Hello everyone and welcome to the Within Range Coaching podcast with Ranger.
I'm Ranger, certified holistic success coach, and in this podcast I'm breaking down the
journey that leaders face as they start their organization, find solutions to the roadblocks
in their way, and create an impact that lasts.
So if you're an entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, or purpose-driven community member that wants
to learn how to increase your impact, excel in your personal life, and grow your business,
this is the podcast for you.
I know you're eager to get started, so let's jump right in.
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.
My name is Ranger and I'm your host for the Within Range Coaching podcast.
And as most of you know, over the last couple of years and more so in the last six months
or so, I have been preparing for my walk across America.
I'm only a few weeks out from taking my first few steps, but I wanted to take a few episodes
of the podcast to highlight the people that are helping really make it happen.
And before I start my quick jaunts, what better way to kick off that interview series of the
people that are sponsoring or supporting me than with the people that are going to help
keep me caffeinated as I'm taking my little journey.
So I'm excited to co-create this episode with our very first guest on the Within Range Coaching
podcast.
Today's guest is a self-described serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, wildlife conservationist,
reptile breeder, husband, dad, and so many other things.
Trey Hall, thanks for joining us today.
Thanks for having me, Ranger.
Glad to be here.
Yeah, of course, man.
And just as I'd like to start off most of these, what is your intention for today's
episode?
Yeah, so what I like to do is really just encourage any listener that is considering
going into an entrepreneurial endeavor or even is in an entrepreneurial endeavor and
is struggling to give them some hope and some motivation and maybe some inspiration that
it's a wonderful journey.
Like you mentioned, I consider myself a serial entrepreneur.
I have multiple businesses that I work in every day.
And so this is a part of my life.
I love it.
I love the rewards that it can provide.
And so really, I just want to pass along that encouragement to anyone that's listening.
Yeah, it sounds like just really sharing your excitement and the nuggets and satisfaction,
pride, all these different things that you've gained from entrepreneurship and take that
and kind of package it up in a way that says, hey, when you start, this is what you're looking
forward to.
For sure.
And no two people's journeys are going to be the same, right?
So not to say that you can follow my journey or your journey and come to the same conclusion,
but you can take advice on things that you can avoid along the way that I did wrong and
or maybe didn't do quite as efficiently as I could.
And if I can share that with you, that's just really all I care about doing.
Yeah, just really share your experience and see if what others can take away from it that
will help them along on theirs.
Sure.
Yeah.
And I mean, I kind of gave the laundry list of all the different things you are, but how
would you describe the way that you want to show up in the world?
Yeah, I mentioned it.
I'm a serial entrepreneur.
I almost to a fault.
And what I mean by that is I almost can't help thinking of everything from a business
standpoint.
And I say almost to a fault in the fact that I'm one of those people that can't have hobbies.
Like every time I think about an endeavor, whether it be, oh, I want to build a birdhouse
with my kid.
I'm like, oh, well, I bet you I can make money on that.
Or like, I can market that to this group of people and maybe they want some birdhouses.
And so that's what I mean is everything that I do and have done for a very long time has
been from the focal point of being an entrepreneur.
And so in the past three or four years, I've really embraced that.
And it's become my personality.
Like everything that I do, whether it's my personal finances, whether it's my day job,
whether it's side hustles or all of the other things, they're always, I'm always looking
for ways to monetize my entrepreneurial spirit.
And so that's really what my number one thing that I want to be known as is being someone
that's good at making money from nothing, essentially to craft something using my own
spirit.
But you also mentioned a couple of things.
I'm very passionate about wildlife conservation and I'm sure we'll get into it in a little
while, but I grew up in a very small town on a farm.
And so I've always been surrounded by wildlife and for a while took it for granted and see
and getting into the reptile community and getting into the coffee roasting community.
I saw the opportunities there and the detrimental impacts that that that non sustainable consumption
can cause.
And so it really made me rethink how I approach a lot of things in my life, whether it's from
the products that I buy or the way that I operate my business or the organizations that
I choose to give back to.
Everything has shifted from more of a consumer culture now towards that conservation mindset.
Yeah.
So it sounds like there's really two big things there.
There's that that entrepreneurship route and that conservationist aspects.
And I mean, even just taking a look at the cold blooded caffeine website, like those
two are very much integrated.
And to kind of stay on that serial entrepreneur route for a second.
I mean, when my fiance hears this episode, she's going to think, yep, that's Ranger for
sure.
Just that idea of great.
This thing is cool.
Awesome.
How can I make money off of this?
Is it possible?
What would that look like?
So I mean, during Covid, I had, you know, every side hustle on TikTok.
I tried to jump into I sold snake bags on Etsy for a while, tarantula enclosures, all
these different things.
And I'm just curious, like, what started that for you?
Why is that such like your such a natural way, a lens for you to look at the world through?
I don't know.
I think it was actually suppressed for a long time.
I grew up in a family, a great family, but it was always a family that you would go to
college and then you would get a nine to five and then you would work your nine to five
until you were 65 and retired.
And my mom did it and my dad did it and my brother did it.
And, you know, all my family was very much tow the company line, get a job, follow that
career until the end.
And I did.
I went to school.
I have a BS in business administration emphasis in business management and graduated from
college, got a good job right out of college, started working, worked for two companies.
Actually, my background is automotive manufacturing.
So I know a lot about supply chain and logistics and I know a lot about operations.
