June 20, 2025 • 54 mins
Joyce and Han are back, mid-May, mid-chaos, mid-contemplating mortality. In this episode, they talk through what it means to build something that lasts while still paying the bills. They reflect on burnout, unsolicited advice, running face-forward brands, and how the scariest parts of growth often come with the biggest shifts. Also: Yelp elites, the labubu phenomenon, and whether or not we’re all just “damaged Asians” doing our best.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, Joyce. Hey Hon, this is our podcast.
We All Look Alike. Yeah, it is.
We have had great response from people.
Yeah, it's been pretty cool. To the four people that like
commented, thank you it. Was actually three got three
ratings. Well, yeah, I guess one of them
(00:22):
was Bonnie, and he said it left him to die in the food cart.
He's a hater. It's OK.
I think the feedback's been pretty good so far, yeah.
How you feeling? How you doing?
Things have been hectic, life atwork, personal things.
Just had our baby shower that was crazy.
(00:44):
I felt pretty overwhelmed with just like the anticipation of it
and like what that was supposed to look like.
But ultimately when everyone showed up at once, I definitely
felt like I was going to have a panic attack.
But then it ended up being really nice being surrounded by
all the people that we care about.
Now that that's over, I mean, wewere kind of just like riding
the high on that one the day after.
(01:06):
Yeah. But now just catching up on more
work stuff. Right now is like when work is
just relentless. Yeah, it's just never ending.
It's all preparation for the only two and a half, three
months that we're going to make money.
It's crazy dude. It is crazy.
Or more than halfway through May.
We're more than halfway through May, and it's just how it is
(01:29):
here. We're not always going to be
busy because there's this rainy season, you know, winter, ice
storms, weirdos. So for us, the month of May is
the tester month for us on how busy we can get.
Yeah. Warm up.
The warm up and we've moved to the heist, which is in Southeast
(01:49):
Portland and it is fucking busy.That's so good.
First off, it's it's somewhat ofa diverse neighborhood.
However, when it's really busy, it looks like a middle-aged
Coachella show. Wow.
Yeah. Like people are elbow to elbow
fucking dogs everywhere. People are losing kids and
(02:10):
everybody they, it's amazing. I'm guilty of not having gone
yet, but it's on my list. I got to go check it out.
It is probably the highest evolution of a food cart pod
that I've ever been to. Sounds like it.
I just hear about the heist all the time.
There's a theme, there's a gigantic seating area inside the
seating area, there's a coffee shop, there's a bar, there's a
(02:32):
pinball. Wow.
And again, shout outs to the owners of The Heist.
And really having the vision andfollowing through with it 'cause
I see the landlord's always working.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so important.
It's so important and that is one of the things I'm truly now
realizing. I've always known this about
(02:52):
small businesses. Your business partner is your
landlord. They're going to dictate if
you're going to really make it or like kind of break it,
especially when it comes to support.
Can you call them if something breaks?
Can you depend on them to followthrough on what they said
they're going to do? I mean.
Yeah, they should have that responsibility.
(03:14):
They have to. That is the responsibility of a
landowner. Especially of a pod.
But especially in a pod. Yeah, you, you have to promote
that shit. You have to really get people
there. You got to get the buy in.
Yeah. And then you have to keep people
the last two places and these are two completely different
circumstances with the same result is that the hands are
(03:37):
tied. Yeah.
And whenever I hear the landlordsay like my hands are tied.
This is why I automatically default to.
Why do you own this land if you can't upkeep it?
Yep. If there's so many forces behind
you that cannot help you help us, why was it OK that you had
(03:58):
that much money to buy this land?
That's your responsibility, right?
And the people that you recruit to your pod are your star
athletes. You're supposed to really treat
them that way too. That is so true.
Yeah. So.
So for us, having to move from downtown to go to some place
(04:20):
that is out of the gate busy hasbeen amazing to keep up with.
This is the kind of busy I love.Yeah.
Having to be like, oh, we sold out by 2:00, I guess I'll run to
the store and get more shit. That's.
What I like to hear, yeah, especially at this point in May,
you're right. This is such a seasonal place
for business, even for us, like we're not a cart, we have a
(04:42):
brick and mortar. But yeah, the nice days are
ahead and it's just, yeah, essential months that we have to
capture. We were actually kind of
freaking out a little bit because looking at last year,
May was our busiest month of thewhole year and we're not
tracking the same this year. Yeah, I think we're like
(05:05):
halfway, halfway to that. But anyway, wise neighbor once
said don't look at it by by the days and the weeks.
Look at it by the months and like, try not to freak out too
much and just keep plugging away.
But yeah, we're just trying to figure out what happened.
But yeah. So in these slow times, what is
(05:26):
keeping you going? What's inspiring you to keep
going? Is it the same vision when you
started? Yeah, I mean, staying inspired
is a constant thing. I think we've talked about this
before and both of us can kind of agree on this.
It's like the biggest inspiration is to keep going
because we want to create our own reality and keep doing the
(05:49):
things that drive us and inspireus.
And for me, that's definitely interest driven, right?
Since starting this, I actually have never had such a public
facing role. We're in the store all the time
and of course that has its drawbacks too and it's
challenging. But as busy as our lives have
(06:09):
been and as much as we grind, like life's never felt fuller.
And I think that's because most of the people we interact with
are now like big parts of our community.
Met a lot of friends through this.
Relationships like ours have come out of having a small
business in Portland. So those things really drive me.
(06:29):
Like, I love the people I'm around.
I love the things that we get toshow up and do together.
And yeah, like it's always the also the alternative.
I don't want anything else. I want to continue building
something that will last throughtime for hopefully multiple
generations, which is so hard toimagine because never seen
anything more than a generation ahead.
(06:50):
Yeah, I don't know. I think it's really important to
just have that mindset for me. And I guess what inspires me is
even if maybe we haven't had thebest month so far yet, we are
still plugging away at so many different things, which include
we finally got to the point where we onboarded 2 teammates 2
(07:12):
weeks ago. So that was super essential.
Like I can't even tell you how how amazing that feels,
especially because initially it was kind of like not a fear
point, but like, Oh my God, we're going to have to hire.
What does that even mean? How we're going to find our
people? But ultimately, I think we got
pretty lucky. The people we got to interview
(07:34):
were awesome. And they've been on the team for
about two weeks now. And already we feel so much
relief in terms of like, wow, they fit in really great.
They totally get it. And to be able to trust someone
else with our babies. Like it's hard.
Yeah, it's hard, but it's also helps us like really imagine
what it's going to look like to be able to grow further from
(07:56):
this and be able to step away and tackle bigger concepts as
well, rather than being like really stuck in the day-to-day.
Yeah, So the grind gets a littlelike less stiff, right?
Yeah, yes, exactly. There's more flexibility there.
So I'm just excited for what this is going to mean for us
(08:18):
going forward, even though it's a big investment in many ways.
Yeah, it's it's just nice to be able to have some breathing
room. Yeah.
How about you? First off, Joyce, that was the
wrong answer. It's money.
Money is the inspiration for what we do.
OK, let's just be very Korean, very abruptly.
(08:40):
It's money. OK.
Is that what you say in an interview when they're like
what? What motivates you?
When people ask me in interviewswhat motivates me and they look
me in the eye, they can tell I'mlying.
Thirsty. I'm like no, I'm thirsty for
money. I've been grinding for 11
fucking years and I have the same socks from 2014.
(09:00):
OK, OK, no, I'm kidding. No, I agree though money.
Money is part of it. However, I will say some of the
things that inspire me are my customer interactions.
I will say that after a while, one of the things that shocked
me, that also inspires me is when I see the progression of
(09:21):
the customer's lives. I'll have somebody come in and
I'll, I'll see them and throughout the years I'll be
like, oh, cute puppy, sweet, your dog's really big now.
Oh my God. And one of the things because I
took a big break after the fire,it was like 3 years.
(09:42):
I remember I opened back up on Division Street and somebody
came up and they're like, Oh my God, so glad you're back open.
And I remember these, their faces, I'm like, what?
You have a kid now and you're still coming back, so seeing the
progression of time in my customers and they still come
back and to enjoy it is mind blowing.
(10:03):
That's so cool. And I get very inspired by doing
other events and seeing, maybe this is a little vapid to say,
but when I get to do other events and pop ups and fun
kitchen stuff, I always find it great to be able to look back
where I started when I was cooking, like making blooming
(10:25):
onions at Chili's. I would love to say that's a
lie, but it's not like I literally came from the world
where cooking was just not as glamorized.
Yeah. And so to think about that
person you grow up to be the little kid you looks up to or
needed. Yeah.
And sometimes I feel that. But most of the time I'm just
(10:46):
like, damn, little kid me would be disappointed.
I should be dead, I should be inprison by now.
Like I should have a whole blockthat's mine.
I'm totally exaggerating. Then I think you have to be
somewhat inspired everyday by the little things.
That's like success is you is a bar.
You have to constantly move it to get through.
(11:07):
For sure. Like the success bar for me is
recently raised because we've been so busy and the instant
thing that comes in is like sick.
All my bills are paid or Oh my gosh, I can pay off this loan.
And I hate that it's tied to money for me.
But sometimes in this situation right now, it is because it was
(11:27):
so dire from before. And so when I didn't have that
coming in my bar and my inspiration was like, OK, the
produce people to look kind of let me ride for a week.
I just have to make this money. But at least I got the produce
to make an O. That hits heavier, though, than
having money come in from all your sales.
(11:50):
To me, it's a more robust inspiration because it comes
from desperation versus right now where it's not out of
survival instincts it. I'm so so flinchy right now.
Like, yeah, is this real? Yeah, I ask myself all the time,
like, is this real? Like I'll wake up and see my
prep list and be like, Jesus, that is so much.
(12:10):
And then and then I'll just be like, shit, am I dead already?
Did I die? Is this what this is?
How? Long will this last.
How long is this going to last? What if somebody burns my cart
down again? Seriously, we can always depend
on you for being so real about that, too.
Money is definitely a huge thing.
Absolutely can't do any of thesethings without that.
It's a relief when it's there, but it's not guaranteed.
(12:33):
And yeah, bills need to be paid.And it's funny when you meet the
other side of people that are inspired by money, but they had
it to begin with and it just doesn't feel right.
That's when I look at certain people.
I'm like, you should have imposter syndrome.
You have 55 locations for your tea shop because your dad was
(12:54):
the fucking construction managerof all those buildings.
That's why their stuff doesn't hit as hard as someone else's,
you know? That's funny.
The other day I think when I texted you and I was like, hey,
we had more than 10 listens. We actually broke 100 and both
of us were in shock because we're like did have very low
(13:15):
expectations and you're like, are we damaged Asians?
I was like, shit, maybe we are. Or are we just humble?
I don't know. I was trying to reframe it
because I think I'm toxically positive.
Sometimes I try to have a positive outlook on everything
but. You are good at that.
(13:35):
I try, I try. You always bring up the money
and I'm like, that's so fucking true.
