091 – Barrel Aged Maple Syrup Attracts the Stars with Tim Burton of Burton’s Maplewood Farm

Tim Burton of Burton's Maplewood Farm

Tim & Angie Burton are the owners of Burton’s Maplewood Farm located on 28 acres in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana.

They have been producing 100% Pure and Barrel aged maple syrup on their farm for 8 years.

Most of their bulk syrup is featured on menu’s in Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco & Nashville.

Their Barrel Aged Maple Syrups are also offered online and at many Farmers Markets throughout the U.S.

The Burton’s Maplewood Farm Story

Identifying a potential new career. [2:40]

Could this actually work on Tim’s farm? [6:55]

A niche in a niche product. [10:12]

Investigating how to produce barrel aged syrup. [11:26]

Identifying and coining “fire infusion” [14:13]

Oprah’s Farewell Breakfast – guess who Tim and Angie sat with! [19:24]

Candle Flickering Moments

Transitioning from one business to another during a difficult ecomonic time. [22:40]

Putting in hard drive time commuting 10 hours each day for meetings and markets. [23:19]

A Few Whiskey Biz Facts

A whiskey barrel lesson. [12:23]

The Devil’s Cut. [15:45]

Business Building Insights

Identifying whether there is a market for your product. [7:37]

Growth and visibility came with Signature Barrels [17:01]

Farmer’s Market Goals and Plan. [24:43]

Analyzing if a market has performed. [29:22]

Success Trait

Tenacity and adaptability [30:44]

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

Square – accept credit cards anywhere.

Recommended Reading and Listening

Free-Audiobook-Button

Made in America by Sam Walton

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz on wrapped episode 91.

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The bottom line was I wanted to make maple syrup sexier.

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Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped,

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and now it's time to light it.

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Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific

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insights and advice to develop and grow your business.

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And now here's your host Sue Mona height.

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Hi there.

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It's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

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Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

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just getting started,

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you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

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business today.

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I have joining us Tim Burton of Burton's maple wood farm,

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Tim and Angie Burton are the owners of Burton's Maplewood farm

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located on 28 acres in the rolling Hills of Southern Indiana.

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They've been producing 100% pure and barrel aged maple syrup on

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their farm for eight years.

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Most of their bulk syrup is featured on menus in Chicago,

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Los Angeles,

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Las Vegas,

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San Francisco,

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and Nashville.

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Their barrel aged maple syrup are also offered online and at

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many farmer's markets throughout the us.

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And that happens to be where I met Tim a couple

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of weekends ago.

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I tried his syrup and was loving it.

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So I'm like,

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we've got to get him on the show.

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So welcome Tim.

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Well, it's great to be with you today.

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I'm thrilled to have you.

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And as our listeners know,

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we like to start off by having you describe a motivational

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candle. It gives a little bit of a different feel into

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who you are.

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So if you were to describe your ideal motivational candle,

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what color would it be and what would be the quote

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on your candle?

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Oh, well,

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you know,

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this is the first time I've ever been asked about a

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motivational candle.

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So I would say,

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well, leave it to me.

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I'm going to go with copper.

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And the reason that I'm going with copper is,

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you know,

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we use wax,

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we dip all of our bottles in wax and we have

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a different,

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a couple of different colors,

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but the barrel aged maple syrup is a copper wax.

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And if I were to have a motivational quote or something

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that I like to refer back to,

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whenever there's any kind of a challenge is adversity does not

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build character.

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It reveals it.

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So I would say that would be the quote that I

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would have on that candle,

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Right? Like that,

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that could give us some thought for sure.

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So Tim,

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I know nothing about your story other than the little bit

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that I read at the show.

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And again,

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as I'd mentioned earlier,

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tasted your product.

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How did you get started in the cereal?

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Well, Angie,

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my wife and I owned a systems integration business,

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a technology company,

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and one of our Hewlett Packard technicians,

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Joe Evans.

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He had asked if he can knock off a little early,

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it was in February.

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So my management practices as well have always been not to

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manage with a bullwhip,

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but to make sure that everybody is accountable for themselves.

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And as long as the customers were taken care of,

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I was fine with any time of the day that you

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took off.

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And so Joe had asked if he could take off.

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And I said,

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sure. So one day turned into two days,

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turned into three days.

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And on that third day,

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I said to Joe,

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I said,

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you know,

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Joe, it's none of my business.

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What are you doing?

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And he said,

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I'm having a blast.

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I'm going to the Miller's farm.

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And I helped him collect SAP.

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And I said,

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as in maple SAP and he said,

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yeah, why don't you come along?

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So I said,

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you know what,

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I'll take you up on that.

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So I went to the Miller's maple farm.