My specialty was customer service, account management, demand planning within that automotive
space.
And so I worked in that area for 12 years, but about the last three or four years, I
was starting to get an itch to do something different.
I didn't.
It's not that I didn't like my job.
It was a well-paying job and a well-respected industry, but it didn't really something was
missing and I didn't know what it was at the time, but it was always like, okay, I'm making
this this product, but I'm not making it.
I'm watching someone on the line make it and they're making it and okay, they get to touch
it with their hands.
But it was the same challenges over and over again, just a different day.
So like, oh, the end goal is to get this product out the door.
Okay, well, how do we do that?
Well, maybe today it's we are missing parts or maybe today, tomorrow it's a quality issue
or something like that.
But at the end of the day, the goal was the same and the challenge was the same was to
get parts out the door.
And after a while, it got into a slog.
And that industry, along with many others, is like you have to spend a lot of time to
be good and to advance in your career.
So like at times I would work 14, 16 hour days, I would come home, get up at six, be
to work by seven, get home at six, eat dinner, get back on the computer at 730, work until
one or two in the morning, get back up again at six and do it all over again.
And so it just became and it wasn't mine.
There was no sense of ownership to it.
And so about three or four years before Colbretta caffeine started, actually my business partner
and I, McKendrick, we had actually started little like side meetings after work once
a week where we would think about business ideas that we wanted to start.
And the whole concept in the beginning was we wanted something supplemental, right?
We wanted a side hustle.
We wanted something that wasn't super time intensive because we had those day jobs that
were very much encompassing of our entire life.
And so we were looking at things like, I think every e-commerce entrepreneur ever has looked
into drop shipping, has looked into private labeling, has looked into all of those things
that you could do in order to generate money with very little hands on experience.
And so we did all the things.
We started looking at men's watches and we started looking at apparel and books and really
anything that we thought we could market on Amazon mostly or Etsy or somewhere like that
and make a couple of bucks to supplement our income.
And it wasn't until we finally landed on coffee that all the pieces fit together.
But to that point, coffee was never intended to be a full time job.
We went into it with the full intention of private labeling and just full disclosure,
we do not private label all the stuff we roast in house just so everyone is aware.
But the full intent was to private label so that we could continue with our nine to fives.
We would put our label on it, slap it, get it out the door, make a couple of extra bucks.
Well, it ultimately didn't turn out that way.
We got some samples back from a private labeler that I didn't like and I'm a tinkerer.
And so I was on the side, if I was going to sell something, I wanted to understand how
it works.
So I started to start roasting coffee at home just to learn a little bit more about it.
And when I compared the two together, I was like, man, my coffee is already tasting better
than this one.
I don't see any point in private labeling if I can already do better.
So let me go ahead and try and push that full time.
And ultimately, that's what happened and that's where we are today.
Yeah.
So really starting off with that.
Well, just to kind of back it up, it sounds like the common thread throughout all of that
isn't necessarily, I've always wanted to own my own business.
I've always wanted to have this thing, but it still sounds like that there's a value
of ownership throughout that whole story.
You're exactly right.
Yeah.
So what?
And I guess what I'm trying to ask here is what is the importance of ownership to you?
Because it's ownership of my time.
It's control of my own outcomes, really.
Right.
So I still work 16 hours a day, 14 hours a day.
Don't get me wrong.
Like entrepreneurial journeys are not easy.
It's not an easier job, but it's a job that I can control.
It's a job that if I want to make more money, I got to figure out how to make more money.
Right.
Nobody's going to offer me a promotion at Cold Blooded Caffeine because it's me.
Right.
And so, you know, ownership of my time.
If I want to go take my son to the doctor, he's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow.
I'm going to take my son to the doctor.
I don't have to put time.
I don't have to put in time off.
I don't have to do any of the stuff.
It's my time.
And if I want to grow the business, it's my time to grow the business.
It's my commitment to grow it.
And if I don't, then I don't have to.
But that's really what it comes down to is owning my own time, owning my own dreams,
and owning my own life, ultimately.
Yeah.
And what I do want to acknowledge you for there is what I have noticed is I do know
a few people that have that entrepreneurial bug in some way, shape or form.
But kind of what you're mentioning earlier, they have that like cushy day job.
You know, they have the benefits, a good pay.
The job works for them.
But they haven't made that jump from quitting the nine to five to doing their own thing
and running within and being successful.
What about that was enough of a push for you to say, hey, McKendrick, let's jump in.
Like, what was that moment like?
Yeah, that's a that's a fun story.
So first of all, I need to acknowledge that my wife has a really well paying job.
And so that is certainly a safety net that I had that a lot of people don't write.
I don't come from an overly wealthy family.
There was no giant nest egg or investment or anything.
It's all bootstrapped from McKendrick and myself.
But I did have the luxury of having my wife's a software developer.
And so she makes perfectly.
Oh, so she's smart, smart.
She's smart.
Yeah, she's way smarter than me.
Cool.
Yeah, it shows pretty much every day.
But yeah, so she's a software developer.
And so I had that going in knowing that, OK, if something happened and something failed,
yeah, we would be out of the investment.
But it's not like I'm not going to eat next week if I spend all my money on on a coffee
roaster.
Right.
So that was certainly a safety net that helped push me into the direction because and it's
going to sound weird coming from someone that quit their six figure job to start a coffee
roasting company, but I'm fairly risk averse.
I don't really like to take to go out on a limb for things that I can't measure.
