On today's episode of gathering the Kings. You've been in that place where failure was potentially it was on the table. You just disregarded it completely. I'm not I'm not even interested in going down that road. I shut that part of my brain off. I'm gonna figure out the problem. I'm gonna, you know, bring a solution. We're gonna go to the next level. Whatever that that looked like. Give me one of those moments where failure was on the table and you said, freaking get out of here.
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars, from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today.
We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and keys like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe. Gathering the king's podcast. Today, I've got a queen on the stage.
Laurie Hell Bush. Laurie, thanks for joining us here today. Thanks for having me. I I just appreciate. I was giving you right before the, the record button hit Chaz, you know, we have we have Queens on the stage because King isn't masculine, but that's, there's lots of good stuff that come from female entrepreneurs. We've had plenty of guests. I love that we get to add you to that mix, but tell us what kind of business that you have, Lori. Yeah. So I own a specialty wine beer and spirit storage.
We also have a bar. So it's a full bar, craft cocktails, wind by the beers. And then we have a private room, which I am sitting in right now, where we do events also. So we do tastings and glasses or and we can also rent out a room for you know, meetings, baby showers, where? Yeah. You've taken what I what I love what I already know about you a little bit.
I'm anxious to get to know you better, but What I know about already is that I love that you've taken this retail concept of selling a product, and you've turned it into an experience. Yes. That's you put the you put the words to it. Just exactly right. That so I'm I'm actually I bought my business. I didn't start it. It was about 30, thirty five years old when I bought it.
And it was a successful business, but the guy that had owned it the whole time And he was just ready to retire, and he was not sort of taking it to the next level at the point. So he didn't have a website. If, you know, was still using manual cash registers and all of Chaz. And I grew up around this. I grew up in the area, so I grew up around this business.
And I I had just watched it and thought, man, you could do so much without the concept is all there, but it's just, you know, it just needs it needs like a makeover. And, yeah, that was really my goal was to make it take it from a transaction to an experience. Yeah. I I love that that language that we we say sometimes transcending the transaction or transcending the ticket. Those things are real.
It's not just this, you know, woo type of a sentence that we say to feel good on a podcast, but it's real. Right. You can change a product experience into or a product purchase into an an experience. So I definitely wanna get into that, especially with you, you know, being in the area and seeing it how it wants funds before and how you do it now. I'm sure that it it's night and day, so I wanna get into that.
Before we do, get into your journey and some of the practicals of your business, I wanna know, Laurie, what's the burning desire? Down deep, what's the why? What's the bigger picture? Why are you doing this? Yeah. So, honestly, like, I was thinking about Chaz I think it's really that for me failure is not. So anytime that I start to start to feel involved I guess overwhelmed or burnt out. I Yeah. I just in the end, I'm like, but failure's not an option. So you keep going.
You keep putting one foot in front of the other. And, you know, a lot of it also Chaz answers my my daughters. I have 2 daughters, and I feel like it's my role to be an example to them of what is possible in their lives And so I take that seriously, and I feel like it's really important to show them to just keep keep trying to better yourself and keep trying to go to the next level. So, yeah, I got 2 answers. I I refuse to fail, and just being an example for my kid, Yeah.
Both both super powerful and almost two ends of the spectrum there of of, you know, psycho connection to your daily actions. Chaz that refusal to fail. I wanna I wanna just press in on that for just a half second because the way that you said it I felt that you had drawn the line. Right? There's there's a lot of people that I'm not gonna fail or failure is not an option. Maybe even they if they say it that strongly. Most don't say it that strongly.
Even in the midst of saying those words, I could tell, like, You've been in that place where failure was potentially it was on the table. You just You just disregarded it completely. I'm not I'm not even interested in going down that road. I shut that part of my brain off. I'm gonna figure out the problem. I'm gonna, you know, bring a solution. We're gonna go to the next level. Whatever that that looked like.
