Ep. 9 | Phil Quinn & Michael Allen: Unpacking the Power of Connection in Community Resilience

When Phil Quinn turned the tables on me, Michael Allen, it sparked a thought-provoking dialogue on the resilience of our local communities. Our deep-dive conversation traverses the landscape of human tenacity, especially in challenging times, and how the power of personal connections and community service become the bedrock for societal fortitude. Reflecting on my experiences at Westview Elementary, we unravel the transformative potential of mentorship and the undeniable impact of human touch in every aspect of life—from the thriving pulse of our local economies sparked by potential attractions like sports complexes and casinos, to the everyday workplace dynamics that hinge on the art of second chances and heartfelt apologies. 

Venturing into the world of podcasting from live radio, I share my journey with Phil, capturing the essence of what it takes to craft engaging content that resonates in a digital age where the warmth of handwritten notes still leaves an indelible impression. We muse over the nostalgic elements that endear us to personal touches and their importance in an increasingly impersonal world. As we swap roles in this dynamic exchange, the candid stories revealed shed light on the authenticity and consistency required to produce a podcast that speaks to the heart of listeners. 

The episode culminates in a robust analysis of economic revitalization efforts in New Castle, with a look at how attractions could serve as a beacon for prosperity and the complexities that come with ambitious community projects. We tackle the vision and the hurdles for a sports complex, the nuanced fabric of employee relationships, and how flexibility in the workplace can make or break the loyalty and respect of a team. Diving into these multifaceted conversations, Phil and I offer a panoramic view of the potential that lies within community innovation, the human element of business, and the lasting value of maintaining personal connections in a world that moves at breakneck speed. Join us for an enlightening exploration of the strength and spirit that powers our communities.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
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We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
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(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubwith Michael Allen and for a
special edition of the Hub, andI have a very special guest,
Phil Quinn, today.
And actually I'm going tobecome the guest because Phil is

(00:47):
hijacking the Hub and he'sgoing to talk to me today, going
to have some questions.
This is not going to be justall one way, but I'm just Phil's
in town and it was a greatopportunity to get to see you
today.
Just a little bit about Philand I we worked a lot together
when he was a brewerbroadcasting.
He always did a great jobhelping us at Manpower and then

(01:13):
also with his social mediaconsulting business on Vine,
which he's tremendous at.
It was a great job for us andso, Phil, it is awesome to see
you.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's great to be here .
I came in because I had afriend that lost a loved one and
it was right around theholidays and I said I just don't
know, living in Phoenix now, Idon't know that I can just fly
in and fly back out.
What if I plan a couple ofweeks in January, right in the

(01:49):
new year?
My daughter is a teacher atRichmond Community Schools and I
could watch her.
She's also coaching swimmingand not once did I think to look
at the forecast.
I had no clue until a couple ofdays before and I went oh no,
oh no.

(02:10):
But can I tell you somethingbefore I tell you my first job?

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Sure Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, cause the first job is what I've been prepping
for.
Having watched all of theepisodes of the hub, I knew this
question was going to be asked,so I'm ready.
Okay, can I tell you somethingabout the people here?
They are hard.
I am so impressed.
I've been here for about a weekand I you guys, are resilient,

(02:41):
and the temperatures that areoutside and it's brutally cold
whenever you're watching this.
It was kind of a real shift fromthe holidays where it was
pretty mild and businesses areopen and people are taking your
credit card payments and they'reserving coffee and they're

(03:01):
working in the streets andthey're on the construction site
.
I don't know that.
There are many places wherethings didn't shut down and I
talked to some friends that hada lot of snow in Tennessee oh,
everybody's home.
They've closed down businesses,people aren't going to the
office and I went.
That's not here.
And I think about what thiscommunity has gone through since

(03:27):
I've, since I've been gone andI've been gone a little over
three years.
Of course, everybody wentthrough a global pandemic.
Right, there was, you know, theofficer shooting and Sierra
Burton just terrible and just amonstrous, hazardous fire, and

(03:47):
Richmond still gets back up.
I don't know how you do it.
It's hard and you're hard andthe people here.
I know we've got constructionand there's tons of things we
can complain about, but peopleare still getting up and going
to work and I think what you doand what the staff does at

(04:08):
manpower helps that.
So you know I'm not trying toget all weepy and sappy.
I mean I've got strong takes,michael, but I can't believe how
tough and hard to in a good waythat the people are here.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
I mean it was interesting just yesterday I do
some mentoring over at WestviewElementary and I was I don't
have kids in school anymore andI'm not on those, those messages
that go out about school delaysor whatever and so I was just
checking to see hey, I'm justcurious, is there a delay?
Is it going to affect my timehere, you know?

(04:50):
And no, we're regular schedule,we're going to everybody's
going to school.
And it's just surprisingbecause I think you probably
think back when you were here itseemed like there's a lot of
delays, or I mean just the sideof snow.
Sometimes they would call itoff, you know, and so I was.

(05:11):
I was kind of impressed thatthey went ahead and just don't
you think?

Speaker 2 (05:16):
part of that is okay.
So we're going to trye-learning, and there are a lot
of snow days that turn intoe-learning days, but we did find
out that, while they're stilleducation, that you can teach,
it doesn't replace the in-personexperience.
And we have a lot of remoteworkers and I'm a remote worker

(05:36):
for the company that I work fortoo and I get that.
But there is something aboutbuilding that earnestness and
that toughness to say, yeah, I'mgoing to have to wear an extra
layer and I'm going to have toleave 15 minutes early, but
that's the job.
So and I know, you know,there's people in every

(05:59):
generation that looks at thenext generation goes oh, what a
bunch of punks.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
And.
But the generation in front ofus did that, and the generation,
so it's just different.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Right, it's just your perspective Generations,
generation and yeah, I mean theywere complaining.
You know our great grandparentsare complaining about the
generation.
Yeah, you know so I thinkthanks definitely changed in
some ways that are somewhatconcerning, yes, but overall
it's just.
It is the way it is in life aswe know it.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
And we know it'll change again.
Yeah, we hopefully not in anegative direction, but I so I'm
not going to hijack.
I do have questions for youbecause I want to know about
this mentoring.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
But I do have a question for you.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Oh, okay, you go first at your show.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Can you give us a?
Can you give us a little updateof what's going on since you
have left town, Because notevery lot of people know you,
but not everybody know what'sbeen going on with you, yeah, so
I left in an October of 2020.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
My fiance now wife at the time, was promoted through
her job at Belden, still worksfor Belden 18 years now and is
taking over the West division,and we could do a whole nother
episode On sales people, but ofthe sales people that I know and
the people that I train,because that's what I also do

(07:33):
for Brookdale senior living.
I've never heard a bettersalesperson than than my wife.
So we we both got remote workjobs.
We're in office, we're in ouryou know offices in our, our
house, and, and, and and.
Where we figured that lifewould take us would that it

(07:54):
would be out of Richmond becauseof the career opportunities for
her.
Outside sales was anopportunity to change our lives.
I mean, the income is reallygood but she works really hard,
and so I had to reboot my careerand started it at Brookdale
Senior Living about three yearsago and got into working with

(08:19):
seniors, having experience ofhaving to put my mom in senior
living, and it really became apassion for me.
And you know what's hard aboutliving in Arizona is we didn't
move to be closer to family.
You often see people move backto this area after they retire,
because that's where family is,or friends.

(08:40):
There's not a bumble forcouples.
You can't, there's not a way tonetwork unless you're in a
church or you have workcolleagues.
But we both work from home.
So how do you go and find otherpeople?
We release our house, we livein a nicer new development, but

(09:03):
we didn't intend to live thereeven longer than three years, so
you didn't make a whole lot ofconnections with neighbors.
So when you have theopportunity to come home and hug
people and see people andhere's what I found out, I am
really good in moderation.
I think that I am passionateabout a lot of things I say some

(09:28):
stupid stuff.
That's probably why I wasn't atthe radio station any longer.
And but the opportunity andglass half full, I took it and
it has been very rewarding.
But it doesn't replace niceweather.
For the most part it gets hot,but being able to come home gave

(09:49):
me the opportunity to hugpeople I haven't seen, to listen
to them and I'll wear out mywelcome in a week and then I'll
have to go home.
So that's a little bit about me.
I still continue to utilize onVine media, but one thing that I
refuse to do and I see this.

