Peach Perfect: Cultivating Success at the Roadside Stand with Shannon

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Have you ever reveled in the simplicity of a roadside fruit stand, the sweet aroma of peaches wafting through the air? Our latest guest, Shannon, a librarian-turned-entrepreneur, guides us through her incredible transformation into the queen of South Carolina's peach stand scene. Her journey, infused with the entrepreneurial spirit, is a masterclass in pivoting to prosperity with minimal capital and zero reliance on big-name investors. We unravel the layers of her success, from choosing the perfect stand locations to adapting with agility when faced with setbacks. Shannon's story isn't just remarkable—it's a blueprint for anyone passionate about breathing new life into a cash-based, hyper-local business model.

The heart of our conversation pulses with the art of creating unforgettable customer experiences. Just picture the warm glow of a summer evening, a friendly chat with a peach stand owner, and the juicy bite of a freshly picked peach—these are the moments Shannon crafts with precision. She reveals how nostalgia and personal connection elevate a simple purchase into an enduring memory. It's not just about selling peaches; it's about weaving a story that sticks with the customer long after the last slice of peach pie has been savored. 

To cap off our session, we harvest the wisdom gained from running a seasonal business with finesse. Shannon shares her approach to hiring partners over mere employees, turning potential waste into profit, and the importance of community and sustainability. She demonstrates how small businesses, with their unique narratives and commitment to exemplary service, can foster loyalty that rivals any corporate giant. If you're drawn to the entrepreneurial journey and its potential for community impact, this episode is ripe for the picking.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello and welcome to Underdogs, bootstrapers and Game
Changers.
This is for those of you thatare starting with nothing and
using business to change theirstars, motivating people who
disrupted industry standards.
This is the real side ofbusiness.
This isn't Shark Tank.
My aim with this podcast is totake away some of the imaginary

(00:24):
roadblocks that are out there.
I want to help more underdogs,because underdogs are truly who
change the world.
This is part of our Content forGood initiative.
All the proceeds from themonetization of this podcast
will go to charitable causes.
It's for the person that wantsit.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of Underdogs,

(00:47):
bootstrapers and Game Changers.
So excited I got another greatguest for you.
Usually, we have a theme or wehave an amazing story that shows
you how well you can make itwith nothing the ultimate
bootstrapper.
We've got another Bootstrappertale today and I'm going to talk
to Shannon about her storybecause she can tell it better

(01:07):
than I can.
Welcome, shannon, glad to haveyou here.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Super excited to chat withy'all.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's sometimes a theme toour podcast where we're trying
to hit one certain topic, butthen there's some stories where
we just need to like, hey, youcan get out of this, like, I
don't need $100,000.
I don't need a business plan,although I think you should
write your idea down, we'll getto that on more episodes.
You don't need the fancy VCfirm to get started and do

(01:37):
something amazing.
And so, with that being said,tell me about Shannon, tell me
about the way you got intopeaches.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I'm actually a trainedlibrarian, believe it or not,
awesome.
I got my master's degree in the90s, went on to work for
newspapers.
I was an in-depth investigativeresearcher for a daily
newspaper.
And from there I went into allkinds of fun, exciting stories.

(02:07):
So I really got into the powerof the press, you know, back
when it still was power of thepress and there were newspapers.
But I just I got a real lovefor learning and investigating
and getting out there and kindof just figuring things out for
myself.
From there I went on to domarketing and copywriting for a

(02:29):
very long time, worked for lotsof trade journals and went into
business with my family.
They had a software developmentcompany and from there I got
the privilege to work with about3,000 convenience stores All
over the US and these were momand pop convenience stores who
were really trying to make it inthe face of these ginormous,

(02:51):
big branded, you knowconvenience stores, gas stations
setting up on the corner.
So I got a love for just thehyper-local business.
And hyper-local that's like athree to five mile radius, and
so you're drawing from theneighborhoods you know to come
into your location.

(03:12):
And from there I really startedlooking at what other
hyper-local businesses wouldmake great opportunities as
startups.
So if you're a family, ifyou're a college student, if
you're a solopreneur, like whatopportunities are out there?
And from the convenience storebusiness I started to really

(03:33):
investigate cash-basedbusinesses, and these are
business models that typicallyhave not, like, transcended or,
you know, come over to the 21stcentury in their business
practices.
You know a lot of these folksare still doing spreadsheet
accounting.
They're totally cash-based.

(03:54):
You know, it might just be oneor two family members that are
working the business, and whatam I talking about?
I'm talking about, like,vending machine, coin-out
businesses.
So vending machines,laundromats, car washes.
You know all of these classiccash-based businesses.
they're still in the lastcentury and I had a friend of

(04:17):
mine who was from South Carolinaand he said you have got to
come out and learn the peachbusiness.
He said this as a reseller atPeach Stands all across South
Carolina.
We are making an absolutekilling and I thought isn't that
business model dead?
I mean Farm Stands, roadsideStands, that's so Route 66.

(04:37):
You know, that's so 1960s,1970s.
People aren't doing thatanymore.
And he's like no, you're sowrong.
So, all right.
Finally, I was going through apersonal transition in 2013 and
had an opportunity take thesummer, go to South Carolina and
do an internship, if you will,you know an apprenticeship and I

(04:58):
visited the orchards the peachorchards in that state that are
predominantly still mom and popowned.
These orchards are going onthird generation, so I got to
meet with families.
I got to spend time at theorchards.
I got to learn the businessfrom the ground up, like
everything from planting a peachtree to the different varietals

(05:18):
, to how they're sold, to howthey taste.
And then my friend said allright, now let's go set up these
Peach Stands.
So I got to work.
He was running at the time, Ithink, five different, five
different Peach Stands in SouthCarolina and these are semi
permanent roadside stands.
So basically it's a 10 by 20tent.

(05:38):
You set it up roughly MemorialDay, you take it down roughly
Labor Day.
So that's a peach season,memorial Day to Labor Day in the
South.
And what I learned is thosedaggum peach tents are ATM
machines.
You just have to decide how muchmoney you want out of it.

