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Energy. Stay focused. Hello

2:55

and welcome to How I Built This Lab.

2:57

I'm Guy Roz. So on this

2:59

show, as you know, we talk with founders

3:01

behind some of the best-known brands in the

3:03

world. And the thing is,

3:05

a lot of founders come onto the

3:08

show because they want to share their

3:10

knowledge, their mistakes, their fumbles, their failures,

3:12

and the lessons they learned along the

3:14

way. So today, on

3:16

How I Built This Lab, we're starting a

3:18

new project, a kind of mentor's edition of

3:21

the show. And on the

3:23

lab for the next few months, we'll

3:25

invite a former guest, someone who built

3:27

an iconic brand, back onto

3:29

the show to give advice to people

3:31

like you. And by the way, if you

3:34

are building something and you need advice, give

3:36

us a call and you might be the next guest

3:38

on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298 and it's also

3:41

in the podcast description if you missed it. Okay,

3:48

let's go. So

3:52

today, our guest mentor is Fawn

3:54

Weaver, the founder of one of

3:56

the fastest growing whiskey brands in

3:58

the world, Uncle Mirris. Fonz,

4:00

welcome back to the show. Thank you for

4:02

having me, Guy. So we first

4:04

had you on the show in 2021 to

4:07

tell us the incredible story behind

4:09

your whiskey brand. It's actually a

4:11

story of a guy named Nearest

4:13

Green. He was a formerly enslaved

4:15

man who actually taught Jack Daniel.

4:17

Yes, that Jack Daniel, how to

4:19

distill Tennessee whiskey. You

4:22

were so inspired by the story that with

4:24

no distilling experience, you took a massive leap.

4:26

You built a whiskey brand in his name

4:28

and his honor. And so

4:30

Fon, one of the reasons why we

4:33

asked you to come on to be our

4:35

first mentor is because, aside from, of course,

4:37

being a great whiskey maker, you

4:39

are an awesome storyteller as well. And all

4:41

the startup founders who are going to call

4:43

in today, I think they

4:45

need some help refining the story of

4:48

their brand. So, you know, in

4:51

general, when you think about storytelling around

4:53

a brand, where do you start? Yeah,

4:56

I think it has to come from the heart. A

4:58

lot of times founders will go

5:00

outside of themselves to build a

5:02

story. And you can't

5:05

replicate heart. If it hasn't really

5:07

touched your own soul, you're

5:09

not going to be able to make that

5:12

resonate with other people. I don't care how

5:14

many people you go to or how

5:16

much money you spend. It really

5:19

has to start from your own heart.

5:21

So the storytelling, the artist storytelling from me

5:23

is, is it touched your own soul and

5:26

you're able to share it with other people in such a way

5:28

that it touches theirs? There's a

5:30

word that I use, and I've written about this

5:32

in my book, when thinking about

5:34

story and it's a why. Why

5:36

did I make this? Why does the world

5:38

need to hear about it? Why

5:41

does it add value to your life? You know, and

5:43

those are questions, right? You have to

5:45

answer when you're starting to think about the

5:47

product of the brand that you're putting out into the world. Absolutely.

5:49

And why does it matter to anyone else?

5:52

Exactly. Because something

5:54

can matter to you, and If

5:57

you don't cause it to resonate with other

5:59

people, it doesn't matter. that matter that it

6:01

resonates with you assess that's not going to

6:03

help you with whatever it is that you're

6:06

trying to sell or give us. It has

6:08

to be something that you have connected to

6:10

the hearts, mind, soul, body of other people.

6:13

Yell. Of our I think we've

6:15

got some callers who are waiting. I'm excited.

6:17

talk about the brands that that they're building

6:20

and and here's here's others gonna work organized

6:22

or to three calls from early stage founders

6:24

were gonna get a little background on each

6:26

of them and then and then they'll ask

6:29

a specific question about their business. So let's

6:31

let's bring our first caller ah who is

6:33

on the line and gets Kevin is it

6:35

is Kevin their hello guy and Elements on

6:37

how the on today I can they haven't

6:40

I'm please introduce yourself tell us where where

6:42

where you live which. Businesses. Yes,

6:45

Hello My name's Kevin Are you that

6:47

and the cofounder of Plants A Coffee

6:49

Co As a small coffee trailer here

6:51

in Southwest all sense of point. It

6:53

actually means bridge and our goal is

6:55

to be the bridge between the actual

6:57

farmers and consumers. I actually grew up

7:00

on a coffee farming hunter. As a

7:02

I have will be wonderful memories from

7:04

the Navy. From I

7:06

started my of my life been around

7:08

a coffee farm getting ready for some

7:10

market. I remember going and taken the

7:13

Terry's extracting bees from the tears, trying

7:15

to cherries, putting the Sas ah in

7:17

the back or pickup truck and driving

7:19

this dean of dirt roads. Mint you

7:21

We live in the mountains in the

7:23

western side of Wonder Are so he

7:26

went to this huge Weyerhaeuser be by

7:28

your coffee which is like this. I

7:30

don't That's the memories that I have as it

7:32

is a kid. So I mean what fund pack

7:35

a better story? And it less is

7:37

that's exactly what I was thinking as he

7:39

was talking about it. You keep referencing cherries

7:41

and in forgive me I do enjoy coffee.

