https://uada.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1d914d2a-5c80-4ba7-b896-acf600b3a208 1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:07,850 Hi, everyone. This is Hazel again with another fun episode of the Great Bridges podcast series, Small Business, Big Bril Impact. 2 00:00:07,850 --> 00:00:14,510 I was able to join my awesome cohort and fellow program coordinator Muro Wiley in recording this podcast with our guests, 3 00:00:14,510 --> 00:00:16,910 Esteban Ochoa and Kelly Jones. 4 00:00:16,910 --> 00:00:23,690 The original idea of this episode was about how communication is an important aspect of both business and community in any language. 5 00:00:23,690 --> 00:00:30,050 But as you will see, it evolves into a great story about how smartphone EMT grew over the years with a simple idea that 6 00:00:30,050 --> 00:00:38,190 starts with how caring about your employees translates into a great business that cares about people. 7 00:00:38,190 --> 00:00:43,020 Come join us, explore the impact of small business here in rural Arkansas. 8 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:48,660 What challenges would you face? Who can help you meet those challenges? How do you get in touch with others like you? 9 00:00:48,660 --> 00:00:54,840 This is Create Bridges, Arkansas, and we invite you to come cross these bridges with us. 10 00:00:54,840 --> 00:01:01,260 All right. Thank you guys so much for talking with us today. We appreciate our smartphone EMT, Family First. 11 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:10,830 I would like for Kelly and Esther Von, a.k.a. OEO to give us some background about the services that are provided through smartphone EMT, 12 00:01:10,830 --> 00:01:15,240 anything from your locations, the retail merchandise you offer, community partnerships, 13 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:21,120 everything that the smartphone EMT shop plays as a role in the community? 14 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:28,010 Well, we offer all kinds of services. We do screen repair, battery placement. 15 00:01:28,010 --> 00:01:32,220 Maybe, you know, you plug your phone into charges. It doesn't connect, right? 16 00:01:32,220 --> 00:01:38,460 We do. We check out charges, imports. We unlocking even. 17 00:01:38,460 --> 00:01:45,510 We offer devices. If you're looking to upgrade your phone, we have a lot of devices installed now. 18 00:01:45,510 --> 00:01:50,790 And a new thing that we started was leasing. We have leasing options. 19 00:01:50,790 --> 00:01:58,250 Maybe you don't want to pay all that money outright. Now you have an option like, oh, I can lease this for 90 days and just pay it off. 20 00:01:58,250 --> 00:02:04,140 And then teachers, you don't want to pay all that up front. So those are a couple of the the main things we do. 21 00:02:04,140 --> 00:02:09,710 I've had repairs, tablet repairs, mainly anything with electronics. 22 00:02:09,710 --> 00:02:15,210 We we can handle it so that a transfer data transfer is a big one. 23 00:02:15,210 --> 00:02:20,520 We do a lot of transfers. People forget in their passcode is here. 24 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,710 You would wheel. People got to understand is that not everybody grew up with technology, you know? 25 00:02:25,710 --> 00:02:34,740 So we try to have patient people that are willing to work with those that didn't just grow up with, you know, games, computers, everything like that. 26 00:02:34,740 --> 00:02:41,820 And one of the biggest things that we want to tell people that are not fluent in using the devices is that, 27 00:02:41,820 --> 00:02:46,590 you know, it takes a little bit to learn, you know, you didn't grow up with computers. 28 00:02:46,590 --> 00:02:53,490 So, you know, we have to we have to take that upfront and know that we're gonna be patient with them because they don't know this. 29 00:02:53,490 --> 00:02:57,540 You know, it is something that we work with them on and get them going. 30 00:02:57,540 --> 00:03:02,370 We have a lot of that from the elder community, which we appreciate. 31 00:03:02,370 --> 00:03:08,460 You know, it takes us all, you know, young, middle age and older than we are all customers, you know, into us. 32 00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:11,880 They're all the same. We want to treat them all equally. Welcome all the same. 33 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,790 Great service that matter. Richer, outrageous. So how did you guys even get started? 34 00:03:16,790 --> 00:03:21,420 Or was it just a dream that came to life? Or how did this even come to fruition? 