(06:00):
Plug that in and then it'llspit out the amount of labor,
the amount of business, thenumber of peaches that you need
to sell, and you will get thatoutcome.
You will get that outcome atthat cash.
And it was the most amazing,eye-opening experience that I
ever had out of something thatmost people thought was a dead

(06:21):
business.
And so that year, from doingthat apprenticeship, I decided
because I had a background inlogistics in addition to
marketing, that I wasn't goingto do it small.
I wasn't going to do no, fivestands, I was going to do a
hundred.
And so I did.
That summer I opened a hundredroadside stands and we were in

(06:42):
three states Virginia, NorthCarolina and South Carolina and
I learned everything to do wrong, which I did a ton of stuff
wrong.
But I also learned how tocreate a repeatable business
blueprint and from there it tookoff.
I had my blueprint and for thelast 10 years that's all I've

(07:05):
done and we now we do stillteach families one-on-one, we
teach college students, we teachside hustlers, we teach
nonprofits, Anybody who wants todo a business that will make
them relatively quick cash forbig ticket items, and most of

(07:26):
the time it's like collegetuition.
It may be a Disney familyvacation now, because that's
become a big ticket item, Couldbe a new car, it could be, you
know, a down payment on a home.
But families can make that kindof money just working together
at one roadside stand over thecourse of a summer and it

(07:49):
liberates people, it teachesthem that you don't need, you
know, 50 grand, 100 grand to gostart a business.
You can do this for $200.
And at the end of the season bein such profit that you can pay
, you know, an academic's yearworth of college tuition.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
What?
What's the average that youmake off one of these peach
stands?

Speaker 2 (08:09):
So an average peach stand if it is located in a
really high traffic area, itshould generate like a good
peach stand should generateabout $1,500 a week in profit.
That's net profit.
If it's really, if it's reallykicking and doing good, it

(08:29):
should generate between $2,500and $3,000 a week in net profit.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Why did you start with $100 as opposed to starting
with $1?
Are you familiar with like thebook the Lean Startup, where
they talk about like reallybringing the market fast?
You know it's like why?
Go 100 instead of starting withthe one and seeing how that
works.
Could you tell me a little bitabout that?
I think.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
I wanted to.
I'm the type of person that Ijust jump out there and figure
it out, and so, with thebackground I had from the
convenience stores,understanding logistics and
operations so that would beacquisition, delivery, right,
fulfillment, breakage, you know,cleanup I understood how to

(09:16):
deliver to several locations atonce and I wanted to see if this
was a scalable business,because I wanted I wanted to
know personally if this wassomething that we could, just if
you could only do one stand orfive stands, or could you, as a
big business, do 100, you know,and take this to where it's a
new distribution model, right,because if you have a network of

(09:39):
roadside stands all over the US, you have just created a
distribution network fromnothing.
That didn't exist before.
So that, really, that was myidea and it can be done At that
level.
It is a lot of labor and it's alot of folks to make it happen

(10:01):
and what's so cool.
So you can scale up or scaledown just depending on the labor
that you have available to you.
The startup revenue right, youcan do one, stand for 200, or
you can do 100, you know for 100times that.
So it just that's the beauty ofit Scale up, scale down, do it
seven days a week, do it only onthe weekends.

(10:21):
It truly is.
You just decide at thebeginning of the venture what
you want out of it and you justwork backwards, you plug all of
that in and you'll come out with, you know, your business plan
plus the revenue that you wantto generate over whatever time
frame you've allocated for yourbusiness.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
So you start with 100 .
So you got a good chance tolike.
One thing I think that theaudience can garner from this is
you started with 100, mostpeople would start with one
right, especially somebody whodoesn't have much money.
And so tell me about that 100and like if some of those had to
have failed right.
Like, oh, yes, stand, okay, yes, the percentage that failed out
of that 100.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
We found the attrition level was for every 10
locations, and this was true inthe convenience store business
as well.
You know, sometimes you justdon't know, it's a crapshoot.
So for every 10 locations thatwe would set, six would be good.
And out of that six, you know,three of them would be absolute
winners, and then three would begood, and then four would be

(11:22):
dogs and they would not meet thecriteria that we set for
profitability.
So we would just pick them up,we would roll everything back
into inventory and then we wouldjust go find a new location to
set.
So we had, we had attritionthat year.
But that's a cool thing, right?
It's a mobile, it's a mobileroadside stand.
So basically you just fold that10 up, tell the landlord, you

(11:45):
know, thank you so much.
And then just go on to the nextlocation that you had
negotiated for.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
So audience out there that's called a pivot right.
So she's like, and the nicething is about the model that
she's telling you about, you'regoing to start with one,
probably right, but just know,like you hear the percentages,
like there's a chance you couldhave that one, that's the dog
you know.
Now you got to adjust that dogand like in your expertise
that's usually location right Isalso the employee you have

(12:13):
working at the stand.
Is that another variable or isthat like more of a fixable
variable?

Speaker 2 (12:18):
The employee, the people you have in the stand are
very fixable.
I would say your number one,your number one criteria is
going to be where you're located, because the customer base for
a roadside stand, I would say80% of the traffic is impulse.
They don't know you and sothey're only stopping because
they saw a big banner right thatsaid fresh peaches or

(12:41):
watermelon or, you know,tomatoes, whatever they saw,
they're going to do a U turn andcome right back.
So you have to have a good hightraffic area with massive
visibility, because 80% of thecustomer base is impulse.
Now I want to say, even 10years later, I still get it
wrong sometimes.

(13:01):
I mean, you know, even lastseason we had some dogs and so
we just packed up and moved onto the next location and it's.
You know you don't want to takeit personal, but sometimes we
just can't anticipate.
You know every outcome for alocation.
We think based on all of ourcriteria, we have a long list
that we check off whenever weare vetting a location.

(13:24):
You know we doesn't meet allthis criteria and yes, it does
and one of those criteria wouldbe, like traffic counts.
So we actually monitorDepartment of Transportation for
car counts in a givenintersection or roadway and so
we have a threshold and we sayokay yeah, this is going to be
great, you know.
But you know, then somethinghappens, like last summer, the

(13:47):
city decided to tear up theroadway and they blocked Ingress
, egress from one of ourlocations, and so we were like,
oh man, so we just had to packup and move on to a different
location, and we'll try torevisit this year.
Construction is still going on,but we'll see.
We'll see how it shakes out.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
So the episodes always tell me what we're
supposed to talk about and it'srather interesting and so, like
and I'm keep coming back to thisthe person starting with one
stand, you started with 100.
So it gives us a really gooddata insight on like, because
you could have gone out thereonly apported one, and what if
you chose your dog and gave up,right?
And so the point I want tobreak home into the audience is
it's still a good business model, right, she's successful with

(14:27):
it.
If she could have had bad luckon her first location, said, oh
man, this business doesn't work.
Instead, we pivot and nowthere's ways that we can, like,
assess this right.
Where.
Where are we going to go?
Right, and one of the things inmy mind is that, like genius on
the data, right, it's like,where can we get some good data
to judge the location?
Because that's so imperativefrom the sound of it.

