Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Jerome Myers - Dreamcatchers and The Myers Development Group

Like many real estate investment professionals, Jerome found himself at a crossroads.  Should he keep going down the corporate path, or venture off into something more, or different, such as real estate investing?  Like many people, he had to weight the pros and cons of each.

Luckily for us, Jerome chose the red pill, to live the risk and venture out into the real estate investing world, specifically into multifamily units.

Listen as Jerome details his journey and how he now helps people do what he has done, that is to create generational wealth with real estate investing.

Enjoy!

Visit Jerome at: https://www.jeromemyers.co/

[00:00:00.000] - Speaker 1

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes of the Authentic Business Adventures program can be found at drawincustomers.com and hit that podcast link. We're locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie. My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and helpful coach to small business owners across the country. And today we're welcoming/preparing to learn from Jerome Myer's, owner of the Myer's Method. So, Jerome, how are you doing today?

[00:00:33.990] - Speaker 1

Amazing. James, how are you, my brother?

[00:00:36.100] - Speaker 2

Man, I'm doing better. When people answer like that, I love it.

[00:00:39.970] - Speaker 1

It's so good to be with you. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:42.580] - Speaker 2

Yeah, thanks for being on the show. You got to tell me, what is the Myer's Method?

[00:00:48.310] - Speaker 1

Yeah. So there's a couple of different little model things we have going on. So Myer's Method is really our approach to buying multifamily properties. And so it's a four step process that we use in order to find fun, fix and then flip deals so that people who are out there, who are interested in getting into this space, have a proven system that they can utilize in order to be successful in those transactions. I think a lot of us, we just think real estate is buying a widget and then selling that widget for more. And what I found is you actually got to run a business in order to make money in multifamily. For me, that has been pretty helpful because when I got into the space, I didn't have a method. I was just goofing around, trying to explore and figure it out through podcast and YouTube.

[00:01:41.050] - Speaker 2

All right. And how did you get into the real estate business?

[00:01:45.550] - Speaker 1

Long convoluted story, but the interest started when I was a sophomore in college. Me and my buddy, Doran, were sitting on the stoop, and we were doing a little bit of math. I was paying 395. I had two roommates on the same thing. He lived in an apartment downstairs and similar situation happening. But when we multiplied it across the complex, the guy that owned the property was making about $700,000 a year and we never saw him or talked to him. And for me, I was like, who? He's figured out how to decouple his time for money. Now, I didn't know him. I never saw him. I never talked to him. So I couldn't go ask him, Hey, how did you do that? And I'm the son of a soldier and a stay at home mom, so we didn't have people with multimillion dollar real estate portfolio who's coming over to the house. I had a little conundrum there. How could I get the information I needed in order to be successful at this thing that I knew I was interested in but didn't know a whole lot about or have any real exposure to?

[00:02:44.740] - Speaker 2

All right. How did you end up doing that?

[00:02:49.390] - Speaker 1

Well, I did what everybody else does. I got good grades and then I got a good job and I started on the American dream. After over a decade in industry, I realized I didn't like where I was heading. I was looking in the mirror, I didn't really enjoy myself. I was being asked to do things that I didn't agree with. I exited corporate America after building a pretty big division for Fortune 550. I said, Well, I got some experience, I got some credentials now. I got some credit. I got some money. Let me go to the bank and see if I can borrow some money to go buy one of these apartment buildings. It can't be that hard. I bought multiple houses at that point. When I walked in, they said, Why would we give you a million dollars? I was baffled because I thought they were in the business of loan and money. What I realized is they are in the business of loaning money to proven operators with great business plans. I was neither. I thought I had a business plan, but I didn't know what I was doing. I had no experience in actually executing that type of business plan on that size property.

[00:04:00.550] - Speaker 1

I was high risk and they were not totally uninterested in lending. At first I thought it was just that bank so I went to another one and then another. By the time I got to the 10th one, I realized I was the one who didn't really understand what was going on. I pivoted, started doing some fixin' and flips, and I got connected with the guy who was going to do a deal that I tried to do earlier on my own. We partnered on that deal. Because my name ended up in the paper from that one, things changed. Banks were more interested in having conversations with me. We continued to go down this path of growing a portfolio and helping other people figure out how to get this thing done as well.

[00:04:44.520] - Speaker 2

All right. How big of a property are we talking? Your first one that you try to get.

[00:04:49.140] - Speaker 1

The first one was 23 units. So it was 23 units with the purchase price of about 1.3 million.

[00:04:56.850] - Speaker 2

Okay, that's a big first bite, I guess is where that goes.

[00:05:02.460] - Speaker 1

Well, for some people, they would say it's really small. And so it's just a function of what your frame is. There's a lot of educators in the real estate space who will tell you, Hey, don't buy property on 100 units. For most markets, that's going to be something that's north of eight million at this point. And they say you can do that with no money, no credit, no experience of your own. And to your point, I think it's really difficult to go from owning a single family home to an eight million dollars property and run that successfully. And so what we teach through our methodology is to get people to do those smaller bites. And so we look to get people to do a deal between half a million and 1.5 million on their first go around with a group of their friends, and that will give them some track record. We call it getting tuna in the boat. I don't know if any of your listeners have been deep sea fishing or not, but when we go out deep sea fishing, when we come back in, there's people lined up on the dock and they want to see what we caught.

[00:06:00.890] - Speaker 1

And so the skipper and the first mate, they lay all the fish out and everybody's like, oh, man, I got a pretty good take. And for those captains that consistently bring boats back with people with fish, their boat stays full. The ones that come back empty don't. And so that's the same thing with your investing strategy or your investing experience. We want people to go out, find a great deal, make money with that deal, come back, show people they made that money so that more people will go out. E ventually, they get a bigger boat and maybe they don't go fishing for tuna. Maybe they go fishing for sard fish and then marlins and then whales and then sharks. You continue to get bigger and bigger fish in the boat and you also have a bigger boat that's actually equipped to take on that. I like to pick with people and say, Hey, don't go out there and try to capture Moby Dick on your first fishing expedition because it could sink your boat.

