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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): It is a beautiful September day. It's a little rainy, little sunny, little folly. Lots of leaves, lots of allergies. But the grass is loving the rain we're getting because it's starting to green back up, which is what we need. Because I feel like it hadn't rained in like, two weeks or something, maybe longer. But enough about the weather. I'm here with a friend of mine, Emily Secora.
0:00:20 - (Emily Sikora): Thank you for having me.
0:00:20 - (Colin Johnson): Welcome to the podcast.
0:00:21 - (Emily Sikora): Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.
0:00:23 - (Colin Johnson): Thanks for coming over to Mitch's living room as we sit in his chairs and look at his cameras and talk on his microphones. And I'm excited. I'm excited to learn about gray Bird label.
0:00:34 - (Emily Sikora): Thank you.
0:00:35 - (Colin Johnson): It sounds like it's going to be a great podcast. First thing, though, you've probably listened to the podcast. One, you told me, congratulations on 200 episodes.
0:00:45 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, 200 episodes. 200 episodes.
0:00:48 - (Colin Johnson): So you're 201?
0:00:49 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:00:49 - (Colin Johnson): So you know what the first question's going to be. What do you love most about Johnson City?
0:00:54 - (Emily Sikora): Well, I will say I have thought about this question, and as somebody that has grown up in this area, I don't think I appreciated Johnson City growing up here. But as an adult, raising my kids here in a family, there's a lot to love here. I think we have great schools. There's always something going on, a holiday parade festival, a carnival or something fair. And then we're tucked in the mountains and just close to so many other towns and cities, so I can't pick one thing. I tried, but there's a lot to learn.
0:01:29 - (Colin Johnson): Just a smorgasbord of awesome stuff.
0:01:31 - (Emily Sikora): There's a lot of good stuff.
0:01:32 - (Colin Johnson): There is so much good stuff. All right. You're married.
0:01:34 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:01:35 - (Colin Johnson): What's your husband's name?
0:01:36 - (Emily Sikora): Russell.
0:01:36 - (Colin Johnson): What does he do?
0:01:37 - (Emily Sikora): He does insurance. He works with people going on Medicare.
0:01:41 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:01:41 - (Emily Sikora): So turning 65, and they need to sign up for all their new insurance plans.
0:01:46 - (Colin Johnson): Did he sign my phone number up for these? Medicare. They told me, like, every day. I'm like, hey, give me about ten years.
0:01:53 - (Emily Sikora): A couple more years, and then they will bombard you. Starting about six months.
0:02:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. They're like, well, they started about ten years too early. So, Russell, you've got kids. How many children do you have? You wanna give them a shout out? Yes.
0:02:08 - (Emily Sikora): Jensen, Beckett. They are the curliest headed kids you've ever seen.
0:02:12 - (Colin Johnson): Jensen and Beckett. That's awesome. How old are they?
0:02:14 - (Emily Sikora): They are nine and eleven. Just turned nine and eleven.
0:02:18 - (Colin Johnson): You got your hands full.
0:02:19 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:02:19 - (Colin Johnson): Are they rambunctious? Little fellows.
0:02:21 - (Emily Sikora): They are just very active, very athletic kids, and we are involved in sports. They're outside playing all the time and all the things that's good.
0:02:30 - (Colin Johnson): Keep them off the screens, keep them outside. Get some vitamin D. Yes. And they're just doing all that good stuff. So you grew up in Johnson City?
0:02:36 - (Emily Sikora): I did, yeah.
0:02:37 - (Colin Johnson): You went to school here?
0:02:38 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. Went to Johnson City schools?
0:02:40 - (Colin Johnson): Went to science Hill?
0:02:41 - (Emily Sikora): I did. Graduated science Hill.
0:02:42 - (Colin Johnson): And then did you go to college somewhere?
0:02:44 - (Emily Sikora): I have a bachelor's degree from ETSU, and I have a master's from Milligan.
0:02:48 - (Colin Johnson): Where'd you get your bachelor's then?
0:02:49 - (Emily Sikora): My bachelor's is exercise science. Oh, okay, cool. So kinesiology, and then my master's from Milligan is in occupational therapy.
0:02:57 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, wow.
0:02:57 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:02:58 - (Colin Johnson): And now you run gray bird labor.
0:03:01 - (Emily Sikora): Now I own two businesses. Nothing related to my background in healthcare.
0:03:05 - (Colin Johnson): My beautiful wife has a degree in audiology.
0:03:08 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. Doesn't deal with that either.
0:03:11 - (Colin Johnson): So it's cool. How the Lord. My degrees in horticulture. I sort of use that with sound houses. Come. Like, we need to get the landscape tightened up a little bit here, but no. Yeah, but it's funny how we get into different things. So you have multiple businesses?
0:03:24 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:03:24 - (Colin Johnson): So tell me about the first one.
0:03:26 - (Emily Sikora): Okay. Gray Bird started in 2016. It started as gray Bird boutique. It started as a online boutique, started with just Facebook. I had a very active Facebook group and sold women's clothes and accessories, and it very quickly grew to include an apple and an Android app and a website. And I did lots of local pop up events here where people could come shop in person. Every season, I would do a pop up event and rode the wave of COVID with online e commerce, which was quite the adventure. And then in 2022, and then rolling into 2023, I transitioned that business to. Now I manufacture my own products and wholesale them to other stores around the country.
0:04:14 - (Emily Sikora): So I do earrings and purses and headbands and bathrobes and makeup bags. And I. I have a manufacturer in a few different countries, and now I just wholesale them to other retailers around the country.
0:04:25 - (Colin Johnson): How cool is that?
0:04:26 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. So it's really taken. The business has really transitioned over the last two years, but it's been a fun adventure. It's definitely been an adventure because, again, my background is not in business. Sure.
0:04:39 - (Colin Johnson): How did you get the itch to start this?
