Hello and welcome to Good News York. I'm flying
solo today. Matt is out finding phase drugs memorabilia.
He's combing all of New York State. So I'm here
alone. I have a very special guest today, special
being the key word. Give it up for Kate Williams.
And when I say give it up, it's just me clapping
because it's only me here and I apologize. Thank
you. Kate, I'm so glad you came in. Matt's wife
actually recommended that we have you on, and
I'm glad she did, because you are doing some
amazing stuff. First of all, tell us a little
bit about yourself and your background. OK. And
we'd love to hear about that. So I had a daughter,
young. I had a daughter at 21 who just graduated
college, so very excited for her. And then just
kind of bounced around. Job wise, nothing, didn't
really have a passion. And then I just kind of
fell into, I saw a job offer for a bathing, grooming
shop needed a bather in about 2014. And I tried
it out and from there fell in love with grooming.
I apprenticed under one of the owners and that
started my grooming career. And then I started
volunteering at the CNY SPCA as a groomer just
to... you know, work on my skills and stuff like
that and fell in love with rescue and decided
to take a year off grooming and focus on rescue,
which ended up being three years. And I met some
really wonderful people through there. And we
all saw the problems in rescue. There's many
overpopulation. And so we just had this wonderful
idea about how if we could do it. on a smaller
scale and do it right and have total control
over training and enrichment and getting these
dogs prepared for their home. So within a year,
actually, we just opened our shop. It's on 922
Old Liverpool Road. So the rescue love is the
rescue. And my grooming shop is called Girl's
Best Friend. So I groom there full time, Wednesday
through Sunday in the front. And then in the
back, we have been, we just got accepted to have
five kennels built, so we can have five animals
living there, dogs. And right now we have, in
foster, my foster puppy just got adopted at a
music bingo two nights ago. So, yeah, it just
happened. It was out of the blue. We weren't
expecting it. And we just had a, mama had nine
puppies, so we're supporting her. Trying to figure
that out and then one of my very good friends
Sarah is a trainer and so she has a husky that
another shelter was Going to put down for very
mild behavior issues that caught stress you get
very stressed in the shelter Yeah, so she took
her in and she's an amazing dog. She's a husky
so she's working with her So right now we're
foster -based as we're getting our kennels built,
but when they're built, we'll have five dogs
living there permanently. That's amazing. Yeah.
You know, I know many people who are obviously
animal lovers, and they have many dogs, cats,
and some of my friends strictly prefer to go
the rescue route because there's such a reward
in, I mean, we love animals no matter where they
come from, but there's such a reward in... And
just in rescuing a dog and giving it a better
life. And they definitely appreciate that. Yeah.
And I love, I mean, I love the whole reason I
love dogs is all the different kinds. So I'm
not against breeding, but ethical breeding. Sure.
You know, a breed gets popular and then all of
a sudden everyone starts breeding them and like
destroys the breed and then they have health
problems and mental problems. So you want to
either go the rescue route or really do your
research and find an ethical breeder if you're
looking for a specific breed of dog. I say rescue
is the way to go. I agree, I think. It's not
all pit bulls. I mean, we've got all different
breeds of dogs. We get doodles. We get German
shepherds. We get poodle mixes. I feel like doodle.
I feel like every time a friend of mine gets
a dog now, it's a something doodle. He's like,
it's a chicken doodle. It's a Rottweiler doodle.
I'm like, where are these doodles? Is the doodle
like the hot thing? Which is driving boomers
crazy. Well, the poodle is an amazing dog. So
everybody's just mixing everything with a poodle,
it seems to be. That's just the phase people
are in these days. Let's go back, because you
were talking about how you kind of stumbled upon
dog grooming. And I personally feel like that
is a talent and an art. The same way you would
cut hair. How do you know you have that skill?
Do most groomers have a background in hair cutting?
