Charge Forward Podcast

How a Pilot Built it better: Faith, Family, and the Wright Brothers | Beau Garrett

• Jim Cripps • Season 3 • Episode 15

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Ever wished you had a better ___________?

That is exactly what happened when today's guest. As a pilot who decided to build the watch he wished existed and turns it into a thriving business?

In this episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, we sit down with Beau Garrett, founder of Call Sign Watches, to talk about far more than aviation and watches. This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, faith, family, and the courage to build something that truly serves your community.

After the 2008 aviation downturn changed the trajectory of his career, Beau didn't quit. He pivoted, earned an MBA, immersed himself in an entirely new industry, and built a brand by listening first. A simple survey generated more than 1,800 responses and became the blueprint for a company rooted in one principle: serve your audience better than anyone else.

Along the way, Beau shares lessons every entrepreneur can use:

✈️ How listening to your customers can reveal an entire business opportunity
✈️ Why product-market fit begins with solving real problems, not chasing trends
✈️ The discipline required to build a physical product and earn trust one customer at a time
✈️ How faith, family, and community create the foundation for sustainable success
✈️ The incredible story of how Call Sign Watches developed a relationship with the Wright family, connecting one of aviation's greatest legacies to a modern entrepreneurial journey
✈️ Why great businesses are built through consistency, service, and a commitment to the process

Whether you're a founder, business owner, dreamer, or someone standing at the edge of your next chapter, Beau's story is a reminder that meaningful businesses are rarely built overnight. They are built by serving people well, staying true to your values, and continuing to charge forward when the path isn't clear.

Because at the end of the day, entrepreneurship isn't about watches. It's about legacy, stewardship, and having the courage to build something bigger than yourself.

Subscribe, share with an entrepreneur in your life, and let us know your biggest takeaway from Beau's journey.


👉 Connect with Call Sign Watches to learn more about these Amazing Bespoke aviation timepieces
📱Instagram https://www.instagram.com/callsignwatches/
🌎Website  https://www.mycallsign.com/

🎧 Listen now, take notes, and prepare for Part 2—where we go even deeper into parenting, personal development, and what real success looks like.

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Survey Reveals What Pilots Want

Beau Garrett

And I had a survey that said, here's six features that you might find on a pilot watch. Would you rate them? I thought I'd get maybe 50 responses. And in seven weeks we had over 1800. Oh, wow. And so I was like, man, that's incredible. I was actually one of my early customers on that email list. He said, Hey, are you going to be at Sun and Fun? It had never occurred to me. And then I was like, that might be a great idea. Yeah. Let's go do that.

Jim Cripps

Hey team, Jim Cripps here with the ChargeFord Podcast, coming to you from HitLab Studios here in Nashville, Tennessee. I have a wonderful guest for you today. It's an exciting, it's something totally new. This is Mr. Bo Garrett, the founder of Call Sign Watches. Bo, thanks for coming in.

Beau Garrett

Jim, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me, man.

Jim Cripps

Absolutely excited to talk to you today. Same here. So being a pilot is a cool enough story if that's where it ended, right? But you've got a different layer in there. So you at some point you made the conscious decision to say, I'm gonna design watches for aviators. Yeah. What did that process look like?

Beau Garrett

That's a great question. Uh and I'll try not to go into too much hairy details for you and give you the shorter version. Um, commercial pilot by trade. I flew for seven or eight years professionally. I used to teach Air Force and Navy guys how to fly, which was a lot of fun. Uh, and then I went on and I flew for a bank. And during that time in aviation, there are so many traditions. One of them is when you solo, you get your shirt tail cut off. There's a whole story behind why that is, along with a lot of other things that you know are used to commemorate the journey. Um, when I was coming through and teaching and doing other things in aviation, I just always thought it would be really nice to have a brand that associated itself with that journey. So that was really the genesis of the thought behind uh designing watches for pilots to begin with. Um and then to kind of round out the answer to that question, um, I did after I flew, it was many years later, after I had enough time and and um resources saved up to start it, I just launched and I started talking to people in my community who I had worked with and who I had taught before to try to understand what it is exactly they might want in a timepiece. That's that's a very short version of how it all started.

Jim Cripps

Now, along that path, uh, when you got we're gonna call it market research, because you're talking to you a very specific specific niche pilots, uh, and there's what they want in a timepiece. Yeah. Did anything shock you? Did anything uh surprise you that they were looking for that maybe you didn't anticipate?

Beau Garrett

That's a great question. Um, so this is how I gathered the information. I I spoke to guys, I would go to airports, I talked to you know old colleagues of mine, but I also sent out a survey on social media. So um I filmed a uh a video at Murray County Airport here in in Tennessee, just walking away from an airplane on my phone saying, Hey, I'm Bo. I'm really interested in starting this brand. I'd love to hear from you. And I had a survey that said, here's six features that you might find on a pilot watch. Would you rate them? I thought I'd get maybe 50 responses, and in seven weeks we had over 1800. Oh, wow. And so I was like, man, that's incredible. I I knew that was enough to actually understand um, you know, the sentiment of a of a market and the people that I wanted to make something for. To your question, what surprised me, I I'll say this there are many beautiful aviator watches out there. Uh a lot of them are very bulky and they're very complex. And uh personally, I've never used one to in the cockpit to fly with because you just don't need all that stuff on your watch. My intuition was that other pilots felt the same way, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that that indeed was the case.

Jim Cripps

Okay.

Speaker 2

So when I look through the data, most pilots said we want it less bulky, less complex, um, and really just want a very um intuitive comparison between two time zones. Okay.

Jim Cripps

So that's the key. That's that's the big thing that an aviator's watch has that others do not.

Speaker 2

Um that can be one component. Um other things that aviator watches will tend to put into the mechanism is this thing called an E6B calculator or a pulse oximeter or some sort of sort of a slide rule. Um uh it it could be any number of things, but all of that complexity just gets lost and the watch looks super, super busy. The pilots that I heard from, they really wanted it to do one thing well, and that was tell you the difference between GMT time and local time. Uh, and for your viewers out there that may not know what GMT is, it stands for Greenwich Mean Time. It's world time, it's what all aviation weather reports and air traffic control clearances, they're all published in GMT. So a pilot needs to know that. Right. They also need to know the local time. So having something that is just gives them that information without any clutter that looks really cool.

From Cockpit To Watch Brand

Speaker 2

That was our that was the intent.

Jim Cripps

That's great. Yeah, that's great. Now, so how long were you a pilot before you made this transition? I'm assuming you're still a pilot.

Speaker 2

I was still a pilot. You you never lose your ratings. So uh I got my commercial rating. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Maybe back in 2006. Okay. So it's been 20 years. Yeah. That's hard. It's unbelievable to say. Uh yeah. And I flew professionally for almost a decade. Um I think I said seven or eight years earlier, but then I did a lot of contract work. Um so I started it after I I ended my professional life as a pilot. And that really came as a result of the financial crisis of 08.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

The the company I was flying for, they were incredible, um, but they were hit pretty hard by that. And about two years later, they just they just started cutting a lot of departments. And so um, I transitioned into business after that. I it was really hard to find a flying job, and I had a new family. And um, so my wife and I talked, and I actually went back to business school. Yeah, got my MBA, and then that that really helped give me a good foundation for even knowing how to start something like this. Sure.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Well, I mean, where do where did you start? And so I mean, I'm assuming you weren't also you were not also a watchmaker at the time. No, no, no.