7:44

My husband is a massive can't be kind

7:46

of sewers but what did series have to

7:48

do with coffee beans? So

7:50

of coffee the plant produces tears

7:53

to there's two beams per cherry.

7:55

the actual terrorists are pets, ones

7:57

are ripe enough and usually when.

8:00

Very bad. Like very widespread you haven't

8:02

we seen which is called a dispute

8:04

put I load us. You have the

8:06

skin that can get smart to the

8:08

back and the actual beans come to

8:10

the front. The beans and cells have

8:12

the site. Honey texture to at

8:15

So I keep saying ah cheers because

8:17

the actual coffee beans are up. Harvest

8:19

said it are grown in a natural

8:21

tears. And yet

8:23

and fun. It's so cool if you

8:25

go to Coffee Farm to see these

8:27

berries on his bushes and basically to

8:30

squeeze them built. the beans pop out

8:32

and they're obviously they're unrest there. green,

8:34

but that's coffee. and then you roast

8:36

those and have coffee. Who knows?

8:38

The Southern Utah is amazing.

8:41

Yeah. So. Just to

8:43

clarify to see, you actually sell brewed

8:45

coffee and you roast coffee? Yes, so

8:47

I'm there's two parts of the actual.

8:50

This S Appointed is our customer facing

8:52

right now we have one coffee truck

8:54

were in the process of building a

8:57

second once. we have a small microbrews

8:59

certain which is called H Way Coffee

9:01

Co and right now racks the working

9:04

with importers to get the beans from

9:06

them and when roast the actual beans.

9:09

And and and so A to a what

9:11

exactly does that mean? Because I want to

9:13

hear more of this story and I'm not

9:15

getting that from the name. Absolute.

9:17

So Eight Way is with the enzyme that

9:20

allows her brain to taking the cast

9:22

seen. so it's what facilities the cast to

9:24

into your body. My business partner Patrick his

9:26

a nerd about biology and pick him

9:28

up with a name like there's the best.

9:31

The acronym for the enzyme specifically and it

9:33

wasn't taken says that he misses. Get

9:35

the niemi to egg and kind of go

9:37

from there. so I I I actually

9:39

really like the name A to A. I

9:42

think the story the enzyme is really cool

9:44

but I wonder why. I mean I'm

9:46

looking your website. plenty coffee. Why?

9:48

Not I'm twenty roasting to. Why? Why

9:51

is it just because you guys have

9:53

to separate companies? Honestly, That's

9:55

on other things that were actually incomes

9:57

He says the moments to rebrand the

9:59

actual. In part. To. A

10:01

to a the roaster appointees the

10:03

coffee so but they made merge

10:05

Okay let's go to your question

10:07

because it is about storytelling of

10:09

Corso Tevin. Which. A question for fun!

10:12

I. Had the hardest time in terms

10:14

of storytelling. Ah, that is now my

10:16

strength by any means. I know that

10:18

we have a story and were trying

10:20

to build on it, but I just

10:22

don't have the best way to say

10:25

takes this who we are, what we're

10:27

trying to build. I mean

10:29

any type of it ends in terms of

10:31

how to best tell our story and what

10:33

our mission is. First. Of

10:35

all you are a great storyteller

10:37

guess so? Whoever told you you're not

10:39

a good storyteller it is including yourself

10:41

as that's who told you that you

10:43

need to. Go back to

10:45

that flourish end of it. Yes. You

10:48

are a fantastic storytellers, so much so

10:50

that I could do this for the

10:52

next hour easily just listening to you

10:54

talk about the farmers and the farm.

10:56

And the cherry F. So you are

10:59

a fantastic story teller. What I think

11:01

you're probably saying is that you don't

11:03

know how to articulate your story quickly.

11:06

Yeah, flights. And and to

11:08

be able to distill it down

11:10

into bite size pieces. But here's

11:12

the things you don't really have

11:14

to do that you can write

11:16

out your entire story literally every

11:19

element in it, and then break

11:21

it into sections. So for instance,

11:23

when you hear me talking about

11:25

the store near screen and the

11:27

press all the time, I'm usually

11:29

talking about a particular section. Of

11:32

the story because once you bring my

11:34

story intuit, my team member story intuit

11:36

are distillery into it's I've got twenty

11:38

five stories and no one has time

11:40

for all of that guy. Pulled.

