Fairground Reality Check

Morning Walk At The Fairgrounds

SPEAKER_00 0:01

It's a beautiful, peaceful morning here at the Erie County Fair as I do a couple of laps around the fairgrounds and record for you a little sneak peek preview, pulling back of the covers, if you will, peeling back the onion, the inside scoop, what it's like for Keith and Brian in Hamburg, New York at the Erie County Fair for the largest, biggest event in loud proud American history. That and more on today's episode of Share the Struggle Podcast. Let me tell you something. Everybody. Oh, it is true. It is damn true. How is it true? Why is it true? It has to be true because I love you. That's why. Why do you keep running from your feelings? I love you. God. Well, first off, uh, full frontal disclaimer. I'm back on the uh lapel mic this morning uh because it's attached to me and um I'm out I'm mobile, okay? I'm mobile. I'm like a mobile gas station. I'm I am I am mobile, okay. We are walking around. I am currently in the big old campground for uh uh the Erie County Fair, Hamburg, New York, and uh I'm doing hot laps out here trying not to wake up anybody camping because this is my commitment to you. What are we on right now, folks? Like 319 consecutive weeks, I believe. Nice little stretch run we're having here. Uh so yeah, this is my commitment to you. I I'm I've made I've taken an oath, I've vowed to you that this is a commitment that we share. This is a a bond and holy matrimony that uh, you know we are gathered here today, brothers and sisters, to share you in the love of these two, and these two is me and you, okay? This is a commitment, it is a loyal, long-lasting, long-standing commitment. Let's be honest. The two of us, we've been together longer than most of your relationships, maybe all your relationships, okay? We've been doing this together uh for six years. I can't let being on the road be the end all be all, be the distraction. No, no, I can't. This uh this is a commitment, okay? So I'm out here walking around the fairgrounds this morning, looking like an absolute idiot. Uh, but I got me microphone on, thanks to the wifey's little podcast sponsorship. Hopefully, this one sounds better than the last one. I know, I'm aware of it. But uh, I think last time it sounded like shit because it was the bus's fault. Okay, we were recording inside the tuna can known as the Loud Proud American Express with things jangling around 75 miles an hour on I-90. So that's not quite what we're doing. I definitely ain't doing 75 miles an hour. I ain't even doing seven to five miles an hour as I walk around the fairgrounds and get short on breath because I'm just huffing it around. Oh wow, that's great. Looks like somebody possibly threw up a watermelon here on the ground. And that's definitely a pea stain. Oh, good. Well, avoiding that. I am uh just walking around the fairgrounds this morning. Wanted to make sure that I got our mo morning. I don't know why I almost said morning. Got our morning conversation in. I just wanted to make sure you and me were still talking. You know what I mean? I don't want to be just because I'm traveling, you and me ain't talking anymore. That ain't what this is about. It's about talking. Okay. Apparently, it's a morning for impressions. This is a big old campground back here, right? Obviously, triples as parking, but uh yeah.