(14:48):
And so, like traffic camps,right, or in any business you're
thinking about starting, thinkabout out of the box, right, how
can I use a data set of somesort that might be available to
now tweak that towards thislittle business that I'm
starting, because still there'sno way to know absolutely for
certain if it's going to work ornot, but with these data sets
will help us a little bit.
And then, like, recognizing thepivot quick, and I think that's

(15:09):
what you've done.
I really want to get back tolike, I want to really lurk in
the micro on some of thesestands and I want you to tell me
, like because the one standperson right, I wanted them to
have a really good shot at theone standard, the one business
or whatever.
So tell me from from the dataset of 100, 100 different
employees, 100 different places,100 different probably signs in
the way they look.
Tell me, like some key insightsof like, oh man, when my one

(15:33):
employee was amazing at sellingpeaches, they sold X.
You know, because of theemployee or the one employee or
person that that businesspainted.
The sign read wow, it blastedoff.
Can you give me like tinylittle details like that on some
of the absolutely like reallymade an impact?

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Very quickly we discovered, totally by accident,
that we had uniformity, auniform look, a brand if you
will.
But we didn't have any signsout that said this is roadside
republic or this is the peachstand.
But we did have a very uniformlook to our stands and so we

(16:09):
always had white canvas tents.
We always had red and whitesigns that said South Carolina
peaches or Georgia peaches, youknow what, whatever was in
season or being harvested atthat time.
So we had number one, a veryuniform look, without being
officially branded.
And so very quickly peoplebegan to recognize, oh, that
white tent with those red signs,that's the peach people that we

(16:33):
like.
So, on accident, we had auniform look and feel Now when a
customer approaches.
So all of the signs wereuniform across all of our
locations.
And I tell that to people todaywho want to open their roadside
stand is.
You know, do a little bit ofresearch, kind of reflect back

(16:53):
to farm stands of old.
So from the 60s and 70s, youknow what were these farm stands
, what was the look, what wasthe feel, what was the vibe, an
attempt to recreate that foryour own roadside stand.
And so, once we kind of had thelook down, then we moved to the
experience.
So what is the experience wewant the consumer to have once

(17:15):
they come up to the stand?
And that was all about thepeople working there and how we
trained them.
And you know, secondarily ofcourse it's about the product,
which would be the peaches, butmost importantly it's about the
people there.
So we developed I did as awriter, a marketer I developed
something I call storytellingselling and we trained everybody

(17:38):
who came to work with us.
Because the value of theproduct is in the story that you
tell.
And that means if you can tella great story about what you're
selling, you can increase theperceived value of the product
in the consumer's mind.
So we never match the grocerystore in terms of price for our

(17:59):
products, because we don't wantto be.
We want to do a patterninterrupt and we want to break
that association of the roadsidestand with the grocery store.
So we rarely have peopleanymore asking us well, why do
you charge so much for yourproduct?
The grocery store is chargingthis.
Well, no, it's a wholedifferent ball game, it's a
different experience.

(18:20):
So with storytelling selling wewould, because I had spent so
much time at the orchards.
I knew the families.
I knew the varietals of peachesthat were being harvested.
I knew the flavor profile right.
I knew the pick date.
I knew the care and storage andprocessing and cooking.
I mean everything you couldpossibly know about that product

(18:43):
.
I would teach.
And because we had so manyemployees, we were doing videos
right to send out to people.
So this is how you talk aboutwhat we're selling today and I
would pop into all of the staffwould have to learn the history
and the story behind that peachand in doing so they could

(19:06):
really engage the consumer in aconversation the consumers never
had before, because you don'tget that at a grocery store.
They would not know that this isa July Prince peach and that
it's now a cling-free peach.
They wouldn't know that it'sfrom Titan Farms in South
Carolina.
They wouldn't know that theflavor profile is this buttery,

(19:30):
mild, sweet peach.
And so educating everybody whoworked for us in that type of
engagement, customer engagement,created raving fans, I mean
overnight.
And then what happened isbecause everybody who worked for
us was so engaging.
You know, people are.

(19:51):
They're not like behind the,they're not behind the table in
the back of the tent, people areout front to create an
experience right from the get-go.
So they're greeting people asthey're getting out of their car
and people consumers have this.
They have this buy-in, thismindset already, because there's

(20:13):
such a iconic memory aroundfarm stands in the US.
People are very sentimentalabout the experience and they
approach it already happy.
So all we have to do at thatpoint is just talk to them about
their experience.
So most of the time a customerwill come to one of our stands,

(20:35):
they'll spend 20 minutes tellingus about their childhood, about
their experiences on the farm,about their experiences at a
roadside stand, and basicallyall we have to do at that point
is just sit back, take theirmoney and tell them to have a
wonderful day.
It is the easiest sell you canimagine.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
I mean, if they don't get that at home, she's not
selling a peach, she's sellingnostalgia right.
Even me, who didn't really growup in that, or, although I
remember a little bit families,all from Michigan, I remember
the sweet corn on the side ofthe road.
Yes, a little bit of farm memorythere, but even more so for the
adult generation.
And so, like, what she's reallydoing well here is telling you

(21:18):
how to create an experience Like, can you create an experience
with a peach?
Yes, I mean the best one wecould probably come up with, and
maybe you can help me here.
My best thing that I can thinkof is Walt Disney, right, and
the Disneyland experience.
Everything is.
I mean, say what you want aboutthe Disneyland parks and stuff.
They put the trash underneaththe road so you don't see any
trash.

(21:39):
Everybody has to smile,everybody goes through this like
concept of training to providethe amazing customer experience.
It's all with a thought processin mind that we're here to make
the customer have a wonderfulday, and when you put that in
the people's soul that areworking for you, just like you
did, was telling the story ofnostalgia.
Now you have an experience,right, yes, and like, let's say,

(22:01):
even your pricing was the same,more doesn't matter.
It's like we will pay more foran experience, especially in
this country.
I mean you could userestaurants as a great example.
If we go into a restaurantright now and it's boring, we'll
pay a price for a good food orwhatever.
We go into a restaurant andit's an experience.
The chef comes out and shakesyour hand.
You know like he's growingvegetables in the backyard, that
, like are producing all theseflavors and stories.

(22:23):
And it's like you can create anexperience in any business, even
if it's a power washingbusiness, even if it's a, you
know, like landscaping business,a peach business is like
understand experience createshuge value.
And that's like a part that,like I love of what you're
talking about.
I want to talk about how do youyou know, like your first

(22:45):
person out there, likebootstrapping is going to be
incredible at their job.
Right, they're going to care.
Right, we're going to careabout the business more than
anybody else.
We're going to tell thosestories.
It's like you're like they'renot people making a hundred
thousand dollars a year that areworking these stands.
You know it's like how do youchoose people, especially like
at these?
You know entry level, like jobs, like how do you choose people

(23:06):
that are going to do a good jobfor you and represent your brand
and your story and yourexperience accordingly?

