May 14, 2025 • 53 mins
What happens when your business is growing 92% but you're still struggling with doubt, guilt, and anxiety? Welcome to the entrepreneur's paradox.
Ever feel like you're being pulled in multiple directions at once? In this revealing solo episode, I dive into the complex emotions that come with balancing new fatherhood, business expansion, and pursuing the American dream on my own terms. After sharing some heartfelt appreciation for my wife's recent vulnerability on the podcast, I explore how our first "official" Mother's Day with baby Paisley outside the womb created one of those perspective-shifting moments that makes everything feel different.
As the busy season approaches with back-to-back events at Ledgeway Farm, Bonnie Eagle Car Show, and Memorial Weekend at Bentley Saloon, I confront the overwhelming guilt that comes when pursuing your passion means disrupting everyone else's routine. My mom takes time off work, friends step in for childcare, and my wife adjusts her schedule—all so I can bet on myself. The weight of these dependencies creates a pressure unlike anything I've felt before.
I share the raw truth about taking chances and their consequences. Our Florida venture didn't deliver the breakthrough we'd hoped for, forcing us to pivot strategies and postpone bigger dreams. Yet despite these challenges, our business is up 92% in net sales—proving that sometimes success doesn't feel like success when you're in the trenches.
The episode culminates with exciting news after years of persistence: we've finally secured a triple-wide booth at the Freiburg Fair! While this expansion requires substantial investment, it represents the growth we've been pushing toward. Remember: anything unattempted remains impossible. If there's one message to take from this journey, it's simply never give up. The regret of not trying far outweighs the difficulty of waiting for success.
What chances are you taking in your life? I'd love to hear about your journey in the comments or on social media. And if you found value in this episode, please share it with someone who might need this encouragement today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode 253 of Share the Circle podcast and,
unfortunately for you, it's backto just you and me.
Episode 253 is a solo show forme.
No wifey this week, so I canpromise y'all no tears this week
(00:21):
.
This week we get back tobusiness, and when I say back to
business, I mean time to talkbusiness.
Let me tell you somethingEverybody struggles.
The difference is some peoplechoose to go through it and some
choose to grow through it.
The choice is completely yours.
Which one you choose will havea very profound effect on the
(00:45):
way you live your life.
If you find strength in thestruggle, then this podcast is
for you.
If you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations.
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you and
(01:06):
they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
makes sense.
Most disagreements, they stemfrom our own insecurities.
You are right where you need tobe Back on time, leading a bad
(01:26):
world the whole day gone,falling behind Too fast, and I'm
waiting to pass what it do,what it ha do-do-do-do.
Good Lord, almighty, am I soexcited to be back with you?
(01:49):
Oh, it's true, it is damn true.
I miss you.
Boo Time for our little weeklyreunion, episode 253.
And this week it's just you andme.
Before we proceed, I feel theinternal need to say thank you,
thank you, thank you to mylovely, to my beautiful, to my
(02:14):
amazing, bold, transparent,truth-telling wife.
I appreciate you, babe.
It's been a long journey.
It's been certainly a strugglefor the wife to come on here and
open up her heart, betransparent with her emotions,
share everything with you rawand in real time, as it happens.
(02:38):
That has been the vow andcommitment that I made when I
started this show that whateverI go through, whatever I grow
through, I shall be bold enoughto share it with y'all as it
happens, regardless of people'semotions, regardless of people's
opinions, regardless of whetherI hurt some feelings along the
(03:00):
way.
What I didn't realize is, whenI took that vow, when I made
that commitment, sometime someway along the way, everybody
that's part of the show made thesame commitment and my wife,
being one of the biggest partsof the show, certainly made that
commitment and I'm honored tohave had her on here over the
(03:20):
past month sharing thatcommitment, sharing that story.
Some extremely powerfulepisodes over the past month.
We've had some greatconversations off air from
people because of those episodes.
I'm excited of some of thethings that could come from
those episodes, but, moreimportantly, I'm excited for all
(03:41):
the things I've seen in my wife.
I'm excited for all the thingsI've seen in my wife, the number
one, having the ability and theconfidence to come on here and
bear everything, unafraid,unashamed, to share her story,
her raw, real life story,uncovering and undusting things
(04:04):
for people that they never knewabout her and her family.
But having the courageousnessto do so, which is a word that
we've talked about this year,our guiding word for the year.
My wife, coming on here andsharing those things and then
committing to them has made amajor difference.
I've seen her shed negativity.
I've seen her take that abilityto press on and to move on and
(04:29):
to move forward and to cut tieswith negativity.
I've seen it ramp up.
She's really used this time asan opportunity to recommit to
herself and to her values and toher dreams, and there's going
to be an episode in the nextcouple of weeks where she's
going to come on here and giveyou, I would say, some
(04:53):
additional insight but possiblysome tremendous updates.
That all comes from the abilityto cut negativity.
It all comes from the abilityto put the past, in the past,
the fact my wife's been able todo that all while going through
what she's just gone through, orshall I say, growing through
(05:14):
what she's growing through rightnow.
I'm telling you, right now, mywife's a badass, and when she
comes on here and shares some ofthe changes that she's made,
even in some of the darkest oftimes, it's absolutely
incredible.
So, baby, it's been a littlewhile since I've done one of
these, but if you stick with me,please, I'd like to give this
(05:36):
week's winning Wednesday weeklyshout out to my lovely, to my
beautiful bride coming off herfirst mother's day, y'all well,
I mean, we celebrated mother'sday last year, but little baby
(05:57):
paisley was still in the belly.
This is the first mother's daywith the little princess
strutting around.
You know what I mean.
So it hits different, it feelsdifferent.
What an incredible time, man,I'm telling you, life is crazy
to see and to experience and tofeel all the changes, what we've
(06:17):
been going through, growingthrough, what we've been
shedding ourselves from.
Man, life comes at you fast,dude.
Spending the weekend with itbeing Mother's Day weekend.
Like the first time, I wentarts and crafts.
Okay, let me just give you alla confession I went arts and
crafts and I made cards for mywife and for my mima, right, or
(06:44):
my baby's mima, my mama, my mama, okay.
So I made some cards because,to be honest, y'all, sometimes
that just means more.
And I wanted to start the trendof Baby Paisley making those
gifts, right, so I get herlittle hand-drawn images in
(07:05):
there, we trace the hands, thatwhole type of deal.
But you write a nice messageand, listen, I kind of have a
little bit of a background indesigning flyers and such now,
so I can design a prettysweet-looking Mother's Day card
and then we can personalize itand then add a little baby touch
and say here's a start to along line of homemade gifts.
(07:28):
But I got to tell you, writingcards for your wife and for your
mother for Mother's Day, whenyou're 42 years old and there
was a lot of your life where youdidn't expect this to be your
life, that shit hits differenty'all.
I'm going to tell you right now, man, I personally think that
(07:51):
Mother's Day might feel moredifferent to me than Father's
Day, because I don't like takingcredit for things.
Giving credit is more my styleand Mother's Day just the
overall feel of it was was wildto me, man, to think that my
wife is a mother.
You know what I'm saying?
(08:12):
I don't know.
I don't know, dude, I don'tknow.
It's.
It's weird.
Y'all might be hearing thisbeing like no shit, dipshit.
Uh, your wife was pregnant fornine months.
Then you had a child.
She's, uh, eight months.
That makes her a mama, and noneof this is new to y'all.
But sometimes it's those littlemilestone moments that make
shit seem real.
It kind of certifies theelection.
(08:35):
You know what I'm saying.
And making Mother's Day cardsand saying, here it is.
It certified some stuff for me.
You know, literally I'm notgoing to share all the details
of the cards, but the wholemessage to my wife being like
you know, 10 years ago it washard to imagine this, but now I
(08:55):
wouldn't want it any other way.
This is the way it's supposedto be, getting to the point in
life where there was probably nofeeling or hopes of me
producing a grandkid.
And if y'all haven't beenlistening the entire time here,
if you're not a day one, if youhaven't been here since episode
(09:17):
one, get your ones up.
We're my certified OGs, my dayones.
Get your ones up in the air.
I acknowledge you, I appreciateyou.
My day ones, get your ones upin the air.
I acknowledge you.
I appreciate you, my loyal onesthere's some of you out there
right now that are new ones thatI see you going back and
(09:37):
picking up on all the episodesyou have missed, because when I
get, like, a stat update and itshows random episodes and then
that stays kind of consistent inan order, I see you, I see you
and I love you.
I appreciate you, man, Iencourage each and every one of
you.
This is day one for you, or youknow, day two or 21.
Then I'm telling you we got 253damn weeks of the show.
(10:00):
Man, go back, there's some gemsout there.
You know, even though thetimeline might be wonky, there's
fruits of our labor.
Okay, success leaves clues.
Baby booze, they're out there.
You can find all things podcastrelated at
sharethesparklepodcastcom or onall major platforms, but you
already know that.
What am I talking about?
You already know that, okay,but my mama, she has always been
(10:25):
Nana to all the grandkids andfor me there's only one Nana and
that is my Nana.
Ok, don't be confused.
I didn't say banana, but Ireally wanted to say banana,
right there.
I don't know, I'm weird, ok,but y'all already know that
Listening this long, you knowI'm a weirdo.
Ok, you know I'm a little silly.
Y'all already know that.
You've been listening this long.
You know he's I'm a weirdo.
(10:46):
Okay, you know I'm a littlesilly.
I'm silly like that.
You already know that.
You know what I mean.
It is what it is.
Anyways, we made the commitment,um, that my mama would not be a
nana, because my nana is nolonger here, and, um, I can't
call anybody else Nana.
And also there's somethingabout me that just feels like I
(11:08):
was born in the South and raisedin the North, even though
that's not the truth.
I'm a maniac chewing through,born and raised right here, how
do you do?
But something about me screamsthe South, and we've always had
this conversation that there'snot enough memas in the North.
That's a South thing, right.
(11:29):
Memaw, mamaw, that stuff's morein the South.
I like mamaw a little betterthan memaw, but my mom is too
young to feel mamaw, unlessPaisley makes her.
So my mom selected memaw.
It all started with I think itwas a Morgan Wallen song and a
(11:49):
car ride drive-thru line, aDunkin' Donuts talking about how
there's no more, there's noMeemaws, there's no Mamaws in
the North and we were talkingabout how the Nannas and the
Papas have passed on a lot ofthem in the Memes and the Pepes.
And you know a lot of them inthe memes and the pepes and you
know a lot of those names arethey're?
They're vintage, right?
And people these days are likeI don't want to be, no, I'm not,
(12:10):
I'm not, no, I'm too young forthis.
I'm not.
You ain't calling me meme.
Oh no, I'm gonna be me, me.
I'm gonna be gg, I'm gonna bett, tata, who ya, who I?
I don't know man, but y'allcome up with some funky ass
names.
People don't want to go back tomemaws and mamaws and papaws and
(12:30):
all that good stuff.
But I said to my mama there'snot enough memaws, there's not
enough mamaws, it needs tohappen.
