Key to the City: Crafting a VIP Experience with Tim Gordanier

Summary

Escaping the Drift with John Gafford: Episode Summary
Episode: Key to the City: Crafting a VIP Experience with Tim Gordanier
Release Date: February 4, 2025

In this engaging episode of "Escaping the Drift," host John Gafford sits down with Tim Gordanier, the innovative founder behind the "Key to the City" VIP recognition program. Tim shares his entrepreneurial journey, the inception and evolution of his unique business model, and the strategies that have propelled his venture from a local startup to a burgeoning presence in Las Vegas.

1. Introduction to "Key to the City"

Tim's Concept:
Tim introduces the "Key to the City" as a VIP recognition program integrated with a social club. Unlike traditional loyalty cards, the Key is a subscription-based physical metal key made of pure copper, embedded with a chip for seamless interactions at participating venues.

[04:06] Tim: "We basically reinvented a card into a very cool format and wanted to make it something that people would talk about."

2. Business Genesis and Bootstrapping

Early Inspirations and Challenges:
Tim recounts how an idea struck him during an ordinary moment—in the shower—leading to the transformation of a simple card concept into the sophisticated Key. Bootstrapped from scratch, Tim navigated the challenges of starting a business without initial funding, emphasizing the importance of creating a tangible product in an increasingly digital world.

[25:14] Tim: "It was literally just 2014 in the shower. I spent an hour and a half I went from a card going in the shower to come out with that idea that the card's stupid."

3. Building and Expanding the Business

Initial Launch and Scaling:
Launching first in Canada, Tim details how he partnered with local restaurants and bars to offer unique VIP experiences to subscribers. The success in cities like Toronto and Montreal served as proof of concept, enabling expansion into the entertainment hub of Las Vegas.

[28:09] Tim: "We created a key, it's a VIP recognition program built in with a social club... They just give you stuff."

Quality Control and Partnerships:
Maintaining high standards was crucial. Tim established a quality control process with a UK-based firm in Hong Kong to ensure each Key met the desired specifications. Partnerships with top-tier venues ensured that members received consistent and valuable perks.

[30:00] Tim: "They go in and they check these on the line. On production day, they're actually testing these chips."

4. Overcoming Challenges

Educating Partners and Staff:
Tim highlights the hurdles in onboarding new venues, particularly in unfamiliar markets like Toronto initially, where restaurants hadn't encountered such a concept before. Continuous training and retraining were pivotal in ensuring staff understood and valued the Key's significance.

[32:17] Tim: "We have an onboarding process, so we come and we actually train... And now, you have a chance to win a $700 key and they're like, this is really cool."

Adapting During the Pandemic:
The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges, requiring Tim to pivot his offerings to include takeout and delivery perks, ensuring continued value for subscribers despite the downturn in nightlife and hospitality activities.

[35:51] Tim: "We ended up building takeout and delivery perks. And I had to deliver. I can't take your money and not deliver."

5. Marketing and Social Integration

Reviving Social Interaction:
Tim emphasizes the physicality of the Key as a conversation starter, fostering organic social interactions among members at venues. This strategy not only enhances the user experience but also serves as a grassroots marketing tool, driving word-of-mouth promotion.

[33:54] Tim: "It brought social back. And that whole physicality aspect... gets people talking at the bar."

6. Future Expansion and Strategic Partnerships

Scaling Through Joint Ventures:
While currently operating with a minimal team, Tim discusses his plans to expand into additional cities by forming joint venture partnerships. This approach leverages local promoters with hospitality backgrounds to replicate the successful model in new markets without the overhead of traditional franchising.

[37:21] Tim: "We have the airport lounge there, actually. So we're starting, man. It's coming."

7. Key Takeaways and Insights

Patience and Persistence:
Tim attributes much of his success to patient and deliberate scaling, ensuring each new market was thoroughly vetted and integrated seamlessly with existing operations.

[43:15] Tim: "There’s an old adage, you know, this less is more sometimes. I’m a patient guy. I’m building it out carefully."

Value Over Discounts:
Aligning with a cultural shift from seeking "free" offers to valuing quality and exclusivity, Tim positions the Key as a premium product that signifies status rather than providing mere discounts.

[07:14] Tim: "We wanted locals to feel right, but we didn't want to overcharge. It’s cool. Make it approachable, make it cool, but classy."

8. Conclusion

In this episode, Tim Gordanier exemplifies entrepreneurial resilience and innovation, transforming a simple idea into a tangible, valued product that enhances social experiences in the hospitality industry. His approach underscores the importance of quality control, strategic partnerships, and patient scaling in building a successful business. Listeners gain valuable insights into bootstrapping, navigating challenges, and leveraging unique value propositions to create lasting impact.

[50:11] John Gafford: "If you got a dream, you gotta go get it."

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Gordanier [04:06]: "We basically reinvented a card into a very cool format and wanted to make it something that people would talk about."

• Tim Gordanier [25:14]: "It was literally just 2014 in the shower. I spent an hour and a half I went from a card going in the shower to come out with that idea that the card's stupid."

• Tim Gordanier [33:54]: "It brought social back. And that whole physicality aspect... gets people talking at the bar."

• John Gafford [50:11]: "If you got a dream, you gotta go get it."

Learn More: For more details on "Key to the City", visit www.EscapingtheDrift.com.

Transcript

[A]

File your taxes the free and Easy Way with TurboTax. New to TurboTax. Didn't file last year with TurboTax. No problem. Switch to TurboTax and file for free. If you do your own taxes on the TurboTax mobile app by February 18, all the tax forms you have can be assisted, all 100% free. Now, this is taxes intuit. TurboTax. New filers and filers who didn't use TurboTax last year only must start and file your own taxes in the app by February 18th. Excludes TurboTax LIVE full [e-mail] just put.

[B]

Water all over yourself. All right, now, you almost got to watch this. We go Joe Rogan style. I don't cut this thing up. We just go. We go straight as it is. So, yeah, he just spilled his bottle of water in his lap, which is, you know, hey, man, it's a first. Oh, my God. It's the first three years doing this. That's a first.

[C]

I feel good now.

[B]

You should. You should, because now the next person does, it won't feel so bad. You've. You've. You've trailblazed that for the next person, which.

[C]

It could have been worse. It could have been a beer.

[B]

And now, escaping the Drift show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford, and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, Escape the drift, and it's time to start right now. Welcome back to the program, everybody. Like it says in the opening, the podcast that gets you from where you're at to where you want to be. And today in studio, ladies and gents, I got something kind of cool. This is something that hit my desk yesterday. And in the, you know, look, people give me stuff all the time. Like, I get stuff sent to me in the mail, I get stuff dropped off. I get all kinds of stuff. And it's lovely when that happens. Like, I'm always very flattered when people bring me stuff. And then, you know, sometimes people bring me stuff, and I start having a conversation with them, and I realize, dude, this is a pretty cool business, and I really like what this person has built. I like what they did, and I like, you know, what they've done. And I really think it was great. And yesterday, a guy walked into my office and handed me, presented me with something called the Las Vegas Key to the City. And I was like, what is this And I'm gonna let him explain what it is, because I thought it was cool. This is not an infomercial today, because this is really just from talking to him for a little bit. It's a story about bootstrapping up a really cool business from scratch. And we're gonna kind of go through how he did that. And I think it's a business that, like, look, don't go rip him off. But I'm just saying this should get your wheels turning for something you could bootstrap up, which is very cool. And I hate to do this because it's French and I've already butchered it in my mind, I've already butchered it. I've already screwed up. So, guys, we're just going to say welcome to the. He's going to say his last name. I'm going to say his first name. Welcome to. This is Tim Gordan Gordon.

