Entrepreneur Exchange Mailbag 2024

[00:00:02] What you want when you want it, where you want it. This is The Mesh. Welcome to the Entrepreneur Exchange on the Mesh Podcast Network. A monthly conversation about startups and small business with ideas, tools and advice

[00:00:23] to operate your business effectively. We have a special show today that is time to empty the entrepreneur exchange mailbag. We get mail from people at the Mesh.TV account, the EX change at the Mesh.TV. We get mail at our work accounts. Sometimes we're just

[00:00:43] recognized on the street by bill collectors and what not who have many questions of us. Anyway, we're going to be talking about questions that you've given us. We'll also highlight some businesses on our small business and the month features that you should

[00:00:54] be checking out. My name is Jeff Newville. I'm your co-host. I'm director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Connover, North Carolina. I'm joined by my co-host Gary Mueller, who is executive dean of economic development and corporate education at the Tobbeck Community College

[00:01:10] in Hickory, North Carolina. Gary, how are you doing and then I get your title right? You've got my title right. You've really become an expert. You're saying it better than I do. Well, I've got a written down here because there's no way I can actually remember

[00:01:23] that I hate that it's the longest title on campus. Well, you're perhaps, you know, this the longest title mean signify your importance. No, it means I have a lot of work to do. Well, but that's okay. That's good. That's good. That's job security is this.

[00:01:41] So, well, we're taping today. It is March 1. Welcome to March. You know, spring might be around a corner. You know, our weather's been pretty darn good. Although it's been cold and then when it's cold, it's clear. And when it's raining, it's warm. Otherwise we would have gotten

[00:02:00] creams noisers because we had a lot of writing lately. But we are in March. How do you feel in a Bachelor of Basketball team? Let's talk about something that's really good. I'm feeling

[00:02:11] okay. I'm not overly confident. I mean, I think they've done well, but they strike me as they make a run or they could go on early. Don't know, depends what which one shows up. And the Wake Forest Basketball team is on the cusp of making the tournament.

[00:02:26] Yeah, they lost a bad loss this week after beating Duke and storming the floor and knocking out when it Duke's players, I'm sorry. No, we don't. Now we don't. We don't can don't knocking out.

[00:02:39] But he's fine, thank goodness. But we don't get to storm the floor very often. So they were excited. Act like you've been there here. Now what we do, then actually no we don't.

[00:02:52] So I know people really don't turn in to hear us jabber about our basketball team. Let's talk about baseball. They want to hear us answer questions, provide some hopefully helpful advice.

[00:03:07] So we do have an email address that E exchange at the mesh.tv where you can email us questions and we've accumulated some over time that we figured we'll do our best to thank you. It's a great idea.

[00:03:21] And awesome. So that's what we're going to do today. So first question from a Gilbert L who attends Adam's college, not sure what that is. How important is formal education for becoming an entrepreneur? Which I found it strange that someone from college would write this

[00:03:40] question because apparently they're putting not a chunk of change to being in to get a formal education. I don't know, you know, there well he may be questioning his decision. Maybe maybe it's not a

[00:03:51] good investment. Yeah, I mean he may be looking at it and we hear it all the time. Somebody's in another job or they're going to school but they've come up with a great idea or had a great idea for a long

[00:04:01] time in their mind and they may think they're wasting time. Formal is the key word to me when I look at his question. I mean from standpoint if you're thinking to have to go to a four-year

[00:04:14] school or you have to go get your master's and of course, you know, I would say that's not true. I think you do need formal guidance. I think you need to build a group around you and go to

[00:04:27] classes at the local community college or a four-year school talking about the key things that you need to know when you're going into business. I think one of the things that, you know, we get an idea

[00:04:39] but we don't know all the things that we need to be looking at. I mean we've been doing it a long time but there's always something that's changing and you know if you do you're going in and saying

[00:04:50] I'm just going to go start this business without formal backing, not on the financial too that from a support standpoint I think it's risky. Well and I know that there are educational institutions that have started not just started, they've been creating entrepreneurship degrees

[00:05:11] and entrepreneurship programs. To me always strikes the question of our people born with entrepreneurial skills or can they be taught entrepreneurial skills and I suspect there's not a right answer to that for some people. I'm sure that rounds out their experience in education. Yeah, I think that

[00:05:33] when that question comes up I think depends on the person and what they're not just their background but their personal makeup. Well as you were saying it's certainly not a requirement. I mean

[00:05:47] I think that we can look back at some of the great entrepreneurs, you know we'll call them entrepreneurs or it's like that probably failed out of college or left college to pursue their dreams.

