Legacy, Branding & Making It Happen | Carter Fowler Ep. 5

For 140 years, Fowler Brothers Home & Patio has been more than just a business—it’s been a legacy. In this episode of Spectruss Speak Easy, Carter Fowler shares what it takes to keep a fifth-generation family business thriving when less than 1% make it this far. From honoring tradition to embracing change, Carter dives into the power of consistency, branding, and building trust with customers over generations.

We’ll explore the evolution of Fowler Brothers, from hand-drawn newspaper ads to cutting-edge marketing, and how staying dynamic in a shifting industry has been the key to success. Plus, Carter shares some behind-the-scenes stories, including a moment of childhood mischief that once shut down an entire store!

If you’re passionate about business, legacy, and the art of making things happen, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. Tune in now!

Episode Transcript

Carter Fowler (00:00):
I saw you on TV and you're like the same in the
store.
It's really you, Really you,and you act the same way and
you're just as excited.
I'm like well, because it'sreal.
Less than 1% of a familybusiness makes it to a fourth
generation, much less a fifth.
So I'm fifth generation.
We used to literally draw theadvertisements for our print

(00:20):
paper like by hand, from scratch.
We are celebrating our 140thyear, which is hard to believe.

Sam Silvey (00:28):
There's not many businesses that can say that
ever.

Carter Fowler (00:30):
Seeing the consistency of our branding,
seeing the consistency of ourlogos, seeing the consistency of
the people and who we are, andthat's huge.
I mean, at the end of the day,our goal is to please and serve
our customers.

Sam Silvey (00:41):
goal is to please and serve our customers, welcome
back to the next episode ofSpectra's Speakeasy podcast.
Today we've got Carter Fowlerwith us.
He is one of the owners,president, ceo of Fowler
Brothers.
Carter, thanks for coming inand chatting with us.
Thanks for having me.

(01:02):
I'm glad to be here.
All right, I got to say startnow.
Every month we shoot acommercial with you and you're
so outgoing and I've been therewatching myself and Zach and
Justin always come back.
It's like Carter's a natural.
I've never seen you be morenervous than this podcast right
now.
Oh, I'm not really that nervous.

Carter Fowler (01:21):
You know it's a little different setting though
that I'm used to, you have toadmit.
I mean, you know there's more,you know it's just different.
So I love cameras, I lovespeaking, so it's no big deal.
I'm glad to be here, though.
Thanks for having me.

Sam Silvey (01:32):
Yeah, absolutely so.

Carter Fowler (01:51):
no-transcript some video.
I was, you know, I don'tremember what it was, but I just
saw a video of you and, um, itreally just hit me.
And then I saw you over thereworking out and I asked my
trainer at the time, Adam.
I was like, do you know him?
And he's like, oh yeah, that'sSam.
And so I think he introduced us, or I just walked over to you.
I don't remember.

(02:11):
Do you no-transcript?

(02:32):
It just really clicks andcertain people you don't and you
know.

Sam Silvey (02:35):
I feel like we really clicked quickly and it's
been a great relationship and Iknow my whole team's enjoyed
working with you and justin'sreally been hands-on the entire
time he has.
He's been with you.
The whole team's enjoyedworking with you and.
Justin's really been hands-onthe entire time he has, he's
been with you the whole time.
Yeah, Um, and Zach's beenshooting the commercials.
Zach, how long you've beenshooting commercials for Carter
now?
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (02:50):
I think since like 2021.
Okay.

Sam Silvey (02:53):
Yeah, three, four years now.

Carter Fowler (02:54):
Yeah, it's been a minute yeah.

Sam Silvey (03:06):
It's gone really well year.
That's right.
We are celebrating our 140thyear, which is hard to believe.

Carter Fowler (03:08):
There's not many businesses that can say that
ever.
I remember I was a member ofthe Family Business Institute of
East Tennessee and we wouldmeet with only family businesses
from Knoxville to Chattanoogaand all over, and we started
talking about age and that wasone thing that was really unique
, and so I started kind ofdigging in and doing a little
research and I think I learnedthat like less than like less
than one percent of a familybusiness makes it to a fourth

(03:29):
generation, much less a fifth.
So I'm fifth generation, whichis pretty awesome.
Yeah, so it's definitelyuncommon.
And so you think you know what.
What makes it work?
Yeah, you know, and I think forme it's consistency, it's it's
doing what we do and stickingwith it.
Yeah, you know, and I think forme it's consistency, it's doing
what we do and sticking with ityeah.
You know, and I think that'sspecial and you know, knowing

(03:49):
that the family and your teamare what makes the business work
.
So, yeah, yeah.

Sam Silvey (03:55):
Consistency.
That really stands out to meBecause I remember seeing, I
think whenever we first startedto work together, you know you
had me come over to at the timeit was furniture shop, patio
shop, that's right.
And back to your office and itwas your dad's notes and maybe I
don't know how many generationswent back, but basically every
piece of marketing andadvertising, every piece of
advertising that you have savedin print version for years I

(04:17):
mean, is that even decades?
I don't know how far back thatgoes, but it was impressive.

Carter Fowler (04:21):
Oh my gosh, Well, I'll tell you this.
So, um, I mean, it's beenprobably five or six years ago,
remember when the tornado cameover and hit uh, east brainerd,
udawah, yeah, so remnants ofthat went over our building,
they caused a giant flood andyou know so we had to actually
go through several of our roomsthat were housing a lot of this

(04:41):
old advertising, which wasreally crazy, and I have all of
the original, like I mean backto the 30s, of newspaper
articles, and back then theTimes Free Press would like give
you a bound, you know, I mean abook.
That was like.
You know, it was like this big,huge, you still have some of
those yeah we have them all.

(05:01):
That's awesome.
I mean, I think maybe a few ofthem got wet with some of the
moisture from the water that wehad come in the building, but
not many.
I mean we have salvaged all ofit.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's really cool.
And to see, you know, you knowso within, that is not just our
advertisement for the newspaper,it's also all the content of

(05:21):
that day, you know, and yeah, solike whatever was going on in
the, in the paper or otherpeople's advertisements or
whatever, so it was really cool.
So 30s you said there are someback to the 30s.
I don't know how many go backprior to that, but there's so
many that it's honestly hard togo through, like mind blowing.
I mean, literally it would takeup a quarter of this room.

Sam Silvey (05:41):
Yeah, that's awesome .
It's back floor to ceiling.
It's cool to see the notes youhad of how much you spent each
month of marketing advertisingback for years and years and
years, and of all the businessesthat we've worked with I
couldn't tell you how many.
If there's any others that havethat much data, especially like
the, it's easier now, I feellike with computers, right, and

(06:02):
all the data analytics.
It's easier now, I feel likewith computers, right, and all
the data analytics.
It just automatically feeds.
Yeah, that's right, but youhave it like calculated out like
you're, manually, you know.
So if there was billboard buysor there was TV buys, especially
back like 20, 30 years ago,when it wasn't as much data, and
I think that consistency hasreally paid off, it's really
cool yeah it's interesting tosee, kind of.

Carter Fowler (06:23):
You know, when I came to the company I guess I
started full-time in 1999 and upuntil that point, you know, I
was in school and college and,you know, worked.
I think I've worked everysingle position in the company
but, um, you know, finding allof the things that I guess were
left behind from previousgenerations and my dad, for
example, I'll never forget hemade this.
Uh, it was on like a pegboardand all of the little pins like

(06:45):
the peg pins, not like athumbtack or you know, they were
like pins.
They had the round head and theshort pin and he had all
different colors and he wouldactually use the colors to
designate different demographicsthroughout the Chattanooga area
and beyond as to where ourcustomers would be and each one
had a different color.
And just like looking at how weanalyzed data back then

(07:07):
compared to today, yeah, youknow it was amazing.
So, yeah, I was definitelyfortunate and blessed to have,
you know, a dad that kind ofleft me with all this
information, taught me so muchabout marketing and advertising.
Of course, I went to businessschool and learned, you know, a
lot there as well, but mosteverything has been hands on.
It's been doing it, yeah, and Imean we used to literally draw

(07:34):
the advertisements for our printpaper, like by hand, from
scratch, like on a piece ofwhite paper or even like the
type of paper the newspaperprovided for us, with the
different dimensions and such,but like drawing an ad, you know
, and's awesome and you know,even like watching him cut, like
literally, pieces of paper andletters and put them and he
would use different types ofglue, you know, to put it on the

(07:55):
paper and then present it tothe paper Like this is what we
want.
Yeah, Can you do this?
That's so cool.
Yeah, yeah, we can.

