062 – Crushing It as a Local Retailer with Karl Benson of Cooks of Crocus Hill
For more than 25 years, Karl has been engaged in various positions in business ownership, sales, marketing, and organizational development. During the last 15 years he has served as Owner of Cooks of Crocus Hill in St. Paul, MN. Cooks of Crocus Hill is a brand driven, specialty culinary retailer and educator focused on the belief that Life Happens in the Kitchen.
Karl is also the founder and creator of LifeRecipe, a corporate wellness program focused on changing the way people eat and improving their relationship with food.
Karl holds a passion for creating and delivering a thoughtful, stylish and energetic brand experience. He has worked on a variety of branding projects with domestic and international clients including Target/Marshal Fields, Health Partners, The Mayo Clinic, Zwilling and Mauviel.
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
A chance dinner conversation and the meeting for coffee that changed Karl’s life [5:43]
Candle Flickering Moments
Taking the chance on a new location different from their already successful model [26:03]
Business Building Insights
Staying true to your own entrepreneurial interests [13:42]
Karl’s advice on surviving as a retailer [17:10]
The second retail store changes everything [18:28]
Karl describes how Cooks of Crocus Hill is different from everyone else [20:58]
The web strategy [22:20]
What’s next – another new location! [30:28]
Winning the Global Innovators Award [38:21]
Success Trait
Perseverance and Persistence are the natural traits leading to Karl’s success.
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
The Mobius Method and it’s value in their business [35:12]
Contact Links
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
Gift biz on wrapped episode 62.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no. He said,
Speaker:keep thinking about it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no, he's I keep thinking about it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no. He said,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to set up coffee.
Speaker:Hi, this is Johnny Entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Sue and welcome to the unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today we have joining us.
Speaker:Carl Benson.
Speaker:Carl has been the owner of Cook's of Crocus Hill in
Speaker:St. Paul Minnesota for the last 15 years,
Speaker:hooks is a brand driven specialty,
Speaker:culinary retailer and educator focused on the belief that life happens
Speaker:in the kitchen.
Speaker:Carl is also the founder and creator of life recipe,
Speaker:a corporate wellness program,
Speaker:focusing on changing the way people eat and improving their relationship
Speaker:with food.
Speaker:Terrell has a passion for creating and delivering a thoughtful,
Speaker:stylish and energetic brand experience.
Speaker:He's worked on a variety of branding projects with domestic and
Speaker:international clients,
Speaker:including target health partners and the Mayo clinic.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining us today,
Speaker:Carl, and welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks for having me before we get started.
Speaker:And as our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to get a little bit of a different insight
Speaker:into who you are by having you describe a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you could create any type of candle you wanted,
Speaker:what color would it be and what would the quote be
Speaker:on your candle?
Speaker:The color would be white and the quote is I was
Speaker:born a man.
Speaker:I died a doctor.
Speaker:Ooh, what does that mean?
Speaker:Kind Of funny,
Speaker:isn't it?
Speaker:I guess it's kind of a sad quote in some respects
Speaker:that there was a guy,
Speaker:his name is Martin Lloyd Jones.
Speaker:And he wrote in the context of,
Speaker:as people sort of live their lives,
Speaker:as they start at one thing,
Speaker:they get motivated to become something else and they ultimately died
Speaker:what they achieved.
Speaker:They didn't die what they were.
Speaker:And he said that whole cemeteries could be filled with the
Speaker:same sad tombstone.
Speaker:And that is that I was born a man and I
Speaker:died a doctor it's motivating to me,
Speaker:I suppose,
Speaker:because I think I'd prefer to be always having lived the
Speaker:man not having lived the end result or the goal or
Speaker:the objective that I didn't become something.
Speaker:Maybe I became a better person or I became more fulfilled
Speaker:in my pursuit of humanity,
Speaker:if that's the right word or my soul,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:soul kind of an odd word.
Speaker:But Yeah,
Speaker:I know what you're saying because especially as entrepreneurs and when
Speaker:we have a business,
Speaker:our whole life seems to be revolving around that.
Speaker:And it ends up being that you associate yourself with what
Speaker:your business is,
Speaker:not with the type of person that you are.
Speaker:Exactly. That if you become defined by your business,
Speaker:then you're not defined by the person that you are or
Speaker:wish to be,
Speaker:or have become or wish to pursue.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a deep quote if you really think about it
Speaker:and it is so easy.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what do we do when we're at networking meetings or you're
Speaker:even you're meeting somebody at a social event.
Speaker:What's the first thing we usually ask,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:what do you do?
Speaker:What's your job,
Speaker:help me understand you.
Speaker:Exactly. And I think it's important to understand that there is
Speaker:a whole nother human being,
Speaker:besides just what you do for your career,
Speaker:whether you're in your own business or not,
Speaker:you work for a corporation,
Speaker:whatever. Wonderful.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I want to talk,
Speaker:I'm so excited because I have known cooks before I even
Speaker:knew about you,
Speaker:Carl, because I used to get your brochures when they,
Speaker:and I shouldn't even call it a brochure.
Speaker:I think it was a catalog when you used to send
Speaker:those out via mail.
Speaker:So I knew about the business.
Speaker:I love cooking as a hobby.
Speaker:So now to know you and to hear the story about
Speaker:how the whole business developed is super exciting to me.
Speaker:So it's pretty cool.
Speaker:It's pretty fun business.
Speaker:Yeah. So I want you to take it away from the
Speaker:beginning in terms of how you got connected with cooks and
Speaker:ultimately became an owner.
Speaker:I live here in St.
Speaker:Paul, Minnesota,
Speaker:and I'm from Chicago.
Speaker:I moved up here in 1990 and I left my Chicago
Speaker:corporate job behind moved to Minnesota.
Speaker:Ultimately after searching for a new position,
Speaker:I sort of got the dream position of my life,
Speaker:working for a multinational packaging company with a very state-of-the-art facility
Speaker:in Mexico.
Speaker:And they asked me to be the director of export sales.
Speaker:So I had every market outside of Mexico,
Speaker:which included the U S Europe and the far East.