0:04:42 - (Emily Sikora): Well, I was an occupational therapist for a few years, and then we had two boys in two years, so I was a stay at home mom for a few years, and my true, like, dream job was to be a stay at home mom, and I got to live that out. And then I decided I needed a little more for my brain than just being home all the time. So I started just kind of a little. I'm just going to sell little clothes. I've always been into fashion and clothes, so I just started a little something at home and selling on Facebook after the kids went to bed, and it, within a year, I had a warehouse. So it grew very quickly.
0:05:21 - (Colin Johnson): Man, you got a lot of friends on Facebook.
0:05:22 - (Emily Sikora): So I do have a lot of friends on Facebook, yes.
0:05:25 - (Colin Johnson): How many friends do you have now?
0:05:26 - (Emily Sikora): Well, on Facebook, the Facebook group grew to about 14,000 women.
0:05:30 - (Colin Johnson): That's pretty strong.
0:05:31 - (Emily Sikora): I was shipping all over the country, but I will say, I think being a local girl and knowing so many people in the area, I mean, I had a lot of local customers. A lot. And they would. I shipped to them, but then they also would just come pick up their orders on my front porch. So there was people at my house picking up all the time. So, yeah, so Russell's like, we need you.
0:05:52 - (Colin Johnson): A warehouse.
0:05:52 - (Emily Sikora): Our neighbors were like, why are there people here all the time?
0:05:55 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, you're running out of business. Out of your, I think, our covenants and restrictions.
0:05:58 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. Yeah. So. And then in 2020, about the time the pandemic hit, I started a second business, TriStar trading. I have business partners with that one.
0:06:08 - (Colin Johnson): And yes, our good friend Johnny Bragg, who's been a guest right here in these chairs, he's part of that deal.
0:06:14 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, we went to church together for years, and he was actually, he worked for Gray Bird doing graphic design and stuff, and he came to me with a crazy idea, needing merchandise for his YouTube channel. And so we just started a little llc to just do some merchandise for him, and it blew up. So here we are.
0:06:35 - (Colin Johnson): You guys are selling a ton of stuff through TriStar.
0:06:37 - (Emily Sikora): We are selling a ton of stuff.
0:06:38 - (Colin Johnson): Which is a lot of fun.
0:06:39 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. But it's been a cool ride. Cause a lot of the stuff that I learned with gray bird, I mean, gray bird was this just business of learn as I go, you know, I just.
0:06:53 - (Colin Johnson): If I needed new day, I gotta figure it out.
0:06:54 - (Emily Sikora): If I needed to know how to do sales taxes, I just figured it out, you know, I have to learn how to ship across the country. I just figure it out, you know. And so a lot of the stuff that I worked really hard learning with gray Bird, I've been able to put into use with Tristar.
0:07:11 - (Colin Johnson): So that's what Johnny calls you, boss. Lady.
0:07:12 - (Emily Sikora): Boss lady.
0:07:13 - (Colin Johnson): You are officially boss lady. He says, let me call boss lady. I gotta check on something. Oh, boss lady's calling me. I'm like, I love it.
0:07:20 - (Emily Sikora): There's a lot of people that I'll introduce myself as Emily. And they're like, oh, hey. And then boss lady. Oh, they know.
0:07:26 - (Colin Johnson): Exactly.
0:07:26 - (Emily Sikora): Bad Emily.
0:07:27 - (Colin Johnson): I got you. Johnny talks about you all the time. He is the one of the nicest guys.
0:07:32 - (Emily Sikora): It's been, it's been fun to, it's. I've really enjoyed having a business partner. It has. He brings a lot to the table. I bring a lot to the table. We have very different strengths, and it's just been a very different experience versus owning a business completely on my own where I'm having to, like, outsource things and make sure I hire the right person and all that.
0:07:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I think it is good to have a partner. Carly helps me, too. Like, we'll interview people. Is this a good person? You know, that kind of thing. She's got great intuition on it. Should we go that direction? So. Yeah. And, you know, her strengths are my weaknesses. It works out great.
0:08:07 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. So it's a great. He, we've both said, like, he does a lot of the graphic design and, you know, now we do merchandise for quite a few youtubers, and so he has those relationships. And then I do kind of the back end, a lot of the financials of the business, the website stuff, and, I mean, he's just like, if you, if you quit, he's like, I'm just gonna lock the door and slide the can in the door.
0:08:30 - (Colin Johnson): Like, I don't know what to do.
0:08:31 - (Emily Sikora): I don't know how to do any of that. I mean, now we're collecting sales taxes in, like, 15 different states and all that. He's like, I don't know how to do payroll. None of that kind of stuff.
0:08:40 - (Colin Johnson): They don't want to know either. Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about gray bird. So what do you. You're shipping all over the country and maybe the world now?
0:08:48 - (Emily Sikora): World, yeah. I've got about seven or eight international stores.
0:08:52 - (Colin Johnson): All right. Maybe we got some people listening that own their own little small boutiquey kind of thing. They're thinking about how do we grow this thing? How do I. I mean, did you just say, I'm getting on a plane, I'm going to Malaysia, I'm going to start looking at clothes?
0:09:05 - (Emily Sikora): Well, that has been, again with gray bird, what it originally was. I learned about wholesaling people. You know, I bought from wholesalers and then I also learned about the opportunity to manufacture your own products. I have been to some conferences about manufacturing because I knew that was always something I kind of wanted to do eventually. So, unfortunately, I have not been to visit any of the factories or factories that I have.
0:09:33 - (Colin Johnson): They come to you.
0:09:35 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. But I have found a lot of them through a lot of Internet research, through. I have found one of my manufacturers through Instagram, which is very random, but, yeah, I haven't really dove into, like, clothes, because then you start to deal with sizes. You know, like, do you buy a. How many smalls, how many mediums, how many larges?
