April 4, 2024 • 47 mins
As humans, experiencing challenges is part of life and facing those challenges head on is evidence of resilience. Camille Alston is back on as Amy’s guest, as she’s someone who has persevered through life experiences to get to where she is today. Most recently, a tornado touched down, changing her business as she knew it. This happened right after she came on the podcast last year, so she’s back on with a fresh take on resilience + hope (but don’t call it a comeback - she’s been here for years - shout out LL Cool J) and after listening you’ll see that Camille is for sure a buffalo, not a cow. Which one are you?
For the crew socks Amy & Camille love from N.B. Goods click HERE. They're so cute!
HOST: Amy Brown // RadioAmy.com // @RadioAmy
GUEST: Camille Alson // https://shopnbgoods.com // @shopnbgoods
Voicemail Line: 877-207-2077
Email: 4ThingsWithAmyBrown@gmail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good cast up little food for yourself life. Oh it's
pretty bad. It's pretty beautiful thing beautiful that for a little
mouth fasciting said he can cut your kicking with four
(00:31):
Thing with Amy Brown, Happy Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Four Things Amy Here, and I'm back with Camille Austin
which your your water bottle says every second count.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It does. It's kind of my my mantra these days.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And so why is that important to you?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It's actually it's from the show The Bear, and I
just love the show. But a chef, Yeah, yeah, chef,
all of those things, but honestly, every second does count.
I'm not like a hustle mentality person like you have
the same twenty four hour there's a day that I do,
but you only get one life. Got to make the
most of it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, I'm glad to have you back because you were
on the podcast late last year, late twenty twenty three,
and now here we are already mid twenty twenty four,
which is not mid but we're wrapping up the first quarter,
which feels a little weird. I feel like we'll be
there before we know it. And right after your episode aired.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
A tornado hit in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, and so you have a shop that's called NB Goods,
and we talked about that. I mean, you left the
music business to chase this dream and this is something
that you've been building and then in a second, your
life changed. And I thought, well, I think it'd be
great to have Camille come back on because I admired
(01:47):
how you handled it. You use your social platform well
obviously the business side, but you're the face of the company,
and I thought the way you went about it was
so beautiful and community together because it's not like your
warehouse isn't the only thing that was impacted by that
tornado at all, And so I just thought having you
(02:08):
on to share what that experience was like and again
facing any type of adversity, and there's two ways to
look at it, and I want to focus on the
way you looked at it, because it was well done.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, and I think last time we talked about something
like you said, not why, but like, what does this
spake possible? I think I really carried that with me
through this whole experience. I mean, because I think it
was literally like a week after we talked. The timing
was crazy, and yeah, I was just coming off with
such a high at the end of last year, like
(02:41):
we had some Nate Borgesti or the sweatshirt on SNL.
We were starting to work on some more things in
the e comm space, like really getting the store fired up,
and we were actually at our biggest event of the
year when the tornado warning came in and I just
kind of was, you know, we get tornado warnings all
the time. Obviously they're the big one hit in twenty twenty,
(03:03):
which was where in East Nashville. It was just this
kind of whirlwind, And honestly, I don't know that I've
sat down yet and like talked about the whole thing,
So this will be a little bit of a digestion
for me too.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So what was it like for you getting that call
or realizing once you got there kind of what was
going to happen? And describe what happened to your warehouse
and even those around you that were impacted, and like,
at what moment did you know, Okay, this is how
I'm going to handle this or did you just kind
of roll with it you being you and that's just
how you naturally are. Do you feel like you were
(03:37):
having to make a conscious effort, oh take the course?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, you know, so I am very like Type A
in the sense that I like to be organized. I
like myself to be neat and nice, and so walking
up on the it being in complete disarray is definitely
not like the most ideal situation. But basically what happened
was we were at our biggest event of the year,
tornado warning watch starts happening. Immediately, my first concern went
to my home. You know, my husband's there or we
(04:01):
have five dogs, and so I just kept in touch
with him, and people were looking at the map and
they were like, yo, this is right by your house.
I guess everything okay, And so once I got the
all clear from Kevin, I just kind of put it
out of my mind. I didn't even think about the warehouse.
I was like, oh, we're all good. It's passed. And
probably about twenty minutes later, I got a call from
(04:21):
a friend and they had been parking their food truck
at my warehouse right around the back, and they were
building a new trailer also, and they called me, and
I thought, oh, I wonder if something happened to their trailer.
Like I wasn't even still not thinking about my business.
Andy who called he's usually like a pretty like jovial person,
and the minute I heard the tone of his voice,
(04:43):
I was like, oh, man, something's not good, you know.
And so he just kind of said, hey, is anybody
said anything to you about your warehouse? And I was
like no, and he's like, yeah, it's pretty bad. I
was like, is it like bad, like it just looks
bad or is everything ruined? And he's like, it's really bad.
Me and my friend Allison, who also owns a business
(05:04):
in Porter East and we own the candy shop together,
which is crazy. So our warehouses are in the same complex,
and so we both just hopped in a car drove
up there, and as soon as we got close to it,
we were like, oh, this is it was like out
of a movie. I know people say that, but to
pull up on a place that you go every day
and to see it just absolutely decimated. Like the entire
(05:27):
corner of her building was missing, the building across from
me was completely leveled. And then so our building, it
was kind of okay on the front end, but it
had the tornado had kind of come across the back
and just completely rip the roof off. And ultimately what
happened was not only just the tornado winds, but it
ended up raining with no roof for the rest of
(05:48):
the night. You know, so everything inside was ruined.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, you're looking at everything you've built, Yeah, and all
of this inventory, your creation, and it's ruined, ruined.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I mean, they were like transfers from hats over here.
I had just picked up like a couple thousand dollars
worth of thread. The like thread and string were everywhere,
Our shipping materials were hanging from the rafters. Yeah, it
really was like everything you think happens in a tornado.
It's just like it's like they put the building in
a blender. It was. It was crazy, and so yeah,
(06:19):
we looked at it that night. There were like fire
trucks everywhere, and there was like a couple of gas leaks,
and so ultimately I just decided there's literally nothing I
can do tonight. That's when I made the video that
was on my Instagram account. And the reception I got
from that video, honestly, I was like, I just sound
like a bumbling idiot, because I really was like, I
just don't I don't know what's going on, but I
just feel like I need to say something because a
(06:41):
lot is gonna have to change really quickly because it
was it was the holiday season. We had orders on
the website that we hadn't shipped out that were like
Christmas gifts for people.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So how did people respond to that? Because you would
hope they were like, okay, yeah, we.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Totally get it. Was anybody like what my order's not coming.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Some people we just didn't hear from, and that was fine,
but everybody was very very kind. Luckily, it was like
two or three weeks before Christmas, so if you know,
they had time to find something else or whatever. But
everyone was very kind with their words, which I really appreciated.
And I got back up there the next day and
I very quickly realized that the building wasn't going to
(07:21):
be secure, and I had a couple of expensive things
in there that I didn't know whether they still worked
or not. I got a U Haul and just piece
by piece started picking up anything that I thought would
be of value and that I didn't want to leave
overnight because sadly, you know, they start to get looters
and people coming in for scrap metal and stuff like that,
which everybody's got to make a living. But yeah, you know,
(07:47):
the way I look at it is you know that
stuff that was left there. You know a lot of
my inventory is still up there. It's just sitting there.
You know. At this point they've put up like a
big gait and I'm guessing they're going to tear the
building down. But everything was kind of covered an insulation,
which is not good for clothing. It gets itchy. So
people were like, I'll come wash it, and I'm like,
it's not this kind of party, like we just need
(08:10):
to scrap.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That has to feel good to get a response like that,
We'll come up there, we'll help you, We'll wash this stuff.
I mean, even just looking at your Instagram, the outpour
of support, how does that make you feel in this
community that you built.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean, that's the thing is for the shop. The
sense of community is the most important thing to me,
and we have done a lot of things for the community.
I think that was the hardest and strangest part was
to then receive that help and to get that back.
Like even the day after, the folks that run Porter Flea,
(08:47):
they're like, we want to set up a GoFundMe for
you and Allison and both of us were like no,
and we're like we have let's wait let's see an insurance.
And one of the founders of Porter Flea, he actually
had a fire that destroyed his workshop and he's like, listen,
I'm telling you you're gonna have insurance. But he's like,
there's gonna be other stuff. There's gonna be things that
(09:07):
you're not thinking of, and there's gonna be things that
you need to take care of. And so we kind
of reluctantly said yes, and it ended up just being
such a big saving grace for both of us. So
just swallowing my pride a little bit in that moment
and letting people help. And I had a friend, Megan,
She's like, I know you're not going to let me
come up there to help you, And so she didn't
(09:30):
even ask. She had been to the warehouse one or
two times, and she just showed up and there she was,
and I couldn't send her home, and her and her
kids like help me haul stuff and move stuff. And yeah,
I'll never never forget like those moments. Those are something
that'll stick with me for a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
What encouragement do you have for anybody else that's going
through anything in life and they have a hard time
receiving again, they're givers because I know how much you
care about communion and how much you give. But yeah,
I can tell even as you're saying it, but receiving
is it's difficult for you and you're not alone in that.
What encouragement do you have for people that might feel
the same.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I mean, I think I would just tell anyone, like
the joy that you get from helping people, like, it's
okay to let other people have that moment. You know.
That's what I really realize is I'm the one who
when things happen, I'm like, what do you need? What
can I do? And I'm getting something out of that
because I want to help and that feels something for me,
and it's only fair to let other people do that
(10:28):
for you also, as hard as it is, and then
you know, when you're back on your feet, you can
get back to doing it the other way around like
you like to. But I think the universe, in our
world is all about balance, and I think as much
as you want to give, sometimes it's okay to take
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I think sometimes when we don't allow others to come in,
it's exactly that we rob them of that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, and connection you know, there's so many people that
I feel like have already contributed to us, you know,
getting back on our and they'll forever have a connection
to me and the business. And I think that that's important,
just as important as you know, money or lifting a hand,
just like that feeling that will always have between each other,
just knowing like oh that person did something really cool
(11:15):
in a moment that I really needed it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So when you mentioned what does this make possible? From
our last podcast together, that's something I learned from Donald Miller.