[C]

Not bad or done yet.

[B]

Go down. Yeah. Just as I was talking to Mike. Man name Tim. Welcome, buddy, welcome.

[C]

Thank you. By the way.

[B]

So, yeah, again, dude, thank you so much for giving me this. And before we get too far into the building of the business, I want people to understand what this is, because I thought it was cool. So what is. What is the key to the city of. Which, if you're watching this on YouTube, I am holding on the screen and.

[C]

You can see super fresh.

[B]

Yeah. Make sure you, like, subscribe. And all of those things does help us keep doing this. Doing this thing. But explain to me what this is.

[C]

Yeah, so we. We basically created a key, if you want to. It's. It's a VIP recognition program built in with a social club. The idea behind it was pretty simple. I mean, it's. We basically reinvented a card into a very cool format and wanted to make it something that people would talk about. And it was kind of cool to show and you felt right and everything about it, everything from weight down to the look, we were very, very specific and careful about so. And even the curated partners. So we go and source the best of the city. Built for locals, by the way. And the idea was to, again, bring locals out to the places that we found out we're the best in the city and we keep finding and sourcing, and each place recognizes you for just having the key and treat you like a vip. And the idea was everyone was being recognized.

[B]

So, I mean, this thing, like people have, it's not like a card. I mean, this is. If you're watching this, this is like a. I mean, it's a metal thick, heavy, could hurt somebody key that's it's all embossed and engraved. It's got, you know, it's got a chip in it so they can scan it and it's like a heavy thing. I mean it's like a legit thing.

[C]

Pure copper actually.

[B]

Yeah, it's pure copper. Copper do well. So things don't work out with us. I can and I turn to a method I can start recycling. Recycling this first. There you go. But, yeah, but, but essentially the idea here is it's a subscription based deal. So people join this social club and when you walk in, it's not like, not like discounts. It's like they just give you stuff.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

Which is pretty wild. And I went through the whole website last night and I was just looking at this and it's. I mean it's a good restaurant around town if you know Vegas places like Jing and Be Berries and ate over at Carver Steak. I mean places where people go, you know Sapphire, where? I. I don't know. But some people go. Who go. Maybe go.

[C]

Who goes there?

[B]

Who goes there? I definitely go there. Who knows. But yeah, it's places where people actually go. It's not just like the junkiest of the junk. It's good stuff. And they just kind of. When you walk in, what do they do? What do you do? When I roll with this key, how's is it like. Because you said you mentioned something that was kind of cool when you said it. You said it's like John Wick.

[C]

It is, it is. I like sliding the gold coin across. But it's obviously a gold key you slide to the bartender and the bartender knows exactly what to do. So if you go to Legacy Club, for instance, you slide this to the bartender. You're with a date or you're on your own, whatever. Or you're with a friend, colleague. You slide it across and they instantly recognize you. They come up with two classy drinks and they present it on the house every time you go. You can go every day. It doesn't matter. It's a, it's just a recognition thing.

[B]

Yeah. Just because. And it's a good, it's good business for these places because they have people that, you know, this is not cheap to be a member of this. It's not. I mean, what's the cost to be a member here?

[C]

$700 a year.

[B]

700 bucks a year. So I mean, dude, it's not chump change. It's. It's. There's A little bit of a barrier.

[C]

Entry to it, but priced where we didn't want to. We wanted locals to go and we want locals to feel right, but we didn't want to also overcharge. Where I thought, you know, you don't have to overcharge. It's, it's cool. Make it approachable, make it cool, but classy.

[B]

It's like a lot of people that aren't in business or marketing don't understand the concept of barrier to entry, where if it's just for everybody, then it's for nobody. You know what I mean? So you're kind of trying. You gotta, it's gotta cost a little something. Yep. Because then it has no value. But the idea that you can roll up in places with this and get free stuff. And people like, why would they do that? It's because they're assuming that somebody that has, you know, willing to throw 700 bucks down just to have this cool key in their car or in their pocket as they go out, you know, that's somebody that's going to spend more money than just walking in and getting free drinks. There's not going to be like, let's go bar hopping with my key and just pound all these free beverages. Right. It's like, okay, cool. Number one, you're people that spend money out. So you're going to make a decision to go out and, and you're looking.

[C]

For that type of thing and not your coupon hunters. Because coupon hunters, they don't pay $700. Get in. Yeah, just want the free they want. And we never discount our keys. That was, that was important is that, you know, the key has to hold its value too. Just like we make our restaurants and restaurants hate discounting. Discounting should never be done anyway.

[B]

Yeah, you know what, you know what's really interesting that I thought is just such a strange shift in American culture, which is Neil Patel put something on his, on his page the other day that I thought was really interesting. And what it said was it was a bar chart talking about all the Google searches for everything, service products, everything over American over the American culture over the last. Right. Fifteen years. And when the Internet first came out, like whatever it was, and heavy search was there, 2007, 2008 started, the word free was like the number one searched thing on the Internet. And then in the word value was best. Best was like way down here. And then they showed this chart of the two lines converging. Okay, 2017. In 2017, best became more searched than free. So people Started looking for things of higher value and not necessarily the less cost. And those lines continue to diverge now.

[C]

And it makes sense because back in 2007, I think coupons were kind of cool.

[B]

Well, that was right in the throes of the financial crisis. I can kind of see that people were looking for a little free everything back then.

[C]

But I think, and I personally like the. Back then I was like, I was younger, but I was like a two for one burger. I'm like, sign me out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But you know, when you get older and more refined and I think the society changed too. I think people want value, sorry, better. And it's. It's important.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And better doesn't come with a discount.

[B]

Yeah. And you do this exclusively every year. How many of these keys do you do?

[C]

20, 24. So we released those last year. We launched in February 1, actually last year and we sold out in September, which is crazy. I also gave a lot of keys to the. Right. You know, obviously.

[B]

Yeah, sure. Local. Local year one.

[C]

You're one celebrities. We got some cool celebrities with it. Actually. Even Kristi Noem actually just presented a key to her. She's the new secretary of the Homeland Security. It's crazy.

[B]

That's very cool.

[C]

Yeah, that was actually really cool. She's very good looking, by the way.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

You might have noticed.

[B]

Shocking. Trump is hiring good looking women. Shocking.

[C]

And very, very, very amazingly put together. I mean, I listened to her speak at a conference and just, Just an amazing woman. She. Yeah.

[B]

All right. And you bootstrapped this whole business.

[C]

Bootstrapped. And then we released 1000 more pieces here. So I totally. That happens. So 2024 keys. And then we added an extra thousand because we're subscription model based.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So each year we want to obviously add a little bit more because we keep about 92% usually in our other cities, which is Toronto, Montreal, which we'll talk about. But yeah, but yeah. So we have released 1000 new keys this year. So once those are gone. They're gone.

[B]

Yeah. So for those of you at home that are quick with the old calculator here, if you can be quick with what you got, I think you can do the math of 2000 times 700 even handful of comps that you take out of there. I think you can probably do the math. Pretty. My man Tim's doing pretty good for himself.

[C]

Terrible.

[B]

Doing all right. And essentially all he's doing is bringing people together.

[C]

He's.

[B]

He literally has manufactured a business out of thin air. He has hospitality, he has no Employees. He has no rent. He has no cost of goods other than the cost.

[C]

I have employees.

[B]

You have employees. All right, but.

[C]

But I'm just saying I might die.