[00:05:58] Yeah it seems to me that I'm not sure a Steve Jobs falls in that category. Mark Zuckerberg, you know they were. I think they've done okay. Yeah and so so it's not like they completed the degree

[00:06:08] but I sort of like what you were saying in that building a foundation of business skills just so you can even talk the language. I think I think it's important. Yeah I do.

[00:06:20] I agree with you. You don't need to be the expert but you need to speak the language and it's a little self serving for our college or community colleges as a whole and you and I

[00:06:31] we built the curriculum entrepreneurship program so where people can come and take one course and then they can add two or three more and get a certificate and then they can get another certificate

[00:06:44] and then they could go all the way up to an associate's degree which would lead them to a four-year school but what you and I've spent most of our time in the last handful of years is providing

[00:06:55] continuing education courses short term training to help if they need someone needs help in a specific area and I think that works. You also were key in working with NACE on starting the entrepreneurship program and a continuation education that a little bit more than just a short term

[00:07:21] and so we have a smorgersport of things we can do at our college and I'm sure other colleges have the same type of thing. Yeah you're smiling at me as I'm saying that. NACE she's

[00:07:32] she's a looker. Anyway let's do a very good organization. Let's move to our next question well we want to try to get through as many of these as we can and a reasonable amount. Sorry

[00:07:46] you know I talk a lot. Well we need to. These are worthy of discussion so our next question comes from Betty C in Seattle, Washington and it's sort of a general question how can I find funding for my

[00:07:59] business idea and you know when we get questions whether it be through the mail bag or just working with people we always get questions. Everybody has questions about money show me the money

[00:08:10] where do I get the funding and you know and again it's complicated. You know it's often going to depend on where you are in the cycle you know something about the way she wrote this question

[00:08:24] about a business idea. Idea can be very challenging to fund. Now ideas are great but sales and revenue and traction are what's really valuable idea. And then again it does get back

[00:08:42] to when you're trying to get funding from somebody they want to see what your support group is. What's what's the team of you put together? Or support group it could be. It's not going

[00:08:54] away. So you know and we've talked with and met people from different parts of the continuum we've worked with service providers or you know people that are might be starting a small store or whatnot and you know the funding options out there are going to be very different

[00:09:19] than something that's scalable and and has greater revenue potential. I was talking with some folks from one of our from a large national bank yesterday and you know about some of the challenges of funding and yeah their idea of a startup company is someone who's been in business

[00:09:41] and had some success for two years you know come come show us two years of financials and then we'd love to have that conversation it's not like the the larger banks are going to open their

[00:09:52] doors and embrace new businesses until they are showing some success. People also come to us and talk about angel investors equity investors and there's some out there but again their interest there is going to be for a pretty significant return and again they're going to be looking

[00:10:19] for more scalable opportunities than than the smaller business. Right so in a course if it's you're adding you're coming you think it's going to be the best thing in the world and it's personal

[00:10:31] so when you and you've done this even many more times than I have talking to folks about the realities of what they need to know and things they because we want how you phrase it I won't

[00:10:46] use the one term about dreams but they need it's better to know early that it may not be a viable idea or they don't have the foundation to go forward even though it may be a little painful

[00:11:03] it's much better than getting into it and you know it's spent a lot of money in a lot of time and it doesn't work out of course you never know because it's always hard work and usually

[00:11:14] businesses take a little while to get started so you know it's when you make that choice of which way you're supposed to go. Well and also let's talk a little bit about bootstrapping now and

[00:11:24] you know regardless of the type of business that your your idea is a bound or what your idea is in all likelihood it's going to take some of your money it's gonna take money from your family and

[00:11:40] friends and one of our colleagues would always say it's no it's the three of us it's family friends and fools that are well right but yeah money into new businesses so you know whether you're opening

[00:11:53] the little shop around the corner whether you're trying to come up with some sort of technology idea to get it to a certain level it's probably gonna take something out of your pocket or

[00:12:04] someone that you know to get it through that initial stage so it's not like there are lots of buckets of money that people are throwing around despite what you might see or read out. We

[00:12:16] might hear about them but you know but usually that takes a lot of time in building a business plan it doesn't happen when you just when they show up it's your office when you are in charge of