(10:09):
I was on city council whenFacebook became a thing and
started utilizing social mediato be able to talk to
constituents.
We had some rules, though.
You can yell at me all day,call me every name of the book,
I'm on city council, I get itbut you can't yell or make fun
of or be derogatory to otherpeople that are commenting.

(10:30):
That's not.
I'm not gonna let that fly,point the fingers at me, but it
gave me the opportunity toexplain what this bill or
legislation that we were readingor whatever.
So getting into radio and thenyou get you know things like
Speak Out Richmond, which is nowthe community bill at the board
, and then you got scanners,pages where they're just typing

(10:53):
out whatever they hear on thescanner.
There's this impetus to havepeople that have moved away from
Richmond come back in and trashit.
I told you you gotta get out ofthat town.
No, no, I want to highlightwhat's going on.
It's still my hometown.
I always think about KurtVonnegut, who has a quote that

(11:16):
says I don't know what it isabout Hoosiers, but wherever you
go, you're gonna find a Hoosierdoing something good.
And I'm paraphrasing a littlebit there, but that's kind of it
and I take that to heart.
So last thing, and then I knowyou have a question for me or I
have a question for you.
I forgot where we were.
Now you told me I was gonnahijack it.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yes, okay.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yeah, this is fully anticipated.
Yeah, you didn't even bring anynotes.
I saw you with papers herebefore.
Yeah, I had to.
I mean nothing okay, great,where was I?

Speaker 1 (11:47):
One thing I want to tell you that made me think of
something.
When you were talking about theradio station, I'm gonna notice
to you at the time used to haveme on the point and had me come
in and talk a little spiel aboutmanpower, whatever.
You'd ask me questions,whatever.

(12:08):
And I've got to tell you thatthose times that we did that
really led me to have theconfidence to try this podcast,
and I didn't really think aboutit until just I was just
recently thinking, because youknow, to get in front of a live

(12:28):
mic and it's not scripted andwhatever you say, it's out there
, you know.
So those opportunities that wehad, I think really I think back
gave me the confidence to tryto do this podcast.
And it's still a learningprocess and I'm not a

(12:48):
broadcasting type person orwhatever, and you were really
good at it when you were doingthis as a profession and so, but
anyway, I just wanted to saythat, yeah, I really appreciate
hearing that, and I thinkanybody that has been behind
these microphones and there areseveral you know recordings of

(13:09):
podcasts that are done locally.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
The hardest thing is doing it.
It doesn't necessarily matterhow great the picture is or how
great the microphones.
You need to have something totalk about and the passion to
continue doing it.
It doesn't matter if it's on adaily basis or weekly basis or
monthly.
If you're interested in doing apodcast, then you have to be

(13:32):
consistent and you gotta keepdoing it, because that's what
people expect.
But it's so personal and theconnections are so solid when
you are in a conversation withsomebody, whether you see it or
not and that's what I alwaysliked having you on we would
talk about.
Hey, I wanna know what the jobmarket looks like.

(13:52):
What are employers facing rightnow?
Who better to talk to thansomeone that does nothing but
talk to applicants and employers?
So that's where you go to thesource, and I always loved being
on a small radio station thatfocused on hyper local and that
was a real passion.
The problem is I took it forgranted, I think you know, I

(14:15):
think I was like big time guy,walk anywhere I want, I'll go
out this way and go that way.
I'll go through the back door.
No, I think that was.
It was good for me to step away, because now I see a lot of
things from an outsideperspective and I think that
that can be one thing thatreally hurts the forward

(14:37):
movement that we need in thistown, which is you've got a lot
of people looking out, not a lotof people that are willing to
look in and then share what thatlooks like, because it's a
different perspective andcontext.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
I was talking to Kevin, our producer.
Is that owner?
Can you give me a?

Speaker 3 (14:55):
thumbs up.
Is that who you?
I don't know.
Whatever you want to call me,I've been called a lot worse.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, it makes me feel important that I have a
producer, Doesn't it?
Yeah, I was telling Kevin.
I said you know I've done eightpodcasts now and you know I've
enjoyed the process.
I was telling Kevin, I said I'mreally nervous about this one
with Phil.
Oh, you're coming to today,yeah.
And because it's coming from adifferent.

(15:23):
This is like a totally organicconversation and before I did a
little bit of research with thepeople, it was as I should that
I was going to interview and tryto have some questions.
I had planned, but this wastotally just impromptu and so it
was just part of a little bitof apprehension about it.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Well, but what you have always been great at and
we've known each other for awhile is you're an excellent
listener, and the best listenersare the best interviewers.
And it's weird because you'rethinking, no, I need to have
that quip reply, or no, you'relistening to what they're saying
and then asking a questionbased on what they said.

(16:11):
And that's Howard Stern, that'sall the sportscaster I mean,
anybody that does interviewingfor a business will tell you the
key is just listening.
Sure, you need to be prepared,but and you do that very, very
well, and some of the engagingcontent that I've seen again
just sort of reiterates thatsome of the folks that we talked

(16:31):
to are in a position where theycould stay or they could go,
and they're making a choiceRight.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
So I do want to ask you because that first job
question, what was your?

Speaker 2 (16:42):
first job.
So the first job was my familybasically got into the hog
farming business with Bill TotaBush.
Bill had a lot of farms in thearea and we at the time price on
hogs was good and so we wouldbuy farms and we weren't a CAFO

(17:03):
but we had five different farmsand at one time I think we had
like 10,000 hogs.
So Bill was the finance guy andwould come out and mow and that
was always kind of cool becauseyou're like man, that guy's a
doctor and he's out here mowingand then the rest of us would
take care of the hogs.
I didn't get paid for that.
So the first paid gig was as abusboy at the new port in in

(17:27):
Fountain City and that was wherewe had graphic paper routes.
That was also something, butthat was just kid stuff, the
first kind of adulting kind ofjob.
And they put me on the floor oneSaturday and said, hey, we're
kind of short a server.
Do you want to go out there?
And I was like sure.
And I hammed it up.

(17:47):
I mean it was awful, michael.
I mean I'm pouring coffee, I'mshaking hands like hey, there
you get your hair done today.
You look pretty good and I amscoring tons of tips and it
really ticked off the otherservers and they're like you
need to get him back.
Get him out of here, cause Idid.
I just it felt like it wasbeing on stage.

(18:08):
I can't remember the new portin.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
I don't know why it was fish.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Fridays, man, I mean when they do the all you can eat
fish Fridays, those broasters,oh you would be caked on.
You're trying to go out, You'retrying to go on a date and
you're smelling like burnt fish.
I mean it wasn't really burnt,it was really good fish.
But the it was a new port in,or like that's what it was
called then.
It's been through severalvariations, so you wanted to ask
me about Westview, aboutmentoring.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Well, why?
Why do you feel compelled toyour?

Speaker 2 (18:38):
your busy guy.
You got a lot going on.
Why go and mentor at Westview?
Well, that's interesting.
I community in schools.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
They had a representative come to our
church and kind of give aministry report because our
church supports CIS and so welike to have people come in and
that we get funds to and getthem to come in and that we get

(19:07):
funds to and just kind of tellabout the organization whatever.
And so the Col Stoltz came thatday and spoke about it and
looking for volunteers to do it.
And you know, after hearingthat I signed up to do it.
Why I do that, I don't know.

