1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,520 Hello everyone and welcome to the within range coaching podcast. 2 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:13,580 I'm Ranger, certified holistic success coach, and in this podcast, I'm bringing down the 3 00:00:13,580 --> 00:00:18,200 journey that entrepreneurs face as they start their organization, find solutions to the 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,340 roadblocks in their way, and create an impact that lasts. 5 00:00:22,340 --> 00:00:26,880 So if you're an entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, or purpose driven community member that wants 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,440 to learn how to grow your impact and develop yourself as the person behind the mission, 7 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,080 then this podcast is for you. 8 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:42,600 I know you're just as eager to get started as I am, so let's jump right in. 9 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,480 Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening everyone, and welcome to today's episode. 10 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:51,160 Now, as most of you know, I'm doing my walk across America currently, and I'm still kind 11 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:53,640 of in that beginning leg of my journey. 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:58,440 About a week and a half ago, I crossed the South Carolina border into the beautiful state 13 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,720 of Georgia. 14 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,960 And one of the things I tell myself every day during the walk is that there's good people 15 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:05,960 out there. 16 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:11,360 I'm not sure if that's just manifesting, convincing myself it's true, or just kind of intentionally 17 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:17,240 putting my attention somewhere so I can find more of it. 18 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:22,800 But I will say, regardless of what it is, it's working out very well for myself. 19 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:30,480 And the reason I bring that up is there was my second night, oh, the night right before 20 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:35,840 I crossed into Georgia, actually, when I was looking at my route plans for the next week 21 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:42,080 or so, and I noticed that it was just campsite after campsite after campsite. 22 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,920 One day had a 36 mile walk, there was terrible weather planned for one of the days and the 23 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:53,680 forecast, and I was just kind of freaking out at my campsite trying to figure out how 24 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,720 I'm going to make it work. 25 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,440 And I don't know about everybody that's listening, but camping isn't something I'm the biggest 26 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,240 fan of. 27 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,840 The ground's hard, it's cold, I don't want visitors at night, it's just not the most 28 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:06,840 ideal. 29 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,080 I always prefer four walls and a bed. 30 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,920 And as I was looking at my route plans, kind of dreading the reports and the path and everything 31 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:20,600 I was going to be going over the next few days, I got an email back from a hotel on 32 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,480 my route I had reached out to a day or two prior. 33 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,600 I opened it, it said to give them a call, so I did just that. 34 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,160 And I was able to speak with one of the owners of the hotel, and thankfully, she told me 35 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,520 that they'd be willing to sponsor a room for me for a night or two while I passed through 36 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,000 Washington, Georgia. 37 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,400 And when I tell you the relief in my body made me feel, I don't know if weightless or 38 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,360 I just felt less sore for a second or just not so worried. 39 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,880 I don't know, but I could feel the relief kind of all over my body. 40 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:59,920 I was going to be able to stay in the historic Fitzpatrick Hotel, avoid the weather, sleep 41 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:06,440 in a bed, and actually get a day to explore one of the small towns I was walking through. 42 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,760 And the reason I tell you all that today is because we actually have the opportunity to 43 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:17,080 speak to the couple that's making the magic happen over in Washington, Georgia at the 44 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:24,400 Fitzpatrick Hotel slash Fitzpatrick Industries slash Fitzpatrick Entertainment. 45 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,680 I am joined today by Brittany and Casey Buttrey. 46 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,820 Casey, Brittany, hello. 47 00:03:29,820 --> 00:03:30,820 Thank you for joining us today. 48 00:03:30,820 --> 00:03:31,820 Hi, thanks for having us. 49 00:03:31,820 --> 00:03:32,820 Of course. 50 00:03:32,820 --> 00:03:37,880 I'd love if you guys could give us a brief introduction of yourselves, a little bit about 51 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,580 who you are, what you do, your background. 52 00:03:40,580 --> 00:03:43,040 But let's go ahead and get started first. 53 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:49,000 If you could just let the listeners know what y'all's intention for our episode today is. 54 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,320 You know, kind of when we moved to Washington, we left Atlanta, which was our sort of our 55 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,100 home before here. 56 00:03:55,100 --> 00:04:01,400 Our intention was to seek out a different or better quality of life for our standards 57 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,760 to to redirect our life. 58 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:10,720 And we have found that you can do that with a little bit of creativity and stamina in 59 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,840 a small town environment. 60 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,680 And so we we love sharing that message with folks that you're not pleased about where 61 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,400 you are in your life or in your career. 62 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,200 You can always redirect. 63 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:27,120 And in this instance, it was a big leap of faith, but has turned out to be a huge blessing. 64 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,400 Yeah, kind of jumping from that, what I'm assuming what the hustle and bustle of the 65 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,560 big Atlanta area to the small town, is that kind of what you're saying? 66 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:36,560 Yeah. 67 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,200 So, you know, I mean, I hate to put it this way, but like feeling like you're you're living 68 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,320 in a rat race, you know, you're not living in the moment. 69 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,760 You're not enjoying today for today. 70 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,200 You're thinking about what's happening next or what's happening next. 71 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:54,160 You're always chasing that that next thing, which is sort of the nature of the city, I 72 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,920 feel like sometimes, or at least it was for me. 73 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,160 And so, you know, we were looking looking to slow things down a little more intentional 74 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,080 life and putting ourselves in a rural situation has helped us do that. 75 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:05,080 Gotcha. 