Minisode 3 - What is about Good Company

Looking for love and community in the modern world can feel like an uphill battle. But what if there was a place that offered a perfect balance between the impersonal nature of dating apps and the extravagance of expensive matchmakers? Join us as we reveal our exciting project, a unique community for singles created to fill this void. Grounded in genuine connections and personal growth, we've joined Valdon's matchmaking services and embarked on a compelling journey. One that saw us buying a house, not just any house, but a space designed to host meaningful gatherings and create lasting connections.

Welcome to The Mackreth. The Mackreth is about you and celebrating the small things in your life with just as much enthusiasm as the big things. Here's the thing: The Mackreth isn't just a house you can rent for parties, baby showers, intimate fundraising dinners, or bridal luncheons. It's a private retreat getaway for your leadership team. It's the statement wallpaper (you know, the one when you see it) that is the perfect backdrop for your music video or commercial. The swivel chairs in the noir room set the comfort and ease for your latest podcast guest, and it's the onsite parking for a dozen cars without any concern.

This house is truly what you need it to be. Honestly – that's a rarity. And we at The Mackreth want to help make your experience – regardless of what it is – one that leaves you wanting more. More time with your favorite people. More snaps with the camera and more recording time.

So, tune in, let us whisk you away, and introduce you to a world of genuine connections. Cheers to your next great experience.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah.
So, thinking through thisendeavor, this project that
we're trying to do, we're doingthe project, what would be like
the top three things you'relooking for and the kind of
people that we want to work with.
So, before I answer, thatquestion.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Can we talk about what the project is that we're
doing?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh yeah, we could do that.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Tell us about it.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Okay, so Valda and I have very different backgrounds.
We are different people.
He is a matchmaker We've goneinto.
I've asked him a lot ofquestions about that, because I
also am just generally prettycurious about it.
Okay, so we've already gonethrough how I met with you at
the beginning of 2022 because Iwanted a different result, so I

(00:46):
had to do different things.
I keep telling myself thatbecause I'm still talking myself
into this, as I think mostpeople are when it comes to, I
think, doing things that arejust new and different and
trying to stretch yourself, andso I recently bought a house.
We are currently in the housenow and in on January 7th 2022,.

(01:09):
I closed on this house for thepurpose of having a place to
throw parties.
I planned my brother andsister-in-law's wedding, a
friend was looking for a placeto have her 50th birthday party
and just sort of like somethings happened at the end of
2021.
That really came to me havingthis realization of, hey, I

(01:34):
could buy a house for thepurpose of people being able to
have parties.
There's something about havinga party in a home that is just
so cozy and also exciting at thesame time.
I feel like the energy isbetter and I wanted to have a
price point that people couldrent the house.
That would be achievable andencourage more people to

(02:00):
celebrate big and small things,whether it's hey, it's a random
Tuesday, let's have a familydinner, or let's have a friend's
giving to hey.
I had I got a book deal, let'shave a publishing party and I
come from a family that lovesparties so much and we throw

(02:21):
them as often as we can, and aspart of that I wanted the house
to be fully stocked.
So when you rent the house youare not having to also rent
flatware or glasses or dishware.
It comes in your rental of thehouse, so you walk in and you

(02:43):
have everything you needessentially, except for flowers
and food.
You can provide those things ifyou'd like.
So all of that to say, I hadthis house to sort of set the
scene.
We met in January of 2022, andI was like, hey, I would like to
find my person and the way Itell the stories, you're like,
great, that's awesome.
I got no one for you and I waslike cool, cool, cool, cool,

(03:07):
cool.
I love that Strangelyvalidating and also sad.
But I was like let's be friends.
Yeah, let's be friends.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well, listen, let me add to that a little bit.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Sure, yeah, rewrite my history, Go for it.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, when I'm out and about, I'm always
looking for great people and youcame off as a great person
right away.
Thanks, I mean because we metat the City Club.
We did, and I think you came inand got an old-fashioned and we
started talking about drinks.
Yes, that's what anold-fashioned was, and it was a
whole thing.
Yeah, Still is I do love thatdrink.

(03:42):
Yeah, yeah.
But I can remember thatinteraction and I thought to
myself.
I can honestly say I thought tomyself man, I'd like to know
this lady because she seems likesome good people.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
So to speak Some good people yeah and you know what.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And shortly after that, I think, you told me about
the house and I was jumping forjoy on the inside about the
house.
But I was trying to contain myglee, so to speak, because I was
holding in that whole idea ofthe social circle idea and I was
looking for a place, like yousaid, that wasn't too big,
wasn't too grand, too grand andall that stuff, cold, yeah.

(04:19):
And I was just thinking, man,there's some things we could do
to take over the world.
And when you basically showedup as somebody that was
interested in what I do andinterested in being social and
it just seemed like, man, we gotto do something together.
And that's when you and Istarted meeting on Saturday
mornings.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, Start, but months passed.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I think I like the way this story is weaving in
this way that I didn't evenreally notice until this moment
when we're having thisconversation.
And I remember I was like, hey,let's have some coffee.
Felden doesn't drink coffee,but I do, I drink a lot of
coffee.
And he was like sure, yeah,that sounds great.
And I was like just hear me outon this idea before you say no.