And for you, what was the tornado led to a
what does this make possible?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Moment? What was that for you?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, So the first week after the storm, I was
definitely running on adrenaline. You have this massive to do list.
You're like, Okay, I need to figure out where I'm
going to put all this stuff while I find a
new place. And then I needed to figure out we
were going to have a big sale at the store
because we had some inventory that was left at the
store that was untouched that we were able to sell
(11:54):
to like get some money coming in. So I was
like putting together this big event for the community. I
wanted to to be like a party rather than a funeral,
and so that was like consuming a lot of my time.
And then when that was over, you know, that's when
reality really set in. That was like I don't know
what to do today. Then that turned into Okay, now
(12:15):
I've got to find a new place. I got to
figure out how to get back to work. But unfortunately,
the way the Nashville real estate market is, it's not
like there's great space in great areas just sitting around
waiting to be had. And you know, this business was
built on my back with my finances. There's no investors,
there's no money pools, and so it was a bit
(12:38):
daunting to think, like even if I'm ready to go,
I just have to wait till I can find the
right place. And sitting still is not something I was
good at, and so I think that was like one
of the hardest parts for me. And when I started
to have a really tough time with everything, was like
the tornado was out of my control. But then I
could do these things to kind of get a little
(12:59):
bit of con back, and so I took the time
and I said, if I'm going to do this again,
I'm going to take all the lessons I've learned over
the last three years of having this business, and I'm
going to start from scratch the way that I want
to start over. And part of that was finding a
location where I could have our store and our warehouse
(13:22):
so that it would just be combined one place. Part
of that was starting to focus more on our brand.
We still do custom orders, but being more targeted with
like doing specific collaborations rather than just taking a ton
of small custom orders. So for me, the what became
possible was I got a chance to almost rebrand and
(13:44):
just start fresh, but with the added benefit of having
the three years of experience, having the three years of
community and followers and customers, and then getting to say, okay,
all these things that I thought, Okay, maybe I didn't
make this turn or this turn right. It's like I
just get a chance to do it all over again
in the way that I've always dreamed of.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
What did you learn about yourself and the stillness, because
you said being still was really difficult for you.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah, stillness has always been difficult for me, and I've
had a couple of situations like this in my life
where I've had to sit still for weeks or months,
and I think the reminder that I get every time
is that something is there, something is coming, you don't
(14:33):
know what it is, and it may feel like it
just falls out of the sky. I was actually listening
to a video today and somebody was talking about when
you don't know what's happening and then these opportunity comes somewhere.
Somebody was thinking of you or working on the thing
that you needed, and then they brought it to you,
and you had no idea that any of that was
(14:55):
going on. And so I think it's just a lesson
that even though it feels like a stillness, I'm not
wasting time. There's not nothing going on. We have to
give the universe and people opportunities to sort things out
and the right thing will come. And it did. It
(15:15):
took almost three months, which doesn't seem like a long time,
but you know, when you have a small business and
you're not generating income, you're not working, and it's what
you're used to doing every day, and you don't know
is it going to be three months, is it going
to be six months, is it going to be nine months?
You know, every day is a little bit agonizing when
you don't have a goal or an ending insight and
(15:36):
so yeah, after three months, I found a great new
location still in East Nashville, fulfills all the things that
I wanted of being able to like bring all the
sides of the business together. And now I'm really in
the process of like, Okay, in six weeks, let's get
back to it, like all the way.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's in the five Points area if people are in
Nashville under Joyland. Yeah, it was a great location and
the store in the warehouse all in one place. What
does this make possible? Now it's so much more convenient
for you. You're saving a lot of time.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Saving a lot of time, and.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You would have never had like how long would you
have stayed warehouse store wherehouse? You know, driving thirty forty
five minutes every day.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, and I didn't even think financially that finding the
space that we needed in the neighborhood that we wanted
was going to be possible. And ultimately it was just
about looking at, Okay, I don't have this warehouse anymore.
Like it's not even a oh well I have this
and it's fine. It's like it's just gone. So when
I sat down and looked at everything, and I really
(16:39):
looked at how much time I was spending all the
like double staffing I was doing. It was actually like
more financially prudent to be in this one place. And
so that was kind of a wake up call for
me because I just always thought that that was unachievable,
and I was forced to look at it and then
I went, ah, you know what, Actually I could make
this work, and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Have you read even for business, the book Obstacle is
the Way. No, it's really good, especially you as a
business owner. It could apply to anything in life, but
in the workplace. Instead of looking at something as well, okay,
this completely derails us. I don't know where to go
from here, or well I can't believe that mistake happened,
(17:21):
and getting angry at it or whatever, but more so
looking at like okay, sort of piggybacking off, what does
this make possible?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
It's like, well, obstacle is.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
The way, right, So now we have hit something, we
are detouring and this is this is now the way.
And then you end up looking back and being like cool,
that actually was exactly what we needed. It's all perspective
because you could have gone the other way.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well, that's what a lot of people ask They're like,
you're taking it so well, and I just kind of
was like, I don't see another option. You know what,
what do I do like sit on the floor and
cry every day? Like I definitely had some big cries,
you know, And then that was okay. But at a
certain point, if I was gonna move forward, you know,
I had to do just that and put one foot
(18:09):
in front of the other and start getting back to
some sort of sense of normalcy. The thing with the
tornado two is I've been joking, it's like it's lucky
in a way, you know, because this tornado in particular
hit such as a small swath of Nashville proper like obviously,
it did a lot of damage in Clarksville and some
(18:29):
surrounding areas, and there are people that lost their lives
that night. And I was grateful to be alive. I
was grateful that I wasn't there when it happened. My
neighbor at our warehouse was there when it happened, and
I spoke to him the next day, and you know,
I I think I was like the first person that
he saw, and I saw the fear and the you
(18:52):
know that. I mean, that's something that sticks with you
for a really long time. So I think I just
counted myself as lucky or unlucky whatever. Rethink there's just
some math involved in that, and just tried to move
forward in that in that mindset.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, and I like too, just want to put emphasis
and circle back to the Your stillness was still productive. Yeah,
your stillness was still doing something because I think sometimes
I'm definitely guilty of it.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
So I'm thankful for the reminder and that you just
keep going, going, going.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Because you're like, well, I've got to figure this out,
got to figure that out. But actually, if you would
just pause and be still and take it in, then
you can have more clarity. Yeah, and that's far more
productive than just going and then completely missing the mark
because you're not still enough to see it.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
That's how I got the store to begin with. You know,
when I left the music industry, I didn't know what
I wanted to do. I didn't know I was going
to open a store, and I almost took a couple
of customer service jobs. So I was panicking, like, oh,
I need a job, job, I need benefits, I need
to be doing something every day. And I just told myself,
like I didn't give up a career that I built,
(20:06):
you know, my entire adult life to just do busy work.
Let me just take this in and I'll figure it out.
And four months after leaving my job in music is
when I went to work at the Cookie place, and
then two months after that is when the place opened
up next door, and then I opened the shop and
now we're here today. So it wasn't the first time
(20:29):
that I had to learn that lesson, but it you know,
it's always a good reminder because you really start to think, well,
it's not gonna work out like that every time, or
I just got lucky last time and I just had
to had to sit in it.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
On your Instagram, I love this quote. I know y'all
think I have it all together, but most days, being
a small business owner, it's more like eating Jimmy John's
on the ground.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
With food all over my face.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
I feel like we had a meeting one day and
I was like, well, I know, I'm taking her a sandwich.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, yeah, the way to my heart is a Deli
sad sandwich.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And we did talk about this the last time you
were on too of just people just think, well, I'm
not going to start this until I have it all
figured out. And you can look at someone on social
media or look at someone do it or be in
their shop and think, well, I'm not to this point yet,
and I don't know how they figured all that out.
But you just for someone that had a goal and
(21:35):
a dream and you just started figuring out and you
went along as you could, like you just kind of
did things as it all came. And I think that
that is another good thing to just touch on for
encouragement of you don't have to have it all figured
out to do it.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
No, because I definitely don't. I just got my first
employee who's on a salary, and I'm doing all these
things and every week I want run payroll and I'm like,
I guess this is a real business, and people are like,
of course it is, but it just has never felt
that way. It's just never something I saw myself doing.
So I still have a tough time like wrapping my
(22:09):
head around it myself. But to your point, I mean,
a social media is tough. Like there's a million ways
we can talk about how social media is hard. There
are people that I see and I see them running
their businesses and I'm like oh, man, Like, I'm not
even close to that. How do they get there? You know,
their stuff looks so good. I mean, I have those
moments myself, so I certainly understand it. But that's my
(22:32):
goal when I post things like that, is to make
sure people understand, like, I'm not pretending to be perfect.
I'm not pretending to be some guru who's gonna sell
you eight reasons how you scale your business to six figure,
Like that's just not in me. I'm just trying to
make it myself, and I hope that people see that, Yeah,
(22:55):
you can just have an idea and you don't have
to have any train I didn't go to business school.
You know, I'm decent at math. But I'm just trying
to stay true to myself and everything that I'm doing.
And that's the part that I think has been the
biggest payoff, is that I didn't create something that isn't me.
I'm proud of everything that we do, and I show
(23:18):
up every day as myself. You know, even today getting dressed,
I'm like, oh, should I get dressed up? And I'm like, oh,
I'm just gonna not that I don't want to impress amy,
but I'm just gonna show as myself. This is what
I wear every day. You know, she showed up.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
We have our matching socks, magic socks. Got the red,
I got the brown.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I got so many socks for the reopening. Oh go ahead. Yeah,
like we're restocking heavy on the socks.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
These what are they called cru socks?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, these Cruse socks there. Love them. They're all I
wear now. I mean I think I might as well
just throw the rest of mine now again, we lost everything,
so it's like I want this. I want the store
to feel full and alive when we come back.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Authenticity, I'm pretty sure it is one of the most
searched words of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
So last year.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I think people are craving authenticity and people being authentic.
