that I should be right?

00;29;58;15 - 00;30;01;20
But as a business taking money out, you constantly see it taken away in it.

00;30;01;23 - 00;30;04;04
But as a business owner, you also think, well,

00;30;04;04 - 00;30;08;03
even if I only use it a portion of the time, it's may be worth it.

00;30;08;21 - 00;30;11;14
But at the end of the day, is it really worth it?

00;30;11;14 - 00;30;11;24
Right?

00;30;11;24 - 00;30;16;29
And by only having that limited resource, you have to make that determination.

00;30;17;12 - 00;30;20;02
Is it really worth it or not? Sure.

00;30;20;02 - 00;30;21;06
Exactly. So.

00;30;21;06 - 00;30;23;02
So your business now,

00;30;23;02 - 00;30;26;26
as you come on this you know, this baby's almost one year old,

00;30;28;12 - 00;30;30;21
barely even grown yet, what

00;30;30;21 - 00;30;34;24
are some things that you are excited about as you continually grow your business?

00;30;34;24 - 00;30;36;10
What are some things that you're going through

00;30;36;10 - 00;30;38;10
that are challenging as you grow your business?

00;30;38;10 - 00;30;42;09
Like, I want to wrap it into two because we often talk

00;30;42;10 - 00;30;44;15
just about the optimistic and positive things,

00;30;44;15 - 00;30;47;08
which I think are great, but also what are some things that you're like?

00;30;47;08 - 00;30;50;15
I've got to figure out how to do this better for sure.

00;30;50;15 - 00;30;54;03
So things I'm excited about is definitely the fundraising platform.

00;30;54;03 - 00;30;57;09
You know, back to school, we've been helping a lot of schools do fundraising.

00;30;57;18 - 00;31;00;13
We started a fundraising platform called Pop Gives

00;31;00;13 - 00;31;03;13
is basically like, Go fund me, but with popcorn,

00;31;03;13 - 00;31;06;17
they send a link out to family and friends, and 50% of the profit

00;31;06;17 - 00;31;09;20
that they get from the sales goes back to that cause.

00;31;10;04 - 00;31;11;22
So that's something I'm really excited about.

00;31;11;22 - 00;31;14;22
I'm really excited to start pushing the schools come back.

00;31;14;23 - 00;31;16;04
And one thing that

00;31;17;13 - 00;31;17;28
has kind of

00;31;17;28 - 00;31;21;00
been difficult is the fluctuation in prices, right?

00;31;21;00 - 00;31;25;26
So since we've started back in November, our cheese prices have gone up.

00;31;26;08 - 00;31;29;17
So in our vendor, they fluctuate on different things.

00;31;29;17 - 00;31;33;11
You know, they say it's not on their end and we just have no control

00;31;33;11 - 00;31;34;24
over the pricing on something.

00;31;34;24 - 00;31;38;03
So I'm working on ways around that.

00;31;38;05 - 00;31;39;29
You know, there's always different avenues,

00;31;39;29 - 00;31;42;22
so I'm kind of exploring some different avenues,

00;31;42;22 - 00;31;45;16
speaking with some different farms, trying to go directly to the source.

00;31;45;16 - 00;31;47;29
And we're thinking we're going to have a

00;31;47;29 - 00;31;51;20
a farm out in Wisconsin, start producing our cheese exclusively for the

00;31;51;21 - 00;31;52;27
all the purposes and,

00;31;52;27 - 00;31;55;12
you know, the pop ups in Rochester and the two poppies in Illinois.

00;31;55;12 - 00;31;58;06
And that would drastically cut down the price.

00;31;58;06 - 00;31;59;06
Interesting. Yeah.

00;31;59;06 - 00;32;03;06
And it's not like you you could, but you don't want to change your prices

00;32;03;06 - 00;32;06;17
weekly or monthly even for that case, because it's like people are

00;32;07;00 - 00;32;08;24
just getting used to your brand.

00;32;08;24 - 00;32;09;26
They come in one month

00;32;09;26 - 00;32;13;24
and then they come in six months later and the prices have changed even 5 to 10%.

00;32;13;24 - 00;32;15;20
They're going to be like, What's going on here?

00;32;15;20 - 00;32;16;11
Exactly.

