Creating a Book Culture with Ashley Michael

Show Notes

Join Kosta and his guest: Ashley Michael, Co-Founder and Manager of Plenty Downtown Bookshop, a registered non-profit, community-directed bookstore providing resources to authors, dreamers, and readers alike.

Find out more about Plenty Downtown Bookshop:
https://www.plentybookshop.com/

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.

This episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is made possible by our partners at Wildwood Resort and Marina. 

Find out more about Wildwood Resort and Marina:
https://wildwoodresorttn.com/

What is Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev?

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a podcast about business, parenting and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you intentional conversations on making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better. Recorded in Cookeville, TN, Kosta joins guests from all walks of life to bring fresh perspective and start your week with purpose. We're better together.

Kosta Yepifantsev: This episode
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Ashley Michael: Because if
you're giving something, it

shows that you value it, and
that, you know, you hope that

they value it as well. We like
to encourage people to write

little notes in the books that
you give and that kind of thing.

I think if we can start at a
young age, gifting books to kids

with meaning with notes and
things like that, that's just a

small thing that you can do to
really create this book culture.

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to
Better Together with Kosta

Yepifantsev, a podcast on
parenting business and living

life intentionally. We're here
every week to bring you

thoughtful conversation, making
your own path to

success,challenging the status
quo, and finding all the ways

we're better together. Here's
your host, Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all,
it's Kosta. Today, I'm here with

my guest, Ashley Michael,
co-founder and manager of Plenty

Downtown Bookshop, a registered
nonprofit community directed

bookstore providing resources to
authors, dreamers and readers

alike. Ashley, I want to start
this episode with a question

that might seem totally random.

But it's actually the through
line for this entire episode.

What is the third place?

Ashley Michael: I love that, you
know, to ask that. So third

place came around in the 90s.

And I think it has a lot to do
with when we were getting more

digitized in our culture, there
was this realization that we we

actually do need connection, we
can't just do all the things

online. I think that we've seen
that a lot now since post COVID,

and everything. So third place
is the idea that you have your

home and you have your work. And
then you have this other sort of

chosen place. And it's a public
place, and you choose it because

there's something there that you
like that draws you and so while

you're there, there's other like
minded people who also liked the

same thing. So I think of like
the bar on chairs, or coffee

shops, or things like that, or
you know, clubs, but book shops

have pretty quickly become third
places across the globe, really,

for a lot of people.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And we're
gonna get into all of the things

that planning offers and
bookshops in general. But when I

think of bookshops, right, I
think of like Barnes and Nobles,

books and million like these
huge I used to work at a Barnes

and Noble, okay, and I loved
when I was a kid, my mom would

take me to Barnes and Nobles,
and I would look at the strategy

guides at the time fantasy
section. But those have been

closing. So is there something
that is drawing people into

community bookstores versus
those big huge buildings like

Barnes and Nobles and Books a
Million?

Ashley Michael: I think they're
missing a soul sometime. Yeah, I

think like that. The Amazon
storefronts are probably the

best example where a few years
ago, they decided let's create

actual brick and mortar stores.

And they were beautiful, you
know, and all this stuff. But

they just didn't have they
weren't made by people. They

weren't, you know, there was no
personality. There wasn't you

weren't going there and
belonging and feeling the place

and the books. It was just like
shopping online, but having to

drive in your car?

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, yeah,
one of the things that I'm

fascinated, and again, we're
going to talk about it later on

is how reading is a I mean, it's
a learned skill, and 50% don't

actually know how to read at a
proficient level in our society.

And so when you're a business
owner, and you're like thinking,

Okay, well, what business should
I start and you think bookstore

and you're like, wait, I just
lost 50% of market share. But at

the same time, you're also what
I love that that you and Lisa

have been able to accomplish is
that you've not just created a

business that's centered around
books, but you've also created

an environment where people can
come to your business and engage

with books and who knows maybe
that will get them on the path

to actually maybe even learn how
to read.