[00:07:01.270] - Speaker 2

Yeah. Build upon your success instead of trying to get the biggest one right away. This reminds me of a guy that I met because I had a buddy that or have a buddy that pours basements. And he was called out to a guy that had an old college house that he's renting out, first rental that he had, then it's cinder block basement, a lot of rain, cinder block basement wall caves in. So he called my buddy out there, just contact of contact thing. My buddy's like, There's no way I'm taking this job. But I want to look at it. So we go out there and we can see the driveway caved into this house. There's a shared driveway between these two old houses, typical college house, just dive. This guy was first rental and he's like, I don't know what I got to do. My buddy's like, You got to get your tenants into the hotel because your tenants pay you monthly rent for a place to live. They can't live here until you get this fixed. And he's like, I got to pay for their hotel? And so it's funny because it seems to me like he didn't realize the promises that were being made that he had to keep.

[00:08:06.180] - Speaker 2

So I think if someone getting a 23 unit off the bat first promise, they are property rich but way cash poor if they had to lay down down payment for that place. And if they have a bad day, fire, flood, whatever, they're in a world of hurt, terrible place to be in.

[00:08:23.570] - Speaker 1

Plus, most of those projects you're going to get into early in your career are going to be construction projects. And so if you don't know how to budget properly, it's not like a rehab where you're buying one of each of the things. In concept, you're going to buy 23 of the things. And so if your number is off by $1,000 on something you're buying 23 times, it can add up quickly. And that's if it's only a thousand. Imagine if you're off by 5,000.

[00:08:55.230] - Speaker 2

Interesting. So what made you decide to go down the corporate avenue and g

Basel Nassar - Boss Nation Brands

The dog and cat food and product market is hot.  More people entered the market as customers with pets over the past few years than at any other time in the recent past.  All of these customers need food, leashes, treats and an endless array of products to show care and affection for their pets.

Basel Nassar is an entrepreneur at heart.  He has lived the startup life a few times and helped get Boss Nation Brands started and growing.

Boss Dog, Boss Cat and a medley of other banners selling pet products under the Boss Brand is just what the market needs now.  Listen as Basel details how the business started and what their growth challenges and success have been.  It is a compelling and inspiring story of business that many entrepreneurs could benefit from hearing.  Basel's experience is shared here for you.

Enjoy!

Visit Basel at: http://www.bossdogbrand.com/

[00:00:02]

You have found

[00:00:03]

Authentic Business Adventures, the business

program that brings you the struggles.

[00:00:05]

Stories, and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:10]

Oh, my goodness gracious.

[00:00:11]

I'm excited because we have Basel Nassar,

the owner of Boss Nation.

[00:00:16]

I should let you guys know that we're

[00:00:17]

locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

We got to throw that in there.

[00:00:20]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:22]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:25]

But today we're going to learn about

Boss Nation, which is kind of exciting

[00:00:29]

because as we can see,

this is all about dogs.

[00:00:32]

And I'll just let you take it from here.

[00:00:35]

Basel, how about you tell

us just what is Boss Nation?

[00:00:37]

Sure.

[00:00:39]

We launched Boss Dog was our first brand

pillar under Boss Nation in 2019,

[00:00:44]

and it was my first venture

into the pet specialty channel.

[00:00:51]

And in about 36 months,

[00:00:53]

we introduced two brand pillars,

both Boss Dog and Boss Cat,

[00:00:58]

where we focus on producing a line

of ultra premium meals, treats,

[00:01:03]

supplements, and hard goods

for both dogs and cats.

[00:01:06]

Oh, wow.

All right.

[00:01:10]

I imagine you're a pet guy.

I'm a pet guy.

[00:01:13]

I'm a serial entrepreneur by nature.

[00:01:16]

I've been building brands

for over 30 years.

[00:01:19]

Prior to Boss Dog and Boss Cat,

I was in the Greek yogurt segment

[00:01:25]

for humans for about 20 years,

and we scaled a pretty large company.

[00:01:30]

We were a little over 300 million

[00:01:32]

in street consumption rate

by the time we ended up selling.

[00:01:36]

Then I was acquired in 2010

[00:01:38]

by Hain Celestial, and they were large,

natural, organic food concern.

[00:01:43]

And for eight years, I was

[00:01:46]

given the privilege of running

their refrigerated division.

[00:01:49]

And what that afforded me was a lot

of expertise in learning how to infuse

[00:01:55]

probiotics into foods, variety of foods,

from dairy bases to plant based.

[00:02:00]

So I took that knowledge and all

[00:02:03]

that years of experience in yogurt

and infusion, and we adopted what we're

[00:02:07]

doing in human, and now we've

translated into pet solutions.

[00:02:11]

So focused on digestive health mainly.

[00:02:14]

All right, let's start way back when,

when you first started.

[00:02:18]

So we're talking 30 plus years ago.

Sure.

[00:02:21]

What made you decide to start your own

[00:02:22]

business versus just

getting a typical day job?

[00:02:25]

I think the common answer is I got

tired of making other people money.

[00:02:31]

Yeah.

I had an accounting background initially,

[00:02:34]

and then just by chance,

I ended up getting into operations

[00:02:38]

and running a spice and soup

facility in Washington state.

[00:02:42]

Oh, wow.

[00:02:43]

I enjoyed it and decided that I

could probably do this on my own.

[00:02:47]

So I ventured in a few different

[00:02:49]

industries and learned everything

from finance, accounting,

[00:02:53]

all the way up to plan operations,

and even his granular driving forklifts.

[00:02:59]

That was 10-15 years of that.

[00:03:01]

And I ended up partnering with a couple

of gentlemen in Washington state in early

[00:03:06]

2000, and that's when we started

our first national brand build.