11:43

The question is who the audience

11:45

that you're talking to at any

11:47

given moment and what is this

11:49

section of your stories that relate

11:52

to that? So if you can

11:54

really hone in on learning each

11:56

aspect of your story separately, Yes,

11:58

the all. In or Twice, but the

12:00

ability to give every section of your

12:03

story a start, a middle, and an

12:05

ending so that you're touching people's hearts

12:07

and minds at the beginning and the

12:09

middle. and at the end of every.

12:11

Section. Oh. I

12:13

love that advice. I'm gonna build on

12:15

refined said and give you some practical

12:17

suggestions. The story you just told us

12:19

about being raised on a coffee farm

12:21

in Honduras none of that is on

12:24

your website, none of that on your

12:26

coffee bags I imagine of you I

12:28

would start by just putting a little

12:30

letter, a love letter to your customers.

12:32

you know. Starting with my name is

12:34

Kevin, I grew up on a car

12:36

coffee farm and in Honduras and I

12:38

would watch as you know we harvested

12:40

whatever story you want to tell. Just

12:42

a brief. Paragraphs pace that on the

12:44

back of every coffee bag that

12:46

you self. maybe even print them

12:48

a cup of coffee that you

12:50

serve the people. Just three or

12:53

four lines about you and your

12:55

connection to this world because that

12:57

is so powerful. So I would

12:59

just start. Very. Simply

13:01

by getting your story

13:03

on your product. And

13:05

I would add to it to I die

13:08

as saying the the Consumer especially when you

13:10

come to gin the and millennials they love.

13:12

A good back. And. You

13:15

are giving back to those farmers

13:17

simply by acknowledging. Who. They

13:19

are and and thing a spotlight

13:21

on them so even if with

13:23

every bag your spotlighting specific farmers.

13:26

Where it came from your actually. Giving people

13:28

a cease and a name so that

13:31

it's not just coffee beans that are

13:33

coming in, it's the people who are

13:35

actually taking the time and in doing

13:37

the hard work of picking these cherries

13:40

and getting these coffee beans us. And

13:42

so you tell this incredible story about

13:44

you, but you also add a line

13:47

or two about where that coffee is

13:49

coming from and put faces and names.

13:52

With the product. Kevin a

13:54

reader. Plenty coffee. Thanks so much! Good

13:56

luck! Congratulations! Amazing! We were going to

13:58

be following you. Yes, we are. Thank.

14:00

You guys are you silly prisoners from the bottom

14:02

of the hard thing to France. The guys you

14:04

do Thank you thank you thank you. For

14:06

I cannot believe he didn't think he was a

14:09

good story Tell all my gosh I can listen

14:11

to him for our i'm hanging right off that

14:13

this is something that I would have so much

14:15

but picking up the story into Syria it was

14:17

the world causes so subtle. Cool Yeah it

14:20

is. Farmer to take

14:22

a quick break. Really back with another caller

14:24

and just a few moments they will assume

14:26

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18:38

Hey welcome back to How I Built This Lab. I'm

18:40

here with Fon Weaver, the founder of Uncle

18:43

Nearest Whiskey. Fon we

18:45

just talked with Kevin whose coffee company has

18:47

an awesome natural story right because he grew

18:50

up on a coffee farm in Honduras. And

18:53

of course your company had a natural

18:55

story but what about brands that you

18:57

know that don't have a natural story

18:59

or a clear story like where do

19:01

they start? Every brand has a

19:03

story because every human has a story and every

19:05

brand is founded by a human. Yeah. And

19:07

so if your brand itself does not

19:09

have a story there's a

19:12

story behind why you are doing it.

19:14

So if you look at Uncle Nearest

19:16

on any given day there's between five

19:18

and eight press hits around the world

19:20

major publications and they're

19:22

all telling different stories about the brand.

19:24

And a lot of those stories are

19:26

not the story of Nearest Green and

19:29

Jack Daniel. I'd venture to say that

19:31

most of them aren't because I've now

19:33

told the story of my upbringing, how

19:35

I came to the story. I've now

19:37

told the story of my all-female leadership

19:39

team that I've had from day one.

19:41

I've now told the story of the

19:43

importance of this not only being black

19:45

owned but remaining black owned and passing

19:47

to the next generation so that we

19:49

can begin to decrease the wealth gap.

19:52

And I tell that story on a daily

19:54

basis. So you also have to figure

19:57

out what are elements of your story

19:59

that are interesting. to people.

20:01

Yeah. Well, fine. Let's

20:03

get to our next caller.

20:05

I think it's Elizabeth

20:07

on the line. Elizabeth, you there?

20:10

Yes, I'm here. Hi. Hello, Elizabeth.

20:12

Please introduce yourself, what you do.

20:14

Yeah. My name is Elizabeth Krusty Wright

20:17

and I'm the founder of a

20:19

jewelry brand called With Love Darling

20:21

and we produce in developing countries

20:23

creating income for vulnerable communities such

20:25

as Messiah, tribes, women and

20:27

we plant a tree for each other. Wow.