And starting your own business, unfortunately, you should measure all aspects of your business.
I'm sure, Ranger, you talk about that in your coaching and stuff.
You shouldn't do something if you can't measure it.
But you can't measure what you don't know.
And starting your own business from scratch.
I did all the planning and the business planning.
But you never really know what that first month, year, two years is going to look like
until you actually do it.
So that was a big step for me.
And having that that that safety net with my wife working was a big deal in me taking
that opportunity to do it.
But really the biggest factor in me making the decision to go full time into cold blooded
caffeine.
Well, first, let's flashback.
So we started cold blooded caffeine August twenty twenty one.
And that's when both McKendrick and I were working full time.
So August twenty twenty one until March twenty twenty two, we ran the business as kind of
a side hustle only through the e-commerce shop.
So everything going online rose to order and ship.
And if you are anywhere interested in the reptile community, you know what happens in
March of every year.
We're actually coming upon it right now.
And that is Tinley Park right outside of Chicago.
There's probably the biggest reptile expo in the world.
And so McKendrick and I were lucky enough to get tables and then that show, which is
an incredibly difficult thing to do for those that are knowledgeable on that.
And so we were lucky enough with the industry that we were coming into.
We're coffee roasters.
There's no other coffee roasters there.
Bob and Brian are wonderful with us.
And they said, yeah, come on in.
We could use that little bit of diversity.
So we came into that space and I was still working full time.
So I took time off Thursday to Monday to go to that show.
And when I got back into the office on Tuesday, I put in my two weeks notice.
And so that show changed everything for me.
So the March Tinley Park, 2022, we completely sold out of every bag of coffee we sold.
We saw the potential.
We trialed it and saw the potential of the market that was there and saw the people that
were interested in that product.
And we were like, okay, this is something that we cannot satisfy as a part time.
I can't produce the coffee.
I can't run social media.
I can't run digital marketing.
I can't run finance.
I can't run all these other aspects of the business doing it part time to the scale that
it needs to be done.
And so that was the kicker for me was on the return journey.
So we live, I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, which is about 13 to 14 hours from Chicago.
So on the drive home on Sunday night and Monday, I spent the whole time plotting the business
plan of how to take it full time.
And that for me was kind of the catalyst to say, yeah, let's go.
Let's do this.
Yeah.
So it really sounds like a lot lined up for you and McKendrick in order to take cold blooded
caffeine from, you know, just a, just an idea into a physical real life thing.
So and the kind of jump back again with that conversation with your wife about stopping
your job and going full time into it.
I think that that is something that is very much not talked about is that, you know, a
lot of these people that jump into their business full time, they say, oh, you know, I just
believe that at 100% and I jumped straight in or they kind of ignore that fact.
Like marriage itself is a partnership.
I mean, that's something my fiance and I are talking about as we're moving towards that
route.
But what did that conversation look like between the two of you?
So I think this is not to pat myself on the back.
I am lacking in a lot of different areas in my life.
But one of the areas that I think both my wife and I are very good at is communication.
And we talk about everything, every little thing, all of our goals and our hopes and
our dreams and stuff.
We're very open with each other on that.
And so we've always she's always known that I wasn't very happy in my nine to five because
I would talk about it, not just angry all the time, but you can you can tell those life's
frustrations with your partner.
And we have always been willing to sacrifice for each other so that we can pursue our dreams.
And so my wife's background, she went to the University of South Carolina, go Gamecocks,
and she graduated with a degree in media arts and she wanted to be a photographer.
And long story short, it didn't work out for her.
She realized that she loved photography, but she did not like the other aspects of running
a business.
And so she decided to pursue software development as a second career.
And so I say all this to say that I helped support her decision to go back to school
and to become a software developer without looking for any recompense.
Right.
I mean, I didn't expect down the line that she would do the same for me.
But that's the kind of relationship that we have.
And we're open with each other about our goals.
And we always talk them through.
Right.
So it's not like, oh, OK, I want to go, I don't know, be a trainer at SeaWorld.
OK, cool.
Go ahead.
Have fun.
We try to tailor them to our future ambitions and think them through.
But if we come to a decision to say, yeah, we should do this, then absolutely we support
each other in that.
And I think it's not just with careers, but I think that's probably the most obvious one
would be like changing jobs.
But even like looking for a house or moving or anything like that, we always bounce ideas
off of each other and are really good at communication.
Yeah.
I think what I'm really hearing there is also just your partnership.
This isn't transactional.
It's not expecting anything of the other one.
It's not, well, remember that one time that I was supportive of your dreams?
Well, now it's time to collect.
This is just what it is.
I want to hear your dreams.
Let's see how we can make them happen.
But it's also being respectful enough of that other person to have more of a plan.
Yeah.
That's really the key because if you go in and you are expecting a return, then it's
transactional, right?
It's not sacrificial.
It's transactional.
We go in knowing that I will sacrifice today.
I know, I don't have a goal in mind of what that sacrifice will be, but let's just say
my wife's having a bad day and she's just like, Edward, what's in?
Okay, I'll take my son out for the evening, give you some space and let you relax, right?
Knowing that if that time comes where I'm overwhelmed, she's going to do the same for
me, right?
And that's the same thing with the career.
I sacrificed and provided for the family for a couple of years when she wanted to go back
to school, knowing that if ever that opportunity came back, maybe not that same thing, but
she would be willing to sacrifice that same for me.
And it's very equal and it's in no way transactional in that, oh, you owe me this, right?