Ashley Michael: Yeah, yeah, we
have People can't we have adults

that come in, you know, because
our shop is just in a great

walkable area. And you know it,
we tried to make it pretty and

inviting and have chairs and all
these were very intentional to

create this atmosphere, where
then you can just be with the

books and enjoy the books and
browse the books. So a lot of

people come in that they haven't
read in a long time. Or maybe,

you know, the last time they
read was for high school, you

know, required reading or
something like that. And so it's

really fun to help people find
this new love for books,

Kosta Yepifantsev: or encounter
people that can't read that are

Ashley Michael: adults. Yeah, I
think that'd be awfully hard for

them to say. So maybe that's a
goal, to have it be where adults

can come in and say, it's hard
for me to read, I would love

that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Plenty isn't
just a bookshop. It's a tool for

our community. From book clubs,
events, author meet and greets,

and countless creative
resources, you've cultivated a

space where people can do more
than just shop for books, as the

store manager, how is this
greater vision change the way

the business itself operates?

Ashley Michael: So my role in
this all is very much the day to

day the nuts and bolts of
helping keep this afloat and

make this happen, which I really
enjoy. And so that means my

focus is not on okay, what books
are we going to buy to bring in?

What's the staff schedule, it
has to be so much more than

that, because I am here to do
this to create something for my

community. And so the part that
I want to spend more time on

actually are those things,
planning, thinking, you know,

what would people love to come
to that revolves around books or

meeting authors, you know, or
getting into the schools and

bringing in an author and
inspiring kids to say, hey, this

could be you one day and things
like that. So we have a small

army of staff to help make all
these things happen. Because

it's not just, you know, a
store, it's it's really the

community space is so much why
we're there.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Well, and
also, if I'm not mistaken, So

correct me if I'm wrong. When
you guys were on spring, I think

in one day, moving too broad.

You guys like did the amount of
sales that you did the entire

time you were on spring or
something like that?

Ashley Michael: Yeah, it was. I
think that we did sales in one

day that took us probably a
month or two. Okay of our time

on spring. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So all the
business owners out there

location, man. Oh, my

Ashley Michael: goodness. Yeah.

So it is so worth investing in
having a good location, because

we really don't even have to
market ourselves. People just

come you guys are packed. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Like every
time I walk past the bookstore,

it's packed with people. It's
the vibes totally different.

It's a great vibe, not to say
that spring wasn't a good vibe,

but it's just the exterior and
in the interior aesthetics. And

on spring, I think you had a
great interiors aesthetic, but

the

Ashley Michael: exterior lights.

Yeah, it was Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: But it just
seems like cozy. It feels like a

notebook, you know, which is for
all you old school fans. That's

what Barnes and Nobles had as
the E the first e reader. Oh,

yeah. Which I had. Did you? Yes,
I did. I had enough.

Ashley Michael: I did not I had
to sell them, but I didn't.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So what's the
hardest part about running the

bookstore?

Ashley Michael: I think the time
thing. I mean, there's, there's

so much that I want to do. I
have big ideas and visions. I

mean, and this is where Lisa and
I are good partnerships. She's

such a visionary, and helping
literacy and bookstores on a

global level. And I maybe it's
because I have small kids or

whatever it may be I'm so
focused on I want to do big

things for Cookeville. And
there's just not enough time in

the day to do all the things
that I want to do.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Is it hard to
find people that are wanting to

work in that environment? Oh,

Ashley Michael: we actually just
hired and we put out a thing

online and had over 70
applicants and holidays, which I

know is not the case for I think
it's just a good industry, you

know that people are like, oh, I
want to work in a bookstore that

sounds so romantic and great.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Is the space
big enough to meet the demand of

all the people that are coming
into the store? Do you guys at

one point think that you might
need an even bigger space

because you have so much traffic
coming?

Ashley Michael: I think that we
could use a bigger space I think

we always want it to feel cozy
and so I don't know if that

would look like maybe one day
having a children's store you

know and across the street as
the rest or something like that.

But you know, we wouldn't want
to be some big mega building but

there's also you know, we have
we order things and we have our

online storefront and so we
don't have to house all the

books that everybody wants
because we can get them in but

yeah, we could grow and be okay
with that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I like that.

