Entrepreneurs Solving Everyday Problems with Megan Eddings, Accel Lifestyle

[00:00:02] What you want when you want it, where you want it. This is The Mesh. This is the first time that we've had someone start a company because their spouse had smelling problems. We've got Megan Eddings with Accel Lifestyle, she's going to be with us

[00:00:43] to explain how she resolved the stink and started a business. And of course we'll also have our small business at the month feature where we'll recommend some interesting businesses that you should be checking out. Hello, my name is Jeff Neuvel, I'm your host and director

[00:00:58] with the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Connover, North Carolina. I'm joined by my co-host Gary Muller who is Executive Dean of Economic Development and Corporate Education at Katoba Valley Community College in Hickory. Gary, how are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great Jeff. As long as you don't

[00:01:16] want to talk about Panther Football or Wake Forest Football. Yeah, well, it's okay, it's early. It's early in the season, but even if football doesn't happen here in beautiful North Carolina,

[00:01:28] at least it's cooled off a little bit, you know, maybe we'll actually have some fall. I'll tell you, I mean, that's just going to talk about just a minute ago. It's fall here, at least for the day

[00:01:38] because which is good considering it was such a hot summer. Well, talking about hot summers, our guest today is in Houston, Texas, our guest is Megan Eddings, Megan, how are you doing today? I'm doing fantastic. Yeah, we had definitely a super hot summer and being from the Northeast

[00:01:59] from Rhode Island. Every summer I say, oh man, I've activated the weather and then like this past summer happened. I don't think anybody activated to it. Well, a little bit of background on

[00:02:09] Megan and I had the chance to meet Megan. About a month ago at textile conference and she's done some work with our manufacturing solutions center in the past and now, and did you do karaoke with

[00:02:23] some of our people as well or is that just our friend Tanya, she goes solo on karaoke. I've danced with Devon Steel, but I've not done karaoke the textile career. Well, your time will come. Megan attended the University of Virginia and has a chemistry background. Another ACC person,

[00:02:45] but you know, she's in Texas now. But, you know, the ACC could be in Texas. That's never now. It's exactly right. She's created not one but two companies, Excellionite and Excell lifestyle. She's got a vision and she's got a great attitude. She's an industry leader in public health

[00:03:05] entrepreneurship textiles. She serves as a resource of the medical community, the military. She is a guest lecturer at Rice University, University of Virginia, Houston Community College and the University of Houston focusing on science entrepreneurship and sustainability.

[00:03:23] She is the winner of the Women's Business Enterprise National Councils 2022 pitch competition. And I said, I had a chance to hear her speak about a month ago and really appreciated her enthusiasm and passion.

[00:03:39] That's amazing. I'm really built you up, Megan. I was going to say, I'm sitting up a little straighter. I'm going to say, I'm not going to talk the rest of the podcast.

[00:03:51] I think Megan, you tell us a little bit about Excell lifestyle and how did you come in? What is it and how did you come about to start it? Yeah, my husband loves hearing one like the beginning of any business pitch competition I used to do

[00:04:06] is that I'll start with my husband's stinky t-shirt. You mentioned my background in chemistry and I used to work in a lab. I thought I was going to work in a lab the rest of my life,

[00:04:18] basically finding a cure for cancer when I was in my 20s. That's what I wanted to do. My roommate passed away UVA from cancer. So I said, that's what I'm going to dedicate my life to.

[00:04:27] Well, one day I walked out of Brown where I was working on like, I'm way too outgoing to be working on the lab, the rest of my life. So I moved here to Houston to sell medical equipment

[00:04:39] for seamen's medical and about 11 years ago I met my husband or super into fitness. We were then we are now and I was just washing his workout clothes. He was doing CrossFit really early in the

[00:04:49] morning, you know, wearing that material wheel like to wear that wicks away this sweat, it feels cool but it holds on to the stink. So it literally kept me up at night. Like I can't believe

[00:05:02] that I'm selling $3 million MRI machines to MD Anderson, you know, because no big deal and we don't have workout clothes that don't stink. So Excel lifestyle took about three, three and a half years of a lot of testing, a lot of samples made but we launched Excel lifestyle

[00:05:17] August 2019 selling clothes made with my prema fabric that is over-resistant and 100% sourced and made here in the United States. And you solved the problem. You're still with your husband. Happily, yes, yes. And now what does as far as Excel lifestyle at this point