Give me one of those moments where failure was on the table and you said, freaking get out of here. Yeah. So I've owned a business for 15 years, and there have been, I would call it, 2 moments over those 15 years. So I moved my business in this 8 years ago.
And the first moment was after I bought the business about 2 to 3 years in, I realized it's this is not what I was sold and and kind of had to dig in deep and figure out, okay, maybe the numbers were what they were reported to be, but I'm in this position now. So how do I move forward? Yep. So that was the first moment. I was able to slide my way, figure out, you know, what are my numbers need to look like? How do I get there? Come up with a plan.
Work the plan, probably the most important for it. Right? And then Yeah. Was able to turn it around to the point that then at 7 years, I had the opportunity to move and had to make that decision and then moved. And, essentially, I was restarting my business because I I only moved about a mile away, but I moved to a totally different type of development from, like, strip mall you know, destination.
You have to mean to go there to a very, very high traffic mixed use development where There are concerts and farmers markets and tons of things happening around me and the layouts different. And I'm basically starting over with a new business. So it was about 2 years into that that, you know, I had another moment of of this isn't working the way we're doing it. And I need to figure that out.
So, you know, again, just really, like, digging in on numbers and digging in really being honest with myself, and about what's going on and coming up with solutions. And, you know, the other piece of that is bringing my team in. It's being being able to I had to sit my management team down and be honest with them about what was happening and be honest with them about their role in turning it around and and what I needed from them.
So a lot of Chaz I really think just comes down to, be honest with yourself and be willing to be vulnerable and ask for help. And people wanna help you. Yeah. And we've been able to turn it around, and now it's, you know, it's it's exactly what I envisioned. It would be 15 years ago, just on a much more bumpy path to get there. Yeah. Well, I've I think it's always a little bumpier than we than we than we thought. Right. Exactly. Expect the bumps. Right? Where is about?
Yeah. We we we know it's gonna be bumpy, but when the bumps come, we're like, I didn't I didn't. You know? So I I I feel that in your story, but It's interesting that you say the first step was being honest because even in some of the consulting work that one of my companies does for the home service industry, My very first step in that is you gotta be honest. You gotta look in the mirror. You gotta look at what the business is. You gotta look at what the team is.
You gotta look at what your experience is. The problems, the current solution. Like, let's just put it all into the table, and let's just be honest. Because if you're not honest, then you're, like, purposely Blinding yourself from what the actual problem is, and so then, therefore, there can be no solution. Right. How do you fix a problem when you won't even admit it's there? Right? Yeah. It's huge. It's huge.
Everything that you've given so far, I just wanna point this out to the listener because I'm a huge personality, you know, like, I get into the nitty gritty with the with the way that people think. So you've given logical answers the entire time. Like, even, you know, which it it you have to be able to, like, operate in logic to make sound decisions, but it was, like, not for none. It it you talked about your daughters. You talked about the emotional connection that you have to not failing.
Those things aren't logical. Whiting is oftentimes what's logical. Yeah. There were definitely moments that it might have been more electrical equipped, but it just to me, it just yeah. So I I guess the the point there that I'm hearing.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I want you to kinda maybe give a response to this, is that I'm hearing you make sound, like, well thought out Let me be honest with myself and my team type decisions, which is logic, but you you self guarded yourself from maybe those bad decisions around that maybe it's the emotion or maybe it's logic in those moments of failure or I don't wanna do this or it's not working. This isn't what I was sold.
Like, all of those really heightened intense moments, you just, like, cut off the the door of failure. You just said, it's not even I'm not even gonna go down that Road. Was that logic? Is it a motion? Is it a mixture of both? Like, just generally, what's what's your response to all this, though? I'm saying. Yeah. You know, I guess I'd say a mixture of both because, I mean, like I said, logically, there may have been points that I'm I'm just trying to think through it as a as a Talking bit.
Yeah. At one point, logically, it it you might have made an argument that it would make more sense to closed. See, at other points, not so much because we're in a lease. You know, you're you're stuck in your lease anyway. You're gonna owe that money anyway. And so because I don't own my building. So even financially, I think it just, to me, wasn't an option because I don't have a safety net. I don't have somebody that's gonna come in and bail me out. So I've gotta figure it out.