Speaker 2

That's uh I I see what you're saying. So the idea and the dream was to create a brand that could go with the pilot on their journey, right? Since it has grown much far beyond that. Um but that's where we started, and we still we still have a lot of time and attention dedicated to that lane. Um, but how do you make a watch? How do what what does somebody even do? Like if I didn't grow up in a watch family, like a watchmaking family, and I don't, you know, I wasn't trained as a watchmaker. Um but I knew what I liked and I knew what other guys that I I ran around with in the aviation circles liked and what the survey said. And so the short answer is I started doing a lot of research, read a lot of books, and I actually sent myself to a form of watchmaking school, and that took about a year. And um, during that process, I learned how to design watches and I learned how to look for specific movements and how they fit in certain cases and and how to bring all those pieces together to finish a product. All right.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. And so did you did you go and collaborate with somebody on your first build? Did you hammer the hammer the pieces out? I mean, from a from a mechanical standpoint. But like physically, how do you make it? Yeah.

Speaker 2

Um it's interesting. Um the the world is so capable now. There's capability for just about everything. And through the process of my research and education and watchmaking, I actually found a group in Ohio um that I collaborated with. They've been doing this for 20 years. Okay. And um I worked with an industrial designer to design the watch. And then we took those designs to the engineer in Ohio, and he said, This works, this doesn't, this is what you need to do. And I was very fortunate, but I was able to leverage his relationships in the industry to get each component made. And then we and we made those. Now, the big challenge is I couldn't just make one. That's right. You had there's a minimum order quantity. Yeah, you gotta scale. That was a whole other hurdle we had to get over.

Jim Cripps

Sure. Yeah, because now we're talking about real money.

Speaker 2

Talking about real money is like, okay, do you really believe in this or don't you? And so um I'll kind of share how we bridged that gap. So we um to get survey responses is one thing, and that's incredible. It it, you know, just to have 1800 come through in seven weeks was uh unbelievable. But to have somebody hand you money for something is totally something different, and you never you just don't know. And so um I as as I as I learned about watchmaking, I also learned about the business model behind it, bringing in some of my my business brain. And many watchmakers will do one of two things when they're just starting, they'll either do a Kickstarter campaign or they'll do a pre-order campaign. Sure. And so I decided to go the route of the pre-order campaign. Yeah. And the way I did it is I had uh probably 1,300 email addresses shared from that survey. Those became my first customers.

Jim Cripps

That's right.

Speaker 2

So we uh we basically just took the um the designs that we did, they were very high-res, beautiful renders, and emailed those out to the people that were already interested in what we were doing, and orders started to come through. That's great. And then they funded the first production that we were able

Learning Watchmaking And Finding Partners

Speaker 2

to do. That's awesome. Yeah, so it was pretty much grassroots.

Jim Cripps

So how many pre-orders did you end up with out of that first group?

Speaker 2

Out of that first group, we had close to a hundred pre-orders.

Jim Cripps

Yeah.

Speaker 2

And then uh, but I had to order 300 total. Uh, but that just about covered, you know, uh a good chunk of my manufacturing costs. Sure. So yeah, it was it was a really good uh really good result.

Jim Cripps

Well, and you know, that that model is scalable to other businesses. I mean, even think of uh the Cybertruck or something like that. You know, they they take an order before they before they ever you know get to production, and it's because they're gonna turn around and they're gonna go to the bank, yeah, and they're gonna say, we have you know 47,000 orders. Yeah. We need this much money in order to build the production line. Yeah. We have people standing in line to to buy this. That's right. So same thing. So, you know, that's one of those things that it works well enough that it scales to that degree. It can. Or down to that degree.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it certainly can. And you know, it all comes down to just effective what what I've learned is just effective communication and marketing to the people that you're talking to. And, you know, it's one thing to do something to someone, but something else to do it with them. And I think the fact that I just took the time to listen and respond to people, that made a huge difference in how we got started.

Jim Cripps

Well, even I I think about though like your your communication to them is hey, thank you for responding. We listened. It's been 18 months. Here's why it's been 18 months. Yep. And this is what we've come up with based on your feedback. Well, now they're a part of it. Yeah.

Speaker 2

You know, so well, there was instant ownership there, 100%. So like people would they when they pre-ordered it, they were like, Oh, I took the survey and this, and I see what you did with this. And so I love that. You know, we go to we do a lot of shows now, so our model has shifted. Interestingly, we we do we spend as much time and resources in trade shows as we do online because they we just perform very well there. Yeah, but we get a lot of customers that will come by our booth that have purchased from us in the past, and they all like it just is so cool to see people that were part of that first group and come up and talk to me. And I'm like, man, that's just unbelievable. I still can't believe it. Well, they're part of your story, yeah. You know, it's just a it's a remarkable ecosystem um to step into.

Jim Cripps

Now, you say you're spending quite a bit of time in trade shows. Is that aviation-specific trade shows? I'm assuming.

Speaker 2

Well, it started out that way. We did we we started out doing Sun and Fun in Oshkosh. And this year, I've already been to Barrett Jackson in Arizona in January. I was in Coronado Beach last month for a conference. Uh tonight I'm flying to Palm Beach for the Palm Beach Boat Show. Okay. Uh I'm doing Sun and Fun again in April, and then we've got we're doing an event in Telluride this year. We're doing it it's just opening up. And the really interesting thing is um we have I have been invited to all these places. So, like I'll I was at Oshkosh and the organizers of Barrett Jackson saw us and they said, Hey, this might do really well at our event. Would you consider coming out? And I did, and it it blew it out of the water. We just did so well there. So you take a chance every time you do a new show or a new event. This is our first time at a boat show. I don't know how it's gonna do. Yeah, but you you just it's worth the investment to find out, you know, because if you if you find a market there, you can figure out how to make it efficient, figure out how to scale it, and figure out how to make it a profitable

Pre-Orders That Fund First Production

Speaker 2

model.

Jim Cripps

Now, and I could be totally wrong on this, but it's just my 30,000-foot view impression is that there are much more um maritime I guess themed watches than there are aviation themed watches.

Speaker 2

Uh it I mean it varies. There are certainly a lot of aviation-specific watches on the market. Um I wouldn't say that there's like there's a handful of noticeable brands, right? Brightling is is obviously one. I don't know if I could I don't know if you can publish, I don't know if I can say that by name on a podcast or not. Okay. Um but yeah, their one, Bell and Ross is one, they're beautiful, Bermont. Those are gorgeous, gorgeous watches. I uh, you know. Um so they're out there, but there's where we are different is we were actually created by a pilot for pilots, sourcing their feedback. And and we are very different than every other aviator. I will actually get challenged by BrightLink fans or whoever else say, what makes this an aviator? I don't see an E6B on it. And I'm like, well, it's exactly right, because real pilots don't typically use that on their wristwatch. You have millions of dollars of instrumentation in front of you telling you all that information. You need this thing to do one thing well. And I think something else differentiated us initially, and this was my this was my first step into the market. For the first year, I didn't sell you the watch unless you were a pilot. Oh, okay. Yeah, so it was exclusive. You had to have an airman number, and then I realized I actually wanted to stay in business, so I was like, I'm gonna open this up to more people.

