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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
🎙️ Scoops, Strategy & Small-Town Grit: The Sweet Rise of Golly G’s with Founder Joey Boykin
What do you get when vision, values, and vanilla collide?
The story of Joey Boykin, founder of Golly G’s Ice Cream, who built one of the top 25 creameries in the U.S. from the ground up—starting with a dream of old-school charm and a smiling ‘G’.
In this episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, Joey shares how he:
- 🎯 Built the brand first, product second—creating a 1950s-inspired ice cream shop experience that communities love.
- 🍨 Developed award-winning flavors like Banana Pudding and Tennessee Fudge (using his mom’s recipe!).
- 📈 Navigated tough pivots, including cutting unprofitable services to scale smarter and increase profitability.
- 🧠 Turned industry pain points into innovation—launching Rapamar Containers to help shops offer more flavors in less space.
This episode is packed with actionable insights for entrepreneurs, creatives, and anyone who’s ever dreamed of turning a passion into a business. Whether you're craving small-town nostalgia or big-business strategy, Joey’s journey will inspire you to lead with vision and build with purpose.
💡 From food trucks to franchises, scoops to strategy—this is how Golly G’s is winning hearts (and taste buds) across America.
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But at the same time it also once you understand that you have to have it. It also gives you the freedom to be more creative once you've dialed it in.
Speaker 2:It's ice cream, right? I wanted something, though, that spoke to yesteryear.
Speaker 1:Hey team, jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward podcast and I have a sweet treat for you. Today I have the founder and operator president of Golly G's Ice Cream and RapidMark Containers. Joey welcome to the show. What's up, man?
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, Jim.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So. We are very familiar with your business because it was like 800 yards from my house and if you're going to put a, put an ice cream shop in pleasant view and guarantee that we stopped by, just put it 800 yards from the house that was our point.
Speaker 2:That's our reason in putting it. There was like jim's close by let's. Let's put it here that's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, um, you guys and we talked a little bit about this, but you took what, what was, I want to say underutilized, to be nice, an underutilized space, and that was your first location, right?
Speaker 2:It was, yeah, back in 2016. We had a boutique there. It had been many other things when we purchased it, we put a boutique in there for a little bit. We outgrew that space, had that building there, and I had always and we'll probably get into this but I had always wanted to own an ice cream shop, of all things.
Speaker 2:There had been many other things in life and I had recently realized how much I love customer service and I'd never worked in retail before and, um, we had done that a little bit in the boutique and I had realized how much I love that interaction with customers and I combined that with this just kind of strange affinity I had for ice cream, more so than most people that I've had since I was a child and uh, and I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. Again, I'm sure we'll talk through that more, um, but it just was an opportunity to do something that I'd always dreamed of. And uh, man, we, we just kind of took a risk on it and and dream to dream and and uh started in 2000,. That started about 2015,. About 2016, early 2016,. We opened uh and it and it's been a heck of a ride since.
Speaker 1:Well, it's amazing and, uh, you know, you guys have built a great brand too. I mean, everybody knows that if you stop by there. One, you're going to have some amazing flavors which I'm sure you hang your hat on. But two, it's also a really good experience.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate that and that's, and that's that's super important to us. I mean, and that's that's super important to us. I mean, and we started with the brand before the business even that was. You know, I guess I've always marketing has always been a big part of my life I mean my degrees in marketing and so I've always been influenced that that your brand is, is, is a big part of everything that you do, and it has to start there. Um, sometimes people start with a really great product and and build a brand around it.
Speaker 2:Um, in our case, I I kind of dreamt, dreamt up the brand. Uh, first had some great help. I had, uh, you know, matt Bowling helped me with the graphic design initially and we'll talk about where the name came from and those kind of things but making sure that brand was on point, that the visuals were on point, that we had a good idea of who we were going to be as far as our culture is concerned, within the company that's part of our brand and then what it looked like, what the customer would experience. I kind of had all that in my head before we even opened the shop and so, as I was designing those, I was saying what we needed and all the products we needed, those kind of things. That brand helped shape those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the feel that I get from it and I'm assuming this was intentional because you started with the brand, but it's almost that nostalgic soda shop?
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and that that was exactly my my point. I wanted something it's ice cream, right. I wanted something, though, that that spoke to yesteryear, that that spoke to kind of this simpler, better time of, you know, the 1950s and 1960s very retro feeling, um, something that that communicated happiness, you know and a simpler time too.
Speaker 1:It does yeah absolutely and.
Speaker 2:And so, um, we were, we were looking at at terms through a lexicon of of terms from the fifties and sixties and came across the term golly gee, like, like, it was like, uh, leave it to beaverish, like, yeah, golly gee, you know, and golly gee beaver, and uh, um, jenna, at the time, she, she said well, what if you took that and and turn that into like a, a character, like a, and I was like, hmm, so I said so we were like so, golly G, like the G in in being possessive, like it's a proper noun, like it's a person, it's a character. So golly G became the character. And then I shot that over to Matt Bolin, which was again my. He's a, he's a branding genius and he was like, give me about he, like 30 minutes he had a sketch of of the G, kind of the smile.
Speaker 2:That's kind of become at least locally iconic. For, you know, amongst kids they see that they can't even read yet they see that G with a smile on it and they immediately think ice cream. Oh, absolutely, so, um, those things, and that's that's kind of the, that's kind of how we came up with the name and the and the beginning parts of the brand and we've obviously built a um built around that skeleton, but it's it's worked out well for us.
Speaker 1:No, I love it and you, you do absolutely get that feel because you've got the white floors, the white counters, the white, the white subway tile in the back. It's just that kind of clean and fresh.
Speaker 2:you're welcome here kind of a thing. I appreciate that and you know we have, you know as part of our brand. We have and we'll talk about our core values. But we have core values. That really shapes all those things and they're posted in the stores. I love that.
Speaker 1:I love the fact that, um, you know you're showing the customer who you are with the service that you're providing and the quality of the product, but then at the same time as they're leaving, you've got that on the on the wall right beside the door at least in in the one in Pleasantview, that's where it's at and so also tells them the kind of the mission.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah, and we do the same behind the counter. So we make sure that different integral places with you know that our, our employees always know those things. They always they see them. If they're making waffle cones, that yes, gosh, we need to do this with excellence. Or if you know they're helping somebody, gosh, that it's service. Are we? Are we serving? Are we serving here or am I having fun? I mean? So again, I love to talk about our core values because it shapes everything that we do. It is the essential core of the brand.
Speaker 1:Well, and you can tell that also by the people that work at your stores and by no means am I just trying to pad your ego here, but for somebody you know, I had 500 team members in retail and that smile behind the counter makes your breaks. You, yeah, Plain and simple. Well, it does. And and your team just by and large, you, when you walk in there, you feel welcome, you feel like they actually want to take care of you and you don't feel like you've burdened them by showing up, which is how retail is these days.
Speaker 2:Well, let's start that starts with, and I've got an incredible team that helps us identify talent and for so long, it's just gosh, you can almost just have to take who you can get in these entry-level jobs, but they do such a great job of determining who. Who are those kids? Cause, let's just be honest, most of our, our employees, are 16, 17, 18 year old kids and a lot of times, this is their first job. And, you know, something we look for is that ability to engage with their eyes and smile. If you can do that, that's right. Then we can teach you to do almost anything else and, uh, so we've learned, we've learned to look for those things, and it's worked out pretty well for us. You know, there we've got some incredible kids who are going to go on to do incredible things in life and, uh, I love that for a while I get to, we get to have them and get to get to um, work with them and and mentorship?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, yeah, that's a big part of it. Yeah, so you know, we have in the summertime, we have 120 employees and uh, it's, it's so great to get to know those kids the best you can and, and you know, have a, have at least some part in role in their lives and and uh, you, you really grow to care about those kids and they're they're great kids. And not all of them are kids. I mean, we have adults, obviously, that work for us on a long-term basis and do a great job as well, so sure, Um, and so you know you started with that one in Pleasant view 2016, and then and then.
Speaker 1:Now you're three locations. We've got three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, we, uh, we have uh, 2017,. We opened in in Clarksville. We quickly realized that there was a. We had a, a review done by uh, a local publication in Clarksville in late 2016, and Clarksville found out about us and it and it changed our business. Yeah and uh it. It was kind of overwhelming, to be honest, and we noticed that, you know, four out of 10, five out of 10, uh license plates that were coming into our, into our parking lot, were from Montgomery County. Yeah and uh. So we quickly began to say, hey, what are the opportunities there? And and there, there was very little competition. It was obviously a pretty big demand, and so we immediately started looking at spaces. I found the space that we're currently in in the Sango area. You know, it's only 15, 16 minutes on the same highway.
Speaker 1:On the same road?
Speaker 2:yeah, On the same highway up into what Clarksville Highway turns into into Madison street. Up there in 41 a and uh, we found a space there, um built that out and by by June of 2017, we had opened up the second location. So pretty quickly. Sure, yeah, and um, and so that that location has, from that time on, has been our, our busiest location. In 2019, we opened a small place in downtown Clarksville.