Speaker:And it was a very specialized item,
Speaker:big demand globally.
Speaker:And after all the negotiations,
Speaker:ultimately they wanted me to move back to Dallas where I
Speaker:had started beers before and decided I wanted to stay.
Speaker:I'd moved three times and didn't want to make another move.
Speaker:So I sort of left the corporate world.
Speaker:I did a few things here trying to figure out sort
Speaker:of my next path.
Speaker:And I always cooked dinner for my next door neighbor.
Speaker:He had a young family and we didn't have kids at
Speaker:that point.
Speaker:So, and I like to cook and Russ like to pay
Speaker:for dinner.
Speaker:So it was awesome.
Speaker:Every Sunday afternoon,
Speaker:he'd swing by,
Speaker:after he came back from church and he'd say,
Speaker:here's 40 bucks.
Speaker:I'm thinking lamb tonight.
Speaker:Can you make up something with lamps?
Speaker:So I would go to the grocery store and get the
Speaker:food, cook it at my house and then bring the food
Speaker:over to and Nancy's house.
Speaker:And then we'd have dinner with them and their family.
Speaker:And then Russ would do the dishes.
Speaker:And sometime during the week,
Speaker:I'd get my dishes back.
Speaker:So it was worked out really well.
Speaker:And at one of these gatherings,
Speaker:he had a friend of his that he'd invited for dinner.
Speaker:And I was talking with this other gentleman,
Speaker:his name was David.
Speaker:And he was asking me about,
Speaker:I'd started a software business with some other guys.
Speaker:And I was at a loggerhead with say the managing partner.
Speaker:And David said,
Speaker:well, you like to cook,
Speaker:so you should go check out.
Speaker:Cook's a Crocus Hill.
Speaker:And I didn't really know.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'd forgotten where it was.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:Alex, that cooking store up on grand Avenue.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well, I,
Speaker:man, it's kind of depressing in there.
Speaker:So I only went there once and I haven't been back
Speaker:in, I don't know anything about retail and I know less
Speaker:about a cooking store.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:it's probably not something that I'd like to pursue.
Speaker:Were they looking for somebody at that time?
Speaker:Is that why he was suggesting it or just because of
Speaker:your passion for cooking?
Speaker:David knew the lady who owned it,
Speaker:her name is Martha Kimmer and Martha had started it in
Speaker:19. I think she started in 1973 or 74,
Speaker:and this was probably 91.
Speaker:So they'd gone through some evolutions and changes.
Speaker:And Martha was pulled in a lot of different directions with
Speaker:her family and family business.
Speaker:And she really needed someone that was going to run it
Speaker:and take it over and just sort of go for it.
Speaker:So she was actively looking for somebody she was Looking.
Speaker:Yes. The only time I worked in a retail store was
Speaker:I worked at the Tom McCann shoe store in high school.
Speaker:So I That's a name from the past.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no. He said,
Speaker:keep thinking about it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no, he's like,
Speaker:keep thinking about it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:no. He said,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to set up coffee.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:David, I don't really want to do this.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:well, just do it for me.
Speaker:When you meet Martha,
Speaker:you'll fall in love with her and things will go from
Speaker:there. So I dunno after dessert or something,
Speaker:I relented and said,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:and you set up coffee and I'll have coffee.
Speaker:So that was on Sunday.
Speaker:I got a call that she could meet on Thursday.
Speaker:So I met with her on Thursday.
Speaker:I met with her business advisor on Monday.
Speaker:They made me an offer on Tuesday.
Speaker:I quit on Wednesday and 10 short days.
Speaker:My whole life changed.
Speaker:It was the single most pivotal and possibly the most important
Speaker:decision in my career anyway,
Speaker:never in my life,
Speaker:even my,
Speaker:my life.
Speaker:I look back on it now and think it was such
Speaker:a fast and easy decision that where was my resistance on
Speaker:their front end.
Speaker:And so it's been Awesome.
Speaker:Yeah. So Carl,
Speaker:that's crazy that you turned things around that fast.
Speaker:What was it that she said because you were so resistant,
Speaker:it sounded like you just didn't think that that was something
Speaker:that you'd be interested in.
Speaker:What was the trigger that got you interested enough to make
Speaker:a change so quickly?
Speaker:I think it was her.
Speaker:Martha's just lovely,
Speaker:lovely person.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I was really clear.
Speaker:I had no desire to be a shopkeeper.
Speaker:There's some,
Speaker:I suppose,
Speaker:the romance to the not,
Speaker:I suppose there's a ton of romance to cooking and food
Speaker:and all that kind of thing.
Speaker:But I really wasn't wired to walk around the store and
Speaker:my corks sold shoes and sell pots and pans for a
Speaker:living. So I think we aligned on a vision for what
Speaker:the business could be and that there was so much more
Speaker:to it than just a transactional side of selling pots and
Speaker:pans or selling potato peelers,
Speaker:that if we did something good,
Speaker:it was about experience and it was about life and it
Speaker:was about connection and Martha got it.
Speaker:And for whatever reason at that juncture in my life,
Speaker:I found that sort of story to be super compelling and
Speaker:it was easy.
Speaker:It was ultimately an easy decision.
Speaker:It changed my whole life.
Speaker:I had to take a big step back.
Speaker:I was stepping off the,
Speaker:a corporate train if you willing stepping onto the independent tricycle.
Speaker:So there was a huge life change,
Speaker:but it was awesome,
Speaker:But kudos to you because you clearly felt that it was
Speaker:right and you took the opportunity while it was there.
Speaker:And what was presented to you because who knows if next
Speaker:week she would have been talking to someone else who would
Speaker:have been interested.
Speaker:And if you would have just paused for a while or
Speaker:thought that you needed to reconsider or just really think about
Speaker:it too long,
Speaker:the opportunity could have passed you by It could have passed
Speaker:me by,
Speaker:or they could have.
Speaker:I think ultimately,
Speaker:because I was so honest in what I was looking for
Speaker:and, you know,
Speaker:I, you know,
Speaker:there were the other people I'm sure.
