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Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey, gear. Geothermal. Is that. And then say it right or I still screw it up.”

Guillermo Avila – “No, you know what? You’re on the right track, GMO Avila.”

Angela Barrett – You’re. Good morning. How are you today?

Guillermo Avila – I’m doing well. Thank you.

Angela Barrett – “Good. So you are here to school me to to teach me. Because you are in a field that I don’t know a whole lot about. And that is the world of, digital. Outside of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. And lost. So help me out. Tell me what, 365 Digital Technologies does.”

Guillermo Avila – “So what we primarily do is we do at its core, project consulting. So, a lot of companies will hire us to run, like, their enterprise level projects. Unfortunately, a lot of our businesses also in what we call project rescues. And that’s generally when a client has gone over budget, maybe by a million, $2 million. They’re maybe a year to two years past when that project is supposed to be delivered.”

Guillermo Avila – “And they’ll call someone like, me and one of my teammates to come in and try to get that back on track so they can stop bleeding and hemorrhaging. So a lot of our focus is on managing and delivering on projects.”

Angela Barrett – “So first let’s back up and talk about what, for those of us who are not as knowledgeable in this area. A large enterprise project is to give you give me an example of what that might be.”

Guillermo Avila – “Sure. One rescue that we did was for, a website for a biotech company, for instance. So, unfortunately, they had a a bad implementer. They were about $1 million over budget and still had no website. And so when I got the phone call, we look at something like that and we try to break it down in pieces, you know, as to why it wasn’t delivered and what we can do to get it delivered.”

Guillermo Avila – “So in this case, it was an e-commerce site for a biotech. And they had they had nothing to show for the money that they put into it. And so our job is to go in and figure out how we can pick up the pieces and, and try to get them a product delivered. And sometimes that requires us getting a new vendor, or sometimes we can use the same vendor, but, you know, my my job is to come in and be a bit agnostic as far as who the vendor is.”

Guillermo Avila – We were just concerned about getting that project up and running for the client.

Angela Barrett – “And when you say vendor, you’re talking about like a your website host, that kind of thing.”

Guillermo Avila – “Or we have in this case it was the, the the vendor that was actually developing the website for my client. You know, after, more than a year, they still hadn’t delivered a, product, and they were so far over budget that we had to regroup on that. And so my job is to go in and figure out, like, do we have the right people in place to deliver what our client is looking for?”

Angela Barrett – “And so, again, help me, because a website, unless it is, you know, a website for, I don’t know, let’s say hospital where you’ve got thousands and thousands of providers in different divisions and things of that nature, but they aren’t that difficult unless you’re taking that kind of stale. Right? I mean, they yeah.”

Guillermo Avila – “Then, you know, when we look at something like this, it’s not like a website like you would think of for just throwing something up on, you know, just for presents, you know, where you can, you know, maybe have someone do it for, $1,000 or maybe cheaper than that. The thing that that was the complexity around this is you’re dealing with with a client that was integrating all of their warehousing, all of their inventory, you know, they’re forecasting off of it.”

Guillermo Avila – “They’re doing predictive analysis off of it. So it’s very, very complex when you look at what’s happening behind the scenes, just for someone to be able to, to find or purchase like a vial of something very, very complex, just to be able to show what’s in the inventory.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah. So in like in my real estate world, it would have been my CRM, which something else obviously, develops and I just get the plug in, you know, names and numbers. Yeah, that makes more sense now. Certainly. So, All right, so tell us what else you guys do. They’re at 365 Digital Technologies.”

Guillermo Avila – “So that’s that’s a big piece of what we do is the project management side. But we also do, CIO advisory. So, CIO is typically the chief information officer for, for the company. And so typically, we come in to serve as an ad advisor either to the CIO or in some cases, we come in as the interim CIO until a new one, is hired, or in some cases, we’re just asked to stay on, you know, can you give us ten hours a week?”

Guillermo Avila – “We can’t afford someone full time, but we’d like to have maybe someone on a on a retention level. So sometimes we do things like that. The real big thing that we’re getting into right now, we’re actually getting ready to pull the trigger on it. Probably within the next 2 to 3 weeks is we’re going to spin up our, AI and machine learning practice.”

Guillermo Avila – “And so we’re getting ready to hire some developers to help us. Right? Applications for, biotech manufacturing, supply chain sectors and start integrating in with some of their platforms. So we’re pretty excited about that. That’s something we’ve been working pretty hard at. And we think the time is right to go ahead and pull the trigger on that.”

Guillermo Avila – So we’re going to add the the AI and machine learning piece to our project management. The CIO advisory side.

Angela Barrett – “So tell me, how a is going to what will I be doing here?”

Guillermo Avila – “So it depends on the on the sector. One of the first things that we want to do is do some predictive forecasting. So, one of the things that we want to get into is let’s see if we can use machine learning and AI to help us forecast maybe customer sales. In some in in your world, it may have been we’re going to try to see if we can help you figure out, potential customers for real estate.”

Guillermo Avila – “Who are those people out there that are more likely to buy than not, and try to use AI to kind of break down for us who that market segment is. So you can more zero down on that. And that’s basically what we’re what we’re trying to do with, some of our clients is to try to help them develop some, some add ons to help them with forecasting for sales, maybe for raw materials, anything like that.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. That’s interesting. And AI is everywhere. Like it or not, here it is. Embrace it and go. Right.”

Guillermo Avila – “Exactly, exactly.”

Angela Barrett – “That’s that’s, In in my world of things, AI is used. Not so much yet. Except, in a couple different areas, but it’s hard to replace AI right this second anyway, with true photos or true videos of a home or an area. You know, everybody really wants to see what that is. And, but some of the like you said, statistics and stuff like that.”

Angela Barrett – “Sure. But it’s all again, way over my head.”

Guillermo Avila – “You know, I think that some of the worry that people would have is, you know, AI is is going to replace my job. And if you look at like real estate, I’d say it’s going to enhance the experience. But you can’t remove the human element from that. You know, there’s some there’s still something about you sitting in front of someone who’s a first time homebuyer, and you’re really encouraging them because they’re scared.”

Guillermo Avila – “AI is not going to be able to talk them off the ledge of being scared, but somebody like yourself can sit there. That human interaction is something you can’t remove. So all we’re looking at is where I, serves as a as a conduit and as a help, but not a replacement. And so that’s, that’s kind of the approach that we take with it right now.”

Angela Barrett – “You guys are in Malden, South Carolina, right?”

Guillermo Avila – We are.

Angela Barrett – “But that is obviously not, a location where you generate most of your business because I would imagine you have them everywhere with large companies.”

Guillermo Avila – “Correct. We actually have no customers in Greenville. So we’ve got our clients are anywhere from Seattle, DC area. We just finished up a project in New York. We’ve got them all over the country. And my, my consultants are all over the country as well. So, all of my folks work remotely, mainly because a central office doesn’t make a lot of sense because our our, our, our guys are having to go wherever the work is.”

Guillermo Avila – “And so, they’re onsite really all over the country. But we’re based out of Malden for sure.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. And love Malden, actually. So let’s talk about some of these companies. And how, how does it happen that they fail? I mean, where’s the where’s this break down and how does this happen when, like, you said, they’ve paid out millions of dollars and still have nothing to show. We’re we’re we’re where do you see most of that break down.”

Guillermo Avila – “So typically what we see and this is more often than not is you have someone at the top level who could hire someone like me to say, hey, can you help us manage this project? We have this three, $4 million project. We could really use you and your teams help to help us manage and get this thing to success.”

Guillermo Avila – “What’ll typically happen is a CFO or someone at that level may look at the costs of bringing someone like me in and say, you know what, I think we’ll take a shot at managing this in-house. And for the most part, that’s where we’ve seen it go pretty badly. Is that in an effort to save money, it actually costs them more money and so, I’ll end up getting a phone call.”

Guillermo Avila – “We had one, one, client up in, the northeast where they were two years past their budget. $3 million past, their budgetary, restraints. And, was very, very, a lot of friction when I walked in. You know, everyone’s angry. Oh, yeah. Everyone’s angry. Everyone’s upset. And when, you know, we start asking questions again, it comes back to, you know, we we thought we could manage this in-house by ourselves.”

Guillermo Avila – “And so now they have to bring in a company like ours to go ahead and level set and get them over the finish line, which, which we, which we’ve always been able to do. But again, it’s coming at a, at a point where they’re having to spend more money in order to get them to the finish line, and it doesn’t make up for the money that they’ve already spent, which are usually, you know, 1 or $2 million, you know, over their budget.”

Angela Barrett – “Right. And so and, and we’ll put it in some very simple forms and I’ll, I’ll let you tell me what you think. But one of the ways to avoid this, and this is where, I love to tell my, the lenders that I work with, obviously in my line used to hire new hires, and the attorneys stay in theirs, you know, because we that’s the problem when people start thinking they can handle these large projects, when they really don’t know the deep details, like you would know in what needs to be placed when, where and how, a is that what you’re thinking?”

Angela Barrett – “Is the miscommunication. I mean, sure, they manage $1 billion company, but this particular project is very particular. You tell me what you think they can do to avoid that. I’m just saying stay in your life.”

Guillermo Avila – “Well, you know it. It’s funny because in a way, it it it sort of is, when, when we come in for some rescues, whether it’s for manufacturing or, biotech, pharmaceutical, whatever that might be, what we find is it’s exactly that you’re having, a group of very, very competent people that that want to believe that they’re able to do something that they’re not skilled in.”

Guillermo Avila – “And project management is one of those skill sets that if you’re not careful, you could really lose your shirt over it, you know, and in these cases, our clients thought they could manage it in-house, and they just didn’t have the in-house expertise to do that. And, so generally when I see the, white flag being waved and it’s help is needed, usually by that point things are are pretty bad.”

Guillermo Avila – “And usually there’s no there’s no secret sauce in a sense, for us it’s just going back to some of the basics. And so once we start adding in some of those basic things, we start to see the, the project, start to get traction again and we get them over the finish line.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. You know, and there’s, this is what I have found. And different parts of the world, the work sector is that you’ve got, like you said, these, you know, geniuses that run this business. But when it comes to breaking it down and seeing the little details as it goes along, because they see the big picture, they’re here.”

Angela Barrett – “That’s right. You know, and then but to be able to break that down and make those steps happen when they need to happen and how they need to happen is a whole different ballgame. At least from the experience that I have seen. But I think that’s kind of what you were saying. Is it running $1 billion company as a whole is one thing to break this project down, you know, is something else, and you do need experts for that.”

Guillermo Avila – “Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and it’s in its part for us is to when we partner with the client, I have one client in particular. We’re still engaged, with them for, for quite a few years now. And, one of the things I’ve asked them is, you know, what? What is the value that we add when we’re with you guys for these projects?”

Guillermo Avila – “And he always says, you guys are my watchdog. He trusts us. So when they bring in a vendor to implement something that could be a 3 to $4 million project, he’s learned, he doesn’t have the in-house expertise to do it. They bring in my folks to do it. And our job is to protect the project. And so we will let him know if we think that we’re seeing something that’s going to take the project, like off the rails.”

Guillermo Avila – And he appreciates that. And that’s why he just calls us our watchdog. You were the ones who helped protect his company’s interests.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah. That’s great. Now let’s talk just a minute, because we’re talking about some of these these companies and big companies. But what about your smaller companies? Who struggle, you know, some of the entrepreneurs or the small businesses that are already there help. I guess you guys probably deal with them, maybe on a different scale, but let’s talk about them for a little bit.”

Guillermo Avila – “Yeah, we do we we we do partner with like more mid-sized market. And then on the smaller scale we do a that would be more advisory. So, if someone is looking for a, an interim CIO or even, what we call like a fractional PMO. So that would be, kind of, a rent project management office.”

Guillermo Avila – “So we’re just kind of a rental of, of our talent, and they use us as they, as they need it. And so for those smaller to mid-sized companies, we go in, normally in advisory roles and just let them know what they need to do to be successful in projects. In some cases, they may bring on one of our team members on a part time basis to help them do that and just get them over the hump.”

Guillermo Avila – But we do a lot of advisory for the small mid-level market just to make sure that they’re equipped. Then they’re able to get over the hump.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Because, when you do have a small business or even a mid-sized business, you don’t always have all the pieces, and even big companies don’t have all the pieces, I guess, or else there wouldn’t be you guys. But, there’s there’s a lot of especially in that. The world that you’re in, in the technology world, there’s a lot of companies, small and medium, that don’t have that kind of piece.”

Guillermo Avila – “Oh for sure. I mean, one of the things that you’ll find, and it’s one of the reason that I left the some of the bigger consulting firms to start my own is that the price point for those firms are not meant for small to midsize companies. And so if a smaller midsize company is looking for help from, you know, one of the big five, they just can’t afford it.”

Guillermo Avila – “You know, those rates are coming in sometimes at 250 to 85 an hour. And, you know, you’ve got a small midsize company just doing everything they can to survive. And so where we come in is we we don’t have anywhere near those rates. And our job is to just protect, that client’s interest and just get them moving.”

Guillermo Avila – “I mean, we’re we’re a small company. We’re only, this may will be six years that we’ve been in business. We’ve got ten consultants right now. We’re looking at bringing in some more. We’re still a small company in our own size, but, we value that small to midsize company mindset to want to grow. So we we don’t ever neglect those, those clients.”

Guillermo Avila – “We we always deal with them. But on a different level, than some of the enterprise level, projects that we take on.”

Angela Barrett – “So for somebody who’s contemplating starting a business, what would be some of the advice that, that you would give from your from your world, your perspective?”

Guillermo Avila – “You know, my wife and I talk about this, a lot when when my wife and I started the business almost six years ago. You know, you’re going in as a small business owner. We’re in the consulting side. It was. I was the only one consulting. My wife is running everything on the back and everything from dealing with the contracts.”

Guillermo Avila – Attorneys try to. The company gets stabilized in some way. And and we’re putting in a ton of hours just to launch a company. And one of the first things that I would tell any small business owner is no one is ever going to care about your company as much as you do. No one. You have got to put the time in it.

Guillermo Avila – “It’s it’s it’s sometimes, frustrating when you work an entire day. Maybe you didn’t get a client that day, but you’re the one who puts in the hours to do it. And so when you do land a client, it’s your success. Like this is all yours. And, luckily, I was able to start this thing with my wife.”

Guillermo Avila – “So both of us got to be able to split duties in terms of launching a company. But when when you look at the struggles of a small business owner, it really is, sometimes you feel like you’re all by yourself and, you know, it’s. Yeah. And you feel like the world’s against you in some ways. And so part of what we have learned is that, man, if we’re giving any counsel to anyone, you have got to put in long hours.”

Guillermo Avila – “This is not an 8 to 5 type of gig. If you’re looking to start a small business. One one thing that’s that’s so funny, Angela. And I don’t know if you ever run across anyone like this when when we run across, sometimes friends or family, there’s this misconception that because you’re a small business owner, you can take off whatever time you want, you know, hey, if you want to take off 2 or 3 days, isn’t that great?”

Guillermo Avila – “You own the business. Like, because it really work that way. You know, if I got.”

Angela Barrett – “Work, actually.”

Guillermo Avila – “Exactly. If I don’t work, we’re not making money, you know, it’s we’re nowhere near to the point where I can just take off, for eight weeks and think that it’s not going to impact our business. We are very, very sensitive to the amount of time that we put in. And so for I think for the small business owner, it’s really you got to realize your success is going to be really determined by the grit and time and effort that you pour into your business, because you’re the one who cares about it the most.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And there are days that you have to remember, the why why again, am I doing this?”

Guillermo Avila – “You gotta remind yourself every day. Because there are days when you wake up, you’re like, why do I do this to myself? And it’s just we, you know, there’s something that we wanted to do different as a business that was different than the consulting channels I came out of. And, we have to remind ourselves that the reason that we do this is because we want it to be different, and we have to live that out.”

Guillermo Avila – “And the people that we hire and, the way that we we live out our company principles with our clients.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, absolutely. And I think the, the, the nice thing about working with small business or, if that’s if you, if you’re looking for service, working with a small business because they are a big corporation and they do care not only about, you know, their business, but about the client, because that one client makes a huge difference in the business.”

Angela Barrett – “And so you’re going to give that more, attentive, service because you have to whereas a corporation can go for we don’t need them all.”

Guillermo Avila – “I’ll tell you one thing. We did, Angela, and this was one of the best, things I ever invested in. I, I had, a gentleman out in the business world who, really large in the YouTube space and someone I, I respect professionally. And I bought 15 minutes of his time and he said, listen, ask me anything you want.”

