Always Be Caring | Small Busness Ep. 3

00:14

Relax. Time to party. Relax. Time to party. You know, I might, hey, hey guys, how's it going? Mike Landlot here. I'm the owner of more than 216 local businesses across the Quad County Shelf, and I've been the executive co-scribe of the Skatchenash Valley Chamber of Commerce for the last six years.

00:39

You're listening to Small Business, a podcast where we talk about all the ins and outs and ups and downs of being a small business owner. But that is just a jumpin' off point. We talk about pretty much anything and everything under the sun, you know, whatever we're feeling, you know? So yeah, forgive me for jamming out a little bit there in the intro.

01:08

I love the music that my intern found. It's free. It's from YouTube. It's sort of royalty free, so I can use it. And my g-, it is catchy for crying out loud. I mean, how are these not real songs? I've just been jamming out all weekend.

01:32

My intern showed it to me and I was, I started thinking, you know, maybe I can use these to write songs on the instrumental ones. But yeah, and I love that. I love that vibe. Relax. Time to party. Relax. It's really, I don't know, makes me feel good, you know, and I love it for the podcast. So yeah, feeling good, having a good week. How are you doing? How's your business? Anything you're working on right now that's helping move things forward? Onward and upward, my friends.

02:17

That's how we got to do it, even with setbacks and frustrations. I had a fantastic weekend. Thank you so much to all of you who watched the Oscars with me.

02:30

It was a lovely evening. Lots of winners. Lot more losers than winners, but you know, that's just the nature of things. And I think just being nominated, that's a dream come true. So yeah, I watched with my friend Gerald over at his house.

02:46

You know, he himself is a thespian and a real character. We had a good time. I loved hearing everybody's thoughts on Twitter, you know, just getting that feedback.

02:59

I'm big on feedback in general. To that end, I started a Facebook recently to try and, you know, get with the times. And a few weeks ago, on the Facebook and on Twitter, I solicited questions asking if anyone had any small business related questions, small business owners and the like. I got a number of replies, a lot of comments, some DMs, and ultimately ended up with a lot of great questions from small business owners asking for advice. And I wanted to share some of those here and give you my thoughts. But first, I thought this would be fun. In all of my stores, I've got comments slash suggestions boxes, and they all say there's a sign on each one that says to Mike himself. And I thought it would be fun to open it up and go through those comments here.

03:52

Something I do pretty regularly, but never before with an audience. So I got my little bag of them here right now. Let's, uh, first one says Landlot exclamation point. Yeah, I get these a lot.

04:08

It's from one of the multiple ads of mine where, you know, people do the voice that I do. They go Landlot. Let's see another one here. Love the commercials, Mike. You're the goat.

04:22

Oh, well, thank you very much. I do aspire to be the greatest of all time. What they mean by goat. Let's see.

04:30

All right. Inexcusable, you need better lighting in the maternity pod. I couldn't see what I was doing and I emerged with a soaking wet still hungry infant. This is at your jibba-jibba-jibba store on... dubba-dubba-duh. Yeah, good to know the location.

04:52

Thanks so much. There's some drips on this one. So yeah, I can tell that, you know what you're right. Not only do I support a mother's right to breastfeed her child, but I support her right to be able to see while doing it.

05:10

Because otherwise, you know, how are you supposed to know where it's going? You know, the baby food. But thanks for letting me know. We'll get right on that. Let's see what else we got here. Another Landlot. Yep. Love it. All right.

05:31

Whoa. Your night manager need to watch her back. She a Karen who got a superior attitude with everybody like she better than them. Not to mention she nasty as hell.

05:48

Her foamy corner-having meth head mouth, stank like broccoli and ass, and she wear the same scrunchie every day it got macaroni stains on it. Well, uh, not entirely sure how to address each of these individually. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention and I will follow up.

06:19

Hopefully we can do something about that before it breaks bad. I'm, all right. Another one here. Hi, Mike.

06:30

I'm a big fan of yours. I'm a junior sales rep here at Landlot Mattress Green Hook location. I'm trying to get my sales numbers up, but no matter what I do, the other junior sales rep--we'll call him Darnell because that's his name, I know the guy--outperforms me every month. What can I do to take my sales to the next level? Jasper C. Well, Jasper, I am just pleased as punch that you would ask this question. I'm so glad. When it comes to sales Jasper.