[B]

You don't go. You're in the hospitality business, but you don't have a shift change.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

You don't have to deal with. Oh, shit. My bartender called out today and so the bartender is me. You don't have to deal with. Oh, the price of eggs just shot through the roof. So now my cost of goods is terrible.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

Right. You essentially have become a partner with the best places in town with zero overhead and nothing but profit. That is reliable and countable because of subscription based.

[C]

And it took. It took building, obviously, the brand and the, and the polish and the factor.

[B]

Believe me, I ain't saying it's easy.

[C]

And the events, and we do key holder socials, which are cool. So we actually do those on our own. So we'll bring key holders out together and meet other key holders. But you're right, we're sort of, I always say this, we're kind of the uber of hospitality because we just kind of enable people. We created a program and then we send them out. And then the restaurants, obviously, you know, it's a marketing tool really for them. They're bringing in the business from us with our key holders and they do this, they do the fulfillment, which is great. You're right.

[B]

Yeah. And the thing that I thought was interesting as I went through the site last night is it's not like dead nights. It's not like if you come in on a Tuesday night when they're hurting for business, it's. I don't care if it's prime time Saturday night.

[C]

It was important. That was one thing. You know, it was funny in Toronto, we used to get businesses when I was younger and they. We've been around 10 years there. I wanted to, I wanted to make sure everyone was gonna, you know, was gonna be on it always, because it's confusing otherwise. And the brand, really, for my brand, isn't good. And then me marketing your restaurant isn't good because I can't rely on you being cool. So one of the things that happened back then was, you know, they'd say, well, we don't want to do it on Friday. Saturday. I'm like, no. So the one rule I would always say was you have to honor it at any time. And to be honest, I mean, giving someone a welcome gift when they come in to dine with you and spend their hard Earned money. Yeah, they get it. You know what I love about Vegas? They get it. They didn't have to say anything. They just knew. They're like, anytime. It's cool.

[B]

That's good. Well, let's. Okay, so let's go back now. So let's walk through because this is just you, you know, any partners, right?

[C]

No, just me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I mean, obviously I have a team.

[B]

You have a team. But no but, but this. You are CEO, everything. This is founder. You are it. How old are you now?

[C]

I just turned 47.

[B]

You just turned 47. Okay, good man. You're looking good for 47.

[C]

You look young.

[B]

I would assume you were way younger too. I'll take it. I'll take it. That's good stuff. So what's the background like? Where did you grow, where did you grow up? I always like to go to the nature versus nurture for heavy entrepreneurs and talk about you. What was your early life like?

[C]

So I'm from a small town up in Owen Sound, Ontario. So it's about two and a half hours north of, of Toronto and that's where I've been living. Toronto. I've been in Toronto for 20 years. But yeah, it's. It's been crazy. So we started. I started a small city. I knew I didn't belong. I knew I wasn't going to be that guy on the line. The factory, which, hey, some people love it. Some people.

[B]

Is that, Is that a big manufacturing town where you're from?

[C]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Did your dad work on the line?

[C]

My dad was actually an engineer for hydro, which was. Okay, so yeah, that was kind of cool. My mom did like, you know, advertising sales for local newspaper. So the.

[B]

Mom was a salesman?

[C]

Mom was a sales. But you know, it's funny, my dad was the entrepreneur who gave it up for his kids and really sort of his. You could tell his passion. So he used to take me to sell. He, he nurtured it. I mean, I sold hockey cards when I was 10 to shows and we had tables and he booked it and he saved the money for college for me. And I didn't know that, but he just, he was kind of. He wanted to do it. He opened up to me about it.

[B]

That was the hustle.

[C]

Yeah, that was the. He took the safe route because of course you do that when you're having a family. Some people, they take the safer and it's okay.

[B]

Yeah. So, yeah, so he would take you. You. So that was the first hustle, was selling hockey cards.

[C]

Yeah. So he put A lot of weight on my shoulders. Like, you better be successful in business, because I want to be in business. Oh, my God. Fair.

[B]

So, so, so did you. Were you a guy that got good grades? Just put water on yourself. All right, now, you almost got to watch this. We go Joe Rogan style. I don't cut this thing off. We just go. We go straight as it is.

[C]

So.

[B]

Yeah, he just spilled his bottle of water in his lap, which is, you know. Hey, man, it's a first. Oh, my God. It's a first. Three years doing this. That's a first.

[C]

I feel. I feel good now.

[B]

You should. You should. Because now the next person does, it won't feel so bad. You've. You've. You've trailblazed that for the next person, which is.

[C]

Could have been worse. It could have been a beer.

[B]

Yeah, it could have been. It could have been.

[C]

Or a coffee.

[B]

Or a coffee would have been much wor. So were you a guy that got good grades in school?

[C]

I was. It's funny. I was pretty average in school. I had a. I had a gift of, like, photographic memory. So I would. It's funny. I would study before exams and just obviously ace the exams.

[B]

But you never did your homework.

[C]

No, it was pretty.

[B]

That was me.

[C]

And I never. You too?

[B]

That was me. Okay, so I was. I was the straight, like, B, C student. Because literally I could get it A on any test, but I never did my homework at Crunch.

[C]

You killed it.

[B]

And no. And it was always this argument of. With the teachers of, what is the purpose of the homework? It's to learn the material. If I can get an A on your test, why do I need to do the homework? I got it right.

[C]

Did you do the dummies ones? Because I used to read the. I used to read the Coles notes and the. The dummies. Whatever.

[B]

Oh, no, dude. I was like. Back when I was in grade school, it was like a cave with, like, chalk on the wall.

[C]

Who knows?

[B]

Oh, okay. It was old school, but no, it was. Yeah, dude, same thing, man.

[C]

You kill it when you crunch at the last minute. Kill it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, dude. And I gotta. I gotta say, thank God for my wife because my kid now is the same, but she just keeps her thumb on his ass. So he's got a 4 6, 5, 47 5. Now you want them to be better than us, right? Yeah.

[A]

Just file your taxes the free and Easy Way with TurboTax. New to TurboTax. Didn't file last year with TurboTax. No problem. Switch to TurboTax. And file for free. If you do your own taxes on the TurboTax mobile app by February 18, all the tax forms you have can be assisted, all 100% free. Now, this is taxes intuit. TurboTax. New filers and filers who didn't use TurboTax last year only must start and file your own taxes in the app by February 18th. Excludes TurboTax. Live full [e-mail] just because mom's got.

[B]

The thumb on him about the homework, right? He's. He'd be. He'd be the same way, though.

[C]

Of course. But we're kind of proof, though, you know, you can still make it if you don't do the 4.7, 5.6.

[B]

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it's a lot harder.

[C]

It is definitely harder. It is definitely harder.

[B]

It's a lot harder yourself.

[C]

Started our business because that's. That's the hardest part.

[B]

It is. So you graduated. You graduated from. From high school. Did you go to college?

[C]

Yeah, so I went to college in London, Ontario, and Fanshawe, and I didn't go to a fancy university. And then. Well, actually, I kind of did, actually, because in the end, I ended up getting hired by Disney, if you can believe it. Disney marketing, okay. They came and recruited me out of school, which was crazy. I applied. There were like 20,000 applicants. It was.

[B]

Wait, you were in school? You were in school for marketing?

[C]

And they went around the country looking for Canadians to represent them just because.

[B]

They, like, they figured you're nicer and they figure. They just figure you.

[C]

They really do, and they look for that. And they. They also have Epcot and they wanted marketing input for Canada because they have a Canadian pavilion.

[B]

Oh, dude, amazing. Many, many days at the Canadian pavilion.

[C]

The drink around the World.

[B]

Did you ever do it? Yeah, dude. So many. I lived in Orlando for years, right?

[C]

No way. Oh, for years I was in Lake Buena Vista.