76 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:10,440 So it sounds like different and better quality of life is being able to slow down and live 77 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:16,240 more intentionally and put your focus more so where you want it rather than all these 78 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,320 external factors that kind of come with living in a big city. 79 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:20,320 Yeah. 80 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:25,760 I mean, for me, I sort of grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and then I moved to Atlanta to 81 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,480 go to Georgia State and I lived there longer than I did anywhere else, and I always thought 82 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,840 I would like be a city person forever. 83 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:38,280 And now we live on a farm that you can't see from the road. 84 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:39,760 And it's like my dream come true. 85 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,280 So and I don't know why or how that happened necessarily. 86 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:45,600 It's just, you know, for some people. 87 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,760 And I remember being there thinking I would never do anything like this. 88 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:54,160 But for me now, it's just a more peaceful experience. 89 00:05:54,160 --> 00:06:00,840 And even though I miss like the nice cheap grocery stores and available restaurants and 90 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:05,320 you know, stuff like that, it's like you have to sort of live a more like intentional life 91 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:11,320 out here just to be able to, you know, because you're not so immediate access to everything. 92 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,320 But yeah, it's ultimately a better experience for me for us, I think. 93 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:17,320 Yeah. 94 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:22,000 A little bit of background on Casey and I, like I said, Casey said he grew up in the 95 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 suburbs. 96 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,480 He grew up in Athens, which is about an hour from where we are now. 97 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,400 It's where the University of Georgia is located. 98 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,600 But the surrounding community is very rural. 99 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,200 And I did grow up on a farm. 100 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:41,220 And we met after we finished college and lived in Atlanta for a while. 101 00:06:41,220 --> 00:06:44,080 My background is in like parties and events. 102 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:50,200 So hospitality overall, been in food service for 23 years now in some capacity or another. 103 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:56,680 I've always sort of like had whittled my career down to be focused on corporate events, music 104 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:02,120 festivals, food festivals, sometimes weddings still I used to do, but parties and events. 105 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,680 And then Casey's background and he can tell you a little bit about that. 106 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,820 I guess like my jobby job for a long time in Atlanta was coffee. 107 00:07:09,820 --> 00:07:15,080 So I like worked in coffee shops and managed coffee shops later on and like learn from 108 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,480 some of the best baristas and then trained a lot of kids for a while. 109 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,760 Like I was, you know, folks were getting me to like train new baristas on like coffee 110 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:25,760 stuff. 111 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:31,360 So that's kind of what I'm doing now in town, which is pretty cool just to get back to doing 112 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:32,360 that. 113 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,480 But while I was with Brittany, you know, while she's doing events, anytime you're sort of 114 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:41,880 like hanging out with a caterer, you just sort of become an emergency caterer, which 115 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:46,640 is like how it started, I guess, like, hey, we need to move this on this truck or else 116 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:47,640 we don't get to go home. 117 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:49,920 And it well, OK, I'll help. 118 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,520 You know, and then I don't know, after doing that for a while, it was kind of like, oh, 119 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:58,720 we should we could actually work together and do our own thing because we have all this 120 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,000 experience, you know, and hospitality here. 121 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,560 And it was like, well, is it going to be events? 122 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:04,560 Is it going to be floral? 123 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:05,920 Is it going to be whatever? 124 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:11,120 And then when the opportunity for, you know, managing the hotel came up, it was just like, 125 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,000 I mean, it was like, what movie are we living in? 126 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,000 Like this is crazy. 127 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,160 It doesn't make any sense. 128 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:20,200 But sometimes in life, I don't know, things happen and it comes at the right time. 129 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,680 How many things didn't come at the right time that we didn't take. 130 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,880 But this one was at the right place and time for us. 131 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,560 It sounds like there's just a lot of different background because it sounds like you both 132 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:36,520 have very different but complementary backgrounds and experiences that, like you said, when 133 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:42,200 opportunity showed up here, you had the background in order to. 134 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,320 Jump for it and actually do something with it. 135 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:50,360 What have you learned about yourselves during those times that opportunity showed up and 136 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:51,920 you were able to take advantage of it? 137 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,880 I mean, so one thing that I can say about about myself is that I've always sort of been 138 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:57,880 a risk taker. 139 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:05,040 I've always been sort of been some somebody who is I enjoy like taking the leap of faith 140 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,960 and then hoping that I land on my feet and then using my intuition in the moment to get 141 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:09,960 through. 142 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,920 I've always sort of been that kind of person and it has allowed me a lot of opportunities 143 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:15,800 in life and not all of them are all good. 144 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,400 I mean, obviously, if you're the kind of person who takes as a risk taker, you're going to 145 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:25,800 often things are going to happen that are not so great or that your consequences are 146 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,880 of the nature that you have to work through. 147 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,360 But sometimes and in many times in my life, it has afforded me opportunities that I would 148 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,720 not have otherwise had the advantage of experiencing. 149 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:37,840 And this is definitely one of them. 150 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:43,120 When I told Casey about opportunity to move into this space that we're in right now, the 151 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,880 hotel in Washington as a greater entity, he was like, you have lost your mind. 152 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,960 Like I remember we were living in Atlanta. 153 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,520 We were about to go to bed and I was like, hey, I got this phone call. 154 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:53,680 This is wild. 155 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:54,680 What if we did this? 156 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:56,900 You know, we sort of bounce some ideas around before. 157 00:09:56,900 --> 00:10:01,640 What if we opened a collective for musicians and events space? 158 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,000 What if we open our own coffee place? 