'The Hub' with Michael Allen sponsored by Manpower Richmond
Welcome to "The Hub with Michael Allen," the podcast that dives deep into the stories of community leaders and business owners who are making a difference. Join your host, Michael Allen, as he uncovers the untold narratives, challenges, and triumphs of those shaping their communities.
In each episode, Michael sits down with remarkable individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving their neighborhoods, towns, and cities. These community leaders are passionate, driven, and committed to creating positive change. Whether they are activists, educators, philanthropists, or civic officials, they all share a common goal: to build stronger, more vibrant communities.
"The Hub" also showcases the journeys of business owners who have turned their dreams into reality. From small-scale startups to well-established enterprises, these entrepreneurs share their insights, experiences, and lessons learned along the way. Michael delves into the unique challenges they face, the strategies they employ, and the impact their businesses have on the local economy and society at large.
With engaging conversations and thought-provoking discussions, "The Hub with Michael Allen" provides listeners with valuable takeaways, inspiration, and actionable ideas. Each episode offers a glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who are actively shaping the fabric of their communities, providing a roadmap for listeners who want to make a difference in their own lives and surroundings.
Tune in to "The Hub with Michael Allen" and join the conversation as we explore the stories of community leaders and business owners who are leaving an indelible mark on the world around them. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and empowered to take action. Together, we can create a better tomorrow for everyone.
Sponsored by Manpower Richmond.
'The Hub' with Michael Allen sponsored by Manpower Richmond
Ep. 9 | Phil Quinn & Michael Allen: Unpacking the Power of Connection in Community Resilience
When Phil Quinn turned the tables on me, Michael Allen, it sparked a thought-provoking dialogue on the resilience of our local communities. Our deep-dive conversation traverses the landscape of human tenacity, especially in challenging times, and how the power of personal connections and community service become the bedrock for societal fortitude. Reflecting on my experiences at Westview Elementary, we unravel the transformative potential of mentorship and the undeniable impact of human touch in every aspect of life—from the thriving pulse of our local economies sparked by potential attractions like sports complexes and casinos, to the everyday workplace dynamics that hinge on the art of second chances and heartfelt apologies.
Venturing into the world of podcasting from live radio, I share my journey with Phil, capturing the essence of what it takes to craft engaging content that resonates in a digital age where the warmth of handwritten notes still leaves an indelible impression. We muse over the nostalgic elements that endear us to personal touches and their importance in an increasingly impersonal world. As we swap roles in this dynamic exchange, the candid stories revealed shed light on the authenticity and consistency required to produce a podcast that speaks to the heart of listeners.
The episode culminates in a robust analysis of economic revitalization efforts in New Castle, with a look at how attractions could serve as a beacon for prosperity and the complexities that come with ambitious community projects. We tackle the vision and the hurdles for a sports complex, the nuanced fabric of employee relationships, and how flexibility in the workplace can make or break the loyalty and respect of a team. Diving into these multifaceted conversations, Phil and I offer a panoramic view of the potential that lies within community innovation, the human element of business, and the lasting value of maintaining personal connections in a world that moves at breakneck speed. Join us for an enlightening exploration of the strength and spirit that powers our communities.
Michael Allen from Manpower. We are a national brand, yet locally owned franchise. We are familiar with the challenges businesses face. It's tough recruiting and retaining qualified employees. That's why working with Manpower is a smart, cost-effective solution. Our entire focus is talent acquisition. We'll manage your hiring and training and provide ongoing, customized support. Since 1966, we have been your community-invested partner, uniquely positioned to help eliminate the hassles and save you time and money. Let us help contact Manpower today.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to the Hub with Michael Allen and for a special edition of the Hub, and I have a very special guest, Phil Quinn, today. And actually I'm going to become the guest because Phil is hijacking the Hub and he's going to talk to me today, going to have some questions. This is not going to be just all one way, but I'm just Phil's in town and it was a great opportunity to get to see you today. Just a little bit about Phil and I we worked a lot together when he was a brewer broadcasting. He always did a great job helping us at Manpower and then also with his social media consulting business on Vine, which he's tremendous at. It was a great job for us and so, Phil, it is awesome to see you.
Speaker 2:It's great to be here. I came in because I had a friend that lost a loved one and it was right around the holidays and I said I just don't know, living in Phoenix now, I don't know that I can just fly in and fly back out. What if I plan a couple of weeks in January, right in the new year? My daughter is a teacher at Richmond Community Schools and I could watch her. She's also coaching swimming and not once did I think to look at the forecast. I had no clue until a couple of days before and I went oh no, oh no. But can I tell you something before I tell you my first job?
Speaker 1:Sure Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, cause the first job is what I've been prepping for. Having watched all of the episodes of the hub, I knew this question was going to be asked, so I'm ready. Okay, can I tell you something about the people here? They are hard. I am so impressed. I've been here for about a week and I you guys, are resilient, and the temperatures that are outside and it's brutally cold whenever you're watching this.
Speaker 2:It was kind of a real shift from the holidays where it was pretty mild and businesses are open and people are taking your credit card payments and they're serving coffee and they're working in the streets and they're on the construction site. I don't know that. There are many places where things didn't shut down and I talked to some friends that had a lot of snow in Tennessee oh, everybody's home. They've closed down businesses, people aren't going to the office and I went. That's not here.
Speaker 2:And I think about what this community has gone through since I've, since I've been gone and I've been gone a little over three years. Of course, everybody went through a global pandemic. Right, there was, you know, the officer shooting and Sierra Burton just terrible and just a monstrous, hazardous fire, and Richmond still gets back up. I don't know how you do it. It's hard and you're hard and the people here. I know we've got construction and there's tons of things we can complain about, but people are still getting up and going to work and I think what you do and what the staff does at manpower helps that. So you know I'm not trying to get all weepy and sappy. I mean I've got strong takes, michael, but I can't believe how tough and hard to in a good way that the people are here.
Speaker 1:I mean it was interesting just yesterday I do some mentoring over at Westview Elementary and I was I don't have kids in school anymore and I'm not on those, those messages that go out about school delays or whatever and so I was just checking to see hey, I'm just curious, is there a delay? Is it going to affect my time here, you know? And no, we're regular schedule, we're going to everybody's going to school. And it's just surprising because I think you probably think back when you were here it seemed like there's a lot of delays, or I mean just the side of snow. Sometimes they would call it off, you know, and so I was. I was kind of impressed that they went ahead and just don't you think?
Speaker 2:part of that is okay. So we're going to try e-learning, and there are a lot of snow days that turn into e-learning days, but we did find out that, while they're still education, that you can teach, it doesn't replace the in-person experience. And we have a lot of remote workers and I'm a remote worker for the company that I work for too and I get that. But there is something about building that earnestness and that toughness to say, yeah, I'm going to have to wear an extra layer and I'm going to have to leave 15 minutes early, but that's the job. So and I know, you know, there's people in every generation that looks at the next generation goes oh, what a bunch of punks.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And. But the generation in front of us did that, and the generation, so it's just different.
Speaker 1:Right, it's just your perspective Generations, generation and yeah, I mean they were complaining. You know our great grandparents are complaining about the generation. Yeah, you know so I think thanks definitely changed in some ways that are somewhat concerning, yes, but overall it's just. It is the way it is in life as we know it.
