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Mark explores the minds of visionary entrepreneurs who refuse to limit themselves to a single venture to learn how these trailblazers manage risks, innovate across industries, and turn ideas into impact.
Whether you’re scaling your first business or juggling several, this podcast is your ultimate guide to thriving as a parallel entrepreneur.
0:00And we always went to Sunday supper and I would be telling him about my week, you know, tell me about your week, son.
0:066 secondsAnd I'd tell him about the stores I visited. And boy, if they would just merchandise this store better or if they would staff it properly or if they'd
0:1414 secondsclean it up, I'd say these things. He said, "Son, you sound like an entrepreneur." And I said, "I've never really thought
0:2222 secondsabout it." He said, "Well, there's those that talk about it and those that do it." He said, "I think you're a doer." Welcome to the Parallel Entrepreneur,
0:3131 secondswhere we explore how founders, creators, and visionaries bring multiple ventures and parts of themselves to life. In
0:3838 secondsseason 2, we're keeping the conversations real and wide-ranging about alignment, creativity, and the messy, beautiful art of building in parallel. It's not about doing more.
0:5050 secondsIt's about letting our ideas work together. This is the Parallel Entrepreneur.
0:5858 secondsConversations on the Parallel Entrepreneur podcast are about people, and most people think that we're talking
1:061 minute, 6 secondsabout building a business. Every now and then, you run across someone who's really building something else entirely,
1:131 minute, 13 secondssomething that lives a little deeper in the community. Andy Marshall is one of those people. From his early days in the
1:211 minute, 21 secondsgrocery business to founding a Marshall Hospitality, his work has consistently centered around creating places that
1:281 minute, 28 secondsbring people together where the experience matters just as much as the product. And over time, that approach
1:351 minute, 35 secondshasn't just worked, it's scaled without losing what made it special in the first place. This is a conversation about
1:431 minute, 43 secondsbuilding with intention and what it takes to grow without disconnecting from your roots. Andy, welcome to the show.
1:501 minute, 50 secondsWe are um I'm so thrilled to sit down on at across the table from you again.
1:561 minute, 56 secondsI know it's been a while since we've been actually face to face. Yeah. Yeah. It's good to see you.
2:022 minutes, 2 secondsI'm super excited about my very first experience when I moved to Nashville
2:092 minutes, 9 secondswhen I got out into the countryside and discovered this place called Puckets Grocery.
2:152 minutes, 15 secondsOh, amen. It was um 2000 when I moved uh to Nashville.
2:222 minutes, 22 secondsAnd you just you what you started that company in '98. 98.
2:272 minutes, 27 secondsSo I'm toodling through the beautiful countryside of Middle Tennessee. Don't even really know where Leapers Fork is.
2:372 minutes, 37 secondsI just ran into it and discovered it and went inside. Um, and one of your innovations was to bring music and a
2:462 minutes, 46 secondsreal approachable experience into a grocery store and a diner and integrate those things. And I was looking around
2:532 minutes, 53 secondsgoing, "What in the heck is going on here?" How tell tell tell the audience tell our
2:592 minutes, 59 secondsfriends how you became an entrepreneur and brought this vision that began that
3:073 minutes, 7 secondsstory that began this you know today's evolution of puckets.
3:123 minutes, 12 secondsYeah. So you know to to think about when I knew I was an entrepreneur um right out of college. You remember the college
3:203 minutes, 20 secondsrecruiters come when you're when you're finishing up college and you apply for jobs before you ever finish. And
3:283 minutes, 28 secondsI applied with Lever Brothers selling soap and I had been in the grocery business my whole life selling soap.
3:363 minutes, 36 secondsAnd um I never um thought that's where I was heading. I always thought I' I'd you know go right into back into the grocery
3:443 minutes, 44 secondsstores. But anyway, I took that job and as I was um selling soap around Middle Tennessee and and I would come home um
3:533 minutes, 53 secondsmy dad always had a Sunday supper and we always went to Sunday supper and I would be telling him about my week, you know, tell me about your week, son. And I'd
4:024 minutes, 2 secondstell him about the stores I visited and boy, if they would just merchandise this store better or if they would staff it properly or if they'd clean it up, I'd
4:104 minutes, 10 secondssay these things. He said, "Son, you sound like an entrepreneur." And I said, "I've never really thought
4:184 minutes, 18 secondsabout it." He said, "Well, there's those that talk about it and those that do it." He said, "I think you're a doer."
4:254 minutes, 25 secondsAnd at age 26, I bought my first grocery store. So, I've been an entrepreneur most all my life. But the leapers for
4:324 minutes, 32 secondsjourney I'd so I had built my grocery stores for four grocery stores and I just didn't see a long-term vision for the independent groceryer. I'd won
4:414 minutes, 41 secondsgroceryer of the year. I'd been given the spirit of America award by Congress by some innovation in the grocery
4:484 minutes, 48 secondsbusiness. But as I um get to a certain pinnacle, people want you to mentor, right? And I was mentoring
4:564 minutes, 56 secondsand I was talking some generational businesses. third generation and they still had debt. And somehow that shook
5:065 minutes, 6 secondsme to think, how is it that you took this over from your dad, your dad took it over from his dad and y'all still have debt 40 years later?
5:165 minutes, 16 secondsAnd the grocery business question, right?
5:185 minutes, 18 secondsRight. Right. And so the grocery business is one that it takes a tremendous amount of capital investment because you have millions of dollars in
5:275 minutes, 27 secondsinventory and then you have a bunch of equipment and the equipment during that time was changing and innovating and so
5:365 minutes, 36 secondsyou were constantly having to reinvest and I just didn't see a way out of debt and I felt the urge to get out of debt.
5:435 minutes, 43 secondsSo, I sold my four grocery stores and um and I'd like to say I found Leapers Fork, but Leapers Fork really found me.
5:525 minutes, 52 secondsA couple people called me about this little market there. Hey, you're you used to be in the grocery business. Come out here and buy this grocery store and help us. Well, it wasn't really a
6:016 minutes, 1 secondgrocery store. It was two gas pumps and about 2,000 square foot of of shelving, 8ft meat counter, 8ft produce. It was
6:106 minutes, 10 secondstiny. But I thought, you know, I can fix this up. I can clean it up, fix it up, and I may flip it. But in that journey, that entrepreneurial spirit kicks in,
6:186 minutes, 18 secondsand you you start thinking, how, okay, how do I make this work?
6:226 minutes, 22 secondsPeople are so mobile now, they're not going to buy groceries here. They're going to drive right by you and go to the big, you know, Kroger's or Publix or
6:306 minutes, 30 secondswherever was more convenient and could offer more. So, how do I make it work?
6:366 minutes, 36 secondsWell, the I started cooking and the cooking became a calling card. And then well, how do we get more people to
6:436 minutes, 43 secondsexperience the cooking? We have all these beautiful songwriters in our community and the relationships led to
6:506 minutes, 50 secondsthe dinner program and and and music and and then it set us on a course that um really changed the rest of my my career.
6:596 minutes, 59 secondsYeah.
6:596 minutes, 59 secondsYou know, we now sit there with 11 restaurants across Middle Tennessee and one in Alabama and never thought from two gas pumps that that's where we were
7:077 minutes, 7 secondsheading. you I I remember that there was a movie night and we would go out back
7:147 minutes, 14 secondsand watch movies uh and listen to live music in a grocery store and you'd uh
7:217 minutes, 21 secondshave some of that awesome barbecue brisket. I mean, and it was so small
7:287 minutes, 28 secondsthat was like this maybe so quaint and personal and approachable. you managed to make that
7:387 minutes, 38 secondsfeeling continue in the new restaurants that you've opened. Um, how do you how do you keep that formula going?
7:467 minutes, 46 secondsRight. So, you know, when you go from one to two, that's that's the big question, right?
7:517 minutes, 51 secondsIs how is it duplicatable? Do do we really have something special or is it only special for here? And that question
7:597 minutes, 59 secondswas u was rolling around in our head when we started seeing people sitting in the parking lot with their tailgates down or their trunks open because they
8:088 minutes, 8 secondscouldn't get in the restaurant and they were eating our food sitting in the parking lot. And I told my wife, I said, "We either need to expand or we're going
8:168 minutes, 16 secondsto we're going to die on our success right here. People aren't going to do this forever, right? The inconvenience of something that cool." And you and Jan
8:248 minutes, 24 secondshave been married for 42 years this October. So it really was you were newly weds. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Kind of. Sort of. Yeah.