159 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,000 Like what if we blah, blah, blah, blah? 160 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:07,000 What if we did this? 161 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:08,120 He was like, you lost your mind. 162 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:14,400 And then two weeks later we were we were out here in Washington checking stuff out and 163 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:18,380 it was just so terrifying, but so exhilarating. 164 00:10:18,380 --> 00:10:23,400 And it still feels that way five years later, you know, I would say for me, it's probably 165 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,380 more about like the process of like growing up. 166 00:10:27,380 --> 00:10:28,720 I would say I've really done here. 167 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,760 I mean, I did a lot of going in Atlanta, but something about like I was always handy, but 168 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:39,920 being in this kind of place where air conditioners are dying and wood is falling off and it needs 169 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:40,920 to be read. 170 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,400 The amount of work that has to be done in a place like this on a regular basis, things 171 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,320 that I've never done before. 172 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:52,560 But as long as you approach it with an open mind and you're like can watch a few YouTube 173 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:57,160 videos and learn about like how the thing works and take some time and learn, you know, 174 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:58,160 figure out how to do it right. 175 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,640 I mean, I've done that with so many things over the years that learning to trust myself 176 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,240 in a whole different way. 177 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,560 And I think maybe that's just a part of getting older or growing up or like, I don't know, 178 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:13,240 but like, you know, now I'm that frustrated old man when somebody's like the TV's broken 179 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:18,040 and it's like, it's not plugged in, just plug in the stupid thing, you know, just like. 180 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,760 I think that what I'm hearing you say, Casey, which was something that I've experienced 181 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,080 in my life is competence. 182 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,680 Growing up, I was not a very competent person. 183 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:29,440 I wouldn't say that I like was introverted or anything. 184 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,240 I just wasn't a competent individual. 185 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:38,120 And it is amazing what you can accomplish if you have enough confidence in yourself 186 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,080 to to say like, hey, we have 40. 187 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,680 So we have 44 air conditioner units here at the hotel. 188 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:46,720 It's a hundred and thirty year old hotel. 189 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,900 The air conditioner units are 20 years old themselves. 190 00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:49,900 They break all the time. 191 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:50,900 There's something wrong with them all the time. 192 00:11:50,900 --> 00:11:56,240 But if Casey has the confidence in himself to say, I can figure this out, almost certainly 193 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:01,720 he could probably figure it out because he has that that like he's ready to say, like, 194 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,160 I'm going to do this. 195 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,000 And it's the same thing with taking leaps of faith. 196 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:14,200 Like you have the confidence to say to yourself, if I can land, if I can, if I can do that, 197 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,000 then I can I can figure out what happens next. 198 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,000 I know I can. 199 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,480 And if I can't, then I'm going to be all right because I can figure that out, too. 200 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:22,480 You know, that's. 201 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:27,360 And like faking it till you make it is such a terrible phrase because it implies that, 202 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,560 you know, you're just faking when I don't know. 203 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:34,820 It's more like, you know, dress for the job you want in my mind, because when you do the 204 00:12:34,820 --> 00:12:39,000 thing, you're becoming the person that you want to be or that you're doing the thing 205 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,000 that you want to do. 206 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,200 And then there's there's no faking it to that. 207 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:43,680 You're actually doing it. 208 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:46,680 Millennials, we struggle hard with imposter syndrome. 209 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:47,800 You know, that's real. 210 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:48,800 That's real. 211 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,080 But if you're doing it, you're actually doing it. 212 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:52,080 Yeah. 213 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:53,080 I'm not doing it. 214 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:54,080 Yeah. 215 00:12:54,080 --> 00:13:00,480 Well, the first step in doing something right is doing it wrong. 216 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,800 And Brittany, I was going to say you tied together what you both said very eloquently 217 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:11,400 because even I noticed what you were saying with risk taking and what Casey was saying 218 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:16,000 with trusting yourself is a lot of it just stems from confidence. 219 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:21,020 And there's a model in coaching and I guess psychology, whatever you want to call it. 220 00:13:21,020 --> 00:13:26,180 The B do have model where you kind of just declare yourself as being the person that 221 00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:28,960 can do the thing, doing it. 222 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,100 And then you have the results. 223 00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:34,960 And it sounds like that's very much what you guys are saying is that it's not necessarily 224 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:36,720 like you said, faking it till you make it. 225 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,240 It's actually declaring yourself as able to do the thing, whether it's fixing an AC unit 226 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:47,800 of moving from Atlanta to Washington and kind of I don't want to say starting over, but 227 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:53,440 starting something different and really just jumping in and saying, I am the type of person 228 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,020 that can do this. 229 00:13:56,020 --> 00:13:57,320 Then you do it. 230 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:58,320 And now you have everything. 231 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:03,920 And then when you have the result that when you have that result, that gives you that 232 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,040 gives you so much foundation for confidence moving forward. 233 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:12,800 So one result gives you the confidence to achieve five results and five results give 234 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:16,180 you the confidence to forget that you were never confident in the first place. 235 00:14:16,180 --> 00:14:18,180 You know what I mean? 236 00:14:18,180 --> 00:14:20,160 Like to be the wrong person. 237 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:25,380 Yeah, there's I'm going to butcher the quote, but Alex Hermosy, one of the things he says 238 00:14:25,380 --> 00:14:34,060 is to I think it's Alex build a stack of proof that you are undeniably who you say you are. 239 00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:39,180 So even if you aren't where you want to be yet, just do one thing, then do another. 240 00:14:39,180 --> 00:14:44,000 Then over time, like you said, after your hundredth AC unit, it's not even a question 241 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,560 if you can fix it. 242 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:47,400 It's just what's the issue? 