[B]

So right there, yeah, I lived, you know where. Where 1792 mills bends around Lake Lawana. Downtown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I lived right on Lake. Yes, I did. For years.

[C]

Oh, dude, I didn't even know that. That's cool.

[B]

I'm Floridian by birth, so, yeah, I'm.

[C]

From Florida, but yeah, dude, I love that city.

[B]

Drinking around the world. For those of you for the highly recommend this, it is the greatest thing to do. It's at Disney World, so. Disney World. I've never been. Epcot has the World Pavilion. Starts with Mexico, ends with England, I.

[C]

Think, which is actually Canada's first, actually Then it ends in Mexico.

[B]

Not the way.

[C]

Well, wait. Actually, it depends how you go. You're right.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay, so you gotta go left. No, you went. Oh, you went. Oh, you can't. I went counterclockwise.

[B]

You're gonna finish drinking around the world with Mexico. You're drinking tequila. Well, no, because you gotta go tequila.

[C]

Done that wrong.

[B]

No, no. Yeah. You go tequila, then you go an easy Norwegian beer, Then you go German beer.

[C]

True.

[B]

Then you get into your sakis and whatnot, around the backside, and then you're finishing with those pints with big pints from Canada.

[C]

You can't start with a counter.

[B]

We did the opposite, man. Yeah, that's not helping anybody.

[C]

But he's not wrong. This thing's. And then. And remember the. They had the big. The big light shows in the middle of this.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

It's crazy Lagoon. Sorry.

[B]

Legally. Technically, I'm banned from Epcot.

[C]

Oh, shut up.

[B]

Legally and technically. Technically, I'm bad for Epcot. We were there one night, so you.

[C]

Should have taken Canada first, is what I'm hearing.

[B]

Well, I've never told this story, especially on the other hand now, because here it is, so I got to hear this. Yeah. This is not how they have, you know, money and success. This is the exact opposite of this. Back in my younger days, when things are a little crazier, my buddy Ryan said, hey, man, you know what we should do? We should swim out to. Let's swim out to the. To the ball.

[C]

You did not get in the lagoon.

[B]

We got in the lagoon.

[C]

No, you.

[B]

Yes, we did. Right over the wall under the lagoon. They got duck bo boats out there. They. They caught us in the lagoon in the tugboats. The tugboats took us to the underground world of Disney. You know, the under. Like, where the underground.

[C]

Yeah, of course. Oh, yeah. Oh, this is a real place.

[B]

Oh, yeah. And they. They straight trespassed us. Oh.

[C]

Oh. Actually, for life. Like, done.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I guess that would do it.

[B]

I'm gonna tell you, when I had my kids 20 years later, whatever it is, we go back and it's a little worried. Day one.

[C]

So the rule of thumb, right, little word, is that you got to start with beers and end with tequila.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, that's. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably the way to do it, but, yeah, we.

[C]

That's crazy. I never even thought it. And he's funny. I never even thought of getting in the lingo, but that's. That's crazy.

[B]

I love it. There's alligators, I think.

[C]

I like you More now.

[B]

Yeah. There's alligators in there.

[C]

There is.

[B]

They're like, bro, there's alligator.

[C]

I'm like, all legit.

[B]

I'm like, I'm from Florida. I'm not scared of alligators. Who cares? Whatever.

[C]

Anyway, they're not fast enough.

[B]

I digress. So Disney comes to hire you. Yeah.

[C]

And I got hired from them and I went to. While they. When they hired you, they gave you basically courses in Disney University, which is actually an accredited university.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know this because you were there, but a lot of people don't know that. I say this to Americans and Canadians.

[B]

They're like, university Disney C her. He's like, huge deal.

[C]

Legit, huge deal.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Their hospitality marketing, it was amazing.

[B]

Yeah, it's great.

[C]

Best year and a half of my life. It was.

[B]

So you learned way more there than you did in college?

[C]

Oh, yeah. Hands on. I. I just like the hands on. I made no money. They pay you crap. Like, no money at all, you know.

[B]

Did you work in the park while you doing this?

[C]

Yes. So it actually got to shadow. So I was doing. Some days we were in the office. Some days we were doing. I was a manager of a nightclub on Pleasure island, which, of course, we're old enough to know what that.

[B]

All right. Right. So you may know a really good friend of mine then. Actually, I'm gonna give you some bad news if you do. You know my cues.

[C]

No.

[B]

My Qs was the GM of all of Pleasure Island.

[C]

I might know my cues. I just don't remember the name, which is queries. Because I have a good memory. I should remember that.

[B]

Unfor. I'll show you a picture.

[C]

I managed Mannequins for one night. That was insane.

[B]

The bad news. The bad news is Mike was one of my dear friends. He passed away.

[C]

Like, oh, no way.

[B]

Yeah. Which is terrible.

[C]

But it's very possible.

[B]

I'll show you a picture. Everybody in Orlando knows. Huge.

[C]

I was gonna say, sounds like he's been around.

[B]

Yeah, he's been around forever. Let me see here.

[C]

It was really cool to do it. It's like. Yeah. Just something I'd never done before. And the third floor mannequins was frightening. I'm gonna be honest with you.

[B]

So this was. That's my cues.

[C]

He looks sort of familiar.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

He was the GM of all.

[C]

He was probably a lot younger when I saw him.

[B]

Yeah. He was the GM of all Pleasure Island.

[C]

And then.

[B]

And then when they opened CityWalk, he left. Oh, I totally would have Pleasure island to go to CityWalk and he ran CityWalk for. For millions of years.

[C]

98.

[B]

Yeah. He opened it in it forever. Forever.

[C]

98. 99. Yeah.

[B]

There you go.

[C]

That's cool. That's actually really cool.

[B]

So Disney, we learned everything, which was good. And how long did you stay there?

[C]

A year, year and a half almost. And it was. It was just like. Like I said, it was just a thing to go and. And learn and no money. We partied a lot. It was like. It was crazy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I learned a lot. And they. And they have, like, blacklist. It's legit stuff. I don't know if I should stay in this right now. But. But they. They've got some. They got some crazy, crazy stuff going on in the marketing thing. They. They're strong. They got power.

[B]

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure they do. Yeah.

[C]

And you don't want to get in their bad side, I'll tell you that much. There is a blacklist.

[B]

No, no, no. I'm sure. Dude, I used to love the. The girls that they would bring in to work. The different pavilions would always wind up at House of Blues on Sunday nights for Sin Night.

[C]

Oh, nope. That was a spot for sure.

[B]

A lot of time in that place, buddy.

[C]

Bring back the memories.

[B]

A lot of time in that place.

[C]

So, anyway, Ale House. I don't remember. Alehouse. That was our.

[B]

That was our regular Miller's L House.

[C]

Oh, my God. And what was it? Sorry. The roof is on fire. It was. Oh, my God.

[B]

The Boo.

[C]

The big bamboo.

[B]

The big.

[C]

You remember this?

[B]

No.

[C]

So it was a shack, and I think it burned down recently, I heard. And they used to serve this stuff out of the back, the moonshine in their drinks. And you go in and the song was, you know, the Boo.

[B]

The Boo.

[C]

The Boo's on fire. We don't need no water. Anyway.

[B]

Oh, God.

[C]

They bring out these drinks, and I'm telling you, two drinks. We were hallucinating. I mean, I don't know what that was.

[B]

No clue what this place was. Never heard of it.

[C]

It was all Ben. It was on a bend coming from Orlando into Lake Bona Vista. It's all I remember. And anyway, Beach Club. Maybe that's what it is. Then. Then or before that or after it, maybe. I don't know.

