March 13, 2024 • 33 mins
Join Best-Selling Author and National Speaker Ryan Sauers on Marketing Matters Episode 78... interviewing a super guest and organization. This empowering episode features a detailed discussion with our guest, Joey Hamilton, a former Major League Baseball player and now an influential figure in Gwinnett's sports community. Discover the rich path from his MLB journey to his present role in community youth sports development and business entrepreneurship.
Delve into the Flush Athletics story, part of Royal Flush Plumbing, a community-building initiative founded by the owner as a way to give back Unravel how the project aims to contribute to the local community, providing affordable sport chances for kids around Gwinnett. Witness a conversation that merges sports, community service, and marketing effectively, offering insights into business and baseball, punctuated by engaging tales from Hamilton's baseball career.
Listen as Joey and Ryan discuss the evolution of baseball, compare positions of yesteryears' pitchers to those of today. Learn how Royal Flush's ingenious marketing and community service vision culminates in Flush Athletics—an innovative mix of community goodwill and effective marketing with significant ROI potential. Regardless of whether you're a baseball enthusiast, a marketing expert, or interested in community development, this episode promises valuable content.
We also dive into the complexities surrounding youth competitive sports. Discussions around 'sports burnout', over-practicing, and parental pressure give listeners insight into the world of youth sports. Learn about the importance of passion, balance between sports, academics, personal life, and the essential attribute of discipline inculcated through sports.
The narrative also challenges the conventional wisdom of a college education as the sole path to success, advocating for the viability of trade or tech schools. Experts provide perspectives on how companies and employers can ensure the wholesome growth of young athletes. The episode is a must-listen for parents, sports enthusiasts, and mentors seeking a better understanding of competitive sports and effective support for young athletes.
Join us for an enlightening episode as we converse with Joey Hamilton, a professional baseball veteran turned business leader. Joey shares experiences from the baseball field and their relevance in his business persona today. Understand Royal Flush Plumbing's unique business model that combines provision of quality services, youth development programs, and community service, demonstrating the profound impact of discipline and hard work in achieving success.
Enjoy this episode #78 of Marketing Matters now and share it with a friend. More info on Royal Flush Plumbing and Flush Athletics at https://pottytrained.com/
**Contact info for host Dr. Ryan Sauers: www.RyanSauers.com
The End Resultz Radio Network presents each episode of the Marketing Matters show and all other shows on the network.
All shows are broadcast from the Perimeter Roofing studio. Inside the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson in beautiful Stone Mountain, GA. Email info@EndResultz.com for more information on this or other shows OR how to host your own show.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Get ready to transform how you communicate and market, not only in business, but in your life.
This is Marketing Matters. For
more information on today's show and other topics, visit ryansowers.com.
Here's your host, best-selling author and national speaker, Ryan Sowers.
(00:21):
Hello again, everybody, and welcome to another Marketing Matters with Ryan Sowers,
powered by Artungo.net magazine. We are broadcasting live on the InResults radio
network inside the Perimeter Roofing Studio from the country in the suites by
Raz and Hotel in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Today, we've got a special guest, a legend in his own mind, even if he won't
admit it, the one and only Joey Hamilton.
(00:43):
Joey, so glad you're here. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm looking forward to it.
Absolutely. Well, I was looking at Joey's achievements, and we're going to get
into all the stuff he's doing these days.
But Joey played, what was it, 10 years in the Major League Baseball?
Yeah, about 10 years between three different teams.
Spent five years in San Diego, three in Toronto, and then parts of three more
in Cincinnati, which was all really good baseball town.
(01:04):
So I was fortunate to be in those three cities. Yeah, and you were a pitcher, right?
Starting pitcher, yeah. Yeah, so I was looking up his record because I'm a sports
geek, and I was looking up, and 70-something wins and losses.
So you might have said it's no big deal. That's a big deal. Most people don't
even make it there. Well, yeah.
I mean, you know, the hard part they say is not getting there,
which is, it's extremely tough to get there, but you know, the ability to stay
(01:26):
there is, is even more of an achievement because, because being able to do it
year after year and do your job is pretty tough. Yeah.
Well, is it fun watching today's generation of major league baseball players
or how do you, how do you dissect the difference of what you see versus,
you know, a lot of rule changes, of course, but.
Yeah, you know, I was either fortunate or unfortunate, but when I retired,
(01:48):
I kind of walked away from it. I didn't watch a whole lot of baseball.
It took me probably seven or eight years before I started watching some of the
playoffs and really didn't follow a whole lot, followed the teams that I played
for, but it's a different game.
There's no doubt about that. I have friends all over social media that...
Really are having a hard time with, with what's happening. And,
and it's not that I just don't care that much.
(02:10):
I just don't follow it as much, you know, I love playing, but to me,
you know, it was kind of boring to watch.
Well, I'll tell you, you know, I grew up, you know, you and I are near the same age.
We talked about all the stuff and, you know, you remember the days where you
get, well, you, I guess you were, you grew up in Statesboro, right?
Yeah. So I was in Atlanta here. So, but growing up in high school,
we would get free tickets or elementary school,
(02:32):
free tickets it's for the Braves games we got A's because no one went you know
they were that bad for that long and of course we went through the whole 90s
blah blah blah and then I've started watching more but to
be honest with you these those games started dragging on forever and
then you know I'm just saying this is a pet peeve every specialist for every
pitch for every inning for whatever and I started missing the days of the Glavin
(02:53):
Smoltz Maddox you know long pitchers yeah and and you know it's amazing I was
talking to somebody the other day like if all I had to do was go out and worry
about throwing five innings and give the ball up to the bullpen.
That would have made life a lot easier.
You could probably play a few more years. Right. I mean, because you know,
when, when I played, you know, your job was to go out there and give seven or
eight innings and then give it to the closer.
(03:13):
Then the setup man started evolving a little bit and, and it's different,
you know, I mean, there were, I think four or five guys that threw over 200 innings and.
You don't see much of that at all. For me, that was the benchmark.
If you threw 200 innings, you
did your job, regardless of how many wins you had or what your ERA was.
If you threw 200 innings, especially in the National League where they hit for
you later, you were doing a good job.
(03:33):
That's what I always say. And that's the part, you know, growing up as a kid,
I can remember following.
And we'll get to our real stuff later. We had to reminisce about baseball.
But I remember, you know, reading AJC sports sections and, you know,
looking at the 280 batter, 30 RBI, excuse me, 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, all these stats.
That's a good cleanup hitter or whatever. But the 200, you know,
going back to something like Kevin Millwood and some of those guys in the Braves
(03:56):
back there, they were innings eaters, you know, and they work horses and you
don't, I mean, I don't see many,
I guess I would say this before we get into the meat, you know,
if you're pitching a heck of a game, the sixth or seventh inning and you get
yanked out, I'd be, I bet you'd be kind of upset.
Yeah. You know, I mean, as a starter, you want to go out there and finish what you start.
Exactly. And having the ball, nobody likes to give the ball up.
(04:19):
Not when you're pitching good. No, but like I said, National League was a little different.
I mean, you could be up 2-1 or 1-0 or tied and come out of the game and get
pinch hit for late, even though you're still doing your job.
Your pitch count may be low, but that's just the nature of the game.
But yeah, the brave staff back then was just insane.
I mean, they had three or four, maybe even five guys at a time going out there throwing 200.
(04:39):
They did. It was a time, and now we're back to a different time.
But, well, let's talk about, so your newest, some of your newest things is taking
baseball, sports, you know, we're just a marketing matter show,
but we really focus on communications.
You know, how do we communicate? And one of the things, you know,
you're working, you know, you know, at a strategic level with ownership of Royal Flush Plumbing.
(05:01):
Tell us a little bit about this whole flush athletics and what's going on there.
Well, you know, he's, he's been trying to get this thing going for a while.
And last year, I think, was really the beginning of it in the way that I met Ryan as both of our kids.
All of his kids and my youngest were enrolled at Providence Christian Academy.
So, Sean West, who's the athletic director there now, used to be at Emory University.
(05:25):
And I met him in a Parkview High School baseball golf tournament at Stone Mountain. Sure.
They have played with Sean, a guy named Buddy Freeland. Buddy, yeah.
And someone else. But met Sean through them. So, he ended up going back to Providence
and where he went to high school.
