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Trafficking in Traffic

June 1, 2023 by angishields

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Derek and Andrea Johnston with The Gathering Board

May 31, 2023 by angishields

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Cherokee Business Radio
Derek and Andrea Johnston with The Gathering Board
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Sponsored by Business RadioX ® Main Street Warriors

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Derek-Andrea-Johnston-bwWe are Derek and Andrea Johnston, the owners of a local charcuterie company called The Gathering Board. Derek’s background is in emergency medicine, specifically as a firefighter/paramedic and owner of a CPR company. Andrea has owned a general contracting company, volunteered as an EMT, and was a licensed Realtor prior to establishing The Gathering Board Co.

Our careers were focused on helping people, sometimes on the worst day of their lives, and that has greatly influenced our attitudes in what we do now. We serve others. We feed them, yes, but we also want to make it meaningful.

The Gathering Board is not just another caterer or restaurant. Its purpose is to bring people together, for celebrations like weddings or birthdays, but also for funerals or other events that are more somber. The point is to share food, share conversation, and establish new relationships as well as deepening current ones.

The Gathering Board Co was first dreamed up in July 2020, born out of our love of good food and to fill a niche that was missing in Cherokee County. We officially opened the doors to our very own storefront in August 2021 in downtown Holly Springs.

We have had the pleasure of serving thousands of people artistically crafted and incredibly delicious charcuterie boards and grazing tables. We focus first on using high quality, fresh ingredients and then presenting them in a visually appealing way. You eat with your eyes first, and we want your meal to be exceptional; we want you to be able to experience a taste of art.

Follow The Gathering Board on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:24] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s episode is brought to you in part by our local small business initiative, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending capitalism, promoting small business and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Mainstreet warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel David Inc. Please go check them out at diesel. David.com. You guys are in for a real treat this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with The Gathering Board Andrea and Derek Johnston. How are y’all?

Andrea Johnston: [00:01:13] Hey Stone.

Derek Johnston: [00:01:15] Good morning.

Andrea Johnston: [00:01:16] We’re doing good. How are you?

Stone Payton: [00:01:17] I am doing well. Coming off the Memorial Day weekend, I shared with you before we went on air that I got my youngest daughter married off. I’m anticipating a raise. I got more family coming in through the week. So tired. But it’s I’m feeling very blessed and so delighted to have you guys in the studio. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for a long time. I got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think maybe a great place to start would be if you could share with me and our listeners mission purpose. What are you guys really out there trying to do for folks?

Andrea Johnston: [00:01:56] So our real focus is just to provide people with delicious, beautiful food. I love feeding people. I love eating. And thankfully Derek likes to eat as well too, so it works out well together. And really our goal is just to provide a product to people that that allows them to gather together. Like your daughter’s wedding. Right? You probably noticed the food is sometimes the highlight of the event.

Stone Payton: [00:02:29] So yeah, it was a big deal and if I’d have been on top of my game, you’d have been in Chattanooga with me this past weekend.

Andrea Johnston: [00:02:34] I love Chattanooga this weekend. We actually did do a wedding on Friday and it was for 125 people. And it’s just something that it’s like a magnet. And, you know, you can have Chick fil A or you can have tacos. And, you know, Chick fil A is doing the Lord’s work. But but there’s something different about charcuterie. And if I had a dollar for every time somebody said, oh, that’s too pretty to eat, you know, I would be very wealthy. And but what we find is it’s it’s a magnet that draws the people together. They they just gather around, which is pretty much why we came up with the name the gathering board, because we wanted something that is the central focus of your event. If you don’t have anything to talk about, at least talk about the food and, you know, making it. Visually appealing. That’s that’s really high importance for us. High quality foods. It’s got to taste good, look good and. Yeah, that’s. That’s. That’s what we enjoy doing.

Stone Payton: [00:03:44] Well, it’s got to be incredibly rewarding work. What are you in fact, I’m going to ask you individually and I’ll start with Derek at this point, because you guys have been at this a while. Derek, I’ll start with you. What are you finding the most rewarding about the work, about the business? What do you enjoy the most?

Derek Johnston: [00:04:03] My past business. I’ve been a medic since I was 19, a paramedic and a lot of a lot of times when we take care of when I took care of people on the ambulance and the E.R. or wherever, we would take really good care of them, drop them off, and then probably never see them again. Here we’re feeding people, which is super enjoyable. You can actually see somebody when they come to pick up our food. We show that to show them to it. We show them the board first and they always get this amazing smile and they are like, Oh, this is so beautiful. And then we open it up and they can smell it. So. We know. I like the saying you eat with your eyes first. So they’re seeing it visually.

Stone Payton: [00:04:55] That is so true, though, right? It’s true. Yeah.

Derek Johnston: [00:04:58] And they get so excited and when they get home is obviously going to taste better because it’s a work of art, right. And when they come back to order, another item, another board, they tell us how delicious it was. So again, a lot of we get a lot of feedback on how delicious, how artistic the food was and it made their event a lot better. So I really enjoy that part of it.

Stone Payton: [00:05:27] Yeah, that’s a tough answer to follow. Andrea, how about you? Is it very similar or is there something special that you find that you get out of it these days?

Andrea Johnston: [00:05:35] So I had a lady stop by with her two daughters and her sister’s husband’s father. You can follow that sister’s husband’s father.

Stone Payton: [00:05:45] Oh, yeah. I’m from Alabama. I got I got.

Andrea Johnston: [00:05:49] You know what I’m talking about. He had passed away, and so she had bought two boards to take over to the family to just kind of say, hey, sorry, sorry for your loss. And she wrote us a note a few weeks later, and she said that when she brought that over there, it was just this amazing moment where all the family members, the brothers, her sister could gather around, the mom, the wife that had just lost her husband. They all gathered together and she used that word gathered together to eat off of this charcuterie board. And the boys were so happy because that was the first thing that their mom had eaten in three days. And I still get goosebumps. I still tear up a little bit every time I think about that story. And that is that’s what I love. I love to hear these stories of connection, getting people together over a shared plate. And there’s something magical about sharing food off of one plate or one platter. And that’s that’s the joy that I get, is hearing those stories of how our food brought them together and created a bond and a memory.

Stone Payton: [00:07:04] All right. I got to know the backstory on this, the genesis of this idea, the early going. How did you end up here? How did it all get started for you guys?

Andrea Johnston: [00:07:13] How did a medic and a real estate agent become charcuterie? Exactly. Do you want to tell your.

Derek Johnston: [00:07:20] You’re actually better at telling you.

Andrea Johnston: [00:07:22] Talk a lot more.

Derek Johnston: [00:07:24] I have, yeah.

Andrea Johnston: [00:07:25] So Derek and I met, I don’t know, 4 or 5 years ago and we started dating and I went down to Midtown where he lived and we went to Ponce City Market. So it’s one of the first weekends we spent together. So it was it was pretty momentous.

Stone Payton: [00:07:46] Great choice, by the way, for a date, right? Yeah. Nicely done.

Andrea Johnston: [00:07:50] Sir. He knows what he’s doing. So we went to Ponce City Market and there’s a little Italian restaurant there and we got a charcuterie board. Now, I’d been on dates before and I’d had a charcuterie board and it was good. But this one was special because I think mostly because I who was with and they did a also did a great job of presenting the board. I’m pretty sure there was some focaccia on it and it became more of an event than than just food. So I’m throwing all the olives his way because those are disgusting and hogging all the tomato jam and oh, try this and, you know, have a little bit of that. And it was so much fun. And so a couple of weeks later, we went to another restaurant and got a charcuterie board and it was terrible. It was dry. The presentation was blah. It was like on this silver like cookie sheet kind of plate. And it just it didn’t it wasn’t appealing. I didn’t enjoy it. And it irritated me that we spent a lot of money on this board that we didn’t even like. And so we joked around about doing YouTube videos of charcuterie board reviews so that nobody else would have to suffer the same fate that we had to go brutal.

Andrea Johnston: [00:09:09] Yeah, it was horrible. And so we, we had this big plan to go out to all these different restaurants and get their boards and do a video review, but then Covid hit and of course, we didn’t go anywhere. Everything was shut down and we ended up just, you know, staying at home and cooking for ourselves like most people did. And Derek here is a very good cook. But he’s he he was making it an event. He’s like, let’s put on some music. Let’s drink some wine. It’s a date. It’s a date. It was an event, Yes. But I was starving, waiting for him to cook it. I was so hungry and some rummaging through his fridge. He’s griping. I’m making dinner. I’m like, I know, but I’m hungry right now. So it kind of hurts my my soul to say I put together this plate. And I think the first items on it were like Kraft singles and baloney. They have their place. Those from Alabama.

Stone Payton: [00:10:13] Sounds perfect to.

Speaker5: [00:10:14] Me. Yeah.

Andrea Johnston: [00:10:16] But we could do better. So anyway, whatever I do, I just like to do really well. So we went to Whole Foods and got some better cheese and added some meats and some nuts and things like that. And pretty soon we were making those for dinner, his post and pictures on Facebook, and his mom asked for one for her birthday. So I was like, I have to step up my game if this is a gift, right? So she lives in they live in Mississippi. And so we went down there for her birthday and bought her a really nice wood board and all the meats and cheeses. And then I wanted to get some cheese knives for it. So we stopped a little antique store, told the lady what what I was making and and, you know, we’re talking because that’s what I like to do is talk. And she’s like, oh, there’s a place down in New Orleans that makes and delivers charcuterie. And it was that like, you know, aha moment because I like to start businesses in my head and, you know, name them. What can we do and could this be a profitable business? And I’ve done so many of those in my head, but this one just seemed really unique. And I’m like, We don’t have anything like that. That would be awesome. So we just talked it through and planned and came up with a name and a logo and a website and took off.

Stone Payton: [00:11:39] Well, I got to tell you, I feel like for whatever my opinion is worth, you absolutely nailed the name, the logo, the the look and feel the frame. Thank you for the business. I feel like you absolutely nailed it. And now here comes the reality of opening a business. It also occurs to me you may have had to jump through a few more hoops than like I did to to spin up this studio or even the whole Business RadioX network because you’re dealing with food. Is that is that accurate?

Andrea Johnston: [00:12:06] Yeah, absolutely. So we did start this out of our house and I supposed to. Not supposed to, but I didn’t have any reference for if this was even a legitimate, sustainable business. Right, Right. I wasn’t willing to throw thousands and thousands of dollars into something if I would get ten customers. Yeah. And so once we realized there is a demand for this and it is something that we could turn into a business, absolutely, We’re like, let’s get on it. So I think we had started in August of 2020 was when I was like, we’re official with a logo. That makes you official, right? Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:12:51] But that right there smack dab in the middle of all this crazy stuff, man, you guys are right.

Andrea Johnston: [00:12:56] We’re like, Are we insane? Telling people, Gather together, gather around, and everybody else is like, get away.

Stone Payton: [00:13:02] But maybe people were starting to get thirsty for that, right? And to have a mechanism, you know, to. Wow.

Andrea Johnston: [00:13:07] Yeah, yeah. There definitely was a market of people like just I need charcuterie. And the fact that we could deliver to them was super helpful. Yeah. So we delivered to everybody. We also partnered up with a local business where we could drop off boards to to their store and they would keep it in the fridge for customers to pick up. They liked it because, you know, they got more clients into their store. We liked it because it gave us the opportunity to drop it. Often and the customer could pick it up at a later time. So that worked out really well. But I would say August to March, March is when we signed the lease for our storefront and got things started. So it really wasn’t all that long.

Stone Payton: [00:13:46] Another big jump to me, huge jump. I mean, we’re sitting in a studio here in a co-working space, right? And so I pay a monthly fee for that, but my out is pretty easy. You know, I don’t have this big capital investment, don’t have this huge lease. I mean, my hat is off to you guys for for taking that jump. Do you remember your first handful of clients or collaborations? I bet they I bet they’re like burned into your brain, right?

Andrea Johnston: [00:14:10] I do. I do. Her name is Danielle, and I was in I don’t know, I was in the grocery store. And so I have a website that has an app that on my phone, it’ll notify me if I get an online order. And so I had put the website out there and I just remember, I don’t know, maybe in the produce aisle was standing there and my phone went off and I looked, I was like, I got an order and I was by myself. I probably looked like ridiculous dancing around, doing a little happy dance in the middle of the store. But like, I got a legit order from somebody I did not know. So Derek had, you know, clients that he would teach a CPR classes to and he’d be like, Hey, why don’t you bring them aboard? And so we had done a few of those, but that was our first legitimate, I don’t know this person. She just ordered a charcuterie board and I probably took 3 or 4 hours making it so it was perfect. I was so nervous.

Derek Johnston: [00:15:09] We’ve definitely gotten more proficient at little bit.

Stone Payton: [00:15:12] Oh, I’ll bet you. I bet you have systems in place and your checklists and all that. So how does how is the sales and marketing aspect of the business evolved? Is it is it a lot of referrals now? Is there are you still finding you do need to get out there and shake the trees a little bit and let people know that you’re here and all that?

Derek Johnston: [00:15:30] Well, honestly, we haven’t really advertised much Up until recently. We’ve done one Facebook ad, very limited budget. Yeah, it’s mostly been referrals. Typically, every time we go to an event, especially if we staff an event, say we have, we’re going to a wedding or a corporate event where they have 100, 150 people, you have 150 potential clients. So if you present very well, we have a lot of people that will come over and book things while they’re at the event. So we’re getting ready to market and push where we’re at because a lot of people don’t realize we’re across from the old train station, but staffing has been a challenge. So that’s we’ve slowly worked up to where we can really start pushing, but we don’t want to overpromise and under-deliver. So getting our staffing up a little bit more and we’re going to really start doing some marketing.

Andrea Johnston: [00:16:42] Like when we had the website going, it was a month or two or so before I was ready to say, Okay, let’s go and we can get into that a little bit later. Why? It took a little bit at the beginning, but what we did, and I will shamelessly plug Cherokee Connect.

Stone Payton: [00:17:04] Oh yeah.

Andrea Johnston: [00:17:04] Forever. And I will forever be a subscriber to their to their Facebook page because they really got us started. So we were just a tiny little brand new business. And I did one post, I don’t know, 5:00 in the evening and I said, charcuterie boards delivered. Is that a thing? It is now. And I had a couple of pictures and stone. I had over 500 visits to my website. Wow. That night. That night from 5:00 until midnight. It was crazy. Just the insane response from this community. And clearly they wanted charcuterie as much as I did. And it just took off and just right off the bat just took off and. Holiday seasons are already insane. So, you know, Halloween up until about New Year’s. Just go, go, go, go, go. So it was a good timing as far as that goes where we started it in the fall. That was definitely helpful, but just a really supportive, amazing community.

Stone Payton: [00:18:13] Oh yeah. God bless Josh Bagby and Cherokee. And Josh was kind enough to come in the studio not too long ago. And he’s just a he’s a wonderful person. And I recognize that this is grown beyond just Josh and Josh’s efforts. But he’s that guy that lets it do that, right? And he’s just a wonderful person. And yes, Cherokee Connect is fabulous. And I find that the the whole Cherokee County business community community in general just they’re so supportive. They will rally behind you if you let them know that you need and want to help, which was new for me, right? I had always been a little more invested in positioning. And but once I started telling people, hey, here’s where I could use some help, like with this Main Street Warriors program that we’re doing. You know, I couldn’t really figure out how to get it going. I just started asking a few people and they just jumped to help. And it sounds like you’ve had the same kind of experience.

Andrea Johnston: [00:19:08] Yeah, absolutely. Just good, genuine, amazing people in our community and all of our all of our clients. We are very fortunate. Everybody’s been amazing. So nice. We we don’t get yelled at like a lot of restaurants get yelled at. Right. Right. And everybody’s so nice. And like Derek had said, referrals and Cherokee Connect. I would say, hands down is why our business is doing so well.

Stone Payton: [00:19:38] Boy, that doing good work is a good sales tool, isn’t it?

Speaker5: [00:19:40] Derek That helps.

Stone Payton: [00:19:44] Now are you finding because I do feel like maybe it’s just because it’s gotten on my radar in the last several months. But but my instincts are that the whole idea of charcuterie is a little more popular these days, or at least I’m seeing it seeing it more. Are you finding that you have to work hard to differentiate yourself, or is there just enough demand and enough business that the good ones are here and there’s room for them to or like? Or do you find that you have to do some things to try to really differentiate yourself?

Andrea Johnston: [00:20:15] Well, number one, I would say we are licensed and insured. That is how we are different than almost all of the other like charcuterie businesses that you see. As I mentioned earlier, you’re not supposed to start this out. You’re not supposed to do this out of your home. Right? You’re not able to get a cottage license like you are if you’re making jams or breads or cakes. Okay, that can be licensed properly. But this is meats and cheeses. It’s time and temperature controlled, different ballgame, totally different ballgame. So there’s only a few of us in this county that have gone through the steps to get licensed. We’re dual license with the Health Department and the Department of Agriculture for a variety of reasons. One is wholesaling and then we are considered a restaurant. We’re in this kind of nobody knows what we are.

Speaker5: [00:21:01] Are we a.

Andrea Johnston: [00:21:02] Restaurant? Are we a caterer? Are we take out. Yes, yes. We’re all.

Speaker5: [00:21:07] Just decided.

