Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Small Boat, Big Impact: Brian Thompson on Building the LVP Warehouse of Asheville

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Small Boat, Big Impact: Brian Thompson on Building the LVP Warehouse of Asheville · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm excited to be joined by Brian Thompson of the LVP Warehouse of Asheville.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Brian, thanks for being here.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's jump right in.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: How are we doing today?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, Cliff?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Great to have you on.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: So for those who may not know you yet, you know, who is Brian Thompson and what is the LVP warehouse of Asheville?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what problems are you passionate about?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I took over the warehouse about a year ago now.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um it I guess to sum it up, we're a local LVP, which is luxury vinyl planking, um, more of like a supply house.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of we can we do retail to the to the general public, but a lot of business-to-business um transactions, so it's more of a supply house for type scenario as as apart from a design studio or a flooring store that has hardwood and everything.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we specifically carry the luxury vinyl free-float uh plank flooring.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: So take us back to the very beginning.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: What what made you say, yep, I'm doing this, I'm I'm gonna go ahead and get involved with this business?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I for me it was more of a situation um driven um thing.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: A um an acquaintance brought the opportunity to me.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh in a time where I was looking for something else to do.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was this is basically a franchise.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the the head company is called Case Flooring, and um it's out of a it's out of the Southeast locally.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to meet the owner.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we have about 65, I believe.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't don't quote me on that, but that's very close to um franchise warehouses uh in the US now as of this year.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a small company and it's been operating for a number of years now, and it's been growing.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the acquaintance knew of the original franchise owner, uh, one of the original guys.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So he had it, he's had it for about a couple years now.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the potential was was easy to see there.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the business as far as the dollars and cents worked out.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I never saw myself as uh selling flooring from my background.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't be apparent, you know, very it wouldn't be a path that would be, oh yeah, of course he's gonna own a uh LVP warehouse type store.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: But uh it worked out situationally and uh the numbers worked out and yeah, we've been making a making a go of it, and it's been great.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if you had to start again from absolute scratch, no brand, no clients, no safety net, what would you do differently the second time around?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can say this specific instance, uh, I was probably about an hour away um physically, and it kind of started as a side gig, and I treated it as much for a little while.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this when once you I fully turned my attention to it, there was obviously like um a huge leap in growth.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would say with this venture, that that would be the one thing that I would um change for this is to just fully turn my attention on it immediately.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess it's pretty scary if if you are working it as like um a side hustle, you know, when do I cut ties and and other with the safety net and go for it?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say as ASAP as soon as you can get the confidence.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So Okay, okay.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you were doing so you're saying you were doing something else part-time with this part-time, or were you working for other jobs?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not um it wasn't as well defined as that, but I was um searching other opportunities.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I I was kind of um, you know, I wasn't just sticking a toe in, but um, I thought, oh, I can do this a little bit on the side and also get some other things going, but um found it really beneficial, obviously, to concentrate it, concentrate on it for a um at least for a time, you know.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I I really believe there's very very few things that are are passive income opportunities that regardless of what you'll see on the internet or or whose book uh or whatever they're trying to sell you.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um gotta pay attention to it.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: It takes effort.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: If if it was if it was uh easy, everybody'd do it kind of thing.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everybody's trying to sell a book or a course now.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I get it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: So so what's a lesson you learned the hard way as a franchising owner that no one really prepares you for?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think any business is um the th the the unknown unknowns, I guess is to quote a famous is it's like the things uh your equipment breaks down, or your your the lease, the building lease, you there you have to talk to the that guy because there's an issue, or your neighbor had a problem, or it's the things it you define your business as okay, we're selling flooring and these are going to be my issues.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: The things, the little things I think any bit real true business owner can tell you that the day-to-day things that they and the problems they solve can be as varied as as anything on the slate, and that gets more complicated as you know, depending on what kind of business you have.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, even my business, you know, very I don't have a lot of equipment, I don't have a ton of overhead.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I try to get eliminate those things as much as possible, but there are still things that um are gonna be that are gonna occur day to day that um business owners don't talk about, but they have to deal with, I guess, is is is my answer there.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So what would you say is one common myth people believe about running a business that makes you laugh now?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that it's that it's like passive income and that you've figured it out and um even when it's s successful, you know, that you've you've reached the end and and you have um attained, I guess.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's the daily, it's the daily things.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think the business owner, um I think the famous thing is that they have to do what everyone else will not do or does not want to do.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the buck uh absolutely stops with you and or your partners or whoever.