[00:12:25] the small business center. Did they always every person ask about where the money is? Not all of them but yeah a good chunk of the number of them and yeah there there seems to be

[00:12:38] perceptions out there that the government has lots of money that they're throwing at businesses and the government has lots of money but yeah they're generally not in the business of choosing privately owned businesses to support. They're throwing in another area. Yeah there

[00:12:56] are publicly owned organizations to support so anyway. You know you have to roll up your sleeves and really identify at least initially where that money is going to come from and not expect it

[00:13:11] to be throwing at you by lenders or or equity funds. And I worry about folks that say I'm going to go start a business or I want to be an entrepreneur when they they lost a job unfortunately

[00:13:22] and we hear that a lot and it may be really good at it but when they're saying that they're not realizing it's a 24-7 job and like say putting your own money and or your family money it's

[00:13:35] in most cases it's probably harder than a regular job. Particularly getting started and the returns are not usually not going to come nearly as quickly as people expect you know it's

[00:13:46] that this you know if you're looking if you've got to pay that mortgage next month and you want to start your business this month uh oh that's a problem yeah so exactly but so next question I think

[00:13:59] is somewhat related to that question it comes from jiles and in uh in Connecticut and this when should a start up look for external funding how did they decide what percentage of the company

[00:14:13] to offer for funding? I'm betting giles might be watching Shark Tank a little too much. This sounds like the sounds like right out of the Shark Tank sort of thing where it's like you know I'm

[00:14:22] going to give you 10% of the company for $200,000 and they're all sort of doing their quick math to sell you're saying the valuation in this company is this uh how do you kind of have to

[00:14:33] that number? Well and you know I'm a Shark Tank fan from the very beginning and more because it's entertainment but also think it helps people look at what a pitch would look like. I mean get a

[00:14:45] remember they're on TV so the sharks are sometimes playing to the uh tamaris but they're also giving you some good advice I mean and I think one of the questions that when you just said

[00:14:58] then maybe think when you were talking earlier are you gonna spend 100% of your time in this job if it's part time an investor may not be as excited about it if it you got a full time job

[00:15:12] and I'm going to work on this on the side it's want to get back from work and that's not it's a red flag or something people need to look at if it's as an investor but then if you're going to go

[00:15:25] all in then is the person you got to make sure as you just talked about having the money and the resource to be able to do it because it's your jump enough uh the side of the lake into the water

[00:15:37] when you say okay I'm not gonna have a full time job or and I'm gonna have to go make some money you guys I'm trying to build this idea. We're having enough to be able to draw on quite the leap of

[00:15:47] a you know when I think about when somebody puts the question in these terms in terms of saying you know what percentage of the company should I be considering to offer for funding you know no they're trying to find equity partners or you know equity investors we're not

[00:16:10] you know you're you're we're not talking bank loans banks don't want to percentage of your business they just want you to repay your loan with interest but you know think through if you're going to be talking about equity investors you need you know some combination

[00:16:29] of demonstrating traction you know sales and a path towards profitability and or you might have some intellectual property that someone might see as valuable so so making sure that you've properly protected that intellectual property whether it be patent or or whatnot you have to

[00:16:58] have something to sell to somebody so make sure that before you have any of those conversations that you properly covered those bases so absolutely that's that's always makes me a little bit nervous you know people you know might might assume that their investors out there but

[00:17:15] you know be careful because when you start sharing information about your company better have it properly protected or someone might find something similar to this right so be careful out there all right we're getting into your wheelhouse now Gary oh I didn't answer the question on percentage

[00:17:35] okay I didn't dodge it on purpose I just gave me another idea yeah when somebody's asking I'm it that's really hard every situation is different I'm not going to come up with a dynamic answer but

[00:17:46] every situation is different every idea is different and how important it is what it be to you to say I've got at least 51% of the ownership of my company well that is one thing that I do believe in

[00:18:01] if you're going into something that you don't want to give up ownership I control in my mind that's my personal thing I mean so if somebody if you were saying I'll give you 20% and somebody wanted 45%

[00:18:18] you know and obviously depends on how much they're paying for such a portion of ownership with that with that buggy so long as you've got more than 50% again I think you're also when they're investors

[00:18:30] you've got to see if your goals are the same if you've got the right mix of personality and what they're their backgrounds I don't think I'd feel good about I would always feel better if I

[00:18:43] had 55 and they got 45 no matter what and that the contracts written to make sure that majority ownership has the decision making because that always helps but I still think even in getting in business and in getting an investor you want them to have similar mindset