Guillermo Avila – “What can we do to help you with your business? And I said, you know, when I’m going up across the the mega giants of the consulting companies out in the world, I’m a ten man shop. They’ve got 30,000 people on their bench. How in the world do I differentiate myself from that? And he gave me such great advice that I use it, when we’re trying to, to make pitches to, like potential military contracts or anything like that, he said, I actually had a presentation, that week with the, that we were planning with the Navy, and he said, you know what?”

Guillermo Avila – “To speak their language. When, when you when when you approach them and you talk about the value that you had as a ten member team, remind them that one of the best special forces that the Navy has is a small team of professionals that do a lot of damage. That’s what you are. You guys are the Navy Seals of what you do.”

Guillermo Avila – “And it was like, brilliant. I realize, yeah, we are small, but we mobilized quickly and we’ve got some people with incredible experience. We may not have that large army, but we are very specialized in what we do and we’re really good at it. And so to start speaking that language of like, we are the special forces of project consulting, and we do it really, really well.”

Guillermo Avila – “That’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given, and it helps me differentiate myself from some of those giants that are out there.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah, I actually like that. I like that a lot. And it brings it back down to that. Human touch level, that people can relate, I like it. So what’s the big next step for? I know you said you had one project come up. What’s the next step for 365?”

Guillermo Avila – “So, you know, it’s it’s been a little interesting, I think, in terms of where we’re at, business wise, we had to do some regrouping. We were, we were potentially looking at doing, hopefully some big things, for this year in the government sector. But I think with a lot of the changes that have happened, we’re we’re backing off of that a bit and we’re regrouping on the commercial end.”

Guillermo Avila – “So what we’ve strategically said is the next big thing for us is to start, continuing building out the CIO advisory piece. But we are going to put quite a bit of effort now into, launching the AI and machine learning, practice, our consulting side, project consulting has been going great, and we’re continuing to grow there.”

Guillermo Avila – “So for us, I think the next natural thing is, is to start building applications that our clients need, trying to leverage, AI and machine learning. So that’s going to be the big thing that we’re focused in on now.”

Angela Barrett – “We’ll call. That’d be great. The, you know, I have to ask 365 is that because you worked three, six, 365 days?”

Guillermo Avila – “That’s right, I never sleep. That’s that’s our would, you know, our clients, most of them, you know, especially, most, most of all of our clients, they all operate, almost every day of the year. And I think it was important to when we named the company to, to reference the fact that, we’re recognizing that our that our clients never sleep.”

Guillermo Avila – “And it was important for us in the name to, to realize that we’re going to be there for them, with that same level of effort, because they’re they’re putting out products that people are relying on. My pharma companies are developing, vaccine solutions, things like that, that, that people need. My manufacturing folks are developing things that people need on an everyday basis.”

Guillermo Avila – “And if they’re operating 24 seven, I should be able to operate 24 seven in that mindset. So that was that was pretty strategic for us. When we named the company.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. I like it. So now what would you say today in your the six years that you guys have have been opened and up and running your most successful story? I know you can’t say company names or names, but just giving you the basis of the most successful story you’ve had so far.”

Guillermo Avila – “Yeah. I think, it’s one that we, that we rolled off here, rather recently. It was a, a very large ERP implementation, which is it’s a, it’s a platform that combines all your manufacturing, distribution, logistics. H.R I mean, it’s it’s a very, very large platform, that Microsoft has. And the client was two years past, there.”

Guillermo Avila – “Go live. I want to say that they were close to, 2.5 million past budget and, they were they were on their last leg. They were bleeding out trying to say, how are we going to go live with this product? We went in in about six months time. We were able to get them to, an initial go live.”

Guillermo Avila – “And then about 4 to 5 months later, we went with a second go live. And so we were able to get them in about a year’s time back on track. But it took a lot of a lot of effort, and just a lot of regrouping. But we were able to get them live and, you know, I think it stopped the bleeding that, that they had because it was running, it was going to run in the millions.”

Guillermo Avila – “If they weren’t, if they didn’t call us in.”

Angela Barrett – Let’s call that is a good story. And and good for them and good for y’all. What is your favorite part about what you do running the company? The actual getting in there and doing the work? Or is it give me give me what your favorite part of it is.

Guillermo Avila – “You know, it’s funny because I thought when we started the company, I thought my biggest satisfaction would be, shaking the hand of a CEO or CFO after a project and and just the satisfaction of saying, hey, you guys got us where we couldn’t get to thank you. And it ended up being something different. And where we’re at now is, where in the beginning I thought the mindset would be we can get them where they need to be at and, you know, we could walk away and go on to our next project.”

Guillermo Avila – “And what’s happened is it’s evolved into, that C-level suite saying, to me and my team, can you guys keep working with us to make sure we never have this happen again?”

Angela Barrett – Yeah.

Guillermo Avila – “And, you know, it was funny. I had one CFO tell me that in such a huge compliment. The CEO went to him one day and said, listen, is it really necessary, you know, to keep Garima and his team around? You know, there’s there’s an expense having them around. And the CFO told him it is cheaper having them on our team than it is not having them.”

Guillermo Avila – “You know, and the whole point was the amount of money that they were losing, running these projects into the ground was far more costly than having 1 or 2 of us on the team there, and that’s just a huge compliment when they have that much trust in and in my team to get those projects delivered. It’s it’s it’s the biggest compliment.”

Guillermo Avila – “It really is. Absolutely. It’s something that we, we hold dear, that we’ve got clients that believe in us enough that they want us to stick around and keep running other projects for them.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. That’s nice. That is I don’t disagree. That’s a that’s a great. Thing when somebody, you know, in my world gives you a recommendation or calls you back to do the same thing again. And, you’re right, that is probably one of the best parts.”

Guillermo Avila – Yeah. It’s awesome. Yeah.

Angela Barrett – “Well, I thank you so much for, talking with me today and, helping me, learn a little bit this morning. I appreciate it. And, we’ll have to get together maybe in about a year and see, what are you guys and how much further you’ve come from today?”

Guillermo Avila – That would be awesome. I would totally welcome that.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much.”

Guillermo Avila – Thank you. Angela.

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Well. Hey, lady.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Hey, Angela. So glad to be back.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, well, I was expecting you. I know everybody else can’t see us, but I can see you be all in your pink again. But you didn’t today. And that’s okay, because I’m closer to a woman, so I get it. But I do call you the lady. And thank you. Like the legging risk.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Kind of mess up today. It’s kind of a rainy, drab day. So. Kind of weary of gray and black.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. That’s right. So, before we get into kind of what’s happened since for the people who’ve not seen or listen to the podcast prior, tell everybody what locks marketing Company is.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So Lux is a boutique agency, catered to creative entrepreneurs and business owners. So I myself am based in the fashion industry for about a decade now. And then grew up in creative businesses and interior design. My mom under salon for over 20 years. So kind of my passion in a collective of everything else I fell in love with, and how all the creative industries kind of tie in together.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So I cater only to those creative industries, to fashion and to design. Hair, beauty, kind of lifestyle wellness, wellness, I would say probably med spa and more things like that on the beauty side. Or what I focus on for my niche. And then we, cater for marketing, branding, personal branding. Kind of digging deep into, questions that most people can’t answer for themselves and helping them bring their vision to life.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So it goes way more than just the, you know, surface level, services that we offer. Not just making the social post. It goes way beyond that.”

Angela Barrett – “Right? So you are in the Charleston area, but you don’t just work with people in Charleston. I mean, you work with people all over, right?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Right. I have clients, primarily here in Charleston. Just because I have a big connection base here. But I have clients that span from Chicago, California, all over the place. So, definitely, all around the US.”

Angela Barrett – “And we won’t drop any names today, but we’re big clients of that.”

Kelsay Pattillo – Yes.

Angela Barrett – “That. So, what has happened since the last time you and I talked? And I’m trying to remember, actually, what that date was. And I’ll have to look. So go ahead.”

Kelsay Pattillo – July.

Angela Barrett – July of 23. Right? Yeah.

Kelsay Pattillo – 24

Angela Barrett – “It was, I mean. Yeah, 24. Yeah. It was pretty hot. I you remember that? Yeah. So tell us what’s been going on with you and, where Lux is now.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Yeah. So a lot has evolved, actually, since our last conversation. I’ve refined my services to focus more on what really connects with my clients. So branding strategy, personal branding, more deeper high touch services. Kind of realizing, the problems that clients are needing and meeting those with a solution. So one of the biggest changes that have introduced is the looks VIP day, which is a, more in-depth, hands on branding experience for business owners who need that clarity and direction.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “I’ve been focusing on continually refining my niche offerings to make sure creative entrepreneurs are getting exactly what they need, not just in terms of marketing, but in how they show up and connect with their audience. So a big part of that has been the luxe VIP day, which takes everything I do branding, marketing, messaging, strategy and distills it into a focus high impact session.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So instead of clients feeling overwhelmed by all the moving pieces of their brand, we streamline everything into one deep dive session so they walk away with a crystal clear plan that aligns with their business.”

Angela Barrett – “And so when you you have this VIP that wins, that do you do it more than once a year or is it once a year, or how does it work?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So right now it’s been kind of since it’s been a new service that I’ve rolled out. It’s been kind of as people come in, are interested. So I try and do it at least quarterly. So I give myself the time that it needs to put into that project. Because it is a lot of preparation. Every single thing is tailored to that client.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So down to the questions that I’m asking. I kind of do a little bit of preliminary homework and research about their business, and then I can go into it directly tailored to their business. So then they can answer the right questions and get the right things done. So, you know, instead of, instead of trying to have all these moving parts, like I said, we’re kind of honing in on one super high focus day to where we can knock everything out.”

Kelsay Pattillo – And a lot of it is asking those hard questions that sometimes they can’t answer. But that’s my job to come in and help you dig deep and help you answer those questions and help you figure out your why and things that you never would have imagined. Wow. That is how my brand kind of connects with my audience. And that is why I got started.

Kelsay Pattillo – “And that is why I’m passionate about what I’m doing and helping them answer those questions they never would have, been able to answer on their own before. There really is an art and a science to it. So that is where my passion lies, is helping them kind of come out of their shell and being able to be their best selves in their business.”

Angela Barrett – “So let’s just go ahead. Let’s talk about branding, because that is a hot topic these days. Everywhere you look, everybody’s talking about branding, branding, voice, this, that, and the other. I don’t even know what a branding voice is. But anyway, maybe we can start there and you can tell me what that is. What is a branding voice?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So that’s the voice that you portray your brand. So that’s for example, I’ll say in a social post, it’s going to be the scroll stopping copy that someone reads and they say, oh my goodness, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. This resonates. This connects with me. This speaks to me. We are. It’s the brand voice that is reaching the right niche audience that they want to reach.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So we’re speaking music to their ears. This is exactly what they’ve been wanting, no matter if it’s service or not. Service based, it’s how you connect with your audience and resonate with them. Essentially.”

Angela Barrett – “I think I understand, but so branding and again, hot topic, hot topic right now, there’s more to it than social media. There’s more to it than picking your colors for your card in your logo or shoe logo. Give us sort of a breakdown of when somebody needs, let’s just say it’s me. I come to you say I need to be branded.”

Angela Barrett – “I don’t have a client. So tell me what I know you can explain in detail, because I know it’s a lot.”

Kelsay Pattillo – That is.

Angela Barrett – “Will you give us the highlights? You know, of a checklist, maybe, that you have to go through to get a branding together? Because I don’t think people understand how in-depth it is.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Right? Because there’s of course, the main branding aspect for the business. But then there’s also a personal branding aspect where if clients do or don’t want to be the forefront of their business, being able to operate and show the lifestyle around the business and the brand. So there are a lot of components, but as far as just not basic, but I would say more general branding for the business as a whole.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “That’s the kind of go to doing the logo, choosing the colors. And those also are going down to color psychology and how the colors relate to what you’re doing. And, you know, purple relating to royalty, for example, just off the top of my head, thinking about all of those things, that’s where the science comes into it.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “And really putting the puzzle pieces together intentionally instead of, oh, I like this color. So I want to throw this together. So, I mean, some people might think, because I love pink, that’s why I chose pink, but it’s also the color psychology and the softness and the science behind it also matches. So it was more of a perfect fit on both sides for that.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So it’s not about just choosing pretty colors, of course. Choose colors that you love, but also choose them with intention. And then of course the branding identity. So the messaging, the strategy, how we’re going to connect with our niche audience, how we’re going to launch that in, in a marketing side of things, how we’re going to build a marketing campaign and how it all goes together.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “You know, doing the branding mood board. So then you have something or the branding guidelines. So then you have something to, refer back to later down the road. Where if wherever you’re working with, you can just send them that branding guidelines and they know you know, what to work off of. So it’s a lot of moving parts.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “And so it’s different to every client as well. It’s custom to, you know, they want an icon aside from the logo. They want this little character with their brand, or they want to be the face of the brand. It’s really about, getting all those pieces together. And then that’s the hard question I ask is, you don’t like being on camera, you don’t like being the forefront, but you are your brand.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So it would be a waste to not have you be the face of your brand and really capitalize off of that and use your personal journey, or whatever it may be, to connect with the audience even more. So. So even more, that’s a step up from the brand voice is your personal journey and being transparent and authentic?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Of course, in the right ways. We’re not going to share a whole life story, but where it makes sense, where it makes sense. Sometimes showing that vulnerability is, you know, one of the best ways to connect with your audience. So it’s really just about that whirlwind of emotions and all of the things, you know, putting all the pieces together to have that beautiful puzzle at the end.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. And do you have clients to get, I mean, in or maybe this is for this or and I don’t know that. I mean, because I understand the only is the color and the psychology of colors, but it also goes right down to what font you’re using, correct?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Yes. Yes. Fonts as well. That speaks volumes as well. And everyone has a different, opinion and idea of what that is. Some people hate the curly font, some people love the more fancy fonts, but it’s really a it’s not about you as much in a sense, it is your brand in your baby, but it’s more about what is more readable, what is more attention grabbing, what will get my consumer the best.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So of course, your wishes come into play. But that’s where my expertise kind of gauges you like. Hey, this this font is not really readable. We might want to go with something that you can actually see, or we use it on certain case occasions. So that’s something where I’ll work with you on. Hey, if you already come to me with ideas of fonts and colors and everything, that’s totally fine.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “It is your brand. It is your baby. But might have to make some tweaks to it. So it’s for your best in the future for your brand, right?”

Angela Barrett – “In, as I was listening to you there probably people who don’t know what a niche is. So explain that.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So niche is the specific person or ideal customer audience consumer that you are trying to, target. So niche is just my niche is creative entrepreneur. So that’s why I call it that. So that’s only who I, cater to. So some salons only do you know the blow out, the blow dry bar? They only do that they don’t do any cuts.”

Kelsay Pattillo – So that’s their niche is they only do the blowout services.

Angela Barrett – “Right. And like, gosh, if you’ll think, I’ll give. Car repair shops, we’ll go way out here. So not to hurt anyone’s, you know, there are some that cater to your foreign cars. There are some that cater to your luxury cars. There are some, but I’ll do anything that walks in the door. And that would be another example of niche.”

Angela Barrett –

Kelsay Pattillo – “Yes. I know someone that owns a car shop and they only do German cars, so BMW, Volkswagen, that’s their niche. So they only focus on the German car brands? Yeah too.”

Angela Barrett – “But I didn’t know about that about six months ago. Because I have or had my son had not me. My son had a Volkswagen that we could not figure out for why, but what was wrong with it? Finally forgot all that’s right. But Lord, it took forever. But we needed somebody like that that knew German cars.”

Angela Barrett – “Other than I talk to the dealership and again, it won’t hurt you by stealing, but they just want more money. More money, and nothing ever gets done. Here are their. But yes. So that’s what a niche is. Now going back you looks the up day. How do people if they’re interested or you’ve got a day coming up.”

Angela Barrett – How do they know. How do they find out how to get more.

Kelsay Pattillo – “So you can, reach out, call, call or email. I want to say my email out, but of course it will.”

Angela Barrett – Be.

Kelsay Pattillo – “Intro or whatever for the podcast. Reach out and we can, you know, set up a time to discuss and really just kind of map out what we need that will meet your needs and your business. It’s really just been about as it’s new. It’s a newer service, like I said, in the past month. So, it’s something that we’re kind of just taking in stride as it comes and learning as we go as well, because it’s something that we’ve already done.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “It’s just, hey, why don’t we make a service into what we’ve already been doing and kind of hone in and focus just on that? So before it was something that kind of just came along when clients were needing it, as like an add on service. But now it’s a full, you know, mapped out service, just focusing on that.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So, work in it’s tailored to every client. So that’s why we like to have a, you know, a little one on one and get some information. And then that’s where we take it and build out, you know, the questionnaires, the surveys, all the workshops that we do with you.”