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so someday that can look really cool, or some would you know, taking a client out or doing whatever somebody would think would be a very glamorous part of it.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the next day you're you're uh un you're you know, the toilet overflowed in the back and the forklift broke and whatever, whatever.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um being a rich true small business, um, that all falls to me, all three of those situations.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So okay.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So you've always got something going on.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: So be honest, are you naturally more of an entrepreneur or an employee at heart and why?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a great question.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think in the past I've been definitely been more of an employee, although dip my toe in helping start other businesses.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And now being a full entrepreneur, um it's definitely a different mindset.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um even if you're an employee with equity, which I think is the best um type of employment, if you can get it, because then you have stake in the operation.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't all fall on you.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I think uh the entrepreneur is just you either you fake it till you make it, but you have to have a lot of self-belief.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it rests um, you know, you eat what you kill.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas if you're an employee, there's always kind of a fallback like, well, somebody else will pick the slack up, or this division will do better.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: My division had a low, had a lone quarter, but um, you know, there's there's more um more safety nets there.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you personally handle stepping away from the business?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like vacations, downtime, unplugging without everything flipping apart.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I've had it for about a year, so there hasn't been a lot of that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would say um I lean more towards um work as opposed to life balance, but it's important.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do have a business partner that can help.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's important to put those um to guard your time for whatever may um help keep that balance for you, whether it's family or your time at the gym or whatever it may be.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think you need to protect that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all a balance.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think this most important thing.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do believe though, that to be very successful at things, you you have to put your life out of balance for a time.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe to accelerate that growth or the importance of that thing.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So are you typically a person who, you know, five o'clock, six o'clock, I'm not sure when the store closes, but are you typically a person who just cuts off at the end of the day, you leave the job, and you're you're good to go, or or do you take it home with you and Yeah, I mean, physically, yes.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I always say I'm working if my phone's on me.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Any contractor who's worked with me in the past couple of years or whatever, um it flooring's a great product because no one can call me up and say that, you know, um someone's gonna die if they don't get it tonight.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you definitely want to make those efforts for people who have supported you.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if the guy wants to come pick it up tonight instead of tomorrow, um, I've all I'll always say that ease of doing business is definitely one of our um beliefs.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I think it's um in today's age we deal with massive companies like Walmart or Amazon or these people and they have all these rules and SOPs.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's the advantage of a smaller business is that um we can cut through those uh SOPs, so to speak, and make it uh much easier for our customer.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that's the flexibility that um, you know, uh not comparing Amazon to us and in a point, but if if that if that comes across, um if you get my meaning there, we can be flexible for our c yeah.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if the guy calls me and he's like, Man, I gotta go to Greenville tomorrow.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And can you meet me at seven o'clock at the warehouse and load me?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll bring a check.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, okay, let's do it, let's make it happen, as opposed to, oh, I wish I could, but I I won't be back there till eight o'clock, and so-and-so ha has to load you and has to sign all these papers.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um that that can be um, you know, we can um speed that process up and make it easier for for my guys.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, no, you're exactly you're exactly right.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, especially like with Walmart or like you said, Amazon.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they they have a way of doing business, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if they can't do it, they can't do it until a certain time.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is what it is.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's no getting around that.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: They're really big ships, and those ships take forever to turn.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas we're very small boats, and um I think that's the advantage of working with somebody local and a smaller, smaller company, you know.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: We I'm very motivated to find a solution to um whatever um situation may happen, and the business definitely isn't is important to me.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, okay.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I know you're still really you know, relatively new at this, but uh, you know, I still want you to look back and and what do you attribute most to your growth so far in your business?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that kind of um goes into um what I just said is that the the willingness to work with your customers and clients um to just to just give um energy and um care about them.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's that's pretty novel.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um just to walk into a big box store, um not naming names.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, um, where do I find this?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where do I get this?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have that.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's three weeks out.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um that that's you know that that's how you grow.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think word of I'm a big believer in um word of mouth.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I don't think a lot of people are buying flooring off of Instagram.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: They may find you on there, they might find you on Facebook.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So an advertisement gets your foot in the door, but then that's just your opportunity to show um both your product and your service.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think that's what that's what really um helps companies of our size grow, is is that personal experience.