[00:19:02] and I think that's a very good point in that understanding the end game you know is this if you're a business and it's something that you want to continue working with as you bring in

[00:19:15] partners that's one thing if you're you're bringing in somebody because you want to sell your business in three to five years that's a totally different mindset you know you're trying to scale it up

[00:19:26] very quickly and increase its value sell it and get out and do the next thing so so that's you know getting making making sure that you guys are making sure that whoever you work with

[00:19:38] that you're in alignment with is very important well I can give you a couple of examples good and bad my brother and I've started a few businesses and of course we're relative mindset

[00:19:50] now family businesses are also very tricky not good god bless my brother and I get along well so that it's worked out well but you're even as family or maybe even because you're family

[00:20:01] issues will come up and that can be a challenge but I've also been at another side where having some folks together and we actually had seven partners in the business and four of them were like mine the other three had some wild ideas and that came challenging

[00:20:21] well I've been watching a TV series called a rested development that has a lot of those families so I can recommend that out to folks as well so is that we'll be a kind of course good be so next question comes from Charles L in Champagne Illinois

[00:20:41] I'm starting a cannabis business but I'm struggling to find funding options thoughts on funding a cannabis business you know in that and you're asking me yeah because you've got a lot of

[00:20:52] experience with this yeah I'm not not you know and North Carolina we're Gary and I are there are their limitations on this it's not legal to do to start a cannabis business here although

[00:21:08] seems like I read something maybe in the last couple days that one was being started in Cherokee North Carolina and I don't know if that's because it's in the in the organization that has

[00:21:19] other that they operate differently so so something starting there but you know we know that many banks and financial organizations don't want to do business with cannabis businesses because of concerns about legal issues and transferring things across the state lines of whatnot so that's

[00:21:42] it's a very tricky situation there's a good example of what we've been talking about I would not be a good person to be involved in that business right now not because of

[00:21:58] whether I would buy that product but that don't know as much about that probably because of my interest or my lifestyle what are you going to say so if somebody is saying I want to start now I

[00:22:09] could probably help with the financial side you know and give some ideas and setting up projections stuff but I wouldn't necessarily be a great business partner to be talking through ideas

[00:22:21] because I can't spell cannabis so so you don't really have any investors lined up for the the next cannabis business coming down I don't so well that doesn't say I don't have some fraternity brothers

[00:22:34] well yeah I guess the only and this is not my area of expertise either the one thing I'll say is if you're looking for investors you know and there are going to be some limitations on the type

[00:22:49] of investors that are going to want to invest in this type of field but I think it's important to really develop a good financial plan to demonstrate that you understand what your cost and

[00:23:05] how you're going to make money yeah you know show me how you're going to make money you know if you have a really tight solid financial plan that you can present to potential investors again you know probably

[00:23:16] not uh uh thanks more the formal type people you know but yeah I think this is a place where equity investors or business partners are probably going to come into a play but I think that for any

[00:23:30] business whether it be cannabis or anything making sure that you've got a really tight financial plan that can show a path to profitability is going to be what is going to make it

[00:23:42] investable yeah well again that's where both of us but you know I could get involved in helping and building a financial model they'd have to give me the right assumptions and those type of things

[00:23:54] but that isn't important I think it is an every investment that you got to be able to show people how it can make money so uh next question and this is more of a general question what are some

[00:24:08] this comes from uh Lewis Goldnick and Chicago what are some essential qualities for a successful entrepreneur but we do you know when you think of a successful entrepreneur are there certain qualities that you think of Gary? I think someone with a strong personality has passionate about their idea

[00:24:32] willing to work hard and we're harder than they would be if they were working for somebody else understand that as passionate as are and how strong will they are that they need good support team I know I've said that about 10 times already but I think it's true

[00:24:53] because I've seen people that were really sharp but they were so had to be there a way that you know even no matter who was helping them they were going to still do it

[00:25:02] their way and they didn't do well but I think I do think you need to have a you have to be resilient because they'll be some very tough times probably oh and I always say never say never never say always

[00:25:15] but in this case it's probably always the challenging times and that's not the as much as others but yeah when I met people that are in starting businesses you know when I was in I've

[00:25:30] for what I've done is to cancel and for start ups and you know to me I think I always my thought process and just in having initial meetings with people is there's certain people that