[00:03:10]

And then at that point.

[00:03:12]

Once you get the taste

[00:03:13]

of entrepreneurialism, it's hard to go

back, especially if you're successful.

[00:03:17]

Oh, very true, very true.

[00:03:19]

So is this the first

business was in yogurt?

[00:03:23]

First business was

actually in energy bars.

[00:03:26]

Oh, really?

Okay.

[00:03:27]

Energy bar venture a long time ago,

but my most recent was Yogurt for Humans.

[00:03:34]

And we got in front of the Greek

yogurt phenomenon in early 2000.

[00:03:39]

I was just going to say, you rode

that wave right at the beginning.

[00:03:43]

Yeah, we were the second

Greek yogurt in the US.

[00:03:46]

After the Greek supplied source.

[00:03:49]

And there was a window of opportunity

[00:03:51]

in early 2000 and we

didn't have deep pockets.

[00:03:54]

It was just three young Greek guys

in their early 20s trying to figure out

[00:03:57]

how to at the time, we were making

hummus, would you believe in?

[00:04:01]

And then just pivoting into Greek

yogurt because it was much easier.

[00:04:05]

Market segment entry,

and we just did that for years.

[00:04:10]

We still look back on that is probably one

[00:04:12]

of the more proactive and profitable

business we've ever run.

[00:04:17]

It almost made not to say that it was

easy, but the timing was perfect,

[00:04:22]

the margins were ideal,

and we didn't have a 400 SKU base,

[00:04:28]

and so it was really easy

to manage the business to scale.

[00:04:32]

Yeah,

I can't say the same about

[00:04:36]

alcohol and spirits,

which I was in for about two years

[00:04:39]

and then now pet some of the highest

barriers of entry I've ever seen.

[00:04:44]

So it's really not for the timid.

[00:04:48]

Yeah, the alcohol,

[00:04:49]

I can see that being tough to get

into or at least tough to expand.

[00:04:54]

A lot of laws seem pretty

archaic from what I've seen.

[00:04:57]

That just prevent a lot of things

that to me seem logical from happening.

[00:05:03]

But yeah, I guess I'm not in that business

[00:05:05]

from other people I've interviewed,

it's challenging.

[00:05:08]

I always tell people with liquor,

it's easy to sum it up with.

[00:05:11]

There's 10ft of space on the wall

and you're trying to convince somebody why

[00:05:14]

you belong next to Jim Beam

and Jack Daniels.

[00:05:16]

All right.

[00:05:17]

This market entry is very hard.

[00:05:20]

Sure.

[00:05:22]

Tell me so when you're starting

the energy bars sure.

[00:05:27]

Are you just making those in your kitchen?

[00:05:30]

Tell me about that business.

[00:05:31]

That was a long time ago.

[00:05:33]

I think we've evolved

from an innovation standpoint.

[00:05:37]

Back in those days, it was kitchen

formulation, kitchen economics.

[00:05:44]

Nowadays we have a regulatory team,

[00:05:48]

great development group that I work with,

both internal and third party.

[00:05:53]

And it's not easy because especially

[00:05:55]

in the game I'm in today, everyone's

trying to romance protein for pets.

[00:06:00]

Yeah, well,

[00:06:01]

they romance protein for humans for long

enough, so they do expand a little bit.

[00:06:06]

I'm trying to think where I saw that

[00:06:09]

someone made a comment about

the protein craze for humans.

[00:06:13]

Seem like we're all starving cavemen

and we just need protein somehow.

[00:06:18]

There's people that aren't really doing

[00:06:20]

anything to justify that protein intake

just sitting on the couch, whatever.

[00:06:25]

Yeah.

[00:06:28]

Interesting.

But that's been the challenge as you're

[00:06:30]

trying to add value in a market

where there's a lot of me too.

[00:06:34]

And so to be able to fill your innovation

pipeline with stuff that's really going

[00:06:39]

to not necessarily be disruptive,

but bring value to either a segment,

[00:06:44]

the popular segment,

that's the real challenge.

[00:06:47]

And it takes time to get back.

[00:06:48]

So I don't innovate any way today

like I used to 30 years ago.

[00:06:53]

All right.

Now, why?

[00:06:55]

Is it because it's more difficult or

because it's just you're tired, you don't.

[00:07:01]

Want to get it wrong.

[00:07:03]

I've been privy to, like,

[00:07:07]

national survey studies where you send

your product and they give you a grade.

[00:07:11]

I've seen highly successful products go

[00:07:14]

into those survey studies with terrible

grades, and I would go into what you guys

[00:07:18]

thinking, and then I've

seen him get it right.

[00:07:20]

So I think any time you take a concept

to market, if you do it right, a,

[00:07:26]

you're building inventory, b,

you're putting out a marketing program

[00:07:30]

and a gotomarket strategy,

and it's not cheap.

[00:07:33]

So I would say every entry for me is well

over a quarter million dollar entry point.

[00:07:39]

So you want to get those things right.

[00:07:42]

You want to do your trials, your studies,

[00:07:44]

and things that you don't

think about 30 years ago.

[00:07:46]

When you're just ambitious and you just

[00:07:48]

want to get to work,

...

Yakub Kazi - Ember Foods

Yakub Kazi is a well traveled man that loves sharing his cooking with the world.  Lucky for us, he has his food available in the Madison, Wisconsin area.

Yakub has taken his food business, based mainly on Indian cuisine, and listened to the people to give them what they want.  He also helps introduce new flavors and dishes to broaden the food horizon and give people something a bit different and extremely delicious.

Listen as Yakub takes us on his journey from all over the world to gain his skills as he shares them on grocery store shelves for you to gobble up.

Enjoy!

Visit Yakub at: https://embermadison.com/

China Moon Crowell - Bartender 608

Who doesn't love to party?

But a funny thing happens with a party, or a celebration, or really anytime people get together.  People want to be in on the fun, not running around serving their guests.