And I also I mean, just from the emotional aspect of it, like, I just don't want that to be my story, and I don't want it to be the story that my that my kids know about me Chaz I live with and and Yeah. That tip. So I guess, emotionally, those are the reasons that it's just so I I love I love just your, you know, even just working through that live time here with us because because it is both. It is both.
It's not like you just can always just calculate everything, you know, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, or plus y equals z. But in those moments, we do have to be honest. Gotta look at things logically. So I think you gave a great, actually, side of of both both ways to do it. So going into your story here, like, how did you come across buying this business that you knew about? It'd been there for a decade. Give us Yeah. Yeah. Let's do before.
Yeah. So it's an existing business that was kind of in the neighborhood where I grew up, and it's it is a liquor store, but it also had a New York style deli. So I grew up coming to lunch here and, you know, accompanying my parents that they were buying something on the liquor store side, but because it's a very high end liquor store. So, you know, you can come in and get French wines and Italian wines and fun cocktail ingredients.
But on the deli side so on a lawyer, I was previously a lawyer to buying this business. And Yeah. When I was at the law firm where I worked before this, I I it was like every other Friday, I would pick my grandmother up and bring her to lunch here. And so, yeah, it was just this I knew about it, obviously, but I had this sort of nostalgia for it also. And the owner was, you know, around sometimes and My parents kinda knew him as an acquaintance.
And so one day I was talking to him when I had my grandma in with me and he mentioned he's like, oh, you're a lawyer. You know, maybe you know somebody wants to buy my business. I'm looking at selling the business. And it, like, planted a seed, and I didn't do anything about it for, like, a year or 2. I just sort of sat on this information. And then I heard a rumor that he had found someone, and I was like, what? Somebody gets to own? Somebody get the that's gonna be somebody's job.
They get to run that business. That's amazing. And I was kinda kicking myself that I didn't consider it. And then when I saw him again, I said, hey. Congratulations. I heard you stole, and he said, no. It's all through. So immediately, I was like, We have to have a conversation then. I don't know where this is gonna go, but but I need to have a conversation with you about that being me. And he was like, what? Okay. So Yeah. Yeah. So that's kinda how it happened. Yeah. I love that story.
You know, it's funny. Again, you you've done just a really good job here giving us, like, you know, two sides of the coin. The the first side is that, you know, you've got information and but yet you kinda just sat on it. Didn't do much with it. But then quickly put yourself in a position. It's just, like, for whatever reason, it needed to resonate with you differently. And when it did Yes.
Boom. You were you were an action taker, implement, or I clearly tell, like, you're just like, boom, boom, boom, put it. Like, let's just do this thing. And so in that moment, was it the Was it, like, a little bit of FOMO that someone else was gonna get it, or what was the, like, the brain switch for you? You know, it was the fear of regret. It was like, I'm gonna be 10 years, 20 years down the road, and I'm gonna be, you know, fighting to make partnership in this law firm.
Right. Maybe I'll be a partner, but I'll be working my tail off to make money for a lot of other people. And I And I'm gonna look back, and I'm gonna wish that I had had taken this opportunity to do something I love and build something for myself. And Yeah. It was yeah.
I mean, I was very well aware that I'm like, this is somewhat crazy that I'm leaving up a perfectly comfortable full successful practice of law to take on this massive amount of risk, but I just I was like, I can't live with the possible regret that I don't try. So Yeah. Yeah. Didn't that Yeah. I I've said this already, like, three times, but I just I love every little piece here because it's so you are so making logical choices, but, like, with this, like, deep seated Forget all of that.
Yeah. You have to do it anyway. I just love it. I love the energy. Yeah. Well, it it look. It's it's you know, clearly, there's skill sets that you have that has helped you not only learn and study law, be successful as as an attorney, but but then to be able to have that spirit inside of you that says, you know what? I'm maybe I can do it for myself. Like, only entrepreneurs, think like that.