00;32;16;11 - 00;32;19;07
And people people stock, especially in Rochester,

00;32;19;07 - 00;32;22;00
someone might post on spot in Rochester or something like that.

00;32;22;00 - 00;32;25;00
And and news gets around fast So we've we've

00;32;25;17 - 00;32;28;03
the last resort has been changing our prices we've been kind of

00;32;28;03 - 00;32;30;28
cutting a lot of things out so we can keep the prices the same

00;32;30;28 - 00;32;34;01
and keep our customer service and the same quality service the same.

00;32;34;19 - 00;32;39;00
If you had to talk to a business owner that is not in the generation that you are

00;32;39;03 - 00;32;43;07
and the generation you are in is very much tech savvy.

00;32;43;14 - 00;32;48;00
Yes. What would be some piece of advice or just insight that you would give them

00;32;48;00 - 00;32;50;12
based on your experience and now running a business

00;32;50;12 - 00;32;54;11
and how they can use technology to be a better business Operator

00;32;54;26 - 00;32;58;28
I would definitely say have some sort of online presence and have an online website

00;32;58;28 - 00;33;02;14
where they can either order your product or order your services from.

00;33;02;27 - 00;33;05;26
I was I was looking at the numbers actually the other day,

00;33;05;26 - 00;33;10;16
between 15% of our total gross revenue is from online.

00;33;10;26 - 00;33;14;03
So like we have a lot of patients that come in, they may be

00;33;14;03 - 00;33;17;23
from Florida, Texas, New York, California, wherever they're coming from, they come

00;33;17;23 - 00;33;21;10
in, they try our product, they like it, and now they're ordering it back at home.

00;33;21;16 - 00;33;24;16
So we fulfill a lot of online orders to different states

00;33;24;16 - 00;33;27;16
just based off of the Mayo Clinic bringing that traffic into town.

00;33;27;27 - 00;33;31;06
So I would definitely say have some sort of online presence,

00;33;31;06 - 00;33;32;17
have some sort of website, you know,

00;33;32;17 - 00;33;35;03
social media where people can go and find you on.

00;33;35;03 - 00;33;38;25
And adding on to that, do they need to go build the website

00;33;38;25 - 00;33;42;27
with a vendor that charges them X amount of thousands of dollars to build it?

00;33;43;01 - 00;33;46;07
No, I would always go to Upwork or Fiverr.

00;33;46;09 - 00;33;48;02
I live on there all. Really?

00;33;48;02 - 00;33;51;01
Yes. Like I got our website done off of there.

00;33;51;01 - 00;33;53;01
I think it was 200 bucks, I'll be honest.

00;33;53;01 - 00;33;55;15
So that's, that's I mean they're just taking a template

00;33;55;15 - 00;33;58;15
and adding your pictures and everything, but if you have a company doing that,

00;33;58;15 - 00;34;00;26
they're going to charge you $5,000

00;34;00;26 - 00;34;03;10
because you're paying for the, you know, the CEO salary,

00;34;03;10 - 00;34;05;18
you're paying for the building, you're paying for employees and all that.

00;34;05;18 - 00;34;10;01
Whereas Fiverr, Upwork, it's a it's a person you're paying their hourly

00;34;10;01 - 00;34;13;09
rate is going to be a lot lower than, you know, a local company.

00;34;13;21 - 00;34;14;17
But I get it.

00;34;14;17 - 00;34;16;01
Some people like having,

00;34;16;01 - 00;34;18;27
you know, that local presence, someone walking into your office,

00;34;18;27 - 00;34;21;28
you know, walking, you through it, you're not going to get that on Upwork.

00;34;21;28 - 00;34;22;26
You're going a lot of the time

00;34;22;26 - 00;34;26;10
that maybe someone in a different country and they may be on different time zones.

00;34;26;10 - 00;34;29;08
So you have to be talking to them at odd hours and stuff.

00;34;29;08 - 00;34;32;28
Might not as quickly but it's the savings is is crazy.

00;34;32;29 - 00;34;34;15
Well, and I'll add on to that.

00;34;34;15 - 00;34;36;26
Like, of course we want to support that local company

00;34;36;26 - 00;34;40;13
that is here that the employees here, all those things.