Speaker 2:And we know it'll change again. Yeah, we hopefully not in a negative direction, but I so I'm not going to hijack. I do have questions for you because I want to know about this mentoring.
Speaker 1:But I do have a question for you.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, you go first at your show.
Speaker 1:Can you give us a? Can you give us a little update of what's going on since you have left town, Because not every lot of people know you, but not everybody know what's been going on with you, yeah, so I left in an October of 2020.
Speaker 2:My fiance now wife at the time, was promoted through her job at Belden, still works for Belden 18 years now and is taking over the West division, and we could do a whole nother episode On sales people, but of the sales people that I know and the people that I train, because that's what I also do for Brookdale senior living. I've never heard a better salesperson than than my wife. So we we both got remote work jobs. We're in office, we're in our you know offices in our, our house, and, and, and and. Where we figured that life would take us would that it would be out of Richmond because of the career opportunities for her. Outside sales was an opportunity to change our lives. I mean, the income is really good but she works really hard, and so I had to reboot my career and started it at Brookdale Senior Living about three years ago and got into working with seniors, having experience of having to put my mom in senior living, and it really became a passion for me.
Speaker 2:And you know what's hard about living in Arizona is we didn't move to be closer to family. You often see people move back to this area after they retire, because that's where family is, or friends. There's not a bumble for couples. You can't, there's not a way to network unless you're in a church or you have work colleagues. But we both work from home. So how do you go and find other people? We release our house, we live in a nicer new development, but we didn't intend to live there even longer than three years, so you didn't make a whole lot of connections with neighbors. So when you have the opportunity to come home and hug people and see people and here's what I found out, I am really good in moderation. I think that I am passionate about a lot of things I say some stupid stuff. That's probably why I wasn't at the radio station any longer. And but the opportunity and glass half full, I took it and it has been very rewarding. But it doesn't replace nice weather. For the most part it gets hot, but being able to come home gave me the opportunity to hug people I haven't seen, to listen to them and I'll wear out my welcome in a week and then I'll have to go home. So that's a little bit about me.
Speaker 2:I still continue to utilize on Vine media, but one thing that I refuse to do and I see this. I was on city council when Facebook became a thing and started utilizing social media to be able to talk to constituents. We had some rules, though. You can yell at me all day, call me every name of the book, I'm on city council, I get it but you can't yell or make fun of or be derogatory to other people that are commenting. That's not. I'm not gonna let that fly, point the fingers at me, but it gave me the opportunity to explain what this bill or legislation that we were reading or whatever.
Speaker 2:So getting into radio and then you get you know things like Speak Out Richmond, which is now the community bill at the board, and then you got scanners, pages where they're just typing out whatever they hear on the scanner. There's this impetus to have people that have moved away from Richmond come back in and trash it. I told you you gotta get out of that town. No, no, I want to highlight what's going on. It's still my hometown. I always think about Kurt Vonnegut, who has a quote that says I don't know what it is about Hoosiers, but wherever you go, you're gonna find a Hoosier doing something good. And I'm paraphrasing a little bit there, but that's kind of it and I take that to heart. So last thing, and then I know you have a question for me or I have a question for you. I forgot where we were. Now you told me I was gonna hijack it.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is fully anticipated. Yeah, you didn't even bring any notes. I saw you with papers here before. Yeah, I had to. I mean nothing okay, great, where was I?
Speaker 1:One thing I want to tell you that made me think of something.
Speaker 1:When you were talking about the radio station, I'm gonna notice to you at the time used to have me on the point and had me come in and talk a little spiel about manpower, whatever. You'd ask me questions, whatever. And I've got to tell you that those times that we did that really led me to have the confidence to try this podcast, and I didn't really think about it until just I was just recently thinking, because you know, to get in front of a live mic and it's not scripted and whatever you say, it's out there, you know. So those opportunities that we had, I think really I think back gave me the confidence to try to do this podcast. And it's still a learning process and I'm not a broadcasting type person or whatever, and you were really good at it when you were doing this as a profession and so, but anyway, I just wanted to say that, yeah, I really appreciate hearing that, and I think anybody that has been behind these microphones and there are several you know recordings of podcasts that are done locally.
Speaker 2:The hardest thing is doing it. It doesn't necessarily matter how great the picture is or how great the microphones. You need to have something to talk about and the passion to continue doing it. It doesn't matter if it's on a daily basis or weekly basis or monthly. If you're interested in doing a podcast, then you have to be consistent and you gotta keep doing it, because that's what people expect.
Speaker 2:But it's so personal and the connections are so solid when you are in a conversation with somebody, whether you see it or not and that's what I always liked having you on we would talk about. Hey, I wanna know what the job market looks like. What are employers facing right now? Who better to talk to than someone that does nothing but talk to applicants and employers? So that's where you go to the source, and I always loved being on a small radio station that focused on hyper local and that was a real passion.
Speaker 2:The problem is I took it for granted, I think you know, I think I was like big time guy, walk anywhere I want, I'll go out this way and go that way. I'll go through the back door. No, I think that was. It was good for me to step away, because now I see a lot of things from an outside perspective and I think that that can be one thing that really hurts the forward movement that we need in this town, which is you've got a lot of people looking out, not a lot of people that are willing to look in and then share what that looks like, because it's a different perspective and context.
Speaker 1:I was talking to Kevin, our producer. Is that owner? Can you give me a?
Speaker 3:thumbs up. Is that who you? I don't know. Whatever you want to call me, I've been called a lot worse.
Speaker 1:Well, it makes me feel important that I have a producer, Doesn't it? Yeah, I was telling Kevin. I said you know I've done eight podcasts now and you know I've enjoyed the process. I was telling Kevin, I said I'm really nervous about this one with Phil. Oh, you're coming to today, yeah.
Speaker 1:And because it's coming from a different. This is like a totally organic conversation and before I did a little bit of research with the people, it was as I should that I was going to interview and try to have some questions. I had planned, but this was totally just impromptu and so it was just part of a little bit of apprehension about it.
Speaker 2:Well, but what you have always been great at and we've known each other for a while is you're an excellent listener, and the best listeners are the best interviewers. And it's weird because you're thinking, no, I need to have that quip reply, or no, you're listening to what they're saying and then asking a question based on what they said. And that's Howard Stern, that's all the sportscaster I mean, anybody that does interviewing for a business will tell you the key is just listening. Sure, you need to be prepared, but and you do that very, very well, and some of the engaging content that I've seen again just sort of reiterates that some of the folks that we talked to are in a position where they could stay or they could go, and they're making a choice Right.
Speaker 1:So I do want to ask you because that first job question, what was your?
Speaker 2:first job. So the first job was my family basically got into the hog farming business with Bill Tota Bush. Bill had a lot of farms in the area and we at the time price on hogs was good and so we would buy farms and we weren't a CAFO but we had five different farms and at one time I think we had like 10,000 hogs. So Bill was the finance guy and would come out and mow and that was always kind of cool because you're like man, that guy's a doctor and he's out here mowing and then the rest of us would take care of the hogs. I didn't get paid for that. So the first paid gig was as a busboy at the new port in in Fountain City and that was where we had graphic paper routes. That was also something, but that was just kid stuff, the first kind of adulting kind of job.
