I Took a Hike
Gear up for a hike like no other and discover the landscape of business, life, and the complex trails that intertwine them.
Embark on a journey with host Darren Mass and a new inspirational guest each week as they navigate steep terrain while engaging in thought-provoking conversations that unveil the intricate dance between entrepreneurship and the human spirit.
It's an exploration of wisdom, stories, and nature-filled inspiration. Lace up for an adventure where trails and tales intertwine, only on the I Took a Hike Podcast.
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I Took a Hike
Pete Dario - Resilience, Entrepreneurship & The Birth of Terrace Plant Shop
Ever wondered about the resilience it takes to succeed as a young entrepreneur? Diving headfirst into the world of business can be a wild ride, fraught with both success and failure. Join us as we converse with Pete Dario, an inspiring Filipino-American entrepreneur who successfully navigated a unique journey from a youthful spirit flipping candy bars, to the proud owner of Terrace Plant Shop.
Life threw a curveball at Pete when his first venture, Culture Connect, faced challenges. Yet, his resilience shone through as he embraced the mantra of failing fast. His story takes a fascinating turn with the onset of the pandemic, a difficult period that birthed the innovative concept of Terrace Plant Shop. Whether you're an amateur entrepreneur, a plant lover, or simply someone seeking an inspiring tale, Pete's journey will surely captivate you.
Navigating customer expectations and leaving a lasting impression is key in business, as Pete discovered. His insights on how to handle heated customer interactions, making customers feel valued, and the potential for referrals are nuggets of wisdom for anyone in the sphere of business. As a sweetener, we also delve into the merits of rainwater for houseplants and the significance of quality soil. So tune in to explore the intricacies of entrepreneurship, personal growth, and overcoming life's challenges with Pete Dario.
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Okay, we are officially recording Cool.
Speaker 2:You have hiked this trail.
Speaker 1:I have hiked this trail a few too many times. At this point, let's be quite honest. This is the South Mountain Reservation. It's a nice trail, it's a good trail and we have a beautiful scenic waterfall at the very top. So, pete Dario, are you okay with being recorded on a podcast? Yes, well, there goes that liability. This is. I Took a Hike. I'm your host, darren Mass, founder of business therapy group and Parktime Wilderness Philosopher. Here we step out of the boardrooms and home offices and into the great outdoors, where the hustle of entrepreneurship meets the rustle of nature. In this episode, we immerse ourselves in nature alongside Filipino-American entrepreneur Pete Dario, the owner of Terrace Plant Shop. Our conversation covers the importance of failing fast, the power of intuitive decision-making, the emotional journey of losing paternal figures and achieving success at a young age. During our hike, I was genuinely impressed by the wisdom of this young sage. Join us on this insightful journey when I took a hike with Pete Dario. Thank you for coming out on a hike with me. People don't know who you are. I obviously do.
Speaker 2:You're the dude that cut my hair. For how many years? Six years, I think.
Speaker 1:For many, except for that one COVID year where I was getting a local neighbor to come over and slice and dice. Yeah, but that was only for a brief moment. That was, as they say, a hot second. But you're obviously more than just a hair cutter. That's why you're on this show. You are an entrepreneur, a small business owner. Your business is rocking and rolling and thriving. You are in the spotlight, you are growing, you are facing all of the business challenges that one would expect to face. Let's dive into that.
Speaker 2:Your business is what I own Terrace Plant Shop, located in Mottocca, new Jersey.
Speaker 1:You have a great story. I think it's very inspirational. We should hear about it. Let's find out who Pete Dario is first Sure.
Speaker 2:First and foremost, I just wanted to say thank you for having me on this pod. You have a lot of public figures on this roster. It's just an honor just to be alongside them. Honestly, it's an honor just to be talking to you. Thank you for that.
Speaker 1:I humbly appreciate that. I want to thank you for giving me a new term. I'm just going to call it a pod A pod Because you are younger than me by a few years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm 26. Yep, you are an early starter.
Speaker 1:You are 26. I've got a few years on you, but yeah, I will start calling it pod from now on, because that sounds so much cooler. Yes, honor to have you as well. Let's figure you out. Who are you? Where did you come from?
Speaker 2:All right, Comic book style. I grew up in Edison, new Jersey, born and raised from ages four to 10. I pretty much lived at my mom's restaurant, just wreaked havoc and caused chaos there. That's pretty much where I got my entrepreneurial spirit from from my mom. It's always been in my blood. My mom grew up in a poor area in the Philippines.
Speaker 1:We were always.
Speaker 2:Filipino born Yep. Always trying to make a buck out there in the Philippines. Whether it was a food stall or getting crafty, she was always trying to sell.
Speaker 1:Your mom came here. When did she come here? I don't know. Dude, you should talk to your mom, Just like I'm doing. You probably get to know a little of the history and background. Yeah, you're right. It's important because one day you know, darra, I say your mom will no longer be around. Your kids one day are going to want to hear this story. They're going to want to know where we come from. You're totally right. So you're a first generation American First gen.
Speaker 2:My mom and dad met here. They worked for the state the disability department for New Jersey. She left that to open up the restaurant. That restaurant was around for like six years. We got older my sisters and I and you know she had to really take care of the family. That's when they were going off to like high school, college and I was still wreaking havoc at home. Fast forward, 14 years old, middle school I was flipping candy bars and chocolate bars to all my friends. I buy like bulk boxes of just candy and sell them to my friends. By age 16, I started an apprenticeship at the barbershop. Just thought it was easy, I thought it was cool. You know, just seeing people with like tattoos and the barbershop that I was at razor sharp barbershop and touching they're all Filipino. So I just thought it really resonated with me. You fit in, I fit in.
Speaker 1:So you had the hustle. So what's interesting on this show? I have discovered usually with, I guess, I don't really do that much research because I want to hear, like the audience here is fresh, new, I want to go down this path together. So I have discovered, even in close relationships, that they're first generation Americans and you all have this similarity of living the true American dream, where it's just I'm going to hustle, I'm going to start a business, I'm going to surround myself in business, I'm going to drive because I want to make my parents proud and you don't realize that until later on, but I think you realize that. So you, you had this entrepreneurial spark I can tell you got an apprenticeship, learning as a haircutter, you mean sweeping floor sweeping, sweeping floors.
Speaker 2:I wasn't cutting hair yet, okay. I was cutting my friends hair.
Speaker 1:You do need a license for that, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But you learned how to cut hair and I will say you were able to tame my main. Yeah, at one point I had a lot of thick hair and I have a little less of it. My wife reminds me every day with her eyes but no, you definitely excelled at that skill. You're the only barber that I kept going back to and really saw value, so thank you.
Speaker 2:No, I appreciate the loyalty. Yeah, except for that one time.
Speaker 1:Did you start, covid no?
Speaker 2:Were you delivering at home cuts.
Speaker 1:At that moment I really wasn't, and were you my neighbor. No, okay, so I think I got to pass here. Okay, all right. So what happens after that? So you're obviously doing your barber thing.
Speaker 2:Yep. After that I graduated high school, went into cosmetology school, got my barber's license and from there I just like what you said, I just excelled in my career. I just loved the environment, grew my client's hell by a lot. I was booked up every day.
Speaker 1:As an 18 year old, I get a test of that when I tried to get scheduled. You're like no man, I'm booked for this week.
Speaker 2:Yep, and you know I was slinging like 10 to 12 haircuts a day and as an 18 year old, you don't really see that type of money instantly, right, yeah, but for me I was. I was doing really well, to be honest, and then from there I it's not like I got tired of cutting hair, but I just wanted to test my strengths and I was always in. I always loved being a creative opened up my first business at age 21, which was Culture Connect Media.