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They gave me two,

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five gallon buckets and said,

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follow these guys.

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And it was almost like a scene out of a movie.

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I'm walking across a hayfield heading towards the woods and all

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at once,

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I see all around me,

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these four wheelers and trucks with small tanks in the back

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of the bed of the trucks and things like that converging

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going to the same area that I'm going to,

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we would all take these five gallon buckets and empty the

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SAP bags that were hanging on the trees into the five

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gallon buckets.

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Then we transfer that over to the tanks and then the

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small trucks and the four wheelers will then transport all the

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SAP from the maple trees back to the sugar house or

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the maple house.

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And so we did that and we wrapped up and then

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we all met back at the sugar house.

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It was very surreal because I kind of just stepped back

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and I was watching the whole group of people.

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And over one corner,

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there were a group of gals that were talking about different

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things. I know they were talking about stitching and maybe even

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some local gossip.

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And, and then,

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you know,

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here's, here's the group of guys,

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you know,

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cracking jokes and that type of thing.

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Then you've got another group of people hovering over the evaporator,

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which is used to reduce the SAP into maple syrup.

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And I was just enamored by the whole process because this

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is something that has been happening for generations.

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We're friends,

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families, and neighbors all come together to help in something that's

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very labor intense.

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As my late Irish grandmother would say,

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it takes many hands to make light work.

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So all these friends,

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families and neighbors would come together and then they would also

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benefit by getting some of the maple syrup.

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Well, this happened in many aspects of farming,

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whether you're processing cattle or pork,

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or what have you,

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people, friends,

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families, and neighbors,

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they all came together.

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Then they divided the spoils of their efforts.

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And so I was just enamored by this whole process.

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And that's kind of what got things started.

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So a couple of questions for you.

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So we're the Millers then doing this,

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just to provide product to everybody who helped or did they

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have a business going around the syrup as well?

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Not only for themselves in their friends and family,

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but they had a small business for themselves.

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The Miller family consists of,

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I think there's eight children,

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big, big family,

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they're adults now,

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and now they have their kids.

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And so there's literally,

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I call it the Miller army,

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the Miller maple army.

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And they all come together every year.

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And it's such a great time to be at their maple

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house because there's some really interesting personalities.

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And I think it's more of a social gathering and there

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are so many people that just love to come out and

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hang out at the Miller farm and it's grown,

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it's grown a lot and I'm really pleased to be able

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to say that I've been a part of their growth as

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well. It sounds like such a Norman Rockwell moment,

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actually. So quick question,

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just to close up a little bit about how you identified

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that this was something that you were interested in,

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you did this for one day and a lot of things

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can be really fun for one day,

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but when you actually start doing it regularly,

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it takes on its own shape.

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If you will,

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after that first day,

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did you go back a couple of times and really confirm

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to yourself that this is something that you may be interested

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in taking on?

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I did.

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This was not just one trip.

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I mean,

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I was over there for the season,

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which is a short period of time.

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It's only six weeks,

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but I did go over and make several visits.

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And then basically came back to our farm where we live

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and I started counting maple trees and then realized how many

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maple trees we have on our farm.

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And then it started to kick around the idea of gathering

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the SAP from our farm.

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And the first year that we gathered SAP,

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we didn't reduce it.

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We didn't turn it into maple syrup.

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We sold it because we had to build the maple house

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and get an evaporator and so on and so forth.

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So, and my background is sales and marketing.

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And so I looked at this industry.

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That was one of the other things that the numbered me

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about the whole process is I did not see on the

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market where there was anyone that was focusing on like a

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boutique high-end maple syrup,

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80% of the entire global production of maple syrup comes out

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of Canada.

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And the other 20% comes out of the United States.

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There's only 15 States in the United States that produce maple

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syrup. So I did some marketing research to see if there

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were many maple syrup producers here in the United States that

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were actually going in and introducing themselves to the chefs,

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especially in such a food city like Chicago,

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and we're only five hours South of Chicago.

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So it amazed me that there was not a maple syrup

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producer that was actually attending the farmer's markets in Chicago.

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I was,

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I was absolutely blown away by that most maple syrup producers,

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they're farmers,

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and they want to be on their farm and they want

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to produce their crops.

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And that kind of thing,

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going to the big city is not typically the highest on

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their priority list,

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where for myself,

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I don't shy away from that.

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You know,

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I'm happy to go in and introduce myself and that kind

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of thing.

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So that's what I looked at as a huge opportunity for

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us to go to a major market like Chicago and introduce

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our products.

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This is a really important point,

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Tim, because there's two things I want to say about this

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is first of all,

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you're a skill that you already had when you were working

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with a tech company,

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right? Which is sales and marketing and analyzing the opportunity for

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the product in the market.

