Reflecting on One Year of Signature Required with Spencer and Carli Patton
We’re taking a summer break and will return with new episodes on August 5th! Until then, we hope you enjoy this special anniversary episode where Spencer and Carli celebrate one year of Signature Required by reflecting on their journey and sharing highlights from 52 guests. From insightful conversations about the charm of Tennessee to heartfelt stories from nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs, it’s been a year packed with inspiration, growth, and plenty of laughs!
-
Carli: We have been doing this a year now. Can you believe it's been a year? It feels like yesterday. But then at the same time. I have felt this whole year
Spencer: we've got 52 guests, 52 stories. I mean, a lot of ground we've covered.
Carli: It's been a lot [00:01:00] and this is new for both of us. I think something that we wanted to do to maybe cap off this first season, if you will, is answers some our, the most frequently asked questions we get. And I'll tell you what, when I'm in the pickup line or at a play date with one of the kids and I casually drop, yeah.
Carli: My husband and I have a podcast. They're like, why do you have a podcast? What people, what normal people have a podcast, so maybe take that one. Why do we have a podcast?
Spencer: One of the first reasons that I wanted to start this is rooted in every successful business we've founded has started off with a principle called education based marketing.
Spencer: And there's a long story that goes along with education based marketing, but to boil it down, people hate being sold anything. Mm-hmm. Like when you talk to somebody on the phone and you walk in a store, as soon as you sense [00:02:00] that you're about to be sold something, oh, you
Carli: want to tuck and run? Yeah. Yeah. You just
Spencer: clam up immediately.
Spencer: And instead, if someone comes with the heart posture of teaching and they serve you, and there's no ask, there's no price tag at the end, it creates a friendship and understanding that lets you develop a relationship. And one of the things that I wanted to try to do was to develop a relationship with Tennesseans and to do so from a heart posture of teaching people what makes Tennessee so special.
Spencer: So I'm born and raised, obviously in Tennessee, but we also know the stats that a hundred people a day are moving somewhere in the state of Tennessee. And that number's not slowing down. People want to come here, but sometimes it's hard to exactly articulate [00:03:00] what makes Tennessee so special. Like why is Tennessee, Tennessee, oh, it's
Carli: the secret sauce.
Carli: Yeah.
Spencer: So the mission of the podcast is to travel the state from end to end and interview people that help answer that question. What makes Tennessee so fantastic?
Spencer: And those are nonprofit leaders, those are elected officials, business owners, you name it. We've tried to cover the whole spectrum, also covering the entire state because what a lot of people don't realize about Tennessee is that there are at least three states, if not four states, within this one state.
Carli: but why do you care? Like I know as your wife, but inevitably the next question I get is like, okay, cool. Tennessee is special. We live here. We all kind of believe that. But why do you care enough to put your money where your mouth is your time and put release an episode a week highlighting these different people?[00:04:00]
Spencer: I think in a lot of ways, our nation is searching for an identity, is searching for leadership, and is searching for what its future is going to be. And there are a lot of states that are vying in their own way to say, we should be the future. And those narratives are really different depending upon which state you're in.
Spencer: And some of them are leading economically. Some of them are leading socially, some of them are losing in every way that you can. And I think Tennessee, in almost every way that you measure it is leading.
Spencer: And I think that there's a lot to be learned from the successes of Tennessee,
Carli: It's our time.
Spencer: I feel like it's a great time to be a Tennessean and a lot of people are moving here and I think express that same opinion.
Carli: Yeah, they're voting with their feet. Well, and as your wife, I remember when you came to me and you're like, Hey babe, guess what I think I'm going to do? I [00:05:00] think we should start a podcast.
Carli: And much like every other entrepreneurial venture, I still have the emails from when you first were like, Hey, I think I might start a brokerage, or I think we should do this. And I always wish I had framed them. Then I wish I had the foresight. When you tell me when you're going to do something to know that that's going to be the thing that sticks.
Carli: 'cause it's been a really cool ride.
Carli: But one of the biggest things you had to do besides. Design the studio was come up with a name and you and I went back and forth on this. Rarely do we disagree, but we did. We went back and forth on this a bunch of times. So how did you land on signature required?
