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Charge Forward Podcast
The Charge Forward Podcast: Dedicated to those who choose to Charge Forward into the Storm when hit with challenges. This is what makes them different and has lead to their success. When in doubt.... Charge Forward!
Charge Forward Podcast
Your Vision Sets the Ceiling: Resilience, Reinvention & Branding Brilliance with Amber Kerby
Your Vision Sets the Ceiling: Resilience, Reinvention & Branding Brilliance with Amber Kerby
What happens when a literal tornado levels your business—and you rebuild even better? Meet Amber Kerby, the powerhouse behind BB Printing Co, who transformed disaster into growth and a traditional print shop into a full-scale branding solutions company.
In this episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, we dive deep into:
💥 Amber’s journey from healthcare marketing (helping scale a company from 6 to 64 clinics!) to reviving and revolutionizing her family’s print business
🌪️ The day a tornado destroyed their facility—and how she kept every single employee working without missing a beat
🏁 How BB Printing landed projects with NASCAR teams and became known for doing what others can’t
🎨 Creating WOW moments through custom branding, innovative materials, and trusting your team’s creative genius
🚘 The power of customer experience and how BB Printing’s culture inspires employees to drive hours each day just to be part of something special
🧠 Why mindset and belief are the true limits of success—and how “everything’s figureoutable” became Amber’s battle cry
This episode is for entrepreneurs, leaders, and dreamers ready to break through ceilings—whether you're recovering from setbacks, pivoting your career, or looking to create a brand that leaves a legacy.
💡 Want to connect with Amber & her team?
🌐 Website: bbprintingco.com
📱 Instagram: @bbprintingcompany
📘 Facebook: BB Printing Co
Want to connect with the Charge Forward Podcast?
🌐 Website: https://www.chargeforwardsolutions.com/podcast
📱 Instagram: @ChargeForwardPodcast
📱 TikTok: @ChargeForwardPodcast
📱 Facebook: Charge Forward Podcast
🐦 X (formerly Twitter): @ChargeForwardX
🎥 YouTube: Charge Forward Podcast Channel
New episodes drop every Thursday. Subscribe, rate, and share if this episode resonates with you.
Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:
💳 Charge Forward Solutions – Merchant Services: Charge Forward Solutions
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🌟 Rosemary Salazar – Virtual Assistant Services: Find A Way with Rose
🎥 HitLab Studios – Podcast Studio: HitLab Studio
#ChargeForward #Branding #Resilience #AmberKerby #BBPrintingCo #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #CustomerExperience #TeamCulture #Podcast #NashvilleBusiness #ChargeForwardPodcast
You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Hey team, jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward podcast and I have a special treat for you today. She is a marketing whiz and she is the brand boss at BB Printing Co here in Hendersonville, tennessee. Amber, welcome to the show. Thank you Absolutely. Now I got to tell you you guys do amazing work and that's really why I wanted to have you on the show is it's work that I don't think anybody else out there is doing? And then when I came in to talk to your team, they were so excited about things that they had tried that either worked or didn't work, or they thought was going to work, and I feel like that's just the spirit of your company. But you haven't been there this whole time. It's a family company and BB Printing Co has been around since 91, is that right?
Speaker 3:Since 91. Well, yes, we purchased it in 2001.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then you were in healthcare, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:Healthcare marketing.
Speaker 1:And what did you do in healthcare?
Speaker 3:You were in healthcare Mm-hmm, healthcare marketing and what did you do in healthcare? I did a lot in healthcare, but it all revolved around marketing and mostly in pain management. So I did all of the you know everything from the patient experience in the very beginning, with call center, all the way through to you know producing videos to show you know others how your life can be changed, and that was that was. That was a very interesting part of my life and and I love doing it. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Now, um, when we first started talking, you said you typically do startups, and I'm the opposite. Like I, you know, in my business I really don't work with startups 90% of the time. I don't work with startups because I'm not the guy that helps you poke around in the dark to figure out how to be successful. I'm the guy that helps you throw jet fuel on it once you've figured out how to win. Why are you? Drawn to startups. Why are you drawn to startups?
Speaker 3:I'm drawn to startups because the two um in the healthcare world, the, the two businesses that I worked with, you know we grew it from six clinics to 63 clinics, um, you know, across the U? S and it was. I'm very innovative, I like to try new things and I think that's a big um, that's a big part of marketing. You have to try things and see what works and um, so I learned a lot of what not to do. I surrounded myself with a lot of really smart people. Um, I learned a lot and and to me that's fun, it's fun to grow a business and then, to, you know, see it either sell or, you know, do its thing. But, um, startups just give me a lot of freedom and, and you know, having my own business is, oh, I have nobody to tell me no that's right.
Speaker 1:Well, and two, I think. I think it probably scratches that itch of uh, feeling or being innovative, and that's what I see with your team, and it's probably uh, it's gotta be an environment that you're fostering with them, because they get so excited about it. And so, for those of you who've never experienced your company, give us the short version, like if you were going to tell somebody in 30 seconds about BB Printing Co. What is it?
Speaker 3:Well, better speech.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:We do everything. We do total business branding, so we started out just in small format. We now do anything with a brand on it, mostly for brand consistency. So we do small format, large format signage, printed wallpapers, interior, a lot of interior signage as well, and then we moved into vehicle wraps. We do quite a bit of fleet work and anything that has your logo. We also do digital storefronts so that everything is in one place and it's easy for people to order what they need.
Speaker 1:That's cool. And then you guys have got a partnership with NASCAR too, right?
Speaker 3:We do, we do.
Speaker 1:And that's pretty cool. Yes, yeah, and so we were talking just beforehand about what great clients the NASCAR teams are and what you guys bring to the table. How did that relationship start?
Speaker 3:and what you guys bring to the table. How did that relationship start? We were asked to go to a race last year and I've never really been into watching NASCAR. We were in the background, so we got to see what happens behind the scenes and meet all the people and it was one of the best experiences I've had in a long time, and mostly because the people were so much fun to work with. And it adds a whole new level when your logo's on the car and you get to watch it go around and you get to support the driver and cheer them along. So when we started with NASCAR that first time, we decided that's something that we really wanted to try out a little bit more. So we've done a few more races after that. Um, we just did the Daytona 500, um, just a little race little little race Ryan Truex um, martin Truex, his little brother, was the driver.
Speaker 3:Um, he got bumped around a little bit but he, he definitely can win a race. He's a good driver, but it's just been a lot of fun and the people make the difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and you all even have your shirt is part of that partnership, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And so how did that come to be?
Speaker 3:So we decided to separate the business a little bit, just because, going into the automotive side of things, you don't typically think a printer automotive, so we don't work on cars but we do brand them. Um, and then you know, with NASCAR it was more on the advertising side and being able to, you know, show people the experience and the networking and everything like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, that's fantastic. Um, the other thing that just uh, I do kind of want to just walk through some of the pieces that you guys are doing, the interior work that you guys are doing is just amazing and correct me if I'm wrong here, but on y'all's back wall you've got a printed metallic or printed metal wallpaper.
Speaker 3:Did I say that right? It is a metallic wallpaper. Yeah, it's printed on. We print it and then it's put on like wallpaper, but it completely transforms the space.
Speaker 1:Oh, it absolutely does, and the one that you guys have there in the office, which we want to talk about your new location as well, but the one there in the office is an iconic nashville scene. So, if you will, for those that don't know, and please kind of tell them a little bit about that yeah, so we we decided to go with printer's alley um, nashville is, you know, a huge um printing industry.
Speaker 3:you know place um, and so it's printer's alley is the just the iconic um scene for that. So we decided to make that our. You know, when you walk in, that's what you see and um. And then we've got everything from you know business cards to wrapped cars in there and really showing yeah, cause it, it does you know, until people see things it, it's.