The the little bud, you know, stems up in a lot of people, but then the entrepreneurs are the one that say, you know what? I know it's massive risk even more so for you because you categorized Chaz you knew how from, like, a, like, from, like, a legal perspective, how to actually categorize it as massive risk. Yeah. It's Folks. People are like, I don't know. Let's just do a business and you're like, no. I've calculated it. This is actually massive risk. Yeah. I'm gonna do it anyway.
Yep. Let's do this. Alright. Laurie, inside of the You kind of already given us a little bit of this, but I want you to, and maybe pull up the same point. We'll go further or maybe something different, but I want a good decision that you made. Somewhere along the line here that you can look back. And because of this one thing, it's led to a lot of success, or you would you you would do it over and over again, something that we can do in our business.
Yeah. So I think the best decision is probably the move. It's it's taking it being in one location that, you know, Having bought the business struggled for the 1st few years and had to turn it around deciding to move was another massive risk because I did turn it around and got it to the point where I'm like, I can make a living off of this.
I can build an asset, but Now I have this opportunity to move this business to a much higher traffic area, get a lot more exposure, throw it, take on Wolfe square footage, And, you know, obviously, that's a huge risk, but the way I looked at it was, you know, I bought my business pretty young. I was thirty when I bought it. And so I was, like, 37 36 at the time I was making a decision.
And I was like, I I didn't do this to coast the rest of the way down this path in the position that I'm in I did this to to build something. So go bigger, go halt. So it was really a a Yeah. A go a bigger go home moment. It was it was do it or regret. Again, like, do it or regret that I that I make Chaz as much out of this as they could. Yeah. And it really felt like it was an unfulfilled vision also because in the old location.
There was only so much I could do to make it look and feel the way I wanted it to. Right. And so it was an opportunity to, like, This is my version of this business. So I inherited, you know, this other person's version. This is really my opportunity with a blank slate to, like, grow it up and really make it what I thought could be. Yeah. There's just a lot of power in that moment. How would you translate that?
I mean, your list I mean, we got you know, thousands of listeners who are hearing your story right now, and they're trying to figure out what that go big moment is for them. Maybe it's removing their retail location. Maybe they're in the trades or they're in marketing or something like that where they need to go all in again. Uh-huh. What do you think that that looks like for business owners in general? What is the thing that scammers you the most?
And and you're If you really dig in and you're, again, honest with yourself on what's the thing that scares you the most, the answer's probably in there or connected to that somewhere. Yeah. You're right. Because those those things that scare us typically we shy away from naturally, right, survival where that's how our brains are wired. And so we we stay away from those things. Okay. So if I'm if I'm identifying the thing that scares me, you said that maybe that's it or maybe it's associated to.
For you, how like, Did you get the knock on the door of, like, hey. We're building this other cool building over here. You wanna be part of it, or were you, like, oh my goodness. I'm I need to create something different and you went looking for it. So funny enough, it's a little bit of buffalo. So the developer for the area I'm in now came to me a few years prior or 2 when I actually decided to move and said, hey. We've got a space open. We're coming things opening soon.
Can I get you to come down here? And at the time, I was pregnant with my second daughter, and my lease still had, like, 3 years left on it. And I just said, you know, I'm interested, but the timing is not right for me. So, it just wasn't gonna happen Chaz. So it was about 2 years later, Chaz I knew my lease in the old location was coming due. I have, like, a year and a half left.
And for those of you that have leases, don't start when it's 6 months Trying to decide if you're gonna render your lease. Give yourself a long runway. So I was like, a year gonna hop out and and said, you know, I need to start figuring out what's gonna happen at the end of this lease. And so I just went back to him and said, hey. I, you know, I know you you you probably feel less. I know they feel less base already, but do you have anything else in your development? I need to start looking.
