Explore the world of business and entrepreneurship in Wichita. Learn from local business owners from a variety of industries as they share their experiences with hosts and Evergy leaders, Don Sherman and Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade, who are also small business owners. You’ll learn how they have built and grown their companies and the challenges and opportunities they encountered along the way. This podcast is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and is powered by Evergy.
Ep120_CodyBeard_full
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Don Sherman: [00:00:00] Welcome to another exciting edition at the WCBA Powered, of course by Evergy. First, thank you for listening. Don't forget to like us, love us, share us. We truly appreciate you checking us out in the house today. [00:01:00] Prime IV hydration. E
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: That's what's up. We have Mr. Cody Beard in the house. What's up, Cody?
Cody Beard: Good morning.
Thanks for having me, Don. Ebony, being here. Nice seeing you guys again.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Yes. It's been a while.
Cody Beard: It has. Yeah. That's we're just talking about eight years we worked together. Yeah.
Eight years
Don Sherman: I'm surprised you remember.
Cody Beard: I mean, I, Well, I had to look it up on LinkedIn.
Yeah.
Don Sherman: yeah. I got that. Yeah. Face that you can't, yeah.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I won't make a comment. Yeah, go ahead. You know, You wanna, you know, you not, okay. So Cody, tell us who you are and what do you do now?
Cody Beard: Sure. So, my wife and I own and operate prime, I, dehydration wellness. We have an East Side location. It's a medical spa that just opened at 21st and Webb Southeast Corner. And we are currently in the construction phase for a West side location at 37th Street North in Mays.
And who I am Who, okay. Well in kindergarten, is that where we're starting? no.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Let's
Don Sherman: not start there. Okay. Clowning. Okay.
Cody Beard: Nice, Nice.
Yeah. So, um, I'm your, I'm your typical Wichita native. I [00:02:00] graduated from Goddard High School and thought it was the worst place on the planet to live and couldn't wait to get out.
Joined the Navy actually in between my junior and senior year. And so I was ready to hit the streets as soon as I, as soon as I graduated. And I did, and I loved it. Enjoyed the Navy.
but
Found myself in San Diego in my last station. Then I moved up to Los Angeles and couldn't wait to get home. And so about seven years, gone from the beautiful city and came home and it was better than I ever remembered.
Cuz obviously my 18 year old brain didn't have the same priorities as I have now. Family and the friendships and all those things. And so, There I am. I soon, as soon as I moved back here. I've worked for different companies. I've always been the corporate guy. My wife has always owned the two Avon retail stores in town, east and West, and so there was a little piece of me that always envied her because she kind of did her own thing.
Ran her own team. And I, on the other hand was always excited for what's next in the corporate world. What position what, where could I spread my influence? And for about a decade, a little more we've been saving knowing that someday the plan was to own and operate a [00:03:00] company with just my wife and I.
And the time was because the time will never be if you just don't make it. And so, we pulled a parachute last April, actually about a year ago and started down this.
That's awesome.
Don Sherman: Goddard. Huh? Goddard High.
Cody Beard: Godard High. The, yeah. When I moved back. when I moved back, they said, Hey, they're building that new high school.
And I said, no. I went to that new high
school. Yeah.
So the Goddard.
Don Sherman: Okay. I went to Northwest, so it's okay. It is what it
Cody Beard: Yeah. On the east side of the street, my Northwest buddies on the, no side of the street was Maize, and on the
West side Street was Godard.
Don Sherman: excellent.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Had all the homies on the west side on every block.
Cody Beard: Yeah.
Well, it. was funny
when, so my wife's from Maryland, and when we moved, when we went from San Diego I got outta the Navy and I said, Hey, you're moving with me to la right? And she looked down, she said, that's weird. I don't have a ring on my hand.
Yeah. Wow.
So, uh, long story short, proposed,
we got married
and She said, there's one place on this planet I'm never living. It's Wichita. And about three months later, here we are.
here you are.
Don Sherman: And how long you been here?
Cody Beard: Oh eight. So yeah,
Don Sherman: I rest my case.
Cody Beard: that's a long
Don Sherman: sorry. E continued with,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: yeah. So [00:04:00] obviously she loves it here and
Cody Beard: She does. She loves it.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: And you guys decided to open up businesses here.
Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about that journey. As you said, you worked in corporate for a number of years and you said, you know what, now's the time. Let's do it. I wanna go into business with you. I wanna live the life that you're living wife. And how did you come up with Prime IV hydration?
