Local Growth Stories

Speaker 1 [0:00] Being intentional, laser focus, that is what gets you out of it. You know, you grind for a couple years, spend this sweat equity, and realize I can't do this forever, nor do I want to. This has to serve with purposes has to serve my life.

Speaker 2 [0:11] We'd like to take a moment to thank one of this month's sponsors, Sabrina West. Sabrina West, a local mortgage expert with guaranteed rate, will provide you and your clients with real talk in real time. Sabrina is a mentor, investor, and money mortgage expert who provides customized individual consultations with a behavior finance approach and education to help build wealth through real estate. She believes in clients for life, so reach out today, Sabrina.west at rate.com, or give a follow on Instagram at Sabrina G rate.

Ray Ray Hicks [0:42] Okay, so we will have our table discussion, and then what is that? That is a mover and shaker award. So excited, more to come. We will also have another table, discussion, topic, and what y'all here for, some awesome entrepreneurial stories, local growth stories, and then, of course, our audience, Q and A. So, if you haven't met me yet, hello. My name is Ray Ray, and I am part of AVI Meetup, and take care of what you'll see coming, some volunteers as well. And if you didn't know, you will know, there's a lot of cables up here. Okay. All right, we're fine. Were fine. Okay, so we're bringing together Asheville's movers and shakers.

So thank y'all for being here, despite that it was just Easter, and we have spring break. We do have a little bit lower of an attendance, which provides for some great networking and some relationship building on a more intimate level. So thank you so much for still spending your time with us. We are about that net profit philosophy. What is that? I'm so glad you asked. Everything we do is focus around three things. We focus around networking, education, and transactions. With that networking, of course, is what y'all are continuing to do still right now. So now we're getting to know each other. So let's pull the room really quick. Can I get a raised hand for all the realtors, please?

Okay, okay. All right. And how about investors? I've seen a couple, you come in. Awesome. Front row. I like it. Okay, and how about lenders? Awesome. So just there, right? We see, across the room, who we can do business with already. And service providers, I've seen some of you, and we have some in the back as well, service providers. All right, main table here. So if you need service, go to this table. And end reps. Again, with the acronyms, I know, we love it. Who, here is a non real estate person. Entrepreneur, all right, checking out the local growth stories. Love it, love it. Thank you for coming.

So, of course, tonight, as I see many of you taking pictures posted content, stay connected with us. Please tag us on @AVLMetup across all the social media forums. And again, my big cartoon head, I oversee the volunteers. So if you would like to volunteer, please get with me personally or volunteer at AVLmeetup, and if that's not simple enough or if you forget, it's pretty easy. Volunteer at AVLmeetup.com. We believe in simplicity and strong systems, because that helps your business run well. Other than that, it's super easy to apply, so you do have to be signed in, but if you go to upcoming events, There's a little man, woman, figure right there waving.

You go ahead and just click on that, and you'll have a variety of activities that you can sign up for. So whatever you're comfortable with, please go ahead and sign up for that. And the time frames are a little bit different, and after you do sign up for what you're comfortable with, you'll say, you'll see a thank you, and then you'll also receive a calendar invite. And on that calendar invite, there's also a description of the variety of tasks as well, making it super easy in case you forget what you signed up for. You can always check in when you get here, and we'll get you plugged in. And thank you. I do this every time, round of applause for our volunteers tonight, please.

We couldn't do this without our volunteers, right? So if any of you have events, host events, you know the same thing. Volunteers are definitely special, and we are in need of seven volunteers, we have seven spots left, for next month's meetup, if you'd like to go ahead and sign up for that. Next part of our net is the E for education. So as you can see, down here, we've hosted over 3,700 hours between networking and education. So doing the best we can to impact the community in terms of who you can meet, how you can run business better, and improving your skill set. And next, the last part is transactions. So other than, of course, we kind of pulled the room and saw, right?

Lenders, real estate, non real estate, different people you could talk to, the goal besides networking and education is helping you to do business, grow business, right? Do your next deal. And we actually have a couple ways we help you do that. So, one, if you haven't signed into your account or created one, please do that. It's also easier to sign in at the front if you're signed in on your phone to your account. So, your member directory will have a prompt for you to fill out your profiles. So, MoData Mobeta. So please fill out your profile. You'll notice down at the bottom, ask me about, and I'm here, too. That literally helps us plug you in to more impactful people.

So you can grow your business and do more transactions. The other way that we can help you improve transactions is matchmaker service. This is something that launched fairly recently a couple months ago. I really, really encourage you guys to take a look at this. And this is what this looks like. If you go to your head, at the top right, once you're signed in, you can see deal matchmaker, right? And we talk buy, sell, borrow, lend. We can literally match you up to other people physically in the room. And the only catch is that it only works while you're here. But that means you can see someone, oh, I've been matched with, Jason, I'm gonna go talk to Jason. I need his services, right?

So you can actually be matched up. Have a conversation today. That could change your tomorrow. And last is have, wants, needs. So back to that simple thing, right? We made this very simple. So if you have something, post it. If you want something, post it. And if you need something, post it. So you can see a couple of examples here of wants in terms of what they're looking for, right? And, hey, who didn't need help with their taxes? I saw that one, I was like, definitely call that one out. I'm looking for fixer upper. So some great things there. I do want to highlight, though, the last time we had anything posted was February.

So in order for us to help you, please help us with filling out your information, your profiles, and posting what you need and want for your business, we are here to support you and help that happen. So, next, we have our first table question, and to keep us on track, I do ask that when the timer comes out, pay attention to the lights and the stage so we can get back on track and honor our commitment to get you out on time. The question, what is your favorite business overall in Asheville? So go ahead and talk amongst your table, find some people to talk to, and let's discuss.

Speaker 2 [7:23] So the Reeze Report comes out tomorrow. So if you want to see it, you just go to the website, at the top there. You'll see latest reports where the big arrow is, and so tomorrow, you can find all your market data. Today, we're gonna do something a little bit different. And so you can see we have this symbol of the lighthouse, right? And so we're gonna kind of explain what the symbol of the lighthouse means. So we'll start with a super famous meme, because why not, right? So what if I told you that sitting in the audience right now or in the crowd, there are two types of people, right? We're all familiar with this famous scene. Right? So on the one side, we have audience members in the crowd.

And on the other side, we have community members. in the crowd, right? And this is not going where you think. We're not gonna trash anybody, 'cause we love our audience members. All right? So if we were to describe the audience members, we have a YouTube channel, if you've been before, or if you're watching it on YouTube right now, we post the same meeting up on YouTube. We also do Spotify, so you can listen to it while you're working out or driving. We have Instagram reels where we take all the cool stuff and put it out there for you. We even have the website, where we have the blog going, and all this is for our audience. It's less for the community. Right?

And as you can see, the events are free to attend. Right? Obviously, they cost money to put on. And so we've got a sound guy, Forrest, who's letting me scream. Um, and handling the gain while I do it. Right? We've got a post production sound guy. His name's Kyle. He is listening but he's not here. What's up, Kyle? Uh, we've got a video guy. Where is our video guy? We've got Dave with, there you go. Actual video marketing. To make us sound bigger than we are, we've got a post production video guy, but right now, it's kind of the same guy, right? But it's not bad, right? There's our social media girl. Where's Dion? Well, there she is. Right? So we have a team that puts this off.