Stone Payton: [00:21:08] To check all those boxes, go through the paces and I got to believe you’ve got these I don’t know, these minimum performance standards. I’m from the consulting world. I’m probably using the wrong words, but.

Speaker5: [00:21:20] We get like.

Andrea Johnston: [00:21:21] We get inspections. Okay. From the health department, I’m happy to say our last two were both hundreds.

Speaker5: [00:21:26] Nice.

Stone Payton: [00:21:27] Can’t do much better than that. I’m not that great at math, but that sounds like a good score.

Speaker5: [00:21:30] That’s a good score.

Andrea Johnston: [00:21:31] It’s a good score. But really what what we do to differentiate ourselves is the the quality. We’re using high quality products and we’re making it look beautiful. We really spend a lot of time on that. On the esthetics part of it, it’s like Derek said earlier.

Speaker5: [00:21:53] It goes back to what.

Stone Payton: [00:21:54] Derek said, right?

Speaker5: [00:21:55] You eat with your.

Stone Payton: [00:21:55] Eyes first, so you can’t just pop plop it all on the table.

Andrea Johnston: [00:21:59] Right? So I will say there’s he kind of gets irritated when I say this. There’s nothing special about our food except for it’s fresh. We buy fruit constantly to make sure it’s fresh. Meats and cheeses cut daily like it’s fresh. And it’s how we present it that when you see you can have a pile of cheese and meat sitting on a plate. Yep, it’s food. It tastes good. But when we put it together with the edible flowers and the blackberries and the rosemary, it tastes better. It just tastes better because it looks better. So we definitely do that really well. We do grazing tables that are just awesome. They really they really are. They’re pretty cool.

Stone Payton: [00:22:50] Well, even your boxed product that you came you were kind enough to bring some to me this morning and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m sure the food is. Going to be delicious, but it’s just it’s beautiful. And there will be a picture of this where we publish. But for those who are listening live or catch it on a on a podcasting platform, I mean, it’s just beautiful. It’s got the cool little twine tied with the with the tag. And you’ve got you’ve got the, the just all the pieces just you can see through the cardboard box so you can get a vision of it. So you’ve taken great care not only in the, in the product itself, but the way it’s presented.

Andrea Johnston: [00:23:23] We also do a lot of our products. We make them in house. So the jam that you have on your board there, yeah, we make that ourselves. Oh, and there’s bourbon in it.

Speaker5: [00:23:33] Sweet, right? Oh, wow.

Andrea Johnston: [00:23:35] So we kind of have a cult following on that jam. I had one lady who had purchased a large board for a birthday party that she was putting on, and then a couple hours later, I had a family come in to the store. They’re like, Do you have some of that jam? And I was like, Sure. They said we were just at a birthday party and they had it. It was amazing. I was like, okay, it’s right there. And then 20 minutes later, another couple, Hey, do you have some of that pepper jam? We were just at a birthday party. It was two couples from that same party coming to pick them up. It was kind of funny. I have one person say it’s like crack. Like there’s. They’re just like, they need a fix.

Stone Payton: [00:24:18] Well, you had me at Bourbon.

Andrea Johnston: [00:24:21] Yep, we do bourbon. We have some jam that’s got red wine in it, one that’s got brandy, a Guinness chutney like we have fun with with with the sounds.

Speaker5: [00:24:32] Marvelous.

Stone Payton: [00:24:33] So a lot of our tribe, people who tap into this show, whether it’s live or on demand, they are entrepreneurs as well. You know, they run small businesses, a lot of them here local, but also nationally. And so I like to find out if this happens to people who come to the studio, as you got things going, began, began to get your feet under you, did anything kind of sneak up on you? Were there some surprises along the way in terms of running a business that you just didn’t see coming, that you didn’t anticipate and you had to adjust for? Or did you pretty much just have smooth sailing?

Andrea Johnston: [00:25:12] Well, I said we signed the lease in March, right? Yeah, March 3rd, I believe. March 1st is when I saw the space. And March 2nd is when I told Derek about it.

Stone Payton: [00:25:24] Man, she can make a decision, huh? Are the two of you can.

Andrea Johnston: [00:25:27] So I am very much a risk taker.

Speaker5: [00:25:30] I see that.

Andrea Johnston: [00:25:31] And. And what made me decide was I was like, you know what? This is going to go quick. And if I don’t jump on this, I’m going to regret it every time I drive by. Yeah. So I was like, Hey, Derek, I found us a space. What do you think? He’s like, Whatever your heart desires. He always says that. Okay, cool. Half the time. I know he’s kind of like, you better think about this a little longer, but he said I could do it. No, he was on board. He always supports me in everything. I am very much like, Let’s go. He’s got the brakes. Slow down. And together we work really well together. I get he’s like, frustrated at me for going so fast and not planning, and I’m frustrated at him for making me stop and slow down. And it works out great for both of us. I push him. He pulls me back a little bit to make sure what we’re doing is we’re doing it well. Like you said earlier, we don’t want to overpromise and under-deliver. So when we get to a certain point like this last weekend, I had to close down orders on Wednesday, Tuesday, Tuesday or Wednesday for Saturday, because we were fully booked.

Andrea Johnston: [00:26:44] We could have taken a lot more, but I did not want to rush. I did not want to put out a product that wasn’t perfect. So I would say. What we didn’t anticipate is I would I would say just even the volume of orders that we get and having no time to do anything else. So trying to keep up with the bookkeeping part of it or my poor employees, I’m like, I’m going to pay you today, I promise. No, they always get paid on time, but. Just the things that it takes to run a business. It’s hard to keep up with that because I’m very involved in making the boards. And, you know, we have we have some great staff. We just brought on another girl we’re looking to hire. If anybody is looking for a job, I would say that’s that’s one of the the biggest things that I wasn’t anticipating is just the lack of time, lack of time to do anything socially or otherwise.

Stone Payton: [00:27:52] I would think that would that would be an incredibly important and productive dynamic that you guys have a different perspective or bring a different set of strengths to the equation. And clearly you trust and respect each other’s vantage point, even though that might not be your default, you’re a little quicker to throw your hat over the fence. You’re a little quicker to hit the brakes and kind of evaluate the situation, not unlike my business partner. And I think although it seems like you guys are doing a much better job than we are, but we’re doing fine. We’ve been at it a while too. That is marvelous. Anything else unique or different or something you have to really be cognizant of because of the fact that you are a couple? Is it does it come like, are there some specifics about division of labor? Or because I got to believe there are some unique aspects I’m trying to envision Holly and I and we are a marvelous couple, I believe. And you talk about incredibly supportive. I mean, she is just unbelievable. And I’m not sure that she and I should run a studio together, let alone a network. So, yeah, anything speak to that a little bit. If there is anything to to acknowledge on that front. Well, that.

Derek Johnston: [00:29:07] Was a concern initially. We talked quite a bit and. Came to an overview and some limitations on what we would do and what we wouldn’t do. I think the challenge, we work really well together. The the big challenge, I think, is not having personal time. We have a lot of business time together and we’re working, working, working, but we don’t really have a good bit of time to have off and do the things like we used to do when we were dating. So that was the.

Stone Payton: [00:29:52] Birth of this whole thing in the first place, was to go have fun, date night and evaluate charcuterie boards.

Derek Johnston: [00:29:57] But we have fun during the day. Yeah, we’re infamous for dancing in the kitchen at home, so I love it. Brought that to the store. So we’ll put on some music and dance. Usually when nobody’s there, when we’re making jam or whatever, after hours, we make that a date.

Speaker5: [00:30:16] Now we’re so late, I don’t think that’s lame at all.

Stone Payton: [00:30:21] I think it’s.

Speaker5: [00:30:22] Terrific.

Andrea Johnston: [00:30:23] I go through all my pictures and were like, Oh, that was a fun date. We went here and here and here and here and now. All that’s on my phone is charcuterie pictures of meat and cheese.

Speaker5: [00:30:31] So the answer.

Stone Payton: [00:30:32] To this question may be a little out of focus, given what you were just kind enough to share with me about. You know, right now, it’s just heads down. We’re we’re we’re buried. But I’m going to ask anyway outside the scope of the business and I’ll ask each of you individually, but also it may be a shared thing, but outside the scope of this business, are there some passions My listeners know for me it’s hunting, fishing and travel, right? Is there something like that for either of you, or were the two of you together that you will circle back to when you get all the rest of this stuff figured out?

Speaker6: [00:31:08] I’ll go first.

[00:31:10] I have another business. Like I mentioned, I’ve been a paramedic since I was 19. I was able to push medications to save somebody’s life, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t purchase alcohol and I wasn’t on the company’s insurance. So I’ve been doing that for a really long time. I and I started my own business in 2005 where I just do training now. I did some occasional Covid contracts and I’ve worked a lot of different other areas, but I mostly just do training and I really enjoy training people. I like when that that light bulb goes off and somebody that, you know, finally gets it. So I do enjoy that and I’ve been limited on what I can do with my other business because we’ve been so encompassed currently getting this one going and operating.

Derek Johnston: [00:32:10] Very well. So I’m going to let you go with it.

Andrea Johnston: [00:32:15] Well, I’ll tag on to what you had asked earlier about us working together, because I really want to emphasize, we we don’t fight. We’re we don’t fight. It’s the coolest thing ever. That wasn’t always the case with me, with previous relationships. And I’m not a fighter, so. And neither is Derek. And so we talk. We talk. And I’m like, Hey, I don’t like when you did that. He’s like, Well, I didn’t like when you did that. Okay, well, I’ll try not to do that again. Okay. Okay. And then we’re done. And it’s the best thing ever. So working together really hasn’t been that much of a challenge. It’s been quite fun. I would say. This weekend you were asked what we did. We didn’t do anything. I went outside by myself and I took a bath by myself. And I spent some alone time because we’re together all the time. I just need to be alone for a little bit. And so that’s, I think, kind of how we recharge and get back at it. But I just really enjoy, really enjoy working together. And, you know, that’s not the case for everybody. And to be able to say, hey, you know, we’re a great married but not good business partners. Well, that was a little concern that we had. We actually started the business before we got married. Did you really? We did. Wow. We were a little backwards on that. Yeah, that’s how we roll. So we actually just got married about a year ago. And so that was a big concern, you know, starting the business together, going to derail a good relationship. Right. I think it’s just changed it a little bit. So.

Speaker5: [00:33:59] Um, well, I’d love.

Stone Payton: [00:34:00] To hear that. And I and I genuinely believe it, just watching the dynamic here in the room because I have the benefit of being here with you in person live. And I also get the distinct impression that when it’s time for you to have your your space, your alone time, it’s not something that Derek regrets. He supports that too, and makes room for that, which is an important part of that equation, right?

Speaker5: [00:34:24] Absolutely. Yeah.

Andrea Johnston: [00:34:25] He I would come home and I’d say, Hey, I bought a camel for us as a pet. And he’d be like, Well, this is really inconvenient, but let me go build a barn.

Stone Payton: [00:34:38] Or he’d go into the bottled water business and just leverage the fact that. Right. He’s he’s always thinking he’s got this business, he’s got this. Yeah, that’s.

Speaker5: [00:34:44] Fantastic.

Andrea Johnston: [00:34:45] Crazy supportive of anything I want to do. So that’s terrifying and awesome at the same time.

Stone Payton: [00:34:52] So, so coming back to the business of providing this art that is food, are there are there some parameters around it? Like you’ll only do small groups or this size group or can you do really large groups? Have you decided to to look at bringing on like what products that would products and services that would complement it either through collaboration or you got any of those kind of plans in motion?

Andrea Johnston: [00:35:20] Back to the all we do is charcuterie and no time for anything else. Yeah. Good problem to have, right? Right. But also I have all these like we have all these ideas of people we could collaborate with and I want to, as soon as we just take a breath, you know, because we’re just putting out a lot of food. This last weekend, we probably put out food for about 350, 350 people. Wow. Just on Saturday. So he had Friday when we had a grazing table as well. So we’re just we’re just kind of just feeding people. We definitely want to to do things in more collaboration. But our focus right now, charcuterie, like I know some businesses will try to do this or do that or do this or do that to get more business coming in. Right, right. And then all that does is confuse people. Are they a sandwich shop or are they brunch or are they this or that? Yeah. So we we decided we’re going to focus strictly on charcuterie until we are known for that and nothing else, then we feel like we could branch out a little bit more. So we do boards for one person that are cute little six by six.

Speaker5: [00:36:39] Boxes, a board.

Stone Payton: [00:36:40] To a client or a guest or a.

Speaker5: [00:36:42] Yes. Okay.

Andrea Johnston: [00:36:43] Yeah. This one you have right here is for 2 to 4 people. So two is a meal up to four if you. It looks.

Speaker5: [00:36:48] Like a single.

Stone Payton: [00:36:49] Serving box to me.

Speaker5: [00:36:51] No, I’m kidding.

Andrea Johnston: [00:36:52] If you’re hungry, your wife will not be happy. If you choose. That’s a single person. Unless she’s that.

Speaker5: [00:36:57] Single. I’m sorry I interrupted you.

Stone Payton: [00:36:59] You’re one person. And like, this is AA2 to four.

Andrea Johnston: [00:37:02] Yeah, we have one That’s 3 to 6. 5 to 10 going on up. Right. The largest that we serve on an actual platter is up to 30. And so you can get multiple ones if you have a large group and then we’ll do the grazing tables after that. We we do have the big board, we call it our bougie board, this gorgeous black walnut board that that Derek actually made. And we could fit food on there to feed 50 to 60 people. And that fits in our fridge but nobody else’s fridge. So you have to pick it up and take it right to your event.

Stone Payton: [00:37:36] But Derek made the board.

Speaker5: [00:37:37] Of course he did. Of course.

Andrea Johnston: [00:37:38] He did. Geez, I know, right? So then we go up to grazing tables and those we’ve decided to do a minimum of 50. Just because we take so much time, we take so much effort, we do a lot of food, and if we do a grazing table, that means I’m going on site to to build this and then I’m not at the store. So we would have to limit what orders we take. So we just decide. 50 people is our minimum for us to come out to your to your shop, to your office, to your home and do a grazing table on site. And then we’ve done events for up to 600 people. So last December, we did an event down in Buckhead for 600 people that was so terrifying and so much fun at the same time.

Derek Johnston: [00:38:34] It was very rewarding because we did it all in two hours, fed these people. We got a lot of people fed in two hours. It was just a lot of prep to it. But yeah, a lot of prep.

Andrea Johnston: [00:38:49] So two days out we’re cutting the meats and cheeses. The day before we actually did skewers instead of a grazing table because you can’t get 600 people through a grazing table in two hours. It’s just impossible because they’re taking their time looking at this, looking at that sort of like with the event planner, we decided skewers was the way to go. So you get two meats, two cheeses, an olive and a tomato or whatever. And then we did a variety of those. We did some spinach dip and vegetables and a couple other things and. Nine 967 skewers, I think is what we did.

Speaker5: [00:39:26] And you may or may not have.

Stone Payton: [00:39:28] Even been able to track it, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to learn that some business came from exposing 600 people to write quality of your work.

Andrea Johnston: [00:39:38] Yeah, definitely. The event planner that hired us to do this event, we’ve done multiple ones from with her since then, you know, building that relationship, right. Making sure that we we deliver what we say we’re going to on time, high quality, beautiful product. That’s that’s what we must do every time. And in doing so, we get future business.

Stone Payton: [00:40:03] Well, everything you guys have said is compelling. But again, you had me at Bourbon. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to reach out, have a conversation with you? And, you know, it may be. Well, let me back up before we give them some coordinates. How does it work? Is it best for them to call the shop, walk in the shop, go to an online thing? Tell me about that. And then let’s definitely make sure we leave them with coordinates.

Andrea Johnston: [00:40:28] Sure. Absolutely. So the easiest way. Well, there’s no easiest whatever is most convenient for them. They can stop by order right from us there at the store. You can call us and we can take your order over the phone. Or you can go online and order from our website. At the end of it, write down what day and time you want it. We’ll make sure that it is ready. So you say, Hey, I have an event Thursday afternoon. I would like to have the board by 2 p.m.. We’ll have it ready for you Thursday by 2 p.m.. We aren’t going to make it today for Thursday. We make it on Thursday. So that’s really important. We always make the boards the day that you pick them up, Whether you choose to hold them over the next day is up to you. But we’re always going to make them that day and then we’ll have it ready for you by to send you a text when it’s ready. But then you can come anytime before we close at six. Pick it up. Hey, you’re running late, so you’re going to come at 330. That’s fine. It’s there waiting for you in the fridge.

Stone Payton: [00:41:23] And I can come to you with maybe a few specific ideas to fold in. Or I can come to you and say, Look, I got 30 people. Half of them are Yankees. I don’t know. I got to feed them. My my wife.

Andrea Johnston: [00:41:35] You say that like it’s a rude thing.

Stone Payton: [00:41:36] It’s not a rude thing. It’s just, you know.

Speaker5: [00:41:38] I’m a Yankee.

Stone Payton: [00:41:40] Sometimes their tastes are different, right? So maybe they don’t. And so and half of my extended family is Yankees because I my wife is from Philadelphia, but I can come to you with very little knowledge about what to do and just say, help me figure this thing out.

Speaker5: [00:41:53] Right.