00;34;40;28 - 00;34;45;22
That being said, so many people buy that fancy thing

00;34;45;22 - 00;34;49;09
and I'll say the fancy website or the fancy camera or whatever it may be,

00;34;49;17 - 00;34;51;19
and then they don't actually optimize it.

00;34;51;19 - 00;34;52;27
So it just sits there

00;34;52;27 - 00;34;55;06
and then time goes on and it's five years later

00;34;55;06 - 00;34;58;11
and that's websites outdated and they haven't touched it where

00;34;58;16 - 00;35;01;19
I feel like what you're sharing is if you get that freelancer

00;35;01;19 - 00;35;05;08
that does it for a more inexpensive rate, a really reasonable rate,

00;35;05;15 - 00;35;09;00
at least then you have the presence and then see what that presence does

00;35;09;00 - 00;35;13;00
for your business and then figure out how you can expand on there. Yes.

00;35;13;19 - 00;35;18;01
And that expansion could lead into working with that local person to say, okay,

00;35;18;01 - 00;35;18;24
I have a platform,

00;35;18;24 - 00;35;20;12
I have traffic coming in, but I need to figure out

00;35;20;12 - 00;35;22;19
how to take this traffic and build upon it.

00;35;22;19 - 00;35;24;29
How can we plug in your services to that?

00;35;24;29 - 00;35;25;27
Exactly. Yeah.

00;35;25;27 - 00;35;28;06
And yeah, definitely don't get away from the local people.

00;35;28;06 - 00;35;30;02
There are a local reasonable place.

00;35;30;02 - 00;35;32;22
There's there's freelancers in Rochester as well.

00;35;32;22 - 00;35;34;20
So I would definitely say look local.

00;35;34;20 - 00;35;38;03
First it is when I was looking local, like you said,

00;35;38;12 - 00;35;41;18
they were coming back with some kind of prices that at the time

00;35;41;18 - 00;35;44;09
we're still buying equipment, we're still buying,

00;35;44;09 - 00;35;46;19
you know, the ironing we had to put around the building.

00;35;46;19 - 00;35;48;23
We're still buying the signs, the wall.

00;35;48;23 - 00;35;52;23
I just decided I was like, I can't spend 2 to 3000.

00;35;53;00 - 00;35;56;07
I can't afford it at the moment because I have so many other things to buy.

00;35;56;18 - 00;35;57;12
You want it.

00;35;57;12 - 00;35;59;09
There's no doubt about that. You want exactly.

00;35;59;09 - 00;36;01;10
The one is there for sure, right?

00;36;01;10 - 00;36;03;04
It's just how the heck do you afford it? Right.

00;36;03;04 - 00;36;07;05
With so many other costs when tell you actually get into business,

00;36;07;14 - 00;36;11;00
when you're on the outside looking in, you don't realize that every dollar

00;36;11;00 - 00;36;13;28
means something. Like every single dollar adds up.

00;36;13;28 - 00;36;16;25
Like whoever you throw in your money, it all means something.

00;36;16;25 - 00;36;21;07
And it took me I'm glad it took me till now to realize that.

00;36;21;07 - 00;36;23;02
But basically three or four months ago,

00;36;23;02 - 00;36;25;27
I was doing everything completely different.

00;36;25;27 - 00;36;27;18
My whole mindset was different.

00;36;27;18 - 00;36;32;04
I feel like that's the beautiful thing about business is it's ever evolving

00;36;32;07 - 00;36;36;09
and that's something you really, from what I can gather, love to learn

00;36;36;09 - 00;36;39;18
and to just continually adapt and pivot and grow.

00;36;39;18 - 00;36;43;20
And so that's I don't know that there's any other career that offers

00;36;43;20 - 00;36;47;12
that other than a business path, right?

00;36;47;13 - 00;36;50;21
Because of the ever changing landscape of what business is.

00;36;50;21 - 00;36;51;19
And, you know, when it

00;36;51;19 - 00;36;54;21
when it's like your family's business, when it's for your family, you know,

00;36;54;21 - 00;36;57;28
the next generation coming down, you're more inclined, like you're excited.

00;36;58;02 - 00;36;59;18
You really believe in the product.