(19:27):
I mean I it's been a long.
My mother always set a greatexample by serving other people.
She still, in her later years,does it to a point of almost.
That, you know, causes problemsfor her physically or

(19:48):
financially, but you know shestill has that great desire to
serve.
And and my father was alwaysserved in different ways in the
community when he was here and Ithink part of it also was just
my upbringing in church, okay,and just serving other people.

(20:09):
Cause the first, the first timeI ever did some type of service
was I worked on one of thoseSunday bus routes in the morning
where we would go pick up kidsand take them to the church on
Sundays.
And that was when I, at the timewhen I attended Hillcrest
Baptist church and they had ahuge bus ministry in the

(20:30):
seventies and we would go theguy driving the bus and other
guy went to school with thethree of us.
We would go on Saturdays in themorning, knock on doors through
our bus routes, see if peoplewanted to go to church on Sunday
and we come and pick up theirkids.
And this was from GlenmillerPark all the way down to the

(20:53):
post office like fifth street,and it was like main street over
to like J street, which youknow.
These are not affluent families, these are not people with a
lot of income.
They would.
I would say these people werepoor and but so we were just
ministering to those people.
I did that for about four yearsand so that was my start and

(21:18):
serving the community in someway, but it's just kind of
always been something on myheart and something that I want
to do.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
The reason why I bring it up is because I kind of
thought at some point I neededto say something based on what I
see going on in my hometown andwhere do I think?
Sometimes there are problemsthat need quick solutions and
there are some that you needsome long range forecasting, and

(21:51):
I have watched over the lastthree years.
We have lost a lot of what Iwould consider to be community
pillars, individuals, familiesthat have passed.
Some have sold their business,sometimes to a corporation, and
we are losing some of ourhistory, which, to a point, you

(22:15):
can say it's okay, because a lotof times when we start thinking
about events and things goingon, we focus on what we used to
be.
And I thought of if someonewere to come in and go, all
right, what do you think we cando to fix this?
I said, well, it's not broken,but we need a different mindset.

(22:36):
And one of those things that Iwanted to talk about was
mentoring.
When someone has signed up formilitary service and they put in
a 20 year career, they haveevery right to take off the hat,
one final salute and walk outthe door and not look back.

(22:57):
But what does the military inthat instance, have waiting for
that tenured opening.
There's a rank, you know.
People start in basic drillinstructors and basic training
and all that.
They have an extension andsuccession plan that goes in

(23:21):
perpetuity.
So the general retires, there'ssomebody else to be there, and
one of the things that I thinkRichmond needs to do and you're
in a position to speak to thisin, maybe in ways that others
can we need a human resourcesdirector for the community, so

(23:41):
that when someone who has donetheir service and deserves to
retire and go to Florida, thatthere's someone that's willing
to take on that role.
Correct me if I'm wrong here,but I'm gonna go through my
eight episodes of the hub andsee if I can get it all right.
Business owner, father,grandfather, mentor, church goer

(24:06):
, faith-based works with Boysand Girls Club I mean avid
golfer perhaps, but what aresome other interests that I
might have missed that are apart of you?

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, a big part of one thing I do, and it's not.
It's been a spending instructorfor 20 years.
Oh yeah, that's right I have awhole network of of just
acquaintances and friends thatI've made over the years doing
that and what I like about it is, you know, we're just a group

(24:41):
of people trying to stay active,stay healthy.
You know, if I look in themirror sometimes I go.
Is this really?
doing me any good, you know, butit just going through the
exercise and doing it and but,quite frankly, outside of
working out, I really just lovemeeting all the different people
, and so that's one thing that Ido.

(25:05):
I don't really talk about a lot, but it's something.
I've created a network offriends, and even your wife
would come to my class someright, right.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
The reason why I bring it up is if we, you have
every right to at some point sayI have done my time, it's time
for me to retire I mean, that'sthe goal that we all want.
But if you chose to say I thinkI'm going to enjoy maybe some
warmer weather, warmer weather,I'm going to do something a
little bit different.
We have to replace you in thatspinning class, in that church,

(25:38):
in that mentor group, and it'snot on you to do Right.
But what is helpful is that, asI see driving downtown, and
this sign used to be locallyowned and now it's owned by a
company.
It'd be a.
It'd be damn hard to raisemoney in this town right now,
because the people that youcould rely on their money is

(26:01):
gone or they are.
And now we're talking aboutsending an email to a
corporation and asking for adonation, and we do well with
our nonprofit organizations.
But I think one of the thingsthat if you want to keep a
community vibrant, you've got tocontinually recruit
stakeholders.
So we need people that arewilling to go.
You know, I don't know muchabout what manpower does, but I

(26:26):
like it when I can get someone ajob.
That sounds like fun to me.
Or I don't know how to fix andrepair shoes, but that guy has a
monopoly.
Now we just need some.
We needed somebody younger,that goes.
That looks like a lot of hardwork.
With a little social media,some TikTok videos, we could

(26:47):
replace boots.
That place would be floodedwith with with customers.
And we don't.
We haven't put an initiative inbehind the community to look at
what does it take, not just tohire somebody and convince them
to move here, but what does ittake to get them connected to a
church or to an organizationwhere they have buy in, where

(27:10):
they can feel like they can alsobe part of the solution?
And again, I'm not saying thatpeople haven't earned the right
to move away.
I did.
I moved away and I just don'tknow if it was for depending on
why people pick up and move.

(27:31):
Sometimes it's because of moremoney and sometimes it's because
I just didn't really feel likeI belonged.
And so how do we do that?
How do we find connections tosay, if you really want to be
involved in an organization,well, here's who you need to go
talk to and take that mentoringfrom the elementary level and
figure out how to to find people, that there's only two type of

(27:53):
people, that, and I believe thisfully, and I haven't really
thought it out, so I'll insultsomebody and then I'll apologize
for later.
I'm really good at apologies.
The people that are here eithercan't leave or they lose
something by leaving Could be apromotion, the opportunity to be

(28:14):
the president of the bank,dad's business, and that's
what's keeping them here.
And eventually the economylocally is so small it's hard to
get that.
Bob Rosa, your local, yourdollar spent locally turns over

(28:35):
seven times.
Uh uh, not when, not when,there's the, the, the chain
grocery store or not, with youknow.
So the motivation can't be juston a couple of people, but it's
got to be on everybody, and Ithink that that doesn't take
money, it takes organization,and one thing that I know about

(28:56):
this city is when we all cometogether to do something and we
band together, then it, then ithappens, then it fixed, it gets
fixed.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Well, we have a.
We have a really strong networkof not not for profit
organizations in this community,especially for as large as it
is I mean we, we have a lot andI would, I would insult somebody
myself to try to start namingthem.
Yeah, name them all.
But we have, we have a lot andoverall there seems to be great

(29:27):
engagement in most of them, andso that part's encouraging, I
think part of what you might besaying.
Well, who's going to be thenext generation to do all, do
this, this work?
And I'm not sure I don't reallyhave an answer myself.

(29:48):
I know within you know, thekids at the Boys and Girls Club
and we try to instill them asense of service to the
community and the issue thathappens with those kids is that
you know the numbers start to godown the older they get their

(30:10):
participation.
So we we want to.
Part of our goal is to retainthe youth as long as we can so
we can have an impact on ourlives and hopefully, in areas
like service to the community,we keep them long enough so that
we can in grains and part ofwho they are, who they want to
be.
So that's one answer to try toretain our youth long enough to

(30:35):
instill this value system inthem.
Now, I don't know what goes onwithin the public school system
to promote this type of thought,because I'm just not.
I'm removed from it.
I don't know your daughtermight be able to speak to it.
And and the other part that isa challenge is I have two sons

(30:57):
and both of them don't live hereNow.
They chose professions that insome ways would have been
challenging for them to stayhere.
They weren't going to continuein the family business.
You know I'm third generation,as it is, and you know we're the

(31:18):
generation that they look toscrew it up.
You know so well and I'veworked hard not to.
I mean, I've been in that forover 30 years.
But who knows what tomorrow maybring.
But I'm trying to be cognizantof that statistic and not become
part of it.
But you know, if our kids don'tstay here, even though we've

(31:38):
trained them up the best that wecan, they're not going to hear
to carry on that tradition.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
See, I would.
I would give you the counterargument that and I appreciate
what you're saying I think Letthem go, almost push them out of
the community, because youdon't know how good you got it
until you get to look at it inyour rear view mirror, headed on
Highway 66, going to a totallyother part of the country.