[B]

Who knows?

[C]

It burned down. That's all I know. It looked literally like a shack in the woods, but it wasn't the woods.

[B]

No. No.

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

So. So after Disney. You spent a year and a half with Disney? Yes. What did you do next so after.

[C]

That I came home and I actually got into learning. I self taught myself how to do web design because it was kind of a thing. And okay, I started making websites backstudy. We looked its websites, studied the back end coding trying to figure out how they did it.

[B]

You went from Orlando back to Toronto?

[C]

No, I went back to Owen Sound which was like the worst.

[B]

Oh geez. Yeah, that's temperature shot.

[C]

And I'm like, you know, I'll bartend and serve, I'll learn this coding, live at my parents house because you know, I was kind of didn't know where to go. Yeah, you come home and it's sort of like school's over, your placement's over and now you're sort of just lost. You're like what am I going to do next? So I'm glad I did that because I went home, got rid of my school debts and and just got my grounding and I learned, I learned how to code then started selling website design. So I started doing this for restaurants and businesses and yeah, I moved to Collingwood to continue it, moved to Toronto to act. And then while I was here I was also bartending, serving. And then it hit me on an idea.

[B]

When did you move here?

[C]

I moved here in 2000. Oh here. Just moved here last so I would.

[B]

Okay, you mean Toronto November 23rd. You forgot where you were when you said move to Toronto.

[C]

Right, right.

[B]

So you moved to Toronto.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

And you're just working in the puddle, right?

[C]

Yes, I was there for a while and then I started 2006. Sorry, my God, it was 2004. It was an idea. But 2006 is when we opened the door. I created the world's first Google street view. So I actually beat Google to the patent office. Real true story. I have the paperwork, it's crazy. And then I'm an idiot. Didn't get backers for it. I was a bartender, struggling actor. It is what it is. And then I basically filed patent for this idea where you would advance down the street with a mouse or a button and you could click on the buildings and go inside. And so I had a working model we submitted to the patent office at a year. So I had patent pending and I abandoned the patent.

[B]

Oh yeah, probably been worked. That probably would have been worth something.

[C]

But you know what's funny is the accolades of like everyone's like do you not, you don't dwell on. I'm like no because you know, at the end of the day I looked at it like hey, I beat Google. A team of Google. I beat them to the office with an idea. I mean, that gave me power. I was like, I did something amazing. I don't, I don't need that. I don't need the. I don't need to be praised about it.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But had I done it different though, I might have a lot of money. Yeah.

[B]

Would have been nice to be paid about it.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

And who cares about the praise? Just pay me.

[C]

And we joked about it because we're like, if Google had. If I had gone through that and Google bought me at which they would have. I would have. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't be here right now.

[B]

So, yeah, good call.

[C]

I mean, that kind of money at 27, I would have died.

[B]

Yeah. Fair.

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

Fair.

[C]

So that was cool. And then basically seven years later, I was. I was trying to come up with a reinvention of my brand there and we still carried on the business. We ended up doing animation and got an animation with the streets, so you can click on buildings and go in that way. By the way, I'm the only guy that knows the holes in Google's patent because patents can't be repatented. So once I file patent, they can't patent the same idea. So the things that I sent through are not patented by Google. They're open source at that point. As you might know, for after a year, the patent pending means that it can't be repaneted again by anybody.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Including myself. So I know the holes in it, but it's pretty funny. But anyway, I digressed. If you go back, we were trying to recreate basically loyalty program. So I came up with this idea that I was going to create a card which was going to do what I'm doing now with the key. And I got in the shower and it was an hour and a half. That's how the key came to be. It was literally just 2014 in the shower. Sounds very weird. Spent an hour and a half I went from a card going in the shower to come out with that idea that the card's stupid. No one's gonna buy a card. Cards are dying. I knew that. No one's gonna carry a card. How do I remarket that and make it cooler? And then the key hit me and I was like. And then we got like all this chip could be in it. And anyway, my head went crazy. It was an hour and a half. My. My bill was crazy.

[B]

Yeah, see? See? Okay, so you get it done. Now. Here's the thing. You have no proof of concept. You have an idea?

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Talk to me about approaching the places you approach first.

[C]

So I had. That was where I had it made, because the. The site that I created, which is Streets to It, actually had that animation thing that I went through. So I was dealing with hospitality clients for like nine years in the end. And basically. So I already had restaurant partners.

[B]

This is just a pivot. Yeah.

[C]

I just basically said, hey, when these clients come in, you'll. You'll do something for them. And they're like, yes, that sounds great. And they, like, the idea produced a hundred keys as a. Just a test phase. And we had a party and people lost their minds. And I'm like, oh, shit, this isn't going to help my business. This is a new business and this one's going to die.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So I closed the other one. I actually migrated into this. This, which is. It's crazy. You go to find an idea to save one, to bring it to the next level, and then you find an idea that's going to overtake it. It's crazy.

[B]

So now, you know, you're in Toronto, Ontario, and then you are in Vegas. Now, what made you obviously look, it's the entertainment capital of the world, but was it a daunting idea to come to Vegas and start this? Like, what was the.

[C]

It was, it was. It's funny, I. I think I've just been so confident in what we' doing and we built this thing in Canada and it's. It's just been amazing. So I knew how to do it and it was just kind of, hey, I'll approach businesses and say, you know, you should be. You should be on this. It's kind of cool. And I, I showed a working model and they're like, wow, that's. That's actually cool. Yeah. We had never seen this before and I thought that was weird. I thought when I came in I would have more competition and there really wasn't.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So that kind of shocked me.

[B]

First, the markets, all that matters. Yeah, all the matters.

[C]

I've heard there's other people have tried. I mean, there's been people that have done similar ideas with like, you know, a mobile app or like a card. They just didn't flourish. But this one, one. This one had legs. I could tell by the way they just. They would light up.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like you did when I gave you the key, actually. I love that.

[B]

It was cool. It was good. It's. It's. I mean, look, I don't. Like I said when I. When I opened this show today. I said, man, people bring me all the time. I get stuff all the time. And, and very rarely do I do I say this is, this is a kind of a cool story and let's, let's talk about it. Let's talk about the business of the business. Sure. Which is so, so obviously you just go to, you go to the, you go to the get of the facilities. You show them. Now you have proof of concepts from other market markets, which is good.

[C]

And by the way, we bring Toronto, Montreal members. So we have the, the keys are in those cities too. They have their own unique key and again limited number and they can now use it in other cities.

[B]

Look at that. Because now you. Okay, so now locals. So now you can cross market, you can cross market destination locations, which is really smart because now you can say not only am I going to bring this, but now when the, all of these people come to Vegas, they're going to have a reason to come to you.

[C]

That sort of helped open the door here because I mean my business model is built for, for hospitality. They, they like what we're doing because we're not greedy and we're smart about it. And we know that, listen, it has to be a partnership. You have to make money, I have to make money and we have to work together. So instead of charging you for marketing, we just want to welcome you because you fit our, what we're going after. And I think you're, you're. It's going to be a match match. And so we're sort of matchmakers and we're in the middle and we, and we, we charge for the key and they charge for their, for their service and everybody wins, including the key holder. Because the key holder, I'm just making them kind of go in without that hookup. They don't need a hookup anymore. The keys, their hookup.

[B]

Well, let's talk about the process of actually getting the keys done. Obviously you, this is done in China, so Hong Kong.

[C]

Yeah. So but we have a qc. So there's a little more in depth with ours. We have a QC and which was really important because, you know, shipping out these keys, quality control is everything.