And I see you show up as that online for sure,
and I think that's probably what people are drawn to.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
What you're doing, is you are being authentic.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
This is you? Yeah, I hope. So having worked with
like artists and celebrity, I certainly witnessed a lot of
those moments where some people don't present as themselves and
then in real life there's this weird intersection when they
interact with people and I just never wanted to be
that way, honestly, Like working with Kelsey was such a
(24:35):
good example. I mean, I think she shows up as herself.
She's always like making jokes about herself and self deprecating
almost too. I'm like, girl, you're awesome, Like chill out,
you know. But I would see her like people who
were fans and who would come up to her and
talk to her like she was just exactly who she
was around me, and I just respect that so much.
(24:55):
And I think it's just a lesson that I carried
with me of like how I want to be not
perceived because it's just how I am.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Which we touched on this last time You're on.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But you worked for Kelsey Vallerini for a while, just
in case anybody's like, wait, okay, so which Kelsey are
we talking about? Which Honestly, I was sitting here trying
to think of any other Kelsey's that are famous. The
only other one I came up with this Kelsey grammar,
and I I'm.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Pretty sure you weren't working for him.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's also such a Nashville thing. Everybody does the first
name thing.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So yeah, no, I mean, I Kelsey, I get it,
But can you think of any other famous Kelsey's, Kelsey Ballerini,
Kelsey Grammar Kelsey.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Now, I mean I don't know that I know Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Dang, Yeah, I wish you would have worked for him
so then we could know what's up with him.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
It's she really like that?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
And then what's going on with him and Taylor and
are they who knows?
Speaker 4 (25:46):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I don't spend too much time thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Wait, I'm telling me, as a busy small business owner
trying to, you know, build a business after a tornado
and find out new space, that you don't spend a
lot of free time thinking about whether or not Taylor
Shift and Travis Kelcey are really dating.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, I don't. I will say I am a Travis
Kelcey fan. Like I was a fan of him before
he and Taylor started dating. I always just thought he
was very unique and had a cool personality. And then
when him and his brother started doing their podcast, I
just think it's fun and they seem I watched the
documentary on the two of them and like Jason talk
about authentic, like Jason's showing up ripping his shirt off,
(26:27):
chugging beers, like I just, you know, may not be
totally my speed, but I respect anyone who shows up
as they are.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
What's the documentary call?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It might be just be like Kelsey Brothers or something.
But it was two seasons ago and it was where
they played each other at the super Bowl, so it
documented that whole experience and like with.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Their parents, how that would be interesting?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, it was really, It's really cool. Obviously was before
all the Taylor stuff, so it's just a totally different perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
New Jersey is where you're from, and so what's the
difference between that and Nashville? Like for you when it
comes speaking of authenticity, like do you feel like you're
able to just be your New Jersey self here? And
people received that well, or have you picked up a
little bit of the Southern vibes? And like you go
home and they're like, what the heck? Why are you
like saying yes ma'am and opening people's doors.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So my dad was from the South. He was from Greensboro,
North Carolina. So I grew up, you know, spending some
time down there in the summer, and I always had
a bit of a lore about it. My dad was
obsessed with like Andy Griffith and Mayberry, and like he
would take me fishing when we were there, and I
would like pick up a little piece of straw and
put it in my mouth and you know, just being silly.
(27:36):
But I always had an affinity for the South, and
growing up in Jersey, working in New York, living between
the two my entire life, I just had never experienced
anything else. And so when I came to Nashville and
started meeting from people from Nashville, I was like, oh man,
everyone is so nice, you know, And that was definitely
like a draw at a change of pace. People in
(27:58):
New York New Jersey are nice, but everybody's really busy
and everybody's really direct, and so if you're not used
to that, it kind of comes off as not being
so nice. And I totally understand that. I will say,
when I first moved here, and in the country music
community specifically, you know, being a direct, opinionated black woman
(28:20):
wasn't the norm. And there were definitely a few people
that I interacted with that you know, had things to
say and called me a yankee and like crazy stuff. Yeah,
And so I think I always knew, not that I
I don't think I ever wasn't myself, but I think
I muted myself for a little while when I was
(28:42):
working in music. I didn't ever want to be the
squeaky wheel. I didn't want to ever be the person
causing issues, and so you know, sometimes I heard some
things that, like, right now, I would read someone the
riot act if I heard them say. But because I
was representing somebody else and working for somebody else, I
think I tempered myself a little bit. And in the
last couple of years, I don't do that anymore.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Now you've worked for yourself, I work for myself.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
There's no one to report to, there's no one who's reputation.
I need to feel like I'm upholding. Even if I
was doing the right thing, it's still when you're the
squeaky wheel. Even if you're doing the right thing, you're
still squeaky. And for me, I never wanted to compromise
what anyone else was doing. And so now I just
don't put I'm not in that position anymore. I say
(29:28):
what I mean, I mean what I say, and I
love being direct, and I'll even tell people like if
I'm in a confrontation or something, I'm like, listen, this
is how I am. We're gonna talk about this, we're
gonna chop it up, and then we're gonna move on,
Like we don't have something lingering over us. There's not
gonna be this weird energy. It might be a little awkward,
but like, let's just get this done and then we'll
(29:49):
move on and we'll be better for it. I just
feel so much more comfortable now doing things that way.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So when you were managing other people and you did Witness,
and obviously you were talking about Calon, we're not saying
about anybody specific.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It probably maybe wasn't even so much.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, it was never the artist, that was always the
other people.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You're around a lot of people behind the scenes too,
like you said that are acting one way in front
of some people and acting another, Like does.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Anybody ever tell them that?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Like does anybody ever call them out like hey, you're
just a totally different person or people it's just they're
in a position now where it's like, okay, well I
can't really say anything to them.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
It's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I think for a lot of people that they just
keep existing, and I think it's a disservice to those people,
you know. I think people can learn and grow and
become better with like good feedback. I mean, some people
aren't ever gonna be receptive to feedback and they're just
gonna want a bunch of yes people around them. But
in music in particular, because there's a lot of money
(30:46):
and a lot of power and status, it's tricky, you know,
and I don't think that a lot of people take
the time to say to people, hey, you know, you
didn't handle that situation great, And to my point, I
didn't do it either. You know. I kind of just
let those things go. And I don't know that I
would change anything. It's just a very hard position to
(31:06):
be in. That was one thing that I really respected
about Jason Owen, who I worked for. You know, he
runs a huge management company here in Nashville. Jason would
set people straight, and you know, he was in a
position of power and he's the boss, and so he
has a chance to do that. But there are a
lot of people who are at that level that don't
(31:27):
choose to do that. And I feel like Jason always
was very direct and heard, and I'm really grateful that
I had the experience of working for him, even though
it was for a short time and that was my
last job in the industry. That's also how I knew
that I was over all of it because he was
the best boss. Kelsey was a great person to work with,
(31:48):
and it was like the most respected and valued I
had felt ever. And I still wasn't happy, and so
that was the big wake up call for me. But yeah,
it takes a special kind of person to be able
to operate in this industry and and stay completely true
to yourself.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
How do you define happiness? How do you define happiness?
Because I think sometimes it's hard to even recognized Wait,
am I happy here or not?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Because yeah, this is your job, this is what you
get to do.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
From the outside of the game, people are like, what,
this is your Job's amazing and you're kind of like, well,
I guess it is, yeah, but then tapping into but
am I really happy?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I think it was more in that situation, it was
more recognizing the unhappiness, you know, because to me, being
happy isn't that like up up up happy.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Like I related, you know, time, life is hard and
it's a roller coaster, and I certainly love to have
those moments where you're just like yeah and you can celebrate.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
But I think happy is more just feeling good about
your existence on a day to day basis. And I
was having panic attacks about leaving and going on work trips.
I was just had this nagging feeling like I wasn't
the right person for the job anymore. And you know,
(33:19):
I'm pretty confident in my work and I want to
deliver the best work. And when I start to have
those kind of feelings, it's kind of a sign to
me that something is off, because, yeah, owning a business
is hard, and you know, I will share things with
friends about things that drive me crazy and that are
really hard. But I wake up every day and I
don't think of what I do as a job. It's
(33:40):
just become a part of my life. And I get
to make time to hang out with my husband in
the middle of the day. I get to make time
to be with our dogs. And that's what happiness is
for me.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
As a small business owner. What's a challenge which You're like,
this is all amazing, that this part sucks.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think the hardest part is, you know, we live
in a society of everything is fast and cheap, and
I mean we all shop on Amazon, right, but it
has created a culture around consumers that you know, sometimes
when people come to you as a small business, they
expect what they get from Amazon. You know, they expect
(34:23):
it in twenty four hours or if it doesn't get
to them. You know, we have like insurance for shipping,
and so there's like a process that we have to
go to and like with Amazon, they just give you
your money back or like give you a new thing,
and you know that's not possible. We make everything, you
know that we're sending people, or we source it, or
you know, we design it, and so it's not as
(34:44):
simple as just sometimes just picking up another one and
sending it. And also that's it's that's money literally out
of my pocket and out of my staff's pocket for
something that ultimately wasn't even our fault. And I understand
that it's not the consumer's fault either, but I just
wish people were little bit more open to the idea
that not everybody is just some millionaire churning out a
(35:05):
bunch of stuff all day.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Like you probably know, every invoice that comes in in,
every invoice that goes out. As the owner of a
small business.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Even if I'm not packing every order, I look at
them every day. I see who's ordering, you know, because
every once in a while, like a friend will order
and I want to like throw something extra, or someone
that I know I met somewhere and we had a
conversation and I want to write a note to them
or that kind of thing. So and I still do
pack orders sometimes, you know, I'm lucky enough to now
I have some folks that can help with that. But yeah,
(35:35):
I very much keep an eye on everything because it
is I tell people it's like my literal child.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And how old your baby right now?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
We've created the company in August of twenty nineteen, but
that was more just like a side business embroidery thing.