Okay. And kind of called me up and asked me if I had any interest of coaching
(05:46):
high school baseball. And I said, I think I told him not really.
You know, I've done travel ball for a long time, but it's a different breed.
So anyways, he wore me down, ended up coaching at Providence,
met Ryan through that relationship.
Because he had kids there. He had kids there. And, you know,
with the beginning of this, the one thing that he really wanted,
(06:07):
since nobody was paying for the baseball is for them to get private lessons
from somebody professional.
So that's where I came into play. He goes, do you want to do some of these lessons with my boys?
And I did because ultimately I'm an instructor at heart. The coach part followed it.
So we started doing that. One thing led to another. He wanted me to help with winter workout.
(06:31):
So I ended up going inside and helping him with that. And then he was looking
for somebody to run the the organization, coach his signs team, the 11-year-old team.
And just one thing led to another. I ended up meeting with him and listening
to his vision and, you know, seeing what was in his heart.
And it was a no-brainer at that point.
(06:51):
Man, you know, and I haven't had a chance to meet him personally.
That's on my list, but we got the same first names. That's always a good start.
But no, and we were pleased, you know, talking about Powered by Our Town Gwinnett
Magazine to have, If people didn't see it, you can go to OurTownGwinnettOnline.com
and see Flush Athletics. I think it was February.
February, you have two different editions. The blue edition. Great story.
(07:13):
So anyway, now in terms of athletics, from my gathering of this,
is that bringing stuff in a deeper way into the community to allow more kids?
Because I'm trying to remember how the story was, giving them an opportunity
where it's not cost prohibitive.
Correct. Because it is so expensive, trust me, in the soccer world.
(07:34):
I could probably retire in five years. Yeah, there's no doubt that the cost
is unattainable for some.
But the ultimate goal is to dive into the community and get into areas where
it benefits the kids more than other areas.
Because a lot of people can afford it and a lot of can't. So the ultimate goal
(07:55):
in sponsoring all these is to pour in the community, give kids an opportunity
that may not have that chance.
And just pour into them. So are there certain areas, you guys,
is it more Gwinnett-focused?
Is it Metro Atlanta-focused? Or are you just building in different ways?
Right now, I think it's more Gwinnett. You know, the majority of the tournaments
that we play are in this area.
We are starting to play some other tournaments that are going to be in Marietta
(08:18):
and Cobb County, kind of expanding, you know, our look a little bit.
We got some pretty crazy uniforms, right? It's all marketing. Oh, yeah.
Good show. Marketing like a marketing matter show. I thought it would be good for it.
That's right. Right. So ultimately, you know, what we're doing is trying to
eventually create a model where we can go to other businesses and show them
(08:42):
the benefits of what we're doing as far as the tax write-offs and the visibility
and the marketing and all these areas,
in addition to being able to help the kids that may not be able to do it.
I thought as I was reading it and, you know, I was reading it as the last,
last, last set of eyes, you know, before it was printed and put out.
But I was thinking about that, you know, for other businesses and model that,
(09:04):
you know, you really, as a business, there's such a win-win.
You're invested in your community.
You can't miss the logo. It's on every piece of apparel. It's on every uniform.
Even our team store where parents buy their apparel, you know,
we got Royal Flesh Plumbing on the nape of the neck.
Sure. So, you know, we got parents and kids all over Gwinnett representing.
(09:26):
Well, and I mean, the ROI, I used to have a company.
One of the things we did at that time is, you know, the items you could sell,
you know, coffee cup, whatever, with your name and logo on it.
But when you talk about living apparel for kids and that many kids and that
many places and the posing teams and fans,
and, you know, you and I both know today's certainly, you know,
your parents are crazy when you're in the competitively, you know,
(09:49):
crazy can be be good or bad, but it depends on the parent, but they're there
and a lot of eyeballs on it.
Yeah. Lots of, I mean, we have eight teams. Our oldest team is 16 and they won't
play till the summertime.
So all of our younger age groups are going right now. We have two teams that
are located in Barrow County.
So the reach out there is a little bit, but you know, when, when we all roll
up into the park with our, with our purple, yellow, and black on,
(10:11):
I mean, it gets, it gets noticed.
And that's ultimately what it's about. You have so many people what's flush,
you know, walking through the
grocery store i had one man walk up to me grocery store and he's like uh,
why'd you cut my kid, man? I'm like, what are you talking about?
He came, he came to try out.
Yeah. He came to try out. So he asked me if I was a coach and I said,
(10:32):
yeah, I kind of oversee the organization.
And he's like, well, my kid got cut. And I'm like, I'm sorry,
man. Tell him to come back out next year. Don't forget about us.
You know, it's funny you say that I spend so much of my life when,
you know, with different things I do and I'll welcome.
So, you know, I would love that thing you said, I'm like, I wrote or what you're
going to be more specific.
Cause I can't remember, but But, you know, your heart, Joey,
(10:53):
and obviously Ryan, you know, the owner, you know, you guys are really investing in the community.
You're really investing in the next generation. And you're right.
There are a lot of people who could pay for their kid to play four times over. I know a lot of them.
And there's a lot of people that have scrapped to try to find a way, you know.
And there's a lot of people just doing it because they feel like,
you know, the next-door neighbor is doing it, you know.
(11:14):
And, you know, what we've learned as you get older, you know,
you've got to do these things, like, sports-wise because you love them.
I mean, if you're just playing to play because you don't really like it,
I always tell people, then find something you are passionate about, right?
But the number of people I saw in competitive soccer over the years that,
you know, they were playing more for their parents than them.
By the time they got to be ninth grade, they hated it. They didn't want to do it.
(11:38):
Yeah, and I can certainly see that. And one of the things, you know,
we sponsored two tournaments a month.
You know, we're not trying to go out and be out there every weekend,
every month for four months.
Kids need a break. We don't want them to get blown out or worn out or get tired of it.
And, you know, I think we're pretty lucky with the group of parents that we
have, um, as far as not being over the top. Yeah. Over the top. Yeah.
(12:02):
And then can, you know, that can wear on you. You know, in, in our generation
growing up, I think it was a little, little different, but I'm,
I'll ask you, I mean, did, I'm not even talking about flush,
but the number of practices, I'm going to use soccer world.
So we'll keep it away from baseball that some of these top level clubs want
to do it per per week, I correlate a lot towards injuries.
It's over practicing almost all year round.
(12:23):
It is, you know, over the winter, we practice twice a week and,
and, you know, we got a little bit of time off at Christmas time,
a little bit off time off at Thanksgiving and probably practice a little bit
more than younger age groups over the winter.
A lot of them will take off after the fall and start back up in January,
but we wanted to keep them short.
It wasn't a whole lot of throwing, you know, everything was indoor. door.
So just reps and fundamentals and things that they need to do to be able to play.
(12:49):
One of the things I stress, if you can catch and throw the baseball,
you can play this game for a long time.
You're never going to figure out how to hit. That's just the way it is.
But if you can catch and throw, you can enjoy it, and you can play it for a
really, really, really long time.
Well, that's the thing. But you being a professional athlete,
you also know not to overdo certain activities.
You know, I've seen coaches in different things. They're just overdoing,
overthrowing, over whatever.
(13:10):
Or in soccer, we see the ACFs. That's what we see over and over and over in females.
And, you know, you put people in the turf too much or you put them in drills
that's too much. Don't get me wrong. You've got to train hard,
but you also got to be smart.
Yeah, and it was funny. We played in a tournament yesterday.
Was shortened to a one-day tournament and played three games and ended up winning
the tournament against a pretty tough Norcross team.
(13:32):
And the boy that pitched in the second game, he threw 77 pitches,
which early on, try to hold them to around that number, 70, 75 pitches.
And he came up to me in the second to the last inning of the championship game,
and he's like, I feel like I could throw some more. I said, that's great, but you're not going to.
So you set the limit. Yeah, That's right. One of the important things is keeping
(13:55):
these boys healthy so they can play.
I do some teaching at universities, and I've got an athlete in basketball.
He's a redshirt freshman, and he keeps missing class over and over. I told him he has a zero.
He's not yet correlated to the med major D1 that you can go on the road,
and I get it. You go travel.
You play in college baseball, but you still got to do your work.
