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Charlie Kirk
Hey, everybody. Charlie Kirk here live from the Bitcoin.com studio. A very powerful and spiritual conversation with my friends, the spells. And they run good ranchers. You guys should check out good ranchers. By the way, it's goodranchers.com promo code Charlie. They have these unbelievable, by the way, seed oil free chicken nuggets. We cannot order them fast enough. The velocity which they go through them in our house, we have to just keep on calling the good ranchers people. Like, we need more, we need more, we need more. But this conversation is actually very little about good ranchers and their amazing chicken nuggets and their amazing wagyu beef burgers and their incredible filet mignon delivers straight to your door. It's actually not about that. It's a story of faith and healing and how Corley was diagnosed with something very brutal and potentially tragic. And she trusted God, not her doctors. This might speak to some of you in this audience. I was captivated by it. I think you'll really enjoy this conversation. And separately, of course. Go to goodranchers.com, promo code Charlie. Buy those amazing chicken nuggets. I think you'll love it. Goodranchers.com, promo code Charlie. Email us. As always, Freedomarliekirk.com become a member. Today it's members.charliekirk.com that is members.charliekirk dot com and get involved with TurningPoint USA@tpusa.com that is tpusa.com buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
Ben Spell
Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
Corlee Spell
I want you to know we are.
Charlie Kirk
Lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
Corlee Spell
Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country.
Charlie Kirk
He's done an amazing job building one.
Corlee Spell
Of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point usa.
Charlie Kirk
We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirk show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble gold investments@noblegold investments.com that is noblegoldinvestments.com it's where I buy all of my gold. Go to noblegoldinvestments.com okay, everybody here for a very special conversation. Two friends of mine I haven't seen for quite a while, Ben and Corlee style spell from good ranchers.com and we're going to talk all about Good Ranchers this entire hour. But first I want to say welcome, guys, to the program.
Ben Spell
Yeah, thank you. We're so glad to be here.
Charlie Kirk
So God has really been present throughout this entire company and this journey. And if I understand correctly, Ben, you heard from the Lord to start this company in the first place. Is that right?
Corlee Spell
That's right. Yeah. Yeah, we were. I was a worship pastor at a large church in Houston and I started getting this. Just this pull on my heart to do something else. I love ministry, I love music, and I loved working at the church. I did it from the time I was 19 into my mid-30s. And I started feeling. I just started thinking I wanted to do something else so I didn't have to take a paycheck from the church. That's what I thought I was going to look. What I was looking for was make like a side hustle. Even though that wasn't a term a decade ago, it's very much term now. But so I thought, well, what could I do on the side to supplement my income and to where I could maybe just volunteer for the church again. Not that it's wrong to get paid by church. It's a real job. I have a lot of pastor friends and stuff and watching a lot of Shark Tank and getting. And getting different ideas and things. And started having this idea of a meat company and started kind of telling. I remember the first time I told Corlee, man, somebody should do this, this, this and this. And. And. And even though I was praying for those ideas and praying for God to give me something else, the first time it came, you know, clueless man, I am. I didn't even. It didn't even register for a second that that was something that we should do or something that was for me. And so I remember sitting at dinner with Corlee saying, you know what? I bet if somebody were to do this, this, this and this, they could be pretty successful. And then we just didn't think much of it. And over the course of about a year, every three or four months, I would have these ideas of starting a meat company, which I knew nothing about meat, nothing about agriculture, wasn't. We had no money. And at the point where we finally said, you know, where we finally listened and went, you know, and went and did it. We had just had our first baby boy. This was at the end of 2017. And I was getting ready. I was. It was a Sunday morning. I was Getting ready for church. And all of a sudden I started having these thoughts of this meat company. And I always say that God told me to start a meat company. But what the words I actually heard in my head were, you do it. And it struck me to my core. And I'm not, I want to be the first one to say, like, I'm not this, like, God goes around talking to me type person. Yeah, yeah, that's, you know, what parking spot to get or kind of things like that. But I say it with a lot of conviction because it wasn't an audible. Heavens, open up. You know, I'll go start a meat company. It was just, you do it. And it just struck me to my core. And so I came out. I came out of the room and I went over to Corlee and I said, God just told me to start a meat company again. We had a three month old baby boy. I was expecting her to look at me and say, what are you talking about? We don't have any money. We don't know anything about meat. We don't know anything about running the business. And instead she looked back at me and she said, if you heard God, then I trust you.