[00:05:42] and tells us about the various products that you're making and how is that? How is the business doing it? Yeah, it's going great. Someone would have asked me in August 2019,

[00:05:53] you know, it was business like where do you want to be? How big do you want to get? What are your goals? I would have said back then that we want to be bigger than Lulu Lemon and every piece

[00:06:03] of textile has some kind of science component to it and everything's ethically made for me which means no sweatshubs. Now what I say is I love creating textiles. So as far as yes, Excel lifestyle, we're in about 30 locations across the country, tablets, the women's clothing store,

[00:06:22] carries our line and they actually just we just delivered a second order for them. And so right now we're carrying a lot of like country clubs, high-end boutiques, tablets but we also are looking

[00:06:34] at creating textiles for other very well-known retail brands that are out there. So those are some conversations we're having now. As far as what we sell, T-shirt, simple, T-shirts and tank tops

[00:06:46] from men and women, it was started as workout clothes but now what I find is instead of being a fitness-apparel brand where more of a lifestyle brands. So people wear a lot of our clothes when they're

[00:06:59] traveling under their blazers at work just to kind of keep that lack of a word fresh smell throughout the day. Well, and you've got a real commitment to sustainability and from a supply chain perspective,

[00:07:19] your focused on domestic is much as you can focus on domestic at this point in time. Is that just the initial vision for what you were doing or how did you have all of that? Is that part of your

[00:07:30] science background? Yeah, actually nothing to do with science. So what happened was I when I was looking when Kyle had this thinking workout clothes, way before I thought to ever have the confidence or

[00:07:43] the knowledge to be an entrepreneur, I just went to Google and like just first thing I typed in is you know who else has an older resistant fabric solution, you know shirts out there. And just like

[00:07:54] Google or the worldwide web or whatever you want to call it, I eventually kind of got into the dark web of sweat shops. And so as I got into the dark web of sweat shops and how most of our clothes are

[00:08:06] made, I vowed and I first still clear remember thinking that I have to put my head on the pillow every single night and know that every decision I make personally and for the business focuses on humanity

[00:08:19] in the environment. So at the time I was a company of one and the only way to make sure that I wasn't using a sweat shop was to actually hop on an airplane and go visit everyone in my supply chain,

[00:08:30] everyone who makes the fibers, everyone who makes the fabric. Everyone who makes the apparel and so because I was a company of one and limited finances I chose made in USA at the time just to make sure

[00:08:41] that there were no sweat shops in my supply chain. Is that been a challenge for you to make it domestically here in the US or how does that work for you? I could write a book on that. It was just

[00:08:58] as difficult to find a 100% sourced and made ethical supply chain domestically then it was to invent my fabric just as difficult. Quick little story, we had two factories cut and so for those of you

[00:09:13] they don't know cut and so they'd be familiar to make clothes. So my fabrics made in North Carolina, my apparel is made in California. We had two factories lined up in California because I was trying

[00:09:24] to find a spot on these clothes. It wasn't working out so well in terms of quality and so a girl on my team we flew out to California to meet with the owners of both factories. They'd already had

[00:09:35] our samples, they were already had some fabric, they had our patterns, long story short. We actually had to show up to one of the factories the day after we met with them unannounced with the

[00:09:48] you of all just me and the girl I'm 55 she's five foot one so we're not like you know we're not intimidating looking people but we showed up to the factory unannounced in our you whole

[00:09:58] and demanded everything back because we found out during our meeting we rebeded in the lines and they actually were operating a sweat shop and some of their facilities. So just because

[00:10:09] things are made in the United States I had a rude awakening that there are sweat shops here domestically as well. Well Kudos for you for doing the leg work to identify the right ones at that point

[00:10:20] tossing. I say you know so that was early on that was back in 20 that was back in 2018 and here we are in 2023 and we all come up with challenges every day, every day there's a challenge, personal,

[00:10:35] professional, whatever. I go back to that day and I'm like if I can show up in downtown LA with the you wall unannounced I can do anything so you might be five five but you do work out I mean you know

[00:10:50] probably you got a little bit of muscle there. Well and I have the Rhode Island accent and the deep voice so that helps as well yeah that's true that's true. So so when you got to 2020

[00:11:03] we got into the pandemic you know and I guess sort of sort of two questions I would think that when you talk about Excel lifestyle turning into more of a maybe a lifestyle type brand with

[00:11:16] the way people were using their products you know we don't want to sit around and say oh you know the pandemic was was good for somebody or had some silver linings I don't know if that had