(14:17):
I was explaining, you can't just turn this in whenever you want he
goes well i was traveling like not two weeks later yeah yeah and
he goes i get focused more on basketball than i do on school i'm
like well let me tell you people i know that were professional athletes they
would say you need to pass your classes at least
pay attention you know when you learn something that's right you know i always
joke you know what my major was in in college was eligibility exactly i did
(14:39):
what it took oh yeah because i knew what i was there sure and and well you were
first round draft pick right i was yeah i'm bragging on you yeah and and made
sure that I did what I needed to do. And we also had an attendance policy.
I mean, we used to take attendance sheets around, this is in college.
To get it to all of our teachers to sign off every class we missed.
(15:00):
We ran five miles for one. Exactly. Class.
And I'm not naming the university, but there's some of them that are fantastic.
And they're in the front row, by the way, this, those football players or whatever,
naming different sports.
And there's a couple of them that I'm like, what are you? Does your coach know you're doing this?
And I guarantee that a matter of fact, I said, unless you've got some NIL deal,
I don't know about, because they're like a registered freshman. You need to be here.
(15:20):
And they, sure enough, they were there in five minutes, but my daughter is just signed.
Fuck her for Tennessee tech. I was telling you about, She, they said the same
thing. You're supposed to sit in the front of the class, get in at 3 a.m.
We expect you to be at class. You know, I kind of like that.
It's the guy that's trying to teach me. It's that they're, they're held to a higher standard.
They are held to a higher standard. And I think it's beneficial for college
athletes, especially coming out of college and looking for jobs.
(15:42):
People, employers know that to succeed as a college athlete,
you have to have a pretty good work ethic and you have to be responsible.
You have to be able to take care of your business. And, and,
you know, I know when, with my oldest son who graduated in 2021.
You know, coming out looking for jobs, he got a pretty good job.
They knew he was an athlete and, and he's done well with it. So.
(16:03):
Well, they got, but the, you know, exactly, Joe, you know, and they have the
work ethic, which you have to have, you're going to succeed.
And then the time management, you know, because you can't like,
I mean, you did, you can go to all the practices and the classes and this,
I love to hire people that were great competitive athletes because I'm going,
I know what I'm going to get.
They're not afraid to say, hey, that wasn't good enough. You need to,
(16:24):
because they've been coached hard.
Yeah. And then the other part of the organization, the Flush Athletics,
is that if you go through our program, right, and choose not to go to college,
then we can guarantee them a six-figure salary. Oh, yeah.
After an apprenticeship, which can take, you know, eight months to 16 months.
(16:45):
After an apprenticeship, which is another cool thing about the.
I remember that now. Thanks for saying that. Is that, yeah, because we know
what we're going to get with these kids because we've had them coming through
the organization. You've had like an intern for like eight years.
It is an internship, basically, if they choose to go that route.
That's cool. And, you know, there's so many things that can be taught through
sports and through baseball, specifically for me, because it's set up around
(17:07):
failure more than anything else. Yeah.
That if you can do that and the lessons and the life lessons that are taught through this game.
It can make you a highly employable person. I love it. I remember that now.
I'm so glad you said that. And that's something I love that y'all are taking the leadership role.
I mean, not just leading, you're doing it. But there's other companies maybe
in different industries could offer the same thing.
(17:28):
Because I chose to get my doctorate in leadership because I did want to teach.
That was the entrance fee. I wasn't going to be a first-round pick.
But it took me forever to do this. But I knew if I wanted to go in and make
a real difference with real-world experience, experience, my entry fee,
like you being a former professional was, I've got 30 years real world experience,
but I'll check all the boxes for the other. And once you're in the club, you're in the club.
(17:52):
So now I can go in and say, you know, they say, Dr. Sowers, did we miss anything
in class? And I'm like, no.
And for an hour and a half, I said, absolutely nothing that'll benefit you,
you know, and they were, what do you mean? I said, you need to ask a classmate what you meant.
You need to be here. And if you don't want to be here, that's on you.
But my point is you, you spend enough time. Because some of this time I've gotten
to learn, you know, undergraduates, graduate students and spend time with them.
(18:14):
And I kind of have a feel for if I was hiring somebody and they wanted to go
that route, I'd want them on my team or I wouldn't want them on my team.
And then you've got some people that would say, why are you even in college?
I mean, go to trade school.
I mean, you know, and I'd say for a lot of people going to tech school or whatever, that's a good plan.
It is a good plan. And, you know, my brother works for Technical College System
(18:34):
of Georgia. And I set up a meeting with him to go down and see how we could
get integrated into the tech schools because there's not a whole lot of plumbing.
So we got pointed in the direction of PHCC and met with them and found some
avenues and opportunities where we can, you know, try to set up a pipeline for
(18:55):
us to get, you know, quality apprentices.
Because we could have twice the work that we have now if we had the right employees.
And then you train them in y'all's ways and train them in that.
But this is, man, as I've been as a marketing guy, you know,
I'm thinking, you know, the website, that's true.
We're up at pottytrain.com. Pottytrain.com. I mean, I just noticed that. But that is good.
(19:16):
That is very good. And then we'll come back for contact thing.
But the flush athletics, not only is a philanthropic thing, not only is it pouring
into the community and other things in, you know, in marketing wise,
it also allows you to know,
you know, hey, Hey, some of these guys are not going to keep playing baseball
forever. They may want to be employees.
You're also helping them with their lives. And you guys have worked hard together
(19:40):
to create a model that other companies, maybe in a totally different industry,
could follow. Correct. And that's the ultimate goal.
You know, if we can reach other companies and broaden the spectrum of all these
kids being helped, especially in our community, then that's,
you know, that would be amazing.
Yeah, because it's, like I said, any of my friends, and again,
I'm not, I didn't do baseball. I had $3, but we did higher level soccer.
(20:03):
I mean, it's not inexpensive.
No, I mean, I'll just sleep. And we have one, one family who's in the organization
and, and he's one of my assistant coaches and he's super passionate.
He has three kids. He has a 13 year old in our organization.
He has an 11 year old on my team and he's got a 10 year old.
I mean, just think of, think of, think of that bill with three kids.
(20:25):
And mine was just spread out a little bit more, but it was, I was telling,
I was thinking the other day.
So if you remember GSA soccer park over there, my youngest, I started coaching
her when I was, she was four, she's 24. And the, excuse me, my oldest.
And so she'll be what, 25 late this year.
And my youngest, you know, she's a junior in high school. So the time I'm done,
we'll have had almost 21 straight years of East, East, you know,
(20:49):
the level of that. But I got to be honest with you, I can't remember which one
was which, but the thing I look back now, here's what I do see.
The work ethic, the discipline, the self-confidence, the grit,
the determination, and the everyone doesn't get a trophy.
Even in medical school, my daughter said, I don't understand how these medical
(21:11):
school students are complaining that this exam is not fair.
They should get more time. I said, any tier you go to. to.
There's been other people you know that were, you know, you probably played
college ball with Joey, and I know you're not going to brag on yourself,
but they were an 18th round draft pick.
They were 17th round draft pick. Well, you were first round draft pick.
There's tears in everything.
So I told her, I said, quit worrying about it. I said, when you get to your
(21:32):
residency, cream's going to rise to the top, you know, and, and,
and, you know, people can complain and have a problem with everything,
even if they're a doctor.
And I see it in all levels. And, you know, there's just nothing's going to replace that hard work.
Yeah, you're right. And the draft has even changed with baseball.
You know, it's been limited to rounds starting, I guess, with the COVID year.
It used to go 70, 80 rounds until nobody wanted anyone anymore.
(21:56):
Oh, yeah, I do remember that. So now it's, you know, in baseball,
as a high pick, basically all it means is you get more opportunities to fail.
Not more opportunities to succeed, but more to fail because they have invested
in you a little bit more than your 10th round pick.
Yeah, you slot them more money and they want you to. That's right.
But ultimately, anyone that gets drafted probably has the tools to do something.
(22:21):
It's just a matter of what they do with it, right?
Yeah, 100%. So how do you, with these fans, you play the major league level.
I mean, you had 10 years, the biggest you can get in professional baseball. well.
Do you have to sometimes, you know, I'm sure you're a passionate guy.
You can't go to that level and not be, but do you have to tell parents or coaches
or just take a deep breath sometimes with expecting them to be major leaguers when they're 14?