And my mom said you ever giveme a grandkid, I'll be memaw,
I'll be mamaw, I'll be whatever.
Fast forward to a month or twolater.
Surprise, my mama is now aMeemaw.
(12:51):
I made the joke back then andyou probably already heard it,
but I'm going to tell it againthat my mom would be Mamaw or
Meemaw, my dad would be Pawpawand if I'm ever a granddad, I'm
going to be Hee-haw, hee-haw,hee-haw.
I'll tell you what I'm going tobe Hee-haw, what's up.
Hee-haw, that's going to be me,my honky old ass.
Or should I say honky old ass?
(13:12):
That's going to be me Writing acard to me Ma, something about
it just hits a little bitdifferent, y'all.
Everything just feels a littlebit different.
The reality of the situationthat I am a dad, the reality of
the situation that my wife is amama, my mama is a me-mom.
(13:33):
It feels different because I'veheard the grandkids call my mom
Nana forever.
So everything about this isdifferent.
Everything about this has thatnew car scent and I just want to
say and shower the women in mylife, the ladies in my life, my
baby, my mama, my baby mama andmy mama.
(13:54):
Okay, that could be too muchmama drama with all y'all, but I
want to celebrate them, cherishthem, tell them I love them and
also say happy Mother's Day,happy late Mother's Day to all
the beautiful mamas out there,all the beautiful, loud, proud
American mamas out there.
I love y'all, I appreciate you.
Happy Mother's Day.
I hope it was all you wanted itto be.
(14:20):
Now, I told all y'all at thestart of this episode that
today's show was going to be abusiness show and I told you
there'd be no tears on today'sshow.
Okay, I'm going to make acommitment to try not to cry
today.
So if everybody students in theclass, if you would grab your
Cabela's catalog and place yourhand on the Cabela's catalog and
(14:43):
your beady little eyes to thesky, I'm going to confess some
truth from this guy Thou shallnot cry today.
No, there will be no tearstoday.
Today is business day and someof you are asking right now what
the hell are you talking about,boy Business?
You've been over here fussingand confessing on about your
(15:05):
wife and your mom and would youget yourself in some trouble
over there?
You sweet-talking no, watchyour mouth when you talk to me
like that you heard.
Okay, this is what happens whenI'm given the microphone and
I'm asked to host the show on myown, when I don't have guests,
when I don't have a co-host, Itend to pretend there's more
people in the room, and then Iend up arguing with myself and
(15:28):
then some of y'all sons ofbitches call in a wellness check
and the next thing you know,I'm getting evaluated.
Okay, I'll take enough of that.
I'm going to confess enough ofthat.
All right, there he goes again,talking to himself, like there's
a room full of people.
That boy, he man, he, that boy,he need help.
(15:49):
Sad, sad, sad situation.
I can't believe they let himreproduce.
Lord, it's sad what's happeningto this world.
Anyways, I digress.
It all blends together becauseon today's story of business, as
we discuss business, there's amajor family element to business
(16:14):
and a lot of it stems from thefact that I'm finally a dad and
I'm raising a child, okay, andthe responsibility that falls
upon my mother and my wife.
It all goes together in thislife and this subject is today's
subject because we are on thecusp of all things opening.
(16:37):
We are on the cusp of the floodgates opening.
Lord, have mercy.
We know I need it, but I ain'tprepared for it.
You better believe it.
This weekend starts the trend,it starts the run of our season.
You guys already know we'vebeen to Florida, we've done
Daytona Bike Week, we've checkedthat off the old bucket list.
(16:57):
But as far as our season goes,this weekend kind of signifies
the start to our season.
We start hitting the road thisweekend because when this
weekend gets here, it starts toknock down a trend of me not
being home anymore on theweekend, I think.
My next three weekends, I'mcommitted to something.
(17:20):
I want to say, four of the nextfive weekends I'm committed to
something, maybe even seven ofthe next eight, something like
that.
Right, where you're on the road, you're moving and things are
happening.
With that said, if any of youare Mainers that are listening,
if you're maniacs and you'relooking for something to do
because not all the fun hasstarted to begin in your state,
(17:43):
then I got some dates.
So please don't wait.
Saturday you can catch me withthe fam at ledge way farm.
Head on over to ledgeway farm,home of the greatest goat soap
you could imagine.
The liberty family washesexclusively on goat soap from
ledgeway farm.
You can head over to ledgewayfarm out in pitston, maine.
(18:05):
Check them.
The flyer and event informationis on my Facebook page if
you're looking to find them.
If you don't already like andfollow Ledgeway Farm on Facebook
, you can find a great easyavenue and way to do that.
Go on ahead and do that today.
Track them down, give them afollow.
Join us this Saturday atLedgeway Farm at 10 am, pittston
(18:26):
, maine.
It's going to be a great time.
Man, we're doing everythingright at the farm.
You can kind of see the process, how things work.
There's going to be a bunch ofvendors there.
Walson Woodcraft's going to bethere I do know that which is
some more friends and fam here,so they're going to be there
represented, selling theirwoodworking merchandise.
(18:46):
But it's a great time.
Plenty of vendors, there's food, there's free entertainment,
there's pony rides for kids,guided barn tours, possibly some
goat snuggling.
There's a lot of good thingsthat are going to happen.
So we did this event last year.
It was a really, reallysuccessful event for us.
Number one we would do thisevent and sign up to do this
event, even if, um, we weren'tselling anything.
(19:09):
It's just the right thing to doand, um, you know their family.
They've done a bunch for us.
It's something that we feel isnecessary to do, to be there and
, uh, no matter what the numbersare, we would be there.
That's just kind of how it'ssupposed to go.
But surprisingly, we wererewarded with a really damn good
day of business last year.
(19:29):
So hopefully that happens againthis year.
I'm not saying we're dependenton it, but hello, and I would
love it.
And then it's a double dipweekend because we will leave
there and start our setupprocess for the next morning
being the Bonnie Eagle Car Show.
I don't remember what number ofcar show this is like 45 years
or 50 years, something like that.
It's a long time they've beendoing the Bonnie Eagle Car Show.
(19:52):
We did this event last year.
It was a little sprinkly, butwe did pretty decent last year.
It was certainly worth doingand yeah, so I'm excited.
It's a back-to-back doubleheaderweekend, two separate events.
We're going to load up the busagain this week, hit the road,
ledgeway Farm on Saturday,starting at 10 am, and then the
(20:13):
Bonnie Eagle Car Show on Sunday.
I believe it starts at 8 or 9am.
So it's a double featureweekend.
Y'all that's coming up hard andfast.
And then, believe it or not,memorial weekend is the next
weekend.
So, um, ledgeway farm onSaturday, bonnie Eagle on Sunday
, and then on Thursday I'll berolling into Bentley saloon
(20:35):
setting up and gettingeverything ready to rock and
roll over there, and, um, that'sgoing to be me setting up on
Thursday and then being open forbusiness Friday, saturday,
sunday, monday.
So, um, you got a four-dayopportunity to catch me at the
saloon selling some merchandise,and then that's going to end on
Monday.
I'll pull out of there Mondaynight and then on Friday night
(20:57):
I'll be right back at the saloonand this time around I won't be
selling anything, I'll actuallybe DJing.
It is our first DJ event of theseason, another themed event,
and I believe we've flipped theschedule around.
So I think this one is going tobe 90s night, which is one of
the best nights.
To be honest, like the music,the 90s doesn't get enough love.
(21:19):
Man, let me tell you this the90s doesn't get enough love.
Musically, it was, I want tosay, the best years of hip-hop.
Grunge rock was was coming inhard and fast.
It was making a making a breakfor it.
All that alternative stuff,some some, you know, traditional
classic rock was still damngood ac, dc.
(21:40):
Think about some of this stuff.
Y'all um, I could start pullingout some damn albums, but 90s
country as well was full offreaking bangers.
Man, 90s country was great.
So 90s is an extremelyunderrated decade when it comes
to music.
So get on your 90s duds,whatever it is y'all want to
wear.
Meet me out there, bentleySaloon, 7 to 11.
(22:02):
We're going to get after it.
It's going to be a great time.
I say all these things to alsopoint out the fact that I start
to connect the dot with thefamily and their responsibility.
Part of it is a great,overwhelming sense of guilt and
I've talked about this beforewhen I mentioned making the
commitment to head to Floridaand be on the road for nearly
(22:27):
two weeks and being away from mylittle baby girl.
I'm going to tell you some ofy'all have made fun of me for
this.
But this is difficult, man, itain't easy.
When you're um, I don't want tosay I'm a stay at home dad
because you know I I am workingand I'm on the road and such but
(22:48):
my schedule during this time ofthe year I'm working from home
most of the time.
So, man, you feel like astay-at-home dad and you have a
lot of those stay-at-home dadresponsibilities during the week
and you kind of just try tomake business fit in where you
can get it in.
And that's been a whole otherum, you know, challenge and
(23:10):
stressful element to the wholescenario.
But I got to say being with mybaby every single day when you
have to think about not, it uhhits a little different y'all,
some of the excitement.
You have to removeresponsibility, throw caution to
the wind, dick off and getafter it.
(23:32):
You lose some of that desire.
You know what I mean.
And if you heard me talking alittle while ago about my wife
making these decisions to cutoff negativity and to really
just focus on her dreams andreprioritize things, we've all
made these commitments right.
As a family, as a household,we're all leaning into the
(23:56):
responsibilities.
We're all leaning into makingcommitments to remove ourselves
from situations we put ourselvesin.
My mom has some, I have some,my wife has some.
So as a family, we'rededicating ourselves to like a
recommitment, so to speak.
And in doing that, there wasone evening where we were doing
(24:18):
some stuff together, committingto this decision, and at night
we had to go for this drive, andwe'll explain the story at
another time.
I don't want to get too far offtopic here because it is a
really interesting story, but wewere doing something and we had
to leave and we were releasing,like basically just releasing
(24:42):
all the negativity andrecommitting yourself,
reprioritizing yourself, andit's a whole spiritual feeling.
And I just felt like groundedand centered on my
responsibilities and my goalsand my family.
And we were out for a drive andI drove by Bentley saloon and
(25:03):
all of a sudden, y'all, I justhad this.
This anxiety hit me.
My chest just got tight and mythroat got tight and something
just kind of came over me and mywhole mood changed.
And, uh, it took a little bitfor me to actually talk about it
and to realize that I'm here, Iam making all these commitments
(25:26):
to my daughter, to my family,listing out priorities and
focusing on things that need tobe done.
And when I drove by the saloon,an overwhelming sense of guilt
and selfishness hit me, becauseif I'm over here saying that I
have a hard time leaving my babyat home, saying that I have a
(25:49):
hard time leaving my baby athome, just driving by there
reminds me of the commitmentI've made to be an entertainer
at a biker saloon and, you know,close the bar down a few times
a month, right To stand up thereand entertain and do those
things.
