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Jamie Deen's Keynote Presentation at the 2011 Savannah Mayor's Small Business Conference
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0:00
Mary thank you so much for having me
0:01
here today this is a a neat opportunity
0:05
for me and I'm bound to say something
0:07
that's going to make Jim's head explode
0:09
off of his shoulders before I'm done
0:11
probably we got to uh today through
0:15
kind of a different route
0:17
as our business has grown up I found
0:19
myself with opportunity to speak to
0:21
groups and I got to tell you the last
0:22
group I spoke with was at Savannah
0:24
Technical College
0:25
third graders is really my wheelhouse
0:28
that's the group that I enjoy speaking
0:30
to and I'm trying to expand that so I
0:32
was at Savannah Technical College and I
0:34
asked the group this were a graduating
0:36
seniors this year how many people in
0:39
this room are going to have their
0:40
diploma in the next few months a diploma
0:43
from high school every every hand went
0:45
up
0:46
I said now who here is going to have a
0:48
GED from high school
0:50
and mine was the only hand raised I was
0:54
15 hours Short of my high school
0:55
graduation I said now who here runs a
0:59
million dollar business
1:01
and I was the only hand raised again so
1:04
I said now what's the difference between
1:06
y'all and me
1:08
and I happened to look and there was a
1:10
kid on about the third row and just
1:12
about the time my eyes met him he said
1:14
you're old
1:18
I love third graders but of course the
1:22
answer to that is that they are better
1:24
educated than me there is no difference
1:28
so what I'm going to share here today
1:30
with y'all is the story of how our
1:33
business got started and a few
1:34
highlights that have that have helped us
1:37
when we started our business I was I was
1:40
on a break from Valdosta State
1:42
University I was at Yellowstone National
1:44
Park working at the Old Faithful Inn it
1:46
was a great opportunity for me I spent
1:49
the summer living in Yellowstone I'd
1:52
worked five days I'd get to hike for
1:53
five for two days and they clothed me
1:56
fed me housed me
1:58
it's just sitting here so good to see
1:59
you brother I love you so many people in
2:01
this room I have had the pleasure to
2:03
serve in the last 20 years and it is so
2:06
great to see y'all we love to to Serve
2:08
the People it is so good to see you
2:12
it was a kitchen that in three months
2:14
time served two million people
2:16
I just got my it's the first time I've
2:18
received my social security information
2:21
I've worked long enough now to where
2:22
they tell me
2:23
where I am in my life my first job was
2:27
in 1984 and if I continue to work at
2:29
this track until I'm 70 years old I will
2:31
have 1800 a month I'm not a bragger but
2:35
I thought I'd share that
2:37
so it was a big operation my first job I
2:41
was in charge of cheeseburgers in the
2:42
trash
2:44
Yellowstone it was a high volume big run
2:47
business and at the end of my three
2:49
months mama called and said
2:52
I'm going to start a business we just
2:54
just moved to Savannah
2:56
mom said all I know how to do is cook
2:58
she got a job with Kelly temporary
3:00
services and she's been working at
3:02
Memorial Hospital for for a time and
3:04
said I'm going to do my own thing she'd
3:07
seen the story of a woman in Washington
3:08
DC that had two employees that served
3:10
back lunches to a traditional businesses
3:14
that have a hard time getting out for
3:15
lunch doctor's office is beauty parlors
3:18
she said I can do this I can cook so the
3:21
first key to business is the ignorance
3:22
is bliss
3:23
because if we didn't own any better we'd
3:26
walked out the door that first day
3:28
that's not really number one but it sure
3:29
helped us
3:30
so we operated illegally out of our home
3:33
sorry
3:34
a lot of
3:36
a lot of City officials here
3:40
well we eventually they found us
3:43
but we lived on 60th Street and we
3:47
serviced the Medical Arts community