Enter the genius of China Moon Crowell and her business, Bartender 608, a superior mobile bartender service in the Madison, Wisconsin and surrounding area.

What puts Bartender 608 a step above other mobile bartenders is the higher level of service and the systems they have in place to make everything easy, or at least, look easy.  We love chatting with entrepreneurs that have their systems down.

Listen as China Moon explains how she started Bartender 608 and what she does to make sure that her clients get the best, and enjoy their parties.

Enjoy!

Visit China Moon at: Bartender608.com

[00:00:04.140] - Speaker 1

You've found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings the struggles, stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio podcast can be found at the podcast link found at drawincustomers.com. My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur, author, and helpful coach to small business owners across the country. We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie. And today we're welcoming/preparing to learn from China Moon, the owner of Bartender 608. So China, how are you doing today?

[00:00:34.450] - Speaker 2

I'm good, how are you?

[00:00:35.370] - Speaker 1

I'm excited, thank you. I'm excited because we could talk about drinking. Drinking in Wisconsin, right?

[00:00:41.260] - Speaker 2

That's always a good thing.

[00:00:42.450] - Speaker 1

Yeah. So, bartender 608, let's start with what is Bartender 608?

[00:00:47.130] - Speaker 2

Bartender 608 is a luxury mobile bartender service. We provide bartenders, barbacks, rum runners and servers for people having weddings, graduation, different variety of events in Wisconsin, Iowa and Northern Illinois.

[00:01:01.440] - Speaker 1

Oh, nice. All right, tell me so I know bartenders. What is a rum runner? I just think of someone in the NASCAR

[00:01:10.160] - Speaker 2

A ballback rum runner is someone who is able to assist the bartender so that they can always be at attention for the guests.

[00:01:17.820] - Speaker 1

Got you.

[00:01:18.390] - Speaker 2

If they need more liquor, if they need more ice mixers, anything like that.

[00:01:23.070] - Speaker 1

All right. So literally running for Rome for the bartender. Exactly. I should have known that. And I'm sorry, the third one that you said servers. Servers. Okay.

[00:01:32.020] - Speaker 2

So tables, servers, actual service or say they want wine service, table service. Offer that as well.

[00:01:40.150] - Speaker 1

Nice. And what was the fourth one?

[00:01:42.550] - Speaker 2

That was it.

[00:01:43.320] - Speaker 1

That was it. Bartenders rubber on your servers. All right. So how do you get into a business like this?

[00:01:50.960] - Speaker 2

Been bartending since 1995. Variety of places in New York City and then here in the Midwest. Bartendered for a variety of people in New York. Kind of logo myself as bartender, seven, one, eight for the city. But then when I was here full time when my daughter was young, started moving around and bartending at a number of places, a lot of places that are not around anymore. Here like Sagrado the Cardinal Bar, things like that.

[00:02:25.050] - Speaker 1

The Cardinal.

[00:02:25.860] - Speaker 2

I remember The Cardinal

[00:02:27.940] - Speaker 2

So those were fun spaces. And people would always ask me, I'm having a party, can you come through and bartend for us? And I'm like, well, this is big on east and west coast. There must be a market for it here.

[00:02:41.950] - Speaker 1

Yeah, that's awesome. So you decided to start your own business. You're like, hey, and at the time you have a young kid, right?

[00:02:50.340] - Speaker 2

Yes, at the time.

[00:02:51.370] - Speaker 1

How young are we talking?

[00:02:53.360] - Speaker 2

95 is when she was born. So.

[00:02:57.260] - Speaker 1

All right, so you're like, hey, I'm going to start this business. And was the idea to have it be a side hustle on top of the other bartending jobs?

[00:03:04.450] - Speaker 2

Yes.

[00:03:04.770] - Speaker 1

And just kind of make a little money on the side. All right, absolutely. When did it turn into a full.

[00:03:09.520] - Speaker 2

Time gig for you when people were like, you know what? You really have a knack for this. And I was like, well, so I did some market research, and I'm like, oh, well, there were some places that like, for example, I'm a dry hire, so I do not have a liquor license. So we provide everything but the boost. Or if you have your own backyard or barn or vineyard, what have you, we come in and bring everything else so you do not have to worry about schlepping 1000 pounds of ice, slicing a bunch of fruit, anything like that. So we want to make sure that your entirety can focus on your guests.

[00:03:46.890] - Speaker 1

Got it. All right. So I think you're kind of alluding to this, and this is one of the questions that I've had as far as alcohol servicing, licensing, and all that kind of stuff. Imagine every state is different.

[00:03:57.750] - Speaker 2

Absolutely.

[00:03:58.450] - Speaker 1

In a lot of states, I guess we were talking about earlier, just the rules on alcohol are weird yes. Crazy, outdated, and strict. Yes. And not arguably not conducive to doing business very easily.

[00:04:13.240] - Speaker 2

They're not. When I lived in the town of Blooming Grove and went before the board, so I had three licenses beer, wine, and spirits. And it was $350. Then the law was passed, and then it blew up. Basically, I went from $350 to ten GS.

[00:04:32.440] - Speaker 1

$10,000.

[00:04:33.730] - Speaker 2

That is the reserve to have a liquor license. If they grant you one here.

[00:04:38.050] - Speaker 1

Holy cow. What is the goal on their end? I like to think that when they come up with laws and rules, I like to believe that they're going for something positive. I don't always agree with that, but I like to believe that they don't have negative will or negative intention.

[00:04:55.200] - Speaker 2

Right. Sometimes things are hard that Wisconsin wants to be a place for small businesses. And sometimes but sometimes there's a lot of red tape if you don't know where to go or who to ask for help. So that's a big thing. Getting in touch and networking and being around the right people is a big part of things. I'm perfectly happy being a dry hire right now, but if that changes, like, in the next year or so, then that's something that we'll put more of our reserves too. But right now we're fine. A lot of things are at people's residences and a lot of the neighborhood barns and blue mounds and Mount Horror and things of that nature.