20:29

So you do your jewelry maker. So let's break

20:31

this down, Elizabeth. And where do you base by

20:34

the way? I'm based in Monaco but the

20:36

business is in Denmark. And you are Danish

20:38

by? I'm Danish, yes. Okay. So first of all,

20:40

tell us about the jewelry. What is it, what

20:42

does it look like? What is it made from?

20:45

So the jewelry is made from either recycled

20:47

silver that's gold plated or brass that's gold

20:49

plated depending on where we produce it. So

20:51

we either produce it in Kenya or we

20:54

produce it in India. Where

20:56

we know it creates income for these communities.

20:58

Tell me how you started this because

21:00

I've from what I understand you

21:02

were actually in in the military

21:04

for like five years. You were

21:06

captain in the

21:09

Danish army? Yes, that's right. I was

21:12

the captain of Danish army and I

21:14

served in two NATO missions. One in

21:16

Bosnia and one Kosovo when it was

21:18

my early 20s. And it was a

21:20

really impressionable time of my life.

21:22

I mean when you saw how really difficult life

21:24

is just two hours by plane from where I

21:26

grew up. And that really

21:28

inspired me to try and make a difference.

21:31

And that's why I started the jewelry brand

21:33

trying to tell a story about a better

21:36

future literally where the change you want close

21:38

to your heart was my idea. So

21:40

how did you start it? How did you get it off the

21:42

ground? You know I've always been

21:44

pretty creative so I started drawing designs and then

21:47

I started researching where

21:49

I could produce these pieces.

21:52

I went to India and I visited

21:54

a lot of workshops and found one

21:56

that was really what I wanted sustainable,

21:58

recycled, fair trade. really treated their

22:00

people well and I went to Kenya,

22:03

I visited the Maasai tribes, women who

22:05

do these beautiful beads. And

22:07

because we're wearing these things anyway, so why not

22:09

just help a person for whom you can really

22:12

make a difference? Like I think the more jewelry

22:14

we sell, the more people we help, the more

22:16

people we empower. So

22:18

that's really my mission. Yeah.

22:21

I'm looking at your website. First thing

22:24

I did when you began talking

22:26

is to type in with love darling.

22:29

And I love that you came up first because

22:31

in a space where

22:33

we are being inundated with

22:36

paid ads and paid everything, right? And

22:38

so if you're going to tell your

22:40

story and get your story out there

22:42

of a small brand, you

22:45

don't want to have the hurdle of it being

22:47

difficult for people to find you. And

22:49

so you chose a name with love

22:51

darling that you could pop up first.

22:54

So kudos to you. Absolutely

22:56

brilliant. I love your

22:58

story. I love your purpose. I

23:00

love that when I'm on your

23:02

website and I scroll down, there

23:04

is a section of Kenyan women

23:06

that have those beautiful beads that

23:08

we have all seen in photographs.

23:10

You put their faces on here

23:13

and it says, these women made your

23:15

bracelet. So now I am automatically drawn

23:17

to your bracelet over another bracelet because

23:19

you've just shown me the women who

23:22

made my bracelet. What's

23:24

so cool about this is every single piece of jewelry

23:27

has a story, right? And some of them are connected

23:29

to the, I guess the UN sustainability

23:31

goals, right? But

23:33

now here, this is going to be, I'm going to push

23:35

back a little bit and Fawn, this is important because as

23:38

you know, most people,

23:40

they might be interested in, or

23:42

they might learn about Uncle Nearest because of the story. They

23:45

might want to try it, but that's

23:47

not enough. It has to be a good

23:49

product. You have to make a good whiskey.

23:51

So ultimately people are going to buy Uncle

23:53

Nearest not even because they

23:55

care all that much about the story, but

23:57

because they like the product. So

24:00

the story can bring them in, but

24:03

you've got to make something that's going

24:05

to keep them coming back. And so

24:07

my question is, ultimately, is

24:09

the story about how these

24:11

are made, who they benefit

24:13

enough? Because I'm looking at the pieces,

24:16

and they're beautiful. They're great. And

24:18

I think that's what ultimately has

24:21

to be emphasized. Does

24:24

that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I agree with

24:26

you. The first thing that I saw when

24:29

I came onto this website was that she

24:31

had 1,000 plus five star

24:33

reviews. Now, to Guy's

24:35

point, I would figure out a

24:38

way to weave that in as a part of

24:40

the story. So one of the things you will

24:42

see, if you see a billboard or an ad

24:44

from Uncle Nierst anywhere, it's not actually

24:46

telling the story. There's not enough time in any

24:48

type of ad. What you will see is we're

24:51

the most awarded bourbon in the world for 2019,

24:53

2020, 2021, 2022,

24:55

and 2023. Every

24:57

year we update those ads, and all we do

24:59

is add a new year on it every time

25:01

we're the most awarded. So people

25:04

know from the beginning, even before

25:06

they learn of the story, that the product

25:08

is one of the best bourbons in the world.