3:50
my brother and I would go out every day
3:52
and basically beg people to buy lunch
3:55
from us
3:56
the I ride by it all the time the very
3:59
first door
4:00
that I ever not gone
4:03
uh how I felt walking over that door I I
4:06
can't tell you it was uh
4:11
we kind of run out of options
4:15
so I said y'all want lunch and they
4:18
looked at me like I had an eye right
4:20
here I didn't have any uniform we didn't
4:23
have any business license we didn't have
4:25
a business plan we had no business to be
4:27
doing business
4:29
but the the I got home and I said Mom
4:32
it's been a it's a hard first day I
4:34
didn't have any sales
4:36
and this is the this is the real first
4:38
lesson for new businesses for uh with a
4:41
head above be consistent
4:43
mama said well you're gonna go to that
4:45
same door at the same time tomorrow
4:48
and after a few days we warmed down you
4:52
know and somebody said let me have the
4:55
tickets
4:58
so and then once people got into the
5:02
food they said whoa
5:04
I mean this is this is this is all
5:06
Handmade by my mom fresh from the house
5:09
a block away from this address
5:11
everything was two dollars to five
5:13
dollars our high-end item was five
5:15
dollars my dad on Friday morning would
5:17
wake up about four o'clock put chickens
5:19
on the grill and we'd pick the chickens
5:20
and put them on a salad with a homemade
5:22
honey mustard and tomatoes that was our
5:23
grilled chicken salad that was high a
5:25
dollar it was five dollars for that
5:28
salad
5:29
so we found some footing and throughout
5:31
that year we did our business and
5:34
there's a business here in town that was
5:36
kind of doing the same thing and we got
5:37
in his pockets a little bit so it went
5:40
long before a dedicated uh sitting
5:43
employee knocked on our door and
5:45
said uh Miss Dean you're not running the
5:49
business out of this house already and
5:51
mama said well no that would be illegal
5:54
[Laughter]
5:56
so it was it was just after that and as
5:59
big as a challenge as it was operating I
6:03
mean I was 21 years old and I felt like
6:05
I knew everything and what's funny is
6:06
that I'm a few years older today than my
6:10
mama was when she started our business
6:11
there's 20 years difference between my
6:13
mom and I
6:15
and uh I I just this is incredible
6:18
for what she was able to do
6:20
I would have jumped out the window but
6:22
we were on a single level and Bobby just
6:25
would have drove me back in the house we
6:28
weren't getting paid we didn't have
6:31
uh
6:33
any kind of plant there was there was
6:36
the
6:37
if we didn't sell all money we couldn't
6:39
operate on Tuesday so we were under the
6:41
gun
6:42
I thought that was hard and then we went
6:44
into the Best Western motel
6:46
at forty five thousand hour on the south
6:49
side
6:50
we uh
6:52
it was a turnkey operation we didn't
6:54
have any Capital but we had
6:56
they had had every glass and played uh
7:00
four everything that we needed to go in
7:02
so we operated the name of our business
7:04
was the bag lady and as if all those
7:07
things in the house weren't bad enough
7:08
my delivery vehicle was an old U.S
7:11
postal truck whose primary colors was
7:13
watermelon and lime green
7:16
pink and watermelon great
7:20
and Mama used to think it was funny for
7:22
us to dress up and deliver on Halloween
7:24
So I dressed up as a bag lady a couple
7:27
of times
7:29
we moved into the Best Western there's
7:33
not a lot of people that are really
7:34
searching for a good meal at a motel
7:38
because the bag lady that kept us
7:41
in business for those those first few
7:43
years
7:44
we I would go in and I'll never forget
7:48
that we got into a stretch where I went
7:50
in one I was flip-flopping my schedule
7:52
trying to figure out the best way to to
7:54
do the food and I decided that I would
7:56
prepare food from midnight till about
7:58
six and we'd go out for deliveries
8:00
because one time I went in probably 11
8:02
o'clock we prepared food all night we
8:04