Angela Barrett – It and also you have a Facebook and Instagram presence as well.

Kelsay Pattillo – And then it’s more marketing co. Yes.

Angela Barrett – “All right. And for those who are listening that’s l u x e just l ux which you see a lot of times shorter, but, All right, so let me ask you some fun questions. What is the favorite part about what you do?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “I think my favorite part about what I do is helping creative brands really come to life, and really seeing people come out of their shell personally and professionally. I mean, even seeing their home life better because they finally get to the kinks in their business, and now they can finally breathe and do what they do best while I take that and delegate it off their plate.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “That’s where my passion lies. Where it’s like, wow, I didn’t even know why I was doing this until now. And now I can really step into my passion and do it best. So really digging deep and helping them find out their why not just creating content, but making sure their brand feels right for them and for their audience?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Sometimes that’s coming in as a new brand, sometimes that’s coming in and revamping and rebranding. But every time it’s the same gratifying of seeing them come out of their shell and just that glow that they have. I just I can’t put it into words. It’s just it’s like someone going through a transformation like a butterfly. It’s the best way I can describe it.”

Kelsay Pattillo – Just coming from one side to the other. Having that clarity to go forward is probably it’s very gratifying.

Angela Barrett – “I know that look that you’re talking about in the real estate world when you’re showing people homes and they walk into one and there’s that same glow that like, ding, ding, we’re here, you know, without them saying a word, it just clicked right. It is a nice feeling. It is. It is. Now you’re talking about some of the hard questions.”

Angela Barrett – “So give me an example of one of the hard questions. I know you mentioned why some people, like you said, probably don’t don’t know why. It just sort of fell in or they fell into this hole or whatever it is. But what are some of the hard questions that you have to ask?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “I think one of them comes to mind is, why are you doing this? Why are you doing what you’re doing? And even though they are passionate about it and they are doing it, sometimes it’s easy to get stuck and burnt out in that day to day where it’s like I’m just trying to go through the motions. And so they’re like, I don’t get you.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “All right, so it’s one of those I don’t know anymore, but I’m here to help you rediscover that. Like, wow, let me get back to my roots on where I came from, why I started this. So I think that’s one of the biggest things people cannot answer right off the top of their head. And I have to tell them ahead of time.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Hey, some of these questions are going to feel heavier, make it feel like I’m putting you on the spot. But this is just for your greater good to kind of dig deep, and answer those hard questions that you can’t answer on your own. So I kind of guide through that. And, sometimes we have to circle back to some of those hard questions, but, of course, do it as your comfort level allows.”

Kelsay Pattillo – But I think that’s one of the top questions I would say.

Angela Barrett – Have you ever had any by just your flat? Couldn’t figure out the wife?

Kelsay Pattillo – “No, I think I think sometimes if they don’t understand how I’m asking the question, if it’s more technical coming from my side per se, and I’ve have to pivot and break it down and say, okay, well, think about it from this perspective. And that’s where that’s where the digging deep comes from. And sometimes it is just conversation back and forth of throwing the ping pong back and forth.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “And then they’re like, okay, now that makes sense. Now that you’ve explained that differently now I understand where you’re coming from. I didn’t understand it on the level you were asking before. So that’s where I have a basis of questions I ask, but I pivot and change it and tweak it however, in the moment to help them get over that hump, if that makes sense.”

Angela Barrett – “So what do you think one of the biggest mistakes that business owners, especially in the entrepreneur or where we don’t have we can’t what can’t we don’t have?”

Angela Barrett – “A marketing department like some of these huge industries. I mean, here you are. You’re so low. What do you think some of the biggest mistakes those people make when it comes to branding, slash marketing, all of the above.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Well, first, I understand it is overwhelming because I do have some people come to me where they’re like, I don’t know anything. I just know that I need help and I need you to delegate this off of my plate. So that’s the first step is asking for. Right. But I think not having that clear brand identity or any kind of brand or marketing direction, not even having it top of mind.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “In today’s world, it’s almost impossible to not have an online presence. So many people focus on visuals without defining their brand values. So, for example, you’ll see a brand that rebrands and they get a new logo and new colors, and you’ve warmed up that audience to that new vision, and then they have someone else doing graphics for them that’s unrelated.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “They’re using whatever colors they want, so whatever channel they’re going out is something completely different. It looks like a different brand each time. It’s so important to be cohesive across all channels. So then it’s like that brand identity. Just like with Coca-Cola and all the logos that you can look at without it saying the word, it’s brand identity.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “You are identifying it based on the colors and it’s a brain thing. So trying to be everything to everyone instead of honing in on a niche, that’s also a big thing. That’s why I like the I am niche down, so then I can explain and mirror to them. It’s okay to be able to cater to everyone, but you can do your work best if you hone in on what you do best, right?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So honing in on a niche and having that strong brand personality to where they can stand to be confident and say, I do this, and I know I do. This might not be the best, but we can say, hey, I do this best, you know what I mean? And so not being consistent across platforms is probably one of, the biggest things.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Like I was saying, a strong brand should have a clear voice and presence everywhere, whether that’s socials, your newsletter, you know, podcast, whatever channels that you’re on. Even down to how you’re speaking with your clients on the phone, you don’t have to have a script, but you can kind of learn some of that brand language and kind of throw it into then everything is cohesive.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “And even down to I have my clients, I do styling as well if they need like the personal branding and hey, I need to look the part. I’ll have them reaching for the right colors and being cohesive with the brand without trying or without being to, you know, over the top. So it’s something that I kind of integrate these little things where they learn on their own.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Finally, I can operate and talk about my brand and know what’s going on and mirror what’s also being said online and on other channels. So it’s really important to be cohesive.”

Angela Barrett – “So, you know, if we talked about colors and we talked about font just listening to so. What you’re saying is websites, social media, any kind of premium materials cards, those kind of stick should all have the same fonts in the same colors around throughout. Right. Yeah, I got you.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Can there’s ways you can, you know, that’s why you have the brain kit and the branding guidelines where you have a few select fonts, a few select colors. So if you want to change up within those colors and fonts, that’s completely fine. It’s a case use on what works best, what looks best. But you’re still being cohesive where it’s like, oh, it’s still there colors, but it’s in a different light.”

Kelsay Pattillo – So I still recognize that type thing.

Angela Barrett – “Right? Right, right, right. And it is important to people know across the board. And like you said, if you like for me real estate and then I do call it real estate by day, podcast by night. But, you know, really those two should look more like. Right. Yeah, I say, and they said do not. But anyway, it’s all talk.”

Angela Barrett – “So I, I see what you’re saying now as far as, How creative you view it in this is it, you have some people like, like the full range or or most people have some idea or think they have an idea or rephrase it that way. So when it comes to the creative side of this.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “I love this question. So I always tell clients, I want you to be as involved as you’d like to be. If this is something where you don’t want to be involved, you want to take this off your plate. This is stressful. I will take it. If it’s something where we want to hold hands and do this together, then we’re going to hold hands and do this together.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So it’s basically the client’s wishes. On if they don’t have any ideas we’ll we’ll brainstorm together if they don’t want to be involved, whatever. But if they do, then we brainstorm. We do it all the way from step one to finish line. It’s a collaborating working relationship, right?”

Angela Barrett – “Right, right, right. It is a very, I’m going to say intimate because it can be.”

Kelsay Pattillo – Dense.

Angela Barrett – “Because you’re getting down to what people are going to see, and there’s going to be things discussed with you that they may not want other people to know. But to get an idea of where they are and where they’re coming from and what they want. Trey, you made that information.”

Kelsay Pattillo – Right?

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, because it is I mean, it goes down to this is isn’t I just your face, but this is who you are if you want your business to be successful. Right, I like it. I like it.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “It’s definitely a very intimate experience. And I’m like, I know your brand is your baby, so that’s your decision. If you want to hand over that baby and let me take the reins or let’s hold the baby together.”

Angela Barrett – So yes.

Kelsay Pattillo – “That’s the best. Yeah, I can give. But yes, I love. However, the client’s comfort level is how that works out. Basically.”

Angela Barrett – “So what do you think? Without saying, I guess we don’t give names because I don’t want that known. But what do you think has been the biggest success or the biggest? I’m going to call it heart filling success story for you in the end was, you know, whether it be a client who cares, it got no idea or whether it was somebody who had it was pull into, you know, give me what was the biggest success that you think?”

Angela Barrett – Do you personally.

Kelsay Pattillo – “So without naming names, right. And being too specific.”

Angela Barrett –

Kelsay Pattillo – “I do have to give some details. So it was an interior designer. She was under a corporation. She moved here to Charleston and, kind of showed her the ropes of Charleston in general. But from point A to the end of that branding project, I showed her her work in the work that she’s doing and her passion to where she left the corporation and started her own interior design firm just because of that branding project.”

Angela Barrett – “Wow. And because how long does it take for you to do them? That’s a good question I hadn’t thought about. I mean, it’s not like you talk on the phone one day.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “No, this was a months and months process. And we were, you know, already working together. So it was kind of intertwined in all of that work. But of course I did the one off projects where it’s like, hey, I just need a quick refresh. But this was a definitely a very in-depth, intimate process. You know, down to how she dressed, how she interacted with her family, like I said, coming out of their shells personally in her family home life got so much better just because she finally got clarity in an area that was such a, you know, a sore spot, and became more successful because of all of it.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So, to be able to say, hey, you’re worth so much more than this. We cannot we can’t have this bang up job that we’ve just done. And you go back and, you know, give that corporation credit. So we, we did a rebrand for her own new brand as well.”

Angela Barrett – “I know, I do. You know what’s wrong?”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Oh, I don’t hear ringing.”

Angela Barrett – Okay. Must have been on my end. Okay. Go ahead. I’m sorry.

Kelsay Pattillo – “That’s okay. No, so, you know, down to, like I said, the home life and coming out of her shell personally and moving to a new place and just rediscovering herself, not only in her business, but. Wow, I can really do this. I can do the dang thing. So that that was one of the most inspiring and gratifying projects I think I’ve done as far as branding her, being able to come to Charleston and dominate into her design here on her own and get away from that corporation, it was amazing.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that that is a good success story. That’s that’s phenomenal. Well, Cassie, I thank you so much for being with me today. And I want to make sure before we we get off, that we have covered kind of everything that’s happened because you have launched this new, VIP day. And wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else that.”

Angela Barrett – “Yes, because I got kind of wrapped up in the whole branding thing, but.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “No, I think I think we covered everything and got to cover some other things that, were great questions I love to answer as well. And that last one that was. That’s awesome. It’s one of my favorite stories to tell. Because it’s not easy to do those and make those big steps. But she trusted me enough to where she stepped out and trusted me with her brand, and then also made those huge, you know, life decisions based on everything and now is more successful because of it.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “So and that’s, that’s when I knew what I do.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. And yeah, I do want to mention again, because a lot of people we’ve talked about branding and what we didn’t talk about though, was you help people, find a photographer for their photos. And, and those are some of the in some of your packages that you can help people with. So that again, sort of an all in one.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Right. That’s why it is kind of an all in one for creatives. So if you have a photo shoot, if you have, let’s say a boutique, and you have items that in merchandise that you need shot, I’ll bring in photographers, videographers, I have a running list of people. And then if you need to bring in models, so that’s where, you know, my fashion industry expertise comes in and my connections here in Charleston.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “But even if you’re not here, I still can, you know, coordinate that wherever you are. It’s part of my project management kind of packages. If you’re doing, you know, launching an event, if you’re doing a ribbon cutting, if you’re doing any kind of event or pop up anything. I have experience with that, you know, stuff like that.”

Angela Barrett – “Very nice, very nice. Well, thank you again for being on and checking in with us. We’re I love that Carl Wilkes came up with that name, and I have just run with it. And, I certainly appreciate you being here. And we’ll do it again. We’ll find out maybe in another, you know, maybe not quite as long as we went this time, but we’ll we’ll get back together and see what else has happened.”

Kelsay Pattillo – “Well, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. It’s always a pleasure to speak with you.”

Angela Barrett – You too.

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey guys, and welcome to another episode of Talking South Carolina. Now this week I have got Rob Hostetler, who is the president and CEO of the Central Electric Power Co-op, both, we’re going to talk to him about who they are, what they do, how they, affect our electricity in our bill, that we get monthly, here in South Carolina, as well as I’m going to ask him about the new bill that was passed in the House here locally.”

Angela Barrett – “Just a couple of days ago. And, see what he has to say about that. So hang on one second and let me bring you in.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Hello, Angela.”

Angela Barrett – “Hey. How are you? You look so familiar. I don’t know where we might know each other from, but.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah, who knows?”

Angela Barrett – That’s right.

Rob Hochstetler – “I live on. I live in Chapin. But I know you’re on the other side of the lake, right?”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. That’s right. Hey, Rob, thanks so much for joining me here today.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Thank you. Angela, I’m really excited to be on your podcast. I really enjoy them.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh good. Well thank you, thank you. They’re a lot of fun. I get to meet a lot of nice, people, and that I would never have been able to meet by doing this. And so it’s always exciting for me as well. Central electric power cooperative. Tell me who you are, what you do.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Sure. So, there are 19 electric, just two distribution cooperatives in the state. In the area that I know you live. Mid Carolina is electric distribution cooperative. All across the country, distribution cooperatives partnered together and created generation partners. Sometimes we call ourselves generation and transmission cooperatives. And really we’re their generation partner. We do the contracts and supply them power.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And by working together, those 19 co-ops are can gain scale and scope to compete with all the big utilities that you’ve heard of as well. And so central does those power contracts and supplies power to the 19 electric co-ops in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – Okay. I want you to break this down as if you would a child’s picture chart and how this actually works. Sure.

Rob Hochstetler – “And yeah, so you if you let me it really the co-ops build from the ground up and not to go into a complete history lesson, but go back into the 1930s and rule. America doesn’t have electricity but electricity starting to come to the towns. And in, the mid 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes a law to trying to get electrification to rural areas.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And the first electric cooperative in South Carolina is formed in 1938. And in 1948, there’s 7 or 8 cooperatives in the state. Again, the members at the end of the line in rural communities have partnered together to form these cooperatives, and central is formed. And so now everyone that is on a power line, on a distribution cooperative, we call them consumer members or consumer owners.”

Rob Hochstetler – “They elect local board members. So those people that know the communities are elected to the local boards, and then those local boards will send people to sit on Central Electric’s board. And so cooperatives cooperating is what lets them gain scope and scale. So in consumer member consumer, if you will, Alexei, local board, the local board. Since people to serve on the cooperative of cooperatives, the generation planning organization that I work for, does that help?”

Angela Barrett – “It does. You know, because I’m in some sense, you know, some might think, okay, your your whole little bit of energy over here and you’re helping supply, you know, this, that and the other and that’s not what this is about. And the more that I read. So, that does help. Now you guys actually, was it 1948.”

Rob Hochstetler – 1948? You were one.

Angela Barrett – Yeah. That was. Yeah. Been around a long time.

Rob Hochstetler – “We we have been around a long time. And to me it’s very interesting again, the history. And so, you know this is about South Carolina. So it’s South Carolina’s history. But really national history. The local co-ops really start out buying from the investor own utilities. And they really didn’t have options and choices. And I don’t want to say they were taken advantage of.”

Rob Hochstetler – “But I think if you go look they will they would tell you they were taking advantage of the investor owned utilities. So they start to partner together. Well, interestingly, in South Carolina, South Carolina has a state owned power companies. Most states don’t have a state owned power company. And somewhere along the line, some very smart people said, oh, instead of buying from the investor owned utilities, why don’t you buy from Santee Cooper?”

Rob Hochstetler – “And that was that really formed a partnership back in the the late 40s, early 50s of central is the biggest customer of Santee Cooper. We buy about 70% of their power, but we also now buy power from Duke Energy Carolinas based out of Charlotte, and if I’m not mistaken, were their largest customers as well.”

Angela Barrett – “And you guys, meaning Central Electric power.”

Angela Barrett – Are the third largest in the country. Right. And inflation. Yeah. Okay.

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah, yeah. So there’s there’s cooperatives, all local distribution cooperatives, all across the country. There’s there’s someplace between 40 and 50, depending on how you want to count generation and transmission or generation partners all across the country by sales to our members were the third largest in the country.”

Angela Barrett – Gotcha. Now how? Let’s break it down to somebody. An everyday household. What part would you guys play in the bill that we get every month from whoever it might be?

Rob Hochstetler – “That’s that’s an excellent question. So what I would tell you is for Central Electric, for the wholesale power provider, about 95% of our of our bill is the power that we get. About 80% of that is for a wholesale, just about typical wholesale is the power plants that we build and the fuel that we burn. And so not maybe getting too math oriented here, but for the consumer, then what that translates to about 50% of your bill is the power plants that are built in the fuel that is burned.”