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Just as you were saying,

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how much is there available?

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What are people doing?

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Where could your niche be?

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Which of course is local.

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Since there weren't a lot of us companies doing this and

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then also going into some of the major foodie markets,

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if you will,

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across the country,

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because we read that list in the beginning and it's a

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lot of the real fancy foodie markets.

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Now there's another thing that you do with the product that

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I think is really interesting.

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But before I get there,

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I want to also point out one other thing,

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gift biz listeners,

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specifically, if you are now working a nine to five and

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you also are building up a product on the side,

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don't think that the skills that you're doing during your day

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can't transfer over,

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that could be a huge benefit and asset for you.

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As you apply it to a product that you are creating

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for yourself.

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Now, Tim,

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when I met you,

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you were specifically sampling your whiskey flavored product at the show.

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At least that's the platter that I gravitated to the whole.

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Why, how did that come about?

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Because that's clearly a niche within a niche.

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Yeah. You know,

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it's really interesting.

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Again, going to Chicago,

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it did expose me to the foodie world.

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And so I'm dealing with a lot of dynamic chefs like

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Stephanie eyes are Rick Bayless,

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Charlie Trotter,

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art Smith,

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Paul Conn.

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I was able to see what these chefs were doing in

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the kitchen and how they were able to manipulate food that

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we're all familiar with,

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but they were able to take it to that next level.

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And it got me thinking,

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how can I take maple syrup to that next level?

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Someone that had asked me what made me think about barrel

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aging, maple syrup?

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And I thought,

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you know,

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they just asked me and I,

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I didn't have very much time.

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I have to think about it.

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But the bottom line was I wanted to make maple syrup

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sexier. I wanted to take it to that next level.

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That would make it different.

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And so,

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like you say a niche within a niche.

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And so I talked to my friend,

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Paul Kahn,

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and he's a chef owner of one-off hospitality in Chicago and

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publican and Blackbird restaurants.

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And I said something to Paul about it.

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I said,

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what do you think about the idea of me barrel aging,

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my maple syrups to pick up maybe the notes from the

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barrel. And he said,

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God, I think that's a great idea.

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And so the first thing I did is I reached out

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to another friend of mine.

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Who's a mixologist Adam Seger.

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And I asked Adam if he knew of any small batch

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rum distillers here in the United States.

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And he said,

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do you have a pen and a piece of paper?

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He said,

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call a Phil Pritchard,

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Pritchard distillery out of Kelso,

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Tennessee, and tell him what you're looking for.

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And lo and behold,

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Phil was game.

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And I drove from Indiana through Kentucky,

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down to Tennessee and picked up a truckload of rum barrels,

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brought it back to the farm.

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And that's how we started barrel aging or syrups.

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I know only a little bit about this industry from my

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husband. I told you in the pre-interview when I was talking

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to him about the fact that I was going to be

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chatting with you.

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And it's my understanding that these barrels can only be used

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once. So after they've been used for rom or whiskey,

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that's all they can do.

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They have to get new barrels for the next batch.

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So it seems to me there's quite a supply then of

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barrels for you,

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is that correct?

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Well, to the contrary,

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actually your husband's correct.

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The bourbon barrels can only be used for bourbon one time,

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but there's a lot of breweries throughout the United States that

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are aging,

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their beers in these barrels now.

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And so there's a huge demand for these used barrels.

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So the availability is not quite as great as you might

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think it is now many of the bourbon barrels that are

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available after they've been the bourbon's been aged a lot of

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them, if they're not going to breweries,

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they're being shipped over to Scotland.

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And that's what they put scotch in is used bourbon barrels.

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Oh, no kidding.

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Yeah. Yep.

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Really interesting.

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So our barrels are the best quality.

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It sounds like the bourbon barrels yeah.

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In the United States.

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Yeah. The bourbon girls are as well.

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And there's also a Renaissance that's happening right now where just

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like in the brewing industry,

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you had all these micro breweries going back 20 years ago

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or so.

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And then there was just this huge boom.

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And so the same exact things happening with the distilleries,

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a lot of States are making it more feasible for someone

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to get their distilling license.

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And so there's distilleries that are just coming up throughout the

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United States and one false preconception that I think that a

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lot of people have is they feel that the only place

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that bourbon can be made is in Kentucky.

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And that's not true.

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You can make bourbon throughout the United States.

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Now you're not allowed to label something bourbon if it's made

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out of the outside of the United States,

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but you can make bourbon throughout the United States.

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And so there's a lot of small batch bourbon distillers that

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are popping up all throughout the United States.

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Oh, very interesting.

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Let's continue on a little bit with the product development.