got busy that morning and then stayed
8:06
busy through lunch and somehow I I'd
8:08
stayed there until it was time for me to
8:10
come back to work for the next day so
8:12
I'd wear like 36 hours before I could
8:14
get out of there and I was making a 75
8:17
80 cents an hour at that point so
8:21
we would do mom wanted to do fine dining
8:23
in the evenings so we do bag lady in the
8:25
in the morning and we'd have breakfast
8:27
we didn't do a whole lot of breakfast
8:28
business there was some built in from
8:30
the hotel we didn't do any lunch
8:33
and the mama would put me in a tuxedo
8:35
shirt with a bow tie and black pants and
8:38
I'd stand in that dining room just like
8:39
this all night waiting on people to come
8:41
in
8:43
and after we were there for three years
8:44
we said you know we should do
8:47
what granny Paul's done
8:49
the food that everybody here has eaten
8:52
all your life but usually have to wait
8:53
till Sunday to get it we're going to do
8:55
Sunday dinner on Wednesday we're gonna
8:57
call it the Hump Day buffet
8:59
and it's going to be what my granny Paul
9:00
made it's gonna be fried chicken and
9:02
macaroni and cheese and collard greens
9:04
and hoecakes and good biscuits and
9:06
black-eyed peas food tofu our food
9:10
a family's food
9:12
in London where we had a line going out
9:15
of the
9:16
door the Best Western on Wednesdays we
9:18
sat and I said well now let's see about
9:20
this now maybe we could do it on Tuesday
9:24
and Monday and Thursday and Friday so we
9:27
incorporated the buffet throughout the
9:29
week
9:29
and we found some some good good seating
9:33
there so another good lesson is never
9:36
give up mama tell you you don't ever
9:38
give up don't let anybody tell you what
9:40
you can or can't do
9:42
we went to uh we had an opportunity to
9:45
move our business downtown to 311 West
9:47
Congress Street there's a big move for
9:49
us this was at a time where a business
9:51
on the South Side moving downtown Garner
9:55
front page coverage we've got it framed
9:58
in our restaurant today at Southside
10:00
businesses moving back downtown when we
10:02
first moved here when my father moved
10:04
here science department store was the
10:06
last big Exodus from downtown going
10:09
south
10:10
and our whole time we were on this house
10:12
out we never came downtown
10:14
but we we just needed our own place
10:17
we've done everything we could do at a
10:19
Best Western and we're grateful for the
10:21
opportunity and made great friends there
10:23
and a lot of the customers we served
10:24
there we still see I see here right now
10:28
but when we had the chance to move
10:30
downtown we needed some help
10:32
so we went to the to the sbac my friend
10:36
Stephen George sitting right over there
10:38
and the first time
10:40
we asked for a loan we were turned down
10:44
so another lesson do not be Too Proud to
10:47
Beg
10:49
we said please
10:51
[Music]
10:54
worked out pretty good didn't it Steve
10:58
in 1995 Stephen George and Tony O'Reilly
11:00
authorized the loan for our business for
11:02
125 000 and we were able to move
11:05
downtown to 311 West Congress Street
11:08
mayor come past president past mayor
11:12
came out we cut the ribbon uh we got the
11:15
newspaper again
11:16
we were overdrawn in two accounts
11:19
a work in a camera a business account we
11:21
were completely upside down at the 11th
11:24
Hour my mom took me by the hand and
11:26
walked me down the street
11:28
to First Union and I signed a note for
11:30
five thousand dollars to get US Open
11:32
so I've had a lot of Sweat Equity in the
11:34
game that was my first skin that I grew
11:36
in on the on the hook for five grand and
11:39
I don't think I'd ever seen 5000 at that
11:41
point
11:42
but you haven't for a penny in for a
11:44
pound
11:45
Doug McCoy helped us out with our long
11:48
air First Union
11:50
and uh we got open and there were 60 or
11:54
70 people there that first day
11:56
we've been closed down for eight or nine
12:00
months during the renovation process
12:02