(22:45):
I have, you know what I mean? You know, and, and the organization that I was
with before this, I did the college recruiting and commit and communication for them.
And the toughest part about that job was being honest with families where their
kids slot because all of them think they're great and all of them think they're D1.
And the realistic part of it is most, you know, half a percent are, that's it.
(23:08):
So it's tough. But again, you know, our families have been pretty fortunate,
you know, as far as not having to deal with that and, you know,
communication with me, I'm pretty sure that, you know, on the baseball field,
I can justify anything that I do better than a parent can.
So I don't get any of any of that, which is nice, but you know,
everybody wants their kids to play, but.
(23:29):
You know, we've been good with it and with the flush. Well, I'll tell you,
we're really, really young too. Yeah. Yeah.
But you're building something and I can't be more proud.
And from the first time you and I talked to seeing it come to fruition to,
you know, then I was thinking the other day with, you know, we were doing shows
and I said, I need to get Joe in here to get him on the whole podcast because
(23:49):
this model, you know, this isn't limited.
This is live right now, but this is not limited to, you know,
you know, a 10 mile radius. is this could be somebody reaching out to you and
another state, another here. Of course.
And that's the beautiful thing. You know, we've got the different types of mediums.
I'm like, well, this story is very applicable to everybody.
Yeah, yeah. And I was really excited when you called me up to do this.
You know, not only to promote what we're doing, but to have that broad spectrum
(24:15):
of an audience to get it out to you. Well, we're going to get it out like we do.
We get it on the network, and then it's, you know, I've been doing a lot of
driving recently, and if you notice, There's a podcast now and any directory,
anything you want to listen to.
So when you get under this kind of stuff, there could be a company listening.
And Columbus, Georgia says, we'd love to get involved in doing something like that.
Well, if we're all in the mindset, I always say, you know, there's enough to
(24:39):
go around for everybody to help, help and people getting kids,
I think, engaged in athletic programs that require discipline and hard work.
And, you know, you know, I read it and get a trophy. I mean,
seriously, from what I'm saying is imperative.
I agree. I agree. I agree. And the more kids that we can get involved,
the better, you know, keep some out of trouble, keep some off the streets, Roman, you know.
(25:02):
Well, you know, when you have that accountability and you're going to be a game at 6 a.m., 7 a.m.
To warm up and whatever, you know, you're going to make better choices because,
you know, you want to play.
Of course. And we have, you know, attendance requirements that we have put in
place with the families and the kids.
Just commitment. They have to, they have to commit to, yeah.
You know, we're committing a lot of our time to companies committing a lot of
(25:24):
money and we want them to, to honor that.
That's so awesome. Now, all right. So I'm just going to ask you,
so what, what, what's your bet? Let's use your professional career of baseball.
What's one of the things that most people wouldn't have ever,
would never think about that's the biggest, you know, pain or was it traveling
or whatever for professional baseball?
Well, you know, everybody doesn't see the glory, the glory, the money.
(25:48):
You know, the fame if you get to that point, but it is very stressful.
You know, you're basically away from your home eight months out of the year.
You have two homes. You got to maintain a home during the season.
You got to have, you know, your home base and the stress that they can put on
people and their families and is immense.
And, you know, the number is staggering.
(26:10):
For i know baseball but probably a lot of former athletes where their marriages
don't survive you know the end of their playing days and and it's just tough
it's like you're away from somebody yeah so long and then all of a sudden you're 24 7.
And it's just a hard adjustment it's a hard adjustment and people
don't see that but i'm not gonna lie you know
it's it's it's pretty dang pretty damn cool to
(26:33):
go out there and do that right but you know
the travel the terror on your family not seeing your
kids not being able to see first steps or a
school play right or you know anything like that and you know people
don't see that but you miss a lot well we you know i love listening to sports
talk drive because i've been driving it out of town a lot but we we forget you
know every athlete's a human you know i mean i don't forget i've interviewed
(26:54):
enough people of years but but my point is you know that separation that eight
months a year i would bet you since you were a georgia guy when you came to
atlanta you ever play any games atlanta oh yeah i'm sure you had You had a million
people wanting tickets, right? Yeah, yeah.
I think I left 85 one time was the highest. And now players got to pay for their
own tickets. Oh, is that right? So they're cut down, I'm sure.
(27:15):
But, you know, that was the thing or the hometown, you know,
when Frank Corral, you know, whatever.
You know, when you first come here and every person, you know,
in the world wants to come talk to you, you're doing your job.
And I think it's hard to remember, you know, yes, you're an athlete,
but you also are doing your job.
Yeah, that. And it has to be scaled down, right? Right. You can't make everyone
(27:36):
happy. You can't tell everybody yes.
It's just impossible because it just becomes worse. But I couldn't imagine.
With the tech? You didn't have techs back then, did you? It was coming in.
It was coming in. The Blackberries. Yeah, the Blackberries, yeah.
But I couldn't imagine somebody like Frenchy or Matt Olson who came here,
successful here, coming back and playing here.
Uh, not only the, the, the pressure from everybody that, you know,
(27:59):
but just pressure in general to succeed.
Yeah. Like you're in front of your hometown people and that would be tough.
I remember when I had also on a show earlier when he was out in Oakland and
then when he got traded, his, his mother had just retired for teach the same place my wife does.
And I don't think, I mean, that pressure of replacing Freddie Freeman at first
in Atlanta from where you are, I can only imagine what it was.
(28:23):
And I heard him in sports talks say in the second year, he felt like a deep,
like he'd been there forever, you know, but first year, you know,
you, you, you're replacing one of the favorite guys in the franchise.
Yeah. I mean, he's, he was the face of the franchise after, after Chipper left.
So, you know, he did a, did a real good job doing it. Yeah, he did.
He did. Well, all right. Well, best way.
So if they want to find out more about, first of all, Royal Flesh Plumbing,
(28:44):
great company recommended to anybody, but we can find that.
Is that found under pottytrain.com? Pottytrain.com. I'm trying to laugh.
It really is. I love, I love, I'm just trying to, so it's so cute.
Dude, I love it. You're going to remember that. Well, you do.
I mean, that's the whole point of it. You literally talk to Mike.
This is the stuff I think of all day long. So I give it an A plus.
It does. It has flush athletics.
It has Royal Flush Plumbing. One thing that we didn't talk about,
(29:04):
I was going to mention, is the academy that we have for our apprentices, right?
Basically taking everything that they've learned over the last 20-something
years and putting it into an academy and trying to train super plumbers.
And that's a really cool thing.
Because skills trades need more bodies. Oh, they do.
And real flush, how far metro Atlanta-wise
(29:25):
do you get? Or is it more Gwinnett-focused or all over the city?
We just put a branch in Fayetteville. Oh, wow. So technically,
it's all over Georgia above Macon. Okay.
Because our plumbers, they keep their vans at their home. We don't have one
place that we dispatch from.
Smart business model. So we can even up into Greenville, South Carolina, that area.
(29:46):
Area so if anybody is looking for a
great plumbing company and great people i mean when you got joey and
then ryan one of the owners uh investing in
the community doing a great job at pottytrained.com i
keep i keep trying to laugh but it's that good marketing that i i keep saying
that then of course you guys got instagram i'm looking at like you make a royal
(30:06):
underscore flush underscore plumbing facebook flash plumbing flush baseball
flush baseball okay and then i remember doing doing this myself when I tagged
some of them because my marketing person was out,
but nice social media presence, great company.
And as we kind of come to a close, Joey, any things we didn't cover that we
need to make sure we say, or did we, did we, any last thoughts?
(30:29):
No, I think you did a pretty good job. You know, we just want to get,
get this, get this model out here and have people listening to it and hear about
it and think about if we can plant it in the business owner's brain and,
and have them, you know, try to create something similar, then that's what we've done.
And if they want to reach out, let's say a business is listening to this today,
wherever, you know, they're in South Georgia or Greenville or whatever.
Is there a particular person, you, whoever, who should they reach out to?
(30:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Reach out to me and, you know, and then we'd sit down with the CEO and,
you know, let them know how it's done and what we're doing and an idea of cost
and stuff like that. Okay.
It's not cheap, but most of it's tax deductible. And even more than that is helping out.