0:09:55 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:09:56 - (Emily Sikora): Earrings and headbands and things like that. There's no sizes. Those work for all women.
0:10:03 - (Colin Johnson): You don't have a manufacturer. That's like an Amazon book deal. Right? Like, where they'll publish one book as soon as you order.
0:10:09 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:10:09 - (Colin Johnson): No, like, oh, I want a small. Boom, we'll send you a small. You're buying bulk. Bulk.
0:10:14 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:10:14 - (Colin Johnson): Because you can get a cheaper. You can get a better deal.
0:10:17 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:10:17 - (Colin Johnson): And then you turn around.
0:10:19 - (Emily Sikora): And so I have become the. The manufacturer, and I do still have a retail site, graybirdlabel.com dot. You can buy my products on there. But now my kind of, my bread and butter is wholesale, just selling to other stores, and then they carry my line. And, you know, we've already launched Christmas headbands. We've already got Christmas accessories out. We've already got fall stuff that's been here since probably July.
0:10:44 - (Emily Sikora): We have to do stuff so far. And it.
0:10:46 - (Colin Johnson): You gotta think six months out. Yes.
0:10:47 - (Emily Sikora): You gotta think really, at least probably if you're ordering. Yeah, yeah. It's. It's a lot to think about because you're trying to, in your business, you're trying to focus on spring, and then in your own personal life, you're like, okay, I haven't even started shopping for Christmas for my own family yet, so it's kind of a balancing act.
0:11:05 - (Colin Johnson): Sorry, boys.
0:11:05 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:11:06 - (Colin Johnson): Between some earrings and some purses. So enjoy that for Christmas. So how did you connect with a lot of these wholesalers?
0:11:15 - (Emily Sikora): And, like, so there is some platforms that you can get on as a wholesaler and sell to other store owners.
0:11:25 - (Colin Johnson): So you sell them to, like, retail shops?
0:11:27 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:11:28 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:11:28 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. And so I started kind of just reaching out to, like, boutiques because that's the world I knew. But it's surprising now. Like, I have a lot of salons that carry my products because it's headbands or I have a lot of spas because I sell bathrobes. And I have multiple hospital gift shops that carry my products. So it's just really been interesting and a lot of them have found me because I'm on a platform called Fair where stores can get on and shop with brands that sell on there. So a lot of people have found me that I never would have thought to connect with. I never would have reached out to a hospital gift shop. But, you know, they don't have the same customers, so they can just restock the same products consistently.
0:12:10 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. So it's been real neat to kind of see where the turns that the business has taken.
0:12:15 - (Colin Johnson): How does our little business owner that's listening maybe get out of the noise of all the people out there doing what you do so that the hospital does see them and goes, oh, wow, these headbands are awesome, or these robes are great. What are some tips on how they can make it stand out so that, I mean, because if you've got a, I don't know, 100,000 people out there trying to get the business.
0:12:38 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:12:38 - (Colin Johnson): How did you get it?
0:12:39 - (Emily Sikora): You know, well, I think if coming for, I mean, I was a boutique owner, so somebody that is buying for a retail space, you're shopping all the time essentially, especially if you have the same customer. Like if you own a store, you've got the same customer hopefully coming in every few weeks. So you've constantly got to rotate your inventory. So hopefully your, the people you're buying from are rotating their inventory.
0:13:09 - (Emily Sikora): But I mean, it just really depends, like. Cause the hospital gift shop, they don't have the same clientele every time. So don't be afraid to look up other store, look up stores on Instagram and reach out to them. And especially if the stuff that they sell, you feel like their brand aligns with your brand. Don't be. I mean, I have found manufacturers on Instagram. I have found stores that shop with me on Instagram. So you can really make some good connections through social media and then like.
0:13:39 - (Colin Johnson): Just dm them and say, hey, dm.
0:13:42 - (Emily Sikora): Them and be like, hey, I sell product. You know, I sell wholesale. I see the types of stuff that you sell. I think you would love my earrings or my headbands. And then I send them pictures and if they're interested, then I'll sell them. I'll tell them where they can shop with me kind of thing, so.
0:13:57 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha. Yeah, I remember Grant Cardone. Do you know him? He's used to be a car salesman years ago, but then started selling car sales platforms and then he got into real estate. And anyway, he's one of those guys just motivating, coachy kind of guy. And he's like, hey, man, your parents had it all wrong, bro. He was like, strangers got everything you want. You got to go talk to all.
0:14:19 - (Emily Sikora): The strangers I know.
0:14:21 - (Colin Johnson): And, sir, I tell my team that. I tell myself that, like, oh, I gotta go talk to strangers.
0:14:25 - (Emily Sikora): Well, we did grow up being told, don't get in cars with strangers. And now with Uber and Lyft, we get in cars with strangers all the time.
0:14:32 - (Colin Johnson): So I let strangers get in my.
0:14:34 - (Emily Sikora): Car and drive them around. It's backwards. Everything we learned is backwards.
0:14:39 - (Colin Johnson): Now, where do you, like, if you sat and, like, dreamt about gray bird label, where would you see it looking like in the next five years?
0:14:48 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, my.
0:14:50 - (Colin Johnson): Or hope to have it?
0:14:53 - (Emily Sikora): I would love. That's a hard question. We currently rent our warehouse space. I would love to own our warehouse. I also know that it's hard to find commercial warehouse space to rent. So I would love to be somebody that offers that space, a business owner.
0:15:18 - (Colin Johnson): In this space, but having condo it.
0:15:20 - (Emily Sikora): Out property owner as well, because my warehouse space, I have had to do a lot of, like, remodeling and reconfiguring to make it work for what we have. But I would love to see gray Bird with more product offerings than what we currently have. And just, I have really kind of niched down on the products that I think sell really well for graveyard and what my retailers really enjoy buying. And so expand those offerings like, I do really well with some of my earring styles. So just designing more of those and manufacturing more of those.