I mean, I'm really blind to this. So I just took
the job as a bather. Before my, I trained under
a... Two ladies who had been grooming for 30
years, one of them showed dogs. They really were
very hardworking people. And before I could even
pick up the scissors, you have to learn how to
properly bathe and brush out a dog. It's a lot
of work. It's not for everybody. Really, it's
not playing with puppies all day. You have to
have a passion for it. I think some people are
more naturally... Inclined to do it. I wasn't
I mean I spent two years every day going home
crying feelings I wasn't feeling like I just
wasn't getting it, but I wanted it so bad So
I'd go back every day and then it would a little
bit would click here a little bit would click
here And then that's how I picked it up. So it's
been about ten years now, and I just love it
I love that I do free grooming for the shelters
So some of these cruelty cases that come in are
in excruciating pain and in one hour They are
like bopping around like the happiest. I mean
instant gratification You can do so much and
so little, you know training is a long process
grooming It's like BAM and that solves such a
huge problem right away. So I love that part
So when when I think of grooming my because again,
I I'm not from that world. I immediately think
of scissors shampoo Is it more than just cutting
the hair? What is involved in the process of
grooming? Yeah, so First of all, you want to
get your dog started at an early age so they're
comfortable with all of the blow dryer and just
the whole process, nail trimming and stuff like
that. So you want to get your dog in as soon
as possible. You want to find somebody that you
trust because it can be frustrating. And you
see these videos online of people mistreating
their dog, you know, so. But yeah, usually, you
know, like a short haired dog would come in and
they even short haired dogs need baths. They
can have They can be shedding. They could have
itchy skin. We do medicated baths. Their ears
need to be cleaned. Their nails need to be cut.
So it's a case -by -case basis. Yeah. You don't
predetermine, like, you know, we're going to
give it this cut. They come in, and you go, oh,
we should do this, this. Yeah. OK. And if you
can give them what they want. And like a doodle,
say you see these big fuzzy doodles, well, they
need to come every three to four weeks, and you
need to keep them dry and brush them every day.
Yeah. So that's a lot of work. So most people
don't choose that route. So if a dog comes to
me in a matted state, I usually will say, OK,
I'm not going to punish the dog. We're going
to shave the dog down today. And if you get on
a schedule with me every four to six weeks, then
we can do whatever you want. But there's a lot
of upkeep with certain breeds. So you should
really look into that when you're getting a dog,
because a doodle is an expensive. There's different
levels of maintenance for grooming. And one of
the most expensive would be any sort of poodle
mix. because they really need to be groomed at
the very least every eight weeks. Yeah. And so
I've been dying to ask this question. I have
to admit, since yesterday when I knew I was going
to be interviewing you, I was like, I've got
to ask this question. So you go into a hairdresser,
right? And you either know, you say, hey, I would
like this, right? And obviously, dogs, they can't
speak to you. The owners can. Well, they can
with the body language. Oh, we'll talk about
that too. Is this, so. Is it like with tattooing
where it's like, I don't give a dog the same
cut I gave another dog. I want to do it original
each time. Or do you have certain styles? How
do you choose how you're going to do the cut?
Because I've seen some fancy stuff. You see some
of those poodles with the big puffy. And those
are the high meanings. But your typical, those
are like show dogs. Like your pet owned. Usually,
you know, I ask what the owner wants. You know,
you want to give them as close to what they want.
And then there's basic, like, breed cuts. Like,
a Westie has a cut or... I can't think of a different
breed right now, but every breed has a cut. And
then there's, like, the teddy bear cut that everybody
likes. But yeah, I... There's no dog coming in
and being like, give me the Rachel cut, right?
It's like, you're just doing... I find that fascinating
that there are cuts for certain breeds, and that
makes sense. And I am picturing, you know, the
dog show styles. Yeah. Do you also cut for those
kind of events as well? No, I'm not a show dog
groomer. Oh, that's a whole separate thing? Yeah,
that would be a whole different thing, but maybe
down the road. Maybe down the road. Now, you
talked about the grooming aspect, and now you're
involved with Rescue Love, a brand new shelter.
And I know you talked about some of the problems,
right? There's a lot of problems. I'd like you,
if you could just go into that. What are some
of the problems that that maybe we don't, you
know, for us, the regular person, we know that
there's dogs that are either mistreated, they
don't have homes, they go to the shelter, they're
taken care of, they find a new home. But you're
on the front line seeing, what are the biggest
issues that shelters are facing? I know there's
one thing to say about the rescue love is, um...
Most of the proceeds right now from my grooming
go right into the rescue. So you're not only
supporting, you're not only getting your dog
groomed, you're supporting our rescue at the
same time. That's amazing. So that's a little
different than like a regular grooming shop.
Sure. We're all tied together. The trainers are
working together with the shelter with me. So
overpopulation, I think that people had this
idea that I can't spend enough time with my dog.
But even if you work 12 hours a day, and you
can give your dog a solid hour outside, that
is better than, I don't think people, or I don't
think people realize what life is like in a shelter,
especially an overcrowded shelter. Minimal, like
the staff pay is extremely low. People are either
there, they come and go, or they're there for
the right reasons. It's a lot of work, it's sad.