Cody Beard: Sure. Yeah, having a dream is one thing, right? A dream without action is just that, it's just a dream, right?
So really the preparation began years ago not knowing that Prime IV would be the ultimate decision. But. Long time ago started saving and saying, all right, just got this bonus. I just got this nice paycheck, whatever it was, let's take a chunk of that. It's that delayed gratification that, it's hard, let's be honest.
It's hard. So the journey was always knowing that was the end goal. We started looking, we actually worked with a broker and started looking at different opportunities knowing that we've had the Avon businesses and those were doing well. And so we're just, we're gonna keep operating those for the time being.
And we started working with this guy and he did this huge [00:05:00] personality test. It's funny, we did a lot of the same stuff we did at WestStar as far as the disc profile and learning about all the different personalities and really how does that feed into to what you want to do with the rest of your life,
Don Sherman: Despite all that, Ebony was still hired. I'm Stu, I'm stunned, but continue. Ok. Alright.
Cody Beard: Well you know, it's funny, and again, I'll try
to avoid the tangents but I used to look at people within whatever company I was working for, and I would think, man, they never changed. They never and now that I look back on that, I realize where you're at in life is where you're at in life.
And other people are in, in different spots in their life. I'll never forget, I worked directly for a plant manager and I thought, man he's gonna retire as a plant manager. He's very pleased in his position. He does a good job. Why didn't he ever want. XYZ or something else. And now looking back, almost 40 year old, Cody looks at him and says, I get it now, and I completely get it.
That's I've had opportunities to take a role where I would travel a lot and have multiple plants reporting to me and all these things and at one point in my life I realized there's priorities that are, they're more important than. Than anything financial. No one cares what your job title is.
No one cares what you [00:06:00] drive. They care how you make 'em feel. So with that being my basis, back to your question. We wanted a job that fit into mom and I like to golf. We like our free time. We live a healthy lifestyle. And how can we give back to the community?
How could we do something positive? And so we looked at different models, different business models. And it was funny the guy, the first thing he says, he goes, now Lacey we've known each other for a couple months now, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw one out there and I want you to try to think about it before you jump to any conclusions.
And the Prime IV model came up and the moment he started, he just gave like the elevator line. The 30 seconds lost her. She was over there googling it and find, and I'm over here trying to think from a critical mind. So she fell in love with it immediately. And so, if you've ever played in the court the franchise world, there's kind of a courting it's like a job interview in a sense where you're kind of feeling them out.
They're kind of feeling you out and. Man, if I don't know what it would've taken for my wife to have said no to this. They would've had to say, and once a year, you have to skydive [00:07:00] from, Jupiter
and
she probably
would've considered it.
Jupiter, that's not that far, so anyways, it fit into who we were. Obviously we had the financial backing from all those years of saving and.
The stars really aligned in that, and that's how we landed on is it fit us. It's nothing we'd have to sell. We started getting IVs immediately around, I won't say the country, but up in Kansas City, down Oklahoma.
And I was the holdout, to be honest, because I thought, man, how does this make money? So a piece of me is still an engineer. Just a little piece of me. The cool
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: the cool type engineer.
Cody Beard: Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. It's like, yeah. But.
So I, had to be sold on the business model, and of course she had to be sold on the, what is it and how does it fit into our lifestyle?
So that's how we landed on Prime iv. We met the owners of the franchise, the ones, the founders. And they shared a lot of our same family values, and it just worked out.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: That's pretty awesome. So what is Prime IV
Cody Beard: hydration?
Sure. So I'll just walk you through the front door and tell you the whole experience.
Okay. So, prime IV is as a franchise is about 70 [00:08:00] locations nationwide. There's 150 sold. So there's several being built right now. There'll be two in Wichita, east and West, which there's only two territories available right now in Wichita. So, we felt it was important we grabbed both those territories growing business.
Five years old. They've been franchising for about four years. Going well none of 'em failed. They're just doing all the right things and it's really cuz of what, what is being sold at these things. And I use the term sold very lightly. Cause we don't sell anything.
We just educate and people make health decisions to be more proactive on their health. But anyways, so Prime Ivy Wichita You walk in the front door immediately, you're in a spa. You're not in a medical setting, you're not in a clinic. You didn't just call up and say, Hey, I'd like to see someone.
I have a sinus infection. They go, okay, I'll put you down for sinus infection. Then you guys talk to the first nurse. What are you here for? Sinus infection. Then you talk to the doctor, what are you here for? Sinus infection, right? So it's different. You walk in the front door, you're greeted with some wellness water.