Speaker 2:And they put me on the floor one Saturday and said, hey, we're kind of short a server. Do you want to go out there? And I was like sure. And I hammed it up. I mean it was awful, michael. I mean I'm pouring coffee, I'm shaking hands like hey, there you get your hair done today. You look pretty good and I am scoring tons of tips and it really ticked off the other servers and they're like you need to get him back. Get him out of here, cause I did. I just it felt like it was being on stage. I can't remember the new port in.
Speaker 1:I don't know why it was fish.
Speaker 2:Fridays, man, I mean when they do the all you can eat fish Fridays, those broasters, oh you would be caked on. You're trying to go out, You're trying to go on a date and you're smelling like burnt fish. I mean it wasn't really burnt, it was really good fish. But the it was a new port in, or like that's what it was called then. It's been through several variations, so you wanted to ask me about Westview, about mentoring.
Speaker 1:Well, why? Why do you feel compelled to your?
Speaker 2:your busy guy. You got a lot going on. Why go and mentor at Westview? Well, that's interesting. I community in schools.
Speaker 1:They had a representative come to our church and kind of give a ministry report because our church supports CIS and so we like to have people come in and that we get funds to and get them to come in and that we get funds to and just kind of tell about the organization whatever. And so the Col Stoltz came that day and spoke about it and looking for volunteers to do it. And you know, after hearing that I signed up to do it. Why I do that, I don't know. I mean I it's been a long.
Speaker 1:My mother always set a great example by serving other people. She still, in her later years, does it to a point of almost. That, you know, causes problems for her physically or financially, but you know she still has that great desire to serve. And and my father was always served in different ways in the community when he was here and I think part of it also was just my upbringing in church, okay, and just serving other people.
Speaker 1:Cause the first, the first time I ever did some type of service was I worked on one of those Sunday bus routes in the morning where we would go pick up kids and take them to the church on Sundays.
Speaker 1:And that was when I, at the time when I attended Hillcrest Baptist church and they had a huge bus ministry in the seventies and we would go the guy driving the bus and other guy went to school with the three of us. We would go on Saturdays in the morning, knock on doors through our bus routes, see if people wanted to go to church on Sunday and we come and pick up their kids. And this was from Glenmiller Park all the way down to the post office like fifth street, and it was like main street over to like J street, which you know. These are not affluent families, these are not people with a lot of income. They would. I would say these people were poor and but so we were just ministering to those people. I did that for about four years and so that was my start and serving the community in some way, but it's just kind of always been something on my heart and something that I want to do.
Speaker 2:The reason why I bring it up is because I kind of thought at some point I needed to say something based on what I see going on in my hometown and where do I think? Sometimes there are problems that need quick solutions and there are some that you need some long range forecasting, and I have watched over the last three years. We have lost a lot of what I would consider to be community pillars, individuals, families that have passed. Some have sold their business, sometimes to a corporation, and we are losing some of our history, which, to a point, you can say it's okay, because a lot of times when we start thinking about events and things going on, we focus on what we used to be. And I thought of if someone were to come in and go, all right, what do you think we can do to fix this? I said, well, it's not broken, but we need a different mindset. And one of those things that I wanted to talk about was mentoring.
Speaker 2:When someone has signed up for military service and they put in a 20 year career, they have every right to take off the hat, one final salute and walk out the door and not look back. But what does the military in that instance, have waiting for that tenured opening. There's a rank, you know. People start in basic drill instructors and basic training and all that. They have an extension and succession plan that goes in perpetuity. So the general retires, there's somebody else to be there, and one of the things that I think Richmond needs to do and you're in a position to speak to this in, maybe in ways that others can we need a human resources director for the community, so that when someone who has done their service and deserves to retire and go to Florida, that there's someone that's willing to take on that role.
Speaker 2:Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm gonna go through my eight episodes of the hub and see if I can get it all right. Business owner, father, grandfather, mentor, church goer, faith-based works with Boys and Girls Club I mean avid golfer perhaps, but what are some other interests that I might have missed that are a part of you?
Speaker 1:Well, a big part of one thing I do, and it's not. It's been a spending instructor for 20 years. Oh yeah, that's right I have a whole network of of just acquaintances and friends that I've made over the years doing that and what I like about it is, you know, we're just a group of people trying to stay active, stay healthy. You know, if I look in the mirror sometimes I go. Is this really?
Speaker 1:doing me any good, you know, but it just going through the exercise and doing it and but, quite frankly, outside of working out, I really just love meeting all the different people, and so that's one thing that I do. I don't really talk about a lot, but it's something. I've created a network of friends, and even your wife would come to my class some right, right.
Speaker 2:The reason why I bring it up is if we, you have every right to at some point say I have done my time, it's time for me to retire I mean, that's the goal that we all want. But if you chose to say I think I'm going to enjoy maybe some warmer weather, warmer weather, I'm going to do something a little bit different. We have to replace you in that spinning class, in that church, in that mentor group, and it's not on you to do Right. But what is helpful is that, as I see driving downtown, and this sign used to be locally owned and now it's owned by a company. It'd be a. It'd be damn hard to raise money in this town right now, because the people that you could rely on their money is gone or they are. And now we're talking about sending an email to a corporation and asking for a donation, and we do well with our nonprofit organizations.
Speaker 2:But I think one of the things that if you want to keep a community vibrant, you've got to continually recruit stakeholders. So we need people that are willing to go. You know, I don't know much about what manpower does, but I like it when I can get someone a job. That sounds like fun to me. Or I don't know how to fix and repair shoes, but that guy has a monopoly. Now we just need some. We needed somebody younger, that goes. That looks like a lot of hard work. With a little social media, some TikTok videos, we could replace boots. That place would be flooded with with with customers.
Speaker 2:And we don't. We haven't put an initiative in behind the community to look at what does it take, not just to hire somebody and convince them to move here, but what does it take to get them connected to a church or to an organization where they have buy in, where they can feel like they can also be part of the solution? And again, I'm not saying that people haven't earned the right to move away. I did. I moved away and I just don't know if it was for depending on why people pick up and move. Sometimes it's because of more money and sometimes it's because I just didn't really feel like I belonged. And so how do we do that? How do we find connections to say, if you really want to be involved in an organization, well, here's who you need to go talk to and take that mentoring from the elementary level and figure out how to to find people, that there's only two type of people, that, and I believe this fully, and I haven't really thought it out, so I'll insult somebody and then I'll apologize for later. I'm really good at apologies.
Speaker 2:The people that are here either can't leave or they lose something by leaving Could be a promotion, the opportunity to be the president of the bank, dad's business, and that's what's keeping them here. And eventually the economy locally is so small it's hard to get that. Bob Rosa, your local, your dollar spent locally turns over seven times. Uh uh, not when, not when, there's the, the, the chain grocery store or not, with you know. So the motivation can't be just on a couple of people, but it's got to be on everybody, and I think that that doesn't take money, it takes organization, and one thing that I know about this city is when we all come together to do something and we band together, then it, then it happens, then it fixed, it gets fixed.