35 00:03:21,420 --> 00:03:27,810 Well, that part I will talk about, you know, activated phones for almost 10 years. 36 00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:33,630 I worked with James Babb at Advanced Audio and Electronics. 37 00:03:33,630 --> 00:03:41,470 They also owned Radio Shack. It kind of it was a chance encounter. 38 00:03:41,470 --> 00:03:46,810 I've always liked to sell stuff. I've always liked to be around people. 39 00:03:46,810 --> 00:03:52,360 It just so happened that they said, OK, we need somebody that's bilingual. I happened to be bilingual, you know. 40 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:58,840 So in a lot of the community, we had our normy fruit through the soccer and stuff like that because, you know, we're 60 percent Hispanic. 41 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:03,910 So that was another piece of the market. I get them to activate cell phones. 42 00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:09,960 The way we get into cell phones is I worked with this lady named Barbara Carlton. 43 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:17,970 Which are still hurt her husband. I have a soft spot in my heart for because she activated the phones before I did. 44 00:04:17,970 --> 00:04:25,590 Her husband came down with cancer. Somebody had to fill in and they offered me that opportunity. 45 00:04:25,590 --> 00:04:31,350 I took that opportunity and I ran with it. We activated phones for almost 10 years. 46 00:04:31,350 --> 00:04:39,090 In the course of activating those phones, I would constantly run into people telling me I broke my phone. 47 00:04:39,090 --> 00:04:44,430 I can't get the stuff out of it. So I suffer from a little bit of ADHD. 48 00:04:44,430 --> 00:04:49,470 And I always want to be doing something. So I was thinking, solution, solution, solution. 49 00:04:49,470 --> 00:04:53,590 We could not get part at the time. So I would offer to buy them. 50 00:04:53,590 --> 00:04:58,000 I'd work on them. And James was very kind enough to let me work on them. 51 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,570 And at that point, time is probably not good for business, because if we fix them, they will back. 52 00:05:03,570 --> 00:05:10,500 But, you know, a lot of the credit has to go to James for allowing me to master that part of it, you know? 53 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:15,810 But it gave us an opportunity to evolve into smart phone EMT. 54 00:05:15,810 --> 00:05:21,600 All that got started, you know, with Mac debate and to repair. They're opening our first shop in Texarkana. 55 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:31,590 I actually told James, hey, look, we need to go and we need to go now because things like this, you know, if somebody comes out there. 56 00:05:31,590 --> 00:05:36,650 It's going to be harder for us. You got to be first, you know, I mean, to establish yourself. 57 00:05:36,650 --> 00:05:42,210 If if you've got two people going at the same time, then it just makes it a little bit more difficult. 58 00:05:42,210 --> 00:05:47,880 I remember calling all the radio shacks, all the spreads, and I asked and I asked him, you know, 59 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,700 at the mall, you know, you guys know anybody that they compare this phone, you know, for three months? 60 00:05:53,700 --> 00:05:57,580 The answer was always no. We said, you know, we're going back. 61 00:05:57,580 --> 00:06:07,500 We're gonna go to Texarkana and we're gonna be it. We opened the store in Richmond and 2012 at the beginning of 2012. 62 00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:10,950 It took it took us a little bit to get going at that point time. 63 00:06:10,950 --> 00:06:16,980 Gas was three seventy six. So we had a decision to make. 64 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:20,910 I mean, I could drive back all the time or. 65 00:06:20,910 --> 00:06:27,740 I could just stay here and say, get in, what people understand is that to start a business that takes money, we don't have money. 66 00:06:27,740 --> 00:06:31,530 Sacrifice to make. Some people will make the sacrifice. 67 00:06:31,530 --> 00:06:37,890 So people are not. I stayed in the back of the shop for about the first year and I would come home on weekends. 68 00:06:37,890 --> 00:06:41,730 So we've grown that Internet into what it is now. 69 00:06:41,730 --> 00:06:48,120 But it could never would have happened until that night. I had Kelly coming on board. 