Speaker 1:And you told me that story, which is why I immediately knew you were going to be a hit. I knew you had something because you told me you started a business that obviously, for someone like me, you pique my interest immediately, yeah. But then I went to your website and I saw, oh man, this guy actually understands and it was a very creative marketing and branding strategy.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you noticing and at the time when you believed in me which was at the time I thought was crazy a lot of people didn't really believe in me, believe in me what you did, so I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know, you'll pay it forward one day. Yes, You'll see something and someone else and you'll just instantly know that they know what they're doing, so okay, so let's continue the story. You had this creative organization.
Speaker 2:Yep, we were doing content marketing for, specifically, restaurants, restaurant owners who really wanted to like make their Instagram and social media stand out. So we were pretty much just making high quality photos, high quality videos and posting them on it on Instagram, and I did that for three years.
Speaker 1:So why the pivot? Hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us. Discover more episodes at italkahikecom. Or to recommend an adventurous guest, apply to be a sponsor, discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us a line. By the way, let me ask you this do you hike normally? No, I saw, my hike was like last year All right, because not to make fun of you too much, but you are walking really slow.
Speaker 2:Let's go. I was keeping up with your pace, man. I'm keeping up with yours, so see this right.
Speaker 1:Here is the value of communications. If we don't communicate, we're both thinking opposite things. Gotcha and I'm walking at your pace, you're walking in mine. All I needed to say was step it up. Cool, all right. So let's get you out of breath.
Speaker 2:So where was I? You were talking about your pivot, my pivot, from a barber. Are you asking from barber to culture connect?
Speaker 1:No, it's from yeah, from culture. Connect your creative company. What if you were seeing success with that? Why did you pivot to where you are today?
Speaker 2:No, that's the thing. There was no success in culture connect. Why not? I felt like every client that I had, I did really well for the first few months and then it just kept crashing down. For me, as a 21 year old 22 year old just wasn't used to client confrontation and being organized with like being the middleman. I was hiring photographers and videographers and I was also trying to make sure my clients were fine too. Okay, I just got overwhelmed.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about crashing down. You use that term. What does that mean to you? For me?
Speaker 2:my flaw is that I love doing everything by myself, and I felt like if the photographer wasn't going to do it, well, I would step in and do it myself. Okay, that's meant a lot.
Speaker 1:Do you recognize the error in that thinking? 100% Okay, but not at the time.
Speaker 2:Not at the time Learning lessons. I was so stressed to the point where I just wasn't happy with the business, got to the point where I was losing clients. I would say culture connect is a failure. Okay, let's develop that.
Speaker 1:So it's a failure. Why? Because you didn't make lots of money.
Speaker 2:I think it was a failure, Not even about the money. It's just that I lost so much interest in it because I just wasn't doing well In terms of the quality I was giving to my clients. I just wasn't reaching their expectations.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you were not meeting their expectations, their expectations being a lot higher than probably what they were willing to pay for. First of all, yeah, and because you are young and young in business, young as an entrepreneur and young in career, you probably didn't have the skillset developed to manage that yet, and even the ability to push back a little bit on a client.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, everyone was pushing me around. Yeah, because you're young. Yeah, client was like no, I want this, I want this, I want that, and then a little bit extra more.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's called scope creep. It's when the client takes advantage of the vendor by changing the parameters constantly and then you go to charge them more and they have an issue with that. So I will tell you right off the bat and probably a lot of the audience is thinking this that was not a failure. In fact, that was probably one of the best reasons for your success today. It's all about perspective. Yeah, here's why you learn to fail. You learn to fail fast. You learned what doesn't make you happy, will not make you money and will not make you successful, and success being more than just money but your life value and your purpose. So you did what you thought was right, which was close, that Yep, move on. If you didn't have that experience, you probably wouldn't have a complete opposite feeling and experience with Terras Plant.
Speaker 2:Shop. I went into Terras Plant Shop with a whole different mindset after what I experienced with Culture Connect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what was that mindset?
Speaker 2:I think the main pillar of that was to not let anyone push me around. When a lot of my clients from Culture Connect were pushing me around, I was like this is the worst feeling ever. I felt like the business was taking over me, okay, and I thought I felt like the business owned me. Well, it does, yeah, so maybe I felt like I was a slave to it. Then Does that, does that make sense? Yeah, that's pretty normal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but not in like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Some people love their businesses and I felt like I would wake up every morning. I'd just be like, damn, this is not fun anymore.
Speaker 1:And even with a job, if you're doing something that's not fun and you can't figure out a way to make it more fun, then it's time for a big pivot or a shift. Yeah, okay, so now we've got Terras.
Speaker 2:What gave you the idea? 2021, the pandemic hits Right. What was it? 2020? It was 2020. 2020 pandemic hits Everything's shut down and honestly, it was such a blur at the time. But I just remember people just dying right or people just getting sick and we were all so scared and all of a sudden my whole family gets sick and basically just taking care of my family ended up having to drive my dad to the hospital. At the time we didn't really know what how bad or the severity of COVID, so I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. So your dad passed. My dad passed away from COVID Probably three weeks, three to four weeks while he was in the hospital and that was like such a crazy time, just because it wasn't just my dad dying, there's just multiple people dying and my family was still sick. They had long COVID, so it's not like they got better after a week. So I was still taking care of my mom. I was still taking care of my sisters. My sisters have my sisters have nieces too, so they had COVID as well. Fast forward my grandpa passes away shortly after. I remember holding my grandpa from his back because he just couldn't breathe as he was laying down and he was just like it's like he was suffocating, which he was, which he was. Two days later we bring him to the hospital and he passes away the night of, and from there it was just like a really dark place for my family and I, because they were all still sick and we couldn't really connect because I couldn't go to them. My mom was locked in her room, so were my sisters, and we just didn't know really how to like grieve. It was the first time that one of our main family members died in the family, especially in your culture elders are respected 100%.
Speaker 1:It's unfortunately not the case in America anymore at least, so that had to be really rough.
Speaker 2:It was super rough. I made this tweet probably two days after my grandpa passed away. This tweet reached millions of people.
Speaker 1:Millions wow.
Speaker 2:Basically, the tweet was my dad and my grandpa passed away from COVID. There's a lot going on right now, but if you have the chance to just hug your family members, please do it, because you never know what's going to happen the next day. Reached millions of people, lots of media companies ended up using that tweet as like a truth, yeah, as the truth.
Speaker 1:That's the reality of what was going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no one really expected. I didn't expect that tweet to blow up.
Speaker 1:It was just something that Well you didn't write it for that purpose. You wrote it for you.
Speaker 2:I wrote it for me. I wanted to-.
Speaker 1:Which, by the way, most of the ones that blow up, especially the spontaneous ones. You wrote it for you. Yeah, that was your therapy. You were letting the world know that you were hurting.
Speaker 2:Mind you, I don't look to social media as an outlet to talk about stuff like that For me. I'm a creative. I just post photos, yeah, but at the time it felt like I needed to talk to someone and I so happened to make that tweet. I ended up talking to millions of people and that's what happened. From there, I had a lot of traction for a month, just a lot of people hitting me up. You had a wave, I had a wave, but guess what? This wave of people? It was a lot of people that were dying too, like family members, and they were messaging me through my DMs and they were like my dad died too.
Speaker 1:You became the central spokesperson.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Essentially, yeah, we all looked for that. We looked for general and everything, whether it's a successful venture or finance or health, whatever it is, we looked for a central figure to be our champion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, and you became that. I became that, didn't I? Didn't that help you deal a little bit? You know, at the time, yes, but I'm going to dive deep into that maybe whenever you want to talk about it later, but at the time I thought it was really healthy. Oh, we need to do more hiking to get to that. See how quick.