Rob Hochstetler – “So making sure that those decisions are made correctly is very important. Then the rest of the bill is transmit lines, the power lines that you see going across the state, the distribution lines, the power that comes right into your home, and then some overhead. But the power plant decision. So we’re about for the local co-ops. We’re someplace between 50 and 60% of the in consumers bills.”

Rob Hochstetler – So what happens at central is important to the end consumer.

Angela Barrett – “Right. Absolutely. Because whoof. This can get kind of hefty this time of year when it’s cold. Now supply and demand. Let’s talk about a little bit about that. And then we’re going to talk about there’s a lot of chat right now about South Carolina need more energy and this, that and the other. But let’s just basically get down to the brass tacks.”

Angela Barrett – What I want to supply and demand. Let’s talk about that.

Rob Hochstetler – “Well, there’s in our industry and sometimes this is hard to understand even for people who’ve been here. We’re really supplying two things. We supply peak energy and then total energy. So you use some amount of electricity over a whole month, and we’ve got to make sure we can generate that over a whole month. But on the very peak day, very peak hour, very peak minute, we have to have power plants that can generate that much.”

Rob Hochstetler – “So if you turn on a light switch someplace, somewhere a generator is putting out a little bit more energy. And so we have what we call capacity. Do we have enough generation for the very peak days? It’s very cold. Been very cold here lately. Do we have enough generators built to supply that? But then we talk energy.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Solar energy is a great example, right? Solar that’s built is energy, but it may or may not be available on those very peak days. If the sun is not shining and it’s cold outside and the sun’s not up and it’s early morning. So supply and demand two areas we right now with the economy growing in South Carolina, we are short power supply that in that needing that last piece of generation on the very peak days.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And it really has the potential. And again, I know we’re going to talk about this in a minute, but starts to limit what we can do in our state if we don’t add new generation for those peak days.”

Angela Barrett – “So I’ll back up just a minute before we go even further in that direction, because I think there’s a good bit of talk there. But, the type of energy y’all are creating is, are there more than one from one source?”

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah. So we’re we are getting very close to a third, a third, a third for us. South Carolina loves nuclear power. If you look at the number of power plants we have by our in the whole state, by the population, we are nuclear heavy. So we get about a third of our power from zero emissions nuclear power.”

Rob Hochstetler – “We get about a third of our power from coal fired power plants, those older plants that are still around and about a third from natural gas, which burns much cleaner than coal does. So we’re about a third, a third, a third. Right now.”

Angela Barrett – “And another, government master said, I don’t know if it was last year. Something about, you know, and again, this goes back to we need more power sources that probably in the next 10 to 15 years that the coal would sort of phase be gone. Is that are you in agreement with that, or are.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Think yet the idea is that coal is not necessarily the most economic power supply resource we could have right now, but we have to have something to replace those coal fired power plants. So we really are in this conundrum of we need more power because we’re growing, and we would like to have more power so we can retire the coal fired power plants for.”

Rob Hochstetler – “I worked with the Germans, said Green and green, right? Some because of green the environment, but also because they just really are not as economically efficient as they used to be.”

Angela Barrett – “And so is. Have we come up with the solution for this other source of our or is there something in the works? Now you can say what it is, but sure, sure.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Well, it’s you’re thinking as an industry, we’re saying all of the above. It’s hard to retire coal if you haven’t built a new power plant. And so, one of the gentlemen that works at the federal level, talks about natural gas is a bridge fuel, but it’s a very long bridge. Nuclear plants, you know, Georgia brought on some nuclear plants.”

Rob Hochstetler – “They talk about small modular reactors. Those things are coming, but they’re very expensive. And so natural gas is the bridge fuel. But then we also solar is an option. Solar with batteries, those are things are state and we specifically are investing in and starting to bring online. They’re not on yet but they’re being built across our state.”

Rob Hochstetler – So but natural gas is in all likelihood all across the country. That is really the resource. It’s the bridge fuel to whatever the future holds.

Angela Barrett – “Is, is you brought that up. I will go ahead and set and ask, I know there was a bill passed just a few days ago. The House of Representatives local here about the, the ability to be able to, I guess, seek out natural gas. Is that how that bill read? I mean, I didn’t read the whole thing.”

Angela Barrett – I just kind of got the CliffsNotes for the utility companies being able to seek out that. Is that right?

Rob Hochstetler – “Sure. So our state, if you think about this, there’s interest state pipelines, the big natural gas pipelines, and then there’s intrastate the pipelines inside the state are intrastate. The pipelines in South Carolina, are full, if you think of it like a straw. The straw is for we don’t have any more intrastate pipelines. We need the ability to bring more gas into the state for power plant reasons and for economic development reasons.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And so I think what that bill was meant to do was to help get that those gas lines built inside the state without really bypassing any regulations, but starting to set the tone of we need to do this again for two reasons. One for power plants and two for economic development. The, the piece that we are very interested in.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah, I think from a state perspective, we’ll work well is city Cooper would like to partner with, Dominion Energy South Carolina to build a natural gas bio powered fire fired power plant, natural gas fired power plant. Well, by statute, they have to get approval from the General Assembly to do a project with and with the investor owned utility.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And so that’s the piece that Central’s interested in. Yeah, we get 70% of our power from Santee Cooper. So we will be making, it won’t be in our name, but we’re making a big investment in that. That’s the piece we’re interested in. They’re doing other things to try to bring that power on line. And again, if our state wants to continue to grow as it’s been growing, we need that power plant.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And I could if you would like, I could tell you all the great things cooperatives are doing in economic development as well.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, yeah, let’s touch on that then. I have, I just had two more questions, but I want to switch on that while we’re there. Go for.”

Rob Hochstetler – “It. So, I’ve been here about ten years, and since I’ve been here, the cooperatives have made a big investment in economic development, trying to bring jobs in community changing jobs, but it really anything for the local community. So, since since 2014 last ten years, $18.5 billion announced for economic development in rural electric cooperatives service territory.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Volvo, Samsung names that you’ve heard $18.5 billion. That’s a lot. 43,000 jobs brought in just last year alone in co-op territory, $3.2 billion of announced projects, 1100 jobs. And those those are the kind of jobs, that really, to me, change communities. But the communities where we the to me, the best thing about electric cooperatives is they were built by the communities and they serve the communities.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And so these are the things that the communities want to bring. And I find that very interesting. So the cops have invested about $69 million of members resources, if you will, but it has paid off extremely for the good of our state. We believe, and I don’t quote me on this. I’ve not done all the research, but I believe there’s only two organizations in our state that try to do economic development in all 46 counties, the Department of Commerce and the electric cooperatives, because we serve members in every county in the state.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And we’re very proud of that because, you know, the member, you know, the South Carolina South Carolinians are our members. And so to help them have better lives is something that we get very excited about.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I didn’t see that on your the web page where that y’all were in all, 46 counties in that good analogy there with the Commerce, those those are the people that we think of, not necessarily in the trenches, but, I mean, those are the people who are in the county and owned businesses in the towns and, and, and, and know what’s going on.”

Angela Barrett – “And, the same with you guys. I mean, it, you’re, you know, everywhere. It’s a good representation, for all of the counties. There was something else for all the counties. You, I, I interrupt to go ahead.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Oh, no. No, that’s. So, the other thing. So the cooperatives have partnered together to do economic development together. All my team, which in the way we do that is even in some of those rural areas that are still perhaps struggling the way we’ve done economic development is there’s always a payback in the relatively near term. And so we do give incentives for companies to come.”

Rob Hochstetler – “But by by year two, three, 4 or 5, they’re they’re providing more value. We’re spreading more fixed cost across the entire state. And it ultimately lowers everyone’s bills by bringing these organizations in. It’s good for the tax base. Again, it’s good for creating jobs. It really to me economic development is win win win for everyone.”

Angela Barrett – “That that’s another one of the that I was going to ask you. So I know Frank Knapp is big on these, data centers eating up all of this energy. Your thoughts?”

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah. So data centers take a lot of energy. And, we do one of our members survey, current data center. What what I would tell you and what the way we’ve approached data centers is, they have to pay their their fair share, right? They they have to if we have to build new transmission lines for them, they need to pay that.”

Rob Hochstetler – “If we’ve got to bring on new power plants online, they need to pay that cost. That data centers to me, just like all economic development, can be good for communities. But each community has to decide if it’s good for them. But they are big and they use a lot of power. But again, if the communities want them, where we sit is we want to help you get those.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And people on both sides. Are data centers helpful or not helpful? What I would tell you is once I they’ll say, well, it doesn’t create a lot of jobs. Well when they’re done, but they really never stop building. So there’s a lot of construction trade jobs that go into those that seem to be everyplace across the country. They’re they almost stay.”

Rob Hochstetler – “So it’s very high end, engineering, computer engineering jobs. But and then there’s just as important and just as professional, people that are in the construction trades. And so, if you and I want to use ChatGPT and use AI and watch YouTube and post our podcast, we’re going to need these data centers. And so they’re only building them because they’re used.”

Rob Hochstetler – And I believe the future will be you don’t want to be left out. You want some of those data centers near to you to continue economic development.

Angela Barrett – “Gotcha, gotcha. So, what is our overall answer here? To the everyday in-home. What are we looking at? And I know that you looking at it from your side, but from a business standpoint and the development of South Carolina and what it will help us as a whole, but as an individual home, are we still working at probably rate increases due to some of these things that have to be built so we can have more like the scout plant that just came, so more businesses like that that are huge and are going to pick up a lot of power, but is that what we’re looking at?”

Angela Barrett – “I mean, honestly.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Yeah. So the one the one thing this is not very technical. The words are pretty easy to say. Cost causation, if someone causes a is the cause, they ought to pay for it. And so, bills are going up. But I would tell you it’s, it’s almost inflation right now. Our industry almost moves with the price of natural gas.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Our rate Santee Cooper coming out of the settlement for the V.C. summer cook plant, we’ve held our rates flat really, since I’ve been here. Ten years, 11 years. And so we’re finally catching up, and we are seeing a rate increase. Now, what we try to do, I like to say we try to put downward pressure on rates.”

Rob Hochstetler – “But your question was what can the local homeowner do? And the least cost option for power in I talk about the power plants or what cost the money is to not use that kilowatt on peak and instead use it off peak. And so, some of our members and we don’t set local rates, are each of our members independent set local rates.”

Rob Hochstetler – “They’re going to three part rates. And really saying if you choose, there’s incentive to move off of peak these three hour windows in the winter during the morning when we’re on peak three hours, in the summer when we’re on peak, that’s when we’re building that last increment of power plant. And if you all do things to move, you know, don’t don’t, don’t run your hair dryer in the morning.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Get up a little early. Let us re cool your house in the summer so your air conditioning doesn’t work. Let us pre warm so you can be just as warm, but, not. And so the members are trying to sell that because it lowers their power cost the wholesale level. And they can pass it on. And so smart home smart appliances are already driving down energy usage, but trying to make it so we don’t have to build as many power plants.”

Rob Hochstetler – I think the individual homeowner can really take take part in that and be economically incentivized to take part in that.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’ll help their build.”

Rob Hochstetler – “It will, it will help their bill. Yeah.”

Angela Barrett – “That’s right, that’s right. And if they what the other question was a.”

Angela Barrett – “And now I can’t remember. But yeah, I was going to say I mean, I think people don’t realize as an everyday consumer, you know, we do think about our individual cells and our, our bills. And then if you have all the business the same. But in order for South Carolina to eat or in job growth and even pay with some of these other states that this is what’s necessary, this is the make or break right here.”

Angela Barrett – “Because if we can’t supply these companies power, they’re going to bring these high paying jobs. And these, you know, the business here, this is where the bulk starts, right? Sure. To put it in sign language.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Well, I can tell you listen to what the governor says. You know, the governor talks about people want to come to South Carolina, the number of people moving into South Carolina, Berkeley Electric, which surrounds Charleston, 700 new meters a month, 700, probably mostly residential people moving in a month. What do they want? South Carolina? Not. I am not a native South Carolina.”

Rob Hochstetler – “You might be able to tell by my twang. But I got here as fast as I could. That’s what I tell people I was, and that’s that’s. I could, South Carolina is a great state to do business in. It’s a great state to Lee to live in. The people are phenomenal. We’ve taken care of our environment.”

Rob Hochstetler – “So. But we still have to do those things necessary to stay competitive, if you will. I would say right now, we. Yes, we don’t win every project, but we win more than our fair share. It’s because of all the intangibles. I think that we bring. But sugar. Right for certain. For certain organizations, electric price is important that they have people to work.”

Rob Hochstetler – “Resources is a key a key point, that they can get their products shipped in and out, be our port, be our rail lines via the trucks and the interstates. All things very important. But we want to remain competitive. And I think it’s important for the state. And we hear our governor say that, and we hear that from both sides of the legislature as well.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. I think this is going to be, a funny word for, so this will a fun couple years, I guess, for all those kinks to get worked out. But it is, at least, I guess, heading in the right direction for all of us. The the state, the whole state. Finally just getting some movement there, don’t you think?”

Rob Hochstetler – “I, I absolutely agree, you know, the energy used to be stayed in steel and we didn’t. Our industry was just same thing, same thing. Now it’s a very exciting place to be because of because we are growing, because of the growth. And it’s exciting to be doing energy in South Carolina, a state that’s growing.”

Angela Barrett – “You know, and, and again, bringing this back to a household, most people take that for granted doing this just there. But it’s not it really isn’t. I mean, and that’s I think that’s where we’re facing and and luckily able to handle right now. But again looking to the future. But I mean people just especially children I’m thinking high school.”

Angela Barrett – They just had no concept. It’s just there. They flip the switch. It’s just they’re.

Rob Hochstetler – “That’s right. And that’s what we want. Right? I don’t know what to do with the place. I could, but I it’ll very close in, Christmas time 2022. We the whole the whole southeast got covered really most of the East Coast with the, with the, with the cold front. Old everywhere. And we were very close. Central did not have to turn anybody off.”

Rob Hochstetler – “But in the South, many people we call them, blackouts or brownouts because because they weren’t generating resources. We talked about that need, that last generation resource. They weren’t there or the transmission wasn’t there to move power where we needed it from. And, we’ve done things now to try to overcome that. But that’s only a couple of years ago.”

Rob Hochstetler – “We were that close, right?”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. It is. So it does need to kind of be a household subject, at least in my opinion. But, people, again, and I’m guilty of it. Take it for granted. No need shirt. I’m one of those. When I turn it on, I want to work. Yeah, okay.”

Rob Hochstetler – “I would tell you, one of the things that we try to be cognizant of again, because we are serving the more rural areas, the cooperative serves 70% of the land mass in South Carolina, about a third of the population, so about 2 million South Carolinians. But we serve some of the poorer areas in trying to find that balance of making sure things are affordable, reliable, safe and environmentally responsible.”

Rob Hochstetler – “That’s the way I like to say it, but never forgetting that there are some people that, their power bill is a significant portion of what they their income. And so we try to remain cognizant of that, follow all the rules. But that downward pressure on rates and keeping rates affordable, so people can do other things with their money besides just keep their power on.”

Rob Hochstetler – “I’m a believer that electricity changed the world, and we do take it for granted, but it really was life changing, and we want to make sure that’s available for every.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I agree in it’s just like we, I have some schoolteacher friends who I’m a give this analogy and some very poor one, but I’ll give it anyway. We talk about how difficult the teachers have in classrooms these days with all the things that are going on. But if home would help because that’s where it starts, is at home, then that would be better all around in the school systems.”

Angela Barrett – “And I think this is kind of the same thing. And this is just NE in Haiti, anything I’ve heard anywhere. So I’ll only write on one brochure that Matt from this is just in my fuller brain. If we all help here and small level at home, I think it would help overall, not only just our power bill, but the energy that we have here in South Carolina.”

Rob Hochstetler – “I think that’s that’s actually a really, really good analogy. Everyone doing a little bit and can help a lot. And so we do things, our members, I say we, we help our members do it, get back to their consumers, beat the peak. Who will tell you when a peak day is coming. Just do little things. You don’t have to, but you can.”

Rob Hochstetler – “We also have people who have put in smart thermostats and let the cooperatives again for financial incentives again, will pre cool your home in summer and will not run your air conditioner during the peak three hours, but you’ll be. Hopefully you feel fine, but if you want you can override it. Same with heat. The other thing that comes close to that, it maybe gets us a little bit off topic, but started right here to cooperate in South Carolina was Operation Roundup.”