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So you get these barrels,

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you bring them back and had you already tested,

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or were you a little bit gambling that this truckload of

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barrels that you now have are going to work?

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You know,

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we were one of the first doing this and so we

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didn't know what kind of results we would get.

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So initially we were aging,

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our maple syrup in various barrels for six months and we

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were getting some nice flavor notes off of those barrels,

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but accidentally I was doing some housekeeping in the maple house

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and there was a 65 gallon cask that probably had about

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30 gallons of maple syrup in it.

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And it was a cask that had Apple Jack Brandy in

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it. And it was over by the fireplace that I built

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in the maple house sitting really close to it.

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And I thought it was an empty barrel.

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So when I went to move it,

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it was real heavy and I opened it up and we

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tasted, and it had been in there for about a year

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over by the fireplace.

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It's a Rumford fireplace,

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largest Rumford fireplace in North America.

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And so we had had a lot of fires going,

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a lot of intense heat.

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And the flavor that,

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that Apple Jack Brandy produced was three or four times more

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flavorful than the other barrels that we had aged maple syrup

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in for six months.

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So that told me right there that there's something going on

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between that fire and the barrel.

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So we coined it fire infusion,

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and we started to put all of our barrels next to

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the fireplace.

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And so inside of these barrels,

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whether it doesn't matter what it is,

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whether it's rum,

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bourbon, Brandy,

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whatever it is there is what's called the devil's cut.

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And the devil's cut is the liquor that's trapped in the

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wood of the barrel.

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And a distiller will tell you,

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depending on what size the cask is,

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but a 55 gallon cask,

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a distiller will tell you that they estimate that they lose

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between four to five gallons of the liquor just to the

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barrel itself.

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So after you empty the barrel,

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they're still four to five gallons.

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It's trapped in the walls of the barrel in the staves.

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And so what we figured out was that by heating the

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outside of the barrel,

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it was chasing the devils,

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cut into the syrup.

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And that's what gave it that intense flavor.

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Wow. Who would have known,

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yeah. It was like an accident that,

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that happened and it's producing because give biz listeners,

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you haven't tasted this,

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but I have,

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and it you're right.

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It's not just like a little undertone,

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but it's not overpowering either.

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It's not too much,

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but you certainly can taste it.

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It's absolutely delicious.

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As of course I've already said,

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but so interesting.

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Thank you for sharing the story about how the products developed

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and then from there,

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of course you tested probably how long you should actually keep

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it there to get exactly the flavor you're looking for,

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et cetera,

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series of testing before you finalized on exactly what your product

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would be,

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the infused product.

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Let me see.

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That's correct.

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That's correct.

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And then once we discovered how to do this,

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I started reaching out to various chefs and restaurants to see

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if there would be a market for signature barrels.

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So we've had some great success.

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I mean,

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with that,

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we've, we've done a signature barrels for serve Richard Branson with

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Virgin, as a matter of fact,

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virgins, very first American hotel is in Chicago and we did

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a bourbon.

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Actually, we aged it for about three years in a bourbon

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barrel. And then we also had Madagascar vanilla beans that we

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infused in it as well.

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And so that was exclusively bottled for Virgin hotels in Chicago.

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And then we've done several other signature barrels around the country

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for different chefs and that kind of thing.

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So that also gets you really into a niche,

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a specific as you can customize it for of course,

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larger sales,

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larger volume sales,

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but it allows them also then to be presenting things that

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are unique to them when you get into the chefs.

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Yes. So yeah,

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you're exactly right.

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I mean,

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local has been kind of a hot button for the last

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four or five years.

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So being able to do something like this,

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especially when it's like a local distiller,

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for example,

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Breckenridge distillery in Breckenridge,

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Colorado, we've done some signature barrels for the four seasons in

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Vail, Colorado using a Breckenridge bourbon,

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a local distillers barrel.

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So we've done that.

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We've also done at Breckenridge,

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a bourbon barrel for the little Nell in Nat in pardon

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me in Aspen,

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Colorado. And so that's kind of a cool local spin to

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it as well.

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And, and the chefs really liked that Now is this all

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because you're reaching out to them or are they hearing about

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you? And now are you getting inbound calls for the signature

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barrels? Yeah,

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we made the initial contact,

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but now it's a pretty small world.

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And now we're starting to get calls from chefs.

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I had chef James Samson from the Marco Island Marriott reached

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out to me and he wanted to do a signature barrel

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for the Marco Island Marriott.

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And I've had a Sherry yard in California.

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Sherry was a Wolfgang puck's pastry chef for many,

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many years.

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And so through word of mouth,

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Sherry reached out to me and we're collaborating on barrel aged

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maple syrup for her new concept in Culver city,

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California. Well,

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that's exciting.