(32:05):
It's not the buildings, we know, it's not the climate.
What's the reason people stayhere?
It's the people.
But the problem that we have iswe're not giving them a reason
to come back.
Let them go go to college andthen we're gonna work to find
you something, because I thinkthere are a lot of businesses

(32:27):
that would sell their businesswhen they were ready.
But if they could give it tosomeone who kept it local and
locally owned, they might sell alittle bit cheaper.
They might extend the terms alittle bit and that's not fair
to put that on the businessowners that all these nonprofits
are also continually having toask to get support.

(32:48):
But I do think that that holdsa conversation, because I am now
having lived in Arizona andlooking back at Richmond.
We've tried to find synergy toall say the same thing at times
when it comes to marketing, andI worked a lot with the EDC and

(33:09):
they've had an incredible yearof selling the location of
Richmond.
The last 10 years there's beena lot of investment because of
where we are, and we can agreewith that.
Right.
I mean, that's manufacturinglogistics.
Our location gives us accesswithin a four hour drive to be
anywhere you know, really.

(33:29):
But for downtown, where we'rerecording this, our location's
terrible For the East side.
For the West side, our locationis terrible.
So we need to focus on ourlocation when we're talking to
some folks about investing herebecause of how quickly you can

(33:51):
get your stuff out, but it'salso the same thing to say our
location is one of our biggestdetriments because it's too easy
to go other places to shop, toeat, and you're not gonna get
marquee stores to locate hereunless you change the population
dynamics and the demographics.
So that leads me to my other,more pie in the sky thought.

(34:16):
I remember talking about thisyears and years and years on the
radio and people would look atme like I had three heads and I
said at the time and this couldactually be the reason why I got
in trouble this could be it.
You've got to figure out yourone thing and I'm sorry it's not
jazz and I'm sorry it's notMillionaires Row and I'm sorry

(34:38):
it's not a solar eclipse.
You need your one thing andyou've got to make it big.
Because of where we are, it'sso easy to go right around and
go.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Now, maybe at one time we mighthave been able to say it was
Tom Raper, I don't know.
I mean, there's some reason whypeople were coming into town and

(34:59):
I think the state, the localofficials get after putting a
casino where the Old ReedHospital is, and you're going to
have to put something like asphere.
I'm talking something ginormous, bigger than the arch, bigger
than the cross, bigger than thecandle, something big that's lit
up, that's fun.

(35:19):
I'm not saying you got to, nota restaurant or anything, but
something as big as the EiffelTower at Kings Island, something
that big on that property, thatpeople go, what's that, what is
that?
And you could do it.
And there's always thedetractors.
There's always people, and I'mnot a gambler.

(35:40):
I just know that every otherday in Arizona I have a casino
flyer, I have a sports bettingflyer and the money generated
goes some into public educationand goes into roads.
So I'm not saying that that'sgoing to fix everything, but
Richmond has to figure out.
It's one thing that it's goingto talk about.

(36:01):
If I asked you, what's the onething in Newcastle, what's the
one thing to do in Newcastle?
Or to go and see.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Well, I would say I used to always think of their
gym.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
The gym, the basketball hall of fame.
So enthusiasts for basketballtheir signage there's.
They have their one thing If Irolled into town and I went, hey
, just got here to Newcastle,what's there to do?
Where should I go?
Everybody would not have to betrained to go.
Well, have you been to theIndiana basketball hall of fame?
No, one of our things here iswe have a lot of cool stuff and

(36:38):
that's great, but we need theone thing to bring them in and
then figure out what they'reinterested in and then push it
out, and then it would generaterevenue that we could also use
to maybe do some enhancements onour own.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, I mean I can see why you say the casino would
be a great idea.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
I just it's only the first idea I can come up with.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
It's not the best, right.
I mean I could see where itcould accomplish a lot of things
that you said.
I just the act of gamblingwithin a casino tends to not
enrich a lot of lives and I justdon't.
I would hope we could findsomething more productive than

(37:27):
that.
But you know, they're buildingcasinos.
I was at in Vegas not long agofor manpower meetings and just
tons of stuff going on there,you know.
So I mean, gambling is aliveand well and it doesn't appear
to be.
Vegas doesn't seem to be in anykind of decline.

(37:50):
Only, I mean, they put millionsof dollars just to hold a
weekend race.
Yeah, when we were there andthey were building the putting
up scaffolding for luxury boxesand for bleachers and everything
just for a single race.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Why did manpower decide to host their group
meetings as a corporation orfranchise partner?
Why didn't Vegas?

Speaker 1 (38:15):
This was a franchise group and it was interesting
this time around, after we hadit there, people weren't so
happy about it.
Okay, I think the main reasonwhy is just the access to all
the different places.
You can stay flying into anairport.

(38:36):
That's fairly easy to get aone-way ticket from about
anywhere in the nation.
But overall, I think that groupin general and that we're just
talking the franchise group is asmaller group these days.
But you know they're looking alot of the owners now.
They just want to go somewherewhere we can have our business

(38:59):
meetings and then move on.
They used to pick locationswhere there's a lot of like fun
stuff you could do, but now youknow I'm on the board now of the
franchise group and ourdiscussions have been lately
toward maybe getting back tobasics, going to Milwaukee where
the national headquarters ormanpower is located, and trying

(39:23):
to get back to the basics.
So I don't know if I'm makingyour point at all, but that's
kind of why we were there.
But I saw after the meetingpeople were like I don't know if
I want to come here anymore.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah, and I appreciate what you're saying
and in some ways it helped mewith my point, because no one
would ever have ever bookednonstop flights to Vegas without
something to do and there's alot of things to do.
There just also happens to bethat and I've been in Vegas
twice for a convention and thenjust for a weekend because some

(40:00):
people that we know here gothere, so they go there, we meet
them there and then we decidethat you know, ocean's 11 is not
real.
Life in Vegas is a lot slimmerthan that.
But my thought is, how manytimes do you think you've been
in a meeting and heard we need aconvention center?
How many years?

Speaker 1 (40:21):
Oh, that's In all the meetings.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
okay, the ongoing point is you don't have the
reason to stop.
It's not going to be because wehave really nice people in
really old buildings and we'vegot this little depot district
thing.
That was all managed byindividual investment and I know
the depot district is one ofour kind of shining stars that

(40:42):
we have here because the ownersflipped off the local government
and said we don't care, we'redoing it anyway.
And that's the kind of thingthat can be harmful at times
because you can get yourself introuble, but that's what's
missing.
Well, the state told us wecouldn't put in a casino
Rattlesnakes.
What else can we do?
But I don't have a better idea.

(41:02):
But I know there's a lot ofpeople.
Six, what was it number?
Six million cars across 70,usually stuck for a long line.
What's wrong with your ISE?
What's wrong with the?
You're the crossroads ofAmerica.
Why do you have a terrible ISE?
Another discussion, not yourfault, but you need to figure
out what will pull them off.