70 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:54,270 No one is working with me all day, every day. I'm not the easiest to work with. 71 00:06:54,270 --> 00:06:58,740 I'm not the most organized to work with. But she is. 72 00:06:58,740 --> 00:07:05,790 So her strengths are my weaknesses. And I like to think that her weaknesses are my strengths. 73 00:07:05,790 --> 00:07:13,200 So we work together. Today I wrote her a note that if I had to start all over and do it all over again, I wouldn't choose anybody else but her. 74 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:18,720 Do that all over again. And that's just truly hard for you. 75 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,080 So you mentioned the Spanish language. I want to talk about that. 76 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:31,380 How important is the language of Spanish to smartphone EMT and why does it matter for business to have Spanish speaking staff? 77 00:07:31,380 --> 00:07:39,890 Let's imagine you go into a business, right, and you go, are you looking for for ice cream or. 78 00:07:39,890 --> 00:07:46,700 And you want vanilla but don't have chocolate. Right. You couldn't have your business right there. 79 00:07:46,700 --> 00:07:53,940 I mean, if you cannot offer services for the people that a one vanilla bean you can't grow, you know, 80 00:07:53,940 --> 00:08:00,110 you got to be able to have those extra services, you know, be able to communicate with them to meet their needs. 81 00:08:00,110 --> 00:08:04,930 Why is it good to go into a store where maybe they're bilingual or they just speak Spanish? 82 00:08:04,930 --> 00:08:13,670 Oh, I think what you get doing there is you get to meet new people, create new relationships, you know, at the end. 83 00:08:13,670 --> 00:08:18,080 And they weren't worn out. All too much different. We want to be healthy. 84 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,550 We want to be happy. And we want to do good, you know, and communicate. 85 00:08:22,550 --> 00:08:25,370 Then we'll find that out that we're not that much different. 86 00:08:25,370 --> 00:08:30,980 Even if we do speak a different language, you know, and that's for the Hispanics going into, you know, 87 00:08:30,980 --> 00:08:38,480 somebody that can speak English, you know, they should still try it because you're going to see that at the end of day once again. 88 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:43,370 We all as humans pretty much want the same thing. And it's universally, well, you want to be happy. 89 00:08:43,370 --> 00:08:50,870 You want to be able to provide for your family and do good. So and no matter what language someone speaks, people got to talk to their people. 90 00:08:50,870 --> 00:08:57,470 Right. So I want to talk about maybe some experiences you guys have had with customers who were able to get back in touch 91 00:08:57,470 --> 00:09:03,290 with family or maybe they were waiting on an important phone call or maybe they're using their phone to do business. 92 00:09:03,290 --> 00:09:11,810 Do you guys have any memories of a time that you just knew phone repair services and having this retail store were so important to the community? 93 00:09:11,810 --> 00:09:16,520 Oh, yeah. Like an example was this. This past Saturday, 94 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:26,630 we had a gentleman who was a cop in the area and he also has a couple businesses downtown and he was using his phone and it just went out on him. 95 00:09:26,630 --> 00:09:35,480 But luckily, we had that part in store. I usually try to keep as many parts as I can because emergencies happen like that. 96 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:43,430 And luckily we had it and we were able to get him back in business and he was trying to book a couple of gigs coming up, music artists coming up. 97 00:09:43,430 --> 00:09:47,210 And he's like, I need my phone. And I was like, OK, sir, don't worry. 98 00:09:47,210 --> 00:09:53,900 We got it. Give me forty five minutes. And sure enough, we had him back in business and he was over the moon happy. 99 00:09:53,900 --> 00:09:57,320 So I mean that's that's my most recent that I can say. 100 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:05,300 But we do get a lot of people like that that are super worried about their information and they they think it's gone forever. 101 00:10:05,300 --> 00:10:10,640 But in reality, they just might need a screen changed and they're back. 102 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:16,670 And it's. That's the best part of the job that I like is being able to fix it. 103 00:10:16,670 --> 00:10:21,230 And the people are just amazed that, wow, it is working again. 