00;36;59;18 - 00;37;01;19
I know like your dad was snap, you stop.

00;37;01;19 - 00;37;03;25
You love his burgers. I love his burgers.

00;37;03;25 - 00;37;05;05
You're more inclined to push it.

00;37;05;05 - 00;37;07;04
You're going to go the extra mile. You're going to do

00;37;07;04 - 00;37;09;25
everything you have to do because it's it's for your family.

00;37;09;25 - 00;37;10;06
It's for you.

00;37;10;06 - 00;37;11;03
It's your own business.

00;37;11;03 - 00;37;13;16
It's something that you own. Right.

00;37;13;16 - 00;37;14;25
Let's pivot for a second.

00;37;14;25 - 00;37;17;10
I want to talk about downtown Rochester.

00;37;17;10 - 00;37;21;14
So unlike most business owners, you decided to invest in downtown.

00;37;21;14 - 00;37;24;22
I would say there's at this time, small business owners.

00;37;24;22 - 00;37;28;00
There's a fair amount, but not as many as other parts of town

00;37;28;00 - 00;37;31;00
that have made investment and opened their business downtown.

00;37;31;00 - 00;37;33;09
And part of that is because of the headlines you read of,

00;37;33;09 - 00;37;36;16
you know, males, employees downtown like they were pre-COVID.

00;37;37;18 - 00;37;38;23
What would be

00;37;38;23 - 00;37;42;11
your insight into the year that you've been downtown

00;37;43;07 - 00;37;46;14
that you really appreciate about downtown, that you think

00;37;46;14 - 00;37;49;14
there's opportunities that youth you are optimistic about?

00;37;49;14 - 00;37;51;05
And then we'll go on to the challenges.

00;37;51;05 - 00;37;54;01
But let's let's start with the optimistic

00;37;54;01 - 00;37;56;21
portion of what you see in the downtown landscape for sure.

00;37;56;21 - 00;38;00;17
So I I've grown up in Rochester, you know, we grow up in Rochester

00;38;00;17 - 00;38;02;28
and we hear of Mayo Clinic, we go to Mayo Clinic.

00;38;02;28 - 00;38;06;14
When we get into stuff, we just used to being around it.

00;38;06;24 - 00;38;09;14
So when opening the business downtown, I didn't realize

00;38;09;14 - 00;38;12;22
like how many patients actually come in to the Mayo Clinic.

00;38;13;05 - 00;38;15;20
So we were talking before the podcast.

00;38;15;20 - 00;38;19;08
I think between 60 to 65% of all of our

00;38;19;08 - 00;38;22;08
our ticket sales, our patients are from out of town.

00;38;22;08 - 00;38;24;27
So I didn't realize that the traffic was so large

00;38;24;27 - 00;38;28;18
and like where everyone's coming from Australia, Canada,

00;38;28;18 - 00;38;32;08
you know, Texas, New York, California, different country, different states.

00;38;32;18 - 00;38;36;14
So Rochester has crazy transient traffic.

00;38;36;28 - 00;38;40;23
And, you know, I knew that a little bit prior to putting the business downtown.

00;38;40;23 - 00;38;41;03
I was like,

00;38;41;03 - 00;38;45;01
I just think we would do best where there's the most people walking around.

00;38;45;09 - 00;38;46;17
And I felt like,

00;38;46;17 - 00;38;49;09
you know, I've heard all the things about Rochester downtown,

00;38;49;09 - 00;38;51;04
about how it's dead and everything like that.

00;38;51;04 - 00;38;51;17
And I was like,

00;38;51;17 - 00;38;55;16
I just think we have to we have to be where near people were walking.

00;38;56;12 - 00;39;00;19
I was kind of estimating with one of the owners over there at Bitter and Poor,

00;39;00;28 - 00;39;05;09
He thinks that only like 10 to 15000 actual residents visit downtown.

00;39;05;19 - 00;39;09;11
So like, I kind of knew that prior on a like a monthly basis or like,

00;39;09;11 - 00;39;13;02
just like on a yearly basis, like I actually visit frequently, like,

00;39;13;02 - 00;39;15;10
you know, come downtown to get drinks, come downtown,

00;39;15;10 - 00;39;15;16
you know,

00;39;15;16 - 00;39;16;25
kind of sit around

00;39;16;25 - 00;39;19;26
because bitter and poor, they do a lot of transient traffic as well.