[00:25:42] their idea might be a little bit more basic but you just get a sense of that person that person is not going to let anything stand in his or her way yeah they're going to they're going to necessarily

[00:25:51] steam roll you but they're just going to figure out their their problem solvers are going to figure out how to get things accomplished and they're not going to accept it can't be done

[00:26:01] you know and there are other people that might have just this incredible idea but just not have that resilience or ability that fall through ability to do it so I always fan myself saying

[00:26:17] that the people the the businesses that I'm going to bet on are really more about the person than the idea you know someone might come with a rather vanilla idea and maybe they want to open

[00:26:27] a store or create some sort of software project that there's other competition out there but just get a sense from a certain person that they're going to figure it out they're going to make it

[00:26:37] happen and and to me it's it's betting on that person who just is you know willing to do whatever it takes within legal bounds to make it happen so I agree with you so anyway that's

[00:26:52] yeah again there's you know that I'm sure we can look at entrepreneurs and and they might have very different approaches do things and different approaches are going to work there's not one right

[00:27:07] answer so um stand G in Charlotte asks us how can I effectively market my business on a tight budget by one you've heard before yes you know what I think about it and the college we're doing different

[00:27:24] programs yeah that's what how we doing it there what do you what recommendations do you have when you want to type budget obviously be very careful with what you're going to do the plans and so

[00:27:37] I would try to use as many social media I might say free but inexpensive ways to get our message out but you have to you can't just sit there I used the term probably once a week can't be the best

[00:27:55] kept secret in town so you've got to get out there doesn't matter how great your idea is if people don't know about it and again I use it with our programming at the college sometimes that we have

[00:28:05] a good really good marketing department but I need to give them the right information so they can get the message out otherwise what I think really if they don't know they don't know you don't know

[00:28:14] what you don't know yeah and certainly social media provides an opportunity to operate pretty cost effectively you know I think you certainly need an online presence and it's not particularly expensive to work with somebody or or build your own website these days so I think that's important

[00:28:39] I to me some one of the more important piece of advice I think I can share we can share is that that you need to be very specific about who you are targeting you know if you're trying to target the whole

[00:28:54] world that can be very expensive I mean you you need to really think through who your target customers are and really do everything you can to focus on on them and not just be chasing chasing everybody

[00:29:06] yeah that's going to that's going to cost you more if you're yeah I'd rather I'd rather spend some money going on to going to a trade show or something where I know specific customers are

[00:29:17] going to be the the types of customers I'm looking for going to be as opposed to doing more general type advertising so I'll throw that one out there and we did be intentional at what

[00:29:33] you're doing very much so I mean you got to prioritize you know when you're you're talking about a type budget and really anyone starting a business kind of has to be very careful

[00:29:46] about where they're putting well and you hear it all the time and I guess I probably thought about when I was younger that you know let's market to the world because everybody's going to like it or

[00:29:58] but we need to be focused on who the people that can take advantage of our product or service so sort of related to that question Lamar L and Greensboro North Carolina asks us what are some

[00:30:12] tips for building a strong brand identity so sort of like marketing maybe yeah to me from a brand identity you know people come and say I want to build a brand I want to build a brand which is you know

[00:30:28] a very great noble good thing to do understand that it's going to you know brands do not happen overnight exactly it takes time and it takes much consistency you know so you know I think

[00:30:45] you know following through and being consistent the way you're promoting yourself you know developing the brand presence whether it be logos or whatnot or it's got to be a lot of consistency out there

[00:30:56] is going to take a lot of time going to take some money so so you better you better strap in so that's that's what I think of when somebody people talk to me about brands what I think it takes time

[00:31:09] and you know it's not gonna do it this is what I'm going to be known for well gotta make sure you have the resources and the wherewithal to follow through and that so and I think every idea

[00:31:20] and every situation of it evolves you may start here but we know we'll be tweaking it if we're lucky the many times we'll be making a big shift from what we started because we saw something in the

[00:31:33] environment that made a different or you know our resources I know keep coming back to it but if you've got a strong network and a strong foundation you'll be able to do things much quicker than if you're

[00:31:45] trying to do it all yourself so so yeah I'm sure you watch the Super Bowl of course okay and and perhaps the most popular commercial or maybe I'll say most memorable commercial that came out

[00:32:01] was for Dunkin Dunkin Donuts because they have more money than startups because they had some big celebrities right here yeah so yeah when you think I'm I'm just curious how and I don't know why

