Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sa.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Foreign and welcome to tonight's episode of Pivotal change. This is a show that is all about business, leadership, entrepreneurship and people that have or want to have more influence in their lives. And whatever we can do to bring on guests and impart information that helps you find those one or two secrets to success that allow you your pivotal change along your journey. We have a very special themed episode tonight of the youth and entrepreneurship. We're going to have a series of guests on that are on the younger side of running businesses and we're going to learn from their stories, see what they are doing and hopefully find some encouragement with what they have got going on in their lives. So I'd like to welcome tonight from Ascension Clothing line, my very own son, Royce Kahn and his very good friend Trip Scott, the owners of this wonderful startup business. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.
[00:01:17] Speaker C: Thank you for having us.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Well, as I've talked a couple times before with you guys, we do have time limits and commercial breaks. So what I like to do is just jump right in and I want to hear a little bit from you, probably each of you, if I would have to say what inspired you to become an entrepreneur instead of just chasing after this traditional job market, you know, going into the workforce and once you made the decision to be an entrepreneur, how has your perspective changed? Has your path evolved? Have your decisions developed over time?
[00:01:48] Speaker D: Yes, I think that my biggest inspiration was my grandfather and watching him start the accounting company and it taught me a lot about success and really showed me and I think that starting our clothing brand has helped develop a lot of new skills and leadership in my own life. And being able to apply this in the community has been very, has been very effective for like.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: I.
But it is helping you on. You're. You're seeing from your grandfather that he has an impact in the community. He has lessons learned and you can grow your own path. Is that kind of what I'm getting out of the. The statement?
[00:02:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that he showed me like a lot about the behind the scenes that most people won't see and developing that.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: That's really good. So. So Tripp, he's got a behind the scenes look from a family member. What inspired you to choose business ownership versus just going and getting a job?
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Yes, Ryan. So I believe wholeheartedly that social media has killed society. I think that we are heading towards a dark world. We have females showing off their body online, calling themselves entrepreneurs. I just want to bring light back to the traditional way of entrepreneurship where we sell our clothes and have people buy from consumer and from manufacturer and business.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Okay. I like. I like what you're saying there. So you see a huge potential for this drift, for this online market to get people pulled into the dark side of making money. And you want to be the light side of making money in a more traditional model, which you guys are selling clothing both in person and online. Is that correct?
[00:03:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Yep.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: That's excellent. So kind of circling to my next question of what inspired you? And I like the inspiration because any inspiration for. For good, I want to get behind that. You've probably had some type of research to do, a lot of learning along the way, and maybe some mentors that have helped you. Let me ask you guys a question about, like, what mentors or advisors have helped shape your business decisions and maybe share an instance where that guidance paid off.
[00:04:23] Speaker D: Well, you have been my mentor and showing me how to develop the legal side of things, and that's really opened a new gateway for me and Tripp. Whereas before, we didn't have access to those resources, and starting that up on our own would have been very difficult. And your leadership has really opened that pathway and saved us a lot of money and a lot of time researching things that you just had knowledge of prior, and that really helped us on our journey.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Very interesting. Very flattering and very interesting. Thank you for sharing that. So the. The question leading off of that one, you had an advisor just so happened, for the sake of your situation, to be me. Do you see recommending advisors to other people, do you think that was beneficial? Would you have had to do an exponential amount of learning and studying before ever taking your first step? Or can most people figure it out on their own? Would you recommend finding advisors and mentors for people starting their businesses?
[00:05:34] Speaker C: 100%.
[00:05:35] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: I mean, it's easier when my dad's an entrepreneur too. It's easy when you have your parents there, let's be honest. But Yes, I think 100%, you should always find an advisor, a mentor, a leader, someone who can help you, someone who's been there, someone who can teach you what you need to do, which they've done wrong. I mean, you're not going to win without losing. That's a. That's 100% guaranteed.
[00:05:58] Speaker D: And playing off of what he said, maybe if they don't know exactly the path that you're taking. If someone can just tell you what you need to know without giving you all the bull crap, just flattery, I think that really opens your eyes to better decision making.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Gotcha. So you are specifically Mentioning about people that might need to tell you like it is because, you know, everybody has. Everyone has a cheerleader. You know, everyone's biggest cheerleader is probably their mother, but the mother may not say, hey, honey, you're not doing this right. Make a change, right Versus having an outside advisor that says that would be a poor decision. And here's why. And here's an adjustment that you guys need to make. So I like the fact that you guys want somebody that has a little bit more of the raw side of things and will tell you, quote, unquote, the way that it is. And I think you're exactly right, Tripp. You know, you're not going to be able to win without losing. Those are probably some of our bigger experiences that when we fail, that probably impacts our learning a lot harder than just getting a quick, easy win. And so that's. That's pretty fun. So let me talk about just learning along the way. When you first started your business and you guys continue to grow and make sales, what was something that you thought you might have known or understood, but then once you got into the actual execution of the business, you maybe underestimated or realized you didn't know something that you needed to know? Do you have an example of that?