and those people had stuck with us the
12:04
day that we opened all our South Side
12:05
fans came and almost stood inside the
12:07
front door and just cried like a baby
12:09
and that was a proud day for us to
12:11
finally get open and that was the point
12:14
of our business where I felt like
12:17
I'm you know what maybe I'm stupid maybe
12:19
mom's smart it took me until I was 30
12:22
years old to figure out that
12:25
I need to spend more time pulling
12:27
instead of pushing because I wish I
12:29
could tell you that I was
12:31
you know excited to be living in the
12:33
house with my mama and
12:35
working for my mom
12:38
after having a pink mail truck
12:41
[Music]
12:43
but it was hard for me
12:45
but when we got downtown and we got to
12:48
know our neighbors we moved right in
12:50
between
12:51
Garibaldi's and Gerald Chef there's a
12:54
great friend of mine it's a great
12:55
business and Bistro Savannah
12:58
and I felt like I were part of a
13:01
community now a neighborhood this is our
13:03
business
13:04
that we've we've that was our first big
13:06
step
13:08
and but you can't make a living serving
13:10
60 people a day
13:12
so we were what do we do now and we did
13:14
what we always did we kept our head down
13:16
and
13:18
we wanted just to do the best food with
13:20
the best service at a fair price that we
13:22
could do that's what had gotten us to
13:24
that point
13:25
so we've worked through and worked
13:27
through and
13:29
a moment collated recipes for
13:33
her whole life on the back of envelopes
13:36
and just catch his catch can and she
13:41
formulated all those she worked on it
13:43
for almost five years she had to doing
13:45
her cookbook's a lot harder than you
13:46
think especially if you self-publish it
13:48
like our first book mom had to test
13:49
every single recipe
13:52
so after five years mom had put this
13:54
together and we walked down half a block
13:55
to press works another local small
13:58
business right there on Congress Street
13:59
for us and the big decision for us then
14:01
was
14:04
how many should we have printed we saw
14:06
five thousand you get a nice price break
14:08
on five thousand bucks
14:10
we didn't think we'd be selling five
14:12
thousand books that we felt like well at
14:13
least we'll have Christmas gifts for all
14:15
of our family
14:16
no matter how big our families are
14:18
everybody will always get a cookbook
14:21
so another lesson is sometimes you got
14:23
to go out on a limb to get the fruit
14:26
if you don't try
14:27
you may never know so we
14:30
got five thousand books
14:34
shortly after that midnight the Garden
14:36
of Good and Evil film here in Savannah
14:37
which the film uh I was so glad to hear
14:41
the news about our film in the last
14:43
couple of weeks and how we're going to
14:45
keep that traditional life here it means
14:47
so much to our local commune and
14:50
National how people think about us but
14:53
when this film came here and started
14:55
filming downtown it was a really big
14:56
deal for us we had Clint Eastwood in the
14:58
restaurant
14:59
Kevin Spacey was here it was so exciting
15:02
to see Hollywood Big Time production
15:04
right there in our little neighborhood
15:06
it was such an exciting time for us
15:09
Random House published that book John
15:11
Barron here in town who've been in and
15:13
out of our restaurant from over on the
15:15
south side
15:17
um just did a tremendous job on that
15:19
book it was on the best seller list
15:20
forever and a day and random house had a
15:23
representative here in town who was
15:25
overseeing the film and it started
15:27
raining one day and Pamela Cannon dug
15:30
into our
15:31
our restaurant just to get out of the
15:33
rain
15:34
and she happened to see our cookbook on
15:37
display there inside the front door
15:39
now another thing that we've done is
15:41
that you got to be lucky
15:42
but you know lots of times you can make
15:45
your own luck
15:46
but that was a lucky day for us Pamela
15:49
popped in hop right back out had gone to
