Pete Dario - Resilience, Entrepreneurship & The Birth of Terrace Plant Shop

Ever wondered about the resilience it takes to succeed as a young entrepreneur? Diving headfirst into the world of business can be a wild ride, fraught with both success and failure. Join us as we converse with Pete Dario, an inspiring Filipino-American entrepreneur who successfully navigated a unique journey from a youthful spirit flipping candy bars, to the proud owner of Terrace Plant Shop.

Life threw a curveball at Pete when his first venture, Culture Connect, faced challenges. Yet, his resilience shone through as he embraced the mantra of failing fast. His story takes a fascinating turn with the onset of the pandemic, a difficult period that birthed the innovative concept of Terrace Plant Shop. Whether you're an amateur entrepreneur, a plant lover, or simply someone seeking an inspiring tale, Pete's journey will surely captivate you.

Navigating customer expectations and leaving a lasting impression is key in business, as Pete discovered. His insights on how to handle heated customer interactions, making customers feel valued, and the potential for referrals are nuggets of wisdom for anyone in the sphere of business. As a sweetener, we also delve into the merits of rainwater for houseplants and the significance of quality soil. So tune in to explore the intricacies of entrepreneurship, personal growth, and overcoming life's challenges with Pete Dario.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, we are officially recording Cool.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
You have hiked this trail.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I have hiked this trail a few too many times.
At this point, let's be quitehonest.
This is the South MountainReservation.
It's a nice trail, it's a goodtrail and we have a beautiful
scenic waterfall at the very top.
So, pete Dario, are you okaywith being recorded on a podcast

(00:26):
?
Yes, well, there goes thatliability.
This is.
I Took a Hike.
I'm your host, darren Mass,founder of business therapy
group and Parktime WildernessPhilosopher.
Here we step out of theboardrooms and home offices and
into the great outdoors, wherethe hustle of entrepreneurship
meets the rustle of nature.
In this episode, we immerseourselves in nature alongside

(00:47):
Filipino-American entrepreneurPete Dario, the owner of Terrace
Plant Shop.
Our conversation covers theimportance of failing fast, the
power of intuitivedecision-making, the emotional
journey of losing paternalfigures and achieving success at
a young age.
During our hike, I wasgenuinely impressed by the
wisdom of this young sage.
Join us on this insightfuljourney when I took a hike with

(01:11):
Pete Dario.
Thank you for coming out on ahike with me.
People don't know who you are.
I obviously do.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're the dude that cut my hair.
For how many years?
Six years, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
For many, except for that one COVID year where I was
getting a local neighbor to comeover and slice and dice.
Yeah, but that was only for abrief moment.
That was, as they say, a hotsecond.
But you're obviously more thanjust a hair cutter.
That's why you're on this show.
You are an entrepreneur, asmall business owner.

(01:52):
Your business is rocking androlling and thriving.
You are in the spotlight, youare growing, you are facing all
of the business challenges thatone would expect to face.
Let's dive into that.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Your business is what I own Terrace Plant Shop,
located in Mottocca, new Jersey.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
You have a great story.
I think it's very inspirational.
We should hear about it.
Let's find out who Pete Dariois first Sure.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
First and foremost, I just wanted to say thank you
for having me on this pod.
You have a lot of publicfigures on this roster.
It's just an honor just to bealongside them.
Honestly, it's an honor just tobe talking to you.
Thank you for that.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
I humbly appreciate that.
I want to thank you for givingme a new term.
I'm just going to call it a podA pod Because you are younger
than me by a few years.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I'm 26.
Yep, you are an early starter.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
You are 26.
I've got a few years on you,but yeah, I will start calling
it pod from now on, because thatsounds so much cooler.
Yes, honor to have you as well.
Let's figure you out.
Who are you?
Where did you come from?

Speaker 2 (03:05):
All right, Comic book style.
I grew up in Edison, new Jersey, born and raised from ages four
to 10.
I pretty much lived at my mom'srestaurant, just wreaked havoc
and caused chaos there.
That's pretty much where I gotmy entrepreneurial spirit from
from my mom.
It's always been in my blood.
My mom grew up in a poor areain the Philippines.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
We were always.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Filipino born Yep.
Always trying to make a buckout there in the Philippines.
Whether it was a food stall orgetting crafty, she was always
trying to sell.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Your mom came here.
When did she come here?
I don't know.
Dude, you should talk to yourmom, Just like I'm doing.
You probably get to know alittle of the history and
background.
Yeah, you're right.
It's important because one dayyou know, darra, I say your mom
will no longer be around.
Your kids one day are going towant to hear this story.
They're going to want to knowwhere we come from.

(04:00):
You're totally right.
So you're a first generationAmerican First gen.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
My mom and dad met here.
They worked for the state thedisability department for New
Jersey.
She left that to open up therestaurant.
That restaurant was around forlike six years.
We got older my sisters and Iand you know she had to really
take care of the family.
That's when they were going offto like high school, college
and I was still wreaking havocat home.

(04:25):
Fast forward, 14 years old,middle school I was flipping
candy bars and chocolate bars toall my friends.
I buy like bulk boxes of justcandy and sell them to my
friends.
By age 16, I started anapprenticeship at the barbershop
.
Just thought it was easy, Ithought it was cool.

(04:47):
You know, just seeing peoplewith like tattoos and the
barbershop that I was at razorsharp barbershop and touching
they're all Filipino.
So I just thought it reallyresonated with me.
You fit in, I fit in.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
So you had the hustle .
So what's interesting on thisshow?
I have discovered usually with,I guess, I don't really do that
much research because I want tohear, like the audience here is
fresh, new, I want to go downthis path together.
So I have discovered, even inclose relationships, that
they're first generationAmericans and you all have this

(05:21):
similarity of living the trueAmerican dream, where it's just
I'm going to hustle, I'm goingto start a business, I'm going
to surround myself in business,I'm going to drive because I
want to make my parents proudand you don't realize that until
later on, but I think yourealize that.
So you, you had thisentrepreneurial spark I can tell
you got an apprenticeship,learning as a haircutter, you

(05:46):
mean sweeping floor sweeping,sweeping floors.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
I wasn't cutting hair yet, okay.
I was cutting my friends hair.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
You do need a license for that, exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
But you learned how to cut hair and I will say you
were able to tame my main.
Yeah, at one point I had a lotof thick hair and I have a
little less of it.
My wife reminds me every daywith her eyes but no, you
definitely excelled at thatskill.
You're the only barber that Ikept going back to and really
saw value, so thank you.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, I appreciate the loyalty.
Yeah, except for that one time.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Did you start, covid no?

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Were you delivering at home cuts.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
At that moment I really wasn't, and were you my
neighbor.
No, okay, so I think I got topass here.
Okay, all right.
So what happens after that?
So you're obviously doing yourbarber thing.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yep.
After that I graduated highschool, went into cosmetology
school, got my barber's licenseand from there I just like what
you said, I just excelled in mycareer.
I just loved the environment,grew my client's hell by a lot.
I was booked up every day.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
As an 18 year old, I get a test of that when I tried
to get scheduled.
You're like no man, I'm bookedfor this week.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yep, and you know I was slinging like 10 to 12
haircuts a day and as an 18 yearold, you don't really see that
type of money instantly, right,yeah, but for me I was.
I was doing really well, to behonest, and then from there I
it's not like I got tired ofcutting hair, but I just wanted
to test my strengths and I wasalways in.