Charlie Kirk
Was that an audible here or is it.
Corlee Spell
No, it was. No, like I said, it was not audible. It was just. It just was in my, in my spirit, loud and clear, you do it. And so she said, if you heard God, then I trust you. So we, we did just that. We went out. I didn't know anything about anything. Started selling meat out of the back of a truck and parking lot in Waco, Texas. The side hustle began. The side hustle began. Yeah. And went from one truck to two trucks to three trucks to four trucks. And then that was in 2018. And we were really blessed. We were really blessed right off the bat with people showing up and stuff. And then I have a very curious nature about myself. And so if I'm going to do something, I really want to study and learn and learn everything. I'm very competitive. So if I want to do it, I want to do it. I want to do it right. So I started reading and studying and reading and studying about, you know, about agriculture and about meat. And in 2019, we realized that there's no country of origin labeling law, which, you know, we talk about it all the time.
Charlie Kirk
We're going to talk about that more.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, for beef or for pork in the US and we went, whoa, that's not, that's not cool. And so, and then lo and behold, we, we Looked at all the stuff that we were buying at that time, and almost all of it was, Was, was imported, even though it was USDA inspected product of USA and those things. And so going into 2020, we made some new connections of supply, supplier connections and drew a line in the sand and said, you know what? We're only going to source American born, raised and harvested meat. And. Which is actually harder than you would think. And so we went into 2020 with setting up for that goal still selling meat out of the back of trucks. Covid happened that year, which was really crazy. We've realized we got to get online, which we were kind of, you know, in the future, that'll be. That'll be there one day. But yeah, we.
Charlie Kirk
When you say you were selling meat on the back of. What do you mean by that?
Ben Spell
What does that mean?
Corlee Spell
Yeah, I know. Was buying like just prepackaged boxed beef from like a broker. There's people that still do this. Once Covid happened, people started coming out of the woodworks doing that sort of business model. It's kind of existed for a long time in small towns. And so we used that model to build the brand and grow. And that was the idea I originally had. I saw people doing that and I thought, man, I bet you could actually. Because by and large, almost everyone, I don't want to say everyone, but almost everyone doing that model is selling really, really, really poor quality and. And just lying about it because, you know, they can. It's kind of fly by night, shady kind of deal. So we set out, let's do that, but build a brand around it. Let's sell quality, let's source quality. The thing is, we didn't know how to do that originally, and. And that was the thing we had to learn how to do. And so once we realized that the country of origin labeling law was such a thing, and we realized that there were so many marketing terms that didn't mean anything. And so as we started, we set out to go, okay, we want to know who we're buying from. We want to know where the meat's coming from. We want to see how they're being raised. We want to see what they're being fed. We want to. We want to touch that. And once we started doing that, that's when our quality went just night and day. Made a night and day difference. And that was in 2020.
Charlie Kirk
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Corlee Spell
So we started seeing really good success, like I said, out of the trucks. And then we decided to go fully online in 2020. 2020 22. And that's when we actually started sponsoring your show. You were our first, first podcast that we ever sponsored.
Ben Spell
Yeah, I tell people that too.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, yeah. And we just saw huge success online. And this was again, this was in 2022. So it was after the. That Covid online boom. And but through 22 through 23 and through 24 and even now into 25, which has only been four years, we, we're seeing just a steady increase in subscribers and customers because there's a real difference when you source correctly, age correctly, package the way that we do. So yeah, I'm trying to tell the most abbreviated version of the story possible because the second part of this story, which is why we're here, main reason of why we're here is we want to get to. Which is Corlean, her health journey. So.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, so before we get to that, you started selling out of the back of trucks, scaled it all the Lord. Was there ever a moment where you're like, what am I, what am I doing? Selling me. How did you make it happen? How did you make it work financially? Because I'm told by people all the time you can't start businesses anymore. It's impossible.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, I say this pretty regularly now when people ask, and I don't mean it. I don't Mean it. Like, I mean, it was zero. Trite, like, I think it was ignorance. I think ignorance had a lot to do with it and meaning we didn't know what we didn't know. And, you know, I was foolish enough or faithful enough to hear God and go and just. And trust that we'll figure out. Figure it out along the way. And, you know, last year, there's a verse in Proverbs that really stood out to me, and it's. Commit your work to the Lord and he will establish your plan or your path. And looking back, it's easy to connect the dots, right? And. Or hindsight's 20 20. But what I realized is we committed our work to the Lord and he established the path. And we didn't really try to put together this massive plan. We just knew that God said, go do it. And so we started doing it. And it's just one step after the other, just doing the right thing, trusting that God's going before us. And I know that sounds kind of easy, but it never really. It was never easy, but it was also never really hard. God was faithful. The wrong. The right doors opened, the wrong doors closed. Even as being able to sponsor your podcast, which your podcast has been tremendous for us, but I don't know if you remember this or not, but the. Because we had. We had done a little bit with it before we were online when we were still selling out of the trucks or with your show or something. And then we stopped. And then once we got back online, you actually approached us or your team approached us, and. Because we weren't really thinking about it, but another meat company reached out to you, wanted to advertise, and you said, hey, will you call those good rancher guys? Because I've done some ads for them before and I'd rather just keep with one person. And we were like, oh, yeah, let's do that. And so I can kind of testify even to that was God kind of working things out, because we didn't come back to you and say, hey, Charlie, like, you actually came back to us. And that was extremely successful for us once we started online, because the marketing for online was completely different than how we had to market the other way. And so then we started putting together the dots, from you to Ali Beth Stuckey to some folks at the Daily Wire and then Glenn Beck and just kind of other things. We really didn't have this elaborate plan. It just kind of pieced together little by little.