[00:05:39.730] - Speaker 1

Yeah, well, they have their own license and all that kind of stuff.

[00:05:42.390] - Speaker 2

No, they just have the venue because what we usually do are private events. So if you're having a wedding, it is not open to the public. It's private. You bring the booze. We can serve it. It's an open bar. There's no cash, so everything is on the up and up.

[00:05:55.080] - Speaker 1

All right. Interesting. It just seems like something when you learn how about either shipping alcohol or just driving with alcohol cross state lines. Yeah, it seems so archaic.

[00:06:07.120] - Speaker 2

It is. Like, for example, in Wisconsin, it's very important that I work with the clients so that I know what type of drinkers their clients are and their guests are of clients being that if it's a corporate event, making sure that they know how much beer, wine, and spirits to acquire so they don't have a lot left over. Because you can't return it in Illinois. You can. So it's always making sure that you know where you are. Yes.

[00:06:34.410] - Speaker 1

Like, you buy a bottle of vodka and then later you're like, eh, like.

[00:06:37.870] - Speaker 2

We bought too many bottles and most places. Yeah, you can return it in the state of Illinois.

[00:06:42.480] - Speaker 1

Oh, wow. It didn't even dawn on me that you would return that, but I guess that's Wisconsin. Thank you. Oh, that's funny. Tell me about when you moved from it being a full time gig to now. You got employees.

[00:06:55.910] - Speaker 2

So first I had independent contractors because things were not there wasn't a steady schedule.

[00:07:01.930] - Speaker 1

I live on weekends, nights. It's kind of seasonal to a point.

[00:07:05.980] - Speaker 2

It is. But I was still working most of the gigs myself. Most of the gigs I don't work anymore, unfortunately. I had COLVID in February of 2020. So it is very nice that I have Rocksteady employees who are awesome and so gave me time to heal up. We usually do 150 events a year, and in 2020 we only did five. So you can imagine the pain.

[00:07:44.740] - Speaker 1

Yeah. You said 100 to 150 events. That is a lot of events. You're talking three weeks.

[00:07:51.850] - Speaker 2

Yeah, we used to do up to three events per day, but since there are so many variants, we're now doing up to two events a day. So if someone gets sick or calls in, we have a reserve. So we don't want to stretch ourselves too thin. So there may be like, say there's a family reunion on Saturday in Mount Horb and then someone's having something in here in Sun Prairie area, we can send out those two teams to those events.

[00:08:23.920] - Speaker 1

That is awesome. Tell me about employees as far as finding them.

[00:08:28.690] - Speaker 2

A lot of them, sometimes I put ads out, but usually the ads come from the intake, comes from the employees I already have,...

Bill Quigley - Amerifirst Home Mortgage

The real estate market is crazy now.  What better time to bring on the mortgage expert, Bill Quigley of Amerifirst Home Mortgage, right?

Bill explains what is happening in the real estate market, where he believes it will go and what moves you, as a buyer or seller, can do to make the best moves for you and your money.

Enjoy!

Visit Bill at: https://www.amerifirst.com/bill-quigley

Amy Moore - Little Luxuries Madison

Retail businesses that make a community more than just restaurants and bars and a few cross streets are needed to bring character and culture to a place.  They can make a locale a destination, as well as give it an interesting vibe.  Independent brick and mortar businesses bring life to a community that otherwise would look like any other town, in any other place.  Stores like these make memories and give a unique character to a place to make it special.

But what does it take to operate a brick and mortar retail store?  How do you know where to build your store, what to stock, how to sell and how to get customers in the door?

Listen as Amy Moore, owner of Little Luxuries on the famous State Street in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, tells us about her journey of entrepreneurship as a small business owner in a place that has a lot of challenges and a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

Visit Amy at: https://littleluxuriesmadison.com/

[00:00:04]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

a business program that brings you

[00:00:07]

the struggles, stories, and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:11]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:13]

My name is James Kademan,

and today is a huge day because this is

[00:00:18]

episode number 200,

and I get to celebrate it with Amy Moore,

[00:00:22]

the owner of Little Luxuries,

which is pretty awesome because I've been

[00:00:26]

trying to get you on the

show for a long time.

[00:00:28]

Yeah.

[00:00:28]

And I've been looking

forward to this moment.

[00:00:30]

Yeah.

Episode 200.

[00:00:32]

So, Amy, how's it going today?

It's going well.

[00:00:35]

Thanks so much for inviting

me to join you today.

[00:00:37]

And congratulations on this episode.

[00:00:40]

I feel honored to be

a part of this episode.

[00:00:43]

It's a big deal and we're

on location at the luxury store.

[00:00:47]

So how about you tell us just a little bit

[00:00:49]

about what Little Luxuries is

for maybe the people that don't know?

[00:00:51]

Yeah.

Okay.

[00:00:52]

So Little Luxuries is a gift shop located

in downtown Madison now since 1990.

[00:00:57]

So we're stapled down here

in the heart of the city.

[00:01:01]

And let's see,

we got a little bit of something

[00:01:04]

for everybody for gifts

from zero to 101.

[00:01:10]

So any person you have in your life that's

[00:01:13]

looking that needs a little pick me up or

has a special celebration or maybe

[00:01:18]

a little something for yourself,

we got something for everybody.

[00:01:21]

And I just enjoy thoroughly curating

[00:01:23]

the space with some unique products

that you can't find just anywhere.

[00:01:27]

Right.

And the items are welldesigned

[00:01:31]

and inspired thoughts and yeah,

just kind of allow someone to take

[00:01:37]

a little break from your everyday

and just enjoy life in simple ways.

[00:01:41]

It's really cool because as we're sitting

[00:01:43]

up around here, I was looking around and I

like to have quotes everywhere over

[00:01:47]

my office, in the shop,

all that kind of stuff.