Speaker 1:Well, we have a. We have a really strong network of not not for profit organizations in this community, especially for as large as it is I mean we, we have a lot and I would, I would insult somebody myself to try to start naming them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, name them all. But we have, we have a lot and overall there seems to be great engagement in most of them, and so that part's encouraging, I think part of what you might be saying. Well, who's going to be the next generation to do all, do this, this work? And I'm not sure I don't really have an answer myself. I know within you know, the kids at the Boys and Girls Club and we try to instill them a sense of service to the community and the issue that happens with those kids is that you know the numbers start to go down the older they get their participation. So we we want to. Part of our goal is to retain the youth as long as we can so we can have an impact on our lives and hopefully, in areas like service to the community, we keep them long enough so that we can in grains and part of who they are, who they want to be. So that's one answer to try to retain our youth long enough to instill this value system in them.
Speaker 1:Now, I don't know what goes on within the public school system to promote this type of thought, because I'm just not. I'm removed from it. I don't know your daughter might be able to speak to it. And and the other part that is a challenge is I have two sons and both of them don't live here Now. They chose professions that in some ways would have been challenging for them to stay here. They weren't going to continue in the family business. You know I'm third generation, as it is, and you know we're the generation that they look to screw it up. You know so well and I've worked hard not to. I mean, I've been in that for over 30 years. But who knows what tomorrow may bring. But I'm trying to be cognizant of that statistic and not become part of it. But you know, if our kids don't stay here, even though we've trained them up the best that we can, they're not going to hear to carry on that tradition.
Speaker 2:See, I would. I would give you the counter argument that and I appreciate what you're saying I think Let them go, almost push them out of the community, because you don't know how good you got it until you get to look at it in your rear view mirror, headed on Highway 66, going to a totally other part of the country. It's not the buildings, we know, it's not the climate. What's the reason people stay here? It's the people. But the problem that we have is we're not giving them a reason to come back. Let them go go to college and then we're gonna work to find you something, because I think there are a lot of businesses that would sell their business when they were ready. But if they could give it to someone who kept it local and locally owned, they might sell a little bit cheaper.
Speaker 2:They might extend the terms a little bit and that's not fair to put that on the business owners that all these nonprofits are also continually having to ask to get support. But I do think that that holds a conversation, because I am now having lived in Arizona and looking back at Richmond. We've tried to find synergy to all say the same thing at times when it comes to marketing, and I worked a lot with the EDC and they've had an incredible year of selling the location of Richmond. The last 10 years there's been a lot of investment because of where we are, and we can agree with that. Right. I mean, that's manufacturing logistics. Our location gives us access within a four hour drive to be anywhere you know, really. But for downtown, where we're recording this, our location's terrible For the East side. For the West side, our location is terrible. So we need to focus on our location when we're talking to some folks about investing here because of how quickly you can get your stuff out, but it's also the same thing to say our location is one of our biggest detriments because it's too easy to go other places to shop, to eat, and you're not gonna get marquee stores to locate here unless you change the population dynamics and the demographics. So that leads me to my other, more pie in the sky thought.
Speaker 2:I remember talking about this years and years and years on the radio and people would look at me like I had three heads and I said at the time and this could actually be the reason why I got in trouble this could be it. You've got to figure out your one thing and I'm sorry it's not jazz and I'm sorry it's not Millionaires Row and I'm sorry it's not a solar eclipse. You need your one thing and you've got to make it big. Because of where we are, it's so easy to go right around and go. Oh, yeah, yeah. Now, maybe at one time we might have been able to say it was Tom Raper, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's some reason why people were coming into town and I think the state, the local officials get after putting a casino where the Old Reed Hospital is, and you're going to have to put something like a sphere. I'm talking something ginormous, bigger than the arch, bigger than the cross, bigger than the candle, something big that's lit up, that's fun. I'm not saying you got to, not a restaurant or anything, but something as big as the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island, something that big on that property, that people go, what's that, what is that? And you could do it. And there's always the detractors. There's always people, and I'm not a gambler. I just know that every other day in Arizona I have a casino flyer, I have a sports betting flyer and the money generated goes some into public education and goes into roads. So I'm not saying that that's going to fix everything, but Richmond has to figure out. It's one thing that it's going to talk about. If I asked you, what's the one thing in Newcastle, what's the one thing to do in Newcastle? Or to go and see.
Speaker 1:Well, I would say I used to always think of their gym.
Speaker 2:The gym, the basketball hall of fame. So enthusiasts for basketball their signage there's. They have their one thing If I rolled into town and I went, hey, just got here to Newcastle, what's there to do? Where should I go? Everybody would not have to be trained to go. Well, have you been to the Indiana basketball hall of fame? No, one of our things here is we have a lot of cool stuff and that's great, but we need the one thing to bring them in and then figure out what they're interested in and then push it out, and then it would generate revenue that we could also use to maybe do some enhancements on our own.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I can see why you say the casino would be a great idea.
Speaker 2:I just it's only the first idea I can come up with.
Speaker 1:It's not the best, right. I mean I could see where it could accomplish a lot of things that you said. I just the act of gambling within a casino tends to not enrich a lot of lives and I just don't. I would hope we could find something more productive than that. But you know, they're building casinos. I was at in Vegas not long ago for manpower meetings and just tons of stuff going on there, you know. So I mean, gambling is alive and well and it doesn't appear to be. Vegas doesn't seem to be in any kind of decline. Only, I mean, they put millions of dollars just to hold a weekend race. Yeah, when we were there and they were building the putting up scaffolding for luxury boxes and for bleachers and everything just for a single race.
Speaker 2:Why did manpower decide to host their group meetings as a corporation or franchise partner? Why didn't Vegas?
Speaker 1:This was a franchise group and it was interesting this time around, after we had it there, people weren't so happy about it. Okay, I think the main reason why is just the access to all the different places. You can stay flying into an airport. That's fairly easy to get a one-way ticket from about anywhere in the nation. But overall, I think that group in general and that we're just talking the franchise group is a smaller group these days.
Speaker 1:But you know they're looking a lot of the owners now. They just want to go somewhere where we can have our business meetings and then move on. They used to pick locations where there's a lot of like fun stuff you could do, but now you know I'm on the board now of the franchise group and our discussions have been lately toward maybe getting back to basics, going to Milwaukee where the national headquarters or manpower is located, and trying to get back to the basics. So I don't know if I'm making your point at all, but that's kind of why we were there. But I saw after the meeting people were like I don't know if I want to come here anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I appreciate what you're saying and in some ways it helped me with my point, because no one would ever have ever booked nonstop flights to Vegas without something to do and there's a lot of things to do. There just also happens to be that and I've been in Vegas twice for a convention and then just for a weekend because some people that we know here go there, so they go there, we meet them there and then we decide that you know, ocean's 11 is not real. Life in Vegas is a lot slimmer than that. But my thought is, how many times do you think you've been in a meeting and heard we need a convention center? How many years?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's In all the meetings.