(41:24):
And then, hey, maybe it is, andwe were talking about this with
Kevin that bike path could bereally good if you had one of
those little pedal bars.
Right, okay, a casino isindoors, so you're not dealing
with weather inclement.
You're not inclement weather.
You I mean anybody that comesoff the interstate is gonna talk

(41:48):
about what was that's thatthing over there?
Oh well, we did something, andit can't necessarily be about
museums or history.
We got all of that, but I can'tfigure out how to start
bleeding or rippling effect,local economy and changing
things like the downtown andother things without a whole lot

(42:11):
of individual privateinvestment or a whole lot of tax
dollars.
You and I know this.
Top 10 employers in WayneCounty, what three are privately
held?
Everybody else is tax supported, tax based.
Well, we're losing that taxbase.
I spoke with a friend of minewho works at a local bank and he
said Phil, did you know thatfor the first time in Richmond's

(42:33):
history, more than half of allthe property in Richmond is
owned by someone or some groupthat doesn't live in Richmond?
We better fix it now.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, I don't like that.
I don't like that as it relatesto this, to our downtown
buildings and some of theproperties down here, and it
like it.
It happens and then you findabout it after the fact and now
you can't do anything about it.
There's a parking lot about ablock from here.

(43:08):
That's behind severalbusinesses that are trying to
make a go at it Some restaurantsand boutiques, whatever but
there's some guy from out ofstate that owns the parking lot,
and it wasn't that long agothat he just had everybody towed
out of there, and because it'smine, I bought it.
I'm not doing anything with it,but you better not park your
car, and the people that wereparking there were patrons to

(43:31):
these businesses, and then he'sput some type of crazy price to
sell, you know.
So I don't think it's trulyinteresting to do that, but I
think it's a great idea to havea lot of people that are
interested in selling or waitingfor just someone to come along
that for some reason is willingto pay this exuberant price for

(43:53):
it, and there's a lot ofcorporations, llcs.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
They're all tucked in and hidden away so it's hard to
find them.
And we've dealt with thatproblem in this community and
Richmond still came back and got.
It took a while, but we got theproperty back that was really
dilapidated and now it's a blankspace, a water park that's
indoors, but it's hard to getevery kid to pay 50 bucks to
come in.
I digress A lot of vacantapartment is stayed vacant

(44:19):
because they need the ride-offand so they go where the numbers
are.
And if this part of the statehas got a population increase,
well then we're gonna investthere and we'll keep this other
building vacant.
But local legislators can fixthat.
They can impose a different taxrate for vacant property.

(44:41):
It just takes a group of peopleto go.
I'm tired of doing this.
I'm tired of seeing this godown.
What do we need to do?
And it'll happen, but it'sgotta take the push let me be
gently in the back a little bit,no, not all the way over the
cliff to make some dynamicchanges.

(45:01):
And the one thing I also thoughtabout coming in, which I think
is definitely gonna get me introuble is Wayne County
government is sitting on a pileof cash that is taller than the
building that we're sitting in,and I get it.
There were lawsuits that werewon and payouts that were done

(45:23):
and generally good fiscalmanagement, and what you would
always hear is this $140 million, whatever it is, well, we're
waiting in case we need that fora rainy day.
Now, wayne County has a lotmore area to deal with than the
city of Richmond, but when doyou think it gets bad enough to

(45:45):
need to input that infusion?
Now, what I would do is I wouldsay you want a business, let's
invest in you, let's help youdevelop the plan, let's find and
rehab the building and so, ifnothing else, if the business
doesn't survive, we at leastrevive the building and then
maybe somebody else comes in.
But we have to start figuringout what are the things that the

(46:06):
generation of people, like mydaughter, that are mid-20s, what
would get them to come back?
Is it a salary?
Is it starting a business?
Is it?
Hey, I've always beenpassionate about Cope
Environmental Center.
Okay, then, what do we need todo?
And it takes very intentionalconversations and everybody's

(46:27):
got their own thing going on butno one's come together and bang
their heads and went.
We're running out of space.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well, yeah, I mean everybody kind of has their own
thing, except your own thing,going on.
I mean I kind of fall in thatcategory.
I mean I'm gonna be 60 yearsold this year.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
That's right, congratulations.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
You know, we have a family business that we're
trying to operate well.
I'm not near retirement, sotrying to do that.
I have five grandchildren thatdon't live here, so part of me
wants to try to be a part oftheir lives so, and my sets of

(47:12):
kids live six hours in oppositedirections so I'm investing time
to try to visit them, spendtime with them.
I'm super involved in my church.
I think I'm fairly wellinvolved in the Boys and Girls
Club and these other things, andthis isn't the tension on me,

(47:35):
I'm just saying these are thingsthat I have passion for, that I
do, and so there's only so manyhours in the day for me to go
out and be a big communitycheerleader to try to bring a
casino to Richmond.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I understand, and part of that's because it's a
casino and we could debate thatlater, because I'm with you.
I'm not saying it's the bestidea or the only idea, but it's
not your fault.
Richmond isn't in thatsituation because a good
business owner, committed totheir church, let their kids
move away.

(48:08):
They chose careers.
It's not on you to fix.
But anybody that runs for localoffice that only talks about we
need more police or we needbetter roads or we're really
gonna work together with thestate.
They're not looking sointernally focused at what are

(48:30):
the things that are gonna startbringing people into town
instead of giving you what'sgonna be the ultimatum.
You're gonna have to make achoice.
You're gonna go where thegrandkids are or you're gonna
work like hell to get them backhere.
And families in this town aredoing that forever.

(48:51):
And we just had the thing isgoing back to that military
example when the general retired.
We had somebody ready to go, wehad the next level in and what
we've thought is well, it'sRichmond I mean, we're not
Indianapolis Some cases thatthank God for that but we've got

(49:12):
a really good location.
Well, that language needs tochange.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
There's organizations that exist.
Now you mentioned citygovernment and leadership.
There we have new leadership.
I mean, mayor is only 17 daysin, so it's kind of hard to give
some type of a grade of whathe's doing.
I mean, he's gonna have to havesee what he does Well.

(49:39):
And then we.
But we also have, when I thinkof other community supported
organizations, I think of theEDC, I think of the Chamber of
Commerce I don't know if there'sanother one that falls into the
category but you got the city,the EDC, the Chamber, but I
don't know what they're doingtogether to have a vision, a

(50:03):
collective vision, where they goout and say this is what we got
to do for our community.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Well, the EDC is really good at looking at
manufacturing logistics industry.
They're not gonna be so good athelping out retail, the Chamber
of Commerce.
They're the cheerleaders,they're the ones that are going
all right, we got this and nowwe're gonna do this this week
and we're gonna do this.
We're gonna do this ribboncutting, and then you've got
people that could fundinitiatives by issuing things

(50:30):
like challenge dollars to fix it.
I'll give the mayor a graderight now.
I've known Ron Oler for a longtime.
He gets an A.
You know why he gets an A hegot elected.
That was actually his job.
He can't fix this and it's nothis fault.
You've got three roads that arestate owned.
You've got a shrinking tax base.
You've got investment that ourinvestment from outside owners

(50:53):
that's restricted from trying toprotect it because of other
state laws or federal laws.
What he can do is try to rallysome people together, try to
fire off an initiative, but it'snot gonna be a single person
that does it, unless theunlikely thing happens is that
there is some individual thatjust loves Richmond, that just

(51:19):
got a billion dollars or $10billion, and we keep looking for
that, and we keep looking forthe grants and the matching
grants and then we're gonna beable to do this, and then we
don't put the person in placethat actually pushes to get that
done and we don't have thepeople that are saying I get it,
it's not an economicdevelopment project from an EDC
perspective, it's not from there, but it's me being the kid that

(51:44):
you would mentor at Westviewand then staying connected to
that individual.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Well, I don't know about the billion or billions of
dollars, well, but that'sunlikely right.
Yeah, it seems like the biggestfund that you've identified so
far in this conversation wouldbe the money the county has.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
And I get it, they wanna be conservative.
But what could you do to saythings like we really wanna
rehab this building, who's got avision for it?
And then partner with peoplethat are really intelligent
about yeah, you can make thatwork, or that might be difficult
, and maybe that one thing popsup, maybe that one thing comes

(52:24):
together, because we've got alot of cool little things, but
it's just too easy to leaveRichmond and go to the big
things or go to locations or themalls or all that sort of stuff
.
But I think, whatever that onething is, it can't be once every
74 years and it can't bedependent on climate.