0:15:55 - (Emily Sikora): And then my bathrobes are. They're made in India, they're handmade in India. A lot of the fabric is block stamp printed. So there's really cool stories behind some of the products that I sell and just expand that. I've just recently gotten in. I had the robes, now I've got the makeup toiletry bags, and I've just gotten into overnight weekend bags. So just making that line bigger.
0:16:17 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha. And is like, are your lines, what is it sustainably made or equitably made?
0:16:24 - (Emily Sikora): Well, I do work with manufacturers. They don't have. It takes a lot to get those official titles, like, there's hoops and things that you have to jump through with that. So my manufacturers, and also, they're in other countries, so their requirements are different and stuff. But I do literally talk to these people personally, and I feel very good about the process, the way that things are currently happening. Yeah. So, and then my earrings, like, I design them here.
0:16:54 - (Emily Sikora): And then I work with another manufacturer in India, and they're hand beaded, so that's cool. It's just really cool. Yeah. I get to kind of see the whole process. They send me pictures as they're being made, and the beads are hand color dyed. So it's just a really cool process to be a part of.
0:17:10 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:17:10 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:17:11 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. That'll be fun to watch it grow.
0:17:13 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, sure. Yes, for sure.
0:17:15 - (Colin Johnson): And I'm excited about helping you find a warehouse.
0:17:17 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, thank you.
0:17:18 - (Colin Johnson): And we can just rent out half of it to Jared. Car collection.
0:17:21 - (Emily Sikora): Car collection.
0:17:23 - (Colin Johnson): He'll pay plenty of money. He'll be good. He'll be good. And then, Tristrar, tell me what you see. The vision of that growing. How do you see that growing and growing?
0:17:32 - (Emily Sikora): I think, honestly. So where gray bird, like, used to be, when I sold clothes and wear trist, they've really flip flopped. Like, gray bird used to be the big. The big business, and then it kind of, for me, because I am the sole business owner, I had, you know, hired out quite a few tasks, but I. It had kind of got to be a hamster roll for me that I couldn't necessarily. It got to the point I changed the business to wholesale. Cause I wasn't enjoying, really what I was doing anymore.
0:18:04 - (Emily Sikora): I was shopping for clothes. Constantly photographing feels just overwhelmed. It was a lot, and so I loved what I had built. I just needed it to change a little bit. So now I've taken Graeberg kind of down a little bit smaller and to revamp it, and now it's growing again. But Tristar has really grown. Trustor has a ton of potential. We keep adding on more youtubers that we do their merchandise. So the beauty of that way of doing business is they kind of do advertising for us.
0:18:38 - (Colin Johnson): They do talk to our listeners about finding youtubers that have. I got my air quotes going, merchandise.
0:18:44 - (Emily Sikora): Like, so if you.
0:18:46 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, I know because I'm friends, but, yeah, yeah.
0:18:49 - (Emily Sikora): So, Johnny, my business partner, is a youtuber, and, you know, if they have, like, a catchphrase or a catch saying or, you know, or a logo or whatever, a lot of people that are subscribers and have been dedicated followers want to wear their merchandise. So Johnny was with another company, and just things just weren't what he wanted them to be. The merchandise wasn't exactly what he wanted. It just wasn't the best fit. So that's when he came to me in 2020 and said, hey, you know, how to, you know, the wholesale world, you know, how to do fulfillment. You've shipped stuff all over the country. Like, I, he had the graphic design background. Like, can we merge forces here and, and start this business?
0:19:34 - (Emily Sikora): And so we started with him as a youtuber and just slowly added, and, I mean, I think if you're, if you're on social media at all and you follow people that have large followings, you know, that they're selling stuff with their logos or their, their merchandise. So, um, I mean, we, a lot of people, they come to us, and then also, it's just the relationships that he's built in the industry.
0:19:58 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's pretty cool.
0:19:59 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:19:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And he's highly tied into those guys.
0:20:01 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, yeah.
0:20:01 - (Colin Johnson): Because he's such a good friend.
0:20:03 - (Emily Sikora): But, I mean, they, they do a lot of the advertising because they're, you know, affiliate marketers. Like, they get paid to sell their own merchandise. Sure. So it's a. It's a good. It's a good model. Yeah, it's a good model. Yeah.
0:20:15 - (Colin Johnson): It could probably keep. Just keep growing. Yeah.
0:20:18 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:20:19 - (Colin Johnson): And then maybe you have to have another warehouse. I know somewhere else in the country.
0:20:24 - (Emily Sikora): I know where I'm going. I know who I'm using to buy my warehouse.
0:20:28 - (Colin Johnson): We appreciate that. For sure. For sure. What was your first job?
0:20:33 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, like, when I, like, real first job.
0:20:37 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, you could have had a lemonade stand or, like, you worked at Baskin Robbins. I don't know.
0:20:41 - (Emily Sikora): Okay, well, my first w two job was I worked in the daycare. At the wellness center. Yeah. So I started there. I think I was 15. My mom would pick me up from school and have to drive me. She would get off work to come pick me up from school to take me to the wellness center, and then she'd go back to work, you know? Yeah. But I worked in the daycare at the wellness center and made a lot of connections there. I mean, babysat for many families in the area because they went to the wellness center, and I kept their kids in the daycare.
0:21:12 - (Emily Sikora): But when I was little, I was supposed to be an entrepreneur. I was supposed to be a business owner. I used to sew drawstring backpacks in middle school, and I would sell them in the cafeteria.
0:21:23 - (Colin Johnson): Nice. Yes.
0:21:25 - (Emily Sikora): And then I think when I was in elementary school, my next door neighbor was, he enjoyed fishing, and so I would dig up earthworms and sell him earthworms.