Spencer: So. As you know, the most successful entrepreneurial venture we've ever done has been in coordination with FedEx and the package delivery routes that we ran for a decade.
Spencer: So a lot of people don't know the person coming to your door wearing a FedEx uniform, driving a FedEx truck does not actually work for FedEx Ground. FedEx [00:06:00] contracts out their package delivery to 6,000 small business owners across the United States.
Spencer: it's a lot like a franchise, and every day you have to wake up and get every box delivered every time, no matter what, and you have a contract with FedEx that enforces that reality. Well, about 15% of the deliveries that a FedEx driver will make in a day are signature required.
Spencer: And those packages are either high value, they're important, there's something special about that delivery, and it's so special that it has to be done in person and the recipient has to sign their name, legibly or not, they have to scribble something on the pad that they've received it. And so the concept is that I'd like to believe we have a really important message to deliver, um, not only to Tennesseans, but to people across the country.
Spencer: [00:07:00] And so the messages that we deliver are signature required. And that's where the name came from
Carli: People might not know, but we actually take a Polaroid with all of our guests and make them sign it.
Carli: So we make them give us their signature before they even come on the podcast, which I think is really fun.
Spencer: I, a question maybe for you that I get asked all the time, it'd be interesting to hear how you answer it is a lot of people here when we work together as husband and wife, their initial response is like, oh, I could never work with my spouse. Like we would kill each other. And, and it's usually done from a place that's 70% humor, but you can tell there's 30% truth Sure.
Spencer: Behind what they're saying as well. And, and that makes sense. So how do you feel in the transition that we have worked.
Spencer: Back to back.
Carli: Yeah. It's been really interesting and I, I have to go back to the early days of our business because, gosh, okay, so we bought our FedEx [00:08:00] routes.
Carli: Piper was nine months old. A couple of months later we got pregnant with Daphne. You're gone a week home, week gone a week, home week, and we can talk about the darkness. That was that stage of entrepreneurship another time. But we thought, okay, a great way to save money, a perfect way to save money is Carli's going to run payroll.
Carli: That's going to be the best use of time. So here I am, giantly pregnant, two toddlers that take after their dead that are like the most energetic human beings on the face of the earth. I'm barely seeing you, and when I am seeing you, it's with toddlers screaming and not sleeping in the background. And I, and to know me is to know I am not a detailed person.
Carli: And so we learned really quickly that people don't like when their paychecks are wrong.
Carli: They really hate it. And so I say that to say, I was our first hire and fire of our company, and I was so relieved when you told me [00:09:00] not to do payroll anymore. I think I like cried tears of joy because I was terrible at it. And I hate making mistakes. I hate letting you down or letting our employees down.
Carli: Um, but it is true that I was our first hire in fire. And so that led to really a decade of us not working together, having separate cones of fire as the algae goes.
Carli: So coming together for the first time, this actually feels like the first place where both of our giftings and skill sets overlap.
Carli: I, I really have enjoyed the ability. To share stories that we both lived firsthand. Mm-hmm. It's always tough to go back to the storytelling that when you're trying to describe something to someone, sometimes it's like trying to describe a dream that you had, like mm-hmm.
Spencer: It just gets lost in translation. It just doesn't make sense. Yeah. Yeah. And then like you're halfway through and you're like, gosh, this just is not working and it's not landing. I'm going to stop. Yeah. So to be able to be here with [00:10:00] guests and the amount of travel that we've done too. Yeah. I mean, we have been from end to end of the state to be able to have those experiences are like, yeah, you remember that time when we laughed at so and so or had this experience or this crazy thing that happened in the middle of the shoot.
Spencer: And those are the types of things too that I think have brought us together and have given us a particular form of enjoyment and delight in recording this, is that it's given us new shared experiences to be able to talk through.
Spencer: One of the categories of individuals that we wanted to make sure to have on signature required are our nonprofit leaders. Mm-hmm. So, in trying to understand what makes Tennessee, Tennessee, looking at people that have dedicated their life towards a certain cause or a certain mission is a great place to start.
