it's not all about the birds and the bees; we get real about the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship—breaking down the hefty price tags of payroll and rent, and the often underestimated chaos of shipping logistics and warehouse management.
Just remember, the next journey is only a play button away, so keep tuning in for more stories where the drive is just as delightful as the destination.
Need Farm Fresh Flowers? Tap here to order from Petalpickers.com Our flower farm ships nationwide!
We mentioned The Nested Fig App in this episode. You can Tap Here to get our app and join our live sales on Sundays and Thursdays at 8pm est. Use Code Fig10 for 10% Off.
Follow Steven on Instagram at @Keepinupwithsteven and follow Wesley on Instagram at @Farmshenanigans. Shop our online store at TheNestedFig.Com Use Coupon Code Fig10 for 10% Off Your Purchase. Find The Nested Fig on Instagram at @TheNestedFig
it's not all about the birds and the bees; we get real about the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship—breaking down the hefty price tags of payroll and rent, and the often underestimated chaos of shipping logistics and warehouse management.
Just remember, the next journey is only a play button away, so keep tuning in for more stories where the drive is just as delightful as the destination.
Need Farm Fresh Flowers? Tap here to order from Petalpickers.com Our flower farm ships nationwide!
We mentioned The Nested Fig App in this episode. You can Tap Here to get our app and join our live sales on Sundays and Thursdays at 8pm est. Use Code Fig10 for 10% Off.
Follow Steven on Instagram at @Keepinupwithsteven and follow Wesley on Instagram at @Farmshenanigans. Shop our online store at TheNestedFig.Com Use Coupon Code Fig10 for 10% Off Your Purchase. Find The Nested Fig on Instagram at @TheNestedFig
Beep, beep, it's me.
Speaker 2:Well, let me get in. I'm dragging. Today I'm holding a grass man and let's go.
Speaker 1:It's time for another episode of who's Driving. Welcome to who's Driving. I'm Wesley Turner.
Speaker 2:And I'm Stephen Merck. We're two best friends and entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:Who's Driving is an entertaining look into the behind the scenes of our lives, friendship and business.
Speaker 2:These are the stories we share and topics we discuss, as two best friends would on a long road trip.
Speaker 1:Along the way, we'll check in with friends and offer a wide range of informative topics centered around running small businesses, social media and all things home and work.
Speaker 2:Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1:You never know who's driving or where we're headed. All we know is it's always a fun ride and who's driving?
Speaker 2:I don't know you better put on cruise control.
Speaker 1:Where are you going? I'm assuming you're driving. I'm a passenger, princess. You just picked me up. Oh, I'm a passenger, princess.
Speaker 2:So I noticed today walking out to get into my car uh-huh. The damn pollen.
Speaker 1:Oh it is. Listen, it is a gorgeous day here, mm-hmm, but in the South, in certain parts of the country, you gotta pay the price the pollen is about to.
Speaker 2:I started my singular.
Speaker 1:Pollinate. Well, you know, over the weekend I picked up bees. I now have four beehives speaking of pollen, so it's a good time.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And I must say someone did a little real story or whatever and they were like where's Stephen with the bees? I think they think you're my husband, I don't know. We got people all kinds of confused because you know they think you're going to be out here on the phone. I said he ain't going to be out here on the phone.
Speaker 2:Bees, uh-uh. I had my fill of that when I was a kid, I know.
Speaker 2:I think they don't know who's who and what's where I'm very interested in one thing with the bees because and Mike and people might not know this but my family, my uncle was a beekeeper, my cousin's a beekeeper, so you know in the South we got all kinds of beekeepers, so I've been around it my entire life, right? So I've always understood it and known how important it is and love honey and honeycomb and all that. But the one thing I cannot do and I follow some beekeepers because, I find it interesting.
Speaker 2:I can't tell what the queen is.
Speaker 1:I didn't say that previously. I have a video. I'm going to show it to you. I think I'll have to take you out there. I think I want to see it, but I want to see the queen. Do a video and zoom in on it so you can see it.
Speaker 2:Is she like wearing stilettos and has all the big blonde wig?
Speaker 1:She is the larger one of the crew and she has a longer body. It is crazy that it's different, and you know they can when. So the queen lays all the eggs there's one queen per hive and but they can make a new queen, like they can determine if a new egg is going to be a queen or not. By what they feed it and everything.
Speaker 2:It's amazing.
Speaker 1:Very crazy and very interesting to see it all. But yeah, she's not wearing. Although you can get your queens marked, they'll mark them for you. They put a little dot on their back, so I do have one that has a little pink, a little blue on it. If I got three, so I got nukes. Which nukes are where you? It's basically like they take part of a hive, so they have a queen. It has some eggs in there, has some honey, it's a good starter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it has five frames and typically in a standard hive you have in one of those boxes you have ten frames. You can get an eight frame, like they call those, like garden hives, but mine have ten frames, so it's like half of one box and that's a jumpstart on on having a hive. You can also get a package of bee which just they dump a bunch of bees in a box, they weigh them out and then they put a queen in there as well, because they'll take to a new queen or whatever. But then they have to start a hive completely from scratch. So I went with the one that they were already kind of jumpstarted, just so you know, just I don't know why, it's very interesting.
Speaker 2:And you know, and I had told you before that the McDonald's here next to you that I owned was that there would be a swarm every year yeah.
Speaker 1:So they like something there that they would swarm to yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't. I thought that was very interesting and my cousin, you know, before, when I grew up, all of our bees were on our farm, you know. But now my cousin, he, he does it and he has them in different states.
Speaker 1:He has some in North Carolina and you know the climate's different in the in the punnies Different, yeah, so a swarm happens. Basically when a hive gets too full is what usually causes it. Then they will make a new queen as well, and so there'll be two queens in the hive, like half of it leaves and half of it stays in place. So they kind of split so that they can make more room.