We got the store front in October of twenty twenty,
so it's about three and a half years.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Baby's all grown up at a new location.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
That's right, we're teenagers.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Now and five points raging in dog years? Yeah, just
what every Is that real? Though?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Because I mean, I know your husband works with dogs,
and we've heard forever that one year is actually seven.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (36:09):
I don't think it's a direct correlation. Obviously, they just
have shorter lifespans, and I think we've always tried to
figure out like what the math on that is. It's
certainly true that they have like their baby and their
teenage years, you know, Like we have a dog that's
currently going through his teenage years, and we have a
dog that just came out of it, and like he's
so chill and cool, and we're like, man, you're a
(36:31):
different dog, you know. So I think that dogs definitely
do have like little eras in their life, but I
don't I don't know if it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Like something my dog when is she she's in her
teenage years forever.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Dogs are like people, and we certainly know some people
never mature, you know, so it does happen.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Are your dog or cat person?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
I'm a dog person. I'm actually allergic to cats.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Oh coo cool?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
So cat like, I have other allergies and so I
take allergy medicine so I'm okay with it. But like
when I was young, I would like touch a cat
and my eyes would like completely swell up and shut
and so I just was never really around them. Also
was never around dogs, but I always wanted a dog, Like, look.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
At you married a man that works with dogs, which
is awesome. What's the name of his company?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Kevin's company is called Full Circle canine.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Okay, and it's dog training.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
He does a training basic household obedience, and then we
also do boarding, structured boarding. So his thing is like
everything can.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
Come drop car off. I mean when I'm trying to
record a podcast, that'd be great.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Uh. He's got like treadmills like that the dogs can
run on, so like it's really activity based, you know.
It's it's less like there's a lot of places where
you just drop your dog off and it's kind of
like a free for all. That's why it's called structured boarding.
So they go on structured walks and they implement like
training practices into everyday boarding. So like if someone drops
(37:53):
their dog off with Kevin to train for a week,
they do ten days. You can then come back and
every time you're your dog, it's still in that same environment,
you know, so it's doing all the things that learned
in training. So it's basically like a little refresher course.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
So with my dog's misbehavior, my son always says, well, mom,
that sounds like a you problem. And would Kevin say
that the sen me problem?
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm the owner.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Sometimes there are dogs that have issues that are just
you know, insurmountable. Again, they're they're really like people. And
a lot of times we compare our dogs, you know,
we'll say, also, I'm talking about this like I'm an expert.
This is just for me, like hearing him talk about that, Yeah, yeah,
And it's just things that I've learned myself just being
around it. But you know, people will have a dog
and they're like, well, my last dog did this and
(38:40):
my last dog did that and it was so easy,
and it's like, yeah, I mean, if you have kids,
like all your kids don't act exactly the same, it's
very similar. But yeah, I tell people a lot of
the times, I'm like, if you haven't met Kevin before
and you don't know him, and you don't know him
as a person, if you just call him for training,
some people are like a little put off, But it's
(39:02):
because he's it's almost like a little bit of an intervention.
You know. It's saying, Okay, yes, we're gonna fix your dog,
but we've also got some things that you have to fix.
And people will either buy into that or they don't.
Sometimes they'll buy into it. They'll try a couple things,
they'll see that it really works, and then they're like,
oh man, this really works. So it is a lot
(39:24):
on us as owners, the things that we do and
the way that we act and behave with our dogs.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, as a mom, like a dog mom.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
But then I'm also as you're saying that, thinking back
to a season a couple of years ago where you know,
my adopted son was in some therapy and some things.
So then as his parents, we were going to therapy
for it too, and so much about us started to unravel.
I was exposed and was like, oh, well, okay, like
that's you know, our inner child, our wounds they come
(39:56):
up to and we see where we're you know, need.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
A lot of work.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Kevin often ends up being a therapist, you know, because
to the humans. To the humans, yeah, because through dogs
you hear a lot about people's lives and what their
time is like, and what their family life is like,
and what their home life is like. It just naturally
sort of starts to come up and it's very emotional,
you know, And I think Kevin's a great person to
do it because he's like me. He's from the Northeast,
(40:21):
he's from hode Island, so he is very direct and
ultimately he cares about all of his customers. But he
also really cares about their dogs, and sometimes he'll be
saying things He's like, this is what the dog needs,
and it's not something that the person wants to do,
but ultimately the priority is you're here to help your dog,
(40:42):
and so we've got to figure out a way and
if it doesn't work. He's had hard conversations with people
who you know, have end up having to like rehome
dogs and it's maybe something they kind of knew they
needed to do but didn't want to and he's like
helped a lot of people with that process and just
saying like it's okay. Of course we take on a
responsibility with animals, but things change and if circumstances become
(41:05):
like unsafe, it's the best thing for the dog and
the humans. But you know, that can feel like a
bit of a failure to some people, and I think
he's the first person to say, it's not like we
actually had to do it ourselves. We had a dog
that we adopted and he had only been an outside dog.
He hadn't really been around other dogs, and over time
it started being a problem between some of our other dogs,
(41:28):
and we ultimately found him a great home for a
single person who loved him and only wanted one dog,
and you know, it's hard to say that as a
house of five dogs and being a dog trainer, even
we had to make that decision. So I think he
likes to share that story with people, and you know,
(41:48):
he's not above anybody else.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, Kara, she was tied up. She should she was
rehome to us. I mean she was tied up outside
Simone's house for over a year like that. Her hair
was matted like the whatever they had around, like it
was grown into her skin. So it was awful when
we got her. So I have compassion whenever she's acting crazy,
I'm like, she has trauma.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, my dog that I had before I met Kevin,
who was like my dog, Like he's my dude. You know,
he was always a little bit weary of people and
I never understood it. And towards the end of his life,
we ended up having to do some like a full
body scan on him and they found shotgun pellets and
they were like, did you know that he had been shot?
And I was like I had no idea, and I
(42:31):
was like completely heartbroken over it. And it's like, yeah,
of course he didn't like everyone. You know, it was
really like a leveling experience. So it's a real emotional thing.
It's been very wild, But I love Kevin's heart, like
he he loves those dogs and he loves his customers
and he takes such good care of him and it's
(42:53):
a beautiful part of him to watch.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Well. I have no doubt if Kevin was sitting here
and the one being interviewed, he would be saying he
loves watching you do your thing with MVY Goods and
showing up as your authentic self, putting out stuff that
you're very proud of. And we're like, got the Cabeueno
flag right behind us, which that's something that you make.
You make these amazing flags and Cabueno even that's something
(43:18):
my dad would say if there was exciting news about something.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
So I feel like in honor.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Of you getting the new shop and even signing up
for Like to Know It LTK, Yeah yeah, yeah, we're.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So helt K now or like you know, like you
can you can shop us with all your favorite influencers
pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, my dad would look you be like, oh CABWENO,
well done, well done, that's.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
A good stamp of approval. Yeah, I'm getting the quick.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, you're doing it right, you're doing it well, and
I think that shows. And I'm very thankful for you
coming back on and you know, updating us, especially after.
Speaker 4 (43:55):
Yeah, it was really wild.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Our episode came out and then Tornado and it was like, wow, okay, oh,
we're going to need to do an update. And I'm
glad we waited until It's almost like perfect timing. And
we didn't even know you were for sure going to
sign that lease, but it's perfect timing because you kind
of went through the storm. I've got the little buffalo here.
My sister gave me this. Buffaloes go into the storm
(44:16):
to get through it faster, and they know that they're
gonna have to deal with it, but they'll come out
on the other side in a more timely manner versus cows.
Like a cow, we'll see a storm coming and it'll
turn and go the other direction, thinking I'm just gonna
get away from the storm, but eventually the storm catches
up to it and then they ultimately end up in
(44:37):
the storm longer. And so I feel like that's yeah. Well,
my sister got me this. She has a buffalo coin
necklace and that's the first time I heard it, she
was obsessed with her necklace and that story, and so
she was on the podcast actually when I first heard it,
and she was like, well, this.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Is why I like it. It's because she had.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
It was giving her the courage and the reminder to
go into the storms because life is gonna.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Watching this down. He would not approve because it makes
me happy.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I'm not going to get mad because she's trauma. Yeah,
that's fine, she's good.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
She's good. I love that story, and I love stories
like that about things like that. That's so cool. I
might have to make some some buffalo merch.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Oh definitely. Oh Christy will she'll carry that at route house.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
All right, Okay, this crossover.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Put it in there in the coffee shop. Well, Camille,
thank you so much for coming on. We'll wrap real
quick with just four things gratitude. Just rattle off four
things that you are currently thankful for.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Oh man, I am thankful for my health. I'm thankful
for my friends. I'm thankful for my husband, and I
am thankful for this life that I get to live.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I'll add a bonus thing. I'll be the fifth thing.
That's my bonus episode. I'm thank full to know that
you got your new location and that is prime spot.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
It's gonna be really fun. Keep be updated. You have
to come to that.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
I know I want to come.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Are you going to do an opening?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Yeah, it's funny. I didn't get to do an opening
the first time we opened because it was in the
middle of the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (46:15):
So well, what does this make possible?
Speaker 3 (46:17):
What does this make possible? We have a party, we
have a rager.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
How do you find out?
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (46:21):
So we'll be our Instagram account at shop NB Goods
and is in Nancy b as in boy Goods. That's
where you'll see my face. You'll see me say all
this crazy stuff that Amy's talking about our new products.