Charlie Kirk
So then tell us about the health episode.
Ben Spell
Oh, gosh, there's Been multiple. So we have four children, four young children. They're all seven and under. And in 21, when I was pregnant with our fourth baby, I was six weeks pregnant. Went to a random dermatologist appointment because I felt like he had a spot that needed to be looked at. Well, lo and behold, it was actually me. And so they biopsied it, and sure enough, the results came back, and it was melanoma, which is. I didn't know anything about skin cancer, but now I do. And melanoma. Skin cancer is very treatable and preventable if you catch it early, but melanoma accounts for 75% of skin cancer deaths, so it's serious. And the fact that I was pregnant was very scary as well. And so I was obviously shattered and broken and so sad. But. And I'm so thankful that Ben was there with me, because he was really that pillar of truth and faith that I needed to push through. And so we prayed about it. We prayed about God. What strategy would you have us do to receive healing? And that was to have surgery in my second trimester. And so we did that. And they didn't find anything else, except they did an lymph node, which put me at stage three, but it was so small that they felt comfortable with me continuing on with the pregnancy, having her, and then going from there. But before that, they were having some really, really scary conversations with us, sending us down, you know, asking Ben if he was prepared to be a single dad of three other babies if, you know, I were to die with the baby and just kind of pressuring me to not continue with the pregnancy. Which was pressuring you to have an abortion? Yes. Yep. And I told them. I was like, well, that's not gonna happen. Like, I'm. I'm having this baby. And I remember going into one appointment, and my oncologist made a remark to her colleague and said, okay. And the baby's important to her, but it's just crazy how in that environment, they just, you know, treat you that way and. And just discount life.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, I mean, absolutely.
Ben Spell
Anyway, so doctors actually don't care about human beings.
Charlie Kirk
I know they don't. You think about it.
Ben Spell
I know. I know. Even being an MD Anderson was really hard because it's all just about money. It is the next patient. It is.
Charlie Kirk
Eliminate as many humans as possible.
Ben Spell
Yeah. And everyone. Everyone there has one foot in the grave. It's just a very, very sad place to be at. But our prayer was that the baby would be healthy, I would be healthy, and I'd Be healed.
Corlee Spell
She was.
Ben Spell
Yeah, she's a giant baby. She's very, very large. She's three now. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, so it was fine, and then I had scans after that, and they were clear. And then last year, in January, I felt another swollen lymph node next to the one that they had removed. And I just knew in my spirit, I was like, oh, this chapter wasn't closed. I got to walk this out more. And sure enough, did a biopsy, you.
Corlee Spell
Know, which we went into last year. 2024 was the first year that since starting the business that we. We didn't either have a newborn or you be pregnant.
Ben Spell
Yes.
Corlee Spell
I think you mentioned earlier, last time I saw you, you were with child.
Ben Spell
Yeah, I'm like. Both times you saw me.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, every time. And so we were so excited. Going into. Again, starting a business is not easy. Running a business is not easy. And we've never taken on any funding. We. You know, we've. We've completely. I mean, and we didn't have any money again. We just little by little and just chipped away. And so we've definitely had some really hard times, especially once we went online, because the business model just shifted 180 degrees. And so 2022 was not easy. 2023 was not easy. And again, also, going through the cancer diagnosis through pregnancy and that we had Daisy in 2022, got through that year in 2023, you know, really felt like we were going into 24. Like, yes. Where we, you know, we're done having kids. We're ready to focus on the business. You're. The cancer's behind you. And then in January of 2024, that we got that diagnosis.