8:338 minutes, 33 secondsHey honey, we keep it newly wet all the time. That's good.
8:378 minutes, 37 secondsYeah. So um so yeah, you know, we and then we found that location in Franklin and lo and behold, it it became
8:438 minutes, 43 secondsduplicatable. it we it was different but still had that feel of it used to be a
8:518 minutes, 51 secondsgrocery store and now it's a restaurant kind of question when people came in and they found that fascinating and um almost like mom and Paul had to push
9:009 minuteseverything to the four walls and then had to put some tables in to survive and truly I mean that's kind of in truth
9:089 minutes, 8 secondsthat's what happened but it became now a a concept I used to ride my bike. Jenny, my wife
9:159 minutes, 15 secondsJenny and I would ride our bikes from Brentwood down to Leapers Fork and and the destination was launch at Puckets.
9:259 minutes, 25 secondsYeah.
9:259 minutes, 25 secondsAnd then there became like the Harley-Davidson group and the and the and the secondation.
9:359 minutes, 35 secondsYeah.
9:359 minutes, 35 secondsUm it strikes me you were in the grocery business which I perceive to be a very difficult business. It is
9:429 minutes, 42 secondsgigantic big box retailers. You're an awardwinning ger. Then you pick what I also perceive to be an extremely difficult business which is restaurant.
9:529 minutes, 52 secondsRestauranting. You're a restaurant tour. Yeah.
9:569 minutes, 56 secondsUm why why do you like big challenges? And what is it about these experiences? It's just you got there. You can do anything, right?
10:0510 minutes, 5 secondsIf you can run a 500 person organization, you can pretty much do anything. But you didn't pick easy businesses.
10:1210 minutes, 12 secondsYeah. Yeah. I've had many people like yourself look me in the eye and say, "Why would you go from the second most failed rate business for an entrepreneur
10:2110 minutes, 21 secondsand go to the first rated fail rate business as an entrepreneur? I I never looked it that way. I you know um I was
10:3010 minutes, 30 secondsraised in the grocery business. you know, when my dad took me in at age 13, I um he was a grosser and I just wanted
10:4010 minutes, 40 secondsto please him and thank him for for taking me in. And um and so it became
10:4710 minutes, 47 secondsjust do good at whatever you do kind of mentality. And so I I was really good at being a grosser. And then um later, you
10:5610 minutes, 56 secondsknow, when I built my business and sold it, I you know, Leapers Fork really found me. I was just it really was just going to be a short-term project. But
11:0511 minutes, 5 secondsthen that entrepreneur side kicks in and I started following passion.
11:1011 minutes, 10 secondsAnd that passion then became, boy, I love to cook. Always did. And all my grocery stores, I always wanted to have scratch delies. I didn't want to buy it
11:1711 minutes, 17 secondsin a box and put it in a box and put my label on it. I wanted to cook it. I wanted it to be fresh. And so I started
11:2411 minutes, 24 secondsdoing that out in Leapers and and you know once I put that smoker out in the parking lot and I'd go out there and open that lid every time there was
11:3211 minutes, 32 secondstraffic you know and people would pull in and what are you cooking you know it was it became a became a fun thing. It smelled great out there. Absolutely.
11:4011 minutes, 40 secondsBefore people really understood to just go ahead and cook outside. You were doing it. Let's drill in a little bit on this.
11:4911 minutes, 49 secondsyou're grateful for your dad taking you in. And you mentioned mentorship already in our conversation and those are two, you know, some of my favorite
11:5711 minutes, 57 secondstopics are how you mentor, how you're how you've been mentored.
12:0212 minutes, 2 secondsUm, but my dad taken me in.
12:0612 minutes, 6 secondsLet's let's unusual way to describe your beginning journey.
12:1212 minutes, 12 secondsYeah. So, um, my mother and father divorced when I was two years old. He he was coming out of the military and at two years old they were divorced.
12:2312 minutes, 23 secondsSo I never knew him from that standpoint. I mean he was gone in military comes home they get divorced and so she's a single mom raising three
12:3212 minutes, 32 secondskids. I had a brother 7 and a half years almost 8 years older than me and a sister four years older than me. So they
12:3912 minutes, 39 secondshad a little more understanding of the my dad than I did. And then in those days, you know, the dads didn't get a
12:4812 minutes, 48 secondswhole lot of rights. I saw him uh two days at Christmas and two weeks of summer. And that was all the
12:5412 minutes, 54 secondsrelationship I had with him. And so over the time of of um living with my mother,
13:0113 minutes, 1 secondshe remarries. My brother leaves the house at age 15. I'm seven. U because he can't take it. Whatever that was, I
13:1013 minutes, 10 secondsdidn't understand it. And then my sister became a runaway when she was 13 years old and got into the hippie movement.
13:1713 minutes, 17 secondsAnd then the abuse started on me. And I systematically he worked through each of us. And I I didn't really see that in my
13:2613 minutes, 26 secondsbrother or my sister. I just was safe at that point. When I became unsafe and it
13:3213 minutes, 32 secondsbecame my turn, um it it it it was not good. So, there were several things that
13:3913 minutes, 39 secondshappened that kind of kept me sane. The Boys and Girls Club, um, a police officer picked me up on the streets of Memphis when I was 10 and said,
13:4713 minutes, 47 secondstold my mother he didn't need to be out on the streets during the day. He he needs to be in school and then he needs to be at Boys and Girls Club and you need to pick him up there. And
13:5513 minutes, 55 secondsand so, uh, having Boys and Girls Club pouring to me was an important part that kept me through that period. And then
14:0214 minutes, 2 secondslater just friends that took me in when things were tough at home, you know, let me sleep at their house and different things. it when I turned right when I
14:1114 minutes, 11 secondswas turning 13. I may have even been 12 at the time and I was growing and I had found the Lord and I found this new
14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsboldness in the Lord and I started pushing back on the abuse and um got in a real physical fight with my stepfather
14:2714 minutes, 27 secondsand the that day when I came home I didn't want to come home until she was home thinking that would soften it a little
14:3514 minutes, 35 secondsand I walked in the door and they were sitting at the kitchen table and she said sit down and I sat down and I
14:4214 minutes, 42 secondsthought I was going to get the hey you you you need to be respectful. You can't y'all can't do this kind of talk and he slammed his hands down on the table.
14:5214 minutes, 52 secondsAlmost flipped the table up. He hit it so hard and he said either he goes or I go and it caught my mother off guard and
15:0015 minutesshe looked over at me and she said, "Do you have a place to go?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am." So they made me call my
15:0715 minutes, 7 secondsdad in front of him and he had already told me at Christmas that I'd asked him then when I was 12 if I could come live with him. He said, "We just can't take
15:1515 minutes, 15 secondsyou in. Uh we just can't do it, son. You need to work it out." And so I had already knew his answer, but when I called him, I kind of faked my way
15:2315 minutes, 23 secondsthrough the conversation for my parents, for my mother and stepfather to think that he was going to come get me and said, you know, he didn't want to pick me up here. he wants to pick me up
15:3215 minutes, 32 secondsat Troy's cuz he didn't want any kind of confrontation.
15:3515 minutes, 35 secondsSo, I packed my bags. I went and started living with a friend and um and it was about 4 days later he called to check on
15:4315 minutes, 43 secondsme. My mother said, "I thought you picked him up." She he said, "No, I told him I couldn't take him in." She said, "Well, I know where he'll be
15:5015 minutes, 50 secondsif you want to come come talk to him." He came and with my stepmother. They drove up. They lived in Franklin at that
15:5715 minutes, 57 secondstime. and they drove up and um came and talked to me and and my dad said, "I
16:0516 minutes, 5 secondsdon't know how we're going to do it, but we'll figure it out. Come on. You're you're coming home with us." So, that's how it started. And then you land softly in Williamson County and your
16:1316 minutes, 13 secondslife changed. I saw I mean, the schools and and friends that I've made that are still I mean, I I'm still best friends with the very first
16:2216 minutes, 22 secondsperson I met in Williamson County. I mean, where where does that happen? You know, Williamson County, that's the kind
16:2916 minutes, 29 secondsof place this is. And it it literally saved my life. Gave me a foundation that I that really led me to the success I am today.
16:3716 minutes, 37 secondsMore than you wanted.