00;39;20;07 - 00;39;23;12
So talking to him prior, before opening and just kind of realizing

00;39;23;12 - 00;39;26;20
that, I was like, we have to be down there because how many people, you know,

00;39;27;05 - 00;39;30;11
will come get popcorn, you know, 20 minutes on the other side of town.

00;39;30;18 - 00;39;32;14
Whereas like if you're walking right next to it,

00;39;32;14 - 00;39;35;14
you might just stumble upon it and decide you want some.

00;39;35;16 - 00;39;38;29
So I knew we needed that walking traffic in that foot traffic,

00;39;38;29 - 00;39;44;04
and that's the side of downtown that I would 100% agree with.

00;39;44;04 - 00;39;47;04
I don't even recognize it because I am not delivering a product that

00;39;47;08 - 00;39;48;29
people that visit here want

00;39;51;00 - 00;39;54;03
often and you have shed light

00;39;54;03 - 00;39;57;29
into that visitor traffic is really what has made your business.

00;39;58;01 - 00;40;00;09
Yes. Be successful in this short amount of time.

00;40;00;09 - 00;40;02;09
And then like with the online presence as well,

00;40;02;09 - 00;40;05;10
now they're coming in from out of town, now they're ordering online.

00;40;05;10 - 00;40;07;00
So it's like a double sided sword.

00;40;07;00 - 00;40;09;24
Every time they come to Rochester for an appointment at Mayo,

00;40;09;24 - 00;40;11;01
they come in and visit us.

00;40;11;01 - 00;40;14;00
And if they happen to get a craving back home, now we ship it to them.

00;40;14;14 - 00;40;17;29
So I didn't realize the online portion was going to be so big going into it.

00;40;17;29 - 00;40;22;00
That's something that was new to me and you know, we're obviously very happy

00;40;22;00 - 00;40;22;21
with it.

00;40;22;21 - 00;40;25;17
So with all the visitors,

00;40;25;17 - 00;40;27;29
it's helping make your business over time.

00;40;27;29 - 00;40;32;13
If we find different workforce, if Mayo brings back some employees,

00;40;32;13 - 00;40;36;29
it's only going to add on to, yes, the amount of business that you can get.

00;40;37;05 - 00;40;40;00
Do you feel confident that you can make it

00;40;40;00 - 00;40;43;28
based upon the visitors that are coming today or do you?

00;40;44;06 - 00;40;47;04
You always want more, but I'm just based on current traffic.

00;40;47;04 - 00;40;49;15
Like, do you feel confident that current traffic

00;40;49;15 - 00;40;53;02
makes this a long standing business for years to come based on existing?

00;40;53;05 - 00;40;53;14
Yeah.

00;40;53;14 - 00;40;57;05
So if we never grew another dollar, I think we could sustain that.

00;40;57;05 - 00;41;00;06
But obviously the goal is always to bring more to.

00;41;00;06 - 00;41;02;11
We want more as many people as we can in the shop.

00;41;02;11 - 00;41;05;00
We want to do as many online orders as possible.

00;41;05;00 - 00;41;07;04
But based on from what I've seen.

00;41;07;04 - 00;41;08;22
But we still are new though.

00;41;08;22 - 00;41;09;08
So let's see.

00;41;09;08 - 00;41;12;16
What's that one year anniversary comes through and that newness wears off.

00;41;12;19 - 00;41;13;29
Right now, we're not new anymore.

00;41;13;29 - 00;41;16;09
Now we're just a popcorn shop downtown.

00;41;16;09 - 00;41;19;16
I want to see the numbers after that, because that will be more telling

00;41;19;16 - 00;41;22;18
than worries like people coming, Oh, you guys are in a new place.

00;41;22;18 - 00;41;24;01
You guys are the brand new shop.

00;41;24;01 - 00;41;27;21
And even though we're eight months into it now, people still use that word new.

00;41;27;29 - 00;41;30;03
So once that newness wears off,

00;41;30;03 - 00;41;32;27
then I want to see the numbers and I would have a better answer then.