They're underpaid, understaffed. Some dogs, the
shelter that I worked at, and I'm not saying
they were the only shelter, but some dogs would
sit for a week in their kennel and knock it out
and get a walk. So in our shelter, we're open
to all different methods of training, and we
want what's best for the dog, and we want to
go home at the end of the day knowing that that
dog got everything it possibly could have needed
that day. We're right near the parkway. You know,
if you're at a shelter with 110 dogs that are
staring at you, begging you to take them out,
you know, even if you give 110%, you leave there.
crying and or feeling like you barely made a
dent and there are such dedicated people, you
know, there really are but there just aren't
enough and and Would you say the board, you know
the people the people it's not so much the staff
It's sometimes just people running the places
that aren't running them correctly They've been
you know So, yeah, I would you say it A lack
of funding is a big problem. Well, that's where
we come in, because we want to help you get that
funding. So I know, again, for most of us, we
know that the shelters take care of these dogs.
But what I'm hearing and what I love is that
it's not just a kennel and food and water and
you're grooming them. And now I hear about training.
So can you talk a little bit about the process
of... A dog comes to the shelter. What do they
get? What is the everyday operation of a shelter?
At our new shelter? Yeah, sure. Of course. So
a dog will come in, and every morning they're
going to get their breakfast. They're going to
get walks at least three times a day. You're
going to have more than one -on -one, one person
to one dog. Probably more like two people to
one dog. They're going to get enrichment. They're
going to get training. So when they go into the
home, when you adopt a dog from a shelter, you
don't know what you're getting. They're not crate
trained. Some of them have been so comfortable
living in the shelter. Once they get into a house,
their whole personality changes, and you have
all these sorts of problems. So we have so many
wonderful people to help, and we're going to
make sure that that dog goes home. And we know
everything about the dog. The dog is properly
trained. He's crate trained. Any behavior issues
we've worked out, we're really going to get some
really amazing stellar dogs. We're going to put
the work in, you know, to make sure that they
go into the box. I absolutely love that. You
know, I love that it's outside the box because
I don't know, and correct me if I'm wrong, do
you feel like that's kind of a new innovative
process? Because I feel like growing up, we always
got dogs from shelters and it was just a free
for all. We would see this dog we loved, we'd
take it home, but... it would go to the bathroom
in the house, or it would tear up the carpet,
and we had to train it. Is training being implemented
into the shelter process, is that something new,
or is that just a shelter -by -shelter type?
That is something I think a lot of shelters like
to do if they had the staff for the resources.
That's where we come in, like we definitely,
we're gonna keep ourselves, you know, where there's...
We're not going to be, we're not going to overwhelm
ourselves. So we're going to be able to potty
train the dog, to crate train the dog and do
everything. And I know that people are doing
their best, but yeah, you don't know when you
bring a dog home like it's going to be. And I
think that's just such a wonderful aspect of
rescue love is that training aspect. And we also
get to do home visits. So we're going to come
into the home, even for fosters. We want to have
a team of fosters that we can reuse. So we want
them to come to the shelter. We want to do an
orientation with our fosters. and we want to
visit the home, we want them to raise the dog
the way we want them, so they pick up good habits.
So when they go into the home, you have like
a ready -made, wonderful dog that, yes, you still
have to carry on what we're showing you, but
they're already all prepped and everything. And
for an adoptable dog, yeah, definitely home checks.
That's great. It's almost the same process you
would for a human being. Yeah. No, I just, I
love, because we always talk about how our animals
are just like our family. They're just like humans.
And you guys really live by that, even in the
process of finding them a new home. I want to
talk about Jordan's Way. This is awesome. So
you guys are heading to Texas in a few days to
join Jordan's Way. I'd love to hear all about
that. Rescue Love was one of only two rescues
chosen from New York State to attend the first
ever national fundraiser, the Jordan's Way Bowl,
hosted by Jordan's Way in Wichita Falls, Kansas.
The goal of this event is to raise over $10 million,
which will be shared among 85 shelters across
the country. Tune in live Saturday, November
15th from 6 to 9 p .m. Central Time on our Rescue
Love Facebook page to cheer us on and be part
of this historic event. So that's wonderful.
How did you find Jordan's Way or how did Jordan's
Way find you? They came, they've just been coming
up to Central New York for years. They do Humane
and they do all the local shelters and they come
in and they do like, he does, I guess he's raised
over like 14 million dollars. He travels around
the country and he does stuff like, you know,
raise this much money and we'll hose you down
in a kennel, a staff member in a kennel or we'll
lock someone in a kennel for an hour or we'll
shave your head or we'll. Right. Don't tank.
Pie in the face or something. Love that. He's
pretty successful, yeah. So we're excited because
it's expensive to start a shelter. So you would
say Jordan's Way is kind of an overarching organization
that kind of provides funds for shelters for
that reason? For those smaller shelters that
are unfunded. That's wonderful. And I'm sad that
I haven't heard of that yet because that is fantastic.