16:3916 minutes, 39 secondsNo, it's it's just um it's super authentic and I'm grateful. I'm sitting here talking to a friend who uh
16:4616 minutes, 46 secondshas shared a story that you know I can't do anything except say that feels a little bit like trauma and you know you have
16:5516 minutes, 55 secondscoping skills that helped you be successful and you also are a terrific leader
17:0317 minutes, 3 secondswhich is evidenced by everything you've done in your life everywhere. Um, how how did how did so
17:1217 minutes, 12 secondsthat that moment where you were on your own, taken in, coached and received and then mentored really
17:2017 minutes, 20 secondsum you you it translated for you into leadership skills.
17:2617 minutes, 26 secondsHelp help me understand what what leadership lessons that you have.
17:3117 minutes, 31 secondsYeah. So, you know, when you look back on on that period of life, I never thought of it as any regret, when you
17:4117 minutes, 41 secondstalk about leadership, my stepfather was a con artist and he would con his way into us having an
17:4917 minutes, 49 secondsapartment and he was going to be the maintenance man. And so, you know, we we're moving. We're going to a new
17:5617 minutes, 56 secondsplace. I got a new job. and and uh and that's what it felt like to me is like everywhere we were moving, I went to um
18:0518 minutes, 5 seconds12 different schools before I was in seventh grade because he was constantly running for not doing the job that he was hired to do or bills that he wasn't paying.
18:1518 minutes, 15 secondsI didn't know that. I just thought we were moving. I hope this next place is nicer than the place we're leaving. And um and some of them weren't and some of
18:2418 minutes, 24 secondsthem weren't. But um when you go to that many different schools, you meet that many you you learn how to um to adapt
18:3318 minutes, 33 secondsand adjust and make friends and and so I learned people skills really early to get along and to fit in. And uh I
18:4118 minutes, 41 secondslearned how to read people who who are the people I want to be friends with and who are the ones I need to stay away from. And and so I learned some some
18:4918 minutes, 49 secondslife skills really early. And then when I had a chance to exemplify those in a better setting, um, people were drawn to
18:5818 minutes, 58 secondsme because I was a natural leader. I just had had just the easy to get along
19:0419 minutes, 4 secondswith, easy to talk to. You know, my stepmother, she one Christmas when we were all together, she said, "I want to
19:1219 minutes, 12 secondsjust make a statement right now." And she was in her 70s then, and she said, "I want to make a statement right now.
19:1819 minutes, 18 secondsAndy was the best of all of you because No pressure.
19:2319 minutes, 23 secondsNo, he was the best of all of you. He he he got up every morning. He made his bed. He came up to breakfast on time. He
19:2919 minutes, 29 secondswas ready for school on time. And and I I just chuckled. I said, "Well, you know why?" I didn't want to hear those words ever again. You got to go.
19:4019 minutes, 40 secondsSo So I was a good kid. you know, I had I really took took it as an opportunity to almost like I put on a different cape
19:4919 minutes, 49 secondsand I just like, okay, this is who I can be now. I can take all the life skills I've learned and I can do them for good
19:5619 minutes, 56 secondsand it's just always the way I've looked at it. So, yeah, I like it. Uh, even described as a
20:0320 minutes, 3 secondssuperpower. um in parallel entrepreneurship and we we talked about this a little bit earlier in parallel
20:1020 minutes, 10 secondsentrepreneurship we are operating more than one company at the same time. Yeah.
20:1620 minutes, 16 secondsAnd I've watched you do paralleling and parallel entrepreneurship which is a different thing than serial entrepreneurship.
20:2420 minutes, 24 secondsRight.
20:2520 minutes, 25 secondsAnd uh which I've been accused of most of my life being a serial entrepreneur.
20:2920 minutes, 29 secondsYeah. It never sat well with me. I I I was greatly appreciative of any of these. I mean, you and I have shared
20:3720 minutes, 37 secondssome awards, uh shared the stage, been on shared boards.
20:4120 minutes, 41 secondsUm we've had opportunities to work together in the community and to build employment
20:4820 minutes, 48 secondsfor our community and uh and we keep doing it. You know, this you are an
20:5520 minutes, 55 secondsentrepreneur. You said earlier, you you have some superpowers.
21:0021 minutesUm, what are some of your other superpowers?
21:0421 minutes, 4 secondsWell, um I I have the ability and sitting on your side of the table. I can
21:1221 minutes, 12 secondssit on that side and understand when somebody is trying to argue a point to me or trying to sell me something or
21:2121 minutes, 21 secondseven disagree with me. I have the ability to sit over in that person's chair and and hear them and then come
21:2821 minutes, 28 secondsback to my side of the chair and express my feelings without it ever being an argument.
21:3621 minutes, 36 secondsI've always been able to do that. I've had people come in hot and heavy before.
21:4021 minutes, 40 secondsyou know, when you're in retail and and there's always opportunities to disappoint somebody, you know, when you have employees and you have, you know,
21:4821 minutes, 48 secondsfood and you have all these elements of um something could go wrong in that experience and somebody be upset. I've
21:5621 minutes, 56 secondsalways had the ability to to calm and say, we call it falling on the sword, you know, just be humble and appreciative of
22:0522 minutes, 5 secondsthe fact that they have a complaint and how can I make it right? And you're getting feedback, getting feedback, learning, always
22:1222 minutes, 12 secondsknowing there's, you know, in a in a heightened conversation, even emails these days, right? It's always
22:1922 minutes, 19 secondsheightened to a an uh to a level that pushes it to an untruth. You've got to not just throw it out for it's untrue.
22:2822 minutes, 28 secondsYou've got to say, "Okay, somewhere in this there's a message that they wanted me to hear and let me address that
22:3522 minutes, 35 secondsmessage and let's make sure we can find out what that is." And so when you conversate with people and you just have a conversation, you say, "I really want
22:4322 minutes, 43 secondsto understand what you're trying to tell me. Can you put it in words that you know I can understand where it's not an argument or it's you know you're not in
22:5122 minutes, 51 secondsthis heightened state and see the change in their demeanor that oh he is going to listen to me.
22:5822 minutes, 58 secondsPeople just want to be heard I think first.
23:0123 minutes, 1 secondUm yeah I wanted to drill a little bit in on this community. um the sense of
23:0923 minutes, 9 secondscommunity because you you talked about a police officer that intercepted you and brought you back into the Boys and Girls
23:1623 minutes, 16 secondsClub and helped guide you as a public servant. Um you talked about your own experience at the Boys and Girls Club and I and I know
23:2423 minutes, 24 secondsyou're honored with the Ed Moody Award for excellence. That's a pretty um rare uh honor.
23:3123 minutes, 31 secondsFor those that know Ed Moody, you know that's quite an honor. And uh two years two years ago, three years ago, I was put into the hall of fame of Boys and
23:4023 minutes, 40 secondsGirls Club uh for the state of Tennessee.
23:4223 minutes, 42 secondsSo this is like this theme of giving back. Um h how how how are we approaching from a leadership
23:5123 minutes, 51 secondsperspective from from a community leaders perspective?
23:5623 minutes, 56 secondsHow how are what's happening with our kids, the boys and girls these days? And how how can we improve? What what do we need to pay attention to?
24:0524 minutes, 5 secondsWell, uh we we got to understand um them, right? What what motivates them?
24:1124 minutes, 11 secondsAnd you know, every generation goes through this. I mean, we all look my parents' generation thought we you
24:2024 minutes, 20 secondsknow, we were never going to amount to anything. And yeah, you had long hair and listen to rock and roll, right? Yeah. You know, so if you look
24:2824 minutes, 28 secondsthrough history, every the younger generation has always looked down upon like they're not going to do
24:3624 minutes, 36 secondsit the way we do it, but maybe they do it better, right? So now we have to look at at young people at what is their
24:4524 minutes, 45 secondsmotivation and what what does drive them? I mean, is is it you know, we used to think everybody had to go to college.
24:5224 minutes, 52 secondsWell, you don't have to go to college anymore. You know, now there's different avenues.
24:5924 minutes, 59 secondsThere's the tech world that they they start learning tech long before they ever get opportunity to go
25:0725 minutes, 7 secondsto college. Some of them could write college courses by the time they get there. You know, they know how to design games and do all these sort of
25:1625 minutes, 16 secondsthings that, you know, that gives them a skill set that we, you know, we we never had, right? We
25:2425 minutes, 24 secondswere still fooling around with the from a flip phone to a non-flip phone, you know, that was like a big deal.