Jim Cripps

So well, I think in the very beginning, that was probably a plus. Yeah, it was, yeah. Um because there was some exclusivity there. Yep. That's the one and then and then as you open it up, yeah.

Speaker 2

But the exclusivity was a big, big part of it. Um, and that's what we had um that separated us and the fact that I personalized the um the case back. So we still offer that. Um initially I offered a free engraving for a pilot's airman number um or their solo date or their tail number or anything like that. Eventually we started getting a lot of military pilots purchasing our watch uh with their call signs on the case back. And that's we we actually didn't start out as call sign, we started out as Bravo Golf and then um realized after doing enough shows that I was really tired of explaining how we don't sell golf equipment. And so we decided to rebrand uh last year to call sign.

Jim Cripps

And so how many years before the switch from Bravo Golf to call sign?

Speaker 2

About uh we're only about a year into callsign. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So the first two and a half to three was Bravo Golf. And if you don't know, um in aviation, um the letters of the alphabet are pronounced phonetically. My name Bo Garrett BG. The phonetic pronunciation of B is Bravo and G is golf. So that's where it comes from. From your initials. Yeah, from my initials, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Jim Cripps

Okay. I like it. Yeah, yeah. But I can see where that would get tiring to answer that question over and over and over. But yeah. Whereas call sign, much more straightforward.

Speaker 2

It is. It's very uh recognizable as an aviation um, you know, phrase. Um and certainly, I mean, it's a military phrase because m more than pilots have call signs in the military. But the fact that we were getting so many military orders with these crazy call signs on the back, it felt like a very natural next step.

Exclusivity, Rebrand, And Call Signs

Speaker 2

Sure. Yeah, yeah absolutely.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. And you know, my college roommate is a pilot, has been a pilot. In fact, he just retired maybe two weeks ago. No kidding.

Speaker 2

Um, you know, should hook him up with one.

Jim Cripps

Right, right. Uh I'm sure he would love that. But yeah, he uh, you know, he was in ROTC in high school. Yeah, you know, went with full, you know, plans of uh after graduation was going to go in the military, and sure enough, became a pilot. Yeah. And you know, spent 20 years there.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah. So you know, I tell people, um, this is my theory about pilots. Well, first of all, how do you know you're talking to a pilot? They tell you. Fair enough. That's pretty much how you know. Um, but my theory is that you either have the bug or you don't. And you know, and like you either you either give yourself an opportunity to to become what that thing is or you don't. And but I think you're a pilot long before you start training because not everybody wants to do it. It's not a natural desire, right? You know. Um and it's an even it's an even it's an even less common path. But um yeah, once you do it, it's it's hard not to it's hard to stop.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, no, I get that. Um so uh have you always been here in Nashville?

Speaker 2

Uh yeah, um we've been here for eight years. So my wife and I grew up in Alabama. Okay. We met at Auburn and got married, and then um uh year in Florida, 12 in Atlanta, and eight here. Okay. So we're 20 coming up on 21 years in May. Okay. That's good stuff. I know, man. It's been a blast.

Jim Cripps

Well, so one of the things on my podcast that just it kind of happened organically, it was not something I set out to do, uh, but it comes up in almost every podcast, and so we just made it a part of it. In your experience, how important or how critical has spouse selection been to your overall happiness and success?

Speaker 2

Oh, everything, man. That that is the second most important decision you can make, I believe. I believe the first is you know, your faith in Jesus Christ. Yeah, I'm I'm a man of faith. And the second is your spouse. And um, you know, I just I'm a blessed man. You know, she's an incredible person. You know, Courtney has a saying um that has led me into so many things. Um but she's always told me, she's like, look, you just gotta stay alive. You know, you just gotta stay alive, just keep being you. And um uh it's just been a huge encouragement for me um in in on a personal level to go out and pursue things that I might not would have without her support. That's right. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Oh yeah. And it is it's kind of one of those things. Um it's kind of like you said, uh, you know, pilots either have the bug or they don't. Yeah. I feel like your marriage either has that or it doesn't. Yeah. And uh I'm fortunate that same we're we're coming up on year 16 for us. And you know, we are far better together than we were as individuals. 100%. Um but it's just it you can see it, it's written all over people and their happiness, their success, the yeah just the the the whether they're happy people in general. Yeah, yeah. You know. Well, that can have a lot to do with it.

Speaker 2

You know, your your marriage relationship, it can it can make or break you for sure.

Jim Cripps

Oh, absolutely. There's there's people every day, male and female, that their spouse rips their spine out before they start their day. Yeah. And they go through life that way every single day. And I just I don't recommend it. I don't recommend it either. No, not at all. Not at all. Um so how d how did you and your wife meet?

Speaker 2

Well, we met. Uh I noticed her before she noticed me. That's the truth. Um we met at a Bible study in Auburn. Uh you know, that's the truth. That's what happened. And um uh we knew each other for probably two years before we started dating. Yeah. And then circumstances just sort of converged, and we started hanging out in different friendships. Groups and I realized that I was like, I really like hanging out with this girl. I'd really love to hang out with her some more. So I just, you know, kind of found ways to be around strategically. Right. And then uh we just it it happened very organically. That's good. It was great. That's good. And y'all have kids? Got three boys. Okay. Yeah. So I got I have three incredible, uh, it's hard to call them boys anymore. My 13-year-old is almost as tall as me. His name is Keen Garrett. Uh, super proud of him. He made his the track team, and uh, he's out with his grandma getting um spikes today to run the 200.

Jim Cripps

There we go.

Speaker 2

And then I have my 11-year-old Ellis Garrett. He's a soccer stud. And that kid is just so motivated and creative. And uh, but he's right behind Keen in terms of height. And then we got Henry Garrett, uh, my youngest, and that that boy brings a smile to everybody's face that he's around. So we have a good time. That's great. It's a great mix.

Jim Cripps

Are you guys going for we do? We have we have one. Um his name's Castle, and he he lives up to the name. Oh, come on. So he's uh neck deep in basketball, just made the golf team.

Speaker 1

Oh, wow.

Jim Cripps

And uh does CrossFit, plays flag football. Yes.

Speaker 2

How do you know somebody does CrossFit?

Jim Cripps

They tell you. They tell you a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Uh, and you know, it's it's kind of one of those things, and you've probably got things like being a pilot that fall into this. Uh, you know, people that don't get it just don't get it. And they're like, oh, it's like a cult. No, it's just people who support each other. That's really good.