And we'll be posting about our grand opening.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Perfect at n B shops n B Goods.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Dang n B Goods was taken Every once in a
while somebody tags in by accident. So it's at.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Shop and have you thought about can you get it?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
No, there's still a business there. Believe they're in Ireland
or there's somewhere in the UK. Okay shop and be
Goods and that's the website too.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Yeah, shop and be Goods.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
All right?
Speaker 4 (46:55):
Thanks Neil, Thanks bye,
Good cast up little food for yourself life. Oh it's
pretty bad. It's pretty beautiful thing beautiful that for a little
mouth fasciting said he can cut your kicking with four
(00:31):
Thing with Amy Brown, Happy Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Four Things Amy Here, and I'm back with Camille Austin
which your your water bottle says every second count.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It does. It's kind of my my mantra these days.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And so why is that important to you?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It's actually it's from the show The Bear, and I
just love the show. But a chef, Yeah, yeah, chef,
all of those things, but honestly, every second does count.
I'm not like a hustle mentality person like you have
the same twenty four hour there's a day that I do,
but you only get one life. Got to make the
most of it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, I'm glad to have you back because you were
on the podcast late last year, late twenty twenty three,
and now here we are already mid twenty twenty four,
which is not mid but we're wrapping up the first quarter,
which feels a little weird. I feel like we'll be
there before we know it. And right after your episode aired.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
A tornado hit in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, and so you have a shop that's called NB Goods,
and we talked about that. I mean, you left the
music business to chase this dream and this is something
that you've been building and then in a second, your
life changed. And I thought, well, I think it'd be
great to have Camille come back on because I admired
(01:47):
how you handled it. You use your social platform well
obviously the business side, but you're the face of the company,
and I thought the way you went about it was
so beautiful and community together because it's not like your
warehouse isn't the only thing that was impacted by that
tornado at all, And so I just thought having you
(02:08):
on to share what that experience was like and again
facing any type of adversity, and there's two ways to
look at it, and I want to focus on the
way you looked at it, because it was well done.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, and I think last time we talked about something
like you said, not why, but like, what does this
spake possible? I think I really carried that with me
through this whole experience. I mean, because I think it
was literally like a week after we talked. The timing
was crazy, and yeah, I was just coming off with
such a high at the end of last year, like
(02:41):
we had some Nate Borgesti or the sweatshirt on SNL.
We were starting to work on some more things in
the e comm space, like really getting the store fired up,
and we were actually at our biggest event of the
year when the tornado warning came in and I just
kind of was, you know, we get tornado warnings all
the time. Obviously they're the big one hit in twenty twenty,
(03:03):
which was where in East Nashville. It was just this
kind of whirlwind, And honestly, I don't know that I've
sat down yet and like talked about the whole thing,
So this will be a little bit of a digestion
for me too.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So what was it like for you getting that call
or realizing once you got there kind of what was
going to happen? And describe what happened to your warehouse
and even those around you that were impacted, and like,
at what moment did you know, Okay, this is how
I'm going to handle this or did you just kind
of roll with it you being you and that's just
how you naturally are. Do you feel like you were
(03:37):
having to make a conscious effort, oh take the course?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, you know, so I am very like Type A
in the sense that I like to be organized. I
like myself to be neat and nice, and so walking
up on the it being in complete disarray is definitely
not like the most ideal situation. But basically what happened
was we were at our biggest event of the year,
tornado warning watch starts happening. Immediately, my first concern went
to my home. You know, my husband's there or we
(04:01):
have five dogs, and so I just kept in touch
with him, and people were looking at the map and
they were like, yo, this is right by your house.
I guess everything okay, And so once I got the
all clear from Kevin, I just kind of put it
out of my mind. I didn't even think about the warehouse.
I was like, oh, we're all good. It's passed. And
probably about twenty minutes later, I got a call from
(04:21):
a friend and they had been parking their food truck
at my warehouse right around the back, and they were
building a new trailer also, and they called me, and
I thought, oh, I wonder if something happened to their trailer.
Like I wasn't even still not thinking about my business.
Andy who called he's usually like a pretty like jovial person,
and the minute I heard the tone of his voice,
(04:43):
I was like, oh, man, something's not good, you know.
And so he just kind of said, hey, is anybody
said anything to you about your warehouse? And I was
like no, and he's like, yeah, it's pretty bad. I
was like, is it like bad, like it just looks
bad or is everything ruined? And he's like, it's really bad.
Me and my friend Allison, who also owns a business
(05:04):
in Porter East and we own the candy shop together,
which is crazy. So our warehouses are in the same complex,
and so we both just hopped in a car drove
up there, and as soon as we got close to it,
we were like, oh, this is it was like out
of a movie. I know people say that, but to
pull up on a place that you go every day
and to see it just absolutely decimated. Like the entire
(05:27):
corner of her building was missing, the building across from
me was completely leveled. And then so our building, it
was kind of okay on the front end, but it
had the tornado had kind of come across the back
and just completely rip the roof off. And ultimately what
happened was not only just the tornado winds, but it
ended up raining with no roof for the rest of
(05:48):
the night. You know, so everything inside was ruined.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, you're looking at everything you've built, Yeah, and all
of this inventory, your creation, and it's ruined, ruined.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I mean, they were like transfers from hats over here.
I had just picked up like a couple thousand dollars
worth of thread. The like thread and string were everywhere,
Our shipping materials were hanging from the rafters. Yeah, it
really was like everything you think happens in a tornado.
It's just like it's like they put the building in
a blender. It was. It was crazy, and so yeah,
(06:19):
we looked at it that night. There were like fire
trucks everywhere, and there was like a couple of gas leaks,
and so ultimately I just decided there's literally nothing I
can do tonight. That's when I made the video that
was on my Instagram account. And the reception I got
from that video, honestly, I was like, I just sound
like a bumbling idiot, because I really was like, I
just don't I don't know what's going on, but I
just feel like I need to say something because a
(06:41):
lot is gonna have to change really quickly because it
was it was the holiday season. We had orders on
the website that we hadn't shipped out that were like
Christmas gifts for people.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So how did people respond to that? Because you would
hope they were like, okay, yeah, we.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Totally get it. Was anybody like what my order's not coming.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Some people we just didn't hear from, and that was fine,
but everybody was very very kind. Luckily, it was like
two or three weeks before Christmas, so if you know,
they had time to find something else or whatever. But
everyone was very kind with their words, which I really appreciated.
And I got back up there the next day and
I very quickly realized that the building wasn't going to
(07:21):
be secure, and I had a couple of expensive things
in there that I didn't know whether they still worked
or not. I got a U Haul and just piece
by piece started picking up anything that I thought would
be of value and that I didn't want to leave
overnight because sadly, you know, they start to get looters
and people coming in for scrap metal and stuff like that,
which everybody's got to make a living. But yeah, you know,
(07:47):
the way I look at it is you know that
stuff that was left there. You know a lot of
my inventory is still up there. It's just sitting there.
You know. At this point they've put up like a
big gait and I'm guessing they're going to tear the
building down. But everything was kind of covered an insulation,
which is not good for clothing. It gets itchy. So
people were like, I'll come wash it, and I'm like,
it's not this kind of party, like we just need
(08:10):
to scrap.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That has to feel good to get a response like that,
We'll come up there, we'll help you, We'll wash this stuff.
I mean, even just looking at your Instagram, the outpour
of support, how does that make you feel in this
community that you built.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean, that's the thing is for the shop. The
sense of community is the most important thing to me,
and we have done a lot of things for the community.
I think that was the hardest and strangest part was
to then receive that help and to get that back.
Like even the day after, the folks that run Porter Flea,
(08:47):
they're like, we want to set up a GoFundMe for
you and Allison and both of us were like no,
and we're like we have let's wait let's see an insurance.
And one of the founders of Porter Flea, he actually
had a fire that destroyed his workshop and he's like, listen,
I'm telling you you're gonna have insurance. But he's like,
there's gonna be other stuff. There's gonna be things that
(09:07):
you're not thinking of, and there's gonna be things that
you need to take care of. And so we kind
of reluctantly said yes, and it ended up just being
such a big saving grace for both of us. So
just swallowing my pride a little bit in that moment
and letting people help. And I had a friend, Megan,
She's like, I know you're not going to let me
come up there to help you, And so she didn't
(09:30):
even ask. She had been to the warehouse one or
two times, and she just showed up and there she was,
and I couldn't send her home, and her and her
kids like help me haul stuff and move stuff. And yeah,
I'll never never forget like those moments. Those are something
that'll stick with me for a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
What encouragement do you have for anybody else that's going
through anything in life and they have a hard time
receiving again, they're givers because I know how much you
care about communion and how much you give. But yeah,
I can tell even as you're saying it, but receiving
is it's difficult for you and you're not alone in that.
What encouragement do you have for people that might feel
the same.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I mean, I think I would just tell anyone, like
the joy that you get from helping people, like, it's
okay to let other people have that moment. You know.
That's what I really realize is I'm the one who
when things happen, I'm like, what do you need? What
can I do? And I'm getting something out of that
because I want to help and that feels something for me,
and it's only fair to let other people do that
(10:28):
for you also, as hard as it is, and then
you know, when you're back on your feet, you can
get back to doing it the other way around like
you like to. But I think the universe, in our
world is all about balance, and I think as much
as you want to give, sometimes it's okay to take
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I think sometimes when we don't allow others to come in,
it's exactly that we rob them of that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, and connection you know, there's so many people that
I feel like have already contributed to us, you know,
getting back on our and they'll forever have a connection
to me and the business. And I think that that's important,
just as important as you know, money or lifting a hand,
just like that feeling that will always have between each other,
just knowing like oh that person did something really cool
(11:15):
in a moment that I really needed it.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So when you mentioned what does this make possible? From
our last podcast together, that's something I learned from Donald Miller.
And for you, what was the tornado led to a
what does this make possible?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Moment? What was that for you?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, So the first week after the storm, I was
definitely running on adrenaline. You have this massive to do list.