Speaker 3:I feel like we're a very visual company, like we're not just does you know, until people see things, it it's. I feel like we're a very visual company, like we're not just you know, you go online, you see a design, you choose it, like everything that we have is different and custom and um, and it's important that we, you know, offer that to our customers as well yeah, and to to describe to viewers out there why I was introduced to Miss Amber is my dad bought his dream car, which is 1968 Chevelle convertible, and it's beautiful and it's red, but it was missing something.
Speaker 1:And earlier not earlier, but late in 24, my dad had some serious medical complications right after he bought the 68 Chevelle and we weren't sure if he was going to even have an opportunity to enjoy it and we had talked about it was missing some stripes and I took this to a couple of other places and they just could not dial in, they could not see the vision, what I was looking for, or they were not up to the task. And I started talking to Ms Amber's team and they blew my mind when they started talking about an embossed flag inside the stripes and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. So I go up there. They were so kind, they printed me a sample and I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. And people that see the car now are in the same boat. So, Ms Amber, if you will tell us how your team has the freedom to innovate and to do things like that?
Speaker 3:First off, we hired industry experts and that, doing that, we, we trust them a hundred percent. We they're innovative as well. They want to do different things, they want people to look at something, and that wow factor, like like your dad had, is really important to us. So we tell them to you know, think outside the box. You guys know what will work and what won't, and Anthony has been, you know, doing reps for 25 years and he's experimented with a lot of things, and so there are things that we do that other people haven't even experimented with, and it's because they love what they do.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and it shows, it absolutely shows. They get excited about the work that they're doing and they're also very open to say you know what? We tried this and it didn't work. We've tried that and it didn't work. We've tried these 50 things and it took 51 before we found the one that was like oh my gosh, nobody's doing that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they take pride in their work, for sure.
Speaker 1:They absolutely do.
Speaker 3:And if we can't do it and it's not going to look good or it's going to fail, we do say no sometimes, but it's because we don't want people to go back and not work out for them. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, and you know, when we were talking earlier business, Was that something you learned when you went out into healthcare? How did that methodology evolve for you?
Speaker 3:A little bit of both. So a few of the employees have been there. One of them's been there was with my dad previously in his Nashville parent company, so he's been there for 26, 27 years, a few others, you know, eight, 10 years. So that, um, seeing people stick around. You know I paid attention what you know, why are they sticking around?
Speaker 3:They don't live close, they have far drives, you know, over an hour, some of them, um, and then going into the healthcare world too and and trying to figure out like how, how can we make this better? And I tried. You can market all you want, but if people don't have good things to say about you, it doesn't matter what you do or say. So I went back to the basics and looked inside and realized that it was the people, the business. The people that you have working for you are your business, and if they're not excited and they don't have a smile on their face, it changes everything.
Speaker 1:Now let's be real. It's not all sunshine and rainbows?
Speaker 3:It's not at all.
Speaker 1:In fact, you kind of got your teeth kicked in in that when you came back to the business in 23, you overhauled the whole inside you. You got geared up for growth, growth and changing the tone of the company and something I'm not I don't want to use the word bad something unexpected happened it did so how has that been for you guys?
Speaker 3:um, it has been a long road. So the the tornado that came through Hendersonville and Madison, um, our building took a direct hit and, unfortunately, paper and electronics don't do well with water. Um, so it was a total loss for us, but what it did do is it opened a lot of doors. It it, you know, we were able to keep all of our people employed. But we also added to our team. Um, everybody came together, we all, you know, came up with a plan and and made it work, and that's I always say, everything's figureoutable. It is in my, in my mind, everything's figureoutable. Um, so it it took a team and, and here we are now, a year and a few months down the road, uh, we're moving back to our old building and now we have new service lines as well, so we'll have two locations in Hendersonville, both doing completely different things, but we're really excited about it.
Speaker 1:That's great, and so was the NASCAR piece of the business. Was that before that happened? Was that during that happened? You know that storm changed a lot, but was was. Where did the nascar deal come in?
Speaker 3:we were, uh, so big studio group is in hendersonville, um, they came in to we started working with the city to do, you know, revamp the city signage, um, because it did affect so many businesses. So when we were working on that we were introduced to some new people. They came in and 10 minutes went by and we were invited. So it was that fast.
Speaker 1:Well, and I got to tell you that was one of the things that really kind of surprised me when I was talking to Anthony, we were trying to figure out a schedule and that kind of thing to get the car in, and he said he had to fly out to wrap a car for a race. And I I was like, don't they have local people? Don't they have their own people? And it's because of just the amazing work that you guys are doing that legit. I mean. I think he flew out and wrapped the car and flew right back.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah. There's a lot of opportunities with, uh, nascar and it's not. You know, there are a lot of of local businesses that do that um for them.
Speaker 3:But there's also a lot of opportunity for things that we do again just thinking you know um outside of the box, what can we do to help these people with know the advertising side of things and making it easy. So we do banner systems um on the sides of the big haulers, the pit boxes also. You know that typically is vinyl, so banner systems there. So um, just introducing things to them that are new, that that they didn't even think about um, so we're bringing things to the table for them as well.
Speaker 1:That that's great Like that outside of just wrapping vehicles. Sure.
Speaker 3:It's important that we support other local businesses too, so we do work with a lot of other people, and that's also been great.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, and especially if you're in a city where you're doing something and you need help, the fact that you can lean in on on those local, local vendors, it gets them some business, it gets them some exposure At the same time, you've gotten a network that knows you and, uh, you know these race cities there. You know it's not like there's 500 of them, it's a. It's a tight knit community too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now we've got 15 employees, but we can do, you know, massive jobs and it's because we have, you know, a lot of people that we work with that are also experts in what they do and we all work together and it supports, you know, everybody. So there's plenty to go around. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Now a lot of your business is in the automotive world and you're a car girl too, yeah. So tell me a little bit about that. And you're raising a car girl too. So, if you will kind of walk us through what has fueled your passion for the automotive experience? And and let's talk a little bit about Miss Penelope too- yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 3:I have always had a passion for Corvettes, so that one of my first goals was to have a. Corvette by the time I was 25. I mean, I've always I've grown up showing horses and you know, on motors or dirt bikes and four wheelers, things like that. So I've always liked speed. So when this, you know doors opened up for us, I was really and still am, i'm'm extremely excited about it, because I do. I love cars.
Speaker 3:I love speed, but I'm also learning. You know this side of the business too, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. I go to work every day and think about you know what can I do today? That's fun. Yeah, because that also matters. And then Penelope, yeah's. She's also, um, probably making a mistake here, but I'm. She likes to go fast, she likes the cars too, but, um, you know what, I want her to be part of the business too.
Speaker 1:So that's right, I'm gonna raise her that way I love it well and you know I get that. She's three and and got a little growing up to do. But you know I think we bought we were talking about this earlier I think we bought Castle his razor at four and you know is now in an adult model razor. I think we bought that. We bought that last year, so he was 10. And Emily was a little put off when she found out that the new one does 60, 70 miles an hour and I said, honey, we want him to learn on dirt with a helmet and all those things. Make the mistakes on the most forgiving option and, um, I stand behind that. You know I grew up on dirt bikes and four wheelers and all the things. And it blows my mind how many 16-year-olds have never been behind the wheel of anything. Or they're just not interested in getting a driver's license and I got to tell you, if they've never driven anything before, I'm not really interested in them getting a driver's license. Same.
Speaker 3:It's scary, it is.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of that just comes with how much seat time you've had. It is Because a lot of that just comes with how much seat time you've had. And you know these kids today they're not getting the seat time. And we can blame it on video games or we can blame it on subdivisions or we can blame it on all types of things. But as much as I would not own a self-driving car I'm not upset that some of these kids are getting self-driving cars.