Money is always like financial stuff, always a trigger and
stress. But I don't talk about it.
I literally just bottle it up and just try to make it not be
real. But yeah, the the imposter
syndrome, yeah, it's definitely there.
I never had words for that growing up.
(13:57):
But I also don't think I'm not aconfident person.
Not that I aim low either, but yeah, it's funny that that was
our reaction. Yeah, for both of us.
Like I was like, I don't know who else tuned in.
But I feel like on the other side, like a white boy podcast
that starts up, I feel like theygo in with like all this
confidence and cockiness, like, oh, we're going to be the
(14:17):
coolest shits on the block. Like access rides, like we're
going to get cigars. I'm just going to fucking talk
shit. We already have merch.
Weird. Shit, we got merch, got hats and
shit, dude, we got branded cigar.
Like fuck you, man. And I think that's how we
damaged Asians. I remember sending you that and
I almost was like, yeah, let's see what?
(14:38):
Let's see what Joyce takes this.And it's so true.
You're very you always put a positive spin on it.
However, like, I think also likegoing back to the money thing
and having a small business is that I personally in my life
have a very skewed sense of money.
OK. And it totally is.
At one point it was so disposable to me and it was all
(15:00):
in cash. And then actually I when I
stopped selling drugs and got a job doing the right thing,
whatever. And I remember getting my
paycheck and be like, Oh yeah, we got to do a target run.
We go to a Target run and I blewmy whole paycheck and I was
like, whoa, wait, hold on. What the fuck you mean?
(15:22):
I got to go do that all over again to get this little amount
of money and it was the hardest hit.
If you think about it, it's the main motivator for a lot of
people. And they have the nerve to say
that we're the weird ones when we actually have a like a
business to that isn't just about the money.
Because at the end of the day, Ijoke about the money part, but
(15:43):
at the end of the day, both of us have front facing businesses
where we are the business, whereyour face is the business.
My face is the business. And especially for me, when my
when I cook for and represent the culture for my culture, it
hits so different. Yeah, and I think I see that
with with goodies as well. Is that how insulting is it?
(16:05):
If somebody was like, fuck, you don't even have the shit that
711 has, you know, like and but on the opposite end, you
probably have customers that come in like, fuck, I've been
waiting to go to a shop like this.
Yeah, and that's rewarding, for sure.
I feel seen. It can't always be all about the
money, but yeah, money is a hugedriver.
(16:26):
It covers the essentials. But it's interesting when you
think you're motivated by money and then you realize actually
that's not my biggest motivator in doing so, you know?
But I don't know. That's an interesting lesson
that I've learned doing this forsure. 100% I think also to
actually stay afloat in businesstakes, in my experience, some
(16:51):
creativity. And where do you pull it from?
Because some days when you're ingrind mode, the creativity is
low and then just the mundane ishigh for sure.
And so when it comes to the creativity part, I feel like I
think that's why I do so many other events, yeah.
Because I can flex and do a different menu.
(17:12):
Yes. And it's so hard for me to
change my menu because I'm like,if I take this off the menu,
what if I have a different identity and then I'm not agent
anymore? Then I'm a sell out and then all
of a sudden nobody fucking comesthrough because they just look
at rice and meat. You're damaged.
Super damaged. However, it does keep me on my
(17:32):
toes because then I do events that validate my creativity and
so I think in my experience, it is so important to do that
because then stagnation will happen, at least in my life.
Yes, and you get to play with your friends.
I do get to play with my friends, they're all so stupid.
(17:54):
Those are the best ones. I know, but I love all of them.
But running your business kind of untraditionally too allows
for these things. Oh yeah, absolutely.
Because a lot of people, when I told them what we were going to
do when we started thinking about opening up goodies, they
just imagined that I was going to like, run a, a Kage like a
(18:14):
convenience store or something. And I was like, no, I want to
have fun with my job. May not be raking it in, but I
definitely get to have fun with it.
And yeah, yeah, I think as creatives, like you have to
create that for yourself. Otherwise you're in like a
desert. I'm just laughing at if you did
have a guy just like knock off Dodgers hats.
(18:38):
I mean, yeah. Like Louis Vuitton.
You know, like fake Louis I. Could in another reality that
could be me. No shame on it either.
But I think of that other reality, you'd still be joined
it. Would be hustling.
I think it would be hustling, you know?
What do people want? I know what people want.
I know what people want. They want these limited edition
pink blue Boo boos. Oh.
My God. That crazy is insane I saw.
(19:00):
Somebody share like baskin-robbins had a la Boo Boo
cake or something. I was like, are you serious?
How is this allowed? Somebody posted on a TikTok they
tied a little Boo Boo keychain to a fishing rig and they threw
it out and caught kids and caught AB GS and had Coachella
with it. No way.
(19:22):
Oh my God, that's genius. It's so genius and demeaning to
say it's all like low key kind of want one now like.
I feel so resistant. You have to be resistant.
Yeah, I feel resistant to it. As somebody that collects
heavily into like certain nostalgic things, I think I have
(19:43):
an eye for it. And when I start seeing the Boo
boos everywhere, it's going to be one of those things that like
it's super hot now and then all of a sudden it's people are
going to get sick of seeing themand then they're going to be at
Goodwill and dumpsters and stufflike that.
And then when their kids, when they are old enough, so like,
let's just say if I'm 45 right now, by the time I'm 70, some
(20:05):
kid is gonna be like this the coolest shit ever.
And then all of a sudden it justboom explodes again.
I love how your mind always is afew steps ahead, 'cause I didn't
even think about that, but yeah.Thank you.
Pretty soon we're gonna find them in the bins.
I can't wait. Yeah.
And then I'm. I'm gonna be the one to dust it
off and just be like, check out my little Boo Boo.
He's wearing Chrome Hearts. I know Chrome arts isn't a thing
(20:28):
anymore, but I got in some ruffler and shoes.
When people talk about like, oh man, the economy, man, it's
fucking wrecked. I'm like really?
We have grown ass people buying these little troll dolls and
dressing them. Hey, it's affordable luxury.
This is our self like, not self-care.
What do you call it? Retail therapy in like little
(20:49):
chunks at a time, you know? Oh my God, Joyce, you're so
right. Yeah, it's a little, it's a
little sad and scary. Oh my God, you're so smart.
Never mind, I don't want one anymore.
I mean, we can't. We can't afford those fancy
purses. We get little itty pitty ones
for our little fake talk. Accessories.
(21:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, think about it.
No, that's, that's very, that's kind of depressed.
A little bit. That was my first instincts when
I saw this. I see a craze like this is that
people are latching onto something that they just
absolutely 100% something in their life cannot obtain and it
(21:31):
hurts it. It's almost like, to me, it's
almost like fine dining. When they spend all this money
going out to eat at fine dining,it's like, oh, you missed the
point that food's supposed to nourish you, not be at a place
you're just supposed to be seen at.
Yeah. Do you do you think that one day
you could get goodies so big anda little exclusive where people
(21:52):
are like, I'm that goodies? That's never been the goal.
I mean no. But what if that?
I don't think that could be a goal.
I could see that happening. I could see that happening.
There's something about elitism that just kind of really turns
me off. But if there was a nice way to
possibly do that, maybe. I mean, it was kind of cute
(22:15):
because like, we launched some like gear when we turned 2 last
year and a lot of our community just showed up and like, bought
socks and yeah, so cute. But like, somebody came in one
day too. And they were like, hey, I was
at the food cart pod and I saw someone else with goodies gear
(22:37):
on. And I was like, damn, if you
know, you know. So I approached them and I said,
hey, what's up? And they started talking.
I was like, that is fucking cool.
That's exactly how I want this like brand to hit people, you
know? And that made me smile like
inside and out thinking about people seeing the basket pattern
out in the wild and being associating it with goodies and
(22:59):
associating it with like our community, which was cool.
So. Yeah, I think that community
aspect of it, when somebody's like, oh, goodies, I've been
there, they see it's a little, Ithink it's a little bit harder
with food to brand to really like build the brand up from
like a food cart. You do have a very strong brand.
It's taken a long time. And there's a lot of great memes
(23:20):
that I'm finally learning some of the lore behind, you know,
like the terrible, terrible, terrible.
Thing and like. I mean, yeah, I feel like I
didn't know a lot of even like just exploring from the last
episode with you. I didn't actually know you used
to deal drugs like out of. Oh really?
No, I, I, I don't know very much.
Oh yeah, no, I definitely have that old money aesthetic.
(23:42):
No, that's so funny. But yeah, all those things.
I was thinking about this the other day.
I'm sorry, but when I think of the shit I've had to go through
for Kim Jong Un, for people to make fun of it when I started
only to be the hardest hitting customers years later than the
(24:04):
bandwagon jumpers, and then all the critics.
And I look at other people that rode really hard from day one
for other brands that have closed or other place that have
closed. And I'm not saying this is a big
part of me, but this is part of my voice, especially on
everything else is that I fucking outlasted all you
(24:25):
fucking cockroaches. I need you guys to fucking
recognize like when you all say blood, sweat and tears, there's
a lot more blood, sweat and tears that are coming in right
now. And when that gets recognized,
right? Like when you use when someone
when 2 customers see are wearingthe goodies socks and they high
5 and then they come in together, right?
(24:45):
Like those are the wins and those are the things that I
love. And I just think it becomes
eventually becomes the fuel to like keep going.
Yeah, 100%. So to all of my ride or die
customers, thank you. To all my haters, just remember
(25:05):
while you're sitting at that office job, I'm still doing
whatever the fuck I want. Yeah, I mean, fun brand Kim Jong
Un. Goodies is a fun, wholesome
brand. I love it.
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's kind of where I really feel like
I thrive too, because like we wanted to create a fun brand so
we could play around a lot and brand is somewhere we really
(25:27):
feel good about. But in doing so, like we've had
so much fun. Like I love working with our
partners, like our designers that we work with to make the
merch and like build the world. That's kind of where I I thrive,
like when we get to explore different things that are
outside of just like the things we sell, but trying to create
(25:47):
more of the aesthetic and the vibe and the storytelling
through stuff. And like, I miss our friend Noel
too. They were so fun to explore,
making fun creative videos and like content together.
They made it really easy. But definitely want to get back
into that. I feel so burnt out on social
media right now. Yeah, that's I understand that.
(26:09):
Shout out to Noel. To Noel Dong, a storyteller
Straight legend. Do.
Do you have any like, 'cause we're talking about brands and
how great it is to have them. Do you, do you ever find that
you have anything that triggers the bad parts?
Like, do you have any bad triggers when it comes to like
(26:29):
seeing your brand out in the wild?
Oh yeah, I think a few recently somebody used our logo to
promote something that I was notattached to and didn't want to
be attached to. What and?
Yeah, that triggered the shit out of me.
Did you have to send a cease anddesist?
Basically, I mean, like I only found out about it because
(26:51):
someone in our community, multiple people hit me up and
we're like, hey, what's this about so.
Just to clarify, was it something that like they used
your brand name to try to grow theirs or is it like?