Travel Updates And Vendor Placement

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Anyways, uh, we've been doing this for about a week now. So uh I'm recording from Hamburg, New York, Erie County Fairgrounds. I'm recording um a little after 7 a.m. uh on a Tuesday. And um me and B, me and Brian, we left the great state of Maine um on uh Monday last week, and we made the I think it ended up being about 10, 10 and a half hour drive uh to get here, and then we got checked in. Um when I was last speaking with you guys, we were on the road actually while I was recording, and um it was going pretty well, and it and um knock on wood. I'm gonna walk towards the telephone pool there, just so I can knock on wood. Knock on wood, it stayed good, okay. We uh all was well. We um we had a good time. Uh the road trip was a successful one. The Lar Pot American Express ran strong. Okay, that was a blessing. That was something I'm worried about. Uh the only update on the uh on the express that was negative is the other day I opened the the door and uh my mirror. I fell right off. It was so dang hot here, melted the old adhesive right off that sucker. So, yeah, that's fun, right? That's totally fun. But um, yeah, so the express is running great, running strong. It's great to have her back. Um, oh here comes Secure Toss. Hear him on the golf cart. Freaking jump straight over here. Okay, fellas, take it easy. So uh yeah, the only downfall we've had uh was the mirror falling off. Take that, try to glue that back up today. Uh, but yeah, that's that's a good thing. I don't know why my mind's wandering, maybe because there's a lot going on, but anywho, um the ride here was successful, and then um meeting the people here, like the head organizer Pauler, super awesome, man. Paula's awesome. Um, her and her husband own a gun shop, and uh they're super cool. She's definitely the reason why I'm in here. You can tell. Uh, I even asked her, I said, Hey, you're the reason why I'm here, aren't you? Just yeah, of course I am. So uh they uh they've embraced us, and um we uh we are in a new section here, or I mean it's always existed at the fairgrounds, but there's never been vendors there, and that always makes me nervous. Um, it's weird. The last time I did an event in New York for the first time, they put me in an area that never had vendors. So here we are, all over again. And um, regardless of how good that area is, when you've been a fair for over a hundred plus years, whatever it's been, and there's never been anybody there, people are accustomed to there not being anybody there. So that definitely hurts uh your traffic. But the good thing is, is we are on one of their main gates. Like when you walk in that gate, we have the four first actual vendor that you see. Um, first you'll go by like um, I think it's the DOT, um, like a New York DOT truck set up, big snow plows and stuff, trying to hire some people. And about right after them, it's us, we're the first vendor. And in the area, there's um army and there's marines, uh, there's air force, and they have like helicopters and Humvees, and and they're doing like um you know, strength challenges and stuff. Now, traditionally, wherever the military is, they're just trying to kind of cover a dead zone at a fair, but these guys have actually brought out cool stuff, um, so they bring in a little bit more of an attraction. But we are in the uh the ride section of the fair, and um, it is just a tremendous abundance of kids, okay? Lots and lots of kids, and for a lot of regulars that you know, fairgoers are customer base, they're just avoiding that area. It's a lot of teenage high school kids. Um, so that that definitely has hurt us. Right behind us is a casino, actually, pretty crazy. Um yeah, it's kind of a wild experience, but I think where we're at, we've gained some traffic because of a gate, but a lot of our business in this area is also kids, high school kids, and that adds an element of difficulty. I will say, in New York, in uh this area, they don't wear a lot of clothes, okay? Just gonna say it. Um, it's scorching hot out here, and I'm also aware of the fact that they have some um pretty tremendous winters here. So I think they're just like, you know what? Hey, we got six weeks of sun, uh, let it out. Okay. Uh, whatever these kids are into for fashion right now, I truly hope that in uh 10, 11 years that's gone before my daughter grows up enough to wear some of the shit that I'm seeing. Uh crazy. Okay. That uh short shorts and uh bodysuits apparently seem to be um all the trend, I guess. Crazy, isn't it? I know who would have thought. Uh it's been um wildly hot and we are on pavement, so uh that's fun, you know. That's uh that's a good time. But uh we're doing our best to have a good time. The hours here we are open um at 11. You get down there before that to try to restock and reload, and then um we're open until at least 10 o'clock at night. And me and Brian try to stay open until about 10:30, uh, maybe even closer to 11, just kind of trying to get that exit traffic because we are on a on a gate. Every single night they do fireworks, which is pretty sweet. Uh, so it's a nice tell to let you know that the the fair is about to be closed. But um I say all that stuff knowing that in the back of everybody's mind are saying, hurry the hell up, okay?