Sam Silvey (08:03):
It's so different from what we do now.
You know, everything is digitalfor the most part.

Carter Fowler (08:12):
When you think about the word cut and paste
what that means today.

Sam Silvey (08:13):
It doesn't mean literally grab some scissors and
some paste, glue Control C,control V, yeah right, so man
that.
But consistency.

Carter Fowler (08:17):
I mean, I think the most important thing we do
and you've really helped us withthat all across all channels
and all networks and everywhereour customers see us is seeing
the consistency of our branding,seeing the consistency of our
logos, seeing the consistency ofthe people and who we are, and
that's huge.
Yeah, that makes a difference.
And I see so many other peopleand it's like you want to.

(08:39):
It's almost like you want tojump out and coach sometimes
because you see people like usethree different logos for the
same business and you're likeI'm confused, right.
So you know, and that's onething that you know, I'll never
forget when you helped usrebrand you know, because we're
Fowler Brothers Home and Patiotoday yeah, were the furniture

(09:05):
shop and the patio shop ofFowler Brothers Company.
And remembering the days ofshooting a commercial, when I
had to say all of those wordsall at the same time, knowing I
had 29 and a half seconds for acommercial, and I had to say the
furniture shop and the patioshop of Fowler Brothers Company,
all at the end, and you're likeand I-24, 4th Avenue exit, and
all of a sudden it's like, oh mygosh, how much time do I have
left?

Sam Silvey (09:20):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (09:20):
You know, and it was a mouthful and you know I'll
never forget you telling meabout the idea of just driving
by the interstate and seeing,you know, the sign said the
furniture shop but the barn roof, you know it said the patio
shop and you're doing 60 milesan hour.
Yeah, 80,000 plus people perday are doing that.
It's confusing.
It was kind of patio, patio,patio, patio.

Sam Silvey (09:42):
Yeah.
And from the business side, themajority of your space you're
paying for is interiorfurnishing, your home
furnishings, yeah, but youdidn't really see that because
it's inside, it has a buildingaround it, but you have that
awesome outdoor space of allthat outdoor furniture and of
course it's easy to see that.
But then, whenever we starteddiscussing this and you're open
to the ideas of rebranding, youbrought that piece from right

(10:06):
beside the Tivoli.
It was the picture of originalFowler Brothers, right, it
wasn't that original spot thatwas.

Carter Fowler (10:16):
That was the flagship store downtown at 7th
and 8th and 7th and Broad.
Yeah, that was the store I grewup in.
I mean four stories offurniture plus a basement.
That's so cool.
I'll never forget my dad.
We were took me on like alittle drive during the day and
it's like here's they'rebuilding Hamilton Place Mall.
This is kind of going to be sortof the demise of our downtown,
because at the time there was nodowntown shopping yeah, except

(10:38):
for Fowler's and Bruce Baird'sand Fisher Evans, maybe a couple
other local businesses at thetime.
And there was no place to eatdowntown hardly, unless you're a
member of the Mountain CityClub.
And there was no place to livedowntown Maybe a couple
high-rise condos, but not reallyRight.
And I think that's where we aretoday.
It's a little different.
In Chattanooga you can shop,live, work, play all downtown.

(11:00):
Plenty of places to eat, yeah,you can shop, live, work, play
all downtown.
Plenty of places to eat, yeah.
And so that's why we ended upmoving our facility over to
where we are today.
Yeah, is because that downtownarea just changed, I mean.

Sam Silvey (11:14):
Seems like it was a good move, though, because you
had such great visibility.
It was great.

Carter Fowler (11:16):
It was great.
I mean, think about it.
We have over two and a halfacres of outdoor showroom
alongside the interstate and, tobe honest, that's unheard of.
You know, like I said, 80,000plus cars per day.
We were the very first retailstore that offered patio
furniture to have an outdoordisplay of patio furniture and
it's probably one of the fewbusinesses that really benefits.

Sam Silvey (11:38):
I mean, there's probably others, but you benefit
, I would say, dare say the mostout of the terrible traffic
jams that we have going up theRidgecut, because they sit right
at your building.
I would say both.

Carter Fowler (11:48):
You know our store and the barn nursery.
Our neighbor would also benefitfrom it as well.
I mean, I'll never forget mydad you know we were looking for
another neighbor and you knowsomeone else that could be a
tenant for us at the time andI'll never forget my dad meeting
Jim Webster at the Barn Nursery, like, literally, in his.
You know they had a smaller,more of a very specialized

(12:10):
nursery.
I think it was in Rossville.
I'm pretty sure I could askCole.
But yeah, my dad met him.
He was like hey, I got thisgreat property.
You want to come see it andit'd be a great place for a
nursery and that's you know.
Same kind of thing.
Wow, you know, just greatexposure.
But, yeah, two and a half acresof outdoor showroom to to
display our furniture.
And you know one thing about uswe've been, we're always trying

(12:31):
to update and make our displayseven better, so you have to
come and see what we've donerecently.
So, okay, we're actually uh,finishing this week our updates
to our outdoor patio shop, whichincludes all all new concrete
walkways and concrete patio.
Just really nice for ourcustomers to have a much safer

(12:51):
and a much more enjoyableexperience as they're walking
around looking at furniture.
Yeah, Really excited you got tocome check it out.

Sam Silvey (12:57):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love how, in that space,you've got like all the
different samples of furnitureyou know from like the Pollywood
and brands like that, wherethey're set up, and so you can
actually see what they're likeand sit down in real life,
versus just having to go toother places and maybe don't
have that space to be able tosee them and you just have to
order it and hope it's right.
But there's so many variouscolors and types and even under

(13:20):
the covering out there you knowit feels like, oh, this would be
an awesome patio to have at myhouse.

Carter Fowler (13:24):
You know it feels homey Well.
I think that's what people neednow.
They need to be able to touchand feel, they need to try and
they need to work with a companythey know, like and trust, and
I think you know we can makethem feel at ease based on you
know we're celebrating, like yousaid, our 140th anniversary,
and that makes people feel atease, like these people have
been here a long time.

Sam Silvey (13:42):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (13:43):
And then when they meet our team members, they
know we care and they know howmuch they can really benefit
from shopping with us, becausethey can, like you know, they
can try it, they can sit in it,they can touch it, they can feel
it and they know that we'regoing to deliver it to them
fully assembled.
You know there's so muchfurniture you buy online that
you have to put together and youhaven't sat in it.
You don't know about the armheight.
You don't know how it fits you.

(14:03):
You know, you don't know it's.
You know, because we watchpeople sit in things all the
time, especially couples ofdifferent heights maybe, and the
guy's, like you know, it lookslike he's huge on it.
And at the same time she's likeoh, it's good for me, but
there's a balance and we canhelp that.

Sam Silvey (14:20):
It's funny you bring that up because, uh, you know,
recently I moved back into avacation rental property I have
and that furniture I boughtthat's been going to my where I
live in north chattanooga, yeah,so I'm selling that house and I
moved all that furniture up tomy house on the mountain and so
I basically gave away or threwaway the vacation rental
furniture.
Yeah, and moving that furnitureout it's so light and flimsy

(14:43):
and it was stuff I orderedonline because it was the
cheapest and back then it's likeit's going to vacation rental.
I don't care, I'm just going tobuy the cheapest.
But it was barely.
Most of it was like torn up,barely holding together.
And then I moved the sticklyfurniture and other pieces I
bought.
You know, like that big sticklycouch I have and the big
stickly, um, uh, what's itcalled?
the wooden grove yeah, walnutgro Grove.
Yeah, walnut Grove.
Those things are sturdy as hell.

(15:05):
I mean, it's holding the wholehouse in place.
And so moving that up there.
I'm like this is such betterquality stuff and I got to go
try it like sit on the couch ina showroom.

Carter Fowler (15:14):
You can't do that with the internet, sure you're
giving me chills, it's like Imean, it's who we are.
We talked about consistency andthe number one thing for me is
quality.
Yeah, because you know I canguarantee my pricing.
I can prove that we're acompany you can, you know, trust
and be assured that we're goingto take care of you.
But the quality is.

(15:36):
It's really important that wemake sure that we offer the
right brands that have the rightquality.
And you know, I'm looking backinto our history and thinking in
1900, our slogan was dependablefurniture.
And it's interesting, it'sstill who we are today.
We may describe it differentwith different language, but
it's still who we are today.
And I think you look at acompany and you look at what I

(15:57):
kind of refer to as company DNA.
It's what it's what you're madeof and it's, um, when we
describe brands like StickleyFurniture, they have a DNA.
You know they have.
You know they have construction, they have, they have a story
and they have a um.
You know, it's like we wereshooting a.
We were shooting the other dayand it was and Louie, my dog,
was, uh, standing in the drawer,you know, and there's all.