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Cause you're getting to know a lot of these big name

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people. It is neat because I'll give you like one example,

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chef art Smith,

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several years ago,

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he had heard about our barrel aged maple syrup and he

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was hosting Oprah Winfrey's farewell,

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brunch at his restaurant table 52.

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So chef art had asked if I would be interested in

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providing some of our rum barrel aged maple syrup for that

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event. And so we were happy to do that.

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And when we dropped it off,

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chef had asked us to stick around for the brunch and

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we politely declined just because we had the long drive coming

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back. I know a lot of people would say,

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well, you're crazy.

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Why didn't you stay?

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Well, we ended up staying.

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We ended up sitting next to a couple that chef art

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introduced us to and all we knew it was Joe and

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Cynthia German auto that's the name.

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And so we talked with them,

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they had a lot of questions about our farm and that

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kind of thing.

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And then they were the ones that insisted that we stay

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and sit with them during brunch.

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So we did that as we're being served,

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chicken and waffles,

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we're getting to know one another.

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And I said,

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well, now you guys know why we're here.

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And we supply chef with our maple syrup and we know,

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you know,

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chef, but how do you,

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how do you guys know Oprah?

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And Cynthia said,

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well, our daughter has been on her show and that just

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kind of went over my head.

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And I said,

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so is she a producer?

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You say she's been on your sh her show.

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Is she a producer?

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And she said,

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no, she's actually been a guest a couple of times.

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And I said,

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well, then that begs the question,

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who is your daughter and Joe in kind of a sheepish.

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He said,

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well, you know,

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we don't go around telling a lot of people this,

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but our daughter's lady Gaga,

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waffles. I almost come out of my mouth.

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And I said,

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your daughter is lady Gaga.

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And Joan,

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Cynthia said,

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yeah. And so you never know,

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you never know.

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We're just maple syrup producers,

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you know,

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and here we are at the table with Joe and Cynthia,

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German Otto,

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very nice people,

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by the way.

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That's what took me by surprise more than anything,

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not just because they're lady Gaga is mom and dad,

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but they were just so down to earth.

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So very,

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very nice and genuine.

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I don't know why I wouldn't have expected that,

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but I just,

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they were just super folks hour or so later Oprah came

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over and she sat at our table and we had brunch

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with her.

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So that was kind of surreal.

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Yeah. So this has opened into,

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and given you opportunities to see different sides of the world,

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if you will,

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celebrity world and restaurant,

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world, and all of that,

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that you might not have ever been exposed to before.

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So that's kind of an added plus for today That it's

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just one of those things that you just kind of laugh

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about it from the standpoint of you're going,

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like we make maple syrup,

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we would never have imagined dealing with all the great restaurants

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and the people and that kind of thing.

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And one of our other customers in Chicago is Michael Jordan

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steakhouse. Well,

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they serve our maple syrup there.

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Apparently Mr.

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Jordan likes the syrup enough that this is the second year

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that he's ordered 48 of R B grade bottles to put

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in a gift basket that he gives to all the NBA

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owners and coaches.

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So that's kind of a cool,

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All right.

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So all these names,

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all this exciting stuff,

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like I want to be you right now,

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what is there that might have been challenging along the way,

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something that,

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you know,

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cause this all sounds so great,

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but there had to be some stumbling blocks.

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Can you bring us to some time that was more of

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a challenge and what you did to overcome the situation Started

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about eight years ago,

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if your listeners recall,

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I mean the economy,

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it's, it's a challenge today still,

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but the economy really took a dive and the systems integration

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business that we were in,

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it struggled as well.

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And so I was looking to shift my attention into something

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else other than the systems integration business.

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And so that was quite challenging making that transition because we

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still had to devote our time to the systems integration business,

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but at the same time,

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trying to build this other business and knowing that Chicago was

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the market that we really wanted to penetrate and get into.

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There were many times where Angie and I were driving up

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to Chicago on a Wednesday and then coming home Wednesday evening,

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that was 10 hours on the road each day because we

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didn't have the time to really stay in Chicago during that

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period of time.

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So it was quite grueling and we did that for several

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months and then we found somebody in Chicago that could run

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the farmer's market for us on Wednesday.

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So we were still going up for a few years,

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every Saturday during the summer season.

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And so that was quite challenging,

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quite, quite challenging from a physical standpoint,

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it was quite challenging.

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And from a mental standpoint,

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you know?

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Sure. And those were the days when you were overlapping the

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businesses, you were winding down,

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one of them and ramping up the other one,

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right? That's exactly right.

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And then ultimately the maple syrup business,

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but we got our numbers high enough that we could do

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it full time,

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you know,

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focusing on the Chicago market and then using Chicago as a

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springboard, we consider Chicago our home market,

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even though we're five hours South of Chicago,

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Right. Because it's the largest market close to you.