Speaker 3:It's not a bad thing, it's not a bad thing at all. It's more defensive driving now. I mean, you know, one of our employees, our main installer, was in a terrible wreck in Murfreesboro on well, december 11th of this last year and he's still not back at work and he did nothing wrong. There's nothing he could have done different. Somebody pulled right out in front of him and it almost killed him. He was life-flighted and he's still here today, but it's scary and you just never know. You've got to pay attention.
Speaker 1:You really do, and I had a team member of mine and this had never crossed my mind. I know we haven't talked about this, but I'd love to get your take on it. So his mom is almost 80 and her sister is somewhere in the same range and the sister doesn't drive. So his mom is the one that you know drives predominantly. They live in the same subdivision and you know they're. They're still on their own. You know they're not in assisted care or anything like that.
Speaker 1:But he was making the pitch to his mom that she needed a new car and she should go ahead and buy a Tesla. And I had never thought of this before. And he said well, you know, at her age, if something was to happen, we wouldn't want her to wreck and hurt somebody else. If something happened and she was in a Tesla, at least it could get itself off the side of the road and notify help. And I had never thought about that, even for an older driver. Like it had crossed my mind about these younger drivers that don't know how to drive. But I'd never thought about that for an older driver know how to drive, but I'd never thought about that for an older driver.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, and honestly, I mean, if, if, uh, there's so much going on with people on the road too. I mean, uh, I like the Tesla too for that reason, but if people would get off their phones and put technology down for a little while, we'd be in a better place altogether, I think. I mean, I look over and see just about everybody on their phone and their cars, so you know and and I will say this, we, you know, we castle does not like this rule in our house.
Speaker 1:but uh, he does not have a smartphone, he has a flip phone, and he was pretty disgruntled about that. And I said buddy, here's, here's the deal. Until you're in college, I said, or at least driving, I said, if there's not a different solution by then, where you can have GPS in the car, you're not going to have a smartphone under my roof. And I get that that is not normal out in the world. But they're just so locked in on this device and disconnected from either. You know, we grew up with, say, the driving experience. I don't even think that's a phrase. In their world, they're just disconnected from what they're actually doing. So we do a little bit of a game, and so for years I've taught him cause I can't stand to ride with anybody. I'm of the opinion that everybody else out there is a missile potentially headed at me, and so it is my job to avoid the missiles and get everybody in my car safely to where they're going.
Speaker 3:That's such a good way to put it.
Speaker 1:And that's how my dad taught me. And so even when he rides with somebody else's parents which I struggle with him getting in the car with somebody else but I said, buddy, you do not, you don't play games, you don't cause commotion, because what is the driver's job and he'll to get us there safe, and what is your job Not to distract from them getting us there safe. Okay, all right, we're on the same page.
Speaker 3:Totally agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there's just so. There's so much out there that can distract you. I mean, with no devices at all, you can be distracted, whether it is something on the side of the road, whether it's just something you're thinking about that you got to do later today. There's so much distraction without the phone.
Speaker 3:Well, and here's the other thing, you know with what we're doing. I love speed, I can go fast, I'm not going to. I can go fast and not get a ticket.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:With, you know, being in areas that are made for that, and it's safer and you're not on the road, so I enjoy it. Yeah, I don't know where this is going. The auto club we are, yeah, because we're listening to our customers. We're, you know, seeing. Yeah, we're still trying to figure it out, but I don't think that's a bad thing and we're all so excited about it. So there's only one way, and it's up.
Speaker 1:That's great. That is fantastic. So you've got these internal customers, your employees that are driving. Some of them drive I think Anthony drives. What an hour and 20 minutes. An hour and 30 minutes.
Speaker 3:Over two hours.
Speaker 1:Over two hours Each way, and before I ever stepped foot in your shop, we were talking about that and I said but that's four hours on the road. Part of it was I was in disbelief. I was thinking an hour each way and so I reiterated that's four hours. And he said yeah, he said it's the best place I've ever worked. I was like, okay, and he goes, because I knew where he had worked before.
Speaker 1:And he said I will gladly drive the additional two hours a day to do what I do right now, where I do it, and at that moment I was going to have to come to your shop, no matter what, whether you guys did the car or not. I was going to have to come find out what's going on at BB Printing Co and everybody there is just excited to be there. So, backing up a little bit, your family buys this business in 2001. It's a printing shop. Was there a lot of innovation that happened over that 25 years before you came back to the business? Or was that just the spirit of your family? How does, how do you see that happen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's, that's really what kept the business alive was, you know, taking it from um, you know, the old printing press, that's.
Speaker 3:that was the other thing that we had you know, there there were no digital printers and uh, when those came out, you know my mom was right on top of buying them and staying ahead. And digital changed everything. You know you didn't have to run everything on a on a press anymore and you know the interesting thing about our business is printing. Everything has gone up in price. Printing and signs have gone down. Vehicle wraps haven't, because material and and it's a labor and it's a skill that not a lot of people have or, you know, are really good at um. But as far as the printing and signs, it's been interesting because everything prices keep dropping. So digital did that you?
Speaker 3:know, and and now digital signage is doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so well, I even remember changing parts. Yeah, I mean if we went back, probably to about the time the business started. So if we went back, say 91, most billboards were still painted, which back then just seemed normal, now seems crazy that somebody would paint a 30-foot billboard. But that's how they were done.
Speaker 1:And so I think a lot of it is the innovation that has happened, not just digital, but the innovation of the materials that are available. The strengths and weaknesses of the materials you know, even even you know we talk about vehicle wraps have not come down in price, but there has been a lot of innovation in the materials, absolutely you know. I think of the first wraps and they were a train wreck.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And these days, I mean, you've really got high tech materials that are being installed and obviously you know way more about this than I do. But you know materials that don't trap air the way that past materials did, that don't remove your factory finish when you pull them off, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:And we do have. You know there's there's quite a few distributors of you know different materials and, honestly, avery has really really stepped up and you know we we use the higher end materials that last and color pops on things like that, um, but there's a perception about certain brands that you know isn't correct. So we try to educate people on that too. Um, but yeah, it's, it's definitely come a long way.
Speaker 1:That's great. Yeah, Uh, what's what's been your favorite project you ever worked on?
Speaker 3:My favorite project. There's been a lot of good ones.
Speaker 1:Okay, you can highlight a couple if you want to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've enjoyed Gaylord watching that transformation happen, so you know, putting up pictures for people to see what it's going to look like, and that's been a big production and a lot of fun. We love doing the. You know the fun things like the stripes on your dad's car, those are the stories behind. Those are fun for us, um, but the, the fleets have also been fun, um, because we anthony also designs, so he's got um for him to be able to put a design or you know, on a nascar or anything for him to be able to design um things for people. And then his favorite part is watching them pick the car up you know, so I can't.
Speaker 3:I don't know that there's a specific project um because we've done so many things and again, this is a new service line for us. Um, they've all been different, they've all been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Well, and so much of what y'all are doing is custom.
Speaker 3:It is yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it's almost like and I know I kind of came at you sideways earlier when I was telling you about what a lot of people know me about or know me for and that's Guinness World Record for bowling backwards. Yes, for me it is the look of wonder that is usually reserved for children when they see something for the first time, and for me, when a 70-year-old sees me throw a trick shot backwards and they're just in disbelief that what they just saw with their eyes is actually real. I feel like that's probably the same thing you guys experience when somebody shows up and we all have in our head what something's going to look like. But I feel like your team is really adept to be able to exceed those expectations to where it's better than you even had it in your mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot of times that customers come in and have a vision, vision but they don't know what they need. They don't they? They think they know what they want. Um, and then we throw things out there and, um, yeah, it's, there's a lot of different options and we do, we do try to, you know, let people know what would be better, right, what would be really cool, and it's up to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's fun and it allows your team to have fun and, at the same time, that's probably what keeps you coming back. You know we've talked several times about the fact that you love startups. That freedom to experiment, that freedom to do what others are not, or to innovate, is what keeps you interested in the business.