It's very much, maybe I sacrifice three times and she sacrifices once or something like
that, but it's always knowing that that person is going to be there for you when you need
it.
Yeah.
There's no keeping score, but it's like keeping up with each other.
It's like that idea more so of, like you were saying, it's not, oh, it's three to one.
I got to catch up with my, my asks.
It's just, this is just how the cards have been dealt.
It's a partnership.
And, and, you know, I hate to compare my marriage with my business partnership, but it's the
same thing with, with having a business partner as well is that you have to have good communication.
And, and, you know, I've heard horror stories from people say, oh, you shouldn't have a
business partner because eventually it's going to fail one day.
I'm adamantly same thing with my marriage.
If you communicate with your partner, whether it's a business partner or a relationship
partner, a life partner, whatever it is, if you're communicating, if you're open about
how you're feeling and you're willing to sacrifice for that partnership, then, then your partnerships
can be fine and it's going to thrive and you're going to do better because you have two people
with different skillsets, whether in a relationship or whether in a business that can pull weight
than you by yourself.
Yeah.
And I think that's the other big thing is that listen to one of your podcasts earlier
today about choosing a business partner and just to kind of briefly touch on that, what,
one of the things you mentioned was that you don't want to be the same exact person, but
have complimentary skills.
So what are the skills that are complimentary between you and McKendrick that have been
useful in cold blooded?
Yeah.
So, so on the surface, I mentioned my background is customer service and account management.
I'm really good at talking my way into and out of situations.
That's a skill that I learned.
So I'm a pretty decent negotiator, which makes me pretty decent at sales.
But I also, I'm used to customers coming to me instead of going out and getting them because,
you know, mostly I was working in fortune 500 manufacturers.
So customers were established.
They would come in, I would deal with problems and then send them on their way.
McKendrick on the other hand has, is very good at networking.
He's very good at supply chain and logistics.
So his background is materials and shipping.
And so he's very good at supply chain.
He's very good at operations.
He understands like efficiency flows and all those kinds of things.
And so on the surface, we, we spread across a bunch of different areas because essentially
coffee roasting is manufacturing, right?
You have operations, you have supply chain, you have shipping, you have finance, you have
all the things that a manufacturing facility would have.
The running joke is that neither of us know a lick about finance because neither, nobody
would let us touch the books, right?
The supply chain guy and the customer service guy weren't allowed to look at the finance
books because somebody would be premium freighting something somewhere, whether in or out of
the business.
So that's kind of the running joke.
So that's, that's on the surface.
That's the obvious stuff, but under the surface, something that we almost lucked into honestly
is the difference between visionary and integrator.
And so I am very much a visionary.
I am very much someone that's looking like I talked about with the serial entrepreneur.
I'm looking forward.
I'm looking for opportunities.
I'm looking for growth.
I'm looking to push the business.
And McKendrick is what I would consider to be the opposite as an integrator.
He's an operator.
He's in the business.
He's trying to get the day to day done.
He's trying to do it efficiently.
He's trying to do it without spending money.
He's trying to operate very much in the near future, whereas again, I'm very much the visionary
looking out.
And it's so important.
And if you're for your listeners, the book Rocket Fuel is a book that was written about
this topic.
And if you have a business partnership, it is so important to understand and be honest
with yourselves on the roles that you have, whether you're a visionary or an integrator,
because it's incredibly difficult to do both and understanding what you are and how to
communicate with that other person.
McKendrick brings me down, which is a good thing, right?
Because if he didn't, I'd be out there, you know, selling, I don't know what I'd be doing,
selling coffee bag t-shirts or something out on the street, trying to make money.
So he helps bring me down, but I also help push him forward, right?
So we come to a middle ground to help push each other in the best direction because we
have those kind of two competing personalities in how we want to operate.
So I'm able to push him forward and he's able to kind of dial me back a little bit and say,
okay, maybe, maybe two projects is enough.
We don't need six different new product projects or something like that.
Right.
So, so I hope that answers your question.
Yeah.
So what I'm also hearing you say there is that there's, what is it that every partnership
needs a no person and it's not, no, we're not, it's not, it's not a Debbie Downer.
It's a no, this is the mission.
This is what we're going towards.
This is how we're going to actually make it happen.
And usually it's like, Hey Trey, think that through a little better.
Like I heard what you said and that sounds great, but what all has to happen to get there?
Right.
Like, Oh, okay.
You want to start selling the X X widget, right?
Okay.
That's great.
I think we could make money doing that, but then we would have to invest in a new packaging
machine and we would have to invest in a new warehouse and all that stuff.
And it's like, Oh, okay.
I see.
You know what I mean?
It's not a no.
McKendrick never tells me usually, I can't think of a situation where he says no, it's
more like, okay, let's think that through and let's understand where you're coming from
with this.
And a lot of the times it's like, Oh, okay.
Yeah.
I understand that's not feasible for us to do.
So yeah, like it's not feasible right now, or maybe this energy could be used somewhere
else that's either more profitable or pushes the brand or aligns more with what we're trying
to do here.
Yeah.
Okay.
So another thing that I wanted to ask you about earlier, when it comes to that risk
aversion, because what I've heard is that a lot of entrepreneurs are more so, you know,
very risk seeking, like they kind of thrive in that they like that.
Almost like a thrill seeking kind of a thing is what I typically hear people say about
entrepreneurs.
Yep.
I don't super identify with that myself.