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like it's like that personal touch, and then when you give that personal touch, they tell other people, and other people tell other people, so on and so forth.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you still have to be competitive.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: You I I don't expect people to pay a super super premium for that, but I do think there's a lot of value there um that people may miss.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if they're saving uh five cents to go to the big box store, you you may get a a five cent saving and a and a million dollar headache.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think that that a lot of people um can overlook that in some situations, uh how we how we kind of shop um for our stuff today.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're building a team or or you're hiring employees, what traits matter more to you than what's on someone's resume?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I would say I don't have any employees right now.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, we we uh hope to grab get get one this year.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say like I would say loyalty and honesty is is probably the most um important things that you'll never see on a resume or be able to tell about a person until you've worked with them.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um hired some people in the past and you try to make the best decisions you can, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's any much like uh football coaches or football players we're talking about earlier, I don't think anyone can see the future how how they'll work out.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I definitely agree.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and I know this is kind of hypothetical, but what's one thing you would do to intentionally keep your workplace positive, motive motivated, and productive, especially during stressful seasons?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think trying to work with your employees as much as possible within that the that they give you um their time and be flexible with you, and that you as an employer are flexible as as much as you can and and try to work things out with them, um, especially in a case that um they're they may be like a part-time employee or or whatnot.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you're probably asking them to do many things that aren't as you know numbered on some SOP sheet.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you're asking them to be flexible.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if they ask for, hey, next month, can I have this these couple days, you know, you try to be flexible with them.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, oh love it, love it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's go ahead and get into the uh quickfire round.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So basically what this is gonna do is basically I'm going to I'm going to say one word.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say one that one word, I want you to think of the first thing or the first idea that comes to your mind when you hear each word regarding running your business.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now, your answer doesn't have to be one word, it just has to be the first idea that comes to my mind.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So all right.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: So first word is education.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, it's definitely you need to be educated about your product.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So in my case, that would be the product itself.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's important to have when you don't know, to say I don't know, but to have a resource to go to.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a really some really good installers I work with and some people who have been putting down this product for longer than I've been selling it.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's that's important to to know uh as in-depth about your product or process as as is possible.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Next word is planning.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, um, you plan as well as you uh can for any situation, but definitely prep be prepared to be flexible because uh you're never gonna think of all eventualities.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: So inspiration.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is what sets apart from uh your your it can set your business apart as from a large um, let's say, you know, a large flooring store or a large big box store that you're gonna go to.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um no one has stock in that store that you're gonna talk to that day or just trying to sell you the product.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they don't even have any equity in the game.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I think inspiration and how much they're involved, that that's the huge thing that a smaller to medium-sized business can put into the experience for the customer.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love that answer.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's awesome.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't gotten that one yet.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um next one is commitment.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would lump those two together.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, that that comes right along with it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we already talked about, you know, some somebody call a contractor calls me at 7 p.m.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, can I meet you at 7.30?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or um you don't have to drop your whole life, but definitely that that's another, you know, you're I'm never gonna um beat Amazon on AI or um automation or robotics or something like that.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can't if you can't beat big box companies on inspiration and commitment, then you might wanna you might want to rethink your your path as far as I'm concerned.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Next one is discipline.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Discipline, yeah.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, I think that's that's do do what you say and um and just say what say what you'll do.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's important to to all customers as well.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and to keep at it.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I think an entrepreneur, you were talking about is it's better to be an entrepreneur or an employee.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Entrepreneurs have like high highs and low lows.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that the real somebody once told me the trick is to try to keep it in the middle, but it will never be in the middle.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So especially when you start, um, there'll be months where you thought think, oh man, this was the dumbest idea I've ever had.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some months where it's like, oh wow, this is the best.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um it's important just try to try to not get too high or too low.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Risk.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's definitely uh the risk is high, but there along with that risk, the reward should um come with it, right?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're if you're taking a huge risk and getting very little reward, maybe you might want to rethink some strategy or some or something like that.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, but that's with the high that kind of goes along with the high highs and low lows, right?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the last one is execution.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think right up there with planning, right?