A couple more questions before I let you go.
I got to know this. So growing up, We were, we
always, we're in PC culture now. So I would imagine
this bleeds into the dog world. Is mut a bad
term? Do we not use the term mut these days?
Because that's when we used to say freely. We'd
say, oh, what breed is your dog? And we'd say,
oh, we don't know. He's a mut. No. But now I
feel like that was kind of mean. That's OK to
say? I would say, yeah, mixed breed. Mixed breed.
I think a mut's a great dog. They're the healthiest,
they're the healthiest, you know, honestly. I
don't think we ever had, we had dogs growing
up, three, four dogs my whole life. I don't think
we ever had one that was a specific breed. I
think we always had, and they were the best.
Yeah, they're a mixture of all different things
and they seem to be the healthiest. I don't think
I've ever had a purebred dog, no. Yeah. This
is the real question here. How do you, how do
you emotionally, and I'm being serious because
I get attached very easily, especially to dogs
that are in need, right? Especially rescue animals.
Do you find that you do have to kind of mentally
teach yourself, like, I can only let them in
so far emotionally? How do you manage them? Because
it's tough to see them go, I'm sure. It is. When
I worked at the SPCA, which is a much higher
volume, I put my feelings aside. I just wanted
to be a safe place. a safe space for that dog
where they felt calm and trusted and they knew
they could trust me. Seeing them go into a home
is never sad for me and it always makes me happy.
That's a happy thing. Yeah, it is a happy thing
and I have my own dogs. I love any dog I come
across and I love them with all my heart. But
yeah, the goal is to find them a new home because
if you don't, if you keep that dog then you're
not gonna be able to help the next dog. That's
a really healthy way to look at it. Yeah. So,
no, I am there to... I am there for the dog.
Awesome. My feelings aside and... Kate Williams,
Rescue Love. This is the important part of the
interview. Yes. Tell us how we and the viewers
and listeners can help Rescue Love get the resources
they need to keep doing the amazing things that
you do. Okay, yeah. I should have asked Jenna
to speak for you. That's okay. Yeah, I think
you just go onto Rescue Love's Facebook page.
Facebook page? Okay. And you said rescue love
slash New York or rescue love slash New York
dot org. Rescue love capital R capital L. I'm
sorry. I was wrong. There's no slash. It was
the way it was. It's rescue love with a capital
R and a capital L. NY dot org. There it is. Rescue
love NY. And I'm sure there's a donate button
on there. And what is it that you guys are looking
for primarily? So we're looking for funding for
our signage, for our kennels, and then physical
things like blankets and towels, crates, toys
and stuff like that. But really we're looking
for funding just like to build the kennels and
vet care. Okay, vet care is huge. Right now we're
looking for a vet that is willing to work with
us at a discounted rate. Absolutely. Because
we're going to need a vet. A vet is key. Yes.
So that's our biggest thing. Especially coming
from some of the situations that these dogs come
from. Yes. And I would think that, you know,
obviously funding goes without saying, but I
would think... Vet care. Vet care would be the
number one. So if you are listening, if you are
watching... Please go to RescueLoveNY .org. Whether
you want to be part of the staff, donate funds,
and any veterinarians out there that can help
Rescue Love with this amazing mission, please,
please do. Please, please, please. Kay Williams
of Rescue Love, thank you for coming in. Thank
you for all you do for these animals. Anything
else you want to say before we go? No, thanks
for having me on. All right. We're super excited.
We love you. A wonderful group of people. the
best people I've ever met, and we're super excited.
Zach coming in to get, we're going to get an
update on his life and everything that's going
on. That's next, right here on Good News York.
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. I'm Matt
Major, back from whatever adventure Mike invented
from me in the previous segment. We're having
a good time because I am joined by our sponsor,
Zach, the man from ads on the go, get ads on
the go dot com. He's with us in the studio. We
took a break from promoting everything in central
New York in his amazing truck. And he's going
to come in and talk to us a little bit. And I'm
just glad to have you, man. It's nice that you
are so busy that we have a hard time even getting
in here, but I appreciate that. Absolutely. Thanks
for having me. And first and foremost, I appreciate
all your support, man. You've been with us now
for a number of months. one of our biggest advocates
and fans. And I appreciate it. I know you're
also a listener to the show, which I appreciate
as much, if not more. And I love to see it. And
we're talking about, we're not going to go into
too much detail here on the air, but a little
behind the scenes. We're going to be working
with Zach to promote some of the new things that
we're doing. And you're going to see even more
of us on his trucks and maybe at some events.