Speaker 2

It can be a great community.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Yeah. I did it for about a year.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

Jim Cripps

He's going on uh so I just crossed three years and he's he's at about two and a half. That's awesome. And I want to see you again. So he's 12. We have so his best friend uh at school, his dad owns the CrossFit Gym. Oh, okay. And we have a just an unbelievable coaching staff there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The the main coach, uh, her name's Sylvia. She's got I think she's just like a couple credit hours shy of a master's or maybe an MBA in anatomy. Oh wow. So she's very specific with each kid in that, you know, like when they have a almost like a beginner, which is Monday and Wednesday, but the Tuesday class is more lifting. Yeah. And so you're supposed to be at least 12 for that. Or you basically agree to when she tells you you can't do that lift, you don't do that lift. Yeah, yeah. And Castle was so motivated, wanted to be a part of that, he goes, I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Yeah.

Speaker 2

And um, you know, but it's hard to find in a in a in a teenager.

Jim Cripps

It is. He's you know, uh, we are incredibly blessed, just that he is he's very motivated. He's the first one up in the morning, every morning. He's a 545 guy. Wow. Um still as a as a 12-year-old goes to bed at 8 30. Really? Because he knows that he grows while he's asleep.

Speaker 2

No kidding.

Jim Cripps

And so uh he's up at five five forty five. That's a good thing. He practices golf, he practices basketball, he makes his breakfast, he pikes his lunch. You know.

Speaker 2

You are you gonna write a book soon on how to lay I'm sure parents are like, how are you doing that?

Jim Cripps

It's it's all him. Uh we've never forced him to do any of those things. Now, with the CrossFit, I did say, look, if I'm gonna pay for CrossFit, you're going to do 40 push-ups, 40 setups, 40 squats, and 40 jumping jacks before you leave your room in the morning.

Speaker 2

Wow.

Jim Cripps

If you do that, I pay for CrossFit. Yeah. If you don't do that, then you pay for CrossFit. Yeah. And so it works, you know. Uh I'm blessed that I get to take him to school in the morning, and you know, it's we do a recap, you know.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Now I gotta say, we've been here for eight years, and I this has been the most remarkable place to raise a family. That's great. It's just been amazing. We we actually live in Franklin, it's just south of Nashville. Yeah. And um it just uh it's just such a beautiful place. So many families, you know, walking in the similar direction and and um doing life together.

Jim Cripps

It really in Middle Tennessee just in general. I mean, it's hard to beat. And I'm biased because I I grew up here, but yeah, it it's really hard to beat. My in-laws are uh in Atlanta, um, and then um up in uh Gainesville. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, don't get me wrong, they've got a beautiful place down there, but this is this is home.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I agree. Oh, I agree, man. It's it's um this is where we're gonna be.

Faith, Marriage, And Raising Three Boys

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Uh as far as uh so do you do you sell them just online and just through trade shows? Or how how does how did you come to your current marketing and and and kind of sales platform and how's it working?

Speaker 2

Well, it's a journey. You know, you start out with a um you start out with a lot of great ideas, and then you learn that none of them work. Yep. And then you talk to people that have a lot of ideas and you learn that none of those work. And then honestly, you just have to keep moving. Uh really, you just have to keep moving. That that's that's the best way I can say that that's how you learn what works is you just keep taking that next step. I was mentioning earlier that, you know, I I make out of ten decisions, I make eight wrong ones and I make two maybe halfway right. And then those kind of keep me going for a little bit. And then I the ones that I made right though, I go back and I do that again.

Jim Cripps

Yeah.

Speaker 2

And then I do it again, and then I figure out how I can do it better. Right. And so, you know, how did we get to the point where we're we're doing trade shows? It's very interesting. It was actually one of my early customers on that email list. He said, Hey, are you gonna be at Sun and Fun? It never occurred to me. And then I was like, that might be a great idea. Yeah, let's go do that. So we went and did Sun and Fun and it blew it blew us out of the water. Like it was incredible the way we were received. And then it dawned on me there. I was like, oh my goodness, I need to be doing more of these.

Jim Cripps

Yeah.

Speaker 2

When we were at that first show, the organizers for Oshkosh found us and they said, Will you come to Oshkosh? And I was like, Yeah. So that's how it's happened for me. It's not, it's not this grand scheme and strategy all the time. I mean, I think that can work if your business is at a certain level and you have like, you know, you you there's certain levers you can pull, but when you're just starting out, you just have to go try stuff and see what works. Yeah, and and listen to your customers. And listen to your customers and where they're gonna be and why they're gonna be there.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Um, you know, I think so many brands they get so in love with what they're going to do next that they their plans outgrow their customers.

Speaker 2

Oh, yeah.

Jim Cripps

And some brands can survive that, yeah, most brands can't. Yeah. Um, so I I think it's incredibly wise to just keep listening and you know, like much like file, you know, going to a trying a new trade show.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Jim Cripps

And that, okay, well, how did you find out about them? Oh, well, you know, they saw us at another show. Great. Yeah. Um, and then Nashville, just in general, is a very fruitful ground. Just in the the types of people who have moved here.

Speaker 2

Really, yeah.

Jim Cripps

The inf I mean, I don't know if you saw just today uh the announcement. So Pagani's putting a um um a showroom here in Nashville. I did not know that. Yeah, so I think as of right now, I think there are 19 Pagani uh cars here in in Middle Tennessee. No kidding. And so you're talking about uh that's probably third in the United States. Wow. And I mean it's gonna be pretty high on the list worldwide.

Speaker 2

Oh, a hundred percent. Well, it but but Pagani, Oracle, Amazon, you know, like with GE, it just uh Ford, you know, down the road a little bit. And um, it's just it's a very interesting mix of industry and creativity. This is one thing I'll say about Nashville, and and one of the main reasons, or I think that I'm glad that I started this here is that it's I've never been surrounded by so many people who aren't afraid to dream a little bit. And then people who are also in the ecosystem of of this city that are happy to support those dreams, however that may look, you know, whether it's from the sidelines or as a partner or as an investor. Um it's just a very interesting mix. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Have you have you had a significant mentor along the way?

Speaker 2

Um I I have um let me re let me let me reanswer that question. I really haven't, to be honest with you. I I haven't had someone that I've gone to on a consistent basis um that I would consider you know 10 to 12 years ahead of me. What I have had are a lot of guys I consider brothers that I've linked arms with and talked through problems with. Sure. And we may be in the same season and we may not have the wisdom, but having the camaraderie there I think has been very helpful. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

You know, somebody just tell you whether you're out of bounds or not.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Just somebody, just somebody I got this idea and they're like, you know, you want to be around honest people. They were like, nah, don't do that.

Jim Cripps

Right. But there's a lot of naysayers too. Yeah. So it's got to be people that you know that you can you can call them when it goes, when it happens, when when it's a success, yeah, and they're actually going to be happy for you. Exactly. Because there's so many people that will yeah, that will steer the other way.

Speaker 2

That's true. I I honestly I this may sound harsh, but I try not to be around those people. Yeah. I just don't surround myself with them. You can't.

Jim Cripps

It'll just suck the life out of you. It does. It's not worth it. Yeah. Now, uh, as far as those people, are they are they people you've known your whole life? Are they people that uh you come to know later in life?

