The Buzz On Better Business
Positioning your business as one that is trustworthy is something that we know is important but what does it take to accomplish this? Join BBB Serving Acadiana President/CEO, Chris Babin each month as we unveil the world of local Accredited Businesses who have it mastered and have positioned themselves as ethical leaders in our Acadiana marketplace. Each episode contains the latest buzz on these better businesses; it is designed to help you engage your customers and stay on top of the changing trends while navigating the difficult landscape of today’s marketplace with honesty and integrity.
The Buzz On Better Business
Building Trust and Community: Insights from Rick Watkins, Executive Director of Trust Acadiana
What if you could transform your local business with the power of trust and community? Join us as we sit down with Rick Watkins, a seasoned board member of the Better Business Bureau and the executive director behind Trust Acadiana. From his early days in Morgan City to his entrepreneurial journey through Florida’s restaurant scene, and finally returning to opening a restaurant in Lafayette, Rick shares his unique insights into the restaurant industry, especially navigating the complexities of operating in an industrial area. Learn about the strategic decisions that made his ventures successful and the lessons he gathered along the way.
Rick's story doesn't end with the restaurant business; it evolves into something even more impactful. Discover how he transitioned into establishing Trust Acadiana, a thriving barter network that began in 2010 with just 22 members and has grown to over 515 local businesses. Rick sheds light on the importance of community trust, referrals, and the lessons learned from working with a dynamic nine-member rotating board of directors. You'll hear about the rebranding journey to Moxie and why managing this internal currency is crucial for the network's success.
In our final segment, we explore the broader themes of continuous personal and professional development. Rick emphasizes the benefits of engaging with business organizations like the Better Business Bureau and how diverse viewpoints on a board can foster meaningful growth. We also dive into the significance of social media in modern business, generational shifts in work ethic, and the importance of valuing employees. Tune in for a treasure trove of advice on maintaining integrity, trust, and growth in any business endeavor.
To learn more about BBB Serving Acadiana, visit our website:
🔗 https://www.bbb.org/local-bbb/better-business-bureau-serving-acadiana
This podcast is an AcadianaCasts production and part of the AcadianaCasts Network. Go to acadianacasts.com for more South Louisiana sourced content.
I hear folks my age talk about, you know, young people that don't work or they don't do. You know they don't have the work ethic that we had and this, that and the other. Well, that could be said for any generation. More often than not, I see young people that are working two and three jobs just to pay their bills, you know, and I see a lot of young entrepreneurs that are busting their tail to make things go.
Speaker 2:The Buzz on Better Business podcast. Positioning your business as one that is trustworthy, as something that we all know, is important, but what does it actually take to accomplish this? Join your BBB each month as we unveil the world of local accredited businesses who have it mastered and have positioned themselves as ethical leaders in our Acadiana marketplace. Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Buzz on Better Business podcast. This episode we're joined by Rick Watkins, longtime board member of BBB, longtime resident of Lafayette as well, even though he is from Morgan City. But on this episode we're going to learn about how he got into his role as executive director with Trust Acadiana some great business tidbits. Rick's not retiring yet, but he's got a lot of great advice that he's learned through the years and something I never found out, although I've known him for six years now. Rick used to own a restaurant right here in Lafayette on Cameron street. Let's meet him. Well, rick, thank you for being here. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:I tell you, when you reached out to me and we talked about doing an episode with you, I was excited for a couple reasons. One, because I know what you guys do at Trust Acadiana, but I don't really know what y'all do, and January I'll have been at BBB for six years, but we've probably never been able to have this candid of a conversation. So although I know you well, I'm excited just to learn a little bit more about you.
Speaker 1:Oh, great, sounds like a plan, so let's do it.
Speaker 2:So first off, rick, I guess let's go back and let's start with where are you from? Are you from this area, south Louisiana, or where did Rick grow up?
Speaker 1:Rick grew up in Morgan City.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And born there. Lived there through high school. Attended college at Nichols State there. Lived there through high school, attended college at nickel state. Uh, from that point, um, when I was in morgan city after that, uh, the all field was in a downturn okay, all field at that time especially, was very all field yeah yeah sure it still is, I believe. So after a cavalcade of jobs, I decided to venture into getting into the restaurant business. So I had an aunt that had moved to Central Florida, Winter Haven, Florida, which is like midway between Tampa and Orlando, and so I went and lived with her.