07:06

The answer is as simple as ABC always be closing, closing the sale when the customer walks in the door, you attack not with violence, but charm. You know, imagine like some kind of cool jazz playing and you got to kind of become that cool guy that you remember from high school who leans on lockers and looks off in the distance. You know, a lot of squinting, you know, named Braden or, or, or Leaf or Jamal, whatever his name is. You got to, you got to become that guy. You know, so that customer walks in, boom, you're the Fonz. You know, you got to get the customer on the wavelength, get them into an owner's mindset. They don't want to be buyers. They want to be owners. They want to own the things they need.

08:01

So you got to get them into that owner's mindset and it all starts out with how you greet them. For you, you know, you're in the mattress store. They're expecting you to come up and say, oh, hi, welcome. Well, thank you for coming in today, ma'am. Maybe you just walk up and say, you look pretty sleepy.

08:20

That sort of whets the appetite. You know, getting them on the whole mattress wavelength in a mind-body sort of way. Cause you know, even if they don't know it, maybe they're thinking, I am kind of tired. Maybe you yawn yourself, which is contagious by the way they've done studies.

08:38

Maybe you say, you look pretty sleepy. (yawns) Oh, and then you pick up the convo from there. And if they say something like, oh, I'm just browsing, that's a defensive reaction. And you just smile real subtle and act cool. You say, sure.

09:00

Yeah, sounds good to me. And then you pretend to do something cool nearby. You know, like maybe you're just sitting there, you know, you're not literally using a yo-yo, but just picture doing a yo-yo like you're standing outside of, you know, Old Man Dithers' pharmacy in the neighborhood. And you guys are going to play stickball later. And then, you know, maybe knock over a trash can just to cause ruckus, you know, all the girls think you're the bad boy, you know. But yeah, you sort of stand nearby pretending to do something cool, you know.

09:35

And you know, maybe start having a fake phone conversation. You know, maybe your doctor calls, say, ah, yes, Dr. Silver, good to hear from you. You have my test results.

09:47

Sounds good. Wow. I didn't realize that sleep is a matter of life and death?

09:55

I had no idea. Maybe you call over to Darnell and say, hey, Darnell, did you know that the average person gets three hours less sleep every night than they need to? And it shaves years off their life.

10:07

And hopefully Darnell plays along. It's like, oh, wow, that's crazy, man. But yeah, that's what I'm talking about when I say always be closing ABC. Now you may find yourself starting to feel bad about it, like you're a predator or a trickster because you're so focused on closing.

10:25

But that's what brings me to my second ABC. This is my personal one. Always be caring. Okay? Picture their whole lives from birth up till now. Everything they've ever dreamed of or thought about, all of their wishes for their lives, their fears, their hopes. You are their advocate. You're their shepherd. There's something missing for them, something they yearn for.

10:50

What is it? Could be a mattress? Just maybe. Maybe it is.

10:55

And if so, does this mattress feature a third-gen Posturepedic memory foam core with moisture-wicking Wool Cloud technology? I don't know. But asking the questions is how you find out. Always be caring. And if you truly care for them and hear them, you'll find their pain point. And then you have the power as a salesperson to do right by them.

11:20

You know, always be caring. Sometimes maybe that makes it hard to always be closing. Maybe they shouldn't buy it right now.

11:29

And you gotta maybe give them the tough love advice. You gotta pay off that utility bill. What are you thinking? You know, balance your finances, buddy. Now's not the time.

11:41

Maybe they'd be better off buying somewhere else. I've done that countless times. I told someone, hey, you know what?

11:48

This doesn't make sense for you. You shouldn't buy here. We don't have what you need. You should go buy that. Go down the street to our competitor. And they do. But you gotta think maybe it didn't make the sale, but you did the right thing and it builds trust. I actually had one of those guys come back 11 years later and he thanked me for doing just that. Hey, you sent me down the street. And, you know, I just, I'd never known a salesperson to be that kind and thoughtful.

12:14

I mean, he still didn't buy anything, but you know, it builds trust and it builds community. So that's always be closing, you know. Some book recommendations for you that I tell to all salespeople out there. See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar, famous salesman. The Governor by Rod Blagojeebeach, which is, it's about leadership.

12:38

Another one is a gunslinger, the remarkable, improbable, iconic life of Brett Favre. The Tae-Bo Way by Billy Blanks, Eat Pray Love by Liz Gilbert. The Tragic Fate of the USS Indianapolis: The U.S. Navy's Worst Disaster at Sea by Ray Lech. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank. Congo by Michael Crichton. And if you have time, the movie Rudy starring Sean Astin. We're going to take a quick commercial break. This is Small Business. We'll be right back.