All the commitments I startedthinking about, you know, pinup
contest, tattoo contest, uh,theme DJ events and if you add
(26:13):
them all up, maybe I don't knowa month's worth of me staying in
the parking lot every singleday all this time.
All these commitments to mebeing away from my kid and also
just the overall guilt of beingaway from my kid and also just
the overall guilt of being awayfrom my kid and then spending
the entire day at a bar and latenights at a bar, coming home at
(26:34):
one, two in the morning,whatever it might be.
I had this overall guilt comeover me and this anxiety set in,
where you started to askyourself does this align with
your priorities, does this alignwith the new version of
yourself?
Do these things align with whatyou're trying to do?
Or have you spread yourself sothin?
(26:55):
Have you applied yourself to somany different areas in life
that you're losing your life?
Man, I was overwhelmed withthis feeling and literally just
started to just feel guilt.
Man, just feel guilt.
And I know I've made thesecommitments and these
commitments are made to providefor my family.
(27:15):
Every single year, I get to theend of the season and I say to
myself self there's some thingsI don't want to do again next
year.
Like I'll roll into DJing atthe saloon and for the first
hour I'm going to say, man, Ishouldn't be doing this, right.
And then by the end of it, I'mgoing to have a great time and
I'm going to leave and I'm goingto go.
Eh, it wasn't so bad.
(27:35):
I could do that again.
But at the end of the year Isaid to myself, I said, self,
you probably don't need to bedoing this anymore.
You're going to be an old assdad, okay, and you got too much
shit to do and too manyopportunities to take advantage
of.
You should probably take thisoff your plate, right?
But then, as the luck would playout, as the season plays out,
(27:58):
and as divine intervention andtiming plays out, we make the
plan for this stuff in November,december, at that time when
you've had months off from doingthose types of things and
you're sitting around and yourbank account's getting low and
you get a big fat schedule ofevents emailed to you saying
would you do these?
(28:19):
Would you play on these dayswhen you are bundled up in the
cold, when snow be coming down,or when you're thinking about
buying Christmas gifts andputting oil and propane,
whatever, you start thinkingabout priorities,
responsibilities and the cost ofthose things and also the
desire to maybe let loose alittle bit, it gets real easy to
(28:42):
say, yeah, I'll take thosedates, I'll do that.
Sign me up, buttercup, I'll doit.
But then now, when, as youshould say, maybe the check's
about to post, when you actuallygot to start to do the work.
You think shit.
What the hell was I thinking?
Why did I say yes to all this?
In my defense, I did take somestuff off my list.
(29:04):
This year I've thinned out someof my event responsibilities.
But, man, I've taken that stuffand putting it out of sight,
out of mind.
And when I drove by the saloonit was like right on the cusp of
it reopening and everythingjust kind of hit me.
It was just like, wow, this ishappening.
Sweetheart, here we are, thingsare happening, you're committed
(29:25):
to things.
And you got to leave the nest,little bird.
You got to get out there andmake things happen.
And as we're recording todayand we're about to drop a double
decker, double feature eventweekend, that's going to roll
into me.
Being at the saloon, I startedthinking about the
responsibilities where you saywell, on a normal Thursday, I
(29:47):
would get up at five in themorning, drive my mom to work,
take care of my baby till 2,pack her up, pick my mom up at
work at 2, come home, get hersettled with me, ma, and then I
would go to work from 3 tillwhenever going to be.
You're going to get up at fiveor six in the morning, you're
(30:08):
going to roll your ass over tothe saloon.
You're going to start buildinga tent, unloading all your
merchandise, and you startthinking what is your mom going
to do, what is your baby goingto do?
Your wife's got to be at workand then, all of a sudden, you
become dependent on so manythings.
So for this to work, for thisone event, for example, my mom's
taking the day off, she's goingto the saloon to work with me,
a friend's taking Paisley forthe day and my wife's going to
(30:31):
work.
So my responsibilities, mycommitment to my business
trickles down and disturbs theroutine for everybody else.
My mom takes a day off fromwork, right?
A friend of ours is takingPaisley for the day.
My wife's going to bringPaisley to meet her.
So there's responsibility to mywife.
(30:51):
There's a new routine andperson for the baby, which I
mean Allie.
So here's the funny thing theyoung lady that takes care of
our baby.
We're about the same age.
I'm the oldest one in the room,I'm the crusty guy in the room,
okay, but her name's Allie too,okay.
So this is a double feature,allie.
(31:12):
Okay, we're double dipping inAllie, so it all just makes
sense.
So Allie's going to bringPaisley to Allie, right?
So Allie's day changes both ofthem, my wife's day changes.
And then Allie, who is going totake Paisley, her whole day
changes, her routine changes,her kids' days change, right,
her husband's day could beimpacted by this.
(31:33):
You think about all thesedifferent trickle down impacts
that this plays and it adds alittle bit of a layer of guilt.
And then you think about Fridaymorning.
I'm going to get up and takecare of Paisley for a little bit
.
Let me bring my mom to get acoffee, then I'm going to set
her up with my mom.
And then you think about Fridaymorning.
I'm going to get up and takecare of Paisley for a little bit
.
Let me bring my mom to get acoffee, then I'm going to set
her up with my mom, and then I'mgoing to roll over to the
saloon and work all damn night,right.
And then you think about atnighttime what time am I leaving
(31:55):
the bar, like who's coming hometo take care of the chores, to
do the horse, and there's somany different moving parts to
all of this.
You think about DJing.
My mom's going to be watchingthe baby until we get home at
midnight.
One in the morning.
All these different layers, man, and I guess it's like layers
of dependence, everybody that Ihave to depend on for me to make
(32:17):
this business tick.
And when you leave the door tomake the business tick, if it
doesn't tick-tock you know whatI'm saying If it doesn't
tick-tock and pay some billslike if it isn't worth it, you
start to beat yourself up.
When you make these sacrificesand the people around you make
sacrifices for you to bet onyourself, for you to continue
your dream, for you to furtheryour journey, if they're all
(32:39):
pitching in and pulling for youto make it and it doesn't click,
it doesn't make it, so to speak, like it's not making a benefit
.
I tell you what, man, it feelsa hell of a lot different right
now when you layer on thatresponsibility.
It makes things feel different.
And I must say this, I mustconfess chances have
(33:00):
consequences.
Okay, chances have consequences.
Now, truth be told, if we don'ttake chances, then we don't live
the life we were meant to live,right?
If we don't take chances, thenwe live in our bubble of comfort
.
If we don't take chances, thenwe end up wearing gray
sweatpants, sitting on yourcouch, farting in the cushions
(33:21):
and spilling Cheetos all overyour chest Right.
You just get comfortable andyou lose sight of who you are
and who you could be.
You need to leap.
You need to leap out of thatcomfort zone.
You need to take chances inlife.
My guiding word that we talkedabout was courage being
courageous, leaning into thecourage it takes to leave home,
(33:42):
to leave the family behind, tobet on yourself to try things,
family behind, to bet onyourself to try things, to
change things, to do things.
But the other side of that coinis that those chances have
consequences.
I took a big, big, massivechance.
I bet on the business, I bet onthe brand.
I threw all the money I had,yet again, on taking a chance.
(34:02):
We went to Florida.
We did it, we accomplished it.
It was a bucket list scenario.
We did it.
We beat it, we defeated it.
We didn't lose money, but itdidn't pan out like we wanted it
to.
It didn't benefit us the way weneeded it to, especially for
(34:22):
the investment that we made init.
So when I say to you thatchances have consequences, part
of what I'm referencing isbecause I took this massive
chance, because in my mind, Ifelt that Florida was going to
be the answer.
Florida was going to be thetipping point.
It was going to be what weneeded to have happen to launch
us into a new stratosphere.
That didn't happen.
It's okay.
It didn't shut us down, itdidn't paralyze us.
(34:44):
We're here to live another day,but it has consequences.
We had to make some changes.
My entire plan was to be sosuccessful at Bike Week that,
first off, I was going toliquidate some of the designs
that I've been carrying for sometime.
Allow me the cash flow andopportunity to reinvest in the
(35:05):
business, make new products andto bring to you guys a bunch of
new stuff.
Right, that part didn't reallywork out.
I was also trying to get enoughcapital that I could then take
chances on other events.
I had my eyes on a couple ofTennessee events that I really
wanted to do.
I didn't come home with enoughcash to keep the business going,
keep the lights on at home andalso take chances on those other
(35:28):
events, whether I could affordthe event fees, the product to
stock up for them or the overallcost to get there.
It just wasn't a wise decisionto bet on that this year.
But I do have my eyes set on afew more challenges this year
that are going to pull me out ofmy comfort zone, that're going
to put me in a new place withnew faces and new changes and
(35:50):
challenges and opportunities,because you need to take chances
.
But the consequences of ourfirst chance not really working
out the way that we wanted it tois that we've had to remove
some of those big hopes anddreams that we had for this year
, take them off the plate,re-evaluate and move them a
little bit further down the road, but don't lose sight of them.
I'm just moving things around.
We're going to continue to growand to challenge ourselves.
(36:12):
One of the other consequencesthat we have is that we need to
roll with the times, roll withthe punches and it's going to be
an extremely challenging time.
But for us, if we come out ofthis weekend let's say, for
example, we have a doublefeature weekend If we come out
of this weekend with a littleextra cash where we made
something happen, if we can paya bill, then we reinvest in the
(36:34):
business and we're starting towork on different designs and
ideas and have things kind of inthe bullpen.
So when the opportunity comes,when the cash flow arrives, we
purchase and bring it to thenext event.
If something's super popularand we're selling it out, we
restock and bring it to the nextevent.
So what we have at thebeginning of the year could look
vastly different by the end ofthe year.
(36:55):
But we need to ebb and flowwith the way everything has to
go.
My overall plan that I went intothis year with was I'm going to
go to Florida, I'm going tocrush it and then I'm going to
come home.
I'm going to make all these newdesigns, I'm going to stock up
on all this inventory.
I'm going to organize ouroffice like our new storage
office facility.
(37:16):
I'm going to get all thesethings taken care of, all these
you know bright and brilliantideas I have for the boss after
spending two weeks and you know,on the road, all these things.
I'm going to implement allthese changes.
I'm going to do all thesethings and then, when the season
gets here, I'm going to befully stocked, fully loaded, and
we just read, react and respond.
We go everywhere we want to goand we make all the damn money
(37:37):
we need to make.
Well, spoiler alert chances haveconsequences.
We took a chance.
It wasn't as rewarding as wewanted it to be and the
consequence is none of what Ijust said could happen.
None of it.
What I had to do in reality isto come home, reassess,
(37:59):
re-evaluate and decide what todo.
You've heard of some of thechanges we've made.
We've done different sales,we've done live sales.
I'm starting to work on TikTok,doing all these different
things, we're trying new things.
We've got a TikTok shop that'savailable now.
We're really just trying tobranch out in different avenues.
But I also had to double down oncustom orders and I've done a
(38:22):
lot more custom merchandise thisyear than I normally would.