25:11

That's where they start. And then they

25:13

hear the story and go, whoa, whoa, whoa. So

25:16

the story becomes the surprise element when

25:18

it comes to Uncle Nierst. And that's

25:20

intentional because to Guy's point, the story

25:22

may get someone to buy something or

25:24

to be interested in something, but it

25:26

will not make them a consumer. Yeah.

25:29

Before we dive a little further into that,

25:31

Elizabeth, you have a very specific question for

25:34

Faun. Yes. So Faun, what

25:37

I really want to do, I want to scale. We're

25:39

a direct-to-consumer because that way I can control the narrative.

25:42

And I intend to scale through advertising

25:44

and storytelling. And my issue is that

25:46

there are so many great messages to

25:48

communicate, to focus on the symbolism of

25:51

clean water and peace, to focus on

25:53

the tribes, women and their story, to

25:55

focus on the fact that we can plant a tree,

25:58

that we're all recycled. I feel, you know. that

26:00

there's too much and I need a really

26:02

crystal clear narrative where I can

26:04

just retail that story again and again in all

26:06

my ads and communications to

26:09

my customers. Right, so

26:11

the tree planting I would not because

26:13

there are number one a number of

26:16

different types of companies that do tree

26:18

planting and it doesn't have a natural

26:20

tie because your jewelry is not made

26:22

of wood. And so there

26:25

is not a natural tie to that story.

26:27

When I am looking at your brand if

26:29

I am going to scale and I'm trying

26:31

to reach beyond this sort of going directly

26:33

to the consumers and go beyond that I

26:36

am looking at number one what are people

26:38

saying about your jewelry? What

26:40

makes your jewelry special but I am looking

26:43

at not only what are they saying about the

26:45

quality of it, why are they

26:47

buying it? What is the story behind

26:49

it? Because you have something that a

26:52

lot of companies, a lot of founders

26:54

don't have at this stage you actually

26:56

have other people to tell your story

26:58

for you. Those are the best

27:00

people to tell your stories. If you

27:02

can let other people tell your story that

27:05

is more authentic and you are more likely to

27:07

land a sale from

27:10

another person who is a consumer than you

27:12

are from you as the founder. I

27:16

would also add that if you are

27:18

looking to do something around some

27:20

initiative right, I'm assuming that

27:23

I think that a lot of the

27:25

jewelry is made by women in the

27:27

developing world. I mean maybe for every

27:29

order you know you work with a

27:31

group that focuses on maternal health in

27:33

the developing world, right? Something that's more

27:35

connected to the women who

27:37

are making this and probably to your

27:39

customers who are probably I

27:41

would venture to guess more women than others.

27:45

So maybe something around that. So

27:47

Actually I Went and visited the women in

27:49

Kenya and one thing that really shocked me

27:51

was that they don't even have period products.

27:54

So We started an initiative where every time

27:56

you buy two bracelets from them, we donate

27:58

these products to them. But they

28:00

didn't have to do the dude away, but it's something that helps

28:02

the women. And. And also it's

28:04

it's also so also part of story

28:06

to I think that there is a

28:09

great balance here because between design a

28:11

design focus and just beautiful things and

28:13

then the other side to it that

28:15

for bonus you get is a story

28:17

that you can tell. I think I

28:19

think that's the stories of Uncle Nearest.

28:22

Fun is that you get great whiskey,

28:24

a great product and then when you're

28:26

sitting around your project because know about

28:28

this brand notice and then you tell

28:30

the story in every oh that's so

28:32

cool. And they might move on, but

28:35

still enjoy the whiskey. Absolutely.

28:37

And you will have bartenders and and

28:39

restaurant tourists. They will share this whiskey

28:41

with people and they'll share it just

28:43

on the strength that it it is

28:46

a. Great bourbon.

28:48

Yeah. Then asteroids the folks have tasted

28:50

it. That's when they usually wolves will

28:52

share this story and say the do

28:54

you know the background behind what you're

28:57

having that so fantastic and so you

28:59

have that depth to your story Elizabeth

29:01

to be able to do that's the

29:03

the customers who buy your products obviously

29:05

loves those products so absolutely the way

29:07

that you skills as to figure out

29:09

how do you have the consumer tell

29:11

that story. I'm

29:14

Elizabeth. Thank you for calling

29:16

and congrats on launching this business and good

29:19

luck or going to be for going to

29:21

be. Potassium. Thank you so

29:23

much! Thank you guys Thank you for

29:25

thank you Elizabeth! I

29:28

farm are getting another quick break. We're going to

29:30

be right back with our third and final call

29:32

or stay with us. See, listening to High Built

29:34

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for.com designed for work. Hey,

32:11

welcome back to How I Built This Lab.