104 00:10:21,230 --> 00:10:25,280 And all my stuff, my important data is still here. 105 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:32,180 And that's that's the highlight of what I like to do. And I'll add on to that. 106 00:10:32,180 --> 00:10:37,220 In all the years of working there, in all the years of dealing with people. 107 00:10:37,220 --> 00:10:44,470 I always love recovering their kids pictures, being a father now and with another little girl on the way. 108 00:10:44,470 --> 00:10:48,680 Man, I would be devastated if I lost all my pictures. 109 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:54,710 Some of our best selves are not the ones that we make the most money on. Not that they have the task press on, 110 00:10:54,710 --> 00:11:02,000 but the ones that are more most rewarding are seeing somebody cry literally of tears that they have not lost their memories. 111 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,320 You know, the kids from there were when they were born to whether five or six. 112 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:11,660 That is one of them. When I tell you find something that's rewarding for you, that's rewarding for me. 113 00:11:11,660 --> 00:11:16,040 That's reward for us. And that's rewarding for the team that we have. 114 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,360 That's why our slogan, you know, we were fixing Broken Falls and broken hearts because, you know, 115 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:26,990 you you keep a lot of personal memory and stuff that your heartfelt moments in there in your phone. 116 00:11:26,990 --> 00:11:31,340 So I love what I do. I really do. 117 00:11:31,340 --> 00:11:41,300 So in working with people like Kelly, like Franklin, you know, John met the RSA, Edgar Yorty. 118 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:45,420 You know, everybody's got a different background. Everybody's got difficult. 119 00:11:45,420 --> 00:11:50,890 They come with, you know, that they have to overcome. 120 00:11:50,890 --> 00:11:59,200 You know, and we hope we hope to improve, not just give him a paycheck, but hopefully help them shape their life for the better and going forward. 121 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:04,460 You know, we're not just a number whenever they tell me, you know, I don't like the term boss, 122 00:12:04,460 --> 00:12:08,170 you know, because I'm working with them, you know, out with my coworker. 123 00:12:08,170 --> 00:12:12,310 I work with them. If I was a boss, I'd be at home giving instructions on what to do. 124 00:12:12,310 --> 00:12:17,380 But they know that, you know, at any point time they can call me and I'm going to answer the phone, 125 00:12:17,380 --> 00:12:20,650 whether it be business related or whether it be personal, you know. 126 00:12:20,650 --> 00:12:24,670 And I think that's the key to our success. You know, you're not just an employee. 127 00:12:24,670 --> 00:12:30,550 You're not just a paycheck. You know, you're somebody that we truly care about and we want to do good. 128 00:12:30,550 --> 00:12:36,370 It does two things right. You stay with us longer. You don't have to train as much. 129 00:12:36,370 --> 00:12:41,350 And you know you know that we care about you, too. So therefore, you care for the business. 130 00:12:41,350 --> 00:12:46,240 You care about the people that come in because, you know, this business is going to provide a living for you. 131 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:52,780 So do you think maybe one of the reasons you guys have stayed so busy, even though other businesses are cutting their hours, 132 00:12:52,780 --> 00:12:57,850 their drawing backs, downscaling on employees, they're not remodeling like you guys are. 133 00:12:57,850 --> 00:13:02,120 Do you think it has anything to do with just the fact that people are on their phones more because they're at home more? 134 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:07,560 Or what is the what's the reasoning for the continued growth? One hundred percent. 135 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:14,490 I mean, a lot of people are stuck at home. They work from home now and they have devices that they use. 136 00:13:14,490 --> 00:13:19,570 And so luckily, we are a business that repairs devices that is broken. 137 00:13:19,570 --> 00:13:27,030 And so we just have had a lot of luck with not slowing down with that. 138 00:13:27,030 --> 00:13:36,090 We're lucky to be in a business where the pandemic has actually amplified the urgency of beginning your device back. 139 00:13:36,090 --> 00:13:39,960 You know, we your quarantined and you're at home. 140 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:47,370 Your only phones. Communication is a phone. So if it goes down, then, you know, you don't want to be out and about then pandemic. 