[B]

Yeah, for sure, sure. Did you go, did you just have, did you do prototypes back and forth or did you actually go.

[C]

Yeah, so I have actually a firm out of the UK that actually handles it and it's their factory in Hong Kong. And so they go in and they check these on the line. On production day, they're actually testing these chips. Are they, are they in there. Are they looking right? Is the keys wrong? I mean, I used to see some of them will come off the line that of course don't look right. But it was nice having the QC because I think in literally probably 10 years, that's how long we've been doing almost, I'd probably say three issues, three that were reported to us. And it was. The key just wasn't in the package.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So that was interesting. That was, that was rare.

[B]

Well, let's, let's talk about problems in the business because, I mean, how do you, how do you do quality control with a location? So you ever get a call from somebody, says like, dude, I took this key into this place, slide across the bar and they looked at me like I was nuts.

[C]

Toronto was really hard when we first started Toronto businesses. Yeah, no one knew what it was. We were really starting something new. And part of this process, why I think I don't have a lot of competition is it's not easy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I took the hard road.

[A]

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[C]

I chose physicality because I think it's important. I think people are losing track of, of what it used to be to touch something. And I think people love touching something.

[B]

Yeah. But I mean, with all the turnover in all these places, how do you, how do you continue to educate the staffs in these restaurants to take care of people at the, at that level?

[C]

The first few years was just train retrain and we constantly, if there was ever a report of anything that someone had an issue, we go back and retrain. It was just constant. And after, of course, the brand got known and people started getting more and more people had it. The word spreads around really quick and all of a sud of a sudden we haven't really had many issues. Vegas was a shocker. I actually thought would be. It'd be harder. I thought there would be some issues. Yeah.

[B]

Because people bounce a lot.

[C]

Yeah. And to be honest, We've only really had a couple issues that were reported that were early on in our days. And what I like about Vegas, I think it's because it's a hospitality town. They train really well here. They train their staff, and the staff don't leave because I think the staff are making money. So it's great and it's been easier.

[B]

Do you have, like, point of sale stuff that you leave at the bar? Like if somebody does this, you do this and it's there where they can see it? Yeah.

[C]

We have an onboarding process, so we come and we actually train. We leave a couple keys for the staff to win. We want to make some of them key holders themselves, which really, really helped because that gets that culture going and makes them feel part of the team, which they are. So. And now you have a chance to win a $700 key and they're like, this is really cool. And, yeah, it's worked out really well. But yeah, it's. It's definitely still, you know, we go in and train them and we do. We have an onboarding process for sure.

[B]

How often do you go back and visit on premise and make sure things are going right?

[C]

Pretty often. I mean, I've got. I've had a lot of awesome, awesome help and key holders, like, some of them have turned into ambassadors. And. And that's when you know you've built a good brand, is that people are reaching out, like, can I do something? And they're key holders, and I love it.

[B]

That's a great question. That's a great question. So do you have or have you built an affiliate program within, like, the bar, within, like, the employees that work at these places?

[C]

Not yet. That's definitely. That's definitely on the. Is right there. That's the big one.

[B]

That would be. Because, dude, think about it. Somebody walks into a bar, they slide this. The bartender, this guy goes, what was that, 100?

[C]

Well, that's what our key holders are doing. It's funny because they. They love showing it off too. So it's kind of cool for social. And that's the other part that I wanted to touch on, is that it brought social back. And that whole physicality aspect, like I just spoke about is gets people talking at the bar. It's a conversation starter.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And. And it's cool because some people are at a bar and they're on their own sometimes and. And then they meet somebody next to them and go, what is that key? And you could make a new friend and it's. It's that simple. And I get a new key holder.

[B]

I'm all about, dude. Well, I'm all about. Look, if you want the people, if you want people to help you, you, you know, build your brand and do right by your clients. You help them, help them. You affiliate. I love affiliate program.

[C]

We have a referral program within for key holders. We haven't got one set up for our, our partners yet.

[B]

Yeah, that's awesome. I, I would, I mean, I definitely.

[C]

Need that for sure.

[B]

That's awesome.

[C]

Agreed.

[B]

So you mentioned you have staff, right? How many people on staff right now?

[C]

It's minimal. So we got obviously people in Toronto. So we got someone on the ground in Toronto, Montreal, and I'm kind of just sort of the guy that's right now in Vegas. I'm, I'm sort of just, you know, meeting businesses constantly and just, just basically making sure we onboard the right spots and meeting people and hosting parties and, and, and we got obviously our bookkeepers, our, our social media people. Yeah, live chats. We have a live chat service which is really important. You have to have someone that actually has someone, you know, once reach out and have an issue, you want to have someone answer some.

[B]

When you were, when you were building this and you were growing into other markets, did you have a scaling plan? Did you understand like, okay, I need to backfill me here. I need this employee, need that employee, sort of. Are you, are you, are you winging it a little bit?

[C]

I definitely winged it when I came here, no question. And I mean I've, I've opened three cities, so I opened Vancouver after Toronto. So Toronto was 2015, 2017 was Vancouver, 2019 was Montreal. And then the pandemic, of course, loved it. We don't want to talk about that. But yeah, I'm actually happy. But I mean, we ended up closing Vancouver because someone had to go. And my hottest cities were Toronto, Montreal.

[B]

Why did somebody have to go?

[C]

It was, it was really hard to travel in 20, 20, 21 and to manage the cities. And you know, the sales plummeted because you can't send anyone to restaurants. Yeah, I really got lucky in a way, but lucky is a bad word. I was fortunate in that I, that I had a plan originally where I grandfather. I still keep that now. So someone came into our program and bought early. Then they kept their grandfathered rate for life. So every year they keep that rate and we don't change it. We'll never increase it.

[B]

Yeah, that's cool.

[C]

So it turned out it was kind of a mistake that worked out in our favor because we were very respectful of our members. And one day, pandemic rolls around. We were preparing a letter to go out to everybody to refund their money because the keys had renewed subscriptions had all renewed in Toronto and Montreal. And we started getting people writing us going, we don't want to lose our rate, and we want to support you guys. And they tell us, keep their money. I'm like, huh, Wait a minute, right? They. They want to keep the rate, and renewing keeps the rate, and they appreciate the loyalty. So I was. I was. I was kind of touched by that. It was cool. And then we saw reciprocations, and I realized, okay, humanity's still there. So then we went and built takeout and delivery perks. And I had. Then I had to deliver. I'm like, I can't take your money and not deliver. So I still. I found a way to make it work. But crazy.

[B]

So.

[C]

So by happenstance.

[B]

No, no, no. So. So as. As. As we're talking, like, just. Sorry, this is. This is really. If you're listening to this, this is really how I have business meetings. Like, this is really, like, this is more of a business meeting, a podcast today. Because this is really it. Because I'm just really interested in this. So there's only one of you, right? You can't. It's. It's impossible for you to play leap. To play leapfrog. Lily pad. Lily Pad. Lily Pad.

[C]

That's my biggest issue.

[B]

Why would you not do joint venture partnerships in other. In other cities where you have, like, listen, we have. We have the ip. We have it all. We have proof of concept. You can walk in and get this done. I will do a JV with you in this market and. And do 50. 50. Because it seems to me, especially with the traveling benefit, the more lily pads you have, the better off you'll be.

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

And if you can. And you can almost use the Disney model where you bring them in and make them stay here for a certain amount of time to train with you and really understand the business.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

It ain't a hard sell to get somebody to come to Vegas for three months.

[C]

Or Toronto. Or Toronto. Exactly.

[B]

More Vegas than Toronto.

[C]

Toronto in the summer. Vegas for nine months.