Speaker 1:We elevated ourselves maybe 1200 feet. Yeah, and it's pouring out. It's crazy. Yeah, let's pause for a selfie. Sure, and you can hear all the lovely cicadas. I love me some cicadas. Seven-year cicada Not bad for a rainy day or morning after Dude this is beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the perfect day for a hike.
Speaker 1:This is the perfect day for a hike. Let me just get back on the ramp. I'm going to come back here. Let's go this way, okay. So let's continue with your story. You became that spokesperson. Essentially, you helped others. You got them through their grief by being an outlet, someone to vent to. Was it helping you and your family? Or how did you get through the grief of losing both your father and your grandfather?
Speaker 2:I lost my dad and my grandpa within a few weeks from each other, which were the only two male figures in my family. So to answer your question, was that tweet? Was that situation helping? I don't think so. I just felt like I had to step up to the plate because I was the only man left in the family.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, in a way, you were using that entrepreneurial mind of yours, which is drive. Yup. What is an entrepreneur? A visionary with drive Purpose, relentless execution? What did you learn from?
Speaker 2:doing this. Well, later in time, what I did as a man, I thought I had to do what I had to do. That's one side of it. Well, on the other side of it, I suppressed all that emotion. I didn't get to grieve properly. I didn't really talk to people To be honest, I didn't really talk to. I didn't start talking to people until this year, but how I really felt? Okay. So, if anything, I feel like I just started grieving. Well now. Now Okay, because what happened was COVID started to die down a little bit. Everything started to open up and I had that idea to open up Terris Plant Shop.
Speaker 1:So from there, Well, take a step back. How did you get an idea to open a plant shop? I mean, it's like, how did I get an idea to open up a hike pod? Yeah Right, there's a spark. There's some cliched moment that you read about in every business book from an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:So what was your spark? Everything started to open up, and it was our first time as a family that we were able to see each other again, or to really talk about what happened and for my mom, being an older generation as she is, she doesn't really like talking about it, of course.
Speaker 1:Well, she was grieving. She was grieving, she was hurting. She lost her father, she lost her husband. Yeah, those are incredibly difficult people in your life to lose at once. Without any notice. Yep.
Speaker 2:So she grew up as a farmer back in the Philippines and I figured if, maybe nature will help her you know, growing up we've always had a garden, we've always had plants in the house I was like maybe if I bring her to a nursery, which was Williams' nursery in Westfield. I brought her there and she loved it. You know. I felt like I saw like that spark in her again. Okay, great, and I fell in love with the whole process of plants as well, just being one with nature, especially bringing nature back into your home, really felt good.
Speaker 1:I believe you taught me a term. Well, Matt, I believe you did Shinrin Yoko.
Speaker 2:Yes, Japanese term Shinrin Yoko Basically being one with nature and loving nature and bringing nature back home. Yep.
Speaker 1:So when you, I didn't have a term for what I was feeling as I'm hiking and I feel great coming back and it's the best day ever. Yeah Right, it's the energy, the forest bathing, as you had explained it to me. Yes, it's fantastic. Yep, it wasn't until I embarked on this podcast journey that I realized the impact of problem solving in nature, and now I would like to help you. I invite you or your team to join me on a hike and experience business therapy all while on the trail. Visit itookahikecom for more information on our hiking therapy. Okay so your spark was seeing the light and the positive response that, being in nature, brought to your mom. Yep, did you know? Right then you had a business. Honestly, I did, and that right there is your cliched moment that goes in your first business book, the day I had the spark Right. And then you ran with it. I ran with it. What were your next steps?
Speaker 2:My next steps was to research if plants were actually a thing.
Speaker 1:What do you mean by if plants are actually a thing? Of course they're a thing, no, but they're a living thing.
Speaker 2:If people were buying it, you know, if people were like actually had interest in plants, so you were doing your research, yeah, good, your market research, which is step number two.
Speaker 1:Make sure that your concept, your vision is valid. Yep, okay.
Speaker 2:Because if I was feeling that feeling, maybe other people were feeling that feeling. Looked on Instagram, I just noticed that people were hoarding plants in their home. They were bringing nature back into their home, whether it was big plants or small plants. They weren't making terrariums in their home with their families. There's rare plants that you have to import into the country that are, like, incredibly expensive and hard to take care of, and people love that aspect of it.
Speaker 1:Well, there's also TikTok trending plants like Monterra deliciosa, exactly.
Speaker 2:People, that's like the staple house plant in the home.
Speaker 1:Is it really? It really is, so why don't we get this crazy and insane fruit that's supposed to be the best fruit that?
Speaker 2:people ever ate. We don't have the climate in New Jersey for that, oh okay. Did you know that if you don't eat the fruit at the right time, it feels like there's spikes in your throat?
Speaker 1:So normally I would go with you and be like no, I didn't know that. Haha, it's right. But no, because I am a student of the TikTok. I do know that because that was the whole thing with the TikTok crazes. This one very expensive, rare fruit is the best tasting fruit ever, but if you don't eat it at the right time it's poison.
Speaker 2:Yep, supposedly it's really good. I never had it, I'm kind of scared to eat it.
Speaker 1:I am not Serve me up some of that Fugu Blowfish, let's try it. Actually, maybe not I don't know if I would do that, but I would definitely try the fruit Monterra deliciosa. In fact, this is your jam. You should start doing this, maybe a taste test. I should add that to as a product that will be sick, as seen on TikTok. So educate us some more on your path. You validated your market. What did you do after?
Speaker 2:that I validated my market and I started researching if there were wholesale nurseries in New Jersey or just in the tri-state area. At the time there was only one, which was in Long Island.
Speaker 1:You're telling me there's only one wholesale nursery in the tri-state area and we call ourselves the garden state. Exactly, okay, great, I see there's this For indoor house plants specifically.
Speaker 2:Now there's a lot of wholesalers for trees that can survive in New Jersey, or there's a lot of wholesalers that grow flowers, but not for tropical house plants. It's actually very difficult to get tropical house plants in New Jersey because the holy mecca of house plants are in Florida. Everything imports from there.
Speaker 1:Okay, I see the humidity and the climate. Yep.
Speaker 2:All these plants are grown from South America or in the Caribbean. At the time I just did my research where all the plants were coming from.
Speaker 1:I only found Long Island to be the key spot which is very odd and strange, totally Very odd and strange, but maybe easy port-a-call access, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know either, but they were there. I'm making that one up.
Speaker 1:You found a need, you found an opening and an availability for something that doesn't exist. To be honest, I never thought about a house plant ever. Maybe when I was in an apartment in New York City, sure, but in my home I never would have considered a house plant until you started speaking about it. Now I do have a few, provided by you, thank you, thank you. Let the record show I paid for them. I appreciate that. Yeah, he did charge me full price, plus shipping, handling and delivery. I delivered it and tax, okay, fair. And then he cut my hair.
Speaker 2:Bonus.
Speaker 1:But yeah, no, so I would have never thought about it. So you obviously found something. You found a niche. So at what point did that spark just ignite? You had your spark when you said oh wait, this exists, I have a passion for it. You did your research and then boom, it turns into a full-on lit match.
Speaker 2:I love reading magazines. Well, I'm going to take that back. I don't read magazines, I just look at pictures.
Speaker 1:Okay, Welcome to your generation. Tldr two sentences.
Speaker 2:For me. I've always loved interior design and I just saw this page from Hypebeast. It's a magazine. It was just this beautiful room with plants everywhere and it was just like this model that was showing off a shoe. Basically, my idea was I would love to create a plant shop. Thanks, encuentra Lots Cui ci. You did somekea Today. The hair designer gave us a straight side. She says I'm really surprised. Let me see the whole thing. Sorry, ten, unfortunately. I thought it would turn out too short. That's designed focused for people's homes and everybody goes to nurseries and nurseries are cool. I'm not gonna knock them, but they're dirty and it's just a whole array of plants just sitting around. I want to do it tastefully. I at the shop, we have a couch and we have a bike on the wall and we have multiple standing lights and it just looks like a home.