Speaker 2

What well what yeah, I mean, I you know, I've got brothers. Um that my family has been very supportive. Um, but just a couple of guys in particular come to mind for me here in Nashville that I met since I've been here, yeah, that I really connected with. And um I'll just shout out a couple of them. Bruce Fanzil, if you're watching, Michael Steinbrook, if you're watching. Um, you know, uh those guys among others, just being there like at the very beginning when this is just a seed of a thought. And um I'll just share a quick story. I was literally sitting on my patio with Bruce when I shared the whole vision of this thing with him. And he's he's so he's so good at taking things from the abstract and breaking them down into measurable and achievable steps. Sure. He really coached me through a lot of the very beginning of this. And I I I wouldn't have known exactly how to get started without some of his advice. Yeah. You know?

Jim Cripps

Well, I think you've got entrepreneurs that are um kind of like the old school like roombox, yeah. Just run into things and they they turn whenever they run into something.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. And then you have the next generation uh which you know maps it out and then and then operates systematically. And I I think as an entrepreneur, you gotta be willing to do a little bit of both. Yeah. Because they both have their pluses and minuses if you're gonna if you're gonna survive it.

Speaker 2

That's so true. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

You know, and you know, also too, and I think that's one reason why Nick introduced us, is you know, the whole premise of the Charge Forward podcast is people who default default to charging forward when other people would give up.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Jim Cripps

And as an entrepreneur, you've got to do that to to to step out of um a job, a career as being a pilot that you wanted to do into now I'm gonna be a manufacturer of watches in this niche market. Yeah. And I'm gonna make it a success, and I've got to because I'm gonna put food on the table for my family. That's right. You know.

Speaker 2

Yeah, there there's um I I think through all the experiences I've had, the common denominator I I feel like I have found is this comfortability with ambiguity. And I whether it's learning to fly or going and getting an MBA with a young family or starting a watch brand, um, I've learned how to be comfortable in ambiguous seasons and being okay with it. That's I feel like that's if if there's one thing I could point to the success we've had now, it's just being living in that tension. Yeah, you know? That's cool. Yeah, yeah. Because you do, it's like you uh a friend of mine who is becoming a mentor now, his name's Paul. Um, he gave me that same analogy about the room, but he's like, you know, if you don't know what to do, you just gotta start moving sometimes. And so he it's like it's eventually gonna find its way out of the room. Yeah. And um uh so that's a great analogy. And but sometimes it's funny, I don't know. Starting out, I I tend to have more success just by hitting a bunch of different walls, more success doing that than I do planning anything.

Jim Cripps

Well, so many people get stuck in the planning stage. Yeah, you know, they're they plan it to death and it it never happens. Yeah. Um, and then you've got the ready fire aim people. Yeah. And you know, I've I've got a I've got a great friend that that is that is just how he operates. Yeah. And I feel like that's that's the only way that he could operate because otherwise, when he does have time to plan, he'll plan right up to the point where it becomes uh 9-1-1.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and you gotta get it over the line. I you you you bring up a really good point though. I and I think as I think more carefully about this, I do know that like when I go to a trade show now, I plan that out to a T. Like it is detailed, and I think the people that work with me get a little bit annoyed by it, but I'm so particular about everything that is in that booth because I know it works, you know. Uh, but when I first started, you just kind of go for it. Yeah, you're just winging it. Yeah. But but I think as you learn along the way, you take those lessons with you and and you get better.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and too, I mean, I I look at time pieces as, you know, they're precise. Yeah. So someone expects your booth to operate correctly and not to be cluttered and not have things there that don't serve a purpose. Right. So if it was messy, I don't think you would be serving your customer base. It's not what they're after, you know.

Speaker 2

Um, and we just know we we're beginning to see who we are as as a as a brand and not just as a product. Yeah. You know.

Jim Cripps

Now,

Trade Shows, Investors, And Operations Today

Jim Cripps

what does the company look like today? I mean, uh uh and are you manufacturing in-house? Uh, do you have a sales team? What what is it?

Speaker 2

Um well, starting out, it was me, myself, and I. I was a solopreneur. Uh and I I had to convince people to do stuff with me. Again, Bruce was one of them. Just a lot of graciousness there. And um, but uh, we've grown a little bit. I have a director of operations now, Ashley Turner. She's incredible. Um so she works for me. She's actually in Cleveland right now doing a um a show with the National Businessman's Aviation Association, so I could be here. Okay. And so um, so it's us, and then I do have contractors I use. I have a contract industrial designer, contract engineer. Um, and I was very fortunate. I we we got to a place where we were making enough um waves in the market that we were able to attract a really, really good investor. Yeah. And so they didn't just bring capital, they brought relationships, and they brought a whole team of um marketing gurus to help to help us. And so I've been very thankful for that. So it's grown. You know, I'm I'm still in the driver's seat and uh, you know, just kind of directing traffic, but uh it's it's grown from where it is now. Um we do manufacture when you say in-house, it's interesting. My partner, my manufacturing partner's in Ohio, and we have to get pieces from all over the world. Sure. Um so we get pieces from Switzerland, we get leather from the U.S., we get, you know, uh uh sapphires from Asia, and we all of it has to be designed and engineered very precisely. And we bring all of those pieces into Ohio separately, put them together there by hand, test them by hand, and then it's shipped from Ohio to my facility in Nashville. I love it. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Now uh I did see y'all went live earlier. Yeah. And you were talking about a specialized coating that you that you put on the uh certain pieces of the watch so that they can be seen in the dark.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So it's uh it's called uh Super Nerdy. It's X1 grade super luminova. Okay. So um that stuff is expensive, and that and that's what I mean, I think elevates our watches a little bit. Um but we do put it on every one of our watches so you can see it at night. Uh it takes it either needs to be in lamplight or in the sunlight for at least an hour to two hours, and it'll last you to good enough. Yeah, for three or four hours at night. Um the technically X1 grade is 60% brighter after two hours of usage than standard grade. Okay. And so I was like, you know what, let's just let's go for it. Let's put the good stuff on it. And so you will see it if you get one of our watches. Right. I think you should absolutely uh then uh at night it'll just sit by your nightstand and just glow all night. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

And so is was that from feedback or was that from a personal preference or it was feedback.

Speaker 2

Yep. So uh let me go into the design of the watch really quickly. So the the the dual time zones that I mentioned earlier, the way that we were able to accomplish that, um there there are GMT watches out there, there have been for decades. It's not anything new. Um we just designed it in a way that makes it much more intuitive to read. And if you if you look at our website, mycallsign.com, uh, you'll go there and you'll see the second time zone in a crescent window. That is the GMT hour. Um by putting it in that wheel, it just makes it very easy to understand what the GMT time is compared to local. Most GMT watches have a fourth hour hand. Uh, and it can get a little bit confusing about which hand is pointing to which hour. Sure. And so we didn't we didn't reinvent the wheel, we just made it a little bit nicer one. Right. Easier to read. Easier to read. That's perfect. Yeah, much flicker design.

Jim Cripps

Well, and I'm you know, I'm not a pilot, but just thinking about it, you've got you've got things that each hand is going on, sometimes feet, you've got a bajillion um styles and gauges and yeah, you know, all over the place. Uh switches, I mean you name in you know every aircraft is different, I'm sure. Yeah. Um, but with all that going on, the last thing you want to be doing is trying to figure out what something is as opposed to just knowing.