We have a guy taken over the blog. Where's Jason? Jason's right there, right? Uh, we got a card, you don't have to, but give Jason a clap, but the rest of it, we're good, right? We got a cartoon head guy, might be a girl. don't know. It's on fiber, but that's where the heads come from. We've got website hosting fees, the volunteers' time. We've already given them the round of applause. Right? We're in devil foot space, right? Devil Foot beverage space. We gonna hear from them tonight. Right? The point is, this wouldn't be possible, right? Without the support from our sponsors, and the only reason the sponsors are sponsoring us, right, is obviously because of the audience members.

So we have sponsors at the back, these are, we stand by every single one of them if we haven't used them personally. We vet them, and we think they're great, right? And this is who's supporting this event, right? And so even though the events are free, and the content's free to assume, it's really not, right? And that's kind of what we're gonna talk about tonight, because it costs you your most valuable resource, and that's your time. So this is an AI generated image, funny enough. I put the sands of time in the Blue Ridge Mountain. And that's what we came up with. I thought it was pretty cool, and, like, wild, right?

So in exchange for your time, if this is your first time, we're attracting kind of new people here. Here's what we do. We provide invaluable insights, and that's the E of never. profit. That's the education. From top local speakers, as you'll see tonight, that's the end, that's the networking. And then we fill the room with the movers and shakers, as you already know, 'cause I can hear you talking to them right now, right? And if you're watching it online, there's also the member directory, so you can see them if you're not here in person, right? So we wouldn't be where we are without the audience members, right?

But we wouldn't be who we are without the community members, and that's kind of what we're gonna talk about briefly today. Right, so, AKA, we like to call everyone that comes, the movers and shakers. Right? So what is a mover and shaker? According to the same AI program, you see, she's wearing some sort of load bearing device, and she's got a shaker, so that's a mover and shaker, you know? I don't know, but it's hard to define, but they're very, very easy to spot. out in the wild. They're very easy to spot, right? Whenever you meet a mover and shaker, there is no denying that they are moving and shaking. You can tell, right off the bat.

So, you see, this guy, another AI prompt, it just didn't go well for me. He is shaking, and he is moving. Right? Very literal. I thought I would read into it a bit more, but that's what I got, right? So it's definitely someone who embodies our net profit philosophy, right? We think you profit from the sum total of your networking, education, and transactions. That where we're at. But instead of explaining what it is, right? We thought we'd introduce you to what we're gonna do quarterly now. This is our mover and shaker award, right? So what is the mover and shaker and ward? So, like I said, we'll be presenting this quarterly, and we're gonna try and do it sourced from the community.

So the community is gonna vote on the person who embodies it more, or, more than likely, the person that hustles the most votes, right? Because in reality, that's exactly what a mover and shaker would do. More to follow on the details, right? But so, I forgot the trophy. It's under the stage, because I didn't want anyone to see it. I'm gonna scurry off stage here in a second to get it. But basically, we made a 3D printed trophy, right? And for two reasons. The 3D printing is kind of symbolic of our scrappiness, right? We think that's a super important mover and shaker quality, right?

And second, it's of a lighthouse, 'cause it represents someone who's a beacon of light for the community and in the community. Right? So before we had this, this is the cockpit of a boat these days, you've got radar, sonar, and GPS, and, like, you know, parking's a breeze, and no matter what time it is, you know exactly where the port is. We relied on these. This is a lighthouse, right? So no matter how dark it was, they're stormy, you knew how to get to a safe harbor. So despite having these, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, all these ways we think we can meet people and reach out, there you go, thank you, Ray, Ray, despite having all these cool things that can connect you, apparently, right?

You should totally, totally, totally find yourself, one of these, right? So, the first inaugural winner of the mover and shaker award, sure, give him a round of applause. So if you couldn't read, let's just go over it, right? He's a Siberian entrepreneur in Beer City. He helps clients buy sell and invest in real estate, all right? Right? He's an Airbnb super host, pretty baller, and he's a JDM enthusiast, and if you're like me, you say, what? is a JDM enthusiast, right? And so this is a nerd, right? He likes Japanese domestic cars, it's Fast and the Furious, but he fixes them and sells them. So he's hustling. He's moving and shaken. Right? Alexi came to our very first event.

And Alexi has come to every event, except for one, right? So, he has helped at every event, including today, and probably after today, and certainly after I say it in front of all of you. He has invited more people to this event than I have for sure. He has invited more people to this event than Rodrigo has, he has invited more people to the event than both of us combined, and it is our event. All right? So, Alexi, you're not gonna be able to hear this, 'cause I couldn't figure out how to get the sound. You're sitting in this room, because Alexi found the mule. So the mule people, Jacob, you want to give someone free drinks, this guy right here in the blue. Right? Look at him.

He's going, You guys should have your meeting here. That's why we're here tonight. You want someone like this in your corner. Right? I know around here, sometimes, EXP is a dirty word, but, man, I don't know any other broker in charges going to all your events and helping you out and promoting you and everything. So give them a talk about that. So if we can get a round of applause, The first mover and shaker award, I'll XC Cobringen, do you want to come up and say something real quick? Sir. Pleasure. Absolutely. Here you go. So, just got your name on it. Oh, wow. It's recently glued. It's 3D printed, right? So there we go. We got a proto. There you go. I'm now Rodrigo. It all good.

Unknown [14:46] Boom.

Speaker 2 [14:47] Awesome. Thank you, sir. Absolutely. All right, so there you go. So, like I said, we're gonna do this quarterly. We're gonna bet a page on the website, it's called a backlink, it's so your clients know you. It a good thing. Right? So let's take this back into local growth stories. Let's wrap it all up here, right? So it turns out AVLmeetup's kind of a local growth star. We had 11 people at the first one. We've been doing over two years now. Right? Small issue, as far as businesses are concerned, Rodrigo and I are committed to keeping it free. And as you can imagine, this raises some problems around monetization. Free is not money, right? Turns out businesses need money, if you got any ideas.

We're all yours. We're a little fuzzy on the whole business idea, but we're definitely crystal clear and excited about growing the community. And so that's what we're gonna kind of talk about really quick. There's an ancient African proverb, right? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. So spoiler alert, on June 4th, our meetup is about that specifically. On the left, we have the ladies from Power of Women. And on the right, we have Rick from Digital Nomads, so these are the two other premiere groups. And we're gonna talk about, what does it mean to build, maintain, grow a community? How do you do good with the body of people that choose to come to these events?

So here are three things you can do. One is volunteer, right? Fill out on the website, just get involved. This is a great way to meet people. Two is invited friend. Like, right? We need more people to come of the right kind. You know who they are already. Tell them to come. And then make sure we win in between meetups. We made up a fun little ditty, a little acronym, as we call it, right? So, in between meet ups, you should always be sharpening your mind. Watch something that expands or sharpens your mind. Right? Like I said, invite someone you think who could benefit, and then network to help yourself, obviously, but also expand on your impact that you can have in the community.

So we're gonna give you 10 minutes again, and so this is the table question, get to know people, go shake Mr. Alexi's hand here. How has being a member of a strong community positively influence you. This could be your church. This could be a sports team, a hobby, whatever it is. How has community impacted you? Talk amongst yourselves. We'll see you in ten minutes. Hi, everybody.

Speaker 1 [16:39] My name is Kimmy with American Eagle Home Inspection. We are your local one stop stop for all your home inspection needs in Western North Carolina. Do me a favor, pull out your phone. Find us American Eagle Home Inspection on Instagram. Give us a follow. You know what? There's only so much I can tell you about us in 30 seconds, but I promise you, you will not be disappointed if you check out our content. It's very entertaining. It's going to tell you all you want to know about us. So check us out on Instagram, and we'd love to be your one-stop shop resource for your home inspection needs in Western North Carolina. Check us out.