[00:32:15] even brought this up I don't know that yeah I'm just I love Dunkin Donuts well how do you think the the commercial it had been an aflactment name in Tom Brady Jennifer Lopez you know some some

[00:32:27] pretty well known people in it was my first thought yeah I'm in it was it did you find it to be authentic was it on brand or was it just entertainment I think it was just entertainment I

[00:32:37] thought of how much money they were paying for a lot of dollars that's a lot of donuts exactly you know and there's some sort of Boston imagery there I don't know yeah or New England imagery

[00:32:47] I don't know is that is that what they're trying to get across but the being honest is see because I guess I do picture Dunkin Donuts is a more northeastern and I don't know where the

[00:32:58] spread-acres are said big now they're up but they were attracted we do have them in North Carolina we do I have one within half mile in my house God bless so I you know to me authenticity is a word

[00:33:11] that I think of one of you know for successful brands and I guess I guess I'm just been puzzling in my brain how to connect their commercial so the authenticity I guess I would say that that was more for entertainment and to get because you what we remember

[00:33:28] that commercial I don't remember all the things they did other than it was kind of silly and and they had big stars but some of Dunkin Donuts fan I'm gonna go there from my cream

[00:33:38] filled down it and a few other things I don't drink coffee so I'm sure they'll sell you a soda buddy something that or a latte or something so last marketing related question that we had

[00:33:54] in there from a WD in Phoenix Arizona and it goes back another cannabis entrepreneur how can I effectively market my business while adhering to strict advertising regulations you know which which again I guess that sort of comes back to some of the funding you know and I'm I'm

[00:34:14] not been involved with marketing a cannabis business I don't know if I guess perhaps some of the social media platforms have restrictions I don't know or states may have different

[00:34:25] restrictions I guess that could be it as well so I you know I guess when I think about a cannabis entrepreneur I'm thinking more about probably some of these happy or at least mellow but

[00:34:41] I'm thinking about more of a store type location for either medicinal or depending on what state you're in recreational purposes you know so I would assume that there's also you know some degree of word of mouth organic advertising no pun intended that was going along with that

[00:35:05] you know you're trying to find ways to get the the word out about what you're doing and yeah rely on social media as much as I could content creation while adhering to whatever regulations are out there but I guess I would also look for partnering opportunities you know

[00:35:28] go sponsor that the kids soccer team yeah you'll put your your cannabis on their back or something like that how would that look I don't know what do you think yeah you get people's attention with the community college like put some advertising on the players

[00:35:45] for the local handship shop yeah we're no well you know prices right all right what's we want that's well if we're in downtown LA community college it's probably just fine and maybe that's what they're doing um Arnold P from Denver how can I manage my time effectively

[00:36:07] and stay productive as an entrepreneur what sort of what sort of organizational tips or things time management tips do you have for for folks out there I like that question and because I asked me that question before you're very organized and very struck sorry we put on a

[00:36:28] great facade then but now you are I think it's critical with your working for a business or you're working for yourself to be organized I think and if you're going to go out on your own

[00:36:41] I think it's even more important because there're going to be so many things that come up in your life you've got to be able to know what your partners you just said you've got to have

[00:36:52] priorities and actually I do it every day you know and I do a personal and I do a business because and then I try to blend them and I I probably over organized it I don't think over

[00:37:06] think it because I still when life gets in the way I do the most important things but if I didn't have that in front of me to make sure that oh gosh I said I was going to do that yesterday I

[00:37:16] didn't but it's over here and so I just because I like to check things off and are you and yeah asked this as I'm looking at your your pad in front of you I mean yes are you still more of a

[00:37:32] right hand-righted down type guy or there are technology things that you rely on as well good question because yes I used to carry three pads depending on for high medium and low price with personal's now I use my computer too much my wife Tammy would tell me but

[00:37:52] now I having that is invaluable and being so I'm much more not tech savvy but I use a lot I need it and using phone I mean things she sits there gosh how do we do business before we had phones

[00:38:09] so your pro computers and pro phones yes I am okay lots yeah so I've made progress right controversial positions here you know so I one of the things that I've found myself relying more on

[00:38:23] is Google Docs and Google Sheets I mean that you know this sounds awful but it allows me to easily get to that information from multiple locations you know meeting oh I can work from home too

[00:38:42] I know it isn't always particularly healthier or whatnot so I mean I'm taking me a while to embrace that but I maintain a lot of my schedule and lists you know using a lot of the the Google options at this