25:3125 minutes, 31 secondsCalculators, they actually existed by themselves.
25:3425 minutes, 34 secondsSo you you have to understand just, you know, uh and appreciate them for uh who they are and and what their life
25:4225 minutes, 42 secondsexperiences are. And so our workforce now, they don't want to work like the hours
25:5025 minutes, 50 secondsthat I had to work to make money. And you had to work so many hours because the pay was so little, right? So I remember when I started working, I was I
25:5825 minutes, 58 secondsstarted at a $1.75 an hour. And so for it to amount to anything, I was just trying to get to overtime. So yeah. So So that was time and a half, you know, that I felt like I was making money.
26:0826 minutes, 8 secondsWell, now, you know, the kids, you know, they can make enough money in a short period of time that they can go and do
26:1626 minutes, 16 secondsother things and that's a motivation for them. So now a 3-day, 4 day work week is more of a motivation to keep them than
26:2426 minutes, 24 secondsoffering them full-time work. They in particularly in our world in hospitality, a good waiter, waitress,
26:3226 minutes, 32 secondsthey can make 60, 70, $80,000 a year and and be working 24 to 28 hours a week
26:4126 minutes, 41 secondsbecause they have the right shifts and the right attitude and they know how to do it and and they make great money. and the rest of that time they they want to
26:4926 minutes, 49 secondsuse that money to go travel and and do other things. So, you know, is that I listen to the work smarter not harder coaching that they got and they're
26:5726 minutes, 57 secondsactually And they're actually doing it. Yeah. So, and you know, and that and I think we're we're really bad about pigeon hole the whole age group into one box.
27:0927 minutes, 9 secondsYeah.
27:0927 minutes, 9 secondsAnd it's just not not true. It's, you know, you just have to find, and I learned a long time ago, even when I was coaching soccer, you not everybody is
27:1927 minutes, 19 secondsthe same. You don't coach everybody the same. You know, everybody says, "Oh, you got to treat everybody same." Well, that's not true because if you treat everybody the same, then you leave some out that have to be taught differently.
27:3027 minutes, 30 secondsThey have to They may be visual learners as opposed to uh learned learners, you know, where that read and study. Uh me,
27:3927 minutes, 39 secondsI was a listener. I never read well because I listened. But I didn't know till I was age 15 because nobody ever
27:4727 minutes, 47 secondsbothered to tell me that I had bad eyesight. And so I'd take those notes home and they would get ignored, but I didn't know it.
27:5627 minutes, 56 secondsYeah.
27:5727 minutes, 57 secondsYou know, so I always ended up at the front of the class so I could see the chalkboard or I listened. If I was in the back of class, I became a good listener. So, you know, there's adaptive learners.
28:0728 minutes, 7 secondsThere's a superpower right there. Being a good listener. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I listen, I love I love
28:1428 minutes, 14 secondsI love being around the energy of young people and I just know that they're not in a box. They're they're thinking differently and doing differently and
28:2228 minutes, 22 secondsthat's okay. We're the ones that have to figure it out to make sure that they can be successful on that journey.
28:2828 minutes, 28 secondsYeah, that's a great and it's a familyrun business that a Marshall
28:3528 minutes, 35 secondsfamily hospitality. Um, Claire is the president. I've I got a chance to watch her move up over the years and and
28:4428 minutes, 44 secondsreally take the company um at the helm and uh get recognition and growth uh
28:5228 minutes, 52 secondsreally contribute to Nashville. Um so three children, five grandchildren. Yes, sir.
28:5928 minutes, 59 secondsUm we're talking about the Boys and Girls Club, we're talking about family business. What is the dynamic? Um,
29:0729 minutes, 7 secondswhat's it like to be in a family business? Like a legitimately family structured company? I I'm curious from your perspective, how does that make you a better leader?
29:1829 minutes, 18 secondsWell, again, I think making sure that each one of my children
29:2529 minutes, 25 secondsalways knew that this wasn't expected of them. If they they wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to help them be
29:3229 minutes, 32 secondssuccessful as being a part of it. But the last thing I ever wanted to hear is one of my children said, "Dad only did
29:3929 minutes, 39 secondsthis because of you." And no, that's not what I want. I want you to do it because this is what you want and that you see a
29:4729 minutes, 47 secondspathway. And so when you're in family business, to actually have that family unit part of it, it's a special thing.
29:5629 minutes, 56 secondsAnd it's a pretty rare thing. I mean, we talk about family businesses all the time. And um my father and I were were
30:0330 minutes, 3 secondspart of the um the uh family business center that started out at Belmont some years ago. Um transitioning families is
30:1230 minutes, 12 secondsis not easy. Um so our path was was a little different because Claire is um
30:2030 minutes, 20 secondsClaire's a planner. I mean she is um a smart red learner. I mean, when she was in
30:2830 minutes, 28 secondscollege, she was number one student at MTSU when she graduated. Um, teachers were having her grade other other students papers when she was a
30:3630 minutes, 36 secondssophomore. I mean, she just I thought she was going to go the pathway of, you know, dad, I'm going to get my masters.
30:4330 minutes, 43 secondsDad, I'm going to get my doctor. Dad, I'm a professor. I just I mean, she had that full potential to do that. But she fell back in love with the family
30:5130 minutes, 51 secondsbusiness. and she fell back in love with it from the standpoint of just working between college and what she was going to do next.
31:0131 minutes, 1 secondPeople were coming to her and she was solving problems and helping them be more successful. So, she had leadership
31:0731 minutes, 7 secondsskills herself, but she's always been um a real planner. I'm a dreamer, right?
31:1431 minutes, 14 secondsI'm a visionary. And dreamers and visionaries are really good when they have someone to execute for them. And
31:2231 minutes, 22 secondsand she she was a a excellent executor for me. I started thinking on this pathway, you know, Claire has to figure
31:3131 minutes, 31 secondsout how to be an entrepreneur. I've always had I've always been able to feel that and she's never had to really experience that risk or or how to
31:4131 minutes, 41 secondsreally take a leap, you know. She just has taken what I've dreamed up and and tried to find a pathway to make it work.
31:4931 minutes, 49 secondsSo, we started an ice cream company together called Hattie James Crearyy.
31:5331 minutes, 53 secondsAnd I thought this would be a good one where she she would come up with a concept. She would come up with everything that had to happen to make
32:0132 minutes, 1 secondthis business work. And uh I would be 80% business owner, she'd be 20% and she
32:0832 minutes, 8 secondscould run the business. and I did it to help her learn to be an entrepreneur.
32:1432 minutes, 14 secondsAnd lo and behold, I started gifting her my stock and and so she had her own company and she said, "Dad, I'm going to leave the family business and I'm just
32:2232 minutes, 22 secondsgoing to run this ice cream company." I thought, "Oh, that didn't work out quite like I wanted it to." But when she built that up to about four locations and
32:3032 minutes, 30 secondsshe's now got five locations in the commissary, um she had called and said, "If you're ever thinking about transitioning, I want you to know I
32:3932 minutes, 39 secondsstill want to be a part of that conversation." And I said, "Well, we should meet." And um so because I had a
32:4632 minutes, 46 secondsI had a uh a COO and I was pouring a lot into them because I was thinking maybe that was my path to my you know
32:5432 minutes, 54 secondsretirement and and so bringing Claire back. Um actually it was Dave Ramsey. I said I got a COO. Claire wants to come back. You know how do I make that work?
33:0433 minutes, 4 secondsHe said make her president. Between her being president, him being COO, they'll figure it out. they'll one will rise and
33:1433 minutes, 14 secondssure enough and so there Dave Ramsey is the king of uh no debt and finance manage your
33:2133 minutes, 21 secondsfinances fast forward to today are how is the company financially how's the debt that you wanted to avoid when
33:2933 minutes, 29 secondsyou started being an entrepreneur yeah so um the structure is is excellent uh well personally Dan I have um zero
33:3833 minutes, 38 secondsdebt and we we own a little debt And I say little on our house.
33:4433 minutes, 44 secondsUm uh but the company we just just new debt all we have you know we new debt on growth and it's yeah and it's worked for
33:5333 minutes, 53 secondsus. We finance a lot of our own growth too.
33:5633 minutes, 56 secondsRight. Right. Customers tell you what they want and customers finance your growth. Um, I see so many people getting
34:0434 minutes, 4 secondsinto entrepreneurship and then wanting to go raise money and go scale and go do all these things before you've like served your first plate of food.