(52:47):
You're gonna have to putsomething under a roof and that
something needs to be big enoughor look bold enough to put on
some signage around, or youembrace your marketing around
that thing and I'm okay if it'snot a casino.
I just don't have a better idea.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Right, no, and I'm not.
I'm not a big fan of the casinoidea, but I don't have a better
idea.
So I mean I don't like peoplethat have ideas and people
poo-poo them, but then theydon't have any other suggestions
Conventions, concerts.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Think about the number of touring bands that
could come across I-70 in agiven year, because that's the
only way they can make money.
By the way, they're not makingit on selling albums.
Now I'm not saying you're gonnaget Taylor Swift or something,
but you fund an entertainmentsector that might get people to
stay for a weekend.
I get it.
I'm not a gambler either.
I don't really like Vegas, butI know there's enough people

(53:46):
that do that might also watch aLeonard Skinner tribute band.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
I'm surprised that our community doesn't have some
type of very substantial sportscomplex Cause there's so many
youth teams out, there is AAUteams and all I mean it's way
larger outside of just playingfor your school anymore, I mean,
and I've just been surprisedthat we haven't built something

(54:13):
like that to bring people intothe community for these
tournaments or whatnot, becauseI think there's probably a
market for it and it doesn'tseem like it's a super
complicated thing to try to puttogether.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Well, it's outside of the money I mean and I don't
wanna poo poo that idea, cause Iagree with you.
You see sports complexes aroundthe metro area in Indianapolis
and Dayton that have it lookslike a mile of soccer fields,
and then there's indoorpickleball and there's
basketball hoops, cause they canhost these tournaments baseball
fields, softball fields.
I think one thing to be carefulabout is when some of that

(54:50):
convention center ideas startedpopping about.
They started talking about theEast side.
West side got ticked and thendowntown business owners got
ticked.
Well, why is it going overthere?
They're just gonna go in thereand stay there.
They're never gonna come aroundthere.
It would be nice if there wasenough land to develop a sports
complex that was sort ofcentrally located and no offense

(55:11):
to our neighbors that are onthe outside, all the surrounding
communities that are in thearea, but more of those outside
that live in Hagerstown or maybein New Paris or even Eat no Hot
, they are still coming here todo a lot of their business.
They are coming here.
What we need is for somethingbig here to pull in the regional

(55:33):
effect and then you dosomething like a sports complex
if you can figure out how to getit centrally located where
nobody feels like they're slided, because, well, all these
people driving up from the South, well, no one's doing that,
they're not gonna do that,they're coming off the
interstate, so, but then yougotta find the land and buy the
land, and who's got the money todo that?
So you know, but I it's everyday.

(56:01):
You can look at something tofix.
You can drive around town andthe same potholes that were here
three years ago are still here.
I think it's just become athing.
It's like.
It's like it's just part of thenetwork I'm teasing, but
there's so many positive thingsand so far You're speaking

(56:22):
potholes as a metaphor, correct.
But then there are some.
I mean, there's some that arejust there.
But what I'm saying, my point,is you can look at.
You can look at every corner ofthe room that you're in or
outside the stoplight thatyou're at, and see something
that needs to be fixed or seesomething that's gone down too
far.
But it takes a lot differentfocus to look at the fact that

(56:46):
there are strong, vibrant peoplehere.
They give a damn and it's never, ever going to be our location.
That represents what Richmond'shistory is.
It's always gonna be the people.
And, michael, we're running outof people.

(57:06):
So what does it take to atleast get some invigorated stuff
there?
Did we do well on our podcasttoday?
Is there a question I shouldask you?
How are you feeling?
How are you doing?
I was on a rant, I've been on asoapbox.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Yeah, you've been away from the microphone for a
long time, so there's just a lotof built up frustration over
three years of not being at themic.
So I'm just kind of letting yougo, letting you do your thing.
Anybody want to prank?
Call the radio station.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
No, no, no, no, okay.
And hey, can I ask you aquestion?
This is something that tiesinto manpower.
How do you repair arelationship with employee and
employer?
Sometimes employees just screwup and policy is hey, we gotta

(58:00):
let you go.
Sometimes, often, maybe evenmost of the time, it ends up
working out better for bothpeople.
In the end you feel bad now butit gets better and you find out
that, hey, life is actuallybetter than the other side and
it turns out to be a good thing.
When do you go back and try toeither say, bygones, be bygones,

(58:23):
or how?
It shouldn't have to be thatdelicate of a question to ask
you but how do you have goodrelationships with people that?
Or how do you coach otherbusinesses that you work with?
This is the right move now.
Doesn't make them a bad personand maybe they can come back at

(58:44):
some point.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
You know what I mean.
Right, sometimes I've gone backto, we've gone back to a client
about someone had worked therepreviously and I like to try to
get them back in, and so thepitch that I try to make in
those cases is try todemonstrate what the person's

(59:10):
been through and what he orshe's done after leaving.
That would warrant some type ofa change in behavior, change in
focus or whatever.
So that's how we'll approachclients a lot, but and these are
cases where they're going isn'ta temporary first, sure, and so

(59:32):
it's a little different than ifyou're to try to get somebody
to bring somebody back on fulltime Cause if they're bringing
it coming in as a temporaryfirst, they can the person kind
of come in and kind of make acase for why maybe they should
be brought back in totally fulltime.
So that's one way of doing it.
I think when people, when wehave to remove somebody from a

(01:00:00):
job, we're better served if wewill take some extra time and
sit down with them and kind ofreview what's gone wrong and try
to offer up somerecommendations that might give
them hope, teachable moments.
And so it's interesting I likehaving, or I don't shy away from

(01:00:27):
having, those kinds ofconversations with people.
I have found that sometimespeople don't want to have those
conversations or they're realbackward about trying to do that
.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
And there's egos that get involved and it's hard to
say you're sorry and not thatI'm trying to get advice for you
, cause I'm going to head up toa bro broadcasting when we're
done here.
I'm saying there's a lot ofpeople that things go wrong and
then enough time has to kind ofclear the air and then there's

(01:01:03):
opportunities to work togetheragain.
There's just there's sometimesego gets in the way and I don't
know how you diffuse that, butyou do it well.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Yeah, I don't anytime that.
I felt that maybe on a personallevel there was angst with me
and somebody else and I didn'treally understand what it was
exactly.
Now, sometimes, you know, butif I really want to have some

(01:01:31):
type of reconciliation with thatperson, I've just gone and say,
hey, I don't like where we'reat right now and you know
whatever I've done to createthis situation.
You know, I need you to bringit to light for me and I want

(01:01:54):
you to please forgive me forthat.
You know, and maybe we'regetting you're really good at
saying sorry too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
I love this, but.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
I just, you know you have to die to that.
You can't.
You don't have to be right, youhave to die to have him to be
right.
Right, that's what I think.
I agree I've really screwed upa lot at that with, and so I can

(01:02:21):
think of a situation with meand somebody that's happened in
the last year and I sat back andlooked at my behavior with that
and I just found out thatreally I was out of line and I

(01:02:41):
had to really step back and alot of it was just pride,
personal pride on my part, andthe need to be right and I may
maybe I was right, I don't know,but that shouldn't have been
the most important thing mebeing right, it needed to be the
relationship with that person.
So I don't know if we'regetting too philosophical for

(01:03:02):
you, but that's just well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
I you know I'll answer your question.
It does be cut because I don'tthink, you know.
You hear some people say thisis our moment and we're talking
about our lives, and maybe it'sa personal achievement, maybe
it's something, and then we allhave these peaks and valleys
that we're going through.
That's outside of a workplace,it's outside of a community, but

(01:03:25):
I don't know that.
I believe that.
I believe that every life has alot of different moments and
it's that collection of momentsthat, when we get to a certain
age, we look back on and go.
Am I happy with that, you know?
And if I'm not, what do I wantto change about that going
forward?
And I think it for me, I thinkit's a lot about maturity.