[B]

Okay, okay. Fair, fair, fair. That's fine. That's fine.

[C]

I have to shout out to Toronto. Toronto beats Vegas in the summer.

[B]

It's. Dude, I'm the guy that runs Orange county as much as I can sometime. Oh, yeah, I get it. Oh, yeah. So. But yeah, I would say, listen man, let's set up JVs in these other markets with people that have a hospitality background. I mean, find a local promoter that's been doing the small level. Because here's the thing, the one thing that you have, right? And if people are thinking this like, oh fuck, I could just rip this off, do it myself, bro, I could just do this myself. I think the one thing that you have that would make this really difficult for anybody to do is that proof of concept.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And I was wondering and polish and it's part of the story how you got it done was that nine year relationship prior in another business that you had that got you there.

[C]

Of course.

[B]

But I think this is going to be. It's like if somebody walked in and they're like what? Like dude, just because you're a bartender doesn't mean you're going to be able to pull this off. Or just because you can bring in ladies on a Thursday night doesn't mean you can pull this off. Off.

[C]

I've been called a promoter and I hate that word because I'm like, I'm not a promoter. I love promoters, by the way. Yes, but I'm not a promoter. Right, but I, but I difference.

[B]

But I think that's your pool. To find that person to bring in and be a partner in these businesses, in the markets.

[C]

You hit the nail on the head because you know, we're looking at other cities obviously and, and obviously want to grow this. But it, we actually have two that are coming up. But the idea was exactly that. I, my, my goal is to, is to go around and basically onboard the cities with a partner. Partner. And essentially each city has its own ambassador, its own partner.

[B]

Yeah, it should.

[C]

They're cut in. They're cut in and they buy in.

[B]

You don't want to call it franchise because then you have to file that.

[C]

Yeah, I hate franchise.

[B]

Well, you have to file the paperwork. Franchise. That's not. They're an actual joint venture partner of that particular LLC that's part of the mothership does this.

[C]

Exactly. And the beauty of the program. Another reason why people don't really. Again, I haven't had anyone take us on is that one. It's a lot of work. It's definitely a lot of work. It's funny because you got to onboard and train and retrain, you got to polish a product that's physical. I mean I imagine my competitors going to be in the form of an app. They'll go the easy route. But where I win is that we, we're opening Them up locally based on locals best. And then we sew them together. Every city I open is just more reach. So if Vegas Key works in Toronto, Montreal, by the way.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And so if I open in Scottsdale, which is the plan next, and. And dfw, you're now going to be able to reach those. And their keys will reach Vegas. Well, dude, that's what just grows.

[B]

You go. You go to heavy and like heavy convention cities. Like, you do this, and then you pull off New Orleans, you pull off Atlanta, you pull off Miami, you pull off Tampa.

[C]

Nashville.

[B]

Nashville.

[C]

But we really focused on locals. So the hard part for me, and you're right, conference is a big market.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The reason. No, no, you're missing the point.

[C]

Oh, maybe I did.

[B]

The reason that you picked a conference, the reason you picked the con, the conference markets, is those are places where I have to go as a local from here all the time.

[C]

True.

[B]

So now I've. I'm always in.

[C]

That's Dallas.

[B]

I'm always in. I got to go to Dallas in 10 days. I'm always into. I got to go to Miami, I got to go to Orlando, I have to go to Atlanta. I have to go to these places for sure.

[C]

So right side the airport there, by the. The way.

[B]

What's that?

[C]

So we have the airport lounge there, actually. So we work with the Club Las, and they're also obviously there in Dallas. Dfw. So, yeah, so we're starting, man. It's coming.

[B]

No, dude, for dfw, The. The new. What is it? Is it the new. Is it the new Chase Lounge?

[C]

Oh, that was a Delta. Maybe I missed something.

[B]

I don't know. I can't remember which airport. I got in so many airports. I can't remember.

[C]

I know, dude.

[B]

Chase has a new lounge. Really on fire. That's just really.

[C]

Dude, it's lights out, okay?

[B]

Rush is the Centurion.

[C]

Oh, I gotta check this out.

[B]

Rushes the ch. Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember where it was, but yeah, dude, it's wild. It's wild.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Wildly better. Yeah.

[C]

That gets exciting, man. That's where I want to. I want to see this grow for sure.

[B]

You know what? It's in Denver. That's where it is. It's in.

[C]

Okay, okay, Denver.

[B]

But no, dude, look, look, I. Denver's another place I could see.

[C]

Denver's another one. Boston, New York, Miami. Miami. So many.

[B]

Dude, I gotta tell you, if I wasn't running like nine companies already, I'd be saying dude, let's jv. Let's do this. I love it. I mean, this is just seems like. I mean, again, do the math. And. And I mean, it's the bottom.

[C]

Starting a city is expensive. But you're right. You're right. I mean, in terms of my. The margins are insane when you actually build it out.

[B]

I was going to say, like, year one is probably tough. Right. But year two, you have a 92% renewal.

[C]

This is where the money can be made. Yeah, exactly.

[B]

I mean, exactly, dude.

[C]

But, you know, at the end of the day, it's that. It's that a lot of people aren't willing to wait. So it's sort of. That's where I'm patient. I'm a patient guy. That's also part of the concept. When I don't charge for marketing. Marketing for our partners, we curate in. Because my time's money. So, as you know, time's everything. It's way more than money. And if I'm going to market you, I got to really believe you're a fit. Because if I'm not taking money from you, which I don't do, if I'm not taking money from you, I'm not going out there looking to sign on businesses to make money. I eliminated the human nature component. My idea was that the minute there's money incentive, then you could fail and go out and try and make money because you're. Maybe you're short for a month. Maybe you want to make a little extra money and you end up losing your funds. Focus.

[B]

Well, I. Well, I think definitely as part of the interview process through this JV thing would be a. You know, are you capitalized? You need somebody with a little bit. They got to put skin in the game. You can't just do sweat equity. Correct. Number one. But two, I would say, like, give me your 10 best relationships in the hospitality industry who are. Let me see where these pieces are, and then you can vet those places and be like, okay, cool. If they. No, I'd probably say 20. I wouldn't say.

[C]

I was gonna say 20 something.

[B]

If they don't have at least 20. Yeah, at least 20. Then why am I even talking to you?

[C]

This may not work here.

[B]

It's not gonna work for you. You need to have at least 20. We said, I have relationships and all of these places, and I could probably put this to the table, bro. I would.

[C]

And then. And then teach them that the pro. And. And I've got the process down.

[B]

We've got the policy, because here's the thing, right, you going onesies like this, right. Is. Is great.

[C]

Slow.

[B]

But, but, but, but, but you're not getting the highest and best use of return on your time.

[C]

It's true.

[B]

Because if you were doing three markets at once, you can bring three people in to train at the same time. It's true, man. That's a quantum leap.

[C]

I even thought about, you know, dedicating three, four months to each city we bring on each year where I would on them, and that's the plan is that I would actually go and onboard.

[B]

You can't, you can't, you can't do that.

[C]

I could, I could.

[B]

Yeah. If you're gonna grow slow, you know.

[C]

But you could do three, four a year. It's not crazy.

[B]

Yeah, but you could, dude, you could literally, you could launch six in.

[C]

I guess I'm just super careful. I always, like I said, I'm a really patient. I'm a weird cat.

[B]

No, but you gotta, but you gotta remember this too, right? You gotta remember this. Right? Even if, let's. Let's say, let's say you brought on 12 JV partners year. 12 JV partners. I'm launch 12 cities this year. Yep. Right. I'm going to do two runs of six people coming to town to learn the business. Right. And simultaneously I'm going to launch six at a time. Right. If three of them fail, if four of them fail, you still are twice the growth rate that you are now.