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Right. So let's talk about farmer's markets and trade shows.

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Are you still on that intensive schedule every week in the

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summer? And I saw you what,

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in December at a show.

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So are you still doing that as a primary way to

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get your product out and expose to the general consumer?

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Yeah, we are a matter of fact,

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we're ramping things up this year.

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We focused on 14,

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weekly summer farmer's markets in Colorado,

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Utah, Wyoming.

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Our goal was to engage local people,

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to run these markets for us while the farm supported these

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markets with getting inventory shipped out on a regular basis.

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And it worked out really well.

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I mean,

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we expected and anticipated that there would be some challenges,

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personnel, challenges,

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things like that.

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But lo and behold,

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it was not quite as challenging as we thought it would

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be in terms of having people involved and not running into

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as many personnel issues and,

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and that type of thing.

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And so people have really expressed that they love doing it.

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They love getting the product out there,

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letting people sample it because of the reaction that people have,

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because it's such a unique one of a kind product.

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And so we're going to take it to another level and

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we're going to try to do 30 to 40 weekly markets

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in the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2017.

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Oh wow.

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And so you're right.

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You're absolutely right when you start adding on staff and not

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only staff,

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you're now adding on distance,

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you know,

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and I know they're not staffed like they're working with you

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right on site,

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but there are people that are representing your brand.

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So, and now you're not even there when they're representing your

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brand, what direction do you give them?

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So that they're doing exactly at the shows,

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what you're expecting them to be doing clearly sampling,

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which we all know is so important to your process.

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Right? And brand recognition is a very important part of our

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scope of the business.

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If you go to downtown salt Lake city farmer's market and

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you see our stand,

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and then you go up to park city,

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Utah, and you see our stand,

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or you go to Jackson hole Wyoming,

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or you go to Vale,

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Colorado, each stand is going to look identical.

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The focus that we've shifted to is also my image,

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the image of Tim Burton,

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a maple syrup producer.

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And so every one of these farmer's markets has the image

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of myself on a banner as well.

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Because ultimately what we'd like to do is have,

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I would like to go to each one of these markets

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and talk to people about what we do and how we

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do it and making the maple syrup and that kind of

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thing. They're kind of like,

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you know,

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meet the maple producer type of thing.

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So the branding is a very,

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very important part of it for us.

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So you've got the branding,

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you got sampling.

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What else do you feel is necessary when you're doing a

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show like that?

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One of the things that we do,

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we call everybody that works.

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These small pockets,

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we call them this V I F very important farmhands.

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And so we want everybody to come to the farmer's markets

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or events with their plaid shirts on and that kind of

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thing and give it that kind of that farm ish feeling.

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We really try to do a good job in picking the

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right people that are going to be energetic.

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They're going to be outgoing.

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They're going to be asking people,

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would you like to try our bourbon barrel aged maple syrup?

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Because a lot of times,

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if you say to somebody,

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would you like to try some maple syrup?

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Oh, no,

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thanks. You know,

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or it's not as,

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quite as intriguing,

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but when you say,

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would you like to try our bourbon barrel aged maple syrup

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that typically stops people in their tracks and they'll go,

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what? I've never heard of bourbon barrel aged maple syrup.

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And then if you can get a sample in their hands

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and then they taste it,

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then there's another level of reaction.

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So do you have written guidelines or something that you talk

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them through when someone's first starting out,

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so that it's very structured.

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And so you have consistency from show to show,

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to show with different groups of people.

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Yeah, we sure do.

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That's kind of an interesting transition that we're going through right

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now this summer,

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I was able to work with people coming in,

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or my cousin Ruthie,

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who lives in Littleton,

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Colorado. She would work the markets,

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or I have a friend John in castle rock,

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Colorado. He would work with people.

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So we had the opportunity where we could actually be there

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and have a new person come in and just listen to

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what we're saying and how we're saying and all that kind

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of thing.

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Well, that's going to be really challenging if you've got,

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if you're shooting for 30 to 40 markets,

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how in the world can you get that many people trained?

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So another friend of mine,

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Wayne Johnson out of Chicago is creating a sales training video

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basically. And we're going to have that on our website.

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Everybody that we hired to work,

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these markets will be given a,

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like a password and they'll be able to click in and

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watch the video on,

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you know,

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what are the most common questions that you're going to hear

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when you're working at a farmer's market?

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And if you don't have the answer,

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just let whoever it is,

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know that you don't have the answer,

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but you get the answer if they want to come back

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next week and it'll have that answer for you.