15:52
New York and called us a few days later
15:53
and said I noticed that y'all have a
15:55
book not for sale and I'd love to have
15:58
to take a look at it would you please
16:00
mail two of your books up to to me here
16:02
in New York and I said yes ma'am and
16:04
she's at random house and I said
16:07
took information out told Mom I said Mom
16:09
Random House just called they went to
16:11
our books mama said what's a random
16:12
house
16:13
I said well it's not a random house
16:17
and it's one of the biggest publishing
16:19
companies in New York City and do you
16:22
have any idea how many people call them
16:23
every day and say well can I please mail
16:25
you one of my books please
16:27
and they called us and wanted to see our
16:29
boat
16:30
and we mailed it up to them and
16:33
a couple weeks later we got a phone call
16:36
I can't tell you the whole story I'll
16:37
cry like a baby I'm I guess I'm
16:39
emotional about our business
16:43
that's one of the greatest days of my
16:44
life is when I took that call
16:46
and uh
16:48
I got to share it with my mom
16:51
and that really opened up a lot of doors
16:54
for us
16:55
where it's not International but it is
16:57
naturally is is
16:59
a great an opportunity as a small
17:02
business can have for somebody like that
17:04
to put you out there and that got us on
17:07
QVC my mom had a chance to go up and
17:09
work on QVC
17:12
and we had a friend that owned uh what
17:16
was the name of uh there was a dog
17:19
boutique store here I can't believe I
17:21
forgotten her name it'll come to me she
17:22
was a Victoria's Secret model and on uh
17:25
Harry Barker here in town she got a this
17:28
was a you talk about baby cashmere suits
17:32
for five thousand dollars she's really
17:35
sold dog stuff for like that same
17:38
neighborhood so she wasn't here very
17:40
long but
17:42
New York great a great woman nice to see
17:45
you big her friend her good friend
17:46
Gordon Elliot was working in Charleston
17:49
South Carolina
17:50
uh film and television show for the Food
17:52
Network and she said you've got to come
17:55
meet my friend Paula Dean this woman is
17:57
a Who
17:58
so he came down and we were very excited
18:00
we got to meet Gordon he had his own
18:02
television show a huge Australian guy
18:04
talks just like Robin Leach
18:07
um he met mommy said you'd be a great
18:09
guest on a television show that I do
18:12
called door knock dinners
18:14
would you please come out to Las Vegas
18:17
with me and y'all know stories about my
18:20
mama Las Vegas
18:23
he didn't even get finished but she said
18:26
and Bobby and I were able to go and
18:28
that's the first time I'd ever rode on a
18:29
plane was when we went to Las Vegas and
18:31
we went outside uh
18:34
into a little suburb and knocked on
18:37
doors he would he would knock on doors
18:38
and he would say I'm going Elliott store
18:40
knock dinners I'd like to come in and
18:42
prepare dinner for you using only what
18:44
you have in your house right now and
18:46
we're gonna do it on TV
18:48
so there were three or four people that
18:49
that said no thank you
18:52
and we went to the last door and it was
18:55
a woman that had two small boys and
18:58
Gordon had given her spoon she said oh
19:00
it's getting late my husband's coming
19:01
home I really don't have time to do this
19:02
and Mama poked her head around Gordon
19:04
and said well hey honey how are you
19:06
doing and it does look just like my boys
19:08
and they got to talking and the woman
19:09
said okay well you can come here you go
19:11
and loved their mom and he's a
19:15
because he's the pro at it so we went in
19:18
cooked dinner everything was great mom
19:20
made a spaghetti casserole she did fried
19:23
apple pies with canned biscuits they had
19:25
in the refrigerators to get a salad it
19:27
was a great show when we were going back
19:29
into the city
19:31
Bobby and I were sitting in the back
19:33
seat and uh Gordon looking mom said
19:35
you're gonna be a star
19:36
he said you're going to have your own