Speaker 2 (23:13):
I like you know we.
Whenever I put out the callevery season I put out on social
media and where I live in FortWorth people know us, they know
me as the peach lady.
So I put out a call.
You know season's going tostart in a month or so and if
you're interested in a positionor if you're interested in
learning the business, you knowlet's get together.

(23:34):
And then I have these meetingswhere people from the community
will come in and sometimes it'slike 20 people.
You know where we sit down andI get to talk to them a little
bit one-on-one, so I can gaugetheir you know their human
connection.
You know, are they extroverts?
Are they introverts?

(23:55):
What is the reason that theywant to do this business?
And it doesn't matter to mewhat any their experience has
been prior.
That's not really relevant.
I just want to know what kindof human you know they are and
are they truly excited to engagewith other people?
Because that's part of theSorry are these employees or

(24:16):
partners?

Speaker 1 (24:16):
I just want to clarify for the audience.
Are you hiring employees or arethey partner with you on like
basically their own businesswithin the stand?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Both, both.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
We do both, and I have simultaneous business
models going on today, that's,the business has evolved that
way, but over the years it wasstrictly contractors, right, who
are coming in to do, you know,a temporary, a seasonable job,
and we pay really well.
I mean, in our stands, thesepeople get 20 bucks an hour to

(24:49):
sell peaches, which is not bad.
Plus, on top of that, they earn, you know, tips, and so it's
perfect for teachers on summerbreak, college students,
families.
You know, a lot of timesfamilies will work together, so
I may get moms with small kidswho want a summer job.
Bring those kids along to thestand.
I mean, it's a true familyenvironment and an opportunity

(25:12):
to make income but also be withyour kids at the same time.
Because I've been there, I'vebeen the mom, my son who's?
now 21, is my business partner.
He was with me since 11 yearsold in the stands learning how
to do this and so.
I totally, I totally get wantingto be with your kids all the
time.
So I gauge just the you knowoutward enthusiasm of folks.

(25:38):
Can they tell a story?
Because it comes down to, canyou engage another human being
in conversation?
And if you can and if you'rewilling to learn, let's go.
You know everybody deserves achance and I will work with
every person in the stand forlike a day or my son will and we
go through, you know, massiveamounts of training and then

(25:59):
from there they get to run theirown stand for the summer.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Do you see a difference between the partners
and the employees?
You have two different businessmodels, right, do you?
Do you notice a difference inthe two different?
What do you want to say?
Partnerships, employees.
I'm curious like does one workharder than the other?
Does one care about the other?
The?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
partners for sure.
So what I find is we have somany college kids now and high
school students who work thestands with us that some of the
partners are going to be alittle bit older.
They may be moms and dads, right, who are opening their own
stand, partnering with me toopen their own business over the
summer, and a lot of times theymight be.
I've had parents and their kidswho will partner with me to

(26:44):
open their own stand so thatthey can earn money for select
volleyball, because you know allof these select sports
opportunities.
Clubs are so expensive.
So the parents will have asummer stand to pay for these
select sports, for example, or,like I said, a Disney vacation.
So in those circumstances theparents are way more attentive.

(27:04):
I mean, I love the college kidsand all of our customers love
engaging with college studentsbecause they have great
conversations about where areyou going to school?
What are you going to study.
Let me give you advice on, youknow, when my kids went to
school.
But the college kids sometimesI'll show up to the stands and
they will not be as tidy, youknow, quite as neat in their

(27:26):
stand etiquette as I would likethem to be.
So you know we have to gothrough, or they've got their
guitars up there.
Sometimes I come up to thestand and the kids have got
their guitar which I love, youknow and they're playing.
Or there may be five other kidssitting in the stand, you know,
and so they're having a greattime and, you know, engaging
with everybody that comes to thestand.

(27:47):
But there is a little moretraining sometimes.
That goes on in thosecircumstances where the partners
are very neat, very attentiveto breaking down boxes.
And if you have waste you know,rotten peaches for example what
do you do with that?
You know we have to take careof all the waste and trash and
disposal.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Have you just out of curiosity I want to get us to
off topic on this but have youfound a decent way to take care
of the waste in a manner that'slike good for the environment or
good for animals or nice offset?
Yeah, how do you?

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yes, yeah, so we have a tremendous amount of
cardboard which we recycle, werecycle, we recycle everything.
And now the waste.
So say, we have rotten peaches.
I say rotten.
They're not necessarily rotten,but they're overwrite right.
Yeah, we call them mash in thebusiness.
So I end up selling the mash toall of the canners, the jelly

(28:43):
makers, the preserve folks, icecream.
Here in town we have a lot ofretail stores that make ice
cream and custard.
Yeah, peach tea.
So we sell all of that, so noneof it goes in the garbage
anymore.
It's all recycled or upcycledto other processors who are

(29:05):
going to use it to make goodies.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
I love when the waste becomes a business in itself.
And so my grandpa, who I didn'tknow very well apparently he
used to do something with lumber.
They chopped trees and stuffdown, but then also something
with ice.
They'd cut ice.
That was back in the day whereyou cut ice, so they used the
lumber shavings to actuallyprotect the ice and insulate it.
And so then at the same time, Iguess they had butcher shops,

(29:31):
so they were using the butchershop too, and it's like all
these synergies betweenbusinesses.
The found one in the peachbusiness.
So not everybody's going to getin their peach business,
obviously.
So let me have you help me withnew bootstrapping entrepreneurs
out there and how they canstart any kind of business using

(29:52):
some of the principles youlearned from starting peach
stands.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yes, Today there is such a huge opportunity for all
types of products and services.
So there is this return tohandmade goods, artisan goods,
handmade jams and jellies andall locally sourced products.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
So what I'm seeing.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
What I'm seeing pop up all over the US are these.
Of course, we still havefarmers markets, which are
becoming more and more and moreprevalent, but we have these
craft markets, artisan marketsand shopping markets, and so
these are organized pop-upevents, particularly mostly on a
weekend, where you might haveanywhere from 20 to 100

(30:42):
different vendors.
So people show up with theirlittle 10 by 10 tents.
They have secured their spot.
They pay their booth fee, whichsometimes can be as low as $25.
Depending on the event and thepromotion that's gone on in
advance of the event, you knowthat fee could be as high as
I've paid.
You know $500, $1500 if it's ahuge festival, for example, but

(31:07):
most of the fees are superreasonable.
We're talking less than $50.
So you get set up and theorganizer has done the hard work
for you.
They are pulling in.
You know foot traffic to shop,and so it's everything from soap
makers to.
You know people picklingpickles and okra to.