Speaker 2:And I guess that's how they end up in a house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they'll land in a house or in a tree or, like you said, it's your McDonald's, usually if they're just hanging out like in a tree, I mean if it's just on a branch. Sometimes they'll land on like a side of a car and they'll be, you know, you'll see this picture of all these bees on the car. They're usually just resting. I mean, right, they're going to find, they're traveling. Yeah, a nest to form or something, but it is very interesting to have.
Speaker 2:It is interesting and what blows me away is like if the bees were all gone, how little time we would have left. Yeah, they are.
Speaker 1:They are very, very important. You know they do all the little work around little worker bees. So I have a little riddle for you, oh gosh, is it too soon to riddle you?
Speaker 2:Riddle me.
Speaker 1:Riddle you up today. Okay, spell ghost.
Speaker 2:G H O S T.
Speaker 1:Say ghost, ghost, spell, ghost one time G, h, o, s, t. They'll say ghost twice, ghost, twice Ghost, ghost. What do you put in a toaster Bread? You got it right and I didn't wait, I didn't pause. Most people say toast, dang it. I was on a street there. I got you on a couple months, but there you go. Yeah, so you win this week. I don't know what you get. I get a prize I want. We should start giving you a little prize. We should start calling people and asking them the riddles, but then I'd have to come up with one every week. This is probably the last one for like six months. I remember we used to do a riddle occasionally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and that that a fall to the wayside.
Speaker 1:I know and we do something different. We just got back from the Atlanta market, the mini market. I feel like we're always at the Atlanta market now.
Speaker 2:I know Some somebody said to a friend of mine said to me I feel like you're at the market all the time.
Speaker 1:I said yeah, we kind of are, we kind of are Just about every month. Yeah, it's our little home away from home these days, and if it's not that market, then we'll be at the hot point furniture market and that's where we'll be there in a few weeks. I know it's before we know it, but we forgot to take it to the streets and use the microphone this time Completely forgot no-transcript. It was a very fast-paced quick market.
Speaker 2:And, honestly, there weren't very many people there, we would have struggled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there never is at the little mini markets. I'm surprised they have them, but I guess there's more people than you think. Yeah, I don't know, but yes, we'll be coming up at the. I guess, like the second week of April, we'll be headed to the Hoppoint furniture market. So we've been at Atlanta's more gifts, accessories, home decor and we'll be going to the furniture market. I think it's first week. Is it the first week I think so. Oh quicker than I think.
Speaker 1:I think, and between now and then so you know this is March mid-March we have to move our warehouse too. We're moving to a brand new location and we haven't moved anything, but we have to be out by the end of March, march 31st. You think we're going to make it happen, you think we can get out.
Speaker 2:We don't have a choice. We may be in a tractor, trailer no.
Speaker 1:May just be, I don't know, packed up and held up. Who knows what's going on. Speaking of that, though, I got a very interesting question in my inbox. It's been a few weeks ago, but I thought it was an interesting one, so I wrote it down here. What do you think?
Speaker 1:This was a question from an Instagram viewer, so they might be a listener too, but what is something people would be surprised to know about your business? Like our business. So we have, if you're new and don't know, welcome, stick around. But we have our company's, the Nested Fig. We have two retail stores One is the Nested Fig Garden, one is the Nested Fig Home. One's a garden shop, one's a furniture, home decor store. And then we have our own line store, the Nested Fig, where we have our warehouse, and we're expanding warehouse thanks to you all, which is the best thing to happen. We keep growing, so thank you for that, but so all of that's under one company there. So what is something people would be surprised to know about our business, do you think? Hmm, for me, I think probably would be payroll. Like our payroll is like a month is between 70 and 90 thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a lot. It's a lot of money.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of money. And then you have rent on top of that. You know, I'm just thinking those base costs. I think is what people would be surprised, yeah. The cost that you know, like the payroll and the leases.
Speaker 2:But you know, it just depends on what kind of business you're in and what your background is.
Speaker 1:Because that seems low to me, because of McDonald's when you have so many people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Because my payroll was when I sold, I think was around 250,000 a month. Oh, car.
Speaker 1:But it's all relative. It is that's the thing it's all relative. That's what we always talk about in business is it's all relative, like it doesn't matter if it's you're a really small business with two employees or you're a much larger business with 30 employees. It's all relative.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Because if the payroll is bigger, the bank accounts. You know the revenue is going to be bigger, Right and all in the end kind of the same, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that would be the payroll and then our rent. Well, we're just up in that. So our rent a month between all three, because we'll have our warehouse and two retail stores. So our rent.
Speaker 2:Upwards of like 23, 24,000 a month.
Speaker 1:That's crazy when you see it all like that.
Speaker 2:I try not to think about.
Speaker 1:I mean, I do think about it like that because I have to from time to time, but on the daily I try not to because it can't like. I feel like, if you start adding everything up, you kind of get like well, how does that work out and how is that going to? You know, whatever, and it does, it does.
Speaker 2:I think the funny thing is is the people that make comments to me. You know that, know us Right. They love to make the comments about how we're you know, belling money, oh, just killing it. Killing it, and we are very, very blessed. We're doing very, very well, right? But I promise you we do not have a beller in the back of the store.
Speaker 1:I mean, if we didn't have to pay payroll and rent, we would be really good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. But you know, but everybody always thinks that on a McDonald's people think that every, every business, they, if you're busy, they think and you know, thank God we are busy, but it's not.
Speaker 1:I think the other surprising thing is people don't understand and this pertains to online is the shipping. You know everyone is very shipping price shipping, you know, very conscious. Everyone you know wants not to pay for shipping. But shipping is paid for. You know it's paid for somewhere basically.