243 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:48,400 What's going on? 244 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:53,080 Again, whether it's something in the hotel and your coffee shop, et cetera, et cetera. 245 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,920 It's just so true to yourself that you can do the thing. 246 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:05,520 Yeah, you know, we I think and then in a bigger sense, this community itself is on a precipice 247 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,440 small communities in the south. 248 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:12,520 I mean, that number nationwide were impacted greatly by the Great Recession in 2008. 249 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:17,160 Because then some communities have died, some small communities have died. 250 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,760 Some small communities have held on to life. 251 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,060 Some of some have like done well. 252 00:15:22,060 --> 00:15:26,200 This community has sort of just been on its ebb and flow for the past few years and we 253 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,840 for the past 20 years. 254 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:34,040 And we got here at a time when there were people in government, people in the community 255 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,240 who were all sort of in agreement that we could we have a very beautiful place full 256 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:46,960 of very kind citizens and we can use that to build the kind of community that we want 257 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:47,960 to have. 258 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:54,760 And, you know, what we realized in Atlanta is that Casey didn't mention that he's like 259 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,600 an incredible drummer. 260 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,720 He's been part of touring rock bands for a long time. 261 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:06,680 But you know, like we what we found out when we came here was that when you're in a city 262 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,300 of four million people, you can do incredible things. 263 00:16:09,300 --> 00:16:11,720 You can do incredible parties for Mercedes Benz. 264 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,640 You can be on tour with a famous band. 265 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:14,640 You can whatever. 266 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:20,120 But you're just one person in a four million or really six million person greater metro 267 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:21,760 area, right? 268 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:22,960 One person doing something really cool. 269 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:24,800 Lots of other people doing really cool stuff too. 270 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:29,340 But in a small community like where we live where they're just at thirty three hundred 271 00:16:29,340 --> 00:16:35,200 people to really determine individuals, not to mention as many as we have in town, but 272 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,440 us to determine individuals can make a huge impact. 273 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:43,240 And that's very gratifying and very confidence building. 274 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:44,560 We've done a lot of things wrong. 275 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,360 We made a lot of mistakes, but just being able to make an impact. 276 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,680 And that's I think that we all want to do our jobs. 277 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:57,840 I would live and work, have those things be gratifying in some capacity, you know, to 278 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:05,680 help people to improve our human existence and being able to do that in and of itself. 279 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,920 You know, for the people in a small community is very gratifying for us for sure. 280 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:11,600 And very confidence building. 281 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:12,600 Yeah. 282 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,840 And this is you saying all that reminded me of something that one of my best friends from 283 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:22,840 high school used to say, like it's rather than be a big fish in a big pond to be a big 284 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,660 fish in a small pond. 285 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:29,360 And it sounds like that's more so what you're saying, but more with the impact that you 286 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:31,720 can make in your community. 287 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,040 Yeah, so yeah, definitely. 288 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:40,320 I think that, like I said, I think that everybody in their careers, I can see for myself that, 289 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:44,320 of course, you want to to be happy and be at peace for us. 290 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:49,800 We just want to be able to, like I said, improve the condition of what's around us and just 291 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:57,440 be the person who when someone asks for help, that we're the ones who raise our hands and 292 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:03,440 put ourselves in scenarios where we have opportunities to get involved and being involved. 293 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:08,040 I think that people think that we are like, how do you do all the things you do? 294 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,920 Because you know, we have a hotel, we have a restaurant, we have an Irish pub inside 295 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:13,920 the hotel. 296 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,960 I run a small business pipeline called Washington Wilkes-Makers Market. 297 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:23,680 We have an entertainment portion to our business where we book 180 live music acts a year here 298 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:25,680 in town and around Washington. 299 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,120 And then and then of course, the coffee shop endeavor. 300 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:30,200 Now, how do you do all this stuff? 301 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,640 And the answer to the question is through focus and determination by surrounding ourselves 302 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:43,720 with people that share our desires and have their own skills and that we trust. 303 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:50,160 And we have a group of 25 staff persons that work on our team that in that in and of itself 304 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:55,240 is a huge risk, you know, surrounding yourself with people to help you pull off the thing 305 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:56,760 that you're working on. 306 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:01,080 And it's not because we have like special ability to stay at 24 hours a day. 307 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,080 It's just that we have we have a great staff. 308 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:04,680 We have a great a great team. 309 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:05,680 Yeah. 310 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:10,000 And I think that's also something that's so important to remember is you guys might be 311 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:17,060 the head and you might be the the people that are more outspoken or doing that shaking hands 312 00:19:17,060 --> 00:19:18,120 and kissing babies. 313 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:22,240 But there's other people you have that are really on the ground that you've empowered, 314 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,760 that you've mentored, that are really making that vision come to life. 315 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:26,760 And that's the cool part. 316 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:31,280 You know, like we were talking earlier about confidence, the hardest part when you're dealing 317 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:37,280 with employees is like giving them the tools to make the decisions for themselves. 318 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,320 It's like I've hired you because I trust you to make the decisions. 319 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,000 So you don't need to come ask me for every little decision. 320 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,200 And if you screw it up, like it can be fixed. 