Speaker 1:So you made a cool chill hangout spot that people wanna be surrounded by, exactly, and I'm gonna tell you through that nurseries are dirty, literally they sell dirt, that's okay, that's their business model, but to me, a nursery is more for outside plants, for trees, for bushes, shrubs, flowering plants, perennials, annuals, all of that. I don't think of a nursery for indoor plants. And as I'm saying this, I think you're right. I don't even know if there is a section for indoor plants, because I would never think about going to any one of these nurseries for indoor plants. So, okay, so you made something really cool and fashionable.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you're bringing the outdoors indoors right, Especially in our very indoor world now.
Speaker 2:I heard this concept from my friend, garrick, who owns King Strength and Performance. Shout out to Garrick. He taught me this concept called the third space. Have you heard of it? No, third space is basically, as human beings, we belong in three spaces. We have our home, we have our work and then we go to other spaces to find comfort, to find fun and to hang out. Okay, I wanted to create a third space plant shop where the community can come and release that stress. So what we do at the shop. I wanted to introduce workshops where people can create terrariums, for example, or even rent out the space to hold a bridal shower, which is what we have done multiple times. Right, and just being surrounded by oh, this is brilliant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you are maximizing every square inch of your cost structure. Yeah, right, there are off hours where you're not profitable in a store, and you turned it into something Exactly Right.
Speaker 2:These are add-on additional sales. I wasn't even thinking about that.
Speaker 1:Again, the reason why you're hiking is I saw a brilliant mind in you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From our first conversation, and this is clearly just like you would meet a talented artist that just had the skill, had a need for training, but had the skill. You obviously get business. You understood business. You even understood the most important lesson, which is we're taught from an early age, back in my generation. You never quit. No, you're taught, you learned that it's okay to quit Something's not working your way. You quit, you pivoted a failure real quick. That was the first business that you had Right. You pivoted. Yeah, not many people would do that. We're stubborn. We would continue on with that idea even if it's not working Right. So that was an important lesson. So you get something. You have some sort of artistry. So you basically figured out how to maximize your space, how to maximize every single opportunity for revenue, but not because you've planned to do so, because you wanted to create something awesome outside of just another retail store, exactly.
Speaker 2:Okay, I didn't want it to be a place where you just pick up a plant and go. I wanted you to come inside, pick up a plant, scan our QR code with our Spotify playlist, talk to our sales reps, where they're not even trying to sell you something, they're just trying to talk to you about life and mental health. I wanted you to sit down and really take in nature as it is and enjoy the space for what it is, which is design and culture and community. And how's that working out? We're two and a half years in and people love us, I see it on your posts all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you are definitely a success on the gram, on the gram, on the gram Is that what the cool kids are calling you now? Exactly, all right, cool. I love how I come up with these things that age and date me, but I'm not really that old. When it makes me feel awesome on the inside Aging All right. So feedback is great. Your posts I don't know if you call them viral anymore, but whatever it is, your posts do very well, far better than most other posts that I know. It's something you should be proud of.
Speaker 2:Each post that we do now, whether if it's a real or a story, we only post if it is going to go viral. And yes, the kids do say that.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. So how do you know what's the marker?
Speaker 2:Is it just?
Speaker 1:intuition? Or do you just know that everything you touch now is going to do well First year?
Speaker 2:we tried everything, whether if it was like a funny video or if it was an informational video and honestly, I think what really resonated with the people is who I am as a person. That's right. You know, I'm a funny person, I am goofy and people love that and I show that in my content. So I have videos of me tripping or have videos of me like eating and like having like an acai bowl stain all over my face. You know, do?
Speaker 1:you love a good acai bowl? Exactly Well, what you're doing again. Your intuition here is spot on. We build trust with more connections, and the strongest way to build trust to somebody is to make them laugh. Right, if you can get somebody out of a neutral mood or, even worse, a bad mood, and get them to crack a smile and laugh instant bonding moment. You just elevated the ability to trust and you also cracked the code of authenticity. Now, this word is grossly overused, but there is a real authenticity. It is undeniable that your posts are you as a person and you could tell that you're not faking it. You don't end that camera and go. Oh God, I just want to go back and go to sleep. You'd probably just turn off the camera and you're the same, pete going up a customer?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not acting.
Speaker 1:I mean yeah, and it's very apparent that you are transparent. Which?
Speaker 2:is great. And that's the type of content that we produce. You know Not everybody's funny, so if you're not funny, go informational. You know, like that will work for a lot of people, that's not going to work for me.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the message is really know who the hell you are Exactly and don't try to fake it, yeah Right, and I tried to go the informational route and it's boring for you, it's boring.
Speaker 2:It's so boring. I spit out facts and like people are like that's cool, but now I make. I made a funny video the other day where, like you have to, like you have to, the best water for your houseplants is rainwater.
Speaker 1:With all those lovely chemicals and falling from the sky?
Speaker 2:Yes, Okay, why? And I? Because there's so many components. Nitrogen is a huge one, Okay, fair.
Speaker 1:And we do strip nitrogen out in our filtered water. Okay, exactly.
Speaker 2:Tap water, for example. Tap water in general is not good for plants, but rainwater is, and I made a video where I just acted like a crazy person with a bucket outside while it was raining like crazy. It was storming. Yeah, people loved that. And number one, that was informational, because I taught them that the best water is rainwater. And number two, I made them laugh and I thought that was so fulfilling, as it is Okay.
Speaker 1:So I can guarantee you people listening to this right now or I didn't know that they're instantly thinking like I didn't know that either. And obviously it makes logical sense that the plant can filter out any of those pollutants anyway. That's the soil's job, exactly, and it can filter.
Speaker 2:Unless it's cheap soil. Okay, so we can get it.
Speaker 1:I don't know how to deep it, okay.
Speaker 2:Should we cut?
Speaker 1:that. Yeah, probably have to cut that out. I don't know. Up to our editor it's the last lawsuit I need. Hiking boy goes into a lawsuit to home depot. Great Well, I got another product for you. Okay, you should bottle and sell rainwater and I'm not kidding, I thought about that and you can literally call it rainwater and people will buy it.
Speaker 2:Rainwater for your plants. Did you know some states?
Speaker 1:it's illegal. No, that's still rainwater.
Speaker 2:Rainwater, just rainwater. What selling rainwater is illegal?
Speaker 1:Collecting rainwater in some states is illegal, but not in New Jersey Because they need to run off because of the droughts. Ah yeah, that's why California it's actually. I don't know what California does. California is just weird. Sorry, California, you are.
Speaker 2:But thankfully New Jersey, it's not illegal. We get a lot of rain. Yeah, we have this idea where, like you can either pick it up at the store or it's just a delivery service where we just deliver rainwater for your house plants to your home. We have a van already.
Speaker 1:So the idea is pretty intelligent actually, because people will buy this, yeah, which is crazy, because people will buy anything if it's marketed properly, and we see that every day.
Speaker 2:Right, Well, you know what it is too. We offer a rehab service in the shop and we see horrible looking plants, and that's just because some municipalities the plant went on a bender Pretty much had a bender Of really bad water, though Some municipalities have really harsh tap water and that's not good for house plants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, in Jersey we have hard water, yeah, so hard water is not good, yup, Right. So I need to buy some of your rainwater, exactly, and I'll do that because I'm a fan. But I do have a bucket sitting outside that the kids forget to bring in for their toys, and it's got at least four inches of rainwater, so I can help with product here. There you go, but there is merit to this, you know and we're kind of saying it, jokie, but not If you actually market it with full disclosure and honesty, then it will take off, this virility to the fact that did you know the best water for your plants is good old rainwater? Yep, here's your ad. Here at Terrace Plant Shop, we'll sell you that rainwater only two bucks a jar.