[00:07:21] Speaker C: I think mostly was how hard the competition is. Let's. Like, there's always going to be competition. There's always going to be something different, maybe better, maybe cheaper.
But, yes, we. You have to set a target audience. And it was hard going in not knowing what competition we have. We didn't really do much research on that. But, yeah, I think jumping in, you need mentorship and leadership to find and overcome challenges such as that.
We thankfully had help, but it can be rough. Competition can be rough. I will say that.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: So. So feeding off of that, I think you're probably hearing something that I want to echo. And I may or may not have shared this with you gentlemen, but I tell the people watching show to listen and watch with a pen and paper, take notes, and maybe you can find those couple of things. So you just told us to look out for and study our competition. And. And you may not know this, but I have something called the seven Cs of a business plan, and that is One of the Cs is competition and knowing how you can either enter a market or completely disrupt a market and fill a need that your competitors are either failing to fill or not feeling well. And so you learn that lesson a little bit of a hard way. Saying, clothing brands are everywhere. How can we Impact that market.
That's, that's a really good, really good self reflection there. Let's, let's move on to this other question here too, because that was, that was a good lesson learned. Did you guys have any breakthrough moments yet where you just are finding confidence because, hey, something really clicked or worked out that helps you know that you're on the right path? What did that breakthrough moment teach you?
[00:09:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I think our biggest breakthrough was when we got our first sample orders in. We were able to take our physical product and promote it to our school, and we were able to take photos and post it on our social media and it really allowed a new gateway for us to market.
Whereas before we didn't have the physical product and you know, we had told a couple of people about it and they thought it was a cool idea, but actually getting their hands on the product, feeling that it's legit really made them understand more that we knew what we were doing and they wanted to buy our product. We use that as pre orders and people, you know, they gave us the money and we turned that into a bulk order which we gave back to them. And I think that was for sure our biggest breakthrough and showed us that we could still make a profit.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: With only four shirts, I think 100. This might be one of our biggest breakthroughs too. I mean, we have been provided good by the Lord. Let's like we sell Christian clothing brands. I don't know if we mentioned that we're a Christian clothing brand. And I think, I mean, we're going on a TV show has got to be one of the greatest experiences we've had so far with entrepreneurship. And yeah, I mean, obviously, yeah, the pre orders, all that was amazing. But this is also a really huge step in our next, our next journey.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: So maybe this can be the breakthrough that you talk about the next time you get interviewed. So, yeah, yeah, really good insight, Royce. And I really like you breaking it down for us. How what you did is you captured for something that a lot of people don't realize is that looking up something online is convenient and if you know exactly what you want, that's great, click a button and buy it. But until a person really gets to touch the product and feel it and see that it's real and hey, look, I like the color scheme, I like the design, I like the way it fits on me, that's when it now becomes a product. And not just a customer, but hopefully a repeat customer that can help you grow your company. So what I want to do real quick I want to stick a pin right here, gentlemen, because I want to pivot us to our first commercial break. So everyone sit tight. We're going to be back with more Royce and more Trip, and we're going to learn a lot more about a young, young journey and entrepreneurship right after this commercial break for more pivotal change right after this.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: We'Re back from the break, and we're ready to continue this journey on the young path of entrepreneurship. And we're coming back with Royce Kahn and Trip Scott, the owners of Ascension Clothing brand, that's a Christian clothing line that's really starting to impact the industry locally. And one of the things that you really started to dig into before the break was some of those sales and marketing kind of tips and strategies and processes that you went through. So I kind of want to expand a little bit more along those lines and hear a little bit more about you. So what has been to date, your most effective marketing strategy so far? And then how did you discover that that was going to work for your target audience?
[00:12:41] Speaker D: So I think our biggest marketing is online, because more people can see it online with just a press of a button. And we have been trying to post daily and we use stuff like our physical products and taking pictures of that to post online and build a better community online. I think one of the most important things about online is staying active in the community. Whereas if someone comes to your account and they see, oh, they haven't posted in a month, they're not going to think maybe you're reliable. Whereas if you're in the comment sections, you're posting on your stories, you're constantly talking to your audience, they're more loyal to you. And I think that it's better to build a loyal customer base where you have. Maybe it doesn't matter how many people you have, let's just say 10 people who are gonna always buy on a new drop that is easier to achieve than 10 new people coming to your website every time. And obviously, we want both and we want them to stay loyal. And some of the details that we've gone to are we go out in our community and we take a lot of advantage from people at the gym. We'll go up to people and ask them if they'd like to promote our brand. And we'll take some pictures, some videos, and, yeah, sports players. We're trying to get into the sports industry. We'll take people from our high school who do various sports and we, yeah, we work with them to.