(01:03:46):
I don't always act like itbecause I want to be the fun guy
, but I take relationships veryseriously and one of the most
important relationships in anyperson's life is how they got
along with their boss.
And that is where I think a lotof your expertise and a lot of

(01:04:09):
what you have to give turns outto be the hub that supports the
community.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Yeah, I think that we've been blessed at our office
to have a lot of people comeand stay for a long period of
time and work for us and a lotof seniority, and I don't know
what the secret sauce really is.
I mean, we like to think thatwe're a family, but that's not

(01:04:40):
always in the best interest of abusiness.
That'd be heavy in that way,right, because then people
they've become too focused onthat and they kind of forget
that hey, we're trying to makesome money here, we're trying to
keep the lights on and we needto make profits, so you can go
too far in that way.
One thing that I try to do andI want to be better this year

(01:05:05):
than I was last year is justtrying to understand the things
that are going on in people'slives and giving them the
freedom to kind of handle those,regardless if it means that
maybe have to leave early oneday or need to be gone for

(01:05:25):
something.
I mean for myself.
I wanted to be able to beinvolved in my children's lives
as they were young.
I mean, can you just think backthrough your kids when they
were real young?
How fast that right it's gone.
And it always is and I know thatfeeling and if I have the
employees that have youngerchildren like that, I try to

(01:05:48):
empathize with that and try tocreate an environment where they
can be there for their familyat the same time, where it
doesn't detriment the overallworkings of the company and
hopefully we have a mutualrespect that, hey, I you know
that they'll in turn haveloyalty to the company because

(01:06:13):
we're been loyal to theirinterests as a person.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
But isn't that and this is something that's
beneficial for anybody listeningthat is, the definition of
flexible work to me is havingthe boss that is also flexible.
Now, not every job can do that,I get it, but I think that's
very progressive of you and I'mnot just trying to blow smoke up

(01:06:37):
your bottom either.
I mean, I'm serious that Ithink employers that have a
mindset of appreciating whatsomeone is bringing with them to
work and allowing them to alsowork that out within the certain
, you know, confines of what weneed to do as a job keeps people
loyal and they go hey, he'smore than my boss, she's more

(01:07:00):
than just the person that writesmy paycheck, and those are
everlasting.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
There's.
One of the industries prevalentin our community is plastics.
Right, very much so.
And so how is plastic made?
It's extruded.
You know they take the.
I forget.
Help me out.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Well, so they take something.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
The little flakes that, whatever it is I'm my
mind's blank right now, but theyit's put into the machine, it's
melted and it's extruded out insheets or shapes or whatever.
And one thing that inmanufacturing like that, once
you start that machine running,you're running a good product

(01:07:44):
and it's a process to get itgoing.
You don't want to just shut themachine down.
You can't no, because there'slots of costs associated with
starting it up again, get itrunning, get quality product
coming through.
So it's not like, hey, michaelAllen kind of wants to leave
early today because he's gotkindergarten graduation, you
know and like, but they'realready struggling to keep the

(01:08:08):
line going as it is and if Ileave they shut it down and it's
huge for the company.
So you can't be that.
I mean there's certain commonsense things that you just can't
do in manufacturing like thatwith those type of employees,
cause you just can't.
It can't be done Now, if youcan figure out some way, I guess

(01:08:28):
.
But it's very hard to ask acompany to have kind of that,
kind of a flexible attitude,especially when it involves
around manufacturing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
It's a direct.
It's a direct metaphor for the.
This exact same explanationthat you just gave me is also
true about this community.
You can't stop it.
You can't stop it on a dime.
It takes a whole lot of moneyto get it back going, and you
need people to be thereExtruding plastic in this town

(01:09:02):
right now, and what that processis is almost exactly what it
takes in order to keep acommunity thriving as well.
Now, that was my radioprofessional tie back in
circular moment because it's agreat way to get people to

(01:09:24):
recognize that there are somethings you can't stop on a dime.
But if you do, it's gonna shutdown, it's gonna break, and we
got a whole lot more invested intrying to get it back up and
running, and maybe we don't havethose resources, and so the
next best thing is, okay, wellthen, we're just gonna move on
and go build something newelsewhere, and that's what

(01:09:46):
that's specifically.
That analogy is exactly what'shappening here.
Now, what do we do?
I don't know.
Okay, I don't know.
I.
You wanna go get a cocktail?
Are there ads that we need toread?
Can I say something about Idon't know?
As a kind of a tie in, thepeople that are willing to

(01:10:10):
invest their lives, their family, their, into businesses to help
other people are not thankednear enough.
We ask in no uncertain terms toget donations and can you help
us out here, and what can you do?
And there is the employees thatwork for local community

(01:10:34):
partners that see the need to beable to give back and whatever
way that works, whether it'smonetary or volunteerism.
We gotta get better at thankingthose people too, and not just
with a plaque and not just at abanquet with their, you know.
But just hey, appreciate it.
I've been driving around thistown and going to places all the

(01:10:56):
time and I've always made aneffort to go.
Hey, thanks for being heretoday, cause they didn't have to
, at zero degree temperatures.
You didn't have to.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
My my old, old school go to is a simple handwritten
note.
Yeah, I can't, I'm notconsistent with it, but I try to
do it, try to recognize peopleor something's impressed me and

(01:11:24):
I tell you I get more feedbackfrom that than anything else
that I do.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Are you going to write me a thank you note for
appearing on your show After?

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
I write a note to Ron Oler for coming on.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Well, that's all right, Well you got to have the
mayor and we'll then we'll bothwrite a handwritten thank you to
Kevin.
Kevin needs to get a thank youthat sounds.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Yeah, he wrote.
Well, you know he wrote me.
He wrote me a just a reallykind note around Christmas time.
You know, appreciate theworking together but also just
being a friend of that Kevin Idon't know if I told you that
I'm telling you now that meant alot to me.
And.
I Well, I appreciate it.
I wish you had some Kleenex isout here, Cause I'm thinking I

(01:12:08):
might cry here in a minute.

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
Well, I mean, I kind of got that from Phil.
Yeah, you know, I was in.
I was in some moments long wayback when, and he said, just
write him a note.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
And then I realized, you know, and then I got a
couple of myself and I was likeman, that that means a lot.
Yeah, you know, just to takethe time to do that, cause we're
so technology texts calls thatkind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I mean you can text somebody but it takes a little
bit more effort to sit down andkind of hand, write out the note
to somebody and address it, putit in the mail.
I mean it takes a little bit ofeffort.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
Or just drop it off.
Drop it off with wherever theywork at or whatever.
Well, it takes a lot of effort.
If you weren't able to read Mon.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
So I got a hold.
Still, I was able to read for agood dictionary out.
I got the gist of your note.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
But you remember that and that's something that you
automatically, you know, feelsomething for that person that
was willing to go that way, andall we're talking about is a
handwritten note.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
So it's kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
I'll look forward to your.
I'll look forward to your note,you know.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
do you know the name?
John Ford?

Speaker 2 (01:13:14):
Like John Ford from Richmond.
John Ford, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:18):
Well, john, you know he was really good about writing
those.
He's in hospice now at FriendsFellowship and I knew he was a
Friends Fellowship, yeah, andjust an incredible person.
Just lived a wonderful life,great believer, great
businessman, great communityInvolved person in the community
and, and you know I he's Iremember a few times he's

(01:13:41):
written me a few notes that just, you know, just made my eyes
want to water up, you know,because it just meant a lot to
hear from somebody like him andthanking you for what you've
done or something.
And you know so there's lots ofpeople out there that have been
an inspiration that my mom's agreat writer or card sender, you
know, and you know.