Helping out, getting exposures, win-win. And then it would, and I won't say
(31:15):
it here, but if they want to do that, should they email the company or would they email you?
They email me. Okay. And I'll list it, but I got your email.
I'll put it in the show notes. So when people listen to it, if they have a question,
they can just ask you. Absolutely.
All right, my friend. Well, thank you so much for coming on.
It's a pleasure to be here.
This is my first time. Well, you're a pro. you know I'm
sure you had a mic in front of you once or twice even though you won't yeah I figure so
(31:35):
all right let me close this out thanks for tuning in to
another marketing matters and end results radio network folks we
are inside the perimeter roofing studio from the country in a suites by Radisson
again you can listen to all past shows all our other shows just go to end results
with a z.com hit the current show button current shows button or just go 24
7 wherever you get your podcast for my special guest Joey Hamilton thanks again
(31:58):
Joey we had a great show show today.
So make sure you listen and share with a friend and folks has been another marketing
matters until next time, make your marketing matter.
This has been marketing matters with Ryan Sowers.
For even more advice, visit ryansowers.com. That's R Y A N S A U E R S dot com.
(32:26):
Music.
Thank you.
(33:00):
Visit ryansowers.com. That's R-Y-A-N-S-A-U-E-R-S dot com.
Music.
Get ready to transform how you communicate and market, not only in business, but in your life.
This is Marketing Matters. For
more information on today's show and other topics, visit ryansowers.com.
Here's your host, best-selling author and national speaker, Ryan Sowers.
(00:21):
Hello again, everybody, and welcome to another Marketing Matters with Ryan Sowers,
powered by Artungo.net magazine. We are broadcasting live on the InResults radio
network inside the Perimeter Roofing Studio from the country in the suites by
Raz and Hotel in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Today, we've got a special guest, a legend in his own mind, even if he won't
admit it, the one and only Joey Hamilton.
(00:43):
Joey, so glad you're here. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm looking forward to it.
Absolutely. Well, I was looking at Joey's achievements, and we're going to get
into all the stuff he's doing these days.
But Joey played, what was it, 10 years in the Major League Baseball?
Yeah, about 10 years between three different teams.
Spent five years in San Diego, three in Toronto, and then parts of three more
in Cincinnati, which was all really good baseball town.
(01:04):
So I was fortunate to be in those three cities. Yeah, and you were a pitcher, right?
Starting pitcher, yeah. Yeah, so I was looking up his record because I'm a sports
geek, and I was looking up, and 70-something wins and losses.
So you might have said it's no big deal. That's a big deal. Most people don't
even make it there. Well, yeah.
I mean, you know, the hard part they say is not getting there,
which is, it's extremely tough to get there, but you know, the ability to stay
(01:26):
there is, is even more of an achievement because, because being able to do it
year after year and do your job is pretty tough. Yeah.
Well, is it fun watching today's generation of major league baseball players
or how do you, how do you dissect the difference of what you see versus,
you know, a lot of rule changes, of course, but.
Yeah, you know, I was either fortunate or unfortunate, but when I retired,
(01:48):
I kind of walked away from it. I didn't watch a whole lot of baseball.
It took me probably seven or eight years before I started watching some of the
playoffs and really didn't follow a whole lot, followed the teams that I played
for, but it's a different game.
There's no doubt about that. I have friends all over social media that...
Really are having a hard time with, with what's happening. And,
and it's not that I just don't care that much.
(02:10):
I just don't follow it as much, you know, I love playing, but to me,
you know, it was kind of boring to watch.
Well, I'll tell you, you know, I grew up, you know, you and I are near the same age.
We talked about all the stuff and, you know, you remember the days where you
get, well, you, I guess you were, you grew up in Statesboro, right?
Yeah. So I was in Atlanta here. So, but growing up in high school,
we would get free tickets or elementary school,
(02:32):
free tickets it's for the Braves games we got A's because no one went you know
they were that bad for that long and of course we went through the whole 90s
blah blah blah and then I've started watching more but to
be honest with you these those games started dragging on forever and
then you know I'm just saying this is a pet peeve every specialist for every
pitch for every inning for whatever and I started missing the days of the Glavin
(02:53):
Smoltz Maddox you know long pitchers yeah and and you know it's amazing I was
talking to somebody the other day like if all I had to do was go out and worry
about throwing five innings and give the ball up to the bullpen.
That would have made life a lot easier.
You could probably play a few more years. Right. I mean, because you know,
when, when I played, you know, your job was to go out there and give seven or
eight innings and then give it to the closer.
(03:13):
Then the setup man started evolving a little bit and, and it's different,
you know, I mean, there were, I think four or five guys that threw over 200 innings and.
You don't see much of that at all. For me, that was the benchmark.
If you threw 200 innings, you
did your job, regardless of how many wins you had or what your ERA was.
If you threw 200 innings, especially in the National League where they hit for
you later, you were doing a good job.
(03:33):
That's what I always say. And that's the part, you know, growing up as a kid,
I can remember following.
And we'll get to our real stuff later. We had to reminisce about baseball.
But I remember, you know, reading AJC sports sections and, you know,
looking at the 280 batter, 30 RBI, excuse me, 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, all these stats.
That's a good cleanup hitter or whatever. But the 200, you know,
going back to something like Kevin Millwood and some of those guys in the Braves
(03:56):
back there, they were innings eaters, you know, and they work horses and you
don't, I mean, I don't see many,
I guess I would say this before we get into the meat, you know,
if you're pitching a heck of a game, the sixth or seventh inning and you get
yanked out, I'd be, I bet you'd be kind of upset.
Yeah. You know, I mean, as a starter, you want to go out there and finish what you start.
Exactly. And having the ball, nobody likes to give the ball up.
(04:19):
Not when you're pitching good. No, but like I said, National League was a little different.
I mean, you could be up 2-1 or 1-0 or tied and come out of the game and get
pinch hit for late, even though you're still doing your job.
Your pitch count may be low, but that's just the nature of the game.
But yeah, the brave staff back then was just insane.
I mean, they had three or four, maybe even five guys at a time going out there throwing 200.
(04:39):
They did. It was a time, and now we're back to a different time.
But, well, let's talk about, so your newest, some of your newest things is taking
baseball, sports, you know, we're just a marketing matter show,
but we really focus on communications.
You know, how do we communicate? And one of the things, you know,
you're working, you know, you know, at a strategic level with ownership of Royal Flush Plumbing.
(05:01):
Tell us a little bit about this whole flush athletics and what's going on there.
Well, you know, he's, he's been trying to get this thing going for a while.
And last year, I think, was really the beginning of it in the way that I met Ryan as both of our kids.
All of his kids and my youngest were enrolled at Providence Christian Academy.
So, Sean West, who's the athletic director there now, used to be at Emory University.
(05:25):
And I met him in a Parkview High School baseball golf tournament at Stone Mountain. Sure.
They have played with Sean, a guy named Buddy Freeland. Buddy, yeah.
And someone else. But met Sean through them. So, he ended up going back to Providence
and where he went to high school.
Okay. And kind of called me up and asked me if I had any interest of coaching
(05:46):
high school baseball. And I said, I think I told him not really.
You know, I've done travel ball for a long time, but it's a different breed.
So anyways, he wore me down, ended up coaching at Providence,
met Ryan through that relationship.
Because he had kids there. He had kids there. And, you know,
with the beginning of this, the one thing that he really wanted,
(06:07):
since nobody was paying for the baseball is for them to get private lessons
from somebody professional.
So that's where I came into play. He goes, do you want to do some of these lessons with my boys?
And I did because ultimately I'm an instructor at heart. The coach part followed it.
So we started doing that. One thing led to another. He wanted me to help with winter workout.
(06:31):
So I ended up going inside and helping him with that. And then he was looking
for somebody to run the the organization, coach his signs team, the 11-year-old team.
And just one thing led to another. I ended up meeting with him and listening
to his vision and, you know, seeing what was in his heart.
And it was a no-brainer at that point.
(06:51):
Man, you know, and I haven't had a chance to meet him personally.
That's on my list, but we got the same first names. That's always a good start.
But no, and we were pleased, you know, talking about Powered by Our Town Gwinnett
Magazine to have, If people didn't see it, you can go to OurTownGwinnettOnline.com
and see Flush Athletics. I think it was February.