[00:11:25] impact on Excel lifestyle but also it opened up an opportunity for you to pivot into some of the medical garments as well so what talked to us a little bit about how that worked and

[00:11:40] Excel united and you know what how did that happen what were you thinking and how did you make it happen? I don't think I was thinking I think I was just reacting to beyond there was not a lot

[00:11:51] of thought going on it was just yeah but not 2020 will always be just a wild year for all of us for so many reasons I was blessed to have a consultant a fashion consultant at New Jersey

[00:12:04] and she started with us in 2018 and her sister was a nurse in New York City. I woke up let's see it was March of 2020 he was going to just shut down

[00:12:14] and I woke up on a Friday morning my consultant texted me and said hey CDC just came out last night and said healthcare workers are running out of face masks she of course was here and all

[00:12:25] of the experiences of her sister what if you take your fabric and make them into face masks so I think we were one of the first companies in the country to do it because I just thought

[00:12:36] holy crap I have all these this fabric here in Houston and in California I can figure out a pattern of how to make a face mask we just made t-shirts and I worked in hospitals for 14

[00:12:49] years before coming in on chupinore so everything was just lined up so we had our first sample mask made that day and within a week and a half we got an order for about 44,000 face masks

[00:13:02] from a big hospital here in Houston but the really crazy story was about a week after that I a friend of a friend like a girl I kind of know here in town in her home sorry so I have two

[00:13:17] dogs in there apparently excited about my story right now for her and barking in the background but I was yeah oh my husband oh my husband and so she said hey Meg you know in my free time

[00:13:31] I mentor military men and women who are retiring and to you know join this civilian world and I happen to have a call with us God the day before this is now the first week in April of 2020

[00:13:42] she's like I saw you on the news in Houston I see you're making face masks they're desperate need of face masks so should you have a call with them I said sure well as an entrepreneur

[00:13:51] you know we're making face masks for about a week and a half of the 9,000 we had made probably 4,000 were actually usable from quality control from all the quality of the guy he's now one of my best friends and he said Meg we need 50,000 face masks delivered landed in

[00:14:07] Virginia Beach Hawaii in San Diego in seven days and so I got off the phone I called the bunch of my domestic buddies here in town that I knew we're making face masks and we actually had 50,000

[00:14:19] masks delivered in six days so that actually spread like wildfire so that was the navy but then we got started making masks with the navy seals and marines and for me people say you know 2020

[00:14:32] we had a lot of you know business growth but what was the most important you know it was the most special part of for me for 2020 hands down no questions asked was working with the military

[00:14:44] my brothers and marine my dad always wanted to be in the military but he was legally blind so he couldn't and so even my fabric my anti-stink fabric I always said man one day like this will be on

[00:14:57] the military this will be on the military and so it's a natural make face masks and be part of the military was one of the biggest blessings for me as a person and then excel unite

[00:15:09] you mentioned also 2020 by August of 2020 we basically were a mask machine we were churn in the burn and just make them and you know great supply chain awesome people and I got this

[00:15:22] call you know we are number came through and I answer all of them hello this is Megan and happened to be a supply chain manager of a large hospital system one that I had it works for but he

[00:15:31] knew I was making masks and he said you know we need 50,000 face masks I said no problem and Jeff you heard me saying this before and every talk and every podcast I give I say if there's

[00:15:42] one thing you take away from everything I say it is the next thing I'm about to say something made me ask and I call that something God but something made me ask this guy what else do you need we were

[00:15:55] offering anything else he said actually Meg were in or in desperate need of reusable isolation gowns I did not know what that was but I didn't say a word so I went to google quickly and type

[00:16:06] it in those plastic police gowns that our healthcare heroes are wearing and make a very long story short I worked with their infection control team and designed reusable gown that's tested up to 200 washes and a commercial laundry system and it's patent pending in 153 countries

[00:16:25] the key to that question was what else do you need is we weren't offering anything else but we all have relationships with people that can help so that question if I did not ask that question I

[00:16:36] wouldn't have been having this conversation right now and so they needed these gowns as most hospitals did because 95% of all isolation gowns that are used in United States are actually those single-use plastic gowns that the healthcare heroes wear for a couple of seconds to a couple

[00:16:54] minutes and then awesome well you know one of the things that became very apparent during the pandemic number one the lack of PPE mask gowns and also the fact that very little bit was made here

[00:17:08] in the United States so that you were able to do that was pretty impressive and he's got fast to you able to turn around and get in production. The only reason that was able to happen is

[00:17:22] because we talked about it in the beginning of this conversation I made a vow to everything that's what I can do. I can do it successfully from a financial standpoint and that happened to be

[00:17:34] made in USA so that decision back in 2017 to make everything made in USA was able to have me pivot so quickly and help our frontline workers in you know 2020. Well how do you like it? Let's just say

[00:17:47] with all the things you did from a production standpoint making that happen. Where did your business background come from to be able to do that and do it successfully for a financial standpoint?