Speaker 2 [17:10] Oh, ho, ho, all right. All right. Let's get down to business. The white lights are on, the heads are up. The speakers are coming up, if we could please invite the speakers.

Unknown [17:28] Do you need me? What a gentleman. Look at this.

Speaker 2 [17:34] The proprietor of this very institution just... Oh, wow. There's it'll eventually... Yeah, you good. Awesome. Well, thank you all for quieting down. I appreciate that. Greatly. Welcome. So on stage here, if you didn't check their bios on the website, we have, you can see at the top, we have Jacob, who is one of the owners of Devil Foot beverage, right here, right now. Hey, how's it going?

Unknown [18:01] There you go.

Speaker 2 [18:02] Hey, thanks for coming out. Support them. Then we have Kimmy McBurney, who's with American Eagle Home Inspections. And if you're in real estate, you don't already know her, you're wrong. Like, you gotta do some more investigation. And then we have Josh Valdez of Dripolator Coffee, and if you're not drinking drip later coffee, you're wrong. So... All right. There you go. So, actually, Josh, we'll start with you here, and question number one is, tell us the story of the company's name.

Speaker 4 [18:25] Okay, the story of the company's name, my business partner, Amy Vermillion. She actually started the Triple Later, way back in '99. And she had a feeling that she would capture a younger audience just by having a coffee shop in Black Mountain. So she was trying to think of how do I get an older demographic to come in? And if you don't know, a tripleator, basically, is the predecessor to, like, a percolator. So she knew that older folks would probably know what that was, and maybe have some nostalgia for it, and would come in, and she found success with that, and it's a cool name. So that's it.

Speaker 2 [18:57] Amazing, amazing. So, young men, right? If you're going for the cougars, Dripolator. That is the way to do it. All right. Kimmy, American Eagle Home Inspection. Murph. Well, I gotta follow that.

Speaker 1 [19:07] I was gonna say, I'll do it in one word for you. America. You know, we are very patriotic. People, my husband and I, and as anyone who knows who's named a business, it's literally, like, a mad dash of a word search of words you love, words that embody what are what you're about, and then also, is the domain name available, is the Instagram handle available, and it all was. So the star is kind of aligned. We love it now, you know, America, right?

Speaker 5 [19:32] I love America. Perfect.

Speaker 2 [19:34] Yeah. All right. Jacob.

Speaker 5 [19:38] Uh, yeah, I'll try to make this one quick. We were test batching ginger beer. That's what we started with. And my business partner, Ben's wife, Vashti, we had ginger all over the kitchen, because as we started in her backyard. And she just picked one up and said it looked like a devil's foot. We were like at the time of trying to find names. I'm like, like you were saying, is just a giant chart of names. It rolls off the tongue pretty good. And so, yeah, that was it.

Ray Ray Hicks [20:07] All right, and Jacob, the next one's going to go to you and we'll go the other way. So, Jacob, how did your company get started, and when did you know you were on to something? Oh, dang.

Speaker 5 [20:17] When I see people in here like this. Yeah, that's right. Uh, we, yeah, just kind of got struck by lightning. We saw a hole in the market of what we wanted to do. So at the very beginning, I feel like we wielded into existence. We started with pretty much no money and we were just working all the time. Uh, and still kind of do. But, um, yeah, I think I think, um, when, you know, you're going to get positive feedback, you're going to get negative feedback, and it was pretty overwhelmingly positive. So that was helpful to keep going through the slog. Yeah.

Unknown [20:58] Teach me the ways.

Speaker 5 [21:00] All right, Kimmy.

Ray Ray Hicks [21:01] How did we get started? Yep, so how did you get started? And when were you like, okay, okay, let's keep doing this.

Speaker 1 [21:09] Um, well, you know, home inspections are just so rare that I was like, let's do that. Like many other home inspectors. You know, my husband and I were born and raised in construction, that's all we've ever done, moved to Candler, got a home inspection. We're like, that's easy. Let's do that. Not? Um, yeah, kind of just inspired. And then we've really kind of grown to love the real estate industry. And much like a lot of realtors, real estate folks, you know, we really caught fire during the COVID, kind of crazy, mad dash. And, yeah, kind of just really tries to capitalize on that and make it our own and keep growing.

Speaker 4 [21:45] Okay, so, I lucked out, because, again, Amy, it started driple later, and when we came together, the thought was, you know, we don't want to go into downtown. We kind of want to stay in the suburbs, kind of like how Black Mountains is a small town, small community. Let's do some coffee in small communities. Got lucky with Chandler, which is where we went next. And it was pretty quickly, we just saw really fast that it was a space where people could come and have coffee and create community, and it just sort of blew up, and we kind of, like, three months in, like, okay, we're onto something. Let's keep going into small communities, and stay away from downtown.

Speaker 2 [22:18] So, kind of on that note. So I'm a coffee snob. I've got all the accoutrements at home and everything. And so, not far from my house, they opened up this tripolator, and I was like, right? And so, I showed up, man, latte art and microphone. I was like, All right, I can do this. And that's how I met Josh. That was, like, yours in the making. That's how this all happened. So, we'll keep going back and forth here. So, Josh, so you have joined during a time of growth, right? And so our question here is, how have you stayed consistent in your brand and values while growing quickly?

Speaker 4 [22:47] Yeah, I'll try and make it quick. It's funny, we actually had a conversation probably a year ago where we were starting to expand, we had the third shop on our radar, and we were like, we need to have, like, a mission statement, a clear brand statement, and so we spend hours pouring into, like, who are we? And to this day, we still don't have something that, like, we could just recite to you. It's more a feeling of, we really love coffee, and we really want to take coffee into places where it's maybe underserved.

And as long as we feel like, through our own ways of judging, that it is up to the quality that we've always wanted, that still excites us, without, like, lowering standards in any way, then we'll keep going. And so that's kind of our, like, rubric or guide as we go in, and we'll try our own coffee, and if we're still happy with what we're doing, we're gonna keep going.

Speaker 1 [23:31] I love it. Well, our business is a little different. Obviously, we're in, like, more so of a service industry, but I feel like as we grew, I feel like our hiring process was really important to us because, unlike these two, we don't have a storefront, we don't have product, you know, we are our product. So just being really intentional with our hiring process. hiring people who are like us, you know, like I said, we're a husband and wife team, but one of our female inspector, Lindsay, is here, but just really, yeah, one of the first operating female home inspectors in Western North Carolina. So, really, just... It's here for Lindsay, everybody.

Um, but yeah, just trying to hire people, you know, who embodied who we were. So that's kind of a great example of that.

Speaker 5 [24:16] Yeah, I think I'll kind of echo that a little bit. I think building our team very intentionally, has helped us stick with the values that we started the company with, which was creating something healthier, more flavorful and kind of celebratory. And what we saw as a pretty stagnant market. Yeah, that end just, you know, we started as well, you know, doing a lot of community events, just supporting, sponsoring, giving product, getting cans and hands. And we continue to do that with a smile on our face. I feel like that was kind of the main goal is just be like, let's just do this for not only just us, but everybody else. So, yeah. That's where we're at.

Speaker 2 [25:02] So just kind of on that. So obviously, devil's foot supports us by letting us use their space. And Kimmy and American Eagle are another supporter of AVLmeetup, so the community works the cans and hands, right? That's the thing. It works. So, yeah, Josh. I drink your coffee. What can I do for you, Zach?