And he's like, well, actually, the the Chaz space is coming due again. So if you're still interested, we can talk again on that space. So Interesting. Yeah. It was kind of a mix of both. Yeah. I love I love Chaz, like you said, it it was a it was a drop. It was a seed very similar to the business. You logically made a choice of Chaz shiny object right now. I I shouldn't deal with that.
Yeah. But the emotion of that fulfills a a different vision of how I see this business, but it's not the right time. I just think that there's just so much poise in everything that you've shared. Maybe that's the maybe that's the attorney in you. I don't know. What do you think? That he got maybe. Yeah. Yeah. But timing really matters, though, you know, on these big decisions. It's That's right. It has to feel right.
I guess that's the other point I was gonna make is when you're when you're making big decisions, The thing that you're most afraid of, you need to dig in on that, but also you really just have to gut check and be honest with yourself and be self aware and the and whatever that spidey sense is you're feeling about it, you have to listen to it. And Yeah. Trust trust your own judgment.
Yeah. I'm I'm hearing maybe a distinction between, like, knowing, like, poise is analyzing and knowing what decision you're gonna make and win Chaz opposed to delaying. Like, I'm just slowly making a decision. I'm not taking action. That's not poise. I hear you say, look, evaluate, make a decision, but then it may not be right now. Uh-huh. Wolfe just say to that. Yeah. I I I just think thinking through all of the factors and making sure that that each factor lines up is is the key.
And when I'm when I'm sitting on those decisions for a year or 2 and you know, or longer. It's not that it's not running through my head, and then I'm not thinking about it. And and I also think it's important. It's If you're not gonna move forward with something, it doesn't have to be a no period. It can be a not now. Or Right. It can be a, you know, just continue to consider. So trying not to look at things as so black and white shouldn't be helpful.
And maybe look at her creative solutions where maybe not that space, but maybe a different space. Maybe not now, but maybe 2 years from. So you know, we I think we tend to think think of things as black and white, but that's that's not always the way they are. Yeah. Especially in business. It's rarely. It's rarely black. Great. So that's good. Let's flip the coin. Laurie, tell us about a time that you made a bad decision, something that maybe we can learn from.
Yeah. So all of my worst decisions, I can pinpoint to not trusting my own judgment of us. Interested in. They they most of my worst decisions revolve around bringing somebody else in Chaz I they give too much leeway or too much power to in deciding how things are gonna be within my business.
So, you know, example, as I hired someone quite a few years ago now, but really when I hire people, you know, my goal is hire the right person for the job, put them in the right role, and then get out of their way. So I tend to be a fairly hands off. Like, I'm involved, but I don't micromanage.
Right. And so I hired somebody that, you know, purported to have all, like, the credentials and qualifications and but started making decisions that were not decisions I would make, and I kind of let it happen because I was doubting my own judgment. And, this was in one of those moments where it was a turn this around or it's not gonna work.
And so I kinda wasted some time there by letting somebody else make those decisions for me and wasted some time and money and, you know, in the end, being honest with myself about the situation is what allowed me to identify and and pivot and say, look. This isn't gonna work. I need to take this back on my cell. I need to be the one steering the ship here, but It all comes from the those bad decisions all come from doubting yourselves. And Yeah. When it's your business, you know it best.
You have to trust you have to trust yourself. Yeah. Yeah. I I you gave a great distinction there of this is not you with a power grab of, like, I gave away too much power, and I want it back. Yeah. Not at all. I would love to give it all away. And I think a lot of renewers are like Chaz. We don't know how to. We don't know how to let go.
But then in your example, very similar to you, is I know how to give it away, for sure, but Sometimes you give it away either too soon without enough training, or maybe we're just not in a as much of alignment as I thought we were. Yeah. And so what would you say to that person who's maybe like us?
Or what what you what have you done on the next hire since then to make sure that there's more alignment or maybe more training or maybe, you know, better decision making so that you can actually still hand it off and you don't have to power grab, you know, type of boss. Well, I think for me, it's staying involved.