13:10

As a small business owner, I'm always on the go. It makes it hard to eat healthy. I find myself eating prepackaged meal after prepackaged meal.

13:19

You know what helps me get the freshness I need? Subway. They've got sandwiches. They've got salads. They've got wraps.

13:25

And I love watching the sandwich artists at work. Six inch, foot long. They got it all. Now I for one usually get a meatball sub with a nice provolone on top. All melted. That's right. They heat them up for you. But then I look over and see someone else getting the tuna. People love tuna. And they use like an ice cream scoop to scoop up the tuna. And they put like little balls of mashed up tuna on there. And then they smear it on.

13:49

And I'm like, oh, that's weird. They got white bread. They got wheat bread. They got that bread that has cheese baked into the bread, which I'm a Wisconsin guy. I'm a fan of that. And you know, a few years ago they added avocado. They actually take the time to cut it up for you. It's actually the slowest part of the whole process. Sometimes if they're tired and you order avocado, they're sort of like, oh, really? You can see it in their face, but they'll never say it out loud. There's no question that it's healthy for you.

14:16

I mean, we all know how the whole Jared Fogle thing ended, which so we probably shouldn't even talk about it. One time I went in and said, can I get a 12 inch ham and cheese on white? And then the lady said, what kind of sandwich? And I was like ham and cheese. She was like six inch or foot long. And I was like, foot long. She said, what type of bread? And I was like, white.

14:37

And I was thinking, why did I bother saying what I wanted the first time? But it's not usually like that. The bathrooms are pretty great. Most fast food franchises have already chosen a side. Coke or Pepsi, you know, but Subway, it's all over the map.

14:50

It's whatever the franchisees decided. So I never know what kind of cola I'm going to get when I walk in. That'll keep you on your toes. I mean, I notice the effects. I can feel it. And when I eat Subway on a regular basis, my body starts getting accustomed to fresh foods.

15:05

I feel more active. I can totally get where Jared Fogle was coming from. You can't argue with the health benefits that he got from it. You know, before we found out he was a monster. He went to prison, whatever that was, I don't even want to think about that.

15:19

I don't know why I keep bringing it up. Add chips, add a drink. Are you going to get a cookie? I don't know. It's a personal decision. Have you tried the foot long cookie?

15:28

It is ridiculous. It's a cookie, but it's just, it's a foot long. You start eating and you get about a third of the way in and you're like, I should stop, but you're looking at it and you're thinking, I should only be a third done, but you're not.

15:39

You feel sick. Subway is the great equalizer. You ever been on a road trip, and you're trying to find somewhere for everyone to eat? And everyone's like arguing, oh, come on. I want to stop at that Taco Bell Pizza Hut combo. And other people are like, ah, no, it's not good.

15:53

They do both things badly. And someone else is like, oh, I heard there's a good vegan cafe in that town. And everyone's like, that's 15 miles off the highway and nobody can agree. And then someone's like, well, there is a Subway.

16:05

And everyone's like, okay, fine. Subway it is. Subway your underground railroad to fresh.

16:19

Full disclosure. That was not a real ad. That was just me auditioning for the testimonial type of ad they do on podcasts.

16:27

Just trying to show advertisers what it is I can do. But let's jump right into listener questions. All right.

16:34

First and foremost, I wanted to address the 800 pound elephant in the elevator here. The feedback I've gotten about the name of the podcast. Yes, it says small busness and funny story.

16:51

I have an auto correct problem where it for some reason my phone and my computer keep changing business to busness. And when I sent off the art and the art specs to Pam to do everything for the podcast, she took me literally and she put up busness, which bless her heart. That's some attention to detail that she didn't accidentally read it as business and write that. So at first I was feeling pretty silly, but then someone pointed out to me that that's that's that could be great branding. There's not, you're not gonna find another podcast out there called Small Busness and so we let it stick and it would be too much of a pain to go back and replace everything anyway. So Small Busness it is, but we're gonna call it, we're gonna pronounce it business. Alright, on to the other questions.

17:45

Again these are from Twitter and Facebook. Alyssa B. says, hey Mike, what is your sage wisdom on dog walking? I'm looking to expand and find more dogs. Always more dogs.

18:01

Okay. Well I love your enthusiasm as a dog walker and I love the fact that you're looking to grow your business. We all need more customers, right? And your customers are dogs. That means you're going to dog parks. As you probably have noticed dogs do not respond as well to traditional marketing as human beings do, which is why I recommend going to a dog park with meat in your shoes. Okay, bear with me. You're gonna attract dogs.