And custom orders are acatch-22 scenario because
they're great, you can get cashflow and it makes a tremendous
benefit to the business and it'ssuper exciting when you can
help somebody bring their visionto reality and give them
(38:43):
something they can be proud of.
I've had some great experiencesover the past couple of months
on some of these customs because, for example, chris, this guy
from New Hampshire he paidsomebody $500 to design a logo
and he hated it.
He didn't he didn't even wantto use it.
So he wanted us to do somethingfor him and we gave him
something he could be proud of,that he can be happy for and
(39:06):
ultimately, what's cool about itis, when I gave him his
merchandise he was like, man,I'm literally thinking about
buying a different color truck,Like I'm thinking about buying a
black work van.
So I could, you know, use yourlogo and, you know, maybe I take
my white van and wrap it inyour logo.
So that's awesome, man.
That's encouraging, and we'vehad a lot of those stories over
(39:27):
the past couple of months ofhelping people out, and what's
been tremendous is I haven'tgone and had to really seek a
lot of this out.
A lot of it's coming to meThanks to a lot of you out there
.
You know pushing and advisingpeople to check with us.
I know Matt from Ledgway.
When he's on the road he'srecommending people to us and
Ledgway Farm they did a muchbigger custom order.
(39:48):
Actually, I'm looking at a bigstack of their stuff I'm going
to bring to see them on Saturday.
You know Scott the Pettengillsfrom Freedom Designs.
Scott sent me multiple people,like chris that I just talked
about, um, dana, he sent me.
All these people like that haveplayed massive orders with us
and, uh, you know just peoplethat we've treated well along
the way, coming back to us orsending friends to us.
(40:09):
It's been a tremendous benefitand in the past I would turn
some of these things downbecause this time of year I
should be stocking up andgetting ready for the season.
So I've been so focused onother people's stuff but I can't
do any of my stuff Designingthings, welcoming new things.
I've done massive hat ordersfor Bentley Saloon, for Main
(40:30):
Street Barbershop all thesegreat customers and friends and
family that are pitching in andthey say I want to support you,
I want to support the brand, Iwant to support the mission and
this is how we're going to do it.
All that's been great andthat's helped pay bills and it's
helped us to survive.
But the tough thing is is thiscustom money that comes in?
You don't make as much stuffwhen you're doing.
(40:53):
You don't make as much profit,I should say, when you're
helping somebody with wholesaleorders, right.
But the nice thing is is you'regetting this cash flow, you're
staying home, you're working,you're making things happen and
as the money comes in, you pay abill and you try to do
something for the business andyou just start navigating these
things around.
But it doesn't allow you thetime, the cash flow or the
opportunity to focus on your ownbrand.
(41:13):
I've gone through a lot ofclasses on this stuff where they
say you really can't operateboth.
You can't do both.
I'm trying to make both workbecause I see it as an
opportunity to be successful.
I see it as an opportunity togrow our brand by partnering
with other businesses, alsoincrease our cash flow to a
point where it helps sustain ourbrand and keep us in business.
(41:34):
So I'm trying to do more.
I've doubled down on more ofthat this year and that's paid
off for us.
And a lot of you guys could belistening right now and you're
saying man, how is this kidhaving a down year?
How is he, you know, continueto slug his way through more
(41:55):
Debbie Downer news andinformation?
How is it?
Every time he goes out andapplies and tries for something,
it fails?
Why does he keep beating hishead against the wall?
Well, I have a very highstandard of what I want and
where I see this brand and tosprinkle some optimism, to
sprinkle some positivity on this, currently, right now, for 2025
(42:16):
, loud Proud, americans' netsales are up 92%.
We are up 92% in net sales.
Right now.
We're crushing it on the year.
It doesn't feel like we'recrushing it because chances have
consequences.
Right, we've taken chances,we've invested on things.
(42:37):
We're in that stalemate periodof trying to grow things.
We bought a new office, ourstorage facility.
Chances have consequences.
So we are up 92% in net sales.
I am bound and determined tomake this season the greatest
season we've ever had.
If it's not, then we willreassess and reevaluate what
(42:59):
we're going to do and how we'regoing to do it, and whether it's
time to stop doing it.
But right now I have a firmbelief and commitment to the
brand and the task at hand.
What's tough right now is someof these other events and
opportunities that I want to try, that I want to apply myself to
.
I'm reaching out man.
I'm sending emails, I'm calling, I'm leaving voicemails and
(43:22):
nobody's getting back to me.
There's a few events that Iwant to put on the calendar that
I just can't get any damnresponses to.
And it's tough when you reallyhave your event calendar not
written in pen, when you havethings on your calendar that are
written in pencil because youdon't have firm commitments.
It's tough when you have thingson your calendar that are
written in pencil because youdon't have firm commitments.
It's tough when your season'shere.
(43:43):
Things are opening, things arehappening.
It's tough to not have all ofyour shit written in pen, but a
lot of these events and things,man people are volunteer Not all
of them put people on thepayroll, so they don't really
care.
They don't care about yourschedule, they don't care about
your timeline, they don't givetwo shits.
So you just sit out there andwait.
(44:03):
But the difficulty is I can'tafford to wait.
I can't afford to not haveanswers, Because what happens if
, all of a sudden, when they doget to me, they go oh shucks,
yeah, we're full.
Now I don't have anything on myschedule, nothing on my
calendar.
I got to find a new way, anopportunity to fill it.
All that stuff just buildslayers of anxiety and doubt.
(44:25):
That part becomes reallydifficult when you're trying to
apply yourself, when you'retrying to push yourself,
challenge yourself, and thesepeople just don't want to
respond.
For the love of God.
Sorry, I had to go, chrisFrawley, right there.
I do want to sprinkle, for thelove of God.
Sorry, I had to go, chrisFarley, right there.
I do want to sprinkle some morepositivity and optimism on this
little conversation right here,because Loud Proud American is
(44:46):
up 92% in net sales, and we justreceived one of the greatest
emails this business couldreceive, one email that I'm so
excited to receive.
Okay, I might've built it up somuch for you guys that you're
thinking like, oh my God, thatson of a bitch is going on tour
(45:06):
with jelly roll.
I know it, that's what youthought.
You thought you thought it Meand jelly.
I'll tell you what, thoughY'all ain't ready for this jelly
.
It'd be too much jelly if meand jelly be on the row.
You know what I'm saying.
Ooh, me and jelly on a roll.
You know what I'm saying?
Anyways, I have someundiagnosed conditions that
(45:27):
should be talked about in a lab.
Maybe I built this email up toomuch for all y'all, but to me
it's tremendous.
Okay, loud, proud, americanstarted five years ago.
In our first year in business,my wife convinced me to apply
for the Freiburg Fair and Ididn't know if I was ready for
the fair or if we could handleit, and I didn't think we could
(45:48):
get in, because it usually takesyears to get in.
But it was COVID and we appliedand we got in, and I'm so
thankful that we did, because itkept us in business.
If that event didn't happen, wemight have gone out of business
in our first year.
So Freiburg saved us and westarted off with a 10 foot by 20
foot tent, so 10 wide, 20 deep,and it was a black tent and
(46:08):
most people couldn't even see usand they just walked right by
us.
But we had a tremendous firstyear at Freiburg.
It was unbelievable.
I think we did as much money inone week at that fair as we did
the rest of the year at all ofour other events.
So it was tremendous, kept usin business.
And after that we continued toask to grow and to expand and a
couple of years ago they allowedme to go from 10 feet to 20
(46:31):
feet.
So I went from a 10 by 20 to a20 by 20.
And I think that was about twoyears ago and I saw a nice gain.
I want to say $5,000 or $6,000bump my first year in expanding
the tent.
We continue to ask for anexpansion.
We continue to ask to growBecause I think if I can add
(46:51):
another 10 feet it can makeanother tremendous difference.
And every year since that yearI've asked for 10 feet more and
I've never gotten it.
This year, with my contract, Iput another handwritten letter,
thanking them for theopportunity, appreciating them
for all that they do and allthat it means to my business,
and yet again asking, if at allpossible, I would like another
(47:12):
10 feet.
The person that was next to melast year was a new person.
For the past two years I'veasked for more feet.
For the past two years I've hada new neighbor that neighbor
that I had last year.
Their stuff was too big fortheir 10-foot display.
I'm assuming if they come back,they want a new location.
If they're going to a newlocation, can I please have
their 10 feet?
(47:32):
I sent that letter and I'vewaited.
I've seen that it's beendelivered, I've seen that my
deposit hasn't been cashed,hasn't been deposited and then,
to my pleasant little surprise,I got an email saying Keith, we
can do that for you.
(47:54):
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, your boyis going to a triple wide baby,
30 feet long, 20 feet deep.
Oh, how glorious it's going tobe.
I have man.
I have grand illusions anddisillusions in my mind over
(48:15):
what's going to happen this yearat the fair, the opportunity,
the challenges.
Again, we're taking chances.
If I'm going to add another 10feet wide, 20 feet deep scenario
, that's another $3,000investment in a tent.
(48:36):
That's another additionalinvestment in grid wall, into
hooks, into hangers, intomaterial, into merchandise, grid
wall, into hooks, into hangers,into material, into merchandise
.
I'm going to say that just forme to make the expansion on the
tent and just the what it takesto make the tent um, and then
the additional increase in rent,that's a minimum $5,000
additional investment on thisone fair, plus all the products
(48:59):
and material and the you knowthe increase in overhead it's
going to take for me to loadthat tent.
My rent has gone up by athousand dollars just to add
that extra 10 feet, anotherthousand dollars in rent.
So my overall not to crackgoing into this fair is pretty
(49:19):
tremendous.
But I am oh so confident I amgoing to crush any number I've
ever done at this fair.
I am going to crush any numberI've ever done at any fair.
At any event, at any time, I'mwilling to bet that in that one
freaking week I'm going to beatmy first year in business.
(49:41):
That's how confident I am andwhat I am about to do, what my
family is about to do.
I am telling you it is going tohappen and I hope that today's
message and this mission hasoutlined a theme for all of you,
and that theme should be nevergive up.
There's something that youreally want, something that you
(50:03):
want so bad.
If you want it, if you reallyreally want it.
It's difficult to wait for itto come true, but it's even more
difficult to regret it.
You understand.
Never give up.
If you want something so damnbad, don't give up.
As difficult as it is to waitfor it to happen, the difficulty
(50:26):
really sets in when you regretthe fact you never made it
happen.
Never give up.
Never give up.
Anything unattempted remainsimpossible.
Chances might have consequences, but if you don't take chances,
you'll sit around shitting inyour pants.
I know that that's not how yousay pants and it probably wasn't
(50:53):
appropriate to put that there,but I wanted to underline some
humor, man, because your life islaughable if you don't take
chances.
You understand the regret thatsets in from giving up or the
fact that never trying in thefirst place, anything, anything
(51:17):
unattempted, remains impossible.
Take a chance, don't be afraidto shit your pants, even if
those chances have consequences.