Yeah. So let's talk about
literacy. Okay, there are so

many fascinating statistics on
reading and the developmental

success of children. But I want
to highlight one children who

read for only five minutes every
day will consume 282,000 new

words every year. How can plenty
in bookstores like it helped

bridge the gap of reading and
literacy rates that are so

prevalent right now?

Ashley Michael: Oh, I love that.

So we talked about at plenty,
our goal is to create a book

culture. So we have this grand
idea that the you know, we can

help create a world where people
love books. And I think that

we're such a fast paced society.

And we don't take time to care
for ourselves, even among a lot

of other things. And so I think
books bring so much good and so

much health into the world. And
so it's a lot easier if you

start young. So part of what we
do is we partner with a lot of

the local schools, providing
books, like, there's a third and

fourth grade group at one of our
local schools that's ordering

books, and we're just giving to
him at our cost, okay. And

that's a big part of where which
I know talk about later, moving

toward a nonprofit model helps
us to be able to do things like

that, where we're able to
provide things and not worry so

much about our bottom line. But
I think the biggest thing is,

you know, you can give people
free books all day long. But if

they don't care about it, if
they don't value the book, or

value reading, then it's like,
okay, well, here's, that's

great. Thanks. That was fun for
a day. And now I'm over it. I

think if you can foster a love
for reading, I think a lot of

that has to do with gifting as
weird as that sounds. And so the

design of our store is really
heavily geared toward giftable

books for kids, for adults,
because if you're giving

something, it shows that you
value it, and that, you know,

you hope that they value it as
well. We like to encourage

people to write little notes in
the books that you give and that

kind of thing. And I think if we
can start at a young age,

gifting books to kids with
meaning with notes and things

like that, that's just a small
thing that you can do to really

create this book culture. But
yeah, it's important.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Just a follow
up question. Okay. So even if

you love to read, okay, like,
maybe you just love books, like,

you know, there's a book on my
desk, and it makes me happier

than anything else, you know,
possible. But what happens if

you don't know how to read? I
mean, you can love the idea of

reading, but if you don't
actually know how to read, I

don't know how you're gonna be
able to fall in love with the

book,

Ashley Michael: I think we're
going to have to partner with a

lot of different groups and a
lot of different people to

change these sorts of things.

But we're here for it. Yeah,
plenty. I think our teachers are

amazing. I think they need all
the support that they can get. I

know, in our area, you know,
there's a lot of families where

there are no books in the home,
right. And that's something that

we want to change, too. There's
a lot of statistics that show

that, you know, if you have a
home with I think 100 books in

it, that that's all that it
takes. And that just does

infinite things, you know, if
kids are just around the books,

and then they can pick them up,
and they can learn to sort of

piece through it. And that kind
of thing.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Does it
concern you? Because you know,

we had third grade retention,
the test? And I think like 30%

scored proficient, and 70% did
not. I mean, third grade is I

mean, that's what nine year
olds? Yeah. I mean, if you can't

read when you're nine years old,
Mike, how do you feel about

that? Does it concern you?

Ashley Michael: Well, I have
elementary aged kids too. And

I'm still trying to understand a
lot of what this means. I think

that there's things that we can
that we ought to and can be

doing even before third grade so
that it's not all of a sudden,

okay, you're just third grade.

And we've got to do all these
things. And but yeah, I mean,

it's mind blowing to think, and
I know that reading comes really

easily for some of us. And for
some of us, it is not easy, you

know, and there's all kinds of
progress that's been made on

helping people with dyslexia and
other different learning

disorders. And that's really
exciting. But yeah, I don't

know, this is just gonna be a
big thing that we work through

together.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I listened to
a podcast, and I've talked about

it on the show before it's
called Soul the story and it

essentially tracks the evolution
of reading in the United States

from the 60s through the 2020s.