Rob Hochstetler – “It’s going all across the country round your power bill up to the local to the closest dollar. So on average it’s about $6 a year. If everyone pools those resources, that money goes right back into the communities. And so what an idea that started here in South Carolina is gone all across the country and allows those local cooperatives, if everyone helps a little, we can do big things.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And I think you’re analogy is very similar, that if everyone helps at home a little bit, it really can go a long way. In the end.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I agree, I agree Rob, thank you so much for being here today. I was excited about this. I don’t often get to talk to you. Big wigs out there, but this was fun.”

Rob Hochstetler – “And instead of myself, a big wig for.”

Angela Barrett – “She, I don’t know, presidency that’s rooting. But thank you so very much, for being with me. And we’ll have to get back together in three, 4 or 5 months and do a check in and see what has developed at that point.”

Rob Hochstetler – I would enjoy that very much. Angel. Thank you.

Angela Barrett – Absolutely. Thank you.

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey, guys. Thanks for being with me today.”

Meredith Amick – Absolutely.

Angela Barrett – “So the last time we were here was July of 23. So, 18 months, I guess. Somewhere in there. Quite a check in we have going here.”

Meredith Amick – Quite a bit has happened in how it breaks in the last 18 months.

Angela Barrett – “Well, detail. Detail.”

Meredith Amick – “Well, I’ll let, I’ll let Greg kick it off, and then maybe I’m. Fill in a couple of the details.”

Angela Barrett – Yes.

Craig Amick – “Sure. So, we’ve got a couple of new things going on. Probably the most exciting or noteworthy is we’ve signed a deal with Garnet Trust. They are the University of South Carolina, Nil collective. So we’re now producing the official Nil vodka for Garnet Trust.”

Angela Barrett – A nice.

Craig Amick – “Deal started, I think it was September of last year. September, October. Some time in there. Right. And we’re starting to get it off the ground pretty good. Now, obviously, the deal with it is it’s, First of all, I’ve gotta say is really good. Bob Gunn, the bottle. But 25% of all sales go to Garnet Trust.”

Craig Amick – So it’s directly supports USC athletes out there.

Angela Barrett – “Right? Right, right. The Cox.”

Craig Amick – “The other big news that comes to mind, we actually won probably our biggest award yet in 24. So it was from the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition we sent. We sent some bourbon out there, and one of the bottles we sent was our high cotton brand. It was 105 proof single barrel that we sent. So the the class that it was entered, entered into was straight bourbon whiskey six years and under.”

Craig Amick – “And it won that class. It was best in class. And then the division that that falls into is just straight bourbon whiskey with no age limit. And it also won best of division. So it was judged to be the best bottle of bourbon at that competition, which doesn’t happen very often in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that’s that’s nice. So now let me ask you which one there was, one of your bottles. And I want wanna say there was a dog on it, and I was the and it won. So I guess for design or something at some point. Right. Are y’all still using that?”

Meredith Amick – “That was the hot cotton. So is that same bottle. So not only has it won some design and label competitions, it’s also now won you know best use in the bottle essentially. So right now that’s a great brand for us.”

Angela Barrett – “Yes yes, yes. And still one of my favorites is the, Is that sweet? The caramel. Oh, yes.”

Meredith Amick – “Absolutely. The flavored stuff is big with folks. And so that’s one thing I’ll definitely fill in. Here, I think in the last 18 months, I believe it’s been since then that we’ve actually stood up what we are calling our family reserve releases. And so those family reserve releases give us a little bit of time to kind of play with different flavors.”

Meredith Amick – “And so we’ve done things like, maple whiskey, we’ve done things like a blood orange vodka, and so or a toasted marshmallow vodka that we just released back around the holidays. And so that gives us a little bit of ability to play with different flavors, see what the market reacts to. And so we’ve got now the stable of, you know, probably six or so flavors that we’re cycling through for the year that folks are, you know, really responding to.”

Meredith Amick – “But then this year we’re doing something fun with that, and we’re actually going to throw in what we call our wild card flavors. And so we’re going to add a couple more flavors. So stay tuned because coming up really soon you’re going to see some exciting different flavors. And again this just gives us this family reserve release gives us the opportunity to see what the market responds to and, you know, maybe keep them around, see what happens.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, absolutely. So now going back to all of the awards, people don’t realize, I guess, that it’s a really big deal because you’ve got how many now? Because I know, gosh, in 2023, there was like 4 or 5.”

Meredith Amick – “Yeah, in 20 and in FY 23. And I don’t remember exactly, but at least middle or end of 23 we’ve had, I think at least eight. And then we collected another 3 or 4 in 24 I believe. So, I, I know back during the, the Summer Olympics, I believe it was when Katie Ledecky won all of her medals and, you know, had them spread out like this.”

Meredith Amick – “I posted kind of a silly photo on Facebook and that feeling like Katie Ledecky and spread all of our medals out and held them up, you know, echoes.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you have to compete with the big boys. I mean, this is not small time. I mean, let’s see some of the people that you did tell me this, back in 23. But go over it again, I mean, some of the other brands that you would have been up against then and now that that, you know, people would think, Holy cow, you know.”

Craig Amick – “So honestly, the way I usually answer this is just think about whatever your favorite brand is. We’ve probably competed against them. So there are, you know, a thousand of these spirits competitions that we can enter. There’s only about three that we’re interested in. It’s the three biggest ones in the country. We enter Los Angeles International and then San Francisco World Spirits Competition and New York International.”

Craig Amick – “So it’s the three biggest spirits competitions. It’s I don’t see much much needed entering small competitions just to rack up a number of awards. So when when we talk about something we want, it’s usually something to to be proud of. Yeah. Your favorite brand was probably in the mix.”

Angela Barrett – “Yes, I gotcha, I gotcha. So now, I know y’all during the, family barrel, what would you call it again? I see it all the time on Facebook with.”

Meredith Amick – The famous reserve releases.

Angela Barrett – “Yes, I know y’all were doing that and y’all were still having some, different functions out there. So tell everybody sort of, kind of what y’all got going on as far as functions and people can come out and taste and do all that good stuff.”

Meredith Amick – “So this year, basically when we’re lining up these family reserve releases, we will have food trucks out. So that’ll be posted on our Facebook page. That gives folks an opportunity to come out decent taste and get a little lunch. Father. There.”

Angela Barrett –

Meredith Amick – “And then we, of course, always offer our tours and tastings. And so that’s always an option. This year we are doing what we’re calling a pick six for tasting. And so basically our portfolio has expanded so much, we don’t need you tasting through the whole thing because that to be there in person, we’re free. That’s right, that’s right.”

Meredith Amick – “So we’re doing a little pick six and you can come in and pick the six that you want to taste. And, and so it’s usually a good time. Then of course summertime we get folks coming in off the lake and we will bring those slushies back out I okay.”

Angela Barrett – “You can say my neighbors favorite slushies. Good old Mister Bill. Yeah. So the, pick six. I think that’s that’s a good way to do it, because if you get too many, then you. I mean, it’s kind of like when I show houses. I mean, after a while, they all blend together and you’re like, oh, so same, the same.”

Angela Barrett – “But yeah. So that’s great. Now have y’all, I know one time, maybe last year. So maybe in 24 it maybe in the inner 23. You had a comedian out there. Have y’all had any more of those kind of things or planned to have anything like that? Because that was a good time.”

Craig Amick – “That we don’t have anything else like that on the books right now. It’s kind of one of those things we’ve gotten busy enough that, we just haven’t been able to squeeze one in recently. Right. We’re actually very well received.”

Angela Barrett – Yes.

Craig Amick – “So I guess never say never, but, I don’t have anything that to share that we have planned anywhere.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I got you now on tell everybody, where you are for people who don’t know, where you are and kind of when you’re opened, and those kind of things.”

Meredith Amick – “So we’re on the south shore of Lake Murray, right off of highway 378, in between Lexington and this little traffic circle. Our address is technically Lee’s Mill. We’re out there about Captain’s choice Marina, South shore Marina, the San Jose on the lake. And our hours are Thursday, 1 to 7, Friday and Saturday 10 to 7. And like I said, we’re open.”

Meredith Amick – Our tours and tastings are always free. So come on out.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, yeah, well, I’m excited about the, I’m have I still have not gotten my husband out there, to do any tastings, but I’m definitely going to have to do that. So, you guys got any, you said you didn’t have anything like being planned because y’all are so busy, but is that y’all are physically that busy there, or you’re traveling still?”

Angela Barrett – “Like, I guess advertising your brands.”

Craig Amick – “So yeah. Yes, I’m actually gotcha.”

Angela Barrett – Yeah.

Craig Amick – “What we what we learned is it takes a lot of effort, a lot of time to pull off a really good comedy night. And it’s just, there’s there’s too much other work to be done on us. Right?”

Angela Barrett – “So, yeah, sometimes it best in a.”

Craig Amick – Production load to actually make the juice. And then part of it is the sales and marketing to go sell it. All right. So.

Angela Barrett – “Right. Right. Yeah. And if anybody hasn’t been out there and taken a tour, it’s pretty cool place. So your hat, you do need to go out there. It was a lot of fun. To actually see the process and how y’all do it. And, it was a lot. It it was more than I thought it was going to be.”

Angela Barrett – “Is for me. I had never experienced it until I walked through with you guys. And I was like, wow, this is huge. I mean, it’s a big place.”

Meredith Amick – “Especially this time of year. And you can come out. We’ve got like today we have Marsh that’s out there fermenting into this week. We’ll be cooking off. So, you know, some lucky customers will walk in when we’re actually cooking. And I can see it rolling out of the still. So, you can certainly smell the smells and see the things when you come out there.”

Angela Barrett – “Well, good. Well, thank you so much, guys, for fill me in on what’s going on since July of 23. I appreciate it. And as always, so good to see you guys. Absolutely. Thank you again. Thank you.”

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “I always say, thank you so much for being with me today.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Thank you, Angela, for the opportunity to be here with you and talk about the cool things we make in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – “So South Carolina feature makers, give everybody just sort of an overview of your nonprofit organization. Give everybody sort of an overview of who you are, and how important that is to us here in South Carolina.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Well thank you. Again, South Carolina feature makers is a is the Workforce and Education Foundation, a nonprofit for the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance. And so, we had that connected dotted line right to the the South Kona Manufacturers Alliance represent South Carolina manufacturers. And manufacturing is a very large base in, in in the state of South Carolina.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “We have over 6000 manufacturing facilities in South Carolina. We 30% of our jobs are tied to that. And we make some of the coolest products in the world. We are a premium brand state, and people don’t know of the cool things that we make in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – “So before we get into some of those cool things, let’s talk about how this the educational part for not just students, but parents and other how that ties in with what you do.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So we work very closely, with a, an online platform called Tableau. And students can build a profile and highlight their skills and abilities and whether it’s, you know, their grades, their extracurricular activities, videos of them making things and some of their classes, competitions, like maybe first robotics they can upload and then that, that platform creates a, a resume automatically for those students.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Those students can find scholarship apps, around the globe for things that they would be, qualified for. And so we have partnered with Tableau, and this is available to all students and all schools in South Carolina at no charge for them. So, in addition to kind of being that connectivity piece, we do, several various initiatives through South Carolina feature makers.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “We host an annual South Carolina Stem signing Day in partnership with Boeing and BMW and Nucor Steel and Michelin. We also have a South Carolina manufacturer’s leadership program that we are, that we have begun with the Darla Moore School of Business, where we have our, leaders in manufacturing actually here who are getting executive training so that we can move them up in the workplace here and keep them in South Carolina.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So we have our hands in a lot of, various initiatives just to promote, manufacturing and the types of jobs and that they are good paying jobs and that they are clean and technology forward. Right? I mean, a lot of our companies are, dabbling in artificial intelligence and, you know, robotics and things of that nature.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And that’s not displacing jobs, that’s just changing the way jobs are.”

Angela Barrett – “Right, right, right, right. So now let’s talk about some of the cool things that are made here in software and all that. Probably a lot of us do not know about.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Well, so you can see the background behind me. And, we had done this little, sketch a couple of years ago, and I like to use it when I’m talking to students and, and educators as it’s kind of a game. Right? And so you’ll see on here, we have, we have a commercial jet and we have a fighter jet.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And so South Carolina is the only state in the country that produces both of these types of, of aircraft. Which is pretty cool. You know, I could play a game with you and ask you to, to name some of these products, but you’ll see three different cars, right? So and we are home to BMW was our first what we call OEM, which is you know, a main automotive, manufacturer, which brings with them a lot of their suppliers.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Right. You can’t have a BMW without having a car seat, which is made by another company, and a steering wheel that’s made by another company. We also make Mercedes Benz vans, sprinter vans down in the Charleston area, as well as Volvo. This was of its first U.S. facility was, right down in Berkeley County, which is just north of Charleston County.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “We make Starbucks coffee beans. And so, you know, people don’t think of those kinds of things. And we like to really, advocate for that. You know, we are we have eight tire manufacturers in South Carolina, and we produce over 160,000 tires a day in South Carolina. And that’s not only for cars, but that’s for, big equipment.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “You know, you can see those those big tires going down Interstate 26 toward the South Dillon Ports Authority, they’re being put on to our ships and going across the ocean. So we we touch every part of the world in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – So what about the TPI?

Elisabeth Kovacs – “They pull it. They are Aiken County, Cottonelle. So, you know, I’m the advocate. I like to use your products. Right. So Cottonelle made right, right along Augusta River. Kimberly-Clark.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. I did not know that. Cottonelle. Right. That’s for sure. Now, I know what Coca-Cola is. And that they’re here. So I’m trying to figure, is that a Pringles can?”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Is that Pringles? Where does it not? So it’s it’s not they make it or it’s the canning. So it’s the actual cans that, that go into some of our products as well that, I can’t really now I can see what’s up there. Let’s see what else. Hey, you. Well, and people don’t think of the everyday household items, right?”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So, I like to engage with students. Like, what do you think is in your house that’s made here in South Carolina? You can see a refrigerator right behind me and Samsung, when you’re driving up 26 towards Greenville, fans that Samsung has 1,000,000 square foot facility right at the Newberry exit. Right. So people don’t think of appliances, right?”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “I mean, you brought toilet paper, but they’re household items, data and and, you know, they also make washing machines. And we make bricks in South Carolina. Right. Frozen food so mean. It’s very exciting. And and I don’t think, people are aware of the different opportunities. Right. You don’t have to manufacturer. You don’t have to be in production.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “You can work in manufacturing as a marketing person, as a, you know, governmental affairs person, as, you know, an engineer, you can create designs, you know, so you can be a graphic designer and there are art and manufacturing. Right? So I think the perception is, is like, oh, I got to go and make these things. But they employ all kinds of different people and a lot of our facilities also, even have health care clinics on their site.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So, you know, they employ doctors and nurses and, those perks are available to not only the associates or the team members who work at those facilities, but also their families.”

Angela Barrett – “Yes, yes, yes. Very important. Now, tell me about the socks.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So those or, I’m blanking right now, so we’ll just come back to the socks, right? Yeah. So we also make a lot of defense, clothing. You see kind of a vest back there. And so I can’t remember if the socks are defense related or, or if they’re just like, we have Adidas, which is in Spartanburg, so, right, right.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – Right there. Shoes. Some of those make other ones. So you got me on that one because I just blanked on that. Sorry.

Angela Barrett – “That’s okay. There’s that’s a lot. 6000. You know, that’s a lot to remember.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And you’re based in Lexington County, right? I mean, oh, we have manufacturing. We’ve got a very strong manufacturing base in Lexington County, but, all across the bars, all across our state. Yeah, yeah.”

Angela Barrett – “So, you know, I saw somewhere on Facebook that was it, you that got to go on the BMW off road course, was that. Yes. And how fun was that?”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “That was very fun. And, and then you.”

Angela Barrett – “Have you one of theirs, I guess.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Yes. So as part of their manufacturing facility, they have a test track where individuals who, who purchase their BMW get to come and experience various things that cars can do. And so they do host events. And I had the opportunity at one of their events last year to, to do that. And so, they put you in a car with, some of the things you can drive yourself and others you are you’re a passenger in.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “But I did their off road thing where, you know, you go up a hill and, you know, two wheels come off the ground and you’re suspending on two wheels. But it’s all done by the, the dynamics and the aerodynamics of the vehicle. And so we made some pretty cool, very high end products. This is Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. I have heard people talk about going to those different courses up there for purchase to be in Delaware. And, you know, some of them being on the racetrack and some of the offered and things like that. So that’s pretty.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Cool. I got up to 95 miles an hour, and that’s about as high as I wanted to go before I had to sell were brands. You know, I want to mention, as you see, these products here, is that something that, a CMA started several years ago was, a competition called The Coolest Thing Made in South Carolina.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And, actually, last year’s winner. So this is our fourth annual year. 2025 will be our fourth annual year and nominations open actually next Monday. And last year’s winner was the Honda Talon. So the side by sides. So think of it as like a dune buggy. And I’m very excited we get to go do a test track of the side by side in a nice.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So, I heard you get really dirty, but, I’m very excited about that. And so, you know, I would love for for the folks who follow you to participate in nominating cool products and vote. So it’s like a, a sweet 16, basketball competition where we open it up for the first week as you know, the general population, and then people can vote daily.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And we’ll get it down to, to 16 and then eight and then four, and then we’ll have the winner, at the end of March.”