Speaker 1:I found a job with a restaurant chain. I had it in the back of my mind to open my own restaurant, but I got some good advice from somebody that says, well, before you do that, go work for somebody, train on their dime.
Speaker 2:Good advice right right right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, learn the business.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of ways to lose money in a restaurant, so that way you can get your feet under you.
Speaker 1:So that's what I did and I came back to Lafayette. Once I left that position, we were having to move too much and my wife was a teacher and we were having to uproot the family and move and it just got to be too much. So, she's, we decided we were going to move back to Louisiana. So it came down to well, I'm not moving back to Morgan City, I don't want to move to New Orleans. It's either Baton Rouge or Lafayette. Probably my wife says, nope, there's no choice, we're going, or Lafayette. Probably my wife says, nope, there's no choice, we're going to Lafayette, which is fine with me, because I always did like Lafayette.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, moved here, opened a restaurant, which was my plan. I had it for seven years and when that played out, I guess that's when I got involved into the world of bartering.
Speaker 2:Bartering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, which, again, it's a bit of a pigeonhole term because what we do is a lot more than that. But anyway, that's how I got exposed to the whole concept of bartering into a network of businesses, I guess, and putting them together Right.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to go back a little bit. So you spent some time in Florida and I feel like you play that game where you say three statements two are true, one's false Owned a restaurant for seven years. I probably would have guessed as the false one. So tell me about that. What kind of restaurant? Where was it at? What was the name?
Speaker 1:Sure, it was called Rick's family restaurant. It was on Cameron street, right off of ambassador and Cameron. I think it's a. It's a. Mexican restaurant now it's like right off of ambassador. Okay, like a half a block Um. I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I can't think of what it's called now, but I know that area, loco or something, but anyway it was empty and I worked out a deal with the owner of the building and we were open for breakfast and lunch and we had a hell of a lunch business. We really did. I could never develop a night business. That gentleman that's there now, whoever owns that restaurant now he's doing well. He's figured out how to bring people in there at night, because it's like in an industrial area and there's really not a lot of activity on cameron street after five right you know so man.
Speaker 2:So I tell you, you know, and this has probably long been talked about in the media, as you know, as a side note, lafayette is a or katie anna as a whole. It's kind of a tough area to have a restaurant. It feels like every time it's time to go out to eat, I can't ever figure out where I want to go, but there's like an overabundance of places and options. So my thought process would be it would be hard to separate yourself as a restaurant, but you did it for seven years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is a tough place to have a restaurant, no question. But if you've got a quality product and at a decent price point, you can make it and separate yourself from most of the competition. You really can. Is it easy? No, would it have been easier for me to do what I did, which is basically breakfast and plate, lunches and burgers and basic stuff, but living in, coming from central florida and experiencing what the food situation is like there as opposed to here?
Speaker 1:yeah it's like night and day. Um, I probably would be retired and living on the beach right now if I did what I did here over there, you know, but it just that's just not the way it played out. So, to answer your question, yes, this is not the easiest place, but it's doable. You can see places that are very, very busy yeah absolutely, and a lot aren't you know. It comes down to, just like any other business for supply and demand. And what are you offering? You know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I guess the natural follow-up question is so were you the chef, were you the GM, were you the both?
Speaker 1:Chef. Gm bottle washer dishwasher. Yeah, I did it all. I literally cooked, if not every plate lunch, every single plate lunch, out of that window, out of that kitchen. Uh, I cooked, you know, and then I had some employees that were with me for a while, so we had a variety of things that's awesome, though I would have never known.
Speaker 2:That's the reason I love this podcast so much. You never, you never threw that nugget out there over the last six years. That, so what time frame we're talking when? When was this? 1993 to 2000 and well, 2001 so okay, so right about the time, okay, so that the latter part of that would have been my high school year, so I might have passed by for a burger.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to think so I had a good burger I bet.
