What If The Struggle Is Building Your Why

The Fair Is Over

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, well, well, well. Wouldn't you like me to tell just how it went? The Erie County Fair is over. The greatest challenge for Loud Proud American as far as the size of event is completed, and we are back home getting ready to do it again. Well, you get your wish. I'm gonna serve up a dish of recap of the week, two weeks, that was the Erie County Fair. Let me tell you something. Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. If you find strength in the struggle, then this podcast is for you. Have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable competition. Uncomfortable competition will challenge you, humble you, and they build you.

Home Again And Chasing Quality

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Good Lord Almighty. Am I so excited to be back with you? Oh, it is true. It is damn true. I'm excited to be back with you, and I'm especially excited to be back with you recording from my own house. It feels nice to be home. Man, what a couple weeks that was. I got home um yesterday evening after another 10 hours on the road, and I'm gonna give you a frullfuntal confessional to start the show. I tried to record another episode in the bus. I tried doing another mobile Monday wireless mic situation, and I waited to be on good smooth roads in the hole nine, and um we're having a fun loving episode. I even recorded when me and Brian BP Palmolo separated C's when I got off my exit and he kept going. You can hear the beeping and the hoot and the hollering. But uh the quality was garbage, it was hot garbage. I went to edit it, it wasn't good, so I'm gonna do my best to uh retake the episode that should have already been done, but it didn't work, but here we are. This ought to sound better, anyways. It should, it really should, and y'all deserve good quality. You deserve the quality. So here we are. I am finally home. It was a long two weeks on the road. I must say, it doesn't get any easier uh doing these long trips and coming home. It's not like you build up a rhythm and then you're just good at it. Um I just miss my family and I miss coming home and I miss um the little moments with my little girl. Being gone for two weeks, it's crazy to me how much she grew. I feel like it's almost like she doubled in size. I mean, I know she didn't, but that's what it appears like, and her vocabulary completely changed since I was gone. So um when you're away for a few weeks, you really notice those things. I think it puts them under a microscope. So um, certainly seeing how much she's growing up, and it's crazy to me that um next week is actually her second birthday. So man, she's completely in the terrible two scenario. I'll be honest, she's definitely doing that, but um she's so just sweet, innocent, and beautiful, and just deceiving all at once. You know what I mean? She sucks you right in. She's the best, she's the absolute best. And it's hard being away from her and and my wife and and my mom and the family and the whole nine, man. It's not, it's not easy, but um, that's just what has to be done to make this to make this

Gratitude For BP And Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 4:24

work. And before I get into um recapping this the best that I possibly can, I'm gonna just start the show by saying a tremendous, heartfelt thank you to Brian Palmolo, Mr. BP, for putting his life and his family on hold for two weeks to come help chase this dream with me because he believes in the mission and he believes in me. And um they just don't make people like BP. They just don't make people like him anymore, man. It's um it's crazy. He's a he's a dying breed. Brian's life per life's purpose is to help people do what they can't do on their own. And we've had a lot of conversations, man. He's just a he's just a helper, and uh they don't make a lot like him. And um, I'm forever grateful to have him as one of my best friends, and uh what he did for me was um was incredible, and uh I can't really put it into words. Um I'm disappointed that the the fair didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to, so that B couldn't experience how incredible it is when things are rocking and rolling. And uh, I guess that's a spoiler alert, that's the cat out of the bag. But y'all heard last week that was kind of the direction we were headed, that the fair hadn't really done what we wanted it to do. It's crazy to look back at and see that opening day was the busiest day we had in the 12 days of the fair. Um, who would have thought a Wednesday would have beaten all of our days? Um, really disappointing when you when you paint that out and and you look at it and think about it. And I was really manifesting a massive redneck weekend because there was monster trucks and two days of demolition derby.

