Alrighty, welcome to the Kindness Chronicles where once again we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. Steve Brown's in the studio. Nice, nice energy. I like that. Thank you. I've got, it's surprising that I have this much energy. KG is on assignment. but, uh, you got us a very special guest who I believe is probably the youngest guests that we've ever had. We're making history here. This is history chronicles.
Yeah. So we have, uh, uh, So, let me just give a little explanation. I was at a networking lunch with some friends. Uh, a guy named Dave Anderson introduced me to Spencer Finseth. I think that's how you say the last name. Um, they can make sure I get that right. Is that how you pronounce that last name? Finseth? Yep, that's correct. Finseth, yep. And, and in talking to them, they're both, uh, I know them from the band. So Spencer and Dave are our guys.
I went to college with Dave, but they're, I know them from the band. They, they know me from the band. So we were having lunch talking about business stuff and all that. Band. Are you talking about rock and roll band? Oh, that's the one. Okay. Anyway. Um, As, as we were talking, I explained, I have this podcast that I do, cause I'm always very proud to be hosting this with you guys and, uh, and, and Spencer was really interested in, so tell me more about it.
So the more I told him the more he said. I have a son, his name is Carter, and he's done something really quite amazing. And you should talk to him. So that's exactly where we have started here. So before I introduce him, let me just say he, he has a,, a website called be real, be nice. No, sorry.
Well, he could tell us let's get it straight be real be you be nice and it's a really it's a clothing line So he started and designed this whole concept for clothes about authenticity about kindness and about being you and being real and he's a 14 year old young man, so without further ado Carter and Shonda welcome to the kindness Chronicles Thank you. So, for starters, Shonda, we appreciate you being on with us. Sometimes we need a chaperone. Uh, we've never been on with a 14 year old.
We'll try and keep the language clean. We're going to make sure we're good, yeah. No, we always keep the language clean. Um, for starters, Carter, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Where are you from? Do you go to school? I assume at 14 you're still, you're not at Harvard or anything like that yet? Yeah. Uh, I go to, uh, E Dinah Middle School. Oh, good for you! So, we've got a future Hornet in our midst? Uh, yeah. Fantastic!
And, uh, Mom At least you said, uh, you didn't say a cake eater. No, we went to Hill Murray. We went to Hill Murray, so We're kind of the East Metro cake eaters. You know what? Us cake eaters need to hang together. How about you, mom? Where are you from? Uh, Circle Pines area. Graduated from Centennial. Okay. All right. That's, you know, it's not Edina, but it's nice. You know, it's okay. So, Carter, you have put this thing together. We kind of want to hear all about how you got this started.
Your dad explained a lot of it to me, and then I opened up the website, and I was very impressed with the layout. The designs, the philosophy, the, the whole mission. So tell us about how this started and, and help our listeners understand what it is and what you're doing we're the Kindness Chronicle, so we obviously want to hear about the kindness angle, but give us the, give us how this started. Give us their origin to this. Uh, it started cause I got a very.
Interesting style and that's my how my mom would put it And I was getting a lot of bullying in school. Yeah. Yeah, and Why would people do that? So So tell us about your style. How would you describe your style? Well, I like it, so I gotta ask my mom for that one. Mom, how would you describe Carter's style? He's very, uh, fashion eccentric. Uh, he just loves fashion. He's got a swagger. He's got a swagger, huh? He has a swagger, absolutely. Cool. And for, uh, for a young 14 year old, right.
That's trying to pull off what most 20, 25 year olds are pulling off, you know, a New York city fashion, LA fashion style, I would say is what he is. Um, most kids are wearing Nike and, you know, Lululemon and such. And although he does wear that from time to time, that would not be always preferred. And so he would wear, you know, just fashionable things. Right. So, where does that, Carter, where does that come from? Where do, who are you looking to to find cool style at 14 or younger?
My dad and my mom Really? Well. What? No. Well, ya dyna, so, I mean, you have options. You ever been to the Galleria? You know, there's some fashion opportunities there. Your dad, Spencer is a, he's a sharp dresser. I did, I did meet him for lunch. I think he had a suit on. He's very, very, very dapper man. So, so tell us more about that. So you just, you like. You like, uh, high fashion. You look to that and are interested in it. Like, are there designers?