Speaker 2:There's a city park that had a concession area called Downtown Commons. We opened that spot. It was kind of a walk-up spot. Only it had a little bit of a only it. It uh, it had a little bit of a dining room, but it was. They had a ice skating rink in the winter and a big park in the in the summer, and it was, it was a fun shop for a while, but then, when um covet hit, yeah, that entire area just just died. You know, there was no one goes down. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:So, um, and there was some, there was some issues with some homelessness and stuff like that that my, I didn't feel like my kids were really safe during that time, and so we we decided to pull the plug on that, invest into a, into a food truck, which we did Um and the same time in in uh during COVID. Um, you know we opened a location in Greenbrier in Robertson County right Uh 20, june 2020. And uh, it's July of 2020. We introduced the food truck. So that's um. That was kind of a really busy time for us and you know we've been trying to keep up with that since um and it's helped us. We've learned a lot, we. We've helped us kind of develop a, a growth strategy that again, hopefully we'll get a chance to talk through um and and some fun things ahead of that as well.
Speaker 1:So well and uh, one of the things that that I noticed that you did. Uh, at least there in Pleasantview you decided to do a remodel and you used your food truck to keep that business going, so that it didn't go dark.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was. That was imperative, really, cause that was, you know it, it, when you, when you come to uh, depend on the revenue of of a retail location to have to have to kill it. For a time being, we had to do some updates and we had some plumbing issues and stuff that we had to. We had to address uh in that old building, sure, and so it was such a blessing to be able to park that food truck out there for three months and do the work that we need, because we had to jackhammer the entire concrete floor up. Oh yeah, so it wasn't an easy remodel, but that was a blessing because we could still operate at 80% capacity in that food truck, which was nice, right.
Speaker 1:Well, and keep your people employed too. Exactly, yeah, which was nice, right. Well, and keep your people employed too. Exactly yeah, that was huge, absolutely. And I did the same thing in the wireless space. Uh, you know one of the things? That if you're working as a franchise, uh, you have to do their remodels every so many years and, uh, we did the same thing. I printed a or I didn't rent, but we, we got it a RV.
Speaker 2:Oh nice.
Speaker 1:And then and then we didn't rent, but we gutted a RV.
Speaker 2:Oh nice. And then built it out as a retail store. Okay, yeah, same, thing, walk in one side, walk out the other, stay in business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stay in business and our downtime was not quite as substantial as yours was Typically. In under two weeks I could flip one.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I also wasn't jackhammering the floor for the most part Right Right, right, yeah, it was. Uh, that was a trying time, but I'll tell you that was also a really good time for my business, like during COVID. You know, we really exploded during that time and I I really put that on the on the shoulders of the communities that were in. They, we were supported. Like I mean, you know, shoulders of the communities that we're in, we were supported. I mean, there was a time when we had to shut down the dining rooms and we were drive-through only. There were two two-and-a-half-hour waits in our drive-through In Pleasantview. It was lines going down Highway 41A for a quarter mile just to wait for a milkshake or a or an ice cream cone.
Speaker 1:I remember specifically that summer, uh, while things were shut down, um, and the lines were crazy. It was um, we rode, we were bikes. Oh yeah, you know, obviously I'm not that far away from you guys but it was kind of like okay, well, the kids want to go to college, he's great and we can do that. Yeah, we're going to ride bikes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did. We had lots of people riding bikes and that was kind of the fun thing about COVID. I think it reset a lot of people's. You know you got to do that, you got to spend time with your kids and you got to ride bikes with them. And you know it forced us to be, you know, different than we were Exactly, exactly. You know different than we were Exactly, exactly. And that's the same with our businesses too. It forced us to be different and look at different, different ways and different strategies, and I think we're better because of it, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, now it's not like you're just serving the same old soft serve or dip that everybody else is. You guys have won some awards with your ice cream, haven't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we make all of our ice cream. So we started doing that in 2000, started the transition in 2017. The first year we didn't have the facility for it, we purchased it from a local manufacturer here in Nashville and it was still good. It was great Mike's Ice Cream. I'll just give them a. They're great Over there off Second Avenue. They do a great job.
Speaker 2:They do they do? Mike makes great ice cream but, yeah, we started making it when we opened up that facility and started slowly making our own and by the end of 2017, we were almost 100% probably early 2018, 100% making our own, all of our own ice cream. And 2019, early 2020, we opened up an entire different production facility where we make all the ice cream. So any of the, let's say, any of the mix-ins, with the exception of, like an Oreo or something like that, but we make. If it's a brownie, if it's cookie dough, we make all those in our in-house bakery as well. So, really, we really want to make sure that that the product you're getting is excellent. That goes back to our core values, but it's it's uh, we make almost everything. Uh, handmade. We hand chop everything. We it's it. I promise you it's made. It's a labor of love, but it makes a difference.
Speaker 2:In the ice cream, we use local cream from Middle Tennessee cows. We're 14% butterfat, so you can tell a difference when you eat it. We have processes in place that allow us to freeze the ice cream really quickly so it doesn't get icy. So you're going to get a really the ice cream really quickly so it doesn't get icy Sure. So you're going to get a really creamy ice cream when you try it. So I think if you haven't tried it already, obviously you have. But there's a difference than this or Baskin Robbins or you know. I mean those places are fine, Nobody, there's really not bad ice cream. I mean, most ice cream is least palatable, right, sure. But I think I think I'm really proud of our ice cream. You know?
Speaker 1:well, I think one of the things, at least for me, don't get me wrong. The flavor is great, uh, the texture is great, but one of the things that I notice is most ice cream gives me heartburn and, for whatever reason, how the process that you guys follow, or the fact that you're using local products or whatever it is, I do not have that issue with your ice cream.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I mean other than we have a really clean label product, so we try to. There's not a lot of artificial additives In fact, we're in the process of eliminating artificial dyes and things like that. That we're going to do over the next year but it's a very clean label product. So it's cane, sugar and cream, for the most part, a natural stabilizer, so there's not a lot in there to really mess with your body too much. So, yeah, it's a high-quality product, it's a premium product. It uh, yeah, it's, it's. It's a high quality product, it's a it's a premium product. Um, obviously we.
Speaker 2:We charge a premium price for it, because it takes. It takes a lot of money to to to make a product like that when you're paying people to hand chop cookie dough that you've made yourself and all those things that you know. That's, but that's, that's part of who we are, that's part of our brand Sure, and of our brand sure. And to answer your question, yes, we, we are nationally recognized. We. We have won multiple blue ribbons for some of our flavors, which are recognized in the as the in the you know, top one percent of ice cream. Uh, ice cream companies in the entire united states or north america, as far as that's concerned. Uh, for testing our ice cream for quality taste. Even I think bacteria counts, those kind of things. That all goes into as part of an ice cream clinic through the North American Ice Cream Association and you're awarded either a blue ribbon is the best, red ribbon and a white ribbon. I've won all of those for our ice cream.
Speaker 1:So yeah's, it's something I'm very proud of. So somebody out there is wondering what is the best flavor at golly geez? Yeah, that's a. That's a loaded question, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, um, for my personal opinion, my my favorite is the banana pudding.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's great I've had your banana pudding oh, it's great. I've had your banana pudding ice cream and it's not like anybody else's. What makes it special? It's pretty special.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Joy, my mom, joy Boykin, she makes the best banana pudding from scratch. She takes a double boiler and makes her own vanilla pudding and Nilla wafers and Cool Whip and all the things. It's pretty special, but I wanted to make an ice cream based on that. Her banana pudding, yeah. And so we do the same thing. We. We take a real vanilla pudding, we take real vanilla wafers, real cool whip, uh, and really right bananas, and we blend that together and mix it into into an ice cream and I'm I'm pretty proud of it. It tastes a little. I mean, you definitely get banana pudding when you, when you taste it. So there's nothing, there's no artificial banana flavor or anything like that.
Speaker 1:it's, it's the real stuff I gotta tell you artificial banana flavor is the worst like runts or something. Yeah, it's or even in ice cream. Yes, oh, who is it? Checkers, checkers, makes a banana milkshake.
Speaker 2:That is just every chemical you can put into it and sonic used to make banana milkshakes with real bananas, like you. They'd blend them up and it was great, yeah, but the last few times it's they're using a banana flavor now and it is just not the same. I don't want any part of that, it's. It's that chemical? Yes, absolutely, yeah, so, yeah. So banana pudding, that's that's if a lot of people would absolutely yeah, so, yeah. So banana pudding, that's if a lot of people would have a differing opinion in this. You know, a lot of people would say the cold brew crunch, or our loaded we have an ice cream called loaded, we have, you know. But if you're asking me and I'm, you know.
Speaker 1:You know a little bit about ice cream. Yeah, right, yeah. Now what is the most award-winning flavor you have?