Speaker 1:You're paying for the shipping. So we do to like balance it out. We do a non-dollar flat rate shipping and if you shop on our app you can check out as many times in a 12 hour period and you don't pay any additional shipping. You just pay that one time. Cause, like with our live sales, we have people who you know they might put in five or six orders. They're doing smaller as we're going through the live, but it always catches me off guard cause we call, we charge $9. No matter how much you spend, it's $9 flat rate shipping. It just kind of we kind of try to find the sweet spot. But then if someone decides they want to return something and they go to ship that back to us, they are always shocked at like, how much it costs to ship it back. And they're like, well, it's not non-dollars to ship it back. And I'm like, yeah, it didn't cost us non-dollars either. It may have cost us $20.
Speaker 2:But we only charged you non.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the rest of it comes out of our pocket is what people don't understand. So, like, our difference between what we charge for shipping and what we actually pay for shipping for a month is usually around like $12,000 different.
Speaker 2:Sometimes 16.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it depends on the volume and like holiday season, where people, you know, we go through seasons where there might be bulkier things and it can go. So, yeah, it could be. I think we've had it up to like $18,000 different. That means we charge this amount and then, beyond that amount out of our pocket, we paid an additional 12 to 18.
Speaker 2:That's one thing that makes me tear up just a little bit, I see I don't look at that number. I don't like to see it.
Speaker 1:I only look at that number, like every three to four months to just make sure we're not getting way out of control 25. Yeah, 1,000. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:But I think that's the other. Ignorance is believe us when it comes to that.
Speaker 1:I think that's the other thing that people are always surprised by.
Speaker 2:And I think one thing that really surprises when I've had let people into the warehouse to see they don't realize how many systems you have to have in place and how organized it has to be. Oh yeah, you know the numbers.
Speaker 1:Keep it all flowing. Everything you know. Every item has a shelf assigned.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's not as easy as you might think.
Speaker 1:Oh, and we have screwed it up every which way.
Speaker 2:So many times, so many times. But when we started this, we learn every time.
Speaker 1:We learn every time something different. That's why one reason I'm looking forward to moving, I'm like okay, I get to restart, there's some little minor corrections and you love.
Speaker 2:You know that little, that little grocery store boy and you love to organize and it's so funny because I'm really the more organized person in my brain Like right, keep things in order. But let me just tell y'all I just get out of the way when, when we're moving away, like just let him fly, Because I don't give a damn where the shelves are.
Speaker 2:I don't care how we number them, as long as they're numbered. As long as somebody tells me here's the riot, it goes, I'm good with it. But Wesley, there's this little grocery store boy in him that he loves to plan it out, and the funny thing is is I don't want anything to do with it and he knows that and I'm like I'm not even going to go when you do your little measurements.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you haven't, even other than when we walked through to see the new warehouse, you haven't been back. I have all the aisles taped off, I know, I have measured them down to the inch so that we can squeeze the most shelves in there.
Speaker 2:But see, I don't want. I intentionally am not participating in that, because if it's off by one inch and something goes wrong, you're going to bitch about it for like five years. No, no, you have. You have like nothing that I did but, that you know, that other you know. One of our other employees decided to number something and you have bitched about it for three years.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have.
Speaker 2:So I'm not going to.
Speaker 1:Three years, because it's three years later and my brain still does not function the way this person laid out the shelving numbers.
Speaker 2:Okay, but in defense of this person I don't think it was them, I think it's your brain.
Speaker 1:Okay, but that's why we're going to lay it out, because I have my brain.
Speaker 2:I haven't had any issues.
Speaker 1:That's not true.
Speaker 2:It first I did.
Speaker 1:No, I will still say it's on shelf 17 and you'll still turn and walk the wrong direction Sometimes, yeah, and that's the problem. Yeah, sometimes Because the numbers do not make sense the way they should be. But, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1:I have been over to the new warehouse. You see, there's a superpower we talked about with being dyslexic. How you can see things. I can see the layout when I walk into the space. I can picture the shelves, the layout, the flow just right off the bat. And so that's why that's my thing. I don't know, Because I want to get the most out of it is the thing where you would just have.
Speaker 2:That hurts my brain. I can remember building a McDonald's or remodeling a McDonald's, and one thing you have to do, that it's really important when you build or remodel a restaurant, a McDonald's, is the seating package. Oh my gosh, that hurt my brain.
Speaker 1:You would have loved it when the tables are going.
Speaker 2:You would have loved it in the configuration how you can fit the most people in, you know. Then you've got to put ADA requirements on top of that.
Speaker 1:So you have another piece of the puzzle, so this part has to be wider.
Speaker 2:That part, just you know it just tickles my fingers, say no, I loved. I loved like laying out the kitchen and picking out the tiles and the aesthetics of it. I loved in the landscaping. I got very involved in that. But I just was like could somebody just check this seating? But you know you have to do it to make sure because somebody's gonna screw it up.
Speaker 1:That's too funny, yeah, but no, I've never.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't like the, the measuring, and that part of it I didn't like doing it, I know, and it's funny because I admit I am totally into it and then I get it all laid out and I need verification from someone. Does this make sense? And I'll say okay, stephen, I've taped it off come over and tell me if this makes sense. And I can see he says yes, but he only shows up to pacify me and I can see that his eyes just glaze over and, like I care, more about the end result.
Speaker 2:Now I do care like where, where we're going to be packing, and like how that flow, that final flow is, but I'm like good grief, it's just like whatever. Just make yeah, to me. I'm just like make the Big Mac send it up the line.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. Which, talking about business, made me think about I listen to Martha Stewart again on masterclass. I think I've talked about masterclass a couple episodes ago or maybe the last one, I can't remember. I love her, yeah. So, speaking of that, do you ever this isn't part of her, we'll get into that. But kind of on the same level, Do you ever worry about like aging out of like business or say I don't either, but like I've seen people on TikTok that'll be like oh I'm, I'm 45 years old on TikTok, Like who's going to, you know, follow me or listen to me or whatever, but like I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't worry about that. I will say this. Maybe I shouldn't.