You know, are you like an Alexander McQueen kind of a guy? Or Tom Ford? Or who do you like? Everything, really. Really? You like Christian Louboutin? Oh, yeah, that guy. Those shoes aren't expensive. But he really enjoys spending time in boutique shops. So when we've traveled to New York city, his, what he wants to do is go into the one off shops, you know, that may have. A designer that you never even heard of.
Or we just came back from London and Paris and him and Spencer went into the Soho district and the different areas in both of those cities and just looked at those boutiques that have a lot of fun fashion things like, to be honest, the shirt he's wearing right now is, uh, you know, banks, artists, Banksy, right? Yeah. I love Banksy.
You know, the protest, a while ago, they started throwing homemade bombs, and Yeah, like drinks when they bomb and do sores and There's this guy on the shirt who's throwing a bouquet of flowers. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I've seen that so that's on your shirt So you make you like to make statements you like you like something that says something.
Yeah, I like that So I'd like to wear his father's Louboutin shoes to school and or his prodigy, you know That's where mom says this is not appropriate, but he says but I this is what I like mom Why can't I wear it And he wears it to school, and then he gets made fun of. Well, you know what? To hell with those people. That's what I say. In fact, you know, we talk about the fash So, you're instill in middle school. Yeah. Is that ninth grade or eighth grade? Uh, eighth grade right now.
You're in eighth grade, and you are this fashion forward. It's, uh, remarkable. So you're not able to find any Banksy graphic tees in Richfield, for example. You're probably not spending much time in Richfield. Let's be honest. Oh yeah.
Well, let me just, let me say, John, you, you talked to a lot of, you've had some seminars and things with kids that in this realm, right on the station, you have kids, I have kids, 14 is a hard age because especially if if you're fairly mature, like it sounds kind of like you're a fairly mature kid. You have interest in things that are You know, not typical things of, of the 14 year old ages, people, your age, your friends, your, or people that you're in school with don't quite understand.
They don't see it. So what do they do instead of going, wow, wait a minute, that's pretty cool. They mock it because they don't understand it or they're jealous that you have some interest, but. Kudos to you because you have confidence and you're interested. Don't worry. It won't last long for these turds turds Okay, so so you're interested in high fashion you just you've got a passion for Designers and cool looks and making statements. How did you turn that into this really cool website?
How did you begin? How did you learn how to begin or understand how to begin that first? Well, I love drawing. Yeah. So I just started like to sketch stuff up mostly to get some design. I was looking on YouTube, just like how to draw graffiti words or whatever, and I got this video. It's like a basketball with nice in the middle. I just played around that for a few years and I ended up with. be real. B you be nice.,, clearly you have, you have an eye for this, which is, yeah, really remarkable.
I could see the Banksy influence. I could see it's very original at the same time. Now, were you a great, uh, are you a great art student? Do you love art as well? Yeah, Yeah, he, in his spare time, that's what he would prefer to be doing. His little brother would prefer to be playing Fortnite and Carter could care less about Fortnite. He would rather be drawing. So, Carter, it's you, you got a little brother, do you have any other siblings? Uh, yes, my sister Sophia.
Okay. And a golden retriever. And a Golden Retriever. Well, to be honest with you, I am creeping on your mother on Facebook as we speak, I have found Shonda F So now I have a picture and you went to St. Thomas. I knew there was a reason that we liked you. You gotta understand, on The Kindness Chronicles, we're gonna mention, uh, St. Thomas, Hill Murray, Monomedai, and Seinfeld in every episode. They're gonna come up, John finds a connection in all those ways.
So, uh, what year did you graduate from St. Thomas? Or when did you go to St. Thomas? 2000. One. But you know, uh, so I'm a 97 high school grad and my dear friends went to Totino Grace back then. And that was the Totino Hill Murray back when I was in school. There was like a competition between those two. I always remember the Hill Murray hockey team. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yep Carter, you love art. You love Banksy.
You put this together and you started drawing on, you started creating some screen printing, right? Does that, is that, how did you get into that? How'd you cross over? I, Had some fun on my computer. I got a cricket or my dad got a cricket and I was just like using it I got that first and I started doing that on shirt. So where are you sourcing the short shirts? Where are you getting the the shirts to to do your dad's closet? That's been a huge learning curve.