(07:24):
I always loved being a creativeopened up my first business at
age 21, which was CultureConnect Media.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
And you told me that story, which is why I
immediately knew you were goingto be a hit.
I knew you had somethingbecause you told me you started
a business that obviously, forsomeone like me, you pique my
interest immediately, yeah.
But then I went to your websiteand I saw, oh man, this guy
actually understands and it wasa very creative marketing and

(07:55):
branding strategy.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
I appreciate you noticing and at the time when
you believed in me which was atthe time I thought was crazy a
lot of people didn't reallybelieve in me, believe in me
what you did, so I appreciatethat.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, well, you know, you'll pay it forward one day.
Yes, You'll see something andsomeone else and you'll just
instantly know that they knowwhat they're doing, so okay, so
let's continue the story.
You had this creativeorganization.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yep, we were doing content marketing for,
specifically, restaurants,restaurant owners who really
wanted to like make theirInstagram and social media stand
out.
So we were pretty much justmaking high quality photos, high
quality videos and posting themon it on Instagram, and I did
that for three years.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
So why the pivot?
Hey, listener, thanks forhiking along with us.
Discover more episodes atitalkahikecom.
Or to recommend an adventurousguest, apply to be a sponsor,
discover books along the trail,or to simply drop us a line.
By the way, let me ask you thisdo you hike normally?
No, I saw, my hike was likelast year All right, because not

(09:04):
to make fun of you too much,but you are walking really slow.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Let's go.
I was keeping up with your pace, man.
I'm keeping up with yours, sosee this right.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Here is the value of communications.
If we don't communicate, we'reboth thinking opposite things.
Gotcha and I'm walking at yourpace, you're walking in mine.
All I needed to say was step itup.
Cool, all right.
So let's get you out of breath.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
So where was I?
You were talking about yourpivot, my pivot, from a barber.
Are you asking from barber toculture connect?

Speaker 1 (09:36):
No, it's from yeah, from culture.
Connect your creative company.
What if you were seeing successwith that?
Why did you pivot to where youare today?

Speaker 2 (09:43):
No, that's the thing.
There was no success in cultureconnect.
Why not?
I felt like every client that Ihad, I did really well for the
first few months and then itjust kept crashing down.
For me, as a 21 year old 22year old just wasn't used to

(10:04):
client confrontation and beingorganized with like being the
middleman.
I was hiring photographers andvideographers and I was also
trying to make sure my clientswere fine too.
Okay, I just got overwhelmed.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Talk to me about crashing down.
You use that term.
What does that mean to you?
For me?

Speaker 2 (10:27):
my flaw is that I love doing everything by myself,
and I felt like if thephotographer wasn't going to do
it, well, I would step in and doit myself.
Okay, that's meant a lot.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Do you recognize the error in that thinking?
100% Okay, but not at the time.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Not at the time Learning lessons.
I was so stressed to the pointwhere I just wasn't happy with
the business, got to the pointwhere I was losing clients.
I would say culture connect isa failure.
Okay, let's develop that.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
So it's a failure.
Why?
Because you didn't make lots ofmoney.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I think it was a failure, Not even about the
money.
It's just that I lost so muchinterest in it because I just
wasn't doing well In terms ofthe quality I was giving to my
clients.
I just wasn't reaching theirexpectations.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Okay, so you were not meeting their expectations,
their expectations being a lothigher than probably what they
were willing to pay for.
First of all, yeah, and becauseyou are young and young in
business, young as anentrepreneur and young in career
, you probably didn't have theskillset developed to manage
that yet, and even the abilityto push back a little bit on a
client.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, exactly, everyone was pushing me around.
Yeah, because you're young.
Yeah, client was like no, Iwant this, I want this, I want
that, and then a little bitextra more.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yep, it's called scope creep.
It's when the client takesadvantage of the vendor by
changing the parametersconstantly and then you go to
charge them more and they havean issue with that.
So I will tell you right offthe bat and probably a lot of
the audience is thinking thisthat was not a failure.
In fact, that was probably oneof the best reasons for your

(12:13):
success today.
It's all about perspective.
Yeah, here's why you learn tofail.
You learn to fail fast.
You learned what doesn't makeyou happy, will not make you
money and will not make yousuccessful, and success being
more than just money but yourlife value and your purpose.
So you did what you thought wasright, which was close, that

(12:34):
Yep, move on.
If you didn't have thatexperience, you probably
wouldn't have a completeopposite feeling and experience
with Terras Plant.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Shop.
I went into Terras Plant Shopwith a whole different mindset
after what I experienced withCulture Connect.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, so what was that mindset?

Speaker 2 (12:58):
I think the main pillar of that was to not let
anyone push me around.
When a lot of my clients fromCulture Connect were pushing me
around, I was like this is theworst feeling ever.
I felt like the business wastaking over me, okay, and I
thought I felt like the businessowned me.
Well, it does, yeah, so maybe Ifelt like I was a slave to it.

(13:22):
Then Does that, does that makesense?
Yeah, that's pretty normal.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, but not in like I don't know.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Some people love their businesses and I felt like
I would wake up every morning.
I'd just be like, damn, this isnot fun anymore.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
And even with a job, if you're doing something that's
not fun and you can't figureout a way to make it more fun,
then it's time for a big pivotor a shift.
Yeah, okay, so now we've gotTerras.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
What gave you the idea?
2021, the pandemic hits Right.
What was it?
2020?
It was 2020.
2020 pandemic hits Everything'sshut down and honestly, it was
such a blur at the time.
But I just remember people justdying right or people just
getting sick and we were all soscared and all of a sudden my

(14:13):
whole family gets sick andbasically just taking care of my
family ended up having to drivemy dad to the hospital.
At the time we didn't reallyknow what how bad or the
severity of COVID, so I didn'teven get to say goodbye to him.
So your dad passed.

(14:34):
My dad passed away from COVIDProbably three weeks, three to
four weeks while he was in thehospital and that was like such
a crazy time, just because itwasn't just my dad dying,
there's just multiple peopledying and my family was still

(14:55):
sick.
They had long COVID, so it'snot like they got better after a
week.
So I was still taking care ofmy mom.
I was still taking care of mysisters.
My sisters have my sisters havenieces too, so they had COVID
as well.
Fast forward my grandpa passesaway shortly after.

(15:15):
I remember holding my grandpafrom his back because he just
couldn't breathe as he waslaying down and he was just like
it's like he was suffocating,which he was, which he was.
Two days later we bring him tothe hospital and he passes away
the night of, and from there itwas just like a really dark

(15:37):
place for my family and I,because they were all still sick
and we couldn't really connectbecause I couldn't go to them.
My mom was locked in her room,so were my sisters, and we just
didn't know really how to likegrieve.
It was the first time that oneof our main family members died

(15:57):
in the family, especially inyour culture elders are
respected 100%.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
It's unfortunately not the case in America anymore
at least, so that had to bereally rough.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
It was super rough.
I made this tweet probably twodays after my grandpa passed
away.
This tweet reached millions ofpeople.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Millions wow.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Basically, the tweet was my dad and my grandpa passed
away from COVID.
There's a lot going on rightnow, but if you have the chance
to just hug your family members,please do it, because you never
know what's going to happen thenext day.
Reached millions of people,lots of media companies ended up
using that tweet as like atruth, yeah, as the truth.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's the reality of what was going on.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, no one really expected.
I didn't expect that tweet toblow up.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
It was just something that Well you didn't write it
for that purpose.
You wrote it for you.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
I wrote it for me.
I wanted to-.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Which, by the way, most of the ones that blow up,
especially the spontaneous ones.
You wrote it for you.
Yeah, that was your therapy.
You were letting the world knowthat you were hurting.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Mind you, I don't look to social media as an
outlet to talk about stuff likethat For me.
I'm a creative.
I just post photos, yeah, butat the time it felt like I
needed to talk to someone and Iso happened to make that tweet.
I ended up talking to millionsof people and that's what
happened.
From there, I had a lot oftraction for a month, just a lot

(17:28):
of people hitting me up.
You had a wave, I had a wave,but guess what?
This wave of people?
It was a lot of people thatwere dying too, like family
members, and they were messagingme through my DMs and they were
like my dad died too.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
You became the central spokesperson.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Essentially, yeah, we all looked for that.
We looked for general andeverything, whether it's a
successful venture or finance orhealth, whatever it is, we
looked for a central figure tobe our champion.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah, right, and you became that.
I became that, didn't I?
Didn't that help you deal alittle bit?
You know, at the time, yes, butI'm going to dive deep into
that maybe whenever you want totalk about it later, but at the
time I thought it was reallyhealthy.
Oh, we need to do more hikingto get to that.
See how quick.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
We elevated ourselves maybe 1200 feet.
Yeah, and it's pouring out.
It's crazy.
Yeah, let's pause for a selfie.
Sure, and you can hear all thelovely cicadas.
I love me some cicadas.
Seven-year cicada Not bad for arainy day or morning after Dude
this is beautiful.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, this is the perfect day for a hike.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
This is the perfect day for a hike.
Let me just get back on theramp.
I'm going to come back here.
Let's go this way, okay.
So let's continue with yourstory.
You became that spokesperson.
Essentially, you helped others.
You got them through theirgrief by being an outlet,
someone to vent to.
Was it helping you and yourfamily?
Or how did you get through thegrief of losing both your father

(18:58):
and your grandfather?