18:31

I mean there's no question about it. They're gonna be following around, they're gonna be sniffing your feet and you'll seem like some sort of, you know, Ace Ventura of dogs and you know people come over and say, well my dog is in love with you. What's going on? And you can strike up convos with the owners about, you know, yeah this happens to me everywhere I go. Dogs love me. Oh, and it just so happens, I have a dog walking business.

18:55

Here's my card. So that's one little tidbit for you. Now if you're looking for explosive growth, you're gonna need to be a little bit more aggressive. You want to get the community on your side. You want them rooting for you. You want them going out of their way to choose you over other dog walkers.

19:11

And now this is unorthodox and probably deceitful, I don't know if this works in your ethics, but you're gonna want to create a villain character. Maybe it's an older woman with a scowly looking face that you can find on Google images. Basically you create accounts on Yelp and Nextdoor pretending to be this lady and have her start posting these really nasty zero-star angry reviews where they're calling for the whole community to boycott you. Posting just over and over again with all these angry emojis about how they use your services as a dog walker and now their dogs just whine at the door waiting for you to come back.

19:53

You know ever since Alyssa walked my dogs they've been tearing up all the chicken wire on hooks in their basement enclosures. Or they won't stop howling on the days I don't let them out of the poop room. You know, leave people wondering, you know, what's a poop room?

20:08

What kind of person are you? And or you could say something like, you know, when they got back from their walk, some of them had bandages on their paws because she claims their paws were infected. Their dogs, they naturally get sore paws that are covered in sores and pus and they just lick the wounds to heal. That's natural. Like I don't know how to take care of my own dogs. How dare she put bandages on them? People will start thinking she's some sort of Cruella Deville.

20:37

And not only that, they'll start to say, you know, sounds like you're the problem, lady. I'm absolutely going to hire Alyssa. Make sure the villain, by the way, provides all your contact information and puts up a real nice photo of you looking friendly with dogs and their boycott posts.

20:54

So I think that should help. Moving on, Caitlin on Facebook asks, how would you go about book promotion? It's an urban fantasy series about a werewolf.

21:06

It's called the Canine series. I'm just not sure how best to find my target audience. What do you think is the target audience for that kind of book?

21:16

Well, I don't have a ton of experience in the literary world, but urban fantasy about a werewolf sounds like we're kind of talking about a mashup of a Teen Wolf and Boyz N the Hood, kind of an inner city hip hop kind of thing. You know, find your voice, rise up from the shackles of institutionalized racism, you know, grappling with identity, trying to survive the game and all of that is hard enough on its own. I can't even imagine the pressure of growing up like that.

21:47

But when you add in the pressures of being a werewolf, geez, we're crying out loud. That sounds like some compelling stuff. So your audience would be, you know, fans of horror and rap or, you know, that urban lifestyle.

22:02

But rap, you know, that's the most popular music in the world now, people from everywhere are into it. So I don't know, maybe there's a Comic Con type thing you could do, like a fantasy expo type deal, where you set up a booth, a table, set up a table outside with your book on it. And you get like a break dancer dressed like a werewolf just just breaking it down with a boombox. You know, that'll draw people's attention that's not normally what people would see at such an event. Alternatively, you could show up at one of those rap-offs type deals like in like in 8 Mile that Eminem gets on and he's like mom's spaghetti, and he throws up on himself and but then he's really good. You could get on the mic and start freestyling about your book. You know, werewolves and whatnot. That could work.

22:52

You just gotta you know, think about how to mix it up, you know. All right, I got another one here from Graham J. Mr. Landlot. I run a small software company and one of my top salespeople has been sleeping with one of our customer's purchasing directors. This is plainly a conflict and detestable behavior that calls for termination. Problem is she's key to getting the customer to renew their subscription for the next two years.

23:17

And if I fire her, I'm worried the renewal will slow down or even worse, the customer will churn. Any ideas? Oh boy, Graham J. This is definitely a pickle. I mean, the right thing to do would be to fire her immediately. But sometimes it makes sense to do something counterintuitive.

23:38

Maybe when everything is telling you to back away from the situation, you can ask yourself, what if I leaned in? So here's my idea. Start a monthly contest. Sort of like employee of the month, but to celebrate one of your core values as a company. And that's... dut-d-d-daaaa... professionalism in customer relations. You announce it as this huge company wide initiative that's just tons of fanfare, perhaps even as a reorg of your company's mission statement. And you really sell everybody on the idea that whichever salesperson gets selected each month is going to be the standard bearer of how to maintain professionalism in these customer relations.