Spencer: So as you reflect back on the year, what's an interview that stood out [00:11:00] to you from the nonprofit space?
Carli: There's so many. Um, I guess I would first say Rachel Freeman from the Sexual Assault Center was probably the heaviest podcast taping, at least for me personally, that we did learning some of the stats around women and trauma response and the access to resources, if you've been through assault, um, were really staggering to me.
Carli: But I feel like she came forward with such humility and she cared. So you could tell how much she cared about all of the women that they serve. And she was able to talk about really heavy topics with a, not just humility and vulnerability, but she, she didn't drag it down and make it even heavier, right?
Carli: She shared the stats, but she was also so full of hope for what is possible to serve. Um. That one was really impactful for me, and I've thought about it, no joke, at least every week, if not [00:12:00] multiple times a week since we filmed it,
Spencer: you know? And one thing that we saw happen after that episode came out is that Tennessee looked at the backlog of mm-hmm.
Spencer: The rape testing kits that were sitting there unattended to. Mm-hmm. And Tennessee moved a special budget allocation to get that caught up, and that was huge. Mm-hmm. That was one of the things we talked about on the podcast, is that we oftentimes have everything that we need to go and make the arrest, but there just hadn't been the money and really the priority mm-hmm.
Spencer: To go and assess these kits, do the work, document it, and then issue the warrant. Mm-hmm. and I was really happy to see an issue that was a clear priority, get meaningfully addressed by the state.
Carli: I agree. And then that dovetails into, I got to talk to Lindsey Norton. You weren't on that podcast, [00:13:00] but she is the executive director of Hope House. And what they're trying to do is open the first center for teen moms where young girls that are pregnant and have their baby can stay with their baby.
Carli: Did you know that there isn't a house in Tennessee where a minor can be taken care of? A minor. And that blew my mind. There were places for the baby to go and there were places for the mom to go, especially even if they're underage, but there was nowhere that would keep them together. And how she's helping give job skills, helping get these girls educated if they want to get their GED, um, teaching them parenting skills.
Carli: I just was really, really moved by Lindsey's heart for this demographic, but also for these young girls, these young women, that their lives are forever going to be changed because of the work she did.
Spencer: Chris and Elaine Whitney. We're really outstanding. Not only because of Oh, I love that. My personal friendship with the two of [00:14:00] them, but their nonprofit mission, one Gen Away mm-hmm.
Spencer: Is sensational. They run trucks all throughout the region. It's, it's no longer just the state of Tennessee where they rescue food that is just about to go bad, and sometimes it's from restaurants or grocery stores and they warehouse it and then distribute it into communities that are food insecure or any number of reasons where people are not going to be able to get the food that they need.
Spencer: And they shared a stunning personal story mm-hmm. That I didn't even know that they had gone through their own period of food insecurity in their life, and it had broken their heart to where they recognized. If they ever had the chance to do something about it, they'd fix this and gosh darn it, they have made that their mission and they do it with such.
Spencer: Humor too. Mm-hmm.
Spencer: So I just enjoyed hearing [00:15:00] about their mission and recognizing that if you don't provide for someone's basic needs, mm-hmm.
Spencer: Like if someone is hungry, you can't have a spiritual conversation if someone's belly is growling, if their mouth is hurting. Mm-hmm. I mean, if they're having physical pain, it's hard to get past that to a spiritual conversation.
Carli: Well, we have the privilege of seeing one Gen Away trucks in action. One of our podcast guests, Papa Joe, which everyone loves Papa Joe, it's impossible to not love Papa Joe.
Carli: But in his ministry, we actually went and served with the kids and they're feeding people in food deserts in the middle of Nashville. And we actually got to see on one Gentle way truck, pull up and help unload it. And then through Walk of Love with Papa Joe, serve the community with that.
Spencer: Yeah. Elijah's Heart Walk of Love.
Spencer: Papa Joe. He is a one of one Oh yeah. Individual. And every time that we've gone down there to volunteer, you know, he stands up on a table, talks about, [00:16:00] again, his own life story, where, you know, he spent time in prison, spent time knowing what it was like to be in the shoes of the individuals that he now serves.