Speaker 1:Like I don't ever see age as a hurdle, I guess. But see, I didn't when I was younger either, because I had my first store, but you know, store quote when I was a freshman in college.
Speaker 2:And I was young too when I became. I was the youngest in the co-op when I became a McDonald's.
Speaker 1:And I didn't think about like, oh, I can't do this because I'm only 19.
Speaker 2:In anything, anything along the way that I didn't know or was unsure about, I always go with the fake it till you make it Right. I mean, you wouldn't have known, I didn't know, Right. I mean there were things when I bought my first McDonald's I didn't even know how to do the set up your, your business license, sales tax none of that, but that's also the fun in doing it, because you're learning.
Speaker 1:If you genuinely like what you're doing, then you're learning along the way, and that, to me, is what feeds me, and it's one trip to the tax office and you've you figured it all out. What do I do, yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they, they, they walk you through it. But yeah, no. But I will say, being in McDonald's and I probably said this to you at some point I never wanted to be that old, stodgy McDonald's owner operator because I worked with a lot of older, which I love and respect One of them is one of my best friends, john but I did see people in McDonald's that they didn't change with the times and I didn't want to be that. I never wanted to be that hurdle because I think it's you create an obstacle for the whole company, right. But I was also inspired with ladies like Estelle Musico. She owned the McDonald's in Pennsylvania where, on 9-11, where the plane crashed- she owned six McDonald's there.
Speaker 2:She was 94 years old and she owned and operated six McDonald's. That's crazy. And she was in leadership, national leadership, and she was a force to be reckoned with. And you would see her at a convention and she had her bags and she wasn't on a scooter, she wasn't on, she was hoofing it through that 200, 200,000 square foot conference yeah. I mean, she was amazing, yeah. So I think they're the people in every business, everywhere, that just let themselves age, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then there's the people that don't, that want to be continuing to change, because I've said that to you probably at least a hundred times, especially with the garden store. I would always be like I mean with all of it. But I would say like, oh my gosh, I don't want, I'm afraid I'm going to get old. But not afraid because I'm not, because I know I'm clenched.
Speaker 2:You don't want to be.
Speaker 1:But I'm like I don't want to get where everything is just fine, Everything's fine and not changed with the time, and be like some small town.
Speaker 2:Plastic flowers.
Speaker 1:Plastic flowers and balloons kind of stores. I mean I laugh about it all the time. I'm like, okay, we got to find what's new. But I think that's also the benefit of like every I don't know. We moved the garden store last year. That needs to happen. I feel like when you have retail stores, you either have to do a complete redo at least every like 10, at least 10 years, 15 mat, or you need to like relocate because it just gives the business a whole fresh look Makes you think about things differently In the McDonald's world at seven years.
Speaker 2:Basically, you have to redo your lobby every seven years. Yeah, that's, and I mean it is set and I've stretched it to 10. Yeah, but yeah, it's tired by the end. Nobody's like excited about it and in McDonald's you cannot compare everything to McDonald's. But you do a remodel and it's amazing how your sales just increased because people want to come to the new.
Speaker 1:Because they feel like it's new, and that's the same thing with the retail store.
Speaker 2:But you've told me, you have told me over the years so many times, which I found interesting because, you know, over the years I built stores, remodeled stores, yada, yada yada, and you always have said to me that you want to go to. If you say old McDonald's and a new McDonald's, you're automatically going to go to the new.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:You want to go to a new. You feel like it's better.
Speaker 1:It's better, I'm going to get better service, I'm going to get better food and everything, and sometimes that's true. That's the perception. Yeah, it is the perception, and I mean nice new and clean.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's the perception of the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what you have to do for your small businesses too so you have a small business, don't be afraid to move.
Speaker 2:And make it cool. Do fun things.
Speaker 1:And moving your business. I mean, obviously you don't want to, you know, downgrade when you move. But if you're moving even just a few doors down like our garden store is just three doors down but you get to create that buzz about it.
Speaker 2:And change what you didn't like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a fresh start. And even with our warehouse which we don't have people coming to our warehouse, although our new one we're going to have an outlet store, so there's that change. But even it just being a warehouse me talking on Instagram like, oh my gosh, we're getting ready to move, like people messaged me like, oh, that's so cool, we're excited for the new warehouse, we're excited.
Speaker 2:I get messages every day on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every day about the warehouse Creates a new little buzz. But going back to Martha Stewart, she was kind of saying the same thing in her you really need to watch her masterclass if you're out there and have a small business. It's just she's very inspiring. But she was saying oh, people always say to her, like you're always reinventing yourself. And she was saying I'm not reinventing myself, I just am always changing, because I don't want to become an old lady, I want to keep up, and she hasn't, and she hasn't. So that's why I'm like oh yeah, martha's, she has it in spirit or anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I want to know who her plastic surgeon. Martha, if you're listening out there, could you let us know who does your plastic surgery? She looks amazing.
Speaker 1:And if you're listening out there, will you come be on our podcast?
Speaker 2:You know, if I could have dinner and like spend the evening talking to anyone, she would probably be in my top three people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she would be very interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean she's 82. But you know what really sit me over the edge with her Go into prison. Yeah, I think she did it. First of all, I don't think she should have had to go, but that's a whole other conversation. But I just had so much respect for her, Like I'm going, but I'm going on my terms, let's go, let's get it over with and move on, and she came out better than she was before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is crazy. She did do that. She handled all that really well.
Speaker 1:She's like a boss, I mean, I mean so she was saying in her in her master class, talking about that and changing which I thought was a good quote for you that are anybody in life actually doesn't have to be a business owner. But she was saying when you're through changing, then you're through. So she was saying, like if you're a business owner and you're not willing to change with the time, stay up to date and this we talk to small business owners all the time and, you know, with live sales, we're like you need to do this, or whether it's getting on social media, you need to do this and we try to, you know, give pointers, because people will stop this and I love talking business with anyone.