0:21:34 - (Colin Johnson): That's great. See? I love it. You were.
0:21:37 - (Emily Sikora): Should have gone and got a degree in business.
0:21:40 - (Colin Johnson): Right. But no occupational therapy sounded really good. That's right. We're going to go in the healthcare world and then forget all that.
0:21:47 - (Emily Sikora): I know. Exactly. Very expensive degrees, but I do not use.
0:21:52 - (Colin Johnson): So who are some of the most influential people that have helped you out along the way?
0:21:57 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, my gosh. Oh, um. That's a tough question. Um. Oh, Colin, you should have told me this one ahead of time, I would say, in business, honestly, so. And you've had her on your show, Valentina?
0:22:16 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah. She's great.
0:22:18 - (Emily Sikora): She has. I met her through gray bird years ago, and she, you know, she's a business owner herself, and she has really just been a cheerleader for me for years.
0:22:30 - (Colin Johnson): And she's just a pistol.
0:22:31 - (Emily Sikora): She's a pistol all the time.
0:22:33 - (Colin Johnson): I love her.
0:22:34 - (Emily Sikora): And I was texting with her earlier today. We're in a business group that meets once a week together, and she's the one that got me in that business group because I have struggled as a business owner, that I have struggled feeling like I have a place in the business world, because I think because I don't have degrees in it. Like, I've just, like, learned. And it's been a trial and error.
0:22:55 - (Colin Johnson): There's been somewhere in the group be like, who's like, raise your hand.
0:23:00 - (Emily Sikora): Mistakes made along the way, you know, but you just learn. Trial and error. And she has been a cheerleader for me for years, and she's the one that got me in the business group. And she's just been like, Emily, you have more experience than people that have business degrees. Like, you know, so she has been. She's been good for me also. I mean, being business partners with Johnny has been great. Like, he.
0:23:24 - (Emily Sikora): He's rooted me on through the years. My family has rooted me on my. My husband, my. My dad has built stuff for gray bird. He's made dressing rooms for events. Oh, that's fun. My parents have come and set up stuff. I mean, so I've had a really good support system through it all, and it's been fun for my kids to kind of watch it all grow and happen in their lives. So I like it.
0:23:47 - (Colin Johnson): I like it. Y'all are going to go the other way. What have been some of the challenges? Like, what are some of the hard things, the hard days of great bird and Johnny's probably on that list.
0:23:56 - (Emily Sikora): That is a challenge sometimes. That's true. I think. There is not a manual for how to start and run a business. It just doesn't exist.
0:24:10 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:24:11 - (Emily Sikora): And there are so many different, like, business licenses. Like, you have to have to have retail. You have to have a state license, a local license, a county, a city, a county, an ein number, you know, all these different things that you don't know that you necessarily need, and you just google and figure it out, and then you find an accountant, and they're like, but wait, where's your blah blah blah license? You're like, I didn't know I needed that.
0:24:37 - (Colin Johnson): You know, you shouldn't have just googled it.
0:24:39 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. And then, like, every time it's a. I have learned it is a. I mean, I obviously have collected sales taxes in the state of Tennessee for years, but there's certain thresholds that you have to reach to start collecting sales taxes in other states.
0:24:55 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. That's interesting.
0:24:56 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. And it varies from state to state. And so once you reach those thresholds, and then you have to contact other states. And so, I mean, it's just all this stuff that I would say it's actually the true nuts and bolts of owning a business. It's like, the stuff that you're supposed to do that you don't know you're supposed to do. That's the hard part. That's the hard part, yeah. Because you want to do it right.
0:25:20 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:25:21 - (Emily Sikora): But nobody necessarily tells you exactly how to do it right. So.
0:25:25 - (Colin Johnson): You ever thought about shutting it down? Like, you're like, this is just too.
0:25:28 - (Emily Sikora): Yes, yes. It would be so much easier to go clock in at a hospital and be like, not that that job is easy, but you don't have to worry. You know, you're getting a paycheck.
0:25:37 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:25:37 - (Emily Sikora): Like, you don't have to worry about payroll yourself, you know, do your thing. Clock out.
0:25:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:25:48 - (Emily Sikora): And then leave.
0:25:49 - (Colin Johnson): You're kind of like me. You're like, Carly and I are solely commissioners. Right.
0:25:53 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:25:53 - (Colin Johnson): If we don't sell a home or you sell your earrings and headbands, and you don't, and then you may buy the wrong. Oh, I spent $50,000 on inventory that.
0:26:01 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, now I have got boxes of. I got headbands in one time. They're, like, this big.
0:26:06 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, Mitch and I could wear theirs.
0:26:09 - (Emily Sikora): They are these tiny, little, like, toddler size headbands and. Yes.
0:26:15 - (Colin Johnson): So, bracelets.
0:26:17 - (Emily Sikora): There you go.
0:26:18 - (Colin Johnson): There you go.
0:26:18 - (Emily Sikora): Men's bracelets. Yes. So there's been lots of mistakes along the way. But how else do you.
0:26:26 - (Colin Johnson): What keeps you going? Like, what keep. What's that? Where'd that fire?
0:26:29 - (Emily Sikora): I'm insane, I think.
0:26:32 - (Colin Johnson): Why do I keep coming back?
0:26:33 - (Emily Sikora): Why? I don't know. I just have this crazy drive and determination. Like, I love the flexibility I have with my schedule. I love, like, I. I had this dream as a teenager to be a stay at home mom, and then I did that, and I was like, I need just a little bit for my brain. Like, I just. I loved being home with my kids, but it. I needed a little bit more. And now that I have built these businesses up, my kids are in elementary school.
0:27:04 - (Emily Sikora): I have never struggled to drop them off, pick them up. I can go to every school party, every field trip. I'm the PTA treasurer. Like, I still have this role as, like, the stay at home mom, but I still have, like, my own little career gig going to, so it's like, the best of both worlds. Yeah.