321 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,780 There's nothing, you know, so big that we can't fix it. 322 00:19:48,780 --> 00:19:51,320 So yeah, I mean, that's the hardest thing around here. 323 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,360 People are very like, oh, no, can I do this? 324 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,820 One thing that I tell our team members a lot is like, hey, I'm going to support you no 325 00:19:58,820 --> 00:20:01,440 matter what decision you make, especially to the customer. 326 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,520 I will always support our team. 327 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,760 You have me to champion you whether I agree with you or not. 328 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:12,840 Most of the time, if you make a decision that I don't agree with, like I won't challenge 329 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,360 you publicly, I'll tell you, hey, I would have done it this way. 330 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,000 But I hired you because I trust your judgment. 331 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,600 I trust your ability to make this decision. 332 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,360 If you do something that I wouldn't have done, I'll let you know. 333 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:25,800 But I'm not going to be mad at you. 334 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:30,720 Like there's I'm not disappointed in you if you're making your best judgment call in that 335 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:31,720 moment. 336 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,200 And I think that that liberates people to do that. 337 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,440 And that's when you get more hours in your day when a person can use their own judgment 338 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,960 to make a decision without feeling like you're going to be in trouble or there's going to 339 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,320 be some kind of consequence because of that. 340 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:52,520 So you know, like I said, sometimes like I said, sometimes it's not what we would do 341 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:53,520 ourselves. 342 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,240 But that's what we're here for is to tell them how we would have handled it and then 343 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,280 help them to hopefully learn a lesson. 344 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:05,040 Yeah, and that's something just the way that you describe it right now reminds me of the 345 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:09,400 concept that feedback is just information, that it sounds like you approach it from a 346 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,760 very nonjudgmental, like I'm not mad at you, like I'm not whatever. 347 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,240 But this here's some feedback. 348 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,700 Here's some information. 349 00:21:17,700 --> 00:21:22,520 Use that in the future so that we can make better decisions moving forward. 350 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:28,240 A big part of I feel like coaching folks is to let them know, like, hey, this is not personal. 351 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:33,440 I always joke this sort of grass, but like, hey, here at work, we're here to like get 352 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,120 paid and fart on each other. 353 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:37,120 Right. 354 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:42,080 So just like, let's try and make the best of it and be respectful and loving to each 355 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,560 other while we're here. 356 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,880 And it doesn't have to be a personal thing when I come to you to discuss how something 357 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,640 went down or how would like to see it in the future. 358 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,180 It's not, it's not about, about you. 359 00:21:55,180 --> 00:21:56,180 It's about the task. 360 00:21:56,180 --> 00:21:57,600 Don't think too much about it. 361 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:04,360 It's like, it's learning to separate yourself from the task or the moment or the has been 362 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:08,240 a big, as a person who doesn't like disappoint has been a big thing for me. 363 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,520 And seeing the way that I've grown through it through the years has helped me help other 364 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,560 people grow through it too. 365 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:15,560 Yeah. 366 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,240 Hey guys, Ranger of Recordings Pass. 367 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,480 Jump it in real quick to talk to all of you coffee and tea lovers. 368 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,520 Are you ready to brew up something amazing? 369 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,400 If so, I've got just the thing for you. 370 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,200 Cold-blooded caffeine company. 371 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,000 This isn't just any coffee. 372 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,600 It's your ticket to a great boost of energy that helps save the rainforest. 373 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,640 Trey and McKendrick, the founders, were able to find the perfect intersection between wildlife 374 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:43,580 conservation and high quality 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up, make a difference and savor every moment. 386 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:28,760 Go ahead and check the link in the show notes for the referral link for some coffee. 387 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:34,160 And don't forget to use the code ranger at checkout to get 10% off. 388 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,400 Cold-blooded caffeine company, coffee with a cause. 389 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,360 Hit the link in the show notes and grab some purpose driven coffee today. 390 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:47,400 Our whole conversation is just reminding me of books and podcasts and people and all these 391 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:48,400 things. 392 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:54,440 And that, Roz and Ben Zander called The Art of Possibility, 10 out of 10 book. 393 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,160 I'll text it to you if you ever have time to listen to it. 394 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:02,200 But there's a concept in the book called rule number six, which is don't take yourself so 395 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,320 damn seriously. 396 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,120 And that just reminds me a lot of what you were just saying, like, oh, we're here to 397 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,920 get paid, toot around, whatever. 398 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:11,920 The job is serious. 399 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:17,960 Like what we do, the impact we make, the job, like that is serious and that is important. 400 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,280 But on the individual level, one mistake isn't going to ruin it. 401 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:27,840 Like what we do, like if we don't do 100% perfect, that's fine. 402 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,000 The walls are still here. 403 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,360 There's still going to be an AC unit. 404 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:32,540 We'll make it work. 405 00:24:32,540 --> 00:24:36,920 Don't take yourself seriously, but take the job and the impact and the mission seriously. 406 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:37,920 Right. 407 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,360 And you know, that's like, that's easier for us as the leader. 408 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:42,360 Sure. 409 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:46,120 Remember all the time, but as long as we can remind them of that and when they need to 410 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,960 you're reminded of it and that's a big part of it. 411 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:54,800 At this point in our journey, the majority of our time is spent, the majority of my time, 412 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,640 I would say, especially is spent because I don't know how to fix AC units and I'm totally 413 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:01,880 confident that I don't know how to do that. 414 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:10,920 But the majority of my time is spent maintaining health of our employees and our staff because 415 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:17,320 25 people is a lot of feelings and it's a lot of a lot of personal connections and a 416 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,840 lot of personal issues and struggles and trying to live our personal lives at home, but that's 417 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:23,840 not real. 418 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:24,840 We're just people. 