Speaker 2:Probably our vanilla. Believe it or not, really yeah, it's probably won more ribbons than anything else, so our strawberry is probably right close behind. So, vanilla, strawberry and even chocolate. Those three have won the most ribbons. Yeah, I love it, excited, you know, and if you can, if you can make those three flavors, those are your like quintessential, like the base that you can build in for everything else off of you. Get those right. I think you do pretty good with everything else, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think sometimes too, especially when somebody is visiting your location for the first time, they try to play it safe. They're like oh, you can't screw up X, but it's for you. It's not about screwing it up or not screwing it up, it's it's about giving them a flavor profile that they don't get anywhere else.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean, and it starts from the most basic flavor, one of our number one core values is excellence, and so that goes. That's the filter that when we say, okay, we're going to make a flavor here, it's not, it's not okay, that it's just okay. Yeah, it's got it to me it doesn't go out, unless it it, it's excellent. So, um, so we, we apply that to even things like vanilla ice cream or chocolate, you know, and, and a lot of people just be happy with just having chocolate ice cream, but I want it to be the best chocolate ice cream and and so, so, yeah, so that that goes, that goes for all of our flavors. But in particular, you start even on those base levels, like that, and I, uh, our, what do you think our number one flavor is as far as bestselling flavor?
Speaker 1:So just because of my wife and my wife, every time she has a family member that comes in and we go to Golly G's. She's like you've got to get the Tennessee Fudge.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to say Tennessee Fudge. Yeah, good guess. But no, it's chocolate ice cream, believe it or not. Just a basic chocolate, Just a basic chocolate ice cream. We sell that flavor substantially more than almost any other flavor. So, yeah, we're making. We make 60 boxes of that a week, which is, you know, two and a half gallons at a time. So, yeah, we're, we make a lot of that of chocolate ice cream that's a lot of chocolate going out it is right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah. Chocolate, and then followed up by probably vanilla and strawberry and cookies and cream cookie dough. Those are probably your top five. Maybe cold brew crunch Tennessee fudge comes in and out of the top ten from times, but it's definitely just so. You know, the audience knows what Tennessee fudge is. It's a vanilla based ice cream with these big chunks of swirled fudge throughout it. So yeah, swirled, uh, of the fudge throughout it.
Speaker 1:So yeah yeah, it's really good. Um, my favorite is um, on the ice cream side, it's going to be your mint, your mint chocolate chip which you make it a little bit different with is it cookie that's in it instead of a chip.
Speaker 2:No, we have well. No, we have well. We make it different ways. It depends on you know like. But our standard mint chip is a mint ice cream with chocolate flakes in it. So we don't use chips because they get hard, yeah, you know. So we use a flake, a thin chocolate flake, semi-sweet flake. But we also make them with Girl Scout cookies. So, like thin mints, we make that recipe with thin mints, or Oreos sometimes, Yep. So we kind of mix it up from time to time with with the mint stuff, but for the most part, 80, 80% of the time, it's mint chip. That's in the case. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's. I mean it's really good. But uh, recently, uh, in fact, it was really the first conversation we ever had. Uh, big shout out to Don Napier out there. What's up, don, for connecting us. In fact, you were supposed to be in the studio today, come on, don, but he's got a big summer meet coming up, so he's knocking that out. But you guys created a cheesecake.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, and my wife and I we were doing a date night. We were at Hananoki and on the way back we thought all all right, we'll stop get get a little dessert right there in clarksville.
Speaker 1:Right there in clarksville stopped at your sango location, again on the same road as our golly geez yeah in in pleasant view but uh, right there next to the restaurant and popped in trying to decide what I'm going to go with, and I had a and I'm not usually a cookies and cream kind of guy, but this cookies and cream cheesecake looked fantastic to you, didn't it did?
Speaker 1:so I got, I got a slice of of it and my wife was like, yeah, I'm getting one too. Okay, great, nice. And it was so good that she saved the last chunk of hers and took it home and the next night cut it into three pieces one for me, one for her and one for Castle. How nice. Because she was like everybody's going to savor this. But then we had a conversation and you guys created that for a very specific reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So just to speak to our chief, so, as I said before, we have an in-house bakery. Incredible bakers, really craftsmen, incredible bakers, really craftsmen. They do an incredible job of coming up with recipes, of making sure that we have a great selection in our bakery case of all times, that making the stuff that goes in the ice cream. They do all those things and shout out to Jeremy for heading that team up. But really talented folks, great at what they do.
Speaker 2:And, um, they, uh, they came up with a uh, with the prices of eggs that a few weeks ago, were just through the through the roof. Of course, our cheesecake is is one of our most underrated uh products. It's, it's. I put our cheesecake up there with any of the best cheesecakes around. So, uh, if you haven't tried our cheesecake, what are you doing? Go do it Right, it's fantastic, right? Yeah, thanks, jim. Um, but the uh.
Speaker 2:One of the main ingredients in classic cheesecake is eggs and it takes a lot of egg, eggs, egg yolks in particular, and it just got so expensive and you know we don't want to have to raise the prices. I mean, it's already a seven $8 piece of cheesecake, right, it's a big, thick piece of cheesecake. Um, so he, he began to look at alternatives, uh, egg free alternatives. So that was actually a no bake cheesecake that we made from scratch. Um, that that didn't have eggs in it, and it again, it was fabulous, it, it turned out fabulous, it turned out, it turned out great. And so we're we. Uh, we always offer our classic new york cheesecake. We always offer a specialty cheesecake, depending on what, what time of the year it is, or the month you know, and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:In that particular month, march was, was national oreo month okay so we were featuring our all things oreo and he came with that cheesecake and it was great and in fact we're probably going to bring that back as a have it on the shelf all the time. Oh, wow, cause it was that that well received.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask that I didn't know if I was a, if I was an exception to the rule there or if it really just no it everybody.
Speaker 2:Uh, once they, once they they tasted that cheesecake. We couldn't keep them on the shelf, so we sold. We sold a lot of those cheesecakes over the over the last month. So you'll see that come back, come back through pretty soon.
Speaker 1:That's great. Uh, I will tell you it is. It is not great for my weight because, uh, I think I had three pieces, uh, of that cheesecake specifically that month that it was around.
Speaker 2:You ought to work there, you know.
Speaker 1:Now one of the things that brings people in and I think it makes you guys different is you have these massive cinnamon rolls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when did that come from? That was part of my vision early on, is you know? The vision early on was to be an ice cream shop, but also to serve really good coffee and have items that were complimentary of one another throughout that.
Speaker 2:So we began to look at we really didn't have the facility to make donuts, we didn't have the fryers and things like that, so something at the time you couldn't really get in town anywhere yeah was a was a good cinnamon roll and um, so we, you know, I had a my head baker at the time name was, name was jen and she helped us kind of develop those, those recipes early on and she developed that that big, you know, cinnamon roll that proofs into this big, beautiful, you know, and and it and it we kind of.
Speaker 2:We kind of kind of I wouldn't say it put us on the map, but it put us on the map before we started making our own ice cream. So it was kind of our first entry into these, you know, our handmade things. Um, was, was that cinnamon roll and it, you know, back in 2016, you, you know, you'd bring a pan of those out and people would just want to take pictures with them and those guys. So, so early on, I really felt like that. I feel like you know that particular product and it's good, it's great, it's delicious.
Speaker 1:It was like your viral product.
Speaker 2:It was. It did Early on. It was a thing that we had that was probably the most special to begin with, and we've kept that same recipe and now we've got different icing options and we have a specialty roll that's based on whatever we're doing for the month. That's in conjunction with that, but we still sell a lot of cinnamon rolls and a lot of people still come to us just for our cinnamon rolls. Oh, I bet, I bet.
Speaker 2:Joey, here in the last year or two you dove into another business that is adjacent to what you do, but in a totally different it's in manufacturing space, so tell me about Rappamart Containers is we manufacture and distribute corrugated and paper disposable ice cream containers all over the world and it is just a small mom and pop that started in Mead by, uh, a couple and I started. I Googled one day when I started making my own ice cream, like where, where do you find ice cream containers, ice cream boxes? And I went through like six or eight and finally came across this, this place called wrap them, our container, and, uh, I started ordering. He was the first to call me back and I started ordering from this gentleman. He ran the business out of his garage, made these boxes and as we grew we became a more significant part of their business and had a great relationship with them.
Speaker 2:At some point his wife had an, an illness and they were at retirement age and and he, based on our relationship, he came to me and said, hey, would, would you, would you be interested? And we're thinking about maybe selling the business. Would you be interested in? And and so I took, uh, my good friend, thomas gilson giesland. Thomas giesland is one of my best friends and he's great in sales and just an incredible people person never meets a stranger and he was looking for some opportunities, ways to invest in some business. And he and I flew up to just outside, outside of cleveland, into meadville, pennsylvania, and and met with randy and patty and kind of heard their vision about their business and what they're wanting to do and um they, they kind of made us a deal that we couldn't refuse.
Speaker 2:It was a great opportunity for me to have a I. This was, this was again right outside of COVID, where supply chain supply. You know it was a challenge, it was. It was a challenge and it was an opportunity for me to be able to control some of that too. What to the public would seem like an insignificant thing the box that you put your ice cream in was very significant to me because if I, if I can't have that, what am I going to? What can I put in my? How can I serve my ice cream? So, just so the audience knows, we're talking about the, the large two and a half or three gallon containers that, as we make ice cream, comes out of the batch freezer into the, into boxes. Traditionally, if you go to to Baskin robbins or a lot of you know they're round containers and we do offer those round containers, but what's unique about our, ours is their rectangle, in shape which allows you to offer more flavors in the same case, correct?