Yeah. Yeah, so we first started like buying shirts from wherever my dad buys his company shirts And they got like super expensive for how much I was ordering. So I started buying blanks from district for way less and started buying the actual stuff to print them on so Then we bought all the materials like heat press or some of that aside from just a creative aspect of it? Were you thinking? Hey, you know what? People might like this. How did you know that someone would like it?
Did you did your friends start to see it? Were they like, hey, that's pretty cool What turned you into wanting to make a website to actually distribute them? How did that click? my friends did like them. Yes. I also just like like the idea of having Something I could have people wear. Yeah walk on the street, or I see someone wearing my stuff He's also very motivated and entrepreneur. I mean, he, he wants to make money. So he's been motivated to what can I sell and how can I sell it?
And when he was thinking about his brand, uh, that he thought, well, if I create a website, possibly I could reach more people because. At school, he's technically not allowed to be selling. Oh yeah. I get, I get, he could get one warning. I get one warning and then a suspension. Oh boy. Well, let me just remind everyone listening, Carter, you're 14 years old. Do you realize the experience you're getting in just doing this is, is laying groundwork for all kinds of really great areas.
It's pretty amazing that you have this kind of entrepreneurial spirit and you're actually acting it out. All right. Do you have an interest in pursuing fashion as a career? Yeah, possibly. Like, Fashion Institute of Technology, that sort of deal, back in New York, or what's uh Oh, yeah. That would be my thing. That's his thing. Wow. That's very cool. John, you got it right on the head. Huh? I'm, you know, I kinda dabble. You were a dapper guy in high school.
I don't know when I'm still a dapper guy. What are you talking about? Well, not right now. You're wearing shorts and sweatpants. They're very expensive. Sweatshirts. They're all custom. Okay. So speaking of sensitive, these are not super cheap sweatshirts. They're, they're very cool. But I would say my kids would be, my kids are 20, 21. This is their kind of thing. They would love these sweatshirts and they would buy them, send them the website.
I'm going to, how do you guys, uh, uh, fill orders? Like, are you filling them out of your home? Uh, uh, yes, I have. It on my phone and computer. I, every time I get an email. That someone ordered, I always check them and I see them, and then I gotta make it. Oh, so you're making them on demand. Oh, very cool. So I'm twisting, he's twisting to that now. So what we, it's a learning curve, right? Cause the original ones we were ordering already printed, but the cost is really high to get those.
And so his ability to try to make some profit was a little bit less. And so he was thinking if I could still get good quality shirts. and make them here and invest in my own equipment, then I can maybe down the road, start charging a little bit less and wanting to make sure you deliver the same quality to very impressed.
Yeah. They look like they're really good quality and what I like, John, the designs are really simple, but unique and not sometimes I don't like something that's got all kinds of printing all the way up. You're actually sweating in the ink from the, from the thickness of it. These are really cool designs that have. Uh, limited, you know, but makes a nice statement on the sweatshirt. Um, I want to ask you, I want to ask Carter about the mission.
So your mission on your website, you talked about the mission is to inspire and empower individuals to live their best lives while expressing your true expression, um, with the focus on. Are you having trouble reading? It's really, it's really dark down here. Um, but I, I, it's, talk about the self expression and what you're trying to do with your designs for, for people that want to buy them. what are you looking to give them?
Same with my story, like, I got bullied and I just, not right, so I just want to make a better world. I want to have people, the design, it's be real, be, be nice, so I want to. People to read that and just see it., the pink exclamation mark. Yeah, me Be real be you be nice. The pink exclamation mark, let me ask you this. Have you gone through the trademarking process? Not yet. Okay. His dad probably is very well aware of it. Sean is probably very well aware of it too. It takes a lot.
Because what you've got there, I think is absolute gold. But you better protect it because there are too many people out there that would want to take advantage of the fact that, you know, here's this young kid trying to do something great. And there are snakes in the grass. So everywhere. Yeah. So, so Carter, what has been the response? Like,, what are your friends saying? What are the people saying that are buying them and how is it? How is it spreading?
How are you, how are you doing with promotions and what's the reaction been so far? Well, our neighbor is PJ flack go for it. Oh Jesus So I Gave him one He's he bought one. I said I would hope he bought one. He's the highest paid, Minnesota employee for God's sake Okay, and and did he wear places? Is he promoting for you? Yes, he is. He wears it all the time. Oh, that's great. That is serendipity right there.