We'll like, you know, we'll have them get in poses and take pictures of them and we post that online. And then people, they'll understand it's not just a shirt, it's a activity. And we're building that feel for them to understand.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Okay, I like that a lot. So let me recap a little bit. So you've been going to the gym and to sports teams, probably some of your local sports teams, using some of your friends as models, using some of those popular athletes as models. And I think you guys are kind of hitting onto a little bit of a genius stroke for what is either really cheap or free advertising is that if I get the most popular kid on the football team to wear my shirt, all of his followers on social media now see him wearing the shirt, can follow our brand. And then really the, the loyalty side of it, I think, man, that that's a bell that needs to be rung. And the loyalty, from what I heard you say, takes effort. You're having to stay active, stay in the comment sections, reply to people like their comments, give feedback, and you're actually providing maybe a little bit more of that experience that these people are real. This clothing brand has accessibility and building excitement for, like you said, the next drop, the next set of designs, the next clothing, the new product that's coming out and if you can get somebody to show up, wait for your product to hit and then buy and buy and buy again. Like you said, that's better than just somebody walking off the street clicking buy one time and moving on. So your successful marketing technique is to build loyalty and then expand through popularity and sports people, which obviously you know, Nike, Adidas and all those people, they follow that same model. So I'd say that's pretty clever. So we mentioned at the beginning of coming back from a break and tripping the last segment that you guys are a Christian clothing brand. And so you have basically what I understand is a brand with a purpose and that's to promote a faith or at least a moral mindset. Trip with your opening comments of like, the Internet can get so dark. Online shopping and online money making can get real dark. We want to be the light. How do you guys define your core values? How do you make sure that the steps you've taken to ensure your business is consistently representing those values to your customers and they're going to represent that hopefully as well while they wear your clothes?
[00:16:40] Speaker C: Well, I think that we're not just building a brand, we're building our own reputation. I think that we are building ourselves up when we are Making this brand. I think we are using integrity and honesty, and I think that's why we came so far, is because God is giving us what we have earned through our integrity and our honesty. We are trying to spread a message that people are loved, people are called upon. That's one of our shirts.
And yeah, basically honesty and integrity. We have no gimmicks. We're all just real faith.
And I think that through the Lord and through our walks and our testimonies and our faith, that we can accomplish so much more than we have so far.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: And.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Sorry, Royce, go ahead.
[00:17:29] Speaker D: I was gonna build on that. I think that we saw a lack of Christians in the streetwear industry and we wanted to expand into that, whereas other industries might have more Christian based stuff. And we aren't looking to sell a T shirt. We're looking to save a soul. So we want to spread this to as many people as we possibly can so that we can get more people in a community to serve Christ and all go to heaven.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Our motto is changing the world one shirt at a time. And today it's. It's easier to talk about sex and drugs than it is to talk about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And that's why I think it's, especially in our. Our era, our generation, that spreading our faith and spreading the Lord is ten times more important than it ever has been.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: You guys find that having a model and having a purpose has helped you recruit support or customers, like you said. Royce, you just said we're not selling a shirt or saving a soul. And then I think, Tripp, you just said your actual model is saving one solo. Tell me your model again. I really like that we're changing the.
[00:18:44] Speaker C: World one shirt at a time.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Changing the world one shirt at a time. So do you think people hear that and they see it written on your website? And of course, the T shirts embody that. In fact, do you have any T shirts nearby that you can just give him his example of one of what one of these Changing the World T shirts might look like?
[00:19:02] Speaker C: Of course. So this one is one of my favorites. Of course, on the front, it's just our brand name, but on the back it says the strong start on Sunday. And it has. It's. We call this one At My Worst, because when Jesus was at his worst carrying the cross, it has a hole. Paragraph, written paragraph. It says the weak start on Monday, but the strong start on Sunday.
And it talks about how Jesus carried a 300 pound cross over 300 yards and how that was the ultimate sacrifice. And we are changing. He, he did that. He is a man shining light in a crowd of full on haters.
And I think this shirt just embodies the power of Christ and embodies the love that he has for us because even at his worst, he still loved us.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: I like that a lot. And I love that you throw some facts, you modernize things, you know, because haters is not a term that was used in the, in the Greek back in that time. Yeah, yeah, we all clearly understand today. Yeah. And so you're, you're sending a purpose that like you're going to wear our shirts, they're gonna have a deeper meeting, they're going to send a message and hopefully they're going to convict the person that wears it, maybe convict the person that, that sees it and reads it. So with that being established that you guys have to have integrity to establish and build your brand with purpose. You guys can't be running, doing exactly what you said not to do, drinking, smoking, having sex and doing these things. But business owners just in general probably don't need to be doing that. But then business owners that are trying to build a moral based company, you have to be reflecting the light that you're trying to sell and push out in the world. Is that correct?