141 00:13:47,370 --> 00:13:55,290 So the phone is actually made it to where it's it's more necessary now than ever to get your device up and going. 142 00:13:55,290 --> 00:13:59,650 People that are working for home now need their screen repaired on their own. 143 00:13:59,650 --> 00:14:04,200 The laptop. Let's say you broke your laptop and you had this past due today. 144 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,490 You can't wait till tomorrow. I mean, you got to get this done. You got job to do. 145 00:14:08,490 --> 00:14:14,190 So that's why it's it's I believe that's why we'd continue to get busy and start growing. 146 00:14:14,190 --> 00:14:19,680 Like I said, unfortunately, some of the businesses, you know, are not as lucky as we are. 147 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:27,780 We're just fortunate to be in this business that, you know. You know, we wish all businesses the best and we hope that we can't you know, we go out, 148 00:14:27,780 --> 00:14:33,940 lead out of the businesses to try to support them because we should all try and support one another. 149 00:14:33,940 --> 00:14:40,030 With that being said, Kelly has done a magnificent job of keeping up with the demand over there. 150 00:14:40,030 --> 00:14:50,940 And super proud of her. We've we've been at one point in each other's necks, but that's because we all want to be successful. 151 00:14:50,940 --> 00:14:54,990 You know, success is not easy. There's a price to pay for success. 152 00:14:54,990 --> 00:14:59,820 It's going to be time. It's going to be dedication. You know, some heartaches. 153 00:14:59,820 --> 00:15:03,990 She's had to go up to the store at twelve o'clock at night before because the alarm went off. 154 00:15:03,990 --> 00:15:07,620 You know, you don't just wake up and things are successful. 155 00:15:07,620 --> 00:15:15,000 There's people that behind the scenes that are putting time and energy, you know, frankly, comes in and he gets here early sometimes. 156 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,130 And, you know, he leaves late at times. But this is the reason they go. 157 00:15:20,130 --> 00:15:24,730 One person will not be able to do it. You got to have a team to have a successful business. 158 00:15:24,730 --> 00:15:28,620 And like I said, the better your team is, the most successful they're going to be. 159 00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:33,020 One thing that we work on, too, is, you know, we spend a lot of money on advertising. 160 00:15:33,020 --> 00:15:39,490 Right. So let's say mirro comes in. Right. And I tell this to every one of them, no matter where you go. 161 00:15:39,490 --> 00:15:44,580 Right. No matter what you do, if you treat that person well, they'll remember you the next time, 162 00:15:44,580 --> 00:15:51,390 whether you deal with them smartphone, EMT or Texas Roadhouse or AT&T or they remember you. 163 00:15:51,390 --> 00:15:55,350 If you were kind, if you were patient with them, if you heard what you had to hear. 164 00:15:55,350 --> 00:15:59,610 I call that not getting a one time customer get a lifetime customer. 165 00:15:59,610 --> 00:16:04,930 You know, the more those you do, the more consistently they'll tell other people. 166 00:16:04,930 --> 00:16:08,760 And you can spend whatever time, whatever you want on advertising the water mouth, 167 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:14,610 regardless of the technology that's out there today, is still the single best advertiser there is. 168 00:16:14,610 --> 00:16:24,510 If I tell Mirel, hey, you need to go to the tacos over here at Personnels and as well, because she knows me, 169 00:16:24,510 --> 00:16:29,840 she's gonna trust me and go there rather than seeing it on some Facebook famous stuff like that. 170 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:37,080 I've told her personally, I've tried it and it was great. So she's going to be more apt to go there than anywhere else now that I've told her. 171 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:42,090 Remember, not one time customer's lifetime customers, no matter what the business is. 172 00:16:42,090 --> 00:16:48,410 Treat them right and they'll remember you. Well, I have to say, I've learned a lot. 173 00:16:48,410 --> 00:16:51,810 Yo, Kelly, Merial, fantastic interview. 174 00:16:51,810 --> 00:16:58,050 Thank you so much, everyone, or thank you to be a part of the great Reges state. 