You too shall overcome, we tooshall overcome.
This too shall pass.
Now get off your damn ass andget out there and win this
(51:37):
Wednesday and win this life andmake shit happen.
I'm proud of you, I thank youand I appreciate each and every
loving one of you for supportingmy American dream.
That's it, and that all BiggieSmalls.
(52:00):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook.
At Loud Proud American and youfind yourself just wanting more,
find me on YouTube and Facebookat Loud Proud American.
(52:21):
Put a face page, as my mamacalls it.
If you're a fan of the GrahamCracker, you want to find me on
Instagram.
Or all the kids aretickety-talking on the TikTok.
(52:42):
You can find me on both ofthose at Loud underscore Pr.
Proud underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong for this here podcast.
If you are enjoying what you'rehearing, you can track down the
Gut Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
Give them motherfuckers, a liketoo.
(53:23):
I truly thank you forsupporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
Episode 253 of Share the Circle podcast and,
unfortunately for you, it's backto just you and me.
Episode 253 is a solo show forme.
No wifey this week, so I canpromise y'all no tears this week
(00:21):
.
This week we get back tobusiness, and when I say back to
business, I mean time to talkbusiness.
Let me tell you somethingEverybody struggles.
The difference is some peoplechoose to go through it and some
choose to grow through it.
The choice is completely yours.
Which one you choose will havea very profound effect on the
(00:45):
way you live your life.
If you find strength in thestruggle, then this podcast is
for you.
If you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations.
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you and
(01:06):
they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
makes sense.
Most disagreements, they stemfrom our own insecurities.
You are right where you need tobe Back on time, leading a bad
(01:26):
world the whole day gone,falling behind Too fast, and I'm
waiting to pass what it do,what it ha do-do-do-do.
Good Lord, almighty, am I soexcited to be back with you?
(01:49):
Oh, it's true, it is damn true.
I miss you.
Boo Time for our little weeklyreunion, episode 253.
And this week it's just you andme.
Before we proceed, I feel theinternal need to say thank you,
thank you, thank you to mylovely, to my beautiful, to my
(02:14):
amazing, bold, transparent,truth-telling wife.
I appreciate you, babe.
It's been a long journey.
It's been certainly a strugglefor the wife to come on here and
open up her heart, betransparent with her emotions,
share everything with you rawand in real time, as it happens.
(02:38):
That has been the vow andcommitment that I made when I
started this show that whateverI go through, whatever I grow
through, I shall be bold enoughto share it with y'all as it
happens, regardless of people'semotions, regardless of people's
opinions, regardless of whetherI hurt some feelings along the
(03:00):
way.
What I didn't realize is, whenI took that vow, when I made
that commitment, sometime someway along the way, everybody
that's part of the show made thesame commitment and my wife,
being one of the biggest partsof the show, certainly made that
commitment and I'm honored tohave had her on here over the
(03:20):
past month sharing thatcommitment, sharing that story.
Some extremely powerfulepisodes over the past month.
We've had some greatconversations off air from
people because of those episodes.
I'm excited of some of thethings that could come from
those episodes, but, moreimportantly, I'm excited for all
(03:41):
the things I've seen in my wife.
I'm excited for all the thingsI've seen in my wife, the number
one, having the ability and theconfidence to come on here and
bear everything, unafraid,unashamed, to share her story,
her raw, real life story,uncovering and undusting things
(04:04):
for people that they never knewabout her and her family.
But having the courageousnessto do so, which is a word that
we've talked about this year,our guiding word for the year.
My wife, coming on here andsharing those things and then
committing to them has made amajor difference.
I've seen her shed negativity.
I've seen her take that abilityto press on and to move on and
(04:29):
to move forward and to cut tieswith negativity.
I've seen it ramp up.
She's really used this time asan opportunity to recommit to
herself and to her values and toher dreams, and there's going
to be an episode in the nextcouple of weeks where she's
going to come on here and giveyou, I would say, some
(04:53):
additional insight but possiblysome tremendous updates.
That all comes from the abilityto cut negativity.
It all comes from the abilityto put the past, in the past,
the fact my wife's been able todo that all while going through
what she's just gone through, orshall I say, growing through
(05:14):
what she's growing through rightnow.
I'm telling you, right now, mywife's a badass, and when she
comes on here and shares some ofthe changes that she's made,
even in some of the darkest oftimes, it's absolutely
incredible.
So, baby, it's been a littlewhile since I've done one of
these, but if you stick with me,please, I'd like to give this
(05:36):
week's winning Wednesday weeklyshout out to my lovely, to my
beautiful bride coming off herfirst mother's day, y'all well,
I mean, we celebrated mother'sday last year, but little baby
(05:57):
paisley was still in the belly.
This is the first mother's daywith the little princess
strutting around.
You know what I mean.
So it hits different, it feelsdifferent.
What an incredible time, man,I'm telling you, life is crazy
to see and to experience and tofeel all the changes, what we've
(06:17):
been going through, growingthrough, what we've been
shedding ourselves from.
Man, life comes at you fast,dude.
Spending the weekend with itbeing Mother's Day weekend.
Like the first time, I wentarts and crafts.
Okay, let me just give you alla confession I went arts and
crafts and I made cards for mywife and for my mima, right, or
(06:44):
my baby's mima, my mama, my mama, okay.
So I made some cards because,to be honest, y'all, sometimes
that just means more.
And I wanted to start the trendof Baby Paisley making those
gifts, right, so I get herlittle hand-drawn images in
(07:05):
there, we trace the hands, thatwhole type of deal.
But you write a nice messageand, listen, I kind of have a
little bit of a background indesigning flyers and such now,
so I can design a prettysweet-looking Mother's Day card
and then we can personalize itand then add a little baby touch
and say here's a start to along line of homemade gifts.
(07:28):
But I got to tell you, writingcards for your wife and for your
mother for Mother's Day, whenyou're 42 years old and there
was a lot of your life where youdidn't expect this to be your
life, that shit hits differenty'all.
I'm going to tell you right now, man, I personally think that
(07:51):
Mother's Day might feel moredifferent to me than Father's
Day, because I don't like takingcredit for things.
Giving credit is more my styleand Mother's Day just the
overall feel of it was was wildto me, man, to think that my
wife is a mother.
You know what I'm saying?
(08:12):
I don't know.
I don't know, dude, I don'tknow.
It's.
It's weird.
Y'all might be hearing thisbeing like no shit, dipshit.
Uh, your wife was pregnant fornine months.
Then you had a child.
She's, uh, eight months.
That makes her a mama, and noneof this is new to y'all.
But sometimes it's those littlemilestone moments that make
shit seem real.
It kind of certifies theelection.
(08:35):
You know what I'm saying.
And making Mother's Day cardsand saying, here it is.
It certified some stuff for me.
You know, literally I'm notgoing to share all the details
of the cards, but the wholemessage to my wife being like
you know, 10 years ago it washard to imagine this, but now I
(08:55):
wouldn't want it any other way.
This is the way it's supposedto be, getting to the point in
life where there was probably nofeeling or hopes of me
producing a grandkid.
And if y'all haven't beenlistening the entire time here,
if you're not a day one, if youhaven't been here since episode
(09:17):
one, get your ones up.
We're my certified OGs, my dayones.
Get your ones up in the air.
I acknowledge you, I appreciateyou.
My day ones, get your ones upin the air.
I acknowledge you.
I appreciate you, my loyal onesthere's some of you out there
right now that are new ones thatI see you going back and
(09:37):
picking up on all the episodesyou have missed, because when I
get, like, a stat update and itshows random episodes and then
that stays kind of consistent inan order, I see you, I see you
and I love you.
I appreciate you, man, Iencourage each and every one of
you.
This is day one for you, or youknow, day two or 21.
Then I'm telling you we got 253damn weeks of the show.
(10:00):
Man, go back, there's some gemsout there.
You know, even though thetimeline might be wonky, there's
fruits of our labor.
Okay, success leaves clues.
Baby booze, they're out there.
You can find all things podcastrelated at
sharethesparklepodcastcom or onall major platforms, but you
already know that.
What am I talking about?
You already know that, okay,but my mama, she has always been
(10:25):
Nana to all the grandkids andfor me there's only one Nana and
that is my Nana.
Ok, don't be confused.
I didn't say banana, but Ireally wanted to say banana,
right there.
I don't know, I'm weird, ok,but y'all already know that
Listening this long, you knowI'm a weirdo.
Ok, you know I'm a little silly.
Y'all already know that.
You've been listening this long.
You know he's I'm a weirdo.
(10:46):
Okay, you know I'm a littlesilly.
I'm silly like that.
You already know that.
You know what I mean.
It is what it is.
Anyways, we made the commitment,um, that my mama would not be a
nana, because my nana is nolonger here, and, um, I can't
call anybody else Nana.
And also there's somethingabout me that just feels like I
(11:08):
was born in the South and raisedin the North, even though
that's not the truth.
I'm a maniac chewing through,born and raised right here, how
do you do?
But something about me screamsthe South, and we've always had
this conversation that there'snot enough memas in the North.
That's a South thing, right.
(11:29):
Memaw, mamaw, that stuff's morein the South.
I like mamaw a little betterthan memaw, but my mom is too
young to feel mamaw, unlessPaisley makes her.
So my mom selected memaw.
It all started with I think itwas a Morgan Wallen song and a
(11:49):
car ride drive-thru line, aDunkin' Donuts talking about how
there's no more, there's noMeemaws, there's no Mamaws in
the North and we were talkingabout how the Nannas and the
Papas have passed on a lot ofthem in the Memes and the Pepes.
And you know a lot of them inthe memes and the pepes and you
know a lot of those names arethey're?
They're vintage, right?
And people these days are likeI don't want to be, no, I'm not,
(12:10):
I'm not, no, I'm too young forthis.
I'm not.
You ain't calling me meme.
Oh no, I'm gonna be me, me.
I'm gonna be gg, I'm gonna bett, tata, who ya, who I?
I don't know man, but y'allcome up with some funky ass
names.
People don't want to go back tomemaws and mamaws and papaws and
(12:30):
all that good stuff.
But I said to my mama there'snot enough memaws, there's not
enough mamaws, it needs tohappen.
And my mom said you ever giveme a grandkid, I'll be memaw,
I'll be mamaw, I'll be whatever.
Fast forward to a month or twolater.
Surprise, my mama is now aMeemaw.
(12:51):
I made the joke back then andyou probably already heard it,
but I'm going to tell it againthat my mom would be Mamaw or
Meemaw, my dad would be Pawpawand if I'm ever a granddad, I'm
going to be Hee-haw, hee-haw,hee-haw.
I'll tell you what I'm going tobe Hee-haw, what's up.
Hee-haw, that's going to be me,my honky old ass.
Or should I say honky old ass?
(13:12):
That's going to be me Writing acard to me Ma, something about
it just hits a little bitdifferent, y'all.
Everything just feels a littlebit different.
The reality of the situationthat I am a dad, the reality of
the situation that my wife is amama, my mama is a me-mom.