Speaker 2 (18:59):
I lost my dad and my grandpa within a few weeks from
each other, which were the onlytwo male figures in my family.
So to answer your question, wasthat tweet?
Was that situation helping?
I don't think so.
I just felt like I had to stepup to the plate because I was

(19:21):
the only man left in the family.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Okay, so, in a way, you were using that
entrepreneurial mind of yours,which is drive.
Yup.
What is an entrepreneur?
A visionary with drive Purpose,relentless execution?
What did you learn from?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
doing this.
Well, later in time, what I didas a man, I thought I had to do
what I had to do.
That's one side of it.
Well, on the other side of it,I suppressed all that emotion.
I didn't get to grieve properly.
I didn't really talk to peopleTo be honest, I didn't really
talk to.
I didn't start talking topeople until this year, but how

(19:57):
I really felt?
Okay.
So, if anything, I feel like Ijust started grieving.
Well now.
Now Okay, because what happenedwas COVID started to die down a
little bit.
Everything started to open upand I had that idea to open up
Terris Plant Shop.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
So from there, Well, take a step back.
How did you get an idea to opena plant shop?
I mean, it's like, how did Iget an idea to open up a hike
pod?
Yeah Right, there's a spark.
There's some cliched momentthat you read about in every
business book from anentrepreneur.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
So what was your spark?
Everything started to open up,and it was our first time as a
family that we were able to seeeach other again, or to really
talk about what happened and formy mom, being an older
generation as she is, shedoesn't really like talking
about it, of course.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Well, she was grieving.
She was grieving, she washurting.
She lost her father, she losther husband.
Yeah, those are incrediblydifficult people in your life to
lose at once.
Without any notice.
Yep.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
So she grew up as a farmer back in the Philippines
and I figured if, maybe naturewill help her you know, growing
up we've always had a garden,we've always had plants in the
house I was like maybe if Ibring her to a nursery, which
was Williams' nursery inWestfield.
I brought her there and sheloved it.

(21:32):
You know.
I felt like I saw like thatspark in her again.
Okay, great, and I fell in lovewith the whole process of
plants as well, just being onewith nature, especially bringing
nature back into your home,really felt good.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
I believe you taught me a term.
Well, Matt, I believe you didShinrin Yoko.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, Japanese term Shinrin Yoko Basically being one
with nature and loving natureand bringing nature back home.
Yep.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
So when you, I didn't have a term for what I was
feeling as I'm hiking and I feelgreat coming back and it's the
best day ever.
Yeah Right, it's the energy,the forest bathing, as you had
explained it to me.
Yes, it's fantastic.
Yep, it wasn't until I embarkedon this podcast journey that I
realized the impact of problemsolving in nature, and now I

(22:24):
would like to help you.
I invite you or your team tojoin me on a hike and experience
business therapy all while onthe trail.
Visit itookahikecom for moreinformation on our hiking
therapy.
Okay so your spark was seeingthe light and the positive

(22:45):
response that, being in nature,brought to your mom.
Yep, did you know?
Right then you had a business.
Honestly, I did, and that rightthere is your cliched moment
that goes in your first businessbook, the day I had the spark
Right.
And then you ran with it.
I ran with it.

(23:06):
What were your next steps?

Speaker 2 (23:08):
My next steps was to research if plants were actually
a thing.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
What do you mean by if plants are actually a thing?
Of course they're a thing, no,but they're a living thing.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
If people were buying it, you know, if people were
like actually had interest inplants, so you were doing your
research, yeah, good, yourmarket research, which is step
number two.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Make sure that your concept, your vision is valid.
Yep, okay.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Because if I was feeling that feeling, maybe
other people were feeling thatfeeling.
Looked on Instagram, I justnoticed that people were
hoarding plants in their home.
They were bringing nature backinto their home, whether it was
big plants or small plants.
They weren't making terrariumsin their home with their
families.
There's rare plants that youhave to import into the country

(23:57):
that are, like, incrediblyexpensive and hard to take care
of, and people love that aspectof it.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Well, there's also TikTok trending plants like
Monterra deliciosa, exactly.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
People, that's like the staple house plant in the
home.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Is it really?
It really is, so why don't weget this crazy and insane fruit
that's supposed to be the bestfruit that?

Speaker 2 (24:16):
people ever ate.
We don't have the climate inNew Jersey for that, oh okay.
Did you know that if you don'teat the fruit at the right time,
it feels like there's spikes inyour throat?

Speaker 1 (24:28):
So normally I would go with you and be like no, I
didn't know that.
Haha, it's right.
But no, because I am a studentof the TikTok.
I do know that because that wasthe whole thing with the TikTok
crazes.
This one very expensive, rarefruit is the best tasting fruit
ever, but if you don't eat it atthe right time it's poison.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yep, supposedly it's really good.
I never had it, I'm kind ofscared to eat it.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
I am not Serve me up some of that Fugu Blowfish,
let's try it.
Actually, maybe not I don'tknow if I would do that, but I
would definitely try the fruitMonterra deliciosa.
In fact, this is your jam.
You should start doing this,maybe a taste test.
I should add that to as aproduct that will be sick, as
seen on TikTok.
So educate us some more on yourpath.

(25:17):
You validated your market.
What did you do after?

Speaker 2 (25:20):
that I validated my market and I started researching
if there were wholesalenurseries in New Jersey or just
in the tri-state area.
At the time there was only one,which was in Long Island.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
You're telling me there's only one wholesale
nursery in the tri-state areaand we call ourselves the garden
state.
Exactly, okay, great, I seethere's this For indoor house
plants specifically.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Now there's a lot of wholesalers for trees that can
survive in New Jersey, orthere's a lot of wholesalers
that grow flowers, but not fortropical house plants.
It's actually very difficult toget tropical house plants in
New Jersey because the holymecca of house plants are in

(26:10):
Florida.
Everything imports from there.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Okay, I see the humidity and the climate.
Yep.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
All these plants are grown from South America or in
the Caribbean.
At the time I just did myresearch where all the plants
were coming from.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
I only found Long Island to be the key spot which
is very odd and strange, totallyVery odd and strange, but maybe
easy port-a-call access, Idon't know.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
I don't know either, but they were there.
I'm making that one up.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
You found a need, you found an opening and an
availability for something thatdoesn't exist.
To be honest, I never thoughtabout a house plant ever.
Maybe when I was in anapartment in New York City, sure
, but in my home I never wouldhave considered a house plant
until you started speaking aboutit.
Now I do have a few, providedby you, thank you, thank you.

(27:04):
Let the record show I paid forthem.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, he did charge me fullprice, plus shipping, handling
and delivery.
I delivered it and tax, okay,fair.
And then he cut my hair.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Bonus.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
But yeah, no, so I would have never thought about
it.
So you obviously foundsomething.
You found a niche.
So at what point did that sparkjust ignite?
You had your spark when yousaid oh wait, this exists, I
have a passion for it.
You did your research and thenboom, it turns into a full-on
lit match.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
I love reading magazines.
Well, I'm going to take thatback.
I don't read magazines, I justlook at pictures.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Okay, Welcome to your generation.
Tldr two sentences.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
For me.
I've always loved interiordesign and I just saw this page
from Hypebeast.
It's a magazine.
It was just this beautiful roomwith plants everywhere and it
was just like this model thatwas showing off a shoe.
Basically, my idea was I wouldlove to create a plant shop.
Thanks, encuentra Lots Cui ci.
You did somekea Today.

(28:06):
The hair designer gave us astraight side.
She says I'm really surprised.
Let me see the whole thing.
Sorry, ten, unfortunately.
I thought it would turn out tooshort.
That's designed focused forpeople's homes and everybody
goes to nurseries and nurseriesare cool.
I'm not gonna knock them, butthey're dirty and it's just a
whole array of plants justsitting around.
I want to do it tastefully.
I at the shop, we have a couchand we have a bike on the wall

(28:29):
and we have multiple standinglights and it just looks like a
home.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
So you made a cool chill hangout spot that people
wanna be surrounded by, exactly,and I'm gonna tell you through
that nurseries are dirty,literally they sell dirt, that's
okay, that's their businessmodel, but to me, a nursery is
more for outside plants, fortrees, for bushes, shrubs,
flowering plants, perennials,annuals, all of that.