Carli: Hmm. Well, and one other really high character person, a lot of people have been so amazing, but that I really enjoyed interviewing was Katie Chetty. And for a little bit different reason, you had a intense conversation with her.
Carli: You pushed back and asked really good questions and she was so articulate and so welcoming of a conversation that I think a lot of people aren't willing to have about guns and what the laws are in Tennessee. And you guys asked each other really intense conversations from opposite sides of that issue.
Carli: And I really appreciate her ability to have that conversation on this podcast because we're never going to get anywhere if people aren't willing to talk about why they think what they think. Yeah. And I think that was a really great example of a nonprofit leader [00:17:00] that cares deeply about an issue that was willing to talk about it.
Spencer: Another principle that. We tried to highlight over this last year is leadership. Hmm. Now, sometimes people, when they hear leadership, immediately think elected official, or they think CEO. But the leaders that we interviewed come from a lot of different directions, a lot of stripes, a lot of backgrounds, and many of them didn't have necessarily the title that would make you immediately think, oh, they are a leader.
Spencer: But for me, I had several stand out. What were one or two of the leadership theme podcasts that stood out to you?
Carli: Well, from the day that I got invited and we decided that I should be doing this, I really wanted to highlight Daystar Counseling Ministries. It's just, it's meant so much to our family and the journey we've been on, particularly with some one of our kids.
Carli: And so we had Melissa tva who started [00:18:00] Daystar on here, and to tell you that I like kind of geeked out and was a super. Girl fan girl crush on Melissa is an understatement, but what I loved about her is her humility. Like she threw out so many simple parenting nuggets, and that is leadership. Her willingness to come on here, she has a million things to do to highlight really tangible things that we can be doing as parents to support the mental health of our children, and also to share some of her journey of how she grew from a small group.
Carli: She took all of her life savings to create a little yellow house to serve the community and mental health of kids. If that's not leadership, I don't know what it's
Spencer: major. General Winky was one of my favorites. There are some people that step into the studio and have a presence about them, and sometimes you might assume that.
Spencer: With the military, that someone's going to step in the room and, and you see that. But he had a level of [00:19:00] command that made it so clear how he has risen through the ranks. But there was also a level of humility. Mm-hmm. That we could ask him dumb questions, questions that as civilians, we don't know that world that he has lived his entire life in.
Spencer: He's focused on creating this incredible historical museum at Fort Campbell that helps translate in both directions.
Spencer: People that want to learn more about the incredible military history of this state, but haven't had the chance to learn about it, didn't come from a military family. And likewise, those that have served, that have integrated back into civilian life still have a place that feels comfortable, like home, that recognizes that they made a difference.
Carli: [00:20:00] Hmm. You know, someone else that I just, I just adored was John Hoops from the Nashville Opera. I learned so much about opera in that podcast. Like I had no idea how ignorant I was to the opera. And then we had the privilege of going to see kind of a remix of Carmen when we got to go.
Carli: And so when they had it at pac, we got to see it and it was set in West Texas, and the music and the costuming was so good. And. I just loved his ability to bring opera, which feels really intimidating, right? To the masses. His willingness to say, I don't care if you show up in yoga pants. I want you to experience art.
Carli: It's not about that. And he made us laugh. He was so approachable, and he took somebody that was probably never had said, you know what? Let's do the opera today. It made me want to go. And I feel like that is another sign of leadership when you know something so well, but you're not holding onto it so tightly and making it bigger or different than it is.
Carli: You're [00:21:00] making it approachable for the masses and fun for everyday folks to come and enjoy this art. And he was just spectacular.
Spencer: Our faith is really important to us, and we have not shied away from that at all over the last year. We want anyone to feel comfortable listening to a podcast regardless of their faith background, to have any other feeling would be a failure in our mission, but examining how faith has played a role. In various people's lives, their journeys has been a big part of it, and sometimes it's a part of what they do every day, and sometimes it's just the undercurrent that, uh, allows them to get outta bed in the morning.