So you know, at the at the time, especially in that example that I gave, it was it was kind of a a you must know better than me take the reins and I'll let you make decisions that I would normally make. And, you know, I have a management team here, and I give I put a lot of trust in my management team and give them a lot of leeway. But we meet every single week, and we meet every other week with a slightly larger team that's kind of a strategic growth team And so and we talk every day.
I mean, we work and interact with each other every day. So it's really it's really staying on top of those things and staying involved. In in the distance. So I think, you know, it was a it was a busy time in my life. I had very young children at the time, and when this other person was here and and so it was easier, even easier to to just hear, take the reins for a little bit while I catch up with with my own life, but, you know, that that ended up being the wrong decision.
So now I've learned, stay more involved and and communicate communicate with my management team. Communicate with the people that are that you do and trust to make decisions. That's right. That's right. Yeah. What's that old old saying? They don't they don't respect what you or they they respect what you inspect. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're paying attention. You're being more involved. It doesn't mean that you need to make the decisions.
It doesn't mean that you have to have the power in that moment that you're not giving away autonomy, but your involvement in that and and really just aligning yourself with your team on a regular basis. Yeah. And having conversations around, you know, values and and how to make decisions. What what are our goals? What are we going for? And is this is this worth our goal? That's right. That's right.
Yeah. Those those core values and even even a company mission or a purpose statement, those things can help guide those decisions. If we're all in alignment over here with the with the stuff that probably is more deeply connected of where we're headed, Then in the moment, whether it's practical or or strategic, I can trust more of your decision making ability because we're in alignment over here with these these things that really guide the bigger the bigger waves, if that makes sense. Right.
Yeah. Okay. What would you say? I I love your your, again, your poise, your calculated risk analysis, even though you've jumped off the cliff several times, which I just totally appreciate. I assessed the risk, and I did it anyway. What what's your formula for making good decisions? Like, a decision comes across your desk today to make one of those big jumps again, or maybe it's just something small. What do you what what do you what's your thought process?
Yeah. So kinda touched on it just a little bit right before, but I I look at mission and values and our mission is to make everyday occasions special and memorable through exceptional spirits. And our values, our education, knowledge, passion, customer service, and outside the box professionalism. And if my decision doesn't align with that mission and those values, then why am I putting energy into it?
Yeah. So, you know, we're we're very, like, We talked about taking it from a transaction to an experience. We're very education So we do a lot of tastings in classes, and our bar is designed to support the retail selection we have because we have, like, a lot of specialty things. You walk in and it's not brands, not a lot of brands you recognize. It's a lot of unique things. So we have to teach people what to do with them.
And it can be overwhelming when customers walk in to see all these products that they don't recognize. So, you know, our Wolfe, our values are are surround, having passion for talking customers and teaching customers about those things and just giving good service and creating an experience of it. So if it doesn't align with that, then you know, why are we putting up right into it? Yep. I love it. Next question's around KPIs. The way I like to say it is this. What's the one thing?
That you would track if you could only pick 1. I would track return customers because in my business, I feel that When somebody walks in the door, they should have an experience that makes them wanna come back. And they should be like, wow. That was a different type of liquor store. That's where I'm gonna go going forward to learn something. So to me, that's everything. When somebody walks back in the door and, like, great. Okay. We did our job.
Yeah. Yeah. There there's a lot of metrics around the returning dollar, but it's associated to the experience, which I love that you said that. And so your mission speaks to the experience, which then gets you the KPI that that you're looking for. Yeah. Yeah. Of that. What would you say is a book or maybe a business resource that you would recommend that you've gotten value from? Yeah. So it's an oldie but a goodie. I love the bugs. Start with why? The Simon Centick book.
Yep. For me, that was I read that book during that first down period when I was in the old location, and it it really shocked me connect with why why we do what we do and why Why does running a liquor store matter? You know? And so it it it's really been the inspiration for all of our mission and values is is to elevate the experience that people have with these products and but it really it really started with that book.