Andrea Johnston: [00:41:54] So generally, we like to say. It’s worked out really well to say you get what you get unless you have an allergy. So certainly will work around allergies as much as possible. If you say, you know, stone, I hate goat cheese, I don’t want it on there, or mostly olives. People don’t like olives.

Speaker5: [00:42:13] Well, you don’t like. They’re so gross in the charcuterie.

Stone Payton: [00:42:16] I love olives.

Speaker5: [00:42:17] Do you like olives? Jerk? Yes, sir.

Stone Payton: [00:42:18] So do I. So that’s just an interesting little tidbit. But you will bring olives.

Speaker5: [00:42:22] I will.

Andrea Johnston: [00:42:23] Bring them. Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:42:23] That’s the thing.

Andrea Johnston: [00:42:24] People will be like, oh, I don’t like olives. And I’m like, What are you getting a board for 25 people? Somebody is going to like olives. Okay, that’s fine. But just off to the side. So we find it’s there’s so many options. We have so many different cheeses and meats and accessories or accouterments is the word. It gets overwhelming. So we just say, hey. And really, people end up saying, you know what? I don’t care. I trust you. Just whatever. Sure. And so that works out really well because we’re able to, you know, put cheddar. We’re always going to put a cheddar on there. It’s amazing. Top left corner. They’re nice.

Speaker5: [00:43:03] And I got.

Stone Payton: [00:43:04] My eye on it right.

Speaker5: [00:43:05] Now.

Andrea Johnston: [00:43:05] But then we can work through other cheeses that I might find that are new. You have a one in there called A Smoking Goat.

Speaker5: [00:43:13] Oh, baby.

Andrea Johnston: [00:43:13] It’s so good. I don’t really care for smoked cheese. He doesn’t care for goat cheese. But this is delicious. And so we can try something like that. Whereas whereas if somebody says I don’t like goat cheese, they might not be willing to try it. But if they don’t know what it is and they eat it, that’s really good. What is that? It’s goat cheese. What? I didn’t know I liked it. Well, you know, because we don’t do inferior goat cheese. There’s some goat cheese. That’s terrible, right? We try everything. Everything. This is how I keep my girlish figure. We try everything to make sure it’s taste good. And aside from olives, I like everything that we put on our boards, and, you know, so. So that’s. That’s generally how it works. Unless you have a preference, we just give you what we think would look good. And once in a while people come back, Hey, I didn’t really care for that Gouda. Some, you know, some of our customers don’t like Gouda. Okay, so we make a little note. They don’t get Gouda. This person doesn’t get pickles or, you know, whatever. And. Everybody’s happy. Everybody’s happy with it.

Stone Payton: [00:44:22] So I’m sure they are okay because I’m happy just anticipating. I know I’m going to be happy when I see you again on the other side of this. Okay, So let’s do leave them with store, location, website. Anything else you think would be a good way for them to to connect with you?

Speaker5: [00:44:37] Sure.

Andrea Johnston: [00:44:37] Well, first off, I’d like to say we are having we’ve been there two years, but we are finally having a ribbon cutting ceremony. All right. Finally, this has been on our to do list for quite a while. Right. But it’s going to be next Tuesday, June 6th at 3 p.m. We’re going to have the Chamber of Commerce over. Do the big scissors with the ribbon. Should be fun. And we will have a grazing table there. It’s not unlimited. I would say the first 100 people or.

Speaker5: [00:45:05] So.

Andrea Johnston: [00:45:06] Can get to help themselves. So if anybody wants to join us for that, that would be wonderful. And we are also going to say thank you to your listeners. And we don’t do coupons very often. We haven’t really needed to, you know, So we’re going to offer a coupon for 10% off to any of your listeners. The coupon code B, r, x Business RadioX That’s how I got that perfect original, right?

Speaker5: [00:45:32] Nicely done.

Andrea Johnston: [00:45:33] Yes. For 10% off. And then you can find us at 2800 Holly Springs Parkway, Suite 100. So we are right across from the old train depot, the downtown area that’s going in. Yeah, we’re right in that little intersection and. Our website is w w w dot the gathering board.co. So we do get a little bit of confusion with their.com was taken but the gathering board.co is where you can find us online and phone number is (770) 500-8715. We are on not on Twitter we are on Instagram, Facebook and I did just start a TikTok channel.

Speaker5: [00:46:19] I know, right?

Andrea Johnston: [00:46:20] We are a whopping 53 followers already.

Stone Payton: [00:46:22] And we’ll get to see some of those dancing in the home kitchen videos on TikTok.

Speaker5: [00:46:27] No, no.

Andrea Johnston: [00:46:29] This girl does not dance.

Derek Johnston: [00:46:32] Possibly. And I want to say one more time, thank you for inviting us in and thank you to your listeners. That code is thank you to people who support the radio, the local radio. So we really appreciate that.

Stone Payton: [00:46:45] Well, it is my pleasure. And it really has been a delight having you guys in the studio. Thanks for sharing your insight, your perspective, and thank you for being such an important part of our community. And don’t be a stranger. Let’s continue to follow this story. Come in sometime maybe with one of your event planners and we’ll spotlight their business and maybe talk about the collaboration. But it’s an exciting time and we’re excited for you. You guys are doing important work and and we certainly appreciate it. So thank you.

Speaker5: [00:47:15] Thank you. Thank you.

Stone Payton: [00:47:16] All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Andrea and Derek Johnston with the gathering board. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on Cherokee Business Radio.

 

Tagged With: The Gathering Board

BRX Pro Tip: Showing Up

May 31, 2023 by angishields

Real Talk with a Realtor: Insights into a Flourishing Business

May 30, 2023 by angishields

Patrick-Pulliam
Northwest Arkansas
Real Talk with a Realtor: Insights into a Flourishing Business
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Patrick-PulliamPatrick Pulliam has been an Arkansas resident for 16 total years and a REALTOR® in NWA for the past 4.

Throughout his time living and working in NWA, Patrick has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in residential brokerage, as well as commercial investments.

Patrick takes pride in the relationships he has been able to build and grow over the past couple of years, with a large network of buyers, sellers, investors, realtors, and business owners that reach far beyond one industry.

In his free time, Pat enjoys spending time with his wife Emily, daughter Esther, watching the Razorbacks, and staying active in the gym.

As a believer, husband, and father, Patrick stays motivated to build a better tomorrow for the NWA community with his company, The Future Team at EXP Realty. Their motto is “Developing the Future of NWA Through Real Estate”!

Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Tagged With: The Future Team at EXP Realty

Constance Payne with Fresh Start Biohazard Cleaning Services

May 30, 2023 by angishields

Constance-Payne-Feature
Cherokee Business Radio
Constance Payne with Fresh Start Biohazard Cleaning Services
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Constance-PayneConstance Payne is the owner of Fresh Start Biohazard Cleaning Services, a forensics cleaning company serving all of metro atlanta and surrounding counties, and is a successful actor here in Atlanta.

Connect with Constance on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:19] Welcome to Fearless Formula. I’m Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And today on the show, we have the owner of a forensic cleaning company, which is so cool. It’s called Fresh Start Biohazard Cleaning Services. They specialize in cleaning up of crime scenes, tear gas deaths and hoarding and virus disinfection. I mean, you kind of cover all the bases here. All the things that nobody wants to touch or that would smell. I love that you’re here. Please welcome. I’m sorry. Constance Payne. Okay. I’m like, Yeah, I’m thinking about murder. Like, that’s in the back of my mind throwing me off a little bit because that’s not been something I’ve focused on here on the show. So I’m so fascinated by what you do because it’s not just that part of your life that’s really interesting and different. You have a whole other aspect which I can’t wait to talk about. So let’s start with your business. How did you get started in this?

Constance Payne: [00:01:19] Well, I started working for a third party company about four years ago. A friend of a friend got me into it because I was looking for work that I could do that was sporadic, that made good money. So I could also be an actor because I can’t really do the 9 to 5 or, you know, it’s really hard to rise in the ranks of a company and then say, Hey, I need two weeks off to go film this movie or I’m going to Europe for a month by. Right. So no, being able to own my own company and take these calls by myself, I can do the things that I want to do.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:52] Well, it’s what people say on the show a lot is how being their own business owner allows for so much more flexibility. And they’d never imagined working for another company where they have a boss. They can make their own hours. But I imagine with yours the hours are probably all over the place because all kinds of things happen day and night.

Constance Payne: [00:02:11] Yeah, yeah, it’s all over the place. It just depends on when somebody wants to make that call and say, All right, I’ve had enough. Or Hey, I’ve discovered my family member is in a jam and they have decided that this is enough or there’s everything is so different. I mean, it comes from hoarding people that have lived in garbage, never thrown it out for about a year or two to maybe people just hoarding certain items and then we go over to the death part of it. If there’s a murder, got to wait for the crime scene to be cleared on that one. Or if somebody’s found discovered dead, they depending on how long they’ve been there, is how hard my job is. I might have to cut a bath, like, you know, gut the bathroom out if they explode in there, you know, because you’re talking like human decomposition. If you’re stuck in a house and your air goes out and all of that for three months straight and you’re just roasting and people don’t know. Yeah, well, honestly, there’s certain cases where I’m like, how the hell did you all not know? I could smell a dead body? The smell of human decomposition is unlike any type of smell you’ve ever smelled in your life. And I could smell the shit from out at the beginning of a subdivision. And people that have been in, like, condo units, you know what I mean?

Sharon Cline: [00:03:29] Yeah, they’re all connected somewhere.

Constance Payne: [00:03:31] Proximity of each other. And. And you think you’d see your neighbors grass getting five feet high, their mail spilling out of their mailbox, Their cars haven’t moved in forever. And you got this horrible stink going on and.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:42] No one said a word.

Constance Payne: [00:03:43] Something might be amiss here, people. But, you know, it just goes back to the general population just being very into themselves and what they’re doing.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:53] I think that’s interesting just in general, thinking about how I think the world is like how I see it often. So I’m in my own world and the world, what gets reflected to me is the way I see the world. But there’s a whole other side that I’m guilty of it.

Constance Payne: [00:04:06] Too, in aspects, you.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:07] Know, like in my.

Constance Payne: [00:04:08] Office for acting. It’s like, I mean, I could it’s a very, very small universe that I live in for that. And I think that’s why I do like the job that I have outside of that with the forensic cleaning, because it reminds me about like being human, you know, and what’s important in life. And that’s one thing that I’ve learned at the end of every day. The only thing that matters is human life and quality of life. Absolutely everything else is bullshit.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:35] Well, I never really thought about how you can draw parallels between what it’s like to be an actor and sort of live a human experience in that way, reflect a human experience, but then also deal with someone else’s end of their human experience and how you can draw. Yeah, draw parallels between the two. I never thought about that.

Constance Payne: [00:04:53] That’s what makes me a good actor. Yeah, because I’m really taking like experiences from my from, from reality here and then just using under imaginary circumstances when I’m on a set and then I can just like really go into something and show some some really good unique emotions.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:10] So I can’t imagine. So how do you deal with what you. Do experience emotion wise in a crime scene or in a clean up situation that you can tell was maybe not a natural death, but maybe something violent or just the energy behind what you’re cleaning.

Constance Payne: [00:05:25] Yeah, really. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if something’s violent, Like there’s so many different words you can use to describe so many different scenes depending on the circumstances and all of that. And, you know, the first thing I got to do is just emotionally close myself off and do my job because I can’t be crying.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:42] Right.

Constance Payne: [00:05:42] Right. I can’t be crying. And I got to be able to do my job. Remember line item, how to do it, you know, for sanitation purposes and get on out of there. And then I deal with that later. Okay. So I’ll do some gardening. I lift weights, you know, hit the hit the heavy bag.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:00] You turn it to a positive.

Constance Payne: [00:06:02] Yeah, Yeah. For as much as death is a part of my life, I like to watch things grow. I’ve got, you know, a couple animals and stuff like that, too.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:09] And Garden.

Constance Payne: [00:06:10] Garden. And then I also like to shoot guns and run around topless in the forest, you know?

Sharon Cline: [00:06:16] About what time does that happen? I’m just curious.

Constance Payne: [00:06:18] 4:00, You know, cocktail hour.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:23] Where exactly would this be? Yeah, see.

Constance Payne: [00:06:25] I mean, my my decompression techniques might not work for everyone, but this is what works for me. Don’t knock it till you try it, everyone. Well, I think.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:34] Also it makes you. It’s a unique personality that can handle the kind of job that you’re doing as well. Right. So, I mean, whatever works for you to make this so that it’s a cathartic experience as opposed to one that brings your spirit down and has negative effects of your life. Sounds positive.

Constance Payne: [00:06:48] To me. Oh, yeah, yeah. And not to say that there aren’t like some really hard days. And, you know, sometimes I might not say nothing for a couple of days, you know, which makes personal relationships a little strenuous and stuff like that. I guess it’s more or less. I’m the type of person where it’s like, Hey, how was your day? Fine. Like. Like, why can’t that be an okay answer, knowing what I do for a living and that just leave it at that.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:14] Are you not allowed to talk about certain things? No.

Constance Payne: [00:07:16] I mean, I can talk about whatever I want. There are certain things I personally don’t. I mean, I could talk to you about in depth about other items off of air. Right. You know, for there’s a lot of different reasons. There’s a lot that goes into what I do. You know, did you.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:33] Have to get certified, obviously. What was the process in order to be someone that could have a business like this?

Constance Payne: [00:07:38] There’s a lot of online certifications and stuff like that. Just like with everything in business, everything has to be up to OSHA standards. So, you know, there’s in-person classes, there’s online certificates, and then every year you got to read up on them and pay your money and stuff like that. I got a lot of my blood cleanup experience when I was in my early 20s. I was a tattoo artist, and so that cross-contamination was really beat into my head. It’s like it doesn’t matter how many gloves you got to use in a day, you know, like you use them all the time. You use them all the time. You take them off if there’s even a question and, you know, just just being all around clean.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:15] Right, Right. So, okay, so you were able to get your certification you used to live, I want to say, is it Indiana that you’re from?

Constance Payne: [00:08:22] That’s where I was born.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:23] Where you were born. Okay. How did you come here?

Constance Payne: [00:08:25] Well, from northwest Indiana, I was down in Texas for a little bit, met and lived with my dad for a little and started doing radio while I was tattooing and stuff.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:37] What did you do with radio?

Constance Payne: [00:08:39] I was a it was on I was on a morning show. Well, first I was a bone babe for Cumulus Radio, and that’s where I met Dan Aykroyd and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was. It was a very good, fun time in my life. And then I started being on a morning show in Alabama. I was the chick on the all male show.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:58] How was that? I need to know.

Constance Payne: [00:08:59] It was fun. I mean, I had a good time, a lot of laughter. It’s just Alabama Rocket City was not there wasn’t enough going on for me at that point in my life. And so then I went down to Daytona Beach. I had some friends and family out there and started tattooing again, started rocking out and became an actor. I mean, I’ve just done so many different things. It’s all gotten me where I’m at today. And you know, any type of business I’ve owned or worked for has helped shape the way that I do things today. And I haven’t always made the best, you know, the best choices in business. But I have learned from my mistakes. Sure. And I’m proud of that.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:40] Well, I mean, that’s to me, it’s not a mistake.

Constance Payne: [00:09:42] Well, yeah, exactly. It’s a lesson. And so when people ask me for asking for acting tips right now, too, and like there’s no book for that, all you can do is anytime I’ve done it, I do a lot of mixed martial arts, too. And so I’m really into cross training. And I take that type of lesson into every element and aspect of my life is that everywhere you go, people are going to do things a little bit different the way or totally different. And it’s good to learn all the different ways that everybody does stuff and learn all the different types of personality. And people that do it and then pick what works for you and just do that well.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:18] Even being able to identify with different personality types and different aspects of people can help you, I imagine, as an actor as well.

Constance Payne: [00:10:24] Oh, absolutely. I love going down the rabbit hole of of different businesses and unique personalities, just talking to people as much as I’m I was talking to you about this off air. I’m an introverted extrovert. As much as I’m like, I can’t get a conversation started. If somebody comes up and says hi to me, Oh, we can talk all day.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:41] Long, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Constance Payne: [00:10:43] But I can’t just go up to somebody that I’ve never spoken to before in my life and say anything. You know how hard it is to get a.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:51] Date like that? Yes, I do. I’m very familiar. I’m the same in that I need as much time where I’m interacting as as I do quiet because it like refills my spirit in some way. I like both, but I’m not like exactly an introvert. I’m not exactly an extrovert, but I think like things like this to me feel like I get the best of both worlds because we’re, you know, using media to be out there in the world, which has extroversion to it. But here we are, just the two of us having like a little chit chat, like the energy is super calm because it’s just you and me, which is nice. Yeah. Okay. I just went down a little bit of a rabbit hole. Oh, no, no, no.

Constance Payne: [00:11:26] And we get like, you know, and that’s the thing too. It’s like with with acting between acting and the forensic cleaning, I get enough excitement there, you know, like, I want to go hang out in the forest after that or plant my garden.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:39] Something wonderful and calm about trees. And because I love trees, I love I have like a little bit of a woods in the back of my yard. And I have to say that some of the calming times that I have is being quiet outside, just listening to nature, and it’s amazing how it calms my spirit down. So yeah, I think that sometimes makes me feel more spiritual than like a spiritual, actual building, you know.