(28:56):
I don't think of a nursery forindoor plants.
And as I'm saying this, I thinkyou're right.
I don't even know if there is asection for indoor plants,
because I would never thinkabout going to any one of these
nurseries for indoor plants.
So, okay, so you made somethingreally cool and fashionable.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Okay, and you're bringing the outdoors indoors
right, Especially in our veryindoor world now.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I heard this concept from my friend, garrick, who
owns King Strength andPerformance.
Shout out to Garrick.
He taught me this conceptcalled the third space.
Have you heard of it?
No, third space is basically,as human beings, we belong in
three spaces.
We have our home, we have ourwork and then we go to other
spaces to find comfort, to findfun and to hang out.

(29:45):
Okay, I wanted to create athird space plant shop where the
community can come and releasethat stress.
So what we do at the shop.
I wanted to introduce workshopswhere people can create
terrariums, for example, or evenrent out the space to hold a
bridal shower, which is what wehave done multiple times.

(30:07):
Right, and just beingsurrounded by oh, this is
brilliant.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, you are maximizing every square inch of
your cost structure.
Yeah, right, there are offhours where you're not
profitable in a store, and youturned it into something Exactly
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
These are add-on additional sales.
I wasn't even thinking aboutthat.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Again, the reason why you're hiking is I saw a
brilliant mind in you.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
From our first conversation, and this is
clearly just like you would meeta talented artist that just had
the skill, had a need fortraining, but had the skill.
You obviously get business.
You understood business.
You even understood the mostimportant lesson, which is we're
taught from an early age, backin my generation.

(30:51):
You never quit.
No, you're taught, you learnedthat it's okay to quit
Something's not working your way.
You quit, you pivoted a failurereal quick.
That was the first businessthat you had Right.
You pivoted.
Yeah, not many people would dothat.
We're stubborn.
We would continue on with thatidea even if it's not working

(31:14):
Right.
So that was an important lesson.
So you get something.
You have some sort of artistry.
So you basically figured outhow to maximize your space, how
to maximize every singleopportunity for revenue, but not
because you've planned to do so, because you wanted to create

(31:36):
something awesome outside ofjust another retail store,
exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Okay, I didn't want it to be a place where you just
pick up a plant and go.
I wanted you to come inside,pick up a plant, scan our QR
code with our Spotify playlist,talk to our sales reps, where
they're not even trying to sellyou something, they're just
trying to talk to you about lifeand mental health.
I wanted you to sit down andreally take in nature as it is

(32:02):
and enjoy the space for what itis, which is design and culture
and community.
And how's that working out?
We're two and a half years inand people love us, I see it on
your posts all the time.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, you are definitely a success on the gram
, on the gram, on the gram Isthat what the cool kids are
calling you now?
Exactly, all right, cool.
I love how I come up with thesethings that age and date me,
but I'm not really that old.
When it makes me feel awesomeon the inside Aging All right.

(32:37):
So feedback is great.
Your posts I don't know if youcall them viral anymore, but
whatever it is, your posts dovery well, far better than most
other posts that I know.
It's something you should beproud of.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Each post that we do now, whether if it's a real or a
story, we only post if it isgoing to go viral.
And yes, the kids do say that.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Okay, cool.
So how do you know what's themarker?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Is it just?

Speaker 1 (33:07):
intuition?
Or do you just know thateverything you touch now is
going to do well First year?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
we tried everything, whether if it was like a funny
video or if it was aninformational video and honestly
, I think what really resonatedwith the people is who I am as a
person.
That's right.
You know, I'm a funny person, Iam goofy and people love that

(33:33):
and I show that in my content.
So I have videos of me trippingor have videos of me like
eating and like having like anacai bowl stain all over my face
.
You know, do?

Speaker 1 (33:45):
you love a good acai bowl?
Exactly Well, what you're doingagain.
Your intuition here is spot on.
We build trust with moreconnections, and the strongest
way to build trust to somebodyis to make them laugh.
Right, if you can get somebodyout of a neutral mood or, even
worse, a bad mood, and get themto crack a smile and laugh

(34:06):
instant bonding moment.
You just elevated the abilityto trust and you also cracked
the code of authenticity.
Now, this word is grosslyoverused, but there is a real
authenticity.
It is undeniable that yourposts are you as a person and
you could tell that you're notfaking it.

(34:27):
You don't end that camera andgo.
Oh God, I just want to go backand go to sleep.
You'd probably just turn offthe camera and you're the same,
pete going up a customer?

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, I'm not acting.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
I mean yeah, and it's very apparent that you are
transparent.
Which?

Speaker 2 (34:43):
is great.
And that's the type of contentthat we produce.
You know Not everybody's funny,so if you're not funny, go
informational.
You know, like that will workfor a lot of people, that's not
going to work for me.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Well, I think the message is really know who the
hell you are Exactly and don'ttry to fake it, yeah Right, and
I tried to go the informationalroute and it's boring for you,
it's boring.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
It's so boring.
I spit out facts and likepeople are like that's cool, but
now I make.
I made a funny video the otherday where, like you have to,
like you have to, the best waterfor your houseplants is
rainwater.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
With all those lovely chemicals and falling from the
sky?

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yes, Okay, why?
And I?
Because there's so manycomponents.
Nitrogen is a huge one, Okay,fair.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
And we do strip nitrogen out in our filtered
water.
Okay, exactly.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Tap water, for example.
Tap water in general is notgood for plants, but rainwater
is, and I made a video where Ijust acted like a crazy person
with a bucket outside while itwas raining like crazy.
It was storming.
Yeah, people loved that.
And number one, that wasinformational, because I taught
them that the best water israinwater.
And number two, I made themlaugh and I thought that was so

(35:58):
fulfilling, as it is Okay.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
So I can guarantee you people listening to this
right now or I didn't know thatthey're instantly thinking like
I didn't know that either.
And obviously it makes logicalsense that the plant can filter
out any of those pollutantsanyway.
That's the soil's job, exactly,and it can filter.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Unless it's cheap soil.
Okay, so we can get it.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
I don't know how to deep it, okay.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Should we cut?

Speaker 1 (36:19):
that.
Yeah, probably have to cut thatout.
I don't know.
Up to our editor it's the lastlawsuit I need.
Hiking boy goes into a lawsuitto home depot.
Great Well, I got anotherproduct for you.
Okay, you should bottle andsell rainwater and I'm not
kidding, I thought about thatand you can literally call it

(36:42):
rainwater and people will buy it.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Rainwater for your plants.
Did you know some states?

Speaker 1 (36:47):
it's illegal.
No, that's still rainwater.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Rainwater, just rainwater.
What selling rainwater isillegal?

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Collecting rainwater in some states is illegal, but
not in New Jersey Because theyneed to run off because of the
droughts.
Ah yeah, that's why Californiait's actually.
I don't know what Californiadoes.
California is just weird.
Sorry, California, you are.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
But thankfully New Jersey, it's not illegal.
We get a lot of rain.
Yeah, we have this idea where,like you can either pick it up
at the store or it's just adelivery service where we just
deliver rainwater for your houseplants to your home.
We have a van already.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
So the idea is pretty intelligent actually, because
people will buy this, yeah,which is crazy, because people
will buy anything if it'smarketed properly, and we see
that every day.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
Right, Well, you know what it is too.
We offer a rehab service in theshop and we see horrible
looking plants, and that's justbecause some municipalities the
plant went on a bender Prettymuch had a bender Of really bad
water, though Somemunicipalities have really harsh
tap water and that's not goodfor house plants.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, Well, in Jersey we have hard water, yeah, so
hard water is not good, yup,Right.
So I need to buy some of yourrainwater, exactly, and I'll do
that because I'm a fan.
But I do have a bucket sittingoutside that the kids forget to
bring in for their toys, andit's got at least four inches of
rainwater, so I can help withproduct here.
There you go, but there ismerit to this, you know and

(38:15):
we're kind of saying it, jokie,but not If you actually market
it with full disclosure andhonesty, then it will take off,
this virility to the fact thatdid you know the best water for
your plants is good oldrainwater?
Yep, here's your ad.
Here at Terrace Plant Shop,we'll sell you that rainwater
only two bucks a jar.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
There you go, good old New Jersey rainwater.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
There you go, so I like that path.
It's good to find little bitsof knowledge that you would end
up knowing.
Now we know that rainwater isgreat for plants.
Soil Good quality soil makes abig difference.
Why?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
House plants in general love well-draining soil,
and the soil that these big boxstores sell is filled with
added fillers just to make thebag feel heavier, like what, for
example, peat moss.
Peat moss is really bad.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
You planted your own moss, I should.
I got jokes too.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
Here we go.
Another product, it's calledpeat moss, peat moss.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
That's got your face on it.
Peat moss is really bad itdries out the plant severely
Okay.
And a lot of plants don't likethat, okay.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
So why is peat moss sold in bags?
Why do you buy it?
What's the purpose?