Wellness water.
Wellness water. So we have yeah, it's beautiful, right? It's slightly flavored. We have some lemon. Little lemon lime, little coconut. Yes. Actually see you right on. Soon [00:09:00] as, can we zoom in on his
face every time she but again, you walk in, you're in a spa, and by the time you walk in, we've already looked over your health intake.
Part of that is what are your health goals, right? We're not a clinic that's treating knee injuries and things like that. So when you come to us, you have a goal in. And we try to figure out how our IV therapy can fit into that. So our nurses already know a little bit about you. By the time you walk in the front door, your first step is a consultation.
We have a vast menu of things, and so if we spent, if we told you about everything, your head would spin. Yes. So we really try to start with what your health goals are. Then we try to custom build a plan that's for you. So at that point you decide on an IV or some injections. And one of my team members is back in the back compounding.
They'll put together your iv, meanwhile we start your IV and then the spa experience really starts. So if you're a member with us, or if it's your first time in, we take you to our v i P area where we have state-of-the-art, head to toe massage chairs, we put you on some [00:10:00] oxygen therapy, we'll get your drip going, get you a blanket, get you eye cover, and it's your one hour vacation.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Wow.
Don Sherman: IV. like sticking my arm.
Cody Beard: It is. But we're a medical spa, so we're not putting that big 18 gauge honking needle in your arm. Yeah it's funny. Men are the we the weenies. Yeah. And me, me included.
Don Sherman: that Yeah.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I was like, I don't know about this one.
Cody Beard: Yeah, no.
it's funny cuz once we started, my only experience, like a lot of people is you're going to have a procedure at a doctor's or a surgery or something.
And so you, you still harbor some of those same emotions towards it. Yeah. So me, I was the exact same way. And so the first time I did it and the nurse, this was actually I guess not the first time. It was several into it, but I was up in Kansas City when we were looking at specifically a prime IB to see if that's the business model we wanted to go with.
And the nurse said, man, you did really. I noticed you got hot and clamming got a little white though.
Wow. Yeah. Wow. Okay.
So yeah. But as soon as, it's funny. Literally [00:11:00] women are fine. Men we're kind of the hesitant ones, but as soon as you go through the experience there's nothing better.
And you'll be back and you'll realize it's not scary.
Don Sherman: So how many folks do do you, you have both of them in operation now?
Cody Beard: No, we're building the west one. The east one's been open for going on five months.
Don Sherman: Going on five months. Okay. So is it a,
it rNs, LPNs running around or
Cody Beard: yeah. Great question. Great question.
Yeah, so my whole staff is registered nurses. We do have a medical director. He's not on site all the time, but we have a medical director and then four registered nurses. And then we are looking to hire some pharmacy technicians because they could be our front door person and also compound the IV bags with their license compound.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I, I'm, I can do it. You need me just to mix some stuff up?
up, throw in some,
Don Sherman: No.
Cody Beard: Yeah, little this, extra that. It's like a bartender only, not like a bartender. Okay.
Okay. Yeah.
Don Sherman: That's where I think that would be kinda fun.
Cody Beard: Yeah. Well, it is funny. One of my one of my first [00:12:00] nurses, actually, the first nurse we hired she said I was a little. Hesitant on, on thinking about compounding all day.
Would that be fun? And now she, dang here knocks me out of the hood just to get it done. Actually last year I went back to school. So I've got an engineering degree and a master's in business, blah, blah, blah. Who cares, right? But I went back and I got my pharmacy tech certification so that I can actually be beneficial in my business.
So, mostly for the training aspect. That way I can do the hands on training. But it has come in handy, right? So everybody knows as a new business you're trying to match your staffing versus your demand, right? You don't, I don't wanna have 10 nurses there when there's only demand for two. And so when it's been, when it's been busy we have had some really busy days I've been able to help out and do some compounding in our hood, so, all
Don Sherman: Wow. So seem like your engineering background is in here somewhere.
right?
Cody Beard: Sure.
Don Sherman: You got nurses running around and techs and this and that and the other and you're doing a compound put in somebody's arm. That's it Is, I get that right. Am I following right?
Cody Beard: You are.
Don Sherman: This is [00:13:00] not space age. I don't know what you call this. This is high level. Is it the only kind of company that's doing this? I know in the city apparently.
maybe.
Cody Beard: No there's places to get IVs and we try to just differentiate ourselves by being a spa, by having more to offer as far as we can really customize down to the individual component as far as what you're looking for.