Ben Spell
Yeah. And it's. It's crazy because even going into 24, I don't ever have, like, a word for the year or anything, but I did feel in my prayer time that I wanted to focus on my health, that God was asking me to focus on my health. And then, you know, he's like, here you go. You really got to focus on it. Anyway, so we just prayed about strategy for this time. I'm. I was like, I'm thankful I'm not pregnant this time. I'm thankful that it's just me finding it. My babies are healthy. I'm going to be fine. And so I was. I was full of faith. I told myself, if God brought me through this, being pregnant, he's going to do it again.
Charlie Kirk
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Ben Spell
We just prayed about strategy, what that looked like, and we decided on an integrative approach. So I did a lot of holistic therapies. I went to a clinic in California to kind of build up my immune system in various ways. Before I did immunotherapy at MD Anderson and then surgery after that. But then I got super sick. I was feeling great. I lost 30 pounds, you know, just having four babies in a row and did a strict keto diet and then felt the strongest I ever felt. And then once I started immunotherapy, I just became so sick. Just bedridden, night sweats, just soaking the entire bed, fevers, high fevers for multiple weeks. It was, it was horrible. I've never felt like that before.
Corlee Spell
Yeah. Yeah. And so we went. It was two rounds of immunotherapy. They wanted you to go through. And so after the, and it's 30 days apart. And so after the first 30 day check in to go do the second round. You were so sick and the doc, your doctor said, listen, you know, this is, this is what it does. You know, it's strengthening your immune system. You got to push through. I know you're, I know you're hurting. I know you're sick and you, but you need to push through, take this second round. And you know, so we, you know, we're getting this thing. So we did.
Ben Spell
And yeah, because immunotherapy is interesting.
Charlie Kirk
Monoclonal antibodies.
Ben Spell
Yes. It teaches your immune system to wake up and to start fighting, you know, whatever's going on. And so I felt very comfortable with that. It's not like chemo or chemo is just kind of killing everything. So we did the second round.
Corlee Spell
She did it and. And then only began to get more sick and more sick and more sick. And then at the end of that 30 day stent, and then, I mean, Corley was completely bedridden. And. And you know, when you've got four little babies at home that, that are crying, wanting their mom, and you're running.
Charlie Kirk
A business and you're trying to.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. It goes without saying it was the hardest time of our life. But the hardest thing is, you know, especially Daisy being just at that time, just, you know, still just a baby just crying for mommy and just crying for mommy and you know, when she puts. Normally puts him to bed every single night. And then to go for months, which to children might as well be years of, she couldn't walk up the stairs, you know, and so, I mean, she was literally bedridden. You know, that was so challenging. We go back to the hospital after the second stint and she's in a wheelchair. I mean, at this point, like, and Will are in to see the doctor and you can.
Ben Spell
I mean, what started out the lymph node was probably the size of a marble in the beginning. I mean, it now grew to like the size of a grapefruit. I mean, it was huge. It was red and it just looked really bad. I felt like I was dying. I looked like I was dying. And so I didn't know what to expect at this appointment, but we had to do a rescan before surgery. And so he's wheeling me in. I mean, I can't even stand up for a chest X ray. It was so bad. And so we get all the scans done, and then the oncologist comes in and she says, well, your cancer laughed at the immunotherapy. It spread all over. This is not good. We can do some chemo on you to hopefully shrink it before surgery, but it's not curative, so there's no guarantees, but that's kind of the only option that we have right now.
Corlee Spell
She said this is. She said, you know, we do these treatments and we hope for a positive outcome. This is absolutely the worst outcome we could have had because there was no response from the, you know, the cancer didn't respond at all to the immunotherapy. And so, yeah, and she and the doctor, the MD Anderson doctor, knew that Corley did, though she was very against her doing the holistic approach first. She was, you know, and so.
Ben Spell
And Keeping the baby before that.