In a way, yes. Basically they were using not
just my brand and logo, but other BIPOC owned brands to try
(27:15):
to recruit other Asian or yeah BIPOC small businesses to their
project and it was just like a thing of consent for me.
Absolutely. And yes, we immediately wrote
and reached out, told them exactly why that wasn't cool,
and ultimately it got figured out.
(27:35):
But yeah, that, that's just not cool.
That is not OK. We've got a lot to protect, not
just like our our business, but like I'm mainly talking about my
community. So yeah, if you're using
someone's brand or whatever to try to recruit people, that
shit's just not OK. That's not OK.
(27:57):
Yeah. A quick question to you, Joyce.
Are you trademarks? Is your brand name trades?
We are not trademarked nationally, but we're working on
a state one. OK, that was one of the first
things I did with Kim Jong the Tiger everything, and that saved
(28:19):
my ass a bunch of times. Yeah, I know it's a high cost to
trademark, but it is this one ofthe smartest things I did.
Yeah, No, it's important protectyour IP.
No, we reached out to our lawyer, our patents lawyer, and
had a long conversation about it.
But the term goodies is actuallyvery challenging to trademark
(28:39):
because it's descriptive. So yeah, the recommendation is
to at least protect it in our state and region, which doesn't
cost a lot. But yeah, protecting those
things definitely matters. Yeah, trying to remember,
there's a couple of situations where I think somebody in
Portland, ME used the name Kim Jong Un font, matched the font
(29:04):
because it's a custom font, and then sold the exact same Beavin
box. What at a pop up.
It was kind of amazing. It is weird how I found it.
I found it on Instagram and thenI remember sending the brewery
that it was being that was hosting it and it was kind of a
master class of like doing this.And I wrote them like, hey,
(29:26):
First off, the OG wanted in Portland.
That's me. Wow.
And 2nd, I need you to understand that I can be very
litigious very quickly. I'm trademarked, and you need to
shut this down. And then, dude, the owner of the
brewery was like, yeah, whatever.
If I was kind of catch my bluff and I just sat there silent,
(29:46):
like, OK, well, then you'll be hearing from my lawyer.
And then like literally 10 minutes later, I get like, OK,
so after some research, I see that you, you are trademarked.
And then in 5 minutes he was just like, OK, look, man, we
don't have to get lawyers involved.
And then right after that, it was just like, hey, man, you
know, we already called the guy,we called it off, you know, it's
(30:07):
just a pop up. You know this guy turned out to
be shady and. What you look at that?
Yeah. And then I just the silence is
what killed him, I think. But it's hard to, it's hard to
draw the line because sometimes people will use your name to try
to do something good or like, I just don't, like I hate it when
people try to let me into like their belief structure or like
(30:29):
their events and they didn't do,you know, like they use you.
Yeah. Like they just straight up use
you and you're brand. You're just like what?
Dude, I didn't sign on for this,although I'm cool with what
you're doing. But I've still.
I'm not OK with that. Yeah.
Yeah, consent matters. Yeah, it yes, all of those
things for sure. I can go on and on about the
things that you're actually, I guess like.
(30:53):
Another thing that bothers the hell out of me is unsolicited
advice. Oh yeah.
But mainly, I hate unsolicited advice from men, and especially
from old white men. Yeah.
Just drives me nuts. The mansplaining.
I don't need it. I didn't get to this point in my
life because of your advice and I don't even listen to advice
(31:17):
when I ask for it. You know?
I use my own common sense. A damn yeah it it triggers me.
Yeah, I 1000% will double down on that one.
I've definitely, especially in this world, in the culinary
world, I'll definitely have people because if somebody's
(31:37):
like, hey, how's it going? I'm like, oh, business is slow.
And they're like, hey man, did you try doing this?
There's this thing called Instagram.
Maybe you can just do some targeted ads.
I'm just like, hey, dude, fuck off.
Like you asked me what was wrong.
I told you. And it ends right there.
And I actually had, I had my baby mama's older sister who had
(31:59):
a partner. Every time I'd see this
motherfucker, he'd be like, hey,man, do you ever think about
like, maybe like making some merch?
I'm like, hey, man, this is the ninth time we've talked about
this. I really need you to shut the
fuck up. Actually, I had to say that.
And it'd just be like, I don't know, like, man, like what do
you do? And he's like, I'm a doctor.
I'm it's like we'll go doctor over there, you know, like I
don't tell you how to do your fucking job.
(32:20):
And if you ask anybody who has, let's say a small business, have
you thought about this? Yes, we've thought about
everything. Every angle, yes.
Yeah. Why?
Wouldn't we? Yeah.
What kind of question is that? That's insane.
Have you thought about getting acase of a Boo boos?
OK. Can't jump on every trend, you
(32:42):
know that. Would that would be?
Insane it would be, I would burnout.
For me personally, it comes froma space of one.
Like, why did you think you weresuperior towards me?
Yeah, it's. A respect thing.
It's a respect thing, you know. And two, if your small business
friend is going off about like business and the issues that
(33:02):
come with it, man, let them go off.
It's vulnerability. Yeah, give them a hug when
they're done. You know, like, I don't think
it's OK to always be giving advice.
And honestly, it shouldn't be onus as business owners would be
like, hey, actually this is going to be a rant.
I don't need advice. This is a rant.
Yeah, I know. I hate having to do that too.
(33:24):
The disclaimer, sometimes I do it because I just literally
cannot deal with people sometimes.
But yeah, it we don't owe peopledisclaimers like that.
Yeah, but I totally. The whole respect thing too, and
this is coming from being Asian American and a woman and part of
being Asian. Like we look younger than we
(33:45):
actually are, most of them. Yeah, good genetics, good hair,
skin and nails. But.
Something that drove me crazy about that for the longest time
is, yeah, a lot of guys just assume I'm much younger than I
am and just think that I need all this advice.
But. Yeah.
Yeah, those things just drive meinsane.
There is something about and I am being so dead serious.
(34:08):
This is going to sound hilariousbut I'm being so serious about
white men. When they between 35 and 40 they
crossover no matter how woke. I don't care how fucking woke,
how plugged in you are, how initiated you are between those
ages. They make the crossover where
(34:31):
they think they're very wise andthat their words or their
theories their whatever matter more like their value.
They they value their words more.
Yeah, I see that. And it it is infuriating.
I can't even imagine what you have to hear.
It must be madding. Yeah, I, I, I tend to snap back.
(34:54):
Yeah, and that's awesome. Depends, sometimes I just
literally can't even talk but. Yeah, it it's so weird when that
happens to me, I will say something to remind them that
their ego is just as fragile as anybody else is.
It's like, how is it that you look that old and I look and I
but yet I'm older than you? Man, you should really take care
(35:15):
of that receding hairline. Like that's wild.
Those are all your real teeth. They're so.
Crooked. Yeah.
I've gotten better at it over time.
Really. I mean, just communicating,
because otherwise I just sit there and I'm just fuming for so
long because I didn't get to usemy voice over time.
Oh. You should speak up.
Yeah, I've been speaking up now,but I mean, for a while I was an
(35:37):
angsty ass teen and I've had to dial it back.
Yeah, I still speak up for myself even today.
I think that's amazing. Thanks.
I think I truly believe there isa deficit of Asian and POC that
don't get to do them. Yeah, and I don't blame them,
but yeah, I same. I would encourage and I hope for
(36:02):
people to be able to speak up and, you know, feel better.
Yeah, Historically, the people that speak up and speak out pick
some kind of consequence. Yeah, However, it's worth it.
Yeah, don't shop here if you don't like it.
Yeah, yeah, don't eat at my place if you have something to
say about it. God, I I hope this trend isn't a
(36:25):
trend and it just keeps popping up.
I feel as if Yelp is making a comeback.
Why do you say that? Because the lower popularity of
it, there are people that are Yelp Elite that are like going
hard on it. The elites.
Yeah. I thought they were a dying
breed. Honestly, like we probably know
some people that are Yelp Elite and they're just hiding.
(36:47):
I can I can imagine a couple actually.
Yeah but like the criticism has to end somewhere.
I understand it could be good but like yo like if it's going
to be a detriment to business dude fuck you.
Hey, people always ruin a good thing but they're keyboard
warriors. It can be super toxic.
(37:08):
I don't know. It's so toxic.
I don't like the word elite. Yeah, I hate it.
I hate it, but why do you what? What makes you think?
I think what it is, is that I'm in a pod now and I'm surrounded
by other food carts and there's food carts of all different
ages. But I think maybe it's just
cause a lot of a lot of small businesses really do depend on
(37:31):
Yelp to like get more customers to the door and reviews and
stuff. And it just feels as if like I
want to shake them and just tellthem like just believe in your
product and go with it. And I guess if they get to your
make it kind of situation. Are you noticing more people
like reviewing you since you moved there?
(37:51):
I think those are more influx ofpeople of a different
demographic that I'm getting. And I believe I'm suspecting
that my Yelp reviews are either going through the roof because
I'm getting more OH, or they're going down the toilet because
I'm always in the window. Oh, interesting.
(38:12):
I had this couple come up and they're like, oh, welcome back.
Thank you so much for coming back to Southeast.
And the first thing I said wasn't thank you, wasn't
anything. The first thing I said was why
didn't you come see me downtown?And they're and instantly they
were like, whoa, it's just so far.
And I just quit. And I was like, it's it's only
three miles. Your humor doesn't always hit,
(38:35):
does it? No, they understood the kicking
customers feel better kind of onbrand for me.
Yeah. So we have a lot of customers
who come from the Pearl and I asked them, hey, did you come
from far away or do you live close?
And they're like, oh, we're in Northwest.
I'm like, we're in Northwest too.
(38:56):
Hi. Just a few blocks, kind of the
same thing. But yeah, reviews.
Reviews really impact a business.
They do. We have really good reviews on
Google and on Yelp. I think we don't have a lot of
reviews, but it definitely helps.
But it's few and far between review.
Just like, yo, I saw this five star review, I had to come here.
(39:21):
I don't ever hear that anymore. But I feel like in other ways
like it helps with getting your listing further up when you are
reviewed more frequently. But that's also not true.
The reality is if you pay to play, they put you to the top.
Oh yeah, that's right. And I refuse.
Most awards are like that. Too.
I think all fucking awards are like that.
(39:43):
You know what's really funny about that pay to play thing?
You have to pay to play regardless, and if you don't
then you could get buried or youjust never get noticed by
certain people. And in the food world, it is
just ridiculous. I'm sorry, I'm not going to play
with people I don't like. Does not play well with others.
(40:05):
Does not play with well with others.
Does not play well with fucking haters man Fuck them, I'm cool
as shit. Sometimes I feel like it could
be seen as an investment to try to be part of something, but not
all the time. Most of the time it's just BS.
But don't you think that that investment is very fleeting?
It's like very short term. It's fleeting, it's
(40:27):
self-serving, but it's interesting how much weight it
can carry though. That's wild.