So I'm pretty excited about that. But before
we talk about our stuff, let's step back for
a minute. For the folks who are just joining
the program, Zach, tell us, what is ads on the
go? So we use our big three -screen digital mobile
billboard truck to cut through the distracted
world of advertising right now. The average consumer
is exposed to 10 ,000 ads a day. And as we continue
to get more distracted and ad -blind, We need
these really bold and unique ways to reach the
consumer and especially affordable ways along
with that. So we use our truck in multiple different
ways, whether it's subscription advertising to
consistent high traffic areas or whether it's
awesome local events like Christmas parades,
like advertising at the state fair, the nationals.
We just try to create as many affordable and
unskippable advertising opportunities to local
businesses all around the area. That's the thing,
when you're stuck in traffic and that truck is
in front of you, you can't look away. I love
how you say that, the unskippable ad. Absolutely.
I mean, at the end of the day, we're in such
a young industry and we're such a young company.
We don't have all these huge statistics to say,
hey, you're going to get this many impressions,
you're going to get this, you're going to get
that. But at the end of the day, we can guarantee
you're going to be seen in one of the most memorable
ways possible. Again, 10 ,000 ads a day. As you
see all those billboards, as you see all the
ads on Facebook, you're going to probably remember
most the one that would drive by on a big old
TV with wheels. Yeah, I love how you describe
that. A big old TV with wheels. Absolutely. Because
that is what it is. That's the thing that the
nerd in me has always found so interesting about
your business is. You literally just have TVs.
You've got screens on a truck that you can put
anything on. It's not just a billboard, right?
You can play movies. You could play a video game
on this thing. Anything that can be plugged into
an HDMI. So we've done, you know, Super Smash
Bros. We've done Mario Kart, obviously. That's
easily my favorite on there. I took it to my
10 -year -old little brother's birthday party,
and out of all the games, he suggested Mortal
Kombat. So that was a fun one to have on there.
That sounds awesome. You know, we've livestreamed
Bill's games, March Madness. I mean, there's
a lot of... I mean, really, it's absolutely limitless
to what we can do with it. And there's three
speakers on each side of the truck, too. So you
can utilize those in any way possible. We've
done some live concerts before, too, during COVID.
That was a nice little pivot that we did during
that season. That's so incredible. I love the
idea. Since we first met, I've always had this
idea of, let's drive the truck into the middle
of a field and have a movie, right? Literally
under the stars, but no electricity, no anything.
It's just such a cool thing to me. Zach, we've
talked about this before, but tell folks again
a little bit about how you got into this. And
I think what's really impressive, if folks haven't
already figured it out. This guy, I think he
just turned old enough to drink, what, a month
ago or something? He's an incredible young entrepreneur.
Tell us how you got here. Yeah, so when I was,
I think I just turned 19, I was in Jefferson
Community College up in Watertown. And I had
kind of really just gone on a whim. And I was
in my second semester here. And what had happened
was we had these business intro classes where
local entrepreneurs would come in and speak.
And these two guys came in and spoke, and they
represented Running Boards Marketing. It was
the co -founders of it, and they're a digital
mobile billboard company, the first one I ever
seen in my entire life. You know, especially
two years ago, it was even less prominent of
a thing as it is today. And, you know, three
years ago at this point. And I was just absolutely
enamored by the idea. And from there, I basically
borrowed a suit. I went to multiple networking
events, and I just kind of pestered these guys
until they had a job opportunity available. And
as soon as they did, I got hired. I had never
done sales before. I was just working at a diner
serving. I mean, I did an internship that went
good. And from day one, I had a fire lit under
me to sell as much as I possibly could. I sold
72 ads in one month, which was more than all
the franchises did. It started as a franchise
concept. They're actually in the entrepreneur
magazine Franchise 500. So I was even more just
completely enamored by the whole concept of it.
And they grew the franchising side a little too
fast. And that kind of crumbled the company.
There wasn't enough capital behind it to really
sustain such a big hit. they had to buy back
10 of them almost right away. You know, COVID
entrepreneurs, people who got a lot of money
and were like, oh, I want to be an entrepreneur,
but they didn't actually have the truck out there.
We have one of the most incredible cold call
methods and it needs to be used by anybody who
has that truck. You know, to make a mock -up
ad, to get in front of that business, for that
to be your first impression of the salesperson
or the owner or whoever is trying to sell you,
it just makes for the most incredible you know,
unique sales approach. You have such a unique
way to demonstrate the product at the first sales
meeting, like you said, I mean, that's, you know,
we've seen it. The first time you were with us,
you pull up and there's our logo on the truck
and everybody, come on, I literally yelled, I
remember to the office, come on, everybody, come
out and see this. You can't deny it, especially
as a business, there's nothing that makes a business
owner more excited than seeing their logo in
bright lights, right? What a great sales technique.