The Numbers Nobody Wants To Say

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Get to it. What's the what's the meat and potatoes? How's it going? Are you guys crushing it? You've made such a hopped up to do about how amazing this is gonna be and how this is the greatest thing to ever happen to Laura Proud American. It's the largest event ever for LowPround American, and you're you know, six years of business. You found yourself at an event with 1.2 million attendants. You should be absolutely crushing it. You've maxed out every single thing you possibly can to make this work. You've robbed from Peter to pay Paul to put yourself in a position to get here to make it all. How is it going? Is it paying off? Is it tremendous? Well, the truth is, folks, it's not. And I know that's uh a letdown for you, but just know this. If it's a letdown for you, it's a much greater letdown for me. Man, I I really truly thought this was gonna be um the next big break that that my business needed. And uh so far it hasn't been. You know, we're we're almost a week in. I mean, we opened on Wednesday of last week, and today's uh you know, Tuesday morning, so we haven't quite done a week. Opening day was successful. I mean, it was uh not tremendous. It was nothing about this has been tremendous as far as results go, but um opening day, our opening Wednesday was an okay day. Um for an opening day at the fair, I've certainly done a lot better, but it was a Wednesday, so I was like, you know what? For a Wednesday opening day, hey, we did this number, this is probably okay. Um it kind of went downhill, and um I really shouldn't share this because this is obviously um an embarrassing little factoid, but the truth is, folks, I think that um growth and success comes from transparency and being honest. Um Thursday at this fair, we were open for 11 hours, and me and Brian made $54 in sales. $54 in sales, man. Uh you're talking about a $2 an hour scenario, basically, right? When you're 11 hours from your family, when you bet everything you have on the success of this event, when you put so much hope and um prayers into this event, that can certainly break most people. And I'm not gonna say that uh it hasn't been a tremendous challenge because it's damn near come close to breaking to breaking us. Morale is uh not very high, right? But uh I just had to re uh assess and adjust. Oh, take it easy, man. Trying to have a serious conversation over here and you're throwing your scooter around, your little granny mobile. Here's the thing: if you can handle an aluminum freaking ramp collapsible to get your granny mobile in and out of the pickup truck, you probably don't need the mobile, okay? Where was I at before I was really distracted? Well, I've had to uh reassess and readjust my outlook and my hopes and dreams on on uh where we're gonna end up here and and come to the realization that this isn't going to beat my biggest fare of all time, uh, and might not even compete with my biggest fare of all time. There's a chance this won't even touch my second largest fare, but there's also a chance I could beat my second largest fare and I can fall somewhere in the middle there. Um things would have to change, but I reassessed and said, hey man, what if what if even and and and I'm probably being too transparent here right now, but what if even you do um a thousand bucks a day and then you get to the back to the weekend and um and and you crush it? Because next weekend is um our customer base, man, demolition derbies, monster trucks, the whole nine, right? Can I tread water and then get there and then make this into a really big success? Because the crazy thing about fairs is that it only takes a day or two. And um I've been at fairs, like my largest fair, in one day. I've done in one day, opening day there, what I've done in an entire two weeks in Daytona at bike week. So fairs have that power, man. They have that ability. So there is a really good chance this thing just completely takes off and um it becomes something incredible. That chance exists, but it's hard to tread water and get there. Um, but what I've said, and what me and me and Brian have kind of talked about is hey man, if you can find a way to just uh swim to about a grand a day, get to the weekend, hope for the best, and just keep swinging, that's gonna turn out to be something that you're happy with, something that you're proud of. Um, and it could do all the things that you were hoping that it would. But um, in saying that, we've really only had um a couple of nights where we've been able to keep pace with what we're trying to do here. So um it hasn't been great. Um we've had a couple of good days. We've had a couple of good days where we beat what we wanted to do, as far as our conversation that we just had, but we've also had you know $400 nights, and uh that's hard, man. And it's hard when you're also spending you know a hundred bucks a day to eat at this place and to do all those things. So um this has been a challenge, man. This has really been a challenge. But um I'm a realist and and and I report to home reality, but and I I share my disappointment and my frustration, but I still try to outline everything with a positive undertone that this is opportunity. I I am waking up every day with opportunity with when I'm home and things aren't going my way and numbers aren't doing what I want them to do. I don't wake up with the possibility of seeing 20,000 people that day, and I have that here. And every day there's a scratch ticket, and every day there's an opportunity, and every day could be my day. I just had to adjust the way I look at this place because the one day that I'm hoping for is what I expected every day, and that's just not gonna be the way that this fair works, but there's certainly opportunity here, and I really hope that I can report back to you next week and say, man, we just we absolutely crushed it, and uh there that opportunity exists, and and I'm hoping and praying that that's where we're headed and that's where we get. But um, reality is this has been one of the most difficult experiences that I've ever had for the business because you put so much expectation, hopes, dreams, and aspirations into one singular event, and um then you get these results. You get a $54 day, you get people standing outside making faces at your business, you get people um, you know, cutting up your designs, telling you what you did wrong. You get people um that just hate America, that just stand out front and shoot daggers. You get family members telling other family members to get the hell out of that tent. Yeah, man. That's tough. And it's sad to see that it really feels like not a lot of people love this country anymore. Um that's sad, man, and it's difficult to understand. But uh here we are, and and I feel like if we just keep swinging, if we just keep fighting, then success is on the other side of the struggle. That you don't get to the mountaintop without struggling through the valleys, and uh that's certainly certainly where I'm at, man. But I'm not gonna stop hoping, and I'm not gonna stop praying, and I'm not gonna stop believing. What else can you do right now? You put yourself into position, you back yourself into the corner, and you fight your way out, and that's just what I have to do. That's what's left to do, but that's the only thing to do. So that's the unfortunate, disappointing recap, update, peek beneath the sheets of what we have going on so far here. But uh transparency is key when it comes to me because I do feel like success leaves clues, and someday success will follow. And these clues, uh these stories, these nuggets, these transparent conversations will be there to guide others to the successful place that I found myself. I feel like that's