0:27:22 - (Colin Johnson): And that's the benefit of being, you know, an entrepreneur, because you can set your schedule. And same with Carla and I, we do the same thing. Like, we didn't.
0:27:29 - (Emily Sikora): And, like, last week, my son, my oldest, that's why when you ask how old they were, he. His birthday was last week. We played hooky from school and went to Dollywood, took a couple of friends with us, and, like, it was so nice. Like, I wasn't, like, asking off work, you know, I wasn't telling anybody. Like, can I have us this day? You know, like, Johnny, I'm not. I know. I'm just.
0:27:51 - (Colin Johnson): I'm the boss lady here.
0:27:52 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, I'm the boss. Y'all hold the fort down.
0:27:54 - (Colin Johnson): That's right.
0:27:54 - (Emily Sikora): You got it.
0:27:55 - (Colin Johnson): I'm giving you the keys today, but.
0:27:56 - (Emily Sikora): Then if I need to work on Saturday morning to catch up, I can do it, you know?
0:28:01 - (Colin Johnson): So what brings you the most joy? And you're like, like, what are you like, oh, this is why. Yeah.
0:28:07 - (Emily Sikora): Like is, though. I love them things, little people, and I love them so. I love them to death. They are. They are the curliest headed kids.
0:28:21 - (Colin Johnson): Next to your husband, he's first, and then. I get it. I get it. You just forgot to.
0:28:26 - (Emily Sikora): I know, I know. I'm telling you, though, there's something.
0:28:29 - (Colin Johnson): They're pretty special. Kids are unbelievable. They're awesome. The Lord knew what he was doing.
0:28:32 - (Emily Sikora): Yes, for sure.
0:28:34 - (Colin Johnson): All right, I. You and Russell are going out on a date. Where are you guys going to dinner?
0:28:38 - (Emily Sikora): Probably very close to where we are currently located. Probably main street pizza.
0:28:43 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, yeah.
0:28:43 - (Emily Sikora): We love thai pie pizza at Main street.
0:28:46 - (Colin Johnson): Tell us about Thai.
0:28:48 - (Emily Sikora): The thai pie pizza. It is. I mean, it's got chicken on it, but it's got this thai sauce and arugula, which I know sounds crazy. Crazy on top of it, but it's like a sweet and spicy kind of pizza. It's really good. We honestly. We do pizza most Friday nights in our house, and we have pizza movie night at us. Yes. We get. The boys get pizza from wherever, you know, dominant. They want something. Just saying.
0:29:16 - (Emily Sikora): We always get Main street. We do. We go to two different pizza locations.
0:29:24 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:29:25 - (Emily Sikora): We do. We love or gourmet. I mean, if we're gonna go fancy, fancy gourmet. You know, it's gourmet. Gourmet. But, yeah, if we're just low key street, so.
0:29:35 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:29:35 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:29:36 - (Colin Johnson): Where are you going to go for a hamburger?
0:29:39 - (Emily Sikora): Can I tell you a little secret?
0:29:41 - (Colin Johnson): I would. There's some people listening, but I'll say I would stay a secret.
0:29:46 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. Don't eat hamburgers. So I am the wrong person to ask for that question. I know.
0:29:52 - (Colin Johnson): All right, let's wrap it up.
0:29:55 - (Emily Sikora): I'm telling. My kids love hamburgers.
0:29:57 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:29:58 - (Emily Sikora): Um.
0:29:59 - (Colin Johnson): No, I'm kidding. That's. You're probably healthy. Hamburgers. Although, I. Mitch, do you eat hamburgers all the time? Yeah, I think I was thinking about it. It's, like, almost the perfect meal in your hand. Like, you got carbs, you got protein, you got vegetables, you got condiments, and it's not a ton of calories. Cheese. So you got dairy. It's like the whole food pyramid right there, and it's delicious, and so. That's right. That's right.
0:30:26 - (Emily Sikora): Sorry.
0:30:27 - (Colin Johnson): The number one answer is pals.
0:30:28 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. My kids love pals.
0:30:30 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. Yeah. You already hit pizza. So you guys go out to. Let's. If you're taking the kids out for an afternoon of fun, what does that look like in your. In your work?
0:30:40 - (Emily Sikora): Um, an afternoon of fun for our.
0:30:42 - (Colin Johnson): Families that are listening, that want to take their.
0:30:44 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:30:45 - (Colin Johnson): Their crew out.
0:30:46 - (Emily Sikora): We. They do enjoy, like, either just jump or quantum leap.
0:30:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:30:52 - (Emily Sikora): They. We have. Our kids are very active, very athletic boys. So if we're gonna go out and do well, we may just go eat, like, 50 pounds of popcorn and candy at the movies. Like, that's an option. That's raining. We're probably. You know, we're probably gonna do that. But if we're gonna go out in Johnson City and do some, it's probably gonna be just jump or quantum leap. Yeah.
0:31:12 - (Colin Johnson): And I think they were just geniuses to open these trampoline parks.
0:31:17 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:31:18 - (Colin Johnson): We. Some friends of ours just jumped. They're christians, classmates. And I was like. I went. We had to go, of course, when he was young. And so I'm bouncing around like, this is genius. And all these adults even love it. Cause you're like, hey, I'm like a kid again. I'm out here bouncing and throwing blocks at my kids.
0:31:36 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. Until you, like, throw your hip out, right?
0:31:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yes. Yes. Don't back your head. They should probably scan us for osteoporosis as we're walking in. That's right. You shouldn't be jumping little too. That's funny. What's your favorite park in town?
0:31:57 - (Emily Sikora): I would say we play a lot of soccer at Civitan Playground. Probably rotary right across the street.
0:32:04 - (Colin Johnson): It's pretty cool.