Speaker 2:So now I've got to got to figure out what we can do to eat. You're cooking. Do you still like to cook at home and stuff?
Speaker 1:I do. Yeah, it was more for fun. Now, though, well, yeah, right but I enjoyed even I enjoyed cooking whenever I was actually in in the restaurant business as well, even though you know some people will will go and they'll get involved with doing something like that, doing something that they love to do, and then just get burnt out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it turns to work.
Speaker 1:I can't cook one more thing. It never was that way. For me, it came down to a matter of you only can pull so much money out of a restaurant from the customer base that you currently have, and unless you have a, you know, a dedicated following not only for lunch but probably for dinner as well, it's hard to pull enough money out to to make it viable yeah, it definitely sounds like a tough business, so it would sound.
Speaker 2:but it also sounds like you went from there to Trusted Catiana, so that would have been almost 24 years ago.
Speaker 1:Well, actually no. But, I went right from there. I was a member of a network like Trusted Catiana when I had the restaurant and I saw the value in what they brought to the table. Basically.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:In that I would get new customers and I can use these new customers to offset things that I would normally have to pay for out of my operating account. And, um, I was just a great member, you know, and I I embraced the system. Well, the uh the owner of that network actually had asked me to go and work for him when the restaurant was done okay, sure.
Speaker 1:Which I did on and off for five years, learned the business, but I was like a duck to water. So when that played out, I did a few things on my own, basically outside sales, for myself. I always sort of worked for myself the majority of my life. And then this opportunity came up. I got a call from some folks, from Partners One. They're based in Baton Rouge and they're one of the most successful, largest organizations. We call them a trade network, a barter network, in in the country. Well, they wanted to take their model basically and duplicate it and being Lafayette is in close proximity to Baton Rouge.
Speaker 1:They called me first because, first off, I knew the guy that was running that network and second, they knew that I knew the business, so we came up with an agreement which I signed off on. So, come the beginning of 2010, that's when the fun started. Yeah, so building a network, or building anything from the ground up, you know, with zero customers, zero income coming in, it was very challenging, but it was a challenge that I knew that I could do. Sure, it just was a pretty big undertaking.
Speaker 2:So that was officially when Trust Acadiana started 2010,. You were the executive director from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had a um um. I invited 50 something business owners to come to a um um a meeting. Actually it was a dinner at uh, at poor boys Riverside, in and um in their cabin, their cooking cabin, in fact.
Speaker 2:fact y'all, we had a yeah, yeah, we did right social over there, that's right yeah and um.
Speaker 1:Out of that, I think 26 showed up and out of the 26, 22 eventually signed up. So we actually named the group at that meeting. Trust acadiana wow it was dr, uh, dr brad grizzaff Pinnacle Chiropractic. He came up with the name and we voted on it and, yeah, that's where it started and from that point to now, we have over 515 local businesses that are part of our network here.
Speaker 2:Man, so talk about some growth. Huh yeah, there's been some work.
Speaker 1:There's been some work, but you know I didn't do it all on my own. You know we had some good buy-in early and I had a lot of referrals. You know that's what builds everything. If people can see that you're trying to build something and they know that your heart's in it and they know that you have the right intentions, they'll bend over backwards to help you. Of course, the flip side is also just to the opposite.
Speaker 1:If they don't sense that, they're not going to help you out at all. So luckily I was able to foster referrals which helped me along the way to help build this thing and as it is right now, I pretty much primarily just work off of referrals, you know wow, so there's some similarities there between trust acadiana and bbb.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, obviously you've been involved. What was the first year you were on the board and you've been on as long as I've been at bbb for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh I'm.
Speaker 2:I think I'm going on 12 years it's been a while 14, I think I'm the most tenured person, yeah absolutely yeah, you are, and you worked your way through our executive committee. Now you're back to board member status and each year we revisit. You know, rick, are you doing? Are you giving us another year? Yeah, For those wondering all of our board members serve a three-year term and typically cycle once they've gained enough tenure and they're interested through our executive committee, which is a sub portion of the board that has a little bit more direct oversight, but you guys are governed by a board as well.
Speaker 1:We are.