Mindset Shifts When Morale Drops

SPEAKER_00 21:06

coming. It's difficult as it is to envision and say from this moment, but it's the truth. And I try to remain um faithful and loyal to uh to my beliefs, and it's kind of crazy because you know, here I am walking around the fairgrounds, and I was telling myself last night, man, you gotta find a way to be positive and to change your way of thinking about what's going on, man. You have to find a way. And uh I ended up um having this dream this morning that woke me up, and I'm not gonna get into it, but um it was just it was just strange how it outlined a path of support. It was strange how it reminded me of all that I've accomplished in the particular. Potential that still exists. So here we are, preparing for another battle in Hamburg, New York, at the Erie County Fair. Just another morning and the day in the life of a freaking savage trying to chase his entrepreneurial dream. Man.

Getting Hit By A Fish

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Well that aside, how about I share a ridiculous event that has taken place here at the fair? So, I'm in the bathroom, okay? Here's a confessional. Alright, let's do a full frontal confessional. I'm gonna take the Cabela's catalog, place it on the table, left hand, out of the sky. He's beat of the lies. Truth from this guy. Eating a lot of fair food, okay? Nature call, alright? You gotta execute duty, alright? It's kinda funny. I didn't mean it like that. I was thinking duty like D-U-D-Y. But y'all were thinking duty D-O-O-D-Y, like a poo-poo, okay? They both work in this instance. So I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the old stall ski. And I hear some ruffians, okay? I hear some youths, some troubled youths, with that in need of a little attitude adjustment. Let's just put it that way. They're in the bathroom running their little stuck pumps, and I'm trying to uh, you know, execute a plan, okay. Now this fair is like something that I haven't seen in forever. You can win fish in a bag. You guys remember that? Fish in a bag, with a plastic bag full of air and water, the goldfish floating around. That's back. I thought Peter put a stop to us. Here we are, proving everybody wrong, okay? Like Pete Diddy out here on the city. So a lot of bags of fish walking around here. I hear these sorry ute bitching about their fish. Two dudes peer pressuring one. You don't need the damn fish, man. Put the fish in the toilet. Get rid of the fish. And I'm sitting in there going, man, don't be a loser. Give the fish to somebody if you don't want it. You don't need to just flush the damn fish. Like, why did you take the fish? You know? I've contemplated coming out and just having an educational conversation with a bunch of idiots. But um, I'm in the line of duty right now, okay? So all of a sudden one of them pops the bag, they're starting yelling at each other about it, and uh I hear a laughter, and then something hits me in the back of the head. And I said, no, no, you didn't. And I look over, and there's a fish. A little tiny guy, okay? Nothing crazy, just a little little fishy. Gasping fair, gills, he's just flapping, he's cold turkeying. Um on the bathroom floor, Hamburg, New York, Erie County Fair. I just got hit in the back of the head with a little fish. And uh he's just flopping out of water, gasping, about to croak. I had a decision to make, folks. Do you flush the fish? Do you save the fish? Do you put your boot up the ass of the little punks that threw the fish? All options exist. What did your boy do? Grab some toilet paper, scooped the fish up, went to the sink, got paper towels, wet the paper towels, proper temperature, put the fish in the paper towels, soaked