Ray Ray Hicks [25:19] Okay, so Jacob will stay with you. So the only thing constant in life is change, right? So how have you ensured that your team has been able to buy in despite times of change?

Speaker 5 [25:29] That's a good question. Um... Should we do a lot of team meetings? In fact, my office is about 90 feet from here. And then right on the other side of that wall is a big community table and we actually all sit down and have lunch together pretty much every day. So, you know, we try to keep things into perspective. We are a growing company. You know, stuff gets hectic sometimes, but it's also making soda. So let's let's not lose our heads over it. So yeah, we just, and I think it goes back to curating a team and, you know, making people feel valued through actions and words. So, yeah, that's, I think, how we've been able to do that so far. Awesome.

Speaker 1 [26:24] Thank you. Kimmy? Kind of the same, tangent. Just, obviously, like I said, we're service-based and we don't really have a home base. So making sure we have those systems in place to make sure everyone stays in touch, being essentially remote. And that's definitely evolved over the years. You mentioned a mission statement. I mean, we didn't put a mission statement together until this year. We were founded in 2017. So just really finding value in these business tactics. I mean, my dad was like, you gotta have a business plan. I was like, it's fine. My plan is to make money, and I'll figure it out after that.

So, you know, really going back to, like, business 101, now we have team meetings, we do a lot of social media. If you don't follow us, follow us, American Eaglehome Inspection.com, or American Eagle inspection. But we bond over that. And obviously, then they get to see the fruits of that labor, and obviously them making a paycheck supports their lifestyle, and we want to make sure that's important to them and to us. So, really pouring into our team and making sure they're happy first, 'cause that reflects in our business.

Speaker 4 [27:18] Yeah, I'm just gonna echo what they're saying, which is building a team that shares a lot of your values and are excited about what they're doing or passionate about the work they're doing. We also want to make it equitable, so, like, we're living wage certified, and we want to be transparent with how we're growing the business, and how we want to make sure that it's worth it for them to be able to survive in Asheville, which, as we all know, is a pretty expensive place to live. And then outside of that, it's just sharing the passion of the growth and trying to help them see the vision for where we're going, and we're very fortunate because everyone's pretty excited. So, yeah.

Speaker 2 [27:49] If you're a general contractor looking to build a spec home or a real estate investor wanting to build a rental property, a duplex, or even a small multifamily property, then you want to talk to John Sarver or Craig Peters with Alfie. Alfie is well established in the real estate investing community and is funded over $425000000 in loans to real estate investors over the last 9 years. The team is community focused and has helped 100s of real estate entrepreneurs with their real estate investment projects, including both Rodrigo and I. They even bought drinks for everyone when we had to switch venues last year.

Craig and John regularly attend ABL meetups, so try to say hi since they're always ready to answer construction financing questions. On the other side of their business, Alfie Investors is a private debt fund that accepts investment capital from accredited investors and puts it to work in the communities across North and South Carolina. Alfie is a collateralized and defensive investment option that has historically provided predictable and consistent returns to their investors. Alfie is currently accepting new investor capital, so please reach out to John or Craig at Alfie to request a prospectus or set up a meeting to learn more. You can find more at alfieloans.com, ALFIEloans.com. Awesome.

Actually, kind of jumping ahead. One of the next questions is about actual is expensive, right? But so this question, we'll go back this way. And so this is kind of a personal question. So answer this, how you see fit, right? And so the question is, word for word here on this card. is had you fund this here thing, right? But, uh, you have different paths. So you, at some point, bought in, it might be sweat equity, like, answer that as you see fit. You guys, mom and popped it for all intents and purposes. And I know at least that you guys, you're a NCEID grant recipient, among other things, right?

Speaker 5 [29:28] Yeah, a couple of them, actually.

Speaker 2 [29:30] Oh, well, actually, all right. We're going with you. Come back. Oh, okay.

Unknown [29:34] This working?

Speaker 5 [29:36] Anyway. Yeah, well, as I mentioned before, we started really, really, really bootstrappy. We have worked with Mountain Bizworks. If I didn't have a drink in my hand. I would snap. They really helped us a lot with some SBA stuff. NC idea as well. Incredible. We 1st got a micro seed grant from them and I want to say 2018. And it literally felt like we hit the lottery and then the next year we got a seed grant, which was 50 K, and that was incredibly helpful. I do have to give most of that credit to my business partner who's not here right now. He was in nonprofit work for like 15 years. Very talented on that level. But yeah, just a bunch of organizations really helped a lot.

I mean, even right now, we have some people on our payroll that are subsidized through the land of Sky organization that I think was funded from after the Canton paper mill closed down. There were some funds there. So just trying to stay creative about how we do, we want to pay people what they're worth, obviously, and it's not always feasible. So trying to get creative that way. That being said, we are in our 1st round of funding right now. So we're expanding and kind of moving forward. So it's a constantly evolving thing, which I kind of enjoy. personally. Awesome. Yeah. Kimmy.

Speaker 1 [31:13] I love it. Absolute 180. So like I said, I came from large scale commercial construction, so I came from the company that did 100s of million dollars to dollars a year. Payroll weekly was like 60 to 80 grand. I kind of vowed to myself never to do that ever again. So, you know, when we started home inspection business, it was intentional, right? We have very low overhead, we don't have an office. We don't necessarily have a product, so we don't need as much working capital as something like a beverage company. And then it was also important to me to build a sustainable model. We do commission only.

So, I do believe our inspectors are paid very fairly, even though it's very hard to compete with Chick Fil A nowadays. They're $19 an hour, but being commissioned only also, we're not tied to a salary, but then also, your employees are motivated. So I think building sustainable models and really knowing your numbers, um, the book profit 1st is one of my favorite, and I'll probably mention it multiple times, but, um, you know, and knowing your own number, you know, if you're an owner working in your business or your solopreneur in real estate, really know the value of your time, and try and work yourself out of that sweat equity as soon as you can.

Speaker 2 [32:17] So, quick shout out. David Richter, who wrote the Profit for Real Estate, one of our speakers, check it out if you haven't already.

Ray Ray Hicks [32:24] Yeah, he's spoken for us twice. Yeah, I am. Yeah, all right. Keep coming.

Speaker 2 [32:27] Um, so basically, you are essentially revenue funded, for the most part, other than some seed funding that you... Correct.

Speaker 1 [32:34] Yeah, I mean, we've done, you know, like small credit. credit loans, bridge loans, stuff like that. But, I mean, nothing more than a couple 1000 dollars. Amazing.

Speaker 2 [32:41] Super cool. And now the man of the hour.

Speaker 4 [32:43] Yeah, you know, you can try and find somebody who already has a successful business and convince them to get you in on sweat equity, vision and hope and a prayer. And honestly, that's that, fortunately for me, is my story. Now, I will say that beyond that, being creative with the ways that you find funding is important, I think not locking yourself into one or two ways, but being open to whatever way will get you to push the ball forward, as long as you kind of understand the risk, and that's what we've done.

Speaker 2 [33:10] So just everyone listening. If you want to start your own business, we have three totally different approaches to it, right? Like, where there is a will, there are a way. If you're a mover in sugar, you'll figure it out.

Ray Ray Hicks [33:19] So this kind of circled back to the Asheville pay situation. So have you found it challenging then? I know you guys kind of touched on it, but have you found it challenging to hire employees because of the race of cost in Asheville?