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And then do you have certain levels of expectation in terms

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of performance bottles sold or however,

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that would be,

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It's a part of the business that can be quite challenging

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as well,

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because what we try to focus on is a certain demographic,

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a place that might be more of a destination point where

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people are coming in for vacation,

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that type of thing.

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So it has to do with the demographics as well,

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Probably going to perform better than just always,

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you know,

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you might have stronger markets and lighter markets.

Speaker:

And certainly when people are being introduced to the product like

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the first week,

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it shows up on a farmer's market,

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there may or may not be interest,

Speaker:

but as you continue to be there,

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it's going to grow too.

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So you're right.

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It is kind of hard to compare one against another they're

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each pretty much unique.

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Yeah, They are unique,

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but then we're able to monitor our sales through square.

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We use square as a point of sale.

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And so we're able to take a look at our numbers

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from the past,

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and then we can have a certain degree of expectation for

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those. This is so interesting.

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And I could continue on with a number of conversations here.

Speaker:

This could go off in so many directions,

Speaker:

but I think we're going to have to proceed on into

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our reflection section.

Speaker:

And this is another look at you and things that you're

Speaker:

doing just like square that you were just talking about that

Speaker:

have helped you to be successful with your product.

Speaker:

If you were to call on or identify one trait that

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you have naturally that you keep calling on to help you

Speaker:

succeed, what would that be?

Speaker:

I would say just the tenacity to keep going and keep

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moving forward and being able to adapt.

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That's a big thing.

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You know,

Speaker:

I just kind of take that for granted that we can

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shift and change and adapt.

Speaker:

I have found out that that's not something that's easily done

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by some people.

Speaker:

And so I,

Speaker:

I certainly appreciate that a lot more being able to adapt.

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No, I've noticed the same type of thing because a lot

Speaker:

of people will get started and they feel like,

Speaker:

and this is one of the reasons why I asked people

Speaker:

about challenges because they see where everybody is.

Speaker:

At one point in time,

Speaker:

they don't see all the background of things that have been

Speaker:

challenging or those points when you need to adapt as you're

Speaker:

talking about.

Speaker:

And that's a lot of times where people will fall off,

Speaker:

they'll say,

Speaker:

Oh, I just can't do this.

Speaker:

I'm not cut out to do this.

Speaker:

And they'll stop instead of what you're talking about and having

Speaker:

the tenacity and being able to adapt and then be able

Speaker:

to carry on you found the solution.

Speaker:

Or as you're talking about driving 10 hours in a day,

Speaker:

you just bit the bullet and did it because you needed

Speaker:

to knowing it,

Speaker:

wasn't going to have to be forever.

Speaker:

Right? That's just,

Speaker:

it, you know,

Speaker:

you, you just,

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you know,

Speaker:

this is kind of funny.

Speaker:

I, I don't know if I really should say this or

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not, but I'm going to,

Speaker:

in some cases,

Speaker:

ignorance never gets enough credit.

Speaker:

And what I mean by that is if you knew better

Speaker:

before you started,

Speaker:

then you probably wouldn't attempt to do it.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

Zig Ziglar says,

Speaker:

if you wait until all the lights are green before you

Speaker:

go to town,

Speaker:

you'll never leave your house.

Speaker:

And so sometimes you just have to do it.

Speaker:

You just have to go and know that,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

you could figure it out as you're going along on book

Speaker:

that came out over 20 years ago.

Speaker:

But I just recently read it with Sam Walton's book made

Speaker:

in America.

Speaker:

There's no way I don't believe there's any way that Sam

Speaker:

Walton could have.

Speaker:

Drempt what his business would grow too.

Speaker:

So it's not like he certainly was a smart man.

Speaker:

Absolutely. But he had tenacity and he had a drive and

Speaker:

determination, but I can guarantee you that there was no way

Speaker:

that he could have perceived how big that company was going

Speaker:

to grow to.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

I can't speak for him,

Speaker:

but he'd probably get a chuckle out of ignorance.

Speaker:

Never gets enough credit.

Speaker:

I agree with you.

Speaker:

You just don't know.

Speaker:

I think a lot of us,

Speaker:

wherever we are in our business life,

Speaker:

didn't initially think that that was going to be the end

Speaker:

goal or at least where you are net part of time,

Speaker:

because I'm one to say,

Speaker:

there isn't an end goal.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

you just keep building and there's always a next step,

Speaker:

but one step leads to another leads to another.

Speaker:

It's a lot of small steps on top of each other

Speaker:

that help you to be successful and get you to where

Speaker:

you are.

Speaker:

Just like you,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

reaching out to restaurants and different chefs and all of that

Speaker:

and learning,

Speaker:

and then they connect you with someone else and then someone

Speaker:

connects you to someone else.