(31:30):
I see a lot of people who aredoing potted plants and
succulents and flowers.
You have people who sellthrifted goods t-shirts.
You know upcycled purses,cowboy boots, sunglasses I mean
anything you can think of youwill find now at one of these

(31:53):
pop-up markets and on any givenweekend here in DFW there must
be 30 of these pop-ups going,going on.
And so for somebody who, whowants to get started in a small
incremental way you know youacquire your inventory.
So say you want to do peachesand peaches go gangbusters.

(32:14):
At any of these shopping marketsyou can buy $200 worth of peach
product.
You know you pay your fee $25,$40 To the organizers.
You have a table and a stand orMaybe a banner, and that's all
you need.
Maybe a bag, you know, to putpeaches in as you sell them, but

(32:34):
that's it.
You could, you can do it for aslittle as that.
And and if you're open every daythe week or if you're doing
subsequent markets, you justkeep snowballing or rolling that
profit back into the next day'sinventory.
So if you start with $200 worthof product, you're going to
sell through it.
Now You've got five or $600right, probably about $600.

(32:55):
So you take, you take that partof it or all of it, you roll it
into your next Load ofinventory and you sell through
that and by the end of a week,if you've done this seven days,
you're going to not only be inprofit, have your inventory
startup.
But now you'll have the capitalyou need to Go buy a fancy tent

(33:16):
, go buy tables, buy all of yoursupplies and materials that you
need to create the experienceyou want to have.
So you can start out small andyou don't have to worry about
how you know snappy your tentlooks or you know you have there
.
Yeah, you don't have to have theright banners you can have an
umbrella and a chair.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yes, Absolutely and you can you can.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
You can hand write a sign.
I've done it.
And in fact, consumers Again,it's that sentimentality, you
know they're like I'm doing.
My part is Jane and Joeconsumer, because I can see this
little guy.
He's out here hustling sellingpeaches under an umbrella and
it's 105, I'm going to stop andbuy $50 worth of peaches and

(34:02):
watermelons and tomatoes andthey go away feeling so Happy
because not only do they have areally good product, but they've
done their part as a consumer.
They've helped Jane and Joe,who are the local business
entrepreneur who were hustlingfor a dollar, and so it's a win
for the farm who grew theproducts, it's a win for Jane

(34:23):
and Joe and it's a win for theconsumer.
Everybody walks away happy.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
You know and that I'm gonna I'm sorry underdogs we
got to go there a little bitbecause, like this is where we
get into like my waters and mylife.
You know, these days it's likeone of the things that we do
here.
I have a small business techcompany and we're basically the
big brothers for small businessand, as such, we pay attention
to a lot of the regulations thatare going on.
We pay attention to a lot oflike what's going on with small

(34:48):
business in general and it is mypersonal hope and feeling that
people are ready to buy smallagain.
And you're actually giving me alot of that, like you're backing
me up here, because a lot offolks out there don't know,
small business is a rateddecline.
It's in the worst status it'sever been in.
I don't care what they'retelling you, because the
Percentage of the GDP in 1950was 79 percent.

(35:09):
Small business it's 45 percentin declining right now.
And so I believe, like you'resaying, that people want to buy
small again.
I think they want to hear thestory.
I think they want to have theexperience.
What are your thoughts?
And I don't want to get too faroff from helping the underdogs,
but what are your thoughtsbeing boots on the ground about
how you feel that America isready to help small business

(35:31):
again.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Oh my gosh, people, consumers, are hungry.
You can feel it.
It's palpable when, in any ofour locations that we have,
people are desperate.
They are.
I get so much feedback when canI go to get local?
Where can I go to purchase this?
And these trade crafts are indecline.

(35:53):
So we have all of thesemillennials, we have Gen Z and,
and it is a a return to thisgrassroots Lifestyle.
This you know consumption oflet's go local rather than, yeah
, ops or national, and, and Iwould say, pride, millennials
and Gen Z are really pushing it,but what they're they know, you

(36:16):
know you know, what they'rehungry for is that it's a trade.
It's a trade craft, it's anartisan craft that is in decline
and not being taught to youngergenerations.
And so I will have lines ofyoung people, you know, that are
that are at my booth to buypeaches or tomatoes or whatever,

(36:37):
and they don't know how to growanything and all they want to
do is be part of that local youknow transaction, that local
cycle.
They want to support as muchlocal as they can.
So that hunger, that desire,that consumer Investment, that
disposable income is there andwe haven't even I would say we

(36:59):
haven't even tapped it yet.
The hunger is so much there.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
I guess that's why I wanted to go there too is like
because somebody's at home rightnow thinking, well, I can't
compete with the grocery storein my corn cobs or my peaches or
whatever, and it's like I thinkthey're ready.
I actually think we're gonnahave a resurgence back if, if
people really pay attention tohaving the small butcher shops
again when you can go in andtalk to the butcher and get like
good customer service, theexperience you know, like right

(37:26):
next door to the bread guy thathas spent second generation
bread, you know, just like wesee in Europe Yesterday year, I
think we're ready to brawl itout with the big Big box stores
again, and not only that, butlike look at what the big box
spores are doing to us.
You know they're getting alltogether now.
They're increasing our pricesacross the board.
It's gonna get to the point nowwhere we're better off going in
our backyard to grow vegetablesbecause they're going so

(37:47):
expensive, you know orsupporting the little guy that's
just trying to do it, you know,to feed his family.
I actually want to mention onequick thing around this too,
because I want to back you up on, like what's going on with your
peaches, my cousins, we have ans ancestral family farm and,
kind of an interesting storygreat great grandpa, or whatever
, was running away from a war inGermany and he came over to the

(38:09):
US and then the Civil War wasgoing on.
He got stuck into the Civil Warconscripted and they couldn't
pay him and so instead of payinghim, in the end they gave him a
plot of land in Michigan and Ican't remember the exact details
but it ended up going from likea thousand acres to now They've
got thirty thousand.
Cousin of mine, and one of thethings they do they they're so
good with their, their land theydo they milk cows, you know,

(38:32):
and one of the things they do ontheir land is they have they
planted sunflowers and Kidsactually mine the sunflower
fields, they take care of themand people will come by just to
take pictures or to have lunchin the sunflower field and
that's actually put every singleone of their kids through
college.
Yes, you know and so like itseemingly is small folks.
But it's like amazing, likewhere something can go like to

(38:55):
your, to your points, like onepeach, right, get out there and
go to the farmers market withyour one peach, or one hat, your
piece of jewelry.
You know it's like, try it out.
You know like, and then that'sthe lean startup approach too.
You know it's like, you try itright.
What are people likingfirsthand?
Don't just guess, you know.
Don't go guessing in themarketplace and be like I'm
gonna create this widget, I'mgonna go out and get a loan and

(39:18):
create a million of them.
Why?
You know, I don't care how muchmoney you have.
Why wouldn't you start at thefarmers market a little bit, if
that's your intended audience,and try a couple out at a time
Get exactly your feedback right.
What's helping you sell thatpeach that day?
I told the story this way oneday and I'm not saying ever to
lie, I'm just saying, like, whatpart of the story do people
love?
What part of the experience topeople love and then use that

(39:39):
daily right and like I, you knowI, I love that because I think
people want an experience in alltheir purchases.
They want to know, and that'swhat I love about the younger
generation too.
To your point, it's like theywant to know who they're buying
from.
Right.
We don't want to buy from thecorporate beer crowd anymore.
That's no good for the world.
We want to buy for somethingthat means something.