Speaker 3:It is. It is Always trying new things. Yeah, absolutely. What keeps you?
Speaker 1:interested in the business it is. It is, um, always trying new things? Yeah, absolutely so, tell so. I know we're going into what was the old space, but isn't is now brand new.
Speaker 3:Um, tell me a little bit about that building yeah, so we are taking all of our production back over there, um, so everybody has been literally working in a basement for you, you know, over the last year. Um, so they have a brand new space for for all of their new equipment, their new offices. I'm really excited about that. So we'll have everything from small format to our storefronts, fulfillment, um there, and then we will have our uh vehicle wrap division at seven, seven, seven, um. I'm all down the road, so yeah that's good.
Speaker 1:And now everybody's going to have more space. Yes, and we've got new equipment. Yes. That's going to be good. Yes, and you know, what do people typically come to you for? Are they? Do they have an idea? Have they had a bad experience somewhere else? Do they just hear about you? Because, with everything that you guys do, I think the fact that you call yourself and others refer to you as the brand boss is absolutely spot on, but how do they end up at your doorstep?
Speaker 3:We do some marketing and we strategically place our logos around. People don't realize that they're seeing them often, but they are and that matters. But a lot of it's word of mouth and a lot of the customers that we do have. I mean we call them our partners. They've they've been with us for a very long time and they recommend people, so word of mouth is probably our biggest thing, which is good. That's what I want. That's what I would prefer. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um well, and that's how I got connected to you guys. Um, don Napier, over at import Alliance. I told him what I was trying to get done after being disappointed in Clarksville with with someone that was not able to do what I was looking for. Yeah, um, and then I was really just let down. Where where you guys exceed expectations? I'm just going to put this out there and I'm not going to name names. But when they weren't able to do it, I went to go pick up the car and I keep in mind we're talking about a 68 Chevelle convertible. They left it to sitting in the front parking lot running. Wow.
Speaker 1:So I pulled up and just got into the car, but I sat there for a moment just thinking are you kidding? Anyway, but, it's a totally different experience with your team. They care, they want to get the customer excited, they want to know about the project. Why are we doing this? Who's it for? Like you know all the things that you wish somebody would ask.
Speaker 3:Your team asks you know a lot of people. One thing that a lot of the team has in common, too and I've heard this from multiple um, from quite a few of them is what's your favorite part about Christmas? And it's watching everyone else open the gifts, and so we have a lot of giving people on our team too, and I think that that that makes a difference as well. They're, they're giving, they want to do good things for people, and it's that reaction that they're looking for, so that motivates the team, and I think that's great yeah, no, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Um, what are you excited about that's coming up? What do you? What do you what? What gets you fired up in the morning? I know it's the innovation that you guys are doing, but is there something on the horizon that you're chasing or that you're like, oh my gosh, in May this is going to happen and it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 3:You know, this year we since we're moving back and we're still, you know, testing the waters in certain areas we're really taking this year to decide. You know where we want to go and who we want to be as a company. We've got the core and the foundation done. Now we need to figure out where are we going and that's probably the most important thing that we all know where we're going, so that we're all going in the same direction, and right now it's providing quality products for people, great customer service, and we'll know by the end of the year. You know what exactly, what our plan is, and so that we can hit the ground running next year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. You know one of the areas and you may already be doing this, but I think, because Nashville is so big in the space of Airbnbs that have a theme, you know whether it's country, whether it's whatever theme that they have made. I see a lot of work and a lot of um. You know custom murals and that kind of stuff. Is that a space that you guys are in currently or is that a space that everybody needs to come to you for now?
Speaker 3:You know, again, it's one of those things that people don't realize that we do and there's been a few interior designers come in and look at the wall and go how'd you do that? I want to do a bathroom really cool, or I want to do, you know, the living room wall really really neat, like that. That changes the room, it transforms the space. So yeah, I mean there's definitely a um, a market for that and we, you know, we have all the installers to do it, we print it and it's. It's like anything else. You just wouldn't think about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, so everybody out there that has a great Airbnb, whether it's downtown, whether it's at the lake, whatever it is. If you're in middle Tennessee, when Amber, what's, y'all's radius, what I know, you guys fly for some NASCAR partnerships and that kind of stuff. But what is a good expectation for it's a fit for you guys, it's usually a fit for the customer.
Speaker 3:What kind of radius from Hendersonville For our day-to-day anywhere in Tennessee? Really, I'd say, as far as a radius, I don't know. We do nationwide. Um, we have people, we have installers all over the place and, and it's, you know, stadiums right they're all over the place. So you know there's a lot of big projects that we'll, we'll do um and go all over but. But I would say 200-mile radius. We just don't have a problem traveling. Our people drive pretty far anyway, so we're covering a huge area, no matter what.
Speaker 1:There's a chance that the installer is near you already.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool. Well, I also think about corporate spaces, and I know you guys are doing a lot of stuff with Gaylord and you do some stuff with NASCAR and some other great partners, but with as much industry or not just industry, but as many businesses that are moving to Nashville and are building out spaces and they want them to be custom spaces, they want them to feel inviting. I absolutely think that's a great fit for you all, because you're doing things that, yeah, you could do them other ways, but I feel like they would be cost prohibitive, they'd be one-offs and it would be kind of hard to visualize on the front end, versus because a lot of what you're doing, almost all of it's digital. Before it goes onto the wall, you can get their approval. Is this what you like? Is this you know? Is this what we're all ready for?
Speaker 3:You know a lot of the um, a lot of times, these larger businesses coming in, you know we don't we'll have, we'll go in there and look at the space and they'll, you know, ask for recommendations, um, but working on the outside of the business with other uh customers and kind of figuring out what, what we needed to offer and how we needed to do things, we work with a lot of different marketing companies that they've already hired or that is their expertise is to come up with how it needs to look, the design, all of that. And then they bring us in and say, okay, here's exactly how we want it and we bring it to life, I love it. And then they bring us in and say, okay, here's exactly how we want it and we bring it to life.
Speaker 3:I love it. Yeah, it's not very often that we're not working with a marketing team or you know somebody else with these companies, but it works. I mean, it works well.
Speaker 1:They've put the time and effort behind the marketing plan. Now they need somebody to help bring it to life.
Speaker 3:Yes, so we'll come in and do that. So you know, even if, even if you have a whole, you know, I know exactly what I want, this here and that here, um, that's what we'll do. We'll come in and make it happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. Uh, what is something unexpected throughout your career, you know, and obviously the storm was one, uh, but what's something else that you was unexpected and you had to work your way through it?
Speaker 3:We're all getting in in that wreck. I mean, just right in the middle of everything, um and you know him being a full-time installer on site, and you know again our partners how can we help? They all came and helped and we didn't miss. We haven't missed a beat and as soon as he can come back, he can come back and start right where he left off. Um, that was. That was another really tough time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Um, but really getting everybody through, through this, you know, and making sure that they're okay, and there's been so many, so many things that I could call roadblocks, but there's been so many positive things that, you know, keeping a positive mindset has been everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 1:Well, you know that at its core that's kind of the spirit of the charge forward podcast is people who default, who default to charging forward when everybody else would give up.
Speaker 1:And you know, a lot of times it ends up being entrepreneurs because we take a lot of rejection and we just keep pushing. And you know, but whether sometimes that's going to be somebody in their health journey, sometimes it's going to be somebody in, you know, something that impacted their life and other people it would have just been too much for. But you know, I find uh comfort in knowing that God doesn't give us anything more than what we can handle, and sometimes we've got to go through that in order to really learn what we're made of.