32:13

I'm Guy Roz. Alright, we've got one more

32:15

caller, and Phan, let's get right to it.

32:17

I think Joanne Bang is on the line.

32:19

Joanne, hello. Hi, guys. Hi, Phan.

32:22

Joanne, tell us where you live and

32:24

what your business is. I'm

32:27

Joanne, and my small business is

32:29

called Eat Joe Pie. Eat Joe

32:31

Pie? Yes. Okay. Yes.

32:35

And I'm based in Orange County. Orange

32:38

County, got it. Okay, so in Southern California.

32:40

And what, tell me

32:42

about the pie, like, what kind of pies do you

32:44

make? My main is

32:46

pecan pie. Mm-hmm. But throughout the

32:48

years, people have been wanting

32:50

pumpkin, and so those are the two pies that

32:53

I make. And I

32:55

am a seasonal business, so I

32:57

only bake from, like, October to

32:59

January-ish. And where do you

33:01

sell the pies? I sell

33:03

them from my home. I take

33:06

orders from Google Forms or

33:08

Instagram direct messages, and

33:10

I've been doing this since 2014. It'll

33:12

be my 10th year baking. So,

33:15

all right, so right now, you're getting most of

33:17

your orders through, like, Instagram and Google just direct

33:19

messages. So you don't have a web – I

33:21

don't think you have a website, right? No, I

33:23

don't. Okay. But everybody sort of follows – and

33:26

how many followers do you have on Instagram? I

33:29

have 520, I think. All

33:31

right. That's okay. By the way, there's

33:33

no shame there. We did a story about

33:35

Myelle Organics, one of the most incredible stories

33:37

we've had on the show in the last

33:39

seven years. I mean, Monique

33:42

Rodriguez started out with, like, 200 followers on Instagram talking

33:44

about hair care products, and she scaled it to a

33:46

business that she sold for, you know, $400 or $500

33:48

million many years later. So,

33:51

no shame in having – I mean, that's how you

33:53

start. What were you doing? I mean, is this what

33:56

you're doing full-time now? No. I'm actually

33:58

an art teacher. I work at the University of Michigan. out

34:00

in LAUSD. In the

34:03

LA public schools system? Yes. I'm

34:05

actually doing a pivot though in

34:07

my career. Yeah, I

34:10

do want to pursue this full-time now,

34:12

this pie business. And I thought

34:14

this opportunity was

34:16

such a great timing too, to

34:18

get this started. And

34:20

what is it about your

34:23

pies that, I don't know, that differentiates

34:25

them from something that people can

34:27

buy somewhere else? So a

34:29

little bit of story time. This

34:31

goes all the way back when I

34:34

first tried my first pecan pie. It

34:36

was when I was six and my

34:38

dad, he comes through the door and

34:40

he brings this pie. And

34:43

he's like, do you want a slough? And

34:45

I was like, no, thank you. I take

34:47

a look at it. It looks pretty gross

34:49

to me. Like the custard, it's really, it

34:51

looks like a booger almost. And

34:53

then once too, I was like, what is

34:55

that like, cockroaches? And my

34:57

dad was like, this is my favorite pie.

34:59

And I feel like you should try it,

35:01

Joanne, you might like it. You know, it's

35:03

really sweet. It has like a nutty flavor.

35:05

Yeah, booger cockroach pie.

35:08

And so I was

35:11

like, okay, reluctantly just loaded up the

35:13

fork and put it in my

35:15

mouth. I'm thinking, oh my gosh,

35:17

what is this? This is delicious.

35:19

Like the flakiness of the crust

35:21

with the gooey custard and like

35:23

the crisp pecans. I really

35:26

enjoyed it. And so that's when I

35:28

first had a pecan pie. Fast

35:30

forward to 2014. I'm in college, I went to UCLA.

35:32

And I went to a local

35:35

pie shop and I look at the menu. And

35:38

I was like, oh, pecan pie. I used

35:40

to love that. So I took

35:43

it back to my dorm room. So excited to

35:45

eat this. Take the first bite.

35:47

And I'm like, wait, is this

35:49

the same pie that I've tried before? It was

35:52

just so coyly least, a sweet that I

35:55

could not taste anything else. And

35:57

so I decided to take it into

35:59

my own. own hands and I was like, you

36:01

know what? I want to recreate this pie. I

36:04

first started with a standard recipe from

36:07

like foodnetwork.com. And then from there

36:09

it was still too sweet for me and

36:11

not enough of that like nutty flavor coming

36:13

through. And so I tweaked

36:15

the recipe. Um, I think it

36:17

took about like, I don't know, seven to 10 pies.

36:20

And then that year, 2014, um, I

36:23

brought it to my family gathering for Thanksgiving.

36:25

They were like, what the heck is this?