Corlee Spell
So it was. It was kind of a little bit of like a salt in the wound of your cancer. Laughed at your treatment. Right. Even though that a huge part of the treatment was with them as well. It was just kind of a salt in the wound kind of comment. But so she put. Prescribed this chemo pill again, like Corlee said, that's not curative, but they do see temporary, good results. Temporarily. Fun fact on the box. The number one side effect is causes more cancer. Right. And she said, but we've got to do something to try to shrink it because it's so. It's so swollen, it's so inflamed, so big now. Surgery would be. Would be even. Would be hard. So they wanted to do something to just try to shrink it. So we leave the hospital just completely devastated. I was trying to be strong for you, but I was devastated. You don't even know this, but I got on the phone, I don't even know who it was, but I just cried like it was my mom. I think it was your mom. Yeah. Because it's scary, you know. And, you know, we believed we were going to get through this. We knew we were going to get through it. But when the report is just nothing but death, when the report is just, you know, so bad. And we're driving home from MD Anderson, and Corley looks at me and says, what was it like when God talked to you? And I'm like, that is so out of left field. And I said, what do you mean? She said, you always tell the story of when God said to start good ranchers, said he spoke to you and said, start a meat company. What was that like? I said, why are you asking this? Like what? Like why? And she said, and she starts crying. And she said, because a few weeks ago, I really felt like God told me that my cancer was dead. And to hear that report today that it laughed at the therapy. And she's like, I just know that God told me that my cancer is dead. And yeah, we got home and we talked about it and we said, you know what? If God said it's dead, then it's dead, and we're going to hold onto that. We're going to believe that. And then she looks at me, she says, I don't want to take the chemo. And I'm like, I think you should take the. I think you should do the chemo. And she said, no, I don't want to do it. And she's like, I'm tired of being Sick, I'm tired, I don't want to do it. And I said, okay, okay, then we're going to pray and we're going to believe that God said it was dead. We're going to stand on that. And she never took the chemo pills. And in a matter of days, the whole area started shrinking. And it was again, it was all inflamed. It was hugely swollen. It started shrinking. She started feeling better. And about a week later, she was feeling good.
Ben Spell
Yeah, good walk, good work.
Corlee Spell
She was walking and she called her doctor and said, hey, I want a rescan before surgery. And they said, no, you don't need a rescan. We've got everything we need. She said, no, I'm telling you, I want a rescan before surgery. And so we went back in about two weeks later. @ that point, we went in for a rescan and they said, great news, the chemo's working. Don't get excited because this is what it does. We know it can temporarily cause shrinkage, but it's not curative. But this is good news for surgery because this will help us get in there and do the surgery. And so we just looked at each other. We didn't say we knew better than to tell them anything. So we just looked at each other and we knew. And then two weeks later, she went in for surgery. And after the biopsy of surgery, after the biopsy of surgery, Corlee loves to tell the story that she didn't need him to call because she already knew and she was so full of faith. But they called and they said, hey, every bit of cancer that we removed was completely dead, which means something worked. And the first report of your cancer laughed at your treatment, laughed at the therapy, something worked. And.
Ben Spell
And even the other lymph nodes that they removed that they thought that they were seeing cancer and never had cancer in them at all. So it's just. I mean, obviously God is wonderful and miraculous things happen, but there's also part of the story where you have to advocate for yourself.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. What did the doctors say when you told them this stuff?
Ben Spell
Yeah, so we went for the follow up after surgery and they're going over the results, and my oncologist thinks I'm crazy at this point. And she's just kind of smug about it, like, yeah, it's good, but it's not the best because it was just from the chemo, so you'll have to keep taking these pills for the next year. And I looked at her and I said, well, I didn't take the pills. And her jaw just dropped behind her mask, you know, and she's like, what do you mean you didn't take the pills? And I said, God told me that the cancer was dead and I didn't need to take them. And she was just like, okay. And then she asked. She said, well, did he say anything about radiation? I'm like, who? God? And she said, no, you're surgeon.
Charlie Kirk
No, but how do doctors respond to supernatural phenomenon?
Ben Spell
I know, right?
Charlie Kirk
And they just smugly roll it off. Yeah, obviously it's God. I mean, there's a spiritual domain that's acting on our physical world every day. It is something that's always, you know, just bothered me. Why? How do. So they say you didn't take the pills. How does she. How does she write that in her chart?
Ben Spell
You could tell she was upset that I didn't listen to her, but.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, she's upset that you're alive?
Ben Spell
Yeah. I just had kind of had to, like, help her in that moment. So I said, hey, the first plan, like, your first plan worked. Kind of had to, like, get her pepped up almost. And, Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm there at this point to witness to her and the rest of the team because they're so lost. And I can only imagine, like, the grief that comes with having that. That position. But, yeah, that was a total miraculous healing.