(40:00):
So make your business meansomething too.
You know it's like be on amission, you know, and not only
that, but it helps you not quit.
You're on a mission like.
I'm hearing your mission,whether you've defined it or not
, you probably have your, yoursavvy lady.
Your mission is to bring backthat nostalgia of yesteryear.
You know You're selling peaches, you're making money, but I
think your enjoyment is in likethat nostalgia, bringing back

(40:21):
that good old, like feeling andthat like American dream Small
business, bringing people intothat.
That's probably around your whyand you know it's like, no
matter how hard your hundredshops might have been in the
first, you know A couple yearsto figure out.
It's like if you can staystrongly I know why you're doing
this.
You know it's like it's the noquit part and I say that a lot
on this podcast you willabsolutely succeed 1000%.

(40:45):
You just can't quit right.
If you had started one standand you would land it on that
one stand and happen to be thatone bad area that you didn't
know, you could have quit Right,but your mission was bigger.
You made your mission bigger.
You know it's like so find thepivot, it can work.
You know.
Find the better story.
You know, help me add to thisbecause I know you feel what I'm
talking about.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And in addition to that, Iwould add that you know, as a
small entrepreneur, you don'thave to do everything at once.
I did do everything at once,but I didn't do everything at
once.
I took one segment, onebusiness model and started with
that, which was the in-storeright the roadside peach stand.

(41:27):
Now, as I've evolved over 10years, I have pivoted the
business a little bit each yearand you don't have to do it all
at once.
You can grow year after yearafter year.
There is time to refine yourbusiness model, there is time to
grow, there is time to try newthings.
So you know, giving an example,last year I started doing

(41:51):
delivery here in DFW, so I addeddelivery services so people
could go online.
They would know what we had,for example, what was being
harvested that week.
We would put together what wecall the Rody Farm Box for them.
Customers would order, andthese orders are not cheap.

(42:11):
I mean people are spending, youknow, anywhere from $65 to $100
on a farm box.
I mean that's a pretty goodcart value Plus they're paying a
very small delivery fee.
And then they're tipping thekids, because these are all
college kids that are doingthese services, so that a
delivery service is somethingthat I added last year.

(42:32):
That was the very first timeI'd ever done it and I had been
thinking about it for two years,but I wasn't ready to expand
because I just I didn't have allof the pieces in place yet.
So I guess I want to say thereare so many things you can add
on to your business and growyour business and try different
things, but you don't have to doit all at once.
Perfect, perfect, the one thingfirst.

(42:55):
So perfect that roadside stand.
Whether you're selling peachesor sunglasses or cowboy boots
doesn't matter.
Perfect that.
Know your product, know yourstory inside and out.
Grow your customer base,because you will find it is so
easy to get raving fans who willfollow you anywhere.
When you are that local and youare that engaging and you let

(43:19):
people know my mission is to behere and serve the community,
not just to serve my wallet, butto serve the community.
It's very easy for people tofall in love with you and what
you do.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
You know, simplicity of product is another thing I
want to stick on.
It's like so good to great.
The book talks about thehedgehog concept, right, really
focusing in on what you want tobe good at and like pigeonholing
in on that.
But another thing forbootstrapers let me bring that
around to them is when you haveone product, guess what, it's
really easy to pay attention tothat one product, what your
costs are on that product, whatyou're making on that product,

(43:53):
what your margin is on thatproduct.
It allows you as a new businessperson to actually be less of a
business person.
Now a lot of people want to goout there and they want to have
10 items, 15-hour items.
You know I deal with this allthe time actually.
And then, like I don't want toget off on an accounting
discussion too much, but whenyou bulk a bunch of different
types of items into your salessheet on your P&L and you bulk a

(44:14):
different, a bunch of differentitems into your crossing goods
which 90% of the population doesthey don't delineate GL
accounts.
Now you have no clarity.
I guarantee you have a coupleof product items in there that
are making money, losing money.
One's probably supporting thewhole business for these loser
ones that have no margin on them.
But when you start with asimple product like a peach, you

(44:35):
know the peach costs you adollar, right.
You know you're selling it for$2.
You know your margin.
Believe it or not?
That's like half the battle Now.
It's like you sit out therelong enough.
You're like well, my tent costme this, my employee cost me
that.
You know now you put thattogether, but since you have
simplicity of one product, isthat margin enough to cover all
the overhead too?
You know you'll really get yournumbers quickly.

(44:57):
This is like starting businesswith like training wheels in a
way, because you can reallypigeonhole in that.
So don't think you have tostart with like going to a stand
and having 18 differentproducts.
You're going to learn betterbusiness in that one product and
those are the businesses that Isee the most successful from
the start.
And it's not a, it's a lesson Ilearned the hard way because I
had a bunch of products rightand like.

(45:17):
When I really got into where Ilearned accounting and
everything else, I realized Ihad some products that did
really well for me and I hadsome products that were losing
me money, but I didn't know howto see those back then.
One product you can see itright away.
It'll teach you business, andthen you know you could graduate
on.
I don't know, are you everselling two products at a stand
these days?

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Yes, the business has evolved, so I want to confirm
what you're saying.
We call it choice overload.
And when you have too manychoices, consumers they kind of,
you know, they they reel back alittle bit and then they're,
you know, they're indecisiveabout what they want, and that
gives them more opportunity notto buy.
So we, we keep our choices verysmall for that reason, thank

(46:00):
you for staying there.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, six different brands of peach is
not going to really sellanymore, or less.
You know it's not gonna bringmore peep sales.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Right.
So what we've done.
So choice overload is huge.
And then choice architecture.
So we architect the choices wehave in the stand so that
they're all complimentary and itmakes sense.
So we will do upsells anddownsells in the stand, and this
is something else that I teachall the kids and they're like.
So it's like, you know,salesmanship and marketing.

(46:29):
So for the products that we dohave, they are complimentary.
So we'll have, say, our bigsellers, our peaches, of course,
watermelons and cantaloupe, andthe reason is they all grow in
Texas and everybody here lovesthem, but they're complimentary.
So in here in Texas and inMichigan, by the way, michigan
corn Amazing, I get it everyyear yeah.