Yeah.
Because like you were saying, like there's all these questions that need to be answered
and things that need to be figured out.
So what were the major questions that you needed to figure out before you jumped full
into it?
Well, I'm an analytical person by nature.
And so one of those questions, like I mentioned earlier is, can I measure it?
Right?
So see the numbers, understand if it's going to be successful.
And if the numbers make sense, I'm willing to take a risk.
But if the numbers don't make sense, then I'm not going to stick my neck out for something
that I don't believe in.
And I don't necessarily, maybe risk averse is not the right term, but it's more like
risk assess.
Risk understanding, like knowing very clearly what they are.
I have no problem taking a risk, but I'm not going to just take a blind risk.
Like I'm not going to just go out on a blind date.
I'm going to understand a little bit more about that person or I'm going to, you know,
I'm going to figure out how I feel about this business.
What's the market like?
What's the initial cost?
Because I promise you, and even through all of the market data that we went through and
all of the analysis and all of the finances that we tried to come up with, starting this
business has been three or four times more expensive than we ever thought it was going
to be.
Right?
So we've been trying to understand the best that we could, what to expect.
And we also understood that it's going to cost more or it's going to be longer.
It's going to be harder or all that things.
So that's really what I mean by risk averse is that I just don't like blindly taking risks.
If the data says do it, I'm okay doing it.
It's like, I don't know if you're a football fan, but you know, if the analytics say to
go forward on fourth and three from your own 45 and you say, oh yeah, you've got a 75%
chance of doing it.
Yeah, let's go.
I have no problem with that.
But if you're like, yeah, we should probably maybe try and do that one day or something.
I'm like, nah, man, not touching that.
Yeah.
So it, and I think it really does get tight and like, it's not going for the risk just
because it's a risk or not going for it because it is a risk.
It's knowing the different KPIs, the key performance indicators.
It's knowing what's going on and being able to really make that informed decision.
So with cold blooded caffeine, I mean the whole, the whole brand is tied up in wildlife
and reptile conservation.
I know you have a little bit of a background in reptile breeding.
What prompted you to go, okay, I like coffee.
I like lizards.
Let's mesh it together and see, well, that we're, how did that, that partnership almost
happen?
So like I mentioned, McKendrick and I had a weekly kind of standing meeting where we
talked about ideas that we were coming up with on, on entrepreneurial endeavors that
we wanted to pursue.
And so I was actively looking for those types of opportunities.
I had always been in the coffee.
I was the one in the break room with the French press that was making the coffee in the, in
the break room, being the all weird and stuff.
But the real catalyst kind of came when I went to a grocery store one day.
I know I used to get my, my coffee from a grocery store, but I went to a grocery store
one day and started looking around and I was like, huh, do I want a Colombian coffee or
do I want Brazilian coffee or do I want a, I don't know, Peru or all these different
countries?
And I was like, huh, I've got Brazilian rainbow boas.
I've got red tail boas.
I've got all these different animals.
That's interesting.
They come from the same place.
All right, let's, let's look into it.
And that's a kicker, right?
I didn't just go blindly like, oh yeah, that would, that makes sense.
Let's do it.
Let's go reptile coffee.
Woohoo.
I was like, okay, does it, does it make sense?
Right?
Does it, does it match on the surface?
It did.
It looks like it matches.
And so we started researching some articles.
And so we found articles from reputable universities that showed that reptile and amphibian biologists
biodiversity increases when you manage specialty coffee plantations for that specialty coffee.
Right?
So if you're, if you're managing the agricultural lands in a way that it produces specialty
coffee, which is what we roast at Colette Caffeine, then you see an increase in reptile
and amphibian biodiversity.
And so that was kind of the kicker.
It was like, oh, okay, that makes sense.
There's your tide.
There's your marketing.
There's your, you know, your integration into that community.
And then we started the networking and then we started to try and build the community
around the brand that pushed it, I guess, to the next level that made it for me.
Because the idea was great.
The idea makes sense.
But is there enough of a market for reptile coffee to have support to full-time jobs?
Right.
And so that's, that's where we kind of kicked it off from there.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
So my fiance's sister and brother-in-law got me a French press for Christmas about
two years ago.
So I've also been the weird guy in my break room making coffee and everybody's like, why
do you go through all the hassle?
I don't know.
It's better.
It's like, I get to feel.
Some of it's the, the, the repetitiveness, the habit, the, the tangibility.
Like I know tangibility with coffee sounds weird, but like, okay, you're pouring the
beans in and you're grinding the beans and you're pouring the water over it.
There's a, there's an attachment.
There's a habitual.
Yeah.
That's really enjoyable.
Yeah.
It's almost like, it's like a more, it feels very flip like that.
Like it's more intimate.
Like it's like, I, you know, usually people, you just throw the pot in, press the button,
you make coffee and that's it.
But it's like one of those few times of the day I get to kind of slow down, be in the
moment and really just focus on one thing at that time.
That's one of the things that I, I actually have in my, my, uh, goal journal for, for
2024.
So I have like a list of 11 goals that I, it's in the first page of my notebook.
So I have to look at it every time I open my notebook to look at those, those goals.
And one of them is slow down and appreciate those, those smaller moments, right?
Be present in what you're doing.
Because again, as someone that's got their hands in so many different things, I bounce
from task to task so fast.
And I'm often thinking of one thing while I'm doing another, it almost to the point
where it, it hurts the tasks that I'm doing.