(05:04):
And so I basically pitchedpartnering on throwing singles
parties, trying to find, orcreating an atmosphere where
people can find their people inreal life.
Because from my perspective,what was going on is you've got
App World, which I think canlargely be summed up as there's

(05:28):
no difference between the appsanymore.
They used to have a differentapproach and a different ethos,
but they're pretty much all thesame.
I think post COVID, they areall the same.
And then there's anothermatchmaking service that is
rather expensive, like $9,000for 12 dates and that's at a

(05:52):
discount.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
And so I, being the person that I am, was like what
if we are the middle ground?
What if we create a community?
Cause people wanna be aroundother people, right, they wanna
be around good people.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Quality people, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Whether it's to make friends or to find their person,
whatever it is, they wanna bearound good people who are
striving to better themselvesand to reach the next phase of
wherever that is.
And so I pitched having eventshere at the house and creating

(06:33):
like a separate side part ofyour platform, of your CRM, that
you use as a matchmaker andbasically just using Valden's
extensive knowledge andmatchmaking to create some magic
.
Yeah, and that's sort of wherewe are.

(06:55):
That's what brought us heretoday.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Is to talk through.
What does that really mean forpeople who are intrigued by the
idea, a little tired of theswiping world Though I will say
that I use swipe right, swipeleft close the app, in everyday
language, to talk about things Ilike, don't like and really
don't like.

(07:18):
Okay.
And then that's sort of how Ijudge the demographic and the
age group of people that I'mtalking to is, if they laugh,
then I'm like okay.
Okay, let's test another joke.
But I think people are tired ofthat.
It's fatiguing.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
And frustrating.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
And frustrating, and I think there's something and
you mentioned this earlier aboutmatchmaking in general being a
better use of your time, and Ithink that's what we wanna get
across in this endeavor, in thisproject that we're building
about good company is that it isa better use of your time.

(08:02):
You're busy, you're trying toget stuff done, you're trying to
better yourself, you haveroutines that you want to keep
because they help you beproductive, but you also want to
spend your life with someoneelse that values similar things.

(08:23):
Right, and so when we look atthere's so much opportunity
Raleigh is a great place to havethat as a goal, a great target
audience, and there's a wholebunch of research about how
people post COVID and duringCOVID really spent a lot of time

(08:43):
because they were by themselves, like figuring out how to be
better people.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
And defined by those people, whether that's they
reread all of Harry Potter againor they and then watch the
movies to go along with thebooks, or they read all of like
the great 100 books ofliterature, or they themselves
started a podcast because theywere curious about something and

(09:09):
their friends had nothing elseto do, so they also joined in.
It was just like there's anaction component to chasing
after good, and like definingwhat good is a whole different
conversation.
But whoever you are andwhatever your good is, you're
moving toward that direction andwe wanted to be the solution

(09:30):
for, and we will be the solutionfor, people who want to chase
after what good is.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Right, right, yeah, go.
As we talk about good company,we should probably, I guess,
break down the name.
Yeah, go ahead, break the namedown.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
So what's the name?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
About.
Good company is the name, andgood company is something that
you know when you're in it andyou want to be a part of it.
And we as a company, as a group, as a project, are about that
concept and so we want tofacilitate that environment for

(10:11):
good company to be created andfostered and enhanced, whether
it's by finding people, of newfriends Because if you're going
to be around good company,likely you're going to have a
similar value system or it'sfinding your person and it

(10:33):
really goes back to your visionof social circles.
How can you put people who aresimilar and have similar
mindsets, ways of viewingpriorities in life, how can you
put them in the same place?
And we're saying that thatplace is gonna be the Macrith.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
The Macrith.
So tell us about the Macrith,because that's the first time
people have heard that word.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Right.
So this house that I talkedabout earlier is called the
Macrith and it is a family nameand we, being my family, has a
family farm in Virginia and itwas given to my grandfather by a
man named Roy Macrith, andevery time we go there and I've

(11:24):
mentioned several times how muchI love a good party, my family
loves to host, but we also lovewhat parties mean and it's a
moment in time that's captured,that lives by itself.
And when we go to our familyfarm in Virginia, which is right
outside of Sherylotsville, wedrive in the driveway and we

(11:47):
leave all of our problems at thebottom, like when we make that
turn and the like, you start tohear the car with the asphalt
and the pebbles.
You shift your mind into thisplace of rest and encouragement
in a way that you didn't reallyknow you needed.
And so, pulling from thatconcept and a very important

(12:12):
family member, roy Macrith,that's where I got the name the
Macrith, because I wanted peopleto walk in and have and leave
their responsibilities at thedoor and just enjoy being
present and enjoy who they'rearound when they're at the
Macrith, and so that's sort ofthe.

(12:33):
That's the fast version of thehouse and the my desire for
everyone who comes whetheryou're coming to a party that I
am hosting, whether you arerenting the house for your own
party, whether you're using itfor a professional purpose, but
just that it be an escape fromthe normal patterns or from

(12:57):
wherever you wanna escape fromat that time, to just take an
extra breath and relax.
And I think that's so hard todo, and I wanna be able to
create an environment where thatis possible.