Speaker 2 (39:42):
To fill up the bag.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
No, no, you could actually buy peat moss.
You can buy bags of just peatmoss.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Why?
What's the purpose?
Peat moss can be used aspropagations, or maybe a weed
killer, or weed killer Asuffocant.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Fact check the word on that one Suffocant.
Yeah, when I listen back to alot of these episodes.
There are words that I say thatI thought was a real word.
I totally made it up and Icatch it when, I listen back and
I'm like oh man, you're adumbass.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
No, it's a real word now, because Darren said it.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Well, no, not because I said it, it's when you're in
conversation, conversationallanguage.
If two people understand whatyou mean, then there you go.
You accomplish the point oflanguage.
Yeah, you don't have to explainit.
So if I say it's a suffocant,that might be a word or might
not, I don't know, but you know.
What I'm trying to say is thatit will suffocate the weeds, yes

(40:37):
, so there we go.
All right, so we're learning alot here.
So Home Depot, sorry.
So big box store, big box store, orange box store that we all
buy from.
If you're looking to not killyour plants, make sure you're
buying that Primo soil Exactly,is there a label or something
that we should be looking at foridentification of Primo soil?

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Totally, you have to look for a tropical house plant
soil.
Oh, it's literally the labelfor tropical house plants.
But Home Depot and big boxstores.
Big box stores don't sell it.
Why not?

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Expensive, heavy, I guess.
So, honestly, I don't have ananswer for that.
I do.
Lower margin, okay, alwayscomes down to the margins.
So, all right, cool, let'spause here on our tips because
we're going to do another cooltrip with our hover.
Sick, sick.
We're following that trail andit's going to follow us.
Comfortable so far, supercomfortable.

(41:39):
Good, all right, it's going tofollow us.
This is a phenomenal day forhiking, by the way.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
This is amazing.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
The rain took the humidity out, all right, so walk
, naturally.
Okay, all right, we're going toliterally side by side.
It's going to follow us.
We're just going to walk untilI tell it to stop following us
this way, yep Straight along.
You see the blaze, the yellow.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Give me a second.
Okay, are you ready?
What do you think?
30 seconds.
I'll just tell it to stop Ready.
Yes, sir, side by side here.
Let me get it right here.
Continue, follow Lots of mud,it's okay.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
I use these shoes to go plant shopping.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Well, so I'm used to the mud.
I mean it's pretty apropos.
Well, how muddy do you?

Speaker 2 (42:36):
get, I guess, pretty muddy, because the wholesalers,
they're essentially just bignurseries, yeah, and they're
just water sitting everywhere.
And do you have to drive toLong Island every time?
No, I do, we get it deliverednow.
Okay, we also found anotherwholesaler, and Patterson, but I
didn't find them until like twoyears later.
Oh yeah, they were reallyhidden.
Why is that?

(42:57):
I'm not sure Marketing sucksfor them.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Well, if only they had a good marketing company,
you should see their computer.
It's like from the 80s.
That's true with a lot ofbusinesses is that their
computing system is essentiallyantiquated.
Yeah Right, and I'm a bigbeliever in making sure you have
the latest, greatest oftechnology that works for you,

(43:22):
because you will regret it inthe long run.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
I'm glad that they're low key, though that's another
word low key, low key.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Yeah, low key or low key.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
As in two words low key L-O-W space K-E-Y.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Oh, okay, so you know , you took a normal phrase in
the English language and yourepurposed it for the use,
exactly.
That's another quote from mycousin, vinny the, probably one
of the best movies that was evercreated.
I don't think anyone's going toargue with me on this, and let
me guess you've never seen it.
I've never seen it.
Okay, all right, make sure yousee it.
It's Joe Pesci, marissa Torme.

(43:57):
It should win an Oscar if ithadn't.
I think Marissa Torme was Tome,sorry, marissa Tome that Long
Island accent came out Was upfor an Oscar in that.
I don't know if she won.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Oh Well, I only know Joe Pesci, that's right.
Where do you know Joe Pesci?

Speaker 1 (44:15):
from though.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Man, you're putting me on the spot.
Yeah, this was the purpose ofour hike here.
Was he in Bronx tail?
No, because that's one of myfavorite movies, honestly.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
So Bronx tail, I do not believe had Joe Pesci, it
had Jazz Pimentary, it had DaNero, obviously.
Right, I don't think Joe Pesciwas in that, though you might be
thinking of Goodfellas.
Goodfellas is huge.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
I love Casino, so, yeah, die hards, multiple of
them.
I'm pretty sure the fans aremad at me right now.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
No, nobody's mad, no one hates this is a love only
Perfect.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
How cool was that?
That was so cool dude, andhonestly, I could even talk
through that Like it wasn'treally bothering me.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Well it's going to be on the recording.
So we're going to probably cutall that section out, gotcha,
unless we're leaving it inbecause, as I said, I believe in
technology and technology canbe used to your advantage.
Let's get back on our trail,all right.
So we are hiking up to HemlockFalls, because I think you'll

(45:23):
really appreciate that there's awaterfall.
Yeah, dude, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Welcome to.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Jersey.
So it's the Garden State.
But the Garden State has a lotof beauty to it Nice, and being
a resident now for quite a whileI think eight years it's
awesome to explore and it's notuncommon for people to have
never ventured into their ownbackyard, really.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
I usually go on hikes in Portland, Maine.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
That's a much different hike and I would say
there's a lot of beauty in that.
That's bucket list material forme, all right.
So let's get back to tips andtricks.
What is the main reason whyeverybody seems to just kill
their houseplant?
And probably one of the reasonswhy people don't have

(46:09):
houseplants is because it'ssomething else you have to take
care of Totally.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
And I actually am really transparent with
customers about their lifestyle,like if they're always on the
go, they either one shouldn'thave a houseplant or two should
just get a houseplant that onlyrequires to be watered once a
month.
Ok, so that's one aspect of it.
If you're always on the go,those are my options to you.

(46:34):
Ok, do people laugh like I justdid?
When you're Totally OK, they'relike amazed that I just said
that.
Yeah, because at the end of theday, I'm just trying to be
transparent.
I don't want you to kill aplant and waste your money.
Yeah, you know, perfect.
The other end of it is if, forme, I love caring for stuff, and
if you're caring too much for ahouseplant you're always home,

(46:54):
you're always watering you haveto look for a houseplant, for
example, like a fern or a pilea,that always needs to be watered
, ok.
But as for a Montserratdeliciosa or a ZZ plant, which
are really neat, they don't liketo be watered all the time, ok,
so, essentially, so you have topick a plant and match it to a
personality, much like a hikeand a trail and a guest.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Exactly OK, interesting.
Do people ever get offended ifyou're like, listen, this
plant's not for you, right,you're a little high maintenance
and this plant doesn't likethat?

Speaker 2 (47:32):
I've never experienced any setback from any
customers because I think theyall appreciate the honesty OK.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Well, guess what you will mount, but it's going to
happen, and how you deal withthings head on in the right way,
and explaining and pivoting isbeneficial to you All, right.
So what is the most commonhouseplant that you sell?

Speaker 2 (47:55):
In the Philodendron family you have your Montsterras
, which is the most common oneSandsfruit, yeah.
And then you have, like what Isaid before, the pilea, which is
also called a friendship plant.
Ok, best sellers in the shop,really easy houseplants and
they're really pretty as theymature.
So when they grow up they justlook stunning inside your home.