24:22

And you celebrate them saying, you know what, you and your counterpart on the client side, you guys are the gold standard for keeping things totally professional. So why would we do this? Well, clearly she shouldn't win, right? Because she's been very unprofessional.

24:39

But this is where you lean in. Have her win every single month. You present her with a big plaque with a company-wide ceremony every single month over and over again, making such a big deal about it.

24:55

Maybe you invite him too, or her, or whoever she's sleeping with, the purchasing director from the customer. Have them stand up there with the whole company applauding their professionalism. You get photos of them posing in front of a strict professionalism banner. I'm talking plaques, trophies, certificates, featuring them in videos that go on the company website. And if you really want to take it to the next level and you have the budget for it, you could have them win top prize at the end of the year for the most professional employee-client relationship and send them each on a resort vacation at the same time, except on opposite ends of the planet, like one in Hawaii and one in, I don't know, Tanzania. And just keep celebrating how professional they are until they feel too awkward to continue their relationship. That's one idea that could work.

25:42

Another option would be to confront her about it off the record and extort her into manipulating her position as a seductress to get the purchasing director to triple the subscriptions that they have with you guys. Now, I would never do anything like that. I only even have ideas like that in my mind now.

26:03

They've been, I've been incepted with these ideas from my marriage. Because that's something my ex-wife would have thought of, sort of how her mind works. She was very creative in a sort of dark way.

26:17

And in order to anticipate her moves and survive the marriage, I had to learn to think like a villain. So we're going to jump to a commercial break real quick and we'll be right back. Thanks, guys. This is Small Business with Mike Landlot.

26:44

Pet owners aren't just people. They're family. Whether you own a dog, a cat, a fish, a guinea pig, some other type of rodent, a reptile, sometimes it feels like our pets are the only ones that understand us. They take care of us emotionally. It is our solemn duty to take care of them. That's why pet owners who know rely on Petco.

27:05

It's your one-stop shop for everything you need. Sure, they got the basics like dog food and cat food, cat litter, dog bones, raw hides. But if you've ever been in a Petco, you know it goes way deeper than that.

27:17

They got crazy stuff. Exercise equipment for rats, bird gazebos, any type of squeaky toy you can imagine. Every animal deserves to have a good time. And while that may not be possible in the red and tooth and claw dog-eat-dog world of the jungle, in the safety of our homes, why, there's no excuse for animals to not be totally kicking it.

27:36

Petco provides an incredible array of enrichment activities, toys, and play structures for every type of animal you can imagine. I think they got freaking tarantulas. You think ferrets just want to sit around and look at the wall?

27:49

Uh-uh. That turtle's bored. What are you gonna do? Well, I know what I'd do.

27:53

I'd go to Petco and get him a super sick castle that he can walk around and eat leaves on. If you're a fish, do you want to just be sitting in some boring empty bowl staring out at the dry world? Nothing to look at? Nothing to rub your little fins up against? Dreaming of the open ocean? Of course not.

28:10

You want some kind of little diver guy that you can engage with? Studies show that animals can get depressed, anxious, and even develop psychosis. Which, you know, it's just kind of sad if it's like a little lizard.

28:21

But if it's something big, you know, it could go Cujo on you. And, you know, it's got nothing left to lose and ends up in a standoff with cops in the middle of the street and there's just broken glass everywhere. And the owner knows they did wrong by him and they're just being held back by the cops 20 feet away and they're sobbing and they're screaming, just run, run Koko, get to the trees. And then the shot rings out.

28:43

Nobody wants that. Most cops are good people. They don't want to gun down your serval, you know?

28:49

I mean what? But truly, there is no greater bond than that of a pet and its owner. I lost all mine in the divorce, but... I've been to Petco so many times I can't even count. I like to stop by and check out the little critters. Hey, that parakeet's bobbing its head at me. What do you want, little guy? And then you see some guy going, oh, Polly want a cracker?

29:08

And you're just like, geez, condescending much? One time I saw they had sugar gliders. I was freaking out.

29:13

They look like little Star Wars creatures. I really wanted to get one, but it didn't work out. I actually don't even own a pet.

29:20

I wish I did. How great would that be? You come home and some friendly pooch or just totally aloof cat greets or doesn't greet you at the door? But you know, my life's kind of complicated. I can't really commit right now to an animal, but I think about it a lot.