February, you have two different editions. The blue edition. Great story.
(07:13):
So anyway, now in terms of athletics, from my gathering of this,
is that bringing stuff in a deeper way into the community to allow more kids?
Because I'm trying to remember how the story was, giving them an opportunity
where it's not cost prohibitive.
Correct. Because it is so expensive, trust me, in the soccer world.
(07:34):
I could probably retire in five years. Yeah, there's no doubt that the cost
is unattainable for some.
But the ultimate goal is to dive into the community and get into areas where
it benefits the kids more than other areas.
Because a lot of people can afford it and a lot of can't. So the ultimate goal
(07:55):
in sponsoring all these is to pour in the community, give kids an opportunity
that may not have that chance.
And just pour into them. So are there certain areas, you guys,
is it more Gwinnett-focused?
Is it Metro Atlanta-focused? Or are you just building in different ways?
Right now, I think it's more Gwinnett. You know, the majority of the tournaments
that we play are in this area.
We are starting to play some other tournaments that are going to be in Marietta
(08:18):
and Cobb County, kind of expanding, you know, our look a little bit.
We got some pretty crazy uniforms, right? It's all marketing. Oh, yeah.
Good show. Marketing like a marketing matter show. I thought it would be good for it.
That's right. Right. So ultimately, you know, what we're doing is trying to
eventually create a model where we can go to other businesses and show them
(08:42):
the benefits of what we're doing as far as the tax write-offs and the visibility
and the marketing and all these areas,
in addition to being able to help the kids that may not be able to do it.
I thought as I was reading it and, you know, I was reading it as the last,
last, last set of eyes, you know, before it was printed and put out.
But I was thinking about that, you know, for other businesses and model that,
(09:04):
you know, you really, as a business, there's such a win-win.
You're invested in your community.
You can't miss the logo. It's on every piece of apparel. It's on every uniform.
Even our team store where parents buy their apparel, you know,
we got Royal Flesh Plumbing on the nape of the neck.
Sure. So, you know, we got parents and kids all over Gwinnett representing.
(09:26):
Well, and I mean, the ROI, I used to have a company.
One of the things we did at that time is, you know, the items you could sell,
you know, coffee cup, whatever, with your name and logo on it.
But when you talk about living apparel for kids and that many kids and that
many places and the posing teams and fans,
and, you know, you and I both know today's certainly, you know,
your parents are crazy when you're in the competitively, you know,
(09:49):
crazy can be be good or bad, but it depends on the parent, but they're there
and a lot of eyeballs on it.
Yeah. Lots of, I mean, we have eight teams. Our oldest team is 16 and they won't
play till the summertime.
So all of our younger age groups are going right now. We have two teams that
are located in Barrow County.
So the reach out there is a little bit, but you know, when, when we all roll
up into the park with our, with our purple, yellow, and black on,
(10:11):
I mean, it gets, it gets noticed.
And that's ultimately what it's about. You have so many people what's flush,
you know, walking through the
grocery store i had one man walk up to me grocery store and he's like uh,
why'd you cut my kid, man? I'm like, what are you talking about?
He came, he came to try out.
Yeah. He came to try out. So he asked me if I was a coach and I said,
(10:32):
yeah, I kind of oversee the organization.
And he's like, well, my kid got cut. And I'm like, I'm sorry,
man. Tell him to come back out next year. Don't forget about us.
You know, it's funny you say that I spend so much of my life when,
you know, with different things I do and I'll welcome.
So, you know, I would love that thing you said, I'm like, I wrote or what you're
going to be more specific.
Cause I can't remember, but But, you know, your heart, Joey,
(10:53):
and obviously Ryan, you know, the owner, you know, you guys are really investing in the community.
You're really investing in the next generation. And you're right.
There are a lot of people who could pay for their kid to play four times over. I know a lot of them.
And there's a lot of people that have scrapped to try to find a way, you know.
And there's a lot of people just doing it because they feel like,
you know, the next-door neighbor is doing it, you know.
(11:14):
And, you know, what we've learned as you get older, you know,
you've got to do these things, like, sports-wise because you love them.
I mean, if you're just playing to play because you don't really like it,
I always tell people, then find something you are passionate about, right?
But the number of people I saw in competitive soccer over the years that,
you know, they were playing more for their parents than them.
By the time they got to be ninth grade, they hated it. They didn't want to do it.
(11:38):
Yeah, and I can certainly see that. And one of the things, you know,
we sponsored two tournaments a month.
You know, we're not trying to go out and be out there every weekend,
every month for four months.
Kids need a break. We don't want them to get blown out or worn out or get tired of it.
And, you know, I think we're pretty lucky with the group of parents that we
have, um, as far as not being over the top. Yeah. Over the top. Yeah.
(12:02):
And then can, you know, that can wear on you. You know, in, in our generation
growing up, I think it was a little, little different, but I'm,
I'll ask you, I mean, did, I'm not even talking about flush,
but the number of practices, I'm going to use soccer world.
So we'll keep it away from baseball that some of these top level clubs want
to do it per per week, I correlate a lot towards injuries.
It's over practicing almost all year round.
(12:23):
It is, you know, over the winter, we practice twice a week and,
and, you know, we got a little bit of time off at Christmas time,
a little bit off time off at Thanksgiving and probably practice a little bit
more than younger age groups over the winter.
A lot of them will take off after the fall and start back up in January,
but we wanted to keep them short.
It wasn't a whole lot of throwing, you know, everything was indoor. door.
So just reps and fundamentals and things that they need to do to be able to play.
(12:49):
One of the things I stress, if you can catch and throw the baseball,
you can play this game for a long time.
You're never going to figure out how to hit. That's just the way it is.
But if you can catch and throw, you can enjoy it, and you can play it for a
really, really, really long time.
Well, that's the thing. But you being a professional athlete,
you also know not to overdo certain activities.
You know, I've seen coaches in different things. They're just overdoing,
overthrowing, over whatever.
(13:10):
Or in soccer, we see the ACFs. That's what we see over and over and over in females.
And, you know, you put people in the turf too much or you put them in drills
that's too much. Don't get me wrong. You've got to train hard,
but you also got to be smart.
Yeah, and it was funny. We played in a tournament yesterday.
Was shortened to a one-day tournament and played three games and ended up winning
the tournament against a pretty tough Norcross team.
(13:32):
And the boy that pitched in the second game, he threw 77 pitches,
which early on, try to hold them to around that number, 70, 75 pitches.
And he came up to me in the second to the last inning of the championship game,
and he's like, I feel like I could throw some more. I said, that's great, but you're not going to.
So you set the limit. Yeah, That's right. One of the important things is keeping
(13:55):
these boys healthy so they can play.
I do some teaching at universities, and I've got an athlete in basketball.
He's a redshirt freshman, and he keeps missing class over and over. I told him he has a zero.
He's not yet correlated to the med major D1 that you can go on the road,
and I get it. You go travel.
You play in college baseball, but you still got to do your work.
(14:17):
I was explaining, you can't just turn this in whenever you want he
goes well i was traveling like not two weeks later yeah yeah and
he goes i get focused more on basketball than i do on school i'm
like well let me tell you people i know that were professional athletes they
would say you need to pass your classes at least
pay attention you know when you learn something that's right you know i always
joke you know what my major was in in college was eligibility exactly i did
(14:39):
what it took oh yeah because i knew what i was there sure and and well you were
first round draft pick right i was yeah i'm bragging on you yeah and and made
sure that I did what I needed to do. And we also had an attendance policy.
I mean, we used to take attendance sheets around, this is in college.
To get it to all of our teachers to sign off every class we missed.
(15:00):
We ran five miles for one. Exactly. Class.
And I'm not naming the university, but there's some of them that are fantastic.
And they're in the front row, by the way, this, those football players or whatever,
naming different sports.
And there's a couple of them that I'm like, what are you? Does your coach know you're doing this?
And I guarantee that a matter of fact, I said, unless you've got some NIL deal,
I don't know about, because they're like a registered freshman. You need to be here.
(15:20):
And they, sure enough, they were there in five minutes, but my daughter is just signed.
Fuck her for Tennessee tech. I was telling you about, She, they said the same
thing. You're supposed to sit in the front of the class, get in at 3 a.m.