(46:53):
I order it, you know, by the, bythe bushel, and actually we do
a lot of pre-orders.
A lot of people here will justOrder big old bushels of corn.
So we sell a lot of, we sell alot of that corn.
But, so we architect the choicesso that they make sense and the
consumer doesn't just buy abasket of peaches Because you
know, you know, jane, you need awatermelon for this weekend

(47:16):
Because it's got to be in thefridge for a couple of days to
get icy cold, and then, whileyou're waiting on that, you're
probably gonna go ahead and eatthis peco scanaloupe.
So the choices make sensetogether and so that you know,
okay, well, I'll take all three,and so what?
That's something that I teacheverybody who works for us.
But to your point, yes, we keepthe choices very, very simple,

(47:37):
not just for accounting, but sothat the consumer doesn't get,
you know, overwhelmed.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
I mean, and you're hitting so this is economics,
folks.
She's talking about contracomplementary products, right?
So they'll come in the storefor one thing and they'll end up
leaving with something elsebecause they compliment each
other.
It's like you go in for popcorn, you need butter with that
popcorn, right?
So that is a thing you know.
But, like we, we go fordifferent guidelines as
bootstrappers, especiallyoriginally, and I try to give
you, like, the easiest way to doit, and starting with a product

(48:05):
is the best way.
And then you add on, like toher point and now like, of
course, they've got a peach anda watermelon, right, you're
gonna make more money.
They go together, theycompliment each other.
You know it's like, if you'regonna make a fruit salad, you're
gonna want a bunch of thesedifferent things.
You know it's like, so whywouldn't you want to sell more?
Well, don't start off that way.
You know, like she started offwith peaches.
You know, got that model down,and then you add some complexity

(48:27):
, comp.
You know, like you find someitems that have synergy.
You know it's like, and thenyou put those things together,
right, and then like thatsimplicity in the early business
, like I don't know to you, youprobably look at a lot of
businesses too.
I find if they start with oneproduct because the biggest
problem is small business ownersdon't know their margin hands
down, they don't know how tostart with that.
So if they start with too muchstuff, too much going on, we're

(48:49):
not knowing how to value theirtime, especially when they get
an employee or something likethat.
That's where they mess up.
You start with one product.
You know usually they can, theycan figure it out pretty
quickly.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Yes, yeah, the accounting when we at the peach
stand is super simple and we canstill just spreadsheet it.
We have.
We used to be just allcash-based and we would do
spreadsheets, but now, you know,we've moved to cashless payment
systems and then we also doaccept credit cards now and
that's increased our business.
We've just started acceptingcredit cards in the last, or

(49:22):
debit cards in the last three orfour years and that's increased
our business by 40% by allowingcredit card transactions.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Yeah, we're in the world that it's cash is dying,
unfortunately, you know, so youhave to have those.
I would love for small businesspeople to have a better way
than paying 3% on every Harderin dollar they're making, you
know, for them to do that.
It's something I aim to changein this lifetime because it
frustrates me.
Why should the credit cardsjust sit there and make 3% of
our hard-earned money?
You know, but at this point toyour point, it's still worth the

(49:52):
necessary evil because you cansell more.
You know you don't want it.
Yes, you don't want to havesomebody just walk away because
you can't take that form ofpayment.
Right absolutely the credit cardstuff.
When she added that beyond thecash, or is it really been
upside?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
It.
It has been all upside.
You know, occasionally I willget some charge backs from
customers.
But here's what's interesting,because of the reputation we've
created and the interaction, theengagement, the authenticity we
have with consumers, if I get acharge back, I can look up
exactly who it was.
I call them and I say hey, jane, I see you're doing a charge

(50:28):
back.
Can you please let me know whathappened?
You know how can we make youhappy?
Because our goal that's it.
There's no other reason for usto be here is to make sure the
consumer is happy.
And you know, a lot of times itwill be like well, I didn't
like that watermelon I got.
I'm like, oh my gosh, jane, oh,you know, that's super simple.
Come back tomorrow and we'llgive you a couple more to try on

(50:48):
us.
So it's it's it's not lack ofcommunication, but it's it's old
mindset from the consumer.
A lot of time you know why wemight get a charge back and what
I found is because of therelationship we have, I'm able
to reach out with every person.
It's really rare that thishappens.
I mean, I've probably had hadit happen maybe five times in

(51:13):
the last four years, so it's notreal often, but we're able to
resolve it.
So it's there's been no, nodownside, it's just been a huge
boon to the business.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
You know, and that's another good point.
So most people know what acharge back is.
But basically when you, whenthe consumer, takes something
and then they go home and theydecide something was wrong with
it, so they call their creditcard and they say, hey, I didn't
pay for this or I didn't getwhat I want, and then what that
does is the small businessusually loses that money.
You know there's ways that youcan get around that, like
there's paperwork you can have,like you have to make them sign

(51:45):
something that they weredelivered this and that sort of
stuff.
So you can't protect that andwith you higher-end item people.
You got to do that.
Right, you can't have chargebacks like that because people
will use it as a form of robberyand extortion.
But the other point I want toget to that you're making very,
very well is that is anopportunity, right, because you
went from a charge back clientthat would never come in again

(52:06):
to you, called them personally.
You said, hey, what went on?
You know?
And then, like, come back in, Iwill take care of you.
Those clients, when you havethose issues, if you'll allow
them, will become your bestclients in business Because
you've now, you know, like anytime there's an issue, you have
an opportunity to lose thatclient and put them out there
with a red flag hating youforever, or you have an

(52:28):
opportunity to make it right andthey will be your best client
after that.
Back me up with that, because Iknow you've.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Yeah, we call it taking what is a Valley
experience.
So you know they're down in thevalley to a peak experience.
So and and I empower everysingle person who works in the
stands that if there's anycomplaint less than Static, you
know satisfaction with whatwe're selling to just give them

(52:56):
more of that.
So I'm trying to break thatPattern in the consumer's mind
that we don't care, like we'rethe seller, right, we're Walmart
, we're the grocery store, wedon't care that you got bad
peaches, too bad for you, youknow you just lost that income,
absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Nothing you could do.
You'll be back.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
Every consumer, so everyone in the stand, is
empowered to take control ofthat experience and turn it into
a peak experience.
So they're like oh my gosh, jane.
Well, gosh, I'm so sorry thatthat happened.
Let's set you up with somethingelse.
What, what are you interestedin today?
First of all, let's replacethose peaches.
And then, oh my gosh, sinceyou're trying that, you've

(53:40):
definitely got to get a Pekoscantaloupe today.
So try that on us, let us knowwhat you think and and we'll see
you next time.
So just number one, seeing thecustomer where they're at.
So you have to make them feelheard, seen and understood, and
those are the three things thatthat I tell everybody who works

(54:01):
for us.
You've got to listen to them,you've got to Summarize what
they're saying, repeat back tothem, right, yes, I see you, I
hear you, and let me see if Iunderstand what the problem is
and Then validate it and say,well, I'm sorry that happened.
Here you go, try this.
So in doing those three things,we increase the lifetime value

(54:22):
of a customer.
You know, tenfold easily.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Yeah, and you know that's kind of like a downside
and upside to small business islike they won't go into Walmart
expecting Walmart to do much,you know, because they usually
won't.
They're just like you'll beback, you know, but with if you
allow it for small business,that's that's the thing.
They never think we get afollow the same rules, you know,
which I think is a littleunfair, but at the same time,
just look at it as like anopportunity.