(16:17):
There's all kinds of picturesof me standing in the Stickley
drawer, but, but it was kind ofcool to see him doing it.
It's just how it's built andyou can move it from house to
house.
You can have it for generations.
And I think that's what makesit so different.
Is the furniture that we'reoffering today much like we did
in 1900, is something you canpass down through your family.

(16:39):
It's something that has acertain DNA or a certain quality
that you can rest assured thatfor sure you can pass this on to
your kids.
Yeah, which is like what typeof investment can you make
besides maybe gold or silver ordiamonds or something like
jewelry?
You know that you can literallypass on down to your family.
I mean, it's just not thinkabout it.

Sam Silvey (16:59):
You know that slogan was ahead of its time because
in 1900, I mean, I wasn't, noneof us were alive in 1900,
obviously, but I would imaginethat most things were probably
made of harder wood back then orprobably better construction
and now, like it was reallyahead of its time because now
there is a far uh reaching thelarger spread for sure, and you
know it's just like homeconstruction.

Carter Fowler (17:18):
Yeah, you know, and you think about the.
You know some of the lumberterms that we use today don't
describe the actual dimensionsof the lumber.
Yeah, but at one point they did, yeah, and I think, um, the
brands we carry still offer thatconstruction and that DNA, like
we did it before, and I'vejokingly told our customers and

(17:39):
our guests that come in thestore, I've literally dropped a
brand over a foot glide, youknow, because manufacturer
wouldn't take care of us, theywouldn't replace it.
I was like, okay, we're notgoing to do this anymore because
we're only going to offer thebrands to our customers that we
can.
We know they can depend on andum, and so that's why we got to
be dynamic too, and I think withour, with our brand selection,

(18:00):
with our styling, everythingwe're dynamic.
We're constantly changing, notnecessarily the brands that we
carry, because we've been theoldest.
We're the oldest Stickleydealer in the country.
We've been selling Stickley.
I didn't know that yeah.

Sam Silvey (18:10):
All these years we worked together Wow.

Carter Fowler (18:11):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
I mean the current family, theAudi family, that owns the
company today.
We were selling Stickley beforethey ever acquired the company.
Oh wow, and so we actuallyworked with you know.
I guess the Louise Stickley wasthe wife of, you know, the past
owner of Stickley at the time.

Sam Silvey (18:30):
So we need to get them to the 140th party.
I know, right, we should sendthem invites, we should.
That would be super cool.
That would be pretty cool.
We need to figure out somethingthat they like.
Maybe it's a, I don't know awine music, something that would
get them here.

Carter Fowler (18:43):
That would be cool.

Sam Silvey (18:44):
Have them come talk, you know Well.

Carter Fowler (18:46):
Edward, one of the, you know, the current
president of the company is afriend of mine and you know
that's one thing.
Special about us too is likejust the relationships with
these brands that we've had.
I mean, you know I mentionedEdward Alley with Stickley.
I mean, I remember when Edwardand I were he's back in the day,
we'd go to a furniture marketwith our parents and they'd be
working or doing whatever,hanging out and upstairs.

(19:07):
Stigley has a house in HighPoint and we'd go downstairs in
the basement and play pool.
We'd just be hanging out.
It's like, you know, and theserelationships are sort of, you
know, timeless.
Yeah, you know, pretty cool.

Sam Silvey (19:20):
Where are they based out?

Carter Fowler (19:21):
of.
So they're up in Manlius, newYork.
It's a suburb of Syracuse, okay.
So yeah, the original factorywas in Fayetteville and today
it's in Manlius.
It's been there since forever.

Sam Silvey (19:32):
And they're making majority of this stuff in
America, right 100%.

Carter Fowler (19:35):
They do have an offshore facility that they use
to make their own partssometimes.
And then the Walnut GroveCollection is made over there
and the Pasadena Bungalowcollection was made over there,
and other than that they prettymuch use it to make them their
own parts, which makes them alittle bit more vertically
integrated as well and allowsthe pricing to be controlled too
.
But I'd say 85% of Stickley isall made in America All their

(19:59):
upholstery, all their leather,all the mission collection, all
the cherry collection.
The majority of what peoplethink of when they think of
Stickley is made in America.

Sam Silvey (20:07):
It would be awesome for us to Zach, I'm going to
sign you up for this, justin, aswell.
We'll make it a part Spectrus,part Fowler venture.
There you go.
We should go up to Stickley andgo see their factory.
Let's do it.

Carter Fowler (20:20):
That would be an awesome trip.
It's a fun trip.
And some trip, oh, it's a fun,it's a fun trip.
And I think one thing you learnabout Stickley as a
manufacturing company when youtour the factory it's just all
the little minuscule detailsthat people don't even think
about.
And, for example, um, we weretalking about kind of, uh, the
green movement, if you will, inregards to like cause.
All of us want to be good to theenvironment, right, all of us
want to, um, do our part indifferent ways.

(20:42):
I mean, you know we recycle, we, you know like we recycle all
of our glass and plastic andcardboard and all that kind of
stuff.
I mean I work with West Rock atFowler's to, you know, make
sure that all the cardboard thatwe have coming in from, every
single box, is recycled.
You know, we definitely donatesome, we give some to some
different farmers for theircrops and different things

(21:03):
around Chattanooga, more likelocal gardeners I shouldn't say
farmers, but so I'm thinkingabout just green and stickly.
When you walk through theirfactory, you see all these
shoots and they're like, theylook like male shoots.
You know, like you shoot mailto different apartments in a big
building, right, they aredesigned to vacuum all of the
sawdust that is made during themanufacturing process.

(21:27):
So every time somebody cuts apiece of lumber and there's
sawdust, it's sucked up, goes inthe mail chute, goes in a
little sort of outbuilding ifyou will, and they mix in like
fillers and bonders or whateverto make these cubes that are
stored to in turn be used toheat the factory in the winter.
Oh wow, I mean that's supercool, right, makes sense.

(21:49):
And then you know, you add thatto the fact that they're making
furniture that last generationsthat doesn't ever have to be
replaced.
It never ends up in a dumpster,it never gets thrown away.
Maybe it finds itself to anantique store, which is another
interesting point.
I mean, how many furniturecompanies that were made in
America in 1900 could be soldfor well hundreds of thousands
of dollars in the antique marketdown the road?

(22:11):
I mean, that alone is unique toour industry.

Sam Silvey (22:14):
Yeah, that's an interesting point about the
carbon footprint of if you'renot just constantly going
through cheap furniture.
Yeah, Think about the carbonfootprint of having to deliver
cheap furniture it's breaking ina couple of years' time and
deliver more and deliver more.

Carter Fowler (22:27):
So true Well it's probably one of our biggest,
you know, compared to a lot offurniture companies that are
selling you a sofa that willfall apart and end up in a
dumpster and then you've got tobuy another one.
That's the only bad thing aboutus is we sell people furniture
that lasts forever and never hasto be replaced, so the only
time you get rid of it is whenwell, when it doesn't fit

(22:48):
anymore, because you moved orbecause, um, you're not wearing
it out, right, really.
So it's just like you've had itfor so long.

Sam Silvey (22:53):
You're ready for a change right so you can sell it
to someone else and they take itand use it as well, as opposed
to, like my vacation rentalfurniture, I just tossed in a
dumpster a lot of it.
The only thing I didn't tosswas, uh, well, I gave one couch
away to a buddy of mine whoneeded one and I was like I hear
you just have this, have youbought one?
And he's in a small apartment.
And then, I don't remember, Imade that bed out of stainless

(23:15):
steel and cedar.
It took a month and, yeah, um,I forgot how heavy that sum of
it was it.
Oh, my god, we went to move itout of there, the backboard.
I made one piece and hannah andI moved it, but it was
everything we had to get it outof there and I actually moved it
in by myself and it took me awhile to remember how the hell
did I get in here?
But I used like kind of egyptianstyle engineering I took pvc

(23:35):
pipes and just rolled it acrossthe floor.
You know, um, but thinkingabout how you, even it being so
heavy, heavy it would stillsqueak and make noise, you know,
like sitting on the bed, youkind of hear, because, like the
way I didn't think through.
It took me a month to buildthis bed.
I was trying to think throughhow to make the joints and how
they connect, because otherwisethat will be a point of flex,

(23:56):
you know, as you're getting inand out of the bed and it's
moving and making noise.
But then I put the Stickley bedtogether and it was.
I was expecting a socket wrench, I had my socket set and it
just it just popped in play andI was looking at instructions.
I literally YouTube it.
It can't be that simple and itjust popped right out.
It's like holy shit, that was soeasy, you know.
And then it's super sturdy,makes no noise, People no noise.