We expect you to be at class. You know, I kind of like that.
It's the guy that's trying to teach me. It's that they're, they're held to a higher standard.
They are held to a higher standard. And I think it's beneficial for college
athletes, especially coming out of college and looking for jobs.
(15:42):
People, employers know that to succeed as a college athlete,
you have to have a pretty good work ethic and you have to be responsible.
You have to be able to take care of your business. And, and,
you know, I know when, with my oldest son who graduated in 2021.
You know, coming out looking for jobs, he got a pretty good job.
They knew he was an athlete and, and he's done well with it. So.
(16:03):
Well, they got, but the, you know, exactly, Joe, you know, and they have the
work ethic, which you have to have, you're going to succeed.
And then the time management, you know, because you can't like,
I mean, you did, you can go to all the practices and the classes and this,
I love to hire people that were great competitive athletes because I'm going,
I know what I'm going to get.
They're not afraid to say, hey, that wasn't good enough. You need to,
(16:24):
because they've been coached hard.
Yeah. And then the other part of the organization, the Flush Athletics,
is that if you go through our program, right, and choose not to go to college,
then we can guarantee them a six-figure salary. Oh, yeah.
After an apprenticeship, which can take, you know, eight months to 16 months.
(16:45):
After an apprenticeship, which is another cool thing about the.
I remember that now. Thanks for saying that. Is that, yeah, because we know
what we're going to get with these kids because we've had them coming through
the organization. You've had like an intern for like eight years.
It is an internship, basically, if they choose to go that route.
That's cool. And, you know, there's so many things that can be taught through
sports and through baseball, specifically for me, because it's set up around
(17:07):
failure more than anything else. Yeah.
That if you can do that and the lessons and the life lessons that are taught through this game.
It can make you a highly employable person. I love it. I remember that now.
I'm so glad you said that. And that's something I love that y'all are taking the leadership role.
I mean, not just leading, you're doing it. But there's other companies maybe
in different industries could offer the same thing.
(17:28):
Because I chose to get my doctorate in leadership because I did want to teach.
That was the entrance fee. I wasn't going to be a first-round pick.
But it took me forever to do this. But I knew if I wanted to go in and make
a real difference with real-world experience, experience, my entry fee,
like you being a former professional was, I've got 30 years real world experience,
but I'll check all the boxes for the other. And once you're in the club, you're in the club.
(17:52):
So now I can go in and say, you know, they say, Dr. Sowers, did we miss anything
in class? And I'm like, no.
And for an hour and a half, I said, absolutely nothing that'll benefit you,
you know, and they were, what do you mean? I said, you need to ask a classmate what you meant.
You need to be here. And if you don't want to be here, that's on you.
But my point is you, you spend enough time. Because some of this time I've gotten
to learn, you know, undergraduates, graduate students and spend time with them.
(18:14):
And I kind of have a feel for if I was hiring somebody and they wanted to go
that route, I'd want them on my team or I wouldn't want them on my team.
And then you've got some people that would say, why are you even in college?
I mean, go to trade school.
I mean, you know, and I'd say for a lot of people going to tech school or whatever, that's a good plan.
It is a good plan. And, you know, my brother works for Technical College System
(18:34):
of Georgia. And I set up a meeting with him to go down and see how we could
get integrated into the tech schools because there's not a whole lot of plumbing.
So we got pointed in the direction of PHCC and met with them and found some
avenues and opportunities where we can, you know, try to set up a pipeline for
(18:55):
us to get, you know, quality apprentices.
Because we could have twice the work that we have now if we had the right employees.
And then you train them in y'all's ways and train them in that.
But this is, man, as I've been as a marketing guy, you know,
I'm thinking, you know, the website, that's true.
We're up at pottytrain.com. Pottytrain.com. I mean, I just noticed that. But that is good.
(19:16):
That is very good. And then we'll come back for contact thing.
But the flush athletics, not only is a philanthropic thing, not only is it pouring
into the community and other things in, you know, in marketing wise,
it also allows you to know,
you know, hey, Hey, some of these guys are not going to keep playing baseball
forever. They may want to be employees.
You're also helping them with their lives. And you guys have worked hard together
(19:40):
to create a model that other companies, maybe in a totally different industry,
could follow. Correct. And that's the ultimate goal.
You know, if we can reach other companies and broaden the spectrum of all these
kids being helped, especially in our community, then that's,
you know, that would be amazing.
Yeah, because it's, like I said, any of my friends, and again,
I'm not, I didn't do baseball. I had $3, but we did higher level soccer.
(20:03):
I mean, it's not inexpensive.
No, I mean, I'll just sleep. And we have one, one family who's in the organization
and, and he's one of my assistant coaches and he's super passionate.
He has three kids. He has a 13 year old in our organization.
He has an 11 year old on my team and he's got a 10 year old.
I mean, just think of, think of, think of that bill with three kids.
(20:25):
And mine was just spread out a little bit more, but it was, I was telling,
I was thinking the other day.
So if you remember GSA soccer park over there, my youngest, I started coaching
her when I was, she was four, she's 24. And the, excuse me, my oldest.
And so she'll be what, 25 late this year.
And my youngest, you know, she's a junior in high school. So the time I'm done,
we'll have had almost 21 straight years of East, East, you know,
(20:49):
the level of that. But I got to be honest with you, I can't remember which one
was which, but the thing I look back now, here's what I do see.
The work ethic, the discipline, the self-confidence, the grit,
the determination, and the everyone doesn't get a trophy.
Even in medical school, my daughter said, I don't understand how these medical
(21:11):
school students are complaining that this exam is not fair.
They should get more time. I said, any tier you go to. to.
There's been other people you know that were, you know, you probably played
college ball with Joey, and I know you're not going to brag on yourself,
but they were an 18th round draft pick.
They were 17th round draft pick. Well, you were first round draft pick.
There's tears in everything.
So I told her, I said, quit worrying about it. I said, when you get to your
(21:32):
residency, cream's going to rise to the top, you know, and, and,
and, you know, people can complain and have a problem with everything,
even if they're a doctor.
And I see it in all levels. And, you know, there's just nothing's going to replace that hard work.
Yeah, you're right. And the draft has even changed with baseball.
You know, it's been limited to rounds starting, I guess, with the COVID year.
It used to go 70, 80 rounds until nobody wanted anyone anymore.
(21:56):
Oh, yeah, I do remember that. So now it's, you know, in baseball,
as a high pick, basically all it means is you get more opportunities to fail.
Not more opportunities to succeed, but more to fail because they have invested
in you a little bit more than your 10th round pick.
Yeah, you slot them more money and they want you to. That's right.
But ultimately, anyone that gets drafted probably has the tools to do something.
(22:21):
It's just a matter of what they do with it, right?
Yeah, 100%. So how do you, with these fans, you play the major league level.
I mean, you had 10 years, the biggest you can get in professional baseball. well.
Do you have to sometimes, you know, I'm sure you're a passionate guy.
You can't go to that level and not be, but do you have to tell parents or coaches
or just take a deep breath sometimes with expecting them to be major leaguers when they're 14?
(22:45):
I have, you know what I mean? You know, and, and the organization that I was
with before this, I did the college recruiting and commit and communication for them.
And the toughest part about that job was being honest with families where their
kids slot because all of them think they're great and all of them think they're D1.
And the realistic part of it is most, you know, half a percent are, that's it.
(23:08):
So it's tough. But again, you know, our families have been pretty fortunate,
you know, as far as not having to deal with that and, you know,
communication with me, I'm pretty sure that, you know, on the baseball field,
I can justify anything that I do better than a parent can.
So I don't get any of any of that, which is nice, but you know,
everybody wants their kids to play, but.
(23:29):
You know, we've been good with it and with the flush. Well, I'll tell you,
we're really, really young too. Yeah. Yeah.
But you're building something and I can't be more proud.
And from the first time you and I talked to seeing it come to fruition to,
you know, then I was thinking the other day with, you know, we were doing shows
and I said, I need to get Joe in here to get him on the whole podcast because
(23:49):
this model, you know, this isn't limited.
This is live right now, but this is not limited to, you know,
you know, a 10 mile radius. is this could be somebody reaching out to you and
another state, another here. Of course.
And that's the beautiful thing. You know, we've got the different types of mediums.