Speaker 2:yeah, so we, we uh, a traditional 16 hole dipping case, which is very, very common. I can get 24 flavors. When I cut out the, the, the wasted space in between the circles. Yeah, so I can get 24 flavors out of, out of a 16 hole cabinet and and they're way more ergonomical. They, they stack, they're efficient in my walk-in freezers and things like that. So and I don't have to wash, rinse and sanitize those plastic buckets.
Speaker 1:They're better for the and you don't have as much waste either. Because I'm thinking, and maybe I'm wrong on this, but like the ones that say baskin robbins, they're like a uh a corrugated tube.
Speaker 2:they are, they're, they are a, they're a tube. Uh, it's not corrugated but it's a, it's a. It's a cardboard nonetheless, like a fiber paper, and for those particular ones you have to have a machine it's about a $25,000 machine that assembles that, that puts a metal ring or a plastic ring on the ends to hold it together. Sure, and that's not economical for a small business that has one or two shops. This is a great alternative. It's earth-friendly Again, it's more efficient.
Speaker 2:It had not really been celebrated in the industry. Not many people had known about. It was again. He was doing it on his on notebook paper, keep an inventory on a on notebook paper and very rudimentary, rudimentary, um, you know bookkeeping and things like that, um. And so we were able to take that kind of move it into the more modern times with, you know, developed a website that people could purchase on and keep up. Scale it, yes, scale. We were able to scale it Exactly. Partnered with QCIS there in Pleasant View to help us with our basically fulfillment and storage. So they help fulfill and procure the orders from the corrugated plants, store everything, and then they even help us ship it out.
Speaker 2:So we're able to send them orders. They're able to process everything and it's a really good win-win for both businesses and it's really scaled our capacity. We've increased substantial revenues and profits over the last two years. We started going to trade shows and just really showing people what we have and what we have to offer, and I've been fortunate to do several of these podcasts based on that alone, yeah, and in the industry-specific podcasts and stuff. So it's been a great business. It's something I don't have to have just super involved in. I can help with things here and there. Thomas does a great job handling our customer service and handling our sales calls and I help with product development and handling our sales calls and, um, I, I help with, you know, just product development and and the bigger picture stuff. Um, you know we're, we're developing new products, trying to be innovative in the industry and things like that. It's been, it's been fun and through that I've I've really developed even more deeper connections within the ice cream industry because I'm serving mostly ice cream shops, which is things so well?
Speaker 1:and you know one of the things that I see there if I'm an, if I'm a shop owner, why would I not switch from the 16 to the 24?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I mean, some people are just traditionalists and they're purists and they, they, they. You know it's. There's a perception that it's cheaper to wash and rinse and sanitize a plastic bucket. But the time you're paying somebody let's say you're in California and you're paying somebody $17 an hour to wash- buckets all day, yeah. It's not cheaper at all. It's cheaper just to buy a one-time use product. Throw that away, let it rot away in a landfill somewhere and you don't have that kind of worry, plus, like you said, being able to be more efficient With your space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with your space, and that's especially when small space is like what we have in many cases.
Speaker 1:I mean Well, I've got to believe that a lot of your small ice cream shops they've got one cooler. Yeah Well, how many more people would you get if you had an expanded? You know what does that add? It adds 50% more flavors, from 16 to 24.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in, even, in, even in a walk-in freezer or even a chest freezer where you're storing it, you're at least 25 percent more more efficient product. Yeah, with, with, just cutting out those corners you know, yeah, so that's huge.
Speaker 1:It makes sense. Yeah, that's cool. Well, I mean, you don't think about innovation in an ice cream shop but here we are I exactly. We're talking about doing more with less.
Speaker 2:It's super niche too, and which I I kind of love niches. I think that there it really helps you hone in and focus on what you do, and it's a it's a, it's a space I'm super familiar with and I'm, I'm like it or not, I'm, I'm, I'm seen as an expert in that industry, and so it that helps, as I'm saying, hey, check these boxes out. Oh, it's, that's the, the golly geez guy. And so there there's some cohesiveness there too.
Speaker 1:You know, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's. It's worked out well. It's been a big blessing in in my life in the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Well, man, keep doing it, and I think it's a great compliment to golly geez. You know it, being on the fringe of the business that you've got and at the same time you being seen as an expert in that world, can do nothing but help.
Speaker 2:So absolutely Way to go, man. Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1:Cool. Now, one of the things that we talked about earlier and I think is critical for somebody that is running a business is a lot of people they do what they do because that's how we've always done it Right. And you kind of alluded to the fact that in recently you guys have pivoted, whether it be with hours or optimizing your menu, those types of things. What would have been some critical moves that you guys have made? Yeah, that's a good question and we have.
Speaker 2:As a business owner, you have a vision that you have from early on of what you want your business to look like, and sometimes it's hard when you realize that maybe not all that vision works. Sure, works, Sure. And so from 2016 until, you know, 2022, we've been, we've been very successful at at what doing what we we've done well, but you also come to realize, gosh, this is not quite as profitable as it should be. You know we we've got some incredible sales, but you know we we've got some inefficiencies that are obviously leading to, um, you know, to some uh, to less profit than we should have. Sure, and so you know, I just talked through some, some consultants, with some consultants that that came in and looked at my business models and basically we were paying employees from 6 am to 11 pm. That's a long time to be open right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in addition to your production crew and we looked at our hours in particular that, from being open from 7 am to 12 pm, accounted for about 28 percent of our labor and only less than 15 percent of our sales. Yeah, so as much as it pained for me to look at that and say, gosh, but that's not, that's not who I want us to be. This, as much as it pained me to look at it and say I just couldn't refute the numbers. And so we made the difficult decision to rebrand it from Goli G's Coffee Ice Cream and Sweets to just Goli G's Ice Cream, because our sales, year-round, 70% of our revenue, comes off of scooped ice cream. There you go. So that showed us what the market's telling us, who we are, and to fight against that is just. You know it didn't make sense and so, just in an attempt to become more efficient you know, listen to the market we did that rebrand to Discoology's ice cream. And, yes, it cream and it, yes, it's affected our coffee sales and yes, it's affected some of our bakery sales. Um, but we've become way more profitable over the last year and a half since doing that. So it was, it was a hard pill for me to swallow. But it now, hindsight, I can look back and and I'm I'm, I'm really glad we did that because it's the way moving forward, it's the way you know, it's the way as we expanded new markets and things like that.
Speaker 2:They're never, those people are never going to know us as a coffee shop. Now we still, we still, we still sell, sell coffee and we still do those things well, but it's just not. You know, we, we dance with the one that brought us here and that's ice cream. So that's our focus moving forward. We're primarily an ice cream shop that we obviously do bakery and coffee and those things as well. We got out of the lunch business, we got out of just doing the things that maybe we just kind of did, but that wasn't the stars of the show, and now we focus on the things we do really well Cut our hours from 7 am to now. We don't open until noon, and that cut out a lot of labor. And obviously we have some people that spent some mornings with us that they hated that and I hated that for them too Sure. Some mornings with us, that they, they hated that and I hated that for them too Sure. But a year and a half later, I think everybody's adjusted and there's no way we could go back to that.
Speaker 1:Well, kudos to you for using the data and and listening to what your customers are really telling you at volume. Right, not that there wasn't somebody there at seven o'clock in the morning, but sure Um, so many businesses will hold onto that with a death grip, to the detriment of everybody there. And really your employees are counting on you to make absolutely business decisions and you know so way to go with that.
Speaker 2:Well, and and I, you know, like I said it, it wasn't easy for me to let go of myself, and I have. I have some really great people, some wise people around me that that have helped support me and show me like, hey, I really think this is, you know, and um, and it's important to have those, those folks, those people in your ear that you trust, and, and uh, and, and they, they helped, they helped guide us in that direction. So, uh, yeah, it was, it was a big move for us and, again, it was a positive move in the long run for sure Now, uh, this is a little bit of a fun one.
Speaker 1:Uh, we did touch on it a little bit earlier, um, but especially you and Don, you guys, every once in a while we'll go on. I don't want to call it a bender, cause that's not a foodie bender like a burger bender. Yeah, and go have a meal over the course of five different restaurants or six different restaurants. Where did that come to play? Or is that just that happened by accident? That's kind of a Don thing.
Speaker 2:Don and I have been friends for gosh Don forgive me if I'm wrong here, but probably since 2018, 2019. And Don was always a great advocate for our small business for always coming in. He always loved the cheesecake. You know, Don's just a great guy. He's never met a stranger, he knows everybody, he does, he does and such a cool guy and we really developed into a friendship. He actually came in and helped us with some marketing for a while. Yeah, did a great job with some of our social media and things and, just so the audience knows, don owns a business called Import Alliance where they do a lot of car shows and things like that. But anyways, he's a great guy.