Speaker 2:okay, the ongoing point is you don't have the reason to stop. It's not going to be because we have really nice people in really old buildings and we've got this little depot district thing. That was all managed by individual investment and I know the depot district is one of our kind of shining stars that we have here because the owners flipped off the local government and said we don't care, we're doing it anyway. And that's the kind of thing that can be harmful at times because you can get yourself in trouble, but that's what's missing. Well, the state told us we couldn't put in a casino Rattlesnakes. What else can we do? But I don't have a better idea. But I know there's a lot of people. Six, what was it number? Six million cars across 70, usually stuck for a long line. What's wrong with your ISE? What's wrong with the? You're the crossroads of America. Why do you have a terrible ISE?
Speaker 2:Another discussion, not your fault, but you need to figure out what will pull them off. And then, hey, maybe it is, and we were talking about this with Kevin that bike path could be really good if you had one of those little pedal bars. Right, okay, a casino is indoors, so you're not dealing with weather inclement. You're not inclement weather. You I mean anybody that comes off the interstate is gonna talk about what was that's that thing over there?
Speaker 2:Oh well, we did something, and it can't necessarily be about museums or history. We got all of that, but I can't figure out how to start bleeding or rippling effect, local economy and changing things like the downtown and other things without a whole lot of individual private investment or a whole lot of tax dollars. You and I know this. Top 10 employers in Wayne County, what three are privately held? Everybody else is tax supported, tax based. Well, we're losing that tax base. I spoke with a friend of mine who works at a local bank and he said Phil, did you know that for the first time in Richmond's history, more than half of all the property in Richmond is owned by someone or some group that doesn't live in Richmond? We better fix it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't like that.
Speaker 1:I don't like that as it relates to this, to our downtown buildings and some of the properties down here, and it like it. It happens and then you find about it after the fact and now you can't do anything about it. There's a parking lot about a block from here. That's behind several businesses that are trying to make a go at it Some restaurants and boutiques, whatever but there's some guy from out of state that owns the parking lot, and it wasn't that long ago that he just had everybody towed out of there, and because it's mine, I bought it. I'm not doing anything with it, but you better not park your car, and the people that were parking there were patrons to these businesses, and then he's put some type of crazy price to sell, you know. So I don't think it's truly interesting to do that, but I think it's a great idea to have a lot of people that are interested in selling or waiting for just someone to come along that for some reason is willing to pay this exuberant price for it, and there's a lot of corporations, llcs.
Speaker 2:They're all tucked in and hidden away so it's hard to find them. And we've dealt with that problem in this community and Richmond still came back and got. It took a while, but we got the property back that was really dilapidated and now it's a blank space, a water park that's indoors, but it's hard to get every kid to pay 50 bucks to come in. I digress A lot of vacant apartment is stayed vacant because they need the ride-off and so they go where the numbers are. And if this part of the state has got a population increase, well then we're gonna invest there and we'll keep this other building vacant. But local legislators can fix that. They can impose a different tax rate for vacant property. It just takes a group of people to go.
Speaker 2:I'm tired of doing this. I'm tired of seeing this go down. What do we need to do? And it'll happen, but it's gotta take the push let me be gently in the back a little bit, no, not all the way over the cliff to make some dynamic changes.
Speaker 2:And the one thing I also thought about coming in, which I think is definitely gonna get me in trouble is Wayne County government is sitting on a pile of cash that is taller than the building that we're sitting in, and I get it. There were lawsuits that were won and payouts that were done and generally good fiscal management, and what you would always hear is this $140 million, whatever it is, well, we're waiting in case we need that for a rainy day. Now, wayne County has a lot more area to deal with than the city of Richmond, but when do you think it gets bad enough to need to input that infusion? Now, what I would do is I would say you want a business, let's invest in you, let's help you develop the plan, let's find and rehab the building and so, if nothing else, if the business doesn't survive, we at least revive the building and then maybe somebody else comes in.
Speaker 2:But we have to start figuring out what are the things that the generation of people, like my daughter, that are mid-20s, what would get them to come back? Is it a salary? Is it starting a business? Is it? Hey, I've always been passionate about Cope Environmental Center. Okay, then, what do we need to do? And it takes very intentional conversations and everybody's got their own thing going on but no one's come together and bang their heads and went. We're running out of space.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I mean everybody kind of has their own thing, except your own thing, going on. I mean I kind of fall in that category. I mean I'm gonna be 60 years old this year.
Speaker 2:That's right, congratulations.
Speaker 1:You know, we have a family business that we're trying to operate well. I'm not near retirement, so trying to do that. I have five grandchildren that don't live here, so part of me wants to try to be a part of their lives so, and my sets of kids live six hours in opposite directions so I'm investing time to try to visit them, spend time with them. I'm super involved in my church. I think I'm fairly well involved in the Boys and Girls Club and these other things, and this isn't the tension on me, I'm just saying these are things that I have passion for, that I do, and so there's only so many hours in the day for me to go out and be a big community cheerleader to try to bring a casino to Richmond.
Speaker 2:I understand, and part of that's because it's a casino and we could debate that later, because I'm with you. I'm not saying it's the best idea or the only idea, but it's not your fault. Richmond isn't in that situation because a good business owner, committed to their church, let their kids move away. They chose careers. It's not on you to fix. But anybody that runs for local office that only talks about we need more police or we need better roads or we're really gonna work together with the state.
Speaker 2:They're not looking so internally focused at what are the things that are gonna start bringing people into town instead of giving you what's gonna be the ultimatum. You're gonna have to make a choice. You're gonna go where the grandkids are or you're gonna work like hell to get them back here. And families in this town are doing that forever. And we just had the thing is going back to that military example when the general retired. We had somebody ready to go, we had the next level in and what we've thought is well, it's Richmond I mean, we're not Indianapolis Some cases that thank God for that but we've got a really good location. Well, that language needs to change.
Speaker 1:There's organizations that exist. Now you mentioned city government and leadership. There we have new leadership. I mean, mayor is only 17 days in, so it's kind of hard to give some type of a grade of what he's doing. I mean, he's gonna have to have see what he does Well. And then we. But we also have, when I think of other community supported organizations, I think of the EDC, I think of the Chamber of Commerce I don't know if there's another one that falls into the category but you got the city, the EDC, the Chamber, but I don't know what they're doing together to have a vision, a collective vision, where they go out and say this is what we got to do for our community.
Speaker 2:Well, the EDC is really good at looking at manufacturing logistics industry. They're not gonna be so good at helping out retail, the Chamber of Commerce. They're the cheerleaders, they're the ones that are going all right, we got this and now we're gonna do this this week and we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this ribbon cutting, and then you've got people that could fund initiatives by issuing things like challenge dollars to fix it. I'll give the mayor a grade right now.
Speaker 2:I've known Ron Oler for a long time. He gets an A. You know why he gets an A he got elected. That was actually his job. He can't fix this and it's not his fault.
Speaker 2:You've got three roads that are state owned. You've got a shrinking tax base. You've got investment that our investment from outside owners that's restricted from trying to protect it because of other state laws or federal laws. What he can do is try to rally some people together, try to fire off an initiative, but it's not gonna be a single person that does it, unless the unlikely thing happens is that there is some individual that just loves Richmond, that just got a billion dollars or $10 billion, and we keep looking for that, and we keep looking for the grants and the matching grants and then we're gonna be able to do this, and then we don't put the person in place that actually pushes to get that done and we don't have the people that are saying I get it, it's not an economic development project from an EDC perspective, it's not from there, but it's me being the kid that you would mentor at Westview and then staying connected to that individual.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know about the billion or billions of dollars, well, but that's unlikely right. Yeah, it seems like the biggest fund that you've identified so far in this conversation would be the money the county has.