Storms That Changed The Weekend

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I think we were headed in that direction, but um we experienced some crazy storms, crazy storms. I think it was Saturday morning or Sunday morning, I can't remember which one. There was this the most wild crack of thunder I've ever heard. And when you're sleeping in the RV up by the roof, okay, um, atop of the driver's seat, it it was loud. It was like I was in a tuna can that got thrown um off the Grand Canyon that splattered on the ground. I I don't know. That's a really ridiculous analogy that I just tried to create there, but I'm trying for you to understand how wild that was. And then the rain just starts coming, and it originally it starts like it sounds like grease popping in a frying pan as you're cooking bacon, and then it turns into the most thunderous, wild explosion of rain, sound, and chaos. Um, it was some wild weather, folks. Saturday, we spent most of the day okay before it really kind of uh opened up. It was just kind of wishy-washy, but I think people just said, I'm not going out in this. I mean, I see all the all the threats of how bad this is gonna be. I'm not going out in it. And then Sunday, the last day of the fair, I had never experienced anything like this at a fair. Twice they had to issue a shelter-in-place warning. Um, they they have this emergency system that'll text your phone and let you know. They announce it on the loudspeaker, they post it on social media, and then they lock people into the buildings basically. So um, it was crazy. And if you follow us on social media, you would have seen some of the videos of the rain and just how crazy it was and how fast it happened. In front of my tent, there's kind of this little um like decline that goes to a drain, and I'm telling you, there was probably 10 inches of rain in there, and to see people trying to get through it and navigate through, it was crazy. Uh, we welcomed a bunch of people into our tent. Normally you would close your doors and stay dry, but we left them open and welcomed people in, and we hung out and and we made the best of it, and we laughed. And I think that me and B gave the the people some uh um some great memories. I think we might be one of their highlights of the fair. So I'm thankful for that right there. And uh they actually spent some money while they were there as well, a few shirts and stuff, which was cool. Um, but yeah, it was uh it was a wild way to finish off the fair, and it was uh it was disappointing. It was disappointing um how things went. I didn't come even remotely close to the goal I set for myself. Um I was about halfway to the number that I fully expected to be at. Like I set a number that was, hey man, this is the bare minimum that I expect to make, and I was about 50% away from that. That's how that's how disappointing this um this was. But with all that said, we talked to a lot of vendors, and um they were all telling us this is the worst they've ever seen. And the attendance is still strong. And we're talking about a ferry that brings over a million people. So the attendance was still really strong, but they just weren't spending money. Their biggest objective was to get in the gate, have the entertainment, buy some food, and kind of get out. You didn't see a lot of people carrying bags, and um that was the that was a disappointing thing. And there's a lot of competition, there's a lot of apparel vendors. One of our biggest competitors at every fair we go to was right down the road from us. But we made a point to friend them and uh to have conversations and to really unite with each other and share in our misery and our hopefulness, you know. I kept telling them, hey man, our people's coming, we're gonna we're gonna get there this weekend. Our people is coming. And they kept telling me, it's not you, it's not your product. Uh, you've got a great product line and you're doing the right thing. It's just people aren't spending money. So we were really just kind of supporting each other the whole time. But by the end of it, we realized that it wasn't gonna come true for either one of us. And I went in and talked to him and said, man, you can't win them all, but uh, you know, we did it, we tackled it, and uh we made the best