[00:38:57] point it's just very good thing because you do these days and times when it's with us we should take advantage of it because you never know when something's going to happen and having it

[00:39:08] access at home or when you're found or whatever happens to be is important so we're going to take one more question here out of the mail bag and then we're going to move on to our lighting round

[00:39:20] which I'm going to hit you with them oh my gosh I have a guess but to Shiro T and used in Texas asked a question what are some resources available to help me on my entrepreneurial journey and

[00:39:35] there are a lot of free resources out there so you know and you know we've talked about the importance of prioritizing your money and your funding so before you go out there and you know a higher

[00:39:51] consultant or someone to help you look for those free resources whether it be the small business administration here in North Carolina we've got small business centers at community colleges we have an organization called a small business and technology development center that's affiliated with

[00:40:08] our university system which provide free counseling a lot of free training connections most states have some sort of small business development the organization that provides something similar so you know those to me those are the first resources I would be reaching out to

[00:40:28] there's there's a one time what I would have said yes I think because they're also they're very good and they've got a lot of backing in behind them and when I see somebody at the first place I

[00:40:42] suggest as a small business center in the area that they're in and then you should get great support and of course they want you mentioned are all very worthwhile so I think those are the good

[00:40:53] starting points and I know also like your your local chamber of commerce the one that we have here in our area has a group that focuses on entrepreneurship and makes an effort in trying to connect

[00:41:09] entrepreneurs to to funders to support organizations so that might be another resource that you should be talking and I'm glad you said that because I spend a lot of time in the chamber like you do

[00:41:22] and they have an initiative that they've started website or on their website to help people looking for help starting a business and it's very good and that would actually be a document that would be useful to them there's some some information that's just oriented to our geographic

[00:41:43] area but if you if you check out the Kataba County Chamber of Commerce Google that you'll find their startup guide and in another resource that you can access regardless of whether you're a chamber member or a living Kataba County North Carolina but you could probably just another tool

[00:42:01] that you can benefit from. I think that'd be very good so anyway that's good called there okay well listen we very much appreciate everyone giving us some questions to answer so thank you so much and if you email us at eXchangeatthemesh.tv you know as we collect more

[00:42:23] questions we'll do another meal backshot we love that that was great that's fine all right now usually when we have a guest we do a lightning round each each month and and Gary says we don't have a guest

[00:42:36] you are have to do the lightning round well god bless and I may shock some people with my answers of course I don't know what the questions are that's right because you change it you don't know what

[00:42:46] the questions are in the lightning round this month this sponsored by Ned Ryerson Insurance whole life auto flood home you really can't have enough insurance am I right or am I right so my wife says

[00:42:59] stay safe with Ned Ryerson Insurance checking out on the internet so Gary some quick questions quick answers don't think too much well you know I don't well yes I do react too quickly sometimes all right

[00:43:11] favorite vacation spot the beach be more specific I like the beaches in North and South Carolina okay why don't you and I like California I thought you were going to say Charleston well yeah that's

[00:43:26] why I said North and South Carolina I love Charleston as you know sweet salty or sour sweet and salty sweet and salty yeah honey roasted peanuts okay but if I had to choose one sweet because you

[00:43:44] everybody knows that I have a soft spot for sure that was what I was guessing you know yes I start breakfast with sweets lunch sweets and then dinner is something normal favorite Olympic sport gosh I love the Olympics probably track and feel

[00:44:07] sir deserve a particular track and field event that you'll but that you enjoy more of it enjoy seeing things that don't normally see in regular basis high jump long jump I love running

[00:44:21] even though people get pouring I enjoy watching the end of the race to see how it goes enjoy the the winter Olympics because of those sort of things just because I don't that

[00:44:32] the the long jump or what they call it was at the long jump high you know the triple jump let me go off the ramp in the winter Olympics what excuse and that I was going to go to the winter

[00:44:43] Olympics because I love that because I don't really pay much attention to it but during the Olympics I would love skiing I love hockey I love ice skating even though I'm not a big ice skater but I like to

[00:44:52] see I like people can be I love the gymnastics too by the way that's like a such a summer Olympics what is a typical Gary Mueller launch okay I'm so I

[00:45:04] well if we go it's those some egos some Mexican Mexican okay that was that typical no well yeah I love that's I love Mexican food I like Chinese and Japanese food but of course I love I'm going to say this

[00:45:19] I do love chicken and beef and I is it true that I'll back go out and business where's that a force I think that's a force good so because then that that was