Speaker:And I just haven't heard over the years,
Speaker:you just,
Speaker:the story as the story gets handed down,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:from generation to generation,
Speaker:as it were the other people who they talked to were
Speaker:retail people,
Speaker:they were store managers and they were shopkeepers and someone who
Speaker:really connected to the brand and connected to the work.
Speaker:And ultimately Martha decided that her vision for the business was
Speaker:that it wasn't about the same thing.
Speaker:We shared the vision and that mine was different than anybody
Speaker:else's. And she took a huge risk on me.
Speaker:And I took a huge risk with her,
Speaker:but it was the connection point was that as much higher
Speaker:level. And that's probably why we're still doing what we're doing.
Speaker:There's a couple of things here I want to highlight for
Speaker:our listeners.
Speaker:The first thing is,
Speaker:and this is something that's just become a realization to me
Speaker:recently. And Carl,
Speaker:this is what you experienced is sometimes people who are close
Speaker:to us,
Speaker:whether it's family or friends recognize things in us that we
Speaker:don't recognize in ourselves,
Speaker:your friend David kept saying to you over and over again,
Speaker:no, you got to look at this opportunity.
Speaker:I see this possibly for you.
Speaker:You've got to consider this opportunity and had he not done
Speaker:that? I think like you are going to owe him dinners
Speaker:for the rest of your life,
Speaker:probably because had he not pushed you and pushed you,
Speaker:you would have never had coffee and ultimately gone the direction
Speaker:that you did.
Speaker:So that's the first thing you guys is.
Speaker:If you have friends who keep pulling out to you,
Speaker:some trait that you have some skill and you just aren't
Speaker:seeing it,
Speaker:at least rethink it and pay attention to what they're saying
Speaker:and consider what they're focusing and emphasizing about who you are.
Speaker:So I wouldn't even add,
Speaker:if you don't mind,
Speaker:I'll add to that.
Speaker:I'll say that I have a friend who is an organizational
Speaker:development coach,
Speaker:and he's also a hippie,
Speaker:like was a real 1968 drive the micro bus that he
Speaker:bought in Minnesota to Southern California to be in his life
Speaker:work was to be a hippie.
Speaker:And now fast forward to today,
Speaker:he does development work for both individuals and companies.
Speaker:And Patrick has a,
Speaker:his sort of belief is that if you're open to everything
Speaker:around you,
Speaker:I think what happens is we tend to get so zeroed
Speaker:in on our intentions and desires that we lose sight of
Speaker:other opportunities.
Speaker:So the serendipity of just David coming after me and me,
Speaker:ultimately, whatever the motivation was,
Speaker:if I was just to get him off my back,
Speaker:or I thought,
Speaker:well, it doesn't matter if it's this good,
Speaker:I'll at least have a cup of coffee.
Speaker:That being open to that,
Speaker:because you never know where it's going to come from.
Speaker:In the case of your friends telling you this is something
Speaker:you should pursue,
Speaker:or you're reading an article in the paper and something strikes
Speaker:you or your place of worship and somebody in your congregation
Speaker:says, Hey,
Speaker:you should consider this,
Speaker:that or the other.
Speaker:It's just being open to the opportunities that life might present
Speaker:itself. And if we're closed,
Speaker:then those things we just miss them altogether.
Speaker:We don't even have the chance to say yes or no
Speaker:because they just sort of pass us by Well stated.
Speaker:Thank you for adding on that's fabulous.
Speaker:The second thing that I wanted to focus on was you
Speaker:talking about the fact that no,
Speaker:you weren't good.
Speaker:You weren't interested in being in aisles and selling pots and
Speaker:pans for the rest of your life.
Speaker:And one thing all of us need to remember is that
Speaker:being an employee in a shop,
Speaker:whether you do the books or you do an inventory,
Speaker:or you're on the sales floor is very different than being
Speaker:the owner of the business.
Speaker:There's a whole,
Speaker:whole different ball game when you own something,
Speaker:when you're an entrepreneur.
Speaker:So those of you who are thinking of considering a business,
Speaker:if you are working in a retail shop and you're like,
Speaker:Oh, I could do this so much better.
Speaker:They're just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what a
Speaker:business owner has to go through.
Speaker:If you like business,
Speaker:you like directing,
Speaker:steering the ship.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:you were hearing Carl say that he really didn't like cooks
Speaker:in the beginning.
Speaker:It looked stale or dark or not an exciting environment.
Speaker:We're going to get into how that's changed now,
Speaker:but think a little differently than just owning versus experiencing being
Speaker:in a shopper,
Speaker:working for a shop,
Speaker:two very different things.
Speaker:Would you say anything else about that,
Speaker:Carl? Well,
Speaker:I think it's come up both inside and outside of my
Speaker:business that identifying what your connection to the business is and
Speaker:how you get inspired and how you wish to grow based
Speaker:on your desire.
Speaker:So in my case,
Speaker:I didn't want to be a shopkeeper.
Speaker:So we made a lot of decisions over the last 17
Speaker:years that aligned with I wasn't going to work the cash
Speaker:register. And I mean,
Speaker:not that I can't,
Speaker:but I always felt like if we were going to get
Speaker:to where we wanted to go,
Speaker:that I needed to be looking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe at a higher level.
Speaker:And in the,
Speaker:in our time in business,
Speaker:I've met many,
Speaker:many people who have very successful small businesses,
Speaker:cooking stores around the country,
Speaker:where the owner has a completely different perspective.
Speaker:They want to be the shopkeeper.
Speaker:Their goal is to be on the floor and talking with
Speaker:customers every day,
Speaker:they might do all the buying and be the shopkeeper and
Speaker:do the payroll.
Speaker:And that's their connection point to their business.
Speaker:And that's where they find inspiration.
Speaker:So in the environment,
Speaker:when that person who finds success at the detail side of
Speaker:their business starts looking to expand.
Speaker:Then it becomes important to say,
Speaker:where are your skillsets,
Speaker:desires and intentions,
Speaker:because what often happens?
Speaker:And I think this is any small business.