00;41;32;27 - 00;41;34;18
Interesting. Yeah, that's good point.

00;41;34;18 - 00;41;38;13
Let's talk about some of the real just facts of downtown

00;41;38;13 - 00;41;41;21
that you're experiencing as a business owner and what makes it

00;41;41;21 - 00;41;45;11
a little bit more challenging in your opinion based on what you've seen?

00;41;45;15 - 00;41;48;12
And I'll use one example, the other day I saw you on First Avenue

00;41;48;12 - 00;41;49;02
get out of your car

00;41;49;02 - 00;41;52;02
and you go running towards the shop and all I can think in my mind is like,

00;41;52;11 - 00;41;53;25
You got to grab something quick.

00;41;53;25 - 00;41;55;17
You've got to go fill in for somebody fast.

00;41;55;17 - 00;41;58;20
And like you had to feed the meter if you even had time

00;41;58;20 - 00;42;01;22
to feed the meter and you're like, I got to get to the shop.

00;42;01;24 - 00;42;04;27
And so I imagine parking is part of that challenge

00;42;04;27 - 00;42;06;21
that opened your eyes in downtown.

00;42;06;21 - 00;42;09;05
I'm I'm glad you mentioned that because I over like

00;42;10;06 - 00;42;10;22
I paid over

00;42;10;22 - 00;42;13;22
$700 in parking ticket since we first opened

00;42;13;28 - 00;42;17;13
so that that I would say cost of doing business downtown.

00;42;17;13 - 00;42;17;26
Right.

00;42;17;26 - 00;42;21;15
The parking but that's by far the biggest challenge downtown is just

00;42;21;25 - 00;42;23;19
you know, the meters and the ramps.

00;42;23;19 - 00;42;25;08
If you buy a spot, it's not cheap.

00;42;25;08 - 00;42;30;25
It's 185 a month for one spot and, you know, we decided it wasn't worth it.

00;42;30;25 - 00;42;35;01
That was just another costs because we've been sometimes we park it by Wells Fargo.

00;42;35;01 - 00;42;36;23
It's cheaper over there. It's like $0.50 hour.

00;42;36;23 - 00;42;40;08
But then you have to make that two block walk rather than just across the street.

00;42;40;19 - 00;42;43;10
So that is definitely one of the downfalls of downtown

00;42;43;10 - 00;42;47;03
is the parking and and that downfall of downtown.

00;42;47;03 - 00;42;50;26
If we think about ways that it could be improved

00;42;51;09 - 00;42;55;27
if you had the magic wand other than just making parking free for all employers.

00;42;56;00 - 00;42;56;13
Yeah.

00;42;56;13 - 00;42;58;08
Like what would be some

00;42;58;08 - 00;43;01;25
small steps to solutions that you think could help with that?

00;43;01;29 - 00;43;06;18
I think even for like the meters, if the first 20 minutes could be free

00;43;06;25 - 00;43;09;20
like that would help because a lot of people are like, well,

00;43;09;20 - 00;43;12;02
we just parked illegally right on the side because we don't want to plug

00;43;12;02 - 00;43;15;02
the meter even for, you know, 5 minutes to run in the parking shop.

00;43;15;07 - 00;43;16;28
But then, you know, we have the bus stop over there,

00;43;16;28 - 00;43;18;17
so they might be parking in front of the bus.

00;43;18;17 - 00;43;20;08
So like, it causes

00;43;20;08 - 00;43;23;22
people try to avoid paying the meters and it causes other problems.

00;43;24;03 - 00;43;27;03
So if people could, you know, maybe if they could get to I know the ramps,

00;43;27;03 - 00;43;30;10
they do the hour, but the ramp is further than the,

00;43;30;11 - 00;43;33;10
you know, the parking meter right across the street or right out front.

00;43;33;10 - 00;43;36;22
So if they could do even like 15 or 20 minutes, I think that would help.

00;43;36;22 - 00;43;40;07
And it would help the bus drivers, too, because people are parking in their lanes

00;43;40;07 - 00;43;42;29
because they don't want to pay the meter and they want to just run in.

00;43;42;29 - 00;43;45;07
And, you know, we can only tell people so much.