Angela Barrett – And so where would people go to go do this voting and put in their.

Elisabeth Kovacs – Do we have a dedicated website for that? Coolest thing. Made an essay and I’ll be happy to send that information on to you as well.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that’d be cool. Coolest thing. Right. All right. Does that sounds like.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – Manufacturing madness.com? That probably. Yeah.

Angela Barrett – “Just send it to me. We’ll, we’ll put them out on the, social media pages. Very cool. So now students that are looking to, I’m going to say resume a, can I have a prebuilt resume A for them. They go to the website and sign up under the student.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Yeah. They can go to our website feature makers.com. And it says create your profile here. And that will take them directly into the tower platform, where they can start to build their build, build themselves right, to showcase themselves. And the cool thing about that is that that’s also, you know, companies are companies who have profiles, can talk directly with those students.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And this is a national platform. So as I said, this is not just South Carolina centric. We have over 135,000 students with a profile in South Carolina. But we’re also the only state that has a dedicated, initiative with talent. You know, so so they’ve got over a million users on their platform, you know, nationwide.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “But we really are focusing on how to highlight South Carolinians and opportunities. And which doesn’t mean that students can’t be privy to opportunities and, and other states, you know, our companies are from around the world, and sometimes they have opportunities, a facility in another state where they’re looking for a summer intern. And so our South Carolina students can go do that as well.”

Angela Barrett – “And again, this is not just for students, but for adults as well who are luring maybe to highlight their skills or, absolutely.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “The platform is really designed from 13 to 30 year olds, really kind of that primary age group. But, once a student signs up, you know, then that carries them. So we like to say it’s kind of like a LinkedIn and a Facebook got married. Right? So, you know, the students use their personal email addresses versus their school addresses so that they can continue on posts.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – Post K12.

Angela Barrett – “Gotcha. So now do any of these South Carolina industries, manufacturers, do any of them have sort of their own educational program for people to be able to go and learn more? Not necessarily hands on, but maybe, kind the, go ahead and get some of that knowledge.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So, I mean, basically, yes, the bigger manufacturers have that, ability to, to have those kinds of programs. And so, we assist them. But, you know, we also for the smaller and medium sized manufacturers who don’t have that, that’s something that we can help with. Right. So let’s just talk example. I hate to talk about some of the big guys, but, Boeing has a Dreamliners program where individuals can go down, students and, can go on field trips down there, and they can learn how to make planes and things of that nature.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “You know, BMW has a museum where individuals can, you know, and go to their museum and, and and so, again, we work with our partners across the state to make those connections. You know, we certainly have we go to career fairs and highlight these industries as well. So yeah, there’s lots of different ways to kind of touch and feel.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Right. You can have some hands on activities based on some of those manufacturers as well. So yeah, there’s there’s a lot of opportunities out there.”

Angela Barrett – “So I didn’t get to this on the website. But yeah, I’m sure you can answer this for me. So somewhere on there, it there’s a list of all of our manufacturers here in South Carolina.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So not a list not a comprehensive list. All but it’s more of the industries. And so you can find out about the industries. And then you can have kind of select here the big players within this industry across South Carolina. Here’s the different types of education you need, whether it’s just a, you know, internship, you know, a work based learning, whether it’s a certificate, whether it’s a two year or a four year, you know, the beauty of manufacturing is, you know, you can start when you’re, you know, in high school or even starting out in college.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “And a lot of times they’re going to pay for your education. So, it’s a way to not even have to take on student loan debt. And explore those various opportunities available.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s yeah, a great way to start if you can, so this is a big opportunity for those for those students for sure. And like you said, for the young parents or young adults who have sort of incur, well, I don’t know what I want to do or just what I’d love to do, but how do I do it?”

Angela Barrett – “How do I go about it? And it’s a good, you know, segue into that. That’s perfect. Well, all right. So I’m excited about this cooler, this coolest thing made contest that’s come you said it starts next week, but that’s really them submitting. So you really won’t be able to vote next week. But the maybe in the next going right.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Yeah. So nominations are open so people can nominate that first week and then then people will start voting. You know, it’s it’s going to be kind of exciting. I know that we have it what there’s 191 countries in the world. And, you know, we’ve had products that have been, nominated, you know, in 130 countries from from nominations from 130 entries.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “So, you know, like last year, just for example, Lockheed Martin was the coolest thing. So, so that fighter jet that you see in the top of that and, you know, I mean, they were putting on social media to have people vote for them all over the world. And so we were getting votes from all over the world.”

Angela Barrett – “That’s pretty cool. Yeah, I’m going to have to keep up with that one. So make sure you send that one to me, but we’ll get it on. Yeah. That’s cool. That’s my geek side coming out.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – But I love it.

Angela Barrett – “Okay. Well, thank you so much for explaining this, to us. So it’s, on Facebook, it is the South Carolina of future makers and I think is is the future makers is the Facebook page. Yes, yes.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “We’re on our social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Right. Well, fantastic. Well, thank you so very, very much for being with me today. And, let us in on this pretty cool thing that I did not know existed.”

Elisabeth Kovacs – “Well, thank you, Angela, for letting us tell our story and getting you geeked out and excited about the the cool things that we make in South Carolina.”

Angela Barrett – Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett – “Hey, thank you so much for joining me today.”

Frank Knapp – “Azure, thank you very much for the opportunity. I appreciate this.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Well, I am excited. I was going through all of your accomplishments, over the years, and we don’t have enough time to go over all of those, but, let’s first talk about you being the president, CEO, and founder of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. So tell me all about that and what it entails.”

Angela Barrett – “And going forward, plans. Things of that nature. So it’s sort of a three part question.”

Frank Knapp – “Yeah, sure. So, I co-founded the Soccer Small Business Chamber of Commerce back in the year 2000. So we’re on a 25th year. So doing this for a long time, and we I co-founded it with some others because we realized that there was no organization that was representing the general interests of small businesses and only small businesses.”

Frank Knapp – “In the South Carolina legislature, we had plenty of trade associations, which we do still. But they have a narrow interest. We wanted to have one that could, address a lot of different issues in the General Assembly. So, you know, we just, took the chance and and launched it. And we were, you know, we’ve been very, very successful for a small operation, covering a lot of different issues.”

Frank Knapp – “And our first issue was that, small business owners who are mostly, as you know, pass through, businesses. So they’re a profit from their business flows directly into their personal tax returns, and then they pay the tax, at that level as a, personal tax return. So in South Carolina, the tax return back then, the tax rate for a small for a small business owner, that was the S-Corp LLC or sole proprietor was 7% because that was what they were paying.”

Frank Knapp – “As individuals. Corporations were already paying 5%. And we just thought that that was unfair, and that we ought to have parity with C corporations. And so we launched a campaign early in our, existence, to, to get the, income tax, state income tax on profit from small businesses, reduced to 5%. Took us a several years to do that.”

Frank Knapp – “And we had to, you know, had fights, a battles to get that done. But we did get it done. And it eventually dropped to 5% that the General Assembly said, this is such a good idea. We’ll drop it again. So I think they dropped it to 3% for a profit, to a pass through small business owner.”

Frank Knapp – “And, so that’s that was where our first major achievement.”

Angela Barrett – “So what are you guys like currently right now working on? I know that you and I had to do something not too long ago to get together, and we had some big things going on down at the statehouse, so we weren’t able to get together. But, what kind of, what’s the agenda right now? What are you working on?”

Frank Knapp – “So right now we have several issues, and some of them are very big. When we’re working on the issue of energy in South Carolina. I know that your listeners have heard a lot about the future energy needs of the state, because with our growing, and so the question that is, how are we going to generate new energy?”

Frank Knapp – “You and how are we going to where are we going to locate it? What kind of energy generation is that going to be? Who’s going to pay for it? You know, all those are important questions we have been involved since 2002, in intervening in, utility rate hikes, on electricity and gas with, our investor own utilities.”

Frank Knapp – “Back then it was electric or gas. Now it’s Dominion and then Duke is the other one. That is a you know, that’s their own utility that are regulated by the state through the Public Service Commission. We’ve intervened 11 times in rate hearings since 2002. And, we you know, we know how the system works. We know how utilities really make their money.”

Frank Knapp – “They really make their money from building things. And because they get this guaranteed rate of return. So they like to build new generation or transmission or something they like, just like the, And so this last year, there was a big push in the House to pass this 90 plus page bill. It was like an omnibus bill for for energy.”

Frank Knapp – “And a lot of different things were thrown in there, and we opposed it. Not because we don’t understand that we’re gonna need new generation of energy here, just, for us in the future. But because that bill had like three anti-consumer provisions in it. And so we fought that law with some other consumer groups. And we stopped it in the Senate.”

Frank Knapp – “And then the Senate said, well, we still need to address the issue so that this past summer, late in the summer, they started putting a, a Senate special committee on the, future of energy needs in South Carolina. So we were participating in that and still participating in that. The House has reintroduced that 90 plus page bill.”

Frank Knapp – “So we are, again fighting that in the House. But at the end of the day, we have to say what’s causing the energy generation needs. And right now in South Carolina, the utilities admit this. About 65% of our new energy needs in the state are driven by data centers. Data centers are what the, big tech uses to for them to do all the AI.”

Frank Knapp – “Okay. Right. And they are energy hawks. They consume so much energy. And actually they could they consume a lot of water, too. That, and they don’t bring a lot of economic value to the state. They don’t ha that many high paying jobs, you know. And, and so it doesn’t seem fair that, that all ratepayers are saddled with the responsibility of paying for your generation, that most of it is going to these data centers, that they really are benefiting from.”

Frank Knapp – “So that is a big battle right now in the South, General Assembly, as of how much more generation do we need? We and right now, just we need some, where is it going to be located? And what kind of generation is it going to be? I mean, you got gas plants or proposed gas plants out there.”

Frank Knapp – “We you know, they’re the solar people. There were solar out there. And now there’s a there’s a, push to reassess whether we we can get the private sector to complete the two failed nuclear plants up in Fairfield County, to generate actually, and then the last thing is who pays for it? Well, the who pays for it is should be important to everybody, all your listeners, whether they’re riff gas customers or business customers.”

Frank Knapp – “Who’s going to pay for this new generation? Because if, if when we say go, are we’re going to build new generation. Your rates are going up. And who we have been in this since 2002 to keep the rates as low as possible for small businesses. So we know the rates are going to go up if you have new generation.”

Frank Knapp – So that new generation better benefit everybody. If it’s not it’s only benefiting data centers that we shouldn’t have to pay for it. That’s the bottom one right?

Angela Barrett – “Well, and you know, I know that you’re looking at this small business end of it, but as you know, or a residential I mean, it is astronomical. The amount that we pay now versus what we did, you know, 4 or 5 years ago. I mean, it’s just crazy. We moved. And I’m not the only one in a fairly new subdivision, or part of a subdivision.”

Angela Barrett – “And the difference we pay from where we were. Now, mind you, we downsized is almost double what we used to pay in a house twice as big. Because now we are. It’s sort of not in the town, but just on the outskirts. But then we use this. You get your first bill, especially in the winter with the gap, the natural gas, and you’re like, oh, okay, beans and rice.”

Angela Barrett – “It is this month. But so yeah, anything that we can do to keep that from the small for the small businesses as well as the residential, that would be great. But, you know.”

Frank Knapp – “Angela, let me just say also that people listening may go, well, I like I, I like this convenience of being able to ask by phone for some detail thing, and it gives it right over on your computer and you’re using chat, you know, and.”

Frank Knapp – “Here’s the thing. We do not need to have any data centers that are supplying that, computation that enables you to benefit from AI. We don’t have to have them in South Carolina. If we did have one in South Carolina, you would never know.”

Angela Barrett – Right?

Frank Knapp – “Because. Because they’re everywhere else. So the issue becomes is why do we even need a data center here that really is going to drive up our need for more generation, and that everybody pay for that so that Google can make more profit? We don’t they know they’re in Georgia, they’re in North Carolina, they’re everywhere else. And we are getting the benefit from them right now.”

Frank Knapp – “You try to get use AI. As a service. Now, it doesn’t say, oh no, you live in South Carolina, you can’t do this, right?”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. And I, you know, that’s a whole nother topic. Last stand right there in the middle. I’m like, wow, this is great. Wow. This is pretty scary. So that’s a whole nother oh, another topic. But yes, I agree that, whatever is to benefit, you know, the state is where we need to go for sure. So I think a so now you just tell me you had a guest on your podcast, which we’ll get to in just a minute, but this has to do with the at the statehouse about maybe some electoral reform kind of thing that you all have going.”

Angela Barrett – Is that something you guys are working on as well?

Frank Knapp – “Yeah. Yes. This is our second year of supporting something called instant runoff voting. Your listeners may recognize the terminology of, ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting in South Carolina. We call it instant runoff voting. And there are 150 municipalities of South Carolina for their local elections. Require a majority vote, whether if somebody if the candidates are three candidates and nobody gets 50% plus one, you have a runoff.”

Frank Knapp – “Those runoffs are just as expensive of doing the election in the first place. So we like majority vote winners. I think that’s the best. That’s that’s really what democracy is all about. So why, if there’s a better way for people to go to those local elections and those parties and vote end up with a majority vote winner.”

Frank Knapp – “Oh, well, having a runoff, that the city would save money. The voters would not have to go back to the polls again. The there would be less staff time. Well, that’s what instant runoff voting is. It is an election method that allows the voter it put all the candidates on the ballot in. Most of our cities are all nonpartisan.”

Frank Knapp – “So they put everybody’s name on the ballot, and you rank order your your pick for that office. And then all the votes are counted. If nobody gets that 50%, they then go to the candidate voters who voted for the candidate, they got the least number of first place votes, and they take those voters, take the second choice and put it back in the system and recalculate.”

Frank Knapp – “And eventually what you end up with a consensus majority vote winner and is isn’t that nice? Is it that vice that we can end up with somebody that most people like, save the city money, taxpayers money? Nobody has to go back to the polls in two weeks. It’s it’s it’s as if things work. Over 50 municipalities, counties and even states use instant runoff voting.”

Frank Knapp – “We just think it’s an option that the municipalities ought to have. They don’t have to use it again. A lot of them, are using, what they’re using now, they would continue if they want to use is to run up voting. Fine. If they want to do plurality voting, 118 municipalities is allowed. Use plurality voting, meaning whoever gets the most votes, even though it’s about 50 wins.”

Frank Knapp – “We just don’t think that’s really a great way when you have more than 50% of the of your voters not wanting you, but you still win. All right. So that’s it. We’re proposing that, that the, the powers of the state be given the option of using this method. They don’t have to, forced to they but they can’t.”

Frank Knapp – The municipalities a municipal sociation supports it. We just now have to continue to push forward.

Angela Barrett – “So it wouldn’t necessarily be, it would be up to each, municipality to decide. And not a state.”

Frank Knapp – It’s not a state mandate. It’s simply.

Angela Barrett – Mandate. You know.

Frank Knapp – “There are three options now for how a municipality could conduct, their voting this would simply add a fourth.”

Angela Barrett – “Gotcha, gotcha. Well, I, I did listen to that. And I thought, well, that’s interesting. So, so now you also have the agency and, I do know through that agency, it took me a while to get through it again. We would we would be here all day to all of your accomplishments. But I know that you, created and hosted, a radio talk show, I think, you need to know now what was.”

Angela Barrett – And that was that ran a long time.

Frank Knapp – “Where I was. Ran for ten years, as well. You need to know if I was, radio talk show, I guess, on, about the. When I first started, it was a three hour program. That was a lot of work. Then a job to two. And, they went down to early one hour, but it ran for a long time, and I would just have guests on, that wanted to talk about, current events, either locally or statewide or nationally and, you know, so it was a lot of fun.”

Frank Knapp – “But I ended that in December of 20, 2016.”

Angela Barrett – “And I understand you, interviewed Hillary Clinton.”

Frank Knapp – “I did, that was the when she was running for president. You know, we are when you have a talk show, radio talk show, you want to get up and I knew the people who were running her campaign in South Carolina. And I said, hey, you know, I’d love to have, Senator Clinton on, and, and chat with her for a while on my show.”