[C]

It's true. But I don't want any failure.

[B]

Oh, no. You got to break a couple eggs, man. You got to break some eggs here. You're going to have to break some eggs.

[C]

And there's an old adage, you know, this, this less is more sometimes. And I'll be honest with you, like I said, I'm the most patient business guy. I'm okay with making my money. And then, you know, maybe I'll make more next year. I'm. That kind of mentality. I always like making more, but I don't like to. I'm not a rush. I'm not a rush guy. But one thing I will say, part of the process that's, you know, and isn't really unless you really think it out. You really have to integrate yourself. And I've learned that here. You have to integrate yourself with the right circles of people. That takes more than, than just, you know, you can't just bring them into.

[B]

That's why you need the jv.

[C]

No, we have to teach them the process of how. And that takes longer than a Couple weeks. I hate to say. Say it.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And by the way, I would love to hear your incredibly quicker.

[B]

I like it. You're doing incredibly. I move. I move so fast. Dude, we move.

[C]

I like that.

[B]

But see, but here's the thing. I. I've also, I've taken multiple seven figure losses in my business career. Right. Which I have. I've won a lot more than I've lost.

[C]

Sure.

[B]

But I move very fast because I just. For me.

[C]

And I respect that.

[B]

If I see anything, if I see anything that's there, if I have proof of concept, and I know that it's proof of concept, I want to go as big as fast as I can.

[C]

100%. No. And I get you. This is, this is.

[B]

Look at a cattle prod and just chase.

[C]

You happy with it. And it's funny, I've been pushed by some, some business guys. They lose their minds. They're like, why are you growing so slowly? I'm like, I just, I'm happy, you know, I'm building it out. Right. I'm trying to be careful. And right now, to be honest, I'm Paul. I'm still kind of. I have, I have a polished brand, the brand's sexy, and that's what I get a lot of love with. And I really, I love that. I'm blessed and I built it. But. But I'm also still kind of like, you know, there's things I want to polish still before I jump. And then you're right, it might change. It may get to a point where it can go. I can do six.

[B]

Okay, we'll talk about it offline. I did find a couple. I found a couple of things on the website last night because I did. Good. Well, there's a couple things that you need to fix, and I did see a couple things, so I will.

[C]

That's fair.

[B]

I will digress with you there. I'll say that that's a. That's a valid point. There's a couple things you may want to polish, but I just would love to see you go faster with partners. Dude. If you're listening, here's the deal. If you're listening to this right now, if you're out there in Happy Ville, if you live in any of those major metropolitan cities that we just talked about or a major metropolitan city that we didn't talk about, and you are a man, a woman about town, if you are a. If you're in the beverage business, if you're a beverage rep and you have personal relationships with all these places, dude, reach out. Hit. My man Tim. How. How are they going to find you? How are they right now? How do they find you?

[C]

So you want to go to Key Vegas? My email is pretty easy. It's Tim Key Vegas. And yeah, you can download the app. The app's really cool. I don't know if it's. We didn't talk about the app, but.

[B]

I'm saying no, but hit.

[C]

You want to reach out? Reach out.

[B]

Tim up and say, Tim, I'm.

[C]

I'm open. I'm open.

[B]

I got your. I. Dude, I got. I got you.

[C]

Appreciate it.

[B]

This thing about you get somebody works for Diageo or, or. Or one of the big beverage companies that is on premise with all of these bars and restaurants. That's a home run.

[C]

They're already ready to go.

[B]

They already know everybody. They've been standing. They've been standing on premise buying drinks for people. I was. It's so funny. I was talking about yesterday. I looked up an old Budd mind. Dave, you road from Florida.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

When Red Bull first came out.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Actually from Atlanta is where Dave was when Red Bull first came out. We were laughing about it because my buddy Dallas got the job.

[C]

Never thought it would be that big. It's crazy.

[B]

Well, he got the job in Orlando as the on premise account manager. Which meant you gave my buddy Dallas a credit card that he could go out to any nightclub in. In Orlando and buy open tabs for people. As long as you're in Red Bull really bad.

[C]

Worst job ever.

[B]

It was wild. And it was like look, man. And that's. He's. It was wild. You just turned him loose in downtown Orlando and it just.

[C]

With a Red Bull corporate car. It was wild.

[B]

It was wild.

[C]

Tell me he went on a few of those.

[B]

No, dude, of course. Well, what's funny is. Is Davey Road how I got to know him. He's the national premise major. He still is. I looked him up yesterday because I just thinking about him. What if he still works for Red Bull? So I looked him up. I got to get him on the show. It'd be interesting show to have.

[C]

There you go.

[B]

And in a million years ago, before Red Bull was out, I was running a nightclub and it Atlanta and I'd heard about this drink that was taken over Europe, right? Red Bull and vodka. You could not buy it in the States. There was one like German food store, like European food store, like, like a whole mini. Whole Foods in Atlanta. And they sold it one location, the entire city. So one of our bartenders, a Guy named Peter Pfaffenbickler, if you're listening. What's up?

[C]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Peter.

[C]

I thought my name was.

[B]

No, no, he was. He was Austrian or German or one of those things.

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

I don't know what it was. But he. He's the one that told me about this, and. And I said, go to App store and buy a can of it. So he went and bought a can of it, and right when they were running this big article of all the top nightclubs in Atlanta that, like, you had your own page, whatever, and said, what's your signature drink? And I said, our signature drink is Grey Goose and Red Bull. And had a picture of the bottle and picture of the can.

[C]

Clever. Yeah.

[B]

And I get a phone call from this guy, Davey Road. He's like, where are you getting Red Bull? And I'm like, who's this? And he goes, this is Davey Road. I'm the national accounts manager for Red. Red Bull. Where are you getting my product? It's not out. It's not out the bars yet. And I go, well, I know. I just want to be first.

[C]

I'm first in.

[B]

I just want to be first in. He started laughing, and he goes, okay, you're first.

[C]

Respect.

[B]

That's how I got it.

[C]

Respect.

[B]

Yeah. So.

[C]

Oh, that's crazy.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we always kind of had a little bit of a bond.

[C]

That was funny. It's kind of like the vape of today. They started. They said, it's all. It's all good. It's good. And then they're like, oh, wait, it's bad.

[B]

That's terrible for you. It's terrible for you. Well, dude, look, man, that's a. It's a great story of building your. I think it's a great business.

[C]

I thank you, man.

[B]

I'm going to prod you to get these JVs going in other markets.

[C]

I appreciate that, because I trust you. You're a good businessman. I love what you've done with Simply Vegas, by the way.

[B]

I'm sitting here just. I'm just. Dude, I'm already thinking of people that I know in markets. I say, dude, you got to get with this guy.

[C]

Let's go.

[B]

Business going.

[C]

Let's go.

[B]

When you blow this up, you know, maybe there'll be something. Maybe throw a little something for me in it.

[C]

Oh, 100%.

[B]

All right. So check it out, man.

[C]

It's a mobile app, too, by the way.

[B]

And the mobile app. Check it out. You can download it and. And, dude, I got to tell you, if you don't hear that story that's bootstrapping something from nothing does. No rent, no owning, no just making it happen. Dude, if you got a dream, you gotta go get it. I'll see you next week. What's up everybody? Thanks for joining us for another episode of Escaping the Drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it, or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more about the show, you can always go over to escaping the drift.com you can join our mailing list. But do me a favor, if you wouldn't mind, throw up that five star review, give us a share. Do do something man. We're here for you. Hopefully you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you at the next episode.

[A]

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