29:35

And boy, if I did, I'd go to Petco even more than I already do. Even if it was something stupid, like a gerbil, I'd give it the coolest crazy tunnel complex. People would come over and say, oh, there's Mike. There's the crazy gerbil guy. He's he's drilled into the drywall and created a crazy network of tunnels going throughout his whole house into the attic. You know, there's probably some rats up there that see the gerbil and just like, oh, you lucky duck. Speaking of ducks, that'd be fun. I'd adopt a duck. And the staff is very caring and attentive. I took my niece to get a guinea pig when I was up north visiting and they had her do this whole pledge where she had to hold up her hand and promised to be a good guinea pig, mom. Oh gosh, it was so cute. I mean, ultimately, she didn't really do a good job.

30:18

She was pretty negligent. You know, I'd come and visit. You get there and the cage is just disgusting and my sister's really overwhelmed. So but I, you know, so I can't really fault her and I can't fault my niece really.

30:29

She's she's pretty young. So you know, every time I go, first thing I do is I clean up all the animal stuff and Petco's got great deals, not to mention a pharmacy. Maybe your dog needs Prozac.

30:39

I bet they got it. And I don't think veterinarians are as tight fisted with their prescriptions as regular psychiatrists. So you could pretty much get them whatever you want. Probably. I don't know. They have obedience classes.

30:51

I think only for dogs, although that'd be pretty funny to bring like a some sort of salamander to obedience training. Stop hopping. And it's like, no, ribbit, get away. Do what I want.

31:03

Water, land. I don't, I don't give an F. I'm an amphibian, friend. Maybe I'll get a fish.

31:09

That'd be pretty cool. Gosh, there's so many options. But for now, I pretty much just go there and daydream about being a pet owner. I always wanted to have kids too.

31:17

But you know, it's not like you can go sit at a playground as a grown man and daydream about having one of those children. But Petco couldn't care less how much I look at their animals. It's totally acceptable creepiness. The employees do it too. They creep all over the animals. You'd think the place would be freaking disgusting. But Petco is immaculate.

31:36

It's nuts. This is cleaner than most of my friends' houses. And you have such wonderfully warmhearted people working there. I really can't say enough good things about Petco. And they don't do any of that puppy mill stuff.

31:48

It's all, you know, every breed is pure mutt. Like, you know, they find animals like under bridges and they're like, Hey, you've had a rough go. Why don't you come live in this little display case until someone takes you home and treats you right? I gotta get a pet. You know, my wife kept all the animals in the divorce.

32:05

So that's, that's where they all went. Petco life on pause.

32:15

Once again, that was not a real commercial. Just, ol' Mike trying to see if he can't lure in some advertisers so I can do some testimonial type commercials. Anywho, let's do a couple more questions. Again, these are from Twitter and Facebook. If you want to be friends with me on Twitter, just hit me up @whynotlandlot and we can talk turkey.

32:39

All right, let's dive back in. Sarah W writes, if you were an outreach librarian and you were trying to represent the library in unexpected places for outreach, where would you go? Thank you so much, Sarah W. Uh... pub crawl, casinos, monster truck rally, this is just sort of a list that I pulled together, strip clubs, boxing gyms, a random cornfield, Barnes and Noble, because they got all the books already there, inside a church, they won't be expecting the library thing there, the Apple Store, a tourist boat that does day cruises.

33:20

No one's going to expect you to show up there. On the beach, like with those people who go around in Los Angeles saying, oh, mango, mango, you could be like, library card, come get one. That's just sort of off the cuff. All right, I think I got time for one more. All right, let me see if I have any new ones here. Just check, I got one more DM here on Twitter.

33:46

All right. Hey, Mike, it's Cynthia Jorgensen. Do you remember me from James K. Polk?

33:55

Oh, Cindy J. Oh my gosh, great to see you doing so well. It took me a while to recognize you. I knew you as Mike Blank.

34:08

Why did you change your name to Landlot? Oh, wow. Well, that's a story for another day, Cynthia.

34:15

Great to hear from you, though. I am out of time, but I have really enjoyed this. You know, it's just... Let's keep this conversation going, sticking together as small business owners. You can hit me up on Twitter, X, whatever the secret name it's got now. I'm on there all the time on X talking to business leaders there, just @ mentioning business leaders. You can follow me there at Why Not Landlot or befriend me on Facebook, facebook.com, slash Mike dot Landlot. Send me your questions, your thoughts about small business or life or whatever you want.

34:55

This has been small business with Mike Landlot. That's me. Be safe out there, everyone. And as always, think global, dream local, and watch out for deer.