(48:18):
You know, if you buy a little,you don't really see the beauty
in it.
Maybe if you do like it whenyou buy it as a baby, then
you'll notice it.
Ok, when it gets big, it's big.
Ok, and they're beautiful.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Well, that's probably an understatement, especially
because when something thatyou've been taken care of for as
long as you have, like ahouseplant, grows, I would hope
you appreciate it 100%.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Plants grow with you.
Right, that's our slogan.
Did you come up with that?
I did, of course.
Plants grow with you.
It's a mural on the wall.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
I love it.
Love it, all right.
So let's talk about somebusiness lessons.
Cool, all right.
What are the biggest lessonsyou've learned?

Speaker 2 (49:05):
I think the biggest lessons I've learned in business
and this is a lesson that Ilearned recently and this
honestly relates to it's just areoccurring.
It's just a reoccurring problemthat I keep experiencing, but
customers really love to pushyou around and for me, it just

(49:28):
makes my life more difficult.
Ok, and I think one of thebiggest lessons I've learned is
to create a brand that I want tosee grow.
Not for other people, becauseif people love my brand, then
they'll resonate with that, butif I keep aligning myself with
other opinions, then it'sstarting to become not my brand,

(49:50):
it's starting to become someoneelse's Got it, which is very
true.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
You want to stay on, brad, because we're all going to
give you advice.
Whether you like it or not,people are just going to give
you their critique and theiradvice.
And what you do with that.
It's up to you to determine.
If you've got the intuition toweed out the good from the bad
and use it to your advantage,then great.
If not ignore Yep.

(50:17):
So it's interesting.
You say customers push youaround.
How so?

Speaker 2 (50:23):
For example, we delivered this really expensive,
huge plant, seven foot tall.
It's called a bird-a-parid.
Oh, I love birds of paradise,yep they're huge and beautiful.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
That's the.
You know what?
That's what California is greatfor Birds of paradise.
There you go, california, thereit is.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
They're everywhere.
It's beautiful, I believe it'sliterally everywhere.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
They really are beautiful.
Can't grow them here outside,at least in New Jersey?

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I don't want to go into detail because it's a
little bit of a long story, butbasically I brought the
bird-a-parid ice with a nurserypot.
He thought it was going to comewith a ceramic black pot.
Did he order it that way?

Speaker 1 (51:05):
No, he even pointed it out like is this going to
come?

Speaker 2 (51:07):
with this pot.
He looked at it straight on andI was like, yeah, it's a black
nursery pot.
Basically, you mean one ofthose plastic, exactly yeah, the
grow pots.
Okay, grow pots, I've deliveredit same day too, and he was
like, oh, I thought it was goingto come with a black nursery, a
black ceramic pot.
Okay, I put my foot down and Iwas like, basically, this is

(51:32):
what you ordered, man.
What am I supposed to say toyou?
Okay, I could have gone aboveand beyond and just took it back
.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Okay, Sorry.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
I don't like heights.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
So this is a great area for you to traverse right
now, especially slippery.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Don't slip.
So that's what that form wasfor.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Yeah, that's part of that.
If you hike, I leave.
Sorry, if you fall, I leave.
Now I'll help you.
I was a Boy Scout, sort ofThanks Cub Scout.
Whatever I was, you're reallygoing to love this one.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Oh, thanks, this is great yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Awesome, huh, I love it.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Can't really talk about business right now.
Nope, nope, are you?

Speaker 1 (52:21):
shaking yet Nope, all right.
Yep, yep, all right.
New fears.
At least Do you know how do youconquer your fears.
Go with Darren, get throughthem, do it All right.
Fear snakes.
I got to travel with me, you'rebound to find one.
Great.
We had a guest almost stepstraight on the body of a
Copperhead.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Oh my God, really.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah, yeah, I had to pull her out of the way and that
was, and you saw it, but shedid.
Yeah, I'm constantly looking atthe ground.
I've learned to look at theground for my days in New York
City.
You never want to step in, dogshit.
And that's how you tell atourist from a resident.
Wow, tourists are looking up,residents are avoiding obstacles
.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
That's funny they're in the side, we'll call them
street bombs, All right.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
So you piqued my interest a little bit with your
interaction with the client.
Now, I'm assuming for brevityyou rushed through it but you
didn't just put your foot downright, Even though you know we
say the customer is always right.
We know the customer is notalways right.
It is our jobs as a businessprofessional to make the

(53:25):
customer feel like they areright or bring them to the right
conclusion or solution, but notto just say you're not right.
Yeah, so when you say put yourfoot down, there must have been
some more pressing there thatmade you say that.
So was the customer.
Combative, argumentative.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
He was more in a mix of confusion and combative, like
he felt like.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
He felt like he wasn't getting the deal he
signed up for.
Exactly Okay.
And you know what?
You can't deny a customer forhaving those feelings,
especially with the cost of thisplant, I'm sure yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
And I did state right after he said what he had to
say say you pointed at the potand kind of explained like what
a nursery pot is and what aceramic pot is.
So what was your?

Speaker 1 (54:08):
solution, Because that's the most important part
of making a customer feel likethey're right that you came up
with a solution.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
I don't think I had a solution for that.
I thought I was just right atthe time.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
I was just right at it, okay, so this is where, as a
business therapist with lots ofexperience, I can see your
youth In that situation.
You know that you are right.
You're 100% right.
So the customer doesn't feellike you're right and that
customer has a lot of power.
They can never buy from youagain if they feel wrong or

(54:42):
slighted.
That would be the best casescenario for you, because the
worst case that customer takesto the internet Yep, every sale
you make is a potential for moresales because of a referral.
That experience you leave aclient with is a lasting
impression.
And clients, when they feellike the perceived value and a
minimum matches what they paidfor, they're happy.

(55:04):
They're happy to spread theword.
Now, sometimes, when theperceived value is actually
greater than what they paid for,they're even more inclined to
spread the word.
So in this case you might havehad a misstep.
You left the customer.
The customer wasn't happy.
What did the customer do?
They accepted the plant.
They accepted the plant.
Did they buy that pot from you?

(55:25):
No, okay, try this next time.
This is going to happen again.
In fact, these are sometimesthe best interactions you can
have, because when a client isheated, if you deescalate, that
will be a lasting impression,kind of like failure will last
with you, right?
Yeah, here's the solution.

(55:47):
Mister or missus, customer,this is the pot that it comes
with.
This is a standard pot.
I realized there was amiscommunication.
Would it work for you if Ibring you this other pot that
you wanted?
Pointed out to him, I'll giveit to you for my cost.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah, or a discount or anything.
Start with a discount, I'llgive you 20% off.
Just to make sure he comes witha discount.
Yes, Because you want thatcustomer to now be a reference.
And guess what you could do?
You can turn to that customerand say once they're happy with
the solution, by the way, wouldyou be willing to leave me a

(56:31):
review or give me a referral?

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Love it yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
So what you did was you took a loss a little bit
right, a margin hit right.
You didn't lose money, but youbroke even right.
You lost opportunity cost, butyou just bought yourself a
referral Marketing, yeah Right.
So that's where experiencecomes in.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
And that's what you should be focusing on is turning
negatives into positives now,because this is the next
evolution of your business.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
That's valuable.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Both a little winded on, that last one A little bit
right.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
That's why I couldn't talk.
Even I get winded.
I'm like whoa.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
You know, I've prided myself lately on being a good,
active listener and I realizedthe main reason why it's because
I don't get out of breath fromnot talking.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Correct.
That's what happened in thefirst five minutes of the hike.
I was just talking and I wasjust like, oh wow, I'm not
breathing.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Yeah, there's an art to this.
It's take the step, take abreath, take a step, take deeper
breaths.
Yeah, all right.
So any other challengingscenarios that made you have it?
Take a pause and a pivot.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
No, I think the hardest part about being an
entrepreneur or just a businessperson in general and this is a
personal case for me Is that Istarted out so early and you may
think that's like a good thingand I think it is a good thing.
No, it's a great thing, Yep.
But the other side of it is inyour 20s you're just so mentally