So I would encourage anybody that's trying to grow their business to read the book and see if it resonates with you, but you have to be able to tell people why you're doing what you're doing. That's right. That's right. Yeah. No no matter how mundane or regular that we think our business is, You gotta have that purpose. Okay. So what would you think or what do you say or what do you think about intentionally networking or master mining or if they're different with other entrepreneurs?
Yeah. I mean, I think it's super important. For me, it's been essential. And the person that I bought my business from was not really a mentor to me. It was basically transactional. And so I kinda had to figure it out myself. And you can probably imagine that being a thirty year old female in a very male dominated industry, in a market with a lot of people that have been in the industry for a long time, I wasn't taken seriously at first. And That's right. Really was on my own to figure it out.
So for me, over time meeting other. I was I was graciously welcomed into a networking group of about thirty people that all own their own business. About a year in. And that was huge for me the 1st 5 to 7 years. Just hearing from other business owners and learning from them. And then over time, I've I've started my own.
So there is a a number of independently owned liquor stores in my market, and I've formed an alliance of dependently owned liquor stores because we're mostly a grocery store market. And I I realized having a conversation with another independent door owner one day. And we were like, man, you know, it's hard to it's hard to fight against these huge box stores and and the Amazons of the Wolfe. And how do you how do you fight that fight? And we just said, you know what? We're better together.
We're better working together and sharing information and ideas Chaz trying to compete even more against each other. So there's about 7 of us that have a local alliance of independent retail liquor stores in our market. And it's been great and amazing, but I think there's tons of resources out there. Yep. Yeah. The the value of those relationships really is what it is. Yes. There's insight.
Yes. There's other businesses that you get to kinda dissect and learn but it's the relationship that that matters most. I'm gonna ask you a question about family. You mentioned your daughters. You've been building a business, you know, through all the mom years. And so, I I guess, I'll lay a quick foundation of my belief, which is that the work life balance doesn't exist. It's a lie, especially for entrepreneurs.
And so what I what I help try to people or help people try to embrace is a work life obsession. You were obsessed and have been obsessed with your business. That's why you've been ex been successful. And so my question is, how have you been obsessed with your daughters or your family? In addition to the business. At the same time, how do you how how have you done it? I completely agree with you that it is It's not a balance. It's a go full out in both areas.
And I think, you know, the real answer is Other things suffer. I don't have much of a social life. Most of the time for my social life revolves around my business or my kid. Right. But, you know, when when I'm with my kids. They have my attention, and I run them around their activities and support them in in what they wanna be working towards. And that's super important to me.
And one of the reasons I bought the business, actually, was I wanted to be my own boss so that I had the freedom to say I'm gonna be at my daughter's dance competition. That's what I'm gonna do this weekend, and I know there's this event going on, but I've got an employee that can run that. I have some, you know, my daughters are my first priority. So that's Yeah. When they have something going on, that's where I am.
But being the owner, it gives me the flexibility to somewhat you know, when it's a super important event, I can schedule the event when I can be there. And Yeah. So to me, it was just That's one of the beauties of being an entrepreneur is that you can control those things a little bit more in most cases and, at least in my case, and it allows me to give that 100% to both. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because if you're balancing it, it's actually neither one gets the full 100% Right? Yeah. It's good.
And I'm just tired. I'm as the real answer. You know, when you said you didn't have a social life, it was funny that my wife and I were talking the other day. And I was like, you know, here's the reality, is that entrepreneurs, like, real entrepreneurs. I don't mean just a business owner that has a business, and they're kinda, you know, ninking around with it.
I mean, somebody who, like, really loves business is, like, I you know, so someone else, I don't know, plays golf or someone else goes and does whatever. I don't know. Well, I don't know what they do. I don't need items. I don't know what they do. What what I get when I get my kicks and grins from is is is working and building. And and, of course, there's there I mean, I hunt, and I do things with the family. And I like, there's other things. I got hobbies, but not really. My hobby's business.