Speaker 2:And I get it, they wanna be conservative. But what could you do to say things like we really wanna rehab this building, who's got a vision for it? And then partner with people that are really intelligent about yeah, you can make that work, or that might be difficult, and maybe that one thing pops up, maybe that one thing comes together, because we've got a lot of cool little things, but it's just too easy to leave Richmond and go to the big things or go to locations or the malls or all that sort of stuff. But I think, whatever that one thing is, it can't be once every 74 years and it can't be dependent on climate. You're gonna have to put something under a roof and that something needs to be big enough or look bold enough to put on some signage around, or you embrace your marketing around that thing and I'm okay if it's not a casino. I just don't have a better idea.
Speaker 1:Right, no, and I'm not. I'm not a big fan of the casino idea, but I don't have a better idea. So I mean I don't like people that have ideas and people poo-poo them, but then they don't have any other suggestions Conventions, concerts.
Speaker 2:Think about the number of touring bands that could come across I-70 in a given year, because that's the only way they can make money. By the way, they're not making it on selling albums. Now I'm not saying you're gonna get Taylor Swift or something, but you fund an entertainment sector that might get people to stay for a weekend. I get it. I'm not a gambler either. I don't really like Vegas, but I know there's enough people that do that might also watch a Leonard Skinner tribute band.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised that our community doesn't have some type of very substantial sports complex Cause there's so many youth teams out, there is AAU teams and all I mean it's way larger outside of just playing for your school anymore, I mean, and I've just been surprised that we haven't built something like that to bring people into the community for these tournaments or whatnot, because I think there's probably a market for it and it doesn't seem like it's a super complicated thing to try to put together.
Speaker 2:Well, it's outside of the money I mean and I don't wanna poo poo that idea, cause I agree with you. You see sports complexes around the metro area in Indianapolis and Dayton that have it looks like a mile of soccer fields, and then there's indoor pickleball and there's basketball hoops, cause they can host these tournaments baseball fields, softball fields. I think one thing to be careful about is when some of that convention center ideas started popping about. They started talking about the East side. West side got ticked and then downtown business owners got ticked. Well, why is it going over there? They're just gonna go in there and stay there. They're never gonna come around there.
Speaker 2:It would be nice if there was enough land to develop a sports complex that was sort of centrally located and no offense to our neighbors that are on the outside, all the surrounding communities that are in the area, but more of those outside that live in Hagerstown or maybe in New Paris or even Eat no Hot, they are still coming here to do a lot of their business. They are coming here. What we need is for something big here to pull in the regional effect and then you do something like a sports complex if you can figure out how to get it centrally located where nobody feels like they're slided, because, well, all these people driving up from the South, well, no one's doing that, they're not gonna do that, they're coming off the interstate, so, but then you gotta find the land and buy the land, and who's got the money to do that? So you know, but I it's every day. You can look at something to fix. You can drive around town and the same potholes that were here three years ago are still here. I think it's just become a thing. It's like. It's like it's just part of the network I'm teasing, but there's so many positive things and so far You're speaking potholes as a metaphor, correct.
Speaker 2:But then there are some. I mean, there's some that are just there. But what I'm saying, my point, is you can look at. You can look at every corner of the room that you're in or outside the stoplight that you're at, and see something that needs to be fixed or see something that's gone down too far. But it takes a lot different focus to look at the fact that there are strong, vibrant people here. They give a damn and it's never, ever going to be our location. That represents what Richmond's history is. It's always gonna be the people. And, michael, we're running out of people. So what does it take to at least get some invigorated stuff there? Did we do well on our podcast today? Is there a question I should ask you? How are you feeling? How are you doing? I was on a rant, I've been on a soapbox.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've been away from the microphone for a long time, so there's just a lot of built up frustration over three years of not being at the mic. So I'm just kind of letting you go, letting you do your thing. Anybody want to prank? Call the radio station.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, okay. And hey, can I ask you a question? This is something that ties into manpower. How do you repair a relationship with employee and employer? Sometimes employees just screw up and policy is hey, we gotta let you go. Sometimes, often, maybe even most of the time, it ends up working out better for both people. In the end you feel bad now but it gets better and you find out that, hey, life is actually better than the other side and it turns out to be a good thing. When do you go back and try to either say, bygones, be bygones, or how? It shouldn't have to be that delicate of a question to ask you but how do you have good relationships with people that? Or how do you coach other businesses that you work with? This is the right move now. Doesn't make them a bad person and maybe they can come back at some point.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Right, sometimes I've gone back to, we've gone back to a client about someone had worked there previously and I like to try to get them back in, and so the pitch that I try to make in those cases is try to demonstrate what the person's been through and what he or she's done after leaving.
Speaker 1:That would warrant some type of a change in behavior, change in focus or whatever. So that's how we'll approach clients a lot, but and these are cases where they're going isn't a temporary first, sure, and so it's a little different than if you're to try to get somebody to bring somebody back on full time Cause if they're bringing it coming in as a temporary first, they can the person kind of come in and kind of make a case for why maybe they should be brought back in totally full time. So that's one way of doing it. I think when people, when we have to remove somebody from a job, we're better served if we will take some extra time and sit down with them and kind of review what's gone wrong and try to offer up some recommendations that might give them hope, teachable moments. And so it's interesting I like having, or I don't shy away from having, those kinds of conversations with people. I have found that sometimes people don't want to have those conversations or they're real backward about trying to do that.
Speaker 2:And there's egos that get involved and it's hard to say you're sorry and not that I'm trying to get advice for you, cause I'm going to head up to a bro broadcasting when we're done here. I'm saying there's a lot of people that things go wrong and then enough time has to kind of clear the air and then there's opportunities to work together again. There's just there's sometimes ego gets in the way and I don't know how you diffuse that, but you do it well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't anytime that. I felt that maybe on a personal level there was angst with me and somebody else and I didn't really understand what it was exactly. Now, sometimes, you know, but if I really want to have some type of reconciliation with that person, I've just gone and say, hey, I don't like where we're at right now and you know whatever I've done to create this situation. You know, I need you to bring it to light for me and I want you to please forgive me for that. You know, and maybe we're getting you're really good at saying sorry too.
Speaker 2:I love this, but.
Speaker 1:I just, you know you have to die to that. You can't. You don't have to be right, you have to die to have him to be right. Right, that's what I think. I agree I've really screwed up a lot at that with, and so I can think of a situation with me and somebody that's happened in the last year and I sat back and looked at my behavior with that and I just found out that really I was out of line and I had to really step back and a lot of it was just pride, personal pride on my part, and the need to be right and I may maybe I was right, I don't know, but that shouldn't have been the most important thing me being right, it needed to be the relationship with that person. So I don't know if we're getting too philosophical for you, but that's just well.
Speaker 2:I you know I'll answer your question. It does be cut because I don't think, you know. You hear some people say this is our moment and we're talking about our lives, and maybe it's a personal achievement, maybe it's something, and then we all have these peaks and valleys that we're going through. That's outside of a workplace, it's outside of a community, but I don't know that. I believe that.