Constance Payne: [00:12:01] Just being in nature.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:02] Yeah, yeah, totally. I get you, girl. So you also do method acting? I do? Yeah. What is that like?

Constance Payne: [00:12:08] Well, I got my own thing, you know, like, there’s certain types of method actors out there. Like, some, they’ll. They’ll be in character are all on set from the you know what I mean. Or for months on end and I don’t do that I mean not knocking that that works for other people that’s cool. But me personally, I just do a lot of character research and development and, you know, I kind of create my own version of this character. I’ll talk to the director a whole lot or the writer and really get a good idea before I’m on set of who this person is, you know, because they’re only giving you certain details that you can pull out of the script. And if the script is written well, then you’ve got all this foreshadowing and you know all these things that you can work with. Yeah. To build an actual person and a unique character versus just being a body that moves and talks, right?

Sharon Cline: [00:12:58] Like if you embody it.

Constance Payne: [00:12:59] Yeah, yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:00] But you also do stunts.

Constance Payne: [00:13:02] Yeah, I do stunts.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:03] Is that why also you’re doing, you’re into like the fitness.

Constance Payne: [00:13:06] Part of it. Yeah. That’s why I do a lot of fitness and MMA stuff and I lift heavy a lot. I’m boxing and jujitsu based martial artist, and so I’ve done a lot of my fight choreography for a lot of the lower budget films and everything that I do. And I mean, I think it’s fun. Oh, you got to see this one. I get my face smashed in the dirt in this mud pole. We were supposed to be doing something else. And then the rain started coming and we’re like, Oh, hell, all right. And I was like, We’ll just set this this scene up outside my producer’s house. We got a wood pile. I’ll just start chopping. So we just came up with something on the fly and we start wrestling around in the mud. And I was telling the guy who was a new guy I was working with, and I was like, All right, I want you to grab me by the back of my hair and fucking stuff me down in there, right? And and so it was a real fun scene. And like, I had mud in my teeth and it was yeah, it was. It was a good time. And I didn’t really we didn’t think things through. And so then I’m like butt naked in my producer’s backyard getting hosed off by the coldest water hose ever. We’re all just laughing. I’m like, So, you know, being on set is fun. You know, You never know. Every every day is a unique surprise. Like.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:17] It’s so funny. I’m trying to imagine this and they must love you because you’re diverse. You have like, skills that they really value, I imagine.

Constance Payne: [00:14:23] Oh yeah, I’m useful in a lot of different ways because I mean, I’m really popular in the indie market right now. I’m working my way up and everything, and I have a small production company based out of Calhoun that that I do a lot of work out of. So we do like little short little like, you know, anywhere between 5 and 10 minute type of real material for other actors and stuff.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:45] So it’s so fun.

Constance Payne: [00:14:46] Yeah, it is fun. I mean, I have a great time being an actor no matter what I’m playing like and we’re doing a lot of different types of characters for me right now. Like before it was always like, Oh, this former military, you know, badass. Yeah, mercenary, all the or FBI agent, all that kind of stuff. And, and now, you know, I paid an assault victim not that long ago and, oh, I just got booked on a music video. I get to. I get to kiss a really hot chick. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:13] Yeah. What video? We have to see this. You have to send me links. I’ll send.

Constance Payne: [00:15:17] You links. I’ll send you links. Awesome. It’s a Brazilian artist. She’s, like, super awesome. I like her music, and I’m a little judgy when it comes to people making original music. I really like her music. It’s got this nice, creepy kind of sounds. I think like Beetlejuice Nightmare before Christmas type of cool. Yeah, but with a little poppy unfitness. It’s so weird.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:39] But how nice that you get to be part of something you actually really like.

Constance Payne: [00:15:41] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, that’s the thing. It’s like, I, like, I fit in this. I’m. It’s. I’m a genre in its own like. And that’s why I dress the way that I dress and, and I don’t cover up my tattoos anywhere I go. Because if you don’t like me, by the way that I look, then you’re not my people. And I don’t want to do business with you anyway. Exactly. And I’m not going to be baking muffins on any Hallmark movie channel or anything like that.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:03] I was reading a little bit about your story about how initially people gave you a hard time about your tattoos. You’ll never succeed in this business.

Constance Payne: [00:16:10] Oh yeah. I heard a lot of things from acting teachers when I first started. And, you know, that was that was the main one that they were like, Oh, no, you have too many tattoos. Nobody’s ever going to hire you. And not only saying that, but like looking at me like I’m a piece of garbage when they do it. So weird, so judgy. Yeah. And I was the first person hired out of that class, and I was hired for a lead role in in a YouTube series that’s got 2.9 million views on it. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s really weird how. And now here I’m at in my career, I got a film called Adrenaline. I filmed out in Europe two years ago and I filmed it with Louis Mandylor from the Debt Collector. Oh my. Yeah, Louis and Costas were in that movie and I’m the leading lady in it as an FBI agent. Dun dun, duh. You know, and and it’s right now it’s running the European train. Right now it’s in Japan. Brazil. It just got released in Germany and just here in America shortly.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:11] You’re all over the world.

Constance Payne: [00:17:12] Yeah. Yeah, It’s been. It’s been. It’s cool. And. And then I just hang out here in little Woodstock. I know, right? I’m like.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:19] That’s so conservative compared to like, considering what you do in your genre and what you’re interested in and how you present yourself like it still works for you. Everything falls into place for you. That’s so cool though, because you’re being your authentic self.

Constance Payne: [00:17:32] Yeah, exactly. And you know, like a lot of my good friends, they’re all like senior citizens and stuff like that. Like, I, I.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:41] I love it, though.

Constance Payne: [00:17:42] Yeah. I mean, I’m like, I’m wholesome, but deadly.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:46] You’re on both sides of the spectrum. I feel like I am, too, because I’m kind of like I have, like I was saying, I’m a bit introverted, but I’m a bit extroverted. I have a rebellious side to me, but I also like to fit in. I have like, I’m I don’t know what I am. I I’m a radio host at the moment though.

Constance Payne: [00:18:02] Yeah, I would say. And you know what? That’s okay. Yeah. I don’t know what I was this morning, but then I realized that I was still stuck in this body. So. Yeah. So we do make the best of it. We work with what we have.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:15] All right. So how did you get into the acting industry here in Atlanta? So you started were you in Daytona first?

Constance Payne: [00:18:20] Yeah, I was in Daytona and I was going through my first divorce. I know that sounds like a fucking loser right there. No, it doesn’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:27] This is like the state of the way things are. I think the stronger we get, the harder it is to put up with a lot of things that don’t work. So I just think that’s the way the state of women in general.

Constance Payne: [00:18:36] Yeah. So, yeah, so I was on number one and we were going through a divorce and I and I decided I wanted something for myself. I’d spent so many years dedicated to his company helping make that grow and all that and, and being taken advantage of. So I started taking this acting class. That was the one I told you about that I got hired out of that. They told me that I wouldn’t be able to succeed.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:57] I would I would think about that every day. I think I would have so much pleasure out of knowing what really happened. Girl, I’ve.

Constance Payne: [00:19:03] Actually only taken, like, two acting classes in my whole life. Yeah, that’s another thing I don’t do. Like, there’s like, this whole list of things that they tell actors to do here in Atlanta. They have to have this. You have to do that. And if you don’t do this and you don’t do that, nobody will ever take you seriously. And I don’t do any of that stuff. I just yeah, I’m like totally against the core. I don’t even think my website is functional right now for my acting, and I don’t care because I get scripts in the mail all the time. Like I’m, you know, I’ll do some auditions here and there, but they’re really high level auditions. I’m not doing any, you know, basic stuff here. But then most parts people just send me a message like, Hey, here’s a script, here’s the part read for this. Are you interested? It’s always lead co-lead or a very strong supporting. And you know, because with budgets and movies like under $2 million that’s that’s considered ultra low budget. Wow. Yeah, I know, right?

Sharon Cline: [00:20:00] Yes. For me too. So yeah.

Constance Payne: [00:20:02] I know.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:03] For my life. I can’t imagine.

Constance Payne: [00:20:04] I can’t wait to say that at my company. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:08] We’re low budget. I know. It’s such disrespect. But I can’t imagine what’s considered like a mid-budget what’s considered a high budget.

Constance Payne: [00:20:17] Anything over 2 million? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:19] I suppose that’s true. I want specifics. Well, but that’s interesting because really people are coming to you. You don’t have to go out there and try to sell yourself in some ways, like I’m sure actors do, like I do with auditioning for voice over work. That’s kind of like a sale, like I’m trying to sell myself.

Constance Payne: [00:20:35] I mean, I do and I don’t, I guess like Facebook, I’m friends with a lot of people on Facebook, so my network is really there, most of my directors and producers and, you know, and I’ll go to certain events that actors typically don’t go to. Like I went to the AFM this last year, the American Film Market in Santa Monica, and there was a really good move. I met a lot of people making a lot of movies and a lot of people want to put me in their movies, you know? And it’s not like it’s really a distribution festival. It’s not something that actors, unless you were in the movie and your company made it or whatever, you’re not really there.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:09] But that’s thinking outside the box.

Constance Payne: [00:21:11] Yeah. And I just like met everybody. I cut the line, you know what I mean? Like, these are all the people selling their movies, all the directors, and these are the people that I wanted to say hi and not have to stand in a line to possibly, you know, work my way through all these auditions for years to maybe eventually work with you if I get so lucky, Right?

Sharon Cline: [00:21:33] Because really, I mean, I know that you have a unique look and a unique sound. Everything’s cool. But there is there’s got to be a level of competition that you’re always thinking, okay, this person could have potentially had this part.

Constance Payne: [00:21:45] Glad I got it. Honestly, I don’t really care. I mean, if somebody love that. Yeah, like if somebody else gets a job, there’s nobody that I have personally met that looks similar to me. There might be other like females with tattoos. They don’t have them the way that I have mine. They’re not as buff as me, girl. I’m a I’m a big little lady. All right? I’m breaking at 125 pounds. Five foot four. Constance Payne is the destroyer. So, you know, like, I am who I am, and people there are. They’re going to like it and hire me or they’re going to get somebody else. But, you know, I go all in when I do stuff. I’m fun to work around. I’m not I know when to shut up. I’ve been on a couple of sets where people just don’t stop. Really. Yeah, Yeah. And it’s really hard.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:37] I’ve heard that one of the things that I’ve learned through voice over work in particular is when you’re working with directors or script writers, people who are who are making the copy. If you’re a pleasant person to work with and for it’s such a different like people will come back to me because it was easy, you know, as opposed to working with someone who may sound a little bit different or whatever. If there’s any resistance there, they don’t want to go down that road. Y y you know, it’s so nice to have a nice experience. So I was happy to hear that you feel like that’s a valuable asset.

Constance Payne: [00:23:09] Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s I mean, that’s I mean, shit. I prefer to work with people that are easy, like in film. Like, there’s. I mean, like I said, we got a little mini mini company and there’s certain people that I will never hire again and people that have been friends with and it just because, like while you’re cool to have a cup of coffee with on set you I can’t do you and I found it like personally insulting because here I am giving somebody an opportunity by being in one of my films and being opposite of me. And. And you’re acting the way that you’re acting. And that’s insulting because you clearly have no idea how hard I work to do what I do.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:50] It is a disrespect because you are providing an opportunity that someone would have worked extremely hard to get.

Constance Payne: [00:23:56] Oh yeah, you cut the line and you disrespect me.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:01] That sounds like a movie quote.

Constance Payne: [00:24:02] Yeah, I’m just glad that we’re only concentrating on little like 5 to 10 minute spots right now because we are. We’ve got a couple features coming up next year that we’re partnering up with people on and they will not be involved in those, you know, and I’d rather have you fuck up on a small one than really show your ass on something big and there’d be an actual problem here.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:25] I can’t imagine. So it’s interesting. You’ve got like friends that you can not work with but be friends with. Yeah, but then you’ve got people that you work with, I’m sure in this industry where you’re like, We couldn’t be friends. Glad to work with you. You know?

Constance Payne: [00:24:37] Uh, you know, it’s kind of funny on that one. Me I don’t really want to work with in the film industry. Like, you know, with forensics, I’m always going to work with all types of crazy people and, you know, all like, all different levels of personality. And that’s that’s what I find interesting about that occupation. But in film, I can choose. I definitely can because I want to always have a good experience on set. I don’t want to be arguing with anybody. You know, you can’t ruin the tone on set. And that’s what I didn’t like about, you know, certain people I’ve worked with in the past is that now half of my acting ability is going. Towards trying to keep the set at a certain tone. Otherwise you’re going to shut down for real. And this whole day has been wasted. You know, it’s thousands of dollars down the toilet because you want to have a moment? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:27] So how is how realistic are forensic shows?

Constance Payne: [00:25:32] It depends on which one you’re watching.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:33] Okay. What would you say is the most realistic?

Constance Payne: [00:25:35] I would say the Samuel L Jackson movie, The Cleaner, was a very. How everything’s broken down and, you know, suiting up and very, very on point with that. So if you’re looking for something new age, that kind of gives you an idea. I would say that for sure.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:54] So what is not realistic?

Constance Payne: [00:25:58] Well, you know, it’s funny you say that. We were shooting a commercial for the forensics company a couple of weeks ago, and I was on the phone with my other producers, and they were like, All right, well, we’ll interview you and we’ll set up a scene. We’ll have like, you know what we’ll do, like the chalk outline and then maybe throw a leg in there. And I was like, I was like, That’s so Hollywood and like old school Hollywood to I don’t even remember the last time I saw a chalk line. Was that like Alfred Hitchcock? You know, like, what are we.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:32] Who are you trying to target here?

Constance Payne: [00:26:33] Negative. Negative, negative. We are not doing that. And there’s not going to be a whole leg, though. I mean, I have found you know, I did find a I find interesting things sometimes, but it was a little excessive what they were asking. So we just went with the pool, a standard pool of blood. And then I made some some chunks of skull and teeth out of clay real quick and tossed those. Yeah, toss those in there and just set up my crime scene tape.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:59] And is there anything you’re afraid of? Like when you go on to a job site, are you ever afraid of what you’re going to see?

Constance Payne: [00:27:06] I mean, I’ve I’ve seen a lot and I’ve seen it all. I mean, I would say, like when when cats or rats pop out of nowhere and they’ll spook, you know, you’re already kind of you’re in this cryptic environment already and now now throw like animals flailing around that are, you know, disgusting. Yeah. You know, you know, that’ll be like, ah. But then I’m like, oh, okay. That was just an ugly cat.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:31] I didn’t think you were going to say that. I didn’t think you were like, you know, the jump scare moment I was thinking.

Constance Payne: [00:27:36] About the only thing that scares me.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:37] Yeah, I would say I think it’s something else. I don’t know what. Just the notion of like, what you’re actually interacting with and and what happened behind what you’re interacting with. I don’t know.

Constance Payne: [00:27:46] No, I mean, I do think about all those things sometimes, you know, when I when I’ll take up stuff from 33rd party companies, I don’t know until I’m there until like I kind of discover and go through it until like the end. So that mystery of figuring out, Oh, that’s how this went down. And they feel, Oh, whoa.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:07] Okay, interesting. How many jobs do you do? Like a week? A month? Is it all the time constant.

Constance Payne: [00:28:13] It’s it’s sporadic. It’s all over the place. Like, I can I can I might work, like two, three weeks solid, you know, like, depending, like, let’s say there’s a big horde and a bunch of dead bodies in between on other calls. You know what I mean? Like it. It’s so all over the place. Or, you know, if I’m going to be on set, then I’ve got somebody else to kind of cover for me and take calls. But I mean, it’s hard. I think there’s something in the moon and the stars, too, with it. I know that sounds weird. We were just.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:38] Talking about that before the show, that sometimes things just happen. It just.

Constance Payne: [00:28:42] Happens. It’s like it’ll be like Murder week or Suicide Week. You know what I mean? It’s just. It’s very.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:48] Interesting. So, yeah. Is it Christmas time where things tend to pick up, you know, how there are like themes that there are moments that are more emotional during certain parts of the year or something like that?

Constance Payne: [00:28:58] Yeah, there’s I mean, it depends. It’s very like I said it each month does its own weird thing.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:05] Wild Do you ever see something on the news where you’re like, Oh, that’s the whole story behind what I cleaned up?

Constance Payne: [00:29:10] Yeah. And it usually aligns with what I’ve seen or sometimes, you know, like my, my buddies at the, you know, the police department or the sheriff’s office or fire department or whatever, they’ll they’ll tell me what happened.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:24] Interesting, because. Okay, so I know it’s.

Constance Payne: [00:29:26] Not I’m sorry. Sometimes I get a totally different version from the homeowner.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:30] Oh, no, really.

Constance Payne: [00:29:32] I’ve had people tell me I don’t live here and their mail is their name in the mail is everywhere. Oh, they know. You’re kidding.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:37] Yeah. Yeah, that’s crazy.

Constance Payne: [00:29:39] Yeah, it’s so weird.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:41] Like, flat out lies.

Constance Payne: [00:29:42] Flat out like I wasn’t going to know somebody stole all your mail and hid it in this house, lady. Like.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:50] So you deal with personality types all the time.