Speaker 2:Which is a unique thing I've discovered at BBB right.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So how many people do you have on your board? How does that work for you? How is it working with the board? What's that experience been like?
Speaker 1:Well, the board experience has overall been a positive thing. Our board consists of nine members, which three of them rotate each year, and we have elections, you know, yearly elections for the three whose terms are up, which the members get to vote on, or, if they want to run for their position, they can do that as well. The board has been beneficial to me along the way in a number of ways. You know, besides just the referral part of it, there's a lot of years of business experience on that board. You know, and I always looked at it. As you know, any help I can get helping build, especially early on building this thing was greatly appreciated, you know, and so they were pivotal, you know, not only in my initial board but continuing on to today. So, yeah, it's been a good experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So this role at BBB obviously is the first one I've dealt with a board and it is different. They're definitely a huge part of the organization. You know there's a certain amount of expectation there. But what I've learned, I think, and taken the most out of it is as a 501c6, so a membership organization. So Trust Acadian is a c6 as well.
Speaker 1:Is that a non?
Speaker 2:A membership nonprofit.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:No, okay, it's set up as a not-for-profit okay, okay, so maybe structured differently there, but we have a board of directors and in reality, like it, it almost is a built-in advisory committee it is and, and you know it was almost initially.
Speaker 1:it was a reason that that whole board concept initially for me was almost a deal breaker, because, lucky for me, it wasn't. But I got to thinking, okay, so my job was to build this thing. Okay, get it built. However, I had to do it. Whatever we need to do, whatever help I can do, you know, just starting from scratch and treat it as if it was my business. However, it's not my business Exactly. And that's not a way that I typically rolled so um, and I'll hear the gangster music in the sunshade, you know.
Speaker 1:So, uh, I got to thinking okay, so I build this thing, I get it going, you know. So, uh, I got the thinking okay, so I build this thing, I get it going. You know, I make it profitable, do what I need to do. And let's say, you know, 10 years down the road, the board is turned over and maybe the new board members have no idea what I had to go through to build this. My, my initial board members knew. They saw how I struggled and had to, you know, scrap and scrape and for every little nugget of income I could.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking, okay, well, my ultimate fate would be in that board's hands, who maybe were not cognizant or aware of how this thing started. But ultimately, I just decided you know what, if I'm out there doing what I'm supposed to be doing, if I'm working, if I'm growing this thing, if I'm treating the members with respect, and you know as I, as I should, and I'm just basically doing my job, um uh, things will take care of itself, and that's basically what's happened, yeah absolutely so.
Speaker 2:I mean I know you guys continue to grow A side part of that. You know your shirt has Moxie on it. That's something that came up the last year or two. I feel like that wasn't always associated with you guys.
Speaker 1:Well, whenever we started, the branching arm of this thing was called Trade Authority and, I might add, since I was the first basically offshoot from that parent company, partners One. Since then there have been 12 other networks system-wide that are part of the network. They're covering the state going to Alabama and Tennessee, but Trade Authority rebranded under the name Moxie.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:That's been about five. Well, you know, I think about five years, maybe six, and it was just a better. It's a better way to brand it because it's very similar to money. In fact, the tagline was money with an X factor. So you just take the N and you make an X with it and it's actually caught on, you know, system-wide. So Moxie, Trust Acadiana, it's basically in the same umbrella. Okay, Trust Acadiana is the name of the network, Moxie is basically our banking system, our community, our money.
Speaker 2:So everybody trades in deals and not US dollars. That's basically it, and Moxie is kind of the bank for the system.
Speaker 1:Moxie is our currency. There you go, which one of my responsibilities is to manage that currency, you know, to make sure that this money is moving. Because, let's face it, a member can come in, I can send new clients, they can get paid through our moxie dollars, okay, which is all fine and dandy. But if that member doesn't feel that they can utilize these dollars to the advantage of their business, to help their business thrive, then I'm dead in the water. So we have to make sure that the money is flowing through the, through the network, because ultimately, the, the health of our network is the velocity of the funds that are rolling through it more. The more funds rolling through, the better it is for the businesses and the better it is for us too.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's a little bit more to entail to run this thing, because it involves, of course, networking and customer relations and some economic policies too. You know we have to be careful. You know that again, that the money is moving.