Vendor Talk Competition And Pricing

SPEAKER_00 10:16

of it. I also met another business that is an American-only apparel brand, just like myself. I didn't know there was many of us out there. He's from Idaho and he travels all around the country. He does 300, he's on the road 300 days out of the year. Does like 30-something shows, equivalent to 300 days on the road, um, 65 days at home. Pretty um, pretty crazy. And uh, you know, we kind of share thoughts and struggles, and it was it was crazy to see. So um, he's been in business for four years, so not quite as long as me, but in certain ways he's exceeded me. And I'm sure being on the road 300 days a year will do that. But he also purchased the screen printing company that was making his apparel. He purchased the company, and uh now his wife runs that company and they do custom orders out of there and they do their own printing out of there, and they also have their own cut and sew facility, so they can also make their own apparel from scratch, from good old American cotton, which is an incredible goal to have. Um, and and and it's such a tremendous um thing, it's not something I even envisioned as possible for me. You know what I mean? Like when you say set your goals big and your aspirations bigger, and you think about those things, it's not something I ever focused on because I figured there's no way that would be an option for me. So to hear somebody that's doing it is pretty crazy. Now, I don't know how he came about the business, I don't know what he had for savings, I don't know his business plan or what his investors are, I don't know any of that. But clearly he spent a heck of a lot more money than I have. Um, but the cool thing was is um he was impressed with what we were doing, and he asked if it was okay to take pictures and to send them to his wife, and uh, you know, we were bouncing pricing back and forth, and our t-shirts are 27 each or two for 50. He starts his t-shirts at $40 for zero. Our sweatshirts are $55, he starts his at $75. And um we use the same apparel manufacturer, the stuff he manufactures on his own, those sweatshirts are like $100, $125, and they're incredible. I've felt them and they're awesome. But he uses a lot of the same apparel that we use, but he's on the road getting $40 a shirt, he's on the road getting $75 a hoodie, and I'm struggling to get $25 and $50. Um, it's crazy, it's crazy to think about. Um, their business model and plan is totally different than ours, but uh I was certainly inspired by him and his business, and I felt grateful that I was inspired as that that I inspired him as well. And he said to me, Man, it really feels good to share the frustration with somebody that understands. It feels good to have these conversations with somebody that's doing the exact same thing that I am, and um, that was pretty incredible. I mean, he made a few comments about how cheap we were compared to him, but um, you know, I wasn't gonna take those as as shots, you know, just brush them off, man. Just brush your shoulder off, homie. You know what I'm saying? Call and brush it off. So that was pretty crazy. Um and he'd said to me, like, yeah, I was talking to my wife, and you know, and she was like, Oh, competition, and and he said, and that, and and and at first I was all defensive, and I realized, like, no, man, this we're not competition. We really have the same mission, you know? And ultimately we should be thankful to see other people doing what we're doing. I mean, it doesn't help you make money, but it helps the goal of bringing back American jobs and manufacturing. So um it's really a crazy, surreal feeling. So there was a lot of competition at this fair. Um, the biggest competitor that I see at every fair, also another competitor to them, there's another uh vendor that is a um um a veteran-owned military type um apparel brand where money goes to help veterans from Western New York. So in that area, so right next to me, man, we have um some of our biggest competitors, a brand doing exactly what I'm doing as far as American made, and then there's tons of apparel brands that are selling Buffalo specific apparel. And one young lady had four stands, and she sold out of one of her hoodies on the first day, and it's like a $95, $85 hoodie. But she has a following, and that's her home, and those are her people, and um, you know, I don't expect that on my on my first time, but for the people that would level with me about the event and the situation, they all told me it wasn't doing what it usually does, and I had multiple people tell me I don't think you have a good location, and um, we certainly felt by the end of it we didn't have a good location because every night after six o'clock in front of our tent was two or three hundred, maybe even more, young kids, teenage kids, looking to scalp bracelets and to jump on rides, and um, that doesn't really help people to want to come and see

Location Problems And Hard Selling

SPEAKER_00 15:19

us. So that was difficult, you know. Um it's tough to go into this with your hopes so high and to be disappointed. Um and you run a roller coaster of emotions between being depressed to talking to yourself into being motivated because every day you climb out of that RV and you try to find a way to be positive. You're trying to find a way to say, This is my day today, we're gonna get it done today. But then after you go four or five hours with nothing, it gets tough. Um, one thing I realized is that the people in New York are accustomed to people pressing them to spend money. I'd never worked so hard at selling t-shirts when it comes to getting up and and and a sales, like delivering a sales pitch, an elevator pitch to every person that I saw that was different for me. And I think it worked, I think it helped. Um, you know, you get yourself in some uncomfortable positions, but I think that's what it's all about. And some people might have thought I was pushy, but I try not to come off that way. But um, yeah, man, it was crazy to try to use motorcycle sales techniques that I've learned from a previous life, you know, um, to sell t-shirts, but that's just what we had to do. Um, we really had to press. And and we rallied and did the best that we absolutely could with the situation at hand, and I'm proud of us. And when it comes right down to it, yes, it was an absolute disappointment, our end result. But it still ends up setting the bar as the best fair or event of 2026 for Loud Proud American. Not the bar that I was looking to set, and I hope to beat it at my very next fair, which I'm getting ready for. But at least we did that, you know? And uh me and Brian were walking out of there, and I had made comment to him that said, Hey man, you did it. Like this is a this is the big thing, man. Not a lot of people do this, and and we we stopped and started to kind of reflect and talk about it and say that we just tackled a fair that welcomes over a million people. Even though the numbers didn't land where we expected them to, we still completed the task. We still completed the mission. We did what we went what we went out to do, what we set out to do, we did. We completed it. And over one million persons attended fair. We did it, and we did it with a smile, and we worked our ass off every single day. It wasn't pretty, but it was practical. Does that make sense? It wasn't what you hoped for, it wasn't the glitter and the balloons and the fairy tales, uh, unicorns and the clouds, you know what I mean? It wasn't pretty and done up. It wasn't pastels and party balloons, but it was practical. We went in, we executed it, we completed it, and we made it happen. The tough thing about all this is that roller coaster of emotions, when you realize we're not gonna get to where we need to get to, and then you pivot and you set another goal, and you don't make that one either, and then you set the end-all number like I need to be here, and you fall a few dollars short of that number, but you look at it and say, Man, we're having torrential rain, and um, it's uh basically this fair is being told the shelter in place, all those things, you gotta be grateful for where you um ended up.