419 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:32,440 So I think that for me, a lot of what I do is try and keep our work ethos healthy and 420 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,040 just by listening and coaching and stuff. 421 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,680 So yeah, the con what leave your home life at the door when you come into work. 422 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:45,320 I feel like that is such a not easy thing to do and it also diminishes the individual. 423 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,320 How is that possible? 424 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:47,320 Right. 425 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,760 So yeah, if you didn't sleep well last night, then you're tired. 426 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:52,760 It's not possible. 427 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:54,720 Yeah, very individual focused. 428 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,760 Something I saw, I can't remember where the interview was. 429 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,240 Oh, shout out Atlanta. 430 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:07,240 I found an article that you guys were in and in the article, there's a portion that says, 431 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,880 I think this really just ties in everything that you're doing with the the different quality 432 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,360 of life from moving from like the big city to the small town. 433 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:21,840 You'd set something along the lines of other businesses aren't competition, but collaborators. 434 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:22,840 Right. 435 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,760 So more is people say like, what is your what's your mantra here in Washington? 436 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,640 More is more is our mantra. 437 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:35,640 So you know, when you move into a small town, there is a there there is a sort of an idea 438 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:40,480 that we call it a preventionalist sort of take on business. 439 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,280 Well, if they're, you know, let's say as a preventionalist might think that there's 440 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,000 a another restaurant, then my restaurant won't do as well. 441 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,680 There are only so many mouths to feed. 442 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,200 And if in this community of thirty three hundred and if they open another sandwich place and 443 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:55,800 nobody's going to buy my sandwiches. 444 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:56,800 Right. 445 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,120 Just a sort of basic sort of take on that. 446 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:00,960 And that's just simply not the truth. 447 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:07,840 So not only is competition breed excellence, but more options breed a larger audience. 448 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:15,160 So I think the idea that if you prevent someone else around you from succeeding, that it's 449 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:22,360 going to make you more successful is like one of the most short sighted sort of paths 450 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,320 to success that you that you can make. 451 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,280 That's not that's not sustainable. 452 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,120 That's not seeing the big picture. 453 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:32,680 So rising tides really do raise all ships. 454 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,200 And that's sort of like an overused colonialism. 455 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,920 But I think that it's super true. 456 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:45,480 Our local downtown development authority opened a dog park here in our community a little 457 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:46,480 while ago. 458 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:52,360 And the argument is certainly that our small like children's parks need help. 459 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:54,720 Other places, tennis courts need resurfacing. 460 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,360 There's no doubt about that. 461 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:02,840 But you know, having that dog park is a thing that raises the bar for our community, offers 462 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,120 more folks, more different kinds of people, different things to do. 463 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:12,280 And I think that when they open the dog park, being dog lovers ourselves, and we have a 464 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:18,800 human child too, but being being dog lovers ourselves, we bought a bench, a sponsored 465 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:20,580 a bench in this dog park. 466 00:28:20,580 --> 00:28:22,080 And they're like, what do you want to put on the bench? 467 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:27,320 Like, what is the thing that you want to put above sponsored by Brittany and Casey Buttry? 468 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,240 And I was like, just put more is more. 469 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:30,760 More is more, less is a bore. 470 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,000 I mean, that's not really blanket. 471 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:34,000 That's not really true. 472 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:41,080 But I mean, I think as far as like, like business and momentum, preventing someone else or denigrating 473 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:49,480 someone else's progress does in no way make you more important, more successful or more 474 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,400 happy at all. 475 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,800 So we're here to prop each other up for sure. 476 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:54,800 Yeah. 477 00:28:54,800 --> 00:29:03,480 But your outlook is much more of a long term futuristic, again, building that foundation 478 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:10,080 for real economic development in the small town rather than just like a short sighted 479 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:11,760 viewpoint on it. 480 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:12,760 Yeah. 481 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:19,960 I think that's just a, I don't know if it's a, I'm not saying it's a small town thing, 482 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,960 but that's just sort of human nature of fear, right? 483 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,880 So fear is the mind killing, right? 484 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:31,120 So that's a silly quote too, but you know, that it is true that that's the people are 485 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:36,360 afraid of people have invested their whole life into their business. 486 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:37,360 Yeah. 487 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:42,960 And you understand why people get protective or get, you know, angry when a new thing comes 488 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,560 in that, you know, in any way competes that they feel with what they're doing. 489 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:53,400 But you know, our goal from the very beginning, because we have the hotel, our goal is just 490 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,560 to get more people here. 491 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:56,760 And that's all that really matters. 492 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:58,080 We got rooms to fill. 493 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,400 And we can't get people here if there's only two restaurants or if there's only our restaurant 494 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,480 and one other place, you know, it's like, we want a bunch of places and we want all 495 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:06,480 kinds of stuff. 