175 00:16:58,050 --> 00:17:05,580 Small business, big, real impact. I've learned a lot. I think the one thing that came to mind as you were talking was empathy, empathy for your poise, 176 00:17:05,580 --> 00:17:12,450 empathy for your community and everything else will kind of fall into place saying you can't do it alone, can you not? 177 00:17:12,450 --> 00:17:16,010 I mean, we we depend on other businesses. Look. Team effort. 178 00:17:16,010 --> 00:17:19,620 Team effort. That's right. And it's not just business wise. 179 00:17:19,620 --> 00:17:26,580 If we if we realize in this world that if takes all of us, there will be a better world to not just a better business, you know, just a better will. 180 00:17:26,580 --> 00:17:30,540 We all need one another in some shape, form or fashion, just like I need. 181 00:17:30,540 --> 00:17:34,270 Kelly, Kelly needs me. Kelly need to meet a man needs. 182 00:17:34,270 --> 00:17:38,390 John. John needs Frankie. Frankie needs Edgar. Ebony, Judy. 183 00:17:38,390 --> 00:17:43,500 And you know what? We make it work. And when one falls, Dublin picks him up. 184 00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:51,750 So we're we're stronger together. We'll ever be apart. And as a team, dude, I am so pumped about it that, you know, we're gonna continue to grow. 185 00:17:51,750 --> 00:17:55,620 And I think everybody is going to fulfill their dreams. 186 00:17:55,620 --> 00:18:01,350 As long as they put forth effort and I believe in all of them, that's why we don't hire somebody you don't believe in. 187 00:18:01,350 --> 00:18:05,760 You know what I mean? They are who they are. If it's not a fit, it's not. 188 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:14,220 Fit in, you got to tell him up front. Look, is this a job that you want to do for the next six, seven months? 189 00:18:14,220 --> 00:18:19,710 You know, if that's you. We don't watch you. It's more fun, a. We want you to go with our family when you come in. 190 00:18:19,710 --> 00:18:25,640 You're with us, you know. And we got Kelly. How many years now? Eight, seven, eight, eight. 191 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:31,020 Eight. Frankie, six. You're ready for John to a man? 192 00:18:31,020 --> 00:18:35,640 Almost two. Lorenzo almost two. Edgar We just. 193 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:40,080 Harting And he's going to win here. MAN Up on the year. 194 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:44,580 The only other guy that the guys that have left us was Christian. 195 00:18:44,580 --> 00:18:49,050 And he's doing something medical. Unbelievable. One of the smartest people I ever met. 196 00:18:49,050 --> 00:18:53,580 You know, he's by the point of Texas. So he you know, he had he had bigger plans. 197 00:18:53,580 --> 00:18:56,940 And like I said, we encourage them whenever you came on. 198 00:18:56,940 --> 00:19:01,540 I encourage you to go school. Yes. 199 00:19:01,540 --> 00:19:06,510 Yes. And I had managed to do what three omit is going to school. 200 00:19:06,510 --> 00:19:12,180 No going boring school. John was going to school. You know, we encourage him to further their education. 201 00:19:12,180 --> 00:19:15,890 You know, something happens to the cell phone. You've got to be able to adapt and go to something else. 202 00:19:15,890 --> 00:19:23,540 You know, you don't want to be dependent on that. For me, it was going from Radio Shack to cell phone repair that brought that to my to me. 203 00:19:23,540 --> 00:19:30,170 You got to have something else. You got to be able to learn something. But if you learn customer service, you can apply to a lot of different things. 204 00:19:30,170 --> 00:19:35,210 And that's really what I focus on. Whenever we get our guys customer service, customer service. 205 00:19:35,210 --> 00:19:38,780 If you get the cell phone pick, great customer service, you can plot it. 206 00:19:38,780 --> 00:19:45,230 Many other jobs, whether it be a nurse, a banker, telemarketer, car salesmen, all of that. 207 00:19:45,230 --> 00:19:48,920 So that's what I try to drill into that, you know. 208 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:53,420 Tell me your name. Be proud of your name. You know, the reason a lot of people know me. 209 00:19:53,420 --> 00:19:56,930 Listen, I'm not shy. I'm not going to be shy about it, especially business wise. 210 00:19:56,930 --> 00:20:00,410 You know, I'm proud of the work I'm putting. I should be proud of your work. 211 00:20:00,410 --> 00:20:04,280 If you're proud of what you were, you are going to see the pride you put in there. There's a note. 212 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,480 Good work. So that's my focus on our team. 213 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,680 And as a business, hopefully to help you grow your team that way is. 214 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:18,020 Just keep her involved. Keep them in the loop. Let them know, you know, communicate. 