And again it's that experience. We solve memberships. And so, it's like if you went to a. And you had someone right there with you saying, all right, come back next, next month. We're gonna do this exercise. If your goal is to get fit here. It's, that's who we are. So there are other places in town.
Absolutely.
Don Sherman: So you can walk in your place and say, I want,
me the idea what a menu look like. I want to lose weight. Or I want to bulk up
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: or Yeah. Who would come see you and what would they come see you for?
Cody Beard: Yeah. Yeah. So all of the above. She asked that So much better
Don Sherman: Yeah, of course. That's why she's here.
Yang to the yang, it is.
Cody Beard: [00:14:00] No. So, a preview what our menu would look like, absolutely. We have one called skinny Drip. And so there's a lot of people that come in for that. And so keep in mind everything we do is all natural. It's not, there's no drugs, if you will. So it's all things that support your healthy lifestyle, vitamins, minerals, nutrients.
And we absolutely have a drip that's for that. Comes with a lipolene injection, which is really a natural way to kind of ramp up your immune not immune system. Ramp up your metabolism. Nice, but also just. Just curb the cravings as much. we have one.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: How can you get that every day,
Cody Beard: Yeah sure.
Don Sherman: you're so crazy.
Cody Beard: yeah. So our protocols say every three days,
but if, if you're
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: see us
Cody Beard: three days, we're probably gonna ask you to back off just a little bit. Yeah.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: all right?
Cody Beard: No, most of our customers come see us once a month for a drip. And then maybe every 10 to 15 days in between for like a B12 shot or a vitamin D shot or another lipo, something like that.
But as far as the menu goes, so yes, we have the skinny drip. We also have one that's great for athletes. I still like to pretend I'm an athlete. I'm still [00:15:00] coaching, wrestling. This is the time of the year where all the high schoolers come in the room, so I have to, act like I'm, I can still compete with them and then take lots of breaks.
It's funny, when I'm wrestling a high schooler, I find.
myself.
Coaching a lot more like, oh, stop right here.
right? work on, lemme show your got you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoa. freeze right there. buddy.
But we have one that's called the champion and it's got a high dose of magnesium. All your B vitamins amino acids, and so it's all geared towards helping your muscles recover, build muscle.
It's, and then bees are good for so many things, but gut health and just digestion and all those different things. Because the franchise is based out of Colorado Springs. We have one called the Summit that's for altitude sickness. It's odd. We have not sold any of those here in Wichita.
don't understand.
We've got a great one for your business travelers called the Jet Lag, and it is specifically designed to kind of help with. That feeling that everybody gets. Especially I've noticed the older I get when I've taken a trip, I don't sleep well on the plane or at all. And it just it takes away a lot of those issues gives your mind some clarity.
We've got one called the Revitalizer. It's [00:16:00] great for energy. Hydration's a piece of all of these, right? So if I leave out hydration it's just inherently part of it. But it's got a high dose of vitamin B, all the different bees. It's got a really nice dose of touring, which helps with mental clarity and some energy.
It's across the board. Wow. I'll tell you when it was we had a real bad, cold and flu season. Yeah. We saw a ton of people for our immunity armor, really high dose of vitamin C, zinc, everybody knows zinc's good for colds and viruses. So we, we sold a ton of those.
Wow. So you can't come during your lunch.
Yeah, sure. So your first your first appointment or first time you come in, your first booking? Usually about an hour. Now that we've we've signed up quite a few members at this point, so we've seen people three and four and five times. And with those people, they're in a hurry. They'll call us up and say, Hey, I'm coming at lunch, and we can have their bag ready, they can be.
In and out. So we can do that for people but people love sitting in the massage chairs. They love sitting there with the auction while they're dripping. So most people are there for 45 minutes or so. But yeah, if you need to be in and out, absolutely we can make that happen for you.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I just ask because I know that on the website it [00:17:00] says you have this anti-aging and I just wondered how often Don could, you know what?
Cody Beard: what, there was
Don Sherman: even bite on that. Cody. We need to go to break. That's what we need to do.
Cody Beard: used
Don Sherman: Yeah. That's what she does. Alright, friends,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: we are gonna go hear a word from our sponsor and we'll be back to hear from Cody Beard and Prime IV Hydration.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade:
Welcome back friends. We're here with Prime IV Hydration. Hearing a little bit from Cody in this new business that they have opened up in Wichita.