34:1334 minutes, 13 secondsYeah. You've not even built a brand and you're wanting a franchise. I get that all the time. I got this great idea for a franchise. I How many locations you
34:2134 minutes, 21 secondsgot? Oh, well, we hadn't opened anything yet. Well, you don't have a franchise. You don't even have a brand. Yeah.
34:2734 minutes, 27 secondsYou got to go build a brand. I'm enjoying my my family experience right now with running a company that's new a
34:3634 minutes, 36 secondsstartup is with our happy overall business and um Jenny enrolled in the entrepreneur
34:4434 minutes, 44 secondscenter program and it's like her own journey into entrepreneurship. So I was really resonating with how you were
34:5234 minutes, 52 secondssetting up and enjoying that um sponsorship and uh the advice the
35:0035 minutespartnership that comes from a lot of people don't have family businesses. A lot of people are not
35:0635 minutes, 6 secondscapable of being in business with their significant spouse other um and I just find that I get so much
35:1535 minutes, 15 secondsjoy collaborating on complex problems with her and she's so smart. My friend Brandon shared a piece of advice recently. Dress so that if someone
35:2435 minutes, 24 secondsdressed up as you for a costume party, everyone would know it was you. Now, that's not entirely about clothing.
35:3235 minutes, 32 secondsThat's about identity, about showing up fully. My wife Jenny and I are leaning in on this concept both in our personal
35:4035 minutes, 40 secondslives and now in a little startup we call Happy Overall. We're making overalls. Each one is made to order as a
35:4935 minutes, 49 secondswearable canvas for art overalls that are comfortable, durable, and expressive. We're sourcing soft 100%
35:5835 minutes, 58 secondscotton. We're partnering with designers and with local seamstresses who love the artistry of a well-crafted piece of
36:0636 minutes, 6 secondsclothing. We're launching in summer of 26. So check out happyoverall.com to see pics and see if anything
36:1336 minutes, 13 secondsresonates with you. fully you and it'll happen every time you reach for them. If you want to be part of the first run,
36:2136 minutes, 21 secondsjoin our weight list at happyoverall.com.
36:2636 minutes, 26 secondsYou know, I I coached my daughters through middle school and high school, too. Um, which was a great experience for me. You know, experiencing three
36:3536 minutes, 35 secondsstate championships with my daughters was tremendous.
36:3836 minutes, 38 secondsBut you also learn through that what buttons to push and what ones not to push. You know, where you cross over
36:4536 minutes, 45 secondsfrom being dad to coach and and that really helped me in in the business side as we've gone through business together.
36:5336 minutes, 53 secondsYou know, there's we can have some dis disagreements, but I can't override her because I'm dad. I I have to I have to
37:0137 minutes, 1 secondlisten and walk away from it saying, "Well, let me let me chew on that and let me think on that and I'll get back to you tomorrow." If I'm want to
37:1037 minutes, 10 secondsimmediately say, "No, we're not doing that. We're going to do this." I I have to back off of that and say because I'm thinking, "Oh, I'm saying that almost like a dad would say, I don't need to do
37:1937 minutes, 19 secondsthat. I need to listen to it, sleep on it, and see if it feels the same tomorrow. And if it doesn't feel the same, then okay, tell me more about that
37:2737 minutes, 27 secondsidea." And so there you I mean I think that's a superpower of a parallel entrepreneur is learning how to ask better questions.
37:3637 minutes, 36 secondsYes. Even of yourself. Yeah. So tell us about your other kids.
37:4037 minutes, 40 secondsYeah. So they're kids. They're they're adults.
37:4237 minutes, 42 secondsYoung adults. They've they're giving me grandkids, right? So they're they're adults. Um Emily is is uh is the middle
37:5037 minutes, 50 secondschild. She's my executive assistant. she um was a trained nurse and she just came to us and said she felt like she was
37:5837 minutes, 58 secondsmissing out on being part of the family business. Um at the time she was a single mom with three kids,
38:0638 minutes, 6 secondsyoung kids. And uh and so we uh put her back into the catering, giving her some flexibility. And then Claire was the one
38:1338 minutes, 13 secondsthat came to me and said, "Dad, you need an executive assistant. You need somebody that you can trust. Have you thought about Emily?" And I was like, well, I hadn't, but that's perfect.
38:2438 minutes, 24 secondsThat's brilliant. So, Emily has been my executive assistant for several years now. And uh and then my son Cliff, he
38:3338 minutes, 33 secondswas raising up in the business, and he came to me with the proverbial, you know, dad, tears in his eyes, and I I
38:4138 minutes, 41 secondsneed to get out of your shadow, and I need to do my own thing. And I was like, I get it. I mean, I told my dad the same thing. I worked for my dad until I said
38:4938 minutes, 49 secondsI wanted to go do my own thing and I said, you know, I I totally get it. And so he went to Chattanooga and was just
38:5738 minutes, 57 secondsgoing to be a bartender. You know, he was going to step back and just be a bartender. About 30 days into that, the owner noticed everybody was coming to
39:0439 minutes, 4 secondshim to solve problems and he was fixing things and solving problems and making things better. So, they made him GM and and uh and then he became their director
39:1339 minutes, 13 secondsof operations as they he helped them open two more restaurants. So he's operating a three restaurant company in Chattanooga and doing a great job.
39:2239 minutes, 22 secondsMatter of fact, two of his three restaurants got nominated for James Beard Awards. So man, he's doing a fantastic job.
39:2939 minutes, 29 secondsSo Cliff Cliff is out of your shadow and a giant on his own. He is. That's awesome.
39:3439 minutes, 34 secondsHe is so proud of him. It's still about the people. It's about the people that run this county and it's about the people that are served by this county
39:4239 minutes, 42 secondsand live here and choose to live here. I mean, look at our schools. I mean, what a great calling card to build our
39:4939 minutes, 49 secondscommunity around is having the best schools in the state of Tennessee. That matters. Yeah.
39:5539 minutes, 55 secondsYou know, that's been the reason so many companies have chosen to come.
39:5939 minutes, 59 secondsWhen I moved here, I chose Williamson County. We did a specific search on the schools. We chose the school first and then we decided where we would live.
40:0740 minutes, 7 secondsYeah. Why would they ever risk that, you know? Yeah. Don't risk that with the wrong leaders.
40:1340 minutes, 13 secondsJust choose wisely. Um, I'm I'm I'm I'm cracking up because I
40:2140 minutes, 21 secondsusually think in terms of man, uh, I'd like to run for office and then I immediately talk myself out of it, right? Um, and I'm I'm I've got a hat.
40:3240 minutes, 32 secondsYou brought me a hat, right?
40:3440 minutes, 34 secondsI got a big head. I'm gonna have to open it up a little bit here. That's funny.
40:3940 minutes, 39 secondsSo, there we go. It looks good on you.
40:4540 minutes, 45 secondsMayor, I uh I'm I'm curious like what got into you. Yeah.
40:5340 minutes, 53 secondsYou I think the theme is family, community, uh building community leadership. Yeah.
41:0241 minutes, 2 secondsAnd and so now we're both wearing baseball caps in a podcast talking about what what what is the vision? What is the next vision?
41:1141 minutes, 11 secondsYeah. So um never thought about being in politics but you know as an opportreneur you're always around it right because so
41:2041 minutes, 20 secondsmuch of um the government um can help or hurt u businesses right immediately.
41:2941 minutes, 29 secondsYeah. And so I've always uh been a part of um going up to Day on the Hill here
41:3541 minutes, 35 secondsin Nashville and and making sure that you know I knew people that represented me and and then over time being on state
41:4341 minutes, 43 secondsboards um I've learned um people all over the country, right? I mean not only in Tennessee, but you start making
41:5241 minutes, 52 secondsconnections around the country. And when I started looking at we've had a mayor in Williamson County for 24 years,
42:0142 minutes, 1 secondRogers Anderson, he'd pick up the phone when you called. Yep.
42:0542 minutes, 5 secondsHe would meet with you if you needed to meet with him. And we never had to worry about it. Right.
42:1142 minutes, 11 secondsU fantastic leader, right? Yeah.
42:1442 minutes, 14 secondsYeah. Probably um probably way underestimated because he was so steady of just how good of a leader he actually
42:2242 minutes, 22 secondswas. And so, um, when I'm He is right.
42:2842 minutes, 28 secondsYeah. He's not going anywhere. Um, he's just retiring.