[00:17:59] Well I never learned I never knew what the expression cash cash is king was until the pandemic. Got it. You know I have always been extremely relationship focused I love people since I probably

[00:18:13] could bear it before I could talk. I have been surrounded by incredible advisors so back in 2017 I fly from my first business pitch competition for its cell lifestyle and I've done a few since then

[00:18:28] and every time I did these competitions they would randomly pair me with these I call them business ballers you know these business advisors whether it be a CFO, a CEO people that actually have

[00:18:39] you know years and years of experience running businesses and so I'm very fortunate that all of those advisors are still advisors to my companies today so they had the business acumen and I had the personality and that we can figure this out attitude in the chemistry background so

[00:18:55] just kind of all of us put together just success I guess was the only option. Well you were selling medical devices so I think that you had the sales piece of it down pretty well.

[00:19:08] Exactly exactly right yeah so I've been I mean I say I somebody asked me when did you start sales then initially I wanted to say oh you know when I started medical equipment you know back in my 20s

[00:19:19] and I'm like oh no no I always won first place in the Girl Scout cookie competition. Okay so I mean this goes back to yeah infancy. Well so yeah you've created two companies you've had to create supply chains and build all

[00:19:37] this stuff and as you sort of look back on where you were where you are now and how you scaled you know what have been the biggest challenges for you how you know in terms of you

[00:19:47] you mentioned cash is king I don't know about funding I don't know building the right team what's what have been the biggest challenges that you've had to face. Funding I'll say funding number one

[00:19:57] for sure I because I was medical sales and just the way I was raised I saved every penny I'm have always been a saver and even when I left my corporate job to pursue creating this fabric

[00:20:09] I never would have thought it would have taken as long as it did and as much money as it did and I tell everyone you know oh you know it'll cost at least 150% more than you think it will

[00:20:20] or it'll take maybe two times longer than you think it will even if you kind of put in you know conservative numbers it'll take even longer and even more or more money um I have had to tap into

[00:20:31] my 401k actually I'm always a very honest person during the pandemic you know we we made millions and there was one there was one situation where I had to pay my factory all my factories have

[00:20:44] to be paid 100% before they shipped the product I don't get paid for that product right until 60 or 90 days after it shifts I didn't understand all that I just saw money's coming in money's going

[00:20:58] out I actually had going to my 401k to pay for a product because I wasn't going to get paid this is during the pandemic where the world says oh man she's she's killing it she's being interviewed

[00:21:09] by all these people whatever but I'm like little do they know I had to find cash in order to fill a couple of my orders um can I use your story in my finance class because that's exactly what I

[00:21:19] talk about you're selling the product but if they're paying if you're having to do it immediately just what you just said but and you're not getting your money for six to your 90 days you got

[00:21:28] to finance it and you know I thought I knew you know all these business classes that I took in you know accelerator programs you don't really know what that means until you're sitting in

[00:21:40] it and that's what I'm trying to do this is what they mean by when they're teaching me how to put together a spreadsheet but you can actually count your revenue earn until 60 to 90 days and then

[00:21:50] sometimes it's the next fiscal year but this language I didn't learn in chemistry class but you find out real quick when you're going through it when you said it earlier it cash is king

[00:21:59] and he did your financial statement you would show a profit significant profit but the cash you had to find it you can't pay your suppliers or your employees or anything like that which

[00:22:10] sounds to irritate them but it looks good on paper it looks great on paper even back when I first started back in 20 let's see the 20 snow member 2016 is when I left corporate America to really

[00:22:21] pursue this excel lifestyle in 2018 I hired my first uh gal on my team and I didn't again I'm a very like frugal person I did not account for hiring someone before I launched but some things happen to

[00:22:37] business that I needed another person I didn't have the cash for it so I asked my mom just to have a lot of money but I asked to borrow money to pay for this girl for one year for her salary