(54:47):
To your point, you know it'slike.
Look at it as an opportunitybecause that can become one of
your biggest allies and I tellpeople all the time the sale
that, yes, is only three percentof the business.
The experience, you know, liketaking care of the problem, like
having a, a story you know,like all these things, that's

(55:07):
the 97% of a sale, because ifyou do the 97% of the sale right
, you'll never have to market.
You know?
I mean, I'm guessing you guysdon't spend that much on
marketing, right?

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Um, we don't do.
We really don't do any.
I do some, you know, socialmedia ads, but, and we do.
We get local press, you know,from Newspapers and media
outlets here.
Yeah, so we do that, but, yeah,I don't do any print
advertising.
No, no door, you know, nomailers, no door hangers.

(55:38):
We don't do any of that.
And keep in mind, because 80%of our business is an impulse
stop and so we don't have tospend that money on Advertising,
which is another beautifulthing about this business, it's,
yeah, 80% new customers everysingle day and then I would also

(55:59):
Uh bad venture a guess at likeyour repeat clients are through
the roof, like I would yes.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
You make.
You make that sale.
You're gonna make anothercustomer out of them.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Yes, yeah, they come back every season 50 grand for
marketing.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
I need a hundred grand to market my product.
It's like you know what, go outthere, work in the micro, make
a couple allies and friends ofyour business that are tagging
you in social Media that likeyeah, I was telling one of my Uh
business partners yesterday youtreat people the right way, you
put them through the rightexperience.
They grab people by the handand they bring them into your
business.
I've seen it over and over inmy you know, in my years in

(56:36):
business.
It's like they will not allowsomebody to go somewhere else.
If you give them that amazingexperience, like they'll
literally drag people in by thehair, you know, and so like.
So treat your customers Well.
It's the best form of marketing.
You know you have thatopportunity.
Um, unfortunately we're gettingtowards an hour already, which
is crazy to me.
I wanted to give you anopportunity to talk about

(56:59):
anything in the world.
Do you want to talk about, like, oh, you know what?
Before we get to that, pleasetell me about how you're
involving your business with thecharity stuff.
I think that's important.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Yes.
So we um, we will partner withnonprofit organizations to do
fundraisers.
Um, one really popularfundraiser is pumpkin patches
and we have partnered withnonprofits like churches in our
area, the cities.
We've done Kick uh Fallfestivals For small cities, you

(57:31):
know, within the dfw area, andso we set up we act as a broker
in this case and we set uppumpkins, we acquire the
inventory, we do the entiresetup for the nonprofit and then
we teach um, train thevolunteers Of the organization
on how to sell and, you know,run their little pumpkin patch

(57:51):
business and then all of the youknow, all of the income, all of
the revenue goes back to thenonprofit and they have
volunteers Right who are workingfor free and it's a win, win
for everyone.
You know they're only out theexpense of the pumpkins that
they sell.
Um, and it's, it's a great.
It's a great um destination forthe community Because everybody

(58:15):
wants a place to take theirchildren and have again that
sentimental experience.
You know, to be connected andthere's a ton of pumpkins that
are growing in the state oftexas.
Most people don't know that.
So to be connected with thesepumpkin growers who are in texas
, and you know the pumpkins cometo the local church and so you
can see these giant festivalsset up and there'll be.

(58:38):
You know, there's typicallylike pumpkin painting or face
painting, apple bobbing, um, weset up vignettes for photo
shoots for free so people can,you know, take their kids photos
and the pumpkin patch and thescarecrows, but the church ends
up making you know pretty decentor or the city or whatever the
nonprofit may be.

(58:58):
I'm a lot of um civicorganizations will do this,
fraternals, and I've worked withveterans organizations like the
vfw or the am vets americanlegion, those types of things to
to have these types of you knowUm fundraising events and it's
it turns out to be a greatopportunity for them to get some

(59:19):
revenue in the door but alsoOutreach to the community,
because then they can tell thecommunity about, um you know
whatever scholarship programsthat they're having or you know
program, you know uh Programsthat they may be doing, outreach
wise within the community.
So it's a win for everybody.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
That's absolutely amazing and that's one of my
favorite things in life is how,how for-profit businesses can
actually be incredibly impactfulfor society, you know, and so,
uh, I applaud your efforts there.
Um, I want to give you a chanceto uh talk about anything you
got going on in your life thatyou'd like my audience to know,
and I thank you so much forsharing the story today.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So you can find us at umwwwroadsiderepubliccom.
In there on our website, you'llfind more information about
myself.
And then my son, fin, who is mybusiness partner.
Like I said, he started sellingpeaches when he was 11 and now
he's 21 and about to come homehere soon for the the summer

(01:00:22):
season and start selling peaches.
But we um together, he and I,during co vid, we Took all of
our knowledge and distilled itinto video trainings, and so we
have a ton of resources, bothfree and paid, for people who
want to get into this type ofbusiness and um you can find it
the information atroadsiderepubliccom?

(01:00:44):
Um.
And then we have a tick tockchannel where we do a lot of
behind the scenes content.
We do a day in the life and youknow, here are some of our
strategies that we use.
I just I give away you knowtons of information there, so
you can check us out on ticktock if you want roadside
republic and follow our contentthere.
Um, and we're also on facebook.

(01:01:04):
I mean, we're on every socialmedia channel.
You just look for roadsiderepublic and and we're there um
sharing everything we know aboutthe business.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
That's absolutely amazing.
Yeah, thanks so much for beinghere today.
Thank you for the stories.
Um bootstrapers.
What can you gain out of thistoday?
A lot, you know.
There is a lot to be said aboutstarting with a peach.
It can all start with a peach,so I hope you got something out
of this today.
I just want to show you storiesthat show you where you can
come and where you can go if youjust get started.

(01:01:34):
And so here's another greatexample.
If you have questions forShannon, I'm sure she's glad to
answer them.
I'll answer them.
Stay tuned, come back foranother episode of bootstrapers,
game changers, underdogs nextweek.
Thank you.