(13:33):
It feels different because I'veheard the grandkids call my mom
Nana forever.
So everything about this isdifferent.
Everything about this has thatnew car scent and I just want to
say and shower the women in mylife, the ladies in my life, my
baby, my mama, my baby mama andmy mama.
(13:54):
Okay, that could be too muchmama drama with all y'all, but I
want to celebrate them, cherishthem, tell them I love them and
also say happy Mother's Day,happy late Mother's Day to all
the beautiful mamas out there,all the beautiful, loud, proud
American mamas out there.
I love y'all, I appreciate you.
Happy Mother's Day.
I hope it was all you wanted itto be.
(14:20):
Now, I told all y'all at thestart of this episode that
today's show was going to be abusiness show and I told you
there'd be no tears on today'sshow.
Okay, I'm going to make acommitment to try not to cry
today.
So if everybody students in theclass, if you would grab your
Cabela's catalog and place yourhand on the Cabela's catalog and
(14:43):
your beady little eyes to thesky, I'm going to confess some
truth from this guy Thou shallnot cry today.
No, there will be no tearstoday.
Today is business day and someof you are asking right now what
the hell are you talking about,boy Business?
You've been over here fussingand confessing on about your
(15:05):
wife and your mom and would youget yourself in some trouble
over there?
You sweet-talking no, watchyour mouth when you talk to me
like that you heard.
Okay, this is what happens whenI'm given the microphone and
I'm asked to host the show on myown, when I don't have guests,
when I don't have a co-host, Itend to pretend there's more
people in the room, and then Iend up arguing with myself and
(15:28):
then some of y'all sons ofbitches call in a wellness check
and the next thing you know,I'm getting evaluated.
Okay, I'll take enough of that.
I'm going to confess enough ofthat.
All right, there he goes again,talking to himself, like there's
a room full of people.
That boy, he man, he, that boy,he need help.
(15:49):
Sad, sad, sad situation.
I can't believe they let himreproduce.
Lord, it's sad what's happeningto this world.
Anyways, I digress.
It all blends together becauseon today's story of business, as
we discuss business, there's amajor family element to business
(16:14):
and a lot of it stems from thefact that I'm finally a dad and
I'm raising a child, okay, andthe responsibility that falls
upon my mother and my wife.
It all goes together in thislife and this subject is today's
subject because we are on thecusp of all things opening.
(16:37):
We are on the cusp of the floodgates opening.
Lord, have mercy.
We know I need it, but I ain'tprepared for it.
You better believe it.
This weekend starts the trend,it starts the run of our season.
You guys already know we'vebeen to Florida, we've done
Daytona Bike Week, we've checkedthat off the old bucket list.
(16:57):
But as far as our season goes,this weekend kind of signifies
the start to our season.
We start hitting the road thisweekend because when this
weekend gets here, it starts toknock down a trend of me not
being home anymore on theweekend, I think.
My next three weekends, I'mcommitted to something.
(17:20):
I want to say, four of the nextfive weekends I'm committed to
something, maybe even seven ofthe next eight, something like
that.
Right, where you're on the road, you're moving and things are
happening.
With that said, if any of youare Mainers that are listening,
if you're maniacs and you'relooking for something to do
because not all the fun hasstarted to begin in your state,
(17:43):
then I got some dates.
So please don't wait.
Saturday you can catch me withthe fam at ledge way farm.
Head on over to ledgeway farm,home of the greatest goat soap
you could imagine.
The liberty family washesexclusively on goat soap from
ledgeway farm.
You can head over to ledgewayfarm out in pitston, maine.
(18:05):
Check them.
The flyer and event informationis on my Facebook page if
you're looking to find them.
If you don't already like andfollow Ledgeway Farm on Facebook
, you can find a great easyavenue and way to do that.
Go on ahead and do that today.
Track them down, give them afollow.
Join us this Saturday atLedgeway Farm at 10 am, pittston
(18:26):
, maine.
It's going to be a great time.
Man, we're doing everythingright at the farm.
You can kind of see the process, how things work.
There's going to be a bunch ofvendors there.
Walson Woodcraft's going to bethere I do know that which is
some more friends and fam here,so they're going to be there
represented, selling theirwoodworking merchandise.
(18:46):
But it's a great time.
Plenty of vendors, there's food, there's free entertainment,
there's pony rides for kids,guided barn tours, possibly some
goat snuggling.
There's a lot of good thingsthat are going to happen.
So we did this event last year.
It was a really, reallysuccessful event for us.
Number one we would do thisevent and sign up to do this
event, even if, um, we weren'tselling anything.
(19:09):
It's just the right thing to doand, um, you know their family.
They've done a bunch for us.
It's something that we feel isnecessary to do, to be there and
, uh, no matter what the numbersare, we would be there.
That's just kind of how it'ssupposed to go.
But surprisingly, we wererewarded with a really damn good
day of business last year.
(19:29):
So hopefully that happens againthis year.
I'm not saying we're dependenton it, but hello, and I would
love it.
And then it's a double dipweekend because we will leave
there and start our setupprocess for the next morning
being the Bonnie Eagle Car Show.
I don't remember what number ofcar show this is like 45 years
or 50 years, something like that.
It's a long time they've beendoing the Bonnie Eagle Car Show.
(19:52):
We did this event last year.
It was a little sprinkly, butwe did pretty decent last year.
It was certainly worth doingand yeah, so I'm excited.
It's a back-to-back doubleheaderweekend, two separate events.
We're going to load up the busagain this week, hit the road,
ledgeway Farm on Saturday,starting at 10 am, and then the
(20:13):
Bonnie Eagle Car Show on Sunday.
I believe it starts at 8 or 9am.
So it's a double featureweekend.
Y'all that's coming up hard andfast.
And then, believe it or not,memorial weekend is the next
weekend.
So, um, ledgeway farm onSaturday, bonnie Eagle on Sunday
, and then on Thursday I'll berolling into Bentley saloon
(20:35):
setting up and gettingeverything ready to rock and
roll over there, and, um, that'sgoing to be me setting up on
Thursday and then being open forbusiness Friday, saturday,
sunday, monday.
So, um, you got a four-dayopportunity to catch me at the
saloon selling some merchandise,and then that's going to end on
Monday.
I'll pull out of there Mondaynight and then on Friday night
(20:57):
I'll be right back at the saloonand this time around I won't be
selling anything, I'll actuallybe DJing.
It is our first DJ event of theseason, another themed event,
and I believe we've flipped theschedule around.
So I think this one is going tobe 90s night, which is one of
the best nights.
To be honest, like the music,the 90s doesn't get enough love.
(21:19):
Man, let me tell you this the90s doesn't get enough love.
Musically, it was, I want tosay, the best years of hip-hop.
Grunge rock was was coming inhard and fast.
It was making a making a breakfor it.
All that alternative stuff,some some, you know, traditional
classic rock was still damngood ac, dc.
(21:40):
Think about some of this stuff.
Y'all um, I could start pullingout some damn albums, but 90s
country as well was full offreaking bangers.
Man, 90s country was great.
So 90s is an extremelyunderrated decade when it comes
to music.
So get on your 90s duds,whatever it is y'all want to
wear.
Meet me out there, bentleySaloon, 7 to 11.
(22:02):
We're going to get after it.
It's going to be a great time.
I say all these things to alsopoint out the fact that I start
to connect the dot with thefamily and their responsibility.
Part of it is a great,overwhelming sense of guilt and
I've talked about this beforewhen I mentioned making the
commitment to head to Floridaand be on the road for nearly
(22:27):
two weeks and being away from mylittle baby girl.
I'm going to tell you some ofy'all have made fun of me for
this.
But this is difficult, man, itain't easy.
When you're um, I don't want tosay I'm a stay at home dad
because you know I I am workingand I'm on the road and such but
(22:48):
my schedule during this time ofthe year I'm working from home
most of the time.
So, man, you feel like astay-at-home dad and you have a
lot of those stay-at-home dadresponsibilities during the week
and you kind of just try tomake business fit in where you
can get it in.
And that's been a whole otherum, you know, challenge and
(23:10):
stressful element to the wholescenario.
But I got to say being with mybaby every single day when you
have to think about not, it uhhits a little different y'all,
some of the excitement.
You have to removeresponsibility, throw caution to
the wind, dick off and getafter it.
(23:32):
You lose some of that desire.
You know what I mean.
And if you heard me talking alittle while ago about my wife
making these decisions to cutoff negativity and to really
just focus on her dreams andreprioritize things, we've all
made these commitments right.
As a family, as a household,we're all leaning into the
(23:56):
responsibilities.
We're all leaning into makingcommitments to remove ourselves
from situations we put ourselvesin.
My mom has some, I have some,my wife has some.
So as a family, we'rededicating ourselves to like a
recommitment, so to speak.
And in doing that, there wasone evening where we were doing
(24:18):
some stuff together, committingto this decision, and at night
we had to go for this drive, andwe'll explain the story at
another time.
I don't want to get too far offtopic here because it is a
really interesting story, but wewere doing something and we had
to leave and we were releasing,like basically just releasing
(24:42):
all the negativity andrecommitting yourself,
reprioritizing yourself, andit's a whole spiritual feeling.
And I just felt like groundedand centered on my
responsibilities and my goalsand my family.
And we were out for a drive andI drove by Bentley saloon and
(25:03):
all of a sudden, y'all, I justhad this.
This anxiety hit me.
My chest just got tight and mythroat got tight and something
just kind of came over me and mywhole mood changed.
And, uh, it took a little bitfor me to actually talk about it
and to realize that I'm here, Iam making all these commitments
(25:26):
to my daughter, to my family,listing out priorities and
focusing on things that need tobe done.
And when I drove by the saloon,an overwhelming sense of guilt
and selfishness hit me, becauseif I'm over here saying that I
have a hard time leaving my babyat home, saying that I have a
(25:49):
hard time leaving my baby athome, just driving by there
reminds me of the commitmentI've made to be an entertainer
at a biker saloon and, you know,close the bar down a few times
a month, right To stand up thereand entertain and do those
things.
All the commitments I startedthinking about, you know, pinup
contest, tattoo contest, uh,theme DJ events and if you add
(26:13):
them all up, maybe I don't knowa month's worth of me staying in
the parking lot every singleday all this time.
All these commitments to mebeing away from my kid and also
just the overall guilt of beingaway from my kid and also just
the overall guilt of being awayfrom my kid and then spending
the entire day at a bar and latenights at a bar, coming home at
(26:34):
one, two in the morning,whatever it might be.
I had this overall guilt comeover me and this anxiety set in,
where you started to askyourself does this align with
your priorities, does this alignwith the new version of
yourself?
Do these things align with whatyou're trying to do?
Or have you spread yourself sothin?
(26:55):
Have you applied yourself to somany different areas in life
that you're losing your life?
Man, I was overwhelmed withthis feeling and literally just
started to just feel guilt.
Man, just feel guilt.
And I know I've made thesecommitments and these
commitments are made to providefor my family.