215 00:20:18,020 --> 00:20:21,890 You know, you need to work on this. You know what that is? 216 00:20:21,890 --> 00:20:28,880 Because it always. If anything else, even if we have bad days, yet everybody makes mistakes. 217 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,970 You can't just you can't work on that. You just have to keep shuffling. 218 00:20:32,970 --> 00:20:36,590 And then we'll move forward, will grow regardless of the other stuff. 219 00:20:36,590 --> 00:20:40,470 If you just try and keep trying. America is the place to be. 220 00:20:40,470 --> 00:20:44,450 You don't know me. You get an opportunity. If you don't take it, it's your own fault. 221 00:20:44,450 --> 00:20:48,440 You know, in America, you can do it if you want to do it. 222 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:55,700 You may have to start from further down than others, but there is no excuse to not make it your own way here in America and other places. 223 00:20:55,700 --> 00:20:59,090 In other places, you might have an excuse. You may. And I've gotten lucky. 224 00:20:59,090 --> 00:21:03,980 You know, you may not being able to go to school, your peers may not have money in America. 225 00:21:03,980 --> 00:21:07,520 You have a chance. So make the best of it. 226 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:14,100 I love it. I absolutely love it. If you were a business and need encouragement or an employee needs encouragement, come down to the queen. 227 00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:17,540 I'm saying CEO and Kelly Schram and the rest of the team. 228 00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:24,900 And in the meantime, make sure you listen to our next episode of Great Bridges, Small Business, Big Real Impact. 229 00:21:24,900 --> 00:21:29,810 And we'll see you next time. Yeah. Last night, I'll tell you that if you watch Joe Dirt, he says keep on keeping on. 230 00:21:29,810 --> 00:21:34,070 Nobody had a worst night guy, you know, in your heart. 231 00:21:34,070 --> 00:21:38,600 You know, they had gotten bigger. Make it work for you and it will come to fruition. 232 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,880 If you don't work, your dream won't either. Wait a minute. 233 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:52,650 How did we get from business, retail, merchandise and to unity development to Joe Dirt, Joe Dirt and Joe Dirt had the odds stacked against them. 234 00:21:52,650 --> 00:21:56,450 So if you're out there, you know, if you're out there and you don't know what you're doing. 235 00:21:56,450 --> 00:22:00,800 Like I say, you can. You can go from bad to good. 236 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:05,940 You can't cheat. We've had several people on our team that could've gone a different way. 237 00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:08,570 Imakura, Kelly. Yeah, you're correct. 238 00:22:08,570 --> 00:22:16,880 You had people that possibly could have been either dead or in jail, you know, not that the bad people, but, you know, we as humans, we make mistakes. 239 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:23,570 And that's where other thing, too, is that that's how, you know, they care. We could easily just ship them off, pass them on somebody else. 240 00:22:23,570 --> 00:22:27,200 But we took them because we saw something in in the end for that. 241 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,890 They're great for us and they work hard for us and we work hard altogether. 242 00:22:30,890 --> 00:22:35,720 But yeah. Joe Dirt. I love that guy. And you. 243 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,140 And. We love it out here on. 244 00:22:39,140 --> 00:22:43,470 See. Thank you guys so much. We appreciate your time. 245 00:22:43,470 --> 00:22:50,830 Thanks. For more information about this or any great Bridges podcast or more about Great Bridges, Arkansas, visit us. 246 00:22:50,830 --> 00:22:54,190 Yeah. Scott, you slash create bridges. 247 00:22:54,190 --> 00:23:01,040 The Great Bridges Arkansas podcast is made possible by Wellmark Grant to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, 248 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,940 Cooperative Extension, Community, Professional and Economic Development. 249 00:23:04,940 --> 00:23:18,439 And with the cooperation of Spring River Innovation Hub and White River Now productions.