all those, gave him a little bit of water that way, and I left with a sopping handful of paper towels and a fish. I saw three punks outside thinking they were cool. They didn't even look impressed to see my large ass walking out of the bathroom. Um, I'm not in the business of getting kicked out of the fair when I haven't made money yet. So I just I just kept moving because I knew I was gonna lose it. And and misplaced anger is a thing, right? So I could have very well unleashed the unholiness of my recent experiences, but I didn't, okay? I didn't. So I get back to the uh Vendry booth, I grab a bottle of Poland Spring water, cut the top off, and we try to find as much room temp water as possible. We were a little bit short, so I had to get one out of the fridge and uh try to cut the cold water with the warm water the best we can, and then plunge the little guy in there. He certainly felt a shocking experience. I feel like we might have hit him with a defibrillator at that moment. We just kind of reshocked the system, gave that fish a little factory reset, and he came out of it. Brian was warming the water up with his hands, he came out of it. He was swimming around in a polling spring bottle, and uh now he is living in Ryan's RV um in a uh Tupperware container, and he's living the good life right now. Little Erie is um he's maintaining he I I I bargain to say he is thriving right now. Erie is thriving in a Tupperware container. How can two dudes risking it all on the road save the life of a fish and not come out successful? We are destined for greatness. It's gonna happen, man. You know, that's just proof, bro. Just freaking proof. It's gonna happen. You imagine one minute you're in the line of duty, the next minute you get hit in the head with a tiny fish only to just leap into Superman action, saving said little fish with paper towels and a pollen spring bottle. I felt like MacGyver, you know what I mean? Armed with only paper towels and a pollen spring bottle, this stallion of a man saved the life of a fish.

unknown 27:59

Dr.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Seuss is gonna write about this someday. If Erie makes it um, you know, through this whole journey, I do believe Brian and Christy, the pomelos, have acquired themselves a real nice addition of the family. Erie Pomelo coming to a family near you in Poland, Maine. Do you believe that's the scenario? It's funny, um, I was FaceTime in the family, and Allie comes over and she's the baby's looking at the fish on the FaceTime. She's like, what the heck is going on here? We rescued a fish. That's what happened. That's the kind of people we are. How could you not support fish rescuing Americans? Okay. I just think you have to. I really do. Well, I am out of water, I am foaming up, the heat is increasing.

Resetting For Tomorrow And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Um, sun is up. Full swing over here. Um, it's about to go down, okay? I gotta go uh get the old morning shower in, edit this baby, get this posted up for you guys so the streak can continue. Today I have to try to navigate making orders for my next fair. Um, lot going on out here, but uh yeah, I had to give you the disappointing and encouraging review and preview of uh of my life here on the road. So that's the story to be told out here from Loud Proud American as we are at the largest attended event of our freaking lives. Lot of people out here, folks. A lot of people, a lot of people, two dudes, one dream, one fish. It's impossible. Can we do it? I think we can. We'll tell you next week. Until then, folks, thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your freaking hands. That's it, and that's all, Biggie Smalls.