You're like, Okay, I need to figure out where I'm
going to put all this stuff while I find a
new place. And then I needed to figure out we
were going to have a big sale at the store
because we had some inventory that was left at the
store that was untouched that we were able to sell
(11:54):
to like get some money coming in. So I was
like putting together this big event for the community. I
wanted to to be like a party rather than a funeral,
and so that was like consuming a lot of my time.
And then when that was over, you know, that's when
reality really set in. That was like I don't know
what to do today. Then that turned into Okay, now
(12:15):
I've got to find a new place. I got to
figure out how to get back to work. But unfortunately,
the way the Nashville real estate market is, it's not
like there's great space in great areas just sitting around
waiting to be had. And you know, this business was
built on my back with my finances. There's no investors,
there's no money pools, and so it was a bit
(12:38):
daunting to think, like even if I'm ready to go,
I just have to wait till I can find the
right place. And sitting still is not something I was
good at, and so I think that was like one
of the hardest parts for me. And when I started
to have a really tough time with everything, was like
the tornado was out of my control. But then I
could do these things to kind of get a little
(12:59):
bit of con back, and so I took the time
and I said, if I'm going to do this again,
I'm going to take all the lessons I've learned over
the last three years of having this business, and I'm
going to start from scratch the way that I want
to start over. And part of that was finding a
location where I could have our store and our warehouse
(13:22):
so that it would just be combined one place. Part
of that was starting to focus more on our brand.
We still do custom orders, but being more targeted with
like doing specific collaborations rather than just taking a ton
of small custom orders. So for me, the what became
possible was I got a chance to almost rebrand and
(13:44):
just start fresh, but with the added benefit of having
the three years of experience, having the three years of
community and followers and customers, and then getting to say, okay,
all these things that I thought, Okay, maybe I didn't
make this turn or this turn right. It's like I
just get a chance to do it all over again
in the way that I've always dreamed of.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
What did you learn about yourself and the stillness, because
you said being still was really difficult for you.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah, stillness has always been difficult for me, and I've
had a couple of situations like this in my life
where I've had to sit still for weeks or months,
and I think the reminder that I get every time
is that something is there, something is coming, you don't
(14:33):
know what it is, and it may feel like it
just falls out of the sky. I was actually listening
to a video today and somebody was talking about when
you don't know what's happening and then these opportunity comes somewhere.
Somebody was thinking of you or working on the thing
that you needed, and then they brought it to you,
and you had no idea that any of that was
(14:55):
going on. And so I think it's just a lesson
that even though it feels like a stillness, I'm not
wasting time. There's not nothing going on. We have to
give the universe and people opportunities to sort things out
and the right thing will come. And it did. It
(15:15):
took almost three months, which doesn't seem like a long time,
but you know, when you have a small business and
you're not generating income, you're not working, and it's what
you're used to doing every day, and you don't know
is it going to be three months, is it going
to be six months, is it going to be nine months?
You know, every day is a little bit agonizing when
you don't have a goal or an ending insight and
(15:36):
so yeah, after three months, I found a great new
location still in East Nashville, fulfills all the things that
I wanted of being able to like bring all the
sides of the business together. And now I'm really in
the process of like, Okay, in six weeks, let's get
back to it, like all the way.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's in the five Points area if people are in
Nashville under Joyland. Yeah, it was a great location and
the store in the warehouse all in one place. What
does this make possible? Now it's so much more convenient
for you. You're saving a lot of time.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Saving a lot of time, and.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You would have never had like how long would you
have stayed warehouse store wherehouse? You know, driving thirty forty
five minutes every day.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, and I didn't even think financially that finding the
space that we needed in the neighborhood that we wanted
was going to be possible. And ultimately it was just
about looking at, Okay, I don't have this warehouse anymore.
Like it's not even a oh well I have this
and it's fine. It's like it's just gone. So when
I sat down and looked at everything, and I really
(16:39):
looked at how much time I was spending all the
like double staffing I was doing. It was actually like
more financially prudent to be in this one place. And
so that was kind of a wake up call for
me because I just always thought that that was unachievable,
and I was forced to look at it and then
I went, ah, you know what, Actually I could make
this work, and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Have you read even for business, the book Obstacle is
the Way. No, it's really good, especially you as a
business owner. It could apply to anything in life, but
in the workplace. Instead of looking at something as well, okay,
this completely derails us. I don't know where to go
from here, or well I can't believe that mistake happened,
(17:21):
and getting angry at it or whatever, but more so
looking at like okay, sort of piggybacking off, what does
this make possible?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
It's like, well, obstacle is.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
The way, right, So now we have hit something, we
are detouring and this is this is now the way.
And then you end up looking back and being like cool,
that actually was exactly what we needed. It's all perspective
because you could have gone the other way.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well, that's what a lot of people ask They're like,
you're taking it so well, and I just kind of
was like, I don't see another option. You know what,
what do I do like sit on the floor and
cry every day? Like I definitely had some big cries,
you know, And then that was okay. But at a
certain point, if I was gonna move forward, you know,
I had to do just that and put one foot
(18:09):
in front of the other and start getting back to
some sort of sense of normalcy. The thing with the
tornado two is I've been joking, it's like it's lucky
in a way, you know, because this tornado in particular
hit such as a small swath of Nashville proper like obviously,
it did a lot of damage in Clarksville and some
(18:29):
surrounding areas, and there are people that lost their lives
that night. And I was grateful to be alive. I
was grateful that I wasn't there when it happened. My
neighbor at our warehouse was there when it happened, and
I spoke to him the next day, and you know,
I I think I was like the first person that
he saw, and I saw the fear and the you
(18:52):
know that. I mean, that's something that sticks with you
for a really long time. So I think I just
counted myself as lucky or unlucky whatever. Rethink there's just
some math involved in that, and just tried to move
forward in that in that mindset.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, and I like too, just want to put emphasis
and circle back to the Your stillness was still productive. Yeah,
your stillness was still doing something because I think sometimes
I'm definitely guilty of it.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
So I'm thankful for the reminder and that you just
keep going, going, going.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Because you're like, well, I've got to figure this out,
got to figure that out. But actually, if you would
just pause and be still and take it in, then
you can have more clarity. Yeah, and that's far more
productive than just going and then completely missing the mark
because you're not still enough to see it.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
That's how I got the store to begin with. You know,
when I left the music industry, I didn't know what
I wanted to do. I didn't know I was going
to open a store, and I almost took a couple
of customer service jobs. So I was panicking, like, oh,
I need a job, job, I need benefits, I need
to be doing something every day. And I just told myself,
like I didn't give up a career that I built,
(20:06):
you know, my entire adult life to just do busy work.
Let me just take this in and I'll figure it out.
And four months after leaving my job in music is
when I went to work at the Cookie place, and
then two months after that is when the place opened
up next door, and then I opened the shop and
now we're here today. So it wasn't the first time
(20:29):
that I had to learn that lesson, but it you know,
it's always a good reminder because you really start to think, well,
it's not gonna work out like that every time, or
I just got lucky last time and I just had
to had to sit in it.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
On your Instagram, I love this quote. I know y'all
think I have it all together, but most days, being
a small business owner, it's more like eating Jimmy John's
on the ground.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
With food all over my face.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
I feel like we had a meeting one day and
I was like, well, I know, I'm taking her a sandwich.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, yeah, the way to my heart is a Deli
sad sandwich.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And we did talk about this the last time you
were on too of just people just think, well, I'm
not going to start this until I have it all
figured out. And you can look at someone on social
media or look at someone do it or be in
their shop and think, well, I'm not to this point yet,
and I don't know how they figured all that out.
But you just for someone that had a goal and
(21:35):
a dream and you just started figuring out and you
went along as you could, like you just kind of
did things as it all came. And I think that
that is another good thing to just touch on for
encouragement of you don't have to have it all figured
out to do it.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
No, because I definitely don't. I just got my first
employee who's on a salary, and I'm doing all these
things and every week I want run payroll and I'm like,
I guess this is a real business, and people are like,
of course it is, but it just has never felt
that way. It's just never something I saw myself doing.
So I still have a tough time like wrapping my
(22:09):
head around it myself. But to your point, I mean,
a social media is tough. Like there's a million ways
we can talk about how social media is hard. There
are people that I see and I see them running
their businesses and I'm like oh, man, Like, I'm not
even close to that. How do they get there? You know,
their stuff looks so good. I mean, I have those
moments myself, so I certainly understand it. But that's my
(22:32):
goal when I post things like that, is to make
sure people understand, like, I'm not pretending to be perfect.
I'm not pretending to be some guru who's gonna sell
you eight reasons how you scale your business to six figure,
Like that's just not in me. I'm just trying to
make it myself, and I hope that people see that, Yeah,
(22:55):
you can just have an idea and you don't have
to have any train I didn't go to business school.
You know, I'm decent at math. But I'm just trying
to stay true to myself and everything that I'm doing.
And that's the part that I think has been the
biggest payoff, is that I didn't create something that isn't me.
I'm proud of everything that we do, and I show
(23:18):
up every day as myself. You know, even today getting dressed,
I'm like, oh, should I get dressed up? And I'm like, oh,
I'm just gonna not that I don't want to impress amy,
but I'm just gonna show as myself. This is what
I wear every day. You know, she showed up.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
We have our matching socks, magic socks. Got the red,
I got the brown.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I got so many socks for the reopening. Oh go ahead. Yeah,
like we're restocking heavy on the socks.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
These what are they called cru socks?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, these Cruse socks there. Love them. They're all I
wear now. I mean I think I might as well
just throw the rest of mine now again, we lost everything,
so it's like I want this. I want the store
to feel full and alive when we come back.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Authenticity, I'm pretty sure it is one of the most
searched words of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
So last year.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I think people are craving authenticity and people being authentic.