Speaker:When you go from one location that achieves a level of
Speaker:success, whatever that is.
Speaker:And then you start to look at a second location,
Speaker:your relationship with your business changes.
Speaker:It's not as easy to continue to be the happy,
Speaker:inspired shopkeeper.
Speaker:When you have two shops or your shop gets big,
Speaker:or you add a restaurant component to your shop,
Speaker:or you are taken away by the internet side of things,
Speaker:holding your vision for your relationship with the business is paramount.
Speaker:And without that vision,
Speaker:it's hard to make really consistent sustainable decisions because you're sorta
Speaker:like a boat in the water.
Speaker:If we borrow that analogy and the waves keep bashing against
Speaker:you in the way that you're going to be successful is
Speaker:to be clear and where you're going to be the rudder.
Speaker:And that rudder is first and foremost,
Speaker:what your contribution yourself is to your business.
Speaker:So working on the business versus in the business.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:when you're small and when you're starting and when your inspiration
Speaker:is to improve upon the people before you are to have
Speaker:a better buying program or whatever,
Speaker:whatever your stake in the game as it works great,
Speaker:because the context is perfect and the scale and the size
Speaker:is perfect for your engagement.
Speaker:It's when you start to grow that the opportunity for re-evaluating
Speaker:your connection to it becomes important.
Speaker:Really good point.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:So let's talk now.
Speaker:How has everything evolved?
Speaker:Take us through a little bit over the course of time
Speaker:you jumped in.
Speaker:Now you're working in cooks and we described at the top
Speaker:of the show,
Speaker:what cooks is today?
Speaker:How did all of that start to grow and change with
Speaker:your influence?
Speaker:Well, we got stronger and we added better systems at the
Speaker:main store.
Speaker:The main location is in St.
Speaker:Paul, but systems are expensive and team is expensive.
Speaker:And point of sale system is expensive and all that stuff.
Speaker:So at some point we had to make the decision,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:am I ready to go back to being the shopkeeper or
Speaker:have I reassessed my relationship with cooks?
Speaker:Because the scale is such that I can take some of
Speaker:the roles that other people have and we'll stay this size
Speaker:and, you know,
Speaker:think about putting the kids through college and all that stuff.
Speaker:And at just about every turn,
Speaker:we decided that the brand opportunity was significant enough in our
Speaker:relationship with the community was robust enough that we needed an,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:another location that instead of scaling back,
Speaker:we wanted to scale up.
Speaker:And then once we start in the scale up progression,
Speaker:then it's always easier to say,
Speaker:let's add another one.
Speaker:Or where's the opportunity here.
Speaker:Where's the growth.
Speaker:I always tell our team that retail is like being a
Speaker:shark. If you're not growing,
Speaker:you're dying.
Speaker:The minute you stop being aware of your competition or stop
Speaker:being aware of trying to end food or stop being inspired
Speaker:to go find the new design of the potato peeler and
Speaker:stop engaging your customers because everybody sort of knows,
Speaker:and they're complacent than they're comfortable.
Speaker:Then that's when everything starts to decline.
Speaker:So you have to be prepared for that.
Speaker:So in our case,
Speaker:we work with my old friend,
Speaker:we set systems in place.
Speaker:We're constantly assessing and reassessing and growing and changing and evolving,
Speaker:and it works for us.
Speaker:And maybe that's more motivated by me than life,
Speaker:but so we just are constantly trying to better ourselves Solid
Speaker:piece of advice.
Speaker:Carl, thank you very much.
Speaker:Hopefully all of you were really listening intently,
Speaker:if not rewind that last piece,
Speaker:once again,
Speaker:a couple of questions for you,
Speaker:Carl, and I don't know the answers to these.
Speaker:So I'll be very curious.
Speaker:Would you say that as you talk about systems and all
Speaker:of that,
Speaker:when you start adding a second store,
Speaker:is the second store the hardest versus then three,
Speaker:four, five,
Speaker:like just getting everything in place to have a second location.
Speaker:And then is it more repetitive because it's a similar concept.
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:Totally. I would say that the growth from one to two
Speaker:is exponential.
Speaker:It's goes from 100 to 300 because you run into questions
Speaker:of how do you supply what's the inventory look like if
Speaker:you're ordering in our case.
Speaker:At first,
Speaker:when we set up the second location,
Speaker:we had to set a second delivery spot,
Speaker:which from all of our vendors meant we had to meet
Speaker:minimums for a second delivery location.
Speaker:So each location had its own delivery minimums.
Speaker:And after probably three or four years of that,
Speaker:we did some assessments decided that we were better served by
Speaker:paying the expense of a warehousing space.
Speaker:So we could buy and send everything off of one,
Speaker:but then off of one purchase order,
Speaker:so to speak.
Speaker:But then to achieve that we needed to upgrade our POS,
Speaker:our inventory management and our ordering system,
Speaker:because our original system was set up.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you could do a series of ones,
Speaker:but when you did the first two,
Speaker:it wasn't robust enough to consider everything with that centralized delivery
Speaker:piece. So it took us a,
Speaker:I would say probably five or six years to figure out
Speaker:the second location,
Speaker:just how to run it and run it efficiently.
Speaker:And then four years ago,
Speaker:we bought a competitor in town.
Speaker:They had gone out of business and we bought all their
Speaker:assets and signed a new lease in the same space.
Speaker:And in that case,
Speaker:we spent three months getting everything ready.
Speaker:We took over the space and we closed it down,
Speaker:did an inventory.
Speaker:And we were up and running in four days.
Speaker:And after 10 days,
Speaker:it was like,
Speaker:we'd been running it for 10 years.
Speaker:So, but we Integrate into all your systems.
Speaker:You already had it.
Speaker:By that point,
Speaker:we had a system that is robust enough to accommodate three.
Speaker:And now we're going to open a fourth,
Speaker:but that's not a modest undertaking.
Speaker:Again, if I go back to an earlier comment,
Speaker:it's at that point,
Speaker:that you're as the owner,
Speaker:your relationship with your business changes.
Speaker:If you want it to be a shopkeeper,
Speaker:you are no longer a shopkeeper.