Speaker 1:I will tell you start to finish anything, how we do it, how we did it how we messed it up.
Speaker 2:What mistakes we made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the way? Oh no, I can't do that, oh no.
Speaker 2:You know, and you have to push yourself Like we we've. We pushed each other Like we. We were not really Too excited about doing live sales.
Speaker 1:Right, we were like, but we yeah the live sales were something that I mean. I had the program for like a year before I did it and then I kept thinking like I was like oh, that's too silly to do. Like who's going to watch us do that?
Speaker 2:How are you going to, or we're going to hate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was more and I guess on that level, thinking about it, I can relate to how people are nervous to get on Instagram and do stories. Because I was with it being live, I was intimidated to do live sales at first.
Speaker 2:Oh, we were a mess and we tried to make it perfect. We tried to make it like you were watching the home shopping network. Yeah, and every.
Speaker 1:Well, we screwed it up. Everything went wrong.
Speaker 2:That could go wrong. But then we realized being real and messing up being ourselves is what people want, right? They like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they want to make it all thin. Yeah, so it makes it makes them connect.
Speaker 2:And like I tell people now, I honestly think we could do a live driving down 85.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean last night I went over to the warehouse. Last night we're on a Sunday recording. Last night I was like, hey, dean, I'm gonna run over to the warehouse because he was going to the grocery store and I was like I haven't been there because we'd been at market. I'm going to go check some things out. And then I was like you know what I'm going to do a live sale. I walked in, I walked in there and within 15 minutes I was live and I did a live sale.
Speaker 1:I mean I can just do them and I did that one by myself or whatever, because it was just like a little surprise live. But yeah, in the beginning it used to take us. Even if we did something simple as, oh, we're just going to do a warehouse walkthrough, it would take us two to three hours to get ready for it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was ridiculous, and now it's really not a big deal.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I thought was the best advice from when I was listening to Martha Stewart, because I've worked with other people and bosses that get intimidated by other people, and Martha's thing was, if you find someone that is as good as you are or better at what you're doing in your business, that you need to bring that person in and help them grow or whatever. And I do feel like I know I've worked with people who, instead of bringing them in, would be intimidated by someone that they thought was better than them and they would get rid of them.
Speaker 2:Which is so stupid, because those people elevate you.
Speaker 1:Oh, I want someone to be better.
Speaker 2:I want someone. I want somebody to be, I want to stay at home.
Speaker 1:Or do other things. Yeah, I mean, I want them to be so much better at everything than I am.
Speaker 2:And if they're better at two things, that's great, right? I mean, everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and you're not going to intimidate me, no no, you're not going to.
Speaker 1:I mean, I own the business.
Speaker 2:Oh, we did it.
Speaker 1:We did it.
Speaker 2:Now help us improve it. Yeah, help us improve it and we'll share the money with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like make it work, Do your thing. I'm always looking for people. We've learned a lot from employees and different people over the years. Just help us for things we're done.
Speaker 2:Especially in the plant world and design, because somebody always has a different perspective, right, but I used to watch. Did you watch Martha when she had her show? I watched it religiously.
Speaker 1:Oh, honey, I loved her kitchen. I watched Martha from when Martha started back in the day, because my mom loved I don't know how loved Martha, not that I don't know how, but like I think she used to come on I don't know what channel it was, because I don't think she was on public television. But it was whatever, but she would come on right after church on Sunday Originally for us. I mean, this is like way back before she had yeah, and so I can remember.
Speaker 2:But when Martha's tour living show, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And the chickens. She always had the best tips. Oh yeah, love the guard and Turkey Hill, her house at.
Speaker 2:Turkey Hill. Oh my God, oh my, it is, I'm just obsessed with her.
Speaker 1:I know it is amazing and such a good business person. So if you're out there and you want to listen to some good business inspiration, I do recommend the master class, or you can just listen to our master class right here.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'd call it master class. I mean, I might call it hot mess class I was going to say at the exact same time.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you how the master messing it up and maybe fixing a few things.
Speaker 2:But that's part of growing, though no one I bet you, if we had dinner and been an evening talking to Martha Stewart, she could tell us so many screw up she's made in her career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she talked about that. And they're not failures, they're learning lessons. You just move on, and we've had plenty of things that we thought were going to work out one way and didn't, and we just kept it.
Speaker 2:I could write a book of the screw ups.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just keep it going for sure. And speaking of change and completely changing subject, Okay, have we done, talking about Martha and business.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, yeah, we have. Have you noticed? I feel like every 10, 15 years some things in homes take a drastic turn, and I feel like right now, like style, style yeah. I feel like it's kitchens right now. Oh, I feel like, have you noticed like the size of hoods that are going in kitchens are huge and ranges are getting bigger? Yeah, like it's getting bigger, but it is a lot less industrial feeling, like I feel like stainless is being used less. Yes, and it's interesting.
Speaker 1:That is interesting. I have seen that in design and now I'm thinking about it. I guess it starts with custom homes. You'll start seeing that before it becomes mainstream in like your builder grade home.
Speaker 2:Oh, so that is interesting.
Speaker 1:You know what, speaking of kitchens, the other day I went looking for, I was in the appliance section, no matter what I was looking for, but the new thing that I had not seen because I haven't shopped in the appliance section in years was glass front. It was like glass front refrigerator.
Speaker 2:Yeah, majorly in, is it? I hadn't seen it.
Speaker 1:I hadn't really seen it, it looked pretty. It was sleek and pretty, I mean, we'd probably open it and just crack the hell out of it.
Speaker 2:Yours would look like.
Speaker 1:It looked like one of those iPhones that had been dropped.
Speaker 2:With a dog licking it. Yeah, that's not a good direction for you.
Speaker 1:You like my new glass front refrigerator and the screens crack the shit.
Speaker 2:No, I, I, because I've been talking.