And I see you show up as that online for sure,
and I think that's probably what people are drawn to.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
What you're doing, is you are being authentic.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
This is you? Yeah, I hope. So having worked with
like artists and celebrity, I certainly witnessed a lot of
those moments where some people don't present as themselves and
then in real life there's this weird intersection when they
interact with people and I just never wanted to be
that way, honestly, Like working with Kelsey was such a
(24:35):
good example. I mean, I think she shows up as herself.
She's always like making jokes about herself and self deprecating
almost too. I'm like, girl, you're awesome, Like chill out,
you know. But I would see her like people who
were fans and who would come up to her and
talk to her like she was just exactly who she
was around me, and I just respect that so much.
(24:55):
And I think it's just a lesson that I carried
with me of like how I want to be not
perceived because it's just how I am.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Which we touched on this last time You're on.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But you worked for Kelsey Vallerini for a while, just
in case anybody's like, wait, okay, so which Kelsey are
we talking about? Which Honestly, I was sitting here trying
to think of any other Kelsey's that are famous. The
only other one I came up with this Kelsey grammar,
and I I'm.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Pretty sure you weren't working for him.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's also such a Nashville thing. Everybody does the first
name thing.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So yeah, no, I mean, I Kelsey, I get it,
But can you think of any other famous Kelsey's, Kelsey Ballerini,
Kelsey Grammar Kelsey.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Now, I mean I don't know that I know Travis Kelcey.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Dang, Yeah, I wish you would have worked for him
so then we could know what's up with him.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
It's she really like that?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
And then what's going on with him and Taylor and
are they who knows?
Speaker 4 (25:46):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I don't spend too much time thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Wait, I'm telling me, as a busy small business owner
trying to, you know, build a business after a tornado
and find out new space, that you don't spend a
lot of free time thinking about whether or not Taylor
Shift and Travis Kelcey are really dating.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, I don't. I will say I am a Travis
Kelcey fan. Like I was a fan of him before
he and Taylor started dating. I always just thought he
was very unique and had a cool personality. And then
when him and his brother started doing their podcast, I
just think it's fun and they seem I watched the
documentary on the two of them and like Jason talk
about authentic, like Jason's showing up ripping his shirt off,
(26:27):
chugging beers, like I just, you know, may not be
totally my speed, but I respect anyone who shows up
as they are.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
What's the documentary call?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It might be just be like Kelsey Brothers or something.
But it was two seasons ago and it was where
they played each other at the super Bowl, so it
documented that whole experience and like with.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Their parents, how that would be interesting?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, it was really, It's really cool. Obviously was before
all the Taylor stuff, so it's just a totally different perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
New Jersey is where you're from, and so what's the
difference between that and Nashville? Like for you when it
comes speaking of authenticity, like do you feel like you're
able to just be your New Jersey self here? And
people received that well, or have you picked up a
little bit of the Southern vibes? And like you go
home and they're like, what the heck? Why are you
like saying yes ma'am and opening people's doors.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So my dad was from the South. He was from Greensboro,
North Carolina. So I grew up, you know, spending some
time down there in the summer, and I always had
a bit of a lore about it. My dad was
obsessed with like Andy Griffith and Mayberry, and like he
would take me fishing when we were there, and I
would like pick up a little piece of straw and
put it in my mouth and you know, just being silly.
(27:36):
But I always had an affinity for the South, and
growing up in Jersey, working in New York, living between
the two my entire life, I just had never experienced
anything else. And so when I came to Nashville and
started meeting from people from Nashville, I was like, oh man,
everyone is so nice, you know, And that was definitely
like a draw at a change of pace. People in
(27:58):
New York New Jersey are nice, but everybody's really busy
and everybody's really direct, and so if you're not used
to that, it kind of comes off as not being
so nice. And I totally understand that. I will say,
when I first moved here, and in the country music
community specifically, you know, being a direct, opinionated black woman
(28:20):
wasn't the norm. And there were definitely a few people
that I interacted with that you know, had things to
say and called me a yankee and like crazy stuff. Yeah,
And so I think I always knew, not that I
I don't think I ever wasn't myself, but I think
I muted myself for a little while when I was
(28:42):
working in music. I didn't ever want to be the
squeaky wheel. I didn't want to ever be the person
causing issues, and so you know, sometimes I heard some
things that, like, right now, I would read someone the
riot act if I heard them say. But because I
was representing somebody else and working for somebody else, I
think I tempered myself a little bit. And in the
last couple of years, I don't do that anymore.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Now you've worked for yourself, I work for myself.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
There's no one to report to, there's no one who's reputation.
I need to feel like I'm upholding. Even if I
was doing the right thing, it's still when you're the
squeaky wheel. Even if you're doing the right thing, you're
still squeaky. And for me, I never wanted to compromise
what anyone else was doing. And so now I just
don't put I'm not in that position anymore. I say
(29:28):
what I mean, I mean what I say, and I
love being direct, and I'll even tell people like if
I'm in a confrontation or something, I'm like, listen, this
is how I am. We're gonna talk about this, we're
gonna chop it up, and then we're gonna move on,
Like we don't have something lingering over us. There's not
gonna be this weird energy. It might be a little awkward,
but like, let's just get this done and then we'll
(29:49):
move on and we'll be better for it. I just
feel so much more comfortable now doing things that way.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So when you were managing other people and you did Witness,
and obviously you were talking about Calon, we're not saying
about anybody specific.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It probably maybe wasn't even so much.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, it was never the artist, that was always the
other people.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You're around a lot of people behind the scenes too,
like you said that are acting one way in front
of some people and acting another, Like does.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Anybody ever tell them that?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Like does anybody ever call them out like hey, you're
just a totally different person or people it's just they're
in a position now where it's like, okay, well I
can't really say anything to them.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
It's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I think for a lot of people that they just
keep existing, and I think it's a disservice to those people,
you know. I think people can learn and grow and
become better with like good feedback. I mean, some people
aren't ever gonna be receptive to feedback and they're just
gonna want a bunch of yes people around them. But
in music in particular, because there's a lot of money
(30:46):
and a lot of power and status, it's tricky, you know,
and I don't think that a lot of people take
the time to say to people, hey, you know, you
didn't handle that situation great, And to my point, I
didn't do it either. You know. I kind of just
let those things go. And I don't know that I
would change anything. It's just a very hard position to
(31:06):
be in. That was one thing that I really respected
about Jason Owen, who I worked for. You know, he
runs a huge management company here in Nashville. Jason would
set people straight, and you know, he was in a
position of power and he's the boss, and so he
has a chance to do that. But there are a
lot of people who are at that level that don't
(31:27):
choose to do that. And I feel like Jason always
was very direct and heard, and I'm really grateful that
I had the experience of working for him, even though
it was for a short time and that was my
last job in the industry. That's also how I knew
that I was over all of it because he was
the best boss. Kelsey was a great person to work with,
(31:48):
and it was like the most respected and valued I
had felt ever. And I still wasn't happy, and so
that was the big wake up call for me. But yeah,
it takes a special kind of person to be able
to operate in this industry and and stay completely true
to yourself.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
How do you define happiness? How do you define happiness?
Because I think sometimes it's hard to even recognized Wait,
am I happy here or not?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Because yeah, this is your job, this is what you
get to do.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
From the outside of the game, people are like, what,
this is your Job's amazing and you're kind of like, well,
I guess it is, yeah, but then tapping into but
am I really happy?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I think it was more in that situation, it was
more recognizing the unhappiness, you know, because to me, being
happy isn't that like up up up happy.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Like I related, you know, time, life is hard and
it's a roller coaster, and I certainly love to have
those moments where you're just like yeah and you can celebrate.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
But I think happy is more just feeling good about
your existence on a day to day basis. And I
was having panic attacks about leaving and going on work trips.
I was just had this nagging feeling like I wasn't
the right person for the job anymore. And you know,
(33:19):
I'm pretty confident in my work and I want to
deliver the best work. And when I start to have
those kind of feelings, it's kind of a sign to
me that something is off, because, yeah, owning a business
is hard, and you know, I will share things with
friends about things that drive me crazy and that are
really hard. But I wake up every day and I
don't think of what I do as a job. It's
(33:40):
just become a part of my life. And I get
to make time to hang out with my husband in
the middle of the day. I get to make time
to be with our dogs. And that's what happiness is
for me.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
As a small business owner. What's a challenge which You're like,
this is all amazing, that this part sucks.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think the hardest part is, you know, we live
in a society of everything is fast and cheap, and
I mean we all shop on Amazon, right, but it
has created a culture around consumers that you know, sometimes
when people come to you as a small business, they
expect what they get from Amazon. You know, they expect
(34:23):
it in twenty four hours or if it doesn't get
to them. You know, we have like insurance for shipping,
and so there's like a process that we have to
go to and like with Amazon, they just give you
your money back or like give you a new thing,
and you know that's not possible. We make everything, you
know that we're sending people, or we source it, or
you know, we design it, and so it's not as
(34:44):
simple as just sometimes just picking up another one and
sending it. And also that's it's that's money literally out
of my pocket and out of my staff's pocket for
something that ultimately wasn't even our fault. And I understand
that it's not the consumer's fault either, but I just
wish people were little bit more open to the idea
that not everybody is just some millionaire churning out a
(35:05):
bunch of stuff all day.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Like you probably know, every invoice that comes in in,
every invoice that goes out. As the owner of a
small business.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Even if I'm not packing every order, I look at
them every day. I see who's ordering, you know, because
every once in a while, like a friend will order
and I want to like throw something extra, or someone
that I know I met somewhere and we had a
conversation and I want to write a note to them
or that kind of thing. So and I still do
pack orders sometimes, you know, I'm lucky enough to now
I have some folks that can help with that. But yeah,
(35:35):
I very much keep an eye on everything because it
is I tell people it's like my literal child.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And how old your baby right now?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
We've created the company in August of twenty nineteen, but
that was more just like a side business embroidery thing.