42:3442 minutes, 34 secondsHe looking at him uh finally stepping away and I started paying attention.
42:4042 minutes, 40 secondsWho's next? Okay, who's next? You know, surely we got somebody ready to go. and and listen there there are um people
42:4842 minutes, 48 secondsthat had put their name out there and I I met with them I talked to them
42:5542 minutes, 55 secondsand I just didn't think it was a direction that we needed to be heading in Williamson County that
43:0343 minutes, 3 secondsthey weren't connecting with the community side what makes Williamson County so special I lived it I mean it
43:1043 minutes, 10 secondsliterally saved my life and so I didn't want to lose that I want I wanted people to respect Flat Creek as
43:1843 minutes, 18 secondsmuch as they respected Brentwood. And and so um the county mayor when I grew up it was called county executive and
43:2743 minutes, 27 secondsthat's really the description. You're the CEO of the county. You don't have a a vote. You you're not voting things in.
43:3743 minutes, 37 secondsWhat you're doing is is you're negotiating with uh 24 county commissioners to run this county in a
43:4443 minutes, 44 secondsdirection that's going to be positive for the citizens of the community.
43:4943 minutes, 49 secondsAnd you know as well as I do, politics has gotten really odd in the recent years. Very polarizing.
43:5643 minutes, 56 secondsIt's a part of the why I'm all in or all out. It's just like that doesn't sound like any fun at all. And I don't want to make it all about fun, but it there is
44:0444 minutes, 4 secondssomething about life that it helps if it's fun. It it has gotten difficult.
44:1244 minutes, 12 secondsIt's going to be taxing. Yeah.
44:1444 minutes, 14 secondsYeah. My I mean my first call was to Bill Lee to say, "Bill," because he stepped out of business into politics.
44:2144 minutes, 21 secondsBill, do I have any business doing this?
44:2344 minutes, 23 secondsShould I just stay in my lane? And he he laughed at first. He said, "Andy, what are you politics have gotten crazy? I don't know that you want any part of it.
44:3344 minutes, 33 secondsAnd then he paused. He said, "But I can't think of anybody better I'd rather have as the mayor of my county." Yeah.
44:4244 minutes, 42 secondsThan than Andy Marshall. Th This is what we all hope for.
44:4744 minutes, 47 secondsWe all wish business people would step away from their businesses to help us in government. He said, "But by golly, when
44:5444 minutes, 54 secondsyou do it, they'll try to tear you apart because all of a sudden now you're a threat to yeah, their system of
45:0345 minutes, 3 secondsthe way they want to govern and because of so many things that you've done. I mean, the attack surfaces are there because you've been out leading, contributing.
45:1545 minutes, 15 secondsI remember sitting with Bill Lee in his office, just a one-on-one, and at the time I was with um Williamson, Inc., we
45:2445 minutes, 24 secondswere working on on on some sanity in the Williamson business pack and trying to
45:3145 minutes, 31 secondstrying to uh anticipate how we could contribute. And I was just sitting with Bill and he's like, "Mark, I'm I'm
45:3945 minutes, 39 secondsconsidering running for governor." And I remember thinking to myself, that's nuts.
45:4445 minutes, 44 secondsYeah. um for the same reasons because he was very successful in business and continues to be.
45:4945 minutes, 49 secondsUm but also he had he had some passions like uh trying to give second chance. Um yeah system the prison system needed
45:5945 minutes, 59 secondssome attention and giving people a real second chance.
46:0246 minutes, 2 secondsUm and I I I actually was a part of going into the prison systems and doing entrepreneurial education which was quite a learning experience.
46:1346 minutes, 13 secondsUm and watching what a small amount of hope could do for somebody. Yes. Right.
46:2046 minutes, 20 secondsAnd in your case, Boys and Girls Club and the ways that you've been given back. Um it's it's just I'm glad I when
46:2946 minutes, 29 secondsI when I learned that you were running for mayor, I had that same response like Andy, what are you thinking? And yet now I can I have to agree with what with
46:3746 minutes, 37 secondswith with the governor. Um, I suppose thanks in advance for taking
46:4446 minutes, 44 secondsuh this this risk. Um, you're an entrepreneur. You take risks. Yeah.
46:4946 minutes, 49 secondsHow how did you make this decision? Like you you he said, "Yeah, I can't think of anybody better." And then you said, "Neither can I." Oh, now what?
46:5746 minutes, 57 secondsYeah. Well, I I made a few more phone calls just to test and verify. I called Marsha Blackburn and and she gave me her
47:0647 minutes, 6 secondsperspective very similar to Bill's and gave me even a couple points of advice and uh and then I sat down with Rogers
47:1447 minutes, 14 secondsand uh at at Puckets at my quote unquote office table, right? Yeah.
47:1947 minutes, 19 secondsAnd we're sitting there and I on the counter.
47:2147 minutes, 21 secondsI said, you know, Rogers, here you tell me if I'm crazy, tell me if I need to stay in my lane, but here's what I'm
47:3047 minutes, 30 secondsthinking. And uh I'm telling you, the man looked at me with a
47:3747 minutes, 37 secondswith a welped up eye and said, "I never thought this was be the meeting I was taking with Andy Marshall today, but I
47:4547 minutes, 45 secondscan't think of a better meeting I could have taken." He said, "I don't know what we were going to do, honestly." He said,
47:5147 minutes, 51 seconds"I I've been torn up about did I is this the right time for me to
47:5947 minutes, 59 secondsactually do this if we don't have the right people ready?" And he said, "I I am a 100% behind this idea, and you
48:0948 minutes, 9 secondswon't hear from me a reason to talk you out of it." He said, "I I think you would be excellent at it. You know the
48:1648 minutes, 16 secondscommunity, you know the people of the community, and you know how to serve.
48:2148 minutes, 21 secondsAnd and this role is is a lot about servant leadership because you have not only elected officials you have to work
48:3048 minutes, 30 secondswith, but you also have um department heads that are appointed and and so you have a combination. It's not
48:3848 minutes, 38 secondslike a city mayor where the city mayor is elected and then he hires everybody.
48:4348 minutes, 43 secondsYou have to be able to work with elected other elected officials, too. And you got to do that with with um with some uh
48:5148 minutes, 51 secondsuh with some grace, right? You know, they they're elected, too, you know. So, um you got to be able to do it together.
48:5948 minutes, 59 secondsAnd he said, "You he said, you're you think in a way that will unite this this
49:0549 minutes, 5 secondscounty to where it needs to go to the next step and next level." I mean, so that that gave me a lot of confidence.
49:1549 minutes, 15 secondsAnd then I then I talked to my wife. Hey, Jen, guess what? Yeah.
49:2249 minutes, 22 secondsIt's not another board I'm going to be sitting on, but yeah, she didn't jump at the idea, but she did graciously take some time to
49:3049 minutes, 30 secondsthink about it and asked me for some grace why she um really thought through it and how it was going to change our lives. and
49:3849 minutes, 38 secondsand you know when she talked through about all the things that we had we we had worked so hard in our lives to get to this point to where we could do
49:4649 minutes, 46 secondsanything. She just never thought it would be politics and I said I honestly I didn't either but I felt called to do
49:5449 minutes, 54 secondsthis and I'm so restless about the opportunity I you know and so she ended up writing me a beautiful twopage
50:0250 minutes, 2 secondsletter. She's a great writer and she expresses herself well in written word.
50:0850 minutes, 8 secondsYou know, I'm more of a let me get in front of you where I can read you and talk to you and you know, but she wrote
50:1550 minutes, 15 secondsthis uh beautiful letter and then in return um every morning when we get up, we do a Bible study together. So, I
50:2250 minutes, 22 secondswrote a Bible study uh that reflected why I felt like uh I was being called to
50:2950 minutes, 29 secondsdo this. How how God when you look at my life and how God has prepared me and the people that he's put in my life um
50:3850 minutes, 38 secondsthat um that are relationships. I mean, they're not they're not people that I've I just know. I mean, they're actually
50:4650 minutes, 46 secondsrelationships uh relationships that can help this county um be better and stronger and
50:5350 minutes, 53 secondsmove into the future. And u and I thought that's that's why I'm being called to do it. And it takes courage to
51:0151 minutes, 1 secondstep out of your comfort zone. And that's where God is. God is when you step out of your comfort zone. You know,
51:0951 minutes, 9 secondshe's there with you all the time, but sometimes you get so comfortable, you forget about him because all of a sudden you start thinking, "It's me that's got me here.