Constance Payne: [00:29:53] Everybody’s mentally sick in some kind of capacity, You know, It just depends on the level what you’re dealing with. Some people just get sad. You know, some people, their loved one dies, their partner dies, and then they get a depression room or depression house, as I like to call it. And and then one day they finally decide that they’ve had enough. Up in there. They’re ready to move forward in life, and that’s when I step in.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:16] So how many other companies are out there like yours, even in this Woodstock area? Because I see that you I typed it out. You service Cherokee Cobb, Bartow, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Clayton, Henry, Fayette, Douglas and Forsyth Counties. That’s many counties.

Constance Payne: [00:30:33] Yeah, that’s everybody. So anybody that’ll call. I mean, it depends. I mean, the drive time and everything depends because I’ve got two service vehicles, I’ve got a big old truck and then I got a little car for zipping around. So, like, that’s what I keep. Everything just depends. Sometimes I might just need a bucket, you know, full of some gear. Sometimes I got to pull out the heavy equipment. Just disposing of mattresses, furniture, all You know, it’s every unique case. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:03] So how much does what you see visually in your business affect how you help out or influence your acting career? In other words, like, if you know what something genuinely, really looks like as a crime scene and you go on to a set and you’re like, None of this looks even remotely normal.

Constance Payne: [00:31:21] Well, yeah. And that’s what I like about the acting community now, is like everybody’s wanting to get the realistic look. They just don’t know what it is in certain types of things, which I mean, I think it’s kind of funny. It’s like if you’re going to write a movie about like military personnel or detectives that maybe you might want to have a former on staff for writing, you know what I mean? For dialog purposes.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:44] I heard they had someone like that on like E.R. They had someone like, I don’t know if it was Michael Crichton or whoever it was, but someone who had like a real MD.

Constance Payne: [00:31:52] Yeah. Understanding of what we’re doing here today.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:55] It’s not going to be super fake, you know, it can actually have an element of realism to it. And that’s another.

Constance Payne: [00:32:00] Thing about preparing for yourself for, for set. Like if, if I were to cast somebody as an attorney and put them in one of my movies and I don’t see any and you do your research by watching other television shows versus doing your own personal research on your own reconnaissance. I can tell the difference that is being lazy, like, you know, interesting or being motivated.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:24] What’s your favorite acting job that you’ve gotten?

Constance Payne: [00:32:31] I mean, I guess you’d have to be more specific on the question of like just the content or I mean.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:36] How about this? What has been the most satisfying acting job that you’ve had where you were just like you left, you finished it, you were just like, Damn, that is why I’m here on this planet, is to have moments like this, jobs like this.

Constance Payne: [00:32:48] Well, I was butt naked, covered in blood on the streets of Miami about four years ago doing this film called Sadie.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:57] Like they they had.

Constance Payne: [00:32:59] Closed off this street in the like, we’re outside. Okay? It’s like between the hours of ten and four in the morning. And I spent that entire time covered in corn sirup and coagulated blood taking a stroll through hell. And I was very I found it very liberating, especially when we’re, like, wrapping up and I’m in this bathtub in the middle of an alley. You know, they’ve got it lit all like funky and stuff. And. And this truck driver, No, he drives by ever so. And he had his phone up and he was filming me and I’m like, just sitting there and I’m just covered in blood and I’m waving. You know, there’s a lot of good moments on that. I actually chased after the goat, too, because every, you know, at the gates of hell, there’s always a goat. And they took the rope off of of him against the advice of the goat handler. And then the goat took off. And I’m the only athlete on set. So now here I am, butt naked, covered in blood, running down the streets of Miami after a fucking goat.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:02] Not many people can say that. Definitely not been said on our show before. I think that’s amazing. Yeah.

Constance Payne: [00:34:07] I mean, I saved the goat, you know? And that was really fun. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever saved anything in real life on set before. Since then.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:14] Well, if you weren’t an athlete, that goat might have, like, really been out there today.

Constance Payne: [00:34:19] We would have owed somebody $350. I think that’s what the going rate you know how hard it was to find a goat down in Miami because of Santeria. Everybody’s looking at us like we’re crazy, like we’re going to murder this goat or something. And I was like, I swear, it’s just the movie. We’re not going to hurt the goat like.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:36] But they don’t know for sure.

Constance Payne: [00:34:38] But they don’t know because yeah, because we’re all flying in from LA. Like.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:44] Oh God, I like people I don’t even know. I don’t know what it’s like. But I can imagine, like if you’re, if you were to go back into your, into your history as well of acting like, is there a job where you’re like, I wish I had never signed up to do this position or this role?

Constance Payne: [00:34:57] Yeah, yeah. I’m not going to mention the title of it because that director is a piece of garbage. This is all over $300. And it was just a very I could tell that the director was chauvinist because, you know, it was one of those I’m a director, writer, producer, and I get his script and, and all the all the women in the script, they would always just follow the men around and agree with them all the time. And in what society does that ever happen? Okay.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:24] Fantasy land. Yeah.

Constance Payne: [00:35:25] The women just they were just like, oh, yes, yeah. Oh, no, you know? And so I could tell it was a chauvinist from, from the script writing and you know, that he didn’t know what he was doing. And I’m like, okay, whatever. You’re going to do this low budget film. And, and I went ahead and I did it. And and he was just really rude. Just this was like six, seven years ago. So it’s just very condescending, very rude. And then all out, he just didn’t flat out didn’t pay me three, you know, $300. And he must have forged my signature on the thing because you can’t get distribution in the film industry without all signed signatures from from actors. And there was a bunch of other people that had complained that they hadn’t been paid and that they also did not sign any type of contract or anything. And now he’s on a second film. So I’m just kind of letting this sit back because, I mean, my name is a I’m a registered trademark.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:19] Are you like an R?

Constance Payne: [00:36:20] Yeah, I’ve got the R with the little circle. Yeah. Really? Yeah. That’s amazing. Yeah. For acting and my clothing and my jewelry and stuff like that.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:28] Like, we could talk all day. Yeah, we could.

Constance Payne: [00:36:30] We could talk all day.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:31] That’s like, a whole other side I didn’t know about. That’s so.

Constance Payne: [00:36:33] Cool. Yeah. So I’m just kind of sitting back on that one and waiting until it’s actually relevant.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:38] Interesting. What do you think people don’t know about the acting industry that you think, okay, here’s my chance to really tell people some things that I’ve learned.

Constance Payne: [00:36:47] Well, I would have to say that I definitely don’t have to sleep with anybody to get where I’m at. I think that I find that like a very common thing. People, you know, when they meet me, they’re always like, Oh, you must, you know, Oh, are they looking at me like I haven’t busted my ass to do this? Now, there might be stories from back in the day where women had done that. And however, whatever, whatever as you, as you. But for, for people to just, you know, think that just because you’re in this industry that that you got to sleep your way up to the top compromise yourself. Yeah it’s just not true. Like people hire me because I’m a badass female and that’s what they’re looking for. They’re looking for, you know, some, some some fight moves and some feistiness. And I don’t have to sleep with anybody to get where I’m going. You know why? Because they write me a fucking paycheck, right? Right. You know, like. Like that. That’s.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:37] There’s your proof.

Constance Payne: [00:37:38] There you go. Yeah. And I guess, you know, in my most recent failed marriage, it was it was hard towards the end of that because I fly out a lot. You know, you got people paying for my my flights, my hotel rooms. They’re paying my salary for the week to one month that I’m on a set. And here he was thinking, I’m on vacation. Like I’m literally working from the time my plane lands to the time it goes up. I don’t. And if I’m not working and busting my ass on set, I’m exhausted and hiding in my hotel room. Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:11] So this the divided life feeling where you have your life, but then there’s a perception of what your life is really like.

Constance Payne: [00:38:17] Exactly. And I mean, I do a good job of showing because there’s a lot of great things about it. You know what I mean? I love my life, you know, But it’s not every single day I’m not doing lingerie photo shoots, you know what I mean? Getting my hair styled and, you know, makeup put on by Betty. Like, I’m not, you know, I’m not doing all that. When I do have those moments, it’s fun and I enjoy them. And we’re doing it for work and, you know, and we all have a good time doing it. And then the other half of the time I might be in somebody’s hoarding house shithole, having a piss in my own coffee cup because I ain’t hovering over that. Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:56] What a diverse life. Yeah, but have you had to deal? I know we talked just briefly. You mentioned about a director being pretty misogynistic, but have you had to deal with much of what’s considered the MeToo movement? Have you had have you had issues in that way in the in your acting career?

Constance Payne: [00:39:13] I haven’t had anybody. I think people I’m apparently I’m intimidating. I’m a bit intimidating. I’ve had people verbally try to test the waters. I could tell, you know what I mean? You can tell. And I always direct a conversation very quickly, especially when I pick up on one of those hints of somebody trying to gear it towards that way. Like when if a new director or producer hits me up on online and I could tell they don’t know how to have a conversation with me, the first thing I say is, All right, cool. You know, if you’d like to see my reels and resume, let me know. I can drop them to you here. If you shoot me your email address, I can send it there. And either, yeah, let it be. And either they’ll, they’ll say, Yeah, I’d love to see your stuff. Send it here, send it there or they don’t respond. And if they don’t respond well.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:03] Then you know.

Constance Payne: [00:40:04] Then I know, I don’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:06] Know why. I just sort of assumed it was very pervasive and everyone has to deal with it for some reason in my mind.

Constance Payne: [00:40:12] I mean, there’s a community, a very small community here and there, and it’s really about the the women that I’ve seen have those experiences. They’re they’re coming from a sense of desperation and wanting to be liked and and move ahead. And so they’re not seeing the signs of somebody with their bullshit.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:33] Do you think there’s an energy around that kind of an actor that is like, I will do whatever just so that I can like, I’ll get to know you and I’ll be close to you and I’ll do whatever I can.

Constance Payne: [00:40:42] Yeah. Or thinking that that this person is, is it at all valuable to their career and worth pursuing in any type of professional way, personal, professional, whatever way. But, you know, you have to identify what value does that have, Does that person have towards your goals and where you’re getting at in life? And, you know, I mean, I surround myself by good people who do what they say they’re going to do in the timely manner that they allow themselves or that I kind of have to be like, Oh, I’ll have it done next week. I’m like, Ah, I know you won’t till the end of the month, but that’s fine, you know, At least I know, but not ever getting that task done. That says something about your work ethic. Exactly. And it’s not because, oh, you got a million things to do and you’re so busy. Well, aren’t we motherfucking all? You know, that’s really presumptuous of you to think that you’re the busiest person in Woodstock or in Atlanta, Georgia, or these United States of the world, for that matter.

Sharon Cline: [00:41:37] We all have the same amount of time, right? Yeah.

Constance Payne: [00:41:39] We all got 24 hours in a day. And, you know, just like hitting the gym. I’ve had to wake up earlier sometimes and move my schedule around this way or that way to be able to to, to hit, you know, the amount of hours that I need to look, the way that I need to look for whatever I got coming up. Like right now I’m doing a weight cut. You know, I spent three hours jogging yesterday out in the hot sun. Yeah. And oh, I’m waddling. I’m modeling today. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:04] Like you are. You look good. You look like you’re super strong, ready to take everything on, which is probably like a good thing, right?

Constance Payne: [00:42:09] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, at any any given moment, if. If the situation were to arise. Stand back. I’ve got it.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:17] Like. But how interesting. You have to really mold yourself to be whatever. I mean I know that’s what an actor does, but I’ve never really spoken to someone who actually is doing something actively well.

Constance Payne: [00:42:26] There are certain things like some people, they’re like, they don’t. They just like, This is the way I look and. That’s it. You know, and I’m that goes along with the method. Part of the acting is that I like to embody myself and, you know, always changing my looks and up and down and, you know, like this next one, I’m playing a Ranger like a state park ranger for a few scenes in a film. And I really want my my cheekbones to to pop hard on this one because the last couple of films, I just felt a little bit fuller and, you know, just weird stuff like that.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:59] But that’s that’s your assessment, not someone’s told you to change.

Constance Payne: [00:43:03] No, nobody tells me to change. I do it because when I get this footage back with because I think I’m going to be doing a Southern accent in this one as well, like a southern hippie type of. And so I have a whole look and a whole different sound in frame. And so that’s just showing range and all different types of characters that I can play.

Sharon Cline: [00:43:26] Opens up potential.

Constance Payne: [00:43:27] Other, yeah, for people to see me different types of ways.

Sharon Cline: [00:43:30] What other accents do you do? Southern accent.

Constance Payne: [00:43:32] I can pretty much do anything. Honestly, if I listen to like I’ll Google on on YouTube and stuff like that and it’ll take a little bit of research and then, you know, I’ll start reading a book in that accent and like hitting each every word because that’s my trick on set when if I because you can’t just practice the script, you know, if you’re doing an accent, you can’t just read the script. You got to read the whole book. It could be a book about anything. It doesn’t matter.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:00] But you’re reading it in the accent.

Constance Payne: [00:44:01] You’re reading it in the accent, and you have to read it out loud. And that way when the script changes on set because it always fucking does, you’re you’re spending less time, you can just, you know, assimilate. Yeah, you’re just assimilate to it. You’re just, you’re already there.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:16] You can do a British accent. I’m terrible at a British accent.

Constance Payne: [00:44:20] Oh well I used to have an RV and I had to stay at senior living communities.

Speaker3: [00:44:30] And so I would call in my little old lady voice. Oh, my gosh, that’s crazy.

Constance Payne: [00:44:38] That’s a good one, right?

Sharon Cline: [00:44:39] A really good one. I could never do it. It sounds so good. I’m like, it gets even.

Constance Payne: [00:44:42] That’s just like off hint like if I if I focus and sit down, I could do it. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. It was not prepared for it, but I mean, shoot, I do. I mean, literally anything. I just got to listen to it and I get them.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:54] That’s a skill. That’s like a Meryl Streep skill. Yeah. You know, whereas she could do any accent and it sounds so authentic and normal, like. Like she lives this every day, but that’s kind of super chill. Yeah, exactly.

Constance Payne: [00:45:03] And it’s super chill because that’s another thing like not overthinking it.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:07] Oh, yeah. Well, that’s my problem.

Constance Payne: [00:45:08] Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, same thing in the cleanup. You know, if I’ve got somebody like brain and coagulated Blood, my I can’t really think about what I’m about touching. You know? I just got to. Just do it. Just do it.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:20] Just do it. But it’s sacred work, you know? It is sacred work.

Constance Payne: [00:45:24] It is. I mean, you’re dealing with the dead, you know, And like, I have a lot of respect for the dead. And, you know, I haven’t had any ghost experiences or anything like that and doing my job, which is very strange because when I lived in Daytona Beach in my first marriage, we lived in a haunted neighborhood. And yeah, I had like three, four different houses in the same neighborhood. Each and every one of them was haunted. It was kind of like every time we moved, like the there were more ghosts at the new place, but then the old ones would follow us. Yeah, it was crazy. And then it got to the point where it was like daily activity and it was insane. And then found a psychic. She did some. It was all through text message too. Really?

Speaker4: [00:46:05] I know it sounds like bullshit, right? And that was.

Constance Payne: [00:46:07] Like, this is garbage. And then days went by. Weeks went by, months went by. Never had an experience since then.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:14] Well, there’s so much I don’t understand out there. Yeah. You know of why things work the way they work and turn it on.

Constance Payne: [00:46:20] And turn it off like. And. And that was another thing. I was kind of scared to get into the forensic cleaning because that was a very terrifying experience in those houses. And, you know, just especially the unknown and hearing all these sounds and scary things.

Speaker4: [00:46:34] That’s why I was.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:35] Thinking it would be kind of spooky, But you’re like, it’s just when the animals come flying out of.

Speaker4: [00:46:39] Nowhere. Yeah, just the animals. I mean, after.

Constance Payne: [00:46:41] The first couple jobs, I was like, All right, nobody’s following me home, so this is cool.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:45] Shoe.

Constance Payne: [00:46:45] I think they know that. I respect them. You know that. That I’m trying to help out here. I don’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:51] Know. That’s an energy, you know, a respectful energy of sacred work. I think that’s the way I would look at it, too. And not everybody’s got the right disposition to do it. So I appreciate that. Like I was thinking how nice it is that I get to meet all these different business owners that do things that I could never do that are not in my wheelhouse or even thought about. But I really have a true respect for anybody that is following a dream that they have. And I think that’s so cool about you too, because you’ve got lots of different dreams that you’re following and are being successful in, in lots of ways. And I think What would advice would you give someone who is out there wanting to pursue a job or even getting into the. Acting field. What would you suggest for them?

Constance Payne: [00:47:34] Quit being a pussy.

Speaker4: [00:47:36] That’s our fearless formula. That’s my fearless formula. Because I’ve had.

Constance Payne: [00:47:40] So many people come after me for business advice, for regular business stuff, and then business advice for specifically being an actor. And I can talk to people for about two hours, kind of interview them, figure out what’s your dream, you know what I mean, and give them some breakdowns of, Oh, hey, you could do this. These are options. Da da da da da da da da da da. Two hours later, every single time. Sharon, You know what they say to me? They say, Well, what if I.

Speaker5: [00:48:06] Do all that and it doesn’t work out?

Sharon Cline: [00:48:08] I know.

Constance Payne: [00:48:09] And I’m like, Now I’m pissed because you wasted two hours of my time while I’m trying to help you out being kind. And now you want to have this loser mentality of you’re afraid to fail. Do you think I’ve always I’ve not been successful at everything. It’s been years in a lot of failure to get where I’m at and a lot of different.