How do you pull that apart? For me, it feels kind of like
old school. You know how, like, you frame
something and put it in your store like a news clipping Or in
Chinatown in Los Angeles, there was this restaurant that said
(40:49):
Rush Hour was filmed here and it's like literally painted on
the building. Oh my God, I want to go.
See if it works. It's like that street cred.
I I feel like maybe that things are changing in a different
direction, but still there's something about that that has
weight to some people. Yeah, that's true.
That's true. I mean, I, I know that like our
(41:10):
first press hit and it was like if my mom was still alive, she'd
be like, print that shit, put itup, like frame it.
I hear her voice. But I just.
I can't even do it. Yeah, I could see that.
I just, to me, I just automatically assume that the
average consumer now has is a little bit sharper, is a little
(41:32):
bit smarter, and they can kind of suss out, they can sniff out
like, oh, this person paid for the reviews.
Or there's that one guy that said, like, if you have a 3 1/2
star Yelp review and you're an Asian restaurant, that is the
highest rating that you could possibly get because that's
that's how you know the food's just going to hit.
Yeah, you can trust it. So I guess that is proof alone
that like they're using the system that I feel works against
(41:53):
you. I hate that like Yelp and
reviews are integrated into maps.
They'll be like, oh shit, what am I going to eat tacos?
And then I'm like, fuck, why is this place like 3 stars?
I love that place. Fuck, you know, So I guess it
does. I guess it does work so.
It's so mental. I feel like our customers are
modern day people. They they can suss it out.
How scary are the things that you're tackling right with
(42:16):
business at this time in May? That's a loaded question, and
you're going to have to answer it too.
But in 2022, opening, getting open, literally just opening our
doors was our biggest what did you call it?
The scariest thing I was doing, That was the scariest thing.
And then the minute we opened our doors, it felt better.
(42:38):
The big release. Right now we're in a growth
stage. We're tackling a lot of projects
right now, trying to keep building.
And part of that was onboarding some new staff.
And once that happened, the feardissolved a bit.
And then of course, what does that mean?
Now I have more responsibility. I have responsibility over other
(43:00):
people's paycheck and satisfaction at work, which is
cool. Like it's also inspiring.
Like I want to make this really fun for them and for the IT to
be a good experience, but the financial piece shit, it better
match up. We better have enough to
continue doing this thing, right?
So that's an area. But overarching beyond that too,
(43:21):
is, hey, I'm less than two months away from having a baby,
which is probably the scariest thing in theory that I've ever
done in my life. And strangely, I still feel
pretty Zen about everything calmin this K class.
You're doing great. Thanks.
But yeah, the the reality keeps like inching forward.
Like today I'm 32 weeks and I'm like, this guy better not be
(43:45):
early. I have so much I need to do.
So trying not to act through fear.
But even with this podcast, I'm like Terrance.
He's been so chill this whole time.
He's like, we got this. We're going to be fine.
We're thinking about recording more episodes and editing them.
And we're scrappy. It's just the three of us right
now, right? And we're like, what is that
(44:06):
going to look like? Having hopefully, hopefully the
baby doesn't cry. Hopefully it's a quiet baby.
But yeah, the reality of like, things are changing.
First off, the the podcast will just change to just holding
babies. That's what it would be called.
I would literally just hold yourbaby and be like, yeah, go to
sleep choice. And then you're just going to
hear all the garbage that I say to babies.
(44:28):
I'd just be like. Cute.
Maybe that's a better podcast. Get into fighting.
Tatted dudes and babies just. Puke over shit, you know.
Oh. My God, then we would have to
get a video camera. But yeah, I guess that's kind of
the scariest thing I'm tackling right now.
Yeah, it's a real reality. It seems as if there's growth
(44:50):
periods and then within that growth period, it's like
maintaining, like how do you maintain the growth but still
maintain the business but still also make payroll but also still
have fun and the balances it seems.
Oh and another element of the scariest thing is I don't really
know how to chill. And not saying that parenting is
(45:11):
chill, but it's going to be hardfor me to step away.
Oh, like sit down and like, relax, chill.
I'm going to have a newborn and like to step away and take some
time to be really in it. I'm sure it's going to come
naturally, but the idea of it isfear inducing because this is my
(45:32):
world. I'm here all the time, and even
though I'm excited to be able tohave this time away, that part's
hard. Maybe I'm a workaholic.
Yeah. Interesting.
How about you? I feel like you just did
something really scary, but I'm sure there's always more.
Yeah, I've recently taken a hardlook at my mortality.
(45:58):
Oh, I know. Have a birthday coming up.
Oh, and it never fucked with me until very recently.
And like, fuck, bro, you're old.And normally I like it.
Normally I'm like, yeah, like I know all this shit.
Like I've random knowledge aboutso much stuff and it's cool.
But then other times it's like you're getting closer to that
(46:20):
drop dead age. And if I do, I think that's one
of the, my biggest worries is, you know, I'm, I'm also a
father. One of the most terrifying
things is if I get sick, the business can't go on.
And then things like did I do right and build a support system
where I can do that? Very relatable, yes.
Because you don't know. I just told this to Sunny the
(46:43):
other day and I'm the same way. I had to learn it this way too.
Is that when you're a workaholicand you're putting in like 80
hour weeks and you're like, no, I have to be, I can't not be, I
have to fucking be here. And then you get sick or like
something bad happens and then you figure out the hardest way
possible that you don't have to be here.
Shit's still going to keep going.
Like, it's not like it's just going to go away is.
(47:06):
That the truth. Yeah, so, but for me, lately
it's been, do I have the system set up where if I'm not around,
it'll keep going. And I think the other thing
that's very terrifying is as quickly as us moving to this new
place, this is just in general. I also worry like it could all
(47:27):
just go away. It could all just go away.
And I think I'm funny enough where it's not me yelling at
somebody that'll make it go away.
But I've also had enough things go wrong where like it's it can
happen so fast, so it just gets taken away.
So I don't know what quells it alot of the times.
(47:50):
But I think a lot of my fears, Ijust have to sit with it.
I have to just sit down with it and just breathe it out or like
I just have to sit down with it and really fight it.
Yeah. You fight that, that self doubt
and that that apocalyptic feeling, catastrophe feeling.
I always have to fight it and I just have to remember like, hey,
(48:12):
what haven't I seen? Yeah.
But the mortality thing fucks with me a little bit.
I'm like, my extracurriculars are the safest.
Getting hit in the head, I'm like, fuck, I can only do this
for so long, you know? But somebody brought it up.
Somebody brought it up in my gymat the like when he was like,
(48:34):
man, you think CTE is, you thinkit happens to all boxers?
I'm like, whoa, what's up dude? Why are you doing?
Why are we talking about this man?
That's like talking to a motorcycle guy about motorcycle
wrecks. Like it's not a if, it's a when.
What? A buzz.
Kill. I know I'm like, dude, you suck,
dude, get in the ring. This is what I do to relax.
Like this is what I do to fucking relax is get hit in the
face Dude why don't you just calm down?
Why, why why are you harshing mymellow?
(48:56):
What? Hey, those dooms doom thoughts,
do they come at a specific time?Because for me, it's like when
I'm really tired at the end of the night in bed, all of this
self doubt and anxiety starts coming up and I'm like, I have
to remind myself, you're not gonna feel this way tomorrow.
I just need to go get some sleep.
He used to come to me at night. He used to come to me at night.
(49:19):
I can confidently say I don't have it as often as I used to.
That's. Good.
I think it'll come for you as well.
I think my go to response to thecatastrophizing is there's
nothing you can do about it right now.
You are in soft pants under 2 covers, there's two cats on you.
(49:39):
There's Jack and shit you could do about it right now, bro, if
somebody came and attacked you right now, you're done.
And so I always have to think that, and oddly enough that that
actually breaks me out of it. That's pretty nice.
Yeah, that's that's good advice.Like you just have to realize
when you're a small business andyou're scrappy, you're
(50:01):
constantly fighting everything to stay alive.
But on the opposite end, when you when it is on your mind,
there's nothing to do about that.
Like you need the daylight to dothis.
Like people need to be awake to come by to eat your food.
You don't need to be your own worst enemy.
Either you have to be on your side and it gets tough to do,
but you're the only really like you're the only support that you
(50:24):
have in that moment, so. Sounds like a nice way to close
this one out. Yeah, it's scary as fuck.
Damn. I think I wanna take this
opportunity to say thank you to all 100 people that listen to
our podcast 'cause we're just now finding out about it.
(50:45):
Also, it's. Oh, wait, there's something I
wanted to ask you. Yeah, the letters AAPI, did they
add on to it? OK, I think you're talking about
A, A and HPI. Where the fuck did the HN come
from? OK.
So this is an area of complexity.
(51:08):
AAPI I think stands for Asian American.
Pacific Islander. They tried to squeeze in native
Hawaiian folks in there, which Ijust feel like is so lazy, but I
think a lot of people in that community also feel that way.
Is this the Asian version of theLatin accent?
Yes. Yeah, I guess in some circles,
(51:29):
yes, people would agree, but it's trying to be over
inclusive, but also not being respectful of the fact that
like, that's not how you fix or include people.
And often people still feel veryleft out.
At least that's how I understandit.
But yeah, I've seen it in peopletry to be super inclusive and
(51:50):
try to throw everything in and it's not always appropriate.
OK so I'm not going crazy 'causeI don't know how I feel about
this month so. Yeah.
And even without trying to be overly inclusive, it's not very
inclusive and it's. Confusing.
It's. Kind of like BIPOC, it's people
(52:12):
don't really feel that great about that either, you know,
it's just. Letting all these other people
dictate this. I mean, that's that's kind of
where it's at. So I don't know what the
solution is but. I don't know, man, but they're
really striking down on that model minority thing.
Yeah, think about it. Asian Americans get 31 days to
celebrate our months. Black folks only get February.
(52:35):
Damn, I didn't even think about.That yeah.
Anyways, thanks for doing this podcast Joyce and I feel really
grateful for this. Yes, I'm I'm grateful too.
It's always something we look forward to and grateful for
Terrence as well. Yeah.
Thank you, Terrence. But yeah, seriously, our
community, like it's been cool to have these conversations with
y'all out in the wild and in theDMS and I guess like, I don't
(52:59):
know, it was a passion project to start off with.
It still is, but definitely feelmore fuel to continue going.
Yeah, absolutely. I want to keep it going.
I just don't want this to be another project for you and I to
grind. And it's a third business that
we have, it doesn't. Take care.
Of yeah, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't feel that way.
At least you know right now it's.
Supernatural, I love it. It feels really good, so if you
(53:23):
feel inclined, please rate the podcast.
And what do you mean? If no, rate the podcast.
Get us up there. Yeah, all.
The ratings definitely help. This is all like, you know, it's
funded by us. Hopefully, hopefully that won't
always be the reality. But yeah, right now we're this
is like just a passion. Project We want to take our
(53:45):
sponsors Goodies snack shop in Kinder Grill and Food Cards OK
in downtown to Chinatown and Southeast Woodstock Blvd.
Yes, we're filming inside a snack shop.