Speaker 2:He has some really interesting interests, but food is one of those right, and we share an affinity for really good food. I don't know if you call us foodies, but we, we, we love, we love unique and and really well done food. So we'll go into east nashville, for instance, and we'll we'll have a burger night where we go and we'll we'll go to four or five different burger spots and we'll split a burger at each place and kind of critique those things We've we've talked about maybe turning that into a podcast at some point, or. But you know we're going to do this. We do the same thing with pizza or with, you know, just trying like one bite at each. You know one dish at each, each restaurant in a, in a, in a area. I think I'll do it with tacos, not too long. Yeah, we did, yeah, absolutely so, we, we, it's a fun time and you know, hell, I'll do it with some ice cream, with a nice, with ice cream or something sometime.
Speaker 1:You're right, yeah, so well, that's one of the things that I noticed on your social media. That I think is really cool is and I get that you're in that space but I love that you give shout outs to the places that you visit that you like their ice cream oh, yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 2:I mean, I, I make good ice cream. I think some of the best ice cream. Right, I'm a little, um, biased there, yeah, a little biased, but uh, I also have there's incredible ice cream. Even in this city we've got some incredible places and, uh, I've got friends and, and you, you know, sure, there's competition, but it's not really like that.
Speaker 2:We, we, you know, in that, in this industry, for the most part, there's there's really great support uh, amongst again, amongst business owners who are under, who are facing the same same challenges and and triumphs and everything that we, we, both, we have. And so when I'm in other cities, or even when I'm in Nashville, I love to support and and and and taste and see what people are doing well, and how does it compare to what I'm doing. And it's always a way for us to to reimagine what we're doing or to to say, yeah, this, you know, I think we missed the mark here, or, man, I feel like we've got a better product here. And I think it's important to do those kind of things and develop relationships with those business owners and have a camaraderie and share things. I mean, I'll share secrets to my recipes and stuff like that with people and you know, just because you know so many people, so many people have helped me along the way, so many people have have done that for me along the way and given me just little things here and there that that has. I mean I wouldn't be where I am without that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so one of my, one of the sayings that I cannot stand is you know, somebody says they're self-made.
Speaker 2:I'm going to call BS on just about every single iteration.
Speaker 2:I am not self-made. I'll go ahead and tell you that, yeah, uh, if it wasn't for the support of so many people, so many people, and some there's some big ones, but so many people that, uh, that have showed me and helped me along the way, have written checks for me, have, um, you know, have helped me in design or push me in it from one direction to another direction, and, and you know, had those influences on me, I would. There's no way we'd, we'd be here right now.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, so who, besides Don and your mom and obviously a supportive family, family who would you point to and say was a great mentor along the way?
Speaker 2:family who would you point to and say was a great mentor along the way? Um, well, I'm a part of the uh, the north american, um, north american ice cream association and they have mentorship programs within that association. It's trade association that, and man, it's been so just people amongst in in that, in that community, they've shared so much and they've guided, helped guide so much, they've taken me under their wing. There's, you know, that kind of thing. So I don't know that I can point to one specific and say, hey, this is the person that's been my mentor, but so many people as part of that program, absolutely as part of that program.
Speaker 2:Carl Chaney from Chaney's up in Bowling Green, um, you know, he was instrumental early on. Mike from Mike's ice cream Um, you know, and, and then I get to do the same thing now, um, I'm, I'm, I'm now kind of one of those people that that people come to and I, I love to sit. I mean, that's one of the things I love. I don't make a dime off of it, sure, but I love to sit down and talk to people about the industry and help guide them in ways and avoid pitfalls that I fell into and those kind of things.
Speaker 1:Well, I think too along the way. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's absolutely a nod to giving back in that regard. But at least in my world. Maybe it's the same in yours, as I'm feeding into somebody else, it's sparking new ideas for me. So I, selfishly, I give ideas because I know that it's going to spur something else in myself?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely I've. I've recently been a part of a. It's a, it's a co-op or it's a. I guess it's a cohort maybe of of the really the top 25 ice cream shops, privately owned ice cream shops in the United States. I fortunately get to be a part of that group. That's amazing, yeah, and we we've. We've had a, we've developed a kind of a support group, camaraderie community, where we had a little conference, where just a intimate time of us getting together and getting to know one another and spending a weekend together and just bouncing ideas off one another in that community, even in an even smaller community, to have developed relationships that have been invaluable in our end to this day. I mean, I, I use on a, on a, on a very consistent basis.
Speaker 1:So well, you know as you get um deeper and deeper into your business. As you get better, there also becomes a much smaller group that you can actually take advice from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because, exactly Because you know, I, I can look back and see, you know, for these people that are just starting out, if I can see where I've been, where I've been there and but but there's just not a lot of people that are, there's just not a lot of ice cream shops that they have three or four or five, six, eight locations that you can kind of say, ok, where am I going, what's this going to look like? Say, okay, where am I going, what's this going to look like? And so it is. Yeah, as you kind of go up the pyramid there, the sample size gets smaller and smaller.
Speaker 1:Sure, Well, what is next for Golly G's? What are you looking to do in the future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'd say the last 18 months has been less about growth and more about profitability, making sure that we're we're profitable, we're not having to. You know, you know it's a very seasonal business. So, just in true transparency here, you do really well in the summer and then you just kind of hold on in the winter, sure, right, uh, from from November to March it's just like you know, you hold on for dear life and then then it's, then you get back to true bell curve. You know you hold on for dear life and then then it's, then you get back a true bell curve. You know it starts building up again. So we want to make sure that we're sustainable year round and that that profitability is there year round. And we've we've made again a lot of these changes we've made have really helped ensure that we're we're really close to getting over that hump, close to to getting over that hump, Um, but we, we definitely have a, a, a growth strategy that includes um.
Speaker 2:We we've been, we've developed over over the last couple of years, developed a lot of systems, but systems in place that could easily, uh, replicate the DNA of the business into possibly other owners through a franchise system. Uh, obviously, new shop. You know other locations, um, um, you know, so we're wanting to um and we'll go through each one of these. But, uh, even doing some some wholesale opportunities on our pints and and things like that. So, um, I would love to maybe open one more corporate location middle Tennessee, here, pretty close. I think we have the capacity for that in our current production facility, probably looking at somewhere in maybe North Clarksville, something like that. So we're testing some markets up there, but we also have quite a bit of interest in some franchising opportunities. And we also have quite a bit of interest in some franchising opportunities no-transcript with potential franchise owners.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And really set the stage for this is what your payroll percentage needs to be. This is what your rent yes, All these things so that they can have an expectation of if you do the right things, if you grow your business appropriately. This is how long it takes to get profitable. This is how long it takes to get your ROI, those types of things.
Speaker 2:And I have, and again talk about strengths and weaknesses. I tend to be more on the creative, free spirit side. Sure, I've never been a real like numbers guy, just kind of you know. But I've realized in the last three or four years I need to be, I have to be if I'm going to be the CEO, if I'm going to be the it's going to run this ship I have. That has to be important to me and it has become important to me.
Speaker 2:So I've, I've, I've, I've really nerded out on on different metrics and things like that, that the number stuff they do matter. The amount of your labor, you know what can I afford to pay an hour in labor versus what anticipated sales are going to be? And I mean all these things. And, and I've, I've really a lot of people have given me some tools and we've developed some tools, spreadsheets We've. We have a spreadsheet for everything now and it just kind of it runs our, they run our world. We have a spreadsheet for everything now and it just kind of runs our world, they run our world.
Speaker 2:We have an order guide that basically tracks the expense in real time of every bag of flour, every egg, and as those prices change in real time. I can look at our cost of the scoop of ice cream and see how it's affected, what's our COGS, what's our cost of goods on that particular scoop, all those things. And it helps us see where we are on pricing and that kind of thing. Stuff like that's been huge for us, yeah, but I've got those tools developed now. Stuff like that's been been huge for us, but I've got those tools developed now and uh, so it it helps us really kind of kind of move forward with with making sure that we're the all these metrics metrics are where they need to be as we kind of look see what's next.
Speaker 1:So, and again, I'm not trying to pad your ego here, but you are light years ahead of so many that are, you know, at around a 10 year mark.
Speaker 2:I mean cause. That's where you're. You're yeah, nine years now yeah.
Speaker 1:And usually uh, in fact Jack Daly says this the best I think I've ever heard it is that most little league teams are run better than most small businesses.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the reason being is you know so many business owners, rightfully so. If you're an entrepreneur, you're going to fly by the seat of your pants to some degree, but you really have to make that transition of where you either hire people to dive into the data and then you make decisions based on the data, or you have to learn it one of the two, and it's usually a combination of the two together but really to dial in the way you run your business and, being the creative side, it feels like you're being collared into something it does absolutely, but at the same time it also once you understand that you have to have it.
Speaker 1:It also gives you the freedom to be more creative once you've dialed it in?
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, and that's what we've really tried to invest in those. It really comes down to systems, to those systems that allow those things to be monitored, to be forecasted to all. Those numbers are. As much as I hate the numbers, they're so important to our success, and I can make the best ice cream in the world, but if we can't get it to the market in an efficient way, what's it? I mean, what's the point? Right, you know we're going to go home. I'm going to have to go get another job somewhere, right? So you know we've got to have those systems in place. We've worked really hard and I can't just put it on myself.