Speaker 4 [33:32] So I think we've gotten really lucky, because word of mouth from our own employees, we have, it was something we always thought would be a concern, would be hiring, as we expanded, and so far, we've just been forced. and people have come to us, and we found really great people. But I think that comes back to the fact that we really value those who work for us, and, uh, and we sort of preach, that you really, if you tell us who you want to work here, it's probably somebody that you want to work with, so, like, find who it is that you want to work with and bring them to us, and then we'll take it from there. So that's really been the philosophy, and it's helped.

And I also think being living wage certified has been a really big deal, so...

Unknown [34:08] Awesome. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [34:09] Yeah, I think we're in a little bit different position, 'cause they're kind of front of the house service, where, I mean, we're hiring licensed professionals, so obviously, it's a different pay scale, obviously, far above living wage. But I also think it's important to know your market, 'cause we got into coaching, and, you know, we're into coaching group with home inspection companies in Florida, and all over the country, and they have different standards, different communities, and we really found a struggle with, you know, they're like, Oh, you gotta pay hourly. And I said, well, that doesn't really float in our local community.

So know your market, know your competition, but also just, I think he kind of touched on, build something that attracts people, right? You know, we recently hired someone, and they said that one of the reasons they came to work for us was because of all of our Google reviews. So you never know when your forward facing reputation really works for you. So work really hard on that and company culture, and I feel like that'll truly attract the people you want to work with.

Speaker 5 [35:00] Yeah, that's really well said. I agree wholeheartedly with that. And I think that's, you know, we we haven't really, I wouldn't say struggled wouldn't be the right word, but, um, yeah, I think, yeah, I think it's a giant waste of time and money too, when you have staff turnover, to train people on your SOPs, et cetera, et cetera, uh, all of that. So, um, trying to make people as sticky as possible, which goes back to what I was saying, you know, value who they are as people try to make them feel wanted and valued while also, uh, you know, trying to have fun a little bit. We try to have fun. It's like, doesn't work doesn't have to be terrible all the time.

Uh, so, uh, yeah, I, I think to echo that, yeah, just trying to, uh, make something that's attractive and I, I think we've done that. So.

Speaker 2 [35:58] So a fun quick shout out to Miranda, who is not here. She's doing yoga right now, right? I mean, that's what she said. Yeah, that's what she said, but we're onto you. But Miranda helps throw this whole thing. So if you guys come and you like the coordination, she's definitely one of the people that makes that possible. All right, so we have a three-part question, but it's 3 individual questions. So one at a time here, right? So if you've come at all or paid attention today, then you know we believe in the net profit philosophy, networking education and transaction, right? So I guess we'll start with you, Jacob, and come back. So networking, the way we have it here, right?

Was there a relationship or series of relationships that helped you build your business?

Speaker 5 [36:33] There's absolutely no question that we couldn't have done this without our collective networks to start at just no way possible. I lived here for 14 plus years before we even started this thing, a business partner around the same invaluable, like couldn't have done it without it. So the whole thing, I guess. Great answer. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 [36:54] Yeah, I was going to say, I'm almost speechless, like, we would not exist without it. I didn't, that's one thing I didn't realize getting into home inspections, right? You get your home inspection license, your real estate license, and you're like, put up your Google Business page and you're just gonna sit back and wait for the, wait for the calls to come. They do not. You know, I grossly underestimated the amount of networking required. And for me, my really philosophy is don't reinvent the wheel. You know, find people, successful people in the community, either in your same industry.

You know, I emulate a lot of lenders or other people in my realm that are also volume-based, you know, volume driven. Um, so 100%, tons of networking, um, because, yeah, it takes 100s of lead sources to sustain the amount that we need, you know, the amount of revenue we need to operate. So, yeah. Honestly, the key to success and home inspections, like, it's almost inspections, good inspections are important, but networking and getting yourself out there is paramount.

Speaker 4 [37:52] Yeah, never underestimate the power of a conversation, and I think it's really easy in coffee, especially, we see a lot of people every day that we get to have conversations with, so we get to, we're just networking all the time, and I think really early on, you realize how important it is, because you need a painter, and, oh, wow, Bob, who's been here every day, is a painter, or maybe you know somebody in the coffee community who has this special tool you need to roast with, and you've been having conversations over coffee, so you can ask for that tool. But again, in coffee, it's kind of easy. It's right there at your doorstep.

Ray Ray Hicks [38:24] Awesome. So, starting with you, Josh. So, what were you studying at the beginning, and what are you studying now? So how is your education and self growth transitioned?

Speaker 4 [38:35] That's interesting. I mean, I think that in the beginning, it was a lot of watching trends on social media for coffee. And so, which was great, but also dangerous, and what we've realized now, and where we've changed, is that you have to be careful with trends and trends fade, and there are things, there are absolutes that remain. And so now we've shifted, we still pay attention, because social media is really important, but now it's also looking at maybe more researched things like Stumptown, or if we're talking about coffee, just guides that have a little bit more research and knowledge behind them, and knowing when a trend is a trend, being able to see that.

Speaker 2 [39:09] I just went on a baby moon vacation, I had lent out my spare grinder, and so I had to get some stumptown preground, and it was horrible. It's a tripleator, right? whole bean. Come on. Hold it again. First of all, give me education.

Speaker 1 [39:24] Um, I love it. Yeah. I mean, when we started, it was trial by fire. Like I said, a lot of emulation, and I feel like I started, like I said, trying to emulate a lot of other home inspectors, but I really have learned the most from people like this. Rodrigo, especially, I remember, I was on Facebook, and I saw a clip of his radio show that he used to do, and I was just like, how does this guy get a radio show? I'm gonna do that. How do I, you know, don't reinvent the wheel copy. And you would be surprised how many people in your exact shoes in your exact industry are willing to help you. Ask people, find community.

And if you're too embarrass yourself, conscious to find someone in your market, find somebody outside your market. You know, there's plenty of examples out there. And one last thing, so we now do coaching, which I think we'll get into in a little bit, but 100% that has been key to us.

Speaker 2 [40:11] Quickly on that, you may have noticed that Rodrigo got a lot prettier. But, um, so I'm joined here by Rebe tonight because Rodrigo fell under the weather, and these are tough guys. So the fact that he called it at the last minute, we all miss him. We all miss him.

Speaker 5 [40:22] Mr. Jacob. Uh, yeah, it's kind of a two-part one for me, one echoing that we, early on, just being having lived here for so long, uh, knew a bunch of beverage producers personally. So just still talking to people as we all grow has been super helpful. And then I do all of the art and design stuff. So on that level, I'm just just staying, trying to stay creative and learning through practice, I guess. I don't know, just on that tip, kind of like, what's the word? What's the phrase? I'm trying to say, just really learning from other people more than studying, you know, reading a book. I mean, books are great, but you know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't know, just really focusing on what I personally think other people do. well, I think, as a big teacher for me personally. Awesome.

Speaker 2 [41:18] All right. So to switch it up, we'll go to Mr. Josh first. All right. So the last one is transactions of the net profit, right? So can you pinpoint a transaction that unlocked your growth, whether that's a client purchase, something you purchase, an investment in the company, just what transaction, if you could tie it back, maybe was like, wow, that was a turning point?