36:27

Like, where did you buy this? And I

36:29

was like, Oh, I baked it. And

36:32

then year after year, they were like, Oh, can

36:34

you bake me a pie? Can you bake me a pie? And I was

36:36

like, okay, you know what? I want to start selling this. I was

36:38

like a side hustle. And ever since 2014,

36:41

I have about more or less hundred to 120 pies

36:44

that I'm selling to people. Per

36:46

season, per season. And how much

36:48

is each pie? A pecan pie

36:51

right now is 45. And

36:53

then really good pecan pie. This is

36:55

next level. Yes. And

36:57

then, um, my pumpkin is 25. Okay.

37:01

So I mean, presumably, Fon

37:04

Joanne needs to start thinking sort

37:07

of broadly about how to structure this, right?

37:09

Cause now you can't build a business just

37:11

on an Instagram. I mean, you can,

37:13

but it's hard to build a business on

37:15

just one Instagram profile and direct messages. It

37:18

is. And your story reminds me a

37:20

lot of, I was just with keto beverage

37:22

who is built easily in America, the most

37:24

successful beverage maker of

37:26

a single bottle, just with his one

37:29

vodka flavored vodka. But, but

37:31

he began by making flavored vodkas for all

37:33

of his friends. And which is the irony

37:35

is is now he refuses under no circumstances.

37:37

Will he make a flavored vodka? But how

37:40

it began is he was making all these

37:42

flavored vodkas. And so he became known as

37:44

the flavor vodka guy that show up at

37:46

all the parties. It's like, where's Tito?

37:48

You know, so, so

37:50

your story reminds me of that, which, which I

37:53

love because you have a great story. You do

37:55

have to figure out how to pull out the

37:57

best gyms of that

38:00

story and to also not

38:02

make people think about boogers when you're about to

38:04

tell them the story about your pie. So you

38:06

do want to figure out how to share

38:09

that story in such a way that you don't

38:11

gross people out leading up to

38:13

you talking about your pie. But what I

38:15

love about the time that you are calling

38:17

in right now is we don't

38:19

have to undo anything. Meaning

38:22

you have not gone down the road of

38:24

having a name that is very difficult to

38:26

find. So eat Joe pie. Terrible.

38:29

I'm going to tell you that now. It's terrible. And

38:31

I'm going to tell you why it's terrible is you can't own

38:33

it. You cannot own the online

38:35

real estate. So that is your

38:38

URLs. Once that's

38:40

gone, that's gone. And so you always

38:42

want to start with what can I

38:44

own online and work

38:47

my way backwards from it. The reason why we

38:49

called uncle nearest uncle nearest and not nearest green

38:52

is there was no way to own nearest green until

38:54

we defined him as a human being

38:57

directly tied to uncle nearest and built

38:59

that into this huge name that if

39:01

you Google it, I own 20 pages

39:05

of Google easily if not more than

39:07

that, right? Right. You the only way

39:09

that you can build and not pay

39:11

out of the wazoo is

39:13

you have to own the online real estate

39:15

when people go to your company. So I

39:17

literally I took the time by the way

39:19

while we were sitting here to go on

39:21

GoDaddy. And your name is Joe

39:25

bang. Yeah, that's a good

39:28

name. Perfect for a brand.

39:30

Just literally just Joe bang.

39:33

Joe bang.

39:36

Are you kidding me right now? It is so

39:38

it's a food network

39:43

show. Bang. Exactly. You

39:45

can literally see Joe bang, Joe bang,

39:47

Joe bang. And you can own that.

39:50

And so what I love about that you being here

39:52

right now is we can help you to change your

39:54

name before you go

39:56

out there. Because if you can't own

39:58

the real estate. If you cannot

40:01

own the trademark in a way that

40:03

ties to the online real estate, come

40:05

up with another name. I

40:08

see so many founders out

40:10

there with incredible brands,

40:13

and it's falling flat because no one

40:16

can find them because they chose a

40:18

name that wasn't ownable. Yeah.

40:21

Joanne, we may have already answered your question partially,

40:23

but I know you've come with a specific question.

40:26

Right. So let's hear it.

40:29

Yeah. So my question I wanted

40:31

to ask today was how I

40:33

can generate more demand through social

40:35

media. First of all,

40:38

own the online real estate. Because

40:41

keep in mind, social media

40:43

you will never own. You

40:46

are renting. At any given moment, they can

40:48

kick you off of the platform. They

40:51

can change the platform. They can

40:53

change the algorithm so that they're only

40:55

showing people who hop on one foot. Like

40:58

literally, you cannot rely on

41:00

social media to build your

41:02

business because you don't own

41:04

it. Okay. You have to

41:06

start with what you can own and

41:09

look at social media as an

41:11

additive to what you already own.