Speaker 2:And that makes sense, you know, if somebody is going to be paid in Moxie, they want to make sure they can spend it at some point.
Speaker 1:And, I might add too, this is not something that is in any way bypassing tax laws or anything. Okay, what we do is 100% legal. Groups such as ours are actually written into the IRS code since 1985. The IRS considers us a third-party record keeper, so we keep track of every transaction, each member's income, in a calendar year, and we have to report that through a 1099-B okay.
Speaker 1:On the flip side of that, if a member uses these funds on things that are business related, they're deductible, just as if they were buying those, those business cards, with a check or cash or money or right credit card. So when you factored that into the equation, there's real no tax advantages or disadvantages with doing business through us. It's just treated the same as any other form of income, and on the spending end as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the and I'm just as I'm understanding it makes sense that the diversity within your network's important right? You know, a lawn company doesn't need somebody to cut their grass, so they need somebody that maybe does electrical work at the office. Is that kind of how it works?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have to make sure that our core of businesses are things that the members need and, along the way, what people may not understand and think okay, well, I've got decent business, why would I want to do this? Okay, well, essentially, when we bring somebody aboard, the whole reason they're joining is that we're going to send them new customers over and above their existing customer base. And the reason why I can confidently say that is that our members, if they have funds in their account with us, in their Moxie account, before they have to go and get that automobile repair or that air-conditioned fixed or get the plumber to their house you know who wants to pay for that out of their, their operating account if they have funds in their account with us that we've sent, which is, let's say, new funds, new customers new income and utilize that to fix the things that they're needing or purchase the things that they're needing, keeping that money in their operating account instead of spending out of that.
Speaker 1:and use that to pay for their utilities, their rent, you know, and insurances and things that we can't provide Because, remember, all of our members are locally owned businesses, every single one of them, yeah, which is even that much neater.
Speaker 2:And I wasn't, you know, we weren't doing this podcast for me to help, uh, sell your, your business for you, but in a way, with the economy, it sounds even more lucrative for businesses to be involved well, um, really, what we do is valid in any type of economy.
Speaker 1:But you know, and it's not something I I generally go out and and expound on, let's say, but uh, I'll just use covid for instance um, we had very, a very small, except for the time when businesses were shut down. When businesses are closed, I mean this, mean nobody's doing anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But we had a very, very limited drop in income on our end because in fact there were members that maybe were sort of on the sidelines a little bit as far as using their Moxie funds, that had to use them because their cash flow was tight.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Which is where we come into play. You know, when somebody's got a little cash I mean tight cash flow and they have funds in their account with us, they, of course, are going to gravitate towards spending these funds as opposed to spending tight funds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for members they have access, I guess, to some kind of directory. They can see what other business. It's a real kind of seamless thing for them to be able to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all the members have, uh have, a directory listing, in fact, not only our members but the members system-wide, so you can actually, if you're in baton rouge and you want to use your, your moxie to um, say, have, have lunch. Our app links all of the different databases of the networks and they can do a restaurant search in Baton Rouge and it'll show them where they can use all of this. And when you take all of the businesses system-wide, I think it's around 3,500 in total system-wide, which 500 in I don't know exactly where it's at here a little bit over 500 here wow, it sounds like a really neat concept and that's kind of how I always understood it.
Speaker 2:You know, we never got into the nuts and bolts of it but um, but that, uh, that does. That does sound like I would would have understood it. So we talked about you serving on the board for so long. What, why, why? Why have you continued to be on the board for so long? What, why, why? Why have you continued to be on the board? I know you're busy, you're. You're continuing to build what you have going on. What's been important about that for you?
Speaker 1:I think, um, that's a good question. Uh, you know, a couple of years ago I was thinking about. You know, I think I've done my time. Maybe it's time for a fresh set of eyes to take my spot. But what really has kept me in is that I tend to always learn something, not only from the board meetings, but from the different functions and what have you. I meet new people, which is good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know I don't do it specifically for my business, I just do it. I look at it sort of at this point in a way of personal development. You know I try to. Always one of my mantras is if you stay still, if you stay steady and quit moving forward, somebody's going to pass you up. If there's one thing that's true, it's that.