Speaker 1:I had not seen this.
Speaker 2:I've been talking, you know, for a couple of years like redoing my kitchen, but there's really not. I honestly will not change that much about my kitchen because I actually like my kitchen Right.
Speaker 1:I would like to redo our kitchen, but then I'm like I just want to do.
Speaker 2:I want to do custom cabinets Right, and then I want a La Cournue range.
Speaker 1:Oh sounds fancy, it is fancy. And I was like I'll be the best for those who never cook.
Speaker 2:Right? Well, it'll be. It'll be like brand new when I if I ever sell it. But then I was like I feel like I like stainless in my loft because it is industrial. It is cozy industrial but you got to change with the but but I found a La Cournue and it is stainless steel trimmed in brass. Oh, and I thought, hmm, I like that, look because I, because I really would keep my, I would keep my Subzero refrigerator and it's stainless and I'm like that could bring. Can I have that old?
Speaker 1:piece of crap.
Speaker 2:Can I have that, all that, my range, my decor range. Yeah, can I have that old piece of crap range you got sitting in there, you know that range is very, very nice and a friend of mine was telling me that had had my range. She said, oh, I think you have the infrared broiler and I was like I don't know. But I do know what it is. It will burn the hell out of anything.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It gets so hot, I mean Satan will crawl out of the oven and so we look it is an infrared broiler. Oh, you could cook a hog in my. Let me tell you, you could cook a hog in my, in that decor, in probably 20 minutes. It gets so hot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is gas. It is gas. Is your oven gas my?
Speaker 2:oven is gas Okay mine too. And I really like why we're on the farm.
Speaker 1:It's propane, but. But don't let the propane tank run out.
Speaker 2:Won't make cooking, no beans. It just is really cool watching, like, and I don't I don't really want to go with a huge oversize hood because I feel like that's going to be really trendy, right? So I don't think I'll go that out there, but it's so interesting watching the change. Yeah, what's the difference between the two? The two are the same thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what are people using now as their countertops? Like what's the most, would you say, like it went from a lot?
Speaker 2:Because you know grain it which is nice. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That is every day now. That's the bare minimum. That's the bare minimum. I mean, you rent an apartment and it has yeah, Grain it in the mail.
Speaker 2:In a kitchen, probably quartzite, yeah, because it's a natural stone but it's harder than marble and so it's more porous. So I'll do quartzite in mine, yeah, but you know I still loved a good honed granite. Yeah, you can't beat just a good honed black granite, mm-hmm. So I might, would do that. What I love is like the big movement stone is kind of moving out and it's more, you know, the softer. Yeah, I don't like the real loud stones personally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm the same way. I mean, ours has lots of texture in it.
Speaker 2:It's very interesting. I've learned a lot with this last design project. I've learned a lot about stone and countertops and more than I ever wanted to know, because may have screwed something up, but you screwed something up. I didn't the detail. Well, in this last house I did. I did a quartzite, natural stone which was amazingly beautiful, mm-hmm, and I went over the budget like eight grand for this counter, mm-hmm. But I was like, and I haven't been able to find this quartzite anywhere else, yeah, in the state.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So after it's not your money.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:No, but it felt like it. It felt like it because we, you know, it was one of those. It was one of those times where we actually had to go back and look at cheapies. I don't like cheapies, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So we ended up getting what I wanted, which was great, but I love how you're like I got what I wanted, but it's not your house. No, but it is my project, but you want their house to be.
Speaker 2:It has to be like I want. Right, when I do a design, I want to love it, yeah.
Speaker 1:And because I love it and she don't take on very many design clients at all.
Speaker 2:Uh-uh, because you so well, I mean yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because when you take on a client, it's like you're doing your house, you meet their needs and their style. But I'm like you want it to be.
Speaker 2:I'm all in.
Speaker 1:Perfect, mm-hmm, and I'm on the other side. And if he doesn't get his way with the design clients, you paled a little.
Speaker 2:I do. I mean, I get disappointed. I want it.
Speaker 1:I remember the story about the stone. I didn't know how much over budget or anything, but you were like I don't think they're going to do this stone and it's perfect, it's going to ruin my kitchen? Yeah, but it's not mine, right, so um we, but that just goes to show you're invested.
Speaker 2:Yes, Well, we did the stone, Mm-hmm, we sent it to the fabricator. Yeah, to cut the stone and do all that. Okay, I'm not a stone expert. I'm not an expert on any damn thing, I just know enough to be dangerous.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That is your job. You are getting paid a lot of money to do it. Mm-hmm, they set the stone outside. My client asked me about it. I was like, oh man, I mean, it's a rock. Yeah, I guess it can be outside, because I didn't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, why didn't they know?
Speaker 2:Well, there's another I will never use this company again.
Speaker 2:Okay, and it absorbed the water. Well, there's several things going, so putting it out in the rain probably wasn't the best thing to do, because it was absorbing all that moisture and water. Yeah, and when they cut it, they have to use water, so there's a whole other thing. So this would have probably done it anyway. But every vein and every edge absorbed all of this water and changed the color. It looked like it. It just looked like all the edges were wet, like eight inches, yeah, all around so you can see like a water ring.
Speaker 2:Had a watermark. Mm-hmm, it was horrible yeah, and I was like, oh my God, what are we going to do? And that stone? Of course, you know what I used in my small bathrooms and that stone. Evidently that was the only piece.
Speaker 1:That was it. That was the only pieces in the world.
Speaker 2:And so I was like I don't know what we're going to do, and now we'll hate this whole kitchen and we'll hate it all. And we got heaters, we got fans. They even came in and used a torch on one area. Do you know? It dried out? Oh, it did. Thankfully it had not been sealed. So there's a lesson to be learned by so all the listeners out there when you are putting a stone in your house, do not let the fabricator seal it until after it goes in.