Sharon Cline: [00:48:28] What makes you keep going?

Constance Payne: [00:48:29] Not being a pussy. I told you. I told.

Speaker4: [00:48:32] You. It’s really that simple. It feels like.

Sharon Cline: [00:48:35] It should be more complicated because really, people, including myself, I get in my own head and it’s just like, no, I get overwhelmed and I can’t face, I don’t know, not succeeding in some way my family or their excuses that I could come up with like 50 of them right now of why I can’t do.

Speaker4: [00:48:49] Something.

Constance Payne: [00:48:50] Well, a lot of family shame is a big thing that that leads a lot of people in their lives. And, you know, and that’s another big thing about being an actor is you literally have to not care what other people think or anything because you get caught in your head like that. You’re going to choke on camera. You know, if you’re like, Oh, God, was that okay? Was that you? Don’t you know what I mean? Like, you don’t need approval. You know, you just you just do what you do and approve of yourself and be like, all right, this is my big goal. I’m going to break this down into, all right, at the end of the year, I’m going to do this. And now let’s break this down into quarters and then let’s do, you know, monthlies and then be proud of yourself every time that you accomplish one of those. And then you’ll see the light at the end of time.

Sharon Cline: [00:49:32] Not overwhelming.

Constance Payne: [00:49:33] Yeah. When you break it down. When you break it down. Yeah. Everybody sees everything. All in this. This big mess. It’s all over the place. It’s all these thoughts and ideas and everything. And sometimes if you just like, get rid of all the bullshit and just focus on them, it’s like. Like building a house, you know? You don’t start putting the roof on first when you ain’t got no structure. But people.

Sharon Cline: [00:49:48] Want the roof, They want.

Speaker4: [00:49:49] It done. They want the yeah.

[00:49:50] They want to hurry up and done because it’s raining tomorrow. It’s raining tomorrow. Yeah. What are you going to do with all the roof.

Sharon Cline: [00:49:57] But that’s what people like the end result. But you know, I like that you’re talking about like the small things can be just as satisfying that you accomplished. It doesn’t have to be the roof, but it can be just that you have a plan.

Speaker4: [00:50:07] Yeah, exactly.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:08] Little things.

Constance Payne: [00:50:08] Yeah. Live in the tent, out back for a minute until you can save up for all the nails and the lumber.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:13] That feels so doable and, like, positive and accessible. You know, a little result is something that I can. I can grab on to and make that my goal. Like, if I did if I auditioned for ten auditions this week, well, that’s great. You know, that’s that’s what I wanted. Okay, well, then what’s supposed to happen will happen. You know, let go of the result. Interesting. These are all things like.

Constance Payne: [00:50:35] Obviously you want to book those roles just like everybody else auditioning for them. But the fact that they’re even looking at you and listening to you, that’s a big accomplishment right there.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:44] Right there. Statistics that show me how often people listen to my auditions, my reels, all of those things. And so or if I get shortlisted, which is like round two, all.

Speaker4: [00:50:53] Those things are.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:54] Fun. Yeah. So I get a real kick out of that.

Speaker4: [00:50:56] That’s good.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:57] So yeah, it can be very motivating and then it can also be demotivating because I’ll be like, Oh my gosh, Like I worked so hard on all of these and nobody liked any of them. And it’s like, Why am I in this business? But you know, when you get booked, then it’s like, Oh, well, this is why I’m in this.

Speaker4: [00:51:09] I’m a baby all the time. I’ll go like two.

Constance Payne: [00:51:11] Weeks and I don’t book anything as an actor. And then I’m like, Oh.

Speaker4: [00:51:14] I’m a loser. Nobody likes me. And then it’s like something.

Constance Payne: [00:51:17] Huge happens.

Speaker4: [00:51:17] And then you’re like, Oh, well, no, I’m not. Yeah, I’ve got like three big features.

Constance Payne: [00:51:20] I’m doing that. What am I even quit crying.

Speaker4: [00:51:24] Quit crying.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:25] All right, well, if someone wanted to get in touch with you, how can they do that?

Constance Payne: [00:51:29] Facebook is the best. Facebook would be the best way to get in contact with me. Constance Payne. Yes. And then also my website for forensic cleaning is Fresh start biocom. So if you need anything like that, let me know.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:45] I’ve had so much fun chatting with you. I really we could talk a very long time. Like I could see we have to have you have to come back.

Speaker4: [00:51:52] Of course.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:52] We’ll talk about your new projects, too, because there’s so many really fun, exciting things happening. But I think one of the best things about it is that you are truly authentically you. So what is yours was really meant to be yours, You know, it’s super cool. It’s super cool to watch and everybody listening. Thank you for tuning into Fearless formula. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Tagged With: Fresh Start Biohazard Cleaning Services

BRX Pro Tip: Sales Tip – After You Get a Yes, Stop Talking

May 29, 2023 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Sales Tip - After You Get a Yes, Stop Talking
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BRX Pro Tip: Sales Tip – After You Get a Yes, Stop Talking

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you, Lee, here’s a little sales tip. When you get to a yes, stop talking.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:11] Yeah, it’s funny to watch. I think it happens a lot with younger salespeople that they, sometimes, get so entranced in their own storytelling that they’re missing buying signals from their prospect. And when the prospect says yes, stop talking, end the meeting, and I think it’s something you say is don’t spend more time buying it back.

Stone Payton: [00:00:35] Exactly. Once you sold it, don’t buy it back.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:39] And I think that that discipline is important. Remember, the reason you’re having this conversation is to sell something. And once you’ve done that, leave. Like, don’t keep talking, don’t keep kind of rehashing different benefits or why they’re really, really going to really enjoy working with you because the more you’re talking after they bought it, all you’re doing is bringing up the possibility that you’re going to stumble upon something that they don’t like, and they don’t want, and they might stop being interested in what you’re selling. So, the bottom line is when you get a yes, stop talking, end the meeting, and then start onboarding them as a client.

Stone Payton: [00:01:20] Amen. I mean, I’ve specifically recommend it and I try to practice this discipline myself. For me, don’t just stop talking, stand up, get out of there.

BRX Pro Tip: How Your Best Customers Will Help You Sell

May 26, 2023 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: How Your Best Customers Will Help You Sell
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BRX Pro Tip: How Your Best Customers Will Help You Sell

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, the last two pieces of business that I wrote here locally at the Woodstock Studio, I didn’t sell it at all. It was people already in my circle, people I was already serving as clients and I just – all I had to do was not screw it up. So, let’s chat a little bit about how your best customers will help you sell.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Yeah. I think it’s – this is the easiest way to sell more is just talk more to your existing customers. You know, start asking them questions. They’ve already bought something from you, so they’ve already kind of trusted you. They’ve already kind of liked you. They’ve already established that you can help them achieve their goal.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] So, ask them what got them interested in working with you in the first place. Ask them what put them over the hump when it came to the actual buying decision. What information did they need to buy from you? What did you say that made them believe that you could make the pain of their problem go away? What did you say that made the math of the value-versus-cost equation work for them?

Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] The better you can answer all these questions, the faster you can automate a lot of your selling. So, if you can get your existing clients to educate you on what worked for them, then you can take that information and then implement it as part of your selling process. Because once you have the answers to all of this stuff, you can put it on your website, and then future customers can sell themselves.

Kyle Baxter with Big Bulldog Consulting

May 25, 2023 by angishields

Kyle-Baxter
Cherokee Business Radio
Kyle Baxter with Big Bulldog Consulting
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Kyle-Baxter-Big-Bulldog-ConsultingKyle Baxter, CEO of Big Bulldog Consulting, is from Rome, GA. He joined the U.S. Army in 1981 and served 10 years. He was a U.S. Airborne Ranger and Special Operations Operator.

Kyle worked in auto manufacturing for 16 years, 15 1/2 of that in leadership roles.

He owned his own business in Michigan, a convenience store he expanded to 2500 sq ft after the first year, adding a full deli and catering. Kyle ran the deli for 11 years, then sold it in 2012.

Kyle’s been a real Estate investor for 12 years. He became a Grant Cardone licensee, coaching businesses on marketing and sales.  He bought the 10X Business Advisor Franchise in 2022.

Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:24] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s episode is brought to you in part by our local small business initiative, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors, defending capitalism, promoting small business and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Main Street warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors, Diesel David Inc. Please go check them out at diesel. David.com. You guys are in for a real treat this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Big Bulldog Consulting Mr. Kyle Baxter. Good morning sir.

Kyle Baxter: [00:01:14] Hey, good morning. Good morning. So I really appreciate the opportunity to come on with you this morning. I’ve just been really excited about it. I mean, you know, the radio is just really huge. When I found out about it, I got lucky. And the more I got looking at realizing just how big it actually was and the impact it has, and I’m probably your biggest fan. So. So from here forward, I am the mouth of the South. It will be put out there.

Stone Payton: [00:01:39] Well, it is a delight to have you in the studio. I got a thousand questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think a good place to start might be if you could articulate for me and our listeners mission purpose, what are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Kyle Baxter: [00:01:57] Man Well, let me tell you, Stone, I am a ten X business advisor. I partnered with Cardon Ventures, which is owned by Grant Cardon and Brandon Dawson. And, you know, Grant, if you don’t know Grant, it’s kind of shocking. But if you if you do, you know, Grant Cardone is the biggest, biggest promoter that they’ve got in the world, or at least in the United States. You know, number one sales guy rated by Forbes and everything, and Forbes even rated the number one influencer on social media. You don’t believe me? Get on there and check it out. He blows up Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I mean, he’s on all of them. And it’s just crazy. I thought I posted a lot. I’m nowhere close to Grant Cardone, but that’s part of his promotion thing. Of course, you know Brandon, he’s a he is the West guy, came from Wall Street and you know, his last company he had he he sold that company for 77% EBITDA, which was set a record in Wall Street for. I bet it did. Yeah. For I mean for a private company, he sold it for $151 million. This guy is what I call the master guru of growth and scaling businesses. And that’s one of the reasons I partner. I was already sold a grant. You know, I was a grant licensee for a while where I helped businesses, you know, grow the marketing and the sales.

Kyle Baxter: [00:03:15] And then this opportunity came on and they combined because they want business advisors to get out and help get the word out to everybody. And I thought, Are you kidding me? Yeah. Where do I start? Are you kidding me? This is just it’s really been an opportunity of a lifetime to me. I’m like, and everything you do with Cardone, I got to tell you, the licensee, the support in the background, dude, it’s. It’s phenomenal. I don’t care what anybody says. I couldn’t complain. I had to lie to complain. I mean, anything you want. Boom, boom, boom. And same way with Cardinal Ventures built the same way. It’s amazing. But anyway, our goal, you know, Cardinal Ventures goal is to right now they want to get 100,000 businesses kind of up under their wing. They’ve trained and instructed and assisted and and in five years be $1 billion company themselves. And I’ll tell you, you know, the the first year they started zero capital and excuse me and they they made $2.4 million and last year was year four there were 84 million. Wow. That’s crazy. And this year they’re on track to probably exceed 150 million just this year alone. So it’s crazy.

Stone Payton: [00:04:27] So tell me a little bit more about exactly who you guys are serving and why is there a an industry, a segment, a level of of advancement that a company has reached? Tell me a little bit more about them.

Kyle Baxter: [00:04:42] Well, let me tell you, our baseline customer is one at the first break point where they’re hitting, getting ready to go on to the second break point at $1 million a year revenue. Okay. Now. Don’t don’t take that as I would not help a business that’s under that, because I do. I’ll do them too. But that’s our main line to go from Breakpoint one to Breakpoint two. You know, the breakpoints go from 100,000 to 3 million breakpoint, one 3 million to 8 million breakpoint to 8 to 15 and 1525 on up scale. And typically when a company gets towards that end or they’re getting ready to go break out of that breakpoint to the following One is when it gets the toughest and the hardest for companies. Yeah, that’s what we do. And as far as the industries. Brandon. Has done tons and tons of information and studies all across the industries. There’s no set industry. We work. We work on it doesn’t matter from anywhere. If you’re an insurance company to HVAC, to a roofer, to any contractors, a dentist for that matter, you know, because Brandon’s company was actually a audiology company. It was audiology hearing aids. You know, I’m a hearing aid guy, and maybe if I’d have known him sooner, I could save some money, you know? But but, yeah, and that’s kind of our target market. But any business that wants to help us in that place or they’re wanting to grow and scale. I’ll go out of my way to help because Big Bulldog itself, our goal is to help as many businesses as we possibly can. That’s our personal goal. You know, our motto is we don’t succeed unless you succeed. And that’s just why that works. And I mean that.

Stone Payton: [00:06:23] Well, I’m sure there are a number of idiosyncrasies, specific, unique challenges in any single business. And I got to believe, I’ll say in the same breath, I’ll bet you see patterns, some of the same pathologies may be a little bit strong, but some of the same challenges and patterns. I don’t care if they’re manufacturing surfboards or pulling teeth, don’t you?

Kyle Baxter: [00:06:43] You know, you really do. It’s it’s crazy. I see it everywhere I go. All kinds of different businesses, you know, work with. You know, I ran my own business for about about 11 years in Michigan to a little convenience store. After the first year, I’m sitting there going, Man, this ain’t going to work. It’s not enough money because I didn’t do my research and I sure didn’t have Brandon Dawson backing me. I didn’t have the knowledge he’s given me then. Or maybe I could have boomed up. But I’m thinking this is not going to work. So I expanded 2500ft², you know, added food, put it in a full deli and catering. And of course, my wife was the boss. She ran that. She she’s the one who made all the money for us. I was the the face, the front man of the company. But she is the moneymaker, you know, Thank God. And but, you know, if I’d have had the knowledge then that I do now, based on working with with Brandon and Grant and, you know, them being my mentors, Speedway is a big convenience type outlet up north in that area. And I’d have been their competition. I’d probably put them out to beat them because if I did that, I’d have dominated my market. And that’s what businesses need to focus on now. They really need to quit worrying about their competitors and they need to focus on dominating the market. Who cares about your competitors? You need best practices, set your goals and go in and do what you got to do. It’s your marketing, it’s your sales. I mean, you know, hit the four, the four pillars of business and be structured and have a goal and go and do it.

Stone Payton: [00:08:06] So now that you’ve been at this a while, what are you finding the most rewarding about the work? What do you enjoy the most about it?

Kyle Baxter: [00:08:14] Let me tell you, the the most reward I get is when is when I’m dealing with a company. And they come through us and they’re dealing with myself or Kadon ventures. And you see within the 12 month, 18 month time frame that advancements they’ve made, you know, their their growth and their scale and just that amount of time. And to see the expression on these owners faces, it’s like life changing for them. It is for me too, because, you know, I make a crazy amount of money and what I do and I really think I can’t believe I get paid to do this because I love it. You know, we’ve got 53 million small businesses in United States today, and unfortunately, about, uh, probably about 25 million probably be out of business 3 to 5 years. And I don’t want that because people don’t understand that our economy is driven by small business. You know, it’s not the big guys, you know, and I’ll tell you this, and somebody may argue with me, but we’re going to argue. Go ahead. But I’ll tell you, I’m right. As you know, Apple, you know, I’m an Apple guy. I’m not one of those that are time Apple comes up something new I got to have because I’m not that techie. It’s just all my stuff talks. And I think Apple’s for idiots because you don’t have to be a computer guy to use it. You know, their software to me is easier than Microsoft. But you know what? If Apple or Apple were to go out of business today, it wouldn’t be a blip on economy. You know, and Apple’s got $90 million cash reserves. They do most of their stuff with debt. And as big as they are and what they do, you’d think if they went out of business that impact our economy wouldn’t even notice. It would not. You’d hear about it in the paper. But money wise is economy of scale goes up and down. Wouldn’t be a blip.

Stone Payton: [00:09:52] I agree with you 110%. Everything I read says that. But just also just anecdotally, you know, I hang out with business people a lot. I really do believe with all my heart. We’re the backbone of this country financially in a lot of other ways as well. Let’s talk about the work a little bit. I’m particularly interested in in the early stages of the work. What are some of the things that happened early on as you’re getting an engagement off the ground?

Kyle Baxter: [00:10:22] Well, you know, I’ll tell you what. Say, for instance, I get a get a business owner. We sit down and have a discussion. And there’s a few things we do. I have a small three page form. It’s no major deal. All you do is color in the little circles. It kind of gives me a background on, you know, what their chief personal, professional and financial goals are tied to the business. Because I need to know that. And because what are we going to do is once I know their ultimate goal, we’re going to go out. And Brandon does it with a lot of business too, goes out a ten year time time frame, then reverse engineers it back. So you put all the steps in place. So so you know where your targets are every month, You know, every quarter. Da da da on down. So you’re hitting that to get to the level of your goal. And then, you know, we review a lot of things with owners. You know, one of the things I do is I go over the seven forces of impact that drive value owners. You know, the first one is process documentation, performance management and enhancement, best practice, duplication, you know, high accountability standards, peer to peer benchmarking, financial alignment based on the impact and market opportunity. And of course, you know, each one of those alone is probably, you know, excited to talk about for an hour.