Speaker:You need to be the it guy.
Speaker:You need to be the team motivator.
Speaker:You need to build systems where,
Speaker:of communication and consistency across multiple locations.
Speaker:So your whole relationship with your business changes.
Speaker:So how well prepared are you for that change is always
Speaker:the big question.
Speaker:Okay. Another question for you and give biz listeners.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we talk about this a lot too,
Speaker:is when you're opening a business,
Speaker:how are you going to be different from other people out
Speaker:there who are selling somewhat of a similar product?
Speaker:What is your unique selling proposition?
Speaker:So let me ask you that,
Speaker:how are you different than from anybody else,
Speaker:either in your area or also all over,
Speaker:because you do mail order as well.
Speaker:How are you different?
Speaker:Our differences that we don't talk,
Speaker:the idea of experiential.
Speaker:We actually live it and plan for it and define it
Speaker:and train to it.
Speaker:And so that when we have consistency in all the three
Speaker:locations, we are small.
Speaker:Our footprint is very small.
Speaker:We have 2,800
Speaker:or 3,200
Speaker:square feet of retail versus our competitors.
Speaker:The big guys,
Speaker:the national can be up to 10,000
Speaker:square feet of retail.
Speaker:They tend to be the,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they're buying is we're going to purchase everything.
Speaker:And we're going to let you decide which set of cookware
Speaker:you want,
Speaker:or which knife you want by looking at our display.
Speaker:And in our case,
Speaker:we do all the legwork.
Speaker:We test everything.
Speaker:Nothing that we sell in the store has ever,
Speaker:I should say,
Speaker:everything we sell in this store has been run through the
Speaker:school or tasted by multiple people on our team so that
Speaker:we know where the olive oil comes from.
Speaker:And in many cases,
Speaker:we've met the vendor that sells that or not the vendor,
Speaker:even the producer,
Speaker:the farm.
Speaker:So we do that curating,
Speaker:if you say ours is a curator,
Speaker:not like a museum,
Speaker:but then everything we sell,
Speaker:we know works.
Speaker:Our team has all tried it and tested it.
Speaker:It's easy to say,
Speaker:I'm just going to buy product out of a catalog and
Speaker:offer it up.
Speaker:And if people like it great,
Speaker:and if they don't want to get rid of it,
Speaker:but in our case,
Speaker:because we have we're limited on space,
Speaker:then we make sure that what we're offering is true to
Speaker:our values and true to our vision for our business and
Speaker:that we can stand behind it because we all use it.
Speaker:That is the key driver for us.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:we talk about the web bar challenges.
Speaker:We're not just going to offer 6,000
Speaker:products up on the web.
Speaker:We have to figure out exactly what our position on the
Speaker:web is and how we're going to offer it.
Speaker:And how can we bring some level of the Cook's experience
Speaker:to the web experience?
Speaker:Because, you know,
Speaker:Amazon has the Amazon experience and which in my opinion is
Speaker:not much of an experience it's super transactional.
Speaker:You just,
Speaker:everybody there buys on price.
Speaker:Well, we don't have the marketing reach.
Speaker:We don't have the horsepower.
Speaker:We don't have the name recognition to attract people.
Speaker:So we got to go the other direction.
Speaker:And that is we have to find a way to bring
Speaker:the Cook's experience alive in a virtual environment.
Speaker:And we're probably 5% of the way towards that end result
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:But on your way.
Speaker:And I think it's really important,
Speaker:whether it's an experience in store or online,
Speaker:that's what separates you so much from other people.
Speaker:Because, and I talk about this a lot too.
Speaker:You can have a similar product,
Speaker:but who you are as a personality.
Speaker:And when I say who I am,
Speaker:meaning your business,
Speaker:as well as you,
Speaker:how do you treat people when they come in the store?
Speaker:How's your web interaction?
Speaker:Do your pages load well,
Speaker:is it easy to navigate through your site?
Speaker:What types of products do you have?
Speaker:What kind of services and all of that is not as
Speaker:easy to copy.
Speaker:If someone's trying to outdo you,
Speaker:they can buy the same products that you can,
Speaker:but they can't provide a similar experience because that goes back
Speaker:to you and your personality and what you're able to do
Speaker:in your company for your customers,
Speaker:who I think is About,
Speaker:again, doing the legwork,
Speaker:doing the groundwork,
Speaker:saying who are we comes up all the time and maybe
Speaker:not so much in the last couple of years as it
Speaker:did in the beginning.
Speaker:And it's easy to get lured into the siren song of
Speaker:what we think people want today.
Speaker:We think people want red pots with black handles.
Speaker:So we go out and we buy everything that we're anticipating
Speaker:that the customer wants,
Speaker:which is fine if you guess,
Speaker:right? But the minute it transitions to blue pots with yellow
Speaker:handles and your eyeballs deep in red pots with black handles.
Speaker:Now you're scrambling to try and shift and change directions.
Speaker:So for us years and years,
Speaker:and years ago is we decided that it was extremely important
Speaker:for us to define who we are.
Speaker:If we're going to offer the red pot with the black
Speaker:handle, here's why we're going to offer it.
Speaker:And here's why we believe it's a more compelling story to
Speaker:you. And here's how it fits in the context of our
Speaker:vision for our business and sort of the brand of our
Speaker:business. And if then the secondary challenge becomes how effectively can
Speaker:you communicate that?
Speaker:And for us,
Speaker:it became more heartfelt if you will,
Speaker:or more soulful,
Speaker:more legitimate that we wanted our environments to be a reflection
Speaker:of the brand.
Speaker:And the brand is not me.
Speaker:Our brand is not Carl Benson,
Speaker:or it's not my wife,
Speaker:Marie Dwyer,
Speaker:or it's not Susie,
Speaker:our events,
Speaker:marketing person.
Speaker:It's not Lindsay our business manager.
Speaker:We sit down and say,
Speaker:this is the brand.
Speaker:We are all stewards where the current stewards of the Cook's
Speaker:brand. So the brand has its own life.
Speaker:And the vision that happens is inclusive and it's expansive.