19:38
television show
19:39
and I'm I'm going to produce it
19:53
so we went back in town and uh
19:57
I got to tell you we went to a
19:59
restaurant we went to the start probably
20:00
a nicest restaurant I've ever been in
20:01
and Gordon took us and we walked out to
20:05
Manatee and he looked nest and said you
20:07
have to have Ty here sir
20:10
Bobby myself and Gordon none of us were
20:12
wearing ties Bobby was wearing a golf
20:14
shirt
20:15
and he pulled out three identical
20:17
blackhead tires from behind this thing
20:19
and the three of us stood there and put
20:21
those tires on I look at my brother with
20:23
that golf shirt
20:24
and I like to wet my bridges and the
20:28
more I laughed the tighter my brother
20:31
that was awesome there we had so much
20:33
fun
20:34
so we came home and it took a couple of
20:36
years but uh we had the opportunity for
20:38
for Mom to to shoot a pilot and if you I
20:41
don't think they ever showed the power
20:42
but it was funny they put Mom in a
20:44
cashmere sweater and pearls in high
20:46
heels
20:47
and that's how they shot the pilot and
20:49
uh Gordon saw it and he said they will
20:53
never see this because this is not who
20:56
who Paul is
20:58
and this was shortly after uh September
21:02
the 11th in 2001 and the attitude of the
21:05
whole country had kind of changed where
21:06
there's just so much fear and everybody
21:10
was kind of drawn back into their
21:12
families and and what's comfortable and
21:14
safe for everyone so it was a good time
21:16
for my mom
21:18
to be shown the Food Network said Now's
21:22
the Time we'll get her out here we'll
21:23
talk about
21:24
what's the most important thing to us
21:27
here I know in the South and that's
21:29
family and tradition and and who we are
21:31
and and what we do and it was a
21:35
well it's been pretty successful for
21:40
during this time
21:42
we
21:43
a piece of property came available at
21:45
108 Congress Street which is uh we
21:49
didn't know why
21:52
it was available and we bought it we had
21:55
some money we needed to spend some money
21:56
so we bought this one little parcel a
21:58
couple of Likes down the street from the
21:59
restaurant which is now the waiting area
22:02
of our restaurant
22:04
102 and 104 came up
22:07
and we wound up buying those two pieces
22:10
and now we have the Paula Deen retail
22:12
store which was a bar that we've got so
22:13
we've got now four Parcels down there
22:15
and we bought one not knowing you know
22:18
what we were going to do with it
22:20
uh
22:22
Bobby and I had the opportunity to to
22:25
get into the industry a little bit we
22:27
started a cookbook our fourth book will
22:29
be out coming up
22:32
next month yeah I'll have to excuse me
22:34
I'm seven and a half months pregnant I
22:36
know y'all
22:38
so I haven't been sleeping well
22:40
my wife's actually were having a baby in
22:43
six weeks
22:45
um
22:46
so for us
22:48
the most important thing is to remain
22:51
here and true to ourselves we talked a
22:53
little bit about brand and for us
22:56
it's the smartest thing you can do as a
22:58
small business person but it's the most
23:00
natural thing in the world to us
23:02
because you knew what I was going to say
23:03
when you asked me to come here today and
23:05
people know what my mom was going to do
23:07
when she's on TV that's because we are
23:09
who we are and and to represent Savannah
23:12
and give back to this community that's
23:15
taken care of us is the most important
23:16
thing so I'll ask you all to support our
23:19
local food bank for one we work really
23:21
closely with America's Second Harvest a
23:23
Savannah State shelter Bethesda Home For
23:25
Boys
23:26
keeping our businesses here we've had
23:28
the opportunity to they've been chasing
23:30
us
23:31
to put a Lady and Sons in Charleston for
23:33
a long time and I promise you I promise
23:35
you Mr Mayor it will never ever be
23:37
another lady in some restaurants
23:38
everyone in Savannah Georgia
23:44
this is where this is where our home is