Carter Fowler (24:17):
People call us after they move and they're like
did we lose the parts?
Like how do you know?
It just literally slidestogether.
So that you know, we talk aboutStickley's construction.
Oftentimes we talk about thingsthat are unique to the industry,
and so Stickley has about 17 orso construction features that
are technically unique to theindustry, meaning that not many
or none other furnituremanufacturers use the same type

(24:37):
of techniques, and what theycall their bed irons is one of
those unique constructionfeatures.
So they actually use a customcast iron plate that they they
cut a, they route out a, a placeto insert that.
So so it's solid with the bed,and then it has these big cast
iron bolts that go into the woodthat just slide in and click

(25:01):
down, yeah, which means thatover expansion and contraction
through time, if you need toloosen the bolts or tighten the
bolts, you can do so.
Yeah, but nobody else does that.
So the only comparable scenariois like other manufacturers
have these little hooks and itkind of goes in a slot and hooks
in and you know it's like thiswide Right.

Sam Silvey (25:20):
So these are so much sturdier, yeah, and it's so
easy.
I was, because the bed's prettyheavy, I was expecting it to
have big lag bolts or something.
You know big, big bolts, yeah,and all the internet stuff that
I bought in the past.
You know you've got to have asocket set, go ahead and get an
impact, because there's going tobe like four to eight bolts per
corner and it's still going tosqueak and make noise.
So anyway, I thought that waspretty neat.

(25:41):
It was kind of eye-openingcarrying my old bed out of there
.
I did put it in storage just incase one day maybe I'll put it
in a guest room.
The only problem is it's about14 feet wide, it's so big.
It's so because I made the sidetables float, like I wanted to
have, because I wanted kind of acombination of like that you
know the feng shui of likeJapanese side tables attached

(26:03):
like a mid-century modern withlike the lower Scandinavian
height, and so I tried makingthat thing.
But it looked kind of cool.
But construction is way morechallenging than what I thought
it would be.
You know, there's a lot ofmovement, I think it is.

Carter Fowler (26:15):
Yeah, I mean I think you know we have people
come in and tell us.
You know we have people come inand tell them certain you know
they look at Stickly and they'relike, yeah, I'm going to go
build that and I'm like, okay,yeah, yeah, I mean more power.

Sam Silvey (26:25):
I'd say, go for it, it took me a month and I cut
that thing apart and weld itback together who knows how many
times trying to getmeasurements.
Very cool, yeah, that was so.
Anyway, much better house now,really excited to have the
Stickley furniture in.

Carter Fowler (26:43):
Well, I'm glad you got the Pollywood out on the
porch too.

Sam Silvey (26:45):
I think you know talk about bulletproof yeah
because that's another likeevery, say, two seasons in the
past because of vacation rental,I didn't want to spend a lot of
money.
In my mind I was thinking I'mgoing to spend less money and
I'll go buy whatever's on sale,you know which is probably going
to be walmart's real shitty.
So maybe I'll go look better tolike home depot or lowe's, you
know which is still prettyshitty.

(27:05):
But it did not fail over the 10years of vacation rental, about
every two seasons it would becompletely rotted.
Yeah, just worn out, you know.

Carter Fowler (27:13):
And but the pollywood, it'll probably
outlive me, you know it's gonnabe, um, my daughter go, my son
and daughter go to baylor schoolhere in chattanooga and um, so
one of the guys down there waslike, hey, we got to get.
You know, we have this new pooland um, we put all this old
furniture out there.
It's not lasting.
Um, you know, what do yourecommend?
I was like I would just getsome like just polywood chaises,

(27:35):
kind of like the ones you gotblack.
They got them in white and um,I was like there's no fabric,
there's no metal to have topaint or deal with scratching or
anything like that.
It's just essentiallybulletproof.
I mean, because you know whetherit's a rental scenario or
whether it's at our house orwhether it's in an institutional
environment.
I mean, at the end of the day,we don't want maintenance, do we

(27:56):
Right?
We don't want to have to dealwith something that's not going
to hold up.
Yeah, you know, maybe in aresidential thing we can deal
with something that might have alittle scratch or whatever, but
you know you want it to hold up, you don't want to have to
worry about it.
Yeah, and I think you know, buythings like the Pollywood and
you know.
Again, a little plug to usRemember that when you get it,

(28:17):
you know we have found that youcan buy a Pollywood online.
We had one of our customerscome in and tell one of our team
members they had just boughtthis Pollywood Adirondack chair
and you know they got it forthis price and we were like,
well, it would have been cheaperhere.
And then they told us aboutassembling it and they were like
, well, you know, they sent tworight arms and they forgot to

(28:41):
put all the screws in the box.
So we had a call and then theyhad to send us to a new arm and
screws and, yeah, you know, wehad to send the other part, or
they made us throw it away orwhatever.

Sam Silvey (28:45):
I mean it's just like really, and those things
come pretty much flat right.
So you have a lot of assembly.
If you're assembling a chairlike oh, yeah, they come in
boxes like this.
Yeah, I didn't realize that Iwas sitting in actually the
other night having a whiskeydrink and I was looking down.
I was like I bet this all cameflat.
This was a lot of screws inhere, every one of those planks
and everything like.
I'm really glad that I did nothave to do that myself, right?
Um, yeah, I don't do.

(29:06):
Well, yeah especially that's.

Carter Fowler (29:07):
You know it's like for us.
That's what we do every day.
It's normal, you know, for oneof our team members to put it
together it's no big deal.
You give that to a consumerthat's never seen it before.
It's their very first time.
Whether they're really good atstuff like that or not, it's
still your first time.
You know.
You got to kind of work throughit and figure it out and most
likely you're going to need toread the directions and you're
going to hope that they send allthe right parts right.

Sam Silvey (29:29):
So so that kind of mentioned different colors of
the chairs and all the differentoptions, everything there, and
like when you walk in theshowroom and you've got all
kinds of furniture inside and aswell as outside, right, but you
guys have like a whole.
I mean of course you're, you'rethere, I feel like all the time
, except for except forWednesdays and Sundays, right, I
mean?

Carter Fowler (29:48):
that's right.
I mean I'm I'm pretty consistenton the Wednesday thing, you
know, but then I think before mybrother retired and when he
went into the ministry, the onething he gave me advice on he's
like don't lose your day off, nomatter what, take your day off.
And that kind of like reallyresonated for me.
So, yeah, I'm off on Wednesdays, which everyone thinks is a
little weird, like why don't youjust take Saturday off?
Well, because I work onSaturday.

(30:09):
I mean, statistically, saturdayis the busiest day in retail
and Wednesday is the least busyday in retail, so you know.

Sam Silvey (30:17):
Well, to have the president CEO there and you're
so hands-on with everyone andevery time we've come in there
whether it's me, zach or Justin,like all of us have seen like
you're working with customersconstantly.
But then you've got that wholelike design team too, like you
got, I mean there's a lot ofoptions in there.
So you guys are helpingeveryone pick out interior
design, like consulting withthem and for the whole home,
right.

Carter Fowler (30:41):
Definitely so.
We um, so we've got a greatdesign staff on hand, in both
indoor and outdoor, that willhelp people pull together their
space, whether it requires, youknow, more of a drawing of a
space plan or just helpingpeople pick out the perfect
fabrics and the right finishesto go with their existing pieces
.
Um, but yeah, I mean I thinkyou know we also work with
outside designers.
There's a ton of local interiordesigners that use us as a
resource for their clients andthey'll come in and work with

(31:04):
our design team to help them,you know, find all the right
products, because at the end ofthe day, I mean there is a broad
range of things that you canpurchase through us that we
don't necessarily have on theshowroom floor.
Yeah, I mean we have, we have alarge showroom, but there's no
possibility to put all of thedifferent products from all of
the different brands that werepresent on the floor, and you

(31:26):
know, and even it comes down tofabrics and leathers and sizes
and things like that.
So I mean you just have so manychoices.
So our team is kind of like aguide to help you navigate the
showroom, to help you find thethe right pieces, to help you
understand kind of what you'regoing to get, um, understand the
time frame it may take to makeit, but we do a lot of just

(31:47):
custom furniture.
Like, for example, one of ourmost important brands is called
canadel.
You know it's also a solid woodcompany, it's um, it's made in
canada, um, but you know it's acompany that you're literally
getting on a computer andchoosing every detail about what
you want and not just the color.
I mean that whether you want aleg or you want a pedestal, or
whether you want how thick youwant the top or what you want

(32:09):
the edge to look like, or do youwant it to be modern or
traditional, do you want leavesin the middle or leaves at the
end?
Do you want it a solid top, doyou want the grain to be running
horizontal or for?
I mean, how do you want it?
And it's all customizable andit's not like at a cost, it's
just how it works.