Speaker 3:Yeah and it's. You know it's not, it's not all um, it's. It's actually not easy a lot of the time, but keeping that, that uh, positive mindset and, you know, just figuring out your way and navigating through things and and having the mindset of you know this is, this is happening, so that I'll be stronger and I, you know, I know what to do next time or, um, you know, like I said, I learned a lot of what not to do, um, but yeah, it's it also gives you a lot of confidence because you've been through it, so you've been tested.
Speaker 1:You know, what you're capable of. And confidence is just basically remembering what you've been through and the fact that you came out on the other side so that you can go through the next thing.
Speaker 3:Well, you know a lot, of, a lot of our people, including myself, have started at the ground level, and so we know, you know what should happen and how things need to happen, and on our wall, I mean in the very top, failure is not an option, and that is one thing that Anthony brought you know. We charge forward.
Speaker 1:That's right, absolutely Well you know. Do you know Giannis Lasmanis Corsair Detail.
Speaker 3:I do. Well, I don't know him. I have heard of him and I've heard good things about him.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, I need to introduce y'all Yanis was on a few months ago and he shared a Russian saying. Roughly translated whatever shit you're going through today is going to seem like nothing tomorrow, Because once the next wave hits, you'll be like oh, last time was nothing, Now I'm going through it and I do think that us being tested is what allows us to continue pushing, continue not settling, continue saying we're not going to allow ourselves to fail, because you only fail when you stop.
Speaker 3:When we surround ourselves with those people. You know too, um, when, when everybody is lifting each other up, it's a lot easier to get through hard times, and that was another thing I learned. You know, don't try to do it alone all the time. There's so many people that want to help you and see you be successful.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:That was a hard one, though, because it took me a while to realize that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know and I'm sure you learned a lot of these along your path, because correct me if I'm wrong on the healthcare side of things, you guys started with three to six locations and grew it to over 60. Is that right?
Speaker 3:Six to 64, actually. Okay, yeah yeah, in 12 states.
Speaker 1:So that's fantastic, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:That was over the course of how many years?
Speaker 3:uh five years okay, so which most of that happened in three years so basically two locations a month during those three years almost it was a lot and it was a very, very strong team and it made all the difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know you said that the patient stories was a big piece of that. How did that come to play? Was that something somebody else thought up? Was that something you brought to life? How did that come to be?
Speaker 3:So my two main mentors in life are my mom and Deb Miller, and Deb was a chief experience officer, so her title was CXO. She did a lot in health care, she's done a lot around, but she taught me so much about how important the patient experience is. And so when we started from walking in and telling that front desk person like hey, your smile makes all the difference in the world, it sets the tone and then following that through with the patient's journey and how was it? When you started, were you comfortable? Did you feel like there was hope? And then filming all the way through to where they can walk again they can. You know a guy that, retired, couldn't move and he's building boat docks again. Like it's the little things that so many people take for granted and you don't realize it until you see somebody that's like I can tie my shoes, I can plant a flower.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the thing that we take for granted. Exactly they are elated to be able to experience again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the thing that we take for granted, exactly they are elated to be able to experience again. Yes, and I think that that was so good for me to experience and see, because it is easy to get off track and not think about those little things. So yeah, so yeah. That was that's probably the most gratifying thing that I've done. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's probably the most gratifying thing that I've done. Yeah, well, I think across the board, regardless of what type of business we're in. We see that, but I have seen it a lot in health care, so much so one of the things that I do periodically is I help a physician who's looking to exit grow their business to the point where it's really worth something, because most doctors became doctors and owned a practice because they didn't want to work for somebody else, and some of them are fantastic business people and some of them really just kind of own their job and they think that at the end of their career their client list is going to be worth a lot of money and it's really not.
Speaker 1:They've got to start growing a good.
Speaker 1:I tell people three to five years before they want to exit so that they can bring other doctors in, they start taking a step back to running the business versus being the practitioner, and I think that the front desk is one of the places that they miss, and it's so much so. I had this conversation, probably two years ago, with a fantastic group of people, but they they were still of the mindset that there's a clerk at the front desk and I said you've got to look at that person as a host. They are hosting this party. What does a host do? They make you feel welcome, they introduce you to people, they have a smile, they put your coat away, all the things in order to make you feel like you're in the place you're supposed to be. That is far different than the not paying attention to you. Next, in so many doctor's offices, so many people in the medical field, in my opinion, get that wrong. How did y'all get it right?
Speaker 3:We looked at it from the patient's perspective.
Speaker 3:You know, I'll tell you that the reason that I actually walked away from health care and completely got out of it was because that is such a hard thing to change and, um, you know, with private equity coming in and buying, um or not buying, just getting involved in healthcare, in my opinion, is not the way that it should be, because then it comes down to the dollar and really it should be about the patient and the money follows. Unfortunately, you know, healthcare is a mess, it just is. But, um, all you, what we did is focused on the patient experience and how we could enhance that, and that's what it was all about, and it did. I mean the money did follow, because they kept coming back, they wanted to get better, they had hope. So, um, everything, like I said, from the front desk, smiling to the uh the providers sitting down touching their, said, from the front desk, smiling to the uh, the providers sitting down touching their shoulder, like the little things that make the big difference for people to feel comfortable. It's their, it's their health, it's their life.
Speaker 1:Well, I feel like so much of that is tied into that. Um, you know, when you start talking about your own mortality, you start thinking about you not being here or if you can get through this, those types of things you're looking for signs. You're looking for signs that tell you you're doing the right thing or you're doing the wrong thing. And when somebody smiles at you, makes you feel welcome, those are signs or green lights, Like, okay, I'm in the right place, I'm with the right people. And when somebody doesn't make you feel that way, when you're not sure if you're in the right place, you're not sure where you are on the waiting list, they don't look at you. When they talk to you, you feel like you're burdening them to ask a question. Those are all red lights and they're flashing at you. And so if you are in healthcare and you care about what you're doing, sending those green lights is critical, but so many people forget.
Speaker 1:So, or they, or they don't care I don't know or they've been desensitized to it, and it can happen in any industry. You know, I was in wireless for 25 years and I had to start reminding our team that, yes, you may sell 10 phones a day and this may be the most monotonous thing that you do, but that person gets a new phone every year, every other year If they're a little bit older, maybe three or four years. So this is an exciting and scary time. Is it going to work like my old one did? Am I going to lose things Like did I should? I have not even come in here today, and it's up to us to foster that excitement and foster that that hope that today I did what I was supposed to do today, and I think the same thing is is true in a lot of different industries, but especially in healthcare.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, yeah, empathy is huge too. We had to do a lot of education on that you know, and and honestly, like I was telling you, a lot of the doctors I work with are anesthesiologists. They're not. They're not trained to work with people. They're trained to work with people that are not awake.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:And so you know the simple thing or what, what are not awake and so you know the simple thing or what. What I would think is simple isn't simple for them, which is talking and looking at them in the eyes. You know what I mean. So a lot of education. I think training is also so important. It's hard for people to to do their job when they don't know expectations, when they don't know or don't think about certain things and bringing back, you know, deb, that I mentioned. Yeah, she taught me so much of that and just different perspectives and just so positive about you know who would I have narrate something? Deb Miller, because it would be positive, it would be exciting, you know, and it matters.
Speaker 1:It absolutely matters, you know, I think, uh, just even you know Penelope's three.
Speaker 1:So you got a little while before. You have to experience this. But you know, my son went to middle school this year and so you do the parent night, where you come out and they introduce you to what it is to be at the middle school. And when I tell you that it was the worst display of being inept at your job, that's an understatement. The first thing that happened is they welcomed everybody in. You know, thanks for coming out, we're excited to see so many people. How many of you are excited about getting a locker? And I'm like, okay, this is going good.