Speaker 2:There you go, good old New Jersey rainwater.
Speaker 1:There you go, so I like that path. It's good to find little bits of knowledge that you would end up knowing. Now we know that rainwater is great for plants. Soil Good quality soil makes a big difference. Why?
Speaker 2:House plants in general love well-draining soil, and the soil that these big box stores sell is filled with added fillers just to make the bag feel heavier, like what, for example, peat moss. Peat moss is really bad.
Speaker 1:You planted your own moss, I should. I got jokes too. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Here we go. Another product, it's called peat moss, peat moss.
Speaker 2:That's got your face on it. Peat moss is really bad it dries out the plant severely Okay. And a lot of plants don't like that, okay.
Speaker 1:So why is peat moss sold in bags? Why do you buy it? What's the purpose?
Speaker 2:To fill up the bag.
Speaker 1:No, no, you could actually buy peat moss. You can buy bags of just peat moss.
Speaker 2:Why? What's the purpose? Peat moss can be used as propagations, or maybe a weed killer, or weed killer A suffocant.
Speaker 1:Fact check the word on that one Suffocant. Yeah, when I listen back to a lot of these episodes. There are words that I say that I thought was a real word. I totally made it up and I catch it when, I listen back and I'm like oh man, you're a dumbass.
Speaker 2:No, it's a real word now, because Darren said it.
Speaker 1:Well, no, not because I said it, it's when you're in conversation, conversational language. If two people understand what you mean, then there you go. You accomplish the point of language. Yeah, you don't have to explain it. So if I say it's a suffocant, that might be a word or might not, I don't know, but you know. What I'm trying to say is that it will suffocate the weeds, yes, so there we go. All right, so we're learning a lot here. So Home Depot, sorry. So big box store, big box store, orange box store that we all buy from. If you're looking to not kill your plants, make sure you're buying that Primo soil Exactly, is there a label or something that we should be looking at for identification of Primo soil?
Speaker 2:Totally, you have to look for a tropical house plant soil. Oh, it's literally the label for tropical house plants. But Home Depot and big box stores. Big box stores don't sell it. Why not?
Speaker 1:Expensive, heavy, I guess. So, honestly, I don't have an answer for that. I do. Lower margin, okay, always comes down to the margins. So, all right, cool, let's pause here on our tips because we're going to do another cool trip with our hover. Sick, sick. We're following that trail and it's going to follow us. Comfortable so far, super comfortable. Good, all right, it's going to follow us. This is a phenomenal day for hiking, by the way.
Speaker 2:This is amazing.
Speaker 1:The rain took the humidity out, all right, so walk, naturally. Okay, all right, we're going to literally side by side. It's going to follow us. We're just going to walk until I tell it to stop following us this way, yep Straight along. You see the blaze, the yellow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Give me a second. Okay, are you ready? What do you think? 30 seconds. I'll just tell it to stop Ready. Yes, sir, side by side here. Let me get it right here. Continue, follow Lots of mud, it's okay.
Speaker 2:I use these shoes to go plant shopping.
Speaker 1:Well, so I'm used to the mud. I mean it's pretty apropos. Well, how muddy do you?
Speaker 2:get, I guess, pretty muddy, because the wholesalers, they're essentially just big nurseries, yeah, and they're just water sitting everywhere. And do you have to drive to Long Island every time? No, I do, we get it delivered now. Okay, we also found another wholesaler, and Patterson, but I didn't find them until like two years later. Oh yeah, they were really hidden. Why is that? I'm not sure Marketing sucks for them.
Speaker 1:Well, if only they had a good marketing company, you should see their computer. It's like from the 80s. That's true with a lot of businesses is that their computing system is essentially antiquated. Yeah Right, and I'm a big believer in making sure you have the latest, greatest of technology that works for you, because you will regret it in the long run.
Speaker 2:I'm glad that they're low key, though that's another word low key, low key.
Speaker 1:Yeah, low key or low key.
Speaker 2:As in two words low key L-O-W space K-E-Y.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so you know, you took a normal phrase in the English language and you repurposed it for the use, exactly. That's another quote from my cousin, vinny the, probably one of the best movies that was ever created. I don't think anyone's going to argue with me on this, and let me guess you've never seen it. I've never seen it. Okay, all right, make sure you see it. It's Joe Pesci, marissa Torme. It should win an Oscar if it hadn't. I think Marissa Torme was Tome, sorry, marissa Tome that Long Island accent came out Was up for an Oscar in that. I don't know if she won.
Speaker 2:Oh Well, I only know Joe Pesci, that's right. Where do you know Joe Pesci?
Speaker 1:from though.
Speaker 2:Man, you're putting me on the spot. Yeah, this was the purpose of our hike here. Was he in Bronx tail? No, because that's one of my favorite movies, honestly.
Speaker 1:So Bronx tail, I do not believe had Joe Pesci, it had Jazz Pimentary, it had Da Nero, obviously. Right, I don't think Joe Pesci was in that, though you might be thinking of Goodfellas. Goodfellas is huge.
Speaker 2:I love Casino, so, yeah, die hards, multiple of them. I'm pretty sure the fans are mad at me right now.
Speaker 1:No, nobody's mad, no one hates this is a love only Perfect.
Speaker 2:How cool was that? That was so cool dude, and honestly, I could even talk through that Like it wasn't really bothering me.
Speaker 1:Well it's going to be on the recording. So we're going to probably cut all that section out, gotcha, unless we're leaving it in because, as I said, I believe in technology and technology can be used to your advantage. Let's get back on our trail, all right. So we are hiking up to Hemlock Falls, because I think you'll really appreciate that there's a waterfall. Yeah, dude, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Welcome to.
Speaker 1:Jersey. So it's the Garden State. But the Garden State has a lot of beauty to it Nice, and being a resident now for quite a while I think eight years it's awesome to explore and it's not uncommon for people to have never ventured into their own backyard, really.
Speaker 2:I usually go on hikes in Portland, Maine.
Speaker 1:That's a much different hike and I would say there's a lot of beauty in that. That's bucket list material for me, all right. So let's get back to tips and tricks. What is the main reason why everybody seems to just kill their houseplant? And probably one of the reasons why people don't have houseplants is because it's something else you have to take care of Totally.
Speaker 2:And I actually am really transparent with customers about their lifestyle, like if they're always on the go, they either one shouldn't have a houseplant or two should just get a houseplant that only requires to be watered once a month. Ok, so that's one aspect of it. If you're always on the go, those are my options to you. Ok, do people laugh like I just did? When you're Totally OK, they're like amazed that I just said that. Yeah, because at the end of the day, I'm just trying to be transparent. I don't want you to kill a plant and waste your money. Yeah, you know, perfect. The other end of it is if, for me, I love caring for stuff, and if you're caring too much for a houseplant you're always home, you're always watering you have to look for a houseplant, for example, like a fern or a pilea, that always needs to be watered, ok. But as for a Montserrat deliciosa or a ZZ plant, which are really neat, they don't like to be watered all the time, ok, so, essentially, so you have to pick a plant and match it to a personality, much like a hike and a trail and a guest.
Speaker 1:Exactly OK, interesting. Do people ever get offended if you're like, listen, this plant's not for you, right, you're a little high maintenance and this plant doesn't like that?
Speaker 2:I've never experienced any setback from any customers because I think they all appreciate the honesty OK.