All of these beautiful. In here.
I wish you guys can come check it out.
Actually, you guys can come check it out right downtown in
Chinatown. Oh, is that an ad?
Yes, thanks for tuning in to episode 4 of We All Look Like.
Hi, Joyce. Hey Hon, this is our podcast.
We All Look Alike. Yeah, it is.
We have had great response from people.
Yeah, it's been pretty cool. To the four people that like
commented, thank you it. Was actually three got three
ratings. Well, yeah, I guess one of them
(00:22):
was Bonnie, and he said it left him to die in the food cart.
He's a hater. It's OK.
I think the feedback's been pretty good so far, yeah.
How you feeling? How you doing?
Things have been hectic, life atwork, personal things.
Just had our baby shower that was crazy.
(00:44):
I felt pretty overwhelmed with just like the anticipation of it
and like what that was supposed to look like.
But ultimately when everyone showed up at once, I definitely
felt like I was going to have a panic attack.
But then it ended up being really nice being surrounded by
all the people that we care about.
Now that that's over, I mean, wewere kind of just like riding
the high on that one the day after.
(01:06):
Yeah. But now just catching up on more
work stuff. Right now is like when work is
just relentless. Yeah, it's just never ending.
It's all preparation for the only two and a half, three
months that we're going to make money.
It's crazy dude. It is crazy.
Or more than halfway through May.
We're more than halfway through May, and it's just how it is
(01:29):
here. We're not always going to be
busy because there's this rainy season, you know, winter, ice
storms, weirdos. So for us, the month of May is
the tester month for us on how busy we can get.
Yeah. Warm up.
The warm up and we've moved to the heist, which is in Southeast
(01:49):
Portland and it is fucking busy.That's so good.
First off, it's it's somewhat ofa diverse neighborhood.
However, when it's really busy, it looks like a middle-aged
Coachella show. Wow.
Yeah. Like people are elbow to elbow
fucking dogs everywhere. People are losing kids and
(02:10):
everybody they, it's amazing. I'm guilty of not having gone
yet, but it's on my list. I got to go check it out.
It is probably the highest evolution of a food cart pod
that I've ever been to. Sounds like it.
I just hear about the heist all the time.
There's a theme, there's a gigantic seating area inside the
seating area, there's a coffee shop, there's a bar, there's a
(02:32):
pinball. Wow.
And again, shout outs to the owners of The Heist.
And really having the vision andfollowing through with it 'cause
I see the landlord's always working.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so important.
It's so important and that is one of the things I'm truly now
realizing. I've always known this about
(02:52):
small businesses. Your business partner is your
landlord. They're going to dictate if
you're going to really make it or like kind of break it,
especially when it comes to support.
Can you call them if something breaks?
Can you depend on them to followthrough on what they said
they're going to do? I mean.
Yeah, they should have that responsibility.
(03:14):
They have to. That is the responsibility of a
landowner. Especially of a pod.
But especially in a pod. Yeah, you, you have to promote
that shit. You have to really get people
there. You got to get the buy in.
Yeah. And then you have to keep people
the last two places and these are two completely different
circumstances with the same result is that the hands are
(03:37):
tied. Yeah.
And whenever I hear the landlordsay like my hands are tied.
This is why I automatically default to.
Why do you own this land if you can't upkeep it?
Yep. If there's so many forces behind
you that cannot help you help us, why was it OK that you had
(03:58):
that much money to buy this land?
That's your responsibility, right?
And the people that you recruit to your pod are your star
athletes. You're supposed to really treat
them that way too. That is so true.
Yeah. So.
So for us, having to move from downtown to go to some place
(04:20):
that is out of the gate busy hasbeen amazing to keep up with.
This is the kind of busy I love.Yeah.
Having to be like, oh, we sold out by 2:00, I guess I'll run to
the store and get more shit. That's.
What I like to hear, yeah, especially at this point in May,
you're right. This is such a seasonal place
for business, even for us, like we're not a cart, we have a
(04:42):
brick and mortar. But yeah, the nice days are
ahead and it's just, yeah, essential months that we have to
capture. We were actually kind of
freaking out a little bit because looking at last year,
May was our busiest month of thewhole year and we're not
tracking the same this year. Yeah, I think we're like
(05:05):
halfway, halfway to that. But anyway, wise neighbor once
said don't look at it by by the days and the weeks.
Look at it by the months and like, try not to freak out too
much and just keep plugging away.
But yeah, we're just trying to figure out what happened.
But yeah. So in these slow times, what is
(05:26):
keeping you going? What's inspiring you to keep
going? Is it the same vision when you
started? Yeah, I mean, staying inspired
is a constant thing. I think we've talked about this
before and both of us can kind of agree on this.
It's like the biggest inspiration is to keep going
because we want to create our own reality and keep doing the
(05:49):
things that drive us and inspireus.
And for me, that's definitely interest driven, right?
Since starting this, I actually have never had such a public
facing role. We're in the store all the time
and of course that has its drawbacks too and it's
challenging. But as busy as our lives have
(06:09):
been and as much as we grind, like life's never felt fuller.
And I think that's because most of the people we interact with
are now like big parts of our community.
Met a lot of friends through this.
Relationships like ours have come out of having a small
business in Portland. So those things really drive me.
(06:29):
Like, I love the people I'm around.
I love the things that we get toshow up and do together.
And yeah, like it's always the also the alternative.
I don't want anything else. I want to continue building
something that will last throughtime for hopefully multiple
generations, which is so hard toimagine because never seen
anything more than a generation ahead.
(06:50):
Yeah, I don't know. I think it's really important to
just have that mindset for me. And I guess what inspires me is
even if maybe we haven't had thebest month so far yet, we are
still plugging away at so many different things, which include
we finally got to the point where we onboarded 2 teammates 2
(07:12):
weeks ago. So that was super essential.
Like I can't even tell you how how amazing that feels,
especially because initially it was kind of like not a fear
point, but like, Oh my God, we're going to have to hire.
What does that even mean? How we're going to find our
people? But ultimately, I think we got
pretty lucky. The people we got to interview
(07:34):
were awesome. And they've been on the team for
about two weeks now. And already we feel so much
relief in terms of like, wow, they fit in really great.
They totally get it. And to be able to trust someone
else with our babies. Like it's hard.
Yeah, it's hard, but it's also helps us like really imagine
what it's going to look like to be able to grow further from
(07:56):
this and be able to step away and tackle bigger concepts as
well, rather than being like really stuck in the day-to-day.
Yeah, So the grind gets a littlelike less stiff, right?
Yeah, yes, exactly. There's more flexibility there.
So I'm just excited for what this is going to mean for us
(08:18):
going forward, even though it's a big investment in many ways.
Yeah, it's it's just nice to be able to have some breathing
room. Yeah.
How about you? First off, Joyce, that was the
wrong answer. It's money.
Money is the inspiration for what we do.
OK, let's just be very Korean, very abruptly.
(08:40):
It's money. OK.
Is that what you say in an interview when they're like
what? What motivates you?
When people ask me in interviewswhat motivates me and they look
me in the eye, they can tell I'mlying.
Thirsty. I'm like no, I'm thirsty for
money. I've been grinding for 11
fucking years and I have the same socks from 2014.
(09:00):
OK, OK, no, I'm kidding. No, I agree though money.
Money is part of it. However, I will say some of the
things that inspire me are my customer interactions.
I will say that after a while, one of the things that shocked
me, that also inspires me is when I see the progression of
(09:21):
the customer's lives. I'll have somebody come in and
I'll, I'll see them and throughout the years I'll be
like, oh, cute puppy, sweet, your dog's really big now.
Oh my God. And one of the things because I
took a big break after the fire,it was like 3 years.
(09:42):
I remember I opened back up on Division Street and somebody
came up and they're like, Oh my God, so glad you're back open.
And I remember these, their faces, I'm like, what?
You have a kid now and you're still coming back, so seeing the
progression of time in my customers and they still come
back and to enjoy it is mind blowing.
(10:03):
That's so cool. And I get very inspired by doing
other events and seeing, maybe this is a little vapid to say,
but when I get to do other events and pop ups and fun
kitchen stuff, I always find it great to be able to look back
where I started when I was cooking, like making blooming
(10:25):
onions at Chili's. I would love to say that's a
lie, but it's not like I literally came from the world
where cooking was just not as glamorized.
Yeah. And so to think about that
person you grow up to be the little kid you looks up to or
needed. Yeah.
And sometimes I feel that. But most of the time I'm just
(10:46):
like, damn, little kid me would be disappointed.
I should be dead, I should be inprison by now.
Like I should have a whole blockthat's mine.
I'm totally exaggerating. Then I think you have to be
somewhat inspired everyday by the little things.
That's like success is you is a bar.
You have to constantly move it to get through.
(11:07):
For sure. Like the success bar for me is
recently raised because we've been so busy and the instant
thing that comes in is like sick.
All my bills are paid or Oh my gosh, I can pay off this loan.
And I hate that it's tied to money for me.
But sometimes in this situation right now, it is because it was
(11:27):
so dire from before. And so when I didn't have that
coming in my bar and my inspiration was like, OK, the
produce people to look kind of let me ride for a week.
I just have to make this money. But at least I got the produce
to make an O. That hits heavier, though, than
having money come in from all your sales.
(11:50):
To me, it's a more robust inspiration because it comes
from desperation versus right now where it's not out of
survival instincts it. I'm so so flinchy right now.
Like, yeah, is this real? Yeah, I ask myself all the time,
like, is this real? Like I'll wake up and see my
prep list and be like, Jesus, that is so much.
(12:10):
And then and then I'll just be like, shit, am I dead already?
Did I die? Is this what this is?
How? Long will this last.
How long is this going to last? What if somebody burns my cart
down again? Seriously, we can always depend
on you for being so real about that, too.
Money is definitely a huge thing.
Absolutely can't do any of thesethings without that.
It's a relief when it's there, but it's not guaranteed.
(12:33):
And yeah, bills need to be paid.And it's funny when you meet the
other side of people that are inspired by money, but they had
it to begin with and it just doesn't feel right.
That's when I look at certain people.
I'm like, you should have imposter syndrome.
You have 55 locations for your tea shop because your dad was
(12:54):
the fucking construction managerof all those buildings.
That's why their stuff doesn't hit as hard as someone else's,
you know? That's funny.
The other day I think when I texted you and I was like, hey,
we had more than 10 listens. We actually broke 100 and both
of us were in shock because we're like did have very low
(13:15):
expectations and you're like, are we damaged Asians?
I was like, shit, maybe we are. Or are we just humble?
I don't know. I was trying to reframe it
because I think I'm toxically positive.
Sometimes I try to have a positive outlook on everything
but. You are good at that.
(13:35):
I try, I try. You always bring up the money
and I'm like, that's so fucking true.
Money is always like financial stuff, always a trigger and
stress. But I don't talk about it.
I literally just bottle it up and just try to make it not be
real. But yeah, the the imposter
syndrome, yeah, it's definitely there.
I never had words for that growing up.