There has been this battle
between learning how to read

using phonics, and also learning
how to read using versus

learning how to read using this
model that was established by a

group called Fountas and
Pinnell, and they essentially

want you to fall in love with
reading. And they think that if

they use a series of cues and
like visual presentations, that

you'll be able to kind of guess
your way A into learning how to

read. And I mean, that may be
more of like a cynical way of

describing it. But long story
short, it hasn't worked. And it

was in more than half of public
school systems in the United

States up until the pandemic,
when kids came back home and

parents were like, you're doing
Wow, they pop in and see them

learning on Zoom and be like,
What are you? What are you

talking about, even though
everybody you know, has problems

with common core, but once it
comes home, we will really have

a problem with it. The point
that I'm trying to make is if we

have such a huge problem with
literacy, and the statistics

point to it being such a huge
problem. Yeah, how does plenty

use all of its resources and all
of its tools, and all of its

manpower to try in an effect
this issue?

Ashley Michael: This is really
good. And this is getting my

brain thinking. And if you have
ideas, I would welcome them. I

think that it's got to be on the
adult level, as well as on the

kid level. And, you know,
working with the schools, but

you know, this is a problem that
I think has been building for a

really long time. And so it's
going to take a lot of effort to

help these things. But if we can
convince adults, which to me, is

crazy. I do I love reading, I've
always loved reading. So it's

hard to imagine, you know why
you wouldn't even if it is just

reading comic books, that's
still reading or reading

cookbooks, you know, whatever it
might be, it's reading. And

that's great. And it's so good
for your brain, reminding adults

through hopefully, I think a big
part of that for me is because

our store is in a location where
people from all walks are coming

in to eat or to get ice cream at
cream city or whatever it might

be, maybe they wouldn't be
afraid to come in a bookstore,

and, you know, then we can
remind them or maybe show them

the first time how there's tons
of different things that you

could read, and you just need to
find the right match. And we

love to do that with people. And
then, you know, the school piece

is still such a mystery to me. I
mean, there's so many layers to

what we can do. But I do hope
that with us being a nonprofit,

and we actually just hired a
staff member to just be our sort

of school liaison person.

Because we just want to be able
to do a lot with our resources

of having all these accounts
with publishers and things like

that to see what can we do to
help our local schools?

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yes or no?

Can you be successful in life if
you don't know how to read?

Ashley Michael: Well, I mean,
there's Dolly Parton. Does she

not know how to read and know
how to read as an adult? I mean,

I think she can now but that is
such a cool story. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So obviously,
she's a phenomenal singer,

musician. She

Ashley Michael: just could fake
her way through. Maybe she had

the picture thing like you were
talking about whatever reading

program that was, but she could
not read. Do you think there's a

lot of people like that? I think
so. Yeah. So you know, she went

and started Dali's Imagination
Library, which we love and which

Lisa actually is, was just
invited to be on the board of

nice. Yeah, we hope to keep
working there and doing

different things with Tennessee
to be able to help kids hear but

yeah, I think there's a lot like
Dolly.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And so plenty
overarching success. When you're

like, Okay, we finally made it
is when you're gonna have people

within the community know that
this is a safe place that they

can come in and start their
reading journey. Yeah, even if

it is from zero. Yep. I would
love that. Do you think plenties

model as a nonprofit could be
the blueprint for other

community driven bookstores? And
also what does that look like?

Ashley Michael: Yeah, we get a
lot of I mean, even at first for

me, when this idea was
introduced, I thought, well, how

can a bookstore be a nonprofit,
because it's such a different

idea. But now it just makes
perfect sense to me. So the idea

is that nonprofits have to do
some sort of public good,

there's, they're serving the
community, somehow they are

there to benefit the community.

And it's very clear that reading
and that books, benefit the

community. But we're, we're a
store so we're selling books. So

then that's where it's like, how
can you be a nonprofit? But we

think that the art of browsing
of spending time in a store and

thinking what am I going to
choose to bring into my home and

to be a part of my life or my
shelf or what I'm going to give

to my child on their first
birthday or whatever it might

be? There's so much good that
comes from that whole

experience, and bookstores.