Speaker 1:Well, guess what you will mount, but it's going to happen, and how you deal with things head on in the right way, and explaining and pivoting is beneficial to you All, right. So what is the most common houseplant that you sell?
Speaker 2:In the Philodendron family you have your Montsterras, which is the most common one Sandsfruit, yeah. And then you have, like what I said before, the pilea, which is also called a friendship plant. Ok, best sellers in the shop, really easy houseplants and they're really pretty as they mature. So when they grow up they just look stunning inside your home. You know, if you buy a little, you don't really see the beauty in it. Maybe if you do like it when you buy it as a baby, then you'll notice it. Ok, when it gets big, it's big. Ok, and they're beautiful.
Speaker 1:Well, that's probably an understatement, especially because when something that you've been taken care of for as long as you have, like a houseplant, grows, I would hope you appreciate it 100%.
Speaker 2:Plants grow with you. Right, that's our slogan. Did you come up with that? I did, of course. Plants grow with you. It's a mural on the wall.
Speaker 1:I love it. Love it, all right. So let's talk about some business lessons. Cool, all right. What are the biggest lessons you've learned?
Speaker 2:I think the biggest lessons I've learned in business and this is a lesson that I learned recently and this honestly relates to it's just a reoccurring. It's just a reoccurring problem that I keep experiencing, but customers really love to push you around and for me, it just makes my life more difficult. Ok, and I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned is to create a brand that I want to see grow. Not for other people, because if people love my brand, then they'll resonate with that, but if I keep aligning myself with other opinions, then it's starting to become not my brand, it's starting to become someone else's Got it, which is very true.
Speaker 1:You want to stay on, brad, because we're all going to give you advice. Whether you like it or not, people are just going to give you their critique and their advice. And what you do with that. It's up to you to determine. If you've got the intuition to weed out the good from the bad and use it to your advantage, then great. If not ignore Yep. So it's interesting. You say customers push you around. How so?
Speaker 2:For example, we delivered this really expensive, huge plant, seven foot tall. It's called a bird-a-parid. Oh, I love birds of paradise, yep they're huge and beautiful.
Speaker 1:That's the. You know what? That's what California is great for Birds of paradise. There you go, california, there it is.
Speaker 2:They're everywhere. It's beautiful, I believe it's literally everywhere.
Speaker 1:They really are beautiful. Can't grow them here outside, at least in New Jersey?
Speaker 2:I don't want to go into detail because it's a little bit of a long story, but basically I brought the bird-a-parid ice with a nursery pot. He thought it was going to come with a ceramic black pot. Did he order it that way?
Speaker 1:No, he even pointed it out like is this going to come?
Speaker 2:with this pot. He looked at it straight on and I was like, yeah, it's a black nursery pot. Basically, you mean one of those plastic, exactly yeah, the grow pots. Okay, grow pots, I've delivered it same day too, and he was like, oh, I thought it was going to come with a black nursery, a black ceramic pot. Okay, I put my foot down and I was like, basically, this is what you ordered, man. What am I supposed to say to you? Okay, I could have gone above and beyond and just took it back.
Speaker 1:Okay, Sorry.
Speaker 2:I don't like heights.
Speaker 1:So this is a great area for you to traverse right now, especially slippery.
Speaker 2:Don't slip. So that's what that form was for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's part of that. If you hike, I leave. Sorry, if you fall, I leave. Now I'll help you. I was a Boy Scout, sort of Thanks Cub Scout. Whatever I was, you're really going to love this one.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks, this is great yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome, huh, I love it.
Speaker 2:Can't really talk about business right now. Nope, nope, are you?
Speaker 1:shaking yet Nope, all right. Yep, yep, all right. New fears. At least Do you know how do you conquer your fears. Go with Darren, get through them, do it All right. Fear snakes. I got to travel with me, you're bound to find one. Great. We had a guest almost step straight on the body of a Copperhead.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I had to pull her out of the way and that was, and you saw it, but she did. Yeah, I'm constantly looking at the ground. I've learned to look at the ground for my days in New York City. You never want to step in, dog shit. And that's how you tell a tourist from a resident. Wow, tourists are looking up, residents are avoiding obstacles.
Speaker 2:That's funny they're in the side, we'll call them street bombs, All right.
Speaker 1:So you piqued my interest a little bit with your interaction with the client. Now, I'm assuming for brevity you rushed through it but you didn't just put your foot down right, Even though you know we say the customer is always right. We know the customer is not always right. It is our jobs as a business professional to make the customer feel like they are right or bring them to the right conclusion or solution, but not to just say you're not right. Yeah, so when you say put your foot down, there must have been some more pressing there that made you say that. So was the customer. Combative, argumentative.
Speaker 2:He was more in a mix of confusion and combative, like he felt like.
Speaker 1:He felt like he wasn't getting the deal he signed up for. Exactly Okay. And you know what? You can't deny a customer for having those feelings, especially with the cost of this plant, I'm sure yeah.
Speaker 2:And I did state right after he said what he had to say say you pointed at the pot and kind of explained like what a nursery pot is and what a ceramic pot is. So what was your?
Speaker 1:solution, Because that's the most important part of making a customer feel like they're right that you came up with a solution.
Speaker 2:I don't think I had a solution for that. I thought I was just right at the time.
Speaker 1:I was just right at it, okay, so this is where, as a business therapist with lots of experience, I can see your youth In that situation. You know that you are right. You're 100% right. So the customer doesn't feel like you're right and that customer has a lot of power. They can never buy from you again if they feel wrong or slighted. That would be the best case scenario for you, because the worst case that customer takes to the internet Yep, every sale you make is a potential for more sales because of a referral. That experience you leave a client with is a lasting impression. And clients, when they feel like the perceived value and a minimum matches what they paid for, they're happy. They're happy to spread the word. Now, sometimes, when the perceived value is actually greater than what they paid for, they're even more inclined to spread the word. So in this case you might have had a misstep. You left the customer. The customer wasn't happy. What did the customer do? They accepted the plant. They accepted the plant. Did they buy that pot from you? No, okay, try this next time. This is going to happen again. In fact, these are sometimes the best interactions you can have, because when a client is heated, if you deescalate, that will be a lasting impression, kind of like failure will last with you, right? Yeah, here's the solution. Mister or missus, customer, this is the pot that it comes with. This is a standard pot. I realized there was a miscommunication. Would it work for you if I bring you this other pot that you wanted? Pointed out to him, I'll give it to you for my cost.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or a discount or anything. Start with a discount, I'll give you 20% off. Just to make sure he comes with a discount. Yes, Because you want that customer to now be a reference. And guess what you could do? You can turn to that customer and say once they're happy with the solution, by the way, would you be willing to leave me a review or give me a referral?
Speaker 2:Love it yeah.
Speaker 1:So what you did was you took a loss a little bit right, a margin hit right. You didn't lose money, but you broke even right. You lost opportunity cost, but you just bought yourself a referral Marketing, yeah Right. So that's where experience comes in.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:And that's what you should be focusing on is turning negatives into positives now, because this is the next evolution of your business.
Speaker 2:That's valuable.
Speaker 1:Both a little winded on, that last one A little bit right.
Speaker 2:That's why I couldn't talk. Even I get winded. I'm like whoa.
Speaker 1:You know, I've prided myself lately on being a good, active listener and I realized the main reason why it's because I don't get out of breath from not talking. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Correct. That's what happened in the first five minutes of the hike. I was just talking and I was just like, oh wow, I'm not breathing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's an art to this. It's take the step, take a breath, take a step, take deeper breaths. Yeah, all right. So any other challenging scenarios that made you have it? Take a pause and a pivot.