496 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,560 So it's both the nature of our business and it's sort of part of the ethos. 497 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,760 It's like, we just want more, more stuff, more people. 498 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:18,840 When we moved here, being in a myth person, I moved here and I was like, holy crap that 499 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,400 we're not going, I'm not going to be able to find a fine, great florists here. 500 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,520 I mean, am I going to be able to find any cake bakers? 501 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:26,520 What about people who do lighting? 502 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,560 Am I going to be able to find people who do stationary and invitations? 503 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:35,240 Am I going to be, I mean, just like whatever list of litany makeup artists, MCs, bands, 504 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,420 like, am I going to be able to find all these people that it takes to pull off a killer 505 00:30:38,420 --> 00:30:40,560 party in this rural community? 506 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:46,240 And it turns out that there are a ton of super creative people that live in our community 507 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,440 and probably in almost every community. 508 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,640 Then if you invite them to the table and you invite them to be part of the conversation, 509 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,340 they show up and we saw them show up. 510 00:30:56,340 --> 00:31:00,880 And then we said, holy smokes, we need a place for these people to show up on the regs. 511 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:07,720 And so we built this makers market concept with the intention of having it be a place 512 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:13,880 where people who are creatives in our community can show up, do their thing, test their hand 513 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,640 at retail, test their hand at inventory, test their hand at space, interfacing with the 514 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:24,720 public in like a business setting where they're like low stakes, selling a product, inexpensive 515 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,440 to be part of the event, 20 bucks to be part of the event. 516 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,920 And it's become like a huge thing. 517 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:35,160 So makers markets five years old this year, and we have our next event coming up on April 518 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,160 20th. 519 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:41,120 There'll be two like really great local bands there. 520 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:44,880 There'll be like 13 food trucks in addition to our downtown restaurants. 521 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:50,760 And there are so many people at the event that we need those food trucks to supplement 522 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,720 our local restaurants just to feed people, which is incredible. 523 00:31:54,720 --> 00:32:00,000 And there'll be like 70 craft vendors, so 70 local folks who make something, who have 524 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,040 made enough of something to sell at this event. 525 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:08,860 And then we have sponsors, local businesses that sponsor that allow us to offer free things 526 00:32:08,860 --> 00:32:12,960 for kids like face painting, bounce houses, zip lines. 527 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,320 We do a variety of different things throughout the year at different stuff at different events. 528 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:24,520 But these events where we just sort of like opened the door up and said, hey creatives, 529 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:30,360 like come show up on quarterly for one of our events that we have on our beautiful downtown 530 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:35,760 square brought to you by Washington Wilkes makers market will organize it and will provide 531 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,200 you with the advertising and all that stuff. 532 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,040 Just show up and try your hand at it. 533 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:46,080 And we've helped tons of businesses get their LLCs and move into that next consulting phase 534 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:50,120 with the small business development center at the University of Georgia. 535 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:57,280 But anyway, yes, there are a ton of people in this town who can make and do and it's 536 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:04,480 surprising, like I said, when you ask, when you ask with an open mind and a clear intention 537 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,800 in your heart, who will stand up and say like, I can. 538 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:14,640 And I think that's a great way to kind of wrap up that conversation in terms of the 539 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:19,880 way that I kind of describe entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, community members is there 540 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:21,820 are people that make magic. 541 00:33:21,820 --> 00:33:24,660 You are saying I am going to do this event. 542 00:33:24,660 --> 00:33:28,240 You just say like it's a declaration, like you're saying I declare I'm going to do this 543 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:29,360 event. 544 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,020 That's kind of the spell. 545 00:33:31,020 --> 00:33:34,780 And then a few months later, it materializes because you made those contacts. 546 00:33:34,780 --> 00:33:35,780 You made that outreach. 547 00:33:35,780 --> 00:33:38,120 You made the event happen. 548 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:44,440 And what's what I admire the most about your type of magic is it's about empowering other 549 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:46,680 people to share theirs. 550 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,260 And I think that's so needed and special and unique. 551 00:33:50,260 --> 00:33:56,040 And just as a quick shout out, small business development centers are fantastic. 552 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,720 And if you are thinking of starting a business, I got mine. 553 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:06,140 I worked with the I think the UC Merced Small Business Development Center by where I live. 554 00:34:06,140 --> 00:34:08,280 And that's just such a such a valuable resource. 555 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,000 Like you said, like you guys help people with their LLCs. 556 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,760 That paperwork is so complicated. 557 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:14,000 It's so annoying. 558 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:18,440 But there's so many people out there, free resources, cheap, whatever that are willing 559 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:19,440 to help. 560 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:24,280 So as a quick shout out to everyone, I mean, are also most public universities are going 561 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:25,280 to have a SVDC. 562 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:32,760 And like I said, the university is local and they have cheap, inexpensive, free, very inexpensive 563 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,520 business coaching that have helped us. 564 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:42,200 Even persons who are relatively mildly experienced in business have helped me to take new steps 565 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:43,200 and learning about. 566 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:48,480 I mean, they've sent me to economic development classes for our community, just as a business 567 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:49,480 person. 568 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,160 Yeah, no, they're they're amazing resources. 569 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:57,800 And I I encourage everybody to just Google, just Google Small Business Development Center 570 00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,560 SVDC near me. 571 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,860 Go to your university, ask for resources like it's just it's fantastic. 