Speaker 4 [41:35] I think this is a hard question to answer in the world of coffee, because there aren't any crazy big transactions you're making. I mean, besides, like, where you get your call. Like, did you buy one for Amy one day and say, what's up? Well, all right. If we want to go all the way back. Okay. Certainly, yeah. I mean, I think even then, because that was more relational. I mean, sure we had a cup of coffee and then we continue to have more cups of coffee. So that was a big one. But I don't know. Yeah, I don't even think I can think of an example.

Speaker 2 [42:03] You hear that people buy TripleA or coffee and you'll get a business. That's what I heard, right? There you go. Thank you, Zach. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [42:09] For free with sweat equity. like that. Yes, very specifically. And I think I didn't realize it till later, we had a particular agent who, it's funny, he called me. He was like, my client said he wanted to use you, you know, can we do this? I'm like, yeah, awesome, great, thanks. He's one of our top producing agents and last year, I think we did over 60 transactions for him. Been valuable because we both need each other, right?

Obviously, I like to think that we provide a service that enhances their business as well, but he has been incredibly truthful and telling and one of, you know, he sometimes says he's probably too hard on us, but really it helps us grow and makes us both better at our job. So, I'll say that. Do not ever hesitate to give your service providers feedback. Please, please, please. Even if you've already made your intention to leave, hey, give some feedback, who wouldn't want that? So take that to bit with you.

Speaker 5 [43:00] Um, yeah, I don't, I mean, the grants were very helpful. Scaling a business is crazy. And it continues to be wild. So there's a bunch of them that I could name. But if we want to go back to the kind of Josh vibe. Yeah, me having an idea to go to Ben, which that idea didn't work out, which led to this idea, which now led to us sitting here all in this room. So, you know, it's just, uh, yeah, kind of kind of going for things.

And I, I, this is one thing I wanted to say, which, just because I rarely have a microphone in front of this many people, is the idea of not being super duper, duper stuck in your ways, uh, when you have an idea and kind of letting things flow at you and, uh, kind of matrix it and, uh, like because, you know, it's, you know, after the 1st year of having this business, it looked very different than I thought it was going to. And after 2 years, it looked very different after fight. So I think that's an important thing that I wanted to say.

Ray Ray Hicks [44:04] And Jacob, you mentioned too, the 1st idea didn't work. So I think that's also something that we can all take and harness that sometimes our wonderful ideas start out by failing forward, right, and do a new idea. So, okay, so next question is, we'll go ahead and start with you, Josh. What business did you wish existed locally? That would help you grow. So if someone's looking to start a business.

Speaker 4 [44:29] Okay, again, this is super related to coffee, but please, milk delivery. My lord, there's like one option, and they've got the market, then it's tough. They want to be the milkman. Yeah, yeah, please. I'm gonna get in on that because we'll pay good money. But yeah, it's truly, that's the one for us.

Speaker 1 [44:48] I don't really. Today I was looking for a pool inspector. So if anyone knows any good pool inspectors. Um, yeah, and right on mitigation, I feel like there's a need. This is thrilling stuff. I'm aware. But yeah, no, I don't have as fun of an answer as milk delivery.

Speaker 5 [45:03] Yeah, this is a really personal question, isn't it? Because I'd be like, yeah, somebody make me a bunch of cans for cheaper. Here locally? You guys can do this? Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't know. That's why that's it. Thumbs up cans.

Speaker 2 [45:21] Yeah. Cans of milk? Interesting. So in Canada, they sell milk in a bag. People don't believe that. It's true. But fun, random fact for tonight. So I guess going back, and you kind of answered this, but so it was the rapid growth intentionally, did you're like, we're going to start a company, like, because that's an intentional decision, if you're like a venture capital backed company, or like, this has to grow 100 X or whatever it is. Was it, did it just kind of happen organically? Like, do you catch lightning in a bottle? Or did you set out to have where you're at?

Speaker 5 [45:50] I definitely had big eyes from the beginning. Like I said earlier, kind of looked at the market. Definitely didn't invent craft soda, but we do do, we do it a little different by working with farms directly. So, like, my biggest compliment. People were like, oh, it tastes real. And it's like, it is. Which feels great because, I mean, that's what we set out to do. Yes, and scaling, yeah, like looks so different. So it's like, you know, I was a bartender and a musician and an artist when I got struck by lightning about that other idea. Um, So, like I said, I had big eyes, it was intentional, we're going to keep going. Uh, but it's, it's a lot of work. Um, you know.

And we, and it's, you know, a lot of help from a lot of different people. So, you know, couldn't do it without them.

Speaker 1 [46:48] Like I said, in my intro, we did ride the COVID wave a bit. I definitely feel like we were very lucky to have that kind of jet fueled start, but I knew that when that kind of tapered out, you know, we have all the interest rates and stuff, I had to be very intentional of keeping that momentum. So definitely 10 X to all of our marketing efforts, stuff like that, because we definitely have personal goals. You know, we want time, freedom, location freedom. So really having a laser focused vision and then doing the efforts to support that is kind of what we've been going on.

Speaker 4 [47:21] Yeah, the laser focused vision is important. So I spent before I was with Amy, I actually ran Starbucks stores for 7 years, and I spent all 7 years of those thinking about how one day I'd like to have coffee shops and that refine itself over the years to a point of, oh, we want to do drive-through coffee shops, and that was the plan. And at some point, you pull the trigger and you go for it. And the idea, I think I pitched to Amy, 100 stores in 10 years, which is like, this is crazy, but I think it's good to be radical and to just sort of go for it.

And I also think it's been said tonight that when you're scaling, when you 1st start, and certainly was the case for us, we had this idea that we would do drive through stores, and that there's this market for. And then we found that actually, there's a lot of complexity there, and people still really like cafes. They're easier and they make good money. So we shifted. So now two years into it, and we're going on store 4, and they've all been cafes, except for that first one. And but that's our lane, and we've kind of refined ourselves down, but we're still gunning for that number, even if we don't hit it. We want it, you know?

Speaker 2 [48:19] So, I'm sure you've read, like, the Howard Short story of Starbucks and... They forced us. Yeah. Well, oh, yeah, that's true because you're one of them, right? So how long how long have you or you were? How long have you been with Triple A and how many stories?

Speaker 4 [48:32] So it'll be, let's see, 3 years ago? Almost to the month is when we would visit Asheville the whole time I was at Starbucks, but Amy and I went back all the way to 2010. Um, and we would get coffee a couple times a year. So we were getting coffee this last time, 3 years ago, and I finally was like, You know what? I love Driple later. I see its potential as a brand. This is what I've had in my head, and I'd love to do it with you. And here's how I just sort of laid it out. And she said, you know what, I would do it with you. I said, Okay, let's go.

So we spent a year FaceTiming, planning, and then we found Candler, and I quit my job and moved up here the same month, and three weeks later, we opened Candler.

Speaker 2 [49:09] And, yeah. And so now you've got South Asheville, you're working on Tunnel Road. That's right. Any secrets you want to divulge here? No secrets. But tunnels be open soon.

Speaker 4 [49:18] Yeah. We'll keep going as long as we still are passionate and feel like we are serving people the way that we want to be served ourselves, you know?

Speaker 2 [49:25] All right, do you want to lead off the lightning round or moving to the lightning round?

Ray Ray Hicks [49:29] Lightning round, a.k.a. quickly. So, we'll go ahead and start with you, Josh, and quickly, most important failure and lesson learned.

Speaker 4 [49:37] Absolutely. So when we got Camler, we were just so excited that we found this building that fit all of our criteria and checked every box, and the guy who had it, it was a coffee shop previously, you know, he named the price, and we were so excited that we just paid that price. And now, two years later, when I think back, and I thought about this, you know, lost sleep over it. We paid way too much money for what we got. But we were just so excited. So what we've learned is temper yourself a little bit. amazing.