My hobby is It really is. Entrepreneurship. Yeah. No. In my free time, like, I another sort of business that I started is I am one of the founding board members of Omaha Whiskey which is a huge whiskey events here in Omaha, coming up on our 3rd event in October. And I was with the founding members that created it and now run it. And that's my free time. You know, like, so what am I doing in my free I mean, it's adjacent it to my daytime job business. Yeah. And but I love it. I love it.
So I think, yeah, it's it's It doesn't it doesn't feel like work when it's something you love, and that's how I feel about both the business and the kids. I love both, so it It's easy to give a 100% because it's what I wanna be doing. Yeah. We get to live life. You know, I guess the end result, like you said, is maybe we're tired, but I would much rather have put it out all out on the field, both areas, and loved every minute of it. I mean, of course, there's difficulties we've talked about.
Course. Yeah. We have bad days. Yeah. But we put it all out. Like, what what did we need out there? You know, that's why I'm tired because we we did it. We did it. But it feels good. It's a good tired. It is. It is. I have one last question here for you, Lori. Are you ready? I'm ready. If you had a chance to whisper in the younger Lori's ear, what would you say? I would say trust your and believe in yourself.
And, yeah, it just speaks to everything that I mentioned earlier that my biggest mistakes have been when I doubted my own judgment and doubted doubted my ability. And the more I could then still on myself to believe that I could do this, then, you know, the better off it would. So Yeah. What I would say? How how does one listening to you right now go do exactly what you just told the low younger Laurie to do? I gotta How do you go believe in yourself more?
Yeah. I you know, I guess you have to fail a little bit and and keep trying. I think that I think that's how you build that that belief in yourself is that you owe you allow yourself to acknowledge the failures and keep moving forward, and then you trust you'll start to trust yourself, but that you'll be able to keep moving forward no matter what. That's right. I was my three year old son a couple months ago learned how to ride his bike, and it was really cool.
He's been riding one of those balance bikes for a little bit and I told my wife. I was like, I think he's I think he's ready. I think he's ready to to do a to do an actual bike. She's like, I think so. I'm like, yeah. So we put him on a bigger bike. And he, you know, 10 or 15 minutes later, he's riding, and it's awesome. And as a dad and as a mom, I'm sure that you know that moment, like, I I know he's going to fall. And I need him to fall.
Yes. Couple of times where it was gonna be a wipeout, and I caught him. But I didn't I didn't stop him from falling. I I still needed him to fall. And then to learn how to fall, Yeah. And then to be able to get back on and then to be able to realize that it's not I'm still alive. I didn't die. I made it through, and I can get back on and I can continue writing. Is that what you just shared with all the entrepreneurs? Yeah. I think so. And, you know, I said earlier failure is not an option.
It's not not that I'm afraid to fail because that's where we learn. You can't be afraid to fail. It's that when you fail, You have to get back up. So I guess that's really what I mean about it is that accepting failure as the end result isn't Yeah. So good. Perser variances, everything. Laurie, if we are in Omaha, Nebraska, or anywhere near and we need some experience when it comes to spirits, Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't have your mission statement memorized, but We are thirsty.
Yeah. You just need to talk to him. Yes. Yeah. Oh, we want an event space to rent or whatever. Like, how can we find you, or a business owner, how can we connect with you and just pick your brain? Yeah. So in Omaha, we're located in Exurban Village, and we can walk in, come in and see us If you wanna connect with me personally, probably Facebook and email are the best. My email listed on our website, you can open to receive email.
And then connecting with the business, it's probably Instagram and Facebook or to most active places. So Love that. Very cool. Well, Lori, you you have not only been impressive in your journey, but you've given so much value here today. So just wish you nothing but success.
Blessings on your family and, of course, your team and your business and your brand new, and all the cool things that you're doing in your new location, not brand new now, but all the cool things you're doing in that big old jump, Thank you again for being here. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on and multiple different industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300 other very successful 789 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you, you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com.
Once you take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings, talk soon.