Speaker:And it's about everyone's experience with everyone on our team and
Speaker:everyone who comes into the store.
Speaker:So capturing that and building a system around,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in essence,
Speaker:an entity that we like to say has its own life
Speaker:and its own soul.
Speaker:And if we're just captaining it at this moment,
Speaker:then what is it?
Speaker:And how are we delivering it and how are we defining
Speaker:it and how are we connecting to it?
Speaker:And how are we making that experience come alive?
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:And even more difficult tasks,
Speaker:but if you can find a way to bring it together,
Speaker:it's even that much more rewarding.
Speaker:Well, it's a winning task based on what's going on with
Speaker:you guys,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Some days I wonder,
Speaker:alright, let's go.
Speaker:That's a great segue,
Speaker:Carl, let's go to one of those days when the clouds
Speaker:are hanging over some projects,
Speaker:something's not going well,
Speaker:you're having a struggle.
Speaker:Give us a point in time when there was a really
Speaker:big challenge that you had to deal with and how you
Speaker:overcame that issue.
Speaker:We had a store and I guess it was the original
Speaker:enclosed mall in the United States,
Speaker:any Dinah,
Speaker:Minnesota, and our concept is more main street.
Speaker:So everything is really in your neighborhood at the corner of
Speaker:Oak and main or whatever you want.
Speaker:And main in first,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:And we were growing and there was an opportunity to go
Speaker:into the complete redevelopment of this sort of landmark,
Speaker:enclosed shopping mall.
Speaker:We had a lot of consternation and conversation and decided when
Speaker:we were going to take a run at it.
Speaker:And it was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:within three months of our signing a lease,
Speaker:they signed an Apple store.
Speaker:They had a mini store,
Speaker:they had all the hot buzz,
Speaker:buzz, retail.
Speaker:We're going to be our neighbors.
Speaker:And we signed the lease.
Speaker:And then 45 days later,
Speaker:the mall sold and the new owners stopped everything.
Speaker:So the entire mall went back into a tailspin.
Speaker:And within a year we were saying,
Speaker:we can't stay in business here another six months because we'll
Speaker:be out of business at that point.
Speaker:So we had to figure out a creative way to get
Speaker:out of that.
Speaker:Very, very trying situation.
Speaker:There were plenty of times in that four months where I
Speaker:didn't sleep and I thought,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:we've worked so hard for everything.
Speaker:And one bad decision or one change.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:one great decision set my life on a new course,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:eight years prior.
Speaker:And one decision that we have no control over that they
Speaker:sold them all is going to be the acts that sort
Speaker:of brings it all to a close.
Speaker:And that was really,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we, that was a very,
Speaker:very difficult time.
Speaker:So, and in that case,
Speaker:we just put our head down and negotiated the best we
Speaker:could and slashed costs and reorganized and decided that we were
Speaker:going to do whatever we needed to do to keep it
Speaker:alive. And we did,
Speaker:and it took about four years to recover from that experience.
Speaker:And we learned from it.
Speaker:So I get lots of calls from malls and I don't
Speaker:return any of it.
Speaker:Is there any overriding learning that you would give our listeners
Speaker:about that whole experience?
Speaker:It's probably the back to the same sort of life philosophy
Speaker:that we have and have to be open and creative and
Speaker:create possibilities and opportunities.
Speaker:If you have possibilities,
Speaker:you can still move.
Speaker:And it's when you lose all possibilities and you get channeled
Speaker:into one path and one ends that creativity starts to flounder.
Speaker:And if you can't be creative,
Speaker:then you can't find your way out of it.
Speaker:And you sort of lose hope.
Speaker:I myself would lose hope in that environment.
Speaker:So successful because we were just,
Speaker:I refuse to let it all sort of go away.
Speaker:Sheer will and creativity,
Speaker:having a really great team and a really good support.
Speaker:And that culture that's still is still strong today.
Speaker:Sometimes you got to just bust your backside to make a
Speaker:really difficult time,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to get past a really difficult time.
Speaker:And it's nothing more than hard work and perseverance and Driving
Speaker:through the problem.
Speaker:One way That I'm not so Pollyanna to say that there
Speaker:aren't times where are no more auctions and there are no
Speaker:more choices.
Speaker:And the really hard decision has to be made.
Speaker:We've been able to sort of get around those crossroads in
Speaker:our business,
Speaker:but they're there and they're lurking in there.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I don't want to step in them.
Speaker:Yeah. You know,
Speaker:I think this is a good example though,
Speaker:that your business is always evolving and changing.
Speaker:And sometimes it's the environment around you,
Speaker:not necessarily your business,
Speaker:but you have to react.
Speaker:So just because you have a winning business model and you're
Speaker:making money today does not mean that it's going to be
Speaker:the same thing next year.
Speaker:Things happen.
Speaker:What's going to happen online with Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker:And are they going to start stealing sales versus in store
Speaker:experiences? And you have to always continually be analyzing,
Speaker:looking and recreating your business to continue to get better and
Speaker:stay up with the times.
Speaker:The other thing I think really important for everyone to remember
Speaker:is what Carl went through was not failure.
Speaker:Okay. Always think,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Oh, if I,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:everything has to be absolutely perfect.
Speaker:When you come to a challenging time,
Speaker:they took a risk of going to a different type,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:more of a strip mall type thing or indoor mall,
Speaker:I guess I'd say versus the main street,
Speaker:single location.
Speaker:Maybe it would have worked out great in this case.
Speaker:It didn't,
Speaker:but it's not as necessarily a failure.
Speaker:It's a learning and you work through it.
Speaker:You just,
Speaker:that's something that all of us as business owners have to
Speaker:realize. There are some things that just aren't going to work.
Speaker:It doesn't mean that we're a failure.
Speaker:It's part of your journey.
Speaker:It's a bump along the road for you guys.
Speaker:It sounded like it took her a few years because it
Speaker:was a big event,
Speaker:but still you just drive through,
Speaker:recover and carry on and tell us where you are today.