[00:20:39] Speaker D: Yes, very much so.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Excellent. So let me ask this other question right here. So if you're looking at your early journey in entrepreneurship, you've probably had a little success here, a little failure there, maybe a big success or big failure. Can you tell me about maybe a hurdle you had to overcome, A moment of doubt or failure that showed its space in your, in your journey so far and what was it and how did you overcome it?
[00:21:03] Speaker D: Of course, I think that our biggest issue was going back to, along with the breakthrough. We had gone and got all of our pre orders from all the people wanting to buy. Well, we hadn't set up our bank account and we expected it to be set up sooner than it actually was. Us being minors, it took the bank a lot longer to set up our account and you know, it took over a month for our account to actually get set up and working. So we had to fund all of our operations out of our pocket. And you know, that kind of hurt for a while. But once we got the bank account set up and got her all up and running, we were able to start making a profit. So.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Well, welcome to business ownership where the owner's got to fork over some of their own money. That is not going to be the first or it was the first time, but it will probably not be the last. But that's a beautiful lesson to learn, is that the unexpected will definitely turn its face into your operations. And even if it's something outside of your control, like a bank, you can't force them to be faster or slower. Whichever you want, you can overcome. You can use your own money. You can get through that obstacle. So, guys, I have this question for you. So if you're going to give just one or two encouraging, quick thoughts to a young entrepreneur, whether they're teenagers like you, they're 20, or they're 30, and they're thinking about starting their business journey, what's. What's an encouraging piece of advice you would tell them to go on their journey and do.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: Keep God first. Keep your moral straight.
If you don't do that, then you're never gonna make it anywhere. And prepare. Prepare yourself for defeat. Let's be honest. I mean, you're not gonna win without losing. Like I said.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: Gotcha. So be prepared to take it on the chin at times. And you're gonna. You're gonna get hit, you're gonna get beat up, and you got to keep her eyes and get. Do the whole Captain America. I could do this all day and keep fighting. And then, of course, keep God first. Keep your morality and integrity and the business and everything will follow. So, guys, we're coming to the end of this time with you. Tell me, how can we find Ascension Clothing? And if people want to just find out more about Royce and Tripp, how do we talk to you guys? How do we get your advice or shoot? How do we buy your products, man?
[00:23:22] Speaker D: So we have an Instagram. It's ascensionclothing.
It's a logo cross, and we have a website, ascensionclothingdesigns store. You can go there and look at our shirts.
[00:23:37] Speaker C: And we recently opened a tick tock. That's new, but it's actually going pretty good.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Excellent. Well, gentlemen, this is fantastic. I appreciate your willingness to come on here and share the beginning stages of your journey. The whole goal is that this inspired somebody else and allows other people to enjoy this American dream and the ability that you're not too young to start a business and you never have to sacrifice who you are to be successful. Folk, thank you for coming on the show. For everyone else in the audience watching this episode of Pivotal Change, we're only halfway done. We've got another guest coming on right after this, and it's another young entrepreneur that we're going to be getting some really solid advice from. And hearing his story as well. So sit tight. And we'll be back with more pivotal change right after this.
Welcome back from the break. That was a very fun first half of the episode with two young entrepreneurs. And I want to bring on our very next guest and I want to keep this ball rolling Now. Preston Roberts of ACS Airsoft is a good friend of mine, a client, and he is a perfect model of what it is to be an initiative driven young entrepreneur who can fight their way to success. So, Preston, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and I'm looking forward to this conversation.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. Ryan, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to see where our conversations go.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Well, good. What I want to do is ask a question to you very similar to what I asked the last couple of guys. And that's a little bit about starting your journey off. And so I want to ask you, the entrepreneur that, you know, you wanted to start your own business, at what point did you just realize that was your path and what factors led up to you just taking that leap to be a business owner and entrepreneur? Sure.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: So a lot of what led me to be an entrepreneur of my own and that self interest was kind of driven up through my upbringing. A lot of my family members had businesses of their own, were willing to take risk and try things that didn't work. And I think that influenced a lot of my decisions on what I wanted to do in life. But my industry is very different. My grandfather had a clothing store. My mom has a bridal shop. But as you can tell behind me, I just was fascinated with Gillens. And I have a passion for Airsoft. So I saw a demand for something that wasn't available to us. It's a niche hobby in our area, and I wanted to fulfill that for myself. It was something I wanted to play, I wanted to get into, but there was nowhere to go. So to fill that gap, it allowed me to have the creative freedom to make decisions on my own, have critical thinking, be able to try things that other bosses may not let you do. You know, if you fit, you know, a corporate mold, you might not have that flexibility between jobs and tasks. You know, it'd be head down on one particular medium. And I like being able to change hats in that manager role and problem solve. And I think I really found that pivotal point that like, aha moment, you know, that everyone looks for. It was during an interview for an internship when I was in college during my mba. Target was on campus and they were looking for a regional Manager for an internship position.