51:1951 minutes, 19 secondsGod's never let me do that. Never in my life. From where I came from to where I am now, I've constantly had God on the
51:2851 minutes, 28 secondsforefront of my mind that he is planning my steps. So, this is my next step." Yeah.
51:3551 minutes, 35 secondsYou're you're about to move with all these skills that you've built and all these listening skills and
51:4251 minutes, 42 secondsobserving skills and leadership skills and people skills and go discover something new. What do you what are you most excited about?
51:5351 minutes, 53 secondsU getting to the job. Campaigning is I mean I had no idea campaigning could be all that it is.
52:0352 minutes, 3 secondsthe hours and the work and being trying to be everywhere is not the hard part for me because that's just doing and
52:1152 minutes, 11 secondsbeing there. Um, the hard part is is um the keyboard cowards
52:1852 minutes, 18 secondson on Facebook, on neighborhood apps that will completely create their own narrative
52:2652 minutes, 26 secondsnot knowing me at all, but because they're for somebody else, they've got to create this false narrative about
52:3252 minutes, 32 secondsyou. I I said to somebody today, hey, if you want to vote for the other person, vote for them.
52:4052 minutes, 40 secondsBut don't make me out to be somebody I'm not. Don't create lies about me to make her
52:4752 minutes, 47 secondsthe person you want to vote for. Just look at who I am and my history and look at who she is and her history and make
52:5552 minutes, 55 secondsup your mind. And if she's the better person, vote for her for goodness sakes.
52:5952 minutes, 59 secondsBut you're not going to hear me running her down. It's just not my way. I'm on message. I'm on point. And so the
53:0653 minutes, 6 secondscampaign has been been more than I thought. And I was warned. Don't think I wasn't warned. I
53:1353 minutes, 13 secondswas warned. But I thought I mean literally what what are you going to find on Andy Marshall? I mean you Google
53:2153 minutes, 21 secondsme and and just see what all comes up. I mean it's all positive impacts and awards and all kinds of things. But none
53:3053 minutes, 30 secondsof which I was seeking. It was the service that led to those.
53:3453 minutes, 34 secondsYeah. It's the team that So, yeah. So, I I I just want to get past the campaign and if I get elected,
53:4253 minutes, 42 secondsI listen, I I walk into that county complex where the people that are running this county, where they work
53:5053 minutes, 50 secondsfrom, and you go around and you just want to meet them and let them know that you're you're running for them, too.
53:5753 minutes, 57 secondsYou're not just running for the people of of Brentwood and Franklin and you know other you know you're running for
54:0454 minutes, 4 secondsthem too cuz you're you're going to be working with them every day and I was expecting handshakes. I was getting hugs
54:1254 minutes, 12 secondsand thanks and I was like whoa I I wasn't expecting that.
54:1854 minutes, 18 secondsWell, I told Jan, I said, "If I needed to any affirmation of why I should be doing
54:2654 minutes, 26 secondsthat, it was that it was walking around the halls of the county complex and the
54:3354 minutes, 33 secondsassociates that work so hard to run this county coming out and thanking me and hugging me and saying, "We're pulling for you.
54:4254 minutes, 42 secondsWe want you." And that that mattered. I think people just desperately want to have quality leadership and a little bit
54:4854 minutes, 48 secondsof peace in in their world and feel like they're being led. Um, and I think
54:5554 minutes, 55 secondspublic servants are so vastly underappreciated. They don't.
55:0355 minutes, 3 secondsI I I had a chance to speak to another entrepreneur earlier in the season um
55:1055 minutes, 10 secondsEve Peterson who talked about moving from sector A to sector B, you know, going into the government sector
55:1855 minutes, 18 secondsand learning learning the new skills that she already had, but she hadn't really thought about it. And anyway, my my thought was that I don't know any
55:2655 minutes, 26 secondspublic servants that are just mailing it in and don't care about their job.
55:3255 minutes, 32 secondsThere's too many other jobs around here that you can get. There's there's a lot of competition for your attention in your time
55:4155 minutes, 41 secondshere in Middle Tennessee because there's so much opportunity. All these people that I've ever worked with have been extremely talented and very highly
55:4955 minutes, 49 secondsmotivated to serve. Yeah, it's a different organizational structure, right? But it is still people.
55:5655 minutes, 56 secondsIt is people that work with you have they're entertainers.
56:0356 minutes, 3 secondsThey are servants. They are um receiving customer feedback in like
56:1056 minutes, 10 secondsagain one of the toughest businesses in the world. You get instant feedback on your product. Oh absolutely.
56:1656 minutes, 16 secondsAnd and the whole experience. Um, share with me a lesson that you've learned from one of your employees that stuck with you.
56:2956 minutes, 29 secondsYou know, if this wasn't so fresh in my mind, I might not have thought of it, but somebody talked about how calm I am all the time. How it's hard to get you
56:3856 minutes, 38 secondsrattled. You know, when people are upset, you you stay calm and you walk through it.
56:4456 minutes, 44 secondswhen I was early in my grocery it was actually my first grocery store that I bought was Hopkinsville Kentucky and I
56:5156 minutes, 51 secondshad everything on the line right I I way overextended where I should be at my stage of life at
57:0057 minutes26 years old and um and a lot of people took risk on me you know my supplier took a risk on me um Bill Martin um sold me the store
57:0957 minutes, 9 secondstook a risk on me discounted it u because he took a liking to me And so a lot of people had taken a risk on me.
57:1757 minutes, 17 secondsOur first Christmas order, I had a manager. He had managed it before the store when I bought it and I kept him on
57:2557 minutes, 25 secondsand we just kind of co-managed and um he for didn't send in our Christmas
57:3357 minutes, 33 secondsorder the biggest day of biggest week of our year and I wasn't going to get our order and we were he came in my office to tell
57:4257 minutes, 42 secondsme and shut the door. I had literally lost my cool and I kicked the door completely off its
57:5157 minutes, 51 secondshinges. And the look on his face, it changed me. It ch I thought I I do
57:5957 minutes, 59 secondsnot want to be that person. I don't want to lose my cool to the point that I would scare somebody. I grew up under
58:0858 minutes, 8 secondsthat. That's that's how my stepfather controlled everything in our household with fear, with being a big man that
58:1858 minutes, 18 secondscould hurt you. And I saw the look on his face and I thought,
58:2558 minutes, 25 secondsdon't be that person. And I apologized to him. I said, it's okay. It there's
58:3358 minutes, 33 secondsthere surely there's something we can do. And we called the wholesaler and he said, "Hey, we can get a short order
58:4058 minutes, 40 secondstogether for you. Give us, you know, give us 50 items you have to have." And we went down there in our pickup trucks,
58:4858 minutes, 48 secondswe picked it and it was fine. And I learned a lesson that if I had taken the time to say to him,
58:5758 minutes, 57 seconds"It's okay. We can figure this out." Instead, I lost my temper and then I went to that. But it taught me a lesson that I wasn't going to be that person.
59:0759 minutes, 7 secondsAnd that's not the type of leader.
59:0959 minutes, 9 secondsYou're not going to get anything out of that. You're not get the best out of people by leading that way. And we became really close after that. And u
59:1759 minutes, 17 secondsand so it's not a pleasant memory, but it's one I certainly learn from.
59:2359 minutes, 23 secondsYeah. My grandfather told me that I if I wanted to be successful, I needed to learn from the mistakes of other people. Mark, they're the least expensive kind.
59:3259 minutes, 32 secondsYeah. study failures.
59:3459 minutes, 34 secondsOne, I think the universe uh will present you with every single lesson you haven't learned until you learn it. It's
59:4359 minutes, 43 secondsgood to learn it once and then make the adjustment. Right.
59:4759 minutes, 47 secondsRight. Yeah. You live, you learn, and you don't go back and make the same mistake. If you were coaching another
59:5559 minutes, 55 secondsentrepreneur right now that was um trying to start a second business or a third uh what would you suggest that they pay attention to?
1:00:061 hour, 6 secondsYeah.
1:00:091 hour, 9 secondsWell, I I think I think the best advice I can give people and I kind of watch them when I'm asked when they're they're
1:00:161 hour, 16 secondsasking that question. How do I go from one to two or what what's the hardest?