41:14

And so your home base, your

41:16

real estate is where everything needs to be

41:19

pointing to. That is where your story needs

41:21

to be told. So when you

41:23

get out there and you start telling your story in

41:25

the press, you are not sending them to your social

41:27

media pages. You are sending them to what you own.

41:30

Right. And so that for you,

41:32

I would take Joe Bang and run with

41:34

it all day. You can be Joe Bang,

41:36

Perfect Pie, Joe Bang. You can do whatever

41:38

you want, but you want to

41:40

own what it is that you are doing and

41:43

refer everyone back to that. So

41:45

yes, social media is important. And I

41:47

started off, I tell you, when I posted

41:49

my first thing on Instagram, I

41:51

really had probably a couple hundred followers.

41:53

And it was literally a mug that

41:56

said love with us. And

42:00

I just said, hey, y'all, I'm testing this

42:02

out. Like, this is, I'm not kidding you.

42:04

And now I have

42:06

more engagement on my social

42:08

media pages than influencers with millions

42:10

of followers. And

42:13

I built my separate profile, separate from

42:15

Uncle Nair. So Uncle Nair's at one

42:17

point had way more social media followers

42:19

than I did. And I just kept

42:21

at it on my own page, letting

42:23

people get to know me, the person

42:25

behind the brand. And it's always been

42:27

organic, do not pay. Build

42:30

it organically, or you will

42:32

not have the engagement that will actually allow you

42:34

to sell products. Joanne, I would

42:36

also add to that that I think that

42:39

as you put up posts of

42:41

making pies and different ideas around

42:43

pies, identify people,

42:46

start with people in Orange County,

42:48

LA County, who are influential. Maybe

42:50

they write for food blogs, or

42:52

they write for culture blogs, or

42:54

they post on Instagram about the

42:56

best places to get food. We're

42:59

about to do the story of Dave's Hot Chicken. I

43:01

mean, that brand really blew up because a writer

43:03

from Eater LA went to their pop-up and

43:05

was like, this is the best National Fried

43:07

Chicken Sandwich in America. And the next day,

43:09

there was a two-hour wait. So something

43:12

like that can really crack it open

43:14

for you. So try to identify some

43:16

of those people, and just reach out and say, can

43:18

I send you a pie? And just send them pies.

43:21

And tell them it is the most

43:24

perfect pie they've ever had. Because

43:26

then you are challenging them

43:29

to taste your pie and to compare

43:31

it to every other pecan pie they've ever

43:33

had. Yep. Joanne,

43:35

thanks so much for coming on the show. Because then

43:38

you are challenging them to

43:40

taste your pie and to compare it to

43:42

every other pecan pie they've ever had. Yep.

43:46

Joanne, thanks so much for coming on the show. Best

43:48

of luck to you. We'll do a yes. We're going to

43:50

look out for your Instagram. Jo-bang.

43:53

Thank you. Right? Yes. All

43:55

right, thanks. Fine. Wow,

43:58

we just amazing. I hope. I

44:00

think, I hope this is going to be helpful for everyone. I

44:03

mean, wow. I love this. I love

44:05

that you're doing this. This is

44:08

going to help so many entrepreneurs as

44:10

they're starting out because we have to

44:12

pivot so much. We make decisions and

44:14

we fall in love with those decisions

44:16

and they don't work. And

44:18

so you have to pivot. So you're

44:20

helping people to pivot earlier. And

44:23

that's amazing. This is going to be

44:25

so helpful for people. Well, thank you for joining

44:28

me on the ride. You're awesome.

44:30

Thank you. I appreciate being on this ride.

44:32

I am so grateful to be able to

44:34

help these entrepreneurs. This is awesome. And

44:38

by the way, if you haven't heard

44:40

Fawn's episode, you should go back. Just

44:42

scroll down our podcast queue. Check it out. It's

44:45

an incredible story. The story of Uncle nearest whiskey

44:47

and the way Fawn tells it. Thank you everybody

44:49

for listening to the show this week. If you

44:51

are working on a business and you would like

44:53

to be on this show, send

44:55

us a one minute message that tells us

44:57

about your business and the issues of the

45:00

questions that you'd like to help with and

45:02

make sure to tell us how to reach you. You

45:05

can send us a voice memo

45:07

at hibt at id.wonder.com or

45:09

you can call the

45:12

number is 1-800-433-1298 and

45:16

leave a message there and we'll put all that

45:18

info in the podcast description.

45:20

So thanks again and we'll see you back

45:23

here next week. This

45:26

episode was produced by Chris Messini with

45:28

music composed by Sam Paulson and Ramtine

45:30

Arablui. It was edited by

45:32

John Isabella. Our audio engineer was

45:34

Neil Rauch. Our production staff also

45:36

includes Alex Chung, Carla Estesvez,

45:39

Casey Herman, J.C. Howard, Catherine

45:41

Cipher, Kerry Thompson, Malia Agadello,

45:43

and Neva Grant. I'm

45:45

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45:47

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