Actually in towns like ours,
we're doing pretty well

financially. But our cost of
living isn't too bad here in

Cookeville compared to like,
large cities and things like

that. So most of the other parts
to the US, it's very hard to

have a sustainable bookstore.

But it's such an important piece
of society. And so if we can

create a way to make it a
nonprofit and to allow

booksellers to have a livable
minimum wage salary, you know,

because you, you have to have a
lot of knowledge and a lot of

skill and a lot of people skills
on these things to be a good

bookseller. So if we can honor
booksellers, give them a good

salary, provide the space that
is good for the community.

Having the nonprofit is is a big
way that we can do that. And

then it frees us up to be able
to do all the things that we so

much want to do with just
helping create these book

cultures and helping kids learn
to love books and reading at a

young age.

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Ashley Michael: So there is a
lot of ways that they are

similar. They both are promoting
literacy, we do a lot to partner

with the library, actually, I
think we do well to work

together, they have a lot of
resources at their disposal that

we can, you know, funnel our
customers there. And then the

same, they cannot sell books, we
are able to sell books, we're

able to provide the books for
their author events, or for

their kids book clubs, or
whatever it may be. So we work

really well together, actually,
you know, but I think the

biggest difference is the
library, you're you're borrowing

things, but those are books that
are in and out of your life for

a time but a bookstore, you
know, you're intentionally

building your, you know, little
light, whether it's 10, a 10

book library at home, or 1000,
or whatever it may be. Those are

a piece of your home and your
heart for me. You know, I mean,

books are just in there for
life. And you know, it's

different than a library. You're
not just trying things on, but

Kosta Yepifantsev: you're
keeping them. Do you guys get

grants? Well, I

Ashley Michael: mean, this is
all very new. But yes, so we do

have a grant that has just
started where we are involved

with this cohort of other book,
people, some are bookstore

owners, some are in the
publishing side. And all these

things. Were sort of part of
this cohort that is trying to

sit together and figure out and
carve out this idea of the

nonprofit model of the
bookstore. And so we have a

grant that is, is helping do
that. We've just learned so much

from working with all these
other people in the industry.

And

Kosta Yepifantsev: what's the
network like for indie

bookstores? Like is it pretty
vast? Especially in Tennessee?

Is there a lot of small
bookstores?

Ashley Michael: Yes. There's a
few that I love. And I talked to

them all the time asking them
questions, because I'm like the

new kid. But yeah, there's a big
one in Nashville, Parnassus

books and the book and cover in
Chattanooga. And there's a lot

of other ones. But yeah, book,
people are very kind and

helpful. I went to a national
Booksellers Association

conference in Seattle. And it
was so fun and you know, we're

all not competitors. We're all
in the same market together. And

so it's a good, it's a good
bunch of people.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Okay, so
other than I think one key to

having a successful community
bookstore is eventually you're

going to have to get LeVar
Burton to cast from the Reading

Rainbow. Yes. And put on an
event. Yep. And we're going to

talk about event what's next?

But I want to kind of paint a
picture for you. And I want to

hear your interpretation of what
this may or may not mean, when

you name a lot of community
bookstores. And when you think

of community bookstores, you
usually think of larger

communities like Chattanooga,
like Nashville, Knoxville,

there's gonna be bookstores in
New York, which we were just up

there, and we saw a ton of them.

You guys are wanting to do this
in Cookeville? Yes. And dare I

say there's probably not many
community bookstores in smaller

towns even smaller than
Cookeville. Very sad. So what

does that say about our society?

Or at least just let's just
break it down? What does that

say about our state that it has
to be in an urban, Metro, large

city environment to be able to
get enough people that I'm not

going to put words in your
mouth, but know how to read?