Stone Payton: [00:11:39] Well, I’ll make an observation real quick because I am a representative of this species that you’re out there trying to serve. And I have read about those things. I intellectually understand how powerful and impactful they are as an entrepreneur. You know, I own 40% of the Business RadioX network. I run one of the studios. I get so buried in the weeds and managing the day to day, putting out fires, celebrating, wins, you know, recovering from from challenges that it’s easy or at least for me personally, I won’t speak for the whole population, but it’s easy to let those seven things fade, isn’t it?

Kyle Baxter: [00:12:15] Oh, you know, it really is. And I think that’s one of the issues that affects business owners that I can help them out with. You know, as a business owner, you know, you get busy, you get your priorities. Say you’re really pushing, you’re really promoting your side, your salespeople over here, if you’ve got a sales team, maybe you only got a couple of sales team that’s still a sales team guys, you know, doing theirs. Maybe you got somebody doing your marketing, so you’re kind of leaving that to the wayside and you’re focusing on what you’re doing and you could miss some of those key things. Well, the way we structure businesses with Cardinal Ventures their way, Brandon Dawson’s Way, all those things are inputted, are part of the day to day operations. Your structure, your business is going to be arranged where every one of those elements are impacted in place. Structured. We do that for companies. It’s like a blueprint from start to finish where it’s not something you have to think and focus on every day. It’s part of the business atmosphere. It’s part of the culture.

Stone Payton: [00:13:15] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours at Big Bulldog and a process like you’re beginning to describe here? Do you yourself have to get out there and shake the trees a little bit? Is it all coming in through this own brand equity? Is it a mixture of the two? Do you find yourself having to eat your own cooking? How do you get the chance to start having those conversations with the people who should be seriously considering engaging you?

Kyle Baxter: [00:13:46] Let me tell you, I do a lot. You know, I am all over social media, and that’s one of the things that some of the businesses I deal with that may not be at the million dollar revenue yet, you know, the 100,000 between that era, because typically if a business has got their marketing and their sales side pretty much laid in pretty good, it’s not perfect, but pretty good. They should realistically be able to hit that million dollar a year revenue. You really should. And I could show them stats and data to back that. And so that’s usually what happens. I talked to some of the business owners that’s in that lower scale. The first thing I ask them, hey, you know, what’s your marketing budget? Well, I really don’t have one. You know, we got a website. I’m like, Great. How many leads? You know, are you getting on that website? Well. Couple a quarter, right. That’s not marketing. So, you know, there’s some rules. There’s the Ten Commandments of marketing. And the first one is money follows attention. That’s right out of Grant Cardone’s mouth. He’s absolutely correct. Number two is best known. Always beats the best. Assume nobody sees. If you post stuff on social media, just assume nobody sees it because you’d be surprised.

Kyle Baxter: [00:14:53] You don’t know that. That’s why if you want social media work, you got to post regularly 4 or 5 times a day. I mean, I mean, it can be time consuming. That’s why you hire somebody to do that. And then attention is the most valuable currency businesses have today. Okay. You know, and in the end, I want to come back to that, too. But speed is senior to quality. And somebody says, well, I got to have this perfect product. I got to have all the bugs out of it. I don’t want get it out there, Dave, You’re going to lose. You’re going to lose you pocketbook book. Put it out there. Here’s a prime example. Every time Microsoft puts out software, how many of those little emails you get from going, Hey, we got an update. Apple does the same thing. Yeah. Why? Because it wasn’t perfect. If they waited for it to be perfect, it never hit market. And the goal is to get your product or service to market and whoever gets to market the quickest, that’s the guys win. Guys or gals, you know, it doesn’t matter. And frequency comes before greatness, you know, And and I have to say this, this is part of marketing. It’s also for sales. No one thing can blow a deal.

Kyle Baxter: [00:16:01] Okay. You know, I’ve had people say, well, yeah, I sat down. I didn’t close that deal. You know, and I think it’s because well, you know, I show enthusiasm. No, that’s not it. No one thing will blow a deal. It’s going to be several. See, their value wasn’t built and price is nothing. I don’t care what anybody says. Price means nothing. Price is made up. It is. It’s just made up. And but if you build enough value in there, then price is no longer an issue because what you are is a salesperson. That’s what I am. I saw people’s problems. And if you go and figure out, get the nitty gritty, get to the baseline problem your customer wants to wants to solve. Price means nothing. They’ll pay whatever it takes to get rid of that problem. Not that you’re overcharging, you know what I’m saying? But. But it’s really just a made up number. It’s not it’s not the quintessential I hear sales people say, well, you know, we just lower the prices around here. You know, my sale, my closing ratio would go up. No, it’s not. They used to back up and look the mirror. You’re just not a good sell. What part of your salesmanship are you lacking in? Is it your greeting? You know the presentation.

Kyle Baxter: [00:17:11] Do you know how to close? Are you handling objections? Right way and all that? All those are processes. And Grant Cardone has mastered those, you know, and that’s one of the products that I have for my customers is Kardan University as a sales training program. Best in the world. It’s a little little snippet, videos, 2 to 3 minutes long and you know, you know, Khalil started out in the automotive business, you know, and I’ll tell you today he hated sales, didn’t want it sucked, couldn’t talk. Nobody. He didn’t want to deal with nobody, but he couldn’t get a job. He had an accounting degree. Nobody would hire him. And so. Well, well, he figured he said, well, I’ve got to do something. So he said, You know what? I’m just even though I hate, I’m going to be the best sales guy. There is. And so he put his mind to it. He did. He really turned There’s probably over 300 auto dealerships today, if not more, that have have Kardan University. I guarantee you any car dealership that’s Kardan University or sales are far beyond anybody else. Let me ask you this. What’s the worst experience anybody’s ever run into? The one to a car, Right. You know, that’s me.

Stone Payton: [00:18:18] I’m raising my hair.

Kyle Baxter: [00:18:19] Oh, let’s go buy a new car. No, honey. 4.5 hours back and forth. Back and forth where Cardinal took that whole method and turned it upside down first thing out of mouth. Here’s a price. Because back in the old days, you know how much we’ll get to it. Don’t. Don’t tell them the price yet till we get the close and you’re taking people off.

Stone Payton: [00:18:37] And that’s all they’re thinking about the whole time. You talk about anything else, right?

Kyle Baxter: [00:18:40] They don’t care about the doodads, the gadgets. I want to know the price, price and payment. You go to dealership today and go, Hey, what payment would you like? I don’t care about payment, dude. I want I’m a tough sale because I’m a sales guy. I’m a hard sale and I love those guys. I’m going to tell you why I like hard sales because I can close a hard sale. They’re easy to close, believe it or not, that hard sell. They’re a lot easier to close than the regular Joe.

Stone Payton: [00:19:04] Well, no, the easy sale is the one I get concerned about because. Because then they have a tendency to backpedal when. Yeah, right. Has that been your experience? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You’re saying everything you want to hear, right in the first two thirds of the conversation and then. Yeah, that’s been my experience too, you.

Kyle Baxter: [00:19:19] Know, when you do that too. And plus price, you know, Grand will tell you he never lowers price. I don’t. I don’t lower any price for any of my products and my price is higher than my competitor. Yeah, they are. There’s a reason for that. Yeah, absolutely. But I guarantee you you’re getting twice the value for me than you are from that competitor. And that’s what I used to tell somebody. I had somebody I speak with the other day in sales call and the guy says, you know, I just like, I just I may have to go down the road and talk to that other company. I said, Well, go ahead, feel free, but let me explain something to you. I don’t come with the guy down the road, you understand? So you want me. Let’s just get the deal done because I don’t come down the road. You sign a paper. Thank you. And that’s what I see. A service as part of sales to. People don’t believe that it’s service really supersedes part of the sales process. And that’s the mindset you got to have in. And that’s the same way I do with the with the business advisor. You know, I care about my clients. They got to be successful. I do, but they do too. And and maybe to a fault, but I’m passionate about that.

Kyle Baxter: [00:20:23] And I’ll give you an example of this. I had a guy I’m doing some business coaching. I do that too. And so we’re doing weekly calls the guy, so I’ll get him on. We’re doing a little zoom call, so I’d give him some homework, if you will, some items, you know, tasks to complete at the last call to be accomplished this call. So I said, Hey, how’d you go? Did you get your list finished? Did you get everything? Well, no, I didn’t get it all done. Why didn’t you? Well, here we go with excuses. Well, I had to watch my daughter a couple of hours while I went shopping. I said stop. Stop. Help me understand why I care more about your business than you do. Okay. Now, some people might say, but wait a minute. He’s. He’s taking care of his family. No, he’s not. He won’t take care of his family. He does what he’s got to do to get his business to the level where he always has that security and financial stability to take care of his family. That’s how he takes care of his family. Not worried about his wife going shopping because she’s going to shop a little while because when he’s broke, her shopping day is over with. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:21:25] So do you find early on with prospective clients or even early on with a client who’s written a check and said, okay, we’re going to take a swing at this, that they sometimes bristle with some of these ideas or do they typically embrace them pretty fully right out of the box, you know?

Kyle Baxter: [00:21:43] Overall, most of them really kind of grab hold of it because you see, you know, or you don’t know and you only know what you know. And so what we bring to that table is the knowledge that business owners need. But we break it down to what’s real simple. It doesn’t have to be rocket science, you know, it doesn’t. It’s just baseline principles. And and I believe today that’s why a lot of businesses kind of kind of pull back or hold back. They think it’s money, but not necessarily. Sometimes it is, but they don’t scale or they don’t want to grow because they really don’t know how to go about it. And of course, you know, they watch the CNBC and the Fox business, all those ya-yas on TV. Turn that off. Yeah, Yeah. This breed. That’s my.

Stone Payton: [00:22:26] Couch. I know.

Kyle Baxter: [00:22:27] It. Yes. Breed negativity. The world’s coming to an end, Lord, I listen to them. I’d be on drugs. Which big pharma would love that you would just make more money. You got. You got to stay away from the noise. And I even tell people I had a client, a doctor, and she said, Well, you know, I hired a consultant, you know, a couple of years ago, but he didn’t do anything for me. I said, Well, really? I said, And I don’t really care who because I don’t I don’t rag on anybody. There’s some really good consultants out there, don’t get me wrong. But there’s no one else out there doing what I do today. What? Cardinal mission? No one. There’s no other company out there that’s doing what we do. But I told her, I said, Well, what did you do when you screened your consultant? Did you ask me the questions? Well, no, I said, let me tell you, there’s three questions you need to ask you. Anybody you’re getting information from, especially when it concerns your business. One What’s the largest company you’ve ever grown to? What’s the largest amount of revenue in a company you’ve built? And three, what’s the largest exit of a company you’ve ever accomplished.

Stone Payton: [00:23:31] That would weed out a lot of coaches and consultants? I think those three questions.

Kyle Baxter: [00:23:35] It does. It’s amazing, you know, and it’s kind of funny. I had to do a seminar. The guy said, Hey, let me ask you a question. He’s paying attention. I love that. How many businesses have you taken to? 150. 1 million? I said zero. I said, Largest business I’ve ever grown to date has been 1,000,005 years. And I know your next question is what makes you think I’m qualified? So I said, because I got Brandon Dawson that did that and he has taught me everything he knows and it’s his principles and his policies that I’m teaching you to blow your business. Up next question. You know, I’m not here. We’re totally transparent and I want you to succeed. I’m not here trying to get you money. It’s all about. It’s not. It’s about your success. But nothing’s free in the world, you know? Nothing is. And. And for what? What you pay to be part of our system. And what I do for you is really chump change. Compared to what your business is going to see at the end of the day. I’m talking about within 1218 month time frame. I’ve seen it. We’ve got business now. That’s fast. Yeah. Let me tell you this. I got to say, this guy. He owns a God. I forgot. I just went brain dead on. I’d say his full name.

Kyle Baxter: [00:24:46] I apologize. But he owned. He owns a SWAT roofing out of Texas. Okay. Here’s a guy that was stuck at break point three. About 4 million. About 4 or 5 years steady. Good God. A good business going. He just couldn’t get past that. Well, so he comes across Brandon, you know, the ten and grants, marketing and stuff. He comes to a 360, which was one of our big glasses two day event. That’s just phenomenal. I recommend everybody little a little pricey, but you get ROI on this in under 90 days I guarantee you. So he gets there goes through it takes four items he got from a 360 back implements them into his business and within a 18 month time frame, he went from 4 million to 8.5 million. And let me tell you what’s really mind boggling about that. The guy had double bypass surgery. Good Lord. Yeah. And a brain tumor removed, for Christ sakes. And he went all through because he used the principles he learned from 360, restructured a little bit of his business, got everything in place. So. So he wasn’t working in his business. He’s working outside and managing his business. And that’s another thing I think business owners really some don’t understand. And I was the same way. Am I? I’m right in the middle. I you can’t do everything.

Stone Payton: [00:26:07] Well, I understand it and I still do it. That’s right. And there’s that crowd, too, right? At least I’m self-aware enough to know that it’s a challenge for me. But it’s such an easy trap to fall into, at least for me personally. You know, it is.

Kyle Baxter: [00:26:19] I was the same way. I was the same, you know, because I’m in a hurry. I’m impatient. Want everything done right.

Stone Payton: [00:26:24] Now and I can do it quicker than she can. But if I start doing something quicker and better than she and he and her, then I’m not doing my job well.

Kyle Baxter: [00:26:32] That’s true. Yeah, but, you know, that’s part of the structure. You know, we’ve got we’ve got a two day event. It’s called People Essentials. And it’s amazing because you watch, you learn after that two days is really intense on how to hire, you know, fire terminate employees but really how to set your your your employees personal and professional financial goals and align them with your company business goals. That’s really the secret. You don’t see that in a lot of businesses now. I worked for one years ago, Prince Corporation of Michigan, that was kind of similar to that. They kind of had that that that mantra, if you will. But other than that, it’s not everybody looks like, well, we got to have this got to have this money, got to, you know, hey, I want a promotion. Well, forget it. You know, we’re not making enough money, not get promoted. Well, what happens is you can lose good employees because your employees say, well, why should I stay here? You know what’s long term? What’s in it for me? You know, What about me? Oh, I’m just making the business owner rich, and I’m over here starving. You know, I can’t make my house payment. And that’s what we go in and get rid of. You have to learn to incentivize your employees. There’s ways to do it. And I’m telling you, it doesn’t cost the business more.

Kyle Baxter: [00:27:38] You want to you want your employees engaged. That’s how you do it. Because let me tell you right now, they think might did the survey. 78% of employees are disengaged on the job right now. Okay. God, isn’t that scary? That’s two thirds, man. You know, I’m surprised we don’t have more businesses going out of business. You can’t run an efficient, effective business if your employees aren’t engaged. And and this kind of reverts back to what I was talking about a few minutes ago. If your employees broke, he’s not going to be engaged at work. Okay. And somebody goes, well, that’s not my responsibility. Yes, it is. There’s a business owner. That is your responsibility. Each one of the employees ought to be your responsibility because you’re bringing on board the board, your ship. You didn’t make sure that they’re right, because those employees are what’s going to build your business, not you. And that’s why I suggest we tell people, hey, you need to sit sit employees down when you first hire them. Your onboarding process. Hey, what’s your personal professional financial goals? I guarantee you 98% say, well, I don’t know. Nobody’s ever asked me that. I have never and I’ve worked W-2 job, you know, manufacturing over over 16 years. I’ve never had an employer ask me that what are my what are my goals? Never. You know. Have you ever had yours?

Stone Payton: [00:28:56] I have, and I feel incredibly blessed by that. And it’s one of the reasons that I learned to make money and learn to hang on to it. I had a mentor early in my career by the name of Steve Brown. He ran a sales training and development company and we also did Leadership Development Company. And he did ask me that question very much that way. And I think it set the stage for a very productive career and a marvelous relationship and a great deal of loyalty. But that has got to be rare.

Kyle Baxter: [00:29:27] Oh, it really is. You know, I think today I think Corridor Ventures has had a little over 50 companies go go through our full program. That’s from, you know, all our all our events 360 through then maybe through a platform. We have a platform review, which is a this is this is what’s amazing about this. This platform is about this thick. I ain’t kidding you about this thick that’s that long. You flip through it and this is a ten year, okay, a ten year plan, detailed blueprint for you to grow or start a business. I mean, it didn’t miss nothing. I’m talking about by the numbers. And I give you an example that we had a engineer guy out of. He’s out of Texas, young guy. He’s Oriental. Because I was kidding him. Because my Korean from the military is kind of awful. He is Korean. And I ask him, you know, you always learn the bad words first. And I think I used one. And he laughed. He said, that wouldn’t even be a good bad word because you said it wrong. Okay. That’s why I just stick with English because, you know, I’m Southern. I’m authorized to butcher the English language, you know, just because I’m Southern. But but he had went to the 360 and and spoke Brandon and after the 360 he called, got Ahold of Brandon. He goes, Hey Brandon, I’m getting ready to start my business and I don’t need all this other right now. I want a platform. And a platform is a couple hundred grand. Okay. But that’s really a dirt cheap. That’s like one 190, 190,000. And Brandon looked at him and said, Sure. He said, We already know what I’m doing. I got this background, I got this. He said, But I want to start it from the ground up the right way, perfect every time. And that’s what he got. First year after you got the platform done, $4 million. Uh, spoke with him two months ago. And that put him at about. 20, 20 months. He’s going towards $8 million.