(13:57):
But I also don't think I'm not aconfident person.
Not that I aim low either, but yeah, it's funny that that was
our reaction. Yeah, for both of us.
Like I was like, I don't know who else tuned in.
But I feel like on the other side, like a white boy podcast
that starts up, I feel like theygo in with like all this
confidence and cockiness, like, oh, we're going to be the
(14:17):
coolest shits on the block. Like access rides, like we're
going to get cigars. I'm just going to fucking talk
shit. We already have merch.
Weird. Shit, we got merch, got hats and
shit, dude, we got branded cigar.
Like fuck you, man. And I think that's how we
damaged Asians. I remember sending you that and
I almost was like, yeah, let's see what?
(14:38):
Let's see what Joyce takes this.And it's so true.
You're very you always put a positive spin on it.
However, like, I think also likegoing back to the money thing
and having a small business is that I personally in my life
have a very skewed sense of money.
OK. And it totally is.
At one point it was so disposable to me and it was all
(15:00):
in cash. And then actually I when I
stopped selling drugs and got a job doing the right thing,
whatever. And I remember getting my
paycheck and be like, Oh yeah, we got to do a target run.
We go to a Target run and I blewmy whole paycheck and I was
like, whoa, wait, hold on. What the fuck you mean?
(15:22):
I got to go do that all over again to get this little amount
of money and it was the hardest hit.
If you think about it, it's the main motivator for a lot of
people. And they have the nerve to say
that we're the weird ones when we actually have a like a
business to that isn't just about the money.
Because at the end of the day, Ijoke about the money part, but
(15:43):
at the end of the day, both of us have front facing businesses
where we are the business, whereyour face is the business.
My face is the business. And especially for me, when my
when I cook for and represent the culture for my culture, it
hits so different. Yeah, and I think I see that
with with goodies as well. Is that how insulting is it?
(16:05):
If somebody was like, fuck, you don't even have the shit that
711 has, you know, like and but on the opposite end, you
probably have customers that come in like, fuck, I've been
waiting to go to a shop like this.
Yeah, and that's rewarding, for sure.
I feel seen. It can't always be all about the
money, but yeah, money is a hugedriver.
(16:26):
It covers the essentials. But it's interesting when you
think you're motivated by money and then you realize actually
that's not my biggest motivator in doing so, you know?
But I don't know. That's an interesting lesson
that I've learned doing this forsure. 100% I think also to
actually stay afloat in businesstakes, in my experience, some
(16:51):
creativity. And where do you pull it from?
Because some days when you're ingrind mode, the creativity is
low and then just the mundane ishigh for sure.
And so when it comes to the creativity part, I feel like I
think that's why I do so many other events, yeah.
Because I can flex and do a different menu.
(17:12):
Yes. And it's so hard for me to
change my menu because I'm like,if I take this off the menu,
what if I have a different identity and then I'm not agent
anymore? Then I'm a sell out and then all
of a sudden nobody fucking comesthrough because they just look
at rice and meat. You're damaged.
Super damaged. However, it does keep me on my
(17:32):
toes because then I do events that validate my creativity and
so I think in my experience, it is so important to do that
because then stagnation will happen, at least in my life.
Yes, and you get to play with your friends.
I do get to play with my friends, they're all so stupid.
(17:54):
Those are the best ones. I know, but I love all of them.
But running your business kind of untraditionally too allows
for these things. Oh yeah, absolutely.
Because a lot of people, when I told them what we were going to
do when we started thinking about opening up goodies, they
just imagined that I was going to like, run a, a Kage like a
(18:14):
convenience store or something. And I was like, no, I want to
have fun with my job. May not be raking it in, but I
definitely get to have fun with it.
And yeah, yeah, I think as creatives, like you have to
create that for yourself. Otherwise you're in like a
desert. I'm just laughing at if you did
have a guy just like knock off Dodgers hats.
(18:38):
I mean, yeah. Like Louis Vuitton.
You know, like fake Louis I. Could in another reality that
could be me. No shame on it either.
But I think of that other reality, you'd still be joined
it. Would be hustling.
I think it would be hustling, you know?
What do people want? I know what people want.
I know what people want. They want these limited edition
pink blue Boo boos. Oh.
My God. That crazy is insane I saw.
(19:00):
Somebody share like baskin-robbins had a la Boo Boo
cake or something. I was like, are you serious?
How is this allowed? Somebody posted on a TikTok they
tied a little Boo Boo keychain to a fishing rig and they threw
it out and caught kids and caught AB GS and had Coachella
with it. No way.
(19:22):
Oh my God, that's genius. It's so genius and demeaning to
say it's all like low key kind of want one now like.
I feel so resistant. You have to be resistant.
Yeah, I feel resistant to it. As somebody that collects
heavily into like certain nostalgic things, I think I have
(19:43):
an eye for it. And when I start seeing the Boo
boos everywhere, it's going to be one of those things that like
it's super hot now and then all of a sudden it's people are
going to get sick of seeing themand then they're going to be at
Goodwill and dumpsters and stufflike that.
And then when their kids, when they are old enough, so like,
let's just say if I'm 45 right now, by the time I'm 70, some
(20:05):
kid is gonna be like this the coolest shit ever.
And then all of a sudden it justboom explodes again.
I love how your mind always is afew steps ahead, 'cause I didn't
even think about that, but yeah.Thank you.
Pretty soon we're gonna find them in the bins.
I can't wait. Yeah.
And then I'm. I'm gonna be the one to dust it
off and just be like, check out my little Boo Boo.
He's wearing Chrome Hearts. I know Chrome arts isn't a thing
(20:28):
anymore, but I got in some ruffler and shoes.
When people talk about like, oh man, the economy, man, it's
fucking wrecked. I'm like really?
We have grown ass people buying these little troll dolls and
dressing them. Hey, it's affordable luxury.
This is our self like, not self-care.
What do you call it? Retail therapy in like little
(20:49):
chunks at a time, you know? Oh my God, Joyce, you're so
right. Yeah, it's a little, it's a
little sad and scary. Oh my God, you're so smart.
Never mind, I don't want one anymore.
I mean, we can't. We can't afford those fancy
purses. We get little itty pitty ones
for our little fake talk. Accessories.
(21:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, think about it.
No, that's, that's very, that's kind of depressed.
A little bit. That was my first instincts when
I saw this. I see a craze like this is that
people are latching onto something that they just
absolutely 100% something in their life cannot obtain and it
(21:31):
hurts it. It's almost like, to me, it's
almost like fine dining. When they spend all this money
going out to eat at fine dining,it's like, oh, you missed the
point that food's supposed to nourish you, not be at a place
you're just supposed to be seen at.
Yeah. Do you do you think that one day
you could get goodies so big anda little exclusive where people
(21:52):
are like, I'm that goodies? That's never been the goal.
I mean no. But what if that?
I don't think that could be a goal.
I could see that happening. I could see that happening.
There's something about elitism that just kind of really turns
me off. But if there was a nice way to
possibly do that, maybe. I mean, it was kind of cute
(22:15):
because like, we launched some like gear when we turned 2 last
year and a lot of our community just showed up and like, bought
socks and yeah, so cute. But like, somebody came in one
day too. And they were like, hey, I was
at the food cart pod and I saw someone else with goodies gear
(22:37):
on. And I was like, damn, if you
know, you know. So I approached them and I said,
hey, what's up? And they started talking.
I was like, that is fucking cool.
That's exactly how I want this like brand to hit people, you
know? And that made me smile like
inside and out thinking about people seeing the basket pattern
out in the wild and being associating it with goodies and
(22:59):
associating it with like our community, which was cool.
So. Yeah, I think that community
aspect of it, when somebody's like, oh, goodies, I've been
there, they see it's a little, Ithink it's a little bit harder
with food to brand to really like build the brand up from
like a food cart. You do have a very strong brand.
It's taken a long time. And there's a lot of great memes
(23:20):
that I'm finally learning some of the lore behind, you know,
like the terrible, terrible, terrible.
Thing and like. I mean, yeah, I feel like I
didn't know a lot of even like just exploring from the last
episode with you. I didn't actually know you used
to deal drugs like out of. Oh really?
No, I, I, I don't know very much.
Oh yeah, no, I definitely have that old money aesthetic.
(23:42):
No, that's so funny. But yeah, all those things.
I was thinking about this the other day.
I'm sorry, but when I think of the shit I've had to go through
for Kim Jong Un, for people to make fun of it when I started
only to be the hardest hitting customers years later than the
(24:04):
bandwagon jumpers, and then all the critics.
And I look at other people that rode really hard from day one
for other brands that have closed or other place that have
closed. And I'm not saying this is a big
part of me, but this is part of my voice, especially on
everything else is that I fucking outlasted all you
(24:25):
fucking cockroaches. I need you guys to fucking
recognize like when you all say blood, sweat and tears, there's
a lot more blood, sweat and tears that are coming in right
now. And when that gets recognized,
right? Like when you use when someone
when 2 customers see are wearingthe goodies socks and they high
5 and then they come in together, right?
(24:45):
Like those are the wins and those are the things that I
love. And I just think it becomes
eventually becomes the fuel to like keep going.
Yeah, 100%. So to all of my ride or die
customers, thank you. To all my haters, just remember
(25:05):
while you're sitting at that office job, I'm still doing
whatever the fuck I want. Yeah, I mean, fun brand Kim Jong
Un. Goodies is a fun, wholesome
brand. I love it.
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's kind of where I really feel like
I thrive too, because like we wanted to create a fun brand so
we could play around a lot and brand is somewhere we really
(25:27):
feel good about. But in doing so, like we've had
so much fun. Like I love working with our
partners, like our designers that we work with to make the
merch and like build the world. That's kind of where I I thrive,
like when we get to explore different things that are
outside of just like the things we sell, but trying to create
(25:47):
more of the aesthetic and the vibe and the storytelling
through stuff. And like, I miss our friend Noel
too. They were so fun to explore,
making fun creative videos and like content together.
They made it really easy. But definitely want to get back
into that. I feel so burnt out on social
media right now. Yeah, that's I understand that.
(26:09):
Shout out to Noel. To Noel Dong, a storyteller
Straight legend. Do.
Do you have any like, 'cause we're talking about brands and
how great it is to have them. Do you, do you ever find that
you have anything that triggers the bad parts?
Like, do you have any bad triggers when it comes to like
(26:29):
seeing your brand out in the wild?
Oh yeah, I think a few recently somebody used our logo to
promote something that I was notattached to and didn't want to
be attached to. What and?
Yeah, that triggered the shit out of me.
Did you have to send a cease anddesist?
Basically, I mean, like I only found out about it because
(26:51):
someone in our community, multiple people hit me up and
we're like, hey, what's this about so.
Just to clarify, was it something that like they used
your brand name to try to grow theirs or is it like?
In a way, yes. Basically they were using not
just my brand and logo, but other BIPOC owned brands to try
(27:15):
to recruit other Asian or yeah BIPOC small businesses to their
project and it was just like a thing of consent for me.