Believe it was unpaid, but you know, it came with all the bells and whistles. If you did great there, you got the job. So absolutely I was going to apply and see where this goes. You know, keep every opportunity open. The end of that interview, the interview went great. They asked me if you had any questions for us. And my question to them at that time was, why did you send out the interview questions in advance? And they had sent interview questions the night before to everyone. And that creates a very rehearsed and non organic response. And if you're looking for a manager, someone that's going to have to act on their feet in the moment, take care of a crisis, put out a fire, they're going to have to be able to be critical thinkers and be adaptive. And I didn't think they were going to find the right fit for that role by letting people practice in advance. And you could tell the just all shock on their face when I asked them that. And that's not what they were looking for. And I knew I wasn't going to be the yes man. And I thought, okay, if I'm gonna think outside of the box and push the boundaries and you know, try things, but be willing to learn and fail, you know, learn from your failures, be willing to fail and be willing to try new things. And I see that reaffirmed through my daughter every day. She's one and a half and trying things. I'm like, no, no, no. And she's like, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna figure it out on my own. And now she's going up and down the stairs and I'm like, okay, if you're trying and learning at this age, then I'm not going to stop trying and learning too. So that was really the moment though, at my life where I was like, okay, I want to try this on my own. I want to take the risk, I want to go all in. And by that point I had already had a test bed. You know, there was a proof of concept for me. I was doing this a little bit on the side. It wasn't a full time job, but later on it was the commitment there that's like, hey, let's see really where this goes. What's the full opportunity here? And let's go for it.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: I love that, that that is a great story and I think it probably resonates with a lot of our viewers. Impressed. And I didn't tell you this before, but I challenged most of my viewers as I did at the beginning of this episode to watch with pen and paper and take notes. And so anyone listening, if you heard his story, he had generational examples set for him, and he saw that, and that took a lot of the risk and nervousness that it might take out of it. So go find somebody that you can example from.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Then he went into the corporate mold and said, hey, just based on a single interview, I could tell this was not for me. And then just like the dynamic, unfolding nature of an airsoft battle, you have to be able to think quickly on your feet, make adaptations, have a certain skill set with tactics and equipment and tools, and you use those not just to win a game, but to apply into a business for life. So I think you're. You're really embodying a lot of that, going along with that journey. I want to kind of dive in a little bit more about, you know, he had some family examples, and that may not be the answer to this next question, but tell us about, like, who's been your greatest supporter? So when you went in there, you probably had some type of advisor or mentor through your journey. How did their guidance shape you or your business decisions or how you make decisions?
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. You know, speaking on my family's just kind of linear progression of owning businesses and trying new things, I think they were a lot of the influence that got me into the business world. But I think some of my largest supporters. And this topic really comes down to my customers, because when we started, I was 17. Shirley, my best friend, who's now a manager here, who's 18, and we were in high school. You know, I talked about that proof of concept. I mean, an airsoft field to us then was just a couple of pallets. It really wasn't anything but the fact that we had land and people showed up that we didn't know. And I was like, okay, maybe there's something here. And that snowball effect just kept turning and kept reinvesting in ourselves. But they showed us very early on that they cared for us and valued our relationship as much as we did theirs. And not just in a transactional sense, but, you know, like, we're in a. We had this crazy snowstorm right now and flooding just a few days ago, and people from all around the world are messaging us. Hey, are you okay? I saw Kentucky was being hit. And so they're active listeners, and even if they're not always engaged with your brand or what's going on right now in real time, you know, the newest product or the latest event or the newest skill set to be learned. They're still paying attention in the background, and they do care about you. And I think those relationships have really shaped us for who we are today because they were with us from the conception through all of our failures, our learning points, the pitfalls of running a business, and that learning curve of, okay, what do we do now with that? How do we take what we've learned and continue to progress it? And, you know, I can remember one of my very early on customers, we didn't have a megaphone. We had no way to make announcements. And he was a football coach. He's like, I'm bringing you my megaphone. You know, and he saw like, hey, I know what it takes to be a leader. You need better tools than what you have now, and I can help you with that. And they've always been invested, and that was day one. And again, people are still checking in on us and making sure that everything's okay. So even outside the transactional part of, you know, having customer relationships, that value and friendship and that personal connection, that's really been the driver and the shaping factor of our business.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: I love that so much, and I love that you brought that coach as an example in there, because coaches are some of the most probably profound, impactful, and proven types of leaders because they just get a recurring system of people to lead. And so I do want to transition to a leadership question, because I love what you just said about your support of your customers, being in touch with the market and the conditions and adapting for them. So let's talk about leadership. And maybe if you have an example of, like, a defining moment where your leadership just played a critical role, you had some type of challenge or some type of opportunity in your business, and you had to execute leadership in order to move past it or get that done. Can you share an example? Sure.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: So I. I think the biggest learning curve for me that that moment was the willingness to change. And even in my own habits, you know, it's. It's easy to get comfortable. It's easy to chase a number or a what if scenario.