[00:22:48] and it's funny I didn't tell the girl until I probably like I think she found out in a podcast about four years later that didn't even have the cash to pay her but you know when you're not

[00:22:56] entrepreneur you have to be resourceful you have to get scrappy and you know it's not it's actually the majority of this journey is not rainbows and butterflies it's it's a lot of stress and a lot of

[00:23:08] strategy on how am I going to succeed to get to the next level. Well and you know we you know we probably all run into people who are attracted to the excitement of starting their own business

[00:23:22] and they and they see all the butterflies and the rainbows and everything and they don't understand the the stress that might come with it of understanding oh I've got people working for me now I've got that responsibility to make sure that they are taking care of and whatnot

[00:23:39] are they you know when you think of other yeah you're you're talking to students now whether it being class or whether it be on podcast or what now what what other areas do you tell them

[00:23:49] that they better be worrying about before they make that leap. So I always say don't put your day job until you have a bunch of cash they've done I mean that jet you know I would never suggest

[00:24:00] someone to just go in all in because it's going to take a long time you know they say say seven to ten years for overnight success it takes a very long time I started my business before right before

[00:24:14] the explosion of Instagram which I'm very fortunate that I did because if you if an average person who's not an entrepreneur looks on social media they think entrepreneurship is glamorous I'm getting all

[00:24:27] dressed up getting all these awards absolutely not it is not I mean yes are there moments of celebration and being with your peers and getting all sure but entrepreneurship is I would say it's extremely challenging because there's no right answer there's no right path to success because

[00:24:46] everyone's journey is so different everyone's products everyone's service and back to a question you asked me earlier about challenge and funding I would another challenge that actually is just as top as funding is I'm always asking myself there's only so many hours in the

[00:25:03] day am I focusing on today in this week truly what is best for my business or am I focusing on things that I'm just good at that might actually not be moving the needle towards success of the

[00:25:13] business so it's really important as an entrepreneur to really sit down and take that quiet time and figure out what is it that I need to really scale the business and not get into that

[00:25:24] trap of just doing all the small things well as you say that it makes me think of something that you talked about when I heard you speak in in Belmont at the industry you talked about

[00:25:39] the fact that you're you're a very positive person and you have some habits and some things that you do on a daily basis to maintain your positivity and you're kind enough to share those

[00:25:50] when I heard you share them with our audience now how do you stay positive on a daily basis thank you for asking that question you know it's sometimes we just do things that are natural

[00:26:00] to us and we don't even really realize we're doing it and I was interviewed probably about six months ago and somebody asked me that question how do you stay so positive and I just I didn't

[00:26:09] really know the answer well now I actually thought back at my day and I've tangible things that I do every single day for example the first one what song do you wake up to or what do you wake up

[00:26:20] to the lot in the long of the morning you know those annoying beeps or anything written with anxiety yes they might get you out of bed but now you just started your day with anxiety and you

[00:26:28] happen got your head off the pillow so for me I play ovemaria when I wake up every morning because reminds me of my family um I used to and I say used to I mean for like 30 I don't

[00:26:40] 25 years go right to my phone right to my work email and that I don't do it anymore it took me a long time to break that habit but now what I do is I read every morning and even 10 minutes

[00:26:51] I just finished a book and I'm not a huge book reader full disclosure I'm not everyone that says God read this book but I just finished a book and I would read it for about 10 minutes every day

[00:27:01] I'm actually going to restart reading it just because it was so instrumental to my mindset throughout the day um I don't work out in the morning I'm a huge worker outer but I work out after work

[00:27:11] another thing I do big thing I do is I wear a lot of jewelry um and because my whole family lives in Florida you know Florida Rhode Island not in Texas I usually have about 10 bracelets on every

[00:27:24] day and a bunch of rings and all my jewelry's from people that I love my dad I actually think my dad's passed away but I think I subconsciously got this from him he uh he was a you

[00:27:35] worked at General Dynamics in Rhode Island he sandblasted submarines for 33 years he carried a coin that he got from his one of his best friends who had passed away in his pocket every single day

[00:27:47] and you know I didn't know he carried that coin probably until about 15 I never knew it never said anything but when he passed I was actually given the coin so for me having a tangible something you

[00:27:58] even if the pen you got from a loved one that just is bringing joy you know today every day I volunteer a lot um I've always volunteered a lot I'm actually a among the UVA alumni