572 00:35:03,860 --> 00:35:09,580 But in terms of reaching out and checking out resources and everything, if people want 573 00:35:09,580 --> 00:35:14,280 to learn more about you guys, the Fitzpatrick Hotel, I don't know, work with you or check 574 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,240 out your event coming up on the 20th. 575 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:17,840 Like where where should they go? 576 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:18,840 Cool. 577 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,280 So lots of ways to find out about us. 578 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,720 The Fitzpatrick Hotel dot com is our website. 579 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:29,940 You can visit there to see professional photographs of the hotel and our 17 hotel rooms as well 580 00:35:29,940 --> 00:35:31,600 as our event spaces. 581 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,200 You can book online there. 582 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:41,080 Maddie's Public House, MADDYS pub is our our Irish pub here on site in this old Irish hotel 583 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,600 that we have here in Washington. 584 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:50,360 And the Nest is Casey's Community and Coffee House that's next door that's producing high 585 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,720 quality really great coffee. 586 00:35:53,720 --> 00:35:59,640 And then, as I said, Washington Wilkes Makers Market is our is our small business pipeline. 587 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:05,680 All of those our little community uses Facebook like it's like it's the newspaper, let's just 588 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,560 say when you live in a community of thirty three hundred, you can communicate pretty 589 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:14,400 effectively through a free constantly updating source like Facebook. 590 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,400 So we're very active on Facebook because of that. 591 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,240 But all of our businesses have websites as well. 592 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:26,240 And our local Chamber of Commerce, of which I'm the president currently, our local Chamber 593 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:32,000 of Commerce, Washington Wilkes Chamber of Commerce dot org has an events calendar on 594 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,400 it that we work. 595 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,040 We as a chamber work really hard on keeping updated for our whole city so you can see 596 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:43,040 what's going on down from what our little local theater is producing to what the Garden 597 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:49,440 Club is doing to what one of our historic museums are up to to events we have on our 598 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:50,440 downtown square. 599 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:54,240 We have nine signature events on our square, which Washington Wilkes Makers Market helps 600 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:55,580 produce four. 601 00:36:55,580 --> 00:36:58,960 So we have a lot going on in this little town. 602 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,000 We like we're kind of the place to be. 603 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,660 Just saying like but you can only move here if you're really cool or really weird. 604 00:37:04,660 --> 00:37:09,160 So in between one of the yeah, no, I really enjoyed my time in Washington. 605 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:13,760 So if you are in that Atlanta area or Athens or whatever and you're able to make the couple 606 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:21,800 hour drive or week long walk to Washington, I would definitely I will put you up for free. 607 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,520 Seriously, it's yeah, it was it was amazing. 608 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,680 I don't know my I've been in a lot of hotels throughout my life and I just thought it was 609 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:31,200 so cool having a physical key. 610 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:36,960 I don't know why I'm so caught up on that, but I think it just really adds to the historic 611 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,760 aspect and really the vibe and step back you take when you're in the hotel. 612 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,800 Polarizing it's polarizing. 613 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:44,800 It's so cool. 614 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:48,160 You know, people we talk a lot about setting the expectations here. 615 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:52,880 So you're saying in America right now, if people are out of property, a chain property, 616 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,360 then you know that their expectation for what they're going to receive is very different 617 00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,600 than what they would receive at 130 year old haunted hotel. 618 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:00,600 Right. 619 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,680 So the ghosts aren't real, but the stories are fun. 620 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:09,440 But so setting expectations that key is a that's you know, that really floors some people. 621 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:11,480 So wait, you don't have electronic. 622 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,040 No, no, we don't. 623 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:15,060 And it's we kind of like it like that. 624 00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:17,120 And if you lose the key, we have to redo the locks. 625 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,120 So don't lose it. 626 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:21,360 But no, thank you guys. 627 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:22,360 I super appreciate it. 628 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:27,160 All of your guys's contact info and the websites email, all that kind of fun stuff will be 629 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,600 down in the show notes and the description. 630 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:35,520 But again, thank you for taking what 45 ish minutes to hang out with me and for putting 631 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,560 me up and show me a really great time in Washington. 632 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:40,160 I really appreciate it. 633 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,960 Thanks for having me. 634 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:43,960 Of course. 635 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:44,960 Thank you guys. 636 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:45,960 And I'll see you later. 637 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:46,960 All right. 638 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:52,300 And of course, thank you to everyone for listening to today's episode. 639 00:38:52,300 --> 00:39:00,280 I think that my biggest takeaway from Brittany and Casey's interview was just the importance 640 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:07,480 of taking advantage of opportunities as they arise and not just that, but really positioning 641 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:13,840 yourself in a way that allows you to take advantage of those opportunities. 642 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:20,960 And that really stems from their own experience living in that Atlanta area of really just 643 00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:25,800 diving in on the different jobs, the different skills that they're able to develop so that 644 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:31,840 they could take them from that bigger city area and bring it somewhere that's really 645 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:36,920 needed so that they can create the biggest impact possible. 646 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:40,440 And once again, I'll be posting all of their information down in the show notes. 647 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:46,480 So if you are ever in the Washington area, go ahead and check out the Fitzpatrick Hotel, 648 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:52,840 go to Mattie's, their little Irish pub next door, the coffee shop next to that, and just 649 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:57,000 go to all the beautiful museums and libraries that the space has to offer. 650 00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,920 There's really a ton to do in their small town. 651 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:01,880 So I'll be posting all that in the show notes. 652 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:02,880 Check it out. 653 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:07,240 And as always, remember to have fun, stay safe, and be yourself. 654 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:08,480 Thanks, guys. 655 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:20,480 See you next time.