Charlie Kirk
It shouldn't be grief. It should be joy, right?
Ben Spell
Yes, it should be.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah.
Ben Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
So you're cancer free.
Corlee Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
Wow. Praise the Lord. When was all of this?
Corlee Spell
This was last summer.
Ben Spell
June. June of last summer?
Corlee Spell
Yeah. This was a year. I mean.
Charlie Kirk
And you feel great a year ago?
Ben Spell
I feel great.
Corlee Spell
Yeah. Surgery was in. In June, and. Yeah, you've had three. Three scans since. And she goes back.
Charlie Kirk
How did you run the business during all this.
Corlee Spell
Man? Yeah, it was tough. Have a great team around us, though. Have a really great team that really stepped up. And, you know, Hebrews 12, verse one has really been on my heart lately. And it's. We see with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin that so easily ensnares us. And the. That just jumped out to me this past week of there's weight and there's sin. And so often we just think, you know, we know that the wages of sin is death, but there's things that just weigh us down. And especially. Especially as. As men, you know, we're professionals of carrying weight. And the truth is, we're supposed to give those weights to God. Supposed to give our cares to him. We're supposed to cast them on him, right? And again, it sounds easy, but that's what it was. It was giving those cares, giving that weight to the Lord because I'm not strong enough to carry it on my own. Again, we have a great team that came around us and helped us through. But yeah, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross and if our hope was in this life only, we'd be miserable. But we know that there's a hope beyond this life that's beautiful. And it sucks to see your wife going through this. You never want to see your wife or your kids go through anything. But again, our hope isn't in this life. Only our hope is in Jesus and our hope is in heaven. So we're here to run a race and that's all we can do. So the answer to your question was just. And I was inspired by Corey's faith. So the answer to your question is faith and faith in Jesus.
Charlie Kirk
What does a mechanic and auto shop owner in Georgia, a taco restaurant operator in Arizona and a life saving medical innovator in Tennessee have in common? They're all small business owners and they're all thriving on TikTok. Across the US over 7.5 million businesses, from family owned shops to entrepreneurs, are using TikTok to compete and grow. We use TikTok all the time on the Charlie Kirk show. In fact, 74% of businesses on TikTok say TikTok has allowed them to scale their operations, increasing sales and expanding to new locations. And that growth means jobs. Today there's over 7.5 million US businesses on TikTok employing more than 28 million people. And that number keeps growing. Small businesses thrive on TikTok. Learn more about TikTok's contribution to the US economy at TikTok economicimpact.com.
Corlee Spell
Corlee was so inspirational because she never lost her faith. She never lost as much pain as she was in, as much as she was hurting. She never lost that faith. And that was.
Ben Spell
Had a word?
Corlee Spell
Yeah, it was miraculous to watch.
Charlie Kirk
Did your kids know what was going on?
Corlee Spell
No. No, they just knew mommy was sick.
Ben Spell
Yeah, they knew mommy was sick and that she'd be healed. So we were praying and believing for that. So we'll tell them one day.
Charlie Kirk
And so the business is doing well now.
Ben Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
Tell us about it. Yeah, tell us about how you're. We only have a couple minutes, but tell us how you're navigating all of the news with tariffs. You guys don't you're not impacted by tariffs, though, right?
Corlee Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
So you say more tariffs, the better. Right.
Corlee Spell
I mean, you know, knock on wood, because, you know, you know this. But we need import, export.
Charlie Kirk
It's an interconnected supply chain for the economy. But you're not importing New Zealand beef, right?
Corlee Spell
Yeah, yeah. And we're, I mean, we're 100% American manufactured. Even when you open our box and you see the, the, the insulation that says Made in usa. Like, we, we, you know, we don't ever want to be beholden to a cargo ship waiting on, waiting on anything, whether it's a box or. For sure, not meat, but even packaging. So, yeah, we have 100% domestic U.S. supply chain. And so that, that has been good for us. You know, the business is doing really well. We're continuing to grow. And again, praise God, like, you know, it's awesome to be able to. Things I didn't think about before starting a business was the responsibility of being a business owner, but the impact and the jobs that you get to create. And then you get to choose. I say you choose, but you get. In our case, you get to choose, you know, what kind of benefits you're going to give your employees and what kind of atmosphere you're going to have at the office and, you know, or what kind of environment you're going to create. And being able to create an environment where people want to come to work and be able to create an environment that.