Sam Silvey (32:26):
It's like we're choosing all of these different
things.
See, I would need a team forthat, or at least a person,
because there's so many options.
Someone who's a professional.

Carter Fowler (32:31):
It's just too complicated to try to do it all
by yourself.
So back to the online equation.
Why would you want to do allthat by yourself when there's a
local team?
That's?
It's their pleasure to do itfor you and it's at no expense.
It's actually cheaper to do itthat way.
Yeah, you know, it's cheaper tobuy local.
It's cheaper to buy quality.

Sam Silvey (32:48):
And just staying on top of trends too right, Because
it's constantly changing.
Like you go from mid-centurymoderns booming one time to okay
, now we're going to get a bigLoft, whatever the technical
word, Back to the dynamic partof the equation.

Carter Fowler (32:58):
I mean, we have to be ready to change, ready to
move at any moment, and I thinkthat's, you know, that's how
fashion is.
If we look at, like, where doesfashion come from?
Well, oftentimes it comes from,you know, especially ladies,
but also men's clothing andstuff like that, and we'll see
it trickle down.
So I mean, from handbag colorsto different types of things,
like you know, in fashion wehave shoes and boots and all

(33:21):
different types of things thatalso, you know, mimic what we're
going to see in the furnitureworld.
Yeah, you know, usually acouple of years down the road.

Sam Silvey (33:28):
Yeah, I mean, even there's like colors of the year,
right, like every year, there'sa new color Every year there's
a new Pantone color, for sure.
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (33:34):
So but yeah, we try to be on track with those
trends and try to make sure thatwe're recommending, you know,
the right, the right colors ofthe seasons and different things
like that.
So you'll definitely see whenyou come in the showroom there's
a.
You know, there's more wintry,you know colors and different
things like that during thewinter seasons, where in the
spring and summer you're goingto see more of more vibrant
colors.
But we're always trying to makepeople feel some kind of push

(33:58):
of the season, if you will like.
Like I mean, even right now wehave so many different greens
and blues and happy colors tomake people sort of spawn out of
winter into spring and belooking for that, those days of
longer sunshine, like it justhappened.

Sam Silvey (34:11):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (34:11):
Which is pretty exciting.

Sam Silvey (34:13):
Yeah, there's really a cool, like you know, working
with you now for seven, eightyears, which I need to get that
number actually defined.
You know we should, but theseasonality is very.
I mean, there's seasonality inevery business, but for you all
especially, and then even yearto year, because, like the
trends and everything but you gofrom right now we're going into
spring and so like outdoors nowis going to be on everyone's

(34:35):
mind.
That's right.
Like I want my patio, like Iwant to be able to grill outside
and have the best grill, theyou know, the new green egg,
whatever it may be.
So that's, it's a lot ofplanning on the business side
for you, because you need to getwhat people are looking for
yeah, and people are alwaysasking, like, what is your
busiest season of the year?

Carter Fowler (34:55):
Well, for me, my answer is always well, when both
of my stores are going fullsteam and so meaning that, like,
if it's, if it's january andthere's we just got snow on the
ground.
Well, not everyone is thinkingabout their patio furniture and
their decks and pools and spaceslike this and so, but at the
same time, they are thinkingabout maybe there's holidays and
decorating their dining roomand things like that.
So my busiest time was whenthey're thinking about both yeah
and so, obviously, uh, spring,summer, fall is kind of our our

(35:18):
busiest times, because they'rethinking about both indoor and
outdoor furniture at the sametime, which makes, you know,
both stores busy together.

Sam Silvey (35:25):
Yeah, yeah, that's got to be.
I mean, I guess that's whereall these years I mean 104 years
of experience, but planning forinventory control and making
sure you have the right thingsat the right time I mean it
helps you have such a largefootprint, but I mean you're
obviously selling more than thatand you're having to plan for
it and print.
But I mean you're obviouslyselling more than that and
you're having to plan for it,and I guess that's where that
consistency and all theexperience that comes into play
and definitely, and you know,for me, my biggest asset

(35:48):
regarding experience is I waslike, literally born there, like
I mean it doesn't get, you know, it's definitely unique.

Carter Fowler (35:59):
I mean being in a family business.
I mean, like I told you, mysummer jobs were selling patio
furniture.
And I'll never forget, likebeing the 15-year-old kid
selling people patio furnitureand they're like, how do you
know all this about this stuff?
And it's like, because you know, this is what my dad talked
about, this is what we did.
You know, this is I went towork with my dad all the time

(36:21):
when I was growing up.
My mom and dad worked and so,um, I was oftentimes at the
store.
I was, um, either getting intomischief or or helping my dad do
something.
And there's so many storiesabout me when I was a little kid
yeah, um, you know so, downtownin that four-story building.
I'll tell you one of them justnow because we're it's pretty
funny.
So I had gone to the dentistoffice.
My mom had gone to the dentist.
I went to, um, dr Fred when Iwas growing up, that's where I

(36:42):
went to.
Yeah, he kind of did a lot ofthe kids and so I don't know if
I had like a cavity, I don'tknow what, I don't remember, but
they had given me some laughinggas and you know I was a little
looped, I guess.
And so when they brought meback to the store, I went to
like one of the back rooms wherethey kept all these like rug

(37:03):
samples and there was a rack oflike four high of different like
rug rolls and fabric rolls andsamples and everything.
And I had told one of thepeople that you know was working
in there, like you know I wasin there.
I don't think they reallynoticed, but I climbed up at the
top and I kind of got on one ofthose top racks and I laid down

(37:23):
and went to sleep.
My head was kind of hangingover almost the edge, but I mean
I had a little more hair than Ihave now, but it was like super
curly.
I mean I had crazy curly hairand I was.
I just fell asleep.
Well, the next thing, you know,my mom, mom's looking for me,
she can't find me and she's likestarting to freak out, tells my
dad, well, he's gone.
I can't, you know.
So next thing, you know, theyhave like locked the doors, shut

(37:45):
the building down.
They have like employees atevery entrance not letting
anyone leave.
They called the police, thefire department oh my God, I
mean there was fire enginesoutside.
I mean it was just absolutechaos.
And I think the guy's name Ithink it was Todd Hartman, he
was one of our employees thatwas at Downtown Fowler's, I

(38:09):
think that's who it was.
He found me.
He was like oh my gosh, carter,come out right now, like your
parents are freaking out.
They had got the building shutdown and so I went out there.
I was like what?
And they're just kind of likehuh, I was asleep, what are you
doing?
That's hilarious.
But, yeah, I mean I used togrowing up, I'd get on the
elevator and I think I'd chargepeople a quarter to ride up and

(38:30):
down the elevator and no one hada quarter.
They'd give me a dollar.
My dad was like, where'd youget all this cash?
Already hustling.
But yeah, I mean, when I was alittle kid it was just kind of
like part of who we were, and so, you know, like I said,
starting at 15, I'd be out thereselling patio furniture and I'd
be doing like a little bit moreum, exaggerated, uh,
demonstrations.
I'd be like, look how durablethis is, like you can't break it

(38:55):
, and you're like, oh my, youreally can't.
Yeah, I mean just being who I am, I'm there every day.
I do what it takes to kind ofmake it happen.
I mean I think most of myemployees are just surprised by
all the different things theysee me do, whether it's working
with Zach to shoot a TVcommercial and in the middle of
it I'm helping a customer andhelping maybe solve a customer

(39:18):
service problem.
I mean Zach's like are youcoming back?
I'm like where's he going?
Right, but yeah, I mean we justmy motto is make it happen.
Yeah, you just do what it takesto make it happen daily.

Sam Silvey (39:31):
Well, you've got so much knowledge and experience,
obviously from the years ofgrowing up there as a kid, that
you know that's the stuff thatjust doesn't grow on trees.
You know, it's Even if youbring someone in, say, a very
entrepreneurial-mindedindividual I want to get into
the furniture industry and Iwant to make the money that
Fowler Brothers is making.