Speaker 2:I've got a great team that have slaved over these things and some great consultants and just people within the industry that have shared their tools and their secrets. And, hey, I've been there. You know, I've got 20-something locations. Now, this is how we got there, sure, and so again, there's a few of those people, but those people have been very, very, very gracious to share those things with us. So, yeah, I mean, I'm excited about where we're going. We're not there yet, right, we still have, we're still climbing that hill and there's still challenges ahead of us, but we're quickly, quickly getting ourself into a place where we can take the next step.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome man that is awesome. Now, kind of throughout this process you know you've grown from probably just a couple employees to now what? Around 80?.
Speaker 2:We have, depending on the time of the year, in the winter time we keep around 80, um, and and then in the summertime that that blossoms up to 120, 130, you know, based on seasonal employees.
Speaker 1:You know, sure, well, just from a volume standpoint, exactly, absolutely. So what's been the biggest employee challenge maybe that you've had so far?
Speaker 2:Just, the right people. Sure, I mean, that's the. I think that's every. Every business's challenges in a, in a workforce, is making sure you have the right people in place, and 80% of our, our workforce are teenage kids, and we've we talked about this is that, is that you know teenage kids. This is that is that you know teenage kids. They need guidance. They need you know they're. A lot of times it's their first job and and there's good ones that do a great job, and then there's some that need a lot of work, and identifying those is the is the challenge, and making sure that you're a place that the good ones want to come work. You've created a culture where they're like you know.
Speaker 1:I want to work there.
Speaker 2:Obviously, the master at that is Chick-fil-A Sure and you know, I think that we do a pretty good job of that. And again, a lot of that's based on you know the people I have in place in leadership that know exactly what we're looking for. We know the type. We know what to look for in personality. Can they? Can they look you in the eye and and engage with you? Those things? Just that's. That sounds really simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not these days. So many, so many, and I'm not mad at them or anything it's, it's really it's our generation's fault for not raising them differently, but they can't hold eye contact, they can't walk up and shake your hand with any confidence. Those, those types of things are just lost. Yeah, on some.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so, yeah, and so we look for that. That's. That's something that we need, that we need to see, and, again, my team does a great job of identifying those people and people that have a good work ethic too. That's one thing is, you can be really good with people and have a really lousy work ethic and you'd rather be over on the side talking to your friends or texting with your friends rather than, you know, busting your butt to serve the customer. That's right. So you know, again, those are the biggest challenges and keeping the drama out of with it.
Speaker 2:We have a bunch of teenage girls that keeping the drama out of the the the store you know, we have, again, great leadership in place of finding those people, identifying those people, making sure they feel valued and um and compensated for their talents, and that bleeds down into into how they influence, how they manage those kinds of things. So that I mean, that's again, there's not a magic sauce or a magic formula other than we just try to make sure we have the right people that fit our culture. When they don't fit our culture and they don't fit those those core values, it's pretty evident. And make sure we have the right people that fit our culture when they don't fit our culture and they don't fit those core values, it's pretty evident and we have to make the quick decision to. You know, we didn't get this one right. We wish you the best.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and everybody's not going to be the fit. No absolutely not.
Speaker 1:The other thing too is you know and this is my theory on after hiring I don't know 2,000, 2,500 people over the last 20 years and I have to go ahead and tell you up front this analogy sounds pretty rough when we get started, but I look at new hires as hitchhikers. Okay, yeah, think about a hitchhiker that's willing to pay for gas. So imagine we are in Barstow, california, about to get on I-40 and somebody's got their thumb out, they've sent their resume in, whatever that looks like. A lot of times people will hire people they like yeah, and that'll get you somewhere, but it ain't going to get you all the way there. You really have to be willing to ask the tough questions to find out are you going the same direction?
Speaker 2:Because it could just be cold and they want to get into a car or you know they need money.
Speaker 1:So they've got their resume out there and they can fog a mirror and they seem pleasant and addressed. Okay, so, all right, we got you on board here. But really what you got to ask is, where are they trying to get to? And for me, the reason that's so valuable is somebody can interview really well and I'd be like, oh my gosh, I'd love to have them. But if they're not going the same direction that I'm going, it doesn't make any sense. So if they get in because they need a job and they were dressed appropriately and I bring them on board, but I didn't ask the right questions in order to find out that they're wanting to go to Alaska and I'm going to Tennessee the further we drive, the more aggravated they get they. I see it as them being ungrateful because I've given them a job, and so there's this tension that builds and nobody's happy, right. But if, if I really asked enough questions to find out that, okay, they're going to Texas, I'm going to Tennessee, okay, it makes sense for us to ride together, yeah.
Speaker 1:They're going to get some skills. They're going to they're getting benefit along the way, sure, but it also gives us an appropriate kind of separation point, so that I'm not under any false pretenses. They're going to be here with me forever, right, and? And they're not either. They're getting ready for we're coming up. We see the exit numbers. Okay, well, we're getting close to where you're going to get off here, and and everybody wins. But so often, um, they're just trying to get somebody on the books, or they're, oh, and seem great.
Speaker 2:Great, but did you dive in far enough to figure out how they win other than the paycheck? It's more than just a warm body. That you know I can, you know I can. This guy I can. I can pay him $9 an hour. But this guy here, you know I'm, I'm gonna have to pay him 11. So I'm gonna go with a $9,. You know, even though he was, he's wanting to go to Utah instead of Texas. Right, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and I see in your business, it could be that somebody is trying to learn the skill of interacting with people, right, you know, or whatever that is Like. How do we you're trying to go to? What are you going to college for? What do you want to do in life which I get for a 16-year-old?
Speaker 1:that's a tough question to answer right, but then paint the picture, for well, here's how I can help. Yeah, if we decide that it's a good fit, well, these are the things you're going to learn here at golly geez, yeah, and that way they're. They're kind of checking those off the box Like, oh, I'm learning these things. It's not like I'm just showing up and dipping ice cream, right, sure, um, but so many times business owners get that wrong because they're in a panic of getting somebody on now or, and then they end up having to fire them, or they just worse than that. They let them stay there.
Speaker 2:And there was a time, there was a time right after COVID, where it almost got to the point where we had to almost take what we could get. But unfortunately, I think that was the way with everybody, for in that 2021 kind of maybe early 2022. Things have loosened up from there substantially now, sure, but there was a time where I mean, we just couldn't get people, like we were in danger of not being able to fulfill shifts, and I was working the floor, I was you know that kind of thing which I hadn't done for years, and and just because we couldn't couldn't find people. So, um, fortunately we're in a space where we can. Now that we can, we can be way more particular about about who we hire and that. That. That changes. That changes our business for sure. Oh, it really does, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:But that, that's a great analogy though.
Speaker 1:Great analogy. You know we have to have interests outside of work, we have to have hobbies. I hear you're into cars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love old cars. I have a couple myself, my dad, something my dad and I have done all of our lives. As long as I remember, my dad's always been into street rides which are old, modified cars pre-1948. So he has a 1940 Chevy convertible, which is beautiful. I've got a 1970 Roadrunner that I'm caring for someone but I get to drive it Um. And then I've got a 1947, uh, uh, 1947 Ford coupe as well, that kind of a hot rod. You know that's got a big motor in it but it doesn't look great. You know it's fun though, uh. So we go to the car shows and we just it's something me and my dad have been able to do for again all of our lives. And you know, I've, I've, I've got a great camaraderie amongst, amongst some of those car guys. That again it's something, just something I love to do with him.
Speaker 2:And and through his love for it, it's become a love for me too.
Speaker 1:And that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great, I love doing that. Um so, yeah, that's fun Big. That's fun Big, big, big. One of my hobbies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'll have to introduce you to my dad, because he is usually at those. In fact, mom, mom just recently told him the garages are full, oh yeah, nice.
Speaker 1:He's got 14 bays and it's now maxed out. He added a. In fact, we went up to Cincinnati to pick it up. He added a 68 Chevelle convertible oh nice, just to pick it up. He added a 68 chevelle convertible. Oh nice, uh, just, I guess september 396, oh yeah, yeah, um, and it's, it's fantastic. And then just recently, in fact, uh, young ladies, uh podcast that released last week, um bb print co up in, uh, hendersonville, did some just amazing graphics on the side of this car. So he wanted some stripes, but he didn't want regular stripes. And as we were talking through it, I said you know, what do you? What do you envision? He goes I envision there being a flag in it, but you can't see it as you get right up on it. And I took it to a place in Clarksville and they just they could not fulfill the request.
Speaker 2:I couldn't get the vision yeah.
Speaker 1:And when I started talking to Amber and Anthony up at BB Print Co, they blew my mind. They were like, well, what if we just did it embossed? And I was like what do you mean? And they were like what if you couldn't see it until you got up on it? Because it was actually raised. Oh wow, and I couldn't even get that in my head. I was trying to figure that out, and so they made a sample for me and I took it and within a half of a second my dad was like, yes, that that was it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did he put it on what car?