Spencer: Um, we interviewed Diana Bari, who is, uh, over King's Academy. And King's Academy has been a fascinating journey. I mean, you and I got to see King's [00:22:00] Academy when it was still on the proverbial drawing board.
Carli: Yeah. When it was still a dream.
Spencer: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just getting to hear, uh, from Joseph and Palmer and give feedback and see that vision come to life in a way that is so different than how education today is currently envisioned.
Spencer: I. We all know that there are significant problems with our educational system and no one gets it right entirely. There's definitely a lot of places that get it really wrong, and there's parts of Tennessee that currently have it really wrong. And so part of how we get to a future that we're all happier with is looking for examples of where it's working.
Spencer: And King's Academy, it's new, it's a startup, it's a culture that is very consistent with what you would expect out of an [00:23:00] entrepreneurial school, but the results are clear and their mission is expanding. And so Diana was a really fun one for me to get to hear from and seeing a totally different way to try to attack the problem of education.
Carli: Well, and someone I had the privilege of going on site. Meeting, uh, I got to do this podcast with Becca Stevens of Thistle Farms and she's a little bit of a local celebrity and when you meet her, you wouldn't know in the very best way. She is humble, she is unassuming. And I read her books 'cause when I don't have you in a podcast, I get even more nervous.
Carli: And so I do a ton of research. So I actually read to Becca's books going into it. And I told her that I was asking her all these questions and she was just so taken aback that anyone would even take that time. To learn about her story. And for people that don't know about Becca and Thistle Farms, Becca was sexually assaulted as a [00:24:00] kid and has now grown an empire where she serves women who have been on the streets, who have addiction, who have sold themselves or had other trauma.
Carli: She helps them have job skills and brings them into the fold. And I got to meet one of the women that works with their organization that's now an ambassador. And just to see her faith story, someone that would have every reason to hate faith, to hate God based on what has happened to her in her life, and instead turn it around and have the capacity to love and serve women now all over the world that have been through trauma, was really, it was really profound.
Carli: And it's not something I will forget anytime soon.
Spencer: Amidst a lot of heavy topics that we did over the year.
Spencer: We definitely had some funny moments that just came outta nowhere. And that's the best part of it is like you just are going through trying to get as much as you can out of a conversation and [00:25:00] really make sure that you're delivering value for the listeners and you just get this moment that comes out and makes you laugh.
Spencer: And we had a couple of guests that I have laughed at just every week since we have recorded them. One was Jim Bar two of the Nashville Zoo. I'm so
Carli: bummed I wasn't in this one. This one was awesome.
Spencer: I was just at the zoo last week with Solomon and I could not stop thinking about the different secret things that he taught me about the zoo.
Spencer: Is that why you were so
Carli: like kind of giggly the whole field trip? That's hilarious. I know. It's
Spencer: great. He just was talking about all the different things that. Also centered around what they do with all the poop, which there is a lot of poop that is in the Nashville Zoo, and they don't need that place smelling like poop.
Spencer: And so he was just making me laugh so much, and I loved that time with him.
Carli: You know, someone else that made me laugh that I had no anticipation of laughing [00:26:00] on this podcast was the honorable Sheila Calloway. What an incredible dynamite woman she is. She just took, I mean for, if you haven't listened to the episode, she is in the Davidson County juvenile court system.
Carli: Right. She sees the heaviest of the heavy every single day. Yeah. And I think just off the cuff, I asked her if she had a karaoke song, and not only does she have a karaoke song, she serenaded us with her karaoke song and that woman has pipes, man. She can sing. And I just loved her even more. I fell in love with her the entire episode.
Spencer: We did Sean Phipps Chattanooga Tourism, and we went down this rabbit hole. I don't even know how we got there, but we were talking about Y 2K and his family, his background, his upbringing, and that he had a family that took prepping for Y 2K so seriously that they literally [00:27:00] moved away from their residents permanently in order to prepare for what they were convinced was Armageddon.
Carli: That tickled you so high like your face During that podcast. I was like, change your face. Change your face.