Speaker 2:No, I think the hardest part about being an entrepreneur or just a business person in general and this is a personal case for me Is that I started out so early and you may think that's like a good thing and I think it is a good thing. No, it's a great thing, Yep. But the other side of it is in your 20s you're just so mentally unstable, you know, and like when you take a hit, you take a hit.
Speaker 1:It hurts, it hurts. You're still learning how to get over bruises.
Speaker 2:Exactly Like I said, I just started grieving my dad and my grandpa. I'm still grieving over different situations where I feel like it's all just hitting me all at once this year and it's tough. There's days when I can't go to work because it's just so tough and there's text messages that I want to text back and I can't because, like, the anxiety fills up in me. So what are you doing about it? Meditation I've been doing a lot of meditation. Okay, I just started doing this three months ago. So, please, whoever in the audience is listening in, I'm not, I'm no expert, but I have been looking inward, trying to find out what's going on with me and how can I solve these issues that I have Correct. And when I looked inward, I looked at all the people that I've hurt, all the people that I've disconnected from and how I've hurt myself, and I've looked to see how I can like really figure it out All the problems, all the questions that I've had, all the answers that I've been trying to seek for Correct. I found that through literally stopping my brain and just staying still and thinking.
Speaker 1:You found peace by focusing on specific senses, exactly.
Speaker 2:I meditate in the forest. I do it, I try to do it every day, 6am for an hour straight and, like I said, I'm no pro, so I still have a few thoughts in my head, but there's days when I do find it peaceful and I find my answers there.
Speaker 1:So let's touch upon that, because I meditate too. We could all meditate in different ways. Meditation doesn't always have to mean that just sitting there, standing still, pausing to yourself. That's not what meditation has to be. Meditation is any moment that you can pause and focus on specific senses, reflect inward. Whether it's at your office chair, on the couch, it doesn't matter. Just take a moment, take a few minutes, just to reflect. It's soothing. Now you are in your 20s, a little young, little naive, like all of us. In our 20s, we thought we can conquer the world. We thought we knew everything until some older person said okay, I can't pump the brakes. Here's my advice Don't try to figure it out. You'll spend too much time trying to figure it out. Go through life. Enjoy the moments that are enjoyable, embrace the moments that are important. Suffer through the sad moments because they're meant to suffer through, and you'll come out much wiser and sound for the experience. Not everything needs a true meaning, not everything needs a true purpose. Sometimes life just happens. So embrace each one of those moments, the sad ones and the happy ones, and just keep pushing forward.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that was my biggest flaw, though I was never present and I would always try to figure out what's going to happen. If I do this, how will this affect me five years from now, or if I get a bad customer? It just made me angry. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, that happens to all of us that first bad review you want to pummel the guy until you realize sometimes people are just shitty and they like to write bad reviews because they're bad people. And then other times, sometimes the ones we get the most angry at are the ones that we created, when we know that that bad review is correct. Hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us. Discover more episodes at italkahikecom. Or to recommend an adventurous guest, apply to be a sponsor.
Speaker 2:discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us a line. All right, so what's?
Speaker 1:next Companies doing well. Where do you go from here? I hired this marketing company Smart.
Speaker 2:There you go, there you go. They have a lot of big names under their belt and they're really talented. They're really fun people Okay.
Speaker 1:Why'd you hire them? What made them stand out? Because we're going to go down a path here where we talk about selecting marketing companies, because my caution on marketing companies, just like the shoemaker's kids, has no shoes. Marketing companies are phenomenal at marketing their company, so we're going to talk about tricks and tips on how to make sure that they deliver for you once you hire them. So what made you select this company?
Speaker 2:I've always been looking for a marketing company that can boost our e-commerce side of the business, whether if it's Google ads, social ads. What did you?
Speaker 1:see in them versus their competitors.
Speaker 2:Well, to be honest, I wanted someone or a company that was here, and all the companies that I met well quote unquote, met. They were all online. They weren't around here. I couldn't find anyone talented enough that was around here.
Speaker 1:Okay. Digital brands Digital brands All right. So you're looking for local. Did you interview or select more than one company? Definitely Okay, so you did have the power of choice.
Speaker 2:I looked through Twitter, which is where a lot of these digital agencies are Okay, try to see if they would work and it felt like it was just a bunch of landing pages and I just know. I already know how that works. Right, I wanted to support an agency where who I knew? If anything, if I had a friend that was skilled and talented, I would just go to him, right. But I didn't know anybody. Okay, they ended up coming to a street fair not knowing that terrorists existed, and I talked to them about the whole brand and such. You know, with their brand having big names, I didn't think they would work with me as a small business. Okay, why is that To me?
Speaker 1:I was just Were. Their outward marketing said that you were too small for them.
Speaker 2:No, it's just that they described all the clients that they had and I was like, oh, I'm not there yet, got it, you know, got it.
Speaker 1:Okay, why I negotiated Good, always be negotiating. Yep, awesome. Now let's talk about tips and tricks. How do we keep our marketing company on point and performing? We make sure that they have deliverables, kpis, milestones, metrics. You, the client, have to ask them for those specifics. What key milestone metrics, kpis do you look at to determine if you are performing for this company or for me? You also need to have your own understanding of what you're looking for. Do you want 500 more followers and by what timeline? You have to weigh the cost, and if you're not doing that, you're just hiring a marketing company, which some people do. Unfortunately, you are letting the marketing company have too much control. Yep, right, they're not employees of yours, they're vendors. They don't have the same fear factor as an employee. But if we manage employees to goals, kpis, metrics, why are we not managing our vendors? So that's something that you really should focus on and make sure that they're delivering. Gotcha, so we have regular meetings and keep them quick, but let's make sure that they're delivering upon your expectations. Where do you want to be next year, this time with the business? I want to make sure that we win online before opening up another store Is a desire to open up more stores Totally, and how do you select your locations?
Speaker 2:M'Touchin, which is where I'm at, the very active downtown, very artsy downtown, lots of community, very, very friendly, and I would love to have a town where I have the same attributes. Some towns don't have that.
Speaker 1:Are you looking at numbers, foot density, traffic patterns, competitive landscape, demographics in the town, any of that? I'm throwing a lot of terms out.
Speaker 2:I think, out of all those terms that you just said, I'm looking for terms that are more demographics and I'm also looking for foot traffic.
Speaker 1:What does the ideal customer look like? Ideal? Customer yeah, we'll use a term in your gen. What's their avatar?
Speaker 2:I want customers that listen to pods Awesome. That have instas Great.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:Totes you good On God, oh man, oh, but yeah, my demographic is basically people or just couples or whoever that are just starting out their lives in terms of buying a home or moving out into their own space. People who are building out their own space, whether if they want to bring in furniture or house plants. I want to help them fill their space up with that.
Speaker 1:So how do you find those types of clients? Is it all outbound marketing?
Speaker 2:Yes, so basically, it's a lot of social media marketing, a lot of content marketing. We do a lot of content where we do show off spaces like, for example, lofts or homes filled with plants. We do a lot of community outreach where we do free workshops for kids Love it. Kids come in, the parents come in. They create a connection, of course, with the kid, but, most importantly, with the parent.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's so important. It's an activity. Parents, myself included, love to do activities with kids that are unique. Sorry, my kids, I don't want to sound like a creep Love to do activities with my children the ones that I raise because it's fun. Right, you want something unique and memorable. It's crazy about this alpha generation that my kids are in. They have so many memorable moments. I often contemplate how they're going to remember all of the memorable moments. So I remember five things. We went to Disney, all right, great, my kids have gone to Disney 20 times, so hopefully they retain a lot of this. But let's be honest, most of these memorable moments are from me, right? So let's pivot. Let's go for life lessons here. Cool, so you still have some healing to do with the passing of your father and grandfather. You're clearly helping your mom through it. You're the patriarch of the family. Do you feel a some mounting weight on your shoulders because of that? Yes, how?
