Reganomics with Blaise Regan

Dillon Clark - Owner of Clark Nissan Dealership

Dillon moved to Abilene a few years ago and at the age of 29 owns the Clark Nissan Dealership on I-20. He has held every position in the car dealership world, from sales, to carwashing and tires, to General Manager. He talks about the system needed to run a large business like a dealership; How he turned around a failing dealership in Manhattan, Kansas; How you find a business mentor; How to negotiate on car prices; How he starts off his day on the right foot; His business weakness and what he does to compensate; Best things about Abilene from a new resident perspective; Best Tips for entrepreneurs and more!

Listen and learn.

Lindsay Flores just opened Matera Bar & Grill in South of Downtown Abilene District and she's a great speaker on the show; she's full of passion and insight and honest answers.

She knows every level of the restaurant world... She has a background as a waiter, manager, and general manager of a very successful restaurant and now as a fresh restaurant owner so her insight into the inner workings of a restaurant are great to hear!

We talk about the difference between being a GM to becoming an owner of a restaurant; Why people still open restaurants despite the high failure and slim profit margins; The line between being a boss and being a friend to employees; Her favorite hiring interview questions; How useful a business plan is; Biggest mistakes she's made and what she wishes new business owners knew; The nitty gritty process of opening a business; What she'd love to see in Abilene; Her best tips for new business owners out there; and much more!

Listen and Learn!

Alejandro Elias and his wife are both chiropractors that founded and run Victory Spinal Care in Abilene. They moved to Texas right after school, fell in love with Abilene because it reminded them of the move Cars, and the people here were so welcoming.

 Alejandro talks about taking advantage of the 7 month delay in their build out by knocking on doors to let people know they were opening instead of wasting those months; How important their mentorship program is for their business; How they set aside time every Tuesday and Friday to go over with their staff every details; How he sets aside an hour to blue sky think; and so much more. 

A very practical conversation, full of actionable and useful content for any and every business owner. 

This one is definitely in the top five for practical nitty gritty tips. 
Enjoy!

 Carl Price opened Primal Brewery in Baird in 2019. He then moved to Brownwood, and now just recently moved back to Abilene, where he had the grand opening of Primal Brewery at north 8th and Hickory two weeks ago. His most popular beer is his pickle beer, and has a beer that tastes like Skittles, Almond Joy, and Reeses and so he has a Candy Beer flight where you can taste them all. We discuss the process of opening a brewery, how he gets feedback, how he handles distribution, bartending, and brewing, and running a business.

 Hopefully you learn at least little in this episode and enjoy it a lot. 

Karson is one of the most interesting guests we had on the first season of the show so we wanted to catch up with her again in season, and this was just as good! 

We talk about the disaster when Shopify, without warning, shut down her business account for 7 days, which was all her inventory, her point of sale system, website, everything; The pep talk that got her from crying in her shop to working 48 hours straight to beat this shutdown; How she manages so many irons in the fire; How she functions without coffee, and goes from 7 am to 12 midnight; How she keeps her store on the fashionable trend  and keeping up with her changing customer demographic; The toll of inflation and her pricing strategy on items; What kept her in Abilene; and her best tips for business owners. 
A great episode and very entertaining! Enjoy.

Mark Perkins 
Owner of Perkins Insurance Agency

Mark owns Perkins Insurance Agency with locations in Abilene, Eastland, and in Franklin, Tennessee. We talk about running a business that doesn't sell something sexy (aka insurance); How you bring enthusiasm to your business team; How you identify what you as a leader are weak at and how you fill the gap; Two things a professor taught him that still guide him in his work today; How you balance a natural drive to expand with tempered advice and steady growth; How Franklin differs from Abilene and what they're doing well that Abilene can learn and improve upon. 
Enjoy!

Josh has an immediate hook in the first two minutes of our podcast that will keep you hooked! It caught me off guard and those who love truecrime podcasts, you'll love this episode. 

Josh Rader is the owner of Firehouse Fitness, The Dive Spot (for swim lesson and SCUBA diving  lessons), the new Bodega in downtown Abilene that will sell necessaries like milk, eggs, gum, toilet paper, etc, and founded Urban Strength Coaching. 

We talk nitty gritty on how he bought the Firehouse Fitness, How his new venture Bodega downtown Abilene came about (while elk hunting) and why he chose now to do it. We cover a lot of ground in this episode and Josh is a natural when it comes to talking (BSing as he calls it). Enjoy!

This is a rare double double treat! Nikki Hill and Brittney Martinez are the owners of When Pigs Fly, a wine bar in Tuscola, Texas, and they're also Abilene Police Officers (Technically, Nikki is a Patrol Sergeant and Brittney is the instructor at the Police Academy now). So not only do you get to hear from two owners on the same episode, you get to hear how two police officers manage their work life and their business life. 

We talk about owning a wine bar, why they took the plunge in owning a business, their weaknesses as an owner and how they compensate for that specific weakness, how they manage their time, their growth plans, their favorite apps on managing their calendar, how we address the meth issues in our community, what they would love the public to know about being a police officer, the biggest surprises they had as a business owner, and much more! Enjoy!

Carlie Cooper is the owner of Espressoak, a mobile coffee truck/trailer. 

She's in her early twenties and bought Espressoak ten months ago so her insights are fresh and insightful and full of passion of someone going through the throes of running a business early in its stages. We talk about how she pitched her parents the idea of buying the business, how that didn't go well but that it led to another conversation that helped in the negotiations and eventual purchase, How she has changed the business to have better flow and added products while still being efficient, How she manages social media and the backend operations, Her favorite apps for business and life, What kind of coffee you should order if you want to impress your coffee afficionado friends, Biggest surprises and shocks as a new business owner, Realizing that her actual customer is not the person drinking the coffee and much more!
A fun conversation filled with practical tips and insights an entrepreneur of every age can use. Enjoy!

Jessica Quintanilla Jackson - Owner of Betty & June in Abilene and Corpus Christi.

Jessica was the perfect guest on the show, very funny and relaxed, while answering honestly and with actionable nitty gritty answers. Her insights into running not just a business in Abilene but a second store in Corpus Christi, six hours away, highlights her drive and ability to manage from a distance. She speaks on how often she posts on social media, how the work ethics of the next generation have changed and how a small business adapts to that; The Do's and Don'ts of fashion for men; Her biggest mistake as a new business owner; How business has changed over the last 12 years due to social media; Advice she gives to new business owners, and much more. 

This is an episode I'll recommend to every new business owner! Enjoy!