Absolutely. And yes, we immediately wrote
and reached out, told them exactly why that wasn't cool,
and ultimately it got figured out.
(27:35):
But yeah, that, that's just not cool.
That is not OK. We've got a lot to protect, not
just like our our business, but like I'm mainly talking about my
community. So yeah, if you're using
someone's brand or whatever to try to recruit people, that
shit's just not OK. That's not OK.
(27:57):
Yeah. A quick question to you, Joyce.
Are you trademarks? Is your brand name trades?
We are not trademarked nationally, but we're working on
a state one. OK, that was one of the first
things I did with Kim Jong the Tiger everything, and that saved
(28:19):
my ass a bunch of times. Yeah, I know it's a high cost to
trademark, but it is this one ofthe smartest things I did.
Yeah, No, it's important protectyour IP.
No, we reached out to our lawyer, our patents lawyer, and
had a long conversation about it.
But the term goodies is actuallyvery challenging to trademark
(28:39):
because it's descriptive. So yeah, the recommendation is
to at least protect it in our state and region, which doesn't
cost a lot. But yeah, protecting those
things definitely matters. Yeah, trying to remember,
there's a couple of situations where I think somebody in
Portland, ME used the name Kim Jong Un font, matched the font
(29:04):
because it's a custom font, and then sold the exact same Beavin
box. What at a pop up.
It was kind of amazing. It is weird how I found it.
I found it on Instagram and thenI remember sending the brewery
that it was being that was hosting it and it was kind of a
master class of like doing this.And I wrote them like, hey,
(29:26):
First off, the OG wanted in Portland.
That's me. Wow.
And 2nd, I need you to understand that I can be very
litigious very quickly. I'm trademarked, and you need to
shut this down. And then, dude, the owner of the
brewery was like, yeah, whatever.
If I was kind of catch my bluff and I just sat there silent,
(29:46):
like, OK, well, then you'll be hearing from my lawyer.
And then like literally 10 minutes later, I get like, OK,
so after some research, I see that you, you are trademarked.
And then in 5 minutes he was just like, OK, look, man, we
don't have to get lawyers involved.
And then right after that, it was just like, hey, man, you
know, we already called the guy,we called it off, you know, it's
(30:07):
just a pop up. You know this guy turned out to
be shady and. What you look at that?
Yeah. And then I just the silence is
what killed him, I think. But it's hard to, it's hard to
draw the line because sometimes people will use your name to try
to do something good or like, I just don't, like I hate it when
people try to let me into like their belief structure or like
(30:29):
their events and they didn't do,you know, like they use you.
Yeah. Like they just straight up use
you and you're brand. You're just like what?
Dude, I didn't sign on for this,although I'm cool with what
you're doing. But I've still.
I'm not OK with that. Yeah.
Yeah, consent matters. Yeah, it yes, all of those
things for sure. I can go on and on about the
things that you're actually, I guess like.
(30:53):
Another thing that bothers the hell out of me is unsolicited
advice. Oh yeah.
But mainly, I hate unsolicited advice from men, and especially
from old white men. Yeah.
Just drives me nuts. The mansplaining.
I don't need it. I didn't get to this point in my
life because of your advice and I don't even listen to advice
(31:17):
when I ask for it. You know?
I use my own common sense. A damn yeah it it triggers me.
Yeah, I 1000% will double down on that one.
I've definitely, especially in this world, in the culinary
world, I'll definitely have people because if somebody's
(31:37):
like, hey, how's it going? I'm like, oh, business is slow.
And they're like, hey man, did you try doing this?
There's this thing called Instagram.
Maybe you can just do some targeted ads.
I'm just like, hey, dude, fuck off.
Like you asked me what was wrong.
I told you. And it ends right there.
And I actually had, I had my baby mama's older sister who had
(31:59):
a partner. Every time I'd see this
motherfucker, he'd be like, hey,man, do you ever think about
like, maybe like making some merch?
I'm like, hey, man, this is the ninth time we've talked about
this. I really need you to shut the
fuck up. Actually, I had to say that.
And it'd just be like, I don't know, like, man, like what do
you do? And he's like, I'm a doctor.
I'm it's like we'll go doctor over there, you know, like I
don't tell you how to do your fucking job.
(32:20):
And if you ask anybody who has, let's say a small business, have
you thought about this? Yes, we've thought about
everything. Every angle, yes.
Yeah. Why?
Wouldn't we? Yeah.
What kind of question is that? That's insane.
Have you thought about getting acase of a Boo boos?
OK. Can't jump on every trend, you
(32:42):
know that. Would that would be?
Insane it would be, I would burnout.
For me personally, it comes froma space of one.
Like, why did you think you weresuperior towards me?
Yeah, it's. A respect thing.
It's a respect thing, you know. And two, if your small business
friend is going off about like business and the issues that
(33:02):
come with it, man, let them go off.
It's vulnerability. Yeah, give them a hug when
they're done. You know, like, I don't think
it's OK to always be giving advice.
And honestly, it shouldn't be onus as business owners would be
like, hey, actually this is going to be a rant.
I don't need advice. This is a rant.
Yeah, I know. I hate having to do that too.
(33:24):
The disclaimer, sometimes I do it because I just literally
cannot deal with people sometimes.
But yeah, it we don't owe peopledisclaimers like that.
Yeah, but I totally. The whole respect thing too, and
this is coming from being Asian American and a woman and part of
being Asian. Like we look younger than we
(33:45):
actually are, most of them. Yeah, good genetics, good hair,
skin and nails. But.
Something that drove me crazy about that for the longest time
is, yeah, a lot of guys just assume I'm much younger than I
am and just think that I need all this advice.
But. Yeah.
Yeah, those things just drive meinsane.
There is something about and I am being so dead serious.
(34:08):
This is going to sound hilariousbut I'm being so serious about
white men. When they between 35 and 40 they
crossover no matter how woke. I don't care how fucking woke,
how plugged in you are, how initiated you are between those
ages. They make the crossover where
(34:31):
they think they're very wise andthat their words or their
theories their whatever matter more like their value.
They they value their words more.
Yeah, I see that. And it it is infuriating.
I can't even imagine what you have to hear.
It must be madding. Yeah, I, I, I tend to snap back.
(34:54):
Yeah, and that's awesome. Depends, sometimes I just
literally can't even talk but. Yeah, it it's so weird when that
happens to me, I will say something to remind them that
their ego is just as fragile as anybody else is.
It's like, how is it that you look that old and I look and I
but yet I'm older than you? Man, you should really take care
(35:15):
of that receding hairline. Like that's wild.
Those are all your real teeth. They're so.
Crooked. Yeah.
I've gotten better at it over time.
Really. I mean, just communicating,
because otherwise I just sit there and I'm just fuming for so
long because I didn't get to usemy voice over time.
Oh. You should speak up.
Yeah, I've been speaking up now,but I mean, for a while I was an
(35:37):
angsty ass teen and I've had to dial it back.
Yeah, I still speak up for myself even today.
I think that's amazing. Thanks.
I think I truly believe there isa deficit of Asian and POC that
don't get to do them. Yeah, and I don't blame them,
but yeah, I same. I would encourage and I hope for
(36:02):
people to be able to speak up and, you know, feel better.
Yeah, Historically, the people that speak up and speak out pick
some kind of consequence. Yeah, However, it's worth it.
Yeah, don't shop here if you don't like it.
Yeah, yeah, don't eat at my place if you have something to
say about it. God, I I hope this trend isn't a
(36:25):
trend and it just keeps popping up.
I feel as if Yelp is making a comeback.
Why do you say that? Because the lower popularity of
it, there are people that are Yelp Elite that are like going
hard on it. The elites.
Yeah. I thought they were a dying
breed. Honestly, like we probably know
some people that are Yelp Elite and they're just hiding.
(36:47):
I can I can imagine a couple actually.
Yeah but like the criticism has to end somewhere.
I understand it could be good but like yo like if it's going
to be a detriment to business dude fuck you.
Hey, people always ruin a good thing but they're keyboard
warriors. It can be super toxic.
(37:08):
I don't know. It's so toxic.
I don't like the word elite. Yeah, I hate it.
I hate it, but why do you what? What makes you think?
I think what it is, is that I'm in a pod now and I'm surrounded
by other food carts and there's food carts of all different
ages. But I think maybe it's just
cause a lot of a lot of small businesses really do depend on
(37:31):
Yelp to like get more customers to the door and reviews and
stuff. And it just feels as if like I
want to shake them and just tellthem like just believe in your
product and go with it. And I guess if they get to your
make it kind of situation. Are you noticing more people
like reviewing you since you moved there?
(37:51):
I think those are more influx ofpeople of a different
demographic that I'm getting. And I believe I'm suspecting
that my Yelp reviews are either going through the roof because
I'm getting more OH, or they're going down the toilet because
I'm always in the window. Oh, interesting.
(38:12):
I had this couple come up and they're like, oh, welcome back.
Thank you so much for coming back to Southeast.
And the first thing I said wasn't thank you, wasn't
anything. The first thing I said was why
didn't you come see me downtown?And they're and instantly they
were like, whoa, it's just so far.
And I just quit. And I was like, it's it's only
three miles. Your humor doesn't always hit,
(38:35):
does it? No, they understood the kicking
customers feel better kind of onbrand for me.
Yeah. So we have a lot of customers
who come from the Pearl and I asked them, hey, did you come
from far away or do you live close?
And they're like, oh, we're in Northwest.
I'm like, we're in Northwest too.
(38:56):
Hi. Just a few blocks, kind of the
same thing. But yeah, reviews.
Reviews really impact a business.
They do. We have really good reviews on
Google and on Yelp. I think we don't have a lot of
reviews, but it definitely helps.
But it's few and far between review.
Just like, yo, I saw this five star review, I had to come here.
(39:21):
I don't ever hear that anymore. But I feel like in other ways
like it helps with getting your listing further up when you are
reviewed more frequently. But that's also not true.
The reality is if you pay to play, they put you to the top.
Oh yeah, that's right. And I refuse.
Most awards are like that. Too.
I think all fucking awards are like that.
(39:43):
You know what's really funny about that pay to play thing?
You have to pay to play regardless, and if you don't
then you could get buried or youjust never get noticed by
certain people. And in the food world, it is
just ridiculous. I'm sorry, I'm not going to play
with people I don't like. Does not play well with others.
(40:05):
Does not play with well with others.
Does not play well with fucking haters man Fuck them, I'm cool
as shit. Sometimes I feel like it could
be seen as an investment to try to be part of something, but not
all the time. Most of the time it's just BS.
But don't you think that that investment is very fleeting?
It's like very short term. It's fleeting, it's
(40:27):
self-serving, but it's interesting how much weight it
can carry though. That's wild.
How do you pull that apart? For me, it feels kind of like
old school. You know how, like, you frame
something and put it in your store like a news clipping Or in
Chinatown in Los Angeles, there was this restaurant that said
(40:49):
Rush Hour was filmed here and it's like literally painted on
the building. Oh my God, I want to go.