Spencer: I thought he was pranking me on the podcast. 'cause he was certainly not. He was a funny guy and we were laughing. I thought for sure that he had come on to my podcast and this was like an episode of punk or something like that.
Spencer: But it was authentic and it was funny and I really enjoyed getting to laugh with Sean.
Carli: Yeah, he was great.
Spencer: we highlight a lot of good things about Tennessee, but Tennessee still doesn't rank well in education across the state.
Spencer: I. And that's something that if a state does not have an educated population, it has no future. And so part of what we wanted to do was highlight those that are getting it right, that are seeing the problem of education and doing something about it. And one of the guests that stood out to me was Will Norton.[00:28:00]
Spencer: So St. Paul Christian Academy. I went there, that's where I went to elementary school.
Spencer: and Will Norton is doing things on a community level to be able to attack social media and cell phones inside of schools. Uh, will Norton partnered with us through a symposium that really brought to light the epidemic, that S social media usage and the mental health impacts upon our kids that really put the problem into a scope that this is not.
Spencer: A legislative issue. This is a community issue. Mm-hmm. We can't just legislate this problem away. If parents come together, if communities come together, if subdivisions come to together, that is part of what solves the problem. And so Will Norton at St. Paul is doing a really good job of showing a pathway towards answers to some [00:29:00] really complex issues.
Carli: Hmm. On a little bit older scale, so that's elementary. And thinking about teens, I actually really enjoyed thinking about the next level for students. Right. With Steven Gentile, he's the executive director of THEC Which is the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
Carli: And that's always near and dear to my heart because we have a daughter with dyslexia, right? And so school is not easy for her. And so we always think what will the next level for her after high school be? And Steven did a really good job of explaining what types of training, what type of job skills are available for young people in the state of Tennessee.
Carli: And he defines success not as every single kid going to a four year college, but every single kid getting training of some kind so that they can serve our state, our community, and have a great living and job growth in their future. And so that's one that's really stuck with me as giving me hope as somebody who says, Hey, maybe for one of my kids, the more traditional path would be a grind and be [00:30:00] super unenjoyable and not yield the fruit of what you would put into it.
Carli: And that there's somebody gifted like Steven that's really thinking about what students can do with those years after high school.
Spencer: some of our guests don't fit neatly into a particular category of the recap, but I'll say that they stood out to me nonetheless.
Spencer: Charles Hatcher of the Hatcher Family Dairy. Oh yeah. It was really fun to hear about it. We got to learn about Apple watches on cows. We got to learn about agritourism. We really got to hear about how Tennessee farmers are a dying breed, and it's scary and it's problematic and we do need to reverse it.
Spencer: He was showing some pathways to where farmers can reinvent themselves and say, in a world that is moving. Without exception towards industrial scale farming. How can Tennessee farmers, how can our food supply remain [00:31:00] stable amongst a really challenging environment? And this was a business guy, a farmer, and a friend, and really fun to have on the podcast.
Carli: You know, who else was a real treat was Rachel Guymon We actually got to go visit her at her office, which just so happens to be the Titan Stadium. And in the background of where we were filming, I. They were building the new stadium to the side and I just got really excited thinking about all the memories I think our family's going to make when that stadium is done.
Carli: Um, it was just a really neat experience to get to go and talk. And she talked about hospitality and what it means to bring the hospitality of Tennessee to the Titan Stadium, but also there's a lot of work with businesses and sponsorships and large scale events and just really limitless opportunity for that new stadium.
Carli: Hmm.
Spencer: I really enjoyed Brooks Herring. You know, being born and raised in Tennessee, I've spent a lot of time up and down the [00:32:00] streets of Broadway for one event or another, and you see all of these musicians that are there trying to catch their moment, trying to be in front of a producer, trying to be, uh, the next person to sign that contract and won in 10 million odds.
Spencer: And I learned a lot about the artists that are really in rarefied air when you're playing on the streets of Broadway, that's just not something you show up and do. It's 10 years or more of work. To get to that moment. And it was so interesting to hear him talk about that community and how tight knit it is and how so many artists that could compete against one another instead come together.