Stone Payton: [00:31:29] Well, that math works for me. Tell me more about this 360. And you don’t have to dive into a lot of detail unless you just want to. But I’m trying to get a picture of how a client can take full advantage of all these resources and the expertise and experience that you and your team have in this domain. Is that often an entry point? The first place where someone sort of enters into your world is this 360 thing or.

Kyle Baxter: [00:31:55] Well, that’s one way, you know. You know, you can you know, if you see it on social media or have you been on my list, I might send you an email. I may even call you or my business development team could call you and offer that to you. You know, you know, I have to tell you just a quick thing. I won’t go into all of it, but I do want to hit the 360 because that’s one of the biggest, I would say. Well, it got my.

Stone Payton: [00:32:17] Attention, which was one of Grant’s rules. Right. Get my attention.

Kyle Baxter: [00:32:21] Let me tell you that that is the most amazing. It’s two days because what are you going to learn in two days? You’re going to be surprised. It’s so intense. It’s out of this world, but it’s great. You know, we have we have a basic three day business boot camp, which covers marketing, sales and some business strategies. We’ve got a marketing execution workshop, a sales execution workshop that I think anybody with a sales team needs to attend because you want to increase your sales and have a better sales team. You got to go. You got to do it. I’m telling you, trust me, it’ll work. People essentials. We have a leadership essentials, which I think a lot of business owners kind of, you know, some of us, I was kind of that way when I ran. I knew it all. You can’t tell me I’m the business owner. Don’t tell me I don’t know how to run my business, dude. I know how I felt. I was an idiot. Okay, but. But, you know, even part of that leadership essentials what it does. We kind of opened up and it shows you where your gaps are that you may have in leadership. There’s nothing wrong. None of us are perfect. Nobody is. There’s always room, you know, for more knowledge and learn. Then we got the finance essentials, which I would say if you already got a business going initially, I’d say the first two you probably want to come to or the People essentials and the finance Essentials because the finance, you know, it covers, you know, the baseline how to interpret basic financial statements, you know, PNL balance sheet stuff.

Kyle Baxter: [00:33:39] But it really gets gets more into, you know, the quality factors that affect business valuation. How do you incentivize your team at a bunch of other things? And you know as well as I do, it is about the numbers. A business has to make money to survive and especially got to make it to grow. And so you want to have those basics in place so you’re effective in your efficient and then, you know, then we get to the 360 and that really just they hit we hit really hard on the four pillars of business, you know, And then at the end of the end of the course, day two, you’ll see it a 90 day plan for your business based off a 360 degree look at your business. Because because when you go, you’re going to say, oh, wow, I didn’t know about that. Oh, I’m not doing this, or, hey, at least I’m doing that, right? But oh, you know, and it’s amazing. And it’s just such an eye opener. We’ve had over 400, over 400 people go through the 360 as of the date. You know, and like I told you, it’s about 40 grand. Round it off.

Kyle Baxter: [00:34:42] Someone goes, well, that’s a lot of money. Not really. We may think it is, but I can tell you this. Every business has gone through the ten x 360. Have recouped that money within 90 days, everyone. Some even sooner than that. And so you’re going to take away about 40 or 50 new things back to your business. You’ve learned from 360. All you need to implement is 2 or 3. You know, and you’re going to because if you were my client, I’m going to be calling, following up, going, Hey, did you do that? Because you don’t have an option. We kind of push because we care about car don’t venture us. If it’s not me or somebody else, we’ll be pushing. Hey, you get that done. I don’t spend money for nothing. But. But, you know, they really ought to charge them. You know, I shouldn’t say it three times what to do for that course. Not that they going to jack the price up, but they should. The value is is unbelievable. And then, of course, the I guess I’m at the platform. The next thing is the platform, you know, and I explained kind of what that is. And then we got a you’ll hear him talk about SBU and Strategic Business Unit. And I do want to kind of cover that because that’s you’d hit that level after you go through the platform system, so to speak.

Kyle Baxter: [00:35:52] You know, so you’ve got your platform now, you’re implementing it, getting it going, really starting to scale. And our SBU comprises about five functional experts, all dedicated to the fields marketing, finance, human resources and people, you know, training, you know, they worked cross functionally to help the business owners implement that strategy. The platform review, you know, you know, they have weekly calls, they have monthly calls, and they’re kind of the kind of acts, a bolt on pseudo executive leadership team, you know, to guide the present business decisions based on the future outcomes. You know, if that makes if that makes sense to you, you know, for their predicted for the ten year growth plan. And so, you know, say for example, you’ve gone through that you hadn’t hired a HR manager yet. You really don’t have one. But guess what you don’t have to Cardoen Ventures. Sbu could take care of that for you. Those things that you don’t have to necessarily you may not be ready at that time to to bring it in-house. Or maybe it’s not profitable for you to bring it in-house. A lot of times it is. But, you know, that’s just strategic business decisions. And each industry is a little different. You know, there’s not one size fits all. It’s all it’s all a industry specific to what it is. And but they do so much for the business. It’s just crazy.

Stone Payton: [00:37:11] Well, I’m glad you brought up the SBU and describe some of what happens when someone participates at that level, because it strikes me and it’s an assumption I want to test with you that as powerful as all of these different things you’ve been sharing with us, from the impact factors to the the Ten Commandments and that kind of thing, that that competency and high performance. It’s even with all of that knowledge and even with some operational practice, it’s still a moving target. Right? Things can fade. You got to you got to circle back. So there are these these events and there there’s this injection of content and principles and all that. But but there seems to be real process to what you do and the ability to to have people tap in and with an objective lens and help you stay on track. You’ve got to you’ve got to there’s a there’s a process, a process aspect to your thing. It’s not just a series of events. Is that.

Kyle Baxter: [00:38:11] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It is not. It is. We have a we have a secret of events that we can do. Now, you don’t necessarily have to do a few of them in order. There are some that you should based on, you know, the people, the finest stuff you could do that, you know, one before the other wouldn’t really wouldn’t really impact you. But I would say the 361st prior to the platform boom, then you get into the SBU if you need them, do it that way. Structured.

Stone Payton: [00:38:37] But these calls, these this ongoing interaction with someone who has has a vested interest in my success, I mean, you can’t just do it and then be done, right?

Kyle Baxter: [00:38:47] No, no, no. It’s ongoing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, once you do those things, you’re going to have interaction with either my team or Cordon Ventures team. Yeah, that’s going to be assist you the whole way. If I’m your business advisor, you don’t get rid of Kyle. You don’t get rid of Kyle until you close your business or I die, and then I’ll come back because I’m not done with you. Sorry. I’m a pain because I’m going to be there, you know? And I do business coach a lot of my clients. I do. And part of the business coaching is, you know, people say, well, what do you do? Well, let me explain to some people because some people don’t understand the difference from a consultant, even though it’s big Bulldog Consulting, a consultant and a business coach, a consultant usually comes in and does everything themselves. Okay, boom, boom, boom. Here you go. There’s your thing. Lease. Of course, a lot of them. You leave runs. Okay. In about six months later, now it’s back to where it was. And you call them back and they go get some more money, do the same thing. I don’t believe in that because I believe in coming in. We set up systems, strategies and information formulations. You’re going to implement that something you keep, it doesn’t disappear. It’s you have it forever. But when I’m coaching coach is more of accountability. You know, I’m helping keep you on track. That’s a helpful.

Stone Payton: [00:40:03] Distinction. Thank you. Because because I come from the training and consulting world and I still get this consulting coaching thing, it kind of morphs for me.

Kyle Baxter: [00:40:10] Yeah, You know, people really need to understand this. Because there’s there’s tons of coaches out there. I mean, life coaches, you know, the kind of coaches. Yeah. Well, you know, as a consultant, you all you have to know what you’re talking about because say, for example, the only thing I could be technically a consultant about would be sales, okay? Manufacturing and leadership, period. Because I spent ten years in the military covers my leadership sales. I’ve done that for about 12 years. And then I was in manufacturing for 16 years because if you don’t know that and something goes south, somebody can go sue you. Because you want a true consultant. Where’s the coach? You don’t have to be. Technically, no. Sean, about. I know it sounds bad. I don’t mean that. You know what I’m saying? You don’t have to have, you know, 50 years worth of experience to be a coach and still be a valuable good coach. But that’s a significant difference. But Coach, I really enjoy you know, I’m I’m not really hard. I am sometimes it’s just because I care.

Stone Payton: [00:41:09] But there’s this accountability dynamic that’s a critical component of the coaching relationship, right?

Kyle Baxter: [00:41:14] Oh, absolutely it is. And, you know, I’ve got a coach, too. Mine’s the big guys and I have to answer to them. And I love it, though, that.

Stone Payton: [00:41:21] You eat your own cooking. Oh, yeah. You are a walking, talking example of these values that you espouse and these principles that you are recommending people engage.

Kyle Baxter: [00:41:31] Yeah. You know, how can I tell you, Hey, you need me to be your business coach? I don’t have one, dude. I’m not perfect. You know, I have to have I have a wife and she’s.

Stone Payton: [00:41:39] Over there nodding her head, too. She’s not on the air, but she’s in here with us.

Kyle Baxter: [00:41:42] Yeah, that does a real good job at keeping me accountable. But then I got, you know, I got Brandon and I got Grant be all over me. But you need that. But because, you know, as a business owner, like you said earlier, you get busy, you get a lot of things going on and you may well miss something or put something aside or like, well, I don’t know how important this is. I think in the moment this is more important. No, it wasn’t. So if you got that accountability part in your coach, go, Hey, wait a minute. No, this is your priorities. You and I set these together. We agreed on these. And, you know, I don’t go in and tell somebody how to run a business. Know it’s not up to me. I will give them proven strategies and systems to implement, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to come and say, Hey, you just need to do this, do that. Don’t you know, like I said, I’ve been there. Don’t come in and tell me how to run my business. Now, if you got suggestions to show me how my business can get better, I’m all ears. But don’t come dictate, you know? Because. Because maybe. Maybe I’m not ready for that yet. And that’s true. Everybody has different timelines for different people. Some may want to get it and go. And we do push. We push. I’ll push you. I want you to go quick. I want that. I want those dollar bills flushing out your pockets as quick as I can. But, you know, maybe you’ve got a little bit more of a conservative mindset and you want to pull back a little bit. I’m not going to let you retreat. I’ll let you slow it a little bit, but I want you to get there because that’s the way you got to. You got to be quick about it. You got to make quick decisions, make the right decisions, move on, move forward.

Stone Payton: [00:43:09] I’m going to shift gears on you as we begin to wind down here. You are clearly incredibly passionate about the work. You are obviously invested in your client’s success. Every time that you begin to talk about the work, your eyes light up and and it permeates the room. I know it makes the journey across the airwaves. My question is what passions outside the scope of this work do you pursue what do you have a tendency to to nerd out? As my kids would say, for me, my listeners know, it’s hunting, fishing and travel. Is there anything outside the scope of this work that you just really enjoy and dive and dive into?

Kyle Baxter: [00:43:48] You know what, some people say you’re crazy. I don’t. I’m all about building this secure network for my family. You know, I’m not the youngest guy. I’m 59. And I should have been at this level, you know, 40 years ago. But I didn’t have the mentors or the training that I do now. And I’m not looking back. It’s no poor, pitiful me, no victim. You know, it is what it is and it’s never too late. But I’m on this this track to leave this legacy for my kids and grandkids and I want a financial position for them. So if something happens to me, if something happens to me, I don’t care if the economy drops like zero eight or politics goes south, They get stupid that I want my family and the 5 or 1% model because middle middle America is broke. Society tells you hey just get yeah be part of middle America. Yeah and be broke guys. That’s a myth. It’s all bad stuff. You gotta get out of your head. You need to be pushing for the five and the 1%. I know people rag on the one percenters, you know, the Elon Musk and all those guys. But you know what? And, you know, actually, Grant’s one of those actually, he’s a one percenter. But, you know, he could go by the island belief, build a house, sit there and, you know, Bvds drinking Bahama mamas smoking cigars and and don’t have to do anything else. And his family, kids, grandkids are probably great grandkids. They’ll be taken care of. You know, some are brave. Those billions of dollars. You don’t have anything to worry about. And see, to me, that’s true freedom. And that’s what I’m after. I’m after freedom and financial freedom for my family.

Kyle Baxter: [00:45:27] And that’s the goal. Until I get get there, there’s no stopping. And I don’t feel like it’s hard because I really enjoy what I do. Oh, I can tell. So, you know, and I will say, before I really got pounded into this, you know, a lot, a lot of guys hunt and fish and I’m not ragging on them. You know, Michigan was was a hunter’s Paradise. But I spent too many years in the woods in the army, and my idea of camping out is a five star motel dude. Hot water. I’m sorry. That’s just me. But. But, you know. You know, Mr. Exciting. I don’t do any of that. I read books, you know, in school. I hated school, period. High school. The only reason I went for girls. Because they wouldn’t let me make money. Finally, my senior year, I got to go to a prom. You know, where you get out early and go. I’m like, Thank God I can make money because I hated school. I didn’t want anything to do. I was all about making that money. You can’t be a millionaire going high school. I was thinking, you know, but yeah, and that’s what I do. So I read and I really like it. The is one that got me reading. I hate it. But in the army it’s hurry up and wait sometimes. And so you always carry around the book. And that’s what kind of got me into reading mode. And now, you know, history books, you know, self-help books. I just I love reading. So that’s what I do for, you know, excitement, if you will, on when I’m not focused on my business and growing it.

Stone Payton: [00:46:44] Before we wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable tips. And look, gang, the number one tip, if any of this is striking a chord with you, reach out, have a conversation with Kyle, somebody on his team and learn more. But between now and that phone call or that note, if there’s something that they can be reading, if there’s something they should be thinking about doing or not doing. But a couple of things just to begin to set the wheels in motion. Let’s leave them with a couple of tips if we could.

Kyle Baxter: [00:47:15] Yeah, absolutely. You know what I think every business owner today needs, if you don’t have your goals, your personal and professional goals written down, you need to write them down. You need to have your mission statement. And it needs to be right in front of you. Okay. You got to have it. You’re not going to be successful without it. Your core values. You need. What are your core values? And your business should be run off the core values. That’s something you need to look at and you don’t. You may not have them. May not be in stone yet. You really need to sit down and spend 30 minutes or an hour and think about them and put them there and then implement them in your business. That’s just something you can do on your own. Because when you talk to me, that’s the first thing I’m going to ask you. Let me see your mission statement. How are you going to do it? Let me see your core values. Let me see your goals. Because without any of that, you don’t have any path to know where you’re going. And guys, let me tell you, confusion guarantees failure.

Stone Payton: [00:48:14] Well said. Well, Kyle, it has been an absolute delight having you in the studio this morning. I knew it would be after we had a brief phone call. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. Thank you for sharing your experience. Keep up the good work, man. You’re doing important work. And I want you to know that. That we appreciate you. Hey.

Kyle Baxter: [00:48:35] Hey, Stone. I appreciate it. I appreciate you having me on here. And just so everybody knows, if you got any questions or anything, feel free to go to Big Bulldog consulting.com or you can call me straight at (770) 733-3470. Or you can email me at Kyle B at Grant Cardone team.com. Either one of those ways do it give me a call if this has something I could put a link and maybe I will later on where you can see it. Put a link where you can hit a button to set a calendar link for me. And if you’d like to have a 15 minute strategy, call no obligation, no charge. Just give me a call and we’ll set it up and be more than happy to do it.

Stone Payton: [00:49:19] What a marvelous way to invest a Tuesday morning. And yes, we will put that link on there where we publish. And again, this has been terrific, man. Thank you, guys.

Kyle Baxter: [00:49:28] So I really appreciate it and thanks for allowing me the opportunity to get the ten X mentality out to all these businesses because I just want to see them all grow and blow this world up.

Stone Payton: [00:49:39] My pleasure. All right. Until next time, This is Stone Payton for Kyle Baxter with Big Bulldog Consulting. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.

 

Tagged With: Big Bulldog Consulting

BRX Pro Tip: Cancel Anytime

May 25, 2023 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Cancel Anytime
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BRX Pro Tip: Cancel Anytime

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, here at Business RadioX corporate and many of our studio partners, we choose to set up our arrangements with our clients in such a way that, really, if they want to, they can terminate the services. They can cancel any time.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:23] Yeah. Again, that goes back to what we believe in, that we should be providing value on a regular basis and that we don’t want to have our customers stay with us because they feel obligated to stay with us if we’re not delivering on the promises that we made.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:40] So then, rather than sell a service for a set period of time, we’ve created a model where our clients can proactively quit whenever they like, if they feel that they’re no longer getting the value they deserve. Now, some people might think that this is riskier, but research has shown that this can dramatically lower your customer churn and keep your customer longer. But the key is, you have to really be able to deliver on your promises.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:08] If you have a crappy product, then I wouldn’t do this. I mean, you have to have a good product or service where you’re confident enough that you’re going to be delivering the value so your clients will stay with you for a longer period of time.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] And that’s what we aspire to do and we encourage our studio partners to aspire to is to create these customers for life and be continually pushing the value curve, so they are always delivering more and more value and surprising and delighting your clients to keep them as customers for life. So, it might seem like it’s riskier, but in our business, it’s really paid off. And, you know, put the onus on cancel any time. You know, if you can deliver, then you have nothing to fear.

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