Speaker 2:I believe that every life has a lot of different moments and it's that collection of moments that, when we get to a certain age, we look back on and go. Am I happy with that, you know? And if I'm not, what do I want to change about that going forward? And I think it for me, I think it's a lot about maturity. I don't always act like it because I want to be the fun guy, but I take relationships very seriously and one of the most important relationships in any person's life is how they got along with their boss. And that is where I think a lot of your expertise and a lot of what you have to give turns out to be the hub that supports the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that we've been blessed at our office to have a lot of people come and stay for a long period of time and work for us and a lot of seniority, and I don't know what the secret sauce really is.
Speaker 1:I mean, we like to think that we're a family, but that's not always in the best interest of a business. That'd be heavy in that way, right, because then people they've become too focused on that and they kind of forget that hey, we're trying to make some money here, we're trying to keep the lights on and we need to make profits, so you can go too far in that way. One thing that I try to do and I want to be better this year than I was last year is just trying to understand the things that are going on in people's lives and giving them the freedom to kind of handle those, regardless if it means that maybe have to leave early one day or need to be gone for something. I mean for myself. I wanted to be able to be involved in my children's lives as they were young. I mean, can you just think back through your kids when they were real young? How fast that right it's gone.
Speaker 1:And it always is and I know that feeling and if I have the employees that have younger children like that, I try to empathize with that and try to create an environment where they can be there for their family at the same time, where it doesn't detriment the overall workings of the company and hopefully we have a mutual respect that, hey, I you know that they'll in turn have loyalty to the company because we're been loyal to their interests as a person.
Speaker 2:But isn't that and this is something that's beneficial for anybody listening that is, the definition of flexible work to me is having the boss that is also flexible. Now, not every job can do that, I get it, but I think that's very progressive of you and I'm not just trying to blow smoke up your bottom either. I mean, I'm serious that I think employers that have a mindset of appreciating what someone is bringing with them to work and allowing them to also work that out within the certain, you know, confines of what we need to do as a job keeps people loyal and they go hey, he's more than my boss, she's more than just the person that writes my paycheck, and those are everlasting.
Speaker 1:There's. One of the industries prevalent in our community is plastics. Right, very much so. And so how is plastic made? It's extruded. You know they take the. I forget. Help me out.
Speaker 2:Well, so they take something.
Speaker 1:The little flakes that, whatever it is I'm my mind's blank right now, but they it's put into the machine, it's melted and it's extruded out in sheets or shapes or whatever. And one thing that in manufacturing like that, once you start that machine running, you're running a good product and it's a process to get it going. You don't want to just shut the machine down. You can't no, because there's lots of costs associated with starting it up again, get it running, get quality product coming through. So it's not like, hey, michael Allen kind of wants to leave early today because he's got kindergarten graduation, you know and like, but they're already struggling to keep the line going as it is and if I leave they shut it down and it's huge for the company.
Speaker 1:So you can't be that. I mean there's certain common sense things that you just can't do in manufacturing like that with those type of employees, cause you just can't. It can't be done Now, if you can figure out some way, I guess. But it's very hard to ask a company to have kind of that, kind of a flexible attitude, especially when it involves around manufacturing.
Speaker 2:It's a direct. It's a direct metaphor for the. This exact same explanation that you just gave me is also true about this community. You can't stop it. You can't stop it on a dime. It takes a whole lot of money to get it back going, and you need people to be there Extruding plastic in this town right now, and what that process is is almost exactly what it takes in order to keep a community thriving as well.
Speaker 2:Now, that was my radio professional tie back in circular moment because it's a great way to get people to recognize that there are some things you can't stop on a dime. But if you do, it's gonna shut down, it's gonna break, and we got a whole lot more invested in trying to get it back up and running, and maybe we don't have those resources, and so the next best thing is, okay, well then, we're just gonna move on and go build something new elsewhere, and that's what that's specifically. That analogy is exactly what's happening here. Now, what do we do? I don't know. Okay, I don't know. I. You wanna go get a cocktail? Are there ads that we need to read? Can I say something about I don't know?
Speaker 2:As a kind of a tie in, the people that are willing to invest their lives, their family, their, into businesses to help other people are not thanked near enough. We ask in no uncertain terms to get donations and can you help us out here, and what can you do? And there is the employees that work for local community partners that see the need to be able to give back and whatever way that works, whether it's monetary or volunteerism. We gotta get better at thanking those people too, and not just with a plaque and not just at a banquet with their, you know. But just hey, appreciate it. I've been driving around this town and going to places all the time and I've always made an effort to go. Hey, thanks for being here today, cause they didn't have to, at zero degree temperatures. You didn't have to.
Speaker 1:My my old, old school go to is a simple handwritten note. Yeah, I can't, I'm not consistent with it, but I try to do it, try to recognize people or something's impressed me and I tell you I get more feedback from that than anything else that I do.
Speaker 2:Are you going to write me a thank you note for appearing on your show After?
Speaker 1:I write a note to Ron Oler for coming on.
Speaker 2:Well, that's all right, Well you got to have the mayor and we'll then we'll both write a handwritten thank you to Kevin. Kevin needs to get a thank you that sounds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he wrote. Well, you know he wrote me. He wrote me a just a really kind note around Christmas time. You know, appreciate the working together but also just being a friend of that Kevin I don't know if I told you that I'm telling you now that meant a lot to me. And. I Well, I appreciate it. I wish you had some Kleenex is out here, Cause I'm thinking I might cry here in a minute.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, I kind of got that from Phil. Yeah, you know, I was in. I was in some moments long way back when, and he said, just write him a note.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then I realized, you know, and then I got a couple of myself and I was like man, that that means a lot. Yeah, you know, just to take the time to do that, cause we're so technology texts calls that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I mean you can text somebody but it takes a little bit more effort to sit down and kind of hand, write out the note to somebody and address it, put it in the mail. I mean it takes a little bit of effort.
Speaker 3:Or just drop it off. Drop it off with wherever they work at or whatever. Well, it takes a lot of effort. If you weren't able to read Mon.
Speaker 1:So I got a hold. Still, I was able to read for a good dictionary out. I got the gist of your note.
Speaker 2:But you remember that and that's something that you automatically, you know, feel something for that person that was willing to go that way, and all we're talking about is a handwritten note.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:I'll look forward to your. I'll look forward to your note, you know.
Speaker 1:do you know the name? John Ford?
Speaker 2:Like John Ford from Richmond. John Ford, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, john, you know he was really good about writing those. He's in hospice now at Friends Fellowship and I knew he was a Friends Fellowship, yeah, and just an incredible person. Just lived a wonderful life, great believer, great businessman, great community Involved person in the community and, and you know I he's I remember a few times he's written me a few notes that just, you know, just made my eyes want to water up, you know, because it just meant a lot to hear from somebody like him and thanking you for what you've done or something. And you know so there's lots of people out there that have been an inspiration that my mom's a great writer or card sender, you know, and you know. I hope that that's something that I can continue to do and improve on, because I do know how it makes me feel and I do know how it's made other people feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's, that's really good and you know, I guess our best to to John and family. I mean, that's it's. It's difficult and it's all so hard when you see another community member that we're not going to be able to, to utilize those, those unbelievable qualities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know everybody. I mean, yeah, a lot of people know John. I mean he's up there in in years now, but I mean a lot of people who've been involved in the community, like my father who now lives in Florida full time. But I mean people like that would definitely know who John Ford is. Yeah, and you know, he's a my pin. He's a community icon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tall worked at Perina for a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, national sales national sales manager for them, kind of had a side gig as a as a photographer, did a lot of really great photography work. Well, he didn't need the tripod.