Speaker:What's the most exciting thing with cooks today,
Speaker:before we move on,
Speaker:We are opening where maybe some of the only wacky people
Speaker:in the country that are actually opening another bricks and mortar.
Speaker:There's a neighborhood here in Minneapolis called the North loop.
Speaker:It's every town in America has its version,
Speaker:whether it's Brooklyn or the meat packing district in Chicago,
Speaker:or down along the Embarcadero in San Francisco,
Speaker:it's the old warehouse space that is coming alive,
Speaker:being re gentrified,
Speaker:turning into multiunit housing and high density traffic.
Speaker:So we have found a really funny,
Speaker:interesting little spot and the very hipster neighborhood.
Speaker:And we're going to take a run to see if we
Speaker:can tweak our product assortment and sort of tweak our vision
Speaker:for that space to become a little more food centric and
Speaker:a little less pots and pan centric.
Speaker:And see if we can make a run at a fourth
Speaker:location. That sounds very exciting,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and I don't give up on brick and mortar.
Speaker:I got to tell you,
Speaker:I think it was Gary Vaynerchuk,
Speaker:not within the last 60 days or so was talking about
Speaker:the fact that still only between 15 and 19% of dollars
Speaker:are actually going through online sales.
Speaker:There is still a ton of opportunity in brick and mortar.
Speaker:So don't get discouraged.
Speaker:Yes. A lot of people come in,
Speaker:they comparison shop.
Speaker:Then they buy online.
Speaker:They're not your customer longterm.
Speaker:And they're certainly not the ones who are looking for the
Speaker:buyer experience as Carl's been talking about before.
Speaker:Well, and I think that some of that is all those
Speaker:statistics affect.
Speaker:I read not the same author,
Speaker:but another article saying that in our channel,
Speaker:it's still in the seven or 8%,
Speaker:total, it's one level to define it.
Speaker:And it's another level to sort of practicality live it.
Speaker:People are going to shop online and people are going to
Speaker:look for products in that sort of Cook's experience.
Speaker:Our vendors are recognizing it.
Speaker:We see increasingly the folks that we buy product from are
Speaker:holding a mat pricing line.
Speaker:They're cutting off Amazon.
Speaker:They're cutting off,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:some of the big violators of pricing structure.
Speaker:And it depends on your,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the environment and the sort of business category that your listeners
Speaker:are pursuing.
Speaker:And so the ultimate answer is to work with your vendors
Speaker:and ask what they're doing to support what it is that
Speaker:you're trying to do.
Speaker:And I think ultimately if Amazon is holding the same pricing
Speaker:guidelines as coaxes,
Speaker:or as Williams-Sonoma is,
Speaker:then we can compete.
Speaker:It's when you know,
Speaker:people who are price shoppers are going to buy based on
Speaker:price and Amazon is going to be attractive to them,
Speaker:but you can't call Amazon and say,
Speaker:I'm making a castle lay.
Speaker:What would the best pot be for me to purchase?
Speaker:Because I have 10 people calling for dinner on Saturday night,
Speaker:you're not going to get an answer to that.
Speaker:You can stop into your independent place.
Speaker:And they'll say,
Speaker:well, show me the recipe and I'll help you find ingredients
Speaker:and we'll source it.
Speaker:And here's the best pot.
Speaker:And here's how you serve it.
Speaker:And here's some candles that go along with your idea,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:Amazon can't compete in that environment.
Speaker:So as long as the vendors are aligned behind what each
Speaker:of their clients are trying to achieve,
Speaker:then if there's parody,
Speaker:then independence can compete.
Speaker:They just have to compete in a different way.
Speaker:Relationships. It goes back to relationships.
Speaker:They're trusting you because as you were talking about before,
Speaker:you've already tested and you know,
Speaker:that you've hand selected products,
Speaker:you're just not going to stock everything.
Speaker:And then being able that one-on-one,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:being able to come in and ask,
Speaker:come in or call and ask for recommendations and comments.
Speaker:So, yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. All right,
Speaker:Carl, we're going to swing now into the reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you.
Speaker:You've shared a bunch of things already in terms of how
Speaker:you've been successful along the way,
Speaker:but I have a couple of specific questions for you.
Speaker:If you think back to being a young boy,
Speaker:what would you say you call upon to remain successful and
Speaker:motivated and just driven for your business?
Speaker:What's your,
Speaker:It's just persistence and perseverance.
Speaker:I don't give up easy and I've never given up easy.
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I just keep my family,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you have that question around the dinner table of,
Speaker:of if you were a dog,
Speaker:what kind of dog would you be?
Speaker:And in my case with our entire family and all the
Speaker:kids and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we have a bunch of kids and they always referred to
Speaker:me as a terrier.
Speaker:I'm just,
Speaker:I'm relentless and that's good and bad.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there are times where I should let go and just move
Speaker:on, but I can't,
Speaker:I'm wired like a terrier.
Speaker:I'm just going to keep digging to try and find that
Speaker:Fox in the hole.
Speaker:And I'm not going to give up until I'm either chewed
Speaker:my legs off or I get it.
Speaker:And so there's,
Speaker:that's for me is my that's a good into bed.
Speaker:Yeah. And if you believe strongly enough in what you're doing,
Speaker:that's what makes you successful because you drive through,
Speaker:you find the solution.
Speaker:If one thing doesn't work,
Speaker:you go for something else until you've gotten the result that
Speaker:you need.
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:When you think of your day-to-day work environment,
Speaker:is there some tool or something that you call upon every
Speaker:day that is like the,
Speaker:like you could not do without Yes.
Speaker:It's called the Mobius.
Speaker:It's a communication model that we we've built our entire business
Speaker:around it.
Speaker:So the question that,
Speaker:whether it's in a moment of challenge or a moment of
Speaker:opportunity, a vision opportunity,
Speaker:or we're trying to figure out how to solve a particular
Speaker:problem. The Mobius model is written by a guy named bill
Speaker:Stockton, and he's a cultural anthropologist.
Speaker:And he started studying how primitive societies communicate.
Speaker:And then he took his learnings and applied it to modern
Speaker:day people.