Carter Fowler (39:46):
But if they don't have all the experience and
knowledge, it's going to be arough road right, people can get
into it and get the brands, butif they don't know it, I think
we've seen that happen over theyears to many different players
in the market, whether it'sboutiques, designers, other

(40:06):
furniture stores, what have you.
I mean, I think it's definitely.
It's not the easiest market toget into, for sure, and it
definitely takes a long, a longline of relationships, a lot of
hard work and just a daily gritto make it work.
I mean, it's, it's yeah.
Like I said, we make it happen.
It doesn't just, it doesn'tjust come yeah.

Sam Silvey (40:21):
We've got to have passion.
I mean you clearly have passionfor it, you know, because most
president CEOs of most companiesI mean I would say the majority
want to have as much time onthe golf course or maybe at the
climbing crag or fly fishing.
I mean, of course, I know youtake some great trips, like
every person should, sure, butfor a president CEO to be there

(40:43):
five, six days a week, workingwith all the people on the floor
it's not like you're hiding inthe back and to be honest people
point that out all the time.

Carter Fowler (40:50):
I don't know any different, it's just who I am.
I'm just excited.
You know what we do and ourteams and the changes and all
the different things we do.
I mean, yeah, I'm verypassionate about our company,
about our family business, abouteach one of our employees and
their families, and I think, youknow, we just behave a little
differently as a company, as agroup of people, our DNA, our

(41:13):
corporate structure, and it'sjust different.
You know, and I think it reallycomes down to the family
business aspect.
I think really makes a veryimpactful difference.
And I never forget, like I wasin business school at the time
and one of our professors he wasa guy I went on a study abroad
with and just super smart guy.

(41:34):
I mean.
I think he'd taken over amultinational company when he
was like 40 something he didn'tneed to teach, he was well off.
And he was one of the guys Iwas like hey, what do you think
about the family business?
How do you describe it?
How do you compare it to thecorporate world?
Like what, um, how do you see afamily business functioning
different?
And he was like well, thebiggest thing it's, it's about

(41:56):
individuals who can make realdecisions quickly.
And he start thinking about itlike I don't need a panel.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
There's no like we're notworking with the board of
directors over here becausebasically, our board is our
family.

Sam Silvey (42:09):
Right.

Carter Fowler (42:10):
You know, and I think that allows a company like
ours to move quickly and bedynamic.
Yeah, and I think you know alot of companies are hindered by
what the corporate manual saysfor them to do or what they're
supposed to say.
I mean, we love Stickley andthey make some incredible

(42:30):
quality furniture, but from acustomer, you know, dealing with
their customer service teamsometimes not all the time,
don't misunderstand, butsometimes it feels like they
were reading out of their manualas what they're supposed to say
to us.
You know what I mean, and Iguess technically they're a
family business as well too, butmaybe the size changes it
sometimes, right, it makes youfeel a little bit more corporate

(42:51):
.
But I think that's what makesus special every day is that we
are a down-to-earth familybusiness that can make live
decisions quickly, yeah, and Ithink that's huge, you know.

Sam Silvey (43:04):
I want to give some companies kind of like the way
out with this as well aboutcustomer support, because I do I
mean, I agree with you there'sa certain size and then it's
like the scale changes right,and the reality of it is like
some things are going to suffer,like maybe customer support.
Yeah, but I did hear aninteresting I think it was
another podcast interview I waslistening and watching the other
day and it was with Jeff Bezosand he was talking about them as

(43:28):
a company sitting there andthey had a small team and
they're like well, how long isour customer service time now?
And they're like well, itshould be somewhere between
average three to five minutes.
And they're going around thetable and boardroom and everyone
has these different thoughtsand data points and they're like
why don't we just pick up thephone and call them?
And everyone's like mind blown,right.
And so he picked up his phone,called customer service Jeff

(43:49):
Bezos calls his own customerservice and it was like 15
minutes and it was like, okay,we need to get this shit
together, we need to fix this.
And I will say, like, now you goto this company that's
obviously one of the largestcompanies in the entire world.
They've kind of got thatfigured out.
You know like it's amazing thesize they are and how much
better they do it than so manyother companies.
So true, it kind of gives a lotof people no excuse anymore.

(44:12):
You know like they kind of haveto like True.

Carter Fowler (44:14):
I call it the corporate answer.
Yeah, you know.
How many times have you gottenthat answer on the telephone?
You're like are you?

Sam Silvey (44:20):
sure that's the best you could do.

Carter Fowler (44:22):
Yeah, like I mean really.

Sam Silvey (44:25):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (44:26):
Um, I had a guy teach me that a long time ago
and I think it really resonatedwith me that like that's, that's
it.
You nailed it.
Yeah, there's the differencebetween being able to say I want
to do what I can to help you, Iwant to figure out a way to
make this work, you know,because you do deserve that.
Yeah, and I think you know alot of times it's just like the

(44:49):
corporate answer is more or lesswhat the manual says, to say
how long the manual says tospend with them.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, it's something different.
So anytime I come across that, Isort of just call people out,
be like you know what.
That's the corporate answer.
Yeah, I want you to take aminute, I want you to go back

(45:09):
and I want you to think aboutthat and I want you to decide is
that the best you got RightReally?
And so that helps me with withour customer service in general,
with the idea that, like, inorder to avoid the corporate
answer, what do we need to do?
Because obviously we have aplan, but does the plan always
work perfectly?
Not necessarily.

(45:30):
So we have to be sort of what Icall firm but flexible.

Sam Silvey (45:33):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (45:34):
Meaning the plans , the direction we want to go.
I mean that's the answer, butlike did it work?
Yeah, is everybody happyBecause?

Sam Silvey (45:44):
I mean at the end of the day.

Carter Fowler (45:44):
Our goal is to please and serve our customer.

Sam Silvey (45:49):
Yeah, there's definitely something.
I was thinking about this thisweek.
Actually, some of the companiesthat we've worked with at
Spectrus over the years, andtherefore especially pre-COVID,
we got into trying to be more oflike a large ad agency.
So we wanted to compete withand that's what I thought I
wanted us to be and so westarted bidding on some of these
jobs and some of the jobs thatwe probably had no business

(46:10):
being in that room, not becauseme or my team members lack the
ability to do the work,necessarily, but we lack the
size of the team and thepolitics needed and kind of the
bullshit needed.
And I don't want to say everybig ad agency is bullshit,
because that's not true.
They do great work, sure, butthere's a lot of inefficiencies
and what I've found and how Ikind of wrap my head around it

(46:31):
to make myself feel good.
It's probably me trying tojustify that we're not a massive
ad agency, but that's reallynot who I want to be, because in
that corporate world it's a lotof inefficiency.
It's a lot of sitting there,like everyone in the boardroom,
there's always politics and thetime it takes to push anything
live, whether in our world it'sa website or a campaign of some
kind, right?

(46:51):
Oh, it's mind-numbing.
You know, you have all of these, you've got to think about all
these variables and everyone hasto be happy and it goes through
all these revisions and we haveto charge 10x more.
You know, and we did bid one jobthis year with a big publicly
traded company.
They do about $3 billion a yearrevenue and we've done work for
them in the past and we bidthis job and I was talking with

(47:12):
their team members ahead ofgetting this as a website quote
and she said I'll be honest, areyou sure that you bid the scope
correctly?
And I was like, yes, and I knowwhere you're going with this
question already.
Like I bid the scope correctly,I gave us some wiggle room
because I imagine there's gonnabe more people to sit in our
meetings and we'll probably havemore revisions.
But one place where our scopegoes out and becomes, you know,

(47:34):
cost increases, the cost is inrevisions.
So if we're talking with yourcompany more and more and more
revisions, and so we just have aclause in there that we bill
hourly for that, so if we knowit the first time and we go to
programming, there's no extracost.
We can do it for this.
But I'm sure you're asking meif we have the right scope,
because all the other bids camein astronomically higher than us
.
And she's like, yes, you're thelowest one by a lot.

(47:56):
And just to give you numbers,our bid was around like, I think
, $55,000, something like thatfor a website, and I know some
people were bidding some of thecompanies and they were probably
closer to like $450,000.
Reality of it is like me beingprogramming-minded, like I could
build that website personally.
Now, of course, justin's abetter designer, my programmers

(48:16):
are better than me and as a teamwe do a lot better job, but
it's more the politics of thegame.
So they went with this one ofthese other companies.
I'm sure we're spending anastronomical amount of the
website, that you know.
But but is it better?
Is it really better?
Is it better?
And what they're really wantingis job security, because they
have a marketing department andthen they're presenting to a
board.
They probably have a boardabove that board, right, like so

(48:38):
original founders that are on aboard, and so they're.