Speaker 1:Uh, so it's on the 68.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was on the 68. Yeah, so it's a red red 68 and it's got.
Speaker 1:I want to see it. I'll show you a picture of it. Um, but it's got.
Speaker 2:Uh, these black uh stripes on it that have the american flag.
Speaker 1:How cool. Into it. So it's.
Speaker 2:It's crazy I want to see it. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure I've ran into him up at cruising, grooving or something like that, you know, because we're wearing a lot of those things.
Speaker 1:So yeah so uh, but yeah, they're. You know they're kind of the same. It's. You know a lot of a lot of our military veterans and yeah, so you know they're a lot of more 40s. Dad's really more in the 50s. He does have a 48 ford pickup, yeah, um, but then, uh, he's got 350 and he's got a 55 chevy and 57 chevy and then a 57 nomad nice, nice so it's fun.
Speaker 2:It is fun, oh, I love it, and I love to go on cruises and we go to Louisville every year to the Street Ride Nationals. That's one of my favorite times of the year to spend with my dad and some of his friends. We just have a blast. So, again, that's something I love. Yeah, if you're tinkering.
Speaker 1:Do you know, Jeremy Jensen? I don't think so. He's the snap-on guy there. He lives off Boat Factory actually, oh okay, and he and his dad both race quarter mile.
Speaker 2:Oh, do they Okay.
Speaker 1:So they're big in that race scene, yeah, but they've got some fun stuff too. I bet I'll have to introduce y'all. Yeah, absolutely we need to. Uh, well, you know this last part, we have a little bit of controversy and so I'm not trying to get anybody canceled here, but what is the truth that you think is worth saying that? Uh, we, we call this section things we think, but do not say.
Speaker 1:things we think but do not say say and so like for me, um, one of mine is performance matters and we should be keeping score. I mean us not. Keeping score does our children, does everybody around us a disservice, because somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose. And if you're teaching that we're just here to play and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's not- a space for that.
Speaker 2:No participation trophies, no participation trophies. I agree completely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what's something in your world where you're like you know what. Somebody needs to hear this.
Speaker 2:Man, that's hard, that, as much as I love my business and as much as men that were driven to perform and to succeed, it's not the most important thing, absolutely Um can't lose sight for what you're working, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean cause, cause it. That's, that's not the why you know it's, it's, it's what drives us, but it's really the. The driver is what we're doing it for and that, and for me it's it's it's my girls, it's my family, um, and that I'm never going to work. I'm just letting my response my, my, my personality is I'm never going to be the guy that works 70 hours a week. It's just not worth it to me. Yeah, I would much rather spend time with my girls, watching them grow up and um, and yes, I could probably make more money if I spent more time in the office or in the lab or all those things. But it's just, it's just not those. That's not, it's not the most important thing to me.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, especially raising kids, you know, um, you're not going to get that time back. You don't get it back. And I think, I think, statistically, parents are around their kids. It's almost like 16 of the 18 years they're in your presence, and then from 18 to the end of their life, it's an equivalent of one year, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's hard man.
Speaker 2:It's gut-wrenching to think about. Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think, if I mean, and there's those guys out there and I'm just not one of them, the CEO types that have to be super, super driven and work is the primo part of their life, and they get rewarded with that, with a certain sense of success, but for me, um, that that's not me. I'd, I'd, I'd much rather um, enjoy my life and and do a do as well of a job as I can, moving my company forward while maintaining that balance. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know if that really does. Is that kind of what you were looking for there? But that was the thing that first came to mind.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I was that person you know if we backed up uh 2015, 2016, 27, especially 17, especially when. I was working 70 hours a week. Um, you know, 2019, I was working 70 hours a week and building a house. 2019, I was working 70 hours a week and building a house. I was working 110 hours a week. Yeah, for sure. So then I decided I didn't want to do that anymore.
Speaker 2:It was our reality.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah absolutely so there's something to be said for understanding why it is that you go to work every day.
Speaker 1:And it's easy, it is real easy to lean in on the numbers in the bank account and say that's why I'm successful. But at the end of the day, your success is going to be measured by what life experience you had and you know how you obviously, how you provided for your family. But yeah, you know, once the needs are met, then it's about the time that you've spent creating memories for sure, absolutely, absolutely. Um, if we were going to throw a uh charity bowling event and you had to pick four team members to join you on the lanes and the whole point was to generate it buzz and interest, and these people could be people you know they can be people throughout history that have either lived in or no longer living anybody on this planet or that ever was on this planet, um, could be on your team.
Speaker 1:That's a loaded one, it is. It is four, four people, four people, and we've had all kinds of crazy things I mean um. Yes, there's nothing is off limits.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, um wow, um, you know. I mean, I guess if we seeking to, to to win the tournament here, are we going to win the bowling term. I guess that's the goal Plus the, the notoriety and the exactly.
Speaker 1:It's a combination of winning and the notoriety. I'm gonna go ahead and put God on my side, so I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:I'm on my side, so I'm gonna. I'm, you know, big jc, we're gonna, we're gonna have. I think I think my man, jesus, would be a, a, uh, a pretty good bowler. He'd, that's right.
Speaker 2:Probably break some of your, your backwards bowling records, if you know if you tried, you know but no, you know, for all that to say, I mean my, my faith is a very important part of I. I can't I can't put it make an answer like that without you know my belief in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And so Jesus is riding with me wherever it is, whatever. Whatever team I'm on, so obviously that's my number one, you know. I mean, I think for just kind of notoriety, and you know a of celebrity and and pop. Yeah, you got to put donald j trump on that team. I mean, I mean just like him or hate him. He's going to bring the, he's going to bring the views, he's going to make sure that, uh, that the, the team is being pushed forward and uh, and we're going to be winners. You know that it.
Speaker 1:It's going to be fun too.
Speaker 2:It's going to be fun for sure, for sure, gosh, man Gosh, that's a tough one outside of that.
Speaker 1:Somebody you'd like to hang out with. You're just like man. I think it'd be cool to hang out with that person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, somebody that I haven't hung out with that I think it would be good to to hang out with. Maybe um, I don't know Joe Rogan, maybe, yeah, yeah, he's on my list, like if.
Speaker 2:I was, I mean I think I think, joe, I mean just the, just the how curious that guy is, the questions he asked, how I mean I, I I really admire, admire him and his ability to just kind of balance and ask great questions and obviously do what we're doing now on a, on a, on a just a super successful basis and uh, and I love his interests he's, he's not afraid of of anything. So you know, we can talk about aliens one minute and then you know comedy or or you know MMA or something like that the next breath. So I think that'd be a fun conversation and get somebody to at least be help be entertaining while we're, while we're bowling, um, and then you know, probably gosh, um, I would say I don't know, I think maybe like Nate Bregazzi, or somebody like that, nate Biggin.
Speaker 2:Nobody said Nate Biggin, yeah, theo Vaughn or somebody like that, to kind of give us a little bit of fun on the back end, to kind of keep us entertained the whole time. I think that would be fun.
Speaker 1:All right, last one is now. You've got to pick a commentator who's going to give the play-by-play to keep everybody fired up. I guess I'm going to have to go with Jim Nance. This is the Master's Week.
Speaker 2:Jim Nance, you know we could. I don't know if he'd fire people up, but he would bring a level of class that we definitely would need with that bunch. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's cool. What's a piece of advice you'd give to somebody right now that maybe is thinking about starting a business? Maybe they've done a little bit of planning, maybe they've got the brand kind of figured out, but, man, they are shaking in their boots about actually pulling the trigger and stepping out on their own, leaving their nine to five or whatever that looks like.
Speaker 2:I would say just make sure you believe in your vision. Know your vision well and don't be afraid of your vision. Don't let people talk you out of your vision. Know your vision and then pursue that vision with, with tenacity. Um, and because you have to protect that vision as well, um, and make sure that that you surround yourself with people that are going to help you, protect that and push you, push you forward, encourage you. I mean, encouragement is such a it's such a big thing. Um, because, like you said, there's so many naysayers, like when, when you heard that we were opening an ice cream shop in the middle of a rural town in cheatham county, you probably like I don't know how that's going to work out.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of that for me, honestly, it was the building, yeah, which I think has worked out great for you guys. Oh, it has, yeah, but in in my head, you know, because several other people were like oh, we're going to open a shop there, we're going to do burgers, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, and it just nobody ever brought it to fruition. So, really in the back of my head I was like, oh, it's just somebody else popping off, and then you guys have just absolutely crushed it.
Speaker 2:Well and again, having people that believe, that can catch your vision and believe you and support you.