Living next to the guy whose whole brand is about being enthusiastically kind to people. Um, and so people are, other people are responding to that and enjoying it and is it starting to pick up? Is it doing well? Like how long has it been available? Yeah, when did this start?. I started a brand when sixth grade, I got it I got some prototypes and wait, fifth grade. Sorry, fifth grade, fifth grade. What is happening here? How old are you? 10?
Then I got prototypes and, and like, I started getting more into it in sixth and seventh, and now I'm like. Trying to get everyone to look at the website. I got stickers now as my business cards to give around. That's great. When we were in London, he, yeah, in London, I put it in like a bunch of spots, like where all the stickers were. And like, I just, some big pink exclamation mark on a phone or red phone book booth by big Ben, some of that. Um, On bridges or something like that.
So to be clear, you're not defacing public property. This is a thing that people do because you, have you ever heard the term? You have the right to remain silent. We don't want to go down that road. So I just have to, when, when I was in fifth grade, I mean, I'm not kidding. You 10, is that 10 years old? It's like 10 years old, 10 or 11, 12, I don't know. Yeah. I was still trying to figure out how to tie a shoe, 10 years old I dunno if I could blow my nose at 10 years.
So how old is your sister, Uh, she's 17. Okay. And what does she think, does she, let me ask you this. Yeah. Would she, is she wrapping your brand or do you have to I'm trying to get her too. Or, or does she require like a, a name, image and likeness deal? An NIL deal to, to I, you know, Carter, I feel like your audience. Might actually be a little older than your grade. You know, you're a pretty mature kid for you. I bet yeah Like I said, my kids are college kids.
I bet college kids would love this It's because they're about you know, you know about something that means something they're gonna be they're gonna appreciate the what's behind it More than high school kids will so before we forget. Yeah, tell us your website Tell us a little bit about the products what they go for You know, we're going to see if we can get you a kind of chronicles, uh, a bump in your sales. Okay. It's be real, be you, be nice. com. Be, be real, be you, be nice. com. Awesome.
Yeah. And you've got a wide variety of things there. What would you say the range is like in, in pricing from t shirts, sweatshirts and stickers and stuff? Stickers are right now. I just given them out. I haven't fully done that. Every time someone orders, I give them a sticker. A hoodie is 65. Okay. Right now. And a crew neck. 55 to 60. And do you make them for larger people? Cause this is a podcast of larger hosts. We like food in this podcast. We've got one guy who loves food a lot.
Yeah. He's not with us to this point and to other points. So like our family, my, my mom, for example, she, when he first started this, she said, Carter, I want this butcher, but I don't like hood. Could you make me one? Well, we can't just order one mom. We have to order both. Right. So this is why he's. Trying to Start the business downstairs now and saying, I can do the printing here. We just need to make sure, you know, all, all of the prototypes work out.
But so he can just do these one off requests. If you need a size triple extra, well, let's not go crazy. I thought you were going to go triple extra large. Let's just say, let's be kind. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, we, John obviously knows how it works because he has many t shirts here. And I've purchased many, many boxes of shirts that I've done printing for my band and sold them. And I know how that works. Yeah, it's more expensive when you buy a onesie, too.
When you buy a big box of shirts, you can print a lot of them and sell them. So, let's hope that our listeners We'll, uh, get on the website, um, and look into it, purchase some stuff and let's get him moving some of these things because it's not just about helping Carter make a couple bucks. It's about putting something great out there. And that's what he's really all about. I believe that's why I love his mission. I love his tenacity and his entrepreneurship and his swagger.
I think this is amazing. I'm so glad we got a chance to talk to you, Carter, and I think that the, uh, that the idea. Of creating a business that is driven by mission as opposed to creating a business that's driven by money is going to serve you well in the long run. Carter's website is be real, be you, be nice. com. Check it out.
Look at all these cool designs and just look at what a 14 year old guy can put together and uh, and with the With the you know support from his mom and dad and it's fantastic stuff So thank you so much carter for joining us and good luck to you, buddy And mom, uh, congratulations on having a lad that's more interested in fashion than video games That's pretty cool Thank you guys. Have a good one off. We go. Thank you. You too