(58:02):
unstable, you know, and likewhen you take a hit, you take a
hit.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
It hurts, it hurts.
You're still learning how toget over bruises.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Exactly Like I said, I just started grieving my dad
and my grandpa.
I'm still grieving overdifferent situations where I
feel like it's all just hittingme all at once this year and
it's tough.
There's days when I can't go towork because it's just so tough
and there's text messages thatI want to text back and I can't

(58:32):
because, like, the anxiety fillsup in me.
So what are you doing about it?
Meditation I've been doing alot of meditation.
Okay, I just started doing thisthree months ago.
So, please, whoever in theaudience is listening in, I'm
not, I'm no expert, but I havebeen looking inward, trying to
find out what's going on with meand how can I solve these

(58:55):
issues that I have Correct.
And when I looked inward, Ilooked at all the people that
I've hurt, all the people thatI've disconnected from and how
I've hurt myself, and I'velooked to see how I can like
really figure it out All theproblems, all the questions that
I've had, all the answers thatI've been trying to seek for

(59:18):
Correct.
I found that through literallystopping my brain and just
staying still and thinking.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
You found peace by focusing on specific senses,
exactly.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
I meditate in the forest.
I do it, I try to do it everyday, 6am for an hour straight
and, like I said, I'm no pro, soI still have a few thoughts in
my head, but there's days when Ido find it peaceful and I find
my answers there.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
So let's touch upon that, because I meditate too.
We could all meditate indifferent ways.
Meditation doesn't always haveto mean that just sitting there,
standing still, pausing toyourself.
That's not what meditation hasto be.
Meditation is any moment thatyou can pause and focus on
specific senses, reflect inward.
Whether it's at your officechair, on the couch, it doesn't

(01:00:17):
matter.
Just take a moment, take a fewminutes, just to reflect.
It's soothing.
Now you are in your 20s, alittle young, little naive, like
all of us.
In our 20s, we thought we canconquer the world.
We thought we knew everythinguntil some older person said
okay, I can't pump the brakes.
Here's my advice Don't try tofigure it out.

(01:00:41):
You'll spend too much timetrying to figure it out.
Go through life.
Enjoy the moments that areenjoyable, embrace the moments
that are important.
Suffer through the sad momentsbecause they're meant to suffer
through, and you'll come outmuch wiser and sound for the
experience.
Not everything needs a truemeaning, not everything needs a

(01:01:03):
true purpose.
Sometimes life just happens.
So embrace each one of thosemoments, the sad ones and the
happy ones, and just keeppushing forward.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
You know, I think that was my biggest flaw, though
I was never present and I wouldalways try to figure out what's
going to happen.
If I do this, how will thisaffect me five years from now,
or if I get a bad customer?
It just made me angry.
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Oh, that happens to all of us that first bad review
you want to pummel the guy untilyou realize sometimes people
are just shitty and they like towrite bad reviews because
they're bad people.
And then other times, sometimesthe ones we get the most angry
at are the ones that we created,when we know that that bad
review is correct.
Hey, listener, thanks forhiking along with us.

(01:01:54):
Discover more episodes atitalkahikecom.
Or to recommend an adventurousguest, apply to be a sponsor.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us
a line.
All right, so what's?

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
next Companies doing well.
Where do you go from here?
I hired this marketing companySmart.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
There you go, there you go.
They have a lot of big namesunder their belt and they're
really talented.
They're really fun people Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Why'd you hire them?
What made them stand out?
Because we're going to go downa path here where we talk about
selecting marketing companies,because my caution on marketing
companies, just like theshoemaker's kids, has no shoes.
Marketing companies arephenomenal at marketing their
company, so we're going to talkabout tricks and tips on how to

(01:02:50):
make sure that they deliver foryou once you hire them.
So what made you select thiscompany?

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
I've always been looking for a marketing company
that can boost our e-commerceside of the business, whether if
it's Google ads, social ads.
What did you?

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
see in them versus their competitors.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Well, to be honest, I wanted someone or a company
that was here, and all thecompanies that I met well quote
unquote, met.
They were all online.
They weren't around here.
I couldn't find anyone talentedenough that was around here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Okay.
Digital brands Digital brandsAll right.
So you're looking for local.
Did you interview or selectmore than one company?
Definitely Okay, so you didhave the power of choice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
I looked through Twitter, which is where a lot of
these digital agencies are Okay, try to see if they would work
and it felt like it was just abunch of landing pages and I
just know.
I already know how that works.
Right, I wanted to support anagency where who I knew?
If anything, if I had a friendthat was skilled and talented, I

(01:04:03):
would just go to him, right.
But I didn't know anybody.
Okay, they ended up coming to astreet fair not knowing that
terrorists existed, and I talkedto them about the whole brand
and such.
You know, with their brandhaving big names, I didn't think

(01:04:26):
they would work with me as asmall business.
Okay, why is that To me?

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
I was just Were.
Their outward marketing saidthat you were too small for them
.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
No, it's just that they described all the clients
that they had and I was like, oh, I'm not there yet, got it, you
know, got it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Okay, why I negotiated Good, always be
negotiating.
Yep, awesome.
Now let's talk about tips andtricks.
How do we keep our marketingcompany on point and performing?
We make sure that they havedeliverables, kpis, milestones,
metrics.
You, the client, have to askthem for those specifics.

(01:05:13):
What key milestone metrics,kpis do you look at to determine
if you are performing for thiscompany or for me?
You also need to have your ownunderstanding of what you're
looking for.
Do you want 500 more followersand by what timeline?
You have to weigh the cost, andif you're not doing that,
you're just hiring a marketingcompany, which some people do.

(01:05:36):
Unfortunately, you are lettingthe marketing company have too
much control.
Yep, right, they're notemployees of yours, they're
vendors.
They don't have the same fearfactor as an employee.
But if we manage employees togoals, kpis, metrics, why are we
not managing our vendors?
So that's something that youreally should focus on and make
sure that they're delivering.

(01:05:57):
Gotcha, so we have regularmeetings and keep them quick,
but let's make sure that they'redelivering upon your
expectations.
Where do you want to be nextyear, this time with the
business?
I want to make sure that we winonline before opening up
another store Is a desire toopen up more stores Totally, and

(01:06:18):
how do you select yourlocations?

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
M'Touchin, which is where I'm at, the very active
downtown, very artsy downtown,lots of community, very, very
friendly, and I would love tohave a town where I have the
same attributes.
Some towns don't have that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Are you looking at numbers, foot density, traffic
patterns, competitive landscape,demographics in the town, any
of that?
I'm throwing a lot of terms out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
I think, out of all those terms that you just said,
I'm looking for terms that aremore demographics and I'm also
looking for foot traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
What does the ideal customer look like?
Ideal?
Customer yeah, we'll use a termin your gen.
What's their avatar?

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
I want customers that listen to pods Awesome.
That have instas Great.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Totes you good On God , oh man, oh, but yeah, my
demographic is basically peopleor just couples or whoever that
are just starting out theirlives in terms of buying a home
or moving out into their ownspace.
People who are building outtheir own space, whether if they

(01:07:41):
want to bring in furniture orhouse plants.
I want to help them fill theirspace up with that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
So how do you find those types of clients?
Is it all outbound marketing?

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Yes, so basically, it's a lot of social media
marketing, a lot of contentmarketing.
We do a lot of content where wedo show off spaces like, for
example, lofts or homes filledwith plants.
We do a lot of communityoutreach where we do free

(01:08:15):
workshops for kids Love it.
Kids come in, the parents comein.
They create a connection, ofcourse, with the kid, but, most
importantly, with the parent.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Okay, that's so important.
It's an activity.
Parents, myself included, loveto do activities with kids that
are unique.
Sorry, my kids, I don't want tosound like a creep Love to do
activities with my children theones that I raise because it's
fun.
Right, you want somethingunique and memorable.
It's crazy about this alphageneration that my kids are in.

(01:08:49):
They have so many memorablemoments.
I often contemplate how they'regoing to remember all of the
memorable moments.
So I remember five things.
We went to Disney, all right,great, my kids have gone to
Disney 20 times, so hopefullythey retain a lot of this.
But let's be honest, most ofthese memorable moments are from

(01:09:11):
me, right?
So let's pivot.
Let's go for life lessons here.
Cool, so you still have somehealing to do with the passing
of your father and grandfather.
You're clearly helping your momthrough it.
You're the patriarch of thefamily.
Do you feel a some mountingweight on your shoulders because
of that?