00;43;45;07 - 00;43;48;07
We posted on Facebook, you know, don't park off on the side

00;43;48;11 - 00;43;50;10
because the bus drivers have come in, obviously,

00;43;50;10 - 00;43;53;03
you know, not happy with us because our customers are coming in there.

00;43;53;03 - 00;43;55;28
But there's only so much that we could do at that point.

00;43;55;28 - 00;43;57;02
And I love that idea.

00;43;57;02 - 00;44;00;19
Obviously, that's only one portion of many ideas

00;44;00;19 - 00;44;02;23
we could come up with, but I think that's the continued

00;44;02;23 - 00;44;06;06
conversation I'd love to just bring to the Internet to just get people talking

00;44;06;06 - 00;44;09;06
and thinking because it will help

00;44;09;15 - 00;44;14;01
the sustainability of small business downtown for years to come.

00;44;14;01 - 00;44;18;15
If we start having these conversations, that could lead to some exactly changes.

00;44;18;15 - 00;44;20;26
And they don't have to be monumental changes, right?

00;44;20;26 - 00;44;23;26
It's it's small changes that can add up over time.

00;44;24;00 - 00;44;26;00
One other thing I'd just like to touch on in

00;44;26;00 - 00;44;29;21
related to downtown businesses, like what have you learned related to your hours?

00;44;29;25 - 00;44;34;24
So what does that look like from what you thought going in to what it is today?

00;44;35;01 - 00;44;37;23
Did you think you would have more sales on the weekend in there? Less.

00;44;37;23 - 00;44;39;13
Did you think the evenings would be?

00;44;39;13 - 00;44;40;26
You know what?

00;44;40;26 - 00;44;44;17
That's funny that you said that I definitely thought we would do better.

00;44;44;17 - 00;44;46;27
So we do well on Saturdays just because that's you know,

00;44;46;27 - 00;44;49;27
there's tournaments, there's stuff going on at the Civic Center.

00;44;49;28 - 00;44;52;10
People are downtown, you know, eating lunch, walking around.

00;44;52;10 - 00;44;53;29
You know, they may go down to shop.

00;44;53;29 - 00;44;56;12
I like primp or something like that down the street.

00;44;56;12 - 00;44;59;12
But Sundays have been our by far our worst day.

00;44;59;14 - 00;45;02;14
And that was, you know, now that I know downtown

00;45;02;14 - 00;45;05;13
Rochester, Sunday's it makes sense for it to be our worst day.

00;45;05;20 - 00;45;10;04
But the other stores in Illinois, one of their best days is Sundays.

00;45;10;14 - 00;45;13;06
So like coming into it, I just thought I was like, Oh, we're popcorn.

00;45;13;06 - 00;45;15;20
Maybe we'll follow like the same trend as other stores.

00;45;15;20 - 00;45;18;14
And that was like completely opposite.

00;45;18;14 - 00;45;21;25
Just because everything's closed downtown on Sundays, you know, people

00;45;21;25 - 00;45;26;17
are oftentimes checking out of their hotel and leaving the newer people.

00;45;26;17 - 00;45;30;12
They they come in on Sundays, but they don't come in on Sundays till later.

00;45;30;12 - 00;45;33;10
So we get better business towards the night on Sundays,

00;45;33;10 - 00;45;35;28
because that's when the new wave of like no patience.

00;45;35;28 - 00;45;39;24
So people traveling to Rochester come in, they check in at like five, six at night.

00;45;40;02 - 00;45;40;11
Yeah.

00;45;40;11 - 00;45;44;01
And it's funny, that is our travel pattern.

00;45;44;01 - 00;45;47;08
The weekdays are the busy days where if you were to go to, let's say,

00;45;47;08 - 00;45;50;08
Wisconsin Dells, it's going to be like the weekends are crazy, right?

00;45;50;08 - 00;45;53;17
It's just flipped upside down because of the mayo and how it operates.

00;45;53;17 - 00;45;56;16
Yeah, completely. For not nothing's even open.

00;45;56;16 - 00;45;58;25
We're the only thing besides, like Chester's and the.

00;45;58;25 - 00;46;02;15
Well, you know, all the other shopping spots are closed on the weekends.

00;46;02;15 - 00;46;04;12
Eagle drug, they don't open till 5 p.m.