Speaker 1 [50:05] Obviously, like I said, we're a people business, so I think hiring has become a challenge. You know, as you grow, like I said, to maintain that culture you want to maintain. So, yeah, learning lessons in hiring and just being intentional.

Speaker 5 [50:19] One of my biggest failures was tonight for not shouting out our bartenders, Jake and Atlanta. Sorry about that. Hey. Everybody tip your bartenders.

Speaker 2 [50:29] Big tips, big tips.

Speaker 5 [50:30] One of my biggest lessons, I guess, was early on was just like, not everybody's going to like it, and that's okay. Don't lose sleep over that because it's up to us and everybody, you know, that was for me. That was a big one.

Speaker 2 [50:43] That's big. All right, so I've reread this last one now that I'm on stage and it's kind of funny. If you answer no, the next question of why is interesting. right? So do you have a business coach, yes or no, then why?

Speaker 5 [50:54] I do not personally. Although I definitely have... No, I have thought about it. And I, but I've just, I don't know. I'm busy. Nailed it. We'll get you off the hot seat. Kimmy.

Speaker 1 [51:07] 100%. And this was fairly recent. I mean, most people in any business, you know, real estate especially, get a coach, get a coach, get a coach, and you're like, oh, okay, I'll get a coach. And I've had a lot of bad coaches, which was really unfortunate, but yes, we recently found, you know, our diamond and the rough, there is a nationwide inspection coaching company, so they do, you know, group coaching and then individual coaching. absolutely game changing. So now I believe when people say when if you've got a good coach, it'll it'll make all the difference in your business. And trust me, you'll earn far more than it'll ever cost.

Speaker 4 [51:37] No, we do not. One day I could see it. I think we need to know ourselves inside and out before we would take somebody else's opinion on so that we can know when to say no and move forward.

Speaker 2 [51:47] This is some world-class deflection. I like that. That was great. Hey, thanks. think you're up, right?

Ray Ray Hicks [51:52] Yeah, well, your coach can also help you with that. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Whoa, whoa. So, on that note, at least, do you go to a mastermind? And if not why?

Speaker 2 [52:03] What is that? I realize that these are very accusatory questions. A mastermind is not.

Ray Ray Hicks [52:08] How about if I say it different? Do you go to a mastermind? No.

Unknown [52:11] The tone of help?

Speaker 2 [52:12] All right, no. All good. Kimmy clearly does.

Speaker 1 [52:14] Okay, you need to start a mastermind for coffee owners. Like I said, once we joined this community of home inspections, it is absolutely blown my mind. So every Wednesday morning, there's 4 of us, actually, female, you know, wife co-owners that mastermind. And like I said, that coaching company, we do twice annual retreats, will absolutely blow your mind. I highly recommend.

Speaker 4 [52:35] So it's similar, it's people in the similar business who are just meeting together to talk about that business. Is that to create a mastermind about the business?

Speaker 1 [52:43] Sharing your struggles, sharing techniques, but also what I think I love about our group in particular is they're all over the country. Like I said, that particular mastermind. One is in the DC metro area. One is in Ohio, one is in Michigan. So it's nice to get opinions, but not be self-conscious about being in your own market.

Unknown [53:01] Coaching company. Okay, I like that.

Speaker 5 [53:04] Josh, you want to start a mastermind? You want to go for it?

Speaker 2 [53:06] You guys need to know each other.

Speaker 5 [53:07] Your products are in his fridges. ideas.

Ray Ray Hicks [53:09] We're eating coffee. That's enough. didn't know what a mastermind was.

Speaker 5 [53:14] They're not in real estate, clearly. Yeah, the answer is all the time. But as I've said before, I definitely have sat down over many a beer with local, successful business owners and pick their brains to fruit.

Speaker 2 [53:30] All right, so kind of on that note, we'll modify the question just for you. right? So it's what has been a foundational book, course, or beer with someone, that have you change how you approach running your business.

Speaker 5 [53:41] I'm gonna try to be really short, but it's gonna be weird. Yes. I, uh, I'm a very, like, uh, business is, like life is, like, business is, like, life is, like, business. So, I don't know. I read, I like Alan Watts a lot, so I just go back to him every now and again, some Zen stuff. I just try to stay calm even when the place is, you know, figuratively burning down, which is not all the time, but sometimes, uh, we sponsored a music fest in Knoxville, and uh, the trucking company lost like 4 of our pallets of cans. It happens. And it was like, oh, I need to leave this meeting that I'm in to go figure this out.

And we figured it out, you know, just gotta stay, keep the blood pressure low, but that didn't answer your question at all, but that's what. like the story.

Speaker 2 [54:30] This is great. This is great. Kimmy, book, of course. Change approach to business.

Speaker 1 [54:34] Book. The E myth revisited, who's read it? If you have not, Chandra, I love you. That is going to be the 1st book you read, so the e myth is essentially the myth revolving around entrepreneurship, um, like he was speaking to me, right? You know, so now I kind of take the altruism of, you want to create a business, not a job. You know, if you are a key to your business and you don't have systems and processes, if you can't walk away or sell that one day, you don't have a business, you have a job. Congrats. So it's just one of the most powerful books. And then obviously he coaches you on how to get out of that scenario. So, yeah.

Speaker 2 [55:12] So, the example you use in the book is a baker, but it could be a coffee shop person where you're like, right, that... do this. Learning a lot tonight. You're in a mastermind right now.

Speaker 4 [55:24] I think, and this is really specific, I think, the hospitality, but it's unreasonable hospitality, if you know that book, and I cannot tell you the author at the moment, because that's how the brain works, but a fantastic book, that's it.

Ray Ray Hicks [55:37] Awesome. Okay, so, Josh, what is the most exciting problem that you're working right now right now?

Speaker 4 [55:44] Exciting problem. Okay. Supply chain. When you get to have multiple stores, and you've got to get, you know, coffee and baked goods to all of these stores and, you know, supply chain. Definitely.

Speaker 2 [55:56] I like to talk about, there's, like, a fun meme that goes around the internet of how often, or how long in between guys talk about the expansion of the Roman Empire, and that's supply chain and logistics. This is, we're talking Roman Empire. here, right? So.

Speaker 1 [56:09] Kimmy. I love it. And like I said, once again, we're a people business. So we are hiring, if you know anyone wants to be a home inspector. So, yeah, really exciting growth, you know, and kind of having that exponential growth and making sure we maintain our culture. So hiring. Finding good people.

Speaker 5 [56:24] Yeah, I'll echo both of those things actually. So that's it. Yeah. People and growing is it's pretty wild. And exciting.

Speaker 2 [56:34] All right, so to turn the mastermind around on you guys, right? We are committed to getting you out of here at 7.30. It is 7.15. So, we've got this super... Well, actually, first, if we can get a round of applause for our speakers and being so bored. All right. So we've got this really nifty tool here. It's called the Catchbox, if you haven't seen it. I'm gonna chuck it at your face, right? So, first person, whoever has a question, I'm gonna gently lob it towards you. So just raise your hand, and if you're not too far, there we go, sir. Hell, left handed, boom, and he caught it. Thank you. So you just use it, Tuck. So Chuck into it. This works. Sound guy? Are we doing the thing? Hello?

Ooh, the forest. Nailed it. Do I need to be that close? Can you hear me still? Nope, closer. Like this? I get it. Okay. Yes, this rocket. fine. We're working on it. working on it.