1:00:211 hour, 21 secondsone to two, two to three, you know, I get asked that question a lot. Um, I I watch them when I tell them my story of
1:00:301 hour, 30 secondsgetting up at 3:30 in the morning and and making biscuits and and and you know, I went from one to two eight years
1:00:371 hour, 37 secondslater that I did that for 8 years of getting up at 3:30 with Jan waking up
1:00:441 hour, 44 secondsand handing my coffee to me on the way out the door and she'd go back to bed and I'd go in and and start preparing.
1:00:511 hour, 51 secondsAnd uh and the only reason I went in that early is cuz we had these farmers
1:00:571 hour, 57 secondsthat got up early and they had to be they weren't going to have their biscuits and coffee unless I was there
1:01:051 hour, 1 minute, 5 secondsready for them at 5:00. So I would get up early and then just have it ready even though I didn't open to 6, but they all knew that I'd be there and so they
1:01:141 hour, 1 minute, 14 secondscame. Um but seeing their reaction as to whether or not they're like
1:01:211 hour, 1 minute, 21 seconds8 years or 3:30 in the morning whether they're willing to put in the time and effort that sometimes it takes. You
1:01:301 hour, 1 minute, 30 secondsdon't wake up successful. It's a journey to become successful. And Leapers was not an instant success. I mean, people
1:01:381 hour, 1 minute, 38 secondslook at it and talk about it in in the context of it, but it wasn't until New York Times wrote us up as the best
1:01:471 hour, 1 minute, 47 secondsunknown restaurant in America worth the drive that suddenly we were on the map with the locals.
1:01:551 hour, 1 minute, 55 secondsIt it had to be written up about somewhere else, somebody else's opinion for the locals to say, "Oh, I love that
1:02:031 hour, 2 minutes, 3 secondsplace." You know, and all of a sudden, we became the thing. Um and uh and our success journey began there. But I I I
1:02:121 hour, 2 minutes, 12 secondsgrinded it out to make that thing work for for 6 years and then two years of prosperity before we said, "Okay, let's
1:02:201 hour, 2 minutes, 20 secondssee if we can duplicate this." And you've started and sold several companies. Um
1:02:271 hour, 2 minutes, 27 secondswhat's the secret from your perspective when it comes time to sell a company?
1:02:331 hour, 2 minutes, 33 secondsOh lord. Um, you know, it's a funny thing about entrepreneurs, right? To
1:02:401 hour, 2 minutes, 40 secondsthe best time to sell it when things are are at its best and that's the least time when you want to sell it because you you're thinking all you're always
1:02:491 hour, 2 minutes, 49 secondsthinking if in multiples if if I did good this year then next year is going to you know you're always
1:02:571 hour, 2 minutes, 57 secondswe're optimistic. We are optimistic fault generally.
1:03:001 hour, 3 minutesAbsolutely. U and and I am just like I mean I tell people all the time I'm I'm
1:03:071 hour, 3 minutes, 7 secondsoptimistic and you know I'm shamefully optimistic because I always think things can get better. And so um it's it's hard
1:03:171 hour, 3 minutes, 17 secondsto tell somebody that if you don't sell it at its peak, it's going to be worth less later.
1:03:251 hour, 3 minutes, 25 secondsUm, and it's because at some point you're going to hit a peak and it's going to plateau and then it'll start
1:03:321 hour, 3 minutes, 32 secondsdeclining. And particularly in our industry, longevity, the longevity we've had is very unusual.
1:03:401 hour, 3 minutes, 40 secondsI mean, we're we're 20 plus years into the Puckets journey and you know, that's
1:03:481 hour, 3 minutes, 48 secondsthat's just highly un we're going on 30 years. I mean from 98 to 20 26 I mean we're approaching 30 years on this
1:03:551 hour, 3 minutes, 55 secondsjourney which is highly unusual. Um and we've been approached over time but I I
1:04:021 hour, 4 minutes, 2 secondsjust you know I was still trying to decide whether this was going to be a business that was passed on or whether this would be a business I'd build and
1:04:101 hour, 4 minutes, 10 secondssell. And um so I I never was quite ready at our peak. And uh and then we
1:04:171 hour, 4 minutes, 17 secondshit our our slump over the last few years through the economy, you know, coming COVID and then postco uh we had that
1:04:261 hour, 4 minutes, 26 secondsinstant booth uh boost with the money that flooded the market and then the economies was just not good. Yeah.
1:04:341 hour, 4 minutes, 34 secondsAnd so um we we see it climbing back out again. But that's usually it's a roller coaster
1:04:421 hour, 4 minutes, 42 secondsjourney. It's never never just straight up. It's it's fighting through the lows and the and then um and capitalizing on
1:04:491 hour, 4 minutes, 49 secondsthe highs. And so um knowing that uh that sometimes the best time to sell is going to be when you least want to sell
1:04:571 hour, 4 minutes, 57 secondsit. It's when you have to sell it that they're hard to sell and that they're very little value when you have to sell it.
1:05:061 hour, 5 minutes, 6 secondsYeah. Yeah. And in the meantime, you built a brand.
1:05:101 hour, 5 minutes, 10 secondsUm, yeah, and I think Puckets is a like an integrated part of Middle Tennessee, certainly Tennessee's brand.
1:05:211 hour, 5 minutes, 21 secondsWhat did you do to focus like what what did you do intentionally that led to Puckets being a brand?
1:05:301 hour, 5 minutes, 30 secondsYeah.
1:05:301 hour, 5 minutes, 30 secondsUh, and what did you do accidentally that had that same outcome?
1:05:361 hour, 5 minutes, 36 secondsSo, I I think it was always about uh being a people pleaser at heart. So, it was the next customer through the door.
1:05:431 hour, 5 minutes, 43 secondsYou know, always, you know, if I was a NFL coach, I'd say it's it's the next play, right? It's always the next play.
1:05:521 hour, 5 minutes, 52 secondsYou can't focus on what just happened.
1:05:551 hour, 5 minutes, 55 secondsYou got to focus on what's right in front of you right now. And and we talk about that a lot in u in our business.
1:06:021 hour, 6 minutes, 2 secondsEverything matters in the restaurant business. everything everything and it starts about 20 ft outside the front door and it's carried all the way
1:06:111 hour, 6 minutes, 11 secondsthrough till they leave and that same 20 ft matters. So we talk about everything
1:06:181 hour, 6 minutes, 18 secondsmatters and the next customer, you know, so you you just have to and there's so many I mean there's literally
1:06:261 hour, 6 minutes, 26 secondsthousands ways that you can disappoint a customer that comes in to spend money with you and you have to avoid those. So
1:06:341 hour, 6 minutes, 34 secondsyou try to build a standard and you try to exceed that standard. We talk about trying to make every customer a fan,
1:06:421 hour, 6 minutes, 42 secondsright? If if you can the intentional part is to build a brand, you can't be telling that you're a
1:06:521 hour, 6 minutes, 52 secondsbrand. Other people have to tell other people that you're a brand. So you have
1:06:581 hour, 6 minutes, 58 secondsto build on the customer base that's willing to say Puckets is mine. They've
1:07:071 hour, 7 minutes, 7 secondsgot to take ownership. If you can get your customers to take ownership and who you are and what you do, then you're a
1:07:131 hour, 7 minutes, 13 secondsbrand. If you fall short of that, you're just you're a sign.
1:07:191 hour, 7 minutes, 19 secondsYeah. You're just you're just a shingle on the wall. Uh yeah, it's never and I and I tell our our employees all the
1:07:261 hour, 7 minutes, 26 secondstime, it's never going to be enough for us to open a restaurant and unlock the doors and see who comes in. We have to
1:07:331 hour, 7 minutes, 33 secondsbe essential to the communities we serve. If we can accomplish that, then we become essential and it becomes a
1:07:421 hour, 7 minutes, 42 secondspartnership. The community and your business become a partnership. And if we do that, we've done our job well.
1:07:501 hour, 7 minutes, 50 secondsThanks for joining us on the parallel entrepreneur, Andy. Uh, an hour of wisdom at minimum and a a lifetime of wisdom for sure.
1:08:021 hour, 8 minutes, 2 secondsThank you. I appreciate it. It's been a wonderful talk. I've missed you. Yeah, I've missed you, too.
1:08:081 hour, 8 minutes, 8 secondsHey, thanks for listening to the Parallel Entrepreneur. And thank you to our sponsors, partners, and the amazing team behind the scenes who help make
1:08:171 hour, 8 minutes, 17 secondsthese conversations possible. If today's episode sparked something for you, be sure to follow, subscribe, and please
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