Speaker 2:A support structure is the most important part, and what that looks like from one person the next can can be vastly different. It could be monetarily, it could be just emotionally, it could be, or all the above, yeah, and, and having that support. I can't imagine going into a new business environment, starting something new, without a really substantial support system. Uh, as a part of that, finding people within that industry that are, that are not greedy, that are not selfish, that are that are they just want to see people do well because people have done the same thing to them. Yeah, and those people exist out there in every industry, maybe some more than others. Sure, in my particular industry that again, like I said, that that's been, that's been a prevailing resource throughout my nine years that we've done this yeah and uh, find those people. Join the, those trade organizations, get involved and learn what you as much as you can early on, and some of it you just can't learn, you just have to experience. Sure.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, one of the things that I think that business owners I mean, it's just one of those things you need to realize is, as you're bringing on team members, what that ideal team member looks like. Cause, let's just be real, the same person that works at a call center and can deal with rejection 500 times a day, or goes uh is is in collections. Yeah. It's not the same person that serves ice cream. It's not the same person. Now. Or cupcakes that make. That is there to make people feel good about this environment, where they decided to stop to treat themselves. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, you have that. That's part of your vision, right, as you're developing that. I mean, that's the. When you decide that you want to go into business, the very first thing that you should do is have a vision for what that looks like. Yeah, and that vision may change over time. It has. For me, you know, it's been forced to in some ways, but for the most part it's stayed the same. I mean, it's evolved, but for the most part to the core, those core values, those things. It shapes the business. And so having that vision is a part of that vision.
Speaker 2:Knowing what does what does it look? What does the customer experience look like? Yeah, how do I get there? How does that? How do I hire what person do I need? What personality profile, what you know, even, what, what should they? How are they dressed? All those things, all those things. The sky's the limit. You can think those things up. We have imaginations and that's how we we develop these visions. And and what would it look like? What would, what would it look like for you if you were to walk into that ice cream shop? What? Who would you want to serve you? How would you want to be treated? Those are the things that you ask as you develop that vision and and come up with that. Okay, this is the ideal candidate for somebody that scooping ice cream for me.
Speaker 1:So yeah, cool, all right. So somebody out there is is planning a trip to Nashville, and I did not tee you up for this one, so come out left field. So somebody is planning a trip to Nashville and they want to know where they need to go for the best burger, the best taco. Obviously, they're going to Gala G's for the best ice cream. What would you say is say best burger Nashville.
Speaker 2:In Nashville man, I tell you that Redheaded Stranger has a green chili burger. Red Headed Stranger has a green chili burger. That is not necessarily your traditional cheeseburger that you get at a lot of places. They've got some great burgers right.
Speaker 2:But man, that burger Redhead, stranger, it's got a homemade green chili on it. It's just a really unique but extremely delicious burger. Best taco, taco, taco. There's a I don't even know the name of it. I don't even know the name of it. There's a? Um, there's a food truck trailer right outside of of um. There's a gosh, what's the name of it? There's a Tiki bar right in East Nashville. Um, there's a. Again, I'll have to. I'll have to look that night. What, what that is.
Speaker 1:The name of it is uh, but they have a pop the name of it in the video.
Speaker 2:They have a case of Berea, okay, it, the name of it is uh, but they have a pop the name of it in the video. They have quesabria, okay, that is, I mean, true, traditional quesabria, um, with the consomme and um, it's, it's it. And I shout out to don again. Don, put me on this place, it's it's, it's one of my faves. Redhead stranger also has a really good uh, taco as well. Uh, believe it or not, but yeah, I think, just on the spot, taco Mamacita has a great steak taco. I enjoy the tacos at Superica, so there's a lot of great options out there. I do love tacos. Okay, best barbecue. Oh, yeah, this is a passion for mine. Okay, all right. Yeah, I love burgers. I love tacos. This, this is a passion for mine. Okay, all right. Yeah, I love burgers, I love tacos, but, but barbecue is a passion of mine. In nashville, I I feel like that martin's in belmont okay that it's.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's their cooker, but their brisket in particular at that location is probably one of my favorite in Nashville. I do like you know there's some pretty good. I do like Kerry Bringle's place over in the Nations, Smoking Oasis it's good as well. It's one of my faves. Um uh, there's a place in springfield that's really good called willie mays now their ownership group changed.
Speaker 1:It has um, and I noticed their flavor changed they it, it has, it's not again.
Speaker 2:I want to be careful because, I, I love, I love. It's still good, I love that place it it is, and they've worked through some changes. Okay, I feel like, if you, if you haven't been there recently, it's it went to a time where it kind of dipped down as they were changing some processes, the cooker and and maybe even modified some recipes. I think it's it's getting back up to where it was.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I need to go back by there. Actually you don, and I don't need. We need to swing by there, absolutely we'll do that. Um, what about a southern, just a good southern flair? Yeah, what's a what's a good one, for I mean, you can't, you can't, you can't go wrong with loveless. That's good. Yeah, I say, you know, I'm actually gonna go have hot chicken here in a minute I was gonna ask you hot chicken, so which, which, which one?
Speaker 2:well, the original princess, which can't beat that. It's right down the road here now, but the original one that was over on ewing lane was, I mean, it can't be replicated, even this one here. I mean it's good sometimes you gotta. It depends on who's cooking it and when you catch it, and that kind of thing I heard they're not using the cast iron.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that that changes things for sure.
Speaker 1:And I understand that.
Speaker 2:Sure, I mean yeah, yeah, but uh, for just like if I was just going to tell somebody hey, go have a great consistent experience, go to Hattie B's right there on right there on detail, they do.
Speaker 1:They've got the best processes. Yes, um, consistency is so. Do they have the best flavor? I still prefer, princess, yes, flavor. Are you? Uh? Are you hot or man? I'm a mild. Are you a mild? You know, I would rather. For me, it's not as much about the heat as it is enjoying it. And, and to be just totally transparent, I don't like to touch food with my hands. Yeah, but I will for hot chicken, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got bone in. I guess Bone in you got to go bone in, yeah. So, yeah, I'm, I'm at at Prince's, I'm, I'm a medium at um at Hattie B's. I'm hot, yeah, yeah. So, but yeah, I do like Boltons. I've only had Boltons a couple of times, but I mean, I don't know, I like the flavor profile a little bit more in Hattie. B's and Prince's. But I mean, yeah, I love good fried chicken. Yeah, especially with the Nashville Flayer, that hot.
Speaker 1:And there's plenty of bad ones. So, if we're as we're, talking about these, three. I mean, we're talking about the cream of the crop. You know, I think some awful ones.
Speaker 2:There's so much, so much out there that's labeled hot chicken Nashville hot chicken, which is not even close. It should be a crime, it should. There's a, there's a place.
Speaker 1:Is it? There's a place is it called reds or something, over in uh centennial park now it used to be.
Speaker 2:I I'm just wondering if that place is good. I just drove by it.
Speaker 1:You talk about the one that's on that like the edge of central park, I mean of, uh, yeah, it used to be a barbecue place, yeah, um, if it's the same one that's been there for five or six years, we ate over there right after they opened, really, and I will the. The chicken was good, but the showstopper was, and I had to quit going because it was too good. Was their fruit tea? Oh, I'm a fan. I mean, it was one of those that just you couldn't stop drinking it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so much sugar in it, oh my gosh, it was fantastic.
Speaker 1:Well, Joey, thank you so much for coming in having a spirited conversation with me. Um, it's been a blast man. Yeah, yeah, and I got one last question. It gets a little more serious, but have you put any thought into how you want to be remembered?
Speaker 2:I, uh, yes, I mean, I think every, every person, at least every man you know thinks about what's what's their legacy going to be.
Speaker 2:Sure, say, every man you know thinks about what's what's their legacy going to? Be sure, and I, I hope it's not about ice cream. I hope maybe people remember I made good ice cream, but I hope my legacy is that, um that I loved well, that I loved my love, my family well, I loved my kids well, and that I was always a source of um safety and security and love for them, and that those around me um felt loved and um that I was a kind person, caring person, Um, those things, those things are more important to me that I, that I, I had a, you know, an impact on the, on the kingdom of God, that I, I, I did the things that I was obedient and and and helping um show people the, the thing that's changed my heart and and and what Jesus has done for me. And so those are the things that I think matter, matter most to me, and hopefully that when people think about who I was, you know, 50 years from now, um that those are the things that that come to mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, man. Well, and I can tell you I mean cause this is the first time we've actually met that we've actually shook hands, absolutely. And uh, but your reputation, you know, precedes you Well thank you. You know, people speak very highly of us.
Speaker 2:Don's a pretty good judge of character, yeah maybe We'll see he does hang out with both of us but thanks so much for coming in. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:And, at the same time, providing such a great place in our community.
Speaker 2:Well, again, it's my pleasure and that means a lot. It surely means a lot. You can, you can, measure success in so many ways, but how your, your community, receives you and perceives you and supports you, says, says a whole lot, and I take that a lot of pride in that. So, um, but thank you for saying that, thank you for having me. This has been a great time and we'll have to do it again sometime, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well team, you heard it here on the charge forward podcast. Join him in the studio. Mr Joey Boykin of golly cheese, ice cream and wrap them are containers. Hopefully you took something from this episode that either inspired you to level up your business or maybe inspired you to step out on on that, that idea or that, that thing that you've been wanting to do on your own or maybe to just shop locally where somebody like Joey is serving your community, providing a great place for people to learn and work, and serving their community with fantastic treats or some type of other service.
Speaker 1:Until next time, I'm Jim Cripps with the Charge Forward Podcast. We'll see you soon. Team is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast. I just want to tell you I love you, I appreciate you soon. 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.