Speaker 2:I learned that along the way.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's just been a positive thing for the most part and it's something that, when it discontinues, when that quits being the case, then I'll say, chris, you know, it might be time.
Speaker 2:Well and you're in a good spot right now. You know the executive committee obviously has a little bit more of a burden on them, and then you served your dues a year as a chairman, which obviously is a lot of work that year being the chair of the entire board. But yeah, we've appreciated having you. You know it sounds like your businesses that you have within your network. You know it's obviously not mandated they're accredited with the BBB or anything like that but there is a certain amount of I mean it's in the name trust at Kidiana that you want to make sure that it's not some shammy guys out there wanting to trade Moxie and not doing what they're supposed to.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I use the BBB. I use the BBB when somebody's applying for membership. We do have a review process for that specific instance, to make sure that if it's someone that I don't know and if it's someone that maybe wasn't referred which is rare at this point but especially early on I wouldn't do credit checks per se, but I would do a little digging and one of those investigative processes would be to check out their BBB rating and see where that stood. And hey, I push BBB with the memberships they know. I mean, it's on every email that I send out, it's on the door of our office. When they ask me about it, I tell them that they, you know I've sent a lot of people your way.
Speaker 1:Y'all don't really realize I don't know, but there's been a lot that have come and it's only because I believe in the mission.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Because I felt the kindred spirit with your mission to where I was tasked to do in the beginning, sort of the same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not always the easiest. If everybody did everything great there, kind of in a way, wouldn't necessarily be a huge purpose or need, I guess, for what all we provide at BBB, but we all know that's not the case. You've been able to have good insight into how we operate and, like I said, a built-in advisory board for us. You know our board meetings is really a collective brainstorming of this is what's going on. What can we do from all of these different business minds that have really led to, you know, our success over these years and growth.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, and you know as well as I do, that whenever you're dealing with business owners, it's a little different. You know, and you have to be on your game, because most of these guys are, um, uh, the guys ladies as well but uh, most of these business owners are, are um driven or drivers. You know, and they know what they need to do to run their business and to operate their business and sometimes they may want to tell you how to run your business as well.
Speaker 1:So, but that's just part of it, that just goes with it Absolutely Well.
Speaker 2:we've had some very passionate discussions and meetings with the board, and that's great. You know, without a little bit of, you know, struggle maybe, or, you know, discomfort obviously typically comes with growth.
Speaker 1:If a board doesn't have various viewpoints, it really ceases to be an entity. I mean a valid entity. You know, if you've got a board of all yes people, it sort of defeats the purpose. So you need that give and take in a board situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and our board all managers are mostly owners, honestly, of of accredited businesses, like you said. You know it's a unique personality to own a business and they have strong opinions and reasons for them and that's uh, you know, that's what I've attributed. Never having worked with a board, you know really the the substance of what's allowed us to continue to be successful and grow in Acadiana. So what does the future look like for Trust Acadiana? It's just to continue growing, continue building the network. What's kind of on the couple-year plan down the road.
Speaker 1:Well, hopefully to continue the path that we're on, we've had over the last two years we've had record-breaking years, I mean, and we're on pace so far this year as to breaking another record. So we're on a forward trajectory that is trending upwards okay. And so it's our job to make sure that that continues. Now we all know that things don't always go up. You know it can be like a roller coaster sometimes, but short term.
Speaker 1:That is our goal to keep the momentum that we have right now. You know I said I brought her aboard to be a partner, which is Kathy Tate. I hired her. She's gone on 11 years now and she too had experience in this type of business. And when I brought her aboard immediately, there were dividends that we reaped from bringing her in thing up until four months ago, which we brought in another employee, kayla Goday, who has been doing a great job as well.
Speaker 2:With that social media. Huh, Is that what she's working on?
Speaker 1:Well, that's part of her deal. You know, I have a social media. Prosat Marketing handles our social media, but she coordinates with them a lot better than I did, so ultimately.