Speaker 2:And you have you know, you've really analyzed it and made sure it's really good, because if you've sealed it, it's going to stay that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But they had not sealed it and it dried out and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, we had ours. I mean, ours is just granted you know seven years ago, whatever run of the mill, but we had it sealed. They came on site and sealed it.
Speaker 2:I did mine that way too, but I didn't realize how important that was. So I went back. You know, I have white marble in my master bathroom. So I went back after this and was like look at it, but there were no watermarks, no watermarks. It was just weird to me how that like.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've never seen that happen either.
Speaker 2:I haven't either.
Speaker 1:I would have died it was. That's a lot of money, I mean, I guess, if it. Oh did they show up and install it with the watermark. When did you all see the watermark?
Speaker 2:When we walked in after it was installed and I was like oh, my gosh.
Speaker 1:Did they not say, did the installer not say no?
Speaker 2:Why do you think they're going to say something? And then? So we bought it at one place and used a fabricator from another company.
Speaker 1:Oh then it was going to be a blame game.
Speaker 2:Well, it started out that way, but I knew it was the fabricator. Yeah, and they were nice, they handled it, mm hmm, they fixed it, they, you know. They said they had never seen this happen either and I believe them, mm hmm. But I do have a little PTSD from it.
Speaker 1:That's great yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I learned a good bit about stone and then and then I realized you know, when you go to get it it's priced on bars like one, two, three, four, five.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 2:And I thought, well, as long as I'm not on that fifth highest bar, we're good. Oh, and it's not true. Oh, because I would go, like the third or fourth bar, mm. Hmm, you might as well go to the fifth. Ha ha, ha ha, because that means it's a expense, and I am one of those people. I'm cursed with this. I can walk in to a stone place and there can be, you know, 10,000 slabs and I promise you I'm going to pick out the most expensive.
Speaker 1:And I, but then I'm because you have bougie ass taste.
Speaker 2:But then I can scale back, and then I find you know you pout a minute. I'll pout a minute and I'm like but why can't that just be this spot? Yeah. And then I beg, I beg. I'm like can, what can I have this and that? And they're like no.
Speaker 1:I know how you work yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I'm like, but well, this one has a little spot on it, yeah.
Speaker 1:They're like yeah, that's not gonna be enough, Not even gonna be in the pick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like. Yeah, they're like that, We'll cut around that. I'm like well, I don't know, Okay.
Speaker 1:So oversize hoods, large ranges.
Speaker 2:Stoned without so much movement.
Speaker 1:So not as much veining Right.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, the veining, but it's not as loud Right, those are the big things, and the other thing that that I'm seeing is a lot more stain wood coming back, which I like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thing with stain, wood.
Speaker 2:I like paint, I like stain, I like all of it. Yeah, I like everything. To tell you the truth, I really like the whole look of the kitchen designs now, but I think we're going through one of those phases.
Speaker 1:Where things are shifting.
Speaker 2:You know about uh, about 15 years ago we were going through that phase where granite was coming in yeah. And it was all storm, right, you know we went from for my cut. Then we went. You know the laminate.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And we went to ceramic tile countertops and then stone and thank God stone got here because it's the best.
Speaker 1:And don't you ever think back and like, well, why was it not stone before? I mean I guess maybe the technology of fabricating it and stuff wasn't there, or the ease I don't know if I'm like seems like stone would have come first.
Speaker 2:My first house. You know what I'm saying. My first house had laminate counters, but I did like them. They were white, yeah, so they looked good, and then should have kept those toward that. Output. Ceramic tile, my.
Speaker 1:Lord First house had tile to get in all those cracks.
Speaker 2:Won't make that mistake again. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I like the look of it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, but it just wasn't functional. For sure, it's so nice just to be able to actually clean a counter now.
Speaker 1:I know right, Especially for EuroCDS.
Speaker 2:Thanks, that is too funny.
Speaker 1:Well, moving on from that, you know we're in the middle of March and that means first up is your birthday, and last year you crossed into your fifties and now you are getting settled in to your fifties.
Speaker 2:You're going to be 51.
Speaker 1:March 21st. Right, it's coming up, do you?
Speaker 2:have any plans? Uh-uh. Well, we're going to be working, we're going to be moving our houses but we are going to Greece this year. Okay, I was going to say that.
Speaker 1:I was going to say do you think we're going to make it to Greece? I mean we're already three months in and we don't have the trip planned.
Speaker 2:Yes, we're going to make it.
Speaker 1:We're going to make it. We did get our. Well then, you know, not got our passport.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you ain't got to cherish your album, but no, I'm going. I'm going with her without you.
Speaker 1:No, I'm going.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it's my fiftieth birthday present.
Speaker 1:So, I mean you got ten years, I guess, to make it there.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's going to be this year.
Speaker 1:I'm ready to go. I mean, I've been excited You've been saying we were going to Greece since you were like forty two probably that we were going to Greece for your fiftieth birthday and I've always said I can't wait for you to take me to Greece.
Speaker 2:And your birthday is going to be March 30th. March 30th will be my birthday, and you're going to be forty three.
Speaker 1:Forty three, hadn't stomping on towards fifty.
Speaker 2:I know You'll be fifty before you know.
Speaker 1:I know, isn't that crazy, it just in an old return in sixty Marches, right along.
Speaker 2:Oh, and then you, one day you get up and you realize it marched right over your face.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's already. It's already tried to march over my face.
Speaker 2:The little bowtops got it's such a privilege to get older. I mean, I'm so thankful I have no problem with my yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't either, and that goes back to what I was saying. I don't really worry about aging out. I guess I just don't focus on that. Like I don't focus like, oh, I'm going to be this age and not be able to do so. I just think like. I feel like mentally, I just keep thinking like, oh, I got time to, I'm going to do that, I can do that, I can do that. Like I'm going to keep changing and I'm not going to and when you think about it, I mean. I know Was.
Speaker 2:Martha Stewart. When she started her company Right, she was like Fifty?