It doesn't multitasking.
I consider myself a decent multi multitasker, but it's never as good as focusing on one
thing.
Right.
And so I'm trying to be more intentional about slowing down.
And so like, I started writing my notes in a digital notebook, but I actually, I actually
went the complete opposite.
So now I have like a fountain pen, right?
That I, cause it, I can, I can touch it and I can feel it and I can slow down and it's
more tangible to me.
And to me, that makes me feel and think and be more present in that moment.
I think that kind of ties into what we were saying earlier about that, knowing yourself
as, you know, an analytical or a, a dreamer or expressive, whatever that is being able
to really sit in that moment and have a conversation and understand what's going on is super valuable
with a business partner, with your, with your spouse, just in all these different areas.
And like I said, working as many hours as I do, I really want to be intentional about
the time that I spend not working.
Right.
So like you're talking about with, with my relationships with my wife and my son, when
I'm having family time, I want to be very intentional to be having family time and not
planning my next Instagram post or, you know, thinking about the YouTube video that I need
to make this week or all the orders that I have to fulfill tomorrow.
I want to be present in the moment and appreciate what's actually happening.
Yeah.
Cause that's what I've noticed with a lot of people too, is that when they go home, they
think about work when they're at work, they think about home and it's, they're, they're
never aligned and they never feel like they're doing enough.
Right.
So what methods have you been kind of trying to use to stay more present in that moment?
It's a challenge.
It really is.
So I, I think it's a common tactic that a lot of people use.
I've read it in a couple of books.
I'm a big book person, paper book.
I try, I've tried digital books.
I've tried, but I like just a good physical book.
And so I've read in several of those books that I start out with a mission statement
for the day and three goals.
And that's the maximum that I allow myself to do in any one sitting.
And I do that for a reason, because if I get three things done that were top level of my
to-do list today, then I can go home and my mind can turn off work.
Right.
So of course my task list, like we use, we use digital software to record all our tasks.
And my task list is a lot more than three tasks, but those three high level tasks are
the things that I, if I get those things done and I go home, my brain is not allowed.
Like it's a, it's now like a habit.
Right.
So my brain is not allowed to think about anything else other than those three tasks
in that day.
And once they're done, they're done.
So I do that.
I do three things every day that need to get done and then three wins from the previous
day to keep myself motivated.
So three, three goals, three things that went well the previous day.
And then I also do a one-liner at the bottom of what's motivating me today.
And usually it's something around some, a current event in my own life, like, oh, my
brother just had a baby.
And so thinking about the next generation and how I'm going to be perceived to that
child in 15, 20 years motivates me today.
Right.
Something like that.
Like I want to be a better person to, to, to be someone that my niece looks up to in
20 years.
Right.
So those kinds of things.
And so that's how I kind of ground myself.
And I'm able to think in the present is that I think of only those three things, those
three goals and those three motivations every day and everything else for my work is out
outside of that.
And so I have the big problem again, like you were saying of going home and not being
able to turn it off.
Another big thing for me is I live about 30 minutes from my office.
And so I am not allowed to listen to business podcasts on my way home from work.
And so anything that's business related, I, I, I listened to an audio book, like a novel
or something and try to transition from that business day to day mindset into something
that's more story and more life and things like that.
So that's, that's kind of my strategy.
Yeah.
So it sounds like giving yourself permission that after these few things are done, I'm
good for the day.
It kind of sounds like you also have like your criteria for deciding what those tasks
are, but as long as I can get these things done or at least give it a solid shot, it
sounds like then at the end of the day, I can turn it off, go home and also kind of
setting those rules for yourself.
Like you're saying, like no business podcast, no, no self-improvement stuff while I'm driving
home, let's keep it more light and fun and transition into that.
Now I'm home and not businessman train anymore.
Right, right.
Yeah.
And, and also, so it also helps my son.
He's so he's my wife works from home.
She's a software developer.
So she works from home.
So she's with my son from when he gets home from school until I get home from work.
And so I immediately transition, walk into the door or I immediately transitioned to
primary caregiver because my wife wants a break.
Right.
So to her credit, she needs one.
She's awesome.
But she, you know, so she starts cooking dinner and I take over as like primary parent for
the afternoon.
And so it's good for me to kind of have that, that break in, in mental like transition on
the way home and sitting in the driveway and preparing myself to go in the door to, to
take over like immediately.
The second I walk in the door, I have, I'm, I'm onto job number two.
Right.
And so, so that's, that's kind of how I think about it is the second I get in the door,
my, my, my next job starts.
And not that I think of my family as a job.
Okay.
I don't have a son very much, but you know, it's, it's mentally shifting from business
trade to parent trade.
Yeah.
And, and it's like what I was about to say is that it sounds like shifting that role
that it's not my family isn't another job, but sometimes just to make that shift until
it is a more natural, having that mentality around it does work.
Like even like, okay, this hat off this one on, okay.
Now I can be the type of person that I need to be for my son, for my spouse, for whatever
situation I'm walking into.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, I mean, just throughout this conversation, it sounds like there's some pretty significant
nuggets here, household communication with your partner, whether that's spouse, business
partner, whatever, having clear agreements on these are your roles.
These are my roles.
This is how we can support each other.
And it sounds like just being consistently honest and upfront with each other is important
there.
Not really like sugarcoating things or trying to say what you think they want to hear, but
rather this is what I'm feeling.
This is the situation.
What do we do about this?