0:32:05 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah, it's a good one.
0:32:06 - (Colin Johnson): It is a good spot.
0:32:07 - (Emily Sikora): It's a good one.
0:32:08 - (Colin Johnson): Go to Wingdeer ever?
0:32:09 - (Emily Sikora): We do, yes. We have done wingdeer quite a few times.
0:32:13 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. We like wing deer as well. You're going out to get a cup of coffee. What's your favorite coffee shop in town?
0:32:20 - (Emily Sikora): I want to have to say open doors.
0:32:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yep. It's a good one.
0:32:24 - (Emily Sikora): I have done a lot when. When gray bird was selling clothes. Sherri, Marion let me do a lot of pop up events and open doors. Yes. And then if I'm down here, I don't know. Downtown has a lot of coffee shops to offer.
0:32:39 - (Colin Johnson): It does.
0:32:40 - (Emily Sikora): I mean, blues brews is great.
0:32:42 - (Colin Johnson): Blues brews is good. I've done the moon.
0:32:46 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:32:46 - (Colin Johnson): I think there's.
0:32:47 - (Emily Sikora): I've just recently been a philosopher's house. It's right. It is a very cool atmosphere.
0:32:53 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Very cool. At the end of the main street a little bit. You've got a sweet Caroline's pop up top. He's got, like, the little deal. He was on the show a few weeks ago. Yeah.
0:33:02 - (Emily Sikora): Very cool. Yeah. I'm a coffee girl, so I try to give all of them a little bit of business. Yes, yes.
0:33:12 - (Colin Johnson): What is your favorite go to, like, comfort food in town. Like, where if you're. And it could just be. It's not a McDonald's cheeseburger, but whatever you like. What is something you just love to get every time? Like, you're like, this is my go to meal.
0:33:28 - (Emily Sikora): Probably petros.
0:33:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:33:30 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah. I do like petros. The tea. Well, and they're. They're chili. It's chicken chili. And I do eat chicken.
0:33:37 - (Colin Johnson): Oh.
0:33:38 - (Emily Sikora): So. Yes. And their orange tea is delicious.
0:33:41 - (Colin Johnson): It is delicious.
0:33:42 - (Emily Sikora): But if. I mean, it can be like 95 degrees outside and I'm like, I'm really.
0:33:46 - (Colin Johnson): Gonna go for a.
0:33:47 - (Emily Sikora): What do I want for lunch? I'm just gonna go get a petros. It's easy. It's good. It's convenient. You know all.
0:33:52 - (Colin Johnson): It's funny how you go through phases and I'm on this. Red pig makes poor Richard's sandwiches, which poor Richard's was this old. You knew poor Richard's?
0:34:00 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:34:01 - (Colin Johnson): For our listeners, it was a restaurant down there, Etsu. It was fantastic. They made these sandwiches that were steamed and giddy and just delicious. Red pig is making them, are they? And they've made them for a while, but we've kind of. I've been suggesting that they change it a little bit and they've been listening, or I can order it my way. And I've had probably 20 of them in the last, like, three weeks. I'm gonna be a red pig sandwich.
0:34:24 - (Emily Sikora): I love their signs at red pig, like, voted number one by us. I think it's what their sign says right now. I just drove through that parking lot the other day. I was like, those signs about night.
0:34:35 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. That is awesome. I love it. I love it. All right, if you are hosting this podcast, what would you have asked yourself that? I forgot to ask.
0:34:45 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, gosh.
0:34:47 - (Colin Johnson): Or you can flip it and ask me something if you want. Doesn't matter. It's totally up to you. You're now the host handoff.
0:34:54 - (Emily Sikora): Well, what's your favorite thing about Johnson city?
0:34:56 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, my favorite thing about Johnson city.
0:34:59 - (Emily Sikora): Is because you've also raised a family here.
0:35:01 - (Colin Johnson): I have raised a family here, yes. Carly and I have been here for a long time. Um, I love that one. Number one, the people. I love the outdoors. I love the four seasons. Although I cuss winter. I don't like, I don't like being cold.
0:35:15 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:35:16 - (Colin Johnson): I've got, like, circulatory issues. My hands freeze all the time. People are like, oh, you got a cold hand. Yeah. So I need to. I love the town. It's just great. I love, too, that everybody here just loves one another, I think. I feel like we have, I mean, you can throw a rock and hit a church.
0:35:33 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:35:33 - (Colin Johnson): And I feel like the Holy Spirit, through all of our people, going to church is just drawing more and more people here. And so if you're coming here, you're going to get loved on. So if you don't like getting loved on, just keep driving and go somewhere else, and you got to reciprocate.
0:35:47 - (Emily Sikora): Yes. And I. I mean, don't. City is really all I know. I moved here when I was, like, four years old. And, I mean, you can stand in line at a coffee shop. I'm going to know somebody everywhere I go because I've been here my entire life. But you can not know the person standing in line next to you, and they're gonna say something to you. They're gonna strike up conversation. And I know depending on where you come from in our country, that that can seem a little odd, but that's totally normal here. And it's just people being nice and people just.
0:36:18 - (Colin Johnson): The south.
0:36:18 - (Emily Sikora): Like, I just went to the post office before I came here, and some guy turned around and went back to the door and held the door open for me because I was carrying an armload of stuff. And it's just totally normal to. For people to talk to you.
0:36:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Manners and just being respectful. And I think, you know, if you're standing right beside somebody, then not talk to them. It's kind of disrespectful.
0:36:36 - (Emily Sikora): It's kind of weird.
0:36:37 - (Colin Johnson): We'll just go, hey, how's it going? Having a good day. You know? And they're like, yeah, but then if.
0:36:41 - (Emily Sikora): We do that in other parts of the country, people are like, why are you talking to me?