And I don't think that's where you should always have your head space. You know, it's easy to get head down on something to go, if I could learn this skill or teach this to my employee and overcome this challenge. But it'd be easy to micromanage or zoom too close in. So for me, the biggest learning curve is being is that flexibility and the willingness to change, because change is the only thing that's constant. You've got to be evolving, and you've got to be in tune with what's going on in your industry. So I think looking at it from that point of view is setting up processes. You know, I had a coach or a mentor once tell me, record yourself doing the process in real time. Don't cut it, don't edit it, and then show it to your employees and see if they can match that pace. And that because we're all human, we're going to make errors. And it's easy to narrate like this perfect little scenario, or I can be as efficient as I want to be, but I've been doing it for 10 years, and that's not realistic of a new incoming employee. And so to pass that on, you know, just be authentic to yourself. Do it in real time, Lead with the example. And, you know, one of the things that I had a very hard time getting over was the. The willingness to learn. You know, I'm always looking for new tools. How can I use this for better efficiencies? How can I use this, like, alternative for another industry into mind? So, like, a lot of times, I'll look at escape rooms or amusement parks or other things outside of Airsoft and try to adapt it within and, you know, keep it within scale, something reasonable that we can achieve. But you can also get really bogged down, you know, looking for all new information where the leadership aspect is not just using your head, but using your hands. Get out there, be active, get to work. Because that's the difference for me, between being a scholar and being a leader. You know, you don't want to be able to just learn how to do something. You got to be able to teach how to do something and then, you know, measure, and after that, then teach, measure, and then communicate with your team where they're at and what you would like to see changed.
You know, Mr. Schneebly, I don't know if you'll get this reference, but those that can't do, teach, and those that can't teach, teach gym. So I don't want to teach a gym class. I want to run an airsoft store. So that's where we're at today.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: I like that. And I really appreciate your points on flexibility and how you had to be flexible as a leader. And really, if you guys were paying attention in the audience out there, he went outside his industry to purposely get a scope that is not his own, to get a mindset that is not his own, to get him out of his comfort zone, and then he made those adaptations. And I want to point out another really good high note that you did the recording thing saying hey, here's what the process looks like. Here's me doing it with like you referenced 10 years of experience. My expectation is not that you can on day one replicate this, but this is the model that you're achieving for and you've got a video you can reference the entire time till you're achieving at that level. So we've only got just a little bit left for this last question here before we jump to commercial, but was there a specific moment when you just aha. Knew that you were going to succeed? That hey, even though there's going to be more hurdles and obstacles. But I know that from this point on I've had the realization that this business is going to make it.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: That one's really tough. I don't think, I think you could have asked me a few years ago and I would have told you it was a dollar amount. You know, if I could only achieve this dollar amount to offset my lifestyle and my employees lifestyles and that would give me the comfort to stay where I'm at and maintain this long term. But now I feel like, you know, that all home moment is within my personal growth. It's in the willingness to learn and adapt and all these things we've already kind of talked about. But it's the discipline to get up and do the best that you can do every day with what you have. And that doesn't mean fulfilling all your large scale dreams and end goals. You know, if you have a 10 year goal, then you're not going to achieve it tomorrow, you're going to achieve it 10 years as long as you keep setting that pace and short term goals to achieve it. But you got to do the best you can do with the tools that you have today. And if you're doing that, you're getting to work, you're staying disciplined and you're building the confidence in your team. I think that's where the comfort really comes from. I don't think it's, you know, it's like when you're working out and going to the gym. Don't get on the scale every day. Stop looking at the numbers every day. You need to know what they mean. It's important to understand them. But it's not something you need to look at every single day. Consistency. So you know, jump in real quick.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Because I want to, before we move on, I want to make a point about something you said about your aha moment of success was not a number. And you specifically emphasize the mindset of it no longer being a number or a certain level of comfort for me and my employees. But it was a set of actions in the way that I come and grind and look for more and go to succeed and produce on. So I want to stick a pin in that right there because we're going to ask about how you execute that right after this break. So everyone else stick with us. We're going to be back with more pivotal change and more Preston right after this.