Speaker:And then ultimately how to build a communication model for an
Speaker:organization. So when you have a challenge,
Speaker:it's not a who's at fault who's to blame.
Speaker:How are we going to find out someone that we can
Speaker:point our fingers at and say that this person,
Speaker:or this situation really is responsible for where we find ourselves
Speaker:and send it in a more holistic way.
Speaker:It's to say,
Speaker:where are we?
Speaker:What's the challenge what's present in our business currently that is
Speaker:contributing to this challenge,
Speaker:being a challenge.
Speaker:And what's missing that if it were present would enable us
Speaker:to overcome or work our way around this challenge.
Speaker:So the missings that you define then become the steps and
Speaker:the action items that the organization uses to get around the
Speaker:challenge that works equally well with what's our vision.
Speaker:We're going to open a new store in North loop.
Speaker:What do we want it to be?
Speaker:What's present to contributes to that new vision.
Speaker:What's missing that if it were present,
Speaker:would enable that vision to be that much stronger.
Speaker:We follow this Mobius path.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're carrier,
Speaker:like if I borrowed from before and how we follow it,
Speaker:we don't waiver.
Speaker:We use that tool and we use that model and our
Speaker:whole business is built around it.
Speaker:And it is incredibly powerful if you can work it and
Speaker:stick with it and be consistent in how you execute on
Speaker:it. All right.
Speaker:So a hundred percent hands down on the Mobius method,
Speaker:The path that we went down with understanding the Mobius was
Speaker:like so many other things.
Speaker:It's probably an eight year.
Speaker:Well, we we've actually,
Speaker:we use it for our annual planning thing and I took
Speaker:a picture of the other day and I can send it
Speaker:to you,
Speaker:but this is our 12th year that we followed the same
Speaker:annual planning program.
Speaker:And I still have all the charts that we've done.
Speaker:And I put them all up on a wall and took
Speaker:a photo and sent it to a friend of mine.
Speaker:It's almost like dedicating your life to a yoga practice.
Speaker:It's not superficial.
Speaker:It's either jump in and go with it and stick with
Speaker:it. Or there are certainly pieces in there that you can
Speaker:pull out and use and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:sort of move forward.
Speaker:But I think if you really understand it and study it
Speaker:and do the heavy lifting,
Speaker:it's there for the long haul,
Speaker:it's that sustainable model that we're looking for.
Speaker:You have piqued my curiosity for sure.
Speaker:Okay, great.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So in the end here,
Speaker:Carl, I would like to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I would like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:It's a great gift.
Speaker:And I appreciate that.
Speaker:It's actually kind of easy for me to answer,
Speaker:and that is that I used to think for a long
Speaker:time that I wanted to be widely considered to be sort
Speaker:of the best in our category.
Speaker:And two years ago,
Speaker:we won the global innovators award for the housewares association.
Speaker:So we were the winner from the United States.
Speaker:It's, you know,
Speaker:it's a,
Speaker:a juried submission with,
Speaker:and all kinds of descriptors of our business.
Speaker:And it's kind of funny and Williams-Sonoma one,
Speaker:it, you know,
Speaker:say seven or eight years ago.
Speaker:So we were selected three years ago at the end of
Speaker:2013. So we won the U S innovators award.
Speaker:And then we went to the sort of global championship and
Speaker:there were 25 retail operations from around the world,
Speaker:Germany and England.
Speaker:And we were picked as the,
Speaker:they told us we were the first unanimous decision in the
Speaker:12 years.
Speaker:They've had the award between the judging panel voted us first.
Speaker:Their first round was,
Speaker:Hey, who do you think is the best one this year?
Speaker:And everyone said,
Speaker:cooks, cooks coast cooks says that was the first time ever
Speaker:that there was a consensus first balloting winner.
Speaker:And it was pretty cool.
Speaker:There were four winners the year that we won of the
Speaker:28 submissions or 23.
Speaker:So after that,
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:I guess I have to pick a different vision.
Speaker:So I no longer felt like,
Speaker:well, I want to be widely considered to be the best
Speaker:in our category.
Speaker:Now, I think I'd like to be considered as the best
Speaker:in a category of one that if we are living our
Speaker:vision and we're creating something that is truly us and unique
Speaker:to us,
Speaker:then we will be unique.
Speaker:And at that point we can say where the best in
Speaker:the category of one.
Speaker:And I think that would be for me,
Speaker:the ultimate sort of gift or vision for what cooks could
Speaker:become, Which means you will have created your very own category.
Speaker:Exactly. Period.
Speaker:The only one in it.
Speaker:Well, Carl such interesting information.
Speaker:I am so glad I knew that this interview was going
Speaker:to prove exactly that if someone wanted to get in touch
Speaker:with you and cooks,
Speaker:what's the single place that someone should go.
Speaker:If they want to see and learn about cooks of Crocus
Speaker:Hill, It would be our website that's www.cooksofcrocushill.com.
Speaker:Wonderful. All right.
Speaker:Give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:on the show notes page,
Speaker:I will also have that website repeated one more time,
Speaker:also social media site and any other links that make sense
Speaker:for our interview today,
Speaker:as well as some of the other information in terms of
Speaker:some of the detail that we've talked about during the show
Speaker:here, Carl,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:I really appreciate your taking the time to be with us.
Speaker:You've shared some really,
Speaker:really interesting points and it's so cool.
Speaker:Not you just at the very end,
Speaker:just land this global innovators award on us.
Speaker:So that was super awesome.
Speaker:I wish we could take it on longer and talk a
Speaker:little bit more about that.
Speaker:But congratulations on that.
Speaker:There is not a doubt in my mind that you,
Speaker:at some point are going to be the winner of a
Speaker:category of one,
Speaker:and may your candle always burn bright.
Speaker:You learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your
Speaker:business. Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your
Speaker:business and life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available gift biz,
Speaker:unwrap.com/tools. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grantor products of your
Speaker:logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica Gribbon to add to a gift,
Speaker:right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or cross studio in
Speaker:seconds. Check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information after you listen to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and review help to increase the
Speaker:visibility of on ramp.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,