So, Cody, this isn't necessarily [00:18:00] new to you owning businesses, you and your wife, as you mentioned earlier, own a couple other businesses here in Wichita as well. So, but you've been a member of the Chamber for how long?
Cody Beard: We first signed up with Avon Ooh, probably eight years ago.
Seven. Eight years ago.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: And so let's talk about your Chamber membership other than this. Very cool.
What we're doing right now.
Cody Beard: This is why I did it.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: I knew it. Yeah. I knew this was the reason. The podcast has to be everyone's reason,
Cody Beard: That's right.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: other than that, how has the Chamber helped you in your businesses?
Cody Beard: Sure. So just like in life, right? Whether you're a brand new, you name it, pick a position in whatever company. There's always someone there to mentor you. Or there should be and that's what you need to go seek if there's not, right? Is a mentor. And so the Chamber really is like a mentor for new business owners and large business owners, right?
It's making those connections, right? A good mentor will connect you with people. The Chamber connects you with people, right? A good mentor will, will grab your hand and say, go introduce yourself to this person. And that's what the Chamber [00:19:00] does. And it puts like-minded people together.
E everybody knows it's cliche, right? Surround yourself with people that are like you or you aspire to be and you become those people, you build yourself up. And that's really what the Chamber does for myself, right? In Wichita as a whole. It really puts other people together that have that that have.
At the end of the day, right? We all kind of have the same vision. We all want our business to be successful, but that means that my neighbor's successful and the guy across the street's successful and the guy six blocks down the road successful. And that creates an environment where, there's plenty of pie to eat in Wichita.
So that creates an environment where, all those people get together. Just recently we went to the chairs luncheon, and that was great. A good experience for my wife. So, I'm the. Not nervous about anything. Go talk to people, guy. And she's the actual worker behind the scenario.
She's like, she does everything, let's be honest. And then I get in trouble cause I do things wrong. But the point is, she's the workhorse, but she's not. Out, she's, she wouldn't hop up on stage and give a five minute talk on butterflies, she just wouldn't do any of that stuff.
And so the chamber's [00:20:00] been good for her because it's getting her more comfortable with that. Like the chair's lunch, we just went around and started talking to people, and at first she was nervous and then, before you know it, she's. She's great. Hey, let's go talk to this guy. So, so that's been good about it.
And then just knowing that you're not alone, that sounds silly, but just knowing you're, that you're not alone. Meeting other business owners. Meeting the people at the chamber. I went to, recently, I went to one of the new member kickoffs as a new member with Prime went to that meeting and it was very, it was said, this is your building.
This is, we are here for you. And I believe that, and I feel. Cause it's apparent in what you guys do. I'm getting emails. Hey, you haven't signed up for this yet. All right. I'll sign up for
that. Right? Yep.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: No, that's awesome. Yeah I And what side of the room were you on? Cuz I didn't see you at the luncheon. So
Cody Beard: I was, and it's funny, when I looked back through the pictures, I saw Don was in one of 'em. I thought, gosh dang it cuz we were, yeah, we signed up the night before cuz we thought we were gonna be out of town. So anyways,
Don Sherman: all right. You
Cody Beard: I kind of
Don Sherman: it if it was virtual. You were virtual, you wouldn't see folks. Oh my gosh. And
Cody Beard: to see
you.[00:21:00]
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So I'm going to ignore that. Cody, back to you and your story.
Cody Beard: No. Let's let this
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: this go.
Cody Beard: Yeah.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: So, you guys moved back to Wichita, why, and you decided to stay and open up businesses here.
Why Wichita?
Cody Beard: Sure. To illustrate it I'll, I'll give you an example of our first week. So when we first moved back, we live in Riverside and my wife's from the East coast.
They're a little more guarded on the East coast. And the first week we were back, we had a neighbor come over and we didn't have Any curtains up in our house. And this lady's walking across the street, my wife's watching her and she shows up and, hi, I'm and here's some cookies, welcome to the neighborhood.
And she said, well, that's weird, and she's not used to that. And then, a couple days later a police officer comes by and he's asking cuz there's a gentleman that had gotten out of some type of care home that was real. Close to where we lived and super nice, and so she leave or he leaves and she says, where did you move me to leave it to Beaver? You And so,
So to her
it was a culture shock
and to
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Oh
Cody Beard: me it was Wichita,[00:22:00] I'll tell you the first place I lived in the military outside Wichita, and of course I'm 1920, whatever I was, and I was nervous, was Charleston, South Carolina. And it felt a lot like Wichita just with funny accents, right?