Speaker 2:Like I say, I've seen an uptick in engagement and awareness and that kind of thing, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, kathy and I are about the same age, you know, so we're not spring chickens. I had to go kicking and screaming since I started into the whole realm of social media Again. I knew it was something that I had to learn and I learned it.
Speaker 1:You know decent, but it was time to step up the game, and Kayla has helped with that, as well as with the marketing company. But ultimately, my plan is, to you know, I'm about eight months into a three-year exit plan. I guess All right, and so I'm trying to, at this point, train Kayla to eventually take over sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2:Probably bittersweet to talk about.
Speaker 1:Well it is.
Speaker 2:It'd be kind of like handing your child over the first time at the babysitter, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and in a way, but you know, um, again, it sort of falls under the uh, under the category of got to move ahead. You know you got to keep going. Yeah, again, things are changing so rapidly. Social media is just one piece of it. You know, I found, personally I found that as I get older, I have less in common with the younger business owner. Not that I can't relate to them, that's not what I mean and it's just a matter of you know, it's just a natural progression of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:And I'm not one. Let me tell you something, I'm not one. I hear folks my age talk about, you know, young people that don't work or they don't do. You know, they don't have the work ethic that we had and this, that and the other. Well, that could be said for any generation. More often than not, I see young people that are working two and three jobs just to pay their bills, you know, and I see a lot of young entrepreneurs that are busting their tail to make things go. So see, I see a different, I have a different take on that, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think for my, you know, I'm kind of in the middle there I'm, you know, between your generation and the one behind me, and I think I see what a marketplace that has turned into, one where businesses, it's incumbent upon them to care about their employees as much as they want their employees to care about their business. And that hasn't always been that way.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:You know, if I hear my dad tell stories, you know it's like this is what you do or you're out of here, we don't care about it, kind of thing. You know. And and he went work on drilling rigs right after high school and you know that was a totally different world than I've been exposed to. And then, um, you know, kind of in the transitional generation where I'm at, I guess that's what I see the most. So what can seem sometimes like the work ethic and the employees don't care as much. Well, the work ethic and the employees don't care as much. Well, as a business, let's look internally first and figure out okay, well, how are we treating them to? Then expect them to treat back to the business?
Speaker 1:That's been a huge paradigm shift. As far as what you just said, that that's a fact and you know not acting like the old father here but if I could give you any advice is to keep is for you. Moving forward is to keep your, keep your mind open. Just because things might be different from what you're used to doesn't mean that they're not or they're wrong or they're not right, because you know there's things like that situation that you just explained. That can be a positive thing.
Speaker 1:You know you've got to try to keep an open mind. Sometimes it's hard.
Speaker 2:Change is hard, it's not always bad.
Speaker 1:No, it's not, that's correct.
Speaker 2:You know and that's part of the reason we do this podcast and that was the reason it was created which you were on the board that decided this is probably a good idea.
Speaker 2:You know, people want real authentic conversations, not you know what 30 second commercial to trust Acadiana put on TV. Well, yeah, that looks great and everything's cool. But like what's really going on when you you pull back the curtain, you look at Rick on a Wednesday afternoon, when maybe something's not going great Wednesday afternoon, when maybe something's not going great, what does it really take to run a business, to manage things, to maintain the trust and integrity in the business that you know is not always easy to do, depending on the situation, but if you keep that at the forefront, I guess, of how your business operates. But so you've shared some nuggets with us. You know already, with the business experience and what you would pass on. What's something else that you would share about, whether it's for a business owner or somebody that's maybe a manager and they're thinking about opening their own business and they want to work their way up within the organization? What's something else you've learned over the years that you'd share?