Speaker 1:And all the kids raised their hand. And then they said, if that's what got you excited, you need to settle down because lockers are not that exciting. And, on top of that, don't talk your parents into buying stickers or organizers or any of that stuff, because it's going to break and you're going to get upset. And then you're going to look at us and we're going to say we told you so I wanted to yank my kid out of there, right. Then the next thing they did is they went into the disciplinary action policy and I'm looking around like are y'all kidding? This is how you introduce people to middle school, because we've spent weeks and months pubbing this up, as this is a good thing, it's exciting, and you've sucked all the wind out of it in the first two minutes and scared everybody, and scared everybody.
Speaker 1:Um, and I just, I just think again, that's an education. We've talked about it in healthcare, We've talked about it in, uh, your business and and wireless. I mean. It happens all around us and we both know this is 100% true. If you want to wow people, just take care of them, Just treat them like they were your best friend or your parent or whatever.
Speaker 3:Listen, listen.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly, yeah, now, along the way, besides Miss Deb deb, who's been a great mentor to you, uh, my mother, yeah, yeah, she's.
Speaker 3:Uh, we're a lot alike in the same way and in a lot of ways. Um, I mean, this is exactly like charge forward describes. She's a very strong woman. So is my grandmother, which she's 103.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:Um, she's still going strong.
Speaker 1:She's a force to be reckoned with 103. So, y'all got set five generations, four generations, four, four. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, but she, you know she just being there and and then I didn't see it. You know, when you're younger, it's like what are you? What are you doing? You're that's I don't like this, um, and you look back and you're like that I really learned some valuable lessons from that and, um, I still carry it on today and that's, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah they're getting you ready yes, they were.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my dad, um, you know. He had the larger companies in Nashville and sold those, and then my mom decided to just do her own thing in Hendersonville and that's when we started that. So he's not involved in this part of the business, but I think that's been the best thing for everybody. He did his thing, we did ours, and that's cool, it's been fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, everybody's wired differently and uh, so it's cool to see how, uh, it took shape.
Speaker 3:Um and they're excited. Yeah, you know they're excited. I, I want, I want to make sure that my parents they've worked so hard their whole life, you know I want to make sure that the there's a strong company moving forward and that they can retire and enjoy the rest of you know, their years traveling and, you know, enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Well, they want to be able to brag on you too, and they?
Speaker 3:and they do, and it feels good, but I also don't like spotlight, so that's all right.
Speaker 1:It's all right do you mean you don't like the spotlight because your c8 corvette really blends in it? Nobody's gonna see you coming in in a bright pink, uh, c8 corvette.
Speaker 3:So that that really tells me you want to blend in well, uh, a limo tint on the windows uh, helps with that, and I do not roll them down and I do not take the top out. It is just for marketing purposes, just saying.
Speaker 1:And for going fast. Well yeah, it's all right, that's good.
Speaker 3:We're actually going to take it up to. We're working on taking it up to the dealership because a lot of the CH they're trying to get rid of people don't like the color, so again they don't realize. Like that was a black car and it's pink now and you can do that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, well, and I do think that that um people kind of get stuck in that it's not the right color. Is it the right deal, do you like most of it? Cause we can change the color pretty and it can be a custom color.
Speaker 3:Oh, there's so many.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And now.
Speaker 1:So correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe you guys are even tinkering with or dialing in printing on color.
Speaker 3:Again, we're trying different things. Yes, there's some materials that you're not supposed to be able to print on. There's also, you know, embossed things that you're not supposed to do, but we've figured out how to do it to again give it that cutting-edge look. It's just different. When people see some of our stuff, they're like wow.
Speaker 1:It is like wow.
Speaker 1:It really is. I know I've said it several times and this may just seem like a pub piece for your company, but when I tell you that I was shocked at what you were willing to talk about doing, and then the fact that you were able to do it better than what I thought of in my head is not an I'm not misstating that at all. It's fantastic. Even when I showed it to my dad and you know he's wheeling out there in a wheelchair to take a look at it he's got a flashlight, just I mean it's. You know it's like nine o'clock at night when I when I drop it off and he's asking me how did they do that? How I can even feel. You know it was just all the things. It was way more than he expected.
Speaker 3:And he's doing good now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, so, yeah. So, let's see, we're in March. So six weeks ago, on his birthday, january 19th, they cleared him to walk. Wow. That is a long way from. We're going to have to take both feet off. We might have to take both legs off and we're going to have to decide this in the next 36 hours. That whole thing escalated very quickly. You know they were on a cruise in Alaska. They had to off-board him. He had an emergency surgery in a bush hospital in Sitka, alaska the only reason he's alive today is the doctor that visits two days a month.
Speaker 1:Happened to stop by to drop off some paperwork. That visits two days a month. Happened to stop by to drop off some paperwork and was. I talked to him on the phone and he said I can't leave. It would be inhumane for me to leave. I can't, I can't save his life. I am going to try to do enough in order to be able to put him on a plane and get him back to Nashville so that they can save his life. So I think he was wrong when he said he couldn't save my dad's life, because he really did. Otherwise, probably within 48 hours, that would have been the end.
Speaker 3:I remember there was a tight deadline for us too. Anthony was like I got to get in there and get this done to get the car to him. So yeah, it was. It was to get the car to him, so I knew it was pretty.
Speaker 1:It was very much. My urgency on it is I wanted to be able to at least show my dad a picture of what it looked like before he was gone. So the fact that he is still here today excited about car show season is night and day, and when I say this it's going to sound like I'm overstating it, but I really do believe that that that helped. What your company did, what you and your team did, helped because he wanted to drive that car. Don't get me wrong. He drove it when he bought it, but it was a different car. When you guys got done with it, he he was like I'm not missing car show season, like you know we'll have to go see him on.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, we definitely want to want to meet him absolutely um.
Speaker 1:So in the car space, uh, you guys do a lot, whether we're talking about wraps, whether we're talking about wrapping um nascars, whether we're talking about wrapping NAS cars, whether we're talking about custom stripes, and you know the little details. What part of your business would you say that is? Is that half of your business? Is that what people most know you for?
Speaker 3:It's about half of our business.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:So historically, we would bring small format in and then, you know, other things would follow the signs and you know cars, things like that, uh, now we're getting, you know, larger customers coming with fleets and, oh, by the way, we can do all this, all these other things, for you.
Speaker 3:So it's about half of our business right now, um, and we really are focusing on the fleet work business right now, um, and we really are focusing on the fleet work, um, but in between, you know, we'll do the color change and um graphics and things like that Do the fun stuff. So, yeah, we're, we're, we do it all, but that's, I would say that that's the main focus of the business, and in the future, what we're planning on is that being even more of our business. The signage cause, you know, we'll do the big outdoor signs, um, like when you're going into neighborhoods and things like that. So we work with um companies that that do those as well, um, and I think that's really where we're going with our business is more that way. And then the small format you know follows as a convenience thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, so. So HOAs need to call you.
Speaker 3:I mean, we work with Acer right now. They put in all the signage when they do the neighborhood, yeah, and so we work with them and they give us the blueprint, we put the sign in and we move on to the next one. So it's those kind of partnerships we really like too, and we work well together.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Everybody has their piece and we get it done. We make them look good at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:Don't get me wrong. I know it's a great partnership in that they're reaching out to you, but um the, at the end of the day, the reason great partnerships are great partnerships is because you both make each other look good.
Speaker 3:Yes, and most of the time there's a problem. The other sign company let them down in a big way. So we want to know what they need and where they were failing, so that we can help them in every way.
Speaker 1:Sure what their pain point is, yeah.
Speaker 3:Pain points. Yes, yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 1:That's why they come to see you. And then you know you guys are growing. Are you hiring?
Speaker 3:We are actually. We're looking for installers, we're also. Design has been a big. We've also realized that you know, out of all the designers that there are, everybody has their specialty.