Speaker 2

Yep. Yeah, you you don't want to. Early on, one of our marketing phrases was uh the cockpit doesn't fit on the wrist and it's not supposed to. You want to minimize distractions and not create new ones. It's another one we used. Um less bulky, less complex alternative to your traditional aviator. And um yeah, it's interesting in the flight environment. The entire goal you break things down by flight segments, and there's certain things you do within each flight segment, and there's certain checklists that you follow, but it's all very, you know, regimented. Uh and that's that's to make it simple, make it a very complex system seem more simple and easier to understand. And so um I feel like uh you know a pilot's tool should should mirror that.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Has there been anything that the the audience or the um the support the the people who are buying it um they've said they don't want that you kind of wish they did?

Speaker 2

That's a good question. Is there anything that they've said they don't want that I wish that they did?

Jim Cripps

Aaron Powell Meaning you would like to have it personally, but it feels like that's not something that your audience or that your um your buyers are interested in.

Speaker 2

Yeah, there is something. Um I don't know if I want to mention it because I'm still I might still want to do it. Um maybe this will inspire them. No, it's I I tend to, I'm just gonna be honest. I tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. I'm I'm I'm my own worst enemy in that way sometimes. And you know, I'm just convinced that having the ability to change time zones without having to pull the crown of the watch out would be a feature people would really love. And we do have feedback that um would support that, but it's not it's not a tremendous amount of feedback. Okay, you know, and there's there are some other ways that I've looked into to Figuring that out. The advantage to that would be it'd be very s it's super easy for a pilot or anybody else just to twist one or two knobs to just change the time versus having to pull unscrew it, wind it, and screw it back in. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Jim Cripps

Um interesting. And so what iteration or I I guess how many models do you have now?

Speaker 2

Um in inventory, we have um six variations of our discovery, and we have three variations of our Wright Brothers series. In production, we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine more variations of watches coming out later this fall. So um definitely expect to see some more options on our site uh later this year. Um

Wright Brothers Licensing Through Family Curiosity

Speaker 2

but you know that it's all a result of of just what we've been able to build with our first couple of watches that we've put out there.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Yeah. So um you you mentioned uh a very critical piece and an interesting story is the Wright brothers family had some role kind of involved in in the evolution of your company. Oh, 100%. Please uh please share.

Speaker 2

Well, uh so as I mentioned, you go from one step to another. And um we went to Sun and Fun literally the first year at Sun and Fun, I was able to meet representatives of the family. Uh and that connection came. Again, I've I've told this story to Nick, but I I want to share it with your audience as well. Uh, we're a homeschool family. Okay. And my oldest son was asked to do a uh research and report on any great historical American figure. Out of everybody, he chose the Wright brothers. Okay. Researched them for three months, did a report, made a presentation uh to his class and peers. The next week after that presentation, he and uh my wife and our boys were down there with me. Well, the Wright family has a booth there because they they just enjoy being part of the aviation community and they like sharing the personal history. And uh their representatives, um Ken and Joanne Botts, um, who who handle a lot of the family um licensing and and helping keep the name in the aviation world, they met my son and because he walked by their booth and started asking all these questions, and they were just enamored by his knowledge. They're like, Who are you? Where did you come from? What is this?

Jim Cripps

So did somebody put you up to this?

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah. And um, and so, and then my wife had the idea, she was like, You really got to go talk to my husband. So it was because of really because of her um and Keen that that connection happened. And sure enough, Ken comes over, I don't know who he is, and he came over the first day and just introduced himself, if memory serves. And he just asked questions about our brand and what we were doing and and how it got started, and um uh which is a great conversation. And then he came back the next day and started asking some more. And I just asked him, Are you an attendee or a vendor? He said, Well, I'm a vendor, and I said, Oh, cool, who are you with? And he said, Well, I met your wife and your son, and you know, we were over there. And then before he told me, uh, he said, Would you ever consider a licensing opportunity? And I said, Well, it depends on what that means and who it would be with. And he said, Well, what about with the Wright family? And I said, You mean the Wright brothers? And he's like, Yeah, and I said, Well, yeah, do you know them? He's like, Well, I actually do.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

So that's how that happened. And um it wasn't right away. Like he was still vetting us, and we had a few conversations after the fact, but ultimately uh they decided to um let us represent their family name uh in in the watch world and and beyond. And so um an incredible honor. And so that one collaboration has opened the door to so many more, you know. I'd imagine, yeah. Yeah, that we've that we've been a part of and and now are literally in the process of producing.

Jim Cripps

That's fantastic. Yeah, that's fantastic. Um if you guys have not been there yet, I would absolutely advise taking the family to the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Okay. Um so it's got everything there. And in fact, uh, if you go during the summertime, so I think late April through early September, the Ford Farm is open as well. And so you can drive a T model around the farm.

Speaker 2

Oh man.

Jim Cripps

Um and uh Henry Ford bought what uh the way I understand it, he bought the original Wright Brothers garage, had it disassembled and moved to his it's a museum, but it's also a working farm. Um but he's got not only that, uh, you know, there's other critical um pivots in his not just American history, but history period. Like uh Schwarzki's first helicopter is there. Oh wow. Um I think Walt Whitman's home was moved there, the childhood home of uh Henry Ford himself. That home is there. But it it's also, you know, they they started the museum with they moved one of the generators from the original Ford factory plant there because it's six or seven stories tall. So they couldn't move it in after, and they built the museum around it. But especially with three boys and that sounds like a ton of fun. It is a summer too. You can easily spend Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn, Michigan. Okay. You can easily spend three days there. Yeah. Uh there's a um the Ford Hotel. It's like part of the autograph collection. It's just down the street from there. Wonderful place to stay with the family.

Speaker 2

Okay. I'll check it out. I'll talk to Courtney about it. We're always looking for some interesting things to go and do. Um, you know, we we like taking them to historical places. Uh they've been they've been to Dayton with me and you know, things like that. So it's a great idea.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Well, and it you know, some of the things that they have there you wouldn't even anticipate, like the the airplanes or the things that you know they have uh different decades of homes. Yeah, yeah. So you can walk into a living room that would have been in the 50s or the forties or the 70s, and you know what's in there. Um, and then it's obviously it's automobiles and uh equipment that changed the landscape. Wow. Uh but just a fantastic experience. That sounds incredible. Yeah, and your boys won't forget it. It's oh yeah, it's dramatic.

Speaker 2

Well, we did we did take him to the this doesn't quite equate, but we did take him to the Corvette Museum. Oh yeah. And right across the the border, the state border in Kentucky. And uh that was gorgeous. Oh, you know, so they they love doing stuff like that.

Jim Cripps

Now from Alabama since you're from Alabama, have you ever taken them to Barber Raceway? No. Oh, it's beautiful. Uh unfortunately, the the founder just just passed away. Okay. Um, but he curated just an amazing world-class collection um of motorcycles predominantly. Interesting. But every single one of them, there's thousands of them, every single one of them runs and races on the racetrack every year. Wow. And so everything that is there, everything from you know the the original bicycles that were motorized all the way up through concept vehicles and that type of thing. Yeah. And then Barber Raceway just in general is a a world-class track. I mean it's it's it's beautiful in the way that some of your European tracks are beautiful.