(01:09:31):
Yes, how?

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
do you intend to?

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
deal with that?
How do you intend to deal withthat?

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
I think for now, I want to make sure I'm in the
right place personally before Icould start helping more and
doing more.
Okay, I feel like, since I juststarted grieving and started to
get out of a really bad spot,at the moment I can't help, yeah

(01:10:02):
, but I want to really bad.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Help yourself first.
It's the reason why the messageon a plane and that safety
announcement is put your mask onbefore your kids, because you
got to get yourself stablebefore you can help others.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Yep, and you know I'm not financially stable to the
point where I can help my wholefamily yet Okay, nor myself.
You know that comes in time.
I really want to help andthat's definitely the goal.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
I don't really have an intention to, you know, buy
mansions or whatever, like, havelike all these vast dreams,
right, that's not even a goal.
All I want to do is just helpmy family because of what we
went through.
Yeah, what we went through wastraumatizing and a lot of people
went through that too.
But I feel like with my familyit was a different story and I

(01:10:53):
feel like all of these things asa kid, you know, as a kid you
want nice cars, you wantmillions of dollars.
That flew out the window afterwhat happened.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Yeah, well, because you had life hit you in the face
.

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
You realize that that nice car is cool, but it
doesn't replace family, right,it doesn't replace human beings
and emotions and feelings, butyou can still have that vision
board.
You should Totally.
That vision board is the finishline, in a way.
Right, it's the thing you'reracing towards Exactly.
You have to be able to picturethat, but you also have to put
it in perspective and getthrough life as well.

(01:11:27):
When it comes to the business.
You know, I always love thequestion on an interview where
do you see yourself in fiveyears?
Where do you see yourself in 10years?
That's bullshit.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
I actually hate that question.
Everyone does.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Right, it was the old style of interviewing and
that's how you know you're in abad interview.
Someone asked you that We'venever interviewed before, where
that's all they do.
Right, it's a silly question.
I hope I'm alive in 10 years,totally Right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
That's the answer.
I feel like every year I pivot,you know, and sometimes five
years, five years before, fiveyears ago, I didn't really
expect him to be in thissituation, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Yeah, no one expects certain situations to happen
unless you prepare yourself forthe fact that life will happen.
It's the advice I gave youbefore.
Life will happen.
Don't try to overthink it.
Right, feel the emotions youfeel, don't deny them.
Move forward from them.
Learn from them, right, right,that's, you're not going to stop
it.
You're not Superman.
So I think that you should keepfocusing on the mission at hand

(01:12:32):
, developing yourself.
As you said, in your 20s yougot a lot of developing.
You don't really start gettinga grasp until much later.
Right, I will say I don't evenhave a grasp.
There are days where I wake upand I just contemplate what the
hell is, what's the meaning,what's the purpose here, why,
right?
Then I see my irrational littlechildren, these little beings

(01:12:54):
that are making these pointedarguments.
Right, and in my mind, you'reso naive you don't know yet, but
sometimes you just have to rollwith it, yeah, so enjoy these
moments, as difficult as theyare.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
If you were to ask me last year how life was, life
was great.
I was like, and personally Iwas in a happy relationship.
I didn't feel the grief from mydad and grandpa Okay, you had
distractions, I had distractions, okay.
And now I'm really feeling itnow, yeah, and it's like such a

(01:13:30):
shitty feeling, but at the endof the day, I'm living.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
You are living and that is important, so do you
believe that you're depressed?

Speaker 2 (01:13:42):
I think I do Okay and this is-.
No, I did see an actualtherapist for a brief moment.
Okay, good.
To be honest, the therapistdidn't work for me.
Okay, that's fine.
I don't think it was a himproblem, it was me.
Okay, but I did find a lot ofhealing through meditation, okay
, you know, therapy doesn't haveto be with a person.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
Therapy is anything that gets you to stop being you
for a moment.
Right, worrying about theworries Take you away to a
better place, and it could bethat meditation that you spoke
of.
Therapists, psychologists,psychiatrists there's merit to
that.
What's the most important value?
They're listening to you.
They get you to talk.

(01:14:24):
Right.
By the way, we are not makinggood time.
We're not no Sick, you are slow.
Let's go faster.
20 years old and this43-year-old- 26.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
Case you, thank you.
You know what I love about thishike Looking at all the moss
that's growing on these bouldersand rocks.
Why is that we sell preservedmoss frames?

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Peep moss Nope, it's called bun moss actually it
should be called peep moss,taking opportunity when it's
given to you.
I hope we're not getting anymore rain.
I got dark here.
I was going to do the littletrail exploration with you until
I realized there's anothertrail right up here.
There goes the fun.
It's called the path of leastresistance, so we don't break

(01:15:12):
your ankles, your very weakankle, your nimble 26-year-old
ankles.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
I'll remember that for the next haircut Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
Really good point there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
I'm still your barber , not your striker, not anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
You got jokes.
All right, let's go.
When we get to this summit,you're going to be a better
person.
In what way you just are I gotnothing.
No, you're going to have asense of accomplishment 100%.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
Everything you do that challenges you.
I remember hiking in Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (01:15:59):
Don't compare these two please.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
It is a sense of accomplishment when you reach
the peak or something, or reacha waterfall.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Wait till you see this waterfall, then I want you
to compare that to what you sawin Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
Yeah, this is sick.
I'm so excited.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
This is breathtaking Good climb.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
Hell yeah, it's over there.
You ever had a hiker thatbothered you during the pod?
You Me.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Set yourself up there .
No, I'm selective because I canbe.

Speaker 2 (01:16:40):
I'm the one who's making the decision if we're
going to the high, not yourguess, but I'm saying someone
hiking Someone that's likeanother person.

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, there are some specialpeople in this world.
Number one way to piss me offor any hiker on the trail litter
yeah, yup, yeah, because then Igot to pick it up for you.
It's horrible, it's not cool.
That's the number one way toreally get under my skin.

(01:17:08):
But now they're allowed people.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
Yeah, typically people with drones.
Really, oh dude.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
Now notice, I only use it when I'm not around
people.
Yeah, that's very respectful,but no, for the most part, if
you're willing to hike on atrail, then you're willing to be
responsible for that hike.
So you're willing to just bekind and friendly and what you
see is most people are kind andfriendly.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
What app are you using right now?

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
They haven't sponsored me, so, oh, that's how
I show you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
Well, if you guys are listening, I hope you sponsor
Darren's podcast.
It's a pod, a pod with all thekids say that nowadays, yeah,
and all the kids listen BecauseTara's plant shop is going to
repost this pod episode.
It's going to get thousands ofviews.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
That's right.
Put that marketing team to thetest.
Right.
Where are we going?
We're above it.
There's another trail, thereyou go.
This is a riverbed but nottechnically a trail, so we could
use it.
The falls is right there.
I'm just debating do we wantthe aerial view, or yeah, let's
do this?
We could always walk down.
That's sick.
Slight exaggeration on Hawaii,but you know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
But it's still beautiful.
Holy shit, am I allowed tocurse on a pod?

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
Of course you are.
It's your story, Dude.
This is amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
All right, let's go a little closer.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
Here you are, there we go.
This is awesome Waterfall, loveit.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
Just be careful you don't slip.
I don't want to lose you today.
I was slipped Selfishly.
My hair needs to be cut everythree to four weeks.
All right, ready, yep, there'syour magnificent waterfall.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
That's my waterfall.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
Look at you navigating a path across this
very treacherous stream.
See that, all right, how manycame?
We saw we conquered.
Hell yeah, you had Jersey.
Yeah, jersey.
You ready to go back home?

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
You feel like you've accomplished something I did.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
Thanks, Darren.

Speaker 1 (01:19:26):
You're welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Can't we eat another croissant?

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
Well, thank you, pete Dario, for your amazing story.
I challenge you to keep going,because your intuition is pretty
spot on.
Keep working on the thingsyou're not great at, keep
improving, keep setting andresetting goals, and the world's
going to know about you.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
That's the goal.

Speaker 1 (01:19:52):
Thanks for having me Next time on.
I Took a Hike.
We meander with Garrett Vogel,on-air producer for the Elvis
Turan show, and the voice behindPhoneTaps.
Till next time, I'm Darren Mass.
Thanks for listening.