Speaker 3:So, from you know, doing small format, which is one type of designer, to large format, which is another, to vehicle wraps, which is another. And if you don't wrap vehicles, it's hard for you to do the design because you don't know the curves in the car and how things are going to look. And you know there's a lot of. You have so many seconds that you need to capture a message, so there's a lot of. You know I talk about data and things. There's a lot of things that do really matter that I don't think people really pay attention to, and so that's another thing that we bring to the table, because we do have that expertise, so it makes a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you know, that's another thing that we both agree on wholeheartedly is that it's got to be data-driven. Yes.
Speaker 1:Can we back this up with facts and replicate it? Yeah, so you, potentially. As you guys are growing, you need some more designers and you need more installers, and so what's the profile for that person? Obviously, you're going to interview them, you're going to have a conversation, see if, see if they're going to be a good fit with your team. But who, like if? If somebody is watching this and they're wondering if they have the right skillset in order to come talk to you, what, uh, what are you looking for?
Speaker 3:Somebody that takes pride in their work. I mean, the biggest thing is you have to be a good culture fit, right, that that is the most important thing. And if you, if you are a good culture fit, then we have people that are willing to train you and and help you do better. Um, but instead of just talking to people, we want to see what you've done. We want to, you know, show us what you're excited about. Um, because we about, Because people. It's, one of the hardest things in our business is finding good people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you know, just show us.
Speaker 1:Perfect, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:We're always open to good people.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, because that's what allows you to grow.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's what allows you to handle a situation when somebody is unexpectedly out, you know, and the team rallies around them. Yeah, that's great. So this is a little bit of a fun section of our conversation, and we have not talked about this one. It's slightly controversial. Now, we're not trying to get anybody canceled or anything crazy like that, but it's a section called Things we Think, but Do Not Say so.
Speaker 1:I'll give you one of mine. So one of mine is that we should absolutely, from a young age, talk to our children about money, how it works, how you use it, what it's, not how to misuse it all those things Also. Another one is winning and losing. I feel like us not keeping score is doing a disservice to a younger generation. There is somebody that won and there is somebody that lost, and whoever's protecting you from winning and losing is not that lost, and we're not. You know, whoever's protecting you from winning and losing is not going to be there to protect you for your whole life. So tell the truth my child needs to do better or I need to do better. I lost or I learned today, instead of winning. What's something you think?
Speaker 3:that is just a truth that you feel like people are they dance around and it's worth saying you know I I'm one of those people that really do appreciate people being honest, because if you don't know, you can't fix it.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:But I think there's a right and wrong way, you know, to go about that. But yeah, it's not always an A for effort. I will tell you that I don't think there's anybody on our team that doesn't want to win Um, which is fun, but it's also, you know, when you don't want the L that's right. Um nothing specific comes to mind.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, no, I mean, I think, that's a good one in that. Just tell the truth. Yeah, quit trying to dance around somebody's feelings and just say the thing.
Speaker 3:You know, I will say that I was told one time I think I was I was working at a cotton gin.
Speaker 3:I mean it was one of my first jobs and the owner looked at me and she said don't act, quit acting like you know everything. And I was like ouch, but I'll never forget it, I'll never forget it, and I I do a lot more listening now. Um so I'm, yeah, I just, I appreciate people being honest, and you don't have to do it in front of people, you don't have to embarrass people, but, um, yeah, just just being honest and helping everyone, helping elevate everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, I can't, I can't skip over this. Your first job was at a cotton jam.
Speaker 3:Well, my very first job was Wendy's. I wanted to work the cash register.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:That was fun for me, um, but yes. Then I went to, I moved to Jackson for a little while, tennessee, I worked at a cotton gin and I was a nurse assistant at nursing homes One of the hardest jobs I've ever had. Sure, that was yeah, but also, I mean, a huge part of why I am the way I am today. Yeah, and then yeah, and then I got into, I moved back and then the printing world took over and started healthcare.
Speaker 1:Okay, and here I am and here you are. Yeah, no, and you know, I look at it's all the experiences that you have that bring you to where you are today and get you ready for tomorrow. And so some people have had a lazy path that didn't wasn't very exciting and they didn't learn a whole lot of things. And some of people have had a lazy path that wasn't very exciting and they didn't learn a whole lot of things. And some of us have had interesting paths, both good and bad, that bring us and get us ready for tomorrow. So that's fun. So, because I'm a bowler, I ask everybody this question, and that is if you were in charge of marketing for a celebrity bowling challenge, your whole goal was to raise as much money as humanly possible with this one bowling event. Who is on that team with you? They can be anybody throughout history. They don't have to be living.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's funny because I actually have some professional bowlers on my team okay, I like it. So, um anthony, I found out, is he used to be on a bowling league okay and he uh strikes every time. Or you know, bowls strike every time, however you say it. Um, I'm not a very good bowler, so I'll be on my own team. His sister was also on a bowling team.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And then his son. So this is pretty much Anthony's family, because they're all expert bowlers and I didn't know this until recently.
Speaker 1:I didn't know it either.
Speaker 3:It fits. Yeah, you and Anthony need to have a game together.
Speaker 1:That would be fun. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Oh, he is 100% competitive.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it, okay. So, uh, you've got Anthony, his family and you are going to be on this bowling team. You got to pick a commentator, so who's going to? Who's going to call the play by play, in order to make sure that everybody's paying attention and donating money?
Speaker 3:Deb Miller.
Speaker 1:Deb Miller Okay, I like it.
Speaker 3:She, uh, she. You know somebody. I have never seen somebody uh turn situations into something that doesn't think they would be um raising money she's. She's an expert at that. Yeah. It would be fun Okay.
Speaker 1:For sure that's cool. I love it. Well, somebody somebody out there right now is thinking about starting a business or is thinking about um starting a new career, and they're in a tough spot. They're trying to figure out is, in my head, in the right direction.
Speaker 1:not ever had the right direction and because your career has taken several turns, in different fields and companies and, uh, now kind of coming back home but with your own twist on it, really retooling your company for what's next, what advice would you give somebody that's maybe trying to make a real decision in their career?
Speaker 3:Don't be afraid to try something different, because the one thing that I always tell myself is I don't, I don't, ever want to look back and regret not doing something. Don't burn bridges. You can always go back if things don't work out. Don't ever want to look back and regret not doing something. Um, don't burn bridges, you can always go back if things don't work out. Um, but you know, again, I just go back to that positive mindset and I truly believe that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I have there now. I've failed at plenty of things, but if I put my mind to it, um and and really thought it through, I think having a plan is really important. But yeah, don't look at those. You know falling down as failure. It's part of the process. And surround yourself with good, positive people that you know are also trying to do good, and it's really hard to not move forward when you do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I would imagine it could have been very easy for you as you came back to the business in 23. You're retooling, you've got it almost exactly where you want it and then an act of God, a storm, destroys it all. You could have very easily been well, I wasn't supposed to do this. You could have gone back into the health care field. You could have done it. So many people would have used that as an excuse to do something else, and you chose not to. You chose to charge forward, knowing or feeling that you had made the right choice and you were just being tested.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you know. And two, the first thing I did was call a friend, brian and Jennifer I knew that they had a building and you know, the next day after the tornado because there wasn't a whole lot of places to go. And then our biggest thing was we have 15 families that, you know, rely on us. So how do we make this work? And we did.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, that's great. I always looked at the lens that I used when I had a large team, even before I had a large team is that for every one person that was in my company, there were on average, three people at home and they were depending on me to make the right decision or to be the bad guy. I would tell people up front if, if I've made a mistake in hiring you and you come in here and you think that you're going to do things to tear down this group of people that do amazing things, or you're going to put them in jeopardy by having bad judgment, um, I will be the guy that shows up and fires you. I will be the guy that says you don't do that here and I would tell them that on day one, in fact, good, bad or ugly, I would have them write down in their book on day one, jim is the asshole. And some of them thought I was kidding. I'm like no, I need you to write that down in big bold letters in your book right now, and then I'm going to tell you about it and I would tell them like you've been through four or five interviews in order to get to this point and I've gone to the trouble that I have taken the information I've received about you and I have committed to memory your name and I've come in here and I've talked to you and it's also important for you to understand that I'm also the guy that will make the hard call and say I'm not going to let you endanger the 500, 800, 1200 people that count on the income coming from this place. So I firmly believe that we've made the right decision, but if we haven't, we will act quickly.