It's truly worth all the time that goes into
making all those cold call graphics. It's one
of those things where you can just feel really
good about what you do on a daily basis. Sometimes,
I get it too, being pestered or being cold called
by a salesperson isn't always the most exciting
thing. You can have multiple outlooks on it.
But at the end of the day, one time or another,
it's going to it's going to frustrate you. It's
going to upset you. Right. There's very few times
where people are upset that I'm giving them free
advertising just to talk to them for a minute.
Yeah. I love just the idea of being able to spread
that joy and to make smiles on people's face
in that way. It just it's the absolute best.
You know, and I really just I go at it like I'm
just trying to make their day. And it always
tends to work out. That's awesome, man. I just
love your approach to everything. It's really
cool. One thing that I've always been very impressed
with is you personally have the skills to build
these things, right? You're not even just, I'm
a great entrepreneur. You talk about how you're
enamored with the business and you figure out
how to sell it, which is awesome. You also figured
out how to literally do in the most granular
level, how to literally build these giant screens.
How long did it take you to figure out that stuff?
Well, the lucky thing is I come from the beautiful
generation that has the internet and we can ask
the internet everything. So between three years
of just taking stuff apart and really just reverse
engineering how it works. in research on the
internet. I mean within, I mean it took a little
while to really click because there's a lot of
electrical components that go with it too and
I'm absolutely no electrician but I know that
when I get shocked that I get to do something
different. So you know but it probably took about
a year until I really understood it and then
You know two years to really really be able to
retrofit a screen to anything at this point.
Gotcha You know, I just I believe that technology
is going to be a major part of our business.
I think that there's very few people who understand
how to build these screens in this area and of
the people who do understand because they have
such a big market share, they're able to charge
a huge profit margin. So I'm able to do very
similar or the same thing for a lot better of
a value. Is that something that you also offer
as a service? Can you go build a video screen
for somebody or a truck for somebody if they
want to? We absolutely can. It's nothing that
I've been, you know, really outlay and trying
to market. Right now I've been repairing some
because that takes a lot less time than to actually
be able to build some. I need to build a little
bit more of a team behind me before I can start
putting my focus over there. But if you go to,
you know, anywhere in Asia, They have these screens
on every building. We're 35 years behind the
technology of those countries because that's
all the manufacturing's in China. They don't
have any American manufacturers for these panels
and for these products. So I really am very excited
to hopefully be at the forefront of that technology
because every few years it gets better and it
gets better. You know, the most recent years
they were able to build the flexible panels.
That's why they built the Vegas Sphere. What
they built it from was those flexible P3, I believe,
panels. And I think it's going to keep going.
It's going to keep going. Eventually, we've already
started seeing these transparent film LED screens.
So you could put them on the outside of a hospital.
And they're not seeing the advertising inside.
They're just seeing outside. But outside, you
can put whatever you want on that screen. That's
incredible. So it's still a little. bit behind
where I think where when it gets to that point,
it's going to absolutely explode. But it's you
know, technology has just got a way of reinventing
itself every every few years. Yeah, that's that's
incredible. What's neat to me is, you know, you
mentioned panels and for people that don't know,
they might see these things and look like that's
that's a giant, you know, that's a 12 foot TV.
Right. In reality, it's not. It's the combination
of tiles. And like you can see on our screen
where we've got six basically regular big -screen
TVs here. But you use much smaller pieces, right?
Yeah, they're about 192 millimeters, so about
6 or 7 .5 inches. And yeah, I mean, the screens
are made up of a whole bunch of them. I think
on the truck... about 220 of them just on the
truck alone on all of its three screens. So,
you know, what that does is it also makes the
maintenance and it makes everything about it
so much easier, because if something goes wrong,
it's likely going wrong with one square and not
the whole screen. or a big section of the screen.
So we try to pick the smaller panels. There's
a few that are a little bit bigger, but the smaller
panels, there's kind of less that can go wrong.
The power is divided a lot more, so it's distributed
a lot more, so it's just a lot easier to maintain.