But it, there's a feeling a city has a feeling, right? A city has a way of making people feel and way communicating. And so I've lived in West coast, east coast all over. But Wichita just feels right. And so it starts with a feeling and then you see that the people around you.
Are really focused on the youth. And so that's a big piece of what I fell in love with. So, a little bit about me and what my wife has tolerated for the past 14 years is I've been coaching sports, youth sports, anywhere from three year olds up through almost college-aged kids and wrestling.
And the people around me were like-minded in that sense that they knew the future of Wichita was our youth. You can't just hope that kids become without mentorship, hope that they. Good stewards of your name and the community. And so that's also kept me here for all those years, is just that family environment.
Great [00:23:00] schools, mean, you name it I could go on
cuz
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Wichita is great. I agree. Yep. I'm gonna let Don, because I know he's like chomping at the bit to ask you what you have coming up next. And I know you have some exciting things coming up here in the next couple weeks.
Don Sherman: She asked a question, so go ahead and answer it for me, so, because I don't get to ask anything.
No. What you got coming up in next couple of weeks?
Cody Beard: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for asking. We've had a tremendous amount of success on the east side, so we've already started construction on the west side, so, don't have a firm date yet, but sometime in June we'll be cutting the ribbon on the west side,
So,
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Are you gonna invite us?
Cody Beard: Absolutely.
Yeah. I think you declined me last time. I
Don Sherman: Oh, wow. Now he's climbing.
Cody Beard: yeah, see, it's contagious. It's contagious.
Don Sherman: Well, let's build on that. We know what's happening the next couple of weeks. What's happening the next five years for Prime iv,
Cody Beard: Next five years for Prime iv? Sure. So, we'll see. It all starts with a plan. Like I said we looked at what it would take to live the lifestyle.
That we wanted. And so the balance for my [00:24:00] wife and I as far as business goes is what's the income versus freedom versus, future? All those things have to be in balance. And right now we're gonna open two locations and what, we'll see what the future holds from there. Because we're getting the age now where our kids are gonna be here in just a couple years.
They're gonna be high school or college age. I never thought I'd be an old parent.
Don Sherman: Wow. That's, wait, hold
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: on. We're about the same age, so say
Cody Beard: Yeah. I got more gray
Don Sherman: That was good. That was a good one. I like, you can say it again if you want to. Well, that's cool. That's cool. This has been hard. You've dealt with Ebony for about 30 minutes now. It's enough,
Cody Beard: right? Yeah.
Don Sherman: It's time for you to be rewarded.
Okay? We're gonna have some fun. We're gonna do word association. I wanna give you one word. You gimme one word back. It's not wrong cuz it's your word. Are you ready?
Cody Beard: I'm always ready.
Leader
my wife.
Success.
Different for everyone. That's that's yeah, I know. One word.
Don Sherman: College.
Important.
Cody Beard: Failure
part of the process.
Entrepreneur. [00:25:00]
Crazy.
Wichita
amazing.
He's
Don Sherman: pretty, did he?
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Yeah. He is.
Cody Beard: Vacation.
Necessary
hero.
Huh? So many people. So many people.
Chamber.
Amazing.
Family.
Critical to success.
Fun.
Don Sherman: Always.
You can tell he is not an engineer anymore. You tell him one word, he gives you four. So yeah.
Cody Beard: I'm trying
Don Sherman: Westar he didn't do that, you so last but not least, and you gotta tell the truth beverage. Hmm.
Cody Beard: Hmm.
Don Sherman: I don't know. Well, I never heard of a Hmm. what
Cody Beard: You used to be Uh hmm. ipa.
Don Sherman: Light ipa. Okay.
Cody Beard: See, it's funny,
I I used to make fun of the hipsters and their IPAs and then my friends started making me try and Yeah.
Oh yeah. you open it up. Smells like crap. Tastes like crap. It's so good.
Yeah, it's all good. Yeah.
Don Sherman: Excellent. Well thank you my man. Good to see you again. Thanks for being on the show. And absolutely it is what you, [00:26:00] it is when you have to. Yeah. Welcome to my world.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Well, I know you've had a good time today.
Cody Beard: Absolutely.
No, I appreciate you guys and I appreciate everything the Chamber does.
Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade: Yeah. Well, we appreciate you and thank you for staying in Wichita and adding value to our community. Yeah. We appreciate you and wish you the best of luck. if you would, please make certain you share this with your circle of friends and share it with someone who might find value in this story.
Till next time.
Don Sherman: Peace.