Frank Knapp – “And they put it together. She was actually in Texas and driving along, and she was making two calls that day. And one was to me, and really, what I really wanted to talk to her about was, the issue of offshore drilling for oil. We were at the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, was heavily involved in opposing, offshore oil drilling along the East Coast.”

Frank Knapp – “We just thought it would be a disaster for our tourism economy. And so, I wanted wanted to query her, because she had not taken a position. So I asked you that question, and she basically said, yeah, yeah, she would she would be opposed to, permitting offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic so that, that did make some headlines.”

Frank Knapp – That was that was fun.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. You have heard. Yeah. And you’re right, you know, when you have a show for or against you, makes no difference if there’s a good interview is a good interview. And the, there was a radio talk shows, small business forum that I think you had and you hosted as well. And that was sort of the same.”

Angela Barrett – No.

Frank Knapp – “And the answer may be yes to your question. So I’m, I’m not placing exactly,”

Angela Barrett – “What that was. You got last a very long, at least according to what I saw. It was, about a year, year and a half. It was just another talk show. I think it was.”

Frank Knapp – “Twice I started out doing a commentary, 92nd commentary before the radio show. And and that that was, that was simply that straight commentary that was recorded and provided to radio stations that they produced so that,”

Angela Barrett – “I gotcha, I gotcha. Now, what was there was some television for you, the capital view, that you were part of. Tell me about that. Well.”

Frank Knapp – “I had a friend who was the, head of public relations for, Shotgun Educational Television. And I had been the lobbyist, for an organization called Common Cause, South Carolina. So I was a lobbyist at the state house, and, John and I were friends, and John went, took this new job at ETV. And this was at the time the soccer ETB was trying to increase their budget to get money for, expanding, their, instructional television.”

Frank Knapp – “And they needed a new facility and they needed, new towers, and they needed, you know, so they needed an infusion of money. It was also a time when we did have great budget surpluses in South Carolina. And so there they wanted to do a, a public affairs show, where there would be interviews with members of the General Assembly.”

Frank Knapp – “And it was called Capital View. And they just need somebody to pull it off. So just like doing that, I had, had a relationship with a lot of legislators, and, had a little background in public relations. And so he said, hey, you want to come, you know, work with or work with TV and being the produce this public affairs show.”

Frank Knapp – “And I said, sure. And that’s what it was. I mean, literally, we, I whenever General Assembly and I would ask legislators, if they’d like to be on the show, I do like a 15 minute interview, aired, and I would schedule that I, we would, they would come over to the TV game in the green room.”

Frank Knapp – “I did my best PR and try to explain to them what ETV wanted to do, what it is doing, and what it wanted to do. If it had the money and we’d, they’d go into the studio. Tom Fowler, was that was the actual host. He’d do the interview, thank them. They’d leave, we would package up, interview with, with another 15 minute interview with another legislator and the TV network, could be divided up geographically, so that we could actually run an interview of, of a legislator from, from Greenville just in Greenville, at the same time running an interview with from Charleston, just in Charleston.”

Frank Knapp – “And it was great. I mean, that worked out very well. And, we were very fortunate that, that I think give a lot of credit to that program and our efforts that, ETV got the budget they needed, to, acquire, new facility. And we. So now they’re located down there near the football stadium. And, and resources to expand their structural television.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that’s pretty cool. And again, we’ll get to your podcast. It to me sounds maybe like platforms a little bit like the platform that maybe you’re doing that. But we’ll get to that in a minute. But I am dying to know about this album. Our present concert. Hugo.”

Frank Knapp – “You might you might remember when Hurricane Hugo visited South Carolina and I was, 19. What was to help me out? I’m getting old there. I forget the dates.”

Angela Barrett – 90

Frank Knapp – “I like the 89. It was, there’s like 89. It was, And there was a lot of consternation because there was a lot of damage in South Carolina. Yeah. The hurricane that came just directly into South Carolina, went up by 26, did it right on 77. It went up to Charlotte, just like that.”

Angela Barrett –

Frank Knapp – Go and and.

Angela Barrett – Without power for a very long.

Frank Knapp – “Yeah. So we’re trying to figure out how can we help ETV help. So I as I said, I had the idea that the group Alabama had a scheduled concert at, in Columbia, and at the Coliseum, you’ll call seeing the years anymore for that. And I said, well, would be cool if we could get them to do a telephone.”

Frank Knapp – “So I called the people, with Alabama. I pitched them the idea of doing a live, show on ETV network and have it as a fundraiser so people could donate money for Hurricane You relief. And so that’s what we did. So I produced that, that three hour program for HIV. And we raised, you know, about money back in those days, for Hugo relief, it was a lot of people were involved in it.”

Frank Knapp – “A lot of people donated a lot of time and effort. But, yeah, it was it was definitely a highlight of my, of my activities. When I was with ETB.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that is pretty cool because we all did raise quite a bit of money. So now let’s get to your new endeavor here. The Batman podcast, right?”

Frank Knapp – Yep.

Angela Barrett – “So tell me, what is the platform for that? I know that what? I’ve seen you again got, you know, a lot of the House members and Senate members, a lot of the legislation members. So tell me what the the backbone is and what the platform is, no pun intended.”

Frank Knapp – “Well, you know, every all politicians for how long have always said small businesses are the backbone of our economy, right. How many times right from every politician that is out there campaigning. It just it just was that I thought, that the small business chamber Congress, to do a podcast. My goodness, everybody else is doing a podcast.”

Frank Knapp – “We’ve never done it. I had never done a podcast. And so, we’ll put it together. And the thought was that we would do these 15 to 30 minute interviews with members of the General Assembly, and not not a gotcha. Not a hard hitting thing is simply, hey, let’s have a conversation. Let’s find out a little bit about these people.”

Frank Knapp – “And and a little bit what their interests are, what, what issues they’re working on at why, and, you know, so it’d be a very friendly, educational, conversation that their constituents probably didn’t know anything about with their legislators. So that’s what it is. We so we launched that in January, this year. And I’ve been very fortunate, to have have so many legislators so far be willing to go, come on it and have a conversation.”

Frank Knapp – “Senator Brad Hotto from Beaufort saying your massive, from up ends in the Saluda, Edgefield area. We’ve had, David Hyatt, who is the House majority leader. We so at Brad Hotto is that House, my Senate minority leader, you know, had new senator, Senator Art, on and the podcast you listen to about the election reform is Jermaine Johnson from, Richland County.”

Frank Knapp – “Right? So, you know, it’s it has been interesting and and I think David enjoyed it. I know I have enjoyed it. And so then, as you know, you’ve got to packages podcasts up and that but release them posted online. And so everybody and Wednesday I have a new podcast with a member of the Soca General Assembly.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. So that was what I was going to ask. So, you’re coming out twice a week, but that. Right?”

Frank Knapp – Yes.

Angela Barrett – “And of course, I think I saw, where RSS and Amazon, those are the places. There were a couple others that I heard. I think that you can listen to those.”

Frank Knapp – “Yeah. YouTube and, and it’s the, the technology now. It’s so cool. You know, you do it one time and you find a platform, that helps distribute it to other platforms. That’s what rss.com does. Right. And so it’s easy, you know, I do it, I upload it, put all the information on about it, set the schedule for it is kind of got to be released and that’s it.”

Frank Knapp – I’m done. And then that platform distributed to all the other platforms.

Angela Barrett – “Right? Right, right. Yeah. It is pretty neat how, all that works, but, To, to a week, like, I can’t imagine all the right now. Right now I have two week. Because I have two different ones. May not be forever, but we’ll see how that goes. But, that’s all the support.”

Frank Knapp – “I was warned that the two might be pushing that, but the ability, you know, I’ve done I done radio, a long time. I didn’t, I know I didn’t see it as really going to be an obstacle. Obstacle was just getting setting up. Okay, let’s talk talk with members Joe Selby, but we’re doing over zoom. That’s where it’s done.”

Frank Knapp – “They’re not done in the studio, so they could do it from their bedroom. If you want to. So far they’ve been very good. I think it’s been well received by those members. And, and we are, you know, building an audience. If anybody wants to check that out, they can go to our, our website, which is South Coast Small Business Chamber of Commerce, and scroll down a little bit on the homepage and you can you can see the big link to the podcast.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s a lot of fun. Again, I didn’t get to listen to the one, and I sort of glanced at what some of the other topics were. But pretty interesting. Now, bird in the back room. Those guys, they are, I don’t think current legislation, but at least one. Have you listened to that one yet?”

Frank Knapp – Urban.

Angela Barrett – In the back.

Frank Knapp – “I live it and see, I’m old friends with Vincent. And, so, in fact, I talked to him before I went to him. Before I started my podcast. I got advised, he said it told me how Joel and he got started. And, I took his advice was very good. And so, yeah, I, I listen to their I really I don’t hear all of them.”

Frank Knapp – “Yeah. What did it do some of them, and this is not, this is like, negative toward, that podcast or any podcast other significant length. My impression is that people’s attention cannot last more than 30 minutes.”

Angela Barrett – I agree.

Frank Knapp – “And and they don’t they’re not in the car. They’re listening to podcasts. The car, they’re out of the car before 30 minutes and they never hear the end. I would, after my podcast between 15 30 minutes and so say they’re shorter. Sometimes they’re longer but no longer than 30 minutes. And, I, I respect my my, guest’s time, and it makes me be more efficient in, and how I talk to them.”

Frank Knapp – “And I just think it’s better for the listener. They help encourage them to, to, listen to more of the podcast if they’re not so.”

Angela Barrett – “I, I yeah, I agree, I agree. And speaking of that, we’re at our time. And I just want to thank you very much for taking time out of your day and, and and coming on, because I know you’re busy and, but I am looking forward to your podcast and catching some of those, because I think, what you’re doing is important on all aspects of everything you have going for the small businesses, because I am one of those that believe that small businesses are the backbone.”

Angela Barrett – “And, without them, you know, just building big.”

Frank Knapp – “You know, big.”

Angela Barrett – College corporation.

Frank Knapp – And everything.

Angela Barrett – Absolutely as. Right.

Frank Knapp – “So we’re, I to have you on my podcast to.”

Angela Barrett – Sales. Wonderful. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

Frank Knapp – All right. Thank you.

Episode transcript:

Craig Amick – Thanks for coming out.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I, I, you know, I’ve heard a lot about it, especially from a neighbor of mine, but, hadn’t had the chance to get out here, and this is pretty neat. I love this building. This is beautiful.”

Meritdeth Amick – Thank you.

Angela Barrett – How long have you guys been open?

Craig Amick – “So we’ve been open about eight and a half years now. Oh, wow. We actually started the project probably three years before that. A lot of research. And then we had a couple of years of, construction and licensing to, and then we opened up the summer 26th of 2014.”

Angela Barrett – “Nice. So Hollow Creek distillery. Yeah, that. Well, we say, as I say. All right. So tell me what that is in. Essence. What what what are we doing here?”

Craig Amick – “So we are basically all things distilled spirits. We’ve got a pretty broad product portfolio right now. We started out with moonshine, actually, on day one, it was just clear moonshine. And then over the next little while, we added different flavors. To make moonshine a little more approachable. And everybody likes flavor.”

Angela Barrett – So Sea Salt caramel is my favorite.

Craig Amick – “And that’s a very popular one. And then we added other products as we went. So now we’re up to, essentially for distributed products, we have two, two brands of bourbon, one called William Allen and one called High Cotton. And we have a vodka that’s called Low water. And we have a cinnamon whiskey called White Hot.”

Angela Barrett – “And, I see the. Medals. So. But y’all won two awards. And just recently, I know won with the state and one with the free times. I guess about the best. But what are these medals?”

Craig Amick – “So these medals are a few competitions we entered last year in 2022. We’ve never really done spirits competitions before. So we decided last year that they we’ll kind of throw our hat in the ring too, and just see how we stack up, because, you know, all the other really big distilleries and these things, so we entered three.”

Craig Amick – “It was the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition, San Francisco World Spirits Fair, and New York International Spirits Competition. And honestly, I thought we’re going to enter, you know, about 3 or 4 products in each of these. And if we win one medal somewhere, I’m going to be thrilled. So we surprised everybody ourselves, probably more than anybody else.”

Craig Amick – “And I think we ended up winning 14 medals. Wow. We won, several gold medals and actually a double gold medal at New York International.”

Angela Barrett – Wow.

Meritdeth Amick – And that double gold means that it was a unanimous gold by all the judges.

Angela Barrett – “Oh, wow. And so and all that was last year. Yes, yes. Wow. Congratulations. That’s that’s impressive. Now the, like I said, the state and the free times, I mean, those are just where people pick the best. And you won that last year.”

Craig Amick – “Yeah. So we’ve won both of those the last 3 or 4 years running. We’ll see how this year turns out. Voting still open. It’s, you know, certainly nice to win local awards.”

Angela Barrett – “Sure, sure, sure. That’s what that’s what people who are buying it. That’s right, that’s right. So, you said you do a bourbon and a vodka. And, what was the other.”

Craig Amick – Do we have a cinnamon whiskey?

Angela Barrett – Sandwich.

Craig Amick – And a second bourbon.

Angela Barrett – “Okay. And then you have all the moonshine stuff. Yes. Yes. Well, that’s cool. And how did y’all get started? I mean, what made you say, wake up one more. Good. Let’s let’s make whiskey.”

Craig Amick – “So there’s a little bit of a family or a little bit of a story to it. I had a really good family friend, who, if you think about your stereotypical moonshiner from the discovery TV channel, I mean, right.”

Angela Barrett – “In the woods, buried somewhere in.”

Craig Amick – “The woods, overalls, the whole deal. And he essentially made moonshine in this area. The majority of his life. He learned from his father, and they worked together for a while. So if you fast forward a lot, 2009, South Carolina passes a law that basically creates the, the, the permitting process, the structure for micro distilleries.”

Craig Amick – “And that’s the permit we, we operate on. There’s a micro distillery. Well, Lamar was the guy’s name. He read about it in the newspaper right after the law was passed. And Kevin said, that’s all I’ve really ever wanted to do. And there’s a little bit of a longer story to it, but essentially he and I talked about it a few times.”

Craig Amick – “I thought it was a really good idea. He kind of once owned. He had told him what a little bit said, well, maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. As a look, I want to build it so can you help us out? And that’s where it started. At that point, we were we weren’t really on the cutting edge of distilleries in South Carolina anymore.”

Craig Amick – “There were a few that had opened. A couple of them were struggling mightily already. So was it was very obvious that this is, you know, a hyper competitive business and it’s very easy to lose money in which I wasn’t interested in doing.”

Angela Barrett – Right.

Craig Amick – “So we did take about a year to figure out, you know, just how do we want to get into the business? And, you know, kind of what we thought was a decent plan to not lose money, that after we convinced ourselves that, yeah, we can actually make a go this it took us two years to, you know, find property that we liked and build a functional facility.”

Craig Amick – “That’s the other catch. You have to have a functional facility before you can get your permit. So, it was a long road, but.”

Angela Barrett – “So now is where we are now, which is right by the lake. Hollow Creek right here. This is, like you said, where you get the name from. Was this family land?”

Craig Amick – It was.

Angela Barrett – “Not. It was not. Okay, because there’s a story of somewhere I read, as before I got here about land that was passed down from King George or given back. So,”

Craig Amick – So you’re probably reading my family’s story.

Angela Barrett – Okay.

Craig Amick – “But we’ve been here forever, so I’m anemic. It’s a it’s a fairly big Lexington County name. I guess you would say.”

Angela Barrett – Yes.

Craig Amick – “We have a 12 year old son who is the 10th generation of my family right here. If you go all the way back, I think the story goes back to 1752. A guy by the name of Conrad Emig immigrated from Germany and settled in what was at the time, the Dutch Fork area of South Carolina. Oh, it was the area between the Little Saluda River and the Flint River.”

Craig Amick – “When he immigrated, it was himself, his wife and one young son. And at the time you could get a land grant for 50 acres per person. So, you know, my family essentially started out with 150 acre land grant between the Saluda and Little Flow rivers. And we’ve been here ever since. I mean, that land is now flooded, but we are only a few miles from it, so.”

Craig Amick – We don’t get out too much.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, too far. Right? Yeah. That’s funny. So you have to have this up and running before you get your permit. I think that’s where we were before I took a side sidebar. Right. Yeah, yeah. And you said that took about a year before you. Really?”

Craig Amick – “Well, it took us a couple of years. A couple years. We started out, you know, once we said, yes, we’re actually going to do this and think we have a pretty good plan. We started, you know, by looking for real estate. Yes. And this was family and it absolutely was not. So we looked around at what was available at the time and, you know, you get in the Lexington County zoning and everything else.”