[00:01:49]

I thought I had a lot,

but around here there's so many

[00:01:53]

inspirational or cool little things,

little stickers and stuff like that.

[00:01:58]

Yeah, we've maximized every itty bitty

[00:02:00]

space that we can in this

environment, for sure.

[00:02:04]

And my background is interior design,

[00:02:06]

so merchandising is one of my favorite

things to do, actually.

[00:02:09]

I don't think I knew that about you.

[00:02:10]

Yeah, I studied here

at University of Madison.

[00:02:13]

All right.

[00:02:14]

And

didn't know that I'd use my skills in this

[00:02:18]

setting, but it works out and translates

really well to do the buying and then

[00:02:23]

figuring out where exactly it's going to

go and how to maximize this environment.

[00:02:28]

It's a fun project.

[00:02:30]

All right, so let's talk about

how you got started in this.

[00:02:33]

You bought the business when

it was already running.

[00:02:35]

Yes, 2011.

[00:02:38]

Okay, so that's still

that's over a decade ago.

[00:02:40]

Yeah.

Just celebrated ten years.

[00:02:44]

I know.

Time fly.

[00:02:45]

It's pretty amazing.

And you were working here before?

[00:02:48]

Yes.

[00:02:48]

So how long did you work here before

you end up buying the business?

[00:02:51]

Yeah.

[00:02:52]

Let's see so I started

working here in 2006.

[00:02:55]

Okay.

[00:02:56]

So at that time, I was

just working part time.

[00:02:59]

Oh, wow.

So the parttime position eventually

[00:03:01]

evolved into a managerial position when

the manager stepped out of her position.

[00:03:06]

And then eventually the business owner

was getting to the point of retirement.

[00:03:11]

And I just happened to already kind of be

in the position as manager,

[00:03:15]

doing a lot of the buying,

going to the shows, managing the staff,

[00:03:19]

and pretty much everything

but the financials.

[00:03:22]

And so at that point, the current owner,

Janice Duran,

[00:03:25]

she just saw some characteristics

in my capabilities that kind of matched

[00:03:30]

hers, and she thought it would be

a good match to be a business owner.

[00:03:33]

So she presented the opportunity

and I was ready to take it on.

[00:03:38]

And so I stepped forward and I'm like,

yeah, let's do this.

[00:03:41]

So we have a couple of years before

we did the transition in 2011.

[00:03:47]

Prepare for that.

[00:03:47]

So I actually did

a class business fundamentals is what it

[00:03:52]

was called back in the day

of the Business Development Center.

[00:03:54]

Sure.

Small Business Development Center.

[00:03:57]

Yeah, exactly.

[00:03:58]

So I learned a little bit about all

aspects of running a business and then

[00:04:03]

also have a mentor that I

continue to use there.

[00:04:05]

So just maximize the resources

in the community to learn and grow

[00:04:09]

and then use the skills that I

had learned through working here.

[00:04:13]

And it translated out already.

[00:04:16]

So when you first came here,

[00:04:18]

it was just kind of a little

side hustle rent kind of thing.

[00:04:21]

Yeah.

And I think that's maybe a message

[00:04:23]

for anybody of any age, really,

especially younger folks.

[00:04:27]

I mean, you never know what

a job could turn into.

[00:04:31]

Right.

[00:04:33]

How you show up in the world and at your

[00:04:36]

job really can make a difference and I

think be possible if you're showing

[00:04:42]

that you're motivated and you're

showing capability and enthusiasm.

[00:04:47]

I think it could go a long way.

[00:04:48]

If you're in the right spot at.

[00:04:49]

The right time, that's fair.

Yeah.

[00:04:52]

That drive of an employee, I think,

is a big deal because it reflects both

[00:04:56]

on them as an employee, but also just

where they're going with their life.

[00:04:59]

Yeah, exactly.

You only get one shot.

[00:05:02]

Better give it your best, I suppose.

Totally.

[00:05:05]

So you got in your parttime,

you build up to manager when she comes

[00:05:09]

to you and says, like,

hey, Amy, I'm bowing out.

[00:05:12]

What are your thoughts on buying a store?

Yeah.

[00:05:14]

Was your first thought like, absolutely,

I've never run a business before.

[00:05:17]

Let's jump on this.

Oh, man.

[00:05:19]

No, definitely not.

[00:05:20]

So first I was like, wow, I can't

believe she thinks I'm capable of this.

[00:05:25]

Because, I mean, yes,

[00:05:27]

I thought I did my job well,

but I never really had that on my mind.

[00:05:31]

Yeah.

[00:05:33]

My second thought was, that sounds scary,

[00:05:35]

doing something that I've never done

before, taking on that big of a risk.

[00:05:40]

So then there was

that fear element, right?

[00:05:42]

Like, that fear of possible

failure, right.

[00:05:45]

And trying to overcome that.

[00:05:47]

And that takes some time, right,

to educate yourself,

[00:05:50]

think on it, learn more, I guess bring

in professionals to kind of guide you.

[00:05:56]

And once taking that class,

[00:05:59]

just to learn more about how to run

a business, it just kind of inspires more

[00:06:02]

confidence and also being

in an environment with other people

[00:06:07]

interested in starting their own

business or taking out a business.

[00:06:10]

Also, just like that veteran student we

[00:06:12]

had, the other students in the class,

I think it's helpful because it just

[00:06:16]

reminds you that every business

has to start somewhere or transition

[00:06:21]

of a business, and there's so many other

people that have been in that circumstance

[00:06:25]

and have succeeded and have failed,

and that's kind of a part of life.

[00:06:30]

So I think also being in that energy

and seeing other people interested

[00:06:34]

and yes, taking a risk and seeing how

it goes, that was also inspiring.

[00:06:40]

All right, so when you were in that class,

this is always curious to me because

[00:06:44]

Little Luxuries is essentially

a staple of Madison.