Ben Spell
You can support families that, you know, you can support moms that are working and dads.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, yeah, we get. Yeah, we have probably the most, you know, we don't really ever talk about it, but, like, we have amazing health benefits. We pay 75% for all of our employees rather than just 50%. We give six months maternity leave to moms. We give three months to the dad. Because we believe in family and we believe in. You know, it's hard enough having a kid, having a baby, and especially your first one is just like, here's this human. Go figure it out.
Charlie Kirk
There's no manual.
Corlee Spell
There is no manual. Right.
Charlie Kirk
We joke around. If I wrote the book with Erica, the manual, it would sell, like, millions of copies. Yeah, you should do that instruction manual, right?
Corlee Spell
Yeah, you should do it. Or do it like Michael Knowles did. Why? To vote for Democrats. Just blank pages.
Charlie Kirk
So. So in closing, guys, people can check it out. Obviously. Go to ranchers.com, promo code Charlie. But you guys are growing like gangbusters.
Corlee Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
And this is really a calling for you.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We yeah, we love what we get to do. We love get to. You know, I was at a chicken farm on Thursday of last week and you know, the look on. As we continue to grow, we get to partner with more and more farmers and ranchers and different people. And the look on their faces, especially some of these, you know, these smaller operations, you know, we can make a massive impact because we can, we can double, triple. Sure.
Charlie Kirk
So talk about that. So you find like a local chicken farm in Arkansas and because of your national network, you could plug into that and they can scale in a way that.
Corlee Spell
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
That they couldn't be, they couldn't be able to do that previously, right?
Corlee Spell
Correct. Yeah. And in our case, Texas is.
Charlie Kirk
Sure.
Corlee Spell
Texas raises really good chickens because we're. Chickens are one of the most volatile animals. People don't really think about it. Yeah, they're just so.
Charlie Kirk
I eat chicken every day.
Corlee Spell
Yeah, they're so fragile and you really have to, they have to be cared for. I mean, and then. Which is, which is where the whole cages, you know, come from. They meant well by that because you can't just have chickens out like hawks that get them fox again, like they're, you know, they're susceptible to so many different prey. I mean, if it starts raining hard enough and they look up, they're going to die. I mean, really? Yeah, I mean, chickens are fragile, little.
Charlie Kirk
So when they say cage free, what do they mean?
Corlee Spell
Well, when we say cage free, that's what we mean. But the, you know, there are loopholes in.
Charlie Kirk
How big is the cage in that?
Corlee Spell
Well, well, they say, well, they say access to outside doesn't mean they ever have to go outside. And so that's the, the way the USDA law is written. It says as long as they have access to the outside, they can be free range or cater. And so. But yeah, but to be able to go to these farms, be able to go to these ranches and be able to look at the rancher, look at the farmer and say, hey, how many more chicken could you, how many more could you grow if you knew you had an outlet for them and they give you a number and you go, okay, we'll take that. And they just like, you know, I mean, it means it's a massive impact because this is the way the supply chain works is it's really not set up for the little guy. And again, we're not perfect, but we're trying to continue to get better because we believe that we need farmers, we need ranchers, we need to support our own. We need to support American agriculture. If we lose control of our food.
Charlie Kirk
Totally lose control of the country, we're.
Corlee Spell
Going to lose control of the country. Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
Cora Lee, final thoughts. After all you've been through, just hold.
Ben Spell
On to your faith, you know, and, and hold on to the end. If someone's going through a diagnosis like that, I mean, until I take my last breath, I'm going to believe that what he did on the accomplished on the cross is for me right now in this world. And so hold onto your faith.
Charlie Kirk
Love it. Goodranchers.com thank you guys so much.
Corlee Spell
God bless you. Thank you.
Charlie Kirk
Thank you. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us. As always, freedomarliekirk.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.
Corlee Spell
For more on many of these stories and news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.
Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show – "When God Speaks, Listen: An American Success Story" featuring Ben and Corlee Spell
Release Date: May 21, 2025
In this inspiring episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, host Charlie Kirk sits down with Ben and Corlee Spell, the dynamic duo behind Good Ranchers.com, a thriving American meat company. The conversation delves deep into their entrepreneurial journey, unwavering faith, and Corlee's miraculous healing from a severe health diagnosis. This summary captures the essence of their heartfelt discussion, highlighting key moments, insights, and transformative experiences.