Speaker 2

Where is it at?

Jim Cripps

Uh it's just outside of uh Birmingham.

Speaker 2

Oh, it's yeah, it's just right there.

Jim Cripps

I grew up just south of Birmingham.

Speaker 2

I should know that.

Jim Cripps

Uh but it's it's beautiful and and again, something great to take the family to. Okay. Um something they'll talk about for years.

Speaker 2

Oh, I'm sure, man. So there's a lot of little like diamonds hidden around. Oh, yeah. Like that. Oh, yeah. That are good to hear about.

unknown

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Um, but it's fun, you know, and you know, being a dad, like you're always looking for something to yeah, to like get them around and expose them to.

American Legion Watches And What’s Next

Speaker 2

I was just in um San Diego, I'd mentioned for uh a uh a conference, and because we homeschool, I'm able to take the boys with me on some of them. And every now and then I'll just take one or I'll take, you know, two with me. And I I was able to take Ellis out to this one and we had a chance to go see the Midway. And uh I was just I was amazed the thing just gorgeous, like the what what it did and how long it was in service and all the things that they take you through. For me as a pilot, like getting up there in the box and seeing where they like call the planes in, that was just such a treat. Yeah, that was really cool. That's awesome. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Now not on the uh it's kind of in the same path, but sure. So since you are a pilot, what is your opinion of uh the famous pilot movie? What what did you think of Maverick? Oh, loved it. Yeah, totally loved it.

Speaker 2

I mean, you know, there's I just am amazed at how well that was produced. I it was just incredible. Obviously, there's a lot of embellishment, you know, for uh everything because it is for entertainment. It's a movie, it's for entertainment. But you know, I I've not I've never flown in an F-18 or off of a carrier, so I can't really speak with authority about that. But I can tell you, like, you know, I mean, the G's they were pulling, a lot of those I I'd read were real, and and I understand that. And I know what that feels like. And, you know, so I give a lot of credit to it, but I loved it. It was just such a love letter to aviation, in my opinion. That's great. It's really cool. That's awesome. And uh yeah.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Um, now i do I am I remembering this correctly, that you've got uh partnership coming up or something going on with the American Legion?

Speaker 2

Yeah. So, so um last fall uh I was able to meet American Legion. Um my investor actually introduced us, and they really loved what we did with the Wright family. And I think that's one of the reasons we got the opportunities because we had such a good collaboration with uh them. And they they really were looking for something to do to help commemorate the country's 250th, as were we. Yeah. And so it became, I think it became a very natural step for both of us to take and say, hey, let's just do this together. And so I was very honored to be invited by them to create a watch for Legion members that have their specific branding and colors and emblems engraved on the watches. They are phenomenal, they are spectacular watches if you haven't seen them. Mycallsign.com and then check out American Legion. We spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how we can incorporate their history and what they represent into this series. Yeah. And uh a portion of the proceeds from all those sales goes back to the Legion itself to support their members. Yeah. Um, and I just man, just a dream to be able to do this with them for the country's 250th.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Well, it's an exciting time. It's really cool.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Yeah.

Jim Cripps

Absolutely. So what's what's next? I mean, you got so you've got nine watches coming out. Uh nine models, variations.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I gotta be careful because two of them are variations of what we already have. We have two discovery variations coming out that are American Legion specific. And we have two new watches. One is the waypoint, um, and then the other one is the cadre, and then there's variations of each of those. Sure. So really two new watches and then variations for everything. Sure. So um, but what is new? Um we have an American Legion version of the cadre, but we also have a call sign version of that. That will be out in September, and we're only making 150 of those. Oh, wow. Uh, to start. Uh, we're gonna continue to make that watch, but the first 150 have the country's uh age, 250 in in microprint at the top, and on the bottom 1776 to 2026. So there's only gonna be 150 of those that have that print on them. So that's cool. Make sure that you get one. Um, we'll be opening those up for pre-order this summer, um, ahead of their scheduled launch in September. So just be on the lookout. Yeah, no, that's fantastic.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, yeah. So what you know, as an entrepreneur, as you know, you're you're getting some traction. You you're you're uh now you're branching out to some other trade shows, those kinds of things as you see that things are working. What's keeping you up at night that where you're so excited about X?

Speaker 2

Like I can't wait for um man, I gotta tell you, I uh so many things. Um I'm super excited about this new series coming out um this fall, but we've got we've got some cool things that we're doing. Um we're expanding beyond aviation. And so we we have um we've just been noticed in other verticals, like Barrett Jackson I mentioned, invited us up. That we were so well received by the car community. Um and there is another collaboration that's happening next year um that is in that in that vein. It's in the car world and it's with an indie car driver. I'm not gonna say who it is. Okay. Uh, but he and I are gonna be designing Call Science First Racing Watch. Okay. So I like it. I'm very excited about that.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, that's fun. That's fun. Well, and you're in the right place for it. I mean, Nashville is just it is a hot spot for exotics.

Speaker 2

Oh, yeah.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2

We were we were able to go to the indie race last year. Yeah. Uh here in Nashville, and that was uh that was a treat. I took my boys to it. It was their first time. The whole time they're just like, ah, even with the headphones on, it's so loud, you know.

Jim Cripps

So it's fun. Absolutely. Um, so obviously along the way, as an entrepreneur, things are not all sunshine and rainbows. Oh man. Where what was maybe the toughest point where you were like the the thought of this is not going to work crept in?

Speaker 2

Yeah, man, that's such a good question. I can't honestly, I can't say that there was only one of those points. Sure. Oh yeah. You get to you get to inflection points. I that's what I call them. Um I mean, it happens. Like you're you're like, if this doesn't work, that may be it, you know. But here's what's remarkable um things that I thought had to work and didn't for us to survive, um something else happened along the way. And what I learned is that even in the midst of like this big door that was shut or this this thing that just failed and you spent all this money on it and it did not perform at all. Um I have learned that you you literally just have to keep walking. You just gotta say, what do I do now? And whatever that is, just do it and just keep going. I I think I feel like the uh there's a high correlation between uh or inverse correlation between success and attrition. And um a friend of mine uh actually said to me, it was a quote I think he read in the book. I can't remember who, forgive me. But so so much of successfuls so much of what makes a company successful is its ability to survive. It's just staying in the game long enough to have enough sales come through or enough deals get over the line that you're able to breathe a little bit. And um

Hard Moments, Legacy, And How To Find Call Sign

Speaker 2

but you just gotta stay in it and you gotta make a decision in those moments where you could reasonably be done and your spouse and your friends and your family be like, that makes total sense. There are a lot of those moments. There's a lot, uh, and you gotta be like, you're the you're the only person that keeps it moving forward, yeah. You know, and you just have to make that decision. So I I I think I've just decided that I'm just gonna keep walking. There you go. You know? So we'll see where it leads. I love it.

Jim Cripps

I love it. Um so this is this is one where we have a we have a little bit of fun with with things. And uh so one thing you don't know about me, well you might be able to tell about bowling.