Another one is going to be knowing yourself, whether you're that more analytical type,
you're a dreamer, you're more down in the weeds and being honest with yourself on that.
And what I think you're trying to get out there is saying, don't try to be something
you're not.
I think that I've been successful so far in my entrepreneurial journey is admitting where
I'm not good.
And I think that's really hard for a lot of people, especially a lot of like solo openers,
like people that are trying to do everything by themselves.
I surround myself by people that are so much smarter than I am.
And I do that on purpose because I fully appreciate the fact that I should, I feel like most of
the time am the least educated or the least experienced or the least whatever person in
the room.
And that's great because that means that I have the right team.
I know that I'm weak in social media and I know that I'm weak in like content, like visual
graphics and things like that.
And so I've surrounded myself with the best people that I know to help me with some of
that stuff.
And that's why I think it's really important to know yourself, know your strengths, know
your weaknesses and be able to admit when you need help.
Yeah, I was going to say being able to know when to ask another person for their input,
their help, their expertise.
Because again, another thing that I've noticed with entrepreneurs is that a lot of it does
get tied up in pride because we're so invested in the product or service that we are creating.
And when there's that idea that, you know, maybe it's not as good as I think it is, there
might be that first tinge of no, it is everybody's wrong, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
But that really does harbor the impact of that product or service could make in the
future if you don't ask for help.
And for us, it's really been about building that community of people around because as
a new entrepreneur, as you come into that space, you're not going to have a lot of money
to spend on social media budgets or hiring people to do certain things.
So building that community and being able to ask questions of people that are experts
in that field without having to shell out for a bunch of money.
I still do the social media stuff and I still learn every day on how to do it.
But I've surrounded myself with people that are a lot more experienced than I am.
And I can send like someone, I'm not going to name names, but you know, some pretty significant
people and I don't like name dropping if I can avoid it, but some pretty significant
names in the reptile industry, social media space.
And I can say, hey, what do you think about this post?
Do you think it's effective?
Do you think it's going to come across the way I want it to?
What do you think about the visuals or the, you know, the copyright or anything like in
this post?
And I can get feedback because I've been purposeful in building that community of people and networking
and having people around me that know more about it than I do.
Yeah.
So it sounds like, again, just even just asking for feedback, getting information about what
you're posting and what you're putting out into the world.
It's not even necessarily saying, Hey, can you spend 17 hours on this one project for
me?
It's just, Hey, watch this one minute video.
Let me know.
Like, this is what I'm going for.
Does that hit it?
Or am I totally off base here?
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then just, just a couple more things.
When it comes to the future of cold blooded caffeine, let's say five, 10 years down the
road, looking back, what would need to happen for it to feel like it was a success by that
time?
Yeah.
Again, it, to me, it all comes down to relationships and I want to be as invested and involved
in that community as I can.
We were very purposeful in how we approached starting this business and doing it in a way
where we established that community and became as integrated into the greater reptile community
as possible.
Instead of just launching an online brand and doing everything in person, we did 24
trade shows in 2022.
So we hit the ground.
We did a lot of foot traffic, introduced ourselves, put faces to the name, building those relationships.
That to me is the thing that I want to be remembered.
Like in five years, if we build relationships with as many people as we can, I don't particularly
care about revenue or anything.
The revenue will come if the relationships are there.
I'm not worried about that right off the bat, but I'm talking about building relationships
with people that are valuable, that people feel comfortable asking questions or getting
advice like I talked about to that point earlier about being vulnerable and asking for help,
whether it's about coffee, whether it's about business, whether it's about reptiles, whether
it's about personal relationships.
I'm pretty open about things like I've talked on my social media about my son and his adoption
journey and things like that.
If people need help with really anything, I want to be integrated into the community
so that people can feel comfortable with coming and approaching and talking and asking questions.
The other big thing that I want is to continue expanding the reach of the philanthropy that
we are able to do as Cold-Blooded Caffeine.
Right now that we donate to USR and we donate to the Rainforest Alliance, our two primary
partners.
I love those two partners very much, but I really want to expand specifically into more
reptile and amphibian conservation initiatives going forward.
The Rainforest Alliance is a great global organization that does amazing work with rainforest habitat
preservation, most of that being within coffee producing countries, which fits well with
us.
But as we grow the brand and as we begin to bring in more revenue, which we can then transition
into more donations to organizations, I really want to work with reptile specific conservation
groups.
We already have started some of those conversations, but that's really the key for me is to transition
from more of those global nonprofits into more of the reptile and amphibian specific
ones.
USR concluded in that USR will never go away as a partner with Cold-Blooded Caffeine as
long as they'll continue to have us as a partner.
They do great work and there's no one quite like what USR does for the reptile space.
But I'm talking specifically more of the Rainforest Alliance side, bringing in organizations like
Turtle Survival Alliance, the Turtle Conservatory, all those other organizations that are really,
really important and integrated into the reptile and amphibian conservation world.
We want to bring those also and be able to provide donations to those organizations as
well.
Yeah.
So a lot of it really is tied up in community and conservation.
And it sounds like that from what I'm hearing there is a lot about your brand.
Now, not necessarily like you're saying, not revenue, not hit a million dollars a month
and blah, blah, blah.
It'll come.
All that stuff will take care of itself.
Yeah.
It's about being a part of that community where people will come to you for questions,
will come to you for support.
They'll support you and also really sticking to that mission of Cold-Blooded Caffeine of
great coffee and supporting the areas and I guess locales of which it comes from.