[00:28:09] University of Virginia alumni board here in Houston over the service so we're always hosting service events I'm hosting a charity event this Saturday um and I would say another one is

[00:28:21] which is gonna set I get at least nine hours of sleep every night I just can't you do all these things sleep I used to be embarrassed by saying that I need so much sleep I need sleep and so I get about

[00:28:32] nine hours of night and the only way that'll be compromised if I'm dancing somewhere and you know that that'll keep me out but I get nine hours of sleep for sure but the biggest thing is

[00:28:44] yeah the first 10 15 20 minutes of your day and I know it sounds small and people say do all this stuff doesn't have to be you laying on a mat and meditating it's just something that gets you out

[00:28:54] of your own head to start your day and so for me it's so much more than Megan Eddings it's like a lot of my head through you know the moment I wake up so now I don't know about Gary I actually

[00:29:06] have been twin around with wake-up songs as well I wake up to dreamboat Annie by heart because it starts with some like some quiet waves and very mellow and it's not that that that crazy beeping

[00:29:19] so I have taken that to heart so thank you actually I was doing it before but I've played around with various songs and that's the one that I've come to at least for the time being so yeah it's

[00:29:35] I don't do that yet well I love music to get me good okay well we're gonna we're gonna work on that okay we're gonna work on your wake up okay we're gonna work on your wake up okay we're gonna work

[00:29:42] on your wake up okay we can get our audience to give us to my help that's right I've got some AC DC that I think you would like to like AC DC so so Megan you when you when you look into the

[00:29:56] future you know a lot of times when people talk about building their business they say you gotta have an exit plan I'm not so sure I agree with that but I don't know what your thoughts are on

[00:30:08] that and that you know do you is this what you plan to do for an extended period you say hey some big companies you come by me what do you what's your what's your thought process

[00:30:19] you know there's changes and I agree with you 100% like when you're an entrepreneur you know newer people say what you're exit plan I always felt really uncomfortable with that question because I never thought of the entrepreneur so for me to know what my plan is I don't know

[00:30:34] and I'm still not really sure if I had to put a crystal ball out there right now I would say I absolutely love being an entrepreneur and so once you become an entrepreneur you see so much

[00:30:47] room for improvement in the world in other areas so perhaps someday I'll sell Excel lifestyle with my fabric and the gown so my gowns are actually my medical gowns are sold by

[00:30:58] Siemens medical talk about full circle so I may see if they want to buy my gown someday try something else but right now I'm just focusing on you know enjoying the journey and really like

[00:31:11] I mentioned earlier making sure every day that I'm focusing on things that are going to move the needle whatever the needle may be that week forward well I think that's a good question

[00:31:20] that Jeff and Megan is kind of saying the same thing I mean if you start the business and you still love it you need to say well I'm an expanse so I have to sell why would you do that if you

[00:31:29] still love what you're doing and things change you never know we don't anticipate pandemics or who knows what might be coming down the pike so who knows well Megan we really appreciate you

[00:31:42] joining us today it's been a pleasure getting a chance to meet you having you on our podcast yeah we always like to have our guests do a little lightning round you up for that today I'm ready okay well this month's lightning round is sponsored by Ned Ryerson Insurance

[00:31:59] whole life auto flood home you can't have enough insurance right Gary am I right absolutely all right stay safe with Ned Ryerson insurance you can check them out on the internet so Megan we've got some

[00:32:10] quick questions don't overthink it now here we go first off what is your biggest pet peeve people that are late to meetings that's a good one what topping do you put on your pizza all the meat all the meats okay do you have a favorite vacation spot

[00:32:34] beach and it's with a beach Texas Beach hey I know no Galgap doesn't cut it no I'm gonna go to Cabo in a few weeks from my husband's 40th birthday being from the Rhode Island I just love beaches okay beetles rolling stones or Taylor Swift

[00:32:54] rolling stones do you have a favorite Halloween candy yeah Reese's peanut butter cup whoever answer is differently we can't be friends no that's a little harsh but it's a good answer okay all right and last question

[00:33:10] if you could have one super power what would it be to be able to help more people well that's a very nice answer you're not very selfish but we'll we appreciate your we appreciate your answer that's good all right you passed the the the the

[00:33:26] bugging round task congratulations you've been a wonderful guest absolutely we always like to end the the podcast by giving shout out to interesting businesses that we've come across making you have anybody you want to give a shout out to