Admit It But Don’t Submit

SPEAKER_00 18:57

On my ride home yesterday, I was listening to a lot of uh Pastor Stephen Furtick and a book of hears that I've been um I've been reading, and um he had this line in the book um and a mental philosophy that he uses that said, admit it, but don't submit to it. So I admitted some defeat. I admitted that I fell short of my goals, I admit that I fell short of my expectation, but I refuse to submit to it. I'm not gonna let one year, I'm not gonna let that lack of results be what breaks me. I'm not gonna let it keep me from going back, I'm not gonna let it keep me from continuing to apply, I'm not gonna let it keep me from continuing to try. I will admit those struggles, but I will not submit to those struggles. It wasn't pretty it's practical. We did it, we accomplished it. There's something that um Steven also said in his book, um, and it's uh his analogy on ugly, or his acronym, I guess you would call it on on unugly. Sometimes um the struggle, this race we run, this um dream that we chase, it can be ugly. U G L Y until God lifts you. Ugly. I've been on a stretch of ugly. We've been going through battles with ugly. Heck, I've been hit with the ugly stick. Until God lifts you, and I know he is preparing abundance for me and my family. I know he's preparing more than I could imagine. It was just a lesson that I needed to learn, and now I need to understand it and process it. I can admit it, but I cannot submit to it. Yeah. Just sitting here processing it as I as I say it to you. Like as I said before, these podcasts oftentimes are therapy for me as I just plug in the microphone and I push record and then just kind of talk and share what's inside and realize that uh I'm walking and talking myself through some therapy right now.

The Entertainer Who Worked The Crowd

SPEAKER_00 21:36

And as I'm learning and I'm processing those lessons right now, there was a interesting moment at the fair this week, other than getting hit in the head with a fish. Um, which by the way, we rescued, it made it home, and Brian just sent me a picture of little Erie living his best life in his own beautiful tank on Brian's frickin' kitchen counter right now. Okay. So pretty incredible. We saved a life. All right? Good things are coming. While we were there, I can't remember if I mentioned this to you guys, but there is a um um a vendor there that um one of the oldest carnival games they have, Fool the Guesser, where you go up to the guesser and you pay a fee, and he has to guess your high your your age, your weight, or your birthday. And by birthday, it's birth month within a couple of months. By age, it's within I think two years, and weights within three pounds. And uh this young fella, he's in his early 30s, and um, when he first started, when he had a wireless mic, and behind him he just has this display of um toys and stuffed animals and stuff, and he says, you know, age weighted birthday, fool the guesser, go shopping in my mini mall. And uh he's just out there just working and just working so hard. And me and Brian were like, man, 12 days of this. But after about 20 minutes, we're like, I can't believe how entertaining this dude is. Like, he's he's incredible. The way he worked the room, the way he talked to people, the lines, the things that he said. I might have talked him up a little bit um in the previous episode. I can't really recall, but uh, because it's been a long couple weeks, but his lines were incredible, his personality was infectious. He sounded and looked a lot like Matthew McConaughey. He had Matthew McConaughey's laugh, and he could deliver an insult followed by a laugh that you realize was just a fun-loving guy having a good time. I can't be mad at him. I can't even process the amazing amount of one-liners I heard from him. HBO, help a brother out. All these lines, man. I got a PhD in guessinology. Man, he he had such an amazing time. I saw him work in the crowd in the pouring rain, wearing a poncho and a baseball cap. And when he would get one person to work with him to play the game, he would incorporate the entire crowd around him. It was incredible. It was amazing to see. And early in the week, me and Brian stopped him and said, Man, you're doing an amazing job. And we had a conversation, and he said, I grew up in this business. My dad owns this business, but he had a bad motorcycle wreck, so he called me, so I'm here. I came from Alaska to be here to uh run this event this week. And on the last day of the fair, when things were getting rained out, him and his friend uh came in the tent and just wanted to get our names again and have one last conversation. And I took a moment to tell him of all my years on the road and the fairs and events that I've been to, you are the most entertaining person I've ever experienced on the road. But you have an unbelievable gift to make people smile, to read a room, to deliver crazy information and have it be not offensive. You can say the most obnoxious thing and then hit him with a Matthew McConaughey laugh and they take no offense to it. It was unbelievable to me. Think about the three categories your age, your weight, and your birthday. Three things no woman really wants to tell you. And he'll guess. And he will tell you if you're over 300 pounds, he'll tell you. I was there when he told the lady she was 282, and my mouth dropped, and I said, He's gonna get smacked. And she got on the scale and she was 282. And he said, Boom! Got her again. That's what I do. How does he do it? It was incredible. And uh he had a friend with him that was helping him, and when I gave him his flowers, when I gave him his compliments, he started laughing. He said, What about my buddy Dave here? Isn't he good too? He did a great job this week. And I just realized how humble of a person he is that he in that moment wanted to make sure that his friend that was helping him received the accolades of recognition too. He wanted to shower him. Um, it was incredible. And he said to me, Well, I guess I don't really know any other way of doing it because I was born into it. And he said, This was my dad's business, and I've been doing it since I was a kid, so yeah, I'm really good at it, but uh, I guess I didn't have a choice.