Carter Fowler (48:40):
I'm sure their budget for that particular thing
was was here, and if theyreduce the budget to here, then
the following year's budgetwould be reduced and that
affects their whole teams.

Sam Silvey (48:50):
Yeah, I mean so but then in those projects the ones
we've got in the past aresimilar to that.
They'll take sometimes 18 24months to do a simple.
We're finishing one right now,but it's almost 24 months long.
And to think about the amountof content that we put out for
you and your team every monthmonthly tv commercial, I mean,
uh, monthly.
Well, so now it's morequarterly mailers, social media

(49:12):
content I mean we're filmingwith you every week the website
content, the different ads inevery place that are updated
every month.
It's great working with you andyour team because you're
willing to just pull triggersquickly.
You always have fresh content,always have fresh ideas and
you'll roll with them andthere's always new things coming
out and it's efficient.

Carter Fowler (49:29):
It doesn't take all day.

Sam Silvey (49:31):
Yeah, and I think really every business needs that
now and eventually, even theselarger ones that I'm referencing
they're going to have to speedup.
The triggers are pulling.
It's basically the definitionof what I was kind of describing
a minute ago, I mean that's it,and digital has kind of
demanded that in a way, becauseyou have to have this quicker
content, you've got to havesocial media.

(49:51):
That's going out every day andif it takes a team of 30 people,
you'll be a year behind by thetime you get ready.
Then the trends have changed andeverything's changed.

Carter Fowler (50:00):
I think that's why things have to come out
quickly, because the digitalworld is quick, everything
changes so quickly.
Yeah, I mean you have to beresponsive and quick to it
immediately.
I mean I think that's important.

Sam Silvey (50:15):
Yeah, so it's been great to see all the content
that you know you, beingpresident, ceo, worked with us
and get out quick content andit's always, you know, authentic
content too.
You know it's not just likesomething that feels corporate
and fake Well, it's so true.

Carter Fowler (50:32):
I mean, people come in on the store and they'll
be.
I saw you on tv and you're likethe same in the store.
It's really you, really you andyou act the same way and you're
just as excited.
I'm like, well, because it'sreal, it's so true, though.
I mean it's like you know, like, and the dog, they're like you
know.
It's so funny.
I saw your dog and the dog'shere, like I know it it's, it's

(50:54):
who we are.
Yeah, so really stand on this.
Well, I think you know justwhere we're going with.
That, at the end of the day, isjust authenticity and just
being real, and I think that'sum in in in my world, in the
family business worldspecifically.
I think being authentic and andand having um a way of just
transparent way of seeing youand your company are huge.

Sam Silvey (51:15):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (51:15):
You know being able to see that.
You know I'm just a real person.
You know that is trying to sellsome furniture.
Yeah, you know, it's like itwas one of our coolest I think
videos was the chill guy and youknow.
But that's kind of it's so truethough it's just like at the
end of the day.

(51:36):
You know if, if you track mearound the store, there's
definitely moments where I'mjust hanging back and, like the
other day, I got busted.
I was trying out a new reclinerand, um, you know I'm by myself
.
I didn't know anybody'swatching me.
I'm like so I'm.
You know it has a.
It's a new stressless.
It's really cool.

Sam Silvey (51:53):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (51:53):
And it's kind of a mid-century vibe.
So it has a different kind offeeling and has this really cool
headrest, that kind of like.
You know it's just got thislike pillow with a strap that
goes on the back that you knowhas this uh weight.
So it kind of counterbalancesitself and goes up and just like
I'm reclining, I'm going, youknow I'm like checking out the

(52:14):
headrest and you know I'm justchecking out all the features.
It's like, carter, are youhaving fun?
It's like, yes, I am.

Sam Silvey (52:22):
Thank you very much, I was waiting for you to say I
was waiting for you to say youfell asleep in the recliner.

Carter Fowler (52:26):
Oh, yeah, well, that's probably happened too.
You know that.
You know the better place tofall asleep in our store is in
the mattresses.
So if you need a nap, you knowRight.
Yeah, it's kind of funny.
I mean, yes, I do that too.
I don't actually fall asleep,but I'll take a little.
Yeah, yeah.

Sam Silvey (52:43):
Why not?
So I know we've got anothermonth, next month, podcast
coming up, but before then, inbetween then, I should say
you've got a trip coming up.
I Before then, in between thenI should say you've got a trip
coming up.
I don't know, Can you talkabout that at all?
Sounds like.

Carter Fowler (52:55):
Yeah, sure, well, I'll tell you.
I'll give you a littlebackground story.
So, number one my favoritething in the world is traveling.
I mean, we love to travel.
We don't travel the same way alot of people do.
We have more adventure travel.

(53:16):
So most of our trips includesome type of hike, some type of
whether we're fishing or we'reclimbing or whatever it is.
We like to play hard, and so Igave my family, each one of my
family members.
I have two kids and a wife, andso my wife Cammie, my son
Dawson, my daughter Lainey, andso, anyway, we all got to write
on a note card where we wantedto go.
And so, um, for me, I wanted togo to the Dolomites of Italy.

(53:40):
I wanted to travel in themountains and the and the
Italian Alps, and I wanted tosee, you know, some of those
special places.
I wanted to visit Zermatt,switzerland, and maybe go skiing
, and I wanted to see Chamonix,mont Blanc, and I thought that
was, like you know, possible todo all in one trip.
It was more like two trips, butwe did it.

(54:01):
It was really cool.
I think one of the coolest hikeswe've ever done is in the
northern Dolomites and outsideof a little town called Alpe
d'Isousi, which is south ofBolzano or south of Innsbruck,
and we did this just epic hiketo um, these different huts and
um, super big day and and so sowe're kind of doing something

(54:24):
like that this time.
And so anyway, um, my, mydaughter wanted to go to Hawaii.
Um, my son wanted to travel inSpain.
So we have checked the boxes inall three of those.
And then here comes my wifeCammie.
We kind of saved her for last,so she wanted to visit Machu
Picchu and hike the Inca Trail.
Well, um, so we're not hikingthe Inca Trail, um, but, uh, so

(54:48):
we couldn't get a permit for theInca Trail, and so we started
doing a little research.
And the other, like epic hiketo get to Machu Picchu is the
Salcante Trail, okay, which isabout the same length, a little
bit longer, but it's, you know,after kind of making the
decision to do it, I'm kind ofexcited that we're doing this
one instead, because a littlebit more altitude, so we're

(55:09):
going to get above 15,000 feet,we're camping at over 14,300.

Sam Silvey (55:14):
Now, do you carry your own camping gear?

Carter Fowler (55:16):
Do you have people carrying it for you, or
mules, we're working with youknow, normally I'm kind of a
self-guided, my own travel agenttype of person.
In this case we're working witha company to help us kind of do
some of those things.
So on the Salcantay Trail youcan have animals carry your
stuff Nice.
On the Salcantay Trail you canhave animals carry your stuff
Nice.
Where on the Inca Trail youhave to have porters carry your

(55:36):
stuff.
Okay, if you're going to do itthat way, or else you have to
carry all your own stuff.
So we're doing sort of anassisted hike.
So we'll have a little day packof water and stuff like that
and then we'll have all of ourother heavier gear taken to each
campsite.
So we're four nights and tentson the trail and five days
hiking that sounds awesome, so,um, and you're going?

Sam Silvey (55:58):
from what elevation?

Carter Fowler (55:58):
you start at uh, so we start in Cusco Peru.
So basically, we fly fromAtlanta Atlanta to Lima, um, and
then we spend the night in Lima, and then we fly from Lima to
Cusco, peru, and we'll spend acouple nights there to
acclimatize.
Uh, cusco Peru, and we'll spenda couple of nights there to
acclimatize Cusco is over 10,000feet, oh wow, all by itself.

Sam Silvey (56:17):
So what are we here?
Like two 1800 feet.

Carter Fowler (56:22):
Gosh, I think Signal Mountain is like what is
it Like 1700 and something andLookout's like 1500 something.
We're lower than that right now.

Sam Silvey (56:31):
Wow, yeah, that's a big difference.
It's a big difference thataffects me.
I don't know how are you inaltitude?

Carter Fowler (56:37):
I'm usually fine, Like skiing in Colorado or
whatever I'm usually fine.
We did we went to Zermatt, wewent over um, we camped at over
12,000 feet there.