[00:33:42] you know if this was a three hour podcast I could just go on and on and on but there's there's one one gal her means Calia Gillery she's a friend here in Houston

[00:33:51] and I met her back in 20 I was funny about spreadsheets I met her at a finance class for entrepreneurship she owns nap bar NAP BAR and uh she was an executive out of bank and she was living outside of Houston and was come this before the pandemic

[00:34:08] and was driving into the city for work all the time as she looked man um exhausted so she will take a little naps in her car and she said what if there was a cool spot just going

[00:34:17] get a 20 minute nap uh she is blowing up and I don't think she's made the official announcement yet but I'll just put it up into this way I travel a lot in airports and I'm always tired

[00:34:32] something with an airport mayor may not be announced really soon with NAP BAR so I couldn't be a more proud of her for sure well you know and Gary's office is a good place for NAP

[00:34:44] as well as I'm talking to you that's how he goes to sleep anyway that's like a five whole office so you've got one of your deaths no now we we might have to look for her

[00:34:54] uh is it for a future guest on the on the podcast that sounds interesting she's incredible she's just constantly more energy than I do that's well maybe not when I'm sure we can handle that

[00:35:06] all right Gary do you have a small business or a business you want to talk about dude thanks Jeff the one I want to spotlight it's been around for a little while now

[00:35:15] but I didn't know anything about him until a few weeks ago when we were wanting to get a gift for one of our employees and we wanted to find something unique and dread a one of our key employees recommended

[00:35:26] little mountain moms a little mountain mom okay if you heard of it I'm not heard of it yeah this is a hardworking family business that grows in cells the biggest and best moms in the world okay

[00:35:37] making do you know what a mom is oh I love moms there you go well so now we may have another customer for my second favorite how a win candy moms no they don't know mom well you might okay

[00:35:50] eat them good okay so we bought one of the moms for our employee who loved it but all the other employees loved it and then I found out they truly are big and beautiful and people are buying them

[00:36:03] all over the place and they have sold over 10,000 moms and they only sell from August to October and they're beautiful I mean they're huge now nobody can see us in the podcast as I'm putting my hands out

[00:36:17] bigger than our breadbox okay much bigger than a breadbox okay and I look like I said this morning when see anything unique about it when they told me they sold over 10,000 moms and they were out today

[00:36:28] okay well congratulations when I brought one to the podcast yeah well I'm congratulation a little mountain mom sounds like they got it going yes pretty cool so well I want to give a

[00:36:38] shout out and make them might even know this company I don't know but it's a company called T.F. Designs in Burlington, North Carolina they are a custom T-shirt manufacturer and printer and they focus also on creating domestic and sustainable shirts they've been in business since the late

[00:36:56] 1970s and they really took a hit when NAFTA went in place in 1993 but they made a decision that they were going to figure out how to make it work here in the United States and with sustainable products

[00:37:10] they focus on people, planet and profits and they are a certified B corporation which is not as a for-profit corporation that focuses on social and environmental performance they've created a

[00:37:26] truly dirt to shirt T-shirt with all made U.S.A all made in the USA with all the materials made here in the USA they use cotton grown here in the United States they've come up with reactive

[00:37:40] and natural dyes to to die their shirts and they've also focused on supply chain they have a website called where you're clothing dot com where W.H.E.R.E where if you buy one of their shirts you can

[00:37:55] actually put in a code to see where it was where the cotton was grown where all the materials came from here in the United States and they're really into working with farms and doing the whole process right

[00:38:07] I saw a demo where they were using miracle flowers to die some of their garments into a beautiful gold so it was really pretty cool so if you go to tsdesigns.com you can learn about them

[00:38:21] and just sort of a cool company to check out so anyway if you are listeners if you have a suggestion for the small business of the month you can email them to us at exchangeatthemesh.tv and we appreciate

[00:38:38] your thoughts there Megan we want to thank you for joining us today it's been a lot of fun yes we want to thank the mesh podcast network if you go to the mesh.tv you can see all the cool podcast

[00:38:51] that they're they've got going on from business to to health to funny stuff to a little bit everything so go check them out at the mesh.tv and again we'll look forward to talking with everybody again next month

[00:39:05] thanks a lot Megan have a good day thank you guys you've been listening to the mesh and online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts sports to entertainment music to community all programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube

[00:39:33] check us out online at themesh.tv just go to our other network shows and give us feedback and what you just heard