[00:06:47]

Yeah, like when I mentioned, hey,

I know Amy, Little Luxuries, blah blah,

[00:06:50]

when you're talking about retail,

they're like, I know Little Luxuries.

[00:06:54]

Right?

So when you're in this class,

[00:06:56]

you're talking to someone that's thinking

about starting their little coffee shop or

[00:06:59]

their little dog walking business,

and you're like,

[00:07:02]

you know the Capital Building,

...

Cindy Brosig - Operation H.E.E.L.

Dogs make people smile.  You can't help it.  When a kind dog comes to you with their tail wagging, you cannot help but forget your troubles, even if for a moment.

Add that to the fact that almost all of us want to help people.  But not all of us have the empathy or passion to make a business out of it.

Veteran Cindy Brosig, one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, has created a place to treat humans with the help of dogs.  Dog Therapy, or Animal Assisted Therapy, as it has come to be known, offers a holistic approach to help people heal from various health conditions that can affect the mind, body and spirit.

Cindy and her dog, Josie, are highly trained and able to bring out healing in people that may have not had success through other means.

Listen as Cindy shares her story, from being a nurse in the military and seeing first hand the damage and challenges that people may face to building her own dog-therapy business just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.  Shot onsite at Operation H.E.E.L.

Enjoy!

Visit Cindy at: https://www.opheel.com

[00:00:04]

You have found Authentic

[00:00:05]

Business Adventures,

the business program that brings you

[00:00:07]

the struggles, stories

and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:12]

Downloadable audio episodes can be

found on the podcast link found at

[00:00:15]

drawincustomers.com. We are locally

underwritten by the Banks of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

My name is James Kademan.

[00:00:21]

Oh, my goodness gracious.

What do I do?

[00:00:23]

I do some stuff.

Entrepreneur, author, speaker,

[00:00:25]

helpful coach to small business

owners across the country.

[00:00:28]

And today it's kind of funny about

sidetracked, I forgot her name.

[00:00:32]

Josie.

Josie is hanging around with us.

[00:00:35]

And today we have Cindy Brosig,

owner of Operation Heel.

[00:00:39]

That's H-E-E-L correct.

[00:00:41]

Cindy, how are you doing today?

Good, thanks.

[00:00:44]

How are you?

I'm doing very well.

[00:00:46]

I'm excited because I guess just to let

[00:00:49]

people know, you were a student in

business planning class four years ago.

[00:00:56]

Four years ago.

It's been a while.

[00:00:57]

Yeah.

And now I am inside your business.

[00:01:01]

Yes.

It's awesome.

[00:01:02]

So I want you to tell us,

what is Operation Heel?

[00:01:05]

So Operation Heel is a nurse led animal

[00:01:09]

assisted therapy practice

and therapeutic dog training.

[00:01:12]

Nice.

All right.

[00:01:13]

When you say therapeutic dog training,

[00:01:15]

are you training the dogs or

using them to therapy for people?

[00:01:20]

Yeah.

Well, I'm working with them and humans

[00:01:24]

to enhance wellness either

in the prevention, maintenance,

[00:01:29]

or recovery from illness,

or else I call it disease.

[00:01:33]

Oh, nice.

Yeah, I like it.

[00:01:38]

This is the wonder dog here.

[00:01:39]

Yeah, this is one of them.

[00:01:40]

I have four rescue dogs.

[00:01:42]

I work with two of them.

[00:01:44]

I sometimes will bring

in my other dog, Emily.

[00:01:48]

She's a little older,

and she likes older people.

[00:01:51]

All right.

Yeah.

[00:01:52]

So dogs have preferences on what age

group that they like to work with.

[00:01:56]

Josie, she likes kids.

[00:01:58]

She has from the beginning, ted as well,

which I think you met, we brought Ted to class.

[00:02:03]

Yeah.

[00:02:03]

And he'll be eight this year,

so he's looking at retirement.

[00:02:08]

It's a hard job.

All right.

[00:02:09]

Yeah.

[00:02:10]

So you have to tell me, how does

therapy with dogs for people work?

[00:02:16]

You bring the people into this space.

Absolutely.

[00:02:19]

Yeah.

[00:02:20]

Why I like this space is

because of being out in nature.

[00:02:24]

So all of my classes are

indoors and outdoors.

[00:02:26]

All of my programs.

[00:02:28]

If we were to open up this door,

it opens to a fenced in area.

[00:02:32]

I like dogs and humans

to work on an off leash.

[00:02:35]

All right.

So I like the freedom of it.

[00:02:40]

All right.

[00:02:41]

And how do you figure out which dog

will work with which person?

[00:02:45]

It's a great question.

[00:02:47]

Energy.

[00:02:49]

So if somebody is a little bit more

high energy, I call it spirited.

[00:02:53]

I will bring in a higher energy,

[00:02:54]

spirited dog because they tend

to match each other and work together.

[00:02:59]

For instance, there are times so people

that are maybe suffering from depression,

[00:03:04]

we maybe start with a dog,

which is a little bit more low key to help

[00:03:09]

get them comfortable and then we will

bring in a dog that's a little bit more

[00:03:12]

energetic to kind of help

stimulate them into movement.

[00:03:16]

All right, that makes sense.

Yes.

[00:03:18]

Now, that leads to the question, how do

you train the dog to be a therapy dog?

[00:03:23]

Awesome question.

[00:03:24]

So you can't train a dog to like

people, but you can train them

[00:03:29]

but that's the key to therapy.

Right.

[00:03:31]

It's working with a dog and communicating

and how do I form a relationship.

[00:03:37]

Right.

[00:03:37]

It takes social skills,

it takes body behavior, movements,

[00:03:42]

opening your body up

to someone or being closed in.

[00:03:46]

But what I do help with the

training part is manners.

[00:03:51]

So, for instance,

[00:03:53]

if we have somebody that's in that's maybe

a little bit more nervous, anxiety,

[00:03:57]

I obviously don't want

the dog to jump on them.