0:36:45 - (Colin Johnson): Not having a good day. Now you're talking to me. Well, that's why we're not coming back.
0:36:49 - (Emily Sikora): I know we're very nice here in East Tennessee.
0:36:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And I think manners and respect and just. It goes a long way. We've instilled that in our kids, and it pays. I tell the boys, it pays dividends. Like, yes, respect will open a ton of doors. And just manners, I mean, it'll just take you a long way. We took. We sent our. We sent one of them to cotillion.
0:37:11 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, yeah.
0:37:12 - (Colin Johnson): And I don't know that they're still doing that.
0:37:14 - (Emily Sikora): I don't think they came back after Covid, actually, there's.
0:37:17 - (Colin Johnson): I think you could start that business if you wanted a third one. There's an option there.
0:37:21 - (Emily Sikora): Oh, Colin.
0:37:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:37:24 - (Emily Sikora): My boys would be very mad at me, I think, because I talk.
0:37:29 - (Colin Johnson): My mom is the manor's mom. She's the one who's making us dance and do all this stuff. It was fantastic.
0:37:34 - (Emily Sikora): I had cotillion myself.
0:37:35 - (Colin Johnson): See? Yeah, see, it's all coming full circle. All right, how can our listeners connect with you online? How do we. How do they find gray bird? How do they find Tristar? How do they call you and say, how do you make a casserole? I don't know.
0:37:48 - (Emily Sikora): Okay, well, it's gray Bird label on Instagram, Tristar trading on Instagram. Also tristartrading.com, comma, graybirdlabel.com. we're pretty easy to find pretty easy to find. Yep.
0:38:04 - (Colin Johnson): You don't have a retail shop?
0:38:05 - (Emily Sikora): No.
0:38:06 - (Colin Johnson): Don't come knocking on the door.
0:38:07 - (Emily Sikora): There's no place in Johnson city to actually come shop.
0:38:12 - (Colin Johnson): Some of your products local, though. Can you, like, if you said, hey.
0:38:16 - (Emily Sikora): We have a store in Graver has had a few places locally that has carried my product, but it kind of rotates. Like, it depends. I can't say that they have my stuff in store.
0:38:27 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:38:27 - (Emily Sikora): Right now it kind of rotates with the seasons. Tristar. We have a store down in pigeon forge that carries some of our t shirts and stuff, so. But if you are interested in our products, it's best to just check out our websites.
0:38:41 - (Colin Johnson): Check out the websites.
0:38:42 - (Emily Sikora): Yep.
0:38:43 - (Colin Johnson): And the Instagram.
0:38:44 - (Emily Sikora): And Instagram.
0:38:44 - (Colin Johnson): And send you a message if you're struggling.
0:38:47 - (Emily Sikora): Yes.
0:38:47 - (Colin Johnson): Entrepreneur.
0:38:48 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:38:48 - (Colin Johnson): And I need some help.
0:38:50 - (Emily Sikora): I. I have a heart for other people that are interested in owning a business. I don't think that. That you don't have that inkling inside of you for no reason.
0:39:01 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:39:01 - (Emily Sikora): Like, it's there for a reason. So I encourage you to kind of dive into that and figure out why you have that desire to own a business. Also, it's hard. So reach out. I'm happy to. I'm an open book when it comes to business ownership. Like, there's lots of things to navigate, and I love talking to other business owners. That's one reason why I enjoy being in a business group. Like, we just get to connect with each other and it's encouraging to hear other people's wins and other people's struggles, especially if you admire them and look up to them and you also realize, oh, they're facing hard things, too. So, yeah, reach out. I'd love to connect with you.
0:39:39 - (Colin Johnson): Awesome. Last question.
0:39:41 - (Emily Sikora): Okay.
0:39:41 - (Colin Johnson): What gets you fired up? And I want to get. Can you make us t shirts? I want to get a fired up t shirt, like a mole. And we can sell those.
0:39:50 - (Emily Sikora): What gets me fired up? Oh, fired up for good or fired up mad?
0:39:55 - (Colin Johnson): Hey, you're. You can choose fired up.
0:39:58 - (Emily Sikora): Good.
0:39:59 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, let's go. Good. Let's not go. Good.
0:40:00 - (Emily Sikora): Okay. Fired up. Good. Talking business with people.
0:40:09 - (Colin Johnson): Talking business.
0:40:09 - (Emily Sikora): I can talk business till the cows come home. Also, my kids love doing stuff with my kids and going to their sporting events and soccer games and all the things.
0:40:21 - (Colin Johnson): So, yeah, I'm with you. That's awesome. Kids are great.
0:40:25 - (Emily Sikora): Yeah.
0:40:26 - (Colin Johnson): Well, thank you for coming in. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for being a great local entrepreneur.
0:40:32 - (Emily Sikora): Thank you.
0:40:32 - (Colin Johnson): Thank you for keeping Johnny Bragg in line. I try locked up most days. So he's not prowling around the local area.
0:40:41 - (Emily Sikora): He's wild and he's involved in so many things.
0:40:43 - (Colin Johnson): Yes, he is. He is. And we'll put a link to his show down in the show notes and we'll tag gray bird and all that and Tristar and maybe we'll sell some t shirts.
0:40:52 - (Emily Sikora): All right.
0:40:54 - (Colin Johnson): And if you want to move here and meet Emily and have her help you with your business, I'd love to do that. I'm Colin Johnson with the Colin and Carter group and Keller Williams Realty. We sell houses in Johnson City. If you want to move here, if you want to invest in real estate, if you want a warehouse, reach out to us. We would love to help you. So thanks again for listening. Thanks for being one of our 200 episode listeners.
0:41:14 - (Emily Sikora): Congratulations.
0:41:15 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, thanks for being number 201.
0:41:17 - (Emily Sikora): Thank you.
0:41:17 - (Colin Johnson): And we'll talk to you next time.