A New Why For Paisley

SPEAKER_00 26:16

And I walked away from that conversation, realizing the greater purpose for this business is to do what I do to give Paisley the opportunity to be who she can be. Our little girl already loves talking to people, she already loves saying hi to people when they come in, she already wants to pretend to try to help them out. If my little girl can absorb a fraction of the personality and ability and kindness that we witnessed from fool of the guesser, if she can do that, this is all worth it. And that's a new why for me. That's a new drive for me. For my little girl to grow up with an amazing experience and to have the opportunity to do whatever she wants to do with family businesses, but always have the personality that she grew and developed on the road. Because with that amount of optimism, with that amount of energy, that amount of love for life, you can overcome anything. You can overcome the darkest of days. I realize there's a greater why. There's a greater reason why. It's more than a paycheck. And I know I've been doing all of this for my family, and I've said many a times that I want this for my little girl, for her to be on the road seeing and feeling and experiencing these things. But I got a whole new perspective at the end of the Erie County Fair. Because I realized a skill set, a personality trait, the undefeated ability to be positive, to be genuine, and to be happy. I truly hope that me going through these dark times, me living through the ugly, is gonna give her the glory and the greatness. It's that perspective that'll help carry me through. It's that perspective that's gonna put me in front of a customer base that already knows and loves me this week, and I'm gonna make up for what I lost, and I'm gonna finish this year the best I possibly can. Me and BP just accomplished one of the most unbelievable feats of strength for us. Over one million people. But I accomplished what I set out to do, and it prepared me to do that much more, and I learned oh so much. I'm incredibly thankful for each and every one of you that continue to support me, this show, my family, and this business, this brand, this mission. And we furthered the mission, and we grew the brand being on the road for two weeks in Buffalo, New York. Because some people we were able to reach and to touch. I've got multiple messages, people loving our product, sending pictures of their kids wearing our product, positive messages. That's what this is all about. We are growing. Not at the pace in which I wish we were growing, but it's not my choice, it's not my pace. I'm growing at God's rate, at his plan to fulfill his purpose. U G L Y. Until God lives at you. And it's coming for me, and it's coming for you. And I know that truth to be true.

Thanks And How To Support

SPEAKER_00 30:30

I hope and pray that this episode leaves something positive for you today. I hope there's a positive message and opportunity for you to get through some dark days based off of today's show. If you felt something good and positive and growth from this show, then please, please, please share it with someone you know. Continue to support the show to help it grow. Like, subscribe, share the show, and help it grow. I thank each and every single one of you for supporting my American dream. Now go watch your friggin' hands, you built the savage. That's it, and that's all, Biggie Smalls. If you're a Loud Proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at Loud Proud American Face Page, as my mama calls it. If you're a fan of the Grand Cracker, wanna find me on Instagram for all the kids, tickety talkin' on the TikTok, you can find me on both of those at loud underscore proud underscore American. Big old thank you to the boys of the Gut Truckers for the background beats on Twitter podcast. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, track down the gut truckers on Facebook just third gun truckers. Give that motherfucker a like. Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.