Craig Amick – “And this one just kind of it fit very nicely. Yeah. What we wanted to do. So being in real estate, you know, it takes and this property was actually fairly challenging to buy. It had several interests that, had to be run down. It was, it was split three ways.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, goodness.”

Craig Amick – “To the gentleman, I think it passed away. And it was it was tied up in a couple of estates. It was.”

Angela Barrett – Owned.

Craig Amick – “By this place. It took us a little time, but then after that, once we got it, it was, completely undeveloped, like we started.”

Angela Barrett – So none of this was here.

Craig Amick – None of this was here. It was wooded on a dirt road. We even got the luxury of paving the roads.

Angela Barrett – “Oh, that was a fun job. Now, where did y’all come up with your logo? The Hollow Creek.”

Meritdeth Amick – Creek distillery system.

Angela Barrett – Yeah.

Meritdeth Amick – “So we have a good friend. So we were high school sweethearts. Went to. We we went to Gilbert High School, and, we have a good friend who also went to Gilbert High School with us. And she went on to be an art teacher, actually, in Lexington one and, she helped us when we had this idea.”

Meritdeth Amick – “She helped us design, our Hollow Creek logo and really some of our first labels she helped design. So it’s been been great.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Now the one with the dog. What is that, one of your dogs?”

Craig Amick – “No, it is not, actually.”

Meritdeth Amick – “So that is that is Gus. So, we are there is Hollow Creek Kennels here. You’re aware we’re in the Hollow Creek area, right? We’re Hollow Creek empties into Lake Murray. And so, there’s Hollow Creek, distillery, Hall Creek, Christmas tree Farm, where you can buy your Christmas trees at, at the season. And then there’s Hollow Creek Kennels, and they race champion Boykins.”

Meritdeth Amick – “And so this is just a nod to us being in that area. And Gus was the granddaddy of the line of Hollow Creek Kennels and, so we decided also to honor our South Carolina heritage. Again, you can tell from my accent or from here. And so the Boykin Spaniel is the South Carolina State dog. So we decided to put that, on the label as well.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. Beautiful. So, all of your labels have, different mean they’re all not the same. I mean, you wouldn’t even know unless you read it. I guess that they are for. Well, I guess it does. Some of the scrolling is the same. I was just trying to look at the labels and see, you know, what would say if I was just talking about, oh, I know where that came from, but I guess it would be some of that.”

Angela Barrett – Yeah. It’s neat.

Craig Amick – “Yeah. So the look and feel of some of the labels are the same. But they really are kind of standalone brands, that, you know, our moonshine is basically Hollow Creek moonshine, so it’s pretty well identified. But these four brands are essentially what we distribute, and really they’re standalone brands. Of course, if you look on the back, it’s going to say distilled and bottled by Holly Creek Distillery.”

Craig Amick – “And some of them have the same look and feel, especially the two Bourbons. Right. Kind of the, the, the.”

Angela Barrett – Beautiful.

Craig Amick – “Aged Louis look or something like that. But if you just walk into your local red dot store and see it and you’re not familiar with us, there’s nothing about it that screams, oh, Holly Creek Distillery made that I gotcha.”

Angela Barrett – “But they are beautiful. I mean, they really are. Now y’all do a couple of things here I know that you’ve got coming up a comedy night venue, which you’ve done before and, and you plan on continuing doing those.”

Meritdeth Amick – “Absolutely. So, we’ve got one coming up very soon and then we’ll continue those on in the future. They’ve been really well-attended. We bring a comedian in here and have food truck outside and open bar inside and, and just enjoy that time. And folks like to come in and and have a little relaxation and a couple of laughs.”

Meritdeth Amick – Yeah. I’m at home.

Angela Barrett – “And that’s probably great for this area. I mean, there’s not a lot in this direction. I know it’s coming. I mean, because in Lexington School.”

Craig Amick – “Everything’s kind of moving this way. But you’re right, there’s just not a lot. That’s right. Right now. So any chance that we can, we can take that kind of, you know, bring people together and have a good time. A night for laughs. Yeah. The first time we did, I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but it’s been fantastic.”

Craig Amick – “So, yeah, we’ll keep doing it.”

Angela Barrett – And we are open Thursday through Saturday.

Craig Amick – All right. So Thursday afternoon from 1 to 7 and then Friday and Saturday we’re open from 10 to 7.

Angela Barrett – And y’all have tastings at some point where people can come in and taste.

Craig Amick – “Yeah. Anytime we’re open, stop by. And we’ve got the tasting bar set up and you’re welcome to try anything you want.”

Angela Barrett – That could be dangerous.

Craig Amick – But we are limited with how.

Angela Barrett – “Much we get out here, right?”

Craig Amick – You can’t get over. It’s either. But you can.

Angela Barrett – “And so what, what other kind of things, do you guys do? You know, that bring in a, you know, like a group of people?”

Craig Amick – “So we we’ve done a few barrel releases for our bourbon. We’ve got, probably 3 or 4 more barrels that we’re going to release a single barrel. Yeah. This year, we actually did a couple of pretty cool things with the last barrel we released. We had, a barrel pick party, so we, you know, sold tickets, let people come in, and we had kind of pre-selected full barrels and we let everybody taste each of the four and then vote for which one.”

Craig Amick – “They wanted us to barrel our bottle. And then the following week, we invited people back out to come help bottle that barrel.”

Angela Barrett – “Oh, neat.”

Craig Amick – “So we had folks that, you know, attended both, and then they essentially get the opportunity to say, hey, I helped pick this barrel, and then I bottled these bottles. Yeah. So it gives you a little bit of the story to go along with your, your single barrel, barrel proof bourbon. So we’ll do that probably at least three more times this year.”

Craig Amick – “And then we’re also getting ready to kick off kind of a special release series. We’re going to, I think Family Reserve is what we’re going to call it. So we have, family reserve releases. They’ll be on some regular schedule. Right now we’re thinking monthly, but I wouldn’t shovel I installed.”

Angela Barrett – “Right, I get it, I get it now. I know y’all do something with people I saw on Facebook. I think you had something on people’s birthday.”

Meritdeth Amick – “We definitely celebrate birthdays here. So if you come in on a Saturday, in your birthday month, you get a free bottle of our low water vodka. So, we asked folks to come in and then take a picture with their bottle, share it on social media, and let their other friends know that they can come in and do the same thing.”

Meritdeth Amick – “So that’s been a really, really, really, you know, positive thing. People love it. People always talk about that. So and know we were talking about some of the events that we’ve done. We have also done, we’ve had bands, live bands come out, with food trucks and that kind of thing. And we will do that again as it gets cooler.”

Meritdeth Amick – “Nobody wants to sit outside when you’re, in the South Carolina summer, but we’ll do that again as well as we do free cocktail Saturdays. So one Saturday a month, if you happen to come in for your Saturday birthday bottle on the free cocktail Saturday, we do. We’ll hand out one of the biggest hills we had to climb on.”

Meritdeth Amick – “We just started with moonshine was how do you mix this stuff? What? How do you make a drink with it? And so we’ve just continued, you know, basically handing out a free cocktail, showing folks how to mix their drinks. And sometimes we do that with our moonshine, but then often will feature some of our Bourbons or vodka as well.”

Meritdeth Amick – “And so we again, those are all on the calendar as well. And give folks some drinks, ideas and things that they can make at home. I’m certainly not Martha Stewart. So I’m not making anything really either. I’m not making anything fancy, but we’re just trying to do something simple and something you can repeat at home and enjoy with friends.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a great idea. Now, as far as the recipes, like are there online anywhere, like.”

Meritdeth Amick – “So we do after the fact, we’ll share them on our social media. We have Facebook and Instagram. We do have a website and we do periodically post some recipes there, but the know majority of those are going to be on our social media platforms.”

Angela Barrett – “I gotcha, I gotcha, and like if people want to know if your day, you’re going to have a food truck or band. I mean, they just need to follow the page and, and make sure they’re they know when all that’s going to happen.”

Meritdeth Amick – “Absolutely. So on on Facebook and Instagram, we always post our events as well as our, our website does have a page separate for events. So you can click on there and kind of see what’s coming up. If you want to plan your your next, next couple of months that that’ll be on on the schedule. We always the one of our most popular cocktail Saturdays is we usually do it the Saturday before Christmas.”

Meritdeth Amick – “I think this year the Saturday before Christmas is the 23rd. So that’s a little close to Christmas. So I think we’ll do it the 16th this year. But we always, share a cup of hot chocolate. And so for, for the adults that are over age 21, they get to choose whatever spirit they want to spike their hot chocolate with.”

Meritdeth Amick – “And then for the kiddos, they get their their just plain hot chocolate. And then, we always have marshmallows and whipped cream and sprinkles and all the things that you might see on there. Yeah. And every now and then, Santa makes an appearance at this, hot chocolate. So shop and get it. So we’ll.”

Angela Barrett – Have.

Meritdeth Amick – “A, we’ll do a, a lot of times we’ll have a wide mobile out here as well. We often host a lot of mobile, so that folks, can come in from the community and donate blood and don’t have to go all the way to Lexington or Columbia to do that. So a lot of times they’re out here so that you can do your good deed right there around the holiday season, as well as come in and grab a cup of hot chocolate.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. Now y’all have some kind of frozen drink. According to my neighbor Bill. That he dearly loved. So what is that?”

Craig Amick – “So on Saturdays during the summer, we make slushies, basically. Okay, the flavors always change each week. It’s just a matter of, you know, kind of what we decide we want to make. And then we make two versions of each. We make a nonalcoholic one for anybody who is not interested in alcohol. Or anyone under 21.”

Craig Amick – And then we make the same slushies with vodka so you can come in and get a spiked slushie. Those are really popular getting. So.

Angela Barrett – “Yeah, I should have asked you what his favorite one was, but, I failed to do that. But he, know for a fact is definitely in love with those.”

Meritdeth Amick – So the lemonade and the peach are very popular flavors of the slushies that we’ve done so far.

Angela Barrett – The peach does sound good.

Meritdeth Amick – It’s very tasty.

Angela Barrett – 4th of July weekend. Peach this Saturday.

Meritdeth Amick – “Peach. And that it will be a peach. We will, I think I and lemonade this Saturday. Not sure what the third color or third flavor will be this weekend, but both of I will be so. And you hear us talk about, you know, nonalcoholic slushies for the kids as well as the cup hot chocolate without alcohol for the kids.”

Meritdeth Amick – “We’re definitely family friendly and dog friendly and friendly and dog friendly. We have a, Our son is 12 now. He was three when when we opened the business, and he’s pretty much been raised here. A lot of times you’ll see him hanging out, in here. So definitely family friendly. And we actually just got a new dog within the last 2 or 3 months.”

Meritdeth Amick – And so you’ll see him out here a lot of times on Saturdays as well. So.

Angela Barrett – “Phenomenal. But I know there’s, my son for one. They’re always looking for somewhere that they can take the dog with them because they don’t necessarily want to leave him locked up on Saturday all day, you know, while they’re, you know, going out. So the dog friendly is a very important to a lot of people. What are your best selling products?”

Craig Amick – “So if you want to talk about moonshine flavors, certainly the Sea salt caramel is the best seller.”

Angela Barrett – “If you haven’t had it, you need to try it.”

Craig Amick – “And then as far as just overall highest volume, you’re probably looking at low water vodka. And honestly, our Bourbons are some of the most popular. Two the the problem is, you know, we’re a small distillery. We only have so much bourbon.”

Angela Barrett – Right.

Craig Amick – “So. And it takes years to make this stuff. You know, we’re we’re bottling bourbon. That’s around four and a half years. Getting close to five years old now. So it’s not something we can make quickly if we say, oh, we need more bourbon, we can make more bourbon. But it’s five years before, right?”

Angela Barrett – “We’re going to have to wait and patience. That’s right. Patience, patience. Now, I, I did read something that, you know, like with everybody in business, you’re always trying to think about what, you know, what can we do next? I something about Adopt the Barrel is that.”

Craig Amick – “Yes. So, we actually haven’t really announced anything with this yet. And but it’s certainly an idea that we’ve thrown around. We’ve kind of got it figured out now. So in the bourbon world, single barrels and private barrels are a really big thing, you know, Bourbon club come in. And we actually just had one in a week ago.”

Craig Amick – “They came in and sampled some barrels to figure out which barrel they want to buy. So it’ll end up being a barrel that we put an extra label on that says, you know, this barrel was picked by this club and, and here’s the barrel number, that kind of thing. The finished barrels of bourbon get fairly expensive, right?”

Craig Amick – “So what the thought is, is we will offer, you know, essentially different price points and at different price points, you get more control. So if you come in and say, I want to pick a barrel and turn around, have you bottle it pretty quickly, then, you know, we’re looking at four and five year old barrels. And we’re going to turn around and bottle it and it’s going to be a fairly high price.”

Craig Amick – “If you get a younger barrel, then we don’t have to charge quite as high a price for it. But we also can’t bottle it. Yeah. So, you know, the example would be you come in and we’ll let you sample like some two year old barrels. All right. Well all of our labels say straight bourbon whiskey and they don’t have an age statement on them.”

Craig Amick – “So we cannot put that label on two year old bourbon. It’s got to be at least four. So you get a different price point. A lower price point. Because it’s two years old, you have to wait a couple of years before we can barrel it. The other thing for you, though, is you get to pick when it gets barreled.”

Craig Amick – “So if you like it at four years old, great. If you want to let it get 5 or 6, we’ll let it sit on our bourbon stack. And, you know, you can come in and try it from time to time whenever you say, yep, I’m ready for you to bottle it, will bottle it for you. So that’s going to be our barrel adoption program.”

Angela Barrett – “Yeah. It sounded a little bit, you know, was able to read it sounded pretty good. What a pretty great idea. Especially for, like you said, people, you’ve got bourbon clubs. I know there’s one in our neighborhood. I think they meet on Wednesday night. Okay, but they really like bourbon. So. Yeah, I mean, for those kind of people that I see them getting pretty excited about, I’ve tried it.”

Angela Barrett – “And no offense to bourbon makers, I just haven’t I haven’t found a way to like it. Maybe it’s yours. I have, I haven’t tasted it, but, Yeah, but, like, I was going to ask, can we go see, where you guys make this stuff?”

Craig Amick – Absolutely.

Angela Barrett – “All right, so, guys, that was pretty neat again. It looks like something out of, you know, a movie, a spaceship or something, but that’s that’s pretty cool by then. And it’s nice and shiny to, Now is there? It wasn’t air conditioned, but is it? It wasn’t terribly hot in there. I mean, I know it’s a big building, but.”

Angela Barrett – “So you’re not supposed to air conditioned because of the barrels, or is that you just chose. Haven’t chosen to.”

Craig Amick – “Well, a couple of different things. Number one, we haven’t chosen to, you know, is the building. It’s a big building in. It’s a production building. So, you know, it’s, not really need it. The other thing is that we do have some barrels in there aging and actually temperature fluctuation is really good for those. So as it gets hot, the bourbon absorbs into the barrel more and as it gets cold kind of gets pushed back out of the wood.”

Craig Amick – “And that honestly is what helps aging bourbon. So temperature fluctuations is a good thing. We want it hot in the summer and cold in the winter, which makes it a little bit inconvenient for tours. But people don’t seem to mind too much. Really. Not that hot over there.”

Angela Barrett – “And speaking of tours, do you give tours? I mean, do you have towns again? Maybe on your events calendars? Or is that something you do?”

Craig Amick – “Yes, we do give tours anytime we’re open.”

Angela Barrett – Okay.

Craig Amick – “Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday, Saturdays. Sometimes you get a little busy and and we’ll kind of limit it. We’ve got a few places out there that tours are 11 one, three and five.”

Angela Barrett – Okay.

Craig Amick – “But if we can accommodate outside of those times, we always will. Sure. But if we’ve got a packed house and, you know, only 4 or 5 people work in that day. Yeah, maybe 11 one, three and five.”

Angela Barrett – Yeah. Right. Yeah I gotcha we.

Meritdeth Amick – Usually we’ll do the tour first. So if it is a little warm we’ll bring folks back in here where the air conditioned is and serve them a couple of drinks and then they don’t mind any more.

Angela Barrett – “That’s right. And it wasn’t bad. I know it’s earlier in the day, but it wasn’t bad. At all. But, I know that a lot of the area, I guess that building is shaded, but, I’m sure that doesn’t help on it is really, really hot. Some are August days. But but thank you all so much for allowing me to be here today.”

Angela Barrett – “This is phenomenal. I mean, this is it is beautiful. And that was, like I said, very interesting. And, I appreciate it. All right. Thank you so much. Thanks for hanging out with us today. And we hope you enjoyed the show. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or have a person business idea, an event that Lexington needs to know more about, email me local at.”