Speaker 1:Start at the bottom and work your way up. Learn every facet, whatever business you're going to look into, maybe doing, learn from the bottom floor up to the top and really owning a business. It's not the simplest thing. It's not the easiest thing, but if you, if you step, step back and just look at it from the 20,000 foot perspective, maybe, and you boil it down to how would I want to be treated as an employee, how would I want a customer to be treated? What can I do that's a little bit different, or maybe a little bit better, or how can I improve on things that my competition is doing? Currently, it's just the basic four or five things. If you focus on that are doable, okay, you'll be. Okay, you know, but you have to work smart and maybe take continuing education, continuing to grow, go to the various chamber events, join the business organizations, do things that help spread your wings somewhat as far as running your business, go over and above and in those respects. But does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, absolutely. And what I would, what I would add or clarify with it is yeah, it's not. You know, talking about owning a business as being such a tough thing to do it doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means it takes a certain amount of, you know, commitment and probably some humility along the way. You know, allow people like yourself to give advice and we've been in situations with me at BBB, with you as a board member, whether you know one-on-one or as a board you know say, look, this is what the organization needs to do, this is how we see it as a board, and you know there's a certain amount of humility associated with you know, like you said in the beginning. So I, you know I'm going to bust my tail building this thing and I ultimately it's up to a board.
Speaker 2:What they think. Well, it's a different, it's a different game, but built an advisory board is is advisory board is a great concept, great way to look at it, and you know it's been one I've enjoyed and I think that's one of the biggest things, personally, I've probably learned. Is is is just some humility. Even when you think you have it figured out, you definitely don't. And if you surround yourself with the right people. They they typically have a good voice for you to be able to listen to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's another thing too I should have on. Who you surround yourself with as far as employees is critical, and once you do that, if you have the right employees around you, you have to be able to learn to delegate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 1:Let the people do what they're good at.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying don't keep an eye on everyone Know what they're doing, but let them do their own thing, and when it needs fine toning, then you bounce in. You know well and I it's.
Speaker 2:It's great you mentioned that point. It's not one I specifically thought of, but I've seen that with a couple, you know, in the years now with BBB we've, we've, we, we have a lot of small businesses as well, mostly locally owned small businesses that make up the accredited business base. And you see, this guy that started with his toolbox in his truck, now he's got 10 employees and he's still trying to maintain the business Like he's the guy with the toolbox in the truck and sometimes, um, learning how to delegate, as you mentioned, is a great great point of advice.
Speaker 2:It'll hold you back, you know you can only do so much as one person, regardless of who you are.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, one of the most rewarding things for me, I would say, since I've been running this network, is I love when I bring in a young entrepreneur who's just starting, who's trying to establish himself or herself, and when they do so, watching that process unfold. I mean again, am I the reason for that? No, could I play a good, you know, could help them Absolutely, to offer advice when asked, absolutely, but just to see that it's like a flower blooming, you know, it's just very to me it's gratifying.
Speaker 2:Sure, Absolutely so, Rip, as we as we wrap up, it's still a ways down the road. Don't anybody get confused. Rick's not not retiring just yet. You said eight months into a three-year plan. Let's look a little bit into the future. What does, what does retirement look like for Rick? What's waiting on you in retirement? What are you hoping to be able to do when you're not working every day?
Speaker 1:My wife has been retired now for four years. She's a retired educator and look, we're not looking for any lifestyles that are rich and famous type thing. First off, we can't afford it.
Speaker 2:Who can but?
Speaker 1:second off. It's real simple. We want to spend time with the grandkids, we want to be able to travel a little bit here and there as needed spend time with family and friends and nothing complicated. Well, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 2:It's what I. You know it's a little bit further out than three years for me, but you know, I think that's a great piece of advice to you. Know, be, take care of your health, get to a point where you can retire and enjoy retirement. You know, not somebody that works just their whole life for that to be it, but to be to reach the goal of being able to retire. So, rick, thanks, thank you so much for being here. I was so glad we were able to learn a little bit more about you and we'll we'll talk again as we get closer to the end of the year and see if we get one more. Now I know you got two and a half years left at trust of Katie Anna.
Speaker 1:So that'll be a built-in deadline. You have to get off the board, but we'll talk in a couple of months and uh see if you're on for another year, not to say about assumptions.
Speaker 2:Huh, no, thanks for being here, rick, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. Thanks Enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:I really hope you enjoyed the show. Thank you so much for joining us to help support the show. Please like, share, follow us on whatever podcast application or even on YouTube, wherever you caught this episode at. If you want to find out more about the Better Business Bureau, you can contact us 337-981-3497. You can find us on social media, bbb Acadiana and, as always, you can go to BBBorg for any information you're looking for. See you next time. Thank you so much for joining us.