Speaker 1:No, she's in her fifties OK.
Speaker 2:Ray Kroc, when he founded McDonald's, was in his fifties. Yeah, the best is yet to come.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I mean hopefully.
Speaker 2:They're going to tell him what we might do.
Speaker 1:I know you never know. I mean, we're more likely to go to get canceled because we did. Statistically we're probably more likely to have the end and get canceled than we are so like but that's one of those little learning curve, Right?
Speaker 2:I mean then we can be talking about, if you're like if you're boring and like everyone else, no one wants to listen to you. That's true.
Speaker 1:I mean stand out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to be me, I'm going to be me and I'm going to have fun.
Speaker 1:That's true, you always do bring a little fun element. I mean, it's got to be fun. So no big plans for your birthday this year. I don't have any for mine either.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying to make any plans because I know we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
Speaker 1:I just want to and mine's the 30th and then the day after is Easter for mine, and then Daniel is leaving town. He's going on a little farmer trip he got invited to go and he's going to Europe, to the Netherlands. Yeah, I'm a little bit to see all the like bulbs or whatever I don't know renunculus and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:I'm a little jealous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because this one is just like I've always wanted to go there too. I know there is a potentially a trip in the fall that I might get to go. Are we all might go. This one is just. They invited him because a supplier invited him in there.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're going in the fall, count me in.
Speaker 1:I know, and then I think the fall when anybody like it's a flower farming when to, but they're like anybody who wants to buy a ticket can come and join. That sort of thing I mean up into, I mean a limit or something I don't know. But this one I wasn't invited. Long story. So then he'll be gone. And he's going to be gone for like 12 days, but that's his business.
Speaker 2:I mean, he was invited, we've done things with our. No, I know it's different, that's his moment.
Speaker 1:Jealous, and then I'm going to be left here on the farm, like I'm normally the one that leaves rarely.
Speaker 2:We're going all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we go to market for like 10 days or whatever. He's always here and it's this is like him leaving. I'm like no 12.
Speaker 2:That's a long time it really is. That's what I think it's funny because your ass is going to be stuck here.
Speaker 1:Do it all I like you better have your employees a long list of things ready to go, because I mean I'll, I'll do things, but I'm just like you won't do much spring right after Easter, in between Mother's Day, like that is peak prom season.
Speaker 2:But I'm glad he's going. Yes, oh, it'd be such a good two years ago.
Speaker 1:He would have never done that, no, and I'm so, so excited for him. Honestly, I'm like I'm so excited for you because I'm a little jealous too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too at the same time, and speaking of flowers in the flower farm, this is a great time to remind you. We should have stopped and picked Daniel up, but he's literally out in the field. But this is a great time to remind you to order your Easter flowers from Petal Pickers. If you don't know, we ship all across the country. Daniel, my husband, runs our flower farm, petal Pickers, and I'll put his information down below, like the website, which is Petal Pickerscom. But you can go on the website and order your Easter flowers Be a great time to do that and they'll be shipped right to you or you can ship them to a loved one. So if you're not going to be able to join your loved ones or friends for Easter and you want to send them a little something, he will have the most gorgeous bouquets. It's a nice thing to do.
Speaker 2:I usually do that for every season for somebody. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we ship every week, just so you know. If you don't know, but Easter's they ain't getting all that out of them.
Speaker 2:They're getting it for a special occasion. I know, but there's a special occasion to someone every week, like a birthday, or maybe you just need to make yourself feel better that week, or you're wanting to just cheer somebody up, right?
Speaker 1:He does offer a subscription plan too, where you can get yourself flowers. You can pick how often.
Speaker 2:The bad thing about buying Daniel's flowers. Here's the negative. You never want any other flowers after that because there's just such a difference. Yeah, I mean, the quality is not even. I know I can spot them from a mile away, I know.
Speaker 1:And sometimes, okay, I'm used to the other flowers and then going but, like you know, dying quicker. Sometimes I'm like, can I throw these away so I can get new ones? And they're still perfectly gone. They last a long time. Like well, before we went to market he started a. He did a little Tomlapse in our and it was in our great room. Everyone saw it A little Tomlapse of these tulips. They start out like a white color but they turn to pink as they open up. And he started that before we went to market. And then we were at market for like four days and I came back and it was still going and like finally, like after like seven days, I was like can we? I think you got the Tomlapse, can we?
Speaker 2:get rid of these now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, already, yeah that's how I feel.
Speaker 2:I know that sounds bad to say that, but it's so true because I will send them to somebody and they'll tell me like, oh my gosh, they lasted for air. I still have this one. Yeah, I'm like, oh my lord, see, I don't do that.
Speaker 1:When they start losing a couple of petals or something, I'm like, I throw them all in the trash. Normally, what I do honestly is I will. We have the cleaning lady that comes on Fridays, so on Thursday nights I throw them all away, and then she comes and cleans on Friday, and then over the weekend Daniel will bring me in new flowers and then I just throw them away. That way, right? You know flower farming problems when you get tired of the flowers before they die.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's also having a garden store Like it changes you like.
Speaker 1:Well, they're so readily available, which is the way, you know, european people view flower. Anyway, they do the same thing. They flowers are everywhere, and I wish we would get more like that here in the US, which I feel like it's leaning that way. It's definitely trending. More and more people are into just having flowers, just to have flower Like used to, even like I feel like 10 years ago it was more flowers for an occasion, a birthday, an anniversary or whatever, and now more and more people are like oh, I just want to treat myself to flowers. Oh, I just like having flowers in my house. They're just pretty, they're just pretty. So hopefully that'll continue on.
Speaker 1:But yeah, if you need some flowers see the show notes below and I think that's going to wrap up this week. I'm ready to get out. I've finished off my coffee and I might need to make a little pit stop. Can you pull over?
Speaker 2:Oh, you got to poo poo. No, I got a tinkle.
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