Sam Silvey (56:47):
Okay, it messes me up.
I'm a sissy about altitude.
I don't know why.

Carter Fowler (56:58):
Yeah.
So I I mean, obviously there'ssome kind of rules we'll have to
kind of follow along the way tomake sure that we don't get
sick or whatever.
So like, for example, when wefirst get there, um, we're gonna
have to like triple our waterconsumption, okay, um, no
alcohol, light food, like, um,basically one thing that, uh,
they say is that once you're upat a higher altitude, like like
your, your bodily functions justdon't work as well.
So, like you go eat a bighamburger and try to digest it,

(57:18):
your, your, your stomach, yourintestines not getting enough
oxygen, so it just takes longer,which gives you stomach aches,
which can you know.
So you hear about all thepeople like getting sick on the
trail, um, usually becausethey're not kind of working on
that type of stuff.
But we're going to have abackup plan.
Come some meds for altitudesickness, potentially Okay.

Sam Silvey (57:39):
But I mean hell.
A little flask of whiskeyprobably lasts you a whole week
up there.
You know It'd be a cheap datewith altitude.

Carter Fowler (57:46):
Well, that's another thing.
Cool thing about doing theSalconte trek is you're actually
so you kind of go up themountain, then you come down
into the village, go up, kind oflike that, so we'll have
opportunities to buy some thingsalong the way and, um, but yeah
it's, it's pretty epic, I meanI think we're gonna.
So mount mount saucontay isover 20 000 feet.
It's just like it's one of thetaller peaks in the peruvian

(58:07):
andes.
That's just a solid chunk ofice at the top and we'll be sort
of like surrounded by it on thefirst few days.
Um, and then after that we gointo the amazon, and so you're
in the cloud forest of theamazon, in the jungle, for a
minute, and then you come out atthis little town it's machu
picchu town, which is calledaguas calientes and so, and then

(58:29):
we'll end up there, and then,um, god, that sounds awesome
it's gonna be cool, we'reexcited.
How old are your kids again?
15 and 18 and they're, they'regood with it, like yeah, so
that's another thing.
So I mean, obviously we're justdoing this is a family thing,
so we're doing it together.
Um, I would imagine I've beentelling my wife like so one
thing we're talking about rightnow is how to embrace the suck

(58:51):
yeah I think that's one thingyou got to do.
If you're going to climb amountain, you're going to put
yourself out there in any typeof situation where you're doing
any multi-day track or overnighttrack or anything like that,
where you got to put down, youknow, 11 plus miles per day.
You know, um, at altitude, ataltitude.
You got to be ready for it.
You got to kind of have theidea that this is not going to

(59:12):
be you know, it's not going tobe ice cream.
The whole time have I sufferedlike that before.
Yeah, I was telling you aboutthat hike in the Dolomites.
So that was probably one of thebiggest days that we've ever
had together as a family.
And it was kind of funnybecause we stayed at this really
cool place and we had abreakfast and you know we're

(59:32):
talking about this trail but Imean gosh, we didn't leave the
hotel until like 10 am in themorning.
Right, I mean most of the time,if you're going to do something
big, you're going to startearly Alpine start.
Yeah, exactly, it's like youknow.
I started last night, yeah, um,but in this case we, you know,
we kind of just took it easy andwe were going to kind of cheat
a little bit.
So we took a couple lifts up towhere we wanted to start our

(59:53):
hike and so we did that and thenkind of got us in the position.
But we hiked I don't know, Ithink we did like 14, 15 miles
that day, oh wow.
And we didn't get back until,like it was almost dark, it was
like 7, you know, after 7o'clock at night.

Sam Silvey (01:00:10):
Yeah.

Carter Fowler (01:00:11):
And we're sitting in this like really kind of
cool, like quaint place, kind ofboutique-y kind of place, and
we walked in the door andthey're like the Fowlers.
The Fowlers are here, everyone.
They made it back.
They were like, oh my gosh,we're about to call a rescue
team after y'all.
I mean, like you said, you weregoing on this trail and you
hadn't made it back yet.
We weren't sure if you got lostor whatever.
And but I mean that was one ofthose adventures where you know

(01:00:35):
we had hiked up to this bigmountain hut you know for for
lunch, and then we kept hikingand, um, you know it's.
It's the type of trail whereobviously the um, the sun is
hitting it at different partsdifferently.
And so the red blazes on thetrail, well, they kind of turn
pink after a while.
You know, the blazes are thetrail markers that help you

(01:00:58):
identify what was trail you'reon.
And so it's like my kids keptgoing Dad, what's wrong?
I'm like nothing, I'm fine.
But at one point in time I wasalmost convinced that we got off
trail and we were going to belike, right, I was like oh my
gosh, have they just faded orsomething?

Sam Silvey (01:01:11):
oh yeah, we're just faded, oh wow.

Carter Fowler (01:01:13):
finally, I saw the next hut, which you know is
the marker, and, and we weregoing to take a descent trail
after that, and the next thing,you know, here comes the thunder
and the rain and the lightning,and you're, you're above the
tree line.
You're like, oh no, yeah, I'mlike, okay, it's time to run.
And I was like.
So, as soon as we got down tothe trees, I was like, all right

(01:01:34):
, we're good.
And and then the you know, therain kind of backed off a little
bit.
It wasn't too hard, we all hadthe right gear, it wasn't that
bad.
But, um, the coolest thing wasending the hike to the sound of
the cowbells, because in Italythere's I mean, there, there's
fences, but they're not likebarbed wire of field where

(01:01:57):
there's these small little barnsand and uh, so we were able to
take retreat under this onelittle barn.
We're sitting watching allthese cows.
They, all you know, have theirhorns.
It was like the most epic sound.
I think we actually uh postedon my wife's instagram she has a
cool instagram account.
Yeah, mine's more about thecompany, but um, but it was this
really epic picture of the fourof us.
All of our rain jackets on andin the background are like 15

(01:02:18):
different lightning bolts in theblack sky.
It was just like I don't know.
It was an amazing, amazing hikeyou'll just never forget yeah,
that's cool you can do as afamily.

Sam Silvey (01:02:29):
Your kids can keep up.

Carter Fowler (01:02:30):
That's awesome I know right, I have two little
beasts.
They're pretty good.

Sam Silvey (01:02:33):
Now is the daughter 15 or is the son 15?

Carter Fowler (01:02:36):
Yeah, good question.
So yeah, my daughter is 18.
She's getting ready to graduatehigh school.

Sam Silvey (01:02:40):
Okay.

Carter Fowler (01:02:41):
She's going to UT , so go Vols.

Sam Silvey (01:02:43):
I'm pretty excited about that Is that where you
went to school as well.

Carter Fowler (01:02:49):
I went to App, so it's where I guess I got into
bouldering more than anythingelse, and that was one of my
favorite places.

Sam Silvey (01:02:57):
Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about.
Next podcast.
So, if you think about it, takesome photos.
I'd love to share them.
Next podcast of the trip, forsure.

Carter Fowler (01:03:05):
Yeah, so we'll be doing that in June, so we'll
definitely take you somepictures.

Sam Silvey (01:03:10):
I was thinking that was coming up here.

Carter Fowler (01:03:12):
Well, my son and I are going uh fly fishing down
in the keys.
Oh yeah, we have a buddy thathas a boat down there, so we're
going to join them for a littleoffshore stuff.
So we're gonna.
We've never done this beforewe've.
I fished um with my wife downthere, but never just the two of
us, my son and I.
So we're pretty stoked aboutthat.
That'd be great.
Yeah, so I got some cool tripscoming up a couple different
fishing trips and this bighiking trip but I'll definitely

(01:03:33):
be uh sharing some.

Sam Silvey (01:03:35):
I think it'll be fun well I you know I love to talk
about fishing and climbing both.
So next one, bring some keysphotos and we'll add them to the
podcast and the video.
Awesome, um.
And we'll talk about someclimbing too, because I think
it'd be fun yeah, for sure.

Carter Fowler (01:03:47):
Well, thanks for having me.

Sam Silvey (01:03:48):
I really appreciate it yeah, thanks for joining me.
I think it's been fun and, um,we've got more coming up.
Well, that's it for today'spodcast.
Thanks so much for joining us.
If you liked what you heard, besure to like, follow, subscribe
.
Also, be sure to visitfallowbrotherscocom, or, if
you're in Chattanooga, stop byFallow Brothers, it's right off
24.
Actually, carter, you want togive it a run?

(01:04:09):
924 4th Avenue, exit Perfect.
He does it way better than me.
But thanks so much forlistening and we'll see you
again soon.