Are back. More pivotal change and more Preston Roberts of ACS Airsoft in Paducah, Kentucky. And as you've been watching this episode, you can clearly see that he has a beautiful business mind, his MBA background and his ability to run and grow a successful business. So we're going to get a little bit more in the new show and we're going to extract a little bit more advice from my buddy Preston here, and we're going to talk about the continuing role of leadership and how leaders balance certain things. So, Preston, I want to ask you, how do you personally strike a balance between maintaining consistency and, I don't know, things like inventory and sales and operations, but also creating an environment in a playfield of creativity. I know personally from playing Airsoft and you, that if I go to the same field and play the same game every time, I'm not going to come back. There's got to be some things changing. So walk us through how you do that.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, you know, we mentioned a little bit earlier looking at alternative industries of entertainment, you know, because up at the end of the day, that's really what this hobby is. It's just a great source of entertainment.
[00:39:09] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: It's, you know, communication, team building and friendship. There's a lot of things that you can get from it. But we're here to make sure and facilitate a good quality gameplay for those that wish to play Airsoft. So what that looks like is, you know, force on force, combatants. But like you said, it can get stale. What is our objective? Why are we playing here? If I do the same thing over and over, I don't want to eat the same meal every day. What's next? How are you going to elevate this? How are you going to take it to the next level? So for us, it's. We've done night games. You know, we've added extra elements. Weather can a lot of times play a role in that. But we've also added vehicles. We've had moments where gun trucks have Been in the field, we've had role players such as juggernauts come out and be actors on the field where you can really just shoot them up. Mass chaos.
And then we've also added pyrotechnics. So we'll have fireworks go off up above players for airstrike simulation and we'll have grid coordinates that will be eliminated based on that. And so it's just taking that step, you know, grew up watching a lot of war movies, playing a lot of video games. And so there can be a lot of influence there. But even down to like line management, crowd management, you don't want there to be a lot of downtime. You don't want there to be a lot of time for them to go, hey, I wish I was doing something else. I feel productive with my time. I want my customers to feel that escape. You know, it's a venture on the field and I want to pull them out of the real world for a little while and let them experience something new. So you do have to be creative, you have to be adaptive. And I think a lot of that too. You know, we were talking about peers and mentors. Get connected with people in your industry, whatever it may be, because someone else might have some insight on that that's very, you know, relevant to you where you're at in your business model today. It's not always a secret formula. There's not a secret sauce out there to go get and apply to copy and paste. But there can be tips and tricks, especially like what we've already learned in this episode already that can be applied in every industry and take forward and grow from.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: I love that. What a great answer. And I really appreciate you emphasizing that one is entertainment. So you have to constantly look to entertain. But there's that business side that operation, the controls. And I think it's important for any business leader to hear that you want to try to eliminate downtime, you want to eliminate the possibility for complacency. And either staff members or customers or whoever it is to say, I'm going to look somewhere else for the next best thing. And I think that's a really good point to drive home. And so continuing on kind of a little bit of theme of being youthful and young and you obviously really breaking through the industry in an area that I just personally wouldn't have predicted would have supported a full time airsoft field. You've done a great job and I've enjoyed your services and I think you actually made for probably our best company outing. We've had yet. And everybody loved shooting up the bosses. So that was fun.
Yeah, that's. Everyone breaks that one. Right. So let me tell you this. So what approach do you do in developing your young staff? And specifically, the younger, the better for this answer. How do you decide what responsibilities they can take on and handle versus what you're just going to do yourself or with your manager? Surely, how do you delegate, decide and train?
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Absolutely. So before we get to, you know, their first footstep, I like to get to know my employees, you know, and not just in an interview setting because, you know, you're looking for competency and professionalism and can this person represent my brand? But then I want to get to know their interests. That way I can find their best fit. Because role alignment is just extraordinarily important. Because if you don't have someone on the front line that wants to be a frontline employee, then they don't have that enthusiasm or that customer service voice to make even parents feel confident or comfortable letting their kids get shot at out here. And so you need to build relationships with your employees and then find what they're best at. I think people are the best asset in the world. I think investing in them is very important. And we all know that training can be expensive. So do it right the first time. Set up a procedure or practice.
You know, I could give you my full procedure, but this is one thing I've learned too, is not everything works for everyone. You got to find something that works for you and it's good to pull things from different places. But if it doesn't work for you and you're having to shift your own mentality to fit this mold or this template that you found, then, then you're already misaligned with your own business goals. So find what works in house that is easily understood.