Speaker:

And the next thing,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

you're sitting,

Speaker:

having lunch with lady Gaga's parents.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

who was to know exactly.

Speaker:

Yeah. And so gift biz listeners,

Speaker:

just as you're listening to the podcast today,

Speaker:

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

Speaker:

And Tim was just talking about Sam Walton's made in America.

Speaker:

My guess is that might already be on an audio book.

Speaker:

I have teamed up with audible for you to be able

Speaker:

to get an audio book just like this on me for

Speaker:

free. All you need to do is go to gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com and make a selection of your book.

Speaker:

All right,

Speaker:

Tim. Now I would like to have you dare to dream.

Speaker:

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

Speaker:

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

Speaker:

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Speaker:

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Speaker:

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

Speaker:

What is inside your box?

Speaker:

Well, you know,

Speaker:

first and foremost,

Speaker:

the health of my family and myself through this journey,

Speaker:

I don't have a certain dollar amount that I want to

Speaker:

achieve in five or 10 years type of thing.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

obviously being financially dependent to all of our goals is,

Speaker:

is to,

Speaker:

to reach that level of achievement.

Speaker:

But when it really comes down to it,

Speaker:

it's your health.

Speaker:

And so I would say that through this journey is maintaining

Speaker:

good health,

Speaker:

loving family and that kind of thing.

Speaker:

And that is one other huge perk to this business is

Speaker:

our kids are involved with our business as well.

Speaker:

Our adult children,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

they have kids of their own.

Speaker:

So we are very,

Speaker:

very fortunate that we can all work together and I can

Speaker:

be a little challenging at times,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

family as well,

Speaker:

but we're really fortunate with that.

Speaker:

And so I just hope that we can continue to do

Speaker:

that as a family and maintain good health.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

I'm looking at some more Norman Rockwell moments with you and

Speaker:

your family,

Speaker:

just like you had back when with the Millers.

Speaker:

Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker:

So I'm sure that we have piqued the interest of a

Speaker:

lot of our listeners now and they want to see more

Speaker:

and possibly even purchase some of your syrups.

Speaker:

Where would the single place be that they should go?

Speaker:

If people are just listening now they're not getting over to

Speaker:

the show notes page right now,

Speaker:

where would you suggest that they go and learn more about

Speaker:

you and your product?

Speaker:

Well, I would say our website is probably the place to

Speaker:

go, which would be a Burton's Maplewood,

Speaker:

farm.com. You can find out more information about our farm.

Speaker:

There's some really,

Speaker:

really great recipes that are on there.

Speaker:

There's some other great applications.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

a lot of people think about maple syrup and they think

Speaker:

about breakfast,

Speaker:

but really the maple syrup that we produce goes beyond breakfast.

Speaker:

It's fantastic on salmon,

Speaker:

brussel sprouts,

Speaker:

baby carrots,

Speaker:

green beans,

Speaker:

savory applications,

Speaker:

the barrel aged maple syrups are still great on just vanilla

Speaker:

ice cream.

Speaker:

I had a lady in Kansas city.

Speaker:

We were at an event in Kansas city and she said

Speaker:

to me,

Speaker:

she said,

Speaker:

Tim, I'd like a bottle of your Kentucky bourbon,

Speaker:

maple syrup.

Speaker:

I'm going to go home caramelized onions and then put that

Speaker:

on a burger.

Speaker:

And I just thought,

Speaker:

well, that's brilliant.

Speaker:

I, I've never thought of that.

Speaker:

Most of us don't think about taking maple syrup and in

Speaker:

some way,

Speaker:

adding it to a hamburger,

Speaker:

but that really sounded good.

Speaker:

And that was the very first thing I made when I

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got back to the farm.

Speaker:

And how was it?

Speaker:

It was phenomenal as good as you anticipated even better,

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even better.

Speaker:

Yeah, it was As there.

Speaker:

Well, Tim,

Speaker:

thank you so much.

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You know,

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I had just met you and I didn't know a lot

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of this story.

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It was so incredibly interesting and also just understanding your transition

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from technology into something more earthy and all of that.

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And what you've developed into is such a fascinating story,

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and I wish you much success in the future.

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May your candle always burn bright?

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Where are you in your business building journey,

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whether you're just starting out or already running a business,

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and you want to know your setup for success.

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Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,

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access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y

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slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift

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biz quiz to four four,

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two, two,

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two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for

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the next episode.

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Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,

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looking for a new income source for your gift business.

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Customization is more popular now than ever your products have your

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seconds. Check out the print company.com

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for more information after you listened to the show,

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if you like what you're hearing,

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make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on

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iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they

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go live.

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And thank you to those who have already left a rating

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by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the visibility on

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round. It's a great way to pay it forward to help

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