Speaker 2

I know you're the the 300 backward bowler.

Jim Cripps

I know. All right. So if you were going to put on a uh celebrity or a um charity bowling tournament, okay, and you gotta pick four other people to be on your team. Anybody throughout history, they can be alive or otherwise.

Speaker 2

Oh man. That's a good quest. I've never three other people to be on my team. Four other people. Four other people to be on my I gotta go with Big Lebowski. Okay, you know, him him and his buddy John Goodman, I forgot his character's name. That's right. I'd probably have those two guys on just to have a good time. Right. You know? Um uh who else? Um man, who would I like to just bowl a game with? You know, I think um geez. Um I'm just trying to think of people who would be fun to be around. Um heck, I don't know. Maybe, yeah, maybe maybe maybe the Wright Brothers to round it out. Okay, so the Wright brothers and I and the Big Lebowski and his crew.

Jim Cripps

Okay. So if you're if you're gonna have somebody who's gonna commentate this this group this bowling uh with you, the Wright brothers, and you know, the Big Lebowski cast, yeah. Um who's gonna who's gonna hype this thing up? Who's gonna be a our commentator? Oh man.

Speaker 2

Um uh it's gotta be the the basketball announcer that's famous. Um he's oh I I know who you're talking about.

Jim Cripps

Um his name escapes me. Yeah, we'll put we'll put it, we'll put it in the show.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Um yeah, he but he's like, yeah, baby. That guy.

Jim Cripps

Dick Vitel? Dick Vitel. There you go. There you go. There you go. That's who it is. Yeah. You had to do the you had to impersonate him before I could before I could get to it. That's good. That's who it would be. That's good. Um all right. So this the slight spin on that. This one is uh a little bit more serious. Okay. So and take it to mean however however you want it to, but how do you want to be remembered?

Speaker 2

Hmm. How do I want to be remembered? Uh well, I'll answer that personally first. I want to be remembered as a as a as a good father, as a good husband, uh, and as a faithful and fun friend. Um personally, my brand um for call sign, I I really want it to grow into something that's well beyond me, you know, into a brand that pilots see themselves in. And then other people. I was sharing with Nick earlier that we've we we're starting to grow beyond aviation a little bit. And the the phrase that keeps coming up, and I gotta give a lot of credit to um to uh Eric, who's on on the CMO with my investor, he came up with this phrase uh for those who move with purpose. And so um I I think that's just a beautiful concept. And to create a brand around that concept and um you know that people resonate with, I would be fine with that. Yeah. That if if that's what people remembered about our brand. For those who move with purpose. Yep.

Jim Cripps

I like that. Yep. All right. So how does somebody find you? How does somebody uh look at your time pieces? How do they how do they buy a timepiece? Um what's what's the easiest way?

Speaker 2

Uh mycallsign.com. Okay. Go there, everything we've got available is on the site. Um, we ship usually within five to six days. Um you can do personalization there on the discoveries, you can get it uh the case back engraved. So mycallsign.com uh and then the socials is at callsign watches for Instagram. Um and if you are watching this or listening to this and you are at Sun and Fun or you're at Oshkosh, or you're at the Pacific Air Show, or you're at Barrett Jackson, uh, we're gonna see you. You come see us. We're there, you know. Um I people always ask what why you don't have a store. Well, it's it's a lot to open a brick and mortar. It really is. And so maybe one day we'll have a spot in Franklin, but right now just we're on we're on uh line and at trade shows.

Jim Cripps

Now of of the watches that you currently have out, what's your favorite?

Speaker 2

That's such a good question. Um I I my heart, I'm my favorite is the bishop. Okay. Because um I just love the story of uh Orville and Wilbur's dad, and we capture that with that watch. It's in honor of him. Yeah. And um you'll have to go online and and read about it. Uh, but I it was just cool to learn about him. I actually, just as a quick story, um when the family opened the archives to me, they had to put Gloves on, but they let me hold his diary.

unknown

Oh wow.

Speaker 2

And I got to read the entry from the day that he found out that Orville and Wilbur flew. And it was just a it was just a note. It was like Orville and Wilbur, you know, like uh achieved flight, period. And then just kept going. And um it was just really cool. He was an interesting guy. Like he he always encouraged his sons to be curious, so much so that he would let them stay home from school and read in his personal library. He would get in trouble with the educators over it. But he's he really and their mother too, by the way, um did that, spark that curiosity in them. But he was an unconventional man from what I can gather. And um, you know, his his sons caught that and they uh they believed that they could do what they set out to do because of his influence.

Jim Cripps

Yeah. Well, I think I think your your dad has so especially as a young man, your dad has so much to do with uh what you believe. Yeah. Yeah. Whether we're talking about whether whether whether you believe you can do it or can't do it. Right.

Speaker 2

Whether you believe your framework for life is so much of it comes from your parents and your and your father. Um you know, if you if you're fortunate to have him in your life. And um, but he he was and he was there, and I just love what we were able to do with with the engraving on that watch, and um that's my favorite one that we've made so far.

Jim Cripps

Cool. Um another fun question. Most fun you've ever had, most fun experience in your life so far.

Speaker 2

Most fun experience in my I got it has to be this past uh Christmas. Um we we really wanted to start creating memories with our family versus just giving gifts. Sure. And so um my wife and I saved up to do that, and we were able to take our boys down to um the Virgin Islands and I cannot remember a time in recent Henry where I memory where I have personally had as much fun just spending the days with them on those beaches and like snorkeling and it was just pure fun. Like we we were off of screens, I wasn't on my phone. It was just an incredible memory. So that's probably the best way I could answer that.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, no, that's that's perfect. That's perfect. Yeah. Um and it ties into how you want to be remembered as well. Yeah, you know, yeah. We want to matter to those who matter to us. That's right. Yeah, that's what it comes down to. Well, man, it has been absolutely fantastic chatting with you and and just kind of learning uh, you know, kind of how you got to this place and how the brand is developing, the cool stuff you've got, not only that kind of shaped how you got here, but what you're excited about in the future. Yeah.

Speaker 2

So well, Jim, thank you for having me, man. It's been an absolute pleasure. Uh, I'm very humbled to be to be on it with you and um thankful I could share the story.

Jim Cripps

Yeah, absolutely. Now, if you will, please remind everybody one more time how they get in touch with you.

Speaker 2

So you can get in touch with us at mycallsign.com, my M Y C A L L S I G N dot com. Or you can find us on the socials at callsign watches. That's fantastic. Yes, we do.

Jim Cripps

All right. Well, team, you heard it here on the Charge Ford podcast. Much like our other podcast, I hope that this was the right message at the right time so that you could take a little piece out of Bo's story in order to make yours better, or maybe to inspire you or inspire someone, inspire someone that you know and love. Uh, again, remember we we post episodes on Thursdays. It is our goal to bring you inspiring stories that will help you make your life better. Until next time, I'm Jim Cripps with the Charge Forward Podcast. Take care. Team, it's Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast. I just want to tell you, I love you. I appreciate you listening. I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the Charge Forward Podcast with people you know and you love because that's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much, and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.