[00:04:02]

Not helping.

No.

[00:04:05]

That just might make things worse.

[00:04:07]

So I do train for manners,

[00:04:08]

but obviously I look for a dog who wants

to work with people, who likes people.

[00:04:13]

So it's more or almost

a personality thing.

[00:04:17]

Absolutely.

And stuff to train personality.

[00:04:19]

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

[00:04:21]

Absolutely.

And all dogs, pure bred, mixed bread work.

[00:04:26]

Nice.

Now, how do people find you?

[00:04:29]

I know that you exist because I

wouldn't know before I met you.

[00:04:33]

I didn't know that dog

therapy was a thing.

[00:04:35]

Right.

Had no idea.

[00:04:37]

But I will say, I do want to say that you

[00:04:39]

were instrumental in connecting me

with the people helped me on my way.

[00:04:43]

You honestly, not only were you a great

[00:04:45]

motivator, you're like, you can do this,

but you are practical about it.

[00:04:50]

So I thank you for that.

[00:04:51]

Oh, you're welcome.

[00:04:54]

If you have any questions, talk to James.

[00:04:57]

I loved your honest, truthful approach.

Oh, thanks.

[00:05:00]

That's why I'm here today.

[00:05:01]

Let's be honest.

[00:05:03]

But this is a reward because I get

to see your business and launch it.

[00:05:08]

I remember when you were talking about

[00:05:10]

the business, it took me a little

while to wrap my head around what.

[00:05:12]

It was, as it does for everybody.

[00:05:15]

All I can think is, how do you

market a business like that?

[00:05:19]

I imagine that's going to be

one of the biggest challenges.

[00:05:22]

It was because education was key.

[00:05:24]

It's not very well known here.

[00:05:26]

When people think of therapy dogs,

they think of the dogs visiting hospitals,

[00:05:30]

clinics, school groups, reading,

and that is therapeutic.

[00:05:37]

Those dogs are trained for manners

and being in large groups.

[00:05:41]

The handlers are great.

[00:05:44]

She was going to be.

[00:05:46]

So this is what I love

about you can't train this.

[00:05:49]

Right.

[00:05:50]

Josie is telling us

that she needs attention.

[00:05:54]

She's reminding us to have a little fun.

Right.

[00:05:56]

Anyways, yeah.

So it's hard for me.

[00:05:58]

I felt like I was competing against

[00:06:00]

organizations that were

already doing it for free.

[00:06:02]

Oh.

But what I bring to the program,

[00:06:06]

the therapy part, is my experience in

nursing, whether it's in mental health.

[00:06:12]

As nurses, we are trained

to work in all sectors.

[00:06:16]

So whether it's postpartum to mental

health institutions, you name it.

[00:06:23]

Surgery.

Yeah.

[00:06:25]

All right.

[00:06:25]

Often when I would go so I did start

on as a volunteer therapy dog team.

[00:06:29]

Oh, really?

I did.

[00:06:31]

Where we went into hospitals, ted and I.

[00:06:33]

My

intro into it was because of my husband

[00:06:38]

being in the military here in Madison,

visiting military children.

[00:06:42]

So we were,

I guess, attending events called, like,

[00:06:47]

Yellow Ribbon or used military

kids camp at up in woods.

[00:06:54]

What I was finding is,

oh, this is really good.

[00:06:56]

But now we can take this to the next level

[00:06:58]

where, let's say there's

a kid that's struggling.

[00:07:01]

If you're just doing a one time visit,

[00:07:02]

it might not seem like it,

but to be able to work with them

[00:07:04]

on a regular basis, making goals,

that's where the therapy comes in.

[00:07:09]

Nice.

[00:07:10]

All right, so let's back up a step

because you're kind of alluding to it.

[00:07:14]

Yes.

[00:07:15]

Ted, just as a reminder,

was your was he your first therapy dog?

[00:07:19]

Yes, he was my first bully.

[00:07:20]

We went through every single

training class you could think of.

[00:07:23]

He was definitely more of the shy dog.

[00:07:24]

He liked people, but he was

...

Pat Miller - The Idea Coach

As business owners we rock at our skills.  Whether that is being a great painter, accountant, massager or seller of crystals, we do what we do very well.

But what happens when no one knows that you and your business exist?  Without awareness, you have no business.  At least, not for very long.

That is where Pat Miller, the Idea Coach, comes in.  With his marketing experience in all forms of media, along with his Premium Incubator Group, designed to build small businesses, he has helped many businesses gain that awareness.

Listen as Pat explains some of the ways he has found success for his clients and the members of his Free Facebook Group designed for entrepreneurs.

Enjoy!

Visit Pat at: https://ideacoachmedia.com/idea

Michelle Vande Hey - Light of Love Coaching

When you experience a dramatic event, it can be life changing.  Sometimes for the better, though often these are tragedies.

The truth is that sometimes, we just need some help to get back on our feet and live the life we were gifted with.  But how do you get back on your feet?  Who do you turn to for help and guidance?

Michelle Vande Hey started her life coaching practice, specifically for grieving women, and has helped women that were suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and a slew of other ailments that may happen with the grieving process.

Listen as Michelle tells us about her starting her life coaching practice, as well as how she works with grieving women to help make their lives and this world a better place.

Enjoy!

Visit Michelle at: https://lightoflovecoaching.com/

Ibrahim Harun - IH Concepts

Sometimes, when you find yourself doing what you love but doing it at a place you may not love, it is time to move on.  And some of those times, the time is right to start your own business.

That is how Ibrahim Harun got started with his graphic design company.  Wit a little patience, skill and drive, along with a pinch of luck, Ibrahim has built his design company to what it is today.

Listen as Ibrahim tells the story of how he started his graphic design business.

Enjoy!

Visit Ibrahim at: https://www.ihconceptsonline.com/