I'm like, well, this story is very applicable to everybody.
Yeah, yeah. And I was really excited when you called me up to do this.
You know, not only to promote what we're doing, but to have that broad spectrum
(24:15):
of an audience to get it out to you. Well, we're going to get it out like we do.
We get it on the network, and then it's, you know, I've been doing a lot of
driving recently, and if you notice, There's a podcast now and any directory,
anything you want to listen to.
So when you get under this kind of stuff, there could be a company listening.
And Columbus, Georgia says, we'd love to get involved in doing something like that.
Well, if we're all in the mindset, I always say, you know, there's enough to
(24:39):
go around for everybody to help, help and people getting kids,
I think, engaged in athletic programs that require discipline and hard work.
And, you know, you know, I read it and get a trophy. I mean,
seriously, from what I'm saying is imperative.
I agree. I agree. I agree. And the more kids that we can get involved,
the better, you know, keep some out of trouble, keep some off the streets, Roman, you know.
(25:02):
Well, you know, when you have that accountability and you're going to be a game at 6 a.m., 7 a.m.
To warm up and whatever, you know, you're going to make better choices because,
you know, you want to play.
Of course. And we have, you know, attendance requirements that we have put in
place with the families and the kids.
Just commitment. They have to, they have to commit to, yeah.
You know, we're committing a lot of our time to companies committing a lot of
(25:24):
money and we want them to, to honor that.
That's so awesome. Now, all right. So I'm just going to ask you,
so what, what, what's your bet? Let's use your professional career of baseball.
What's one of the things that most people wouldn't have ever,
would never think about that's the biggest, you know, pain or was it traveling
or whatever for professional baseball?
Well, you know, everybody doesn't see the glory, the glory, the money.
(25:48):
You know, the fame if you get to that point, but it is very stressful.
You know, you're basically away from your home eight months out of the year.
You have two homes. You got to maintain a home during the season.
You got to have, you know, your home base and the stress that they can put on
people and their families and is immense.
And, you know, the number is staggering.
(26:10):
For i know baseball but probably a lot of former athletes where their marriages
don't survive you know the end of their playing days and and it's just tough
it's like you're away from somebody yeah so long and then all of a sudden you're 24 7.
And it's just a hard adjustment it's a hard adjustment and people
don't see that but i'm not gonna lie you know
it's it's it's pretty dang pretty damn cool to
(26:33):
go out there and do that right but you know
the travel the terror on your family not seeing your
kids not being able to see first steps or a
school play right or you know anything like that and you know people
don't see that but you miss a lot well we you know i love listening to sports
talk drive because i've been driving it out of town a lot but we we forget you
know every athlete's a human you know i mean i don't forget i've interviewed
(26:54):
enough people of years but but my point is you know that separation that eight
months a year i would bet you since you were a georgia guy when you came to
atlanta you ever play any games atlanta oh yeah i'm sure you had You had a million
people wanting tickets, right? Yeah, yeah.
I think I left 85 one time was the highest. And now players got to pay for their
own tickets. Oh, is that right? So they're cut down, I'm sure.
(27:15):
But, you know, that was the thing or the hometown, you know,
when Frank Corral, you know, whatever.
You know, when you first come here and every person, you know,
in the world wants to come talk to you, you're doing your job.
And I think it's hard to remember, you know, yes, you're an athlete,
but you also are doing your job.
Yeah, that. And it has to be scaled down, right? Right. You can't make everyone
(27:36):
happy. You can't tell everybody yes.
It's just impossible because it just becomes worse. But I couldn't imagine.
With the tech? You didn't have techs back then, did you? It was coming in.
It was coming in. The Blackberries. Yeah, the Blackberries, yeah.
But I couldn't imagine somebody like Frenchy or Matt Olson who came here,
successful here, coming back and playing here.
Uh, not only the, the, the pressure from everybody that, you know,
(27:59):
but just pressure in general to succeed.
Yeah. Like you're in front of your hometown people and that would be tough.
I remember when I had also on a show earlier when he was out in Oakland and
then when he got traded, his, his mother had just retired for teach the same place my wife does.
And I don't think, I mean, that pressure of replacing Freddie Freeman at first
in Atlanta from where you are, I can only imagine what it was.
(28:23):
And I heard him in sports talks say in the second year, he felt like a deep,
like he'd been there forever, you know, but first year, you know,
you, you, you're replacing one of the favorite guys in the franchise.
Yeah. I mean, he's, he was the face of the franchise after, after Chipper left.
So, you know, he did a, did a real good job doing it. Yeah, he did.
He did. Well, all right. Well, best way.
So if they want to find out more about, first of all, Royal Flesh Plumbing,
(28:44):
great company recommended to anybody, but we can find that.
Is that found under pottytrain.com? Pottytrain.com. I'm trying to laugh.
It really is. I love, I love, I'm just trying to, so it's so cute.
Dude, I love it. You're going to remember that. Well, you do.
I mean, that's the whole point of it. You literally talk to Mike.
This is the stuff I think of all day long. So I give it an A plus.
It does. It has flush athletics.
It has Royal Flush Plumbing. One thing that we didn't talk about,
(29:04):
I was going to mention, is the academy that we have for our apprentices, right?
Basically taking everything that they've learned over the last 20-something
years and putting it into an academy and trying to train super plumbers.
And that's a really cool thing.
Because skills trades need more bodies. Oh, they do.
And real flush, how far metro Atlanta-wise
(29:25):
do you get? Or is it more Gwinnett-focused or all over the city?
We just put a branch in Fayetteville. Oh, wow. So technically,
it's all over Georgia above Macon. Okay.
Because our plumbers, they keep their vans at their home. We don't have one
place that we dispatch from.
Smart business model. So we can even up into Greenville, South Carolina, that area.
(29:46):
Area so if anybody is looking for a
great plumbing company and great people i mean when you got joey and
then ryan one of the owners uh investing in
the community doing a great job at pottytrained.com i
keep i keep trying to laugh but it's that good marketing that i i keep saying
that then of course you guys got instagram i'm looking at like you make a royal
(30:06):
underscore flush underscore plumbing facebook flash plumbing flush baseball
flush baseball okay and then i remember doing doing this myself when I tagged
some of them because my marketing person was out,
but nice social media presence, great company.
And as we kind of come to a close, Joey, any things we didn't cover that we
need to make sure we say, or did we, did we, any last thoughts?
(30:29):
No, I think you did a pretty good job. You know, we just want to get,
get this, get this model out here and have people listening to it and hear about
it and think about if we can plant it in the business owner's brain and,
and have them, you know, try to create something similar, then that's what we've done.
And if they want to reach out, let's say a business is listening to this today,
wherever, you know, they're in South Georgia or Greenville or whatever.
Is there a particular person, you, whoever, who should they reach out to?
(30:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Reach out to me and, you know, and then we'd sit down with the CEO and,
you know, let them know how it's done and what we're doing and an idea of cost
and stuff like that. Okay.
It's not cheap, but most of it's tax deductible. And even more than that is helping out.
Helping out, getting exposures, win-win. And then it would, and I won't say
(31:15):
it here, but if they want to do that, should they email the company or would they email you?
They email me. Okay. And I'll list it, but I got your email.
I'll put it in the show notes. So when people listen to it, if they have a question,
they can just ask you. Absolutely.
All right, my friend. Well, thank you so much for coming on.
It's a pleasure to be here.
This is my first time. Well, you're a pro. you know I'm
sure you had a mic in front of you once or twice even though you won't yeah I figure so
(31:35):
all right let me close this out thanks for tuning in to
another marketing matters and end results radio network folks we
are inside the perimeter roofing studio from the country in a suites by Radisson
again you can listen to all past shows all our other shows just go to end results
with a z.com hit the current show button current shows button or just go 24
7 wherever you get your podcast for my special guest Joey Hamilton thanks again
(31:58):
Joey we had a great show show today.
So make sure you listen and share with a friend and folks has been another marketing
matters until next time, make your marketing matter.
This has been marketing matters with Ryan Sowers.
For even more advice, visit ryansowers.com. That's R Y A N S A U E R S dot com.
(32:26):
Music.
Thank you.
(33:00):
Visit ryansowers.com. That's R-Y-A-N-S-A-U-E-R-S dot com.
Music.
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