(01:14:03):
I hope that that's somethingthat I can continue to do and
improve on, because I do knowhow it makes me feel and I do
know how it's made other peoplefeel.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's really good and you know,
I guess our best to to John andfamily.
I mean, that's it's.
It's difficult and it's all sohard when you see another
community member that we're notgoing to be able to, to utilize
those, those unbelievablequalities.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
Yeah, I don't know everybody.
I mean, yeah, a lot of peopleknow John.
I mean he's up there in inyears now, but I mean a lot of
people who've been involved inthe community, like my father
who now lives in Florida fulltime.
But I mean people like thatwould definitely know who John
Ford is.
Yeah, and you know, he's a mypin.
He's a community icon.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
Yeah, tall worked at Perina for a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
Yeah, national sales national sales manager for them,
kind of had a side gig as a asa photographer, did a lot of
really great photography work.
Well, he didn't need the tripod.

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
He's kind of tall.

Speaker 1 (01:15:10):
He's just stand on over and get.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's right.
And, by the way, for your dadliving in Florida, that's
totally fine.
He's earned every right of that.
I, you know it's.
It's totally because he had hissuccession plan.
The general took up his hat,goes to Florida and now here you
are doing a podcast called thehub.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
Yes, Well, I've enjoyed this.
I don't know it it's, it's.
I think I'm going to go homeand my wife's going to ask me
how'd it go with Phil?
I said I have no idea what wetalked about.
Well, it just it, just likeflew by.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
It did and I don't I don't know, it's probably going
to be longer and I appreciatethe opportunity to come in, keep
doing this.
If you need ideas, if you needstuff, you know the community
can seek out and say, hey, Ithink this is, this is a great
story for someone because thiscould be the smart, the spark
that gets them connected andthere's great opportunity there.

(01:16:05):
I just know it's a lot of work,it's a lot of work in the
background from the technicalside, but it's a lot of work
organizing this and showing up.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
No, I, I've enjoyed it and the whole goal was just
to kind of help spotlight ourcommunity, just another way to
cheer, lead what's going on inthe community, because I've been
here basically my whole lifeand I'm not going anywhere and
so whatever I can do, you know,just to keep cheerleading on

(01:16:39):
this community, I want to try todo.
I mean, and maybe that's justthe thing is that you know we
need to take because, hey, I'vebeen just as guilty as anybody
to be critical about certainthings about the community.
But you know we need to maybefocus those things in the right
direction to just in aprofessional way, share those

(01:17:02):
with the people that need tohear those.
But at the same time we need tobe encouragers to our leaders
and what they're doing and justspeak well of the of our
community in general, becausethere's lots to speak well about
.
You know, one thing I'mextending this but one thing
that I've got a lot since COVIDwas that people just don't want

(01:17:25):
to work anymore.
Have you heard that saying?
I hear all the people you hearit they didn't mean people just
don't want to work anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
But do you think that that's the same demographic?
I mean, is there is?
What's in common with all thepeople that are saying that to
you?
Are they a bit older, someretired, maybe some later in
years?
Are they in managementpositions?
Yeah, it's not kids.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
It's not kids, no, but it's, it's working.
It's working people as people.
I I'm not trying to be criticalto anyone, but I just hear that
a lot, or someone that knowsthe business I'm in, and they go
yeah, people don't want to workanymore.
I'm trying not to fall in thattrap because it's not true.

(01:18:06):
It's not true.
There's thousands of people atwork in this community right now
.
Yes, it's, it's, people do wantto work.
There's, there's.
Are there people that aren'tworking?
That should, absolutely.
You know they're making choices, for whatever reason, not to
work, but we can't lump thewhole community, the whole

(01:18:26):
workforce, into into some basket.
So nobody wants to work,because that's just not true.
Well, it's a small, it's afraction of the workforce that
maybe doesn't desire to work ordoesn't understand that maybe,
maybe life would be better forthem if they were working, as

(01:18:47):
far as their self image and andjust you know, contributing to
something you know.
But no, that's, that is nottrue.
People do want to work, peopleare committed to contributing to
their company, to theircommunity, and that's, that's
something we need to hear a lotless.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
I agree.
I will say as a counterpointnobody likes going to work.
It would be really great if weall didn't have to work.
But what we find is we findvalue, we find self worth, we
feel like we've earned thethings that we buy.

(01:19:30):
And then it's just a matter offinding the job that you will go
and want to go and do Now, notevery day.
Sometimes you got to fightthrough it.
That's that integrity.
That's a too cold outside.
I really don't want to go haveto work.
But I want to go and workbecause I want to have the
things that I have earned theright to do and I have a sense
of responsibility not to let mycolleagues and so teamwork

(01:19:53):
becomes a part of it and allthose sort of things.
But if you're not happy oryou're thinking that you're
going to work, maybe you shouldconsider calling manpower of
Richmond.
You can call them up at 9662664.
Maybe even check a look at thejob listing site at mprichmancom
.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
Thank you.
You know one thing you got methinking one more.
We got to wrap this up, butthere is a.
It's interesting.
Several we've had we've boughtin the billboard advertising for
a while and and the billboardthat we did several years ago,

(01:20:34):
that I had so many people callme, left me voice messages,
wrote me a note and email waswhen we had the blue background
and all it said work is good,work is good and so, and I had
so many people say something,and then our recent for January,
we re-directed it a little formof it a little bit, and again

(01:21:00):
people sent me notes or whatever.
And that resonates with peoplethat you know work is a good
thing.

Speaker 2 (01:21:07):
It is not bad.
Work is a very good thing andand who came up with that work
is good thing?
Was that you or me?
Because we were in a like aserious pow, wow.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
I think I'm going to have to take credit for that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
I think so too.
I honestly think you said whatif we did something like just
talking about that going to workis good Work?

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
is good is good.
Well, where it came from,really is the.
The life is good teacher.

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
That's right yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21:34):
Yeah, and it was just a play off of that and I hope
that's not.
I'm going to get a lawsuit,You're not but but but.

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
I.
I remember that meetingspecifically where we thought
every now and then a gym comesto mind and to put three words
on a billboard, very playing,stands out.
Now you can work that messagein any other kind of directing
or marketing plan that you have,but you started.
You started with something thatresonated with people that were

(01:22:01):
young, people that arecurrently working, maybe even
people that were are retired,that have retirement benefits,
because work is good whatever itis, but it it means so many
different things to so manypeople.
So a very simple message likethat, broadcast in that way, is
that was fun.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
Yeah, I think we did some some radio commercials.
Oh yeah, we did put sometogether.

Speaker 2 (01:22:24):
Lots on social media, but usually the idea comes from
a life experience and I alwaystell people if you're thinking
about marketing, if you'rethinking about what you do and
where you listen and where youshould invest in all of those
sorts of parts, make sure you'reputting your own physical life
experience into that process.

(01:22:44):
What do you do when you wake upin the morning?
Is it grab the phone?
Is it check the emails thatturn on the radio?
Is it going to get a cup ofcoffee?
Okay, talk about your day.
What do you see?
Well, I see businesses, I seebillboard signs, I'm listening
to something that's on the radio, and then you could start to
piece together how to make aneffective marketing plan.
If your target is also peoplelike you.

(01:23:05):
If it's not, then you got tochange it.
You got to find out what thosepeople do every day, but always
put in your personal experienceof how you find things to invest
and put your money in.
And then it becomes.
Then marketing is really simple.
Yeah, awesome, you could go toYouTube, yeah, where people are

(01:23:27):
watching us.
Now we got to end this thing.
Yeah, yeah, we got to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
Well hey, Phil, it's so good to see you.
It is a pleasure.
I miss seeing you on a regularbasis, but I've just really
enjoyed working with you overthe years and just our back and
forth, and so we'll just have tokind of see if this casino idea
resonates in the community ornot.
Bad on it, brother.
Thank you, you're welcome.

(01:23:51):
Yeah, see you, michael Allenfrom Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart, cost
effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.

(01:24:11):
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.