[00:45:33] we go there back once a week they might be closing locations here and there but I don't think I did start to drink about that and I don't drink for that last night what's your favorite dessert

[00:45:47] I love desserts do you have a favorite ice cream pie yeah like ice cream in cake ice cream okay yeah it was like brownies and ice cream together yes together yes I like anything with ice cream or whipped cream last question

[00:46:05] what is your spirit animal I'm sorry I'm thinking too long I don't know I'll have to or retriever very happy and they you know you're slapping all over the place that's you we've had labs in our family for a long time and

[00:46:25] they are they make me happy good answer okay well yeah thanks for playing the lightning we're not I love that that was fun all right so we always like to wind up with small businesses you

[00:46:37] got you have a small business that you want to give a shout out to today I was talking to one of my boys so I actually have a couple I have one that I may have said a long time ago because she was

[00:46:51] one of our boys play friends when they were younger jade a core win and she started her own homemade pottery in Georgia and we were talking about her last night and so I just thought I she's got some

[00:47:05] very creative things it she's a core win COR WIN pottery dot com and I recommend her and then here's another one he mentioned and this is way out of my will houses you know because it's usually

[00:47:20] pets or food actually in tailors owner of DTI F.I. dress for the image which is kind of what's ladies stuff but it was a young lady that he grew up with has started her own boutique I

[00:47:40] think they're in Newark and they're looking at coming to Charleston area dress for the image DTI F.I. cool yeah what sounds nice way out of my wheelhouse but it was pretty I looked at it website

[00:47:53] I said this looks pretty cool and it's neat when you knew them when they were younger and they're out on their own doing entrepreneurship type things well yeah some of your entrepreneurship must have

[00:48:03] rubbed off on the family and rubbed off on friend I don't know well our son he's he's an entrepreneur Terry likes to start new things too okay we'll good deal so I'm going to give a shout out

[00:48:16] to a startup that I learned about when I went to entrepreneurship conference last fall sponsored by NC idea which is a great organization here in North Carolina that promotes entrepreneurship

[00:48:35] company small business called I'm sure I'm not pronouncing it right but it's we used W E Y E Z E and if you go there W E Y E Z E dot org you'll find them but it was actually started by a young lady

[00:48:57] I think it's still a student maybe at University of North Carolina named Sasha Sorkin who had some vision issues when she was younger and she sort of found that there was a real problem

[00:49:12] in the world and that there are literally millions of people who struggle because they can't get access to correct division glasses you know and whether that's because of geographic barriers or financial barriers but you know it creates issues with education employment transportation

[00:49:34] so she is working on developing a kit that is a self administered corrective lens kit that provides a customized and measure pair of glasses to people helps with both near-side in this or far

[00:49:50] side in this and she's currently doing beta testing on it and she has a goal of reaching 100,000 users in 2024 and you can actually pre order a kit at this point in time but she's currently testing

[00:50:03] it in the world North Carolina so you can go to their website pre order a kit learn more about them at w-e-y-e-z dot org so check them out. Pennsylvania that's great of course you know

[00:50:20] I've had some eye issues in the last 60 days that came out of nowhere and God bless we have gracestone in our community and I thought about that a lot what if I didn't have the resources

[00:50:34] or someone really good I just can't say I might have gone blind in my right eye. No and like I've gotten old so now if I don't have readers I can't read well everybody needs that.

[00:50:45] Yeah well that's what I mean seriously even before you get old people need that so she's trying to keep trying to help solve that problem so we we get for her wish her luck and support her and

[00:50:55] just seeing a young person sort of business like this it can be quite inspiring so yeah so so check them out so very good. If you have a suggestion for the entrepreneur exchange small

[00:51:06] business a month please email us with your questions at exchangeatthemesh.tv and we'd love to use your suggestions there we appreciate everybody listening we thank you for joining us today

[00:51:19] with the hot bar change on the mesh podcast network and great to go to the mesh.tv and see all the cool podcast so we're going to put the mesh network here. I'll studio again next month.

[00:51:33] Love it thank you for thing to do. Thanks. I'm sorry I can't. Danger deserves. They might deserve an anacococole. Take care. You've been listening to the mesh and online media network of shows and programs ranging from business

[00:52:00] to arts sports to entertainment music to community. I'll program our available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube. Check us out online at themesh.tv. Discover other network shows and give us feedback on what you just heard.