That's incredible. That's incredible, man. So
many cool things that you have going on. Let's
talk about coming up. We're coming to the holiday
season, right? Yes. And that means parades. and
all kinds of good things, and that's also one
of your main staples, right? Yeah, we will be
at just about every local parade you can find
from here to, you know, to Clayton and Alex Bay
area up north. Wow. That's a big part of our
business. You know, any time any parade really,
it's we're guaranteed to be the most noticeable
float. Sure. And again, with the digital screens,
it allows us to represent either one business
or allows us to represent multiple businesses,
give them a really affordable. opportunity to
put a holidays message to run a sale or whatever
it is, and they don't got to go out in the cold
and sit there with a wagon and a truck with a
banner on it. We can be their float for them.
We got the three speakers, we play music. A lot
of the time our candy throwers are dressed as
Buddy the elf. We have a whole team of candy
throwers. Nice. So I'm looking to do a little
revamping to our candy thrower costumes this
year. So that's always a very fun side of it.
We try to make it the most unique experience
possible. Our spirit really comes out during
those events and it's just incredibly fun to
be a part of. I love that whole idea that you
can be the float. for businesses because, you
know, I'm a business owner myself. Sure, we love
to participate in those things and they're fun.
But I feel like the days of people having the
time and the space and the resources to build.
And then if you build a nice one, you got to
keep it somewhere, right? Year after year, these
giant floats that we used to see in parades.
The idea that you could have something this awesome
and attractive, you know, and be in these parades
and get that local representation, I think it's
awesome. Like you said, it's the most attention
grabbing thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's especially
when you get really, you know, we try to push
people towards more creative graphic design because
there's just some really fun ways that our truck
can be utilized, whether it's the messaging or
whether it's the images and just make it incredible.
I love to do the You know the animated ads with
this type of thing whether it's the you know
reindeer flying around the logo I mean, there's
just really fun stuff that we can do with it
Well, it's a thing the other difference between
a traditional sort of static billboard right
is that's just a solid picture Yeah, like you
said you could put a little element that makes
it extra eye -catching and especially at night
I mean that thing lit up at night. It is cool.
I mean you can't look away from that is that
couple more things, you know, and we'll let you
get back to it, but You mentioned a couple times
now that what you offer some real affordable
ways. Can you talk about that? Because quite
frankly, I think what you have is incredible
in terms of your offering and affordability to
businesses. And I'd love to just mention that
a little bit. Yeah. So I've always been really
focused on creating these affordable marketing
opportunities for small businesses because I
really believe and I know personally how difficult
it can be, especially throughout the whole season.
to really find that budget for marketing, but
it's such an absolutely crucial and essential
thing. We see businesses fall all the time because
of improper marketing or lack of marketing. People
can't know what you don't tell them, right? So
that's always been a big passion of mine is just
creating these opportunities. That's what started
with our subscription route. where I said we're
going to drive this area, you know, Monday through
Friday, this time to this time, and we're going
to start as low as $300 for a whole month of
advertising. And obviously we have packages to
amplify that, to show off a lot more. But with
these events, too, it gives us a really nice
opportunity to build a share of the cost with
a few local businesses, as opposed to getting
one big one. So with the parades, most of them,
we have spots that start at $199. I can't think
of many other ways to spend $199 to get in front
of that many people. It is absolutely just about
the best value you can get. Yeah. I love that.
Because again, it's guaranteed impressions. A
lot of people spend money on marketing not even
knowing if people are going to see it. It might
get ignored. It might be buried. At the end of
the day, $199 to get thousands of people to see
your business in that positive light. You just
really can't compare when it comes to other values.
I think it's a big deal to have a billboard,
right? Even for everyday consumers, if they see
whether it's driving down the road, it's seeing
on your truck, something like that. It's in New
York City and it's one of the video screens that
are on the buildings and things like that. That
is a huge deal for everybody because that just
has this impression that A, it's super expensive
and that business has reached that level, right?
They're at that capacity to where they can be
in the sky or on the side of something. So the
fact that you can provide that value to folks
for not thousands of dollars, which I don't think
a lot of people really understand how expensive.
traditional billboards are. It is insane and
not, I believe every marketing strategy should
have multiple methods, right? You can't just
do one thing and be like, oh that's gonna work.
So, but when you're talking about billboards
and how many of them there are, you know, they
become blended into the landscape. They're also
all the way up there and there's some that aren't
even lit up at night, which absolutely amazes
me. In a place that gets dark at 4 p .m. it's
like... You'd think it's spring for the LED lights
on there, but you know. You know, it's wild the
way folks do stuff. But we're eye level to you,
right? Right in front of you, absolutely unmissable,
unskippable. Are there, and I know we talked
about this before, but I just love folks to hear
about, are there particular routes, particular
roads where people in... in our area anyway might
see you most often. Yeah, and there's definitely
Route 11 and 31 in Cicero. It continues to be
one of the busiest intersections of the Greater
Cherokees area right now. Lots of people are
absolutely disgusted by it because there's traffic
any way you go around it. I mean, it is. You
go on 81 South, there's traffic. You go down
11, there's traffic half the time. On 31, they
just finished that roundabout. But not only because
of the traffic patterns as an avi, but it's also
a really popular intersection and a really good
access point to multiple places in Syracuse.