Speaker 1:Um, and you have to do that. You have to be willing to have the backbone to make the call. That's just part of it. That's part of being uh. In fact, I think people get it misconstrued. They say they're in charge when it's actually backwards. If we went back a long time ago, they would say those employees are in your charge, which means you're responsible for them, and somewhere along the way we've twisted it. So it's I'm in charge. That's not quite how that works.
Speaker 3:Well, and I think there's a big difference between you know managing people and leading people too, and that's been really I think about that a lot. I'm actually I would consider myself not a great manager. I don't like to manage people, but I do love to, to lead people in the direction that I know we can be successful in. And you know, a lot of the times I don't even have to fire anybody. They, the rest of the team will say hey, they're not a good fit here, and they leave. But we do a 90-day. It's not just for us to make sure you're a good fit, it's for you to make sure that you like it here.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Because if you don't like it here, do yourself a favor. Yeah. I mean for real. That's important too. Don't stick here just for a check. You can stay here as long as you need to, but do what you like, go into work every day and enjoy what you do. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're going to spend a lot of time doing it. You should be around people that you like and we're doing work that you enjoy and are proud of.
Speaker 3:So yeah, absolutely it's been. It's been super exciting where we're going and you know I can't say that I'd change anything at this point. Okay. It's. There's so many great things happening and so many doors being open and so many wonderful people, you know, coming through the doors that I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1:And we're almost at car show season. Yes, I mean that's right around the corner.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:That doesn't hurt, no. Okay, so you are a Corvette girl through and through. What is your favorite?
Speaker 3:Corvette. I didn't like the C8 until I drove it. Okay, and now it's my favorite. Okay, it is so much fun. Now I got the Z06, so it's a little more power, sure, but I've worked my way up to that, so the C8 is my favorite. Okay, I will say that I recently drove an electric car and I will never own one. It messes with my senses too much. But yeah, I love Corvettes. I will always have Corvettes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually had a team member that's here in middle Tennesseeennessee and we worked together for several years and he has a sales job where he drives a couple hundred miles a day and for 18 months he drove a c8 every day and and he tested the waters he. After that he uh, no, no, he traded his tesla for the c8 and then now he's in porsche um but good choice he's's a he's a big car guy, so he's, you know that's, that's his thing.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Well, there's actually a. Have you heard of one 11 motorsports?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're um doing some stuff for them too, and that's, you know, again something that is really exciting, and not a lot of people have the opportunity to see the behind the scenes and all those cool cars and stuff, so it's really fun.
Speaker 1:I did not understand until I actually started working with Exotic Autosport, landing those guys down there, landing Mike and the team. I did not understand just how deep the exotic car scene is in Middle Tennessee Way more cars than I ever anticipated. You don't see them very often, but you don't see them, but when you, when you do see them.
Speaker 3:They travel in packs. They do.
Speaker 1:In fact, one of the one of the charity runs the Annie Rose foundation. So I was out there this past year for that one, and it was raining that day, and so, you know, I didn't exactly know where I was going. So but when I saw, you know, two or three Porsches in front of me, two or three Porsches behind me, I thought, well, I'm in the right space. And I so I called Don and I said I'm, you know, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place. And he goes how do you know that? And I said, well, there's a lot of Porsches around me.
Speaker 1:He goes oh, that's because it's raining. And I said do what? And he goes well, they left the supercars at home. They're willing to drive the Porsche in the rain, and it took me a minute to absorb that the Porsche is the one that they were willing to get wet. Now, obviously, some of them. In fact, there was one guy that brought six cars, and you know he's probably got two and a half million dollars worth of cars in the parking lot, but they came out for a great reason.
Speaker 3:You know great, great, great charity so and they always did things like that normally do very well.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So one other thing that we are talking about doing is a lemon race, the 24-hour lemon race.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Have you heard of that?
Speaker 1:I have not.
Speaker 3:So you only have so much money to put into a junk car. So like a police interceptor is what you want to go with, because they're fast and you know they're already built. But we have talked with some of the NASCAR drivers and getting their holler and showing up with our lemon car and our backup car and having NASCAR drivers out there, tell me we can't win.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 3:But all of us are so excited about doing something like that and it's just for fun. But 24-hour race, you all have to take turns driving team of four. That'd be fun awesome.
Speaker 1:You'll have to keep you posted, that's gonna be a good one that's gonna be a good one, all right, uh. So last question is have you put any thought into how you want to be remembered?
Speaker 3:I have. Yeah, I have. You know, there are some people that I think about often and they all have done good for somebody or something. I want to be remembered as somebody that did everything that I could to elevate everyone around me, to smile, to bring that light to somebody, even through my own hard times, to still be that light you never know what people are going through and I just you know that's important to me, and so I want to be remembered as that person that gave it their best shot.
Speaker 1:Helped you feel hope?
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, in some way or another, yeah, or made you smile.
Speaker 1:There you go, that's good.
Speaker 3:The little things.
Speaker 1:It is the little things. It is the little things. Well, ms Amber, please tell everybody out there listening how do they get in touch with you If they want to do business with you? They've got a. They've got an Airbnb that they want custom and to look like nothing else, so that the their customers get a great experience. Or they've got a brand new car that they're looking at. Or they've got an old car that they want to look new again, or they have a branding problem.
Speaker 3:How do they do business with the brand boss? So we have a few different ways that you can reach out. First off, we don't have a phone tree. When you call, you will get a person on the phone. I don't know if I give a number or not. Yeah, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:Our phone number is 615-822-0037. Our website is wwwbbprintingcocom. And then our auto club, we have bbautoclubcom. Both show different sides of the business and what we do. And, uh, we do share our personal cell phones too. You know, although we family time is important for us, Um, we, we are always available when, when people need us. So, um, and then you can email us at info at BB printing cocom as well.
Speaker 3:And then you're located there in Hendersonville info at BB printing, codecom as well, and then you're located there in Hendersonville. Yes, we're right at the edge of Rivergate Um seven seven seven West main right next to Brian's motor sports. Um, and then our other location is a mile further into Hendersonville, in between Jiffy, lube and KFC. That's three, three, four West main. Okay, um, we deliver ship nationwide. We deliver ship nationwide Again. Whatever makes it easy for people.
Speaker 1:That's right, we'll do it. Perfect Well, thank you so much for coming in and hanging out with us and sharing your story a bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and thank you for what you did for my family. You're welcome and what you do for your customers, because it absolutely shows and you've got a great reputation out in the marketplace. I don't want to call you like a diamond in the rough because you guys are so polished. It's just I don't think enough people know where you're at and how to get in touch with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we, and you know, on top of everything else, we, we don't expect people to, we want to earn your business. So let us show you what we can do, and I'll leave it at that, because actions speak louder than words.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's fantastic. Well, team, if you're out there, if you're looking for, like I say, to customize that Airbnb, to add some flair to your current home, to customize the color of your car, if you've got a fleet, if you've just got a brand problem, or you want to level up your game in that regard, reach out to Ms Amber Kirby and her team at BB Printing Co here in Hendersonville, tennessee, 777-west-maine, and they will take fantastic care of you, like they have taken care of my family. Until next time, I want you to take some wisdom from Ms Amber and continue to charge forward. Take care.
Speaker 1:That's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.