Spencer: And it was just another example of why Music City is just such a fun environment, and I thought Brooks did a great job of telling that story.
Spencer: So the category that is probably most near and dear to my heart [00:33:00] is entrepreneurship. We had our fair share of entrepreneurs on the show, will Acuff was one that stood out to me.
Spencer: We did a couple different field visits to go and see what Will is up to. He is doing an amazing job of recognizing something that we say a lot, which is entrepreneurs that become successful, don't forget where they came from. And Will is often telling people that if he gets it right with one. They come back and can transform a community that they've come from.
Spencer: And he goes into some tough communities, some tough places, places that get overlooked, that have very little to no entrepreneurial training at all. And he brings out entrepreneurs, and I think he does it with a practicality that shined through on the podcast that it wasn't that he was trying to create the next Fortune 500 business.
Spencer: Maybe that happens, but he was trying to do [00:34:00] something that would create jobs and stay in the community to make a difference.
Carli: someone else that I think is doing that really, really profoundly in our community is Sherry Deutschman.
Carli: Sherry Deutschman has built out brain trust, which is a community for female CEOs, and you know, being an entrepreneur can be really isolating. We talk about that. We've talked about that a ton on the podcast this year, being a female. Entrepreneur, CEO is particularly isolating.
Carli: And so I love what she is doing to bring community and involvement around that demographic.
Spencer: We believe a lot and around here, uh, every division that I have, uh, is pretty much either currently or has been headed up by a female CEO. So, uh, it is interesting to observe in a community that is usually male dominated.
Spencer: It honestly makes it more powerful to interject a female CEO because it keeps everybody off balance. And that is where I like to be [00:35:00] as an entrepreneur is if you have the other side off balance, you're generally going to win the game.
Spencer: another person we interviewed was Brian Hicks for Humphrey Street Coffee. That was a wild story. I mean, he was talking about. A vision that sometimes entrepreneurs see something that no one else sees, and sometimes you see an entrepreneur create something where you kind of look around and be like, why didn't I think of that?
Spencer: Okay. He's in the category where he was seeing something that nobody else mm-hmm. Could see. And he has seen that vision for years prior to it becoming a reality. I think every business consultant that has ever looked at a situation would've probably said, that's not going to work. But he pushed through it and now he's landing huge deals.
Spencer: And I mean, working with the predators, doing all kinds of stuff. He's a great success story. Again, working in communities that get overlooked.
Carli: Yeah. And his origin story [00:36:00] that we drew out on the podcast was so fun. I mean, talking about flying to the middle of nowhere to learn how to roast coffee with one of the kids he was serving.
Carli: I mean, that's the kind of beginning that we love to highlight. It's so unlikely, but so fun to listen to and see how far they've come.
Spencer: He diagnosed live on the air. Why? I did not like regular coffee. And it was from that episode that I have. That's right. Become an espresso fan. And it has changed the world for me on coffee.
Spencer: It's been more fun
Carli: for me too. 'cause I love coffee and then nobody wants to drink coffee by themselves. And I'm married, a non coffee drinker.
Spencer: That's right. I do not like coffee. I love espresso. Mm-hmm. And he realized that. Live on the air. He fixed
Carli: our marriage.
Spencer: That's exactly right.
Carli: Thank you so much, Spence.
Carli: I'm going to turn the tables on you here. We make our guests fill in the blank, so I need you to fill in the blank, Okay, here we go. The episode that sparked the most conversations at home was blank.
Spencer: The [00:37:00] episode that sparked the most conversations at home was Jim Bartoo of the Nashville Zoo.
Spencer: It was an early episode, and it was one that helped me catch the vision for the right balance between something really educational but also really funny. And he didn't take himself too seriously as he talked about something really important, like the choices that the Nashville Zoo is making around animals and the care that these animals receive.
Spencer: And like he really, really does care about the animals, but also he cares about the poop.
Carli: Oh, for heaven's sakes, I told you not to say poop on the podcast again. And
Spencer: that zoo produces a huge amount of feces and they've gotta get rid of it for heaven's sake. Uh, and so it was just a really funny balance where he captured that childlike curiosity.