Speaker 2:He's kind of tall.
Speaker 1:He's just stand on over and get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's yeah, that's right. And, by the way, for your dad living in Florida, that's totally fine. He's earned every right of that. I, you know it's. It's totally because he had his succession plan. The general took up his hat, goes to Florida and now here you are doing a podcast called the hub.
Speaker 1:Yes, Well, I've enjoyed this. I don't know it it's, it's. I think I'm going to go home and my wife's going to ask me how'd it go with Phil? I said I have no idea what we talked about. Well, it just it, just like flew by.
Speaker 2:It did and I don't I don't know, it's probably going to be longer and I appreciate the opportunity to come in, keep doing this. If you need ideas, if you need stuff, you know the community can seek out and say, hey, I think this is, this is a great story for someone because this could be the smart, the spark that gets them connected and there's great opportunity there. I just know it's a lot of work, it's a lot of work in the background from the technical side, but it's a lot of work organizing this and showing up.
Speaker 1:No, I, I've enjoyed it and the whole goal was just to kind of help spotlight our community, just another way to cheer, lead what's going on in the community, because I've been here basically my whole life and I'm not going anywhere and so whatever I can do, you know, just to keep cheerleading on this community, I want to try to do.
Speaker 1:I mean, and maybe that's just the thing is that you know we need to take because, hey, I've been just as guilty as anybody to be critical about certain things about the community. But you know we need to maybe focus those things in the right direction to just in a professional way, share those with the people that need to hear those. But at the same time we need to be encouragers to our leaders and what they're doing and just speak well of the of our community in general, because there's lots to speak well about. You know, one thing I'm extending this but one thing that I've got a lot since COVID was that people just don't want to work anymore. Have you heard that saying? I hear all the people you hear it they didn't mean people just don't want to work anymore.
Speaker 2:But do you think that that's the same demographic? I mean, is there is? What's in common with all the people that are saying that to you? Are they a bit older, some retired, maybe some later in years? Are they in management positions? Yeah, it's not kids.
Speaker 1:It's not kids, no, but it's, it's working. It's working people as people. I I'm not trying to be critical to anyone, but I just hear that a lot, or someone that knows the business I'm in, and they go yeah, people don't want to work anymore. I'm trying not to fall in that trap because it's not true. It's not true. There's thousands of people at work in this community right now.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's, it's, people do want to work. There's, there's. Are there people that aren't working? That should, absolutely. You know they're making choices, for whatever reason, not to work, but we can't lump the whole community, the whole workforce, into into some basket. So nobody wants to work, because that's just not true. Well, it's a small, it's a fraction of the workforce that maybe doesn't desire to work or doesn't understand that maybe, maybe life would be better for them if they were working, as far as their self image and and just you know, contributing to something you know. But no, that's, that is not true. People do want to work, people are committed to contributing to their company, to their community, and that's, that's something we need to hear a lot less.
Speaker 2:I agree. I will say as a counterpoint nobody likes going to work. It would be really great if we all didn't have to work. But what we find is we find value, we find self worth, we feel like we've earned the things that we buy. And then it's just a matter of finding the job that you will go and want to go and do Now, not every day. Sometimes you got to fight through it. That's that integrity. That's a too cold outside. I really don't want to go have to work. But I want to go and work because I want to have the things that I have earned the right to do and I have a sense of responsibility not to let my colleagues and so teamwork becomes a part of it and all those sort of things. But if you're not happy or you're thinking that you're going to work, maybe you should consider calling manpower of Richmond. You can call them up at 9662664. Maybe even check a look at the job listing site at mprichmancom.
Speaker 1:Thank you. You know one thing you got me thinking one more. We got to wrap this up, but there is a. It's interesting. Several we've had we've bought in the billboard advertising for a while and and the billboard that we did several years ago, that I had so many people call me, left me voice messages, wrote me a note and email was when we had the blue background and all it said work is good, work is good and so, and I had so many people say something, and then our recent for January, we re-directed it a little form of it a little bit, and again people sent me notes or whatever. And that resonates with people that you know work is a good thing.
Speaker 2:It is not bad. Work is a very good thing and and who came up with that work is good thing? Was that you or me? Because we were in a like a serious pow, wow.
Speaker 1:I think I'm going to have to take credit for that.
Speaker 2:I think so too. I honestly think you said what if we did something like just talking about that going to work is good Work?
Speaker 1:is good is good. Well, where it came from, really is the. The life is good teacher.
Speaker 2:That's right yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was just a play off of that and I hope that's not. I'm going to get a lawsuit, You're not but but but.
Speaker 2:I. I remember that meeting specifically where we thought every now and then a gym comes to mind and to put three words on a billboard, very playing, stands out. Now you can work that message in any other kind of directing or marketing plan that you have, but you started. You started with something that resonated with people that were young, people that are currently working, maybe even people that were are retired, that have retirement benefits, because work is good whatever it is, but it it means so many different things to so many people. So a very simple message like that, broadcast in that way, is that was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we did some some radio commercials. Oh yeah, we did put some together.
Speaker 2:Lots on social media, but usually the idea comes from a life experience and I always tell people if you're thinking about marketing, if you're thinking about what you do and where you listen and where you should invest in all of those sorts of parts, make sure you're putting your own physical life experience into that process. What do you do when you wake up in the morning? Is it grab the phone? Is it check the emails that turn on the radio? Is it going to get a cup of coffee? Okay, talk about your day. What do you see?
Speaker 2:Well, I see businesses, I see billboard signs, I'm listening to something that's on the radio, and then you could start to piece together how to make an effective marketing plan. If your target is also people like you. If it's not, then you got to change it. You got to find out what those people do every day, but always put in your personal experience of how you find things to invest and put your money in. And then it becomes. Then marketing is really simple. Yeah, awesome, you could go to YouTube, yeah, where people are watching us. Now we got to end this thing. Yeah, yeah, we got to do it.
Speaker 1:Well hey, Phil, it's so good to see you. It is a pleasure.
Speaker 1:I miss seeing you on a regular basis, but I've just really enjoyed working with you over the years and just our back and forth, and so we'll just have to kind of see if this casino idea resonates in the community or not. Bad on it, brother. Thank you, you're welcome. Yeah, see you, michael Allen from Manpower. We are a national brand, yet locally owned franchise. We are familiar with the challenges businesses face. It's tough recruiting and retaining qualified employees. That's why working with Manpower is a smart, cost effective solution. Our entire focus is talent acquisition. We'll manage your hiring and training and provide ongoing, customized support. Since 1966, we have been your community invested partner, uniquely positioned to help eliminate the hassles and save you time and money. Let us help. Contact Manpower today.