And then start training once you've gotten that role alignment because you want the person in the right place. There's just a lot of efficiency there and they will be much happier. Stay with you longer, perform better, your business will grow faster. Everything you want to happen will happen when you get that match. It's easier said than done, but I like putting in the time in advance. I do get very selective and I want to make sure that we have good customer service reps. Because all of my employees are transactional employees. You know, I have my guys and my staff that'll sell products, but also the experience driven side, they're also right there to get feedback. If someone had a poor time, they're first to hear it. What can they then do to make that a better, you know, do they have the power to fix it? Is there something that can be resolved in real time or is it something that we need to come back and brainstorm on and find a solution for in the future? And like, you know, that that would be the second part of that is just empower them. Let them make decisions they're going to learn and fail with you, but then teach them along the way. Don't wait six months for a performance review. Let them know what they did wrong, when they did it wrong, and let them know how they can do it better next time. It's not that they're, you know, getting written up or you're in trouble. It's that just didn't work this time. Here's how I would like you to handle that situation in the future.
Start, stop, go. You know, I want you to stop doing it this way. I want you to start doing it this way now. Go and execute and learn. Bring back feedback.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: So I like that a lot. Let me make a comment about something. You've said a bunch because you use the word alignment probably four times or more in this and that is a big buzzword for a lot of the consultation and things. I do that. So we find people that are cultural fit, they're in alignment with the culture of our business. I like the phrase role alignment because if somebody is in the wrong role, they could be a stellar employee someplace else and you've just got them in the wrong position. Maybe they're not meant to be at the cash register, but they're better in the back doing the repairs, doing the mechanical stuff. Or maybe they're the really fun guy, getting the kids pumped up to run out on the field and they don't need to be in the back room, you know. So I think that role alignment and having people actually take an emphasis to train and hire and point towards role alignment, I think that's. That's a pretty big nugget. You just drop that. I don't want to gloss over in any.
Yeah, so let me, Let me ask this question to you. Let me transition to. I want to know about when you were tested. Tell me about a time when your leadership skills were tested, whether that was something just incredibly great happened and you could have either taking all the credit and been really egotistical about it. We're the opposite. Something really bad happened, an injury or financial hardship. And boy, here comes the test of Preston's metal. Give us a little insight on something.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: A lot over the last year, very socially, you know, some. Some business ethics. You know, this is where it really comes into play. Are you doing the right thing? Are you doing the right thing for your business? And is your business doing the right thing for your customers? Are you creating value for them? And are they create them paying you for value in return? And is that exchange worth it, you know, as it goes hand, hand in hand. But for us, one of the big challenges. We had a celebrity appearance. We had a celebrity come from British. He gets millions of views online. Kicking Mustang.
You've seen, like his headshot video snipers all the time. But it's controversial because people think he's intentionally aiming for a headshot, when in fact he's 300ft away. And as you know, with Airsoft, these things aren't that accurate. The BB is going to fly all over, go every which way. And it's YouTube. You can put a little hit marker wherever you want on the screen. It's eye catching. So he knows his demographic and he knows that clickbait audience, and they're gonna watch and they're gonna get sucked into that. But on the opposite side of that, there was some toxicity going on in the comments and review sections of our business for inviting him out. And that was people just judging, you know, a book by its cover, not knowing the true character. His name's James. He stayed with us at our house. Phenomenal dude. Very transparent about his content. But we got a lot of flack for that. And I think at that point we did, we had to stand our ground because at that point, I had to then judge James for his true character. And were we doing the right thing, setting the right example? Was this sending the right message to our industry? Are we going to allow, you know, someone that was being accused of intentionally trying to inflict pain, though that wasn't the case. And then what do you do with that information and how do you respond publicly?
A lot of life lessons learned there. So online is loud and. And it's louder than you can ever be on your own as one person. So all you can really do at that moment is stop, collaborate, and listen, because it's time to. Yeah, it is, though. It's time to figure out the next step forward. And I like to be very transparent. You know, it's just as easy as having this right here. I'm gonna put a conference call up, I'm gonna go live and I'm gonna let my customers know where my headspace is at, get reaffirm them of the good opportunities that are ahead of us for these reasons and then resell the successes of that post event with all of our videos and content. And it was the best part.
[00:48:19] Speaker B: You just said something too that that's important. You said kind of talking about your future and upcoming events and stuff like that. So obviously people have seen for the last 24 minutes or so your beautiful business brain on display. But maybe there's just somebody in the audience that says, hey, I want to talk to this guy about business or I want to talk to this guy about Airsoft. Tell us as we conclude tonight's episode where somebody finds you, get a hold of you, either purchase your inventory or pick your brain. How do we find Preston and ACS Airsoft?
[00:48:46] Speaker A: Absolutely. So you can find me at ACS Airsoft in Paducah, Kentucky. Our website is going to be acsairsoft.net you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, email, phone call, text, whatever's convenient for you. We can be found everywhere and we will respond. You find me there.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: Awesome. Preston, thank you so much for coming on the show tonight. This has been a pleasure. I'm going to try to tap you on the shoulder in the future for everyone else watching tonight episodes. Thanks for sticking with us and remember to go out into the world and I want you to see the change and be the change. And I'll catch you right here next time on Pivotal Change.
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