Starting from Scratch: Ben and Corlee Spell share the humble beginnings of Good Ranchers.com. Corlee recounts her transition from being a worship pastor in a large Houston church to embarking on an entrepreneurial venture guided by divine inspiration.
Corlee Spell [06:03]: "If you heard God, then I trust you."
Ben discusses the initial challenges they faced, including a lack of knowledge in the meat industry and limited financial resources. Their persistence led them to start selling meat from the back of a truck in Waco, Texas, eventually scaling up to multiple trucks by 2018.
Emphasizing Quality and American Sourcing: By 2019, Ben and Corlee identified the absence of robust country-of-origin labeling laws for meat, prompting them to commit to sourcing exclusively American-born, raised, and harvested meat. This commitment to quality set Good Ranchers apart in a market rife with subpar products.
Corlee Spell [07:41]: "We are only going to source American born, raised and harvested meat."
Adapting to COVID-19: The pandemic in 2020 necessitated a significant shift from traditional truck-based sales to an online model. This transition proved pivotal, allowing Good Ranchers to reach a broader customer base and sustain growth during challenging times.
Corlee Spell [11:00]: "We started seeing really good success... decided to go fully online in 2020."
Strategic Marketing Partnerships: Their online success was bolstered by strategic marketing partnerships, including sponsoring Charlie Kirk's podcast, which amplified their reach and customer engagement.
Diagnosis and Initial Struggles: In 2021, Corlee faced a life-altering diagnosis of melanoma during her pregnancy. The couple recounts the harrowing experience of medical recommendations that conflicted with their faith-based approach to healing.
Ben Spell [15:40]: "Proverbs says, 'Commit your work to the Lord and he will establish your plan.'"
Choosing Faith Over Conventional Medicine: Despite doctors advising chemotherapy, Corlee and Ben chose to rely on prayer and holistic therapies. This decision was met with skepticism from the medical community but was rooted in their deep-seated faith.
Corlee Spell [22:30]: "We decided on an integrative approach. So I did a lot of holistic therapies."
Miraculous Recovery: Miraculously, Corlee's cancer responded positively without the full course of prescribed chemotherapy. Her tumor shrank significantly, leading to successful surgery and complete remission.
Ben Spell [30:37]: "Every bit of cancer that we removed was completely dead."
Operational Resilience: Throughout Corlee's illness, Ben and Corlee maintained the growth trajectory of Good Ranchers, attributing their resilience to a strong support team and unwavering faith.
Corlee Spell [35:15]: "Our hope isn't in this life. Only our hope is in Jesus and our hope is in heaven."
Employee-Centric Policies: Good Ranchers prides itself on exceptional employee benefits, including comprehensive health coverage and generous maternity/paternity leave, reflecting the owners' commitment to family and community.
Corlee Spell [38:16]: "We pay 75% for all of our employees rather than just 50%."
Domestic Supply Chain Excellence: Good Ranchers maintains a 100% American supply chain, ensuring quality and reliability. This approach not only supports local farmers and ranchers but also fortifies the company's resilience against global supply chain disruptions.
Corlee Spell [40:53]: "We have 100% domestic U.S. supply chain."
Impact on Local Communities: By partnering with small-scale farmers and ranchers, Good Ranchers enables these local businesses to scale effectively, creating jobs and fostering economic growth within American communities.
Corlee Spell [41:59]: "We're continuing to grow... partnering with more and more farmers and ranchers."
Strength Through Faith: Ben and Corlee emphasize that their faith in God has been the cornerstone of both their personal and professional lives. Their story serves as a testament to the power of unwavering belief and divine guidance.
Ben Spell [42:03]: "If someone's going through a diagnosis like that, until I take my last breath, I'm going to believe that what he did on the cross is for me right now in this world."
Commitment to Growth and Excellence: Looking ahead, the Spells are dedicated to expanding Good Ranchers while maintaining their core values of quality, faith, and community support. They aspire to continue making a positive impact on American agriculture and their employees' lives.
This episode of The Charlie Kirk Show offers a profound narrative of entrepreneurial success intertwined with deep faith and miraculous healing. Ben and Corlee Spell's journey with Good Ranchers.com exemplifies resilience, unwavering belief, and the profound impact of aligning business strategies with personal values. Their story not only inspires budding entrepreneurs but also offers hope and testament to the power of faith in overcoming life's most daunting challenges.
For more stories and updates, visit charliekirk.com or explore Good Ranchers with promo code CHARLIE.