See if it works. It's like that street cred.
I I feel like maybe that things are changing in a different
direction, but still there's something about that that has
weight to some people. Yeah, that's true.
That's true. I mean, I, I know that like our
(41:10):
first press hit and it was like if my mom was still alive, she'd
be like, print that shit, put itup, like frame it.
I hear her voice. But I just.
I can't even do it. Yeah, I could see that.
I just, to me, I just automatically assume that the
average consumer now has is a little bit sharper, is a little
(41:32):
bit smarter, and they can kind of suss out, they can sniff out
like, oh, this person paid for the reviews.
Or there's that one guy that said, like, if you have a 3 1/2
star Yelp review and you're an Asian restaurant, that is the
highest rating that you could possibly get because that's
that's how you know the food's just going to hit.
Yeah, you can trust it. So I guess that is proof alone
that like they're using the system that I feel works against
(41:53):
you. I hate that like Yelp and
reviews are integrated into maps.
They'll be like, oh shit, what am I going to eat tacos?
And then I'm like, fuck, why is this place like 3 stars?
I love that place. Fuck, you know, So I guess it
does. I guess it does work so.
It's so mental. I feel like our customers are
modern day people. They they can suss it out.
How scary are the things that you're tackling right with
(42:16):
business at this time in May? That's a loaded question, and
you're going to have to answer it too.
But in 2022, opening, getting open, literally just opening our
doors was our biggest what did you call it?
The scariest thing I was doing, That was the scariest thing.
And then the minute we opened our doors, it felt better.
(42:38):
The big release. Right now we're in a growth
stage. We're tackling a lot of projects
right now, trying to keep building.
And part of that was onboarding some new staff.
And once that happened, the feardissolved a bit.
And then of course, what does that mean?
Now I have more responsibility. I have responsibility over other
(43:00):
people's paycheck and satisfaction at work, which is
cool. Like it's also inspiring.
Like I want to make this really fun for them and for the IT to
be a good experience, but the financial piece shit, it better
match up. We better have enough to
continue doing this thing, right?
So that's an area. But overarching beyond that too,
(43:21):
is, hey, I'm less than two months away from having a baby,
which is probably the scariest thing in theory that I've ever
done in my life. And strangely, I still feel
pretty Zen about everything calmin this K class.
You're doing great. Thanks.
But yeah, the the reality keeps like inching forward.
Like today I'm 32 weeks and I'm like, this guy better not be
(43:45):
early. I have so much I need to do.
So trying not to act through fear.
But even with this podcast, I'm like Terrance.
He's been so chill this whole time.
He's like, we got this. We're going to be fine.
We're thinking about recording more episodes and editing them.
And we're scrappy. It's just the three of us right
now, right? And we're like, what is that
(44:06):
going to look like? Having hopefully, hopefully the
baby doesn't cry. Hopefully it's a quiet baby.
But yeah, the reality of like, things are changing.
First off, the the podcast will just change to just holding
babies. That's what it would be called.
I would literally just hold yourbaby and be like, yeah, go to
sleep choice. And then you're just going to
hear all the garbage that I say to babies.
(44:28):
I'd just be like. Cute.
Maybe that's a better podcast. Get into fighting.
Tatted dudes and babies just. Puke over shit, you know.
Oh. My God, then we would have to
get a video camera. But yeah, I guess that's kind of
the scariest thing I'm tackling right now.
Yeah, it's a real reality. It seems as if there's growth
(44:50):
periods and then within that growth period, it's like
maintaining, like how do you maintain the growth but still
maintain the business but still also make payroll but also still
have fun and the balances it seems.
Oh and another element of the scariest thing is I don't really
know how to chill. And not saying that parenting is
(45:11):
chill, but it's going to be hardfor me to step away.
Oh, like sit down and like, relax, chill.
I'm going to have a newborn and like to step away and take some
time to be really in it. I'm sure it's going to come
naturally, but the idea of it isfear inducing because this is my
(45:32):
world. I'm here all the time, and even
though I'm excited to be able tohave this time away, that part's
hard. Maybe I'm a workaholic.
Yeah. Interesting.
How about you? I feel like you just did
something really scary, but I'm sure there's always more.
Yeah, I've recently taken a hardlook at my mortality.
(45:58):
Oh, I know. Have a birthday coming up.
Oh, and it never fucked with me until very recently.
And like, fuck, bro, you're old.And normally I like it.
Normally I'm like, yeah, like I know all this shit.
Like I've random knowledge aboutso much stuff and it's cool.
But then other times it's like you're getting closer to that
(46:20):
drop dead age. And if I do, I think that's one
of the, my biggest worries is, you know, I'm, I'm also a
father. One of the most terrifying
things is if I get sick, the business can't go on.
And then things like did I do right and build a support system
where I can do that? Very relatable, yes.
Because you don't know. I just told this to Sunny the
(46:43):
other day and I'm the same way. I had to learn it this way too.
Is that when you're a workaholicand you're putting in like 80
hour weeks and you're like, no, I have to be, I can't not be, I
have to fucking be here. And then you get sick or like
something bad happens and then you figure out the hardest way
possible that you don't have to be here.
Shit's still going to keep going.
Like, it's not like it's just going to go away is.
(47:06):
That the truth. Yeah, so, but for me, lately
it's been, do I have the system set up where if I'm not around,
it'll keep going. And I think the other thing
that's very terrifying is as quickly as us moving to this new
place, this is just in general. I also worry like it could all
(47:27):
just go away. It could all just go away.
And I think I'm funny enough where it's not me yelling at
somebody that'll make it go away.
But I've also had enough things go wrong where like it's it can
happen so fast, so it just gets taken away.
So I don't know what quells it alot of the times.
(47:50):
But I think a lot of my fears, Ijust have to sit with it.
I have to just sit down with it and just breathe it out or like
I just have to sit down with it and really fight it.
Yeah. You fight that, that self doubt
and that that apocalyptic feeling, catastrophe feeling.
I always have to fight it and I just have to remember like, hey,
(48:12):
what haven't I seen? Yeah.
But the mortality thing fucks with me a little bit.
I'm like, my extracurriculars are the safest.
Getting hit in the head, I'm like, fuck, I can only do this
for so long, you know? But somebody brought it up.
Somebody brought it up in my gymat the like when he was like,
(48:34):
man, you think CTE is, you thinkit happens to all boxers?
I'm like, whoa, what's up dude? Why are you doing?
Why are we talking about this man?
That's like talking to a motorcycle guy about motorcycle
wrecks. Like it's not a if, it's a when.
What? A buzz.
Kill. I know I'm like, dude, you suck,
dude, get in the ring. This is what I do to relax.
Like this is what I do to fucking relax is get hit in the
face Dude why don't you just calm down?
Why, why why are you harshing mymellow?
(48:56):
What? Hey, those dooms doom thoughts,
do they come at a specific time?Because for me, it's like when
I'm really tired at the end of the night in bed, all of this
self doubt and anxiety starts coming up and I'm like, I have
to remind myself, you're not gonna feel this way tomorrow.
I just need to go get some sleep.
He used to come to me at night. He used to come to me at night.
(49:19):
I can confidently say I don't have it as often as I used to.
That's. Good.
I think it'll come for you as well.
I think my go to response to thecatastrophizing is there's
nothing you can do about it right now.
You are in soft pants under 2 covers, there's two cats on you.
(49:39):
There's Jack and shit you could do about it right now, bro, if
somebody came and attacked you right now, you're done.
And so I always have to think that, and oddly enough that that
actually breaks me out of it. That's pretty nice.
Yeah, that's that's good advice.Like you just have to realize
when you're a small business andyou're scrappy, you're
(50:01):
constantly fighting everything to stay alive.
But on the opposite end, when you when it is on your mind,
there's nothing to do about that.
Like you need the daylight to dothis.
Like people need to be awake to come by to eat your food.
You don't need to be your own worst enemy.
Either you have to be on your side and it gets tough to do,
but you're the only really like you're the only support that you
(50:24):
have in that moment, so. Sounds like a nice way to close
this one out. Yeah, it's scary as fuck.
Damn. I think I wanna take this
opportunity to say thank you to all 100 people that listen to
our podcast 'cause we're just now finding out about it.
(50:45):
Also, it's. Oh, wait, there's something I
wanted to ask you. Yeah, the letters AAPI, did they
add on to it? OK, I think you're talking about
A, A and HPI. Where the fuck did the HN come
from? OK.
So this is an area of complexity.
(51:08):
AAPI I think stands for Asian American.
Pacific Islander. They tried to squeeze in native
Hawaiian folks in there, which Ijust feel like is so lazy, but I
think a lot of people in that community also feel that way.
Is this the Asian version of theLatin accent?
Yes. Yeah, I guess in some circles,
(51:29):
yes, people would agree, but it's trying to be over
inclusive, but also not being respectful of the fact that
like, that's not how you fix or include people.
And often people still feel veryleft out.
At least that's how I understandit.
But yeah, I've seen it in peopletry to be super inclusive and
(51:50):
try to throw everything in and it's not always appropriate.
OK so I'm not going crazy 'causeI don't know how I feel about
this month so. Yeah.
And even without trying to be overly inclusive, it's not very
inclusive and it's. Confusing.
It's. Kind of like BIPOC, it's people
(52:12):
don't really feel that great about that either, you know,
it's just. Letting all these other people
dictate this. I mean, that's that's kind of
where it's at. So I don't know what the
solution is but. I don't know, man, but they're
really striking down on that model minority thing.
Yeah, think about it. Asian Americans get 31 days to
celebrate our months. Black folks only get February.
(52:35):
Damn, I didn't even think about.That yeah.
Anyways, thanks for doing this podcast Joyce and I feel really
grateful for this. Yes, I'm I'm grateful too.
It's always something we look forward to and grateful for
Terrence as well. Yeah.
Thank you, Terrence. But yeah, seriously, our
community, like it's been cool to have these conversations with
y'all out in the wild and in theDMS and I guess like, I don't
(52:59):
know, it was a passion project to start off with.
It still is, but definitely feelmore fuel to continue going.
Yeah, absolutely. I want to keep it going.
I just don't want this to be another project for you and I to
grind. And it's a third business that
we have, it doesn't. Take care.
Of yeah, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't feel that way.
At least you know right now it's.
Supernatural, I love it. It feels really good, so if you
(53:23):
feel inclined, please rate the podcast.
And what do you mean? If no, rate the podcast.
Get us up there. Yeah, all.
The ratings definitely help. This is all like, you know, it's
funded by us. Hopefully, hopefully that won't
always be the reality. But yeah, right now we're this
is like just a passion. Project We want to take our
(53:45):
sponsors Goodies snack shop in Kinder Grill and Food Cards OK
in downtown to Chinatown and Southeast Woodstock Blvd.
Yes, we're filming inside a snack shop.
All of these beautiful. In here.
I wish you guys can come check it out.
Actually, you guys can come check it out right downtown in
Chinatown. Oh, is that an ad?
Yes, thanks for tuning in to episode 4 of We All Look Like.
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