We got the store front in October of twenty twenty,
so it's about three and a half years.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Baby's all grown up at a new location.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
That's right, we're teenagers.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Now and five points raging in dog years? Yeah, just
what every Is that real? Though?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Because I mean, I know your husband works with dogs,
and we've heard forever that one year is actually seven.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (36:09):
I don't think it's a direct correlation. Obviously, they just
have shorter lifespans, and I think we've always tried to
figure out like what the math on that is. It's
certainly true that they have like their baby and their
teenage years, you know, Like we have a dog that's
currently going through his teenage years, and we have a
dog that just came out of it, and like he's
so chill and cool, and we're like, man, you're a
(36:31):
different dog, you know. So I think that dogs definitely
do have like little eras in their life, but I
don't I don't know if it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Like something my dog when is she she's in her
teenage years forever.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Dogs are like people, and we certainly know some people
never mature, you know, so it does happen.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Are your dog or cat person?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
I'm a dog person. I'm actually allergic to cats.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Oh coo cool?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
So cat like, I have other allergies and so I
take allergy medicine so I'm okay with it. But like
when I was young, I would like touch a cat
and my eyes would like completely swell up and shut
and so I just was never really around them. Also
was never around dogs, but I always wanted a dog, Like, look.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
At you married a man that works with dogs, which
is awesome. What's the name of his company?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Kevin's company is called Full Circle canine.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Okay, and it's dog training.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
He does a training basic household obedience, and then we
also do boarding, structured boarding. So his thing is like
everything can.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
Come drop car off. I mean when I'm trying to
record a podcast, that'd be great.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Uh. He's got like treadmills like that the dogs can
run on, so like it's really activity based, you know.
It's it's less like there's a lot of places where
you just drop your dog off and it's kind of
like a free for all. That's why it's called structured boarding.
So they go on structured walks and they implement like
training practices into everyday boarding. So like if someone drops
(37:53):
their dog off with Kevin to train for a week,
they do ten days. You can then come back and
every time you're your dog, it's still in that same environment,
you know, so it's doing all the things that learned
in training. So it's basically like a little refresher course.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
So with my dog's misbehavior, my son always says, well, mom,
that sounds like a you problem. And would Kevin say
that the sen me problem?
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm the owner.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Sometimes there are dogs that have issues that are just
you know, insurmountable. Again, they're they're really like people. And
a lot of times we compare our dogs, you know,
we'll say, also, I'm talking about this like I'm an expert.
This is just for me, like hearing him talk about that, Yeah, yeah,
And it's just things that I've learned myself just being
around it. But you know, people will have a dog
and they're like, well, my last dog did this and
(38:40):
my last dog did that and it was so easy,
and it's like, yeah, I mean, if you have kids,
like all your kids don't act exactly the same, it's
very similar. But yeah, I tell people a lot of
the times, I'm like, if you haven't met Kevin before
and you don't know him, and you don't know him
as a person, if you just call him for training,
some people are like a little put off, But it's
(39:02):
because he's it's almost like a little bit of an intervention.
You know. It's saying, Okay, yes, we're gonna fix your dog,
but we've also got some things that you have to fix.
And people will either buy into that or they don't.
Sometimes they'll buy into it. They'll try a couple things,
they'll see that it really works, and then they're like,
oh man, this really works. So it is a lot
(39:24):
on us as owners, the things that we do and
the way that we act and behave with our dogs.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, as a mom, like a dog mom.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
But then I'm also as you're saying that, thinking back
to a season a couple of years ago where you know,
my adopted son was in some therapy and some things.
So then as his parents, we were going to therapy
for it too, and so much about us started to unravel.
I was exposed and was like, oh, well, okay, like
that's you know, our inner child, our wounds they come
(39:56):
up to and we see where we're you know, need.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
A lot of work.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Kevin often ends up being a therapist, you know, because
to the humans. To the humans, yeah, because through dogs
you hear a lot about people's lives and what their
time is like, and what their family life is like,
and what their home life is like. It just naturally
sort of starts to come up and it's very emotional,
you know, And I think Kevin's a great person to
do it because he's like me. He's from the Northeast,
(40:21):
he's from hode Island, so he is very direct and
ultimately he cares about all of his customers. But he
also really cares about their dogs, and sometimes he'll be
saying things He's like, this is what the dog needs,
and it's not something that the person wants to do,
but ultimately the priority is you're here to help your dog,
(40:42):
and so we've got to figure out a way and
if it doesn't work. He's had hard conversations with people
who you know, have end up having to like rehome
dogs and it's maybe something they kind of knew they
needed to do but didn't want to and he's like
helped a lot of people with that process and just
saying like it's okay. Of course we take on a
responsibility with animals, but things change and if circumstances become
(41:05):
like unsafe, it's the best thing for the dog and
the humans. But you know, that can feel like a
bit of a failure to some people, and I think
he's the first person to say, it's not like we
actually had to do it ourselves. We had a dog
that we adopted and he had only been an outside dog.
He hadn't really been around other dogs, and over time
it started being a problem between some of our other dogs,
(41:28):
and we ultimately found him a great home for a
single person who loved him and only wanted one dog,
and you know, it's hard to say that as a
house of five dogs and being a dog trainer, even
we had to make that decision. So I think he
likes to share that story with people, and you know,
(41:48):
he's not above anybody else.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Well, Kara, she was tied up. She should she was
rehome to us. I mean she was tied up outside
Simone's house for over a year like that. Her hair
was matted like the whatever they had around, like it
was grown into her skin. So it was awful when
we got her. So I have compassion whenever she's acting crazy,
I'm like, she has trauma.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah, my dog that I had before I met Kevin,
who was like my dog, Like he's my dude. You know,
he was always a little bit weary of people and
I never understood it. And towards the end of his life,
we ended up having to do some like a full
body scan on him and they found shotgun pellets and
they were like, did you know that he had been shot?
And I was like I had no idea, and I
(42:31):
was like completely heartbroken over it. And it's like, yeah,
of course he didn't like everyone. You know, it was
really like a leveling experience. So it's a real emotional thing.
It's been very wild, But I love Kevin's heart, like
he he loves those dogs and he loves his customers
and he takes such good care of him and it's
(42:53):
a beautiful part of him to watch.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Well. I have no doubt if Kevin was sitting here
and the one being interviewed, he would be saying he
loves watching you do your thing with MVY Goods and
showing up as your authentic self, putting out stuff that
you're very proud of. And we're like, got the Cabeueno
flag right behind us, which that's something that you make.
You make these amazing flags and Cabueno even that's something
(43:18):
my dad would say if there was exciting news about something.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
So I feel like in honor.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Of you getting the new shop and even signing up
for Like to Know It LTK, Yeah yeah, yeah, we're.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
So helt K now or like you know, like you
can you can shop us with all your favorite influencers
pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, my dad would look you be like, oh CABWENO,
well done, well done, that's.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
A good stamp of approval. Yeah, I'm getting the quick.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, you're doing it right, you're doing it well, and
I think that shows. And I'm very thankful for you
coming back on and you know, updating us, especially after.
Speaker 4 (43:55):
Yeah, it was really wild.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Our episode came out and then Tornado and it was like, wow, okay, oh,
we're going to need to do an update. And I'm
glad we waited until It's almost like perfect timing. And
we didn't even know you were for sure going to
sign that lease, but it's perfect timing because you kind
of went through the storm. I've got the little buffalo here.
My sister gave me this. Buffaloes go into the storm
(44:16):
to get through it faster, and they know that they're
gonna have to deal with it, but they'll come out
on the other side in a more timely manner versus cows.
Like a cow, we'll see a storm coming and it'll
turn and go the other direction, thinking I'm just gonna
get away from the storm, but eventually the storm catches
up to it and then they ultimately end up in
(44:37):
the storm longer. And so I feel like that's yeah. Well,
my sister got me this. She has a buffalo coin
necklace and that's the first time I heard it, she
was obsessed with her necklace and that story, and so
she was on the podcast actually when I first heard it,
and she was like, well, this.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Is why I like it. It's because she had.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
It was giving her the courage and the reminder to
go into the storms because life is gonna.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
Watching this down. He would not approve because it makes
me happy.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I'm not going to get mad because she's trauma. Yeah,
that's fine, she's good.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
She's good. I love that story, and I love stories
like that about things like that. That's so cool. I
might have to make some some buffalo merch.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
Oh definitely. Oh Christy will she'll carry that at route house.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
All right, Okay, this crossover.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Put it in there in the coffee shop. Well, Camille,
thank you so much for coming on. We'll wrap real
quick with just four things gratitude. Just rattle off four
things that you are currently thankful for.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Oh man, I am thankful for my health. I'm thankful
for my friends. I'm thankful for my husband, and I
am thankful for this life that I get to live.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I'll add a bonus thing. I'll be the fifth thing.
That's my bonus episode. I'm thank full to know that
you got your new location and that is prime spot.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
It's gonna be really fun. Keep be updated. You have
to come to that.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
I know I want to come.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Are you going to do an opening?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Yeah, it's funny. I didn't get to do an opening
the first time we opened because it was in the
middle of the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (46:15):
So well, what does this make possible?
Speaker 3 (46:17):
What does this make possible? We have a party, we
have a rager.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
How do you find out?
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (46:21):
So we'll be our Instagram account at shop NB Goods
and is in Nancy b as in boy Goods. That's
where you'll see my face. You'll see me say all
this crazy stuff that Amy's talking about our new products.
And we'll be posting about our grand opening.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
Perfect at n B shops n B Goods.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
Dang n B Goods was taken Every once in a
while somebody tags in by accident. So it's at.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Shop and have you thought about can you get it?
Speaker 3 (46:45):
No, there's still a business there. Believe they're in Ireland
or there's somewhere in the UK. Okay shop and be
Goods and that's the website too.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Yeah, shop and be Goods.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
All right?
Speaker 4 (46:55):
Thanks Neil, Thanks bye,
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