(27:15):
Every single year, I get to theend of the season and I say to
myself self there's some thingsI don't want to do again next
year.
Like I'll roll into DJing atthe saloon and for the first
hour I'm going to say, man, Ishouldn't be doing this, right.
And then by the end of it, I'mgoing to have a great time and
I'm going to leave and I'm goingto go.
Eh, it wasn't so bad.
(27:35):
I could do that again.
But at the end of the year Isaid to myself, I said, self,
you probably don't need to bedoing this anymore.
You're going to be an old assdad, okay, and you got too much
shit to do and too manyopportunities to take advantage
of.
You should probably take thisoff your plate, right?
But then, as the luck would playout, as the season plays out,
(27:58):
and as divine intervention andtiming plays out, we make the
plan for this stuff in November,december, at that time when
you've had months off from doingthose types of things and
you're sitting around and yourbank account's getting low and
you get a big fat schedule ofevents emailed to you saying
would you do these?
(28:19):
Would you play on these dayswhen you are bundled up in the
cold, when snow be coming down,or when you're thinking about
buying Christmas gifts andputting oil and propane,
whatever, you start thinkingabout priorities,
responsibilities and the cost ofthose things and also the
desire to maybe let loose alittle bit, it gets real easy to
(28:42):
say, yeah, I'll take thosedates, I'll do that.
Sign me up, buttercup, I'll doit.
But then now, when, as youshould say, maybe the check's
about to post, when you actuallygot to start to do the work.
You think shit.
What the hell was I thinking?
Why did I say yes to all this?
In my defense, I did take somestuff off my list.
(29:04):
This year I've thinned out someof my event responsibilities.
But, man, I've taken that stuffand putting it out of sight,
out of mind.
And when I drove by the saloonit was like right on the cusp of
it reopening and everythingjust kind of hit me.
It was just like, wow, this ishappening.
Sweetheart, here we are, thingsare happening, you're committed
(29:25):
to things.
And you got to leave the nest,little bird.
You got to get out there andmake things happen.
And as we're recording todayand we're about to drop a double
decker, double feature eventweekend, that's going to roll
into me.
Being at the saloon, I startedthinking about the
responsibilities where you saywell, on a normal Thursday, I
(29:47):
would get up at five in themorning, drive my mom to work,
take care of my baby till 2,pack her up, pick my mom up at
work at 2, come home, get hersettled with me, ma, and then I
would go to work from 3 tillwhenever going to be.
You're going to get up at fiveor six in the morning, you're
(30:08):
going to roll your ass over tothe saloon.
You're going to start buildinga tent, unloading all your
merchandise, and you startthinking what is your mom going
to do, what is your baby goingto do?
Your wife's got to be at workand then, all of a sudden, you
become dependent on so manythings.
So for this to work, for thisone event, for example, my mom's
taking the day off, she's goingto the saloon to work with me,
a friend's taking Paisley forthe day and my wife's going to
(30:31):
work.
So my responsibilities, mycommitment to my business
trickles down and disturbs theroutine for everybody else.
My mom takes a day off fromwork, right?
A friend of ours is takingPaisley for the day.
My wife's going to bringPaisley to meet her.
So there's responsibility to mywife.
(30:51):
There's a new routine andperson for the baby, which I
mean Allie.
So here's the funny thing theyoung lady that takes care of
our baby.
We're about the same age.
I'm the oldest one in the room,I'm the crusty guy in the room,
okay, but her name's Allie too,okay.
So this is a double feature,allie.
(31:12):
Okay, we're double dipping inAllie, so it all just makes
sense.
So Allie's going to bringPaisley to Allie, right?
So Allie's day changes both ofthem, my wife's day changes.
And then Allie, who is going totake Paisley, her whole day
changes, her routine changes,her kids' days change, right,
her husband's day could beimpacted by this.
(31:33):
You think about all thesedifferent trickle down impacts
that this plays and it adds alittle bit of a layer of guilt.
And then you think about Fridaymorning.
I'm going to get up and takecare of Paisley for a little bit
.
Let me bring my mom to get acoffee, then I'm going to set
her up with my mom.
And then you think about Fridaymorning.
I'm going to get up and takecare of Paisley for a little bit
.
Let me bring my mom to get acoffee, then I'm going to set
her up with my mom, and then I'mgoing to roll over to the
saloon and work all damn night,right.
And then you think about atnighttime what time am I leaving
(31:55):
the bar, like who's coming hometo take care of the chores, to
do the horse, and there's somany different moving parts to
all of this.
You think about DJing.
My mom's going to be watchingthe baby until we get home at
midnight.
One in the morning.
All these different layers, man, and I guess it's like layers
of dependence, everybody that Ihave to depend on for me to make
(32:17):
this business tick.
And when you leave the door tomake the business tick, if it
doesn't tick-tock you know whatI'm saying If it doesn't
tick-tock and pay some billslike if it isn't worth it, you
start to beat yourself up.
When you make these sacrificesand the people around you make
sacrifices for you to bet onyourself, for you to continue
your dream, for you to furtheryour journey, if they're all
(32:39):
pitching in and pulling for youto make it and it doesn't click,
it doesn't make it, so to speak, like it's not making a benefit
.
I tell you what, man, it feelsa hell of a lot different right
now when you layer on thatresponsibility.
It makes things feel different.
And I must say this, I mustconfess chances have
(33:00):
consequences.
Okay, chances have consequences.
Now, truth be told, if we don'ttake chances, then we don't live
the life we were meant to live,right?
If we don't take chances, thenwe live in our bubble of comfort
.
If we don't take chances, thenwe end up wearing gray
sweatpants, sitting on yourcouch, farting in the cushions
(33:21):
and spilling Cheetos all overyour chest Right.
You just get comfortable andyou lose sight of who you are
and who you could be.
You need to leap.
You need to leap out of thatcomfort zone.
You need to take chances inlife.
My guiding word that we talkedabout was courage being
courageous, leaning into thecourage it takes to leave home,
(33:42):
to leave the family behind, tobet on yourself to try things,
family behind, to bet onyourself to try things, to
change things, to do things.
But the other side of that coinis that those chances have
consequences.
I took a big, big, massivechance.
I bet on the business, I bet onthe brand.
I threw all the money I had,yet again, on taking a chance.
(34:02):
We went to Florida.
We did it, we accomplished it.
It was a bucket list scenario.
We did it.
We beat it, we defeated it.
We didn't lose money, but itdidn't pan out like we wanted it
to.
It didn't benefit us the way weneeded it to, especially for
(34:22):
the investment that we made init.
So when I say to you thatchances have consequences, part
of what I'm referencing isbecause I took this massive
chance, because in my mind, Ifelt that Florida was going to
be the answer.
Florida was going to be thetipping point.
It was going to be what weneeded to have happen to launch
us into a new stratosphere.
That didn't happen.
It's okay.
It didn't shut us down, itdidn't paralyze us.
(34:44):
We're here to live another day,but it has consequences.
We had to make some changes.
My entire plan was to be sosuccessful at Bike Week that,
first off, I was going toliquidate some of the designs
that I've been carrying for sometime.
Allow me the cash flow andopportunity to reinvest in the
(35:05):
business, make new products andto bring to you guys a bunch of
new stuff.
Right, that part didn't reallywork out.
I was also trying to get enoughcapital that I could then take
chances on other events.
I had my eyes on a couple ofTennessee events that I really
wanted to do.
I didn't come home with enoughcash to keep the business going,
keep the lights on at home andalso take chances on those other
(35:28):
events, whether I could affordthe event fees, the product to
stock up for them or the overallcost to get there.
It just wasn't a wise decisionto bet on that this year.
But I do have my eyes set on afew more challenges this year
that are going to pull me out ofmy comfort zone, that're going
to put me in a new place withnew faces and new changes and
(35:50):
challenges and opportunities,because you need to take chances
.
But the consequences of ourfirst chance not really working
out the way that we wanted it tois that we've had to remove
some of those big hopes anddreams that we had for this year
, take them off the plate,re-evaluate and move them a
little bit further down the road, but don't lose sight of them.
I'm just moving things around.
We're going to continue to growand to challenge ourselves.
(36:12):
One of the other consequencesthat we have is that we need to
roll with the times, roll withthe punches and it's going to be
an extremely challenging time.
But for us, if we come out ofthis weekend let's say, for
example, we have a doublefeature weekend If we come out
of this weekend with a littleextra cash where we made
something happen, if we can paya bill, then we reinvest in the
(36:34):
business and we're starting towork on different designs and
ideas and have things kind of inthe bullpen.
So when the opportunity comes,when the cash flow arrives, we
purchase and bring it to thenext event.
If something's super popularand we're selling it out, we
restock and bring it to the nextevent.
So what we have at thebeginning of the year could look
vastly different by the end ofthe year.
(36:55):
But we need to ebb and flowwith the way everything has to
go.
My overall plan that I went intothis year with was I'm going to
go to Florida, I'm going tocrush it and then I'm going to
come home.
I'm going to make all these newdesigns, I'm going to stock up
on all this inventory.
I'm going to organize ouroffice like our new storage
office facility.
(37:16):
I'm going to get all thesethings taken care of, all these
you know bright and brilliantideas I have for the boss after
spending two weeks and you know,on the road, all these things.
I'm going to implement allthese changes.
I'm going to do all thesethings and then, when the season
gets here, I'm going to befully stocked, fully loaded, and
we just read, react and respond.
We go everywhere we want to goand we make all the damn money
(37:37):
we need to make.
Well, spoiler alert chances haveconsequences.
We took a chance.
It wasn't as rewarding as wewanted it to be and the
consequence is none of what Ijust said could happen.
None of it.
What I had to do in reality isto come home, reassess,
(37:59):
re-evaluate and decide what todo.
You've heard of some of thechanges we've made.
We've done different sales,we've done live sales.
I'm starting to work on TikTok,doing all these different
things, we're trying new things.
We've got a TikTok shop that'savailable now.
We're really just trying tobranch out in different avenues.
But I also had to double down oncustom orders and I've done a
(38:22):
lot more custom merchandise thisyear than I normally would.
And custom orders are acatch-22 scenario because
they're great, you can get cashflow and it makes a tremendous
benefit to the business and it'ssuper exciting when you can
help somebody bring their visionto reality and give them
(38:43):
something they can be proud of.
I've had some great experiencesover the past couple of months
on some of these customs because, for example, chris, this guy
from New Hampshire he paidsomebody $500 to design a logo
and he hated it.
He didn't he didn't even wantto use it.
So he wanted us to do somethingfor him and we gave him
something he could be proud of,that he can be happy for and
(39:06):
ultimately, what's cool about itis, when I gave him his
merchandise he was like, man,I'm literally thinking about
buying a different color truck,Like I'm thinking about buying a
black work van.
So I could, you know, use yourlogo and, you know, maybe I take
my white van and wrap it inyour logo.
So that's awesome, man.