Spencer: You know, you're on that field trip and there's always that one kid that [00:38:00] raises their hand and asks the question and everybody's like, oh gosh. But. Actually the answer that comes from it is like, well, that was actually a question that maybe I wouldn't have had the courage to ask, but was pretty good.
Spencer: Carli, the episode that sparked the most conversations at home was blank.
Carli: I don't think you would guess this one for me, but the episode that has sparked the most conversation at home, especially amongst our girls, I would say, is the one we did with Brittany Schafer from Belmont University.
Carli: You know, our girls are in those tween teenagers kind of thinking about what they want to do with their lives someday, and they're dreaming big and seeing what Brittany is doing at Belmont makes me, as a mom really excited because there's such great education close to home with so many options for different kids and learning styles and talents.
Carli: And so it's just really opened up a conversation that I've had with our daughters about, you don't have to go super far away. You can do really great things close [00:39:00] to home, but you can also do what you're good at. And there's options to take a different path, um, at places like Belmont. And I thought that was a really cool conversation.
Carli: It made me mom better. How about that? Mm-hmm.
Spencer: The episode I tell everyone to listen to first is blank.
Carli: The episode I tell everyone to listen to first is Papa Joe. Papa Joe has such an interesting story to meet Papa Joe is not to guess his story, right? Yeah, he was. He was on the fast track really. He was going to be a computer programmer. He had everything going for him, and then he made a mistake and he ended up in jail.
Carli: From that experience had a series of events that were really hard after that, that led him to want to serve his community. And you meet him and he has the most contagious smile you have ever seen in your entire life. And you know, he's devoted his [00:40:00] whole life to doing good in this community. I never would've guessed that he was incarcerated.
Carli: I never would've guessed that he was a super genius computer programmer, and that's how he ended up in jail. And he's so humble. Never would've guessed that Hollywood came calling and he had a movie after his life. So I just think there's so many facets in that story that everybody will learn something, everyone will enjoy him.
Carli: And he still pulls me into the biggest hug every time I see him, which is kind of often. Um, and so I love Papa Joe. I always send people there.
Spencer: The episode that made me laugh the most was blank.
Carli: The episode that made me laugh the most was Thom Demas at the Chattanooga Aquarium.
Carli: And I, I just lost all professionalism. Why? Why we filmed this podcast. And for context, please. We were traveling out of town. We were doing multiple tapings while we were out of town, kind of running from place to place. And we [00:41:00] sit down in this beautiful local venue. It was a wine bar, and W we're interviewing Thom from the aquarium.
Carli: And we're just chitty chatting.
Spencer: And Thom's title is
Carli: the Director of Husbandry,
Spencer: which is,
Carli: I don't, is fish mating,right Spawning. I don't, I don't want to talk about it. And so he starts telling me about how sharks mate. And babe, like, I don't even want to say it right now, but he's talking about why the female sharks have stronger skin on their backs for the daddy shark teeth.
Carli: and I just, I lost myself. I laughed so hard. And the funniest part was I was so tickled, like I could not stop laughing. It just hit that funny bone. And you know, everyone listening has had that day where you had like a long day and you're very focused and then something just hits your funny bone and you can't, you can't fix it.
Carli: Like you can't change it. That was that moment and he was so [00:42:00] straight faced. Like he kept going, I was losing it. And he was just so, well, yes, this is how we mate and we are so proud of our mated sharks and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I have thought back and I still, if I let myself would just laugh and laugh and laugh about that one.
Carli: And when we got to go back with the kids and they got to see behind the scenes. Sure enough, there were all those sharks and I just could barely contain myself.
Spencer: Well, we all need to be brought back to that seventh grade classroom for sex ed that, you know, it's just, there's an inner kid inside of all of us, and if it took being in a wine bar in Chattanooga on our fourth podcast of the day to bring it out of you, then uh, we all need to laugh a little bit till we cry.
Spencer: You know?
Carli: Yeah, yeah. Couldn't help it. Couldn't help it.