23:47
I wasn't born I've been here 20 some odd
23:49
years and this is where they're going to
23:50
plan me
23:51
so we have uh we do have some partners
23:55
that we work with Harris is a partner of
23:58
ours and they do a Paula Deen Buffet now
24:00
those are outside of town but there's
24:02
the only lady in Suns is going to be
24:04
here
24:06
I'm stranded I feel like I should be
24:07
setting up that Buffet I'm usually
24:10
behind that girl
24:14
the uh
24:17
the the whole media scientists don't
24:19
compete don't work with kids or animals
24:22
but the third one is hungry stomachs so
24:24
I know we're running a little bit later
24:26
in here today
24:27
let me check my notes make sure I
24:29
haven't forgotten anything
24:30
our grand partners are my Corporation
24:33
who does pots and pans we work with
24:35
Harris we work with Smithfield we're
24:38
working with Walmart they're putting all
24:40
of our desserts into their bakeries
24:41
Walmarts all across the country so
24:45
as our business has grown
24:48
I hadn't owned a suit jacket that long
24:51
but I still work really hard but I don't
24:55
wash dishes anymore
24:57
we just closed the restaurant down at
24:59
the end of January and we were doing
25:01
some renovation work and I was in the
25:02
kitchen with my guys painting the
25:04
kitchen
25:05
so the big key for us really is to work
25:08
hard that's what you have to do is work
25:09
hard
25:10
because nobody's going to call you and
25:12
say
25:13
I want to buy everything you got
25:15
you you have to you have to work for
25:18
what you have
25:20
and be true to yourself
25:22
for us you know to sell pots and pans or
25:26
to have cookbooks or you know kind of
25:28
cheesy t-shirts that's you know that's
25:31
who we are we're not going to start
25:32
selling China
25:34
you know it's we're going to be Who We
25:37
Are
25:38
so I guess the big question uh is is how
25:41
you can get there
25:43
to where I am where I've been so forth
25:45
the the number one thing is get yourself
25:48
born by holiday
25:52
that's tough tough to break into
25:55
but it works
25:58
we started with three employees
26:02
we had two hundred dollars
26:04
and 20 some odd years later now we have
26:07
350 employees and we'll generate over
26:10
550 million dollars in business this
26:12
year
26:13
[Applause]
26:18
now what we're going to try to do next
26:20
year is figure out how not to spend 549
26:24
million dollars
26:27
so you have to be consistent
26:29
you have to never give up
26:32
don't let your pride trip you up in your
26:34
new small business
26:36
stay loyal to your customers into your
26:39
City to the people that help you
26:42
I have the same food salesman
26:44
this is
26:45
unheard of
26:47
Pat Watkins with bya
26:50
came into our business at Best Western
26:53
and he met my mom and he saw our
26:55
business and he said I'll give you this
26:57
first week's Groceries on credit
26:59
because we didn't have any money to buy
27:01
groceries
27:02
still my food man
27:03
and my food I spent three million
27:05
dollars a year now on food it worked out
27:07
pretty well for him too
27:09
young little boy at First Union across
27:12
the street to SunTrust
27:14
I followed him to SunTrust because he
27:16
gave us that initial seed money to get
27:19
started
27:23
you have to plan a plan ahead it was
27:26
just us
27:28
buying that business what if you do
27:30
succeed what are you going to do then
27:32
position people within your business to
27:35
keep your business growing
27:38
we already talked about working hard and
27:39
staying true to yourself
27:42
but the only business plan my mom has
27:44
ever shared with Bobby and I and it's
27:47
time to eat so I'm gonna I'm gonna leave
27:49
on this
27:50
is
27:52
the kiss method
27:54
it's unbeatable in business keep it
27:57
simple stupid
27:59
keep it simple stay true to yourself
28:01
take care of the people that take care
28:03
of you
28:04
that's what we do
28:06
thank y'all very much for your time
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