That's encouraging, and we'vehad a lot of those stories over
(39:27):
the past couple of months ofhelping people out, and what's
been tremendous is I haven'tgone and had to really seek a
lot of this out.
A lot of it's coming to meThanks to a lot of you out there
.
You know pushing and advisingpeople to check with us.
I know Matt from Ledgway.
When he's on the road he'srecommending people to us and
Ledgway Farm they did a muchbigger custom order.
(39:48):
Actually, I'm looking at a bigstack of their stuff I'm going
to bring to see them on Saturday.
You know Scott the Pettengillsfrom Freedom Designs.
Scott sent me multiple people,like chris that I just talked
about, um, dana, he sent me.
All these people like that haveplayed massive orders with us
and, uh, you know just peoplethat we've treated well along
the way, coming back to us orsending friends to us.
(40:09):
It's been a tremendous benefitand in the past I would turn
some of these things downbecause this time of year I
should be stocking up andgetting ready for the season.
So I've been so focused onother people's stuff but I can't
do any of my stuff Designingthings, welcoming new things.
I've done massive hat ordersfor Bentley Saloon, for Main
(40:30):
Street Barbershop all thesegreat customers and friends and
family that are pitching in andthey say I want to support you,
I want to support the brand, Iwant to support the mission and
this is how we're going to do it.
All that's been great andthat's helped pay bills and it's
helped us to survive.
But the tough thing is is thiscustom money that comes in?
You don't make as much stuffwhen you're doing.
(40:53):
You don't make as much profit,I should say, when you're
helping somebody with wholesaleorders, right.
But the nice thing is is you'regetting this cash flow, you're
staying home, you're working,you're making things happen and
as the money comes in, you pay abill and you try to do
something for the business andyou just start navigating these
things around.
But it doesn't allow you thetime, the cash flow or the
opportunity to focus on your ownbrand.
(41:13):
I've gone through a lot ofclasses on this stuff where they
say you really can't operateboth.
You can't do both.
I'm trying to make both workbecause I see it as an
opportunity to be successful.
I see it as an opportunity togrow our brand by partnering
with other businesses, alsoincrease our cash flow to a
point where it helps sustain ourbrand and keep us in business.
(41:34):
So I'm trying to do more.
I've doubled down on more ofthat this year and that's paid
off for us.
And a lot of you guys could belistening right now and you're
saying man, how is this kidhaving a down year?
How is he, you know, continueto slug his way through more
(41:55):
Debbie Downer news andinformation?
How is it?
Every time he goes out andapplies and tries for something,
it fails?
Why does he keep beating hishead against the wall?
Well, I have a very highstandard of what I want and
where I see this brand and tosprinkle some optimism, to
sprinkle some positivity on this, currently, right now, for 2025
(42:16):
, loud Proud, americans' netsales are up 92%.
We are up 92% in net sales.
Right now.
We're crushing it on the year.
It doesn't feel like we'recrushing it because chances have
consequences.
Right, we've taken chances,we've invested on things.
(42:37):
We're in that stalemate periodof trying to grow things.
We bought a new office, ourstorage facility.
Chances have consequences.
So we are up 92% in net sales.
I am bound and determined tomake this season the greatest
season we've ever had.
If it's not, then we willreassess and reevaluate what
(42:59):
we're going to do and how we'regoing to do it, and whether it's
time to stop doing it.
But right now I have a firmbelief and commitment to the
brand and the task at hand.
What's tough right now is someof these other events and
opportunities that I want to try, that I want to apply myself to
.
I'm reaching out man.
I'm sending emails, I'm calling, I'm leaving voicemails and
(43:22):
nobody's getting back to me.
There's a few events that Iwant to put on the calendar that
I just can't get any damnresponses to.
And it's tough when you reallyhave your event calendar not
written in pen, when you havethings on your calendar that are
written in pencil because youdon't have firm commitments.
It's tough when you have thingson your calendar that are
written in pencil because youdon't have firm commitments.
It's tough when your season'shere.
(43:43):
Things are opening, things arehappening.
It's tough to not have all ofyour shit written in pen, but a
lot of these events and things,man people are volunteer Not all
of them put people on thepayroll, so they don't really
care.
They don't care about yourschedule, they don't care about
your timeline, they don't givetwo shits.
So you just sit out there andwait.
(44:03):
But the difficulty is I can'tafford to wait.
I can't afford to not haveanswers, Because what happens if
, all of a sudden, when they doget to me, they go oh shucks,
yeah, we're full.
Now I don't have anything on myschedule, nothing on my
calendar.
I got to find a new way, anopportunity to fill it.
All that stuff just buildslayers of anxiety and doubt.
(44:25):
That part becomes reallydifficult when you're trying to
apply yourself, when you'retrying to push yourself,
challenge yourself, and thesepeople just don't want to
respond.
For the love of God.
Sorry, I had to go, chrisFrawley, right there.
I do want to sprinkle, for thelove of God.
Sorry, I had to go, chrisFarley, right there.
I do want to sprinkle some morepositivity and optimism on this
little conversation right here,because Loud Proud American is
(44:46):
up 92% in net sales, and we justreceived one of the greatest
emails this business couldreceive, one email that I'm so
excited to receive.
Okay, I might've built it up somuch for you guys that you're
thinking like, oh my God, thatson of a bitch is going on tour
(45:06):
with jelly roll.
I know it, that's what youthought.
You thought you thought it Meand jelly.
I'll tell you what, thoughY'all ain't ready for this jelly
.
It'd be too much jelly if meand jelly be on the row.
You know what I'm saying.
Ooh, me and jelly on a roll.
You know what I'm saying?
Anyways, I have someundiagnosed conditions that
(45:27):
should be talked about in a lab.
Maybe I built this email up toomuch for all y'all, but to me
it's tremendous.
Okay, loud, proud, americanstarted five years ago.
In our first year in business,my wife convinced me to apply
for the Freiburg Fair and Ididn't know if I was ready for
the fair or if we could handleit, and I didn't think we could
(45:48):
get in, because it usually takesyears to get in.
But it was COVID and we appliedand we got in, and I'm so
thankful that we did, because itkept us in business.
If that event didn't happen, wemight have gone out of business
in our first year.
So Freiburg saved us and westarted off with a 10 foot by 20
foot tent, so 10 wide, 20 deep,and it was a black tent and
(46:08):
most people couldn't even see usand they just walked right by
us.
But we had a tremendous firstyear at Freiburg.
It was unbelievable.
I think we did as much money inone week at that fair as we did
the rest of the year at all ofour other events.
So it was tremendous, kept usin business.
And after that we continued toask to grow and to expand and a
couple of years ago they allowedme to go from 10 feet to 20
(46:31):
feet.
So I went from a 10 by 20 to a20 by 20.
And I think that was about twoyears ago and I saw a nice gain.
I want to say $5,000 or $6,000bump my first year in expanding
the tent.
We continue to ask for anexpansion.
We continue to ask to growBecause I think if I can add
(46:51):
another 10 feet it can makeanother tremendous difference.
And every year since that yearI've asked for 10 feet more and
I've never gotten it.
This year, with my contract, Iput another handwritten letter,
thanking them for theopportunity, appreciating them
for all that they do and allthat it means to my business,
and yet again asking, if at allpossible, I would like another
(47:12):
10 feet.
The person that was next to melast year was a new person.
For the past two years I'veasked for more feet.
For the past two years I've hada new neighbor that neighbor
that I had last year.
Their stuff was too big fortheir 10-foot display.
I'm assuming if they come back,they want a new location.
If they're going to a newlocation, can I please have
their 10 feet?
(47:32):
I sent that letter and I'vewaited.
I've seen that it's beendelivered, I've seen that my
deposit hasn't been cashed,hasn't been deposited and then,
to my pleasant little surprise,I got an email saying Keith, we
can do that for you.
(47:54):
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, your boyis going to a triple wide baby,
30 feet long, 20 feet deep.
Oh, how glorious it's going tobe.
I have man.
I have grand illusions anddisillusions in my mind over
(48:15):
what's going to happen this yearat the fair, the opportunity,
the challenges.
Again, we're taking chances.
If I'm going to add another 10feet wide, 20 feet deep scenario
, that's another $3,000investment in a tent.
(48:36):
That's another additionalinvestment in grid wall, into
hooks, into hangers, intomaterial, into merchandise, grid
wall, into hooks, into hangers,into material, into merchandise
.
I'm going to say that just forme to make the expansion on the
tent and just the what it takesto make the tent um, and then
the additional increase in rent,that's a minimum $5,000
additional investment on thisone fair, plus all the products
(48:59):
and material and the you knowthe increase in overhead it's
going to take for me to loadthat tent.
My rent has gone up by athousand dollars just to add
that extra 10 feet, anotherthousand dollars in rent.
So my overall not to crackgoing into this fair is pretty
(49:19):
tremendous.
But I am oh so confident I amgoing to crush any number I've
ever done at this fair.
I am going to crush any numberI've ever done at any fair.
At any event, at any time, I'mwilling to bet that in that one
freaking week I'm going to beatmy first year in business.
(49:41):
That's how confident I am andwhat I am about to do, what my
family is about to do.
I am telling you it is going tohappen and I hope that today's
message and this mission hasoutlined a theme for all of you,
and that theme should be nevergive up.
There's something that youreally want, something that you
(50:03):
want so bad.
If you want it, if you reallyreally want it.
It's difficult to wait for itto come true, but it's even more
difficult to regret it.
You understand.
Never give up.
If you want something so damnbad, don't give up.
As difficult as it is to waitfor it to happen, the difficulty
(50:26):
really sets in when you regretthe fact you never made it
happen.
Never give up.
Never give up.
Anything unattempted remainsimpossible.
Chances might have consequences, but if you don't take chances,
you'll sit around shitting inyour pants.
I know that that's not how yousay pants and it probably wasn't
(50:53):
appropriate to put that there,but I wanted to underline some
humor, man, because your life islaughable if you don't take
chances.
You understand the regret thatsets in from giving up or the
fact that never trying in thefirst place, anything, anything
(51:17):
unattempted, remains impossible.
Take a chance, don't be afraidto shit your pants, even if
those chances have consequences.
You too shall overcome, we tooshall overcome.
This too shall pass.
Now get off your damn ass andget out there and win this
(51:37):
Wednesday and win this life andmake shit happen.
I'm proud of you, I thank youand I appreciate each and every
loving one of you for supportingmy American dream.
That's it, and that all BiggieSmalls.
(52:00):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook.
At Loud Proud American and youfind yourself just wanting more,
find me on YouTube and Facebookat Loud Proud American.
(52:21):
Put a face page, as my mamacalls it.
If you're a fan of the GrahamCracker, you want to find me on
Instagram.
Or all the kids aretickety-talking on the TikTok.
(52:42):
You can find me on both ofthose at Loud underscore Pr.
Proud underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong for this here podcast.
If you are enjoying what you'rehearing, you can track down the
Gut Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
Give them motherfuckers, a liketoo.
(53:23):
I truly thank you forsupporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
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