The rush hour commute mainly is what we stick
to because it's just an incredible amount of
cars and a lot of standstill traffic. So we try
to hit those consistent routes because they consistently
have the volume to get there. You get the most
eyes. Yeah. The worst part of traffic that everyone
in Syracuse complains about is your sweet spot,
right? Yes. Absolutely. I love that. I love that.
I was thinking about this the other day. Are
there any rules in terms of where you can or
can't run your signs? One thing I was thinking
of, if you go to an event, Utica, can you run
things all the way down the throughway and things
like that? Yeah. So I have yet to find through
research or through, you know, through somebody
of authority telling me anything that limits
us, except for the fact that, you know, past
10 p .m. it's we shouldn't have the truck going.
I see. In certain villages or certain towns,
the having video and audio while the truck is
driving actively is more frowned upon ish. Yeah.
You know, it's not something we necessarily want
to do. That's something we'd like to park and
have it be, you know, a more effective campaign
that way. But I have ran into very little and
knock on wood here, I've ran into very little.
occasions where people are like, you can't do
that, you can't do that. Because it's such a
new industry, especially in this area. In those
big, big cities like Las Vegas, New York City,
that I've had them for a few years, they have
all these laws and regulations, but we don't
have much in our specific area. But again, I
just try to always just provide these incredible
opportunities and hope it all pans out. Yeah,
no, I hear you. And you know, the reality is
it seems unique to us. But the more and more
you think of it, it is no different than anything
else. It's no different than the, you know, the
store on the side of the road that has the fake
red police light flashing everywhere all night
long. And, you know, I mean, really, if you look
at if you look at because of how high the truck
sets up. If you're really looking at what everybody's
doing while they're driving anyway, they're on
their phones. Everybody's on their phones. It's
absolutely insane to see just how many people
are truly just sitting there on their phones
in traffic. And then we drive by them and keep
their eyes right on the road. So it's definitely
not any more distracting than that. There you
go. There you go. I feel like the DOT should
contract with you just to play some... Yeah,
don't worry guys. It'll be over soon or some
kind of like calming messages. You know, that's
that's where they're missing. They gotta get
the yeah, they gotta put the humor in there.
Right, right. That's awesome. And Zach from ads
on the go get ads on the go dot com is the website.
Zach, is that the best place if folks want to
advertise their business, they want to have an
event, something like that? Is the website the
best place to go, or is there other spots you
should go to? The website's a great place to
go. You can also give me a call or text 315 -816
-0633 anytime of the day. If I don't answer you
right away, I'll answer you the second I get
a minute to do so. That's awesome, man. That's
awesome. Zach, as always, man, we love having
you here. Thank you again, as I mentioned earlier,
for all your support of the show. And for folks
that are listening, look forward to Off the Earth.
We're planning some things where we're going
to do even more things with Zach and his trucks
and screens and nerdy gadgets. And after my own
heart here. Buddy, anything else we should tell
folks before we dip for the day? No, I think
that's just about it. I appreciate you guys very
much. I appreciate all the kind words and I appreciate
the support right back to you. I think, you know,
we live in an incredible world and an incredible
area here where we can all, you know, use each
other to in a very beneficial way to grow our
businesses. And I just think if everybody does
that, then we just have an incredible world here.
I couldn't I couldn't agree more. I couldn't
agree more, man. Zach from ads on the go. Always
a great guest. Welcome anytime. Mike, I gotta
go through a quick shout out to Mike for running
the board while I'm here and not making too many
jokes about me. What else we got? Hey, we got
sweatshirts. I'm looking at myself in the mirror.
Everybody loves this face drug shirt. I made
this for myself years ago just because I wanted
a vintage face drug shirt. And I'll tell you
what, I finally understand what attractive people
live like. Because I can wear this shirt and
walk through the mall and every third person
will go, hey, nice shirt, hey. Damn. Cool, man.
They're finally available now. So on our TikTok
shop, as well as our merch store, you can now
get these awesome face drug hoodies, t -shirts,
and hats. So if you want to rep. Central New
York's favorite local brand that we all miss
very much. That's what we got. Yeah, I love the
nostalgia. I'm a big nostalgia fan, man. And
with that, this has been Good News York. We will
join you tomorrow for another fun -filled episode.
I know we got some cool guests and good news.
So with that, peace out.