00;46;04;12 - 00;46;08;13
on the weekends, so we keep our same hours, so we're legit.

00;46;08;13 - 00;46;09;05
One of the only things.

00;46;09;05 - 00;46;13;06
So sometimes we do okay on Sundays just because there's people walking around

00;46;13;06 - 00;46;14;26
and we're the only thing open.

00;46;14;26 - 00;46;15;17
So it's kind of like

00;46;15;17 - 00;46;18;17
they're almost forced to come in if they want to do something right.

00;46;18;24 - 00;46;21;07
I like it. Strategy. Yeah.

00;46;21;07 - 00;46;24;06
I don't take you know, don't take that strategy and start being the second.

00;46;24;06 - 00;46;25;00
No, I think

00;46;25;00 - 00;46;29;03
the more people open, the more destination this becomes for people long term.

00;46;29;16 - 00;46;32;19
If people want to learn more about your business, where can they go online?

00;46;32;19 - 00;46;34;10
And then about what your hours are.

00;46;34;10 - 00;46;36;01
And then we didn't love this.

00;46;36;01 - 00;46;37;09
We didn't talk about your products at all,

00;46;37;09 - 00;46;41;09
but share about a few of your products that you absolutely love for sure.

00;46;41;10 - 00;46;44;18
So we're at Pop ups, Rochester on Facebook

00;46;44;18 - 00;46;48;11
and on Instagram, and our website is Pop ups, Rochester dot com.

00;46;48;11 - 00;46;53;08
So that's pop us Rochester and then Ecom we're open from 11 a.m.

00;46;53;08 - 00;46;56;08
to 8 p.m. every single day of the week.

00;46;56;10 - 00;46;59;00
We offer over 50 different flavors of popcorn.

00;46;59;00 - 00;47;01;25
You can come in, we offer unlimited samples.

00;47;01;25 - 00;47;04;18
You could put in as many flavors as you want in one bag.

00;47;04;18 - 00;47;06;01
I think our record is like

00;47;06;01 - 00;47;09;06
14 different flavors in a bag of That's something you want to do.

00;47;09;19 - 00;47;11;20
I would say my favorite flavors.

00;47;12;19 - 00;47;15;11
I love the Oreo just because we do use real Oreos.

00;47;15;11 - 00;47;18;11
I'm a big Oreo fan like Oreo blizzards or your cake

00;47;18;11 - 00;47;21;15
anything or you're I'm going to eat So that's definitely one of my tops

00;47;21;28 - 00;47;24;03
And then I would say one of the new ones that I like

00;47;24;03 - 00;47;27;02
is is a root beer float is is honestly really interesting

00;47;27;02 - 00;47;29;27
and you can taste the fizzy ness like in the root beer.

00;47;29;27 - 00;47;31;12
Popcorn is crazy.

00;47;31;12 - 00;47;33;23
I'm going to have to try that. Yeah, I should try some.

00;47;33;23 - 00;47;36;19
And what some on the edge that people are like. I don't know.

00;47;36;19 - 00;47;39;24
But you're like, you got to at least give it a shot for sure.

00;47;39;25 - 00;47;43;12
Are a lot of people are hesitant about banana pudding?

00;47;43;12 - 00;47;45;06
I really like it. Banana pudding?

00;47;45;06 - 00;47;46;23
Yeah, people are hesitant about it.

00;47;46;23 - 00;47;48;04
They try it and then they like it.

00;47;48;04 - 00;47;50;21
So banana pudding people are always like, All right,

00;47;50;21 - 00;47;54;11
But it happens to be like one of the top 15 sellers, so it still does.

00;47;54;11 - 00;47;57;01
Whoa. Cool. Well, thanks so much for joining the podcast.

00;47;57;01 - 00;48;00;16
I love sharing and learning about your story of real growth

00;48;00;16 - 00;48;03;08
that you're continually growing as a business owner, as an individual.

00;48;03;08 - 00;48;04;14
Thank you for sharing it with us.

00;48;04;14 - 00;48;08;02
And we look forward I look forward to just your continued growth in the community.

00;48;08;02 - 00;48;10;01
I appreciate it, Bucky. Thanks for having me on, man. You bet.