Ashley Michael: Yeah, there is
this map out there. And I don't

even know how Lisa found it. But
she's just amazing. And she can

she knows things. And she knows
people. It shows like, all of

the black holes where there are
no books like a book desert,

yes, a book desert. So people
aren't buying books on Amazon in

these places. There are no
bookstores, there are no

libraries. And Tennessee has a
lot of those book deserts. And

so a big part of what we want to
do, and I'm not even sure what

that's going to look like. But
if you could have a cute cozy

little bookshop, like plenty in
the small towns, that 100% would

invite people to want to come in
to be around the books and

think, Oh, what have I been
missing? I just think people

don't even know what they're
missing. They're not around it.

They don't even know.

Kosta Yepifantsev: You know, I
just think that we found a

actionable item, a solution that
the state legislature could

actually do to improve the
dynamics of their third grade

retention law. Yeah, I'm gonna
go on a quick tangent, and then

we're gonna wrap up in life.

Okay. So if you look, think of
the third grade retention law,

right, you sit down at a desk,
you have to take a test, you

don't score well, you don't move
on. You do score, well, you move

on in life, business work,
whatever it might be, you are

put in a very precarious
position and a high pressure

situation where you have to
produce, if you don't produce,

you don't get promoted, you may
not even have a job afterwards.

I understand that this third
grade retention law is supposed

to be somewhat of a gut check on
third graders, as crude as that

may sound, it's supposed to be
like, Okay, are you ready? No.

Okay, you need more time. Are
you ready? Yes. Okay, you can

move on. Right. But we've got to
start figuring out by talking to

very intelligent people like
yourself and Lisa, on what are

the solutions? Because
obviously, if you would have

said that we have booked deserts
in Tennessee, I guarantee you

that the majority of the people
who wrote this law have no idea.

Yeah, so they write the law with
questionable outcomes. But now

we can have solutions by talking
to individuals working with

nonprofit community bookstores
to try to bridge the gap between

where we are now which is 30%,
proficient, right to where we

want to be, which is, I'm just
going to shoot for the stars and

say 100% proficiency, right, we
should exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Before we wrap up, I want to
talk about all the upcoming

events from plenty coming this
fall. I know there's something

for every single age group. So
if you want to start from kids

and work your way up to adults,
or vice versa, that'd be great.

Ashley Michael: Sure, yes, we
have a lot. And before I even go

through all this, we have a
website, which we are very much

trying to keep up to date so
that people are not confused on

what's happening. But if you go
to plenty bookshop.com, we have

a great little calendar on
there. So for kids, we do two

storytimes a week. And that way
we can fit in like if there's

parents working or whatever it
might be. And you can only come

certain times, we do a Monday
morning, because there's nothing

ever to do if you've ever been a
stay at home parent.

Everything's closed on Mondays.

It's like what do you do? So
we're there, we're open. And we

do storytime at 1030 on Monday
mornings. And that one's really

fun. And we get out the puppets
and stuff. And then on Saturdays

at 1030. We also do a storytime.

And that's great for kind of the
whole family all all age groups,

the Monday ones great for
probably little like preschool

and real little kids. And then
we have author events all the

time. And that is something that
I hope we can do more of and we

host them most of the time in
the bookshop, but sometimes

they're at other places, some
other community partners and we

would love to even do author
events with businesses. That's

something that we're looking
into being able to say you're

having a retreat and you can
hear some books and this

inspirational author and we can
help connect that and make that

happen. And I think books and
You know, the creative arts and

all this sort of go hand in hand
a lot. So we try and do a lot

with writers in our community
too. So we always have writers

workshops every month. And
there's actually a lot of

publishing resources in
Nashville. And so we're able to

sometimes bring those people in
and do different publishing

workshops on how to publish and
that kind of thing. So there's

lots happening.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Three quick
questions. What's your favorite

book?

Ashley Michael: Oh, favorite.

I'm not good with favorite
questions for anything. I'm just

gonna say fan of Green Gables.

Yeah, loose Montgomery is one
that I read. Not till college,

actually. But it sat around my
house for forever. And I've just

I love it. I read it every year.

It just makes me feel like have
a renewed lease on life. Yeah,

because she's so upbeat.

Kosta Yepifantsev: What's your
favorite genre of books?

Ashley Michael: I think this is
very, even though I love that

one. I do like mysteries. Okay.