Speaker 4 [57:25] So, you guys spoke to staying flexible with your business, especially, I remembered you mentioning finance, being open to many options. Um, My question is, also laser focused vision. And so my question is, can you speak to maybe how you navigate the difference between having a laser focused vision and remaining flexible and not stuck in your ways?

Speaker 2 [57:52] I struggle with that. I have a seat. Who's that for? Anybody? Who's taking it?

Speaker 1 [57:56] I can say a little bit. I mean, like I said, this has been a very recent realization as well. I think the coaching helped a lot with it. But having a vision of a 1000 stores or 5 employees or whatnot doesn't dictate how you got there, right? So that's what he said. So it's like how he gets to 1000 stores is not the point. It's the vision of getting there and staying flexible and being willing to pivot.

Unknown [58:20] Well said.

Speaker 2 [58:22] Lay her clapping, I hear, yes. There you go. All right. We're dropping the mic. Beautiful. All right, so if you would like to lob the catch box to the next person, Who is the next person? Who has a question? No pressure. Anybody? Going once. It's very light. Yeah, pick someone. That's fine. Oh, we got a handbag there. You might need to do 2 lobs. Or you can try, go for it. The gentleman in the hat. Oh it's going there we go. That was good. So, great promo for the catch box. It's in foam. The mic is fine. We'll find out here in a second, but Yo, can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right. So as a small business, what what makes you happy and how do you get great reviews?

Speaker 5 [59:20] I'll go with that. Um, I think I kind of alluded to it from the beginning, but we started the business with the idea of like, let's do something for everyone else as well as ourselves. So we could make a lot more money if we used way less high quality ingredients. And we could probably make it taste pretty similar. So that makes me happy knowing that I'm doing the best I can for a product that a lot of people are interacting with. Good reviews. Uh, you want to leave us? Everyone in this room. You gotta ask. You gotta ask. I don't really focus on that too much, but that's just a personal thing. So.

Speaker 1 [1:00:09] I'll say real quick, ask for them. And we pay for a software to gather them. One of the best investments we've ever made in our business. So ask for them, be intentional. And ask for them for everyone. And here's the number one tip. If you want a review, give a review and ask for one in return. No one will ever be mad about receiving a good review.

Speaker 2 [1:00:29] If you've gone to any real estate coaching at all, Like, one of the scripts is always like, you know, I want to, I want to make sure that we have a referable experience, that you feel comfortable leaving me a review. Day one. Like, when you're meeting them. So as we're going through this, give me feedback, you know? So these are coachable moments.

Speaker 4 [1:00:44] Yeah, the only thing I would add to the good review thing is I think it comes back to the culture that you create with your business and that comes down to who you hire. And I think that you also have to let go of some of the bad ones. Some people just, for no reason at all, are gonna leave you a bad review. But again, if your culture is where you want it to be and your people are where you want them to be, overwhelmingly, you're going to have good reviews.

Speaker 2 [1:01:05] Beautiful answer, beautiful answer. All right, so the catch box is at the back. We have a question at the front. Can we make it? All right, here it comes.

Speaker 5 [1:01:15] So we hit the disco ball for the viewers at home. That's why we hung it. We hung it today.

Speaker 4 [1:01:21] Testing. Hello? Hey, so this question is for all three of y'all. When it comes to building your business, I know that takes a lot of time, when it comes to family, friends, and socializing, did you have to sacrifice any of that?

Ray Ray Hicks [1:01:37] If you say no, you're lying.

Speaker 5 [1:01:38] Yeah, 100%. Yes. You know, I've lost some relationships, romantic and otherwise. But gained some good ones too. So, you know, I think that the I don't have children personally, and I call this my baby. I understand that it's not the same thing, I do. Um, but yeah, it's uh, it's a, it's a slug. But I think having a really clear vision of what you want one way or the other is the most important thing to make those decisions.

Speaker 4 [1:02:20] Yeah, I'd love to add on to this. So I have 3 kids, and I think when you go into business for yourself, you have to have your eyes wide open and know that you're going to have to commit a significant amount of time to it. And so I think you also have to be really intentional with your time. And with creating time for those things that are really important to you, because I do think we can be super passionate and want to get to 100 stores, but you will burn out.

And so being intentional to find time for work-life balance, which I put in quotes, because that is really important, even when you're expanding, so you're killing yourself, but you're also making sure you find, even if it's a little bit to fill your cup, I think that's important.

Speaker 1 [1:02:54] Yeah, I love that. I have 2 small children, 2 girls. 3 and 5 or 3 and six. See? I'm so busy. I don't even know how old she is. Being intentional, laser focus. That is what gets you out of it. You know, you grind for a couple years, spend this sweat equity. And realize I can't do this forever, nor do I want to. This has to serve with purposes, has to serve my life. So we've gotten very intentional. you know, this past year, we have, we now homeschool our children between the 2 of us, and it's intentional. You've got an inspection? Great, I'll work from home, do what I need to do. And also I like the 8020 principle, right? What is it, 80% of the results come from 20% of the work.

My goal is to find that 20 and just do that. So being very intentional and focus with your time.

Speaker 2 [1:03:37] That's great answers. anybody else? Going once. This side of the room. Going twice. All right, beautiful. all won 7 minutes back of your life. All right, so if we could just have the final round of applause for our speakers, thank you so much. Whenever the clicker cooperates, Bam, all right, and we're hiding, everybody. So next one is gonna be lead generation. Thank you all for showing up. We'll see you next month, hopefully. The show is over, but the place is open. Stay talk amongst yourselves the network. Thanks, everyone. Hey, guys, Rodrigo here wanted to say thank you for taking the time to listen into this month's panel conversation.

We hope that you join us in person at next month's meeting. You can find out more at AVLmeetup.com. We primarily meet on the 1st Tuesday of every month, but be sure to check out our website, AVLmeetup.com. You can also watch this conversation on YouTube at AVLmeetup. Also, I have a quick announcement. We started a property management company called Vesta Property management. So if you're looking for 3rd party management for long-term rental, we'd love the opportunity to talk to. Our goal at Vesta is to turn houses into homes and investments in 2 returns.

If you're looking to work with a third-party management company that will allow you to have peace of mind and experience freedom around rentals. Uh, reach out to us. We can help make that happen for you. That's the PM.com. What's going on, everyone? Zach here to close it out before you sign off for the day. If you liked the data driven portion of today's meetup, then I'd love to take a moment to tell you about the Ruiz Report and REMC.co. If you're a real estate professional, then you know that you should become the local economist of choice, but you're probably unsure of how to learn the skills required. That's where the Ruiz Report comes in.

We offer customized marker reports to promote your business, training videos so you'll learn how to interpret the market data, and monthly quizzes to keep you sharp. Learn more at resreport.com and sign up for a free account to watch all of our training videos at no cost. If you're more interested in the live data and some data and analytics dashboards, then I highly suggest you check out ramc.co. REMC.co is the 1st of its kind data and analytics dashboards for the real estate industry. Now you have to be an active participating member of the MLS in order to sign up, but it is unparalleled data on every market participant, whether that's an office, a listing, or one of the realtors.

Again, you can find out more about REMC.co at REMC.co. As always, thanks for listening, and we hope to see you at one of our next meetups. If you can't make it and you still want to be part of the movers and shakers, then sign up for a free account at AVLmeetup.com and get yourself into our member directory. Thanks again. See you next month.