Speaker 2:do you intend to?
Speaker 1:deal with that? How do you intend to deal with that?
Speaker 2:I think for now, I want to make sure I'm in the right place personally before I could start helping more and doing more. Okay, I feel like, since I just started grieving and started to get out of a really bad spot, at the moment I can't help, yeah, but I want to really bad.
Speaker 1:Help yourself first. It's the reason why the message on a plane and that safety announcement is put your mask on before your kids, because you got to get yourself stable before you can help others.
Speaker 2:Yep, and you know I'm not financially stable to the point where I can help my whole family yet Okay, nor myself. You know that comes in time. I really want to help and that's definitely the goal.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I don't really have an intention to, you know, buy mansions or whatever, like, have like all these vast dreams, right, that's not even a goal. All I want to do is just help my family because of what we went through. Yeah, what we went through was traumatizing and a lot of people went through that too. But I feel like with my family it was a different story and I feel like all of these things as a kid, you know, as a kid you want nice cars, you want millions of dollars. That flew out the window after what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, because you had life hit you in the face.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You realize that that nice car is cool, but it doesn't replace family, right, it doesn't replace human beings and emotions and feelings, but you can still have that vision board. You should Totally. That vision board is the finish line, in a way. Right, it's the thing you're racing towards Exactly. You have to be able to picture that, but you also have to put it in perspective and get through life as well. When it comes to the business. You know, I always love the question on an interview where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? That's bullshit.
Speaker 2:I actually hate that question. Everyone does.
Speaker 1:Right, it was the old style of interviewing and that's how you know you're in a bad interview. Someone asked you that We've never interviewed before, where that's all they do. Right, it's a silly question. I hope I'm alive in 10 years, totally Right.
Speaker 2:That's the answer. I feel like every year I pivot, you know, and sometimes five years, five years before, five years ago, I didn't really expect him to be in this situation, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no one expects certain situations to happen unless you prepare yourself for the fact that life will happen. It's the advice I gave you before. Life will happen. Don't try to overthink it. Right, feel the emotions you feel, don't deny them. Move forward from them. Learn from them, right, right, that's, you're not going to stop it. You're not Superman. So I think that you should keep focusing on the mission at hand, developing yourself. As you said, in your 20s you got a lot of developing. You don't really start getting a grasp until much later. Right, I will say I don't even have a grasp. There are days where I wake up and I just contemplate what the hell is, what's the meaning, what's the purpose here, why, right? Then I see my irrational little children, these little beings that are making these pointed arguments. Right, and in my mind, you're so naive you don't know yet, but sometimes you just have to roll with it, yeah, so enjoy these moments, as difficult as they are.
Speaker 2:If you were to ask me last year how life was, life was great. I was like, and personally I was in a happy relationship. I didn't feel the grief from my dad and grandpa Okay, you had distractions, I had distractions, okay. And now I'm really feeling it now, yeah, and it's like such a shitty feeling, but at the end of the day, I'm living.
Speaker 1:You are living and that is important, so do you believe that you're depressed?
Speaker 2:I think I do Okay and this is-. No, I did see an actual therapist for a brief moment. Okay, good. To be honest, the therapist didn't work for me. Okay, that's fine. I don't think it was a him problem, it was me. Okay, but I did find a lot of healing through meditation, okay, you know, therapy doesn't have to be with a person.
Speaker 1:Therapy is anything that gets you to stop being you for a moment. Right, worrying about the worries Take you away to a better place, and it could be that meditation that you spoke of. Therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists there's merit to that. What's the most important value? They're listening to you. They get you to talk. Right. By the way, we are not making good time. We're not no Sick, you are slow. Let's go faster. 20 years old and this 43-year-old- 26.
Speaker 2:Case you, thank you. You know what I love about this hike Looking at all the moss that's growing on these boulders and rocks. Why is that we sell preserved moss frames?
Speaker 1:Peep moss Nope, it's called bun moss actually it should be called peep moss, taking opportunity when it's given to you. I hope we're not getting any more rain. I got dark here. I was going to do the little trail exploration with you until I realized there's another trail right up here. There goes the fun. It's called the path of least resistance, so we don't break your ankles, your very weak ankle, your nimble 26-year-old ankles.
Speaker 2:I'll remember that for the next haircut Wow.
Speaker 1:Really good point there.
Speaker 2:I'm still your barber, not your striker, not anymore.
Speaker 1:You got jokes. All right, let's go. When we get to this summit, you're going to be a better person. In what way you just are I got nothing. No, you're going to have a sense of accomplishment 100%.
Speaker 2:Everything you do that challenges you. I remember hiking in Hawaii.
Speaker 1:Don't compare these two please.
Speaker 2:It is a sense of accomplishment when you reach the peak or something, or reach a waterfall.
Speaker 1:Wait till you see this waterfall, then I want you to compare that to what you saw in Hawaii.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is sick. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:This is breathtaking Good climb.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, it's over there. You ever had a hiker that bothered you during the pod? You Me.
Speaker 1:Set yourself up there. No, I'm selective because I can be.
Speaker 2:I'm the one who's making the decision if we're going to the high, not your guess, but I'm saying someone hiking Someone that's like another person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course. Yeah, there are some special people in this world. Number one way to piss me off or any hiker on the trail litter yeah, yup, yeah, because then I got to pick it up for you. It's horrible, it's not cool. That's the number one way to really get under my skin. But now they're allowed people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, typically people with drones. Really, oh dude.
Speaker 1:Now notice, I only use it when I'm not around people. Yeah, that's very respectful, but no, for the most part, if you're willing to hike on a trail, then you're willing to be responsible for that hike. So you're willing to just be kind and friendly and what you see is most people are kind and friendly.
Speaker 2:What app are you using right now?
Speaker 1:They haven't sponsored me, so, oh, that's how I show you.
Speaker 2:Well, if you guys are listening, I hope you sponsor Darren's podcast. It's a pod, a pod with all the kids say that nowadays, yeah, and all the kids listen Because Tara's plant shop is going to repost this pod episode. It's going to get thousands of views.
Speaker 1:That's right. Put that marketing team to the test. Right. Where are we going? We're above it. There's another trail, there you go. This is a riverbed but not technically a trail, so we could use it. The falls is right there. I'm just debating do we want the aerial view, or yeah, let's do this? We could always walk down. That's sick. Slight exaggeration on Hawaii, but you know.
Speaker 2:But it's still beautiful. Holy shit, am I allowed to curse on a pod?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Of course you are. It's your story, Dude. This is amazing.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go a little closer.
Speaker 2:Here you are, there we go. This is awesome Waterfall, love it.
Speaker 1:Just be careful you don't slip. I don't want to lose you today. I was slipped Selfishly. My hair needs to be cut every three to four weeks. All right, ready, yep, there's your magnificent waterfall.
Speaker 2:That's my waterfall.
Speaker 1:Look at you navigating a path across this very treacherous stream. See that, all right, how many came? We saw we conquered. Hell yeah, you had Jersey. Yeah, jersey. You ready to go back home?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You feel like you've accomplished something I did.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Darren.
Speaker 1:You're welcome.
Speaker 2:Can't we eat another croissant?
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, pete Dario, for your amazing story. I challenge you to keep going, because your intuition is pretty spot on. Keep working on the things you're not great at, keep improving, keep setting and resetting goals, and the world's going to know about you.
Speaker 2:That's the goal.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me Next time on. I Took a Hike. We meander with Garrett Vogel, on-air producer for the Elvis Turan show, and the voice behind PhoneTaps. Till next time, I'm Darren Mass. Thanks for listening.