Yeah. Nice. Yeah, I like it.

love a good who done it?

Kosta Yepifantsev: I love that.

So when I sort of entered into
the real world, you know, had to

like you know, leave high school
and stop playing hockey and

like, enter the workforce,
right? I read Dale Carnegie's

How to Win Friends and Influence
People ASIC. So what do you

think? I mean, I was blown away
everything that I mean, it was

90, I was 19 years old. I had to
find a job that I could turn

into a career. And that book, I
mean, unlocked every single

thing in my mind, one of the
things that it taught me, and I

think it's important to say
this, because you don't know

what you're gonna find in a book
until you actually start reading

it. Yeah. It taught me how to
communicate with people. And

when you're like a 19 year old
kid, you think everybody that's

older than you is scary. Yeah.

You know, like high school kids.

Sure, you know, middle school
kids in general. They're,

they're cool. But everybody
that's like the gatekeeper, you

know, is an adult, usually in
like a 30, or four year old and

that book, I still use
practically everything in that

book to this day. Yeah. And it
was written in like the 20s.

Ashley Michael: And there's been
no need to like, I mean, it's

just good for you do it.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Exactly.

Yeah. And I think it's important
to say that if you're going to

start a new career, whether it's
you know, working in

manufacturing, or it's working
in healthcare, or it's working

in sales, whatever it might be,
pick up a book and read about,

you know, what best practices
are, I read how to sell a car

today. And it really helped,
again, because of the fact that

I was completely oblivious to
what I needed to do. And this at

least gave me some fundamental
building blocks. And believe me,

when I say I'm not an avid
reader, my wife reads like, a

couple of books a week. I might
read one book a year.

Ashley Michael: Yeah. But
that's, that's still reading.

Absolutely. Yeah. And you read
more, you know, little things

that you think about, it doesn't
have to be not everybody loves a

novel.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I mean, I
read a lot. Yeah. That does much

cover anyone. I read a lot of
points of view, like in terms of

emails and things like that. But
when the reason why I keep

asking you like, how do people
make it without being able to

read? I don't know. I mean, to
some of my earliest memories of

things that I've had to do in
life required me being able to

read Yeah, I don't know how
dolly did it. Well, she's just a

fantastic singer. So listen, I
guess we can say that if you can

sing really well, like, pardon,
then maybe reading is optional.

So we always like to end the
show on a high note, who is

someone that makes you better
when you're together?

Ashley Michael: I just couldn't
think of anything better than my

mom, which maybe is such a
classic answer. I don't know.

But sometimes I get a little
caught up in the weeds and kinda

like serious and focused and
she's really good about, like,

she just laughs at herself, and
she does something silly. We

laugh a lot. And she's like, you
know, my biggest cheerleader and

she's watching the kids right
now, so that I can do this. And

so I gotta give it up for and
she read to me as a kid all the

time, and my dad did too. And he
has a hard time reading. He's

dyslexic. But he would still
read to me as a kid and my mom

and I have a lot of her old
books that she passed down. So,

Kosta Yepifantsev: Thank you to
our partners at Wildwood Resort

gotta go with mom.

and Marina for presenting this
episode. Wildwood Resort offers

guests a rare collection of
lodging styles from vintage

airstreams and waterfront
cabins, to floating harbor

cottages and a new two story
inn. It's the perfect

destination to visit this fall
to explore nearby hiking trails

and waterfalls. Walk on
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boardwalk, enjoy authentic
dining at the Lakeside

Restaurant, be energized with an
on-site massage treatment.

Wildwood is tucked away off the
beaten path, nestled in nature.

This is a hidden gem. For more
information go to

visitwildwood.com

Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of

Better Together with Kosta
Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed

listening and you want to hear
more, make sure you subscribe on

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Leave us a review or better yet,
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friend. Today's episode was
written and produced by Morgan

Franklin post production mixing
and editing by Mike Franklin.

Want to know more about Kosta
visit us at

kostayepifantsev.com. We're
better together. We'd like to

remind our listeners that the
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during this episode are those of
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