Because that's where a lot of the reptiles that we keep come from.
I have mine all around me as well in my little space here.
So it sounds like just really sticking true to the core of what Cold-Blooded Caffeine
is.
And I think that is probably the thing that I would like to leave your audience with the
most is to ground yourself by making your organization, your business larger than yourself.
Because if it was just me and it was just about making good coffee, then I think the
focus of the business would be focused too much on myself and I would lose perspective
in a lot of different things.
And so by having something that I'm passionate about in wildlife conservation and being able
to give back to that, it gives me a greater purpose for why I want the business to be
successful that's greater than myself.
And I think that's really important for any kind of business to really find that third
contributor.
So yes, I want my business to be successful for me.
I want my business to be successful for my employees, but I also want my business to
be successful for the conservation groups that we support so that they have that income
stream.
And it helps me remember why I get up in the morning or why I do what I do because I can
continue that mission that's greater than myself.
Yeah, and values is something that we do talk about on the podcast.
And it sounds like when it comes to your business, have it share values, like for you, it's community
conservation, good coffee and being able to share that with other people.
But it's not so tied up in who you are or you individually as a person that it gets,
I guess, watered down.
It can be amplified because these values are bigger than yourself, but so true to you are
as a person.
Exactly.
We recently did a podcast and we talked a little bit about this as well about being
authentic and being you in that putting your customer first, your customer would see if
you are being inauthentic.
Right.
So if you look at the lens through your customer's eyes, it's pretty easy to tell businesses
that just are talking the talk.
But to actually put your heart into something and to invest in it, it makes a big difference.
I'm passionate about really two things in this world, and it's coffee and it's reptiles
and amphibians.
And I hope that people that watch our videos or that come across us in person can tell
that.
I love talking about coffee.
I love talking about reptiles and amphibians.
And my third, and what I'm really starting to learn is I love talking about business.
And so I'm glad you invited me on the podcast, Ranger, because this is kind of coming full
circle to me is that inspiring people to pursue their passions, whether that's reptiles, amphibians,
business, whatever it is, is becoming kind of that third catalyst for me.
But yeah, it's really putting something else ahead of just making a buck.
You can make a buck a lot of different ways.
If you're going to start a business, you're going to need that drive that's going to push
you forward on those dark days when you don't want to get up in the morning or those late
nights when you're in the office roasting coffee by yourself.
You're going to need those motivations.
And definitely the passion for wildlife conservation that cold-blooded caffeine is built around
is definitely that driving force for us.
Yeah, Trey.
No, I mean, that it sounds like it really came true on this one.
Like what your intention was for today was to share some nuggets of your own experience
with people that may be either in the middle of starting a business or thinking about starting
one or just really being able to walk away with something that will help them on their
own entrepreneurial journey.
And I think with that, it's a lot about sharing your passion and really walking in your purpose.
And I know that you mentioned earlier that you have a special little gift for the people
that are listening.
So did you want to talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, so just kind of a way for us to give back to you, Ranger, and your audience.
We did include that.
So I'll send you the link if you want to include it in the show notes or anything.
But there is now a page on the Cold-Blooded Caffeine website.
It is within range podcast.
I think it's what?
Cold-Blooded Caffeine backslash pages backslash within range where you can go give us your
name and your email and we'll send you a discount code for a free sample pack of Cold-Blooded
Caffeine's top selling coffees.
So there you can either get them in drip bags, so two ounce drip bags or two pods of each
of our top flavored coffee or not flavored coffees, but top roasts.
So that's available just exclusively to your podcast.
It's live now.
So whenever you listen to this podcast, if you want it, it's there for you.
I will say if you add it onto an existing order, we'll cover the shipping.
If you just order the samples, there is a small shipping fee in that so that we can
not lose too much money on that.
But yeah, so that's for you guys.
It's live now.
So hope you enjoy Cold-Blooded Caffeine coffee.
5% of every bag sold goes back to wildlife conservation efforts in coffee producing countries.
So yeah, Trey.
Well, I just want to thank you for that.
I think that's super generous and I'm sure they'll be appreciated by a lot of people.
And I really think the great thing about Cold-Blooded Caffeine is it really hits that center of
philanthropic capitalism that I just think is the move and what a lot of people are moving
towards because it really says, hey, we are trying to make a profit here.
Like we're a business.
That's the point.
But we can also support the industry.
We can help other causes that we care about and even with the aspects of the business
that may not be great, like what you mentioned earlier with the environment, we can support
the agricultural methods that support biodiversity.
We can do all these things and then some.
So I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing there and for really being an
advocate for something that you're truly passionate about, because who else would do it, obviously,
if it wasn't for you and McKendrick.
So we wouldn't be anywhere without the support that we have for within the reptile community
and within the wildlife conservation community.
So we feel like it's our honor to give back.
I love that's my favorite thing to do every month is when I get to do the donations for
US ARC and for Rainforest Alliance.
So please make me spend more money.
I enjoy it.
I love making making those those donations every month.
So please, it's all about you guys.
It's all about the conservation.
So when we succeed, we are able to give more back to those organizations.
Thanks again, Trey.
And until next time, everybody again, everything will be down in the show notes.
The link for cold-blooded caffeine's gracious offer also put information in the show notes
about US ARC, the Rainforest Alliance and every other organization and resource that Trey
mentioned.
And other than that, we'll see you guys next week.
Bye.