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that goes along with your plan, and you try to execute through your plan, but um things will change.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, oh man, I remember um the flooring we have is is a very heavy product, which means it's really great quality product.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Delivering in the Asheville area in the mountains can be extremely challenging.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: People have driveways that are not even as long as their cars, and they're 45 degrees to their house, and this is this is like a lot large material, like um look a lot of products.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um you you just need to be flexible.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: You try to so in that case, you know, if if it's possible, like I'll drive to the location myself and look and almost like scout out the because if you talk to everybody, like, oh, we got plenty of room, and but they don't know what kind of truck you're bringing, they don't really have a a good handle on how much product it's gonna be or the weight and the process.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um that would be the planning is to like you go and and kind of site visit and see how you would do it, and then you try to execute and it doesn't always work out the way you think it will be, but um you try to have good guys that'll be flexible and um and eventually you'll get it done one way or another.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So even if that means just pure manpower, which is which is a it's a long day, but uh that you know that could come out to what it what it uh would be.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, okay, okay.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So and I and I want you to be as you know as candid as possible on this answer here.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, if if a business owner or you know, even if it's a smaller business owner is listening right now and feels stuck or overwhelmed, what's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear today?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't I I don't know.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I think we all have those days.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you if we're all honest with each other, um I would say try not to get too high or too low.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it's great to join like uh business groups when you can.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know I think.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think you you guys deal with a lot of the Faba people, they they've been great for me.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's nice to hear other people's stories um and people that will be real with you too.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's not um I I believe there's no passive income, there's no set it forget it.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of stuff you see um out there, especially on social media, are these people that were just crushing it every day.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um that's only one side of the story.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: They they have a lot of other things to deal with too.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they had even as the most successful people had uh they had dark days at some point too uh in the in their in the formation or early days or even the day-to-day.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely agree with that.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, so what's next for the LVP warehouse?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: What should people be excited about?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't I don't know.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think the next step for us is obviously we'll get an employee that we can offer um expanded hours at the store.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I would say we are mostly appointment only.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's best to contact us before you come by and we can facilitate any appointment.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: But um being run by just a couple people, um, so I guess that would be a big thing for us next year is to be up to be able to have somebody be at the showroom more and so they could show off more to to retail customers, um, show the product off.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um perhaps uh as we grow the um I I hope that the volume will continue to grow so this the space you know becomes a concern and the logistics, um, that would be a great problem to have.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so those are the two things that I'm I'm looking forward to hoping to address this year.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or or learn more about what you do?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, website's really great.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Lvp Asheville, LVP, the the um letters, asheville.com.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um that will give you a really great overview of our products and a way to contact uh myself.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um so extremely small business, maybe, but I can 90% guarantee that you're probably gonna be talking to um me.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, we can set up an appointment for you guys to come look at anything you want.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: But that's a good that's a great um way to start.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're in Arden off Airport Road in a in a little business park there.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully pretty conveniently located, um, even though the traffic can get frustrating there sometimes.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, just give us the time and like uh like I tried to mention earlier, you know, um by appointment only.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that that's not super convenient for everyone, but um I'm very flexible.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I can't count the number of guys who come after work, you know.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's 6 30 p.m.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: or what or whatever, um as long as you you're you can communicate and be there at that time of appointment, uh, we want to be flexible for for you.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think personally from my background, I know it's various for everyone, that is more valuable for for me when I was doing um out and about and running and gunning than is to be open eight to five when everybody else is is at at their helms, you know.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, LV uh LvPashville.com is a is a great place to start.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Any social media to see what they do, would you see what you do?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say start at the website.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um we we definitely have some Instagram uh presence and Facebook, but um the the website is is probably the best place to to start and um um it has all the current products that we have.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: So um like the Instagram and the and the Facebook are we use more as pretty much advertising for people that um haven't found us yet, um, as opposed to running deals or showing you demonstrations or or whatever.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, um that website is probably the best resource for you.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then just get a hold of us uh through email or um there's a phone number on the on the website as well.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, perfect.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, Brian, this has been